Introductions
First off, let me say that I am no professional writer, editor, publisher, reviewer, or reader. I am a middle school English teacher to about 80 students in the 6th and 7th grades at a Catholic school in a small suburban city in Virginia, and I enjoy reading in my spare time. Other than that and a B.A. in English, I have no credentials to be writing here, unless you count a handful of amateur Amazon.com reviews. So why start a book review blog? Good question. Last spring, the reading specialist at my school recommended a book to me by Donalyn Miller, which completely changed my outlook on teaching English Language Arts. We live in a time and culture where, because education is subsidized by the government, it unfortunately has as many bureaucratic issues at any other government agency (I'd argue MORE). I am fortunate enough to be employed in a school where testing and meticulously scheduled standards are not the only or central focus, but I have many teacher friends who are.
