Angie Powers > Recent Status Updates

I am noticing that so far, Jones is using mostly description & sequence. While the book is a "manual for teens," it's also her story about she became a trouble-maker. I know there's a lot of description because there's a chapter where she' describes her grandmother, another troublemaker. She also tells personal anecdotes about her trouble-making with time signal words. These structures make the book more engaging!

This is wild so far. It's possibly the end of the world. Maybe a pandemic? But the main character is an adopted, soon-to-be mother who is connecting with the biological and Indigenous roots...

I think I have read five complete sentences so far in this book. It's like reading a painting. Check out the author's masterful brushstrokes:

"Our own houses: neat brick rectangles. Hidden, peripheral"

I wasn't sure what to expect...but this book is quite powerful. It started with a lot of storytelling and then in Part II and III, there's quite a bit of commentary. She definitely doesn't hold anything back!

I love how Darius compares being depressed to coming out as queer. It's part of who he is as a person, and it's something not everybody knows about him but neither thing keeps him from also being happy ❤

I love that this book acknowledges the challenge I am having: how to find engaging mentor texts for lit or rhetorical analysis.

When a human says to another human, "You are beautiful. You will find more love than you'll need in a lifetime," it's time to RUN FAR AWAY.

I love how graphic novels take the written word and amplify it with pictures. The way the artist used reflections (water, sides of buildings, etc) to show past IN the landscape of New York is breathtaking.

I like the author's sass!

"A Story Like Mine" got me!

This book makes a lot of references to Christianity, specifically Catholicism. I researched how Catholicism came to Nigeria, where this book takes place, & it helped me better understand the tension between the old ways and new. The article I read stated that the purpose of Catholic missionaries was “convert ‘heathen[s]’ . . via education” ("History"). The main character in my book goes to a Catholic school.

Ope. Stuff is happening now...

Glad to see some of the multi-page poems are not bad!

Learning about the history of taking children from Black families has helped me further appreciate Sophia from Water Dancer.

I am LOVING how the author is weaving in the symbol of the purple hibiscus!!

The first sentence of the book reeled me in: "Things started to fall apart at home when . . . Papa flung his heavy missal across the room" (Adichie 3). I wanted to know what was falling apart, and why Papa was violent throwing things in front of his kids. The author's style also interested me, as it's very figurative and the sentences are dripping with detail. I am still liking the book and its style!

The first sentence of the book reeled me in: "Things started to fall apart at home when . . . Papa flung his heavy missal across the room" (Adichie 3). I wanted to know what was falling apart, and why Papa was violent throwing things in front of his kids. The author's style also interested me, as it's very figurative and the sentences are dripping with detail. I am still liking the book and it's style!

The first few pages were hard for me to get through. But the story has picked up, as has my animosity towards the father in the story.

I haven't read Harjo since I was an undergrad. She wasn't my favorite in the class. I think maybe I just wasn't ready for her.

This book just keeps getting better!

I misjudged this book by its cover...