ENGL 5830 – The Big Bad Book Blog

Posts tagged with: ENGL 5830

Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez

Twelve-year-old Anita has always had a happy life, living with her extended family in the Dominican Republic. Her middle class family live a life that few in her country can afford, with household servants and private schools for their children. And always, they are surrounded by portraits of “El Jefe,” whom Anita has always thought …read more…

Published on: 22 May 2011 by Ken

Categorized under: Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Intermediate Literature, Latino, Multicultural Literature, YA Literature • Tagged with: adolescence, Alicia Partnoy, assimilation, boyfriends, culture, diaries, Dominican Republic, ENGL 5830, food, girlfriends, immigration, initiation, John Beverley, loss, murder, parents, puberty, revolution, silence, Silvio Sirias, testimonio, war, war crimes

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Update as of 26 October 2011: This book continues to be controversial. Only this past spring, I was asked to help fight a push to not just remove this book from the twelfth grade curriculum of a public high school, but to remove the book from the school library, as well. The irony is that …read more…

Published on: 8 April 2011 by Ken

Categorized under: Amer. Indian/First Nations, Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Disabled, Graphic Novel/Story, Multicultural Literature, Parenting Issues, Publishing Issues, Teaching Issues, Writing Issues, YA Literature • Tagged with: alcoholism, American Indians, authenticity, bereavement, best friends, betrayal, boyfriends, censorship, Coeur d'Alene, cultural piracy, death, education, ENGL 3840, ENGL 5830, fathers, friends, friendship, girlfriends, hunger, isolation, language, masturbation, mothers, poverty, racism, sexuality, Spokane, stereotypes, tribes