Happy summer vacation! Though no longer in the classroom myself, I still embrace summer break. In that spirit, this newsletter will come out every other week through July. I hope the bi-weekly editions serve as inspiration for what to add to next year's classroom library.

This week's book is a heavy one, but important for making students who so often feel invisible feel seen instead. For all of our students who have been let down by adults they were supposed to be able to trust, please be ready to share Alicia's story with them.

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Title: Dear Medusa​

Author: Olivia A. Cole

Genre: Realistic fiction, novel in verse

Age range: 13+

Summary: High school junior Alicia has become used to the derogatory whispers that follow her in the hallways, always aimed at shaming her sex life. What no one knows (and what traps Alicia into relinquishing control over her sex life) is that she was sexually abused by a popular teacher. Seeds of hope blossom when Alicia forges new friendships, when her mom comes out of her own divorce-induced fog, and when someone leaves Alicia notes hinting that she is not the only victim and that maybe together, they can speak up.

It's similar to:

• ​Chirp by Kate Messner is written for a younger audience but also tells the story of a girl facing sexual abuse and learning to reclaim her voice.
• ​The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo has a similar aged main character who navigates how to reclaim ownership of her body when men seek to sexualize her.
• Like Dear Medusa, Panic by Sharon Draper is one to keep on your shelves in the hopes that no student ever fully relates to it. Panic is about a teenage girl kidnapped into a sex trafficking ring. Both of these books tell stories we don't want to think about but if we have students who have faced anything similar, we owe it to them to stock these books and potentially provide a source of hope.

How I'd teach it:

Cole weaves the myth of Medusa into the story. Find a few versions of Medusa's story for students to read and examine differences in how the story is told. Does it matter who tells the story? Then, discuss why Cole included Medusa: what story do Medusa and Alicia share? Why are they both villainized? (BTW, this counts as teaching Common Core Standard Reading Literature 9: Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work.)

I'd like to think that this book can find a home in the counselor's office. It could be bibliotherapy for students working through the trauma of sexual abuse (though a licensed mental health therapist should always be the guide in such situations). There's so much we don't know about students' personal lives but being unafraid to have stories like Alicia's accessible can help students find a voice for their own experiences.

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Literacy Love Notes:

• Looking for virtual professional development this summer? Jennifer Gonzalez at Cult of Pedagogy has curated opportunities for you. The Student Motivation course at the end looks particularly interesting to me!
• I just downloaded this free Vocabulary Cube activity and if you're looking for hands-on, engaging strategies that help students actually learn new words, well, check it out. It's free!
• Do you teach Long Way Down? I recently read the graphic novel version and share a quick idea here about how to incorporate the images into your unit.

Have a good one and learn everything you can,

Hannah

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