If I had to list one teacher superpower on my resume, it would be connecting students with great books. I've missed playing matchmaker since I've been out of the classroom but I'm loving this opportunity to help you get the right books to the right students. If you have a colleague who likes to talk about books with students, will you encourage them to subscribe? (Hi new friends, sign up here!).

And now on to today's featured presentation, The Epic Story of Every Living Thing by (local to me) author Deb Caletti. In 6 words, here's why this book belongs in your classroom library: epic shipwreck, scuba diving, found family.

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Title: The Epic Story of Every Living Thing​

Author: Deb Caletti

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Age range: 14+

Summary: Set in the later stretches of the COVID pandemic, this is the story of Harper, a high school junior, who is pushed out of the secure confines of her home with her mom and her shallow yet robust social media life when she has the startling opportunity to meet the man who fathered her. She heads to Hawaii with her new-found siblings and, when liberated from limiting beliefs placed on her by herself, by society, by her mom, she discovers a way to be the person she wants to be.

It's similar to:

​To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (teenage girl growing up in a one-parent household who has to navigate love and becoming who she wants to be).

​Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer (extenuating circumstances push straight-A high school girl to discover both the magic of the ocean and the power of adventure).

How I'd teach it:

This book has a constructive social media theme. At the beginning, Harper obsesses with posting perfect pictures, seeks out the dopamine hits from likes and comments, and voraciously consumes what others post. I won’t spoil it, but by the end, she uses social media to affect positive change. For this reason, I’d include it as a Book Club choice with other titles examining the impact of technology broadly or social media specifically on teenagers.

As someone who was once a high school girl, I think this book can do a lot of good in the hands of teenagers everywhere who are listening too hard to what society tells them to be. We witness Harper finally understand that she can do hard things, that she can be the main character in her own story. Hand this book to the student who also needs to believe that she (or he or they) can do hard things.

Learn more:

Caletti weaves in the historical story of Mary Ann Brown Patten, the wife of Captain Joshua Patten. Together they sailed on the clipper ship Neptune’s Car. When Captain Patten fell ill with tuberculosis and couldn’t captain the ship, Mary took over, quelled a mutiny, and successfully navigated the ship to port.​

​Read this interview to learn in Caletti’s own words what this book is about and why it matters.

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Literacy Love Notes:

• I love graphic novels so here are 6 creative and inspiring way to weave them into your curriculum.
• If you're looking for a little something to make your classroom library more student centered, I offer Book Recommendation Forms on TPT. There are four different forms and each one prompts students to reflect on the story elements in their book as a means of recommending it to classmates. More book talk, more reading, more learning.

Have a good one and learn everything you can,

Hannah

PS: What's your teacher super power?

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