This month’s recommendations include a “creepy” short story, a crime novel, and an article about an elementary school classroom. We hope you love them!
Cheryl Sandora
ELA Fellow
Cheryl says, “I’ve been planning district work around one of our IFL units, Creepy Tales. It’s an instructional unit that examines elements authors use to make a story ‘creepy.’ So, to build on that work, in the spirit of Halloween last week, and to honor the Netflix series The Fall of the House of Usher, my recommendation is to revisit one of the original authors of creepy tales, Edgar Allan Poe. A quick visit to any bookstore site or Amazon will offer multiple options that include some of his greatest works. For my recommendation, however, I’m suggesting one of my all-time favorites, ‘The Masque of the Red Death.’ The intriguing plot and Poe’s powerful language give me chills every time I read it.”
“The Masque of the RedDeath”
Edgar Allan Poe
“But into the seventh room the dancers do not go, for the red light coming through the windows, and the black ness of the wall hangings, make them afraid — and he who enters hears moredeeply the striking of the great black clock. But the other rooms are crowded, and in them beats hotly the heart of life.”
-Edgar Allan Poe, writer and poet
Sara DeMartino
ELA Fellow
Sara says, “Bonnie Dahl has disappeared and her mother, Penny, has turned to Holly Gibney to find out what’s happened. Little does Holly know, but she’s about to uncover a terrifying secret. Stephen King does a masterful job of connecting the current (COVID) time to the macabre. As various characters take the reins to tell more of the story, the reader begins to realize the depths to which desperate people will go to try and access the fountain of youth. Holly is a great read for spooky season.”
Holly
Stephen King
“Holly is a gripping crime novel, but it’s one that’s very close to the horror aesthetic King is known for… the way the narrative is constructed and the layering of characters and their gruesome ends are all reminders that King is also a superb crime/mystery writer who easily navigates the interstitial space where all dark genres meet”
– Gabino Iglesias, author, book reviewer and professor
Read more about it on Goodreads
Faith Milazzo
Director of Professional Services
Faith says, “All too often we read about how troubled youth is today and how many teachers are leaving the profession due to stress, lack of appreciation, and feeling micromanaged and unable to teach. This article was a reminder of how the world around children affects them so much as well as a snapshot into one teacher’s motivation and dedication to the profession and her students. After you read it, you may, like me, come away with both hope and sadness, and I think that is okay. It is important to hear these stories.”
Teacher shares student’s heartwarming gesture —and why it should alarm us
Kait Hanson
“The younger generations aren’t getting ‘worse.’ The kids aren’t getting ‘worse.’ We’re just failing them. Kids are so inherently good and pure and wholesome.”
– Ali Levasseur, third-grade teacher
