On My Bookshelf: Love Is The Higher Law by David Levithan

Basic plot: On the morning of September 11, 2001, Claire is in class, Peter is waiting for the record store to open so he can buy a CD, and Jasper is sleeping. When disaster strikes, Claire quickly leaves, heads to her younger brother's school, and hopes their mom will find them soon. All Peter can do is stand and stare. Jasper wakes to his parents frantic phone calls and emails from concerned friends. In the days that follow, the three teens' lives intersect. Jasper and Peter have an awkward first date, Claire and Jasper run into each other on a walk one night, and then Claire and Peter become friends after Jasper returns to college. While they can never forget 9/11 and the impact on their city, together they find ways to move forward in their lives.

Why I liked it: Claire's section of the book really resonated with my own experiences on 9/11. I too was in high school in class when teachers were informed of the events that were unfolding, who in turn informed the students. Thought I lived in Philadelphia, I immediately thought of a friend whose father worked in New York City (it turned out that he was fine, but he never went back to work after 9/11). Like Claire I had hope that humanity would learn from this tragedy and was devastated when the war in Afghanistan began. I could also connect to the disconnect all the characters felt from a world that was moving forward despite the catastrophic events of 9/11. Many of us have probably experienced that feeling after the loss of a loved one, wondering how people can be happy and go about their day to day life when something so terrible has happened.

Classroom application: While the novel is fiction, it is connected to the author's own experiences on 9/11 and could be used as a fiction pairing in a history class. Since students entering high school now were born before 9/11 even occurred, I do believe this is an event that should be taught in some form. Reading the novel could lead to an oral history project where students record the experiences of people they know on 9/11.

Because the novel uses three narrators, students could study the way in which the author creates and intertwines the different plot lines. Then using the novel as a mentor text, students could write their own narratives with three intersecting plot lines.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Love Is The Higher Law for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

Note: The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

#2ndaryELA Twitter Chat Topic: Teaching the Novel

Brynn Allison, The Literary Maven & Kristy, 2 Peas and a Dog are hosting #2ndaryELA on Twitter every Tuesday evening from 8 - 9 PM EST. #2ndaryELA is a weekly chat for secondary English Language Arts teachers focused on a topic. Every Sunday, we will post the topic and questions on our blogs to allow you to prepare for the upcoming Tuesday evening's chat. Thank you to everyone who joined us last week and we hope that you will join us again.

On Tuesday, October 6, our #2ndaryELA chat will focus on teaching the novel in the ELA classroom.

The Format:
8:00 Intros: What and where do you teach? Include a link to your blog if you have one. #2ndaryELA
8:05 Q1: How do you select a whole class novel or are your readings dictated by your school/curriculum? #2ndaryELA
8:15 Q2: Do you do your reading in class, out of class, or a mix of both? How do you hold students accountable for independent reading? #2ndaryELA
8:25 Q3: What are the most important skills for you to cover when reading a novel? #2ndaryELA
8:35 Q4: What types of activities & projects do students engage in during a novel unit? What is the end goal? #2ndaryELA
8:45 Q5: Share a resource for teaching a novel that you find invaluable (book, article, blog post, type of technology, etc.) #2ndaryELA

The Directions:
1. Log into Twitter on Tuesday from 8-9 PM EST.
2. Search for tweets with the hashtag #2ndaryELA in the search bar. Make sure to click “All tweets.”
3. Introductions are for the first 5 minutes.
4. Starting at 8:05 (@literarymaven or @2peasandadog) will post questions every 10 minutes using the format Q1, Q2, Q3, etc. and the hashtag #2ndaryELA.
5. Respond to questions using the format A1, A2, A3, etc. with #2ndaryELA.
6. Follow any teachers responding and who are also using #2ndaryELA.
7. Like and respond to other teachers' tweets.

You can schedule your responses to the questions ahead of time using a scheduler like TweetDeck or HootSuite (but don't forget to use A1, A2, etc. and #2ndaryELA). Links are encouraged, so be sure to use a link shortener like tinyurl, bitly, goo.gl or ow.ly Just visit one of those links and paste your long link to shorten it for Twitter. Using images is also encouraged when relevant.

New to chats? Here are the rules:
1. Stay on topic & stay positive!
2. Please do not post or promote paid products unless specifically asked.
3. If you arrive late, try to look through other posts before beginning.
4. Feel free to just read, like, and/or retweet.
5. Always use our hashtag #2ndaryELA, including in your replies to others.
6. Make sure your twitter feed is set to public. (Also keep in mind that Twitter is completely public – that means students, parents, and administrators can and will read what you tweet.)

Be sure to spread the word to any teacher friends who might be interested in joining us as well. We look forward to chatting with you Tuesday evening!
Get caught up on past chats here: