Taking Flight by Michaela DePrince with Elaine DePrinc

From eighteen year-old Michaela DePrince comes a memoir which will be of interest to students seeking true stories of survival and triumph.  The DePrince co-authors (mother and daughter) use simple and accessible language to tell Michaela’s tale of her early life in Sierra Leone during the country’s violent conflict.  Orphaned at age three and adopted by the American DePrince family at age four, Michaela relays what she can remember about her experiences as a bright little girl, her biological parents’ only child, born with vitiligo and a precocious ability with languages.  That little girl survived abuse as an orphan, and her memoir spends a fair amount of time narrating her difficult early years and her incredible survival and adjustment to life in the United States.  Readers will be heartened as they follow Michaela’s pursuit of her dream to become a professional ballet dancer and interested to learn about the challenges and obstacles she has overcome and those she still faces dancing in the U.S. (she is currently pursuing her dreams in Europe).  Social Studies teachers may find the initial chapters of the book a useful supplement in its firsthand account of a child’s experience during Sierra Leone’s civil war.  Recommended for independent reading for middle school girls. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Discover an interview with the co-authors published in Justine Magazine here.  (Thank you, Regan!)  Read an excerpt published in Teen Vogue here.

DePrince, Michaela and Elaine DePrince.  Taking Flight.  New York: Random House, 2014. Print.

Sneak Preview: Carmen by Walter Dean Myers

This urban retelling of the tale of a beautiful and sensuous woman who has a strong loyalty to her people and a deep need to be free will resonate, thematically, with readers who have felt the pull of loyalty vs. the law. Myers dusts off the classic Carmen, often found these days in opera houses and ballet performances, and brings it to life in East Harlem, with a cast of over 20 characters-- perfect for a classroom reading. The play, which is broken up into two acts with two scenes per act, promises to lend itself to a week long unit in an ELA class at just over 100 pages.

I was lucky enough to pick up a free advanced uncorrected proof of this title at the ALA mid-winter meeting in San Diego earlier this month. Because that means that none of our students have read the book yet, I can’t tell you with any accuracy how they’ll respond. I can just say, without giving away too much, that readers who found themselves hooked on the form of Monster and Riot have something to look forward to on April 26th, 2011 (publication date) or whenever it makes its way into their libraries. In the meantime: has anyone seen the Spanish film by the same name starring Paz Vega? I’d love to hear if there are any clips that would pair well for a class. This would be a nice read to contrast with Street Love by the same author.

Myers, Walter Dean. Carmen. New York: Egmont, 2011.