Our Voices Matter

Once in a while, we are able to directly connect our kids' learning and voice to the global community. Recently, we were active on our Teen Lit Review Twitter page when a tweet came in. An author, K. J. McPike, asked if one of our reviewers would give her book, Xodus, a review. We immediately agreed and she sent us a copy. The book was only available for pre-order on Amazon since its official release date was the next week.

The kids were stoked. A published author was asking them to review her book? Well, that awesome! When I presented the opportunity to the kids, a half dozen hands immediately shot up. They wanted to read and review the book.

The day the book came to school, I opened the package in class and gave the book to the first student in the queue, Emily. She has reviewed books in the past and has done a great job. Her reviews are funny, clever and well-written. Her reviewer pseudonym is E. M. Wolf.

Today, E. M. Wolf shared her review of Xodus. I posted the review to the Teen Lit Review immediately, tweeted out the link to our followers and, within ninety minutes, we had 45 page views of that review. Certainly this event is evidence that our kids have a voice and others want to hear their thoughts and opinions. When a published author solicits our kids' opinions, it really boosts their self-image.

Those who want to see some great thinking by teens about YA Lit should subscribe to the Teen Lit Review and follow them on Twitter (@teenlitreview).