Sarah Dessen was Forgotten?

I can't believe it was drawn to my attention today that Sarah Dessen was dissed on our site! She's an incredible author! She motivates students to read, she identifies with the wicked, icky, teenage side in all of us...and puts it in beautiful prose. Thank you Ms. Dessen for being a favorite author to my students, and thank you for getting the reluctant teenage reader on a roll. We truly appreciate you in Ms. Lalk's class, and according to M. H. I am waaaaay wrong for not having included you earlier, so I sincerely apologize.

Human Nature in the Bones

We talked about the human nature when we discussed what Captain Werz said when he came to Pond Bluff. Why would people bring picnic baskets, ride trains, buy tickets to see the prisoners of war at Andersonville? What is it about human nature that could make someone so interested in something so vile? Were they excited to see humans suffering, humans who fought against their side of the war suffering, or was it just like a train wreck--they couldn't look away? What are your thoughts?