Title: Happy Valley Starring: Sarah Lancashire and Siobhan Finneran First aired: April 2014–March 2016 (BBC) Where you can watch it: Netflix, Amazon One of the most absorbing and wrenching cop shows I’ve seen in years, the ironically named Happy Valley is set in a West Yorkshire town where it sometimes seems as though half the population is trying […]
Finally, the action in Fillory starts to feel like more than filler! This was one of those episodes where everything that happened seemed vitally important to every plot point that’s come before, so let’s unpack some things and dive in. Coconut Oil and Trufies After King Idri shows up for the royal wedding to Eliot […]
While we don’t get to see Jane Chatwin again in this episode, she’s left quite the indelible mark on these magicians. This episode calls back to the idea that everyone has been living out 39 different instances of the story line (courtesy of Jane), and in this specific instance, they have limitations that are preventing […]
This was a most excellent episode! It brought all the main characters together in one coherent storyline with a singular goal: Rob a bank. Magic can’t solve every problem—like paying a million dollars in gold to magical exorcists that work out of a butcher shop (Julia has to do more than merely abort Reynard’s baby now that he’s […]
Due to an unforeseen cable / internet outage, last week’s episode has been lost to the mists of time. MOVING ON, let’s catch up! There are three main stories happening this week in which everyone is trying to right a wrong. Quentin is attempting to resurrect Alice, while Julia and Kady are plotting to get rid of […]
And so it goes. Everyone is devastated over Alice’s death, none more so than Quentin. And the whole episode feels both full of anticipation and a little deflated, due to the Beast’s death and the disappearance of Reynaud. Now the real adulting begins. Fillory might be a fantasy world, but it’s not always fantastic. The bad […]
Well, that ended badly. The show has cast off predictability to throw a major wrench in the beginning of season two, leaving fans stunned and confused. Let’s see what happened—but first, a warning of spoilers ahead: When Quentin, Alice, Penny, and Margo return from Brakebills to Fillory, they find Eliot acting very strangely. In turn, […]
Meanwhile, back in Fillory. . . I love starting with Eliot because he’s really coming into his own as High King. I predict great things from Hale Appleman in season two! Currently, my status is: not disappointed. Apparently, magic is being sucked out of Fillory, with Fillorian crops as collateral damage. The peasants are used […]
Oh, hey fellow Brakebills students. . . Where did we leave off? Eliot and Margo are now the High King and High Queen of Fillory. Alice and Quentin are King and Queen as well. (Four rulers seems like a mess to me, but, you know, it’s drawing off the Narnia mythology here.) Oh, and Eliot […]
Warning: this post contains spoilers for and will mean nothing to those who haven’t watched the season finale of Westworld. Proceed at your own risk! Ready to wake up, Dolores? There’s a reason Arnold named you Dolores, you know. Dolor means suffering in Latin. But it can also be interpreted as resentment—and you have a lot […]
Encouraging Middle-Schoolers to Choose Books
There’s been a lot of discussion among the librarians I know about what to do with middle-schoolers: they just don’t seem to read as much as they used to. I know that here in Chicago, we have a unique perspective on this situation, since our schools run K–8. In my former school system in Maryland […]
Getting Started with the Global Read Aloud
The 2017 Global Read Aloud kicked off yesterday, and I’m here to help. Author and educator Pernille Ripp founded the program as a way to connect students and teachers from different locales around the topics of books. (Think One Book One School or One Book One City, but on a global scale.) Each year, Ripp […]
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Practice Recognizing Fake News
Cindy: There have been a number of YA fiction books with the title “Two Truths and a Lie,” but we’ve found a creative, informational book for middle-grade students that reinforces evaluating information for truth. Fake news, anyone? Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive (2017) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson is the first […]
Encouraging Middle-Schoolers to Choose Books
There’s been a lot of discussion among the librarians I know about what to do with middle-schoolers: they just don’t seem to read as much as they used to. I know that here in Chicago, we have a unique perspective on this situation, since our schools run K–8. In my former school system in Maryland […]
Getting Started with the Global Read Aloud
The 2017 Global Read Aloud kicked off yesterday, and I’m here to help. Author and educator Pernille Ripp founded the program as a way to connect students and teachers from different locales around the topics of books. (Think One Book One School or One Book One City, but on a global scale.) Each year, Ripp […]
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Practice Recognizing Fake News
Cindy: There have been a number of YA fiction books with the title “Two Truths and a Lie,” but we’ve found a creative, informational book for middle-grade students that reinforces evaluating information for truth. Fake news, anyone? Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive (2017) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson is the first […]
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