An Ember in the Ashes

A day of activities in the atrium of the library.

This is a bleak weekend. The public libraries - all of them - are closed in observance of Veteran's Day. Thank heaven for the University library, which stays open as a stalwart of study in an otherwise barren landscape of non-literary activity. 

Actually, I shouldn't limit the library to literary activity. It's culture in action. Culture is created at the library. Kids explore, people read, discuss, try out, create. It's bloody marvelous. 

Forgive my British-ism. It's a symptom of the two British voices I've been listening to all week, those that narrate the enthralling YA book I have on audio fromAn Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. It's one of the titles made available to my students through a Donor's Choose grant which paid for a few dozen books with main characters of color. 
aforementioned magnificent library. It's called

If someone had told me a year ago that I'd be neglecting other tasks, people, and activities in order to listen to fantasy teen fiction, I think I would have pursued the oracle at Delphi to find out if it were true. Well, folks, the truth stands. The book is the first in a series of three. Set in a world with rigid castes - "scholars" on the bottom, "martials" at the top, and several subdivisions in between - there is a contest to determine who the next emperor will be. Two of the four "aspirants" to the position, Helene and Elias, are best friends and fight to save each others' lives as they face trials which make my stomach clench as I listen. 

An intertwining story, told by Laia, a "scholar" slave, involves her work as a spy against for The Resistance which is trying to empower the scholar class. Her brother has been taken captive and she serves in the house of the demonic headmistress of the most revered Martial school in the land. She holds significant power, but Laia finds out she's also working for someone even more powerful. Laia must stay under the radar while she sleuths for valuable information, and siphon it to The Resistance, in return for which they pledge to save her brother from death at the hands of the Martials, who suspect him of treason...

Thrilling stuff. 

In classroom news, students wrote about their home cultures and the meals they prepare with their families this week. We read Amy Tan's Fish Cheeks, and talked about what makes forays into foreign cultures so interesting. I'm already thinking of one hundred things I would do differently if I did these lessons again. Next week we're looking at rap lyrics as a form of narrative, using this song by The Coup to ground our conversation.