Synopses & Reviews
In more than 50 essays, young people from a wide range of backgrounds reflect on how words from literature connect with and influence their lives, goals, and personal philosophies. The essays explore topics including suffering the death of a parent, facing a life-threatening illness, letting go of perfectionism, making friends, realizing goals, and grappling with questions of faith and sexuality. Books cited range from The Grapes of Wrath and The Great Gatsby to Twilight and Lord of the Rings. Each essay includes a brief biographical sketch letting the reader know where the essay writer is today.
Teachers, guidance counselors, and parents working with teens on personal essays— including for college applications—will find that the book presents a varied, intriguing group of essays to use as samples, models, and inspiration. Teachers of literature, writing, and language arts classes can also use these essays as a way to help teens explore literature—and their own responses to it—through writing. Following each essay are questions to prompt conversation, writing, and deeper consideration of the issues raised. The back matter includes tips and ideas for teachers and teens on how to use the book, including ways to use it as a jumping-off point for creating personal essays.
Review
“Bookmarked is an eloquent and moving tribute to the liberating power of the written word. These young students have discovered in books new ways of understanding themselves and their world and the kinds of future that books have helped make possible for them. It deserves to be read, not only for its own merits but as an inspiration for other readers—and their teachers.”—Dr. Edward Mendelson, professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University, and author of The Things That Matter: What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life
Review
“Listen to young thinkers responding to literature from the past 500 years with verve and insight, and I can promise you that you will be inspired. What do you have in common with a teenager whose life has been disrupted by parental drug use and poverty, or who worries about being muffled by wealth, or who has spent a life on the move between countries and cultures, or who has scarcely traveled? As it turns out, a lot. These insights about the ways literature works its magic on us go far beyond the writers’ lives.”—Dr. April Lidinsky, associate professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Indiana University South Bend, and WVPE public radio essayist
Review
“This powerful, moving collection offers a stunning reminder of how deeply young people are marked by books—how words can print themselves directly onto our hearts, as indelible as any tattoo. Bookmarked makes me think gratefully about the books that shaped me as a teen, and renews my sense of profound responsibility as a writer for people of all ages. Ann Camacho’s dedication to her students and the written word will inspire teachers to add more literature to their curricula and teens to pick up more books—and, as a result, lives will be changed.”—Gayle Brandeis, author of My Life with the Lincolns and the Bellwether Prize–winning The Book of Dead Birds
Review
“As a school board member, I often walk through a sea of young faces in high schools across our district, meeting students who seem to have life on a string. They are good students, making good grades, playing sports, and acting in school plays. Reading Bookmarked, I felt I was seeing these students for the first time. These essays opened my eyes to the issues, problems, successes, and aspirations of these young writers. Each essay is so different, yet they have one thing in common—the search for answers. The stories in this collection validate what any teenager might be feeling.”—Kathy Allavie, Riverside Unified School District
Review
“As a teacher, it’s difficult to teach students how to recognize an author’s voice, let alone teach them how to develop their own. Bookmarked captures the essence of the young writer’s voice. The student writing is insightful, sophisticated, and inspiring. Through their writing, we see how literary works are much more than stories; they are the bridges that help form connections to the world around us.”—Jonathan LeMaster, English teacher at El Cajon Valley High School, literacy consultant and cofounder of LiteracyTA.com
Review
"[A]ppealing to teachers looking for an example of a student essay . . . Libraries looking to support reflective writing in the English curriculum may also find this book useful."—School Library Journal
About the Author
Ann Camacho has been an English teacher for more than 20 years. She currently teaches American literature at North High School in Riverside, California. Her students (and the student body as a whole) are very diverse, and many are in the school’s International Baccalaureate program and/or AP classes. Ann also participates in the AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) college preparation program for students (often, but not always, from low-income homes) who have college aspirations but are falling short of their potential or who don’t believe college is within reach. She lives in Riverside, California.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Unregulated Friendliness: Ann Camacho
Chapter 1
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time given” —J.R.R. Tolkien
Essays on Beliefs and Ideals
Be the Change: Sameer Patel
The Measure You Give: Julio Sanchez
A Piece of Fruit: Andreea Tanase
A Hot Bath: Emili Lamph
No Royal Road: Karisa Booth
Man’s First Duty: James Roose
Common Sense Rounded Out: Sebastian Chiu
God Himself: Thomas Assali
Our Choices: Raymond Yeung
It Lights the Way: Koutibah Chihabi
All We Have to Decide: Greg Hice
And So . . . Questions for Reflection, Discussion, and Writing
Chapter 2
“S’pose you didn’t have nobody?” —John Steinbeck
Essays on Family, Friends, and Love
Miles to Go: Anthony Accuar
By Any Other Name: Jessica Trumble
So Little: Asma Patel
Am I Making Sense?: Alex Smith
Most of the Time: Saad Patel
See It Through: Rachele Honcharik
Good Is Good: Stephanie Treen
Gone Away: Akhila Pamula
The Whole Damn Bunch!: Michelle Lu
Honest Doubt: Yadira Navarro
Nobody: Zerka Wadood
And So . . . Questions for Reflection, Discussion, and Writing
Chapter 3
“Braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” —A.A. Milne
Essays on Hard Times and Hope
The World Belongs to You: Nooreya Shenghur
Only a Half Step: Roxanna Mohrdar
Words Are No Good: John Joanino
Nothing Beats a Failure: Archeé McDonald
Before I Met the Monster: Kristine Gierz
My Mother Is a Fish: Desiree Rogers
The Rest of the World: Kaylee Rangel
The Time of Your Life Jaclyn: Allavie
Where Is Your God?: Rickey Weaver
To Be or Not to Be: Ashleigh Greenstreet
Braver than You Believe: Vanessa Cazares
And So . . . Questions for Reflection, Discussion, and Writing
Chapter 4
“I am a red balloon.” —Sandra Cisneros
Essays on Identity and Self
A Matter of Infinite Hope: Jimmy Kollar
What Suits You: Adam Fletcher
Climb Into His Skin: Pricilla Nguyen
Different Drummer: Cory Scott
From a Single Spark: Zerghona Wadood
Place by the Window: A.J. Almaguer
When the Light Turns: Blue Ricky Dama
Majority Rule: Paul Gierz
Beautiful Fool: Kelly Nielsen
Shine Like Stars: Hsuanwei Fan
I Am a Red Balloon: Derek Ignatius
And So . . . Questions for Reflection, Discussion, and Writing
Chapter 5
“And did you dream of anything?” —Aldous Huxley
Essays on Goals, Dreams, and the Future
Watcher of the Skies: Quentin Burns
Reach Down and Take It: Max Baugh
Between the Tedious Spaces: Dina Assali
The Lost Game: Hongyu Chen
Missions Are Stupid: Sushana Ullah
Undirected: Andi Christmas
After the Spotlight: David Hunt
Good Luck!: Jeong Choi
Life Is Always a Sketch: Trent Smith
You’ll Move Mountains: I. Obi Emeruwa
Did You Dream?: Javier Moya
And So . . . Questions for Reflection, Discussion, and Writing
How to Use This Book—A Guide for Teachers and Leaders