Margin Notes

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is a raw, tender reflection of being a newcomer, being a queer youth, and the complicated love between a son and his mother. This novel is styled as a letter written by a son to his illiterate mother; as you read, you feel as if you’d opened someone else’s mail on accident, as the narrator reveals intimate moments of his adolescence which he knows his mother cannot read. Vuong mixes prose with poetry, providing a large scope of opportunity for classroom discussion. The narrator explores his identity and the external social forces that shape who he is, a topic everyone, particularly high schoolers, may relate to.

Themes covered include masculinity, race, class, and intergenerational trauma. This novel is written quite accessibly and may be of interest to students interested in gender and masculinity, poetry, queerness, immigrant experience, and novels that are written as auto-fiction. CW: addiction, death, parental abuse.

Bradley Gamble (he/him) is a Bachelor of Education student at UNB. He is passionate about advocacy, harm reduction, and learning through dialogue. He is interested in poetry, postmodernism, and pop music.

There is no better way to spend a grey and rainy afternoon than with a thriller that at-once keeps you at the edge of your seat, while also exploring themes of identity, feminism, coming-of-age and the concept of survival in the young lives of teenagers. The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe follows the story of Nora O’Malley, the daughter of a con-artist, who finds herself trapped inside of a bank during a robbery. To make matters even more interesting, she is joined in this fiasco by both her current girlfriend and her ex-boyfriend.

Growing up as her mother’s protégé, Nora has assisted in her cons by embodying the perfectly constructed daughter to pair with each perfectly constructed con, never truly being able to be her true self, raising the question of “who is Nora O’Malley?”. Through her mother’s antics, Nora has become highly skilled in the art of con and combines her skills with her powers of persuasion in an attempt to free herself and her friends during the hostage situation at the bank. The book follows a non-linear format, primarily taking place over the course of a few hours in present-day. Additionally, it explores Nora’s past through the five girls that she has adopted as herself over the course of her life, shedding light on the lessons and consequences that arise from each.

Some content warnings should be mentioned for this novel, including violence, abuse, assault and death. This story will soon be adapted into a Netflix original thriller, starring Stranger Things actress, Millie Bobby Brown.

Taylor Floris is an aspiring English and Business teacher, currently completing her Bachelor of Education degree from the University of New Brunswick. On her spare time, she can be found cozied up, with a coffee in-hand, indulged into the life of fiction and poetry.

Picture books are delightful. I can’t get enough of them (which proves that there is no age limit for enjoying picture books). Here are some great non-fiction titles that are all available on SORA. I encourage you to read them aloud to your students. You never know what conversations might be sparked, and what insights might be found.

Two and a half miles down the pitch-black, flooded cave of Tham Luang, Thailand, a local boys soccer team (aged 11-16) and their assistant coach were trapped for 18 days (most of that time without food). They were found and rescued by being anesthetized and guided out individually by a team of cave divers.

Christina Soontornvat’s book All Thirteen reveals how an international team of experts and amateurs, Navy SEALs and local villagers, citizens and stateless people, came together in 2018 to make the impossible possible. Battling torrential rains, floods, stalagmites, darkness, cultural differences and skepticism, the team accomplished rescuing ‘all thirteen’ and doing something that had never been done before: a cave-diving rescue. This story shows us that when we work together, plan carefully, practice meticulously, act decisively and take risks instinctually, we can make miracles happen. Highly informative, All Thirteen also shares an in-depth analyses of professions like caving, diving, geology and search and rescue while also introducing the reader to Thailand, exploring its cultures, economy, geography and social issues.

Soontornvat weaves all of this into a thought-provoking, suspenseful narrative, following the dual perspectives of the rescuers on the surface and the boys’ experiences underground. What this does is not only humanize the event but also highlights the boys’ resolve, showing that we must never underestimate the will of children. An informative read covering many interests, along with a nail-bitingly engaging style, this book may appeal to the non-fiction readers in your class or students who want to learn more about world events. It’s worth noting that the book does contain mature subjects like suicide, xenophobia, death and starvation, therefore, it may be prudent to recommend this title to readers in your class who are ready for such content.

The recommendation’s author, Ryan Cormier, is currently a Bachelor of Education student, studying at the University of New Brunswick. He originally hails from Bathurst, New Brunswick but has hung his hat in many different places over the years.

Lockhart’s new book is the prequel to her wildly popular We Were Liars and takes place decades earlier. Although it contains a few spoilers for We Were Liars, it is thoroughly entertaining and may engage both readers who are new to the Sinclair family, or readers who want to dive back into their family dynamics.

The Sinclair family dynamics involve pride, refinement, old and dirty money, tough-love, and the tendency to repress emotion after tragedy. We see this cause tension when the narrator, Carrie, is struggling with a recent death; she detests how everyone acts like they have already forgotten what happened. Thus begins her summer: alone with her pain and moving back for the next few months to the island her father and uncle own, which is also the location of the loved one’s drowning. However, despite her ideas of how the summer will proceed, the usual routine is disrupted when her cousin brings along a few boys that are Carrie’s age.

The novel has a satisfyingly dark ambiance and would be a good recommendation for students who enjoy plot twists and unreliable narrators. It is important to bear in mind while recommending it that the story contains one short mention of self-harm, a character with a narcotics addiction, and the death of a sibling.

Breaking away from the tougher subjects, I also believe that as someone who is not normally drawn to suspense-filled books, there are a multitude of themes within Family of Liars to engage many readers. For example, as a foodie I appreciated the author’s descriptions of flavours, scents, and textures. Lockhart makes one nostalgic for food memories that are not even one’s own. Moreover, tiny bits of poetry often end the chapters. This would be appreciated by students who love poetry or a nice little dose for more reluctant poetry readers, as it does not disrupt the overall flow of the novel and is used fairly sparingly but with great effect.

Finally, if there are any readers that are particularly fond of the recent Netflix series The Summer I Turned Pretty, based on the books by Jenny Han, this would be the perfect story to continue them on their reading journeys. There are gorgeous, grey-shingled houses, Fourth of July celebrations, and a Massachusetts beachy-feel, not to mention an overflow of romantic tension.

Chanelle Coates is a B.Ed student at the University of New Brunswick who loves reading, writing, and talking about both.