Different Kinds of Fruit

Juvenile fiction 

     "But I was more excited about the end of sixth grade than the beginning or middle.  I wanted to graduate, and get out.  The Lab was fine, but I was getting tired of fine.  

     Annabelle, narrator of Kyle Lukoff's Different Kinds of Fruit, is resigned to a boring year in her collaborative school.  Only she couldn't be more wrong.  A new sixth grade teacher is replacing the woman who's held that position longer than Anabelle has been alive.

     And then then for the first time in ages there's a new student, Bailey, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.  Annabelle thinks Bailey is the most amazing person she's ever met.  She's dismayed when her parents strongly discourage their friendship.

     Meanwhile at school controversy is brewing.  Amy, the new teacher, has decided to create a social studies curriculum centered on topics of student interest.  Dixon, a very conservative student, insists that they need to stick with ancient civilizations.  He gets his overbearing mother to pressure the principal to squash Amy's initiatives.

     The year Annabelle had expected to be boring is turning out to be dramatic and confusing.  She's got a lot to wrap her mind around in her coming of age narrative.  Luckily unexpected allies will be on hand to help.

On a purrrsonal note, this morning I am feeling frustrated.  Not as much so as last night before I had my raspberry hard lemonade.  But still.  It has to do with my sixth and final internship reflection.  I had gotten onto  my class Brightspace (If you have no clue what Brightspace is consider yourself lucky because you've obviously never had to use it) and was about to start a thread only I couldn't get beyond the fifth discussion.  I emailed the professor.  She emailed me that she thought she had fixed the problem.  The word thought should have given me pause.  The sensible thing to do would have been to let Olivia and Sierra, who probably started kindergarten knowing more than I do about computers go first.  I spent the night writing that just under 750 word reflection.  It would not let me post or even save as draft.  I lost the whole thing!!!  But this morning as I talked to friends their empathy and sharing of similar experiences has been making me feel less frustrated.  (Jules)

Computers can be frenemies.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to empathic friends.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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