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Ms. Katie Storms
“If one tree fruits, they all fruit—there are no soloists. Not one tree on a grove, but the whole grove; not one grove in the forest, but every grove; all across the country and all across the state. The trees act not as individuals, but somehow as a collective. Exactly how they do this, we don’t yet know. But what we see is the power of unity. What happens to one happens to all of us. We can starve together or feast together. All flourishing is mutual.”
–Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
About Me:When I’m not reading or writing, you can find me creating art, running the roads in my neighborhood, listening to music, hiking in the mountains, or singing lullabies and reading stories with my daughters. And maybe drinking too much coffee. I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri—I even worked for the Kansas City Royals for eight years when I was a teenager. Then I moved on to Kirksville to earn my BA in English and my MA in Secondary English Education. I currently reside in St. Louis with my husband, Johnny, and my daughters, Penelope Belle and Della Irene. I teach College Prep English One, Time Travel, and Social Issues at Clayton High School in St. Louis.We Read to Grow in Head and HeartI have always loved reading…from the moment I read Maniac Magee over and over and over, I’ve always found comfort in falling into a story. Over the years, I’ve fallen into many stories. Stories that made me think: Complex books about complex topics. And beautiful books about beautiful topics.
And if you asked me to tell you my favorite novels, I'd start with a list something like this:
LaRose by Louise Erdrich
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Claire of the Sealight by Edwidge Danticat
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Half a Yellow Sun by Chimanda Ngozi Adiche
The Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
Counting Descent by Clint Smith
Electric Arches by Eve L. Ewing
Good Morning, Goodnight by Lin Manual-Miranda
Where to Begin by Cleo Wade
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Just Kids by Patti Smith
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Kimmerer
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The North Woods by Daniel Mason
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorow by Gabrielle Zevin
Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Tom Lake by Anne Patchett
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
IQ84 by Harukui Murakami
Never Let Me Go by Kazou Ishiguro
and Klara and the Sun by Kazou Ishiguro
Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin
The Afrominimalist by Christine Platt
Stay True by Hua Hsu
Carry by Toni Jensen
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
Beartown by Frederick Backman
There, There by Tommy Orange
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
Citizen by Claudia Rainke
Black Girl Baking by Jerrelle Guy
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimanda Ngozi Adiche
Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai
Rosewater and Orange Blossoms by Maureen Abood
Bel Canto by Anne Patchett
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Pachinko by Min Jim Lee
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
…..my list can go on forever, and I am always asking friends, family, students, and families for new titles.
