Review: My Body, My Soul: One Woman’s Journey to Reclaim Both

 

Vandee Crane’s memoir, My Body, My Soul, is a raw and unapologetic account of her tragic childhood, and how those horrible experiences led her to be the loving person she is today.  Watching her own mother go down the path of drug addiction threw Vandee into a dark world without any protection when she was only 9 years old.  By the age of 16, Vandee has experienced drug and alcohol addiction, living on the streets, rape, sex trafficking, abusive relationships, episodes of PTSD, and multiple suicide attempts.  Any one of these incidents could have been the point of no return.  Yet after each suicide attempt or drug overdose, Vandee survives.  After being raped on the street, Vandee survives.  After being beat by an abusive boyfriend, Vandee survives. As she often repeats in this memoir, the “Creator” must not have been finished with her yet.  

 The style in which the story is told is not linear, but it is fluid.  The first person narrative draws the readers into Vandee’s crazy world.  One keeps reading for the sheer disbelief of what the author has faced, and how she has come through all of that adversity to become a productive member of society.  Vandee breaks the cycle of ancestral trauma and creates a life of positivity and healing.  With a college degree and a certification as a kundalini yoga instructor, the author of this memoir is now able to help other survivors.  She also has established a foundation, Rise in Love, whose mission is to support individuals, families, and communities during their healing processes.  However, none of this was easy.  She had to work hard, most of the time taking one step forward and two steps back.  Vandee has an amazing story, and this reader could not put her copy of the book down.  Therefore, My Body, My Soul is highly recommended to those who love memoirs or tragedy-to-triumph stories.

 

2021 Summer Reading Library Guide

With the end of another year comes the promotion of summer reading.  Studies show that the evidence is clear. "Children do forget skills and knowledge learned in the previous school year. But if families and educators encourage kids to stay engaged in learning throughout the summer, students may not only maintain, but improve their knowledge." (Psychology Today, 2017)

In order to combat the "backslide," I do my best to promote summer reading.  Usually I like to schedule an event where I give away books and do fun contests, but this year is different.  I'm really tired of saying that, but it's true.  I am so ready to put COVID-19 behind us, and I think we are close.  In fact, it looks like our libraries in MISD will be fully operational next year. (*keeping my fingers crossed*)

So this year, I am promoting summer reading the safe way by adding the 2021 Summer Reading Library Guide to the morning announcements, our principal's weekly email to the parents, my social media posts, my Canvas page, and then I am also emailing the teachers the link to the guide so they can promote it in class.

The guide itself actually came from our lead librarian, Pam.  However, she graciously shared it with us to edit and adapt as we saw fit.  That was too nice of her because there was a lot that went into this library guide.  So thank you again Pam Pinkerton!

This guide has a little bit of everything.  It contains the official letter from our curriculum department about summer reading; it contains all of our eBook platforms, and it also contains a link to all of the area public libraries and their summer programs.  There is even a short video explaining how to use the reading guide, and how to join the library Canvas Course.  It's a one-stop shopping experience.

What your summer reading plan?