Reviews of The Way I See It Series
Read real-world reviews of The Way I See It series from teachers, critics, and reluctant readers.
Featured Teacher Review
One Teachers Story
“The Way I See It series has been a much-needed addition to my Multilingual Learner classroom. With many of my students on a 3rd grade reading level, students have been able to read, follow along, and comprehend the stories. The books deal with real-life high school issues that my students face and can relate to. LB Tillit does an amazing job at tackling difficult issues and breaking down stereotypes. The series is written so well that my students are always very upset to find out that the characters are not real.”
How do you implement the free reading guides?
“The reading guides provided are helpful in determining which vocabulary I am going to focus on and the questions that can be discussed at the end of each chapter. At the end of each chapter, I have students pull up a group translating room and we discuss the text and any questions they might have. Students are engaged with the text and invested in the characters throughout the story. For example, a lively discussion took place after Zonta’s numerous texts to Ozzie and I even received a round of applause after reading a chapter. Students have shared with me that they are happy to have a text that they can understand and is still interesting and enjoyable to read.”
What key concepts have you successfully taught while using the series?
“I have students track concepts like conflict, theme, character traits, and character change throughout the text and have them create a one-pager to showcase their learning at the end.”
Any final thoughts?
“I am so happy to have found these amazing resources and recommend them to all high school ML and SPED teachers.”
What's Your Story? Teachers Love to Hear From Other Teachers
If you would like to share your story and/or strategies for implementing The Way I See It series
that work for your students, please reach out to us at contact@myeasyreadbooks.com.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Reviews From Teachers & TESOL Instructors
I Can See the Impact it Will Make For Teenagers
I appreciate the rich research you have done to bring the characters to life and remain authentic to their voices. I can see the impact it will make for teenagers who relate to Emma’s journey of navigating anger, identity, and relationships by speaking up for herself and learning to trust people that care about her. I also gained a better understanding of the struggle establishing self-affirming images of being Chinese American among the expectations and stereotypes.
Highly recommend these books!
L.B. Tillit’s new books not only fit into the unique category of being high-interest novels with accessible readability levels, but they also teach important life lessons to adolescents. As students engage in reading the series, they improve their reading skills without realizing that they are doing so! The magic is in the teen readers being able to follow the lives of other teenagers who face challenges, go through struggles similar to theirs, yet ultimately figure out ways to overcome them! Highly recommend these books!
Literary Reviews
A Gritty But Hopeful Coming-of-Age Novel
Tillit manages to cover a surprising amount of ground in this slim tome, not only developing Blake as a character but also subtly including references to previous installments without losing new readers. . . Readers will likely find themselves engaged with Blake’s personal journey, and other characters’ plotlines are equally compelling, resulting in a gritty but hopeful coming-of-age novel. . . An issue-driven story that ably grapples with the harsh realities of adolescence.
A Mosaic of Teenage Perspective
“The author’s series aims to present a mosaic of teenage perspectives as students grapple with the gritty challenges of life at Hancock High, tackling weighty societal issues like poverty, prejudice, abuse, harassment, and racial tensions . . . The prose is basic but effectively captures Zonta’s struggles, and her frustration at being misunderstood is palpable . . .”
A thoughtful tale of finding hope
In the interactions of these various characters, Tillit effectively addresses such issues as bigotry, homelessness, and mental health . . . Over the course of this novel, Tillit deftly weaves a story of hope into an account of typical high school challenges . . . Overall, the story is engaging without being preachy, which will appeal to many YA readers. . . A thoughtful tale of finding hope amid life’s trials.
Reviews From Reluctant Readers
I LOVE your books!
I don’t even like to read, lol, but I LOVE your books!
Highly Recommended to Those Who Struggle With Reading
“This book gives me a great perspective on how I should go about treating others instead of bunching people together (in the sense of how I go about talking with people). Context plays a big role in this book and shines a light on those who struggle with interacting on a human level rather than giving basic conversation. Highly recommended to those who struggle with reading and keeping up with a book as I haven’t picked up a book in YEARS! Easy read and the big font helps when I’m reading at night.”
This Book Was So Good
As a person who isn’t fond of reading, this book was so good. I related to Ozzie lot in the sense of him holding down his emotions/telling people how he really felt.. . . The book itself is an easy read and as a person who isn’t fond of reading the chapters were short enough that I didn’t feel like I was missing out . . .”
Reviews From Those Who Have Been There
Lilly is a Must-Read
As someone who has lived through the struggles of homelessness and now serves as the Executive Director of a homeless shelter, I found Lilly to be an unflinchingly honest and deeply moving portrayal of life on the margins . . . This book is not just a story; it is a mirror. It reflects back the experiences of so many individuals whose voices are rarely amplified. . . For anyone who wants to truly grasp what homelessness feels like—not as a statistic, but as a lived experience—Lilly is a must-read.
Mateo’s Story Hits Close to Home
Mateo’s story hits close to home, seeing that I was one who ‘played the background’ when it came to confronting issues with family/friends. Reading his story gave me insight to consequences of not speaking up/out at things that made me uncomfortable or that didn’t align with my views. Being passive or not acting on situations can affect those around me. Mateo’s book gave me more understanding on when to speak up and when things make me uneasy to find a solution instead of letting it just happen.