It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I didn't go into #bookaday thinking I'd actually read a book a day but I'm actually close to having read a book a day and they are longer books that I've been hoping to read for a while. Here is this week's reading. It has been so nice to catch up. I think I'll end 2013 totally behind in my reading life, but at least I got back to it over break.

So glad that Jen and Kellee created this great Monday blog tradition. Visit their blogs for the link-ups!

Fangirl is definitely one of my favorite books of the year.  For days after I finished, I kept thinking about the characters and wishing I wasn't finished.  I read it in 2 sittings (night before bed and early, early morning.)  A great read. I read Eleanor and Park earlier this year and loved it.  This one is just as wonderful in a very different way  Rainbow Rowell is my new author hero.  So glad to have discovered her in 2013!

Africa Is My Home: A Child of the Amistad by Monica Edinger was another highlight of my reading week.    I have to admit that I knew very little about the Amistad but Monica Edinger made me care deeply about this event in history and the children who were involved. A fascinating story that I am so glad to have read.  It is probably one I will reread as it is amazingly brilliant.

I met author Erin Soderberg at #ncte13. Because I've been so far behind on my reading, her new book The Quirks: Welcome to Normal has been on my stack.  I ended up reading it as one of my #bookaday books and loved it. It is a fun new series about a family with unique "quirks".  They move to a very normal town and try to fit in. This book had everything in it that I loved about stories when I was younger.  That whole idea that something magical could be happening. The Littles, The Borrowers, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, I Dream of Jeanie, Escape to Witch Mountain and Bewitched were some of my favorite. I got that same feeling when I read this--loving the idea that someone I know may have magical powers! This is a new series and the 2nd is due out in February.  I think it is perfect for grades 3 and 4. I can't wait to share this one with my students!

Cold Spell (Fairy Tale Retelling) by Jackson Pearce --I love fairy tales, especially Snow Queen books since I read Breadcrumbs.  This is a fun YA version of the Snow Queen and it was a fun, quick read!  I'll definitely read more by this author.

And right now, I am in the middle of Winger . Amazing read. I wasn't able to read it in a day but I am loving it and so glad I fit it in over break!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading

Love this Monday tradition hosted by Teach Mentor Texts. Visit their blog to see what others are reading this week!

I'm only kind of doing Holiday #bookaday this year. I am hopeful, but the way 2013 has gone with meeting goals, I am realistic that it might not happen.  16 days off would mean 16 books. We'll see.   Some I am dying to read are very long (like Goldfinch) so I may give up on #bookaday just to read books I love. But I started out with #bookaday because I love it and we'll see where it take me. Here is how it's gone so far:

Odette's Secrets is a great novel in verse. A great addition to any collection of Holocaust books for children. This one is based on a true story and is accessible for upper elementary/middle grade students.

Ivy in the Shadows seems to be a good story for middle school kids. Ivy is going through a hard time as her father just left and her mother has to find a full-time job. Lots of real life middle school issues in this one but nothing too big.

Wolf and Dog (Gecko Press Titles) is a novel in verse about two friends. This book--the story, the friendship and the voice--reminded me a bit of Frog and Toad.

The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way is one I am listening to, so it may take me a while. But this is a fascinating read in that it is told in a kind of narrative--in a way that helps us see the differences between US's educational system and others.  It follows three American exchange students and we learn different things from each one.  So glad I discovered this one.

#holidaybookaday update

My goal was 16 books and I only read 12, but considering everything else on my to-do list that I accomplished over break I'm pretty pleased.

Yes, a quarter of the books were graphic novels. Thank you, Nerdies Nominations for getting me caught up on the best GNs for 2012! How have I missed the work of Doug TenNapel? I enjoyed Bad Island, but wow -- Ghostopolis and Cardboard. Wow.

May B. took me right back home to the dry flatlands of Eastern Colorado/Western Kansas! I have this thing for sod houses...seeing as my dad was born in one! And my uncle has a pasture that is unbroken prairie, and there are still ruts from the wagonwheels of the covered wagons of the westward movement carved into the land!

My Santa Brother sent two new (old) books of poetry for my Signatures of the Poets Laureate collection -- Maxine Kumin (which I read) and Charles Simic (still on the TBR pile). Other posts here and here and here about this collection.

And finally, not appearing yet in Goodreads, Santa brought me the entire Series of Unfortunate Events. It seems appropriate in a year ending with 13, that one of my reading goals for the year is to re-read the entire series!

THE CARDTURNER by Louis Sachar

The Cardturner by Louis Sachar
Delacorte Press, 2010
review copy provided by the publisher

My mom is a bridge player. When I received this review copy, I immediately sent it to her to get her opinion. I told her she could share it with her book-loving bridge-playing friends as long as she always knew where it was and could send it back to me if I needed it. She loved it. 8-10 other ladies in my hometown area (not all bridge players) have read it, too. They didn't all love it (one had a problem with the profanity, but the best anyone can tell, and I think my mom reread the whole book to try to find all the profanity, Alton says "Jesus Christ" once in the book -- and I just found a hell; and one didn't think it was well-written) but one lady who is on the library board is going to recommend it for purchase for the public library, and one of Mom's best friends is going to read it one more time before she gives it to her bridge-loving middle school-aged grandson.

It seemed perfect to finally read this book while I was home visiting Mom. Even though I've grown up around bridge playing, I still nodded knowingly when Alton's friend Cliff describes bridge as "a card game little old ladies played while eating chocolate-covered raisins." I remember those raisins well. And that's about how deep my knowledge of bridge goes.

Here's the surprising thing -- as much as Mom and her bridge-playing friends loved this book as insiders with a deep knowledge of bridge, I loved it as an outsider with a shallow, chocolate-covered raisin knowledge of bridge.

How did Louis Sachar do this? How did he write a book about bridge that is accessible to all? He had two aces up his sleeve (and I AM aware that that's the wrong card game metaphor, but at least it's a card game metaphor):

1. Great characters.

Although the plot of the book is driven by the game of bridge, Alton is a funny, likable main character who speaks directly to the reader. He starts the book with zero knowledge of bridge, so readers like me do not feel alienated from the very first page. Alton's great-uncle Trapp, the blind bridge player for whom Alton turns cards, is a complicated man -- cranky and particular, philosophical and funny, miserly with compliments but generous with the wealth he's accumulated...generous in cranky, particular, philosophical and funny ways. Alton's parents are complete creeps -- money-hungry, greedy creeps. Think Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. Alton's 11 year-old sister needs her own book so she can really shine, and there's a love-triangle sub-plot featuring Alton, his friend Cliff, and schizophrenic Toni. (I know that sounded flip, "schizophrenic Toni," so I should say that even though Sachar needs a character who hears voices in her head to drive the bridge plot at the end of the story, his treatment of a schizophrenic character is very respectful -- think Schneider Honor Book good.)

2. Permission to skip the complicated explanations of bridge.

I love it that Louis Sachar gives us permission to do what good readers already do -- skip the parts that don't make sense to us as long as we hold onto the main story line. He gives the reader a whale symbol (it's a reference to using this reading strategy with Moby Dick) when he's going to tell the details behind the bridge plays in the story. I mostly took him up on skipping -- or at least skimming -- those parts, but the writing was so entertaining that I didn't want to miss anything by skipping them entirely. That's good writing. Sachar also got me hook, line, and sinker (I know, I know...it's a fishing metaphor, not a card-playing metaphor) with his imaginary bridge expert, Syd Fox, who does a running commentary on the story in the appendix. I thought he was a real expert! This makes the appendix even funnier, and gives me another character to love!

Here's the most amazing thing -- this book makes me maybe...someday...don't get your hopes up, Mom...a little bit interested in learning to play bridge.

Graphic Novel Reading-Thanks to Book-A-Day

I had no idea how I would manage Donalyn Miller's Book-A-Day Challenge. I knew that summer would provide some days that I would have lots of time to read, and some days that I would have almost no time to read. When I asked Donalyn about this, she said, "Pick short books. Think picture books and graphic novels." So, while I've done lots of novel reading, I've also plugged in lots of graphic novels and picture books. The things about Book-A-Day for me so far, is that it has changed my mindset about reading. So far, in the two weeks of summer, I have read a book every day. But I have been careful with my selections when the day is already packed.  This has actually given me the chance to catch up on some reading that may never have made it to the top of my pile. I have caught up on some picture book and graphic novel reading on those days when I don't have hours to commit to reading. An added bonus about the Book-A-Day challenge.

This week, I read several graphic novels.

Bambinowas the first graphic novel I read this week.  It is a short biography from the Capstone Graphic Library collection. I was impressed with this biography of Babe Ruth for many reasons. First of all, it is a thin book-pretty accessible for lots of kids. Secondly, the book only focuses on the one season in Babe Ruth's career when he beat his own home-run record. I like the focus on the one season, rather than a book about his whole life.  The book packs a lot of information and I find myself more interested in Babe Ruth than I had been.  I am going to look into more of the books in this series.


I then read Zebrafish by Peter Reynolds and Fablevision.  I think kids will like this one a lot.  First of all, it is about kids who form a band.  So many kids will love the whole idea.  The kids want to make a difference in the world and plan a benefit concert. The book deals with issues of growing up, illness, making a difference, and friendship.  A quick read that I think will give middle graders lots to talk about.

I also read Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge. This is more of a young adult novel. I see it as more middle school/high school.  The story is about a girl named Paige who moves to New York City. It is a growing up story in which Paige learns to be herself, explore her feelings through her art, make friends, fall in love and more.  There are a few edgy parts to the book--one that makes it perfect for middle school/high school.  A great story about a character I came to love early in the book.  I thought this was a well-done book trailer on the book.



Finally, I read SMILE by Raina Telgemeier.  This is one that's been on my stack for a while. This is a great middle grade/middle school novel. It is pretty autobiographical from what I read from the author. Raina is in sixth grade when she falls and knocks out her two front teeth. For years, she has to undergo orthodontic work to put her mouth back in order--a hard age to be going through this.  This book chronicles lots of the experiences and weaves the story of being a middle schooler, dealing with friends etc. with the dental treatment that is a constant part of Raina's life. This is definitely one of my favorite middle grade graphic novels.

So, I thank Donalyn Miller for this Book-A-Day Challenge. It is not turning out as I expected but my mindset to read a book-a-day is allowing me to get to books that may have remained on my pile for years.

#bookaday -- Two (more) For My Classroom Library

Cinderella Smith
by Stephanie Barden
illustrated by Diane Goode
Harper, 2010
review copy purchased for my classroom library

I'm really good at keeping my readers going in series books. I love them (you might have noticed that if you were paying attention on Wednesdays in April and May), and most of my 4th graders love them. But when a student is ready for a stand-alone novel, or when I'm ready for a student to break into stand-alone novels, I sometimes have a hard time suggesting books. Cinderella Smith will be at the top of my pile of recommendations next year.

Cinderella got her nickname NOT because she has a wicked stepmother or awful stepsisters, and NOT because she sleeps on the floor by the fireplace, and NOT because she had to do lots of horrible chores. She got her nickname because she loses her shoes. In this book, Cinderella has more problems than just lost shoe problems -- she has new teacher problems, sitting at the smart boys' table problems, and friendship problems. But she's got lots going for her, too. For one thing, she understands how to use a PROCESS to solve a problem, so she sets out to help the new girl, Erin, figure out if the two step-sisters she has not yet met will be wicked.

Cinderella Smith is a great new character, perfect for 8-10 year-old girls.



Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie
by Julie Sternberg
illustrated by Matthew Cordell
Amulet Books, 2011
review copy purchased for my classroom library

This novel in verse is another great book to have on hand for readers transitioning to stand-alone books. Eleanor has lots of adjusting to do in an August that's "As bad as pickle juice on a cookie. / As bad as a spiderweb on your leg. / As bad as the black parts of a banana." She manages to have a good end to her summer, giving readers hope that their own pickle-juicey problems will get better.

Franki reviewed this book earlier this month.

#bookaday -- Mal and Chad

Mal and Chad: The Biggest, Bestest Time Ever
by Stephen McCranie
Philomel, May 2011
review copy purchased for my classroom library

One of the last things I heard as I walked my students to the bus last Friday was, "Can I come back and visit you next year and check books out of your classroom library?" It was a rhetorical question; my students have seen 5th graders coming back to browse my shelves all year long. I have the best books, that's all there is to it. It's my goal: something to tempt every reader and if I don't have it, I'll scour the library and bookstores to get it.

My graphic novel readers are going to LOVE Mal and Chad. A reviewer on Amazon puts it this way, "Imagine "Dexter's Laboratory," "Jimmy Neutron," and a dash of "Calvin & Hobbes" and you've got a pretty good idea of what "Mal and Chad" is like." Mal is the super-brilliant inventor boy, and Chad is his talking side-kick dog. Their adventures include a time machine and dinosaurs, underwater exploration in the kitchen sink thanks to a mini-mega-morpher and some magic lollipops, and a little bit of a crush on a girl who can throw a flaming dodge bomb in dodgeball.

At the beginning of the book, Mal's teacher is trying to get him to write a short essay on what he wants to be when he grows up. What Mal finally comes up with is this: 

"I spent the whole week trying out different jobs, but I couldn't figure out what I wanted to be when I grow up. Then I realized that finding a job wouldn't answer the question of what I want to be...it would only answer the question of what I want to do. In the end, I found out that being the person you want to be is more important than getting the job you want to get. And if that's the case, why wait until I'm an adult? I'm going to try to be the person I want to be right now." 

Yes, I'll be using this book in our study of theme. (It's stated, not implied, but it's a good one, isn't it?!?)

#bookaday -- ML's TBR Pile

Yes, it's a towering stack, but I've already read the three thinnest, I've thrown one out because it's the second in a series, and I'm more than halfway through The Wednesday Wars. (Clever and practical of me to have borrowed the middle of the pile from the library, eh? I have to read some books I missed -- Jennifer Holm, Gary Schmidt -- so that I can read the next in the series...because you know how I am about reading series in order!) And did you notice the ADULT reads  there at the bottom of stack -- Geraldine Brooks' new one, Caleb's Crossing (I LOVED People of the Book and March) and an anthology of poems by the Poets Laureate. I'll have to add to the pile in order to have enough to make it through Mother Reader's 48 Hour Book Challenge next weekend, and to last me for two weeks when I go home to visit Mom.

Then again, life might conspire to prevent me from finishing a book a day EVERY day of summer break. Hanging over my head are the two journal articles I still need to complete, and the ppt presentation that needs polishing. I have a bit more paperwork and classroom put-to-bed work that needs to be done at school, and the other 1/3 of the land lab needs to be mulched. The 2/3 I mulched last week with the help of 10 of my students looks great, doesn't it?

My own flower beds need attention (I did get the herbs planted today before it got too hot), there are piles to excavate in my home office, and (YAY!) a birthday cake to bake for a weekend celebration.

Hooray for summer break!

#bookaday -- Mary Lee's Pile #7-#12

#7 They Called Themselves the K.K.K.
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Grim, but important in understanding Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, and where our country is today in terms of race relations.

#8 Tortilla Sun
by Jennifer Cervantes

This book was a welcome relief after a string of tough reads. The characters and the setting come to life in this debut novel.

#9 The Serpent's Tale
by Ariana Franklin

It's cheating only a little to count this one as #bookaday -- it was an adult audiobook that I finished listening to on day 9, but I didn't read the whole thing on day 9. This is the second book in the first adult mystery series I've ever loved. Great strong medieval woman main character.

#10 Noonie's Masterpiece
by Lisa Railsback

Add Noonie to your list of favorite spunky girl characters -- she's right up there with Clementine and Frankly Frannie, and Gooney Bird Green.  She's an aspiring artist, and it's her art that helps her make it through some tough times.

#11 Vocabulary Unplugged
by Alana Morris

Maybe this book won't "revolutionize" how I teach vocabulary, but I sure did get some good ideas that I'm going to try out immediately.

#12 I Can Make a Difference
by Marian Wright Edelman

Great collection of quotes, poems, songs, folktales, and fables from around the world on 12 different themes that all illustrate that any person can, in lots of small ways, make a difference in the world.

#bookaday SUGAR AND ICE by Kate Messner

I read SUGAR AND ICE by Kate Messner as one of my #bookaday books.  I decided that I loved it so much that it deserved a post of its own.  I was surprised by how much I loved this book--the outdoors, the cold, a maple farm, competitive sports--none of these are in my list of favorite things.  But I think I maybe love them all now.  (Well, okay maybe not the outdoors in the cold...)

SUGAR AND ICE (An Amazon Best Book of the Month) is the story of Claire, a skater from a small town who is chosen to train at Lake Placid. She accepts the scholarship and begins training.  Claire is a good skater and does well but the training means that she has less time to do other things she loves--spending time with family, hanging out with good friends, skating on the pond, working with younger skaters, etc. She also has to learn to deal with the pressure of the training.  Although many of the other skaters become friends of Claire's, she has to learn to deal with the mean girls in the group--the girls who are threatened by her success. In the end, Claire has to decide what it is that she wants and how to fulfill her dream as a skater.

This book would provide for great conversations.  So many kids today have talents and opportunities and many give up some things they love to pursue others. I've taught grades 3-5 for most of my career and it seems that this is the age where kids either become more committed to a passion they have or they become burnt out.  It is an important age for deciding what is important.  Kate Messner understands this well and captures the struggle of a child in this type of situation well.

The characters are great (a requirement for any book I love).  Very believable characters with real gifts and real problems.

I am trying to decide whether Claire's coach belongs on our 100+ Cool Teachers in Children's Literature list.  My gut is that he does. He takes kids with a natural talent and passion and helps them move forward. He is intense and isn't always about the whole person, but there is something about the way he watches and listens and knows where to go next with a skater that makes me think he belongs. He builds a confidence by helping skaters at what they need individually.   I need someone else's opinion first, though!

Love this book and I think it would be a great book club book. It provides so much to talk about when it comes to following dreams, giving up one thing to make time for another, things worth working for, etc. I think kids would naturally find so many issues that they deal with on a daily basis in this book. This is definitely a perfect middle grade book.

This is the second book I have read by Kate Messner (Marty McGuire was the first) and I am anxious to read more.  I have THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. on my TBR stack and am also anxious to read her upcoming professional book on revision being published by Stenhouse.    And she is a middle school language arts teacher! (Yes, I know, I too am wondering how she does it all...)I so love when I discover a new author I love who has lots of upcoming books!  Really, what could be better?

#bookaday -- Mary Lee's Pile #5, #6

The War To End All Wars
by Russell Freedman
Clarion Books, 2010
review copy provided by the publisher

Forge
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Atheneum, 2010
review copy provided by the publisher


#bookaday #3 (Sugar Changed the World), #5 and #6 have me thinking hard about myself as a nonfiction reader. I loved Sugar Changed the World, and hungrily read every word of the book. Okay, maybe "hungrily" is an adverb better used to describe how I ate the cinnamon rolls in the picture, and not so much how I read the book, but my point here is that I didn't read The War To End All Wars with that kind of eagerness. Truth be told, I mostly skimmed it. But why? Lack of background knowledge? I had about the same amount for Sugar. The chronological format? Maybe. The Red Flags of Textbook Reading may have been raised in my brain by the chronological telling in the first part of the book and I was not able to recover control when Freedman switched to topical chapters. However, I think what made the difference for Sugar Changed the World was that Aronson and Budhos worked so hard to link their information to the stories of real people -- first to their own family stories, but then to the stories of real people. Yes, yes, The War TEAW is filled with Real People, filled to the bursting with every important name of every important player in the whole shebang. And that's the difference. Names vs. Stories. And that seems to be the difference for me as a reader. I happily dug into Revolutionary War history with Laurie Halse Anderson's FORGE: Story.

On a separate note, as I look for big themes that connect my #bookaday reading, I notice that I have read two books that describe total train wrecks: Keeper and The WTEAW. I yelled (inside my head) at Kathi Appelt all the way through Keeper as disaster led to disaster, but I couldn't put the book down knowing that resolution of some kind would come by the end of the novel. Reading about how assassinations and misunderstandings and messages delivered too late resulted in the development and use of weapons of mass slaughter and the paving of the way towards the jittery ("Current Terror Level: Yellow/Orange") way we live now, was hard. Really hard. So maybe that's why we need Freedman's book now more than ever -- there's not just one author who can turn around this story of our country's/world's destiny. We all need to study what did and didn't work in the past and find a better path toward the future.

I was going to take a day off the heavy stuff today and read something a little bit lighter, but after writing the words in that last paragraph, I'm thinking I'll go ahead with my plan.  Next up for #bookaday #7 -- THEY CALLED THEMSELVES THE KKK.