CHOPSTICKS X 2!

What are the chances that I buy two books titled CHOPSTICKS on the same day?

CHOPSTICKS is a new book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Last year, when Amy visited our school, SPOON was a big favorite. Kids loved it!  Amy mentioned this companion book when she visited and it has been a long wait. (but well worth it!)  I picked up CHOPSTICKS at Cover to Cover this week.  It is a book full of fun. The story is about a pair of chopsticks who do everything together.  But then something happens and they have to separate a bit and explore the world on their own.  As with all of Rosenthal's book, there is lots of fun and subtle word play. For example, on the top corner of the cover, Spoon says, "Not exactly a sequel to SPOON. More like a change in place setting." Lots of other fun words spread throughout. Scott Magoon has done the illustrations for this one too so it is a great companion to SPOON. (And Spoon does make a few guest appearances:-)

This is a great story with a good message about friendship and life:-)

The other CHOPSTICKS I bought was a young adult novel. It is by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral.   I've read it once but need to reread it.  It is fascinating to me.  It not only looks like an amazing story, but the format is new and different. The story is told through photos and news articles and text messages and letters and more. It is different from any book I've ever seen and I am anxious for both the story and the experience of reading something in such a unique format.  There is also an app that is available which is another way to experience the books. The Youtube videos, etc. are embedded in the app. This was one of those books I have to reread.  I read reviews and saw some new insights and once I revisited a bit, I can see some new things. I am all about reading books with new formats so we understand what it is our kids are reading and what is possible, and that's why I picked this one up. But I loved the story and I loved Glory, the piano prodigy--the main character in the book.




You can see the trailer here:

Book Lists and the Kitchen Utensil Drawer

Liz, over at Liz in Ink, has taken book lists and book categories to a whole new level: She explores which books are her forks, knives, and spoons.

Then, tantalizingly (is that a word?) she ends with:

Really, wouldn't it be torture to have to work with one single utensil for the rest of your days? (And I haven’t even gone into my chopsticks here, or egg slicers!)

Okay, Liz. Here goes:

Books that are my chopsticks:



No negative stereotyping intended. It's just that I'm feeling very clumsy (like when I use chopsticks) and ignorant (and OLD) as I try to make sense of these books (Kingdom Hearts). I used Wikipedia to help when my first reading fell flat on its face, and there I learned that I had a serious chunk of background knowledge missing: more than these are books, apparently they are video games. I'm going to try them again, and maybe with more practice I won't be so clumsy. Watch for a review in the coming days.


Books that are my egg slicers:
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell is my audio book in progress. This means I get to "read" it in neat, 20 minute slices during the commute back and forth to work. I LOVED Cloud Atlas (also by David Mitchell) as an audio "read," and I'm pretty sure there is no other better way to experience Black Swan Green. Kirby Heyborne, the reader, has the requisite (and I assume, authentic) British accent, but his Belgian accent for Madame Crommelynck ("...go to the hell!") is perfect!



Books that are my whisks:
Manga and graphic novels are stirring things up so much in my classroom, that they have to win the designation of whisks. I bought volume 2 and 3 of Hikaru No Go yesterday at Waldenbooks and asked to use my teacher discount. The clerk gently informed me that I could only use my teacher discount on books that I would be using in my classroom. "I AM going to use these in my classroom!" I informed her. "Really?!! WOW!" she replied, and I zoomed up to super teacher status in her eyes.