The Day the Bulldozers Came

Me and Marvin Gardens
by Amy Sarig King
Arthur A. Levine Books, January 2017
review copy from the public library

Obe Devlin is watching what used to be his family's farm developed into neighborhood phases, with street names that are ironic because they describe what was destroyed to create the development: Oak Trail, Pheasant's Nest, Orchard Way.

He struggles with identity (he cannot be the kind of masculine his father wants him to be), bullies, nosebleeds caused by a sucker punch from his former best friend in a turf war over what's left of the woods and the creek near his house. And he finds an amazing new breed of animal that could be the answer to all our problems, or the source of a problem as enormous as the worldwide environmental problems the human race has already caused.

But, there's a great teacher. A great science teacher. A teacher who really listens and who helps. Ms. G. goes on our list of 100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature.

"Ms. G said I'd make a great scientist...I could be anything I wanted to be. But really, I knew I wanted to be a teacher like her. Finding Marvin Gardens had taught me so much. I wanted to pass it on...One hundred years from now, teachers would be teaching about things we would never guess. I wanted to do that. I wanted to find other kids like me and make them care about where they lived and how to make things better."

I loved this book, gave it a 4 on Goodreads for the writing. It got a 5 from my heart when I read in About the Author, "The day the bulldozers came to dig up my field was the day I started my dream of having my own farm. If you've ever seen something beautiful and magical be replaced with something more convenient, then you know why this story took me thirty years to write."

Twice this has happened to me. Most recently just this month. The first was the field and woods and creek behind the school where I taught more than 20 years ago. Where we called owls on night hikes, saw turkey buzzard eggs in a ground nest in the hollowed out tree we liked to think of as Sam Gribley's tree, caught and released garter snakes, reenacted Lewis and Clark's scientific expedition, hosted Ron Hirschi, read and wrote poetry, sang John Denver songs, identified trees, cleared paths, dreamed big dreams. The corn/soybean field is now a football field. I haven't been back to see what's become of the creek. It's entirely surrounded by subdivisions, that much I do know.

The second was a little strip of barely-tamed wild between my current school and the playground. This Land Lab was started by teachers who have since retired or moved on, and left in my trust. It was the place where we planted native grasses and flowers. Where there were wonders to taste (a few blackberries in the summer, and lemon mint leaves to chew), and touch (soft lamb's ear and waxy sedum and prickly rattlesnake master), and see (black swallowtails and monarchs, preying mantises and goldfinches, and the cup plant that captured water in its leaf-cups and had a square stem), and hear (stand in the middle of those tall native prairie grasses and listen to the wind and imagine Ohio before the Europeans got here). I was just about the only teacher with any real investment in the plot, and because of that, just about the only one who worked to keep it from going completely wild. I knew that when I retired it would go away, so when the district offered to take care of the maintenance, I let it go. I thought they would keep the trees (one so tall it shaded my second story classroom window). They did not. They leveled it. They didn't even give enough notice for those who had offered to rescue as many of the plants as they could take -- the coneflowers, yucca, iris, catnip, daffodils, hyacinths, strawberries, and lilies. I wonder what they did with the goldfinch feeder the second grade teacher left outside her classroom window when she retired?

I feel like I've failed this small strip of wild, but perhaps it will be of more use in the long run as a grassy sward. It will certainly be more convenient. And although it's gone, nothing can erase the good it did with so many classes of students and groups in Environmental Club. Maybe I could have fought harder to keep it, and that would have been one lesson to teach by example. But maybe there is much to be taught through the pain of losing of a small piece of wild, seeing as we are on the verge of (in the MIDST of) losing so much of our beloved and wild Mother Earth.

Summer Reading at its Best

Wolf Hollow

by Lauren Wolk

Dutton Children's Books, 2016

I almost couldn't read this book. The tension and conflict from the very beginning nearly did me in. But the language and the characters kept me going. I was not at all surprised to find that Lauren Wolk is a poet.

Maybe this could be a read aloud in 5th grade. It's a hard story, but the stories on the news aren't much better. Perhaps it would give us a safe way to talk about the wolves out there, about honesty, about the choices we make, about how we can't control what happens...but we can try.

Whew. Just thankful that it's summer and I could curl up on the couch for four hours straight and read this all in one gulp. I feel like going right back and rereading it for the beautiful language.

Bullies

Bully

by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Roaring Brook Press (A Neal Porter Book), July 2013

review copy provided by the publisher

Bull is a bully. He is mean to every single animal, and with every meanness, he gets bigger and bigger on the page. That is, until the goat stands up to him and calls him what he is: "BULLY!" 

This causes Bull to experience introspection, deflation, and happy resolution (after he apologizes). 

BULLY is a simple book, but even for older children, there is much to talk about, beginning with an illustration before the title page that hints at why Bull is a bully. Also, not enough can be said, in my opinion, about the power of standing up for yourself. So many students come to me on the playground at recess complaining about something another child did to them, and 9 times out of 10, they wouldn't have needed to come tattle to me if they had simply turned to the other child and asked, in an assertive voice, "Why did you do that to me?" This usually gives the other child a chance to A. realize they did something to cause offense, B. apologize before the child who's been "wronged" runs away to tattle, and/or C. deflate a bit because they've been called out for their behavior.

Tommysaurus Rex
by Doug TenNapel
GRAPHIX, 2013
review copy purchased for my classroom

TOMMYSAURUS REX is more about losing a dear pet than it is about bullies, but there is a really mean one who plays a key role in the story. (The bully is a boy whose dad has left his mom and him, and I'm getting a little tired of that over-simplified formula for a bully. But we'll set that irritation aside for now and continue with the review...)

Ely's beloved dog Tommy is hit by a car and killed, and to help him get over his grief, his parents let him spend the summer on his grandfather's farm. While there, Ely discovers a Tyrannosaurus Rex who escaped extinction, becomes fast friends with (**spoiler alert**) her, and then has to figure out a way to raise money to pay for the damages she causes and convince the town that he should be able to keep her as his pet. Randy, the bully, dashes Ely's every hope, but there are a couple of plot twists in the end that result in multiple happy endings.

Just like in BULLY, the ending is just a little bit too easy -- neither book is an accurate portrayal of real-life bullies and what it's like to deal with them. But both books (together or separately) will be great for classroom (and family) conversations about what's possible, and strategies that need to be attempted, whether or not they work the same way in life as they do in literature.

Self-Esteem Week: Everyone Counts

One
by Kathryn Otoshi
KO Kids Books, 2008

Blue is a little blue because Red picks on him. But along comes One, with a new message for the colors: Everyone counts!

Next time Red comes along, Blue stands up for himself and doesn't let Red roll over him. All the colors (now numbers) take a stand and tell red, "NO."

Blue is pretty special. As Red is rolling away, small and defeated, Blue calls out, "Can Red be hot...AND Blue be cool?" And One chimes in "Red can count, too."

ONE is a simple book with a big message: "Sometimes it just takes One."

I'm not sure how I missed this book 4 years ago, but I was glad to spot it at NCTE at the Books for Children Luncheon. I didn't sit at Kathryn Otoshi's table, but this title was one of my first purchases when I got home!

All this week, I'll be featuring books to build self-esteem.

BULLY by Patricia Polaco

Bully
by Patricia Polacco
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2012

Bullying is a problem that is not going to take care of itself. We need to prepare students with the tools they need to resist peer pressure, to make good decisions, and to stand up for what is right.

Lyla is a new student, but she makes a friend on the first day of school, begins to distinguish herself for good grades and service to the community, and makes the cheerleading squad. The "cool" cheerleaders include Lyla in their group, taking her away from her friend Jamie. Then, she witnesses her new friends cyberbullying Jamie. She stands up for Jamie and stops hanging around with the "cool" girls, but their revenge for this isolates Lyla from the whole student body and focuses the cyberbullying on her.

Jamie stands up for Lyla in the end, providing the information needed to clear her name with the authorities. But the reader is left with the question, "What would you do?" Should Lyla and Jamie return to their school and hope for the best, or should they switch schools for a fresh start?

This book will provide lots to talk about with students in grades 4-8.

Just as important as talking about bullying and strategies to avoid or resist them, are the conversations about all the good we can do in the world -- ways to fight bullying by being the best and kindest people ever. Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's poem, "Lets", provides this flip side to the bullying conversation.

Bullies, Part Three: The Girl Who Could Fly

The Girl Who Could Fly

by Victoria Forester

Feiwel and Friends, 2008

review copy provided by the publisher

What's with all these books about bullies all of a sudden, you're wondering. I'm wondering that, too. I finished The Savage and picked up The Girl Who Could Fly, never expecting to find more bullies.

The inscription is by e e cummings, and it sums up the story quite well:

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best,
night and day, to make you everybody else
means to fight the hardest battle which any human
being can fight; and never stop fighting.

This is the story of Piper, a girl who can fly. She is gently pressured by Dr. Letitia Hellion into going to a special school, an institute, where there are others like her. She is told it is a place where she will belong. She believes and trusts Dr. Hellion, only to find out later that Dr. Hellion is not any kind of friend. Learning that kind and caring adults are actually cold and calculating bullies is a scary twist.

One of the first children Piper meets is Conrad, a bully who is instantly bent on her destruction. Later she finds out that Conrad is her best friend.

Instead of a place where Piper will be able to develop her unique abilities, the institute's mission is to erase the special talents from each child and make them "normal."

Against all odds, Piper has integrity. She stands up f0r what is true and right, not just for herself, but for all of the children at the institute.

Bullies, Part Two: The Savage

The Savage

by David Almond

illustrated by

Candlewick, October 2008

review copy provided by the publisher

I had just finished the Shredderman series when I picked up The Savage. Here's a completely different take on bullies and how to deal with them.

I won't tell you lots about the story in The Savage. Sorry. It's one you have to read for yourself. And see for yourself. It is a graphic novel hybrid (an "illustrated novel") with bold, disturbing, beautiful pen and ink drawings.

I will tell you that The Savage is about a boy named Blue Baker, probably late elementary or middle school aged, who is getting over the death of his father. To do this, he writes a story about a savage boy who lives in a cave under the ruins of a chapel in the woods.

And The Savage is a story about how Blue deals with a bully. The bully in this book is a much harder, scarier bully than Alvin "Bubba" Bixby in Shredderman. Hopper walks around "smoking and sneering and spitting and swearing." In the course of the story, he turns downright vicious toward Blue. But Hopper is quieter in the end of the book, "not quite so stupid, not quite so horrible." And you'll have to read the book to find out how that happens.

Bullies, Part One: Shredderman

Shredderman: Secret Identity

by Wendelin Van Draanen

Alfred A. Knopf, 2004

I was lucky enough to be seated at the same table as Wendelin Van Draanen at the Random House dinner at NCTE back in November. She's an author who's been in my peripheral vision for a long time (Sammy Keyes mysteries were a favorite of a former colleague; Franki has talked about Shredderman) and it was good to meet her and hear about her books. The Random House crew set aside arcs for me of her new spin off (from Shredderman) series (on the "to be reviewed" pile, I promise), and, being the reader that I am, I went out and bought all four of the Shredderman books so that I would a) check out some books that will likely be perfect for a handful of readers in my 4th grade classroom, and b) understand the origins of The Gecko and Sticky.

In case you don't know Shredderman, it's about a geeky kid named Nolan who, along with his classmates, is tortured by a bully named Alvin (nickname, "Bubba"). Nolan creates a superhero named Shredderman and builds a website devoted to "truth and justice." On the website, he "gives bullies what they deserve."

Nolan is clearly the good guy and Bubba is bad to the bone (mostly, but it takes most of the series to discover this). Nolan is clearly doing what he does on his website to make the world a better place. Nolan is a self-proclaimed cyber-superhero, via Shredderman. And I keep having this little niggling thought that the tactics Nolan has used boil down to cyber-bullying. Maybe I'm being too left-brained about this. I'll chat with my students after they've met Nolan and Bubba and Shredderman and see what they think.

In the meantime, there are some powerfully good messages about believing in yourself, playing to your strengths, following your dreams, and the power of niceness over meanness.

Shredderman's website, including a webquest and activities to download for each of the four books in the series.