Be Careful What You Scorn

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I’ve learned to be careful what I scorn.

I may or may not have written these text messages:
“…(Pokémon Go) is so against all I believe about interacting with the real world.”
and
“…why use augmented reality to capture a fake thingie when you could learn to ID birds and trees or spot a REAL preying mantis?”

And then I may or may not have downloaded the Pokémon Go app as a matter of “professional curiosity” and walked out into a side street in the dark of night (accompanied by a sensible husband with a flashlight who insisted I wear shoes) to capture my first “fake thingie.”

Perhaps I did do a little research one morning before my bike ride to find out what exactly those blue towers are for (you swipe the picture of the place and charge up on Poké Balls) and perhaps I did stop a couple of times on my ride to capture Pokémon and gather ammo.

Okay, I admit it. I did all those things. And I will also admit that I am having fun fumbling around with a game...an app...a facet of popular culture that I previously either ignored or outright scorned.

I’ve made it to a whopping level 3, and I’m not going to do any (more) research online to figure out what exactly the point of all of this really is, or what else there is to do in this game besides open the app every time I’m in a new place to see what invisible towers and creatures might be lurking. I don’t even want to think about the battles that apparently happen at the Pokémon gyms after I’ve gotten to level 5.

The research I can’t wait to do will come from conversations with my students about this phenomenon. I’m as sure that they’ll be eager to teach me as I am that they will have been playing this game since it’s release.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve had an authentic “in” when it comes to popular culture. I know the books, but not the movies, music, celebrities, TV shows, or (usually) video games that make up the world of my students (or my young colleagues, for that matter). I’m looking forward to being able to being a bit of an insider, and it’s definitely worth remembering that scorn slams door shut, while dipping one’s toes in the strange waters of a differently augmented reality can open doors.



(UPDATE: Since writing this post a week ago, I am now on Level 5 (how do I join a team??), I know where to find my Pokédex, and I have hatched an egg by walking for 2km.)

It's Monday! What are you reading? FLYING THE DRAGON

Thanks to Jen and Kellee at TEACH MENTOR TEXTS for hosting IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Flying the Dragon
by Natalie Dias Lorenzi
Charlesbridge, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

This book hooked me by page 9, after two short chapters.

Throughout the book, the chapters alternate between Hiroshi and Skye, cousins who, at the outset of the book, have never met. Hiroshi lives in Japan with his parents and Grandfather. Skye lives in Virginia with her Japanese father (Hiroshi's father's twin brother) and her American mother.

Hiroshi is focused on competing in the upcoming rokkaku kite battles. "A member of the Tsuki family had always won the master flier title ever since Grandfather had first entered as a boy." This is the year that Hiroshi will enter the competition on his own.

Skye is focused on securing a spot on the All-Star soccer team.

And Grandfather needs cancer treatments that are available in the United States, not in Japan.

So Hiroshi, his parents, and Grandfather move to Virginia to live in a house down the street from Skye's family. No rokkaku kite battles for Hiroshi, and no All-Star team for Skye, unless she can pass into the advanced Japanese language class after Japanese Saturday school.

Natalie Dias Lorenzi is an ELL teacher. She gets the conflicts of language and culture spot-on perfect, both for Hiroshi, who is struggling to learn English, and for Skye, who is struggling to learn Japanese and accept her family's culture.

This interaction between Hiroshi and his ELL teacher broke my heart. I have had conversations like this so many times. Times when I know that there is a wealth of information and intelligence locked behind the barrier of language:

" 'I like kites.' 

But he wanted to say so much more. He wanted to tell Mr. Jacobs about the kite battle he had to miss because he'd moved to America. He wanted to explain that the dragon kite was the first one he had made himself. Well, mostly himself--Grandfather had helped a little. He wanted to say that grandfather was a rokkaku champion and Hiroshi's best friend. And that he hoped Grandfather would get better soon so they could keep flying kites together. 

'Yes,' Hiroshi repeated. 'I like kites.' "

One of the things I love best about this book are the believable ways that both Hiroshi and Skye grow and change. I love wise, wise Grandfather, and his role in bringing Hiroshi and Skye together.

I am in awe that this is Lorenzi's debut novel. I wish there were a William C. Morris Award, not just for YA authors, but for middle grade authors as well.

I've already picked my first read aloud for this year, but I'm pretty sure this will be my second. Check it out -- you'll be glad you did!



Author's website: Natalie Dias Lorenzi | Author
Author interview at Read, Write, Repeat
One of Jama Rattigan's amazing Book Birthday posts at Jama's Alphabet Soup