The Lightning Thief: I Get it Now

The Lightning Thief

by Rick Riordan

Hyperion, 2005

Review copy purchased for my classroom to replace the copy that is in tatters

I'm glad I took time to read this. I get it now. I understand the popularity. If I had more time, I'd read them all.

1.  The perfect anti-hero hero: a dyslexic hyperactive teenage boy.  Dyslexic, "That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD -- you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."

2.  Plenty of humor. As Percy and his friends enter Hades, they see the Fields of Punishment, "which glowed and smoked in the distance, a vast, cracked wasteland with rivers of lava and minefields and miles of barbed wire separating the different torture areas. Even from far away, I could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus patches or listen to opera music."

3.  Loads of action. Fight scenes with his evil math teacher, Medusa, The Furies, and Ares, just to name a few.

  

1000th Post: The Past and Future of A Year of Reading

1000 posts ago, this blog was created for a conversation between two people. It was about our reading journeys as we attempted to have read the Newbery. We didn't have a blogroll back then because we barely knew how to link.

After about six months, we joined the larger Kidlitosphere conversation and our blogroll started to grow.

When stories about how we use books in our classrooms started to seep into our blogging, we began to read and be read by teacher and librarian blogs. Our blogroll grew and the conversation about books and reading included a wider audience.

We found that we could listen in on lots of Mock Newbery and Caldecott Conversations including those run by past Newbery Committee members.

As we look to the future of our blog and our teaching, we are beginning to explore ways to expand our understanding of literacy. We are thinking about what it means to be literate in the 21st century and how to expand our thinking to include things beyond books in our own and our students' reading lives. We are (kind of) learning to Twitter. Our blogroll will continue to grow and we will do our best to take part in conversations where we sometimes only understand 50% of the words! We love the fact that people come together in ways they couldn't before blogging. We've learned so much from people who we weren't able to learn from before (librarians, authors, journal editors, etc.)

We've made so many new friends over the two years. We have started to get together with old and new blogger friends in Columbus to chat about books and to shop for new books!

We really had no idea what we were doing when we started this blog (Franki, even less than Mary Lee). But after 1000 posts, we are still loving it and can't wait to see what we learn next!

Poetry Friday: Grace

Grace
by Wendell Berry

for Gurney Norman, quoting him

The woods is shining this morning.
Red, gold and green, the leaves
lie on the ground, or fall,
or hang full of light in the air still.
Perfect in its rise and in its fall, it takes
the place it has been coming to forever.

(the rest is here)


I am thankful for this five days off to "be still" and relocate the grace in my life. Wishing the same for you in some way, shape, or form.

The round up this week is at Under the Covers.

NCTE in Words and Pictures: Franki's Version

Mary Lee inspired me to share my NCTE convention week in words and pictures!  As did everyone else, I had a great time and learned lots.  The energy at the convention was amazing and I came home with my head spinning from all of the new learning. I mentioned earlier that I heard several sessions on 21st century literacies and am glad to have had the chance to hear Karl Fisch after having followed his blog for so long.  I loved his message. Too often I got to "tech" workshops and the focus is on the technology or the product but the actual teaching goes against what I believe about kids and learning.  But Karl Fisch is grounded in good teaching and understands learning. It was definitely a highlight.
The convention opened with speaker Gary Knell, President and CEO of Sesame Workshop. What a great opening!  So many great things going on at Sesame Street. As always, I was amazed with their mission not only in the US but around the world. I was also happy to hear that "THE ELECTRIC COMPANY" will be returning! Wooohooo!  We saw some great clips and it was a great celebration of learning and literacy. And guess who joined Gary Knell at NCTE?  One of my favorite muppets--GROVER! What a treat!  You can see that my friend, Shari Frost, and I had our photo taken with him after the opening celebration. Check out the Sesame Street website and keep your eye out for The Electric Company that is sure to be a hit again!

Another treat was the Books for Children Luncheon featuring children's author, Tomie dePaola!  It was a great celebration with so many children's authors--one at every table. It was so fun to be in a room with so many children's authors and children's books!  I was excited to be able to sit at Tomie dePaola's table and I received a copy of his new and gorgeous pop-up book, BRAVA, STREGA NONA: A HEARTWARMING POP-UP BOOK  I LOVE this book. Growing up in a 100% Italian Family, this book is a true gift. Strega Nona gives us her secrets to a magical life and they include things like family and friends and food! The pop-up art is amazing and Tomie dePaola demonstrated how to open and close the book properly to see the gorgeous art! I had not heard dePaola speak for about 15+ years so it was such a treat. He talked a bit about some of the books he has coming out soon so we can look forward to those as well. But if you are looking for a great gift for a family member (especially an Italian one) this new pop-up book says so much!


If you don't know Nancy Johnson, she was a key person on the Elementary Section Steering Committee who organized the luncheon and she is the perfect person to do this! (You should check out her book THE WONDER OF IT ALL: WHEN LITERATURE AND LITERACY INTERSECT.) Here she is with Ralph Fletcher getting last minute details figured out before the event. Ralph announced this year's NCTE Excellence in Poetry Award winner which will be announced on the NCTE website soon!



Other highlights included Kathi Yancey's general session on Sunday, Barbara Ehrenreich's talk on her book NICKEL AND DIMED IN AMERICA, and Regie Routman's talk entitled, "Raising Expectation, Results and Enjoyment for All Learners: What Does It Take?" If you have the chance to hear any of these speakers, they were phenomenal!

NCTE In Words and Pictures

How often do you get to meet one of your personal heroes (or sheroes, as the case may be)?  The absolute highlight for me of NCTE 2008 was hearing Lynne Cox speak and meeting her in person.  Lynne Cox is an extraordinary open water swimmer.  She is as physically adapted to cold water swims as Lance Armstrong is to long distance biking.  She has swum from the U.S. to Russia through the Bering Straits, and she has swum with icebergs in Antarctica.  She is an amazing story teller with amazing stories to tell.  (I reviewed her book GRAYSON here.)


San Antonio was a lovely city for a conference.  I was struck how different evening rush hour in the center of the city was this year, compared to last year in NYC.  This is the Times Square of San Antonio.  

I had several memorable meals, but alas, neglected to take any food pictures. Use your imagination. At Rosario's I had a beautiful (and tasty) Prickly Pear margarita and (delicious) fish tacos (grilled talapia). The fish tacos were a risk, but I figured the best place to try them would be in Tex-Mex land. They were seasoned with lime and cilantro, so how could I go wrong? At the Random House author dinner at Little Rhein Steakhouse I had a fabulous steak. It looked just like the one in the ads on the convention center wall, if you were there. Yum. I sat at a table with Wendelin Van Draanen and got to hear about her new book CONFESSIONS OF A SERIAL KILLER, and her upcoming new series THE GECKO AND STICKY (watch for a review soon). Finally, at Liberty Bar I had SALMON ENCILANTRADO, grilled salmon marinated in cilantro sauce. It came with a side of cilantro pesto, which I am definitely going to try to make!


Along with the obligatory Tex-Mex and the obligatory steak, there was the obligatory visit to the Alamo. Alas, we got there too late to go inside and take the tour, but we remembered (ha ha) to go.

There were several sessions that I really really really wanted to attend, but meetings or paid breakfasts or other mandatory sessions got in the way. I didn't get to hear Greg Mortenson (of THREE CUPS OF TEA fame), but I did see his extensive autographing line. I didn't get to go to the session on literature circles. I didn't get to hear Kathleen Yancy speak. (There's more, but I don't remember them, and it's a good thing I left my conference book behind -- my checked suitcase weighed EXACTLY 50 lbs., what with all the books I crammed in it!) 

Probably my favorite session was the impromptu Tech On The Go session that I did in the Hilton Lobby (the only place I could find with free wireless access) for Katie and Karen. Both of them got set up with GoogleReader and we played around with podcasting and composing on GarageBand. Katie swooned when Debbie Miller stopped by to chat and look over our shoulders at GarageBand. 

No, wait! My favorite session was the NCTE Notable Books session. I've never been to this Sunday from 1:00-3:00 session because I always left right after the CLA breakfast. I won't miss this session ever again...and especially not for the next few years since I'm on the Notables committee! What's so fun about it? First, you get to hear about each of the Notables. Then the authors do "speed dating" talks at each of the round tables. Audience sits still, authors rotate to you. This year there were EIGHT (!!) authors: Ralph Fletcher, Ann Bausum, Peggy Gifford, Jacqueline Woodson, Emily Gravett, Gary Schmidt, Linda Sue Park, and Ruth Forman. Ann Bausum brought historical documents for us to look at while she talked to us about MUCKRAKERS. Peggy Gifford confirmed that the stepfather in her MOXY MAXWELL books is indeed her brother in-law J. Patrick Lewis. Linda Sue Park taught us about sijo.  Ruth Forman read us YOUNG CORNROWS CALLIN OUT THE MOON, which is now on my to-get list. But my turn came to swoon when I got to hold and look at Emily Gravett's sketchbook for LITTLE MOUSE'S BIG BOOK OF FEARS!!! Wow. Wow. She read to us from THE ODD EGG, her next book out in the U.S. in January. Okay if I say it one more time? Wow. Emily Gravett. Wow. (Okay, I'll stop.)

NCTE Framework for 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment

Last week, NCTE adopted a Framework for 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment.  Bill at Mr. Bass explains it will in his blog post today.  As a teacher and as a librarian, I think it has lots of possibilities. It ties in the NCTE/IRA standards. I think it will give me a tool to really think about the kinds of things I am asking of my students and help me become smarter about my practice.  See what you think.

NCTE

I think you'll see lots of posts this week reflecting on NCTE. I just visited a few bloggers who have already reflected on the weekend.

21st Century Literacies was definitely something I thought about all week. The theme of the conference was SHIFT HAPPENS and I worked hard to get to several sessions dealing by people such as Karl Fisch and Tim Tyson. I was amazed at what they had to share. I loved the message from both of them and it all fits with what I believe about classrooms and schools. Amazing presenters and I feel lucky to have heard them. I plan to keep up with some new blogs--blogs that focus on these 21st Century issues. I am pretty excited about it.

And after talking with friends who are clearly more technologically savvy than I am, I decided that my technological world needs to expand a bit (actually, a lot!). I am going to try to add a few things to my life in the next few weeks. I just added blogs to Google Reader and am going to work to use the tool. I am also going to think about twitter (since Mary Lee is on the brink of twittering!) and I am also interested in learning more about Photovoice and a few other things. I am on a mission and hope to have fun playing around with all of the tools that I learned about in sessions and in informal conversations with friends!

Book Review From NCTE #2--A New Book by Georgia Heard

I was thrilled to see a new children's poetry book by Georgia Heard coming soon. (Yes, I got an advanced copy of it and am loving every page!) The book is called FALLING DOWN THE PAGE and it is an edited collection of list poems. This book is quite fun. The spine is on the top which works perfectly with the topic and clever title, don't you think?

The book is filled with 45 poems by some of our favorite poets--Jan Yolen, Eileen Spinelli, J. Patrick Lewis, Kristine O'Connell George and many others. Each poem is a list poem, although there is so much variety in the presentation.

As always, Georgia gives us a gret intro. She lets us know how important list-making is for her and for all of us. And then she shares her thoughts on the craft of creating list poems. She also lets us in on the fact that the poems in the book tell a sort of story--the sequence follows the cycle of a school year. She finishes by recognizing the fact that after reading this book, you will most likely want to write a list poem of your own!

A great book for everyone. Kids of any age will love it. It will serve as a great mentor text or be a great book to add to any poetry collection. I love everything about it and CAN'T WAIT until it comes out in early 2009!

(NOTE: I could not find a photo of the cover and I do not have a scanner here so you will have to imagine the cover. I think you will like it!)

Poetry Saturday -- Disconnected

I, too, am at NCTE. Learning lots. Having plenty of fun. On the brink of Twittering. 

The theme of the conference is Because Shift Happens: Teaching in the 21st Century. I have found it quite ironic that the only place I can get reliable (free) wireless internet access is in the lobby of my hotel. Not so convenient. A definite disconnect. 

So I wrote this poem (in pencil, in my before-21st-Century-technology writer's notebook):

No free wireless internet

Connection at a conference about

Teaching 21st Century literacies? 

Eh?  Really?

The round up was/is at Brimstone Soup.

Book Review from NCTE

I am in San Antonio attending the annual NCTE Convention. It is a GREAT convention and I am learning lots. I don't have time to write about so many of the great things I want to share but I do have time for a quick book review! The exhibits are full of new books and some ARCS. Today, I picked up a copy (ARC) of TEN DAYS AND NINE NIGHTS: AN ADOPTION STORY by Yumi Heo. I am always paying close attention to adoption books and this picture book is definitely one that we'll add to our collection.

This book is not our adoption story, but is is a great adoption story. Told in very simple text and gorgeous illustrations, this book follows a little girl (for 10 nights and nine days) as she waits for her new sister to arrive. Her mother leaves to pick up the baby on an airplane while the father and daughter stay home to get ready. Each day means less waiting and new things to do as excitement builds. The predictable pattern and the illustrations work together in a way to show how much is happening for both the family waiting at home and the mother and the new baby coming home.

At the end of the book, there is an author's note about her relationships with many families who had experienced adoption.

This is a great book. I think it is a great addition to any collection of books about adoption. It would also be a great book to give to any young child waiting for a new sibling. I will definitely add this one to the school library when it comes out--it looks like it is due out in May. I plan to get a copy right as soon as I can!