The Blue Sweater

I read THE BLUE SWEATER: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR IN AN INTERCONNECTED WORLD by Jacqueline Novogratz a while ago. I just haven't had time to share it. I first heard about this book on Seth Godin's blog and was happy to receive a copy after filling out the form requesting one. I feel terrible that it's taken me this long to review, but I wanted to give this book the time and energy that it deserves. And I figure it is summer, so many of us have a bit more time to read.

THE BLUE SWEATER is a great story about so many things. Jacqueline Novogratz is one of those people I would love to meet. Someone who is spending her life making a difference in the world. Someone who has a vision of what could be. She is founder of the Acumen Fund which I didn't really know about until I read this book. She is someone who wants to make a difference but also someone who understands banking and financing. She believes in people and believes that in empowering them in authentic ways. Her organization supports entrepreneurs in developing countries and THE BLUE SWEATER chronicles much of her work. In the book, we meet many people--people from all over the world who are committed to the things that Novogratz is committed to. We also meet the people who are the entrepreneurs and hear many amazing stories.

For me, this book was one about people and relationships. Jaqueline Novogratz is not successful because of her banking background. Although that piece is important to her work, what struck me was her undying belief in people and the ways in which she build real relationships with people. That seemed key to me.

I love stories about people who are doing things that matter to them. People who use their passions to make a difference in the world. This is one of those stories.

Since reading THE BLUE SWEATER, I've followed some of the work of Acumen and continue to be impressed and excited about their work. As a teacher, one of the video clips that really struck me was the one called "Kids Put the Fun in Acumen Fund". On Take Your Daughter/Son to Work Day in 2009, Acumen hosted a great day for kids where they were active in learning so much that is part of the organization. The way that the organization ran this day for children is another indication to me that the work has a vision.

Now that I have read the book and discovered the work of Novogratz, I have learned so much from her. I keep up with some of the work on the Acumen Fund blog, follow Novagratz on Twitter, and have read more of her work. I was also thrilled to see her TED TALK from 2006. And then again in one from 2007. An amazing person who is committed to an important cause. This story is an amazing one no matter what your cause. It is the story of how connected we all are and what a difference we can make when we believe in people. Put this one on the top of your stack. It is a great story that is an important one to know and one that will stay with you for a very long time. So much packed into one book.

ALSO KNOWN AS HARPER by Ann Haywood Leal

After reading Bill's review of ALSO KNOWN AS HARPER by Bill at Literate Lives, I had to put it at the top of my stack. I finished the book this week and LOVED it! I agree completely with Bill. This is a great read. One that I am happy to have put on the top of my stack.

Harper Lee Morgan is named after her mother's favorite writer, Harper Lee. Harper loves writing and loves school. But when her father leaves and her family gets evicted from their home, lots changes for Harper.

This is the worst time for things to fall apart--Harper has been anxiously awaiting this year's poetry contest at school. Now, with nowhere to live, Harper can't go to school for a few days.

While Harper's mother goes to work and tries to get the family back on its feet, Harper takes care of her younger brother, Hemingway. She also meets new people and continues her writing.

Harper is a great character--one that you want only the best for throughout the book. Her writing that is spread throughout the book gives her character even more voice. She is definitely a character who writes to make sense of the world. She doesn't just write. She truly lives her life as a writer and impacts others with her words.

The story is about homelessness, but more importantly about family and growing up. Harper learns a lot about herself and what is important. This book would be a great one for middle grade students.

Marketing

Seth Godin is "America's Greatest Marketer."

Here's his take on the purpose of a book cover.

And a post to read if you want to try to get your head around the world in which our students/children will be adults: "In a world of free, everyone can play."

Poetry Friday -- Work

TO BE OF USE
by Marge Piercy

.

.

.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

(the rest of the poem is here)


The round up this week is at Tabatha A. Yeatts.


photo from the Flickr Commons

The Best Kind of Professional Development

We had the best professional development yesterday. A group of us who teach in the same district, got together informally to share our thinking and to learn from each other about some of the new tech tools. It is a huge learning curve for all of us but it is such fun to think together about what technology means for our elementary literacy classrooms.

During the school year it is hard to find the time to sit around and learn from each other. So, we decided that we'd just spend a few days this summer hanging out at someone's house, sharing things we were learning, teaching each other new skills and processing about the things this means for the classroom. (This was our first meeting--thanks to Shelly for organizing and hosting!) We started talking and thinking about the Flip Video. Shelley shared a piece that they took on their vacation and then we looked at 39 Interesting Ways to Use Your Pocket Video Camera. A great reminder and a great conversation starter. We played a bit with video editing on iMovie. Some teachers shared their Wikis from the school year. Some shared projects that their students had done. There was not a tight agenda --but just an informal sharing. We chatted as a whole group and in small little clusters. We all left with lots to think about and new tools to try. I think all of us have spent today trying out some of the new things that we learned about last night.

This morning when I read Will Richardson's must-read article WHY SCHOOLS SHOULD BREAK THE WEB 2.0 BARRIER, I was reminded of the importance of what we are doing. He says:

"It's becoming more and more obvious that the longer we wait to embrace these shifts, the less prepared our children will be." He goes on to say, "As professionals, these shifts require us to be learners first and teachers second. If we are to fully appreciate the transformative connections that these technologies afford for our students, we must understand them for ourselves."

Will Richardson is someone who understands technology, someone who understands literacy, someone who understands learning and someone who understands authenticity. I think as literacy educators, we are looking for ways to make these new tools authentic in school settings. But we can't do that unless we are using them in authentic ways ourselves. And the learning is pretty fun! We are having a great time and our heads are often about to explode with all that we are finding is possible. We'll meet again in a few weeks-who knows what we will have each learned between now and then. But we are open to all that each of us learns and we are excited about learning from each other. Summer is a great time to dig in without the stress of time.

Jacqueline Woodson Marathon

"Sometimes, when I'm sitting at my desk for long hours and nothing's coming to me, I remember my fifth grade teacher, the way her eyes lit up when she said, "This is really good." The way, I -- the skinny girl in the back of the classroom who was always getting into trouble for talking or missed homework assignments -- sat up a little straighter, folded my hands on the desks, smiled and began to believe in me."

According to Jacqueline Woodson's website, none of the four books I read during my Jacqueline Woodson Marathon are autobiographical. It's probably just unavoidable, though, to find bits of truths from the author's life in each one.

For instance, the opening quote could be Lonnie (aka Locomotion) or Frannie (in Feathers) talking. Although she was born in Columbus, Ohio, Woodson has lived in Brooklyn since she was 7 years old. City life features strongly in all four of the books I read. She speaks ASL, which is important in Feathers, as Frannie's brother Sean is deaf. Music is very important to Jacqueline Woodson, and the music and lyrics of Tupac Shakur are central to the plot of After Tupac and D Foster. Woodson sometimes sits on the stoop to write. The narrator and her friends Neeka and D in After Tupac and D Foster spend hours (in all weather) on the front stoop. And if she couldn't write, Woodson admits to a desire to play for the NBA for the Knicks. One of Neeka's brothers in After Tupac and D Foster goes from basketball crazy to a basketball scholarship to Georgetown over the course of the book.

Locomotion

by Jacqueline Woodson

G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2003

review copy: public library

"Lonnie's voice was in my head." This novel in verse is told in the voice of a fifth grade boy who is in foster care. His sister is in different foster family. Writing poetry is lifesaving for Lonnie. This book would be interesting paired with Love That Dog by Sharon Creech.

Peace, Locomotion

by Jacqueline Woodson

G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2009

review copy: provided by the publisher

"This book started out being about one kind of peace and then became about the many ways we search for and eventually find peace." In this book, Lonnie writes letters to his sister in an attempt to keep safe the memories of their childhood (both before their parents were killed in the fire and now that they are living in two different foster families). Both Lonnie and his sister Lili are becoming more and more a part of their separate foster families and they have to find peace with that. One of Lonnie's foster brothers comes home from the war without part of one leg -- he has to find peace with his new body. Lonnie's new friend Clyde struggles to be accepted for who he is -- another way of finding peace.

Feathers

by Jacqueline Woodson

G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2007

review copy: public library

"...I wanted to write about the many ways people find Hope in the world." This book has a complicated mix of themes: race, organized religion, the holiness of living without organized religion, false assumptions, bullies, and, in a surprise plot turn, mixed-race adoptions.

After Tupac and D Foster

by Jacqueline Woodson

G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2008

review copy: public library

"I think Tupac was an amazing activist..." Two strands are woven in this book. First, there is Tupac Shakur -- his music, his lyrics, his life (and his mother's life) as an activist for disenfranchised black youth. And then there is family -- tight city neighborhood family, foster family, families that include a gay brother who is wrongly jailed for a crime he did not commit.

As a middle class white woman who grew up on a small rural town, I read Jacqueline Woodson's books from the outside looking in. The worlds she writes about are as foreign to me as another country. She writes with language I do not hear in my everyday life, and the urban world in which her characters live is far different even from the small city in which I now live. Reading these four books made it abundantly clear to me how few books there are in my classroom library or in our school library that are written from anything but a white middle class world view. After Tupac and D Foster is a bit too YA for my 4th grade classroom, but the other three are on my to-buy list.

2 Great New Nonfiction Picture Books About Endangered Animals

I just visited Bookies in Denver.  A great bookstore packed with books.  My friends here are taking such good care of me. It has been a great trip and today I did a bit of shopping.  I had never been to Bookies, so it was fun. (I also got some GREAT earrings at 5 Green Boxes. If you are ever in Denver, I would find this store. Very cool stuff.   

I picked up two new animal books for the library.  I have found that it is hard to find great nonfiction that younger readers can read on their own.  And, it seems like we never have enough books about animals. So I found two new nonfiction picture books that meet both needs. And both have great photographs that readers will love.

PANDA KINDERGARTEN by Joanne Ryder tells about a day in the life of the baby pandas at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda at Wolong Nature Preserve.  The photos of the panda cubs are adorable and the author gives us a peek into their day.  After the baby pandas are born and cared for they go off to "Panda Kindergarten" where they play with other panda cubs and discover new things. It is a great look into a place that is helping to protect the Giant Panda. The text is perfect--since so much of the story is told in photos, the text is perfect for younger readers.  6-10 lines of text are the average per page.  Lots of information about a great topic in a very kid-friendly book.

TIGER PUPS by Tom and Allie Harvey is the second book that I purchased.  At the Safari Zoological Park in Kansas, 3 Tiger cubs were born.  For some reason, the cubs' mother stopped taking care of the cubs so Tom and Allie Harvey's golden retriever, Isabella took over.  Tom and Allie and Isabella took care of the pups in their home until they were big enough to live outside. This book is a great story for all ages. Great photos accompany text that is perfect for primary students.  You can find lots of information about the pups as they grow on the zoo site.

These books are exactly the kinds of books I have been looking for for the school library--great animal stories that can be ready by young children and enjoyed by all ages.

Poetry Friday -- An Abecedarian Love Song to My Hometown

At the edge of nowhere,

Burlington,

Colorado is a place most

Drive through, not

Ever stopping

For more than

Gas and fast food by the

Highway.

If they took time to explore, they'd find the

Jewel of the town: the

Kit Carson County Carousel.

Listed as a National Historic Landmark, it's also listed in the

Memories of all who grew up here -- hot summer

Nights at the county fair, riding the carousel

On your favorite animal (hippocampus for me)

Perfection.

Quiet Main Street is 3 blocks away.

Remaining businesses do not thrive, but they

Survive. Farmers' pickup

Trucks cluster around Daylight Donuts at 6 a.m.

Under a

Vast sky and unbounded by

Wide horizons

Xpect to feel small here, even if

You are

Zipping by on I-70.

Miss Rumphius has a round up of abecedarian poems from her weekly poetry challenge.

This-n-That

A simple lesson in economics, and a big thank you Jessica Hagy for giving teachers credit where credit is due. Found at Indexed.

Way cool interactive timeline of children's literature.

Fabulous interview with Jan Thomas at 7-Imp.

New Mo Willems character unveiled!

The Sleepy LIttle Alphabet

Another pairing of two of my favorite people--How could I not like THE SLEEPLY LITTLE ALPHABET when I saw that it was written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. This book reminded me a bit of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom when I read it.  All of the letters are trying to fall asleep but they really can't.  H is busy standing on her head and i and j are jumping on the bed.  So goes the story of the letters at bedtime.  The book goes through the alphabet and the letters are finally in bed. 

This is a great alphabet book to add to your collection if you teach primary grades.  The illustrations--as I have come to expect from Melissa Sweet--are amazing.  Different from some of her other work but really fun and wonderful in the details and uniqueness. The illustrations give the book a very fun feel. 

This book can be enjoyed by kids learning the letters and or letter sounds of the alphabet.  Letters on the end pages, on every page of the book and then in their beds at the end of the story will be fun for kids just starting to understand print.  This would also make a great read aloud--at home or at school.  And the story is a fun one, especially when you put the text and the illustrations together. These letter characters have quite the personalities!