Dear English 323 Students:
I began a blog for our class complete with posts and a long message, but when I tried to find it later in cyberspace, there were too many other blogs with the same title and address. This shouldn't have happened, but I have now started a second blog, so ignore the first one, and use this one. I will get my trusty computer helper to erase the earlier attempt so that there will not be any confusion.
So consider this our class forum for a lively discussion of books for young readers, your text, and class lectures and activities.
Here's to blogging success. Susan
Eureka, I found it! Dear English 323 students:
I have set up a blog so that we can talk to each other each week about all of the books we are reading, responses to the text, and even comments on class lectures and activities. There are no rules for what needs to be posted here except to say that, as professionals, we need to practice good manners and respect for alternative opinions and points of view.
Although my main purpose for this blog is to provide an energetic forum for discussion, it will also act as an assessment measure to keep track of who among us is reading and thinking about the materials we read. In this case, quantity and quality will be blended into one 'score.' I expect to hear from each of you at least once week, and if you miss a week, I would expect additional participation from you in the week(s) you do join us. Participation means also reading all of the other class posts just as though you were sitting in a class discussion listening to each other, as well as adding your 'two cents.' I may, in fact, bring issues raised in the blog back to class that I think bear additional consideration.
So happy blogging. See you in class as usual on Thursday, September 8, in the lobby of the HSU library. And spend the equivalent of class time on Tuesday joining the class blog, setting up your own blog, and reading lots of good books. Susan
I hope you found our blog and that you have successfully joined us. I guess you won't read this if you haven't figured out where we are. Soon I expect not to be the only one writing on this bog! Susan
ReplyDeletesomehow i am following the blog with both of my google accounts, I do not know how that happened is that ok for both my accounts to be on here i don't know how to remove my other account.
ReplyDeletedo we post what we are reading in here. blogging is so new to me.
ReplyDeleteI made it!! This was confusing. Reading Holes. It's, so far better than the movie. Will report more later.
ReplyDeleteWanted to let everyone know that I created my own blog called swim a mile. I swim a mile every morning, but don't like to swim it 80 straight laps. Since I coached swimming for 20 years and also swam in college I thought that I would write up easy work outs for people that want to swim a mile and not feel like they have. My workouts are easy and take between 45-60 minutes. I am 52 and have been out of the pool for 3 years. So Im starting slow. Check it out.:)
ReplyDeleteI’m excited to announce that I have picked my first novel to read: The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. This book caught my eye when I was reading through chapter two of our text books in which the book is mentioned several times regarding its theme, character interactions, and episodic plot. The Wednesday Wars won a Newbery Honor medal in 2008. The story takes place in 1967 during the main character, Holling Hoodhood, seventh grade school year. I think the fact that the book takes place in the sixties through the experiences of a young teenage boy is the perfect first young adult novel to read.
ReplyDeleteIn reply to Tyson's post...
ReplyDeleteI too am interested in reading The Wednesday Wars especially after i saw it mentioned quite a few times in the textbook. Please let me know if you enjoy it!
I finished The Giver for the first time about two and half weeks ago and I loved it. If you haven't read it yet I would definitely recommend it- it's a page turner with, what I thought was, a dark kind of optimism and hope. I just started Bridge to Terabithia and I'm liking it so. It's going to be interesting to see where it goes.
ReplyDeleteI really like this assignment and am enjoying it as 'homework.' I especially like the fact that there are so many books my peers and friends have read as a child that distinctly stick out to them and that I have yet to read and experience these books as well.
I am in the middle of Holes by Louis Sachar, I never read it when it first came out so I am excited to be reading it now. I am picking up on some racial issues and how Stanley is treated because he is an over weight kid. I am defiantly seeing the difference in the movie and the book, I have to say that so far I like the book so much better.
ReplyDeleteI have read two novels for this class, for my fantasy i read Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander. I thought the book was very interesting and also a cute book. The story was about a boy and his cat who time traveled to all different parts of the world at various times. The second book I read was for Historical Fiction, I read Ashes in the Pathway by Kirkpatrick Hill. This story took place in the late 1800s in Alaska. It was about an Alaskan Tribe, and how white settlers came in and forced their religion on them, the Eskimos went through a lot of the same diseases and illnesses that many Indian tribes faced when Americans settled.
ReplyDeleteI am almost done with the book Holes, by Louis Sacher. The story gets more exciting as the book goes on. It's hard for me to put it down. I really like how the boys are African American, white, and Hispanic. They say their color doesn't matter because they dig holes all day and are all the color of dirt(the same). I like the way Stanley reaches out to Zero. He truly wants to teach him to read and Zero is so appreciative. A good lesson for our children to hear in a great book. Will let you know when I'm through. If your wondering what to read, I would pick this one to start. It's very easy reading.
ReplyDeleteI am not quite sure I how I managed to get on here, but here I am!
ReplyDeleteGizelle! The Giver is one of my favorite books! I haven't read since eighth grade and I want to re-read it. That is one of the books that really got me started with reading. It really moved me.
I am about to start reading the book, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, writen by Avi. I found it, one of very few left, at Borders. It is a winner of the Newbery Medal and tells the story of a very young girl who is accused of murder. It has 221 pages and is written for children ten years and older. I'm looking forward to sharing more with you all soon! : )
Nicole and Shawn, I am looking forward to reading Holes. I have never read it, which is surprising, but after hearing all this talk about it I can't wait! I wish there was more time in the day to read everything I want. However, it is nice to have a class that MAKES me read books that are not just text books. : )
ReplyDeleteThis is the email I sent to Cori. I'm awaiting her answer.
ReplyDeleteAfter a discussion, our class decided to read the same novel as their historical novel requirement. They also want you back to share with them how you 'used' the book with your students. I figure we could have my class write responses to the book to your students, and your class could write one to mine and we can exchange when you come. How long do you intend to spend on reading the book? Could you come and talk to us when you are done? Susan
To all of you who have been posting to the blog. I am so glad we found each other to share our thought on books and teaching. I am going to ask each of you who has been successful to pair up with a student still struggling to find us. I'll give you credit for a post if the two of you can add extra voices to the discussion. Susan
ReplyDeleteI am glad so many of you are finding really good books. Holes and the Giver are two of my favorites. Yesterday when I gave you a list of some of my favorites, I forgot to mention Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor. And Erika, I love Lloyd Alexander; I'm glad you found his cat book. I, too, want to read the book Tyson mentioned. Can I borrow it after yo, Marissa? And, Gizelle, you have good taste in books.
ReplyDeleteOf course you can borrow it Mrs. Bennett, or Susan, whichever you prefer. So i just finished my nonfiction novel requirement with a book called How the Pilgrims Came to Plymouth by Olga W. Hall-Quest. The last time this book was published was 1952. Pretty old. Anyway, it's an extremely racist and exaggerrated tale. Hall-Quest refers to Native Americans as "savages" and calls the English some not so nice words. She also labels the Dutch as heathens who like cursing and living without morals/values. Definitely not a book i'd put in my classroom but it gave me some insight into what the 50's might have been like.
ReplyDeleteSusan, i helped Laura DelRoss add herself to our class blog.
ReplyDeleteMarissa helped me find the class blog! Excited to finally find you in cyber space!!
ReplyDeleteI haven't yet started to read any novels but I did decide to read The Phantom Tollbooth as my first novel.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that so many people enjoy the Giver so much because I distinctly remember not liking it in middle school. I might have to read it again to see if my opinion would change. I also didn't enjoy Bridge to Terabithia but that was mostly due to the ending.
This discussion is making me reconsider reading Holes. I remember how popular it was when I was younger and my contrariness made me not want to read it.
I found it! thanks to the student who helped me!
ReplyDeleteHi... I am excited to hear about all of these great books!
ReplyDeleteMary - I am in the middle of The Phantom Tollbooth and love it so far! It is so imaginative and keeps me laughing. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
I missed Tuesday because I was sick. Did we decide to all read a certain book?
ReplyDeleteAlso, after Thursday's class I was a little disappointed, not with the class of course! I love to read and I love what we can get out of a book and it makes me said that we have to be extremely careful as to what we bring into the classroom. It is discouraging how far some parents will go, especially when most of them haven't even read the book themeselves. At least I know now to be carefully and aware as to what is going on in the community that I am teaching in.
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ReplyDeleteHi y'all!
ReplyDeleteI'm having fun exploring my shelf and comparing copyright dates. I love how the books - especially content and illustrations - have changed over the years! Anyone else noticing some intriguing patterns on their shelves?
Some books I've read thus far include:
The Tallest Tree - c. 2008 A rhyming, informational and counting book for very young kids. And it is all about the Coast Redwood!
My Great-Grandpa Joe - c. 1988 This book had a lot of text with black and white photos of a girl and her family on a trip to visit Joe. Straight out of the 1980's. Amazing 80's photos, minimal depth and enjoyment level.
The Girl Who Loved Horses - c. 1988 I picked this one up because I do and then upon reading it I realized it was a favorite from my childhood! However my memory of it was quite different than this time around. Lovely message with a strong female protagonist.
Happy reading :)
Laura Lynn
Hello Everyone! Aika here,
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, (c) 1999 it's a fantastic story about a girl who had her life turned around for the worst, and how she makes her way through her first year of high school. I'm not sure if this is on the list of novels or books to read, but I'd love to add it.
The author has a fantastic way of allowing the readers into the head of the main character and her troubles. It's written in more of a diary view and give a certain sort of humor to it, that somehow only adds to the tragedy of her situation.
Aika Recommends this story to 8th grade and up, I can see this having more of an impact/ reaction on females.
I finished Bridge to Terabithia today and I loved it!! It brought tears to my eyes and I loved the imagination the author gave Leslie- she is an amazing strong character and fitted in Jesse's life perfectly. I also really enjoyed watching Jesse's character develop into a more mature, analytical person rather than just the average boy in the 5th grade.
ReplyDeleteI also must say the ending to this book was perfect. It balanced out the emotion throughout the story and made me feel content with all that happened in Jesse's life so far.
And I just wanted to add that the music teacher ( I forgot the character's name) was an amazing person and I'm glad someone who was seen as more radical was portrayed so angelically throughout the children's eyes.
Gizelle said:
ReplyDeleteAnd I just wanted to add that the music teacher ( I forgot the character's name) was an amazing person and I'm glad someone who was seen as more radical was portrayed so angelically throughout the children's eyes.
This was one of my favorite aspects of the book, as well! The way some books can captivate the childlike purity of imagination and excitement for the wondrous world is such a powerful thing. I remember Bridge to Terabithia reinforcing creative thinking when I first experienced it in 5th grade and as an adult it can provide a needed reminder that the world can be perceived as what you need it to be through the power of your thoughts.
Beautifully said Laura. I think that is one of the ways Jesse deals with his fear throughout the book, that and be having a strong force (Leslie) in his life.
ReplyDeleteSo I changed my book and I am now reading How To Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. This is such a great book. There are pictures now and then for the children to look at it and the story line is so cute. I have seen the movie and the book is completely different, not even the same story plot. Once again the book is way better. Hiccup is a great hero, however he is not your typical tuff here is a normal 10 year old boy and I think that is what makes this story so great.
ReplyDeleteI have started the House of the Scorpion. So far the book has me captured. Nancy Farmer has a way with words which makes it hard to put the book down. The book really jumps into a sci-fi feel with all the talk of cloning humans and implanting embryos into cows
ReplyDeleteI am so happy with the posts I have read so far. Your comments are so much richer than the dry reviews I used to get from students. It's because you are really communicating with each other about books not just writing to a teacher to prove you read a book. I want to echo Aika's recommendation of Speak. I think every prospective teacher should read it. I'm also glad to see that Josh is reading and enjoying House of Scorpion. Both those books are probably suited to grades 6 through nine, but you never know what grades you will end up teaching. And I'm also glad you have found the classics--Bridge to Terabithia, The Giver, Holes, and The Phantom Toll Booth. Mary made a good point when she said she might read some books now that she is an adult to see if she likes them more or less than when she was a child. We should probably talk about that phenomenon more in class. See you tomorrow. Susan
ReplyDeleteI have not gotten too far into The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. However, I think if this book was to be taught to a class the teacher would need to go over the terms and definitions of the parts of ships.
ReplyDeleteThis story is based on a ship and much of the languge used is ship terms. There is a picture in the back of the boat that is labeled. I think it would be very helpful to review it before the class started to read it.
Hi all!! I finished Holes and loved it. I was right in the story the whole time. I really feel this would be a good story for our students in reference to bullying. I think as a teacher we could tie this into what goes on in our schools with social issues. Any way a good read. So, I then picked the story that Cori's class will be reading this Fall. My Brother Sam is Dead. This story is set in the late 1770's when the war was with the British. A good historical book showing how one family dealt with this war. If you read the last chapter it tells what characters are really real and what places really did encounter this war. The Authors, James and Chris Collier actually traveled to all the places that are in the book so they could write about first hand what it was like. I could not put this book down. Yes, I finished it already. A young boy, Tim, tells of his families hardships during this time. I was actually with Tim throughout this read. Your going to love it. Kinda hard for me since my husband will be going off to war soon. Could be a hard read for those children whose fathers and mothers are serving overseas. Another great page turner::)) Now I am reading "A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle. It's a Newberry Medal Book and it is another book I don't want to put down. Hope these suggestions help.
ReplyDeleteTo those interested in Sci-Fi...
ReplyDeleteA Google search for "most influential young adult novels" gave me a Top 50 list of Sci-Fi books for kids and young adults. The website's reputability was hard for me to ascertain but the list itself seems fairly respectable; it includes the classics and some new stuff as well. Let me know what you think, if you select any books from the list or if you already are deep into the pages of one!
Here is the url:
http://www.bestuniversities.com/blog/2010/top-50-sci-fi-novels-for-kids-young-adults/
I've been looking for an excuse to read Neal Stephenson ever since a co-worker recommended his previous novel Snow Crash to me this summer. I was under the assumption that he wrote outside the realm of young adults but I'd love to read The Diamond Age from the list if it truly is appropriate for kids and young adults. Anyone have experience with this genre/author/book?
@ Aika
ReplyDeleteI read speak this summer it is such a great book.
Have you by any chance seen the movie?
Shawn- I'm reading My Brother Sam is Dead right now and you are absolutely right, it's a page turner and I really like how the authors take you through the story in Tim's eyes. I haven't finished it yet but I really like it. It also would be a strong book as a cross curricular.
ReplyDeleteI found the class blog and figured out how to "follow" it. I am very happy I am able to join in now. For my contemporary realistic fiction novel, I have chosen The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender, but I have not started it yet. I am looking forward to reading about all of the character's perspectives in the family unit, as it is supposed to show the nine year-old girl after eating a piece of cake, having a new ability to see her family's true harboured feelings within (resentment, sadness, and etcetera). I am interested to see how this will end up affecting the girl and how the writer chose to represent each of the family members through (i.e. tradional family roles or not) and how deep she goes into character development with each one. To me, this seems like a lot for a nine year-old to handle. Happy reading everyone!
ReplyDeleteYou guys might want to check out paperbackswap.com once you are done reading your books or if you have some laying around and you want a new one for this class and you own them. I am going to get My Brother Sam Is Dead through them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the good advice, Jessie and Laura. Nicole B., you'll have to keep us posted about Charlotte Doyle. I think it gets very serious. Shawn, you are setting a good example for us with your eager reading! By the end of the semester, you may end up reading more than 6 novels at this rate. I'm glad some of you are using this class as a chance to red titles you have always wanted to read but didn't get the chance. By the way, I didn't know Speak was a movie. Did anyone see it? Was it any good?
ReplyDeleteDid anyone else see the article about Sendack on FB today? It talked about how parents didn't like the movie of Where the Wild Things Are and think his newest book is too scary. Some things never change. If you see the new book, let us know what you think.
ReplyDeleteOur text book, Children's Literature, I've been finding to be a great source for discovering plenty of interesting children's literature books and young adult novels.Chapter 8 discusses the multiple different sub-categories and types of contemporary realistic fiction books, which I found gave me a better perspective on the genre.I am also almost done with my first novel,The Wednesday Wars, but I have to say I don't think ill be giving a good review. I'll discuss the various problems I had with the book after I finish it, which I hope will be in a few days.
ReplyDeleteI finally made it!
ReplyDeleteHello Class. I finally got onto the Blog. Yay. I just want to clarify who I am. I know my user name says Ashley however in class I go by Mac.
ReplyDeleteI finished reading my first novel for the class. the name is Don't Hurt Laurie by Willo Davis Roberts. This is a compelling story of a female child struggling to find the motives behind her mother's rage towards her, while at the same time managing a sane life.
ReplyDeleteAs I kept reading more about the story, I found many things about the author and how this book unveils a lot about her life. In SAAS (Something about the Author Autobiography Series) she said, "I think in essence I've remained about eleven myself. I remember very clearly what I thought and felt at that age, how painfully shy I was, how I was intimidated by people and circumstances." This is a brief summary of Laurie the main character in the book and in several of her other works like "The View from The Cherry Tree" and "The Girl with Silver Eyes".
Hello All,
ReplyDeleteI have a question about a book it is the Host by Stephenie Meyer, I am not sure if it science fiction or if it is appropriate for children to read. I really would like to read Flowers for Algeron for science fiction but cannot find a copy locally and would prefer not to buy it. Does anyone have a copy I can borrow. Also for my nonfiction I am reading Rosie the Riveter, it is about the women workers in WW2 and I am enjoying this book very much and find the subject content to be very interesting. I also read The Birchbark House (i forgot the author) for my multi cultural fiction. It was about a Native American family. The book was exciting at times and sad at others. I am really enjoying reading books for this class and cant wait for what i get to read next.
i found this link to browse Maurice Sendak's new book.
ReplyDeletehttp://browseinside.harpercollinschildrens.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780062051981
i think its cool that we can get a glimpse of the book since it is in the news.
Susan, i saw the movie Speak and i felt it did not do the book justice. The book is a great read, especially for adolescent girls and i remember really enjoying it when i was younger.
ReplyDeleteI want to say that i actually like our textbook! I think i may keep it when i'm teaching because it has great ideas about how to incorporate children's literature into the classroom. I also like that some chapters give you a guide to follow when selecting literature for the classroom, i find those helpful. I hope others share my enthusiasm on the textbook too!
And Erica, thanks for the link i'll check it out right after i post!
Erica, thank you so much for that link!! Everyone, check it out! It is more than worth the 5 seconds it'll take you to copy and paste the link. There are routes to his other books as well which makes it easy to cross-reference and compare his work over time. I love how his drawings depict people more realistically than many forms of people in media who tend to be rendered to match a culture's ideal.
ReplyDeleteI finished My Brother Sam is Dead last night and I really liked it and how powerful the story is. I found myself being able to relate to the Tim during parts of the book in regards to being in a war, which he described as distant in the beginning. I think this would be an excellent book for children to read, especially with what's happening now in the world.
ReplyDeleteI was also curious on how Corrie deals with how graphic this book is. As I was reading, there were some very vivid, grotesque scenes that I would be concerned about in a classroom, specifically the scene with Ned. Does she discuss it with the class and if so what does she say?
Lastly I really enjoyed reading the epilogue and the 'how much if this book was real' chapters. It was interesting to see that although a fictitious story, the basis of it was very real, down to the town and some of the characters.
I really enjoyed it and recommend it if your undecided on what to read for historical fiction.
I finished reading The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster which interestingly enough had an appreciation written by Maurice Sendak. I've always enjoyed words and reading so I think the way the story uses language and words is really fun. I also identified with the main character, Milo, who is introduced as a boy who never knew what to do with himself, which reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger. The story was fun and I really loved the way the author played with words but I did find the story to be slightly lacking in emotion for me. I think this is something that I've come to look for more in books as an adult than I would have as a child. I feel like a lot of the story just happens to Milo and isn't driven by any deep emotions. This was sharply contrasted by me reading A Wrinkle in Time one night because The Phantom Tollbooth didn't have the emotion I was looking for. I still really enjoyed The Phantom Tollbooth though and would recommend it because Milo's quest to save Rhyme and Reason is fun and entertaining. Also, as I'm a sucker for happy endings I really enjoyed that Milo comes to the realization that there is a lot for him to do and explore in the real world.
ReplyDeleteI read A Wrinkle in Time for my science fiction novel and I enjoyed it so much that I read it in one sitting. The story is so driven by Meg's emotions and thoughts that it was super easy to become engrossed in it. Since I read it so quickly I think I'm going to need to reread or look back at it more before I can review it thoughtfully. It's definitely a good book though and I hope Shawn enjoys it as much as I did.
Gizelle and Shawn's reviews of My Brother Sam is Dead are really making me look forward to reading it. Up until their reviews it hadn't sounded very interesting to me so I'm glad was able to read them first.
Hello All,
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War 2. I read this book for my non-fiction. It was a very interesting book. I never knew how many women worked on war related jobs to help our nation. I learned that Janice Grant who worked for the center wing section of the PYI Flying boat (navy plane) married Stan Berenstain, a medical artist in the army wrote and illustrated the Berenstain Bear books so many kids love today. I also learned that Norma Jean Baker Dougherty (Marilyn Monroe) also worked during the war attaching propellers to drone planes. I also learned that many women were out of the job after the war, some of the women were okay to go back to their homes and care for their families and others were angered that the men could just come back to their jobs while these women were out of the job. I do recommend this book for a non-fiction novel. There is so much to learn from this book.
Hello class! Well it has taken me awhile to get on this blog and to find a book to read because I am quite picky but after reading the comments above, I was like what the hell lets read the Giver! So far I am on chapter 7 and I have to say it's pretty good so far.
ReplyDeleteOh and I actually stumbled across this website that has a bunch of books for free. However in this website you can't really keep track of what page you are on and the books aren't really categorized in a neat manner but hey it's free?
http://freebooksread.blogspot.com/2011/01/read-books-online-free-fiction-novels.html
@ericalovescats
ReplyDeleteI believe Host would be classified in YA Sci-Fi, but if you want to read that, I would recommend reading a few of the Animorph books first. I feel as though Stephine Meyer took a lot of her ideas from The Animorph books and I was pretty disappointed when I read Host.
So it has taken me a long time to get on the class blog but I am here. Susan if you are giving points out to students who gave there time to help others find the blog, please know that Nicole Barrett spent a good 30 minutes helping me straighten things out to get onto the class page, so she should definitely get credit if you are giving it out. If not, then thank you again Nicole for all your help.
ReplyDeleteAs for reading, I finished reading the book Eragon by Christopher Pallini. It is a fantasy book that is geared towards young adults. At first I was thinking this book was going to be awful because I don’t normally enjoy this type of writing. However I could not have been more wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
It is the first book of a series (four books total, however I don’t think the last one is out yet.) I think people should know that the author of the book wrote his first draft of the book Eragon when he was only 15 years old and it was published by the time he was 20. I think that if children knew that they might be inspired and maybe gain some courage and confidence in their own work if they were writers.
Anyways, the book is about a 15-year-old farm boy named Eragon who finds a dragon egg in the forest while hunting for food for his family. The egg hatches and Eragon names the dragon Saphira (it’s a girl dragon, which I think is cool) anyways, Eragon becomes a Dragon Rider. He goes on a dangerous adventure learning magic and sword fighting all in preparation to fight the evil King. Eragon is tested by many tough situations of losing loved ones, being driven from his home and growing into a man before his time.
I think the book had well developed characters with an interesting plot. I also feel that there are plenty of issues that are relevant to current times that can be found beneath the surface. I am actually thinking about continuing to read the remainder of the books I enjoyed this one so much. However that will have to wait until I have more free time.
I finished The Phantom Tollbooth and just love it! I would definitely consider reading this book as a class so we could discuss things in the book as they happen. Especially because there are so many clever little sentences to learn from that may be missed by a kid reading alone. Many topics in the book can be expanded on in class as well. Math comes up in the story when Milo visits Digitopolis, and throughout the story are great vocabulary words such as ominous, vigorous, immense, and pungent. This is a fun and educational read with a good ending.
ReplyDeleteThe next book on my list is Sarah, Plain and Tall. I remember reading this book as a kid multiple times... It should be interesting to see how my opinion of the book changes now that I am older!
Hi everyone-I finally made it here.
ReplyDeletethanks to all who helped me. Especially shawn.
sounds like people are enjoyingthemselves with this assigment and reading all those books.
I finished Speak and I thought it was a very powerful book. Melinda is a complex, smart, funny girl who goes through the book growing and coping with events in her life.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how the whole book is seen through Melinda's thoughts and although the outside world is shut off to her, the book is able to keep you sucked in as you follow her thought process throughout the days.
With all that said, the story is pretty dark and if you chose to read it, remember that as the story unfolds.
Wow, everyone is giving nice descriptions and great ideas for books. I am almost done with The House of the Scorpion. I feel the book is awesome. It is an interesting balance of light and dark energy. Matt, the main character is thrown into a crazy world. Kids could relate to this character if they are feeling isolated from adults and their peers. This book could give kids some interesting ideas on how to cope with that. Although some traditionalist parents might have a hard time with this book because of the opium situation, powerful drug lords and sometimes Matt can be rebellious against his adult supervisors. But all in all it could be a great adventure for kids and adults.
ReplyDeleteI finished Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan! The copyright date is 1985 and it is the 1986 Newbery Medal winner. I loved this book as a child, and it turns out I still do! It all came back to me. Such a sweet story set in the late 19th century. It used to seem a lot longer though! This time it took me less that half an hour to read. I would have my students read it because it is an interesting story that talks about a different kind of life than most kids are used to. You can use it in a history lesson, and also talk about the different emotions that the characters feel in the book. Singing is also a topic and it could be fun to have students learn songs that would have been sung during that time period!
ReplyDeleteThe next book I am going to read is Gossamer by Lois Lowry. I have heard many good things and am excited to start it!
Hey class! I just finished reading My Brother Sam Is Dead and I have to say that I'm not a huge fan. I think the part where Tim's father dies and he and his mother lack emotion for it disturbs me a bit. I don't think I would use this book to teach elementary aged students about the Revolutionary War. But I do like how it shows both the good and bad sides of the war in it. I can't wait to see what us and the elementary students get to do with this! On a happier note, I read Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman for my multicultural read. I loved it! It can teach students a lot about community and the importance of friendship in a short time, it only took me 45 minutes to finish. I think I'll start my fantasy book next, anyone have any good ideas for a book?
ReplyDeleteI have just finished How To Train Your Dragon and will be starting My Brother Sam Is Dead today. The book How To Train Your Dragon was a wonderful book, it was funny and exciting and the pictures give you something funny to look at. I would not teach this book, it is a fantasy and I do not see how you would use the book to teach a lesson, however I would keep it on my library shelf in the classroom and I would buy the other books in the series for my students to read during silent reading time. I am not really looking forward to My Brother Sam is Dead, I kind of remember the book when I was in elementary school.
ReplyDeleteHello class. I finished my first novel, Tuned Out by Maia Wojciechowska, about two weeks ago and personally felt it was amazing. I'm not sure which level in education would be most appropriate to introduce this sort of content, due to the involvment of marijuana and LSD. I believe the level of writing is very simple, so a younger child may be able to understand what all of the literal meanings portray. But there are much deeper ideas and conflicts that maybe only a more mature audience would fully understand. I'm really not sure whether or not I should give a summary, but I definitely recommend reading it.
ReplyDeleteHey class. Thanks for all the suggestions. I am almost done with a Wrinkle in Time. It's a great read. I am reading it as a fantasy though. Is it Science Fiction also?? I thank the Men in our class for recommending The House of Scorpian. I think I will read this book next. And,your welcome Lorena. I'm so glad you made it here. I am reading my books on the shelf and have been putting all info on index cards. Seems to be working well. I really need to go into more about the author bio's though. Think I will research all of them online. Some of these books will not reflect the authors history though. There just to simple without meaning. But, looking forward to finding out why Sendak specifically wrote certain books that are on my shelf. Or, at least, my interpretation of that when reading more on his back ground. Hoping I can find info on why he wrote each one of them individually.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering what everyone is reading for the multicultural fiction and non fiction genres?
ReplyDeleteHey everybody. I've only read one book so far for the class, and that was My Brother Sam is Dead. I was a little surprised about some of the content, but over all I thought it was a very good book. As far as the mother's reaction to the deaths, it would be strange to see someone react that way in real life, but I think it would be a good way to talk to a class about grief. I'm still trying to figure out what to read next, but I'm pretty interested in How to Train Your Dragon. Does anyone know if it qualifies as a "Modern" Fantasy?
ReplyDeleteI just bought My Brother Sam is Dead at the store the other day, and I am hoping to start reading it soon. It sounds like everyone is enjoying the book so far which is just getting me even more excited about reading it. I'm having a hard time finding an interesting fantasy book to read, so if anyone has any suggestions I would very much appreciate it.
ReplyDelete@ Gizelle I read The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich, it is about a native american family. For my non-fiction i read, Rosie the Riveter:Women Working on the Home Front by Penny Colman. It was about all the jobs women did during World War 2. I found the book very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI found a copy of flowers for algeron in all places the banned book shelf, in the library. On that i was shocked at how many books i have read that are on the shelf, practically every book my High school used in the curriculum was on that shelf (i.e. Black Boy, To Kill a Mockingbird, and many of Shakespeare's titles) as well as titles I did't read (i.e. Bless Me Ultima and The Great Gadsby) I was shocked at how many books are banned and wonder who states why a book is banned and if it can ever be unbanned....is that a word? thats my thoughts for now.
ReplyDeleteGizelle, for the multicultural book I'm planning on reading Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata. It won a Newbery Medal and is about a Japanese family moving from a Japanese community in Iowa to the Deep South. For my nonfiction I'm planning on reading Out of Darkness: The story of Louis Braille by Russel Freedman. Since I haven't read them yet I'm not sure how good they will be but they both sound interesting. They aren't experiences I've read or heard much about so that is kind of what attracted me to them.
ReplyDeleteErica, I've found that a lot of the books I read in high school were banned books as well. It makes me curious about if their banning was in the past or if some of them they are still banned in some areas.
Shawn, I missed your comment earlier but I wanted to say I read A Wrinkle in Time as my science fiction. I think it would be considered science fiction because the fantasy elements are based on theoretical science but in my experience fantasy and science fiction can be very closely related. The worlds and ideas in the book are definitely fantastical.
ReplyDeleteSo finished the Giver a while back and I enjoyed every second of it! When I first started reading it, it sort of creeped me out. Just how the people in the community acted even how they responded to one another kinda gave me an uneasy feeling. However I got used to it and overall it's a great read. It's kind of like the Village/Pleasantville if any of you have ever seen those movies.
ReplyDeleteAnd hey Mary! I just finished the book Kira-Kira! haha I didn't like it much. It's a story about a Japanese family moving to the south. It's mainly about the relationship between two sisters and how their family face many hardships and they try their best to pull through it all. The reason why I didn't enjoy it much was because I expected more. I'm kind of disappointed because I wanted to really like the book but I guess I just couldn't connect with the characters. To me they were kind of bland. I also felt like in the story they mention a lot of issues like racism, social class and poverty but it only touched on it a little bit and I personally wanted more. Idk if I'm being too harsh on this book or something but I guess being Asian American myself, I read too many stories about Japanese Americans and Asian Americans in general that I compare them in a way which I really shouldn't. The book is a decent read however I'm kind of surprised that it won a Newbery Medal award.
Marry, what do you think of the book so far if you started it? Don't not read it because I didn't like it.
Moving on to my next book, The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman. This book falls under the fantasy genre. It is the first out of three. It also is a movie, so it will be interesting to watch after I read the book. It’s fun to see which is better. Usually the book wins. It seems like a lot of people are reading My Brother Sam is Dead. That will have to be my next book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the suggestions guys. All these comments make me want to read all the books you guys are all reading!!! Erica- I noticed that too, about the banned books, that most of them made up my high school curriculm
ReplyDeleteI finished A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle. You guys are right. It is considered a Science Fiction book. Absolutely loved it. Brings up God a lot. Not sure how parents of different religions would perceive it, but I loved it. Again, this is easy reading and can be checked out in the library. Was going to read The House of Scorpion, but I went for a Historical Fiction this time. Mainly because Erica was in the library in the Children's Literature section and knew exactly where I could find this book. It also fits a different Genre' for me.It's called Rosie the Riviter by Penny Coleman. Same name as my sister in law.lol I'm already on chapter five. It is very informational on how our country dealt with World War II and the roles that women played. Also how the African American were treated during this time. Let ya know when I'm done::))
ReplyDeleteDear Everyone, I started from the beginning and read everyone's comments. I still haven't heard from everyone in the class, I'm afraid, but those of you visiting the blog regularly seem to be getting many good ideas, titles and strategies out of it. I am just so happy that everything you are writing is interesting and genuine rather than dry and dull only to fill an assignment. I also like that not all of you agree on My Brother Sam Is Dead, and that you are making good constructive critical comments. Lastly, I am gratified to read comments about the text. If it is evident most of you are reading and benefiting from the text, I am less inclined to give an exam. So keep those text comments coming!
ReplyDeleteHey Hey class. I am currently in the library, and just read a picture book for the fourth time. The most intriguing thing continues to happen, however. The best part about this text, is that there is no text. The BOY, The BEAR, The BARON, The BARD by Gregory Rogers is 31 pages long and has zero words to describe any of the full page action happening throughout the book. I feel like this leaves readers with their own dialogue and description. Now for my favorite part. The story has a different twist each time I read it. I feel like because every day is different, so is the book. I haven't come across many books like this, and thought if anyone would like to give it a quick look the book is on rack 26 in the library.
ReplyDeleteHi everyone
ReplyDeleteThe first book that I read this semester is Julie Of The Wolves. I really enjoyed reading this book and I an going to use it as my multicultural novel. Julie of the wolves won the Newbey award and it was published in 1972.
It is a story of a 13 year old girl who runs away fron an arranged marriage. She gets lost in the tundra and bocomes friends with pack of wolves, who help her survive. Throughout the story mayax(julie's eskimo name), mayas beging to spreciate and understand the eskimo's way of living. She also realizes that the eskimo way of life clashes with the "white man's.i liked this book, but after doing some research I foung out that there is controversy about it.
I chose to read this book because when I was in Elementary school my teacher read it to us. i did not understand any english back then, so I was exited to read it. I think it is a good book. I do not know a lot about the eskimo culture, so I do not know if it is so accurate, but from the research I did I think that it is. I do recomend it, if you are looking for something to read.
Hi everyone! I finally made it to the class blog! Better late than never I guess! So far I've been reading The Hobbit as my modern fantasy novel. I am really enjoying it and just about done.
ReplyDeleteLorena, I was actually considering reading Julie Of The Wolves as well for my multicultural novel. I have never read the story before but always wanted to when I was young, which is silly because I actually do own the book and have since I was young. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the book. I think I might actually finally read it and use it as my multicultural novel. You discussing it has encouraged me to do so.
Hi Bree, I'm glad that you want to read the book, I really encourage you to .let me know what you thing of it if you do!
ReplyDeleteFinished Rosie the Riveter. I would encourage all to read this book. This is a non fiction about the women doing most of the work while our men were at war in the 1940's. Very interesting to see the leaps and bounds women made. FDR was truly ahead of his time!! Now I'm reading The House of the Scorpion. On chapter five and don't want to put it down. It's a page turner. Thanks Bree and Lorena for the multicultural and the modern fantasy books. I love to hear about the genre's I have not read yet. And everyone keep blogging. I hate EXAMS::))
ReplyDeleteHello everyone, I just finished reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham. I enjoyed the book it was short and straight to the point. The book is a lot more comical then I would have thought. The book is considered to be historical fiction and multicultural, but can't figure out what genre makes the better fit. The theme of the story is racial injustice back in the 60's and the Watsons who live in flint, but decide to make a trip down to Birmingham. It can teach kids to appreciate their families and about the racism that many people endured in those days. The book I have know started on is Where the Red Fern Grows.I read this book when I was much younger and I LOVED IT ! I remember crying and thinking some of the parts were too sad. Let's see how I feel this time around with the book.
ReplyDeleteSo I read the book The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It was aweful. Well at least for me. I could not get into the book. So it took forever to get through. I felt that the characters seemed to whine about everything. I know there is a movie based on the book and I know that I have seen it, even though it was a while ago. However I don't remember thinking it was that bad. I think this may be one of the rare times that a movie was better than the book. Again this is just my opinion. I can see how young girls could relate to the book and the characters. I would not have this in a classroom unless a student were to bring it in for their own reading and enjoyment.
ReplyDeleteTyson, I am really interested to hear what you thought, of The Wednesday Wars. That sounds like a really interesting perspective and time period to read about. I think I would really like it, not only because I have a real interest in the 60s, but because my dad would have been exactly in the 7th grade in 1967. Is anyone else reading this book? I remembember discussing this book shortly in class, it is not technically historical fiction is it? What is it classified as?
ReplyDelete*1965 my dad was in 7th grade, but close.
ReplyDeletehttps://sites.google.com/site/humboldtcountyauthorfestival/home
ReplyDeleteThis is the Humboldt County Author Festival website :)
Hey Jessie, Susan classified the book as a contemporary fiction. I will be posting my review for the book soon, so you'll be able to read my complete thoughts about the book. However, what I will say about the book now is that I found the story boring and overly childish for the age group depicted in the book, but I did feel that the time period of 1967 was depicted well throughout the narrative of the story. I could sense the atmosphere of what was going on in the US during 1967 throughout the whole book. A book that I am enjoying now is My Brother Sam is Dead. Even though I'm only about 60 pages in, I am already drawn into the story.
ReplyDeleteHey class! I just finished reading The Tale of Despereaux for my fantasy novel and it was fantastic! Super cute and funny, Kate Dicamillo writes an absurd fairy tale of a mouse in love. The thing i found most interesting about the book is Dicamillo's writing style. It reminds me a lot of Lemony Snicket, author of the A Series of Unfortunate Events books. If you enjoy those books, you'll love The Tale of Despereaux!
ReplyDeleteHey everyone! Has anyone checked out the little shelf of banned books in the library? I found books in there that I was unsure of why they were banned... for instance all of the Harry Potter books, Julie of the Wolves, Bridge to Terabithia and there were other books that I recognized but I can't quite remember right now. Does anyone have any clues as why these books have been banned?? I would google it but I thought it might bring up a good discussion topic on our class blog. :)
ReplyDeleteHi guys, so I finished Gossamer as well as Island of the Blue Dolphins and The Giver. (Well with all that rainy weather, who can resist tea and a good book?!)
ReplyDeleteGossamer makes you feel many different emotions and I really enjoyed it. The teacher of the 3rd/4th grade class I am observing right now is reading it aloud to his students and they all seem to really like it as well. After they finish a chapter the teacher has someone give a summary of what they just heard. Then they discuss feelings of the characters and point out any great vocabulary words. It is good to see that the kids are really into it!
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell is a 4th grade-level book based on a true story. I had forgotten how violent and sad it is. Overall the book is interesting and can teach kids about a small part of our history. Plus, they get really excited when they find out that the main character is buried here in California.
The Giver is an awesome story. I do actually recall now that it was read to one of my classes in elementary school, but I remember being really confused by it. Now I know why! The setting is in a small community of the future. Also, puberty comes up and kids who haven't learned about it or experienced it yet could get a little lost. I was way more into it this time around and it has many great messages. I think it would be appropriate for the second half of 5th grade or higher, but am interested to see if others feel that way as well!
I am reading A Wrinkle in Time now which a few of you have talked about so I am excited to read it.
Hi Bree, I haven't looked at the shelf yet but am sad to hear that so many great books are on it! We talked about Harry Potter in class... Some religious parents don't agree with the spells and magic,etc. Chapter 3 in our text talks about banned books and a big reason is for language! I recommend checking it out :)
ReplyDeleteHey Everyone,
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading Flowers For Algernon. I thought the book was amazing and sad. It is about a mentally retarded man named Charlie who has an operation that makes him smarter. Charlie gets increasingly smarter as time goes by. but at the end of the story he declines back to his prior state. This surgery was performed on a mouse (algernon)before it was performed on Charlie. This book was on the top 50 books in Science Fiction for young readers, and it was also on the banned book shelf in the library. I would consider maybe having this book on the shelf if I were to teach 7th or 8th grade, but i feel the content is mature and the language in some parts is too much for younger children. I also saw the move Charley, which was based on this book, I had seen the movie my freshmen year in High School, but now having read the book, and re-watching the movie,I feel the movie does no justice for the book. The movie is way off from the book. I would have to say the only thing they got right was Charlie was mentally slow at the beginning, and he got smart and then at the end he was just as he was in the beginning. The movie is good as a movie and I looked up the main character Cliff Robertson and found out he just passed away last month. But the book is really good I would recommend people read it.
Hi Bree,
ReplyDeleteI am also curious as to why some of the books on the banned shelves are banned such as Charlottes Web, Black Beauty, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Thanks, Tyson, I am looking forward to that. In regards to the banned books, I noticed the ones we have on display look very old. I can understand some of the books being extremely controversial such as Uncle Tom's Cabin, Catcher in the Rye, and Harry Potter, which I have all read. But I was really surprised by some seemingly harmless ones like Black Beauty, so I looked up more information on the banned books. Black Beauty was banned merely for its title! Charlotte's Web really surprised me too. It was only in 2006 that it was decided by a parent group in a Kansas school district that talking animals are "blasphemous and unnatural," while parts in the book about the spider dying are “inappropriate subject matter for a children’s book.” They said that "humans are the highest level of God’s creation and are the only creatures that can communicate vocally. Showing lower life forms with human abilities is sacrilegious and disrespectful to God." Aside from language and adult content, it seems that many of the banned books wind up on that list for reasons most of us today find ridiculous and radical. It is interesting to me, depending on where people live, that a book may be proposed to be banned for being too liberal, or it may be too conservative for some instead. Here is a good resource on the subject:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/aboutbannedbooks/index.cfm
Thanks for bringing up this topic, Bree. I think that really ties in well with what we have discussed in class about how we will choose to bring books in to our own classrooms, which books we find appropriate, and what evidence we have to back that up with.
I read a few more books on my shelf today . I have some pretty good authors. I have Rosemary Wells who writes all the Max & Ruby books. I have Brian Wildsmith who is a famous author in Britain. I am going to do my paper on Brian Wildsmith because I find that I am most captivated by his work, and illustrations. I am just having some difficulty finding information about him on the internet.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading all of the posts I think I want to read the Giver for my next book. It seems that everyone has very different opinions of the book, which makes me all the more interested. I have never read it myself so I am excited to see how I will feel about it after finishing. I also want to read Speak after reading what both Gizelle and Anika said about it. Plus my roommate has a copy. Although it sounds like that may be considered contemporary fiction, which I have already read. Oh well I will just have to add it to my list of books to read.
ReplyDeleteI'm having a hard time choosing my contemporary book. Does anyone have any good suggestions?
ReplyDeleteOh and I went to the library to look at my shelf the other day and my shelf has some very interesting books. I read a book about an old husband and wife who wanted a child but couldn't have one. There was a huge peach the wife finds in the river and the husband and wife were going to eat it but out comes a boy? Very weird but it is actually a common folktale in Japan about courage, strength and kindness. A lot of my books deal with different cultures and have interesting background stories so I think it is something I am going to talk about in my essay. My shelf also has a bunch of books I remember reading as a kid which brings back memories which is pretty cool.
For my contemporary fiction book I read Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes. It's about this girl Olive, who I believe is around 12, and she just found out that a girl from her class who had recently died thought she was nice and wanted to be friends with her. She goes with her family to visit her grandmother for the summer where she experiences various coming of age type events. I think the book is about the point in time where a child realizes that the world is much bigger than they are and gain that perspective on their lives. I enjoyed the book and I like the writing style of the author but I didn't fall in love with it. I do think it was a good reminder about what's important in life and I liked that the book made me think.
ReplyDeleteDullina, I liked it but I didn't love it so I'm not sure how good of a recommendation it is.
Erica, I read an excerpt from flowers from Algernon in school. I wish I could remember what grade it was but I feel like it might have been as young as 5th so I find your take on grade appropriateness interesting. I remember being interested in the rest of the story and realizing for the first time that a lot of the stories we were reading from our text were excerpts from novels.
Hey Erica,I
ReplyDeleteI just read your post about the banned books your curious about. Turns out Charlotte's Web was banned because talking animals/insects is not realistic, so it's not appropriate for classrooms. Pretty funny because isn't that what fantasy is all about?? Apparently someone thought it's okay to ban children's imaginations, that's basically what they're doing. :)
Hey all,
ReplyDeleteI went to the library to read some of the books on my shelf. I came across an interesting author David Weisner. I found many of his books did not have text and the pictures confused me. I cannot explain it any other words than I felt like I was on drugs. Feel free to check him out I have shelf 34. Some of his books do have text I found one about a Hurricane, I picked it up because there was a cat on the cover. :) I am still thinking about doing my report on Brian Wildsmith but now that I have come across David Weisner, I kind of want to know why he writes/ draws the way he does.
I read My Brother sam is dead, and really liked it. It was very sad, though.but I guess that is the reality of war. i am interested in how the elementary class used this book. it is very interesting and descriptive.
ReplyDeleteIn the news today I saw that Stieg Larsson's popular Millenium Trilogy, which includes Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, is going to be turned into a graphic novel series by DC Universal.I never saw the movie, and have never been into graphic novels, but reading our textbooks has shown me how popular they are. Plus, a lot of kids in school were into graphic novels, manga, and comic books when I was not exposed to that. But nonetheless, they are very popular because I hear kids discussing them, bookstores are loaded with them, and it is a lucrative business. I think these are great ways for kids to warm up to the idea of reading, or possibly a way to sneak it in, which should to be encouraged, but it also gives them the visual aid to help them make predictions of what might happen next in the story. What do you guys think about your students reading graphic novels, manga, or comic books?
ReplyDeleteAgain, in response to banning books, I do not believe that banning books is "to ban children's imaginations," Marissa. I do think the people in charge of the movements who seek to ban these books, of course wish to act as a censor for (their) children though. They wish to impart certain morals and family values, political views, religious views, or views about minorities to them that they feel the books do not uphold. I am sure there are certain books I would not want in my home or that I would not by my nieces and nephews for Christmas, but I also believe it is wrong for these groups to ban books as a whole unless they have more compelling reasons than those of Black Beauty, Harry Potter, and Charlotte's Web. It is a parent's right, I believe, to protest a certain book being taught to their child or required for their child to read if they do not agree with its values. After all, parents have the option of taking their children out of health (sex) education and evolution lessons for the same reason. So, it is natural for a parent to want to control the upbringing of their own child, but to impose their beliefs on everyone else is generally not the way to go about things. A nice quote I found by Ursula K. Le Guin from The Language of the Night says,"I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant."
ReplyDelete10 Children's Books That Are Also Great for Adults (under Huffington Post Books sub topic of Culture)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/03/childrens-books_n_992374.html#s384848&title=The_Adventures_of
I'm obviously blogging during our class period. I'm out sick today.
I am sending off an e-mail to my 92 year-old grandmother who was a teacher and I am going to ask her about the books we covered this week. I am excited to get a response! I mentioned the discussion we had in class to my husband, and I was surprised to find out that mother-in-law who was born in the 1940s has two of the books we covered this week (The Little Toot and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel). He remembered Mary Anne before I mentioned her name, so he must have had them read to him as a kid, too. Some books are just classics or favorites no matter how old.
I'm half way done with where the red fern grows and I've already cried a couple times. It's a sad book :( ,but I want to keep reading.
ReplyDeleteI read The Secret garden, By frances Hodson Burnett. it is about a girl whose parents die and she has to move in with her uncle. The girl had grown up being taken cared by servants and being neglected by her mother. In her uncle's house she meets colin, who is sick and is constantly worrying about death. As the story unfolds mary and Colin goe through a transformaion and learn to laugh and love things and people. I really enjoyed this book and its characters.
ReplyDeleteHey guys- it has been a while. I started Into the Wild which is about a young man who leaves all his money and his family and friends behind and tries to rough it out in the Alaska terrain ... a couple months later his body was find dead by a small group of hunters and hikers. So far, I have no real opinion of the book. It's hard to tell where the author is starting with this book because he first introduces the character and then jumps right to his death. I have talked to some friends and learned they read this book in middle school which impresses me because it seems a little dense (a lot of information into a couple pages).
ReplyDeleteHey everyone;
ReplyDeleteI'm 1/3 through The House of the Scorpion. This is a good book. Not sure if I would want to read it to my Junior High students because of how it shows a drug lord living a lavish life. Some kids might see this as a life they would want to obtain. And drugs are the way to obtain it. But a really good book. Thanks all for suggesting it. I will let you know when I'm done. This is quite a bit longer than the other books I have read. But it's one of those books you don't want to put down.
As for my shelf, I have been graced with some astounding authors. I have John Schoender who wrote Bear, The Barn, and Rebel.The Barn was wrote in 1968 while The Bear in 1991. I liked The bear much better. The Bear had a great lesson of how you can make it on your own. It was interesting that he dedicated this book to his son and said"for Ian who already knows." I really enjoyed The Bearskinner(A tale of 2 brothers grim) by Amy Schilitz. Don't think this one belongs in the classroom though. There were pictures of devils and it referred to the devil wanting a soldiers soul.It was about greed. Also loved The Tie Mans Miracle by Steve Schnur. I have heard this story before. This was a good story. This is a Jewish story. Not sure about how it could fit into my classroom. I read Alan Schroeder's books, Carolina Shout and Ragtime Trumpie. Great illustrations and multicultural. He writes about the late 20's and 30's and how the black people heard the world through music. Long books. Think kids might get bored listening to them. But I enjoyed them. I also have Maurice Sendak on my shelf. Yes, I know, I'm lucky. I have 4 of his books and they were written in 1956-Kenny's Window. 1967-Higglety Pigglety Pop! 1981-Outside over There. 1991-Where the Wild Things are. Glad the books were written years apart so I could see how they evolved. Maurice was a very sickly child and spent a lot of time in bed in his room. He was told many a story by his father and brother while he was sick in his room. Knowing this I can now see where his imagination comes from.. I'm curious to find out exactly where his father is from and the types of stories his father told him. Think its going to answer a lot of my questions. Peace out for now. Going to look up Mary Netherly, so I can give you some background on Tues.::))
In the Golden Compass, the main character, Lyra is a young girl. This is a different perspective from my last book, The House of the Scorpion which the main character was a boy. I feel it is a good lesson to read a book where the character is the opposite sex as the reader. It could offer a little incite on what its like to be that sex.
ReplyDeleteThe first few chapters started off a little slow, maybe even a little boring for a young or pre teen, but it soon picks up and keeps you interested. The fantasy characteristics of this book revolve around other worlds, magic and everyone has a personal animal like sidekick which can talk. Its almost like their consciousness. So far a fun book to read.
I finsihed reading Kira-Kira and I think I have to agree with Dullina. I felt that it started kind of slow which I think is partly due to the writing style. It was told from the perspective of the younger sister so I think it's supposed to be like she was writing it but I found that it didn't flow very well. I was able to get into it towards the end but like Dullina mentioned it was disappointing to me that it didn't go very in depth about issues like racism. Racism was and issue that was present the entire story but was never really dealt with in a satisfactory way.
ReplyDeleteGizelle, I haven't read Into the Wild but I saw the movie and I didn't really like it. I think I remember it being kind of disjointed which I found annoying. I've heard a lot of people speak highly of the book and the movie so maybe you start to enjoy it more.
Josh, I loved the Golden Compass and it's sequels when I was younger. The adventures Lyra goes on tend to be a little darker than a lot of other books I read so that appealed to me. I hope you continue to have fun reading it.
I just finished reading the chapter in our textbooks about multicultural children's literature and i need to blog about how disappointing it was. So far, i've loved the textbook because it provides advice/examples of books to use in the classroom. But this chapter was written poorly. I think in the author's attempt to avoid "stereotyping" they ended up leaving out vital and important parts about certain cultures. And many of the examples they gave actually stereotyped the minorities they were talking about. I wasn't a fan of this chapter. Let me know what you guys think though!
ReplyDeleteI felt like it has been a week or two since I have been in here. First off the textbook is awesome. I finally gave it another chance after many of our discussions about how a book is always deeper than the words or illustrations. The text goes over different family situations or a setting at home the child may be dealing with. This can mold choice of material, and even give the child relief through literature. Personally, when I was a child and there was a book that truly sparked my interest, I would actually be drawn to it. This could go the same for students; as a teacher you should try to mold to your students environment.
ReplyDeleteHey Amanda! When I was younger, I loved the Where the Red Fern Grows! I read it in middle school because our teacher forced us and I thought it was going to be a crappy classic because she emphasized how classics are always good and I was never really into them. However I was glad that we did read it and I totally agree with you that it was soo sad! I remember that the book was written in such great detail that I felt like I was actually there.
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm reading Bridge to Terabithia and I am loving it so far.
Hey guys!
ReplyDeleteSo, my current book is "So be it". I'll start with saying, I'm not finished with it, but it is super interesting. I picked it because it related to special edu (which is my major). The story has a theme of genuine love and maturation. I would recommend the book to anyone who is interested in a mystery/reality theme. Although, it gets super emotional and therefore... I got super emotion. Ha-ha.
And for the shelf project.. ehh.. enought said. But i'm working on it :)
HI all,
ReplyDeletei finished reading the Bridge to Terabithia. I founf this book very deep and interesting. reading the coments about this book make me want to read it and I an very glad that I did. My favorite characters were leslie and jess. I like the ending where jess takes his sister into Terabithia. definitley a well worth book for children. I loved it.
Hey everyone, It's Aika again, I've been having trouble getting onto the blog from various computers, I'm not sure why, but I was able to get on this time which is rather odd to me...
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I'm trying to get into "My Brother Sam is Dead" and I'm sorry to say it's very hard for me. I think it's more of my personal preference. I heard though that "The Boy with the Stripped Pajamas" is a really good one, I might look into that later.
I also read "Dealing with Dragons" by Patricia C. Wrede, it's a wonderfully written book about a girl, a PRINCESS mind you, who decides she doesn't necessarily like the life of a princess. She doesn't like sewing, she likes fighting, and when her parents find out she's been training, they ground her, so she takes on magic, and when the parents find out about that they ground her from that and so on, then they tell her she is to marry a prince, and she stated "I'd rather be eaten by a dragon!" and a strange little toad tells her that "that can be arranged."
Then a very engaging story ensues about murder of a king and a not-so-very-proper princess becoming a very helpful person in every which way.
It seems like this book talks a lot about how one does not need to be part of society because they all have their own desires, but it whenever the parents were mentioned the princess always listened to the parents. In a strange beat-around-the-bush sort of way, but none the less, she did as she was told by her mother and father. But when she wanted to do something, she became stubborn enough and went through with it.
It was a very engaging book from beginning to end and you met a lot of characters on the way, that all had the personalities of stereotypical people you may or may not have met.
She also has a way of integrating various tales form folk lore and fairy tales and makes them seem like such ordinary you-and-me characters which really helps engage and entertain the reader.
I would recomend this book to very well read 3rd graders and up.
Hey class!
ReplyDeletei just finished my contemporary fiction book called Stand Tall by Joan Bauer. It's about a boy who's called Tree because he's only twelve but is 6 feet 7 inches tall! He's coming to terms with the fact that although he's tall, he's not very athletic like his brothers and father and he knows that dissapoints them. His family is also going through a divorce and his grandfather (who's a vietnam vet) has just undergone a leg amputation. It's a good book to put on your shelf in your classroom because student's who have families divorcing, have members with disabilities, or feel like outcasts can really relate to this book. i enjoyed it!
Hi all! I just finished reading the Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman, for my modern fantasy book. It was amazing. I read the Golden Compass years ago, and I remember loving it, but I don't know if I picked up on the incredibly dark tone that Pullman writes with. This book is definitely for the older reader -- I'd say even junior high -- and I really don't think I would ever use it in a classroom setting, though I would definitely have it available. There are religious questions, violent altercations, deaths, and even some sexual implications. I know I didn't think anything of it when I read the Golden Compass, but I don't doubt that some kids would have questions about it, that a teacher would have to be prepared to answer. Over all though, I really loved reading it.
ReplyDeleteSo, I just finished my first book, The Wednesday Wars, last week. I had high expectations when I read about Wednesday Wars in the Children’s Literature text book. I thought the story sounded interesting as the story is told through the first person perspective of a boy named Holling Hoodhood a 7th grade student living in Long Island, New York in 1967 at the peak of the Vietnam War and the flower child movement in the United States. Now, my biggest problem with the book is that I could not really relate with the feelings or thoughts of Holling, and the story did not keep my attention. I thought the story was very simple and uncreative. It had all the classic middle-school story elements of a bully, a mean sister, a best friend, a hard but carrying teacher, and a female crush. The elements ran together in a very predictable way. There was no depth to any of the characters in the story, including Holling, with little to no background information. I felt that even though the book took place in 7th grade it was not written to captivate a modern 7th grade student, but maybe a younger age group. I understand that the main feeling of the book was to be playful and amusing, but the humor in the book was not funny as it was overly childish and was not very clever. I’m not sure if I did not find it funny because of my age, but I felt the quirkiness the book did have was over the top for the age group. I didn’t feel the story took place in a 7th grade class room because I felt the students attitudes seemed almost too immature and over the top. There was not one child character in the book that I felt conducted themselves in a realistic fashion. The interactions between the kids in the story did not seem realistic for that age group. The story also progressed slowly with very few interesting conflicts and no real sense of any rising action.
ReplyDeleteThe author Gary D. Schmidt did do a good job in representing the environment of 1967, and the atmosphere along with the feelings that the Vietnam War created in America at that time. He showed how the war affected the lives of everyone in the story. Mrs. Baker’s husband is fighting in Vietnam, so the book used her fear of her husband’s safety to represent the fear that many families were experiencing over their love ones stationed in Vietnam. The book represents the two opposing views on the war though the interactions between Hollings older liberal teenage sister and his conservative business owning father. The book does teach and display multiple lessons on standing up for one’s self, not judging a book by its cover, forgiveness not giving up hope and a few others. So overall, when I was done reading the book I did appreciated how the time period was represented and the life lessons that the book tried to represent, but I thought the overall story was unimaginative, uninteresting, and not relatable for a young adult.
Hey everyone!! I finished My Brother Sam is Dead!! I actually really enjoyed it, I like the historical facts and would most likely use it in my class has a book to teach my students. Does anyone have any suggestions for a SciFi book to read? I was going to read the Giver but I was wondering if anyone knows of a different book to read? Let know!!
ReplyDeleteI finished The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer over the weekend. As I said before I'm not sure if I would read it because it's about a drug lord and greed. But after finishing this fantastic book, I believe that the young clone, Matt, has a lesson to be learned by all about greed. I believe it would make young adults think twice about the making and distributing of drugs and how greed will always end with an unwanted outcome. This book teaches strength and social image(in a good way). I recommend it for all if your looking for a science fiction. I am getting ready to read a multicultural book, The Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich. I'm hoping it's in the library.
ReplyDeleteI looked into David Shannon, The author of 2 of my books on my shelf. I'm sure your probably familiar with his book "No David." I couldn't really find much on him, but what I did find was very interesting. He grew up in Spokane WA.. He received a fine arts degree in Pasadena. He than moved to NYC. His artwork is everywhere. He moved back to LA.
AT AGE 5 HE ALWAYS DREW PICTURES OF STUFF HE WASN'T SUPPOSE TO BE DOING. THIS IS WHERE HIS INSPIRATION CAME FOR THE BOOK(CAULDECOT)
Amanda, would you recommend Where the Red Fern Grows?
ReplyDeleteMac, I read the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in High School. I actually read all of them! I felt I had to read them all since I read the first one and I think that was the longest book in the world! Not only do they whine so much, they jump from story to story. I remember only wanted to know what was happening to one of the girls and wanted to rush through the others to get back to the story I wanted to read about. It was so annoying.
So, I have finished,a while ago, The Giver. I read this book almost ten years ago. Whenever anyone brought this book up I would always that, "I loved the Giver!" I wanted to see if I would still feel the same about the book ten years later. I feel that since I read it at an older age that I understood it a lot better. I feel that there is so much I could do with this book in the classroom. However, I would make sure to only teach it to 6th grade and up,and possibly 5th grade.
The only problem I may run into is the parents. I researched what students and parends say about the book. I found an interesting sight with children from all over the world. I feel what they say about the book is what the teacher might have informed them. Which, I guess they are getting a good message from the book then. The parents on the other hand, thought the book was inappropriate. One parents was astonished that there was a killing of a baby with a huge needle. Then went on the say, "I am only on chapter 7 but I can't believe the teacher is having my son read this." It made me laugh because chapter 7 isn't even 50 pages into the book.
The book never says that living this way is the correct way. They are saying this how life could be if we had everyone the same. There would be no hurt, hunger, or pain. The book also points out what people are missing without having their own choices. This book gives the students two ways of thinking. I really like this book and would have it in my classroom.
Maybe I would send out a letter to the parents why I am reading this book and if they have a problem with it not read it.
Today in class we spoke about the Fairy Tale “rumplestiltskin” I just wanted to voice my opinion on the story. I never could understand the story.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, a high class merchant or king in some stories, just happens to be walking around in the poorest part of the kingdom for some stroll, that’s one strange thing, the second one, is the poor merchant actually gets a chance to speak to the king directly, and not only that, lie to him so easily and sacrifice his daughter to do so! (what a loving father)
But it’s not really that part of the story that gets to me, it’s the part where this little man has the power to spin straw (or other materials) into GOLD, and he’s willing to do so for silly trinkets, like a ring, or a necklace. I just assumed it had something to do with possession, “That which is yours is now mine. I’ll take it all in good time.” etc. Which will lead into the child napping.
The mother, I supposed, who is now the queen, is willing to give up her unborn child to this little man who says he will spin the straw one last time for her first born child. And the queen agrees on the spot. (she learned from her father)
But is then unwilling to give the child up when the time came, so the little man so graciously gives her three MORE days to keep the child, while she guesses his name.
So the queen does what any good mother would, she calls in the guards and tells them to collect names far and wide, and on the third day, the little man gets cocky or stupid, or he really never wanted the child in the first place, he starts singing loudly around a camp fire singing “Rumplestiltskin is my name”
WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? You waited minimum nine months and two days so patiently and then on the last day you mess it up because you want to sing about the one answer they need to banish you to the netherworld?
And that’s another thing, there was no mention of the little man being evil or a demon, just the fact he could spin straw into gold. And when the queen finds out his name, he “stomps so hard the ground opens up to swallow him and he was never seen again”
This book doesn’t allow passage for one to learn from mistakes, it follows in foolish footsteps of parents and it makes it seem as though if you make a mistake (like singing about your name in the forest late at night) you will go to hell.
I never understood this book, magic doesn’t have this many holes and confusing turn-abouts.
Today in class we read “The Spider and the Fly” story we also read, I just wanted to make an honorable mention to Tony DiTerlizzi, He believe him to be a magnificent artist, he also drew for the book series “The Spiderwick Chronicles” written by Holly Black and written in 2004. This book is about three children who find an old field guide to faeries in the attic of an old house, and in doing so they get into a lot of trouble, with the faeries.
ReplyDeleteThis story is actually quite terrifying, and I feel like it gives a darker side to faerie land like the older tales do, and the newer fairy tales reject doing. It is a fantastically written story with older “methods” on protecting yourself from faeries and fairie-folk which I have only ever read in the older tales. Holly Black is able to bring this story into a modern twist, where all the children go to school, they have to adjust to moving into this ridiculous house in the middle of nowhere, and how it is that no one else sees these creatures that just to happen to be EVERYWHERE!
I feel like she also put into play things children do that adults don’t anymore. Like looking through holes of a stone, or mentioning things that happen that are strange like if your room is a mess when you wake up, to a child “someone was in here messing with my things” to an adult, and even an older child “You messed it up and you forgot.”
This is a five book series, with a part two that has only three books, but all of them are easy quick enjoyable reads, and is recommended to everyone. Except those who are afraid of things coming to get them in the night.
I love being able to read all of your thoughts regarding old favorites, books I'm currently reading or some I'd love to try!! I'm in the middle of Esperanza Rising and Number the Stars. I am fully engrossed by the storyline and captivating writing of Esperanza Rising. I love it so far!! Anyone else reading/read it? Opinions?
ReplyDeleteNumber the Stars was a favorite from my childhood so I though I'd revisit it for a new perspective. I still love Lowry's writing style; she was by far my favorite author when I was young. If you haven't read Number the Stars, I would highly recommended it: Two young girls in 1943 Copenhagen must band together to save each others lives. Anyone have a perspective on this tale?
Well, I just finished The Golden Compass. What a great story. I didn’t want it to end. Good news is there are two more sequels I’ll have to read later.
ReplyDeleteMary you were lucky to read those stories as a kid. I wish I did.
The book is full of adventure. Once Lyra got started, her journey never stopped. The story has some great ways that could teach kids to trust their intuition and helping other people can be very rewarding. Lyra, the main character is always sacrificing her comfort to help other people out. I would certainly suggest this book to a class.
After reading the book, I watched the movie. Of course it was not even close to as good as the book, but they did an alright job following the story.
Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass, has won many awards and has several other novels and short stories.
Now I will start reading My Brother Sam is Dead. There seems to be mixed reviews from the class, so I’m queries to see how I’ll like it.
Shawn, glad you liked The House of the Scorpion. Such a great book. Nancy Farmer sounds like an interesting lady. It seems she has done so many things in other counties. I think its cool that she didn’t start writing until she was forty, when she had to stay at home and raise her son. Its never to late to start writing.
Hey hey class. I have read most of the books on my shelf, but finally grabbed what was titled The Original Curious George. To be honest, I don't need to talk at all about Curious George itself, but rather the introduction that was provided. Hans Augusto Rey was a German Jew who nearly did not survive the genocide. Shortly after he married his wife in Rio de Janeiro in 1935, the couple decided to move to Europe and stayed there until 1940. It was then H.A. Rey and his wife fled Paris by bicycle, taking only their winter coats and four picture books. One of which being the original draft and watercolor for Curious George. To me this is fascinating because of the nature of the situation. One of the most beloved children's story of the 1900's was nearly lost forever, escaping capture and likely death by a mere bicycle. I had no idea, and just thought I would share that about the author.
ReplyDeleteHey class!
ReplyDeleteAika, i really enjoyed your views on Rumpelstilskein. I feel the same way as you do, it really doesn't teach good moral values.
Thanks for sharing those facts Daniel, i had no idea!
I checked Mary Netherey's website today! I had no idea how well-known she was. I'm looking forward to meeting her, I don't think her bio does her justice!
So i just finished my last novel! It was a science fiction book called Others See Us by William Sleator. The book is about a sixteen year old boy named Jared who falls into a toxic waste dump at his family reunion and gains the power to read minds. He discovers that not only is his grandma a burglar, but she can read minds too! Lots of family drama ensues and it ends without wrapping up all the loose ends. I found it refreshingly predictable and it was fun to read! If you still need a science fiction one, it's a great book to read!
As I've been perusing self #11, I've noted some interesting gems I thought ya'll might find worthwhile…
ReplyDeleteWritten by Gramatky ––– the author of Little Toot ––– the first book of interest is titled Hercules and published in 1940, one year after Little Toot. This tale follows the same storyline of a young inanimate anthropomorphized object who must muster all his courage to save the day. This time the plot follows Hercules, a bright red fire engine. One intriguing change in this book was that it is told retrospectively; the readers discover on the first page that Hercules is now in a museum because of his courage acts while the rest of the pages tell how this came about. Any ideas why the author may have made this switch?
From http://www.gramatky.com/books.asp:
“Hardie Gramatky was the author of a number of children's books, including the award-winning Little Toot series. Here is a list of his books:
• Little Toot
• Little Toot on the Thames
• Little Toot on the Grand Canal
• Little Toot on the Mississippi
• Little Toot through the Golden Gate
• Little Toot and the Loch Ness Monster (This one was not finished at the time of his death but later compiled by family…I’d be very interested to read it!)
• Creeper's Jeep
• Hercules
• Happy's Christmas
• Bolivar
• Nikos and the Sea God
• Sparky
• Homer and the Circus Train
• Loopy”
Originally published in an anthology in 1946, the story titled God Wash the World And Start Again is a retelling of the Noah’s Arc tale as written by Graham. What is noteworthy about this book is that is purposely written in African-American dialect and phrasing. There is a preface by W.E.B. Du Bois and artwork by Ashley Bryan who says:
“Come gather ‘round the fire and listen to Lorenz Graham’s stories
from the Bible! You may have heard them before, but he has made
them new, a rediscovery of the tales. Lorenz Graham admired the
way in which the West Africans’ speech transformed the English
language. As a teacher in a mission school in Monrovia, Liberia,
he responded to the cadence and original grammar of their spoken
English. This inspired him to write these Bible stories in the West
African voice.”
The story itself follows the general bible tale but its syntax allows for the humanity of the story itself to shine without getting weighed down by heavy vocabulary or semantics. I really enjoyed reading this version but I wonder how children would interpret it and how parents would react as well. What do you all think about books using non-standard English grammar?
http://www.grahambooks.com/books.html
Josh, I'm so glad you liked The Golden Compass. I was a little disappointed by the movie too but I suppose that is to be expected.
ReplyDeleteI finished reading My Brother Sam is Dead and I'm kind of on the fence about it. I definitely see the educational value and see why it would be used in a classroom but I didn't enjoy reading it that much. I think that it would be good for students to get an idea of what life was actually like during the time period but that same reality made it sort of depressing. It was interesting so half of me wanted to keep reading but the other half of me knew that something bad was going to happen soon so I wanted to stop. Although I prefer happier endings to my books I really liked that it didn't romanticize the revolutionary war which I think is important for students.
I think I just have my non-fiction book left now plus a lot quality time with my shelf.
Hey everyone!
ReplyDeleteI finished A Wrinkle in Time and enjoyed it. The morals of the story were nice, and I think children would really like the characters in the story. I wouldn't necessarily use it for a reading assignment, but would rather just have it available to kids for extra reading material.
I am going to start My Brother Sam is Dead soon... I remember liking it as a kid so hopefully it will be just as interesting as I remember!
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteHope all had a safe and fun Halloween:) I finished Kira Kira. Fast book to read. I personally liked it. This is a multicultural book about two sisters and their family and the things they went through as a Japanese family in the 50's. I personally think that this would be great to bring into the classroom. There can be many discussions started by a class about bullying. The book discusses the prejudice of these people even so far as the way they dress. I for one will keep it in mind when I become a teacher.
This class has given me so many ideas. I believe in projects and many of these books have given me great ideas.
I am now on chapter 6 of The Giver. When I checked out the book in the library the young man mentioned that I am going to love this book. He remembered it well when he read it in 6th grade. How exciting to know that so many years later that this book is still stuck in his head. His teacher did something right. I also have thought that maybe you could even do a week long project in a classroom where the students would actually portray Jona's world. All the way to volunteering. I will have to finish this book in order to see if something like this would work.
Almost done with my shelf. 2 more books to read and research.. Still think that my paper will be on Maurice Sendak's childhood.
Signing off.
Thanks for the day off Susan. I was able to sleep in today and it was much needed.
Shawn
Amanda and Dullina- I read the book Where the Red Fern Grows and loved it. It has been so long since I have seen or heard of that book I almost forgot about it. I agree that it is very sad. However I remember enjoying the book very much. I think that a lot of children can relate to working hard to get something that they want like the young boy in the book. Well maybe less children today can relate to that concept but I know I did when I was younger. I am glad to hear people enjoying books that were popular years back. This project has made me appreciate books that I read when I was younger.
ReplyDeleteTo all you that have finished reading "My Brother Sam is Dead" I am excited to what was said about the book. It sounds like everyone really enjoyed it. That is awesome. I was wondering if anyone has a copy that they would be willing to let me borrow that would be great! I can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeleteNicole I would also like to borrow your copy of the Giver if that would be okay. Let me know.
Mary I glad I'm not the only one who didn't like the book Kira-Kira. I was beginning to think I was too harsh on a children's book. It's probably because it came after reading the Giver which I loved and I expected it to be just as good.
ReplyDeleteI finished reading Bridge to Terabithia a while back and I think it's a decent book. Maybe if I were younger I would have liked this book a lot more or maybe just like Mary I didn't like it as much because of the ending. I really liked the beginning and the friendships made but in the end, I don't know I guess I expected more of a fantasy book. I did actually see the movie before and I remember thinking it was really cheesy that I didn't finish it. But from the parts that I did see in the movie and from what I read, the book is definitely better than the movie. I can definitely see how you can use this as an assignment for kids to compare the book and the movie. It is an overall good book.
Right now I am reading My Brother Sam is Dead and it is pretty interesting so far.
hey class,
ReplyDeleteI have not blogged in quite some time. For my last book on contemporary fiction I read Because of Winn Dixie. I thought it was a super cute. I know I saw the movie several years ago. I would have to read it again to see if it went with the book. I am moving through on my shelf assignment. I have read 40 books and am still trying to decide on which author to write my paper on.
So, I have three books down with three to go. I have finished The Wednesday Wars, My Brother Sam is Dead, and the Giver. I really enjoyed My Brother Sam is Dead and I also, not as much, enjoyed the Giver. I will eventually post my full thoughts on both of those books. Currently, I am searching for a Multi-cultural childrens book to read. If any one has any suggestions for a good book in this category I would appreciate it. I am also planning on visiting my shelf this week to read some more books from it.
ReplyDeleteWell, half way through My Brother Sam is Dead and I feel it’s a little slow. It is perfect for a kid who hasn’t read too many chapter books. There aren’t really any words that would stump a beginner reader. I wonder if the elementary school kids are enjoying this book? The historical back ground is also great for a young reader to imagine what it could have been like living through the revolutionary war. The choices families had to make where terrible during that war. I suppose being in any war, there would be terrible choices to have to make.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know of a similar book about our civil war or a revolutionary war from some other country?
hi
ReplyDeleteI finished reading The Wednesday Wars a few days ago. I had a little difficulty geting into it at frist but it got better as it went along. I think this would be a good book to have in the classroom and children would benefit from it and lern a about what was going on in that time. i liked the happy ending of the book.
I have started reading Waiting For Normal, and afrer I finish I plan on reading my science fiction novel.
i am also enjoying reading the books in my shelf !
Hello. I have finished thed the book Waiting For Normal,by Leslie Connor.
ReplyDeleteI loved this book. it is about a girl who wants a familly, her mon is almost never home and stepfather and sister live away. I liked the book Because the Main Character is strong and never gives up hoping , I think this would be a good book for kids to read. Children who are going thru this kind of problems would benefit from it. It was very sad, but still very good.
Hello all.
ReplyDeleteSo I recently finished a book called Secrets in the Shadows, for the multicultural book requirment. (I got it at borders right before they closed at the begining of the semester. A young sales girl pulled it when I told her what I was looking for. I tell you this because I feel the book was full of sterotypes.)
So the book is part of a series called Bluford High. It was writen by Anne Schraff. I feel that the book was a very easy read in that the vocabulary was simple as well as the plot. I can see how some middle shool age children from an inner-city area may like this book. However, I feel that the book incorporated far to many sterotypes about poor, young, black men, and girls. Just my opinion. Dispite that, the book did have a good underlaying message about telling the truth and seeking help when in a bind. Anyways this may be a book that students could read in their free time but not one for a classroom.
Hello Everyone,
ReplyDeleteAs you may or may not know, I work at an elementary school in Eureka, and I am exposed to childrens literature ALL THE FREAKIN time, which I totally love, because it helps out a lot for this class.
My newest update for the blog is about a book called: Because of Winn Dixie
I vaguely remember it from my childhood years, but just finished reading it again. The first part I will address is the fact it is about dogs. I love dogs so it was defiantly a sweet read. Vocabulary was simple but the story line/plot was complex enough for an adult to enjoy. This book also has a religious tone in my opinion ( because the main characters father is a preacher).
But the most important part of this book would be character development. It has a ton of in depth characters and would be a perfect example for discussion or explanation.
That's it for now
-Kayla Lee
Almost done with My Brother Sam is Dead. Just two more chapters more. I have to admit it is getting exciting. The book is starting to tug on some emotional strings. War really does suck, especially when it tears families apart.
ReplyDeleteI found an author I liked on my book self. His name is Don Freeman. Most of his books were written in the 60’s and 70’s. They are sweet books about friendship and companionship.
I need a good multicultural book for my next read. I’ve been reading a few titles out there. It’s always good to have choices.
I can’t wait to hear some good fairy tales written by some classmates.
Gizelle, I'm interested in what you think of Into the Wild when you are finished with the book. Have you seen the movie? It is one of my favorite movies. I saw the book in the library bookstore and I am tempted to go back and pick it up just for myself to read later. Right now I am reading Aimee Bender's The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. I really like the references to Berkeley since I miss home. It is fun to remember each street name as she names them and read her descriptions as she talks about things such as the Ashby Flea Market. I appreciate how accurate and detailed she is. She didn't just make a bunch of stuff up. While she describes places well, including Los Angeles, and the characters, she has an odd way of describing the dilemma of the main character. She is supposed to all of a sudden taste the emotions of the people who make homemade food for her...but she writes pages of weird stuff like, "You're in my mouth [...]. Get out." The other thing that confuses me is how the book is supposed to be from the perspective of different characters, who are children, but she includes a lot of background information on the adults that I don't think a 9 or 11 year-old would be thinking. I have a 9 year-old niece and an 11 year-old nephew and it is really hard to imagine them thinking about romantic relationships and family roles with the lense she gives them. I am thinking about giving my niece the book when I am done though, depending on how the rest of it goes. It mentions the F-word twice, which is the only thing I might think twice about. Since she is the same age of the main character, likes to read, and lives near Berkeley, I hope she might like it. As for putting in my shelf in my classroom...I'll have to finish it to see.
ReplyDeleteHi Class!
ReplyDeleteUpdate: Finished Because of Winn Dixie...
One word: Tear jerker.
Oh, this book was a complete emotional slum for me, because of how much I love dogs. Won't say more because it will ruin it for everyone else.
Next I am tacking: A series of unfortunate events. Super excited. I'm not going to read them all, but a select few. Just rented them from the lib. Will keep updating :)
-Kayla Lee
Jessie said: "I am reading Aimee Bender's The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake...She is supposed to all of a sudden taste the emotions of the people who make homemade food for her."
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting concept for a book! I'm really interested to hear more when you're finished; keep us posted :) And if you give it to your niece before class is out, her opinion would be invaluable.
Josh said: "Does anyone know of a similar book about our civil war or a revolutionary war from some other country?"
ReplyDeleteA series of books that might fit this description is the Dear America series. Each tale follows the life of a young girl living during a historical period. I haven't read them as an adult so I cant attest to their substance or validity but this was a favorite series of mine when I was growing up. Each book is by a different author so I remember not appreciating certain writing styles but overall it was an effective way to hook a science fiction fan on historical fiction.
more info:
http://www.scholastic.com/dearamerica/
@Shawn...and other readers of The Giver:
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to hear more of your thoughts on The Giver. Would you use it in your classroom? It was a class-wide book for me in both 5th and 7th grade but the latter teacher aptly equated the sensation of rereading books to the inability to step in the same river twice: we are constantly changing as living beings, therefore we place books into the context of our current circumstances. The capability of some books to repeatedly meet your changing needs is one of the most magical parts of literature; The Catcher in the Rye is another book that retains these properties for me.
Does anyone else have books like this? What are y'all's thoughts on The Giver?
Kristina Schulze said: "I finished A Wrinkle in Time and enjoyed it. The morals of the story were nice, and I think children would really like the characters in the story. I wouldn't necessarily use it for a reading assignment, but would rather just have it available to kids for extra reading material."
ReplyDeleteI also read A Wrinkle in Time and loved it. I wish I could have read it when it was published because I feel as though many later books have "borrowed" ideas from this classic. I worry that today's student would view the classic as the rip-off and thusly fail to see its significance.
I am currently reading Flatland for pleasure which I feel like would be a much more adequate sci-fi choice for the classroom. It was pseudonymously written by schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott in 1884 yet it maintains relevant over a century later!! He introduced the concept of a fourth dimension before Einstein's Theory of Relativity. I've only just begun but I will keep you posted as I progress.
more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland
read the full text:
http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/~banchoff/Flatland/
DO YOU STILL NEED A SCI-FI BOOK? CHECK OUT THE ABOVE LINK FOR THE FULL TEXT OF FLATLAND! FOR FREE!!
I recently finished Number the Stars by Lowis Lowry for a multicultural book.
ReplyDeleteIt is placed in Copenhagen at the beginning of the war in 1943. The main character Annemarie Johansen and her family help smuggle their close friends the Rosen's to Sweden so that they will be safe.
I thought this was an interesting book and would be a good book to start reading before a more in depth history lesson. It was a very well written but did not go into a lot of depth, which would be appropriate for the targeted age group.
I have also read the Giver by Lois Lowry. I see that other people have read it or are going to read it. I thought it was an interesting book but very odd.
ReplyDeleteIt is about a utopian society where a boy named Jonas is chosen to be the the person the holds all the memories before the "Sameness" He struggles with the knowledge of what there is outside of their utopian society.
I'm not sure I would have kids read this book. I was horrified when reading about the lethal injections. I remember other classes in my school reading this book, but my class never did. People seemed to like it but I don't think it's appropriate. It was well written and a pretty easy read but just not for me.
Amcatee, Amanda, and Dullina-
ReplyDeleteI read Where the Red Fern Grows in school. That was one of my favorite book that we read in school and one that I actually reread. This was one of the first books that made me want to read.
Now that I think about it it is a very sad book. I loved the way the author was able to help me visualize what was happening in the book.
I was also able to relate to the character in the book because I was always taught to work hard to achieve anything. I certainly hope that this is a lesson that kids are still being taught.
I also read Dragonwings by Laurence Yep. It was the Newbery Honor book in 1976.
ReplyDeleteThis book is about a boy named Moon Shadow from China who leaves his mother to live in San Francisco with his father Windrider. They try to bring his mother over form China but have setbacks like the 1906 earthquake. The name of the book comes from the flying machine that the father builds and then later becomes injured after a short flight.
I thought this was a very interesting book and I enjoyed it a lot. In my Ethnic Studies class I just learned a lot about chinese immigrants in the early 1900's and the hardships and discrimination they faced.
This was a very good book and I would definitely assign a class to read it. It would teach them about the hardships people faced when immigrating to America. I think kids could learn a lot from this book.
I have been reading a lot of books on my shelf. I have noticed that a lot of them are really old. Has anyone else noticed that about their shelf?
ReplyDeleteI have decided to write my essay on one author that was on my shelf, Ann Jonas. I has never heard of her before but she had quite a few book on my shelf.
Did anyone read books of her's as a kid?
Hi everybody. I read Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz-Ryan a few weeks ago, and forgot to post about it. I really enjoyed this book, and I would definitely consider using it in the classroom. It touched on a lot of topics that would be difficult to broach, such as death, illness, and the controversy over immigration in the US and how poorly immigrants are treated. There really wasn't anything that would bother me, in terms of appropriateness, so I think it's a great option for Multicultural Literature in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteHello, hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving break! I finished My Brother Sam is Dead... it was great. It brings up a lot of history and the topic of war. I loved reading the main character's thoughts because he was conflicted about whether he was a patriot or loyalist... his father and brother were on different sides and it was just a really intense book! I read this book when I was in elementary school and would still use it in a classroom today.
ReplyDeleteThe next book on my list is another war story called Number the Stars. It is a Newbery Medal winner by Lois Lowry.
Laura, that's an interesting idea that students might think that A Wrinkle in Time is a ripoff. I've never considered the possibility but that's probably based off of my own thought process while reading books. I know I've read books that borrowed ideas from well known classics but I never thought of them in that way while reading them.
ReplyDeleteI still need to read my non-fiction book but I have it and hope to read it after I finish a couple of papers for other classes. I haven't started my paper for this class yet but I do have an idea of what I want to write about.
Jessica, really old is a relative term but I think most of the books on my shelf seem to be fairly old.
So I finished the book My Brother Sam is Dead and I thought the book was okay. I didn't like how easily they killed off the characters but I guess that is what it was like during that time period; people were easily killed. I kinda wish they didn't name the book "My Brother Sam is Dead" because it basically foreshadowed his death and it also made it seem like his little brother could have did something about it but you already knew what would happen because of the title. The story started off pretty good then it got pretty slow to a point where I didn't want to read it anymore. But I can see how kids could be interested in this book because of historical aspects. I could see how kids would like that fact that it did follow some true events.
ReplyDeleteRight now I am deciding whether to read a contemporary book or a non-fiction book. Any suggestions?
Have not been here for a while so will catch you up. I finished The Giver and thought that for Jr. High students this book would be great followed by a project where the class would live the rules of that community for a couple of days. Even wearing black and white and volunteering into assigned jobs. There could be so much more we could incorporate, but that would be left to the kids. I loved this book. I then read the House of the Scorpion which I even loved more. READ IT!! I since have read Island of the Blue Dolphins which was read by the 3-4 class I volunteered in last year. They also did a project on this book and since I didn't get to be there in their reading group I was curious to read it. Not sure if it's a great book for the boys. But is a multicultural book that could bring insight for the students.
ReplyDeleteShawn
Hey bloggers. I always have such a difficult time logging in for some reason, but have finally broken through and have a book to share. I read the book Sounder by William H. Armstrong, and this book was interesting to say the least. First of all, the characters have no name, and there is no known location. The name Sounder is the name of the dog that a boy has. I read this novel because it portrays a time of oppression. The boy of focus faces extreme poverty as well as his father going to prison for stealing. The boy's story shows light to overcoming adversity, and should definitely be on your shelf in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteHey everyone!
ReplyDeleteJust started catching up on some of the book readings (text). The most interesting part to date is the segment about illustrations in relation to reading. Meaning - their effectiveness, reasoning, use of color/situation, and tons more. It got me really interested in how illustrating a book is done. I researched it a little and found this website:
http://www.underdown.org/basics.htm
Maybe take a look.
See you all thur!
Hey everyone!
ReplyDeleteI haven't blogged in awhile since I've started my shelf project paper. But everyone else has wrote so much! It's awesome to see that the blog has shown us how much we all have in common with each other!
I just finished my rough draft. I chose to right about multicultural children's literature. In the short time I had with my shelf, I found a huge range of diverse cultures on my shelf and I felt like I needed to talk about the importance of culture to children in picture books. If any of you are interested in multicultural literature too, I had shelf number 12. Definitely go check it out!
I noticed I have not blogged in quite a long time. I finished A Wrinkle in Time a month ago. I really liked it, I thought that this was a great book to have in the classroom. I would defiantly use this book for small reading groups. I also believe that this would be a book that boys and girls would like. It is about an awkward high school girl named Meg and her younger brother Charles and her friend Calvin. They are able to travel through time and space to rescue her father from an evil scientist.
ReplyDeleteHi, I finished Number the Stars... it was so wonderful that I completed it in one sitting. It's set in Denmark during WWll. The main character's best friend is Jewish and this is a good introduction for kids about the terrible things that went on during this time period. It is a very informative, sad, and engaging read that I think kids would want to finish reading. Although it is heartbreaking it also shows compassion and bravery on the part of the main character and her family. Young children may not understand everything so it would be a good book to read as a group in elementary school so there could be discussions.
ReplyDeleteIn our textbook I even found a chart comparing different Lois Lowry books and Number the Stars was part of it. Very interesting project for a class. It is on page 262 for those interested...
Next on my list is The Moorchild, another Newbery winner by Eloise McGraw.
I Just fonished reading Gossamer,a fantasy novel by Lois Lowry, published in 2006. I enjoyed this book and found it very refreshing and interesting. It is very imaginative. It also deals with issues like child abuse and domestic violence. I think children would enjoy reading it. it is a very good book
ReplyDeleteKristina, I was thinking of reading Number the stars, sinse ai have heard it is very good-maybe I will.
So for my contemporary book I started reading Bridget Jones's Diary. So far, I really enjoy the format of how it is written like a personal diary. It is very refreshing compared to all the other books I have read recently.
ReplyDeleteAnd Gizelle, I too am very interested in what you have to say about the book Into the Wild because I watched the movie and loved it. However, I never read the book so it could be better.
And Susan I watched the movie speak a long time ago and it wasn't a very good movie. I remember feeling that it didn't portray emotion very well and I felt the book was a lot deeper and more emotional compared to the movie. The book is also able to capture Melinda's thoughts while the movie sort of fails in that aspect.
Hey all, Aika here again, I was able to get a few books (reading books anyways)in during Thanksgiving break. the first one was EAST by Eidth Pattou. (Seeing how were were discussing a whole lot of myths and folk tales for the past few weeks, I thought this would be appropriate. In the Norse Mythology there is a story about a land that resides "east of the sun and west of the moon" it's their version of beauty and the beast.
ReplyDeleteIt's about a girl who lives with a fairly large family and they are fairly well off until disaster strikes, then there is a great white bear which appears and tells them he will make them as rich as they are poor if he is to have their (usually youngest) daughter. But he will only do so if it is the girl's desire an d will to be taken. she goes with the bear and he gives her this castle and at night she goes to bed, and in the bed, a stranger comes to sleep next to her. She is never able to see who this stranger is, but she feels there is no harm from him. Later she is allowed to return home, and when she tells the mother about the creature sleeping next to her and being unable to see him, the mother gives the girl a candle and flint. When she lights the candle she sees that the person sleeping next to her is a beautiful man. As she leans in to see him better, he awakens and statrled the girl spills three drops of wax on his shirt. and telling the girl she has "violated a rule of the curse' he is now to be taken to marry the troll queen. So now the girl has decided that she must find him, and in order to do so she must travel to the land that is "East of the sun and West of the Moon."
I would recommend this book to most anyone, It is very well written and is enjoyable to most anyone who has heard of the story. This book allows the stories and characters to come to life. I enjoyed this story and the lively ness Edith Pattou brought to her characters. But I would highly recommend the original tale before you read this story.
I would also just like to say I have really enjoyed the folk tale part of the semester, I loved hearing all of the stories, and seeing how many different versions of the same story was out there. I have been raised with these folk tales and fables and myths my whole life, and have thoroughly enjoyed hearing the ones i have not had the pleasure to encounter before.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone is interested in mythology and their stories from different cultures, there are a few wonderful books by
D'Aulaires. he has written "Book of greek myths" "Book of Nordic Myths" and the most recent one I have not seen before "book of trolls" They have wonderful bright illustrations that help tell the story just as much as the words do.
@Nicole
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed Wrinkle in Time, especially Miss Who and Miss Whatsit and the Happy Medium. I loved the way they explain the idea of 'traveling' as well, i found it to be very unique to all the other traveling journey stories I have read before.
Usually I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, but there is a fantastically directed movie called Wrinkle in Time that follows the book to a note, it was so fantastic to see how well they were able to bring the story to life, it's an older movie, and a good watch on days you have nothing better to do than to relax with a cup of hot cocoa.
@Everyone who has read "because of Winn Dixie"
ReplyDeleteI would say that was one of my all time favorite books as a child only because of the love the main character had for this stray dog, and how enthusiastic she was for all parts of her life.
I didn't find it to be too sad as Kayla has mentioned, but i think that was partial to me reading it right after I had read "bridge to Terabithia", which i found to be far sadder than Winn Dixie. Both great books, and a must read.
Another book I was able to reread over Thanksgivin break was the Chinese Cinderella. This is NOT a book for those weak at heart. It is based on a true story about a girl who was, to put it nicely, abused by her family and they cared very little about her. at one point she was sent off to school, and was never picked up, until one day her aunt heard she had a relative there, and was picked up by her, and the girl was tragically disappointing at this, but when she saw how their family interacted with each other, and treated her as a friend, instead of an abused child, she saw how badly she was treated. There's so much to this story that it's hard to begin telling.
ReplyDeleteI believe this is actually the author's autobiography.
I wouldn't have this book as a recommendation for children, but I would definitely have it out for optional read. It expressed how different cultures are, as well as how similar they can be.
@ Aika
ReplyDeleteI have never seen the movie and was wondering if you think it would be a good idea has a teacher to have the students read the book then in class watch the movie and discuss the differences and similarities?
Over Thanksgiving break I read Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. I enjoyed this book however I would not use it to teach in my classroom, I would however have it on the book shelf for the students to read for pleasure. The book was about a Salamanca who is a Native American girl, she is taking a trip with her grandparents to vist her mothers grave. Along the way she tells the story of her friend Pheobe and learns new things about her mother and family.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger I loved Walk Two Moons. I read it multiple times, but I do agree that it probably wouldn't be a good choice to use in a lesson plan though.
ReplyDeleteHey everyone!! I am in the library working on my essay for the class and was wondering how everyone else is doing? I think I have a great concept for my essay. I am going to do my essay on the muli-cultural books on my shelf. What is everyone else doing?
ReplyDeleteSo I just finished reading Survivors: True stories of children in the Holocaust by Allan Zullo and Mara Bovsun. Has anyone else read this book? It was a really good book, I have to admit it was a little hard to read due to the fact that the stories were real. There is 9 different children's stories in the book, it is amazing what these children went through and how they felt. I would use this book in my class, I would have my students read it during our discussion of WWII, however I would not use it my first couple of years, I need sometime to see if this book would be acceptable in the community I was working with. I would also send a note home letting parents know what the book was and why I chose it for their children to read.
ReplyDeleteHi everyone!
ReplyDeleteKayla here,
Just working on the shelf project some more.. as i'm reading through the books, I am realizing the impact of illustrations. In some books the context and plot keep me fascinated and turning pages... in other's not so much. Basically, in those, if it wasn't for the illustrations - I would not have kept reading. It connected in my mind that these children's books can be fully supported by illustrations. The illustrations are almost as important as the writing itself. I will probably be researching this idea more for the paper.. will let you guys know if I find anything interesting :)
-Kayla
Hi everyone!
ReplyDeleteI read a nother 2 books. One was a comtemporary realistic fiction book called The Earth , my Butt and other bIg Roung things, by carolyn Mackler This was about an overweight teenage girl who at the beginning of the book felt that she didn’t belong. There were some things that the author could have covered to make it better but I still fell like it was a pretty relatable book for teenagers. I n the end the main character realizes that she cannot keep trying to please everyone around her and that it is how she feels about herself that matters. It was a nice message and I feel like teens would relate to it somehow.
The other book I read was for my Science fiction book. It is Things mot seen by andrew clements. I remember trying to read this book when I was younger, but I never finished it because I did not like it. That was part of the reason that I decided to read it again to see if I could do it this time. It is about a 15 year old boy who becomes invisible. I still didn’t like it though I couldn’t get into it .
Hi guys. Just finished "The Giver" for my science fiction, and I loved it. It was my first time through the book, and I can't believe I never read it in school. As for all the controversy around it, I can see why some parents might be a little wary about their children reading it, but I think it's ridiculous for them to not allow them to at all, especially if it is part of the curriculum and will be sufficiently discussed. I tend to believe that any book can be taught in schools as long as they plan enough discussion about the touchy subjects. That's all for now.
ReplyDeleteNicole, I also found that my shelf had an interesting mix of multi-cultural books but I was wary of how to structure my paper in a way that made sense and didn't seem so all over the place. I decided to do mine about an author illustrator on my shelf.
ReplyDeleteKayla, I completely agree with you on illustrations being key to a good children's book. I'm doing my paper on an author illustrator and while I enjoy her stories I'm not sure they would be nearly as enjoyable without her beautiful artwork.
I find it interesting that so many people have read books about WWII and the Holocaust. I can't remember ever reading about it in a children's book so now I'm thinking I might have to check out some of the books you guys have read. They sound interesting, especially to see how authors handle such a difficult topic.
I have been reading Esperanzan Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan, for a multicultural book. This book has been awesome. I really enjoy how the story unfolds. Esperanza, the main character, who is a young girl around the age of thirteen, is thrown into a world that is of complete opposites to what she is familiar to. I would definitely use this book in a classroom. I could talk about history, geography, good morals, and protesting.
ReplyDeleteI think it’s great how the author has put Spanish words in the story and quickly follows up to what they mean. Overall, it’s a great book. A story of survival through hard work.
@ Josh
ReplyDeleteWow that sounds like a really good book. Do you think that parents would have conflict with their children reading it? how do you think you might handle it if they did?
Sorry I've been gone for so long, but during my absence from the blog I completed all 6 of the young adult novels required for this class, and read many of the books on my shelf. I want to start my first post in a while with my review of My Brother Sam Is Dead. I would write a short summary of the book, however, seeing how this book was required for everyone to read I’m going to guess that many of you have already read the story. So, ill dive right into my feelings about this book. I thought this book was really exciting and had me eager to turn the page. I liked this book leaps and bounds over The Wednesday Wars which almost put me to sleep a few times. My Brother Sam Is Dead did not hold back any punches when it came to the graphic nature of some of the story’s events. The amount of description on some of the gory parts of the story really caught me off guard with it being a book for young adults. I believe the authors James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier did a good job it setting up and describing the atmosphere throughout the United States during the Civil War. Also, it was interesting seeing the war through the eyes of the Loyalists with Tim and Sam’s dad which is a perspective one rarely sees in the history of the Civil War. This book had moments where I was afraid for the characters and anxious to see where the story was heading. The death of Tim’s father took me by surprise and especially that of his brother who I thought was going to die a lot earlier than he did. It is hard for me to believe on how cold and ready to kill some characters were in the story. After I was done reading this story, I realized what a confusing and scary time it must have been during the Civil War. I very much enjoyed this book.
ReplyDeleteAfter I was done grieving after the death of Sam, I decided to read a science fiction book to lighten my mood. After hearing so many positive reviews for the book The Giver, I decided it would be a book science fiction book to read. The story of The Giver is about Jonas, an eleven-year-old boy, who lives in a future society where war and emotions have been eliminated and conformity is enforced. At the age of 12, the children of this society are given their lifelong jobs which they are specially selected for after years of observations by a special council. Jonas , during this ceremony, is selected to become the Receiver of the society. Jonas is instructed by the old Receiver an old man now known as the Giver. Jonas finds out that the job of the Receiver is to take on the memories and pains of the society, so that the society doesn’t have to take the memories on themselves. Throughout the story, the Giver is transferring the memories he has collect to Jonas, but during this process Jonas realizes the evils of this utopian society and what he’s been missing out on after being numb to the world for so long. After a year of being the Receiver, Jonas finally decides to escape the society with an infant named Gabriel who is about to be released (killed) by the society for being too fussy. After Jonas escapes, all the memories he’s collected are dispersed back into the society, and he and Gabriel are able to make it to a better society far away. I am a fan of science fiction books and this book did not disappoint. This book did remind of a young adult version of 1984 and the book brought up many questions regarding where the world could eventually lead. I did think the story progressed slowly at times, as it took almost half the book to get to Jonas becoming the Receiver. I felt that many of the descriptions in the story and some of the conversations as well were reiterating the same information that was already established earlier. This book has such an interesting story, and I became frustrated when the flow of the story would stop for something like another description the society’s yearly ceremony. I would definitely recommend this book to my students because it is an interesting story about a world without feelings or morals.
ReplyDeleteThe next book I read after diving into the future is a book called Esperanza Rising. This is a book that begins Aguascalientes, México in 1930 at a vineyard known as El Rancho de Las Rosas. This is where we meet a 13-year-old girl named Esperanza who is the main characater of the story. She is the daughter of a rich landowner and rancher who owns the El Rancho de Las Rosas. However, after her father dies her and her mother are forced to move to California to get away from Esperanza’s sleezy uncle Tio Luis who wants to marry her mother. When they get to California they are broke and have to rely on the help of some of their former servants to survive. They all move to San Joquin Valley which is an agricultural area in California where they find field work and live in small two bedroom cabins. During their time in California, there are talks of the field workers going on strike for higher wages which causes tensions throughout the story. Esperanza is saddened when they first move to California for the loss of her father and her former rich lifestyle. However, after her mom becomes sick for a few months, Esperanza must go to work in the fields to raise money for her medical bills, and through this experience she matures as a young adult. The story ends with her mother being well, her grandma coming from Mexico, and the unknown future that awaits these field workers in the mist of the Great Depression. I found this story cheesy at times and sort of going through the motions of a story of a young girl having to mature to save the day. I found the story a little hard to follow because some of the words would be in Spanish and only translated once when the word was first introduced and then never again. This book is inspiring and heartfelt, and has a good message of loving one’s family, working hard, and maturing as one gets older. I believe the book was an interesting insight into California during the 1930’s and into the Mexican culture. I would suggest this book to my students as it is an inspiring story about another culture and an interesting time in U.S. history.
ReplyDeleteHi Lorena, definitely read Number the Stars, it is very worth your time!
ReplyDeleteI am still working on The Moorchild, but was also going to mention a book I came across at the used bookstore. I found it when we were still talking about Maurice Sendak in class and happened to notice his name on this book called The Bat-Poet. He is the illustrator and the pictures are, of course, really great. The chapter/picture book was short and had good reviews so I decided to give it a try. It is very interesting and imaginative on the part of Randall Jarrell, and a wonderful story overall with many lessons to be taught. However, it was disappointing to me that the bat talks about colors and things that are detailed and visual when most bats can barely see anything, if at all. Kids in elementary school understand that animals can't speak our language, but unless you teach them about bats this book can be misleading considering the poems are about animals and the other lovely things he sees. I looked into it more, and nobody online seems to be concerned. Then I discovered that the book is meant for ages 9-12. Perhaps everyone believes that by age nine every child knows about bats? Or maybe the bat is proving a point and supposed to see things differently than the other bats? I am probably just over-thinking it. Has anyone else read it? Thoughts?
Anyway, this book taught me to read everything before putting it on the shelf! It is very sweet and while I do recommend it, I am also a little nervous that certain facts could be skewed by young kids.
Hope everyone's papers are going well!
Throughout the class and the blog I kept on hearing great reviews for A Wrinkle in Time, so when it came to picking my fantasy book the decision was easy. I read on this blog a debate if this book was more fantasy or science fiction or fantasy, and for this review I’m going to consider it a fantasy. I feel the story did have elements of science, however, with the inclusion of creatures from different planets, disembodied brains, three celestial beings that freely move through space and time, a man with red eyes, people who read minds, and a giant back cloud of evil engulfing the universe I would call the book fantasy. The plot for A Wrinkle in Time is sort of complicated to fully summarize. So, the basic story of the book centers on the main character Meg who is an socially awkward high school girl, but that has a good heart. She teams up with her younger brother, Charles Wallace, and a popular boy from school, Calvin, to go same her father, a scientists, who is on another planet being held captive by a creature known as “IT”, who works for an evil force known as the Black Thing. The children are sent on this journey through time and space by three celestial being known as Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which. Meg is able to free her father and save Charles, who eventually becomes captured himself by “IT”, with her power of love. Like everyone else in the class, I really enjoyed this book. It was one of those books that compels one to keep reading which I believe is an important part of a good book. I believe that the themes in the story are nice ones to bestow into children, such as the power of love. Meg is a perfect example of a child that might be weird to outsiders, but inside they are a great person. This would be another book I would suggest for my students to read.
ReplyDeleteTyson, I concur with your thoughts regarding Esperanza Rising; many of the constructs of literature seemed one-dimensional. Before reading your comment, I assumed my feelings were based on my unfair comparison of this children's book to more intricate works written for adults; conversely, I now believe that this story merely failed to live up to its potential. A less superficial and flighty account of the same story would be more valuable in my opinion. I just think the book could have been more than what it became. But then...when is a writer's work ever really done?
ReplyDeleteFor my last book I read Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille. I found this book to be really interesting since I previously knew nothing about the Braille system or the man it was named after. As you might guess this book is about Louis Braille and how he developed the current system used by blind people to read. This biography is geared towards younger readers and is a complete biography of Louis Braille's life and from my understanding from the textbook is a fictionalized biography because it does contain some dialogue but I feel like it is an accurate portrayal. I think it would be a really good introduction to biographies for kids because it isn't too dense and is still entertaining. I tend to think of biographies as being boring so if students had the same idea this book would be a good example to show that isn't always true.
ReplyDeleteSo I finished reading Bridget Jones's Diary a few days back and I have to say it was a fun read. It was entertaining and humorous. However the one thing I didn't really like was the main character. I wanted to like her but the things she was obsessed about and cared about really made her character unlikable. Well, to me she seemed kind of shallow and seemed like she was constantly whining about certain non-important issues. I guess I liked it because it had a good take on humor but I couldn't relate to the character much which made the book okay overall. It is sort of hard for me to read chick-lit books. I just learned of that term referring to books written by women or books for women which is pretty interesting.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I am almost done with my last book, A child called it and I can't believe I'm reading this. It's really disturbing and I remember at my middle school this book was very popular and I couldn't understand why at the time and now I sort do in a way...
I finished Rosie the Riveter for my nonfiction a couple of days ago and really enjoyed it. It talks about all of the women who entered "wartime industries" during World War II. I really liked that the author discussed the sexual harassment and racial discrimination the women had to deal with. I had never really thought about it before, but women's jobs during the war are not something I learned about when I was younger, and we barely even touched on it even when I was in highschool, so I would definitely use this book in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteSo I just finished my nonfiction book A Child Called "It" and I have to say..it was very depressing. I mean the things that the little boy went through were just horrible. A Child Called "It" is a book by Dave Pelzer. It's a book that chronicles one of the most severe child abuse cases in California's history. It's weird because I remember this book being very popular in middle school. People were passing it around like crazy. It is a very important subject to talk about in school but it is a very hard subject to go about. I know there is a second book called The lost Boy and I am contemplating whether I should read it or not. I am still sort of hung over what happened in the first book. Some of the things were just too awful that it seemed unreal.
ReplyDeleteSo for the past week I kept going back and forth between two topics for my essay. At first I wanted to write about multicultural books and then I wanted to write about an author but now I am doing something completely different. However, when I was researching the author Gary Soto, I found some interesting things. I found out that he grew up in the San Joaquin County Area which is where I'm from! It's so weird because I remember constantly seeing his books in Elementary school and I have always wondered why but now I guess I do because he came from the same area. Also what I found interesting was that in HS he had an average GPA of 1.9. He said he didn't care for HS and that in HS the only thing that was on his mind was girls. I just think its interesting how he didn't do well in HS and now hes like one of the most famous contemporary Spanish authors.
ReplyDeleteFor my paper, I was lucky enough to get the library shelf that consisted of one of my very favorite childhood authors, Bill Peet. He wrote such children books as "Cowardly Clide," "the Wingdingdilly," and "The Wump World," as well as a bunch of other ones. I was so happy when I found out that he took up a majority of my shelf, because he was such a large part of my childhood -- my grandma used to read them to me every time we went to her house. I'm really looking forward to doing more research on him.
ReplyDeleteFinishing the book Esperanza Rising was a little sad, because it was so awesome. It was an amazing story, teaching the lesson to not just survive in hard times, but thrive in hard times. “Wait a little while and the fruit will fall into your hand
ReplyDeleteI am now half way through Diary of a Wimpy Kid for the contemporary realistic fiction book. Jeff Kinney, the author of the book, describes what life is like for a kid in middle school. I can relate to Gregory, the main character of the story. Remembering my time spent in middle school is similar to Gregory’s experiences in Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
The final young adult book I read for this class was the nonfiction book called Escape! by Sid Fleischman. This is a biography about the magician Harry Houdini. Harry Houdini was born with the name of Erik Weisz on March 24, 1874, in Budapest, Hungary, but through a path of fame he changed his name and country of origin to America. Before reading this book, all I knew about Houdini was that he was a famous magician a hundred years ago who could escape from any straitjacket or handcuff. This biography reveals the process it took Houdini to become one of the most famous magicians in the world and a legend that persists even in the world today. I was amazed by the end of this book, the feats that Houdini went through to build up his legend which consisted of breaking out of a lot of jails, taking apart the strongest handcuffs anyone could create, extracting needles from his mouth, and taking on a lot of challenges on stage to prove he was the greatest escape artist in the world. Houdini is a fascinating man and his life is even more exciting which lends itself to being a great biography. Fleischman tells the life story of Houdini in a very captivating way because Fleischman has a deep appreciation for the man as a fellow magician, so the biography is told less like a serious of facts but more like an exciting tale about the rise of a legend. So, the story of Houdini it depicted in a way that would draw in any kid because Fleischman is a fun writer with a terrific subject. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that is interesting in knowing more about Harry Houdini or to anyone that just wants to read a great story.
ReplyDeleteHi class!
ReplyDeleteJust been working on the last of my paper editing and I came across a part of the text book that I found really interesting. It is about attractiveness/appeal to children. I found it to be very influencing on my paper because I previously didn't put much into the illustrators. I am now realizing the concepts are closely related to keeping the child interested in the book. I reread my shelf books, now focusing on illustrations and realized that I could deduct many different themes... simply through the illustrations. An example is a story I had about a magical tiger - but after looking at the illustrations I also realized it was not just a book about animals, but also a book about the importance of self confidence and accepting one's self.
-Kayla
I wish I had found Escape! when I was trying to figure out what to read! I was a tad obsessed with Harry Houdini when I was younger. I might just have to read that on my own time anyway.
ReplyDeleteI finished The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen, yesterday, for my realistic fiction. The residual teenage girl parts of me actually enjoyed it. It was corny and romantic, but it was all about hope, acceptance, and being open to new experiences and opportunities. There's no way I would use it in any sort of curriculum, but I would very possibly have it on my shelf for a fun girly read.
ReplyDeleteI finished reading The Moorchild. It was a great book about a girl in Scotland who was different from everyone else in her village. Through folklore and vivid imagery we learn about her struggles and how to appreciate our differences. I will definitely have this book in my classroom!
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