Audiobook Review: Dear Mr. Henshaw

Cleary, B.  (2009).  Dear Mr. Henshaw.  New York:  Harper Collins Publishers.

1 hour 44 minutes.

While I was asking some previous students about their favorite childhood reads, Dear Mr. Henshaw by the great Beverly Cleary was mentioned a few times.  Based on the cover and title, I--ever so cleverly--deduced that it was somehow related to writing and just miiiiiiiight be worth checking-out.

My hypothesis proved true!  Dear Mr. Henshaw *is* about writing and shows a young boy's development into an author.  I'm left trying to figure out how I can incorporate it into my "teaching of writing" course.

Appetizer:  Following Leigh through several school years, his parents divorce, he moves, deals with a lunch thief, struggles to make friends and develops as a writer.  Dear Mr. Henshaw is an epistolary novel, beginning with his first letters to his favorite children's author who doesn't always respond.  Inspired to write, some of Leigh's unsent letters serve a diary entries).

I was struck by how realistic the book was.  The ending is not purely happy.  There are no improbable coincidences.  People don't magical change or improve.  Nobody wins the lottery.  It's *real* or true to life.  I could imagine this being some young readers' first novel that doesn't end with "happily ever after."

In terms of the audiobook narration, Pedro Pascal clearly had an adult voice (which can sometimes be off-putting), but he did such a good job of capturing Leigh's emotions that I found the audiobook narration flowed well and didn't get in the way of my enjoyment of the story.

Now, I must find a way to incorporate Dear Mr. Henshaw into my current "teaching of writing" course...I might focus on Leigh's growth as a writer.

Tasty Rating:  !!!

Audiobook Review: Dead End in Norvert

Gantos, J.  (2011).  Dead End in Norvelt.  New York:  Farrar Straus Giroux.

341 pages.


Appetizer:  Set in 1962, little Jack Gantos (a kinda-sorta-fictional character who is prone to nosebleeds) gets himself grounded forever.  (It was a bit of a crazy situation, although there were other factors, Jack was following his father's orders to plow down his mother's corn to create a runway for the plane he...obtained.)  Practically the only freedom Jack is allowed is to help old Miss Volker, the medical examiner and obituary writer, who roots for the original founders of Norvelt to die.  (When Eleanor Roosevelt founded the town she tasked Miss Volker with watching over the residents and now, decades later, Miss Volker is ready to move on.)

Norvelt itself is a very interesting character of a town; a bit of history brought to life that embodies different political and economic views.   (For example, Jack's mother favors the barter system, a fact that sometimes embarrasses Jack and his father feels that the town--founded on the principal of putting poor people in a position to help themselves--is a failed Communist experiment.)

Several times throughout the historical novel, Jack talks about the way he engages with books--both fiction and nonfiction--demonstrating the value of both history and literacy.  There was one scene in which he and his best friend discuss the way books smell and sniff the gutters of various books.  This reminded me of my father, who judges the quality of a book based on the way it smells.

Overall, a very enjoyable book.  Some of the plot details threw me for a few loops:  The Hell's Angels make a few appearances.  The story turns into a murder mystery.  That made me ponder a little.

Jack Gantos's--AKA the actual author's--reading of the audiobook was great.  He kept the focus on the story (as opposed to some crazy inflections or accents some authors or voice actors use).  The story was fun and hilarious--enough so that I chuckled out loud several times.  In particular, I'm trying to find a way/reason that I could share the dear hunting chapter with my students.  Although I think the book would appeal to both boys and girls, I can't help but think--with the occasional icky detail or bathroom humor--it was written to target boys.


Dinner Conversation:

"School was finally out and I was standing on a picnic table in our backyard getting ready for a great summer vacation when my mother walked up to me and ruined it" (p. 3).

"I was a nosebleeder.  The moment something startled me or whenever I got over-excited or spooked about any little thing blood would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames" (p. 8).

"'You're looking at the original Norvelt," she said.  "There are two hundred and fifty houses in five sections on this map with the names of the original owners.  If you count up the red pins you'll see that all but nine--eight now that Mrs. Slater has passed--of the original owners have died or left since 1934" (p. 35).

"'Miss Volker," I said about as politely as I knew how, "do you think you will outlast the rest of these original people?"
"I have to," she said.  "I made a promise to Eleanor Roosevelt to see them to their graves, and I can't drop dead on the job--so let's get going" (p. 36).


Tasty Rating:  !!!!

REVIEW: Moon Over Manifest

Vanderpool, C.  (2010).  Moon Over Manifest.  New York:  Delacorte Press.

342 pages.

I finally got around to reading the current Newbery winner.  When Moon Over Manifest was announced as the winner, only one person I knew had read it (one person out of at least a dozen who spend their time trying to read as much children's literature as is humanly possible.  This book wasn't just a sleeper agent.  It was the unexpected chaos factor).  That one-person-out-of-a-dozen's reaction?  "Baaaaaaaaah, they keep picking books that are beautiful to adults but BORING to kids.  All of the people and their different names are confusing.  Bah humbug."

Okay, I'll admit.  I added the bah humbug to the end of that quotation.  As far as I know, I'm the only person (not in a famed Christmas novel or movie adaptation) who uses the phrase bah humbug.

Then, as other people I knew got around to reading the book before me, their comments pretty much confirmed what Person One already said:  "I'm an adult and I'm confused.  How will an eleven-year-old tolerate this book?"

So, when I finally got around to reading the book, I was a little hesitant.  I had my pen ready to take notes on who was who in the cast of characters.  Because I would defeat this book!  I will not be confused!

...for once.



Appetizer:  In May of 1936, Abilene Tucker has been sent to Manifest, Kansas to stay while her dad works on the railroad.  He'd often told her stories about the town where he grew up, but Abilene is surprised by the dusty town she finds.  on her first night there, she discovers a box of mementos.  Abilene begins to seek out the history of the objects and her father's history in the town.  She relies upon the stories of a psychic, old newspaper articles and other methods to try to learn her family's past.

Since the novel is set during the Great Depression, I was strongly reminded of Out of the Dust (but without poetry).  Visually, I also kept thinking about the TV show Carnivale (which is in no way appropriate for wee little ones), and which represents the 1930s well.

Moon Over Manifest is such a good social studies teacher book.  I could talk about the KKK, the Great Depression, World War I, treatment of immigrants, coal mining, newspaper writing, small town life, the importance of storytelling, prohibition, finding a sense of belonging or home...and on and on.

But there are also a lot of difficulties with the book.  There are flashbacks within flashbacks, some difficult vocabulary.  Characters who have multiple names.  And even though there is a list of characters at the beginning of the book, not everybody is included.  (If used as a read aloud, I would strongly recommend creating extensive character list worksheets to have students fill-out as we go through the book.)

I did enjoy the ending of the novel though.  The interweaving plots came together nicely and reinforced the importance of story, knowing the past and creating a sense of home.

I was left feeling as though the book took on more than it should have.  I thought that if it were trimmed down by a hundred pages, the humor and the central story would have been brought out more and would probably engage young readers a little more.  As it is, I was left reading a book that had some nice moments (KKK+Dark Outhouse+Plus switching toilet paper with poison ivy leaves=AWESOME!) but that also left me feeling pretty bored.  It was a book I felt like I had to get through, instead of one I was actually enjoying.  Which is not good.

As it is, I have to agree with my anonymous friend that I mentioned at the beginning of the post.  Moon Over Manifest feels like a winning novel for the adults, not for the kids.


Dinner Conversation:

"The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby.  I closed my eyes to the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I knew only from stories.  The one just outside of town with big blue letters:  MANIFEST:  A TOWN WITH A RICH PAST AND A BRIGHT FUTURE.
I thought about my daddy, Gideon Tucker.  He does his best talking in stories, but in recent weeks, those had become few and far between.  So on the occasion when he'd say to me, "Abilene, did I ever tell you 'bout the time...?"  I'd get all quiet and listen real hard.  Mostly he'd tell stories about Manifest, the town where he'd lived once upon a time."  (p. 1)

"I knelt on the floor, and with a fairly easy push and pull, the floorboard popped up enough for me to get my fingers under it and pull it up.  It would have been the perfect hiding spot for one thing.  There was already something there.
I pulled the something out, slow and gentle, and held it up to the moonlight.  It was a Lucky Bill cigar box and inside were papers and odds and ends.  There were letters, thin and folded neat.  One bigger page looked like a map.  The odds and ends clanked inside the box."  (p. 21)

"Let us put your mind to the test as well.  It seems everyone is fond of a good story, dead bodies on trains notwithstanding.  Therefore, your assignment will be to write a story of your own.  You may select the topic and it will be graded for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and creativity.  It will be due September first."  (p. 31)

"An honest to goodness spy!" cried Lettie as the three of us crouched behind the wooden Indian in front of the hardware store.  "Right here in Manifest!  Why, I've never heard anything so exciting."  (p. 41)

"It was interesting piecing together fragments of stories I'd heard from Miss Sadie.  Noting what had changed and what had stayed the same.  But for some reason, these stories all made me sad and more than a little rankled.  It rankled me that everyone in this town had a story to tell.  Everyone owned a piece of this town's history.  Yet no one mentioned my daddy.  Even when Gideon had been here, he hadn't really been here.  I couldn't find much of a sign of his ever even having set foot in Manifest, let alone having left an impression."  (pp. 245-246)


Tasty Rating:  !!!

Also, since we're quite a way into 2011, I figured it was time to start working on some of those challenges I wanted to participate in.  This may be pushing it, but I had wanted to read this book ever since it was announced as the Newbery winner all the way back in...January.  Yes, January.

It counts!

Literary Feast Finale: Al Capone Does My Shirts

Hello dear readers!

The time has come -- we've reached the end of Al Capone Does My Shirts. I, for one, think it has been fairly epic. But let's get right to the discussion, shall we?

PAGES 179-225

SHEL: Aww, such a nice little birthday party.

Monica: Except the aftermath of it made me want to sob uncontrollably. Seriously, the part where the dad asks Nathalie how old she is, and she lets them all know -- what an awesomely heartbreaking moment. You have to wonder what she has been thinking this whole time, as her mother lies about her age and she is completely and totally aware of it herself.

SHEL: Yeah, I know.  It was impressive the way those tensions were drawn out.  In other news, Mrs. Kelly wound up being sort of awesome and helpful. I honestly hadn't expected that. At all.

Monica: What a shocker! I too was anticipating her being nothing but a worthless busybody, but she pretty much pulled through for us at the end. Nathalie is speaking in entire sentences! (PS, speaking of the end, this book may have been the best ending of all time. Chapter forty is *love*.)

SHEL: Yeah, I know.  I love the logic about mentioning Al Capone's mom on page 210. Entertainment. And true.

Monica: It's nice for there to be a few events that you can pinpoint as being completely factual. I liked the way the author referred back to them in the notes; it helps once again bring the story back to a historical context. I'd sort of lost track of it, in all the Nathalie drama, and the evil warden drama, and the horrid Piper drama (although she sort of fell by the wayside towards the end, didn't she?) and... yes.

SHEL: So, overall, what do you think of the way Al Capone is characterized. In the Author's Note, Choldenko mentions that he's sometimes considered a Robin Hood figure. Do you buy that? Do you think Al Capone has become a character of legends?

Monica: I 100% buy that. I don't know if he's quite a Robin Hood type of character -- giving to the poor after robbing the rich, and all that -- but he is definitely the stuff of legends. I doubt if the average person off the street could describe any of his actual criminal actions, but everyone knows his name.

Good times, friends!
Thanks for hanging with us for this discussion. Next up, we'll be checking out Fat Cat, which looks fantaaaastic, so be sure to grab a copy in preparation.

Literary Feast Discussion: Al Capone Does My Shirts (pp. 125-175)

Round three of our Al Capone Does My Shirts Discussion!  Let's hop to it, shall we?

SHEL: And the frustrations continue!  Now Piper AND the mom are on my poopie list.

Monica:  ::: LAUGHS :::  I’m glad to see this book is enhancing your vocabulary set.  ;)  But seriously, I love the mom, but she is driving me up the wall.  I recognize that you’re stressed and all, Mother, but you do have *two* children…. 

SHEL: Okay, so I take it back about what we discussed about the cover.  I still like the photo of Alcatraz, but I've decided I don't like the rest of the cover.  The little coat-hanger hanging off the text and the handwritten "I live here" feel too young for the content.  This isn't a cartoonish, humorous novel.  There's serious stuffs within these pages.

Monica:  I think I took it more along the lines of how he’d explain things to the kids at school.  “My name is Moose.  I live here.  At Alcatraz.  Al Capone does my shirts.  The End.”   But I definitely get where you’d coming from – the actual fun moments of this book are few and far between, with a whole lot of tears and drama packed in the rest of it.  Have… have we been hoodwinked *again* into reading a serious book, Shel?! 

SHEL: That's a good point.  And yes, we have wound up with a serious book again (I blame you).  Serious but good (I still blame you).  Although, I am very glad to finally see some nice father-son bonding here.

Monica:  It sort of makes me want to cry.  The dad has, up to this point, sort of blended into the background.  I assume it’s because that’s the way his family sees him – Nathalie is Nathalie, Mom attention is obsessively and all-encompassingly (word?) focused on Nathalie, and Moose is as self-absorbed as your average kid.  So it’s nice to see Dad step up as a real character… and a super-sympathetic one at that!

SHEL:  I'd say Moose is even less self-absorbed than the average kid.  I doubt I could have handled his situation with such...grace?  Is that the word I want?  Yeah, I'll go with that.

Monica:  Grr.  That Mrs. Kelly is getting on my last nerve.  I realize that she’s trying to help (and honestly, her suggestions seem better than most of what we heard – I’m still all freaked about the description of the time when Nathalie became permanently ten years old) but… you can’t take away her buttons!

SHEL:  I agree.  I am pro-buttons.  I also have to wonder, even if Nat gets into the school, how much help can they REALLY give her?  I mean, they dropped her after one morning of screaming.

Monica:  Pshaw.  What a defeatist attitude.  What would Mom say?!  (Answer:  She wouldn’t say anything – she is too busy tweaking out about her eldest to hear anything negative you might say about her Great Plan for Nathalie.)

Okay, cool cats, we're going to finish up this book and our discussion of this book on Saturday.  Let's all hope for a happy ending, hmmm.  See, you all then!

Literary Feast Discussion: Al Capone Does My Shirts (pp. 1-59)

Hello All!  I hope you're having a fabulous Tuesday.  Al Capone Does My Shirts has certainly picked up the start of my week.  I'm having trouble putting it down in fact.  Monica and I have shared our opinions on the first 59 pages of the book below.  Feel free to chime in!  We'd love to hear from you.


PAGES 1-59:

SHEL:  I love the concept for this book.  I think I've spent too much time rereading Sanderson's Alcatraz Smedry series.  So, when I keep reading "Alcatraz" I can't help but think of it as a character instead of a place.

Monica:  I would absolutely hate to live there, though.  I’m scared of islands anyway; toss in some bars and guards with guns, and I wouldn’t leave my house.  Ever.  You do have to be impressed at his mother, though, for just rolling along with her husband’s new job.  “Sure, honey!  We can… move to Alcatraz…?” 

SHEL: I think I could live on the island...I would be freaked out by the idea that one of the criminals could be watching me from his cell.  That would be creepy and not fun.  Go team island, though.

Monica:  I just hope all goes well with Nathalie.  Her very existence seems fraught with portent.  Can you imagine her having a meltdown surrounded by criminals and thugs and whatnot?

SHEL:  I hates that Piper girl.  Hates her.

Monica:  She is a definitely a world-class jerk.  I love the fact that there Moose is, on an island with the murdering scum of the earth, and his biggest problem… is this bratty little girl.  Oh, the priorities one has at age twelve….

SHEL:  Everybody in this book nods.  The mom is nodding and nodding and nodding.  And Moose nods too.  I wonder who will nod next.

Monica:  Nathalie nods a little too, don’t forget!  Occasionally authors get hung up on one motion.  I can’t remember which book I *just read*, but every ten seconds it seemed like another person was being pensive.  Nodding pensively.  Thinking pensively.  Walking pensively amongst the ramparts of the castle.  I suppose that’s what an editor is for.  Shall we offer our services?

SHEL: I would be more than willing to help out.  I love the thought of going through a manuscript and crossing out a word over and over again and making snarky "find a thesaurus" comments.

SHEL:  I like the way Choldenko  writes the baseball game Moose plays with Scout and the others in chapter 8.  She managed to make it really suspenseful, even for a reader who doesn't like sports.

Monica:  Like, dare I say it, the scene from Twilight?  ;) 

Monica:  On a vaguely unrelated note, I *really* like the cover of this book.  I think it’s the actual photo of Alcatraz – it’s easy to sort of idealize the place, because you’re seeing it through Moose’s eyes, but that photo really shows how stark and forbidding the island was.

SHEL: That's a really good point.  I like that the photo is there as well.  It helps ground the story in the history.  

Monica:  You know what else helps?  The author notes.  Although we’re not there yet….


Shel:  Cheater!




So, that concludes our first discussion.  We'll continue with the next sixty-ish pages to finish Part One on Friday.  Hope to talk to you then!

REVIEW: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village

 Schlitz, L.A.  (2007).  Good Masters!  Sweet Ladies!  Voices from a Medieval Village.  Cambridge, MA:  Candlewick Press.

9780763615789

 

I have a bias here.  When this award was named the Newbery winner of
2007, I glanced through it, asked why, and decided I wouldn't bother
buying it.

Flashforward to the present, I as a teacher desperately need an
activity to go with my discussion of the history of children's
literature.  And Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!  (Are the exclamation
points really necessary?) flashes into my mind.  Fine.  I'll use it.
Guess that means I'll actually have to read it.

The foreword begins, "This is a part of the book that most people
skip."  Yes, yes it is.  "This is the foreword--the part where the
author tells why the book exists and why the reader might want to read
it.  And you can skip it, if you'e in a hurry."  I want to, I really
do.  But I'm too nerdy for that and I read on.  I learn that Schlitz is a
librarian for a school that only has 17 children to a class, that as
they study the middle ages the students have opportunities to build
mini-catapults and castles, bake bread, tend herbs, to compose music
and illuminate manuscripts" (p. viii) and it makes me want to cry
because many classrooms across the country, around the world can't
afford the resources or time to do such wonderful exercises.  What do
those classrooms get?  I wish I could say this book, but that's
probably not true either.

I kept reading, which proved to be very important since in the first
monologue of Hugo, The Lord's Nephew, I learned that 'Friants' are
boar droppings" (p. 2).  Very important.  Then I tried to imagine
seventh and eighth graders saying "Followed his fraints straight to
his bed and found it warm."  I struggled.  I suppose if framed
properly students could have fun with it.  At the very least, a
teacher could say at least the friants weren't warm and steamy.

While looking across the interconnected 19 monologues and dialogues of
children and young adults living in the Middle Ages, Schlitz does an
excellent job of showing the differences among the classes and gender (and to a lesser degree, religion).
 Race remains completely unaddressed (It probably would have felt
forced to try to incorporate).  Schlitz makes an effort to make the
characters relatable.  The unfortunately named Taggot has a crush on a
boy.  Jack the half-wit is bullied and wants a friend.  As I read on,
the monologues grew on me.  While I still think a teacher will have to do a bit of work to get their students to engage with the text, there are a lot of uses a teacher could use.

Activities to Do with the Book:

 

Students could actually perform the monologues, with attention to whose characters

know whom and how they react to one another as they share the
performing space.

If students are having trouble with the language, they could
re-present the monologues in another time, with modern language,
perhaps as journal entries.  This could be used to show some of the universality of the conflicts.

Students could discuss life in the Middle Ages, the crucades, how the
upper class maintained power in the medieval village, the
timelessness of abuse, cheating, bullying, friendship, the political and economic reasons for going to war and on and on.

 

Favorite Quotes:

 

“It was from novels that I learned that history was the story of survival:  even something that sounded boring, like crop rotation or inheritance law, might be a matter of life and death to a hungry peasant.  Novels taught me that history is dramatic.  I wanted my students to know that, too" (p. ix).

 

"There's no use in looking back,

for here's the truth I've found:

It's hunger, want, and wickedness

that makes the world go 'round" (p. 29).

"It made me think

how all women are the same--

silk or sackcloth, all the same.

There's always babies to be born

and suckled and wiped,

and worried over" (p. 49).

"Send us more fools

for our food and our keep.

Forgive us our trespasses,

pardon our lies;

look after your foxes

as well as your sheep" (p. 81).

REVIEW: Savvy

Law, I. (2008). Savvy. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.

9780803733060

Just reading the description, I figured Savvy was my kind of book. Twelve-year-old Mibs’s family gain a special power, a savvy, when they turn thirteen. Mibs speculates about what her power will be, but once she learns that her father has been in a horrible traffic accident, she hopes to gain a power that can help heal him. And on her birthday she, along with two of her brothers and two other friends, sneaks away from her own birthday party on a Bible delivery van to try and reach him.

While drawing on some classic children’s fantasy narratives, this book shows both the magic in the extraordinary as well as in the ordinary. It also deals with themes of not letting others’ views of you get you down and maintaining faith in yourself.

While on her adventure, Mibs is faced with a potential romance and decides she is not ready. This is a situation a parent may want to emphasize if he or she wants to show that a teenager doesn’t have to enter into a relationship before he or she is ready.


Activities to do with the book:

This could be a fun read aloud to share with students. More than anything, the thing to encourage students is to enjoy the text as they listen. Of course, a teacher could also encourage the children to make connections to other popular narratives that include people with super powers.

You could also pair the book with science lessons on electricity and weather.

Since there’s all not too much text on each page, this can be a good book to have students gain confidence with their reading by completing such a big heavy book.


Favorite Quotes:

“When my brother Fish turned thirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he’d caused it” (p. 1).

“We Beaumonts are just like other people…we get born, and sometime later we die. And in between, we’re happy and sad, we feel love and we feel fear, we eat and we sleep and we hurt like everyone else” (p. 97-98).

“I didn’t think I liked being a teenager all that much” (p. 110).

“My poppa needs me…he needs me to get down there to Salina. He’s like Sleeping Beauty and I have to wake him up” (p. 140).

“Fish and I weren’t in Kansaska-Nebransas anymore and we didn’t have any yellow bricks to guide us, just a big pink bus and the yellow stripe-stripe-stripes of the highway” (p. 187).

“Maybe it’s like that for everyone, I thought. Maybe we all have other people’s voices running higgledy-piggledy through our heads all the time. I thought how often my poppa and momma were there inside my head with me, telling me right from wrong. Or how the voices of Ashley Bing and Emma Flint sometimes got stuck under my skin, taunting me and making me feel low, even when they weren’t around. I began to realize how hard it was to separate out all the voices to hear the single, strong one that came just from me” (p. 238).

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REVIEW: The Graveyard Book

Gaiman, N. (2008). The Graveyard Book. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

9780060530938

After his family is murdered, a nameless toddler finds himself safe in an old graveyard and protected by the ghosts. Given the name Bod, short for Nobody Owens (Nobody Owns, get it?), he is taught by the ghosts and encounters a possible friend, ghouls, a witch, a grey lady, bullies etc. But he eventually must face the man who killed his family to finally be safe and ready to live.

While Bod ages throughout of the book, when he is supposedly six, he hardly feels like a child that young. The plot is engaging enough that older children should be willing to read to the book until Bod is closer to their own age. While there are some illustrations, the long chapters could discourage many readers. Of course, fifth or sixth grade students probably won’t mind any of this if the story is read aloud to them. (I’d probably only consider sharing the book with individual students younger than that on rare occasions, for fear of the potential frights the book might include. (While the ghosts are kind. Some ghouls (especially the 33rd president of the United States) and a “wet knife” still have the potential to frighten some children)

A teacher could emphasize the sense of community that exists in the graveyard. Or the experience of dealing with bullies that Bod has some suggestions about once he begins attending school.

What’s also great about this book is that the reader gets to witness the process of Bod learning to read and becoming a reader who loves books. Plus , the book shares the inevitable truth that each teenage girl should have a cell phone of her very own.

On an only slightly related note, I have been at war with Neil Gaiman for a few years now. He just doesn’t know it. I want him to stop scaring the wee little children with wolves in the walls, button-eyes, etc. and he wants to write successful books and win awards.
I’m biding my time.
I may, however, have to call a truce for The Graveyard Book. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still murder and fiendish characters. But the ghosts are fun and give Bod a safe and supportive environment. And they make me laugh.


Activities to do with the book:

Given the fact that most of the ghosts who live in the graveyard had lived in different centuries, a teacher could guide students in research into the various time periods. Of course, a student may need to provide some extra support to American students, since this is set in England and assumes the geography and history of Europe. Students could also do research projects on subject such as the humors, once believed to have medical significance.

This is a good read aloud. Together, students could speculate about the significance of various supernatural characters. With younger students, a teacher would probably have to pause as characters previously introduced are reintroduced much later in the text.


Favorite Quotes:

“There was a hand in the darkness and it held a knife. The knife had a handle of polished black bone, and a blade finer and sharper than any razor. If it sliced you, you might not even know you had been cut, not immediately” (pp. 2-5).

“It is going to take more than just a couple of good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will,” said Silas, “take a graveyard” (p. 23).

“It’s the first nice thing anyone’s done for me in five hundred years” (p. 131).

“For soon enough, tomorrow night comes. And how often can a man say that?”
“Every night,” said Bod. “tomorrow night always comes” (p. 147).

A Rumor for Your Outrage or Amusement

There's a rumor circulating among some blogs that there's a librarian petition to protest the selection of Gaiman's The Graveyard Book as this year's Newbery Winner, since a portion of it was published previously.  The rules award rules do state that a winning or honored book may not have been previously published.  To read more, click.

Dramaz.

What are your thoughts about this?

Happy April Fools' Day!?!?

REVIEW: The Giver

Lowry, L. (1993). The Giver. New York: Laurel-Leaf Books.

0440824400

This book was one of my favorites as a child. I had it read aloud to me. I read it multiple times then. I’ve been assigned to read it once as an adult. I’ve had to reread it twice for some of my students’ projects. I’ve seen the play version that was created. I have The Giver memorized. Seriously. Ask me what went down on page 127. I’ve got an answer.

The scope of Lowry’s writing career is impressive, including historical fiction, realistic fiction, science-fiction and parody. The Giver has always been my personal favorite. The book shares the story of Jonas, who upon turning twelve with all of his classmates is chosen for a special career-path by his community, to receive the memories of lives different from those in the community. Experiences of pain, joy, love, war, death and color.

Jonas soon realizes that the choices made by the community are not the best for them. So he, along with his mentor, the giver, decides to return the memories to the community.

Lowry puts forth a lot of effort to craft the world and rules of the community. Some may argue too much effort. But since this may be many students first adventure into a society different from their own, it may be necessary.

The Giver is the first book in a loosely connected series. (The next book being Gathering Blue) But The Giver is commonly considered to be the best book of the series.

Some students may have trouble with the ending of the book. While the majority of students view it as a happy ending, some will see it as ambiguous or even sad, which can cause all manner of vocal reaction in class. If the ending upsets anyone, a good starting point is to have students create their own endings.


*SPOILER ALERT*
When this book was first read aloud to me as a child, I was totally blown away by the moment that the reader learns the members of the community do not see in color. Seriously my young little world was rocked. That’s when I realized that books can be well crafted. And this still tends to be a moment that many readers pull out as interesting.
*END SPOILER*

Also, apparently the book will be made into a movie sometime around 2011. Do you think they’ll manage to pull it off? Who would you want to play the giver?

Activities to do with the book:

This book can be used it multiple ways—to discuss the way a society is constructed. To create an introductory lesson on utopias and distopias. To have students create rules for a society they would like to create (and then implement those rules for an afternoon). Scenes from this story could easily be dramatized. Children could also make illustrations of the text, paying special attention to the use of black, white, grey and red.

This book could be used to trigger a discussion of symbolism. Also, since the ending may be considered ambiguous to a few children, a teacher could encourage discussion of multiple interpretations being allowable.


Favorite Quotes:

“It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened. No. Wrong word, Jonas thought. Frightened meant the deep, sickening feeling of something terrible about to happen. Frightened was the way he had felt a year ago” (p. 1).

“There was absolutely nothing remarkable about that apple. He had tossed it back and forth between his hands a few times, then thrown it again to Asher. And again—in the air, for an instant only—it had changed” (p. 24).

“He is to be alone, apart, while he is prepared by the current Receiver for the job whish is most honored in our community” (p. 61).

REVIEW: Joey Pigza Loses Control

Gantos, J. (2000). Joey Pigza Loses Control. New York: HarperTrophy.

0064410226

Joey’s back and he’s facing a new challenge: Meeting his father for the first time and visiting his difficult grandma, whose health is declining.

This book deals more deeply with issues only touched on the first book: The results of a lifetime of smoking, parental alcoholism, the need for ADHD medication, parental pressure, the desire for a united family, etc. Also, this book may appeal to sports fans, since Joey spends a lot of time playing baseball while visiting his father in Pittsburgh. There are also fairytale elements to this story, since Joey’s father repeatedly uses fairytales as metaphors for his life.

What’s amazing about the second book in this series is how the reader’s perception changes of Joey’s mother. In the first book, I found myself wondering if Joey should be living with her. In the second book, when Joey visits his father, I found myself pleading, “Please, please, PLEASE send him back to his mother!”

Activities to do with the book:

This book can be used to have a number of conversations on visiting an absent parent, realizing parents make mistakes, the experience of being ADHD and needing medication, the health complications of smoking. And so on. If a teacher shares this book with a student or class, he or she must be certain to show sympathy for Joey and encourage personal response to the narrative.

If students have read the first book, a teacher could ask how their views of the characters have shifted. Do they feel more sympathetic toward Joey, his mother and grandmother?

Since the story ends rather abruptly, students could write a continuation of the story, letters to Joey and his family members or just go on to read the next book.


Favorite Quotes:

“That’s the one thing I liked about [my father] already. [Mom’s] mind was on him, him, him. Usually it was on me, me, me, and I couldn’t do or say anything that she didn’t notice, but now I was hiding inside his shadow like a drop inside an ocean, and he got to take the blame for her bad nerves” (p. 7).

JOEY’S MOTHER: “I’m sending you because you might like [your dad] and because I think—not with my heart—that it’s a good thing for you to have a relationship with your father. And now that he claims to have stopped drinking and has a job and has gone to court to get some visitation. I’m sending you to him because I think it’s the right thing to do” (p. 8).

“My patch is not a drug,” I pleased. “It’s medicine” (p. 93).

REVIEW: Maniac Magee

Spinelli, J. (1990). Maniac Magee. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

0316809063

As an orphan, Jeffrey Magee is sent to live with his aunt and uncle who live separately within their house and refuse to share anything. At the age of eleven, Jeffrey, unable to deal with his aunt and uncle’s refusal to interact or communicate, runs away. A year later, he appears in a strictly racially segregated town, doing amazing feats and running like a mad man, earning him the nickname, Maniac. Quick to make both friends and enemies, Maniac searches for a home.

This Newbery Winning story, without a clear setting in time, deals extensively with issues of race and segregation. Maniac, who is initially completely naïve of issues of race, seems almost too naïve. What is more, the fact that no character ever reports Magee’s homelessness to the authorities may make this classic story difficult to accept for some adults.  To combat this, it may be best to teach this book as a tall tale, since Maniac is a mythic figure.

Also present in the book are issues of literacy. Despite his refusal to go to school, Maniac loves to read. He also takes on the role of teacher, helping an older man he befriends learn to read. In the past, the presence of this book in schools and libraries has been challenged in some communities for the fact that it could encourage children to run away or quite school.

The beginning of the story, intrigued me most. Spinelli’s narrator takes on the voice similar to that of a folklorist, examining the legend, the myth, the boy that is Maniac Magee.


Activities to do with the book:

This is a good book to discuss topics of race, segregation, school truancy, homelessness and loss. This is also a good way to introduce the idea of ‘whiteness.’
To help students visualize the text, they could create maps of Two Mills, reinforcing the division between the sides of the town. Students could then create a second map, trying to unify the town.

Other techniques used with the text include making Venn diagrams, comparing and contrasting characters that have parallel positions.

Also, students could examine the characterization of Maniac as a transgressor.


Favorite Quotes

“The history of a kid is one part fact, two parts legend, and three parts snowball. And if you want to know what it was like back when Maniac Magee roamed these parts, well, just run your hand under your movie seat and be very, very careful not to let the facts get mixed up with the truth” (p. 2).

“If you listen to everybody who claims to have seen Jeffrey-Maniac Magee that first day, there must have been ten thousand people and a parade of fire trucks waiting for him at the town limits. Don’t believe it. A couple of people truly remember, and here’s what they saw: a scraggly little kid jogging toward them, the soles of both sneakers hanging by their hinges and flopping open like dog tongues each time the came up from the pavement” (p. 9).

“For the life of him, he couldn’t figure why these East Enders called themselves black. He kept looking and looking, and the colors he found were gingersnap and light fudge and dark fudge and acorn and butter rum and cinnamon and burnt orange. But never licorice, which, to him, was real black” (p. 51).

REVIEW: The Tale of Despereaux

DiCamillo, K. (2003). The Tale of Despereaux. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

9780763625290

The Tale of Despereaux plays with both story structure and time to tell the tale of how an outsider and small mouse can save a human princess from a rat and misguided servant girl.

The book, a Newbery Medal winner, has also been recently made into a mediocre movie. The story includes a lot of religious symbolism that few readers will notice. They will, however, notice the narrator’s direct addresses to the reader and how the narrator guides the reader to a deeper understanding of the greatness of small Despereaux’s feats and to an expanded vocabulary.

This book is a challenging read, expecting the reader to follow the narrator back and forth through time and to make connections among several stories that all come together. It is, however, a good step for a reader to learn how to read a book to themselves silently, since the narrator makes sure that no important aspect of the text goes unnoticed.


Activities to do with the book:

In the right circumstance, a teacher could draw out the religious symbolism to show The Tale of Despereaux to be an allegory for Jesus’s death and resurrection. The book could also lead to discussions about heroism, rules and bravery.

The story could also be used to open up a discussion on abuse, since Miggery Sow’s condition as a victim is only examined at a shallow level.

Favorite Quotes

“The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story” (p. 7).

“Once upon a time,” he said aloud, relishing the sound. And then, tracing each world with his paw, he read the story of a beautiful princess and the brave knight who serves and honors her” (p. 24).

“Reader, you may ask this question; in fact, you must ask this question: Is it ridiculous for a very small, sickly, big-eared mouse to fall in love with a beautiful human princess named Pea?
The answer is…yes. Of course, it’s ridiculous.
Love is ridiculous.
But love is also wonderful. And powerful. And Despereaux’s love for the Princess Pea would prove, in time, to be all of these things: powerful, wonderful, and ridiculous” (p. 32).

And the 2009 American Library Association Winners Are...

Oooh, new award in the name of Virginia Hamilton for lifetime achievement by African American Children's authors

Alex Award (Adult books that appeal to young adults):

-City of Thieves 

-The Dragons of Babel

-Finding Nouf

-The Good Thief

-Just After Sunset

-Mud Bound

-Over and Under

-The Oxford Project

-Sharp Teeth

-Three Girls and Their Brother

Schneider Book Award (Artistic expression of disability experience)

-Piano Starts Here:  The Young Art Tatum

-Waiting for Normal

-Jerk California

Coretta Scott King Award (African American Authors and Illustrators who promote understanding)

Illustrations (honors and winner)

-New Talent Award:  Shandra Strickland'a illustrations for Bird

-We Are the Ship

-Before John was a Jazz Giant

-The Moon Over Star 

-The Blacker the Berry (Winner!!!!!!)

Author Awards (honors and winner)

-Keeping the Night Watch

-The Blacker the Berry

-Becoming Billie Holiday

-We Are the Ship (Winner!!!!!!)

Odyssey Award (Audio Book)

Honors

-Curse of the Blue Tattoo

-Elijah of Buxton  

-I'm Dirty

-Martina the Beautiful Cockroach

-Nation

Winner

-The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Margaret A. Edwards Award (Lifetime for YA author)

-Laurie Halse Anderson

William C. Morris Award (Unpublished YA author)

Finalists

-A Curse Dark as Gold

-Graceling

-Absolute Brightness

-Mad Apple

-Me, The Missing, and The Dead

Winner

-A Curse Dark as Gold

Printz Award (YA literature)

Honors

-Astonishing Life of Octavius Nothing II

-The Disreputable History of Frankie Landou

-Nation

-Tender Morsels

Winner

-Jellicoe Road

Belpre Award (Latino)

Honors (Illustration)

-Papa and me

-The Storyteller's Candle

-What Can You Do with a Rebozo

Winner (Illustrator)

-Just in Case

Honors (Author)

-Reaching Out

-Just in Case

-The Storyteller's Candle

Winner (Author)

-The Surrender Tree:  Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom

Arbuthnot Honor Lecture (a talk to be given in a few months)

-Kathleen T. Horning (From Cover to Cover:  Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books)

Mildred A. Batchelder Award (Published in another language and translated)

Honors

-Carmann's Summer

-Tiger Moon

Winner

-Moribito

Sibert Medal (Informational Books)

Honors

-Bodies from the Ice

-What to Do About Alice?

Winner

-We Are the Ship

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (Lasting contribution)

Ashley Bryan

Andrew Carnegie Medal (Video)

March On:  The Day My Brother Marten Changed the World

Theodor Seuss Geisel (Beginning Reader)

Honors

-Chicken Said, "Cluck!"

-One Boy

-Stinky

-Wolfsnail

Winner

-Are You Ready to Play Outside?

Caldecott Medal (Picturebook illustration)

Honors

-A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever

-How I Learned Geography

-A River of Words:  The Story of William Carlos Williams

Winner

-The House in the Night

Newbery Medal:

Honors

-The Underneath

-The Surrender Tree

-Savvy

-After Tupac & D Foster

Winner

-The Graveyard Book