Friday, February 27, 2009

Afghan Dreams


Afghan Dreams: Young Voices of Afghanistan by Tony O'Brien and Mike Sullivan is a powerful book. Readers are introduced to children who have grown up in a country devastated by war. The photographs provide a connection to the people whose stories are shared. Most of the children featured have lost friends or family to the war. Many do not attend school. Their lives are so different than what Americans are used to, yet they look like they could live next door to us. My book group just finished reading The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. Parvana, the main character is a girl growing up in Afghanistan. Her father is arrested and for a time her family is paralyzed by his arrest. My students enjoyed this book a lot, even though they found it very sad. They also realized this was a story, so I am not sure they quite understand that there are truly people like Parvana living in Afghanistan right now. I think that Afghan Dreams will impact them now after reading The Breadwinner because they will be able to see and read about real people.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

All Shook Up


Shelley Pearsall's novel All Shook Up has been on my stack for a while. I just finished it yesterday, enjoying each moment of it.
Josh Greenwood has come to Chicago to live with his father while his mother spends time in Florida helping his grandmother recover from an illness. Starting a new school and finding new friends is hard enough for a junior high student, but when your dad turns out to be an Elvis impersonator things are even worse. Josh's dad had worked at a shoe store for as long as Josh could remember, but when the shoe store went out of business, he is forced to find a different job and is trying to launch his career as the King. Josh is mortified by this turn of events, and even more upset when someone starts leaving notes on his locker signed 'Elvisly yours.' Josh and his father spend a lot of time not quite connecting as they try to get to know each other again. When Josh's dad is scheduled to perform in front of the entire student body at his school, Josh has to take matters into his own hands.
Pearsall includes some Elvis lyrics as the titles to her chapters and a bit about Elvis in her author notes. I do remember watching an Elvis concert on television when I was little but never experienced the Elvis obsession so many people have. While Josh doesn't quite "get" the obsession, either, after watching his father perform he is a bit more impressed with the new career his father has chosen.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Another Lincoln book


Oh, how lucky I am that this was Abraham Lincoln's bicentennial birthday because there are so many great new books about him that have just been published and it has totally renewed my minor obsession with him. It has also caused my two oldest daughters to want to know more about him. On Saturday my oldest daughter started and finished the new Who is Abraham Lincoln book that I bought from a Scholastic book order. I also received Our Abe Lincoln which was adapted by Jim Aylesworth and illustrated by Barbara McClintock from the picnic basket website. This is such a cute book for lower grades about our sixteenth president. The illustrations are darling, and the repetitive text is fun as well. The fact that this is a song with the music included in the front cover gives another way of using this story. Unfortunately most library copies will have the flaps glued down to cover a portion of the music. The Author's note at the end of this book includes information about each verse of the song, giving a little more detail about Lincoln's life. I can see many teachers using this and I am even planning on teaching my own girls the tune to this song and reading/singing it with them at bedtime.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Listen to the Wind


I have had the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson sitting on my "to read" stack for over a year. Just this past week he visited the college near where I live and spoke. Unfortunately I couldn't go to see him because I was busy that night, so I feel kind of left out - especially when people tell me how wonderful his speech was. For weeks prior to the visit there was a lot of promotion going on for his books. I have been reading the picture book version of his story of traveling to Pakistan and helping to build schools there to my students. The pictures are done in beautiful collage art, which leads my students to inquire numerous times whether this is a "true story." After listening to the story which they enjoy, they are always quite interested in the photographs at the end where they can actually see the bridge that was built and the school that is now completed. I haven't had any great discussion about how important helping others is....maybe that is more for the older students. While that is part of the message of Listen to the Wind I am not sure that the students are picking up on that so much on their own. I have emphasized how prior to the building of the school by Mortenson the students students studied outside - and the photographs do a great job of portraying how different our lives are from theirs. Three Cups of Tea continues to sit on my "to read" stack, but at least I feel like I know what the story is about after I have read Listen to the Wind.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

2 Choices for Black History Month


A few weeks ago I had my helpers pull our Black History books to create a display of them. The problem became not that we needed more, but where do we put all of them? We didn't really even have a spot big enough to accommodate all the books that fit that description. I feel like that is a good problem to have. I also have several new books that have never been checked out that I was able to share with the older students.
As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King and Abraham Joshua Heschel's Amazing March Toward Freedom by Richard Michelson is the first selection I chose to share with my group. I had not read this one before, but had read the reviews about it in various places. This story intertwines the story of MLK and his quest for equal rights for all people with the persecution faced by Jews during World War II. Heschel came to America believing that in this country all people would be treated equally, and then discovered that was not the case for African Americans. He joined with Martin Luther King, Jr. to try and change this. Michelson's book is inspiring and it provides an interesting twist to the story of civil rights. While I really liked this book a lot, I do know my students were confused about some aspects about it. They continued to ask questions showing they were uncertain whether the book was talking about MLK or Heschel and didn't quite seem to grasp their connection.
I also read Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney. The artwork in this book is gorgeous and the language is written like poetry throughout much of it. The story is interesting as well. My students had the background knowledge about Rosa Parks necessary to make them want to learn more about the bus boycott. This event in the history of the civil rights movement is well chronicled in this book and is a great addition to any collection.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Blackbox



Blackbox by Julie Schumacher was a great YA read. This book centers on the topic of depression, so the idea that this book was enjoyable sounds wrong, yet it was so well written and so hard to put down.

Sisters Dora and Elena had always been close and had a good relationship. Suddenly (at least Elena feels it was sudden) Dora has slipped into depression - Elena calls it 'underneath', as though Dora fell through a trapdoor and was living in a world underneath the rest of them. Initially hospitalized, then medicated and released, Dora continues to battle her demons. Elena feels responsible for her sister's health, but it is through her own counseling sessions that she learns she cannot be responsible for Dora's choices. Schumacher carefully develops this story, including the feelings of guilt and shame that often accompany a diagnosis such as this. Elena finds help in the form of a neighbor, Jimmy Zenk, who tells her of his own brother's battle with being placed in a psychiatric ward. Elena looks to him for advice not knowing where else to turn. The book offers no easy solution or resolution, but is a wonderfully well written chronicle of teenage depression.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Wesley the Owl

I still appear to be on my adult book binge, and just finished Wesley the Owl by Stacy O'Brien this afternoon. My husband read it a few weeks ago, and as a bird lover I had no doubt he would enjoy it. He wasn't quite sure how much I would like it, but in addition to learning a lot about owls (I could have fit what I had known previously into two short sentences at the most) I also enjoyed the story of Wesley and his relationship with his owner, Stacy.

Stacy adopted Wesley when he was just a few days old after having been offered this opportunity through her work. As a biologist at a Caltech lab Stacy spent her days conducting experiments and was comfortable with this arrangement. It also provided an opportunity to collect a great deal of data about the barn owl. For the next nineteen years Stacy and Wesley were best friends and she planned her life according to his needs. While she received many benefits from this relationship, there is no way I would volunteer for such a job. First of all, Wesley ate 3-4 mice each day. Stacy had to purchase them live, and then kill them. If Wesley was not hungry and happened to throw the mice off the perch where he ate and Stacy didn't happen to notice this she would have shoes or bare feet covered in mouse guts. Wesley also felt it was his role as her mate that he deliver mice for her to eat. One time Stacy awoke to a mouse being dropped in her mouth. Stacy is right when she states that biologists are unique in their ability to find such things exciting where the rest of the public is repulsed by them.

There are many more owl anecdotes included in this book and the love O'Brien shows Wesley is easy to see. This book could be easily compared to Marley and Me or Dewey the Library Cat, and enjoyable to a wide audience. While I loved the book, I won't be purchasing an owl any time soon.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet


It sure looks like February is seeing me read a lot more adult books. I just finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford and LOVED it. I could have finished it in one sitting if I hadn't had to go to work or pay attention to my kids. This book is also one of them on the list for the World War II challenge I signed up for in January. So, one book read, 4 more to go in that challenge.
Ford's novel is set in different time periods alternating between 1942 and 1986 most of the time. Henry is a twelve year old Chinese American boy living in Seattle in 1942. His father wants him to be American yet has Henry wear a button stating 'I am Chinese' each day. The white school he attends is hard for Henry who does not fit in. When he meets Keiko a Japanese American girl on scholarship like him, the two become fast friends, spending a great deal of time together serving lunches in the cafeteria and cleaning after school. Keiko and her family are sent to an internment camp and Henry continues to befriend her despite his father's hatred of the Japanese. The two vow to find each other after the war, yet as the years pass, Keiko's letters become more infrequent and they never do reunite.
In 1986 shortly after Henry's wife Ethel dies the Panama Hotel which had once been located in the Japanse district of Seattle is sold and it is discovered the basement housed many items for Japanese American families. Henry decides to go through the basement, knowing it is where Keiko's family stored their things, hoping for some sign. When his son Marty and Marty's fiancee Sam help him with this task they learn more about Henry's childhood than he had ever revealed to Marty before. Both Marty and Sam encourage Henry to try and find Keiko, to know what happened to her.
This is a beautiful story and I loved each and every page. While the ending is satisfying, there are also things Ford left up to the reader's imagination. So far this year, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is one of my favorite reads.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Two Good New Reads




Maybe it isn't that I am slowly reading....perhaps my expectations are just too high. I have come to the realization that some of the library books I checked out are not going to get read, so I may have to return some. I did finish two great new books by well known authors.


Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani is a good read as is Kristin Hannah's True Colors.


Very Valentine begins at the wedding of Valentine's youngest sister. Valentine is still single herself, living with her grandmother above the shoe shop she and her grandmother run. While love seems to elude her, Valentine is truly happy when she is busy designing the wedding shoes their shop specializes in. Trigiani does include a little romance in Valentine's life when she meets Roman, another Italian American who has just opened his own restaurant. The two are so consumed by their professional lives they find little time for each other and often have to try and squeeze a few moments in with each other. Valentine's own family drama is entertaining as Trigiani has included a lot of her own Italian American experience.


True Colors by Kristin Hannah was a nice, easy read. Three sisters Win, Vivi Ann, and Aurora test their sisterly bond throughout their lives as each experience love and heartache. The main story, however, is centered on Vivi Ann and her love affair and marriage to Dallas Raintree, a Native American man. The two have a son together, Noah, but shortly after their initial happiness, Dallas is convicted or murdering a local woman. Vivi Anne continues to believe in him long after everyone else has given up on him and despite the passage of time has never really gone on with her life. When Win, who is a lawyer, finally begins to realize that perhaps Dallas is innocent, their lives are once again thrown into turmoil. Hannah is able to create some suspense in this story that centers on relationships and family bonds.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Lincoln Through the Lens


On February 12, we will mark the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. I have been excited to see the new books being published to mark this event. When I opened Lincoln Through the Lens by Martin W. Sandler today I was thrilled. Already I have read several pages and enjoyed the photographs. The text is not overwhelmingly long for students and the photographs will capture their attention. While probably for upper elementary and older students, I also am eager to share bits and pieces of it with some younger children, my own included. There are interesting tidbits of information gleaned from the text that I had not known previously about Lincoln. I also liked how in addition to this book being about Abraham Lincoln it is also about photography and its evolution through the years. In addition to this being a great resource, it would also make a wonderful coffee table book. What a treasure it is!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Library Loot



I have gone totally overboard on books I have checked out from the library. My husband is just about having a fit as he has watched books stack up already determining how much money I am going to owe in overdue fines. Realistically there is no way I can get all these books done. But, I hate not having every new book I can get my hands on.


Grown up books I can't wait to read:
The Great Eight by Scott Hamilton
Wesley the Owl by Stacy O'Brien
Michelle Obama by David Colbert
American Buffalo by Steven Rinella
That Went Well by Terrell Harris Dougan
Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich
Iodine by Haven Kimmel
True Colors by Kristin Hannah
The Memorist by MJ Rose
Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton
Standing Still by Kelly Simmons

Young Adult/Middle Grade Books:
All Shook Up by Shelly Pearsall
Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott
Kendra by Coe Booth
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
Converting Kate by Beckie Weinheimer
Rules of the Universe by Austin W. Hall by Robin Vaupel
Milagros: Girl from Away by Meg Medina

Pictures books:
Jeepers Creepers: A Monstrous ABC by Laura Leuck
Junk Man's Daughter by Sonia Levitin
Steeee-amboat A'Comin by Jill Esbaum
I Love to Collage by Jennifer Lipsey

I better get reading, I guess! I did just finish Adriana Trigiani's latest book, Very Valentine, but my "return" stack is much smaller than my "to read" stack. So far, I haven't had any overdues, and even if I did, I have told my husband it is still cheaper than buying books.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Chicken Cheeks


Chicken Cheeks, written by Michael Ian Black and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, is my new favorite picture book right now. It is so cute and funny that I laughed out loud while reading it. The cover of the book has a chicken's rear end on it, thus earning it the title Chicken Cheeks. My seven year old enjoyed explaining to her sisters how we really have two different sets of cheeks on our bodies. Duck tail, moose caboose, polar bear derriere...the story goes on from there with a new way of saying "rear end" on every single page. The illustrations are colorful and my kids commented on many of the pages while we read. Later today I have a few groups of fourth graders coming and I can hardly wait to share this as a read aloud. While the book is too easy for them in terms of reading level, what child doesn't find humor in rear ends?

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji


I had this book checked out from the library for a few weeks and almost returned it without reading it. I am so glad I decided to try it because I absolutely loved it. First of all, it's YA historical fiction, which is probably my very favorite type of book to read. That counts for a lot. Second of all, it is set in Uganda in 1972 a location I really know nothing about but learned so much about in this book. Sabine is growing up in Uganda in a privileged family - her father and grandfather are successful businessmen as is her Uncle, who may have some questionable business practices going on. Sabine's best friend Zena is an African and is not in the same social class as Sabine. Sabine's skin is light, her friend's is dark. When President Idi Amin declares that all foreign Indians must be weeded out of Uganda in ninety days, Sabine's life of privilege quickly changes. Even though she is an Ugandan citizen, the color of her skin sets her apart and she is targeted as someone who needs to leave Uganda. Sabine's father and grandfather hold on to the hope that things will change and they will be left alone, yet her mother is terrified of what may happen to them if they don't leave their homes. Zena, Sabine's longtime friend is looking forward to becoming a part of the class that is in control under Idi Amin's rule, and begins to help Sabine start thinking about her own family's role in Uganda. While they lived in privilege others struggled even to survive. Nanji has created a wonderful story chronicling an important time period in history. I will highly recommend this book to others.

January Reads

After reading others' blog posts on their January reads, I am going to post mine here as well. Of course I still keep track of what I read in my handy reading notebook, too.

Adult books:
The Rope Walk by Carrie Brown
No Limits by Michael Phelps
In His Sights by Kate Brennan
Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos
The Sweet In-Between by Sheri Reynolds
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

Childrens and Young Adult books:
The Mother Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick
How Not To Be Popular by Jennifer Ziegler
Letting Go of Bobby James or How I Found My Self Esteem by Valerie Hobbs
Thaw by Monica Roe
Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Lincoln and His Boys by Rosemary Wells
Impossible by Nancy Werlin
The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith

This is the first time in a long time where my childrens and young adult book totals are greater than the adult books I have read. It's not that I like any one type more than another and there are just too many books and not enough time. We'll see how February ends up.

Monday, February 2, 2009

The Red Shoes


I just received The Red Shoes by Eleri Glass with illustrations by Ashley Spires in the mail today. I enjoyed reading it and think my girls will like it tonight at bedtime, too. This picture book written in rhyming text tells the story of a girl and her mother shopping for shoes. The girl dreams of having the beautiful red shoes she sees at the store and not the boring functional ones her mother makes her try on. The illustrations are beautiful and show how important those red shoes are since they are the one bright object in the pictures. The rest of the illustrations are done in muted shades. I probably enjoyed this one a lot since it reminds me of my own shoe shopping experiences when I was growing up - wanting the beautiful shoes at the store. My own children will be able to relate, too, because they also always pick out the prettiest pair.

The Comeback Season


I have been waiting to post something about The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith all weekend. I have read great reviews about this book and was sucked in right away when I started reading. Sadly, I had little time to read last week, and after putting it down so many times found it was hard to pick it back up. I liked the main character, Ryan, right away, and felt like her feelings about her dad's death rang true. Because I had read other reviews about this book I was not surprised by this at all. I was surprised, however, when Nick's secret is that he has cancer. As a parent of a childhood cancer survivor, I don't want to read books about kids or teens with cancer. It is just too close to my own experience, and I can't help but measure the author's ability to accurately convey how horrible this really is, since most of them have never experienced it themselves. The Comeback Season is well written, and I did like the story, for the mostpart, but after Nick's secret is revealed, I will admit I didn't want to continue reading all that badly.

Weekly Geeks


1. What are you passionate about besides reading and blogging?
I have enjoyed reading other bloggers posts on the things they are most passionate about, and for whatever reason have felt compelled to respond, too. The one thing I spent many hours reading and learning about ever since I was nine years old is the British Royal Family. I watched Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer's wedding, but didn't really start my royal family obsession until Princess Diana gave birth to Prince William on June 21, 1982. From that day on I have read everything about them, and collected books, newspaper and magazine articles, dolls, postcards, and any other trinket I could find. The many things I have accumulated over the years now sit in boxes and from time to time I get them out to share with my daughters. My husband has told me not to tell anyone about my rather strange collection (he does this jokingly) and has informed me that there really is no need to display everything I have, either. While I don't spend as much time on my royal family collection as I once did, I do still enjoy reading and learning about them.