Boy

 I can remember, quite distinctly, moving back to Virginia from Kansas in the third grade.  The one thing that sticks out in my head more than anything, (besides being yelled at for writing in cursive when my other peers hadn’t learned it yet), was wanting to go to school every day because my teacher was reading Matilda out loud.  I was absolutely enthralled with this book.  I still remember the way I felt one morning walking to the bus stop when I was so excited because I knew we would be reading it that day.  Roald Dahl is a classic children’s author.  His memoir Boy, however, is more for grown-ups than it is for children.  When I think about this memoir, I can’t help but think that it is read the world over by grown-ups who just never could quit shake off the feeling that Roald Dahl left them with as a child and wanted to read more about him.  I know that is how I felt.

It is difficult for someone to remember much of what happened in their childhood.  I think it is a testament to how much Roald Dahl’s mother loved him and how much she valued what her son had to say that she kept all of his letters he sent home while he was at boarding.  I am sure that as he perused these letters that his mother has saved, some of the memories returned to him.  I am quite amazed at the things he does remember. 

In Boy, Dahl talks about how his headmasters would never let them write home anything negative, but Dahl remembers the negative.  He remembers, quite distinctly, some things that must have been horrific to a nine-year-old far away from his mother.  I absolutely love that he calls out the Archbishop of Canterbury for beating boys when he was a headmaster.  I can only imagine the kind of day that man had when Roald Dahl’s book came out.  As I read about his memories from his childhood, many of which are awful, it reminds me once again of the power we have as teachers.  Do we want to create an environment where students remember sixty years after they left our classroom, things that we did?  Of course we do!  As for me, however, I want my students to remember that they learned a great deal from me, not that I tortured them by putting them in the “low” group and forcing them to read out loud.  As I was reading about Roald Dahl’s experiences in boarding school, I kept thinking about how I used to wish I could go to a boarding school when I was younger.  I always thought that it would be a wonderful experience where children were allowed to act like adults and do whatever they want.  This account of boarding schools is far removed from what I remember.

I loved the history of Dahl’s life, but I feel that there is much more in these pages.  Beyond being a powerful recollection of his childhood, I can’t help but stop and be amazed at how different things were only a hundred years ago.  The opening chapter where Dahl talks about his father’s life as a child, and his amputation that resulted from a drunk doctor’s misdiagnosis really puts a life in perspective, I believe.  When I read about Dahl’s “ancient sister” (I loved this.  I also loved how he called her fiancée “manly lover.”  I tried to think of clever names for me, Kerry, and Colleen.  Kerry, how do you feel about quietly clever?  Colleen, how do you feel about the smiling saint?  Ha ha.  Maybe mine could be rapturous reader?  Ok, I’m off topic now.) getting her appendix taken out on a table in their home, I was mortified.  Because Dahl’s father had become quite rich before he died, Roald Dahl’s story is quite different than many others would be at that time.  I particularly enjoyed the chapter where Roald Dahl almost gets his nose cut off as he is thrown from the car that his sister only spent thirty minutes learning how to drive.  It made me wonder when driver’s licenses became a requirement?  Because Roald Dahl did not die until 1990, I seem to think that he was a “modern man,” but many of the parts of his life, like the fact that he did not use ballpoint pens in school, remind me of how incredibly different life was like for the generation before me.  I wonder what the generation to come will think of my life when I am old?

As I read this book, I tried to look through his words and see where he got his inspiration for the books, as I am sure many others have.  He admits that his experience with receiving Cadbury eggs while he was in boarding school influenced Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but obviously the candy store where he and his friend bought gobstoppers and Sherbert Suckers must have given him ideas as well.  Did the dead mouse in the candy jar inspire the salamander in the water jug?  I wonder if perhaps Miss Honey was a reflection or his mother.  I loved reading this book and thinking about how these seemingly ordinary every day events influenced one of my favorite children’s authors.

Obviously, there are tons of things on the internet that are Roald-Dahl related.  There is an official Roald Dahl website that has lots of information and activities on it.  I think that a great thing to start of a new school year would be to do an author study of Roald Dahl.  September is Roald Dahl month (he was born on September 13, two days before my own birthday!)  There is an official Roald Dahl reading Dahlathon that students can participate it.  Check it out here and show off your Roald Dahl fandom next year!

In case you think that Roald Dahl is a remnant of the past and that I am holding onto my own childish fantasies (which I am in a small way), google Roald Dahl’s name and look at all the very recent news articles that have come out about him.  I particularly like this one, that talks about a recently discovered two page manuscript that has been lost for three decades!

Colleen and Kerry—were you at all like me and looked up pictures of Roald Dahl to see if you can find evidence of Dahl’s nose being sewn back on!  Also, did either of you wish there was more of a backstory for why he signed his letters just as “boy?”  I’m sure it had something to do with being the only boy in the family, but I would’ve imagined that he would explain something about it since he made it the title.

Martin's Big Words

            The life of Martin Luther King, Jr. has been written many times in many different ways.  So what makes Dorreen Rappaport's book, Martin's Big Words, so different?  She does not just look at his life, she looks at the words that he spoke that were so powerful.  This book was a Caldecott Honor Book in 2001, as well as a Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book, and The New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2001.  I can honestly say that this is one of the simplest yet most powerful picture books I have ever read.  I feel like this is as close to perfection as any book can get, and I would love to read the books that won the Coretta Scott King Award and the Caldecott Award over this book, because it is amazing.

            This book tells the story of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and gives you quotes at the end of most pages.  When young Martin sees signs in his hometown that say "white only," his mother tells him "You are as good as anyone.”  Martin becomes a preacher and speaks of love, not hate.  This book tells students that Dr. King made a conscious choice of love and peace over violence and hate.  This book also talks about Rosa Parks’ decision to not stand up and move from her spot on a Montgomery bus in 1955, and the 381 days that followed when the black citizens of Montgomery decided they would rather walk everywhere they had to go instead of being forced to humiliation and denigration.  The King quote that follows this section says "When the history books are written, someone will say there lived black people who had the courage to stand up for their rights."  I love this quote, because this is exactly what has happened.  The phrasing of this text is one of its greatest strengths.  Dorreen Rappaport is very succinct and precise with her word choice, and I love it.  The sentences are short, but they are powerful.  I think that her focus on words in the title, the concept of the book, and the actual words she includes, sends out a message.  I feel like this book tells the reader that their words matter and that what they have to say can be a very powerful thing.  It also lets the reader know that words can make a change without any violence.  The last two pages of this book made me cry.  I do not know if I have ever really cried over a picture book before.  Her words, as well as the accompanying illustrations, were just that moving and that powerful for me.

            The collage work in this book done by Bryan Collier in this book helps to complete the powerful feeling.  I do not think that the illustrations could work without the text, and I do not think that the text could work without the illustrations.  I know that oftentimes authors have no say over the illustrations in their books, but I have to think that there was some collaboration between the two because it is such a perfect match.  Bryan Collier wrote an Illustrator's Note at the beginning of the book.  Instead of trying to summarize what he had to say, and doing a poor job, I think it would be best if you read the note in its entirety to see his vision of this book:

            "When I close my eyes and think about Dr. King's life, the main image that comes to me over and over again is that of stained-glass windows in a church.  For me, the windows are metaphors in a lot of ways.  In the dark, they blaze out at you like beams of light.  The multicolors symbolize multi races.  Stained-glass windows are also a vehicle to tell the story of Jesus.  And whether you're on the inside or the outside, windows allow you to look past where you are.  I use metaphors throughout my work. The four candles in the last picture, for example, represent the four girls who were killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist church.  Their light shines on.  In illustrating the life of Dr. King, I wanted to bring a fresh spin to a story that's been told many times.  In some places, the imagery had to say true to history.  In others, I tried to push to an emotional level that allows the reader to bring his or her own experience to it, without actually losing the intensity or the intention of the story.  Collage is a perfect medium for this: it allows me to piece together many different things that have no relationship to each other, until they're put together to form a oneness." 

            I love Bryan Collier's vision for this book.  I also love that there are no "big words" on the front of this book.  Instead, there is simply a very well-known image of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. smiling (and of course the symbols for all the awards this book has won.)  The title is on the back.  Peter Catalannato said that he put the title of one of his books on the back, and that it was one of the mistakes he had in his career because they were sold in the book store backwards.  I bought this book in a book store, and I can tell you that there was no mistaking the cover of this book.  The title, the author, the illustrator are all on the back.  I love this, because it tells you that this book is not about the author or the illustrator getting their name on a book.

            This book takes very heavy topics and deals with them simply and beautifully.  Because of this, I feel like this book would be wonderful for upper and lower elementary grades.  At the primary level, students will understand this at a very literal level.  In the older elementary grades, students will be able to appreciate the author’s craft and the illustrator’s purpose.  I feel like, although students could read this book to themselves, it is much more powerful as a read aloud.  I read this book out loud to my mother, and then again to my little sister, and there is just something beautiful about having it read out loud.  There is an obvious social studies connection here, but I think its power lay in its ability to convey the importance of choosing your words carefully.  Martin Luther King Jr. was a powerful speaker, and if you want to view his famous “I have a Dream speech,” you can find it in its entirety here.  I am sure you have heard it before, but how long has it been?  Now that years have passed and you have had different experiences, does it resonate any differently with you?

 

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from this book-"Sooner or later, all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together."

Ubiquitous

Ubiquitous—(adj.)—present everywhere at once, or seeming to be.

            I have mentioned before how I will sometimes buy a book just because I love the title or the cover.  I bought Ubiquitous because the title intrigued me so much that I had to know what was inside and also because it has received wonderful reviews.  Kirkus Reviews listed Ubiquitous, written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beckie Prange, as one of their best children’s books of 2010.  If you want to see the whole list, you can explore it here.  I think that the Kirkus Reviews offer a good, varied source of books that can help you decide what to add to your collection.  As I said, Ubiquitous has been given rave reviews, but I am still unsure how I feel about this book.

            I love the premise of Ubiquitous.  Sidman takes a look at the species that have survived for millions of years and explores how these creatures have made it through to the present time.  She goes in chronological order, from bacteria, which formed 3.8 billion years ago, to humans, which first arrived around 100,000 years ago.  Each species receives a two page spread.  On all the pages, there is a poem about the particular species, such as ants or coyotes, and then a paragraph explaining how these plants, animals, bacteria, humans, etc., have survived for so long.  I think this is great.   After all, how many species were only around for a few thousand years before they were extinct?  Maybe this is a how-to guide to survival for the species!  I also like how this book does not have a book jacket.  Instead, it is a sturdy hardcover with the picture and title on the front of the book.  Who knows?  Perhaps the lack of a book jacket was intended to help make this book survive, just like the species discussed within it.

            Despite how much I love the idea, I do not think this book is very appropriate for elementary-school children and I found myself bored at times.  I even had to reread a couple of sentences because I did not quite get them the first time.  I liked how some of the poems were changed to make more sense for the animal that it was talking about.  For example, the poem about the shark is actually stuck within the letters or shark.  Also, the poem about the squirrel is really only one hurried sentence in an attempt to show the flitting, scattered-nature of squirrel brains.  The poem on diatoms curves into the wave that it is a part of, which is a nice touch.  I just feel that the information on the creatures is dry and difficult for students.  Sharks are fascinating creatures, yet Sidman reduces them to sentences like this: “Their long torpedo-shaped bodies are superbly designed for underwater speed and agility; even their skin is made of tiny streamlined ‘teeth’ that reduce turbulence and allow them to glide through the water, powered by the merest flick of the tail.”  If a student was reading this, there would probably be multiple words in this one sentence that they did not understand.  I simply cannot see one of my students reading this book and enjoying it.

            The pictures in this book are okay, but they do not amaze me.  Beckie Prange is obviously a fantastic illustrator, because she and Joyce Sidman received a Caledecott Honor for their book Song of the Water Boat and Other Pond Poems, but these pictures do not resonate with me.  I cannot see how they extend the text.  They are simply nice depictions of what is written in the text.  The greatest thing about this book, however, is the piece of string that is swirled around the inside of the front and back covers.  This piece of string does a wonderful job of illuminating what goes on in the book.  Each centimeter of string represents one million years, and all the things spoken of in this book are included on this timeline.  Bacteria is near the beginning of the timeline, but then the eye has to go through many swirls and many hundreds of millions years to get to the next animal, the mollusk.  I like how the timeline shows that earth has been formed for billions of years, and that most of the things that have survived have been around for a relatively small time comparatively speaking.  At the very end of the timeline are humans, so it is a good visual representation of the short amount of time humans have been around.

            I know that I have been quite negative about this book, but I do like the concept.  I recommend that you check it out yourself (or borrow it from me!) and let me know if you have some of the same reservations that I do.   I have been thinking about how we have read all these blogs and talked about books that we thought might be appropriate for our students. I think that when I student teach in the spring, I might have a day where I have my students look at a bunch of different books and tell me what they think.  I think it is a good way to get students to think about texts critically, as well as a good way to let me know the kinds of things I should put in my classroom library.  One day we could look at fiction texts.  The students could look through some books and write down their favorite and their least favorite book out of the bunch, and let me know some reasons why.  We could then do the same thing with nonfiction books.  It seems like a win-win situation!

So You Want to be President?

            How many times do we tell children that they can be whatever they want to be when they grow up?  How many times do those children say they want to be President?  Judith St. George’s book So You Want to be President? addresses those children who want to be President.  This book takes on a narrative voice that is rarely used, using a second-person voice, to give advice to all the aspiring Presidents in the United States.  This book presents factual information and trivia answers to the students couched in humor and fantastic pictures.

            The book begins on a light tone, telling the reader that if they do become President, there are some definite perks.  One perk is getting to live in the White House, a White House that is fully equipped with a bowling alley.  Another perk is the movie theater, the swimming pool, and the fact that when you become President, you no longer have to take out the trash.  The light-hearted tone continues as the narrator tells the reader some of the bad things about becoming president, bad things like always having to dress up and having people throw a cabbage at your head, like William Howard Taft did!

            This book takes a lot of time giving the reader tips if they want to be president.  For example, “You probably weren’t born in a long cabin.  Too bad.  People are crazy about log-cabin Presidents.  They elected eight.”  Good to know, huh?  It would also be a good idea if whoever wanted to be President changed their name to James.  Six Presidents have been named James—it doesn’t help if you are a John or a William either. Neither age, nor looks, nor size seem to matter, because the White House has hosted the old (Ronald Reagan), the young (Teddy Roosevelt), the ugly (sorry Abe Lincoln), and the, well, corpulent (William Howard Taft).  There really are lots of different men who have been President.

            Despite the humor in this book, St. George does not shy away from some of the more negative aspects of the President and the Presidency.  She talks about how, when Andrew Jackson was running for President, “his opponents printed a list of his duels, fights, shootings, and brawls!”  She also talks about how Warren Hardin gave away government jobs to his friends.  Students might be interested to find out that many of our Presidents did not have any formal education.  I especially like that it is mentioned how President Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath.  All in all, this book offers a delightful view of the characteristics and personalities of the men who have been in office.

            After reading this book once, it becomes very obvious why it won the Caldecott Medal in 2001.  The pictures are absolutely hilarious.  I feel like some of the Presidents would be very embarrassed to see them as David Small has depicted them.  Despite being cartoons, all the faces are recognizable to anyone familiar with the Presidents.  If you are not familiar with the Presidents’ faces, that’s okay too because there is a place in the back that tells you who is in all the illustrations.  I don’t know if Presidents William Harrison, William Taft, William McKinley, or William Clinton much appreciate being depicted as cheerleaders, complete with skirts and pom-poms.  The book is light-hearted, but when it needs to be serious, the illustrations reflect that.  On the pages that speak of dishonest Presidents, the colors are muted and Abraham Lincoln stares down severely from his monument.  I also really appreciate how David Small has Jesse James and Geraldine Ferraro standing behind a line that, at the time of this book, had never been crossed before.  He depicts African Americans and women waiting to have their turn at the Presidency.  One thing that I did not appreciate about this book is the picture on the very first page.  This picture depicts Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and they are both sitting in chairs.  President Roosevelt’s wheelchair is missing, and I think this is really detrimental to the book.  Why not have him sitting in his chair?  Why not validate the handicap by telling them that they too can become President?

            This book is a great introduction or a social studies lesson.  Instead of just talking about the Presidents like boring old men, this book gives them personality and spark.  I think this text is a very engaging one for students, and it could be a jumping off point for many different things.  Popular books tend to have lots of resources on the internet.  I found one resource that gives a bunch of ideas about different things you can do with the text.  Another resources that I liked, which can be found here, gives additional links and resources that can be used as an extension.

Global Hot Spots: North Korea

              North Korea is a hard topic to discuss with students, in my opinion.  How do you accurately portray the madness of Kim Jong-Il or the complexities of the situation over there without scaring children so much they won’t sleep for days?  Sometimes, if I think about it too long, I get scared about North Korea, or at the very least feel very, very, sorry for the people who have to live there.  So I think that Clive Gifford is a bold man to try to give students a comprehensive view of North Korea in his new book Global Hot Spots: North Korea.  I found this book informative, well-written, and most importantly, appropriate for children.

            Clive Gifford begins by asking what “hot spots” are and how they happen.  I like this, because it helps students to understand a term that they may have heard already.  Gifford lists four main reasons as to why hot spots happen, including disputes over land, religion and culture, government, and resources.  He then goes on to talk about how North Korea has been a political hot spot since the 1950s.  I like that this book is not ethnocentric.  It does not tell you where North Korea is in relation to the United States, nor does it immediately tell you that the United States had anything to do with the United States.  It is mentioned, but I like that it gives the Korean Peninsula attention in its own right.

            This book does not follow any storyline, but it is roughly chronological.  Every two pages focus on a new topic, something like “the threat from Japan” or “The Great Leader.”  Under each topic is very brief summary on what is contained within those two pages.  The topic “The Great Leader” has headings such as “strengthening his grip,” “repairing the damage” and “controlling information.”  In addition to giving information under each heading, many of the sections have quotes or “hot spot briefings” that give more information.  One quote from a North Korean teenager states that “I didn’t know about America, or China or the fact that the Korean Peninsula was divided and there was a place called South Korea.”  Without getting into anything too psychologically taxing, Gifford gives students a sense of how isolated North Korea is.  After I read that, I realized I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to have no idea that there was anything other than my own country.  While there is not much detail, I feel like Clive Glifford really does a good job of giving students an overview of North Korea.  Since this is a book published in 2010, it even talks about North Korea’s announcement in 2006 that it had successfully tested a nuclear weapon, and the author talks about the reaction to this around the world.

            The pictures in this book are insightful and meaningful.  While talking about the division across the 38^th parallel, the author gives a picture of two men standing in North Korea guarding a dirt road.  The division has become more definite, more structured, but students get the idea from the picture.  There are also photographs of the destruction caused by war in North Korea.  This picture shows a town that looks no better than Hiroshima after World War II.  This picture is juxtaposed by another picture on the opposite page showing a fifty foot statue of Kim Song-Il.  I like this choice, because it shows that while the country is starving, dying, desolate, the leaders are still concerned with their image and with their military.  This book also includes maps and graphs.  I think the most insightful graph is the one that shows how much many different countries spend on the military.  North Korea spends 22.9% of their Gross Domestic Product on military spending.  This is compared with Russia, who spends 3.9%, China who spends 4.1%, the United Kingdom that spends 2.4%, and a few other countries who do not spend anywhere near as much.

            This book would be next-to-impossible to use in an elementary school classroom, simply for the fact that most students have not had experience with the world at large as of yet.   At the elementary level, social studies begin with familiar things like families and neighborhoods, gradually moving to the state and then national level.  This book is much more suited for the middle-school level, where students are introduced to more global perspectives.  There are many Global Hot Spot books that talk about places such as Afghanistan, the Sudan, Tibet, Iraq, Colombia, Cuba, the Indian Subcontinent, and other places.  I could definitely see a middle-school teacher asking students to take these books, read them, and then come back and educate their fellow classmates on this tumultuous country.

            If you like Clive Gifford’s work, you’re in luck because he has written over 100 books for children and adults.  If you do not like this text, that is okay too because he writes on a variety of topics.  You can access his website here and see that his books cover topics such as football, motorsport, Olympics, phonics, science and technology, humanities, sport and leisure, and phonics, fun and fiction.  Overall, he tends to write non-fiction books because of his role as a journalist, but he also writes fiction books as well.

Prehistoric Actual Size

            I am beginning to think that Steve Jenkins might actually be a genius.  Many of you may know some of his other works, like How to Clean a Hippopotamus, What do you do With a Tail Like This?, and What do you do When Someone Tries to Eat You?  His book Actual Size won over critics and audiences alike, but I want to examine his sequel, Prehistoric Actual Size.  The idea is brilliant—take a book that is 12.4 by 10.3 inches and somehow convey to readers the smallest prehistoric creatures and the largest all in the same book.

            Steve Jenkins takes a chronological journey through prehistoric times. He begins with a protozoan, which was “almost too small to see.”  This protozoan is nothing but a spot on the page.  Bleeding onto the protozoan page and its opposite is a sea scorpion, an animal that I would definitely not like to be next to.  The sea scorpion lived 420 million years ago and was six and a half feet long.  For all of the animals in the book, Steve Jenkins gives a sentence about the animals and lets you know how long ago it lived and some aspect of its physical appearance.  I loved that on one page Jenkins shows a shark that was alone three inches long directly facing a three foot long amphibian.  I think the juxtaposition between the small and the large animals really works in Jenkins’ favor.  The animals he shows are interesting and scary, and sometimes both, like the six and a half foot long millipede that takes up two pages. 

Obviously, the very large animals are not shown in full, but Jenkins displays the magnitude of these creatures by showing certain parts.  Jenkins shows the claw of the Baryonyx, which is almost a foot long by itself.  I think in English, this is called synecdoche, where a part is used to represent the whole.  For the Baryonyx, this creature was over thirty-three feet long, and I can imagine this because of how huge the claw is that I see.  The drawings are the star of the show, so Jenkins only gives simple sentences about the animals.  In the back, Jenkins offers more information on the animals.  My favorite thing that he does, however, is explain the nature of science to the kids in ways they can understand.  He lets readers know that scientists don’t know for sure what animals look like, but that we can take guesses based on the evidence that they find through fossils and things.

            Steve Jenkins books are just fun.  I think that they are both fantastic to read out loud and for students to read independently.  He gives readers a pronunciation guide for the dinosaurs, but teachers will have to show readers how to use these.  I feel like this is one of those books that students will return to again and again.  Students will pick up little bits of information about prehistoric times and go to teachers, parents, and friends and say things like “did you know that there used to be a six foot millipede?”  I think this book should be a staple in libraries, classrooms, and homes.  Steve Jenkins does have a website that I feel is fairly child-friendly.  When you Google Steven Jenkins’ name, however, be careful!  There are a bunch of Steve Jenkins on the internet and you do not want your students to look at the wrong things!

            Interestingly enough, you can buy this book for your Kindle.  Our cohort has discussed Kindles, and there seems to be an almost even divide between avid supporters and those, like myself, who thinks that Kindles, Nooks, and all other Ereaders steal part of the reading experience away.  I’m only mentioning this because this book is available through Amazon on the Kindle.  Now I will pose a question.  Why would you get this book off of a Kindle?  The beauty of this book is that all the pictures are the size of the animal part being displayed.  How does the Kindle even handle gatefolds?  The hardcover version of this book is $10.88 from Amazon, while the Kindle version is $9.99.  What are you losing by saving a dollar?

Survival at 40 Below. brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

            I should start this blog off by telling you that I hate the cold.  I used to feel sorry for myself as an undergraduate when I had to walk from my car to the Wren building for class during winter.  There is something about being cold that bothers me deeply.  I feel that if it is cold, it should at least be snowing.  Yet here in Virginia, I am normally forced to deal with freezing temperatures and no snow.  Why am I ranting about the cold when I am supposed to be blogging about a nonfiction book?  Well, I read Survival at 40 Below by Debbie S. Miller (not to be confused with Debbie Miller!) and I found the book less than thrilling, perhaps because of my own prejudices against the cold.

            This book looks at the ways animals adapt to living in temperatures that are as low as forty degrees below zero in Alaska.  My favorite animal discussed is the wood frog.  When a wood frog gets really cold, its liver produces a lot of glucose that a frog then pumps through its body to protect its cells from ice crystals.  As Debbie S. Miller says, “when more than three-quarters of its body freezes, the frog stops breathing and its heart stops beating.”  Oh no, poor frog!  It must be dead, right?  Nope!  The author calls this frozen frog a “frogsicle” that will eventually unthaw in the spring to hop again.

            I feel like the structure of this book is very complex.  It seems simple, that the author is just talking about a frozen winter in Alaska and ends with the spring arriving.  Yet the author talks about so many different animals that I often get confused.  On one page alone, chickadees, gray jays, red squirrels, weasels, and brown lemmings are discussed.  I feel like this book could be a much better read-aloud for students and a much more interesting text if the author talked about fewer animals.   Despite my reservations about this book, the last line is nothing short of brilliant.  The book says “For more than two months the days will be endless, as the top of the world tilts toward the sun and the magical Land of the Midnight Sun explodes with life.”  I just love this line, and it leaves me thinking of a magical land where night never comes and a world where everything lives forever.

            The illustrations in this book remind me of the pictures that I see hanging in my dentist’s office.  They are wonderful illustrations, but that may add to my reservations with this book, since dentist’s offices only conjure up feelings of discomfort and pain.  There is very low support from the illustrations, as far as helping students decoding the text.  On the pages that speak of the wood frog, the frog blends into the picture so that the reader has to search for it.  The rest of the illustrations are landscape pictures of Alaska.  For some, these pictures may seem thoughtful and beautiful, to me they just made me feel cold somehow.

            This book has some good features that would be helpful for students reading this book on the own.  Like in many non-fiction books, a glossary is provided that tells students terms such as “carrion” and “duff.”  Debbie S. Miller also offers an author’s note that shows her love for animals and her hopes that students will read this book to learn to “understand, appreciate, and protect” the animals that she mentions.  I also like that a map of Alaska is included.  It shows where the arctic circle crosses into Alaska, something that I never actually knew.

            I know that I have had my reservations about this book, but it has been received well enough that Debbie is about to start researching her sequel, which will be called Surviving at 140 Above.  Who knows, perhaps I will like a book about the extreme heat better than the extreme cold?  Debbie S. Miller is a prolific writer about Alaska, where she has lived for the past 35 years.  Her books can be jumping off points for many science lessons, like her book Are Trees Alive?  If you want to learn more about her life in Alaska or any of her books (she also writes books for adults), then visit her website here

The Gathering

This is another random blog.  Sci-fi/fantasy blog is below this one.

Kelley Armstrong is coming out with a new book in the "Darkest Powers" series.  I absolutely loved this trilogy.  I was so disappointed, though, because there are so many loose ends left.  So, how excited was I when I found out that there is going to be a book four in the Darkest Powers series?!?!?! Very, very, exciting.  Even though this is considered part of the same series, it apparently has none of the same characters.  :( :(  No Chloe, no Derek, no Liz, no Simon!  What am I going to do?  I have to know what happens to my characters!

Here is what Kelley Armstrong's website says about "The Gathering."  I'm sure it will be awesome, I just wish I hadn't gotten my hopes up!

"Maya lives in a small medical-research town on Vancouver Island. How small? You can’t find it on the map. It has less than two-hundred people, and her school has only sixty-eight students—for every grade from kindergarten to twelve.
Now, strange things are happening in this claustrophobic town, and Maya’s determined to get to the bottom of them. First, the captain of the swim team drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. A year later, mountain lions start appearing around Maya’s home, and they won’t go away. Her best friend, Daniel, starts experiencing “bad vibes” about certain people and things. It doesn’t help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret—and he’s interested in one special part of Maya’s anatomy: Her paw-print birthmark."

The Chocolate Touch

            Lately, I have been reading and blogging about books that are probably too difficult for my students to read.  I wanted to read a text that I thought my students could handle as an independent read.  I chose Patrick Skene Catling’s The Chocolate Touch because it was a book that I had seen in my classroom’s library.   First published in 1952, I think the fact that this book has been reprinted for the past five decades is still included in Scholastic book orders is really a testament to its greatness.

            John Midas loves chocolate.  He spends all of his money on candy, and he never shares with anyone else.  Mr. and Mrs. Midas are concerned about the fact that John eats so much chocolate that he never wants to eat his dinner.  If he could have it his way, thought, John would eat nothing but candy.  One day, on the way to his best friend Susan’s house, he finds a coin.  This is not a quarter or a dime or a penny, but instead is a coin with a picture of a fat boy on one side, and the initials J.M. on the other side.  John keeps walking to Susan’s house, but finds himself going in the wrong direction, where he finds a candy store.  He walks inside, longing for the chocolate that he sees.  Lucky for him, the store owner tells him that he only takes the kind of coin that John has!  He gives John a box of chocolate and any thoughts of going to Susan’s house were forgotten.

            Before going to sleep that night, John eats the chocolate, which tastes nothing like he’s even had before.  In the morning, when he goes to brush his teeth, his toothpaste turns into delicious chocolate! He goes to eat his breakfast, and his bacons, eggs, and orange juice all turn into chocolate!  Interestingly enough, his bacon is still crisp and greasy, it is just now chocolate.  His juice is still juice, yet it is chocolate juice.  At first, John is excited.  This was his wish come true!  He could have chocolate all the time.  He soon realizes, however, that having everything you eat and drink turn into chocolate is not everything he ever wanted.  When he turns his mother into a lifeless chocolate sculpture when he kisses her, John knows that he must do something, or else!

            I think this is a great book to have in your classroom library.  I could definitely see this book being read aloud to a group of third graders, or perhaps in the book box of a fourth grader.  I do not know if students will understand the connection between John Midas and King Midas, but perhaps that could be something that the teacher introduces to the story.   This story is great for predicting.  When John Midas is about to go play his trumpet, the kids will say “no no no it’ll turn to chocolate!”  When John bites into Susan’s silver dollar to see if it is real, the reader will know what is coming next.

            One of the reasons I love this book so much is because I just know I would have loved it so much as a kid.  It is one of those books that, when you are a kid, makes you think anything is possible.  I’ve lived in an apartment for the past fifteen years, and I used to always want to have a house so that I could go searching for a wardrobe to take me to Narnia or for an attic so that I could have an Indian in the cupboard—I’m not kidding.  It reminds me a bit of Roald Dahl books, and I think any fan of his books will not be disappointed.  I am glad that I read this book because now I can recommend it to my students.

            The Chocolate Touch is more popular than I originally thought.  When I first read it, I had no idea that it had been around for half a century.  This story is simply timeless, however.  There are literally zero anachronistic parts of this book that an elementary student will not understand.  I searched this book on the internet, and I found this site that has 23 different units about and this book and different activities.  There are other stories about John Midas, called John Midas and the Vampires, John Midas and the Radio Touch, and John Midas and the Rock Star.  Interestingly, however, although these books were written decades are The Chocolate Touch, none of these books are still in print.  I may have to scour the local library and see what other adventures John Midas gets himself into.

Lily's Crossing, or The Lies Lily Let Loose

            Lily’s not your typical heroine.  Lily’s Crossing is about a girl, named Lily, who is living with her father and grandmother in 1944.  Lily lies, a lot.  She lies to her friend (yes, she only has one), she lies to her Gram, she lies to anyone who will listen.  She is aware of the fact that she lies and she lists this as her number one problem.  She also isn’t quite a thief, but she has been sneaking into movie theaters since she was six years old.  She is also very, very nosy.  Somehow, though, I can accept all that because this story is told through the eyes of a child.  She’s not malicious in her lies or when she sneaks into a movie.  Her friend Margaret has a brother, Eddie, who is fighting in the war, and Lily and Margaret eat the candy that Margaret’s mother had been intending to send to him.  This is not the action of a heroine, but it is what one would expect of a child who really has no idea about the levity of the situation around her.

            Lily soon begins to understand, however, that things in the world are serious.  Each year, Lily goes to Rockaway with her Gram and Poppy, where Lily spends the summer swimming and having a good time with her friend Margaret.  This summer, the summer of 1944, everything changes.  Margaret and her family move to Detroit, where Margaret’s father is helping to build bombers.  Then, Lily’s father is sent away to war.  Lily is so angry with her father that she doesn’t even say goodbye to him before he leaves.   Lily soon meets Albert, who is the nephew of her neighbors, the Orbans.  He comes from Hungary and wants nothing more than to go get his sister, who is still in France. 

            At first, there seems to be nothing in common between Lilly and Albert, but they soon form a deep friendship.  Lily tells Albert a lie, one so big that it could hurt both Lily and Albert.  Albert tells Lily that his parents were killed for writing a newspaper that spoke out against the Nazis.  Lily tells Albert a secret she had told no one.  Before her mother died when she was still very young, she pasted stars on the wall of their home in St. Alban.  Every year, Lily would take one of those stars off the wall in St. Alban and paste it to her bed in Rockaway so that it felt like her mother was with her.  Lily and Albert spend that summer swimming, going to movies, and trying to figure out a way to make their lives right again.

            The picture on the front has to be one of the most perfect covers I have ever seen for a book.  I look at this little girl and I see Lily.  Behind her I see the spot where she would row her boat and try to teach Albert to swim.  I wonder when this picture was taken, and where, because it is a cover that really fits with the image I had of the book in my mind.  I think that the stamp at the bottom is also a very nice touch.

            I think that this is a very good book for students in middle school.  It is not only a good story, but also very informative.  I can just imagine students asking “Why couldn’t people get any butter?” and “Why did Mr. Orban have to save the last of his gas?”  I really appreciate the fact that Albert is from Hungary, because it is a country that students probably do not know much about.  Of course students know France and Germany, but did they know that World War II affected so many countries in the world?  The setting of this book is so far removed from the actual fighting of the war, but it shows the reader that it still hit home.  Everything is affected by the war, and Lily’s Crossing gives readers a glimpse into what it must have been to live during that time.

            One of the most interesting things about this book is that Patricia Reilly Giff, the author, is writing the story about her childhood.  This story is fiction, but she says she remembers being a small girl during World War II and wanted to bring a story to her readers about what life was like.  She writes in her author’s note at the end of the story that “I remember the fears of that time, and how personal it all was.  I was surprised that other people, sometimes even adults, thought about the same things I did and had much the same worries.”  I feel that this adds to the value of the book because it is not just an historical fiction novel written by someone who did research about the time period.  Instead, this book is written by someone who lived through the experience.

            I am writing a positive review about this book, but honestly, it was not a book that really made me sit and think afterwards, or one that made me cry at the horrors of life and the cruelty of the world.  I can’t precisely explain why, but to me this book was just okay.  I was expecting to experience the pull on my heart that I had gotten when I read Pictures of Hollis Woods, a book written by the same author.  But in reality, I felt nothing.  I felt like this story was extremely predictable, and somehow Lily’s story reminded me of Molly from the American Girl series.   In order to really connect to a book, you have to feel happy or sad or angry or depressed.  After I read this book, I just thought “Well that was nice.”  I am not saying this is a bad book, because it is not.  It was a Newberry Honor book and tons of people have read it and loved it.  I think that many of my students will read this book and think it is wonderful and really learn a lot from it.  A great book may not be so great for certain people and I think I will take away from my reading of this book that that is okay.

            One extra note.   This book had a quote in it that I thought was utterly fantastic.  It is about saying goodbye to someone.  This was on a very literal level, because Lily was so angry at her father that she did not say goodbye to him before he left for the war.  I think, though, that this can be extended to think about people that we have lost in our lives.  Lily’s father says “’I told her that saying goodbye didn’t matter, not a bit.  What mattered were all the days you were together before that, all the things you remembered.”

            Now I pose a question to you.  Have you ever read a book that you knew was wonderful, and that everyone in the world had told you was wonderful, but then you read it and decided you didn’t like it?  I can only think of one book where I really just hated it (I didn’t hate this book, it just didn’t really resonate with me), even though everyone said it was great and it was a #1 New York Times’ Bestseller, and that is Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian.  After I read this book I was upset that I had spent so much of my time reading it!

Pictures of Hollis Woods

            I think I should begin this blog by telling Colleen how horribly sorry I am—this is another one of those books.  I know Fig Pudding made you cry, and there is no way in the world that you could escape from Patricia Reilly Giff’s Pictures of Hollis Woods without tears.  For that, I am sorry.  For being able to share this book with everyone, I am not.

            Hollis Woods is alone, and has been since she was born.  The story begins with an anecdote about a picture the six year old Hollis had put together from magazine cut-outs.  Her teacher had told the students to find pictures of words that begin with “W.”  Hollis had put together a picture of a father, a mother, a brother, and a sister.  Her teacher wrote a gigantic “X” across the picture because none of them began with a “w.”  Little did the teacher know that it did—Hollis’ picture of a family was a wish, a want, a “wouldn’t it be loverly?”  So begins the story of Hollis Woods, a girl who was left on the side of a street an hour after her birth without even a blanket.  Hollis asks to herself, “Didn’t a baby deserve a blanket?”  Hollis has never felt loved and has never felt wanted, except for the time she spent with the Regan family.  She runs away from them and social services places her with an artist named Josie Cahill.  Josie is a retired art teacher, and Hollis’ is an artist with a natural gift.  Hollis doesn’t know if she can stay, but she eventually decides that she will not run away this time.

            There is trouble in Hollis’ new home—Josie forgets things.  Josie forgets to send Hollis to school, forgets when to eat, and forgets that people do not dance around in the middle of the street.  Hollis’ social worker, the lady she calls the “mustard woman,” has found her a new home, a home where mother does not forget things.  Hollis didn’t know if she could stay with Josie, now she doesn’t know how she can ever leave her.  Hollis attempts to save her newfound home by escaping again, this time with Josie.  While she attempts to find a new home for Josie and herself, Hollis cannot shake off the memories of the times she spent with the Regan family.

            While I was reading this book, there was a weight upon my heart that I still have not been able to shake off.  No child should have to bear the weight of abandonment and loneliness.  Hollis has no friends and no family and she feels like she will never belong anywhere.  The two times she has found any semblance of a home, with the Regans and then with Josie, Hollis’ dream of a family falls apart.  When Hollis tried to finish Josie’s sentences to help her remember, my heart broke apart.  Hollis, who has never had any real family nor had any real parents, is now attempting to take care of the woman who should be taking care of her.  Josie wants to take care of Hollis, but her memory is slipping.  Hollis has to take on the added burden of helping Josie and keeping it a secret from the “mustard woman.”  How much hurt should a child have to bear?  When can Hollis ever just be a 12-year-old girl?

            I am not sure how I could use this in a classroom. Amazon recommends that this book is for children ages 9-12 but I would be very cautious about handing this book to most students. I am not sure this book could even be used in an elementary-school classroom, unless it was used with a very advanced group of fifth graders.  The language is not too difficult, but there are very heavy themes.  Also, the book switches from Hollis’ “time with Josie,” to different paintings she drew that tell of her past, mainly her times with the Regans.  It may be difficult for children reading the book to understand the constant switching from past to present.  Patricia Reilly Giff does have a teacher’s resource site for this book.  It includes different prompts for themes such as abandonment, hope, truth, friendship, and family.  It also has interdisciplinary links.  The teacher’s resource page can be found here.  As always, make sure you know you readers before beginning this book.  If you have a student in your class who is in foster care, this story may cause the student to feel isolated or picked on.  Also, make sure your students have the maturity and the level of thinking to understand such deep topics.

            I have always wanted to adopt children when I am older, and the resolve is still there.  Hollis Woods is not even a real girl and I still want to sweep her away and make her know that she is loved and that people do care about her. After reading this book, I looked at Virginia's Department of Social Services' website.  Now I have been staring at the faces of all these children, just like Hollis, who just want a home.  One kid said that he is ready to have a “forever family.”  Pictures of Hollis Woods takes on some serious issues, and it helps to remind me of how present they still are in our community.  I know this book is fiction, but it is realistic fiction.  There are hundreds of thousands of children just like Hollis living in the world.  I know that we’re still really young and perhaps not ready to have children, but I also know that everyone reading this blog right now loves children.  If you want to learn more about adoption and foster care in Virginia, please go to their website. 

            As I wrote this blog, I was listening to music.  Flyleaf’s “So I Thought” came on and some of the lyrics felt like they are very relevant for Hollis, so I decided to post them too:

“On my knees,
Dim lighted room
Thoughts free flow try to consume myself in this.
I'm not faithless,
Just paranoid of getting lost or that I might lose.
Ignorance is bliss cherish it.
Pretty neighborhoods you learn too much to hold
Believe it not
And fight the tears
With pretty smiles and lies about the times.
A year goes by
And I can't talk about it
The times weren't right
And I couldn't talk about it.”

I love to adore The Adoration of Jenna Fox

This is NOT A BOOK CLUB BOOK.  COLLEEN AND KERRY YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ THIS.  I know that there is a solid chance no one will read this blog, and I am okay with that.  I finished a book yesterday that I loved so much I just HAD to talk to someone about it.  My mom’s in Chicago, my sister’s been sick, and so my computer seems to be the only one left to listen. 

“There is something curious about where we live.  Something curious about Lily.  Something curious about Father and his nightly phone calls with Mother. And certainly something curious about me.  Why can I remember the details of the French Revolution but I can’t remember if I ever had a best friend?”

            I marked this paragraph in The Adoration of Jenna Fox.  This is the point in the book, on page 12, where I decided I knew exactly what was going to happen in the book.  I read lots of books, even if I don’t like them (I actually own all of the House of Night books.  Please save yourself and don’t ever read them.)  I did not have high hopes for The Adoration of Jenna Fox, and I’m not sure why.  Amazon had been recommending it for ages, and there was just something about the title and the cover that threw me off (I think the alternate cover with the butterfly is better than the one I have with the puzzle pieces).  I thought this book was going to be a standard science fiction novel with a predictable plot and surprise ending.  I am so glad that I was wrong.  This book has shocked me, amazed me, and managed to make its way onto my top science fiction books ever.

            Jenna Fox has just woken up from being in a coma for a year.  She can’t remember anything before “the accident,” and she can’t even bring herself to say those two words.  She has been moved to California after living on the east coast her whole life.  While her father, the creator of Biogel, a medical miracle that preserves organs, stays in New England, Jenna is forced to live with her emotionally unstable mother and her grandmother who seems to hate her.  Jenna’s mother wants Jenna to spend her time watching movies of her life growing up to spark some memories—through watching the movies, it because apparent that whoever Jenna Fox was, she was adored.  Her mother is so fearful that something may happen to Jenna that she barely wants her to leave the house, but she eventually allows her to go to a school with only five students. 

            Jenna goes to the village charter school, where something seems to be wrong with all of the students.  There’s Gabriel, who plays no real role in the story.  Allys, one of my favorite characters, has lost both her arms and legs due to an antibiotic-resistant sickness.  She now volunteers for the Federal Science Ethics Board, the FSEB, which regulates things like the amount of organ transplants a person can have (In this futuristic society, everyone gets 1000 points.  Each transplant or prosthetic has a point value.  Once your points are up, you cannot receive any more transplants, no matter what.)  Ethan refuses to reveal what has happened in his life, but it is clear that it haunts him.  Dane seems normal enough, but Jenna can’t shake off a feeling she has every time she looks at him.  These students become Jenna’s first friends in her new life while at the same time she is trying to piece together the memories of her old one.

            What makes us human?  This one question is the reason why the story is so amazing.  Pearson forces us to come to terms with this question while Jenna tries to understand it herself.  There were times while I was reading this book that I had to put it down and think about this question.  What part of us makes us human?  Is it our brains?  Our hearts?  Some intangible part of us that is a soul?  I can’t answer the question, but I think it is a fascinating one to ponder.  Another question that permeates this book is what would you do to save someone you loved?  Would I make the decisions that were made in this book, if I were given the option?  I think about my little sister, who is about Jenna’s age, and I don’t know if I could turn away if given the choice.  This question takes on a very real aspect when one looks at the very reason why the story of Jenna Fox came into existence.

            Mary E. Pearson’s daughter was diagnosed with cancer.  She began to ponder what she would do to save her daughter.  Luckily, her daughter survived her bout with cancer, but this idea lead to Jenna.  Six years after her first daughter beat cancer, her second daughter was diagnosed with the same cancer.  She says that “this second diagnosis was almost my undoing, but I believe that it deepened the story and my understanding of the characters, and also deepened my resolve that you never know what you might do in an impossible situation.”  This one quote deepened my love for this book.  It took this book from a fantasy book to a woman’s heart bleeding on the pages.  Once you read this book, and before you judge Jenna, Lily, or Jenna’s mother or father, ask yourself:  what would you do if you were in the same situation?

            I hope that maybe one day Mary E. Pearson will write a companion novel from the perspective of Allys. I would love a story to start with her crippling disease and see her develop her resolve and love for the FSEB.  In the end, decisions were made without Allys consent, and I think it would be fascinating to see how this plays out in another book.

            I recommend this book to anyone.  It is a book that will remind readers of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.  I think that The Adoration of Jenna Fox is more lively and more emotional—it took me two months to get through Never Let Me Go and only a few days to finish Jenna.  If you pick up this book, I promise that you too will become a part of The Adoration of Jenna Fox.