Author: peacefulreader

Historical fiction perfect for today!


I finished Patricia McKissack’s A friendship for today…today. I picked this one from our Scholastic Book Fair last year because it looked like an interesting historical fiction choice for 4-5th graders. McKissack’s main character, Rosemary is smart yet struggles with the issues of the day like is it okay for her to let her best friend, J.J. (a boy!) beat her in a race just because the other boys are watching. Her parents are not much help as they argue about a woman’s independence over dinner. Both her parents want Rosemary to remember that she’s as good as anybody but also not better. Brown vs. Board of Education has just passed and Rosemary’s colored school is closing and she will be transferred to Robertson Elementary, integrated into a previously white school. Right before the beginning of school, J.J. contracts polio and is hospitalized. Now Rosemary will be the only integrated student in her 6th grade classroom. It’s very difficult being the only one but with the help of some hard-earned friends, a progressive principal and a very positive teacher Rosemary makes it through the year. This is an easy read and one that will really help 3-5th graders understand this very important era of change in our history. Reading the author’s note at the end it is made clear why this story is such a believable one as Ms. McKissack experience this same 6th grade year right outside St. Louis, MO!

Find a great article about Patricia McKissack here at the Brown Bookshelf.

Peaceful Reading…

Bella And Bean by Rebecca Kai Dotlich

This little book by Dolitch, is the kind that give me tingles after I read it! You know, like when someone brushes your hair-those tingles!
It is a lovely story! Bella writes poetry and Bean wants to play, she wants the attention of her friend, Bella.
It begins like this: “Bella lived in an old brick house with white shutters, just up the hill from Spoon Pond. Every day she wrote poetry at a small desk, beneath a small window, shaded by a canopy the color of plums. ” Bean likes to come to that exact window to talk to Bella and is bored with Bella’s writing time.
Eventually Bella gets to a stopping point, misses Bean and goes off to seek her friend. What happens next is wonderful because the two friends begin to create some word imagery together and Bella puts it all together!! I’ve already taken this to my favorite 5th grade teacher so she can use it to introduce her poetry unit this year! The illustrations are beautifully drawn by Aileen Leijten. Thank you Rebecca and Aileen for giving me book tingles!! (2009, simonsayskids publishing)
Click her to see Aileen’s website. (including a link to another great blog (seven impossible things to do before breakfast for an interview with Aileen.)
Peaceful Reading…

Picture Books


It’s the first day of school!!! There is only one first day and it is turning out to be a very smooth day! Now that I’m back in the library I am surrounded by all the beautiful book purchases I made at the end of the school year but didn’t have time to read! One of those gems is Apples and Oranges; going bananas with pairs by Sara Pinto. I read it with J (my six-year-old and constant reading companion) and she thought this book was hysterical. She actually read it to me so it is perfect for k-2nd grade but truthfully all ages would love the humor and be able to think of their own silly pairs (great writing assignment). Here are some of my favorite pairings: “How are a book and a letter alike?” (turn the page) “they both don’t go out for sushi.” The accompanying illustrations are giggle-worthy as well with this one showing the book and the letter sitting at a sushi bar trying to get the chopsticks to work! And another: “How are a starfish and an octopus alike”? “They both don’t knit.” I can picture many ways for a classroom teacher to use this gem of a book. I plan to create a slideshow in my introduction to the library lesson using my own silly pairs. Sara has a beautiful website-click here to explore.
Peaceful Reading…

This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

Love is a mixed topic; either you are a believer or not…and perhaps there are certain degrees on each side. Gray areas if you will but Remy Starr, our heroine in This Lullaby is very much a “love is a sham”-kinda person! She is also a just graduated senior on her way to Stanford at the end of summer.
Her mother is preparing for wedding number five when the book opens. Remy keeps the Starr family together while her mother, a Romance Writer(the Barbara Starr), writes and swoons and her brother, Christopher is busy trying to have a regular life.
Remy, finalizing wedding details with the groom, is bumped into by Dexter, a new-in-town musician, looking at well, tires. He repeats their first encounter later that night at Bendo, the local club:

We arrived at the booth in a pack; me, Dexter the musician, and Chloe. I was out of breath, she looked confused but he just slid in next to Jess, offering his hand. “Hi,” he said. “I’m with them.”
Jess looked at me, but I was too tired to do anything but plop into the booth and suck down a gulp of my beer. “Well,” she said, “I’m with them. But I’m not with you. How is that possible?”
“Well,” he said, its actually an interesting story.” No one said anything for a minute. Finally I groaned and said “God, you guys, now he’s going to tell it.”
“See,” he began leaning back into the booth, “I was at this car dealership today, and I saw this girl…”

Dexter continues to relay exactly how he feels about Remy and how that feeling is so, so grand! Remy’s crew of friends giggle and Remy is slumped, embarrassed but this quick repartee between Sarah Dessen’s well-structured characters is just what makes her books so fun and readable. This is not an easy love story just as Remy is not an easy character. She’s complicated, she’s experienced things beyond normal, her world view is a bit skewed but somehow she feels comfortable with long-limbed, shoes-untied bumbling Dexter, once she gives him a chance.

This book is has some wonderful across the spectrum views about love and is very funny-like-laugh-out-loud-funny! I sat by the pool yesterday and read, and I was the only mom, who was reading and laughing at the same time. This is my second Dessen book this summer, I reviewed Someone like you here, and now I’ve gone and purchased her first one, That Summer to round out Kaylee’s collection. I like that Dessen’s books appeal to a wide audience, high school through adults. I asked my 14-year-old son if he would read this book…after a long pause, he said sheepishly, “maybe”.

Peaceful Reading…

Grief for children


An old expired library friend of mine once said something about award books (this one is on the Iowa Children’s Choice list) always being so dreary and this title reflects just that! Oh, sure there is hope at the end and the story is good but the sadness is bang right there in the first three pages.

Summary

While Cara spends the night with her best friend Marlee, her home is destroyed by a fire. When she arrives at the hospital, she discovers her mother, Julia and her little sister, Jane have been killed in the fire. Her father is filled with grief, works late and expects Cara to survive on her own. This 148-page book tells the story of her grief and how she and her father learn to survive together. I enjoyed the friendship between Marlee and Cara until Marlee lets Cara know that she has grieved enough. Marlee wants her “old Cara” back. After getting over her initial shock, Cara finds baking as a way to connect with her mom and eventually with her father. Cara and Marlee’s families are Jewish so many holidays and customs are explained throughout the book and there is a glossary at the back. I did notice the author has a new book out and I look forward to reading it
Recommended for 3rd and 4th grade.

Brenda A. Ferber’s website

Iowa Children’s Choice Awards

Peaceful Reading…

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout


This book has been on my mental to-read list for awhile and I finally found it in at the library. I suggested it to my book club to read and I thought perhaps I should pre-read it to see what I got everyone into.

The book began slowly for me, then I got involved with the characters and loved it.

Olive Kitteridge is set up in thirteen different vignettes, each one giving us just a little bit more information about Olive and her husband, Henry in Crosby, Maine. This book made me think; information is doled out in small snippets and even then you need to read between the lines to fully understand how each person fits into the big picture. Olive is not a friendly character yet I grew to love her and her gruffness. The book slowly winds you from one part of Henry and Olive’s lives together, finishing with Olive alone, having learned something of herself. I can understand why this book won the Pulitzer Prize as it is a real snapshot of American culture. The characters are human and believable and this is the meat of everyday.

Here are two of my very favorite quotes from the book:

“That’s what Kathleen says. Tim met her when he was driving around the country following some band. I guess people just follow this band around, Fish or Pish. Something. Remember Kevin talking about Dead Heads, people who followed around that mess-what were they called? The Grateful Dead? I always found that offensive.”
“He died,” said Harmon. “That fat fellow Jerry of that band.”
“Well, I hope he died gratefully,” Bonnie said. (pg. 89)

and

In the doctor’s waiting room she sat, reading a magazine. After an hour, the nurse came out and said, “Mr. Kennison’s worried about you waiting so long.”
“Well, tell him to stop it. I’m perfectly comfortable.” And she was. In fact, it had been a long time since she’d been this comfortable. She wouldn’t have minded if it took all day. It was a newsmagazine she was reading, something she hadn’t done for quite a while-she turned one page quickly, because she couldn’t stand to look at the president’s face. His close-set eyes, the jut of his chin, the sight offended her viscerally. (pg. 255)

The idea of someone being more comfortable in a doctor’s waiting room office than somewhere in her own life is so very much Olive. To understand why you’ll have to read the book!!

Here is the NY Times article about Olive Kitteridge.

Peaceful Reading…

Home again, home again, skippity skip!

Love being home after being away. Upon entering my beloved home though I noticed a pet smell that has permeated our home from this new puppy we love! Hmmm-any solutions?? Light more candles, you say-I can do that.

I had a huge stack of mail waiting for me, including several packages! Love packages! One was my new calling cards from Laura Beth @ Happy Girl Greetings!!! Yeahhhh-birthday gift to myself! They are lovely and make me think of Beatrix Potter for some reason, even though there are no small woodland creatures on the card. What they do have on it is my pertinent school and blog information as well as a beautiful antique engraving of two girls-well, ta da- easier to show the card then try to explain it!!!! Isn’t it lovely??

Back to my packages: two more packages contained books:
1. Umbrella Summer
2. Jantzen’s Gift (free, but not an ARC)
3. A script book for my husband even though addressed to me-yes, I was a little let down!

The third package was a birthday greeting from my step-mother, even though she already bought me a dress and sandals. Love her too! Maybe more than my new business cards.

Now to my reading. I finished two more books in Ely after I finished Hungry by Michael Grant.
I read an easy one first: Nory Ryan’s Song by Patricia Reilly Giff. She is a great author who has quite a variety of books. My book club partner at school and I decided to feature Giff in one of student clubs this year. This is the second time I’ve read this book and I liked it even more this time. Nory’s story covers the time in Ireland’s history leading up to the potato famine. I loved how her family tried to stick together and how horrible it is to watch the community crumble around them as food becomes more and more scarce. The language is wonderful and the story is a fast read-perfect combination for a fifth-grade book club offering. I still have eleven by Giff to read as well. If you have not read any Patricia Reilly Giff, give her a try.
Click here for a list of other PRG titles.

The second book I finished was purely for fun. I’ve been reading post after post from other bloggers about Sarah Dessen’s books. I knew I had purchased some of her books for my step-daughter, Kaylee so I asked her if I could (pretty please) borrow them back from her book shelf for awhile. I started with Someone like me and I loved it! What great characters and unique twisting story line Dessen created.
The book describes the friendship between Halley and Scarlett, best friends since forever. Now they are teens and life for them is about boys. We come into the story after Scarlett has dated Michael, a sweet rambling young man. The romance ends when Michael is killed on his motorcycle and Halley is summoned home from some leadership camp she didn’t want to be at anyway. In every conversation these two characters have you are made of aware of their close connection, which makes it really endearing. I loved the likeable scumbag character, Macon; the boy Halley begins to date. The interactions between Halley, Macon and Scarlett are well-written as well as minor typical high school characters like Ginny Tabor. We’ve all known our own version of Ginny, know-it-all, always-causing-trouble, busy-body .
This book made me think of the few fabulous women I’ve been “best” friends with over the years as well as some of my endearing but troubled young boyfriends. Read this book as the book tag says “anyone who’s had a best friend-or a first love-will understand” and I did on both accounts. Sarah Dessen has a great website/blog!

Peaceful Reading…

Sequels

I just finished Hunger, sequel to Gone by Michael Grant. The second in this series came out recently, which was great, while I bide my time waiting for Catching Fire, sequel to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins as well as the sequel to Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson!  

Tristan and I both read Gone and liked the idea of the story and the sequel is just as exciting.

The idea behind Gone:
Everyone over the age of 15 suddenly disappears (poof) and all the children are left to fend for themselves in Perdido Beach, CA.  Children learn to live with the loss of their families as well as find a way to live day-to-day! This would be hard for my children. That basic element of good and evil, of course, comes into play.  Some kids begin to step up and take charge.  Sam, Astrid and Albert organize and most of kids begin to look to Sam for answers. Perdido Beach is also home to Coates, an elite prep school with its own leader, Caine.  Adding Coates into the already difficult equation adds to the pure excitement.

In Hunger, good vs. evil continues to play out with Caine and Sam struggling with leadership of their own straggling “teams”. As the title suggests food is the main concern for both sides. The grocery store is down to a few meager cans and kids are choking down random jars and cans of food (you know, all the stuff kids would normally hate).   Sam, Astrid and Albert know they need to organize kids into helpers, gather more food from fields and solve a few in-fighting going on amongst the town kids. There are a ton of plot conflicts back and forth-just when you think things are resting easy-BAM something else stirs it up!  I love some of the characters…Sam, Astrid, Quinn!  I can only hope the third book will continue their story well.  

Peaceful Reading…

Another road-trip


Off we go for another summer trip, this time to Ely, MN where my extended immediate family will be gathering to celebrate my mother’s 29th:) birthday!! My three brothers, two sisters-in-law and their five children (all under the age of seven) except for my 17-year-old step-daughter will be convening at a cabin there for the next five days. See there is Ely way up there, next to Canada. While I’m that close I could go check out there health care system (kidding, M. Moore already did that). I am looking forward to spending time with my family, reading, cooking, and playing with children. Hopefully, it will be warm enough to swim every day in the lake. Everyone in my family loves to read, cook and talk politics. Luckily, we are mostly of the same party so that leaves out one thing to argue about! My three brothers all had children later in life…about the same time I had J. so all the kids will be playing together happily! Of course, the only other girl cousin is only 7 mos. old bu J. will deal. She can run with the boys, then play dress-up with the real baby!

I am taking books to read but do not know if I will have time to blog or if I can borrow someone else’s laptop as mine is still not functioning. Right now I have so much packing and house-cleaning to finish I can’t even think of the books packed away in my duffel, waiting for me to read. Does anybody else clean their house before they leave for a trip? My fourteen-year-old thought I was crazy when I said I would be vacuuming soon! By the way, he won’t be joining us in Ely as he is heading off for two weeks in Alaska with another set of grandparents!

Safe travels for everyone!
p.s. notice the new peaceful reader look!! I learned a little about
rewriting HTML code this morning!!
Peace!

Peaceful Reading…