Author: peacefulreader

Friday Feature; Celebrating Multicultural Mamas

There are many, many beautiful books about the women who tend to us.  This is a short list of books featuring mother’s and their struggles.

1) Hair for Mama by Kelly A. Tinkham; ill. by Amy June Bates (2007).

Marcus tells the story of his mother’s cancer and how it affects their annual picture day.  Mama doesn’t want to be in the picture if she doesn’t have any hair and Marcus searches for the perfect solution.  Sweet, Sweet story.

2) Mama’s Saris by Pooja Makhijani; ill. by Elena Gomez (2007).

A young girl admires her mother’s sari collection, kept in an old suitcase under the bed, as her mother chooses one to wear for a special occasion.  The little girl desperately wants to wear one so she can feel just like her mama.  The illustrations are filled with gorgeous colors of the saris as they remember special occasions. 

3)  A Chair For My Mother by Vera B. Williams (1982).

A fire destroyed their belongings so a young girl, mama and grandma save change in a jar in hopes of one day buying a beautiful new chair.  They find an apartment to live in and the neighborhood pitches and shares furniture with them but the young girl wants so much to purchase a big, comfy chair for her mother to sit in after a long day of waiting tables. 

What books are in your collection that celebrate mothers?

I don’t know what’s planned for me on Sunday but I do know I’ll be happy, surrounded by my children.  My two wishes: great weather and a little time to read.

Peaceful Reading…

The Award-Winning Moon Over Manifest

(2010)
342 pages

I would love to be the kind of person who is able to read the Newberry winner right away or even better, to have already read it before the announcement.  But let’s face it, I have a  busy life with family, school and all the other books on my stack(s).  There is a certain amount of guilt involved as a librarian until you’ve read the Newberry there.  Ahhhh. I feel so much better now and I know the committee made a worthy choice.

When this one was announced it wasn’t even on my radar so I quickly ordered it for my school and then, let it languish around the library.  One day in trying to model good reading to a class I picked it out of a stack and started reading while I wandered among the fourth grade students.  I was hooked. 
Abilene’s voice is strong, clear and interesting.  Here she is getting ready to jump off the train:

At the last car, I waited, listening the way I’d been taught-wait till the clack of the train wheels slows to the rhythm of your heartbeat.  The trouble is my heart speeds up when I’m looking at the ground rushing by.  Finally, I saw a grassy spot and jumped.  The ground came quick and hard, but I landed and rolled as the train lumbered on without a thank-you or goodbye. (3)

Summary from GoodReads:

Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was.
Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.”

Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town.

Powerful in its simplicity and rich in historical detail, Clare Vanderpool’s debut is a gripping story of loss and redemption.

My thoughts:

The last sentence says it all…It is a powerful tale! It is a gripping story!  One of the reasons I love historical fiction is because there’s a lot to learn while reading and I AM a life-long learner at heart.  This story is special because you get two sets of histories; Abilene’s in 1936 and her father’s in 1918, which Abilene begins to understand as she tries to piece together her father’s part in Manifest’s history. The result is back and forth storytelling brought on by one of my favorite characters, Miss Sadie, a soothsayer or fortune-telling woman of Manifest.  As Miss Sadie tells her remembrances a beautiful picture of Manifest is created for Abiline and her friends. 

If you haven’t had a chance to read this award-winner take the time as it is richly written.

To find this book at an independent bookseller near you, click on the title, Moon Over Manifest

Peaceful Reading…

Saraswati's Way

2010
233 pages, including glossary

I love to get books directly from the author.  Monika Schroder contacted me and asked if I would read and review her book and I casually replied “Yes, I’d love to…”  and at that point you never know how it’s going to turn out but the book was wonderful.  I especially loved learning more about Indian culture and I fell in love with Akash and his passion for learning. 

Summary:    Leaving his village in rurual India to find a better education, mathematically gifted, twelve-year-old Akash arrives at the New Delhi train station, where he relies on Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, to guide him as he negotiates life on the street, resists the temptations of easy money, and learns whom he can trust.

Akash’s story demonstrates how difficult in many cultures it is to become educated and even though the United States has a public school system we experience the same; if your family does not value education that fact alone will make it hard to be a good student.  Akash has been in school but his math knowledge exceeds his teacher’s and he needs to locate and pay for a math tutor so he can pass the a test and get a scholarship to get into a good high school.  His father believes in Akash’s education but when his father dies his grandmother is quick to send him off to work in the rock quarry. 

After only a few days at the rock quarry Akash has the chance to “see” the ledger keeping all the accounts for the quarry.  When he realizes it will take him years and years to pay off his grandmother’s debt he chooses to run away.  He knows he has what it takes to change and his desire is to be educated.  Jumping a train to Delhi Akash is hidden by a portly train employee.

In Delhi he doesn’t know anyone and ends up sleeping in a box through the night.  While he’s taken himself out of one bad situation (rock quarry) he quickly finds living on his own has its drawbacks. He has to deal with other boys fighting to stay alive, police, and drug dealers.  While Akash makes some good decisions and some bad ones he learns to keep his focus on finding an education.  On the train platform he eventually meets Ramesh-ji who runs the magazine stand.  He lets Akash sleep on top so he isn’t bothered by the police officers in the night.  Ramesh and Akash build a good relationship, realizing there is more to each of them than one would think. 

Three Quotes:

Other street boys befriend Akash and teach him the ways of the station.  They all have ways to deal with their homelessness and hunger. 

“I will fly away,” Deepak said, fluttering his arms. His face distorted to a horrid grin.

“Are they okay?” Akash asked.
“I told you,” Rohit said. “The glue makes you see things that are not there.”
“At first,” Sunil said. “Then it makes you drowsy and when you can’t stop it turns your brain into glue.” (31)

and

“How come you didn’t go to the movies?” Ramesh asked.  “Isn’t it Friday today?”
“I didn’t want to go.  I need to save my money for a tutor.  I found a man at Pahar Ganj who will teach me math.”
“That is very wise of you,” Ramesh-ji said, suddenly speaking in English.
“Ramesh-ji, I didn’t know you spoke English.”
“Maybe you would like to practice your English with me.  For the kind of school you want to go to, you need to speak, read, and write English well.  Didn’t you even bring an English textbook?”
“How do you know English?” Akash asked.
“I used to work as a cook for British people,” Ramesh said. “That was a long time ago.” (35)

Schroder does a great job of intergrating Indian culture so anyone reading will have learned from their experience…

Akash would have like to accompany him to the temple, but since Ramesh didn’t offer to take him, he didn’t dare ask.  Navratri, the nine nights before Dussehra, had always been one of his favorite festivals.  In the evenings he had joined the other youths from the village to watch the dandia dance.  The men would form a circle on the outside and the women one in the inside.  When the music began each cirle started to rotate slowly in opposite directions.  (34)

I loved reading this book and couldn’t wait to see how Akash dealt with the street boys and the drug dealers, especially when he decided to become a courier to make some money.  It is an intense story and I was cheering for Akash to get back on the right path.  Luckily his deep desire for an education does win out and Akash and Ramesh find a way to work together. 

This is a perfect middle school mulitcultural read.  Thank you to Monika Schroder for sensing my need to read her gem.  To find it at an Independent bookseller near you, click on the title…Saraswati’s Way

 

Peaceful Reading…

April Showers Bring May Flowers; April Reading Recap

Happy May Day!  

Groovy Girl and I usually do the whole May basket celebration, which is something I enjoyed as a child and is now fun to do with her and her friends.  This year we had a church event to help at and didn’t get home until 3-ish and I truly needed a nap.  Needless to say no May baskets happened and Groovy Girl’s answer when I said “sorry”-“that’s okay, mama-there’s always  next year!”  Love her.

I must have been blessed with a lot of reading time this month because I read a whopping 10 books!  This is a lot for me as evidenced by March’s total of four. I generally average about 7-8 so I’m proud of 10.   Also I only count chapter books not picture books, which I read tons of every day for work.  The unfortunate part is that I’ve only reviewed one of them so this first week of May I’m going to attempt to write a post a day about each of these so I can get caught up.  They were all very, very good so writing should be easy.

  1.  Saraswati’s Way by Monika Schrader 
  2.  Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpoole
  3.  The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
  4.  The Sister’s Gimm by Michael Buckley 
  5.  Not Your Mother’s Casserole’s by Faith Durand
  6.  The Time-Traveling Fashionista by Bianca (ARC)
  7.  Bitter End by Jennifer Brown (ARC)
  8.  Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
  9.  Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
  10.  I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg )

In other news I have a winner to announce….drum roll please…Natalie from one of my favorite blogs,  This Purple Crayon has won a copy of Marc Brown’s Arthur Turns Green.  Quite awhile ago I won a copy of David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy at her blog so I this is a little karmic payback when her name was drawn.  She is an elementary librarian as well and does a lot of reading.  Congratulations Natalie! David  Levithan will be at our public library this week and I plan to get Boy Meets Boy signed by him.

and How was your weekend?

Peaceful Reading…

Friday Feature; Poetic Biographies

I’m ending April with some fantastic biographies about poets!  I’ve tried to celebrate poetry all month long by posting poetry on my school blog and by reading poems to students.  I found these stories to be inspiring and thought they earned the right to be featured.  How did you celebrate poetry this month or anytime?

1)  My Name is Gabriela; The Life of Gabriella Mistral by Monica Brown; ill. by John Parra (2005).

Born in Chile, Gabriela had a vivid imagination and taught herself to read because she wanted to read stories not just hear them.  She loved the sounds of words and wrote poetry, songs and stories as a child. Gabriela played school  with her friends and little sister and made them learn their ABC’s and later, she became a teacher as an adult.  She worked hard and was able to travel, exploring and creating new stories along the way.  She was the first Latin American writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.  This book contains beautiful illustrations and a happy young Latina charater with an early love of language!

2)  A Voice of Her Own; The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet by Kathryn Lasky; ill. by Paul Lee (2003). 

Wheatley’s story is miraculous in many ways.  She was brought to the US on a slave ship, landing in Boston Harbor, at the age of about seven.  John and Susannah Wheatley were at the market looking for a servant girl.  Something about they way the young girl looked appealed to Mrs. Wheatley and they bought her, named her Phillis and took her home.  Luck of the draw…because the Wheatley’s treated her very fairly (within the mind warp that yes, they had indeed bought another human but in this instance it worked out well)  Mrs. Sussanah Wheatly decided to experiment and taught Phillis how to read and write, which wasn’t allowed in Southern states but was perfectly legit in Massuchusetts.  Phillis impressed the Wheatley’s with her ability to write and wanted her poems to be published in a book.  John Hancock and other white American men said her book could not be published.  The Wheatleys sent her to England and someone there agreed to publish it. Yes, Phillis found it odd as well that she would have to travel to King George’s England to get her book published as she was a slave in the US.  The American Revolution began soon after this.  Lasky’s book brilliantly brings to light the indignity that while Americans were willing to fight for their own freedom they owned other people.  This is the backwards rationale we often still find in the United States.  Great book, great message.  Amazing woman.  I wonder what she could have accomplished if she hadn’t been kidnapped and brought to the States. 

3)  A River of Words; The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant; ill. by Melissa Sweet (2008)

We all agreed three years ago what a beautiful book this is, even the end papers, showing his poetry!  This is just a great book about an boy who loved the outdoors and the sounds that surrounded him.  In this book is the simple reason to read poetry to young people:  “But when Mr. Abbott read poetry to Willie’s English class, Willie did not feel hurried.  The gentle sounds and shifting rhythms of the poems were like the music of the river.  As the teacher read each line, Willie closed his eyes and let them make pictures in his mind.”   Proof that we need to keep reading poetry to spark one mind into a deep love of language.  Who knows one of your students might be the next William Carlos Williams. 

Pick Up Some Poetry Today and share it with a child.

Yesterday I had a crazy day but part of the craziness involved two different AMAZING Authors…Alan Katz aka Silly  Dilly Man was at my school and Patrick Jennings was at the public library.  I met both and fell in love…see the photos to prove it tomorrow or maybe, Sunday.

Peaceful Reading…

Another HOT book to explain climate change…Winston of Churchill; One Bear's Battle Against Global Warming

illustrated by Jeremiah Trammell
(2007)

Churchill’s a large great white bear who” hunts the Hudson Bay near the town of Churchill in the Canadian province of Manitoba.”  He’s obviously like the polar bear president because all the other polar bears listen to him as he explains why their icy habitat is melting more and  more every year.  He gets them all fired up; “We will fight for ice,” boomed Winston.  “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.  We shall fight on the  beaches.  We shall fight on the landing grounds.  We shall fight in the fields and in the streets.  We shall fight on the hills. We shall never surrender.” (9)  Yeah!  The bears are filled with hope and excitement that change will come.  Except one little bear in the back asks two important questions…”we don’t live on an island” and “who are we fighting?” 

Winston explains that one, he was speaking metaphorically about the island and two, people are melting the ice with their cars and smoke stacks and deforestation practices.  The whole time Wiinston is speaking he is sucking on a big old cigar.  See, even Winston needs to make a change and Winston’s wife isn’t going to let him forget it.  She won’t participate in the demonstrations he has planned until Winson quits smoking!  As she points out the cigar is an “instrument of pollution.” (17)  Eventually the polar bears protest in front of all the nice tourists that come to see them and hopefully, they take the message to heart. 

Each of us, while we try to be eco-smart, aren’t perfect and could probably do just one more thing to prevent climate change.  While I read this book I couldn’t help but be reminded of  my latest favorite commercial.  I don’t watch very much television but I think this one came on during the Super Bowl and I fell in love.  with the polar bear. in the Leaf commercial.  Do you know the one? 

Don’t let the cuteness of the polar bears detract from their message…we all need to work hard to be earth-friendly so there’s less melting, less pollution, less habitat loss.  While writing this I read an article at National Resources Defense Council’s website and watched this video about our changing weather.  I know lots of people who don’t believe in climate change but for me as an environmentalist I don’t know how we can’t be effecting the earth at an alarming rate with all we pour into and take out of our one amazing planet. 

Peaceful Reading…

Weekend Cooking; Beautiful Bread

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Click over to check out her post where she shares two recipes from her grandparents. 

Bread is a life force at our house.  We toast it, we dunk it in soup, we make fat vegetarian sandwiches with it.  I love to bake it as well.  Not one person in our 5-member family doesn’t love bread.  My husband enjoys bread at dinner so if there isn’t any fresh baked he will just take sandwich bread and toast it, asking everyone “Who wants toast?”  Everyone will say “YES”, except for me-I only eat bread when its the good stuff.  Sometimes we have this wonderful sourdough from a local Bosnian bakery-ahhhh!  I can smell it toasting.  Can’t really-my nose is too stuffed up from this cold but I can mentally smell bread so deep is our connection.

Recently we’ve started rethinking, just maybe, we eat too much bread.  My husband is a runner and gets plenty of excercise, I do yoga and both our kids are active and thin but still we think cutting back could help our waistlines.  Groovy Girl, suffers from tummy aches, takes her lunch almost everyday (thankfully) and she relies on a sandwich as the main part of her lunch.  We’ve had to get creative on how to make her a healthy lunch without two pieces of bread as her main course. Any suggestions??

But for Easter we have to have bread what with family coming and all…

In the middle of this “bread heavy conversation” I knew I still had a bread recipe to try from Faith Durand’s cookbook, Not Your Mother’s Casseroles.   I’ve now made it four times, it is super easy and each time the loaves turn out very similar, which is a win for me.  If you are making a big Easter meal or need something to bring to a big Easter meal…this bread would be wonderful to share.  I made an extra loaf and I’m going to drop it off this morning in its own Easter basket for friends. 

Simple Pot Bread

Baking Dish: 5- or 6- inch Dutch oven or other stovetop-to-oven pot with a lid
Bake Time: 45 minutes

3 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
¾ tsp regular yeast or ½ tsp instant yeast
1 ¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups water

1. Make the dough in the morning, before you eat breakfast or go to work. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. The dough will be sticky and wet; slightly goopy. Spray the dough lightly with nonstick cooking spray or drizzle with olive oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it in the warmest spot in your kitchen. Let it rise for at least 6 hours, although up to 12 hours will be fine.

2. About 3 hours before dinner, lightly spray a work space with nonstick cooking spray or a little oil. By now the dough will have expanded into a wet, dimpled mass. Dump the whole thing out onto the oiled surface. Push it roughly into a ball and cover it again with a clean kitchen towel. Let it sit for 2 more hours. (this step could be skipped it needed but will add more air to your loaf)

3. When you’re ready to bake the bread, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put the Dutch oven in the oven to get hot.

4. Pour or roll the dough into the hot pot. You may have to pry it or peel it off the countertop. [I used my nice silicone dough mat from Pampered Chef and it popped right off]  Cover the pot with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes to brown.

5. Remove the bread from the oven and immediately take it out of the pot, using potholders or a thick kitchen towel to handle it. If you have the time, let it cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing so it can set.

Adapted from Faith Durand’s Not Your Mother’s Casseroles (2010)

I don’t have a Dutch Oven-my mother says she’ll pass hers on to me when she’s done (which means dead) with it-that could be years but I just used my largest Corning Ware pot.  The bread came out square and it turned out beautiful.  There is something so delightful about fresh bread that makes it hard to give up.  I loved that step #2 gives me the opportunity to knead it a little.  I love watching the bread come together under my hands.  Adding the cold water to the flour mixture surprised me as the yeast doesn’t get to “proof” but it rises just fine. 

Yummy with fresh unsalted butter.
I served this to my book club on 4-18-2011 with bleu cheese crumbles.  We discussed The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls-the bleu cheese represented mold. 

None of the pictures do it justice-I think photographing food is hard but look the bread has airy holes in it. 
If you want to easily print the recipe off here it as a Google Doc…Simple Pot Bread (yes, the name cracks us up also).
Happy Easter!

Peaceful Reading…

Friday Feature; Top Ten Earth Day Books! (and a Fantastic Green Giveaway)

Image licenced by Carol Eldridge Designs

This first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970 and was the idea of Senator Gaylord Nelson.  He brought the concept up to President Kennedy in 1962, who agreed to tour the country to raise awareness.  I find it ironic that the idea for Earth Day-a way to draw attention to the ecology of our very own planet Earth-has been around since before I was born!
 Earth Day facts
 
Wow…and we need it now more than ever BUT just think if we had really paid attention to President Kennedy’s call for change we might have made more sweeping changes, especially in the car industry!  [stepping daintily down from soap box]

I digress when we have books to talk about…

Peaceful Reader’s Top Ten Books about Earth Day/Ecology w/ mini-synopsis:

10.  It’s Earth Day! by Mercer Mayer (2008): Little Critter learns about the ice cap melting and polar bears losing their habitat, which gets him motivated to change his habits and invent a climate control machine!

9.  Biscuit’s Earth Day Celebration by Alyssa Satin Capucilli. (2010) Biscuit and his owner attend a local Earth Day event and learn about many ways to celebrate and clean up our planet. 

8. Dinosaurs Go Green!; A Guide to Protecting Our Planet by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown (1992, 2009).  A lively romp through what every good dino or human should know about reducing, reusing, and recycling so we don’t become extinct…Told through easy-to-read panels and speech bubbles. 

7. Fancy Nancy; Every Day is Earth Day! by Jane O’Connor (2010).  After learning about Earth Day at school, Fancy Nancy brings the message home, but creates a bit of a mess when she goes over the top to teach them. 

6. We are Extremely Very Good Recyclers by Lauren Child (2009).  Lola discovers how much fun recycling can be with the idea that she can earn a free tree to plant and of course, she gets all her classmates to help! 

5. What Planet are You From, Clarice Bean by Lauren Child (2002).  When she finds out a neighborhood tree is going to be destroyed, Clarice Bean resolves to become an eco-warrior for Planet Earth.

4. The Earth Book by Todd Parr (2010).  Everyday eco-advice told with his amazing artwork will teach kids to turn off the water while they brush and so much more!

3.  Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg (1990).  One young boy, Walter, doesn’t think one hoot about littering and generally messing up the environment until he takes a mysterious journey in his bed. 

2. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (1971). Classic tale of creating a need for thneeds (a useless item for sure) and using up all kinds of valuable resources to create and distribute until our landscape is beyond polluted and drab.  A must read for everyone!

1. Arthur Turns Green by Marc Brown (2011).  A class project has Arthur turning green and D.W. in a panic when she thinks she might be next! 

Which brings me to my Giveaway, Giveaway, Giveaway…
and since I’m very new to creating a google form-please leave me your totals and your email with your green comment.  Ooops!  Thank you Diva for clueing me in…

Peaceful Reading…