Uncategorized – Page 122 – Peaceful Reader

Chains

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I finished Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson last night and was at once elated to have enjoyed it so much but also crazy about the ending…I wanted something to occur (and I do not want to give it away)-it did not happen!! In fact the story will be continued but when….I am going to have to check on her blog to find out more information because I was really not ready to be done with Isabel’s story. I feel so proud of her for repaying her debt to Curzon.
I also finished last night the YA book Compound, which Tristan and I read in tandem. It makes me mad that I have to work out special deals in order to get my 13-year-old to read. He has been a reader but now he is an electronic dude and it is really frustrating to me. So I went to the library for him, picked him several (8) choices, brought them home, let him pick several and the Compound by S.A. Bodeen was one of his choices. We read it in about 4 days, partially because it is not a a difficult read but also because it was pretty gripping and we were both fascinated to see what would happen with this family. Really rare idea for a book topic and that is all I am going to see but we loved it. We are ready to go on to our next doom and gloom selection. He has already read The Graveyard Book…again because I went to the bookstore, bought it for him and handed it to him!!! It is tough being a reading, thinking Mama in the digital age…

What I have read this week…

is two fabulous historical fiction books for middle grade and YA. I read first A thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, which was great, great, great and I am thinking of ordering it for my elementary library because it is very readable and has such a strong female main character. I think I have a few higher level readers that would enjoy it as well as a great read-aloud for teachers. The story is set in the South and the author uses Medgar Evers’ and Emmitt Till’s death as well as the Birmingham church bombing, killing 4 young Sunday School attendee’s as a backdrop. I have been fascinated with this part of our American history for years and love Mildred D. Taylor’s books for their honest portrayal and great characters. Addie Ann reminded me a great deal of Cassie, thoughful, wanting to make the right choices but not always knowing which path to take. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to get caught up in an era when we, as a country, were not at our best, but that many used as a time to stand up and demand justice everywhere including their own backyards as this story proves.
Chains by Laurie Halse Andersen is the second historical fiction (I have about 3 chapters left) and I am riveted to the tale of Isabel and her sister, Ruth. My husband can attest that as I read this story I am disgusted with how this slave at this time in history (backdrop is the American Revolution) is treated. You really get, as a reader, that deep understanding of slaves mattering no more than furniture that works…like a vacuum cleaner, (well could be furniture it some homes?otherwise known as an appliance:)). There is such intensity to this book. I continue to be shocked along Isabel’s journey at what befalls this brave young heroine. It always makes me incredibly sad, even when I read in a historical picture book to students nonetheless, when I read about families ripped apart and sold away from each other. Teary-eyes during story time is not always a bad thing for students to witness. As a mama I can’t imagine anything worse than having my sweet children sold from me!!! Henry’s Freedom Box describes this heart-wrenching practice by slave owners to further keep slaves feeling less than human. In Chains Isabel’s sister Ruth suffers from perhaps epilepsy, which of course causes trauma in the household and Isabel discovers she cannot, no matter how hard she tries, protect her sister. Isabel is a great character, with tough choices to make, constantly thinking of how to get out of her place in life. She expects to work hard but it is her ability to see herself as human and thus unable to make her own choices that drive this character forward to the hope of freedom. It seems so much has been taken away from Isabel yet her soul stays strong.

My Library by Eve Bunting is the winner!!

La
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Last night J. and I read three fantastic picture books from the library, which I must share! The first one we read was Kate DiCamillo’s Louise the adventures of a chicken and while reading, I was so accutely aware of my own life and how it fit into Louise’s!! I made it through a few pirates and “cages” to get to my happy home that I adore now. It took me taking all those “adventures” to get to the place I am in and this is a good, just as Louise finally appreciates her chicken coop. The second book we read was My Library by Eve Bunting. I have been a fan of Eve Bunting’s for awhile and have used her more poignant books to make teacher-y points to students. I love The Wall, Smoky Nights and Fly Away Home, all books that have a clear message. This new book (2008) has the lovely message of how important our libraries are to each of us!! Of course, I love this message. Lots of books are written about the library but this one made J. and I feel so happy after. I think it was that the animal children were the problem-solvers in the story. They found good solutions by reading the books on the shelves, pointing out there is a book for every problem! The third lovely book we read last night was Big Bad Bunny by Franny Billingsley, illustrated by g. Brain Karas. This is a very, very funny story that you don’t automatically get (which makes you think a little-always good!) until the author wants you to and the illustrations fit perfectly. We felt there were two sets of drawings, the illustrator really convinced us of two seperate actions going on in the book. I don’t want to tell anymore because you have to read it cold to appreciate the humor. J. loves to rate the books we read so she laid them out on her bed in order of her likes: The Library won with Big bad bunny second and Louise, third. The good thing is she really loved them all as did I! Another great night of story time at the Holt house!

Beyond Junie B.

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Those of you who are following along might remember me ranting about how much I disliked, then grew fond of Ms. Junie B. Jones because she was making J. and I laugh at bedtime and sometimes randomly throughout the day, which is a great thing, of course, but after reading a bunch of Junie B.’s I am pretty tired of the language. How many stupid’s, shut up’s and your just dumb do we have to plow through? Many of those particular words are not acceptable language in our peaceful, hippie house so often I would pass over every third insert dumb, stupid, shut up… in reading chapters to J. but then I keep thinking when she is able (soon) to read these to herself she will read those on her own and think me a liar or be disagreeable that the author had to choose these words over and over even though J. is taught to expand her vocabulary. Sorry Barbara Park…yet the books are so funny. I wish we could go back and rewrite them with out those words because those are not the words that make the stories drop down funny. I am happy to see many other books out there for this age group though that don’t have any stupid’s, shut-up’s or dumb. For example, we and many of my 2nd and 3rd grade library patrons love the Ivy and Bean series by Annie Barrow( see previous posts). I hope to find more kid lit out there like this for this beginning chapter book, mostly girl group. I think maybe it is a generational thing, Ms. Park?

Baby Dragon by Amy Ehrlich

I have bountiful boxes of beautiful books in my little back workroom and going through the boxes is, of course, like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one. I came upon these two gems today as I was checking titles on the invoice. Baby Dragon (2008) by Amy Ehrlich and illustrated by the fabulous Will Hillenbrand. This book reminded me of how you feel when you read the classic Audrey Penn‘s The Kissing Hand; sweet on your Mom because you know she loves you every minute of every day; even when she’s mad at you. The illustrations in this book are above average as you gaze back to the horizon, deep into the pictue and the mountain peaks. I can’t wait to share this with all my little readers but first I will have to take it home to share with my own dragons to see how it makes them feel.
The other gem I found has some laugh-out-loud parts but ends on a very loving note. When Charlie McButton Lost Power (2005)by Suzanne Collins and illustrated by Mike Lester reminded me so much of my own home life as poor Charlie has a melt-down because the power has gone out. Ms. Collins has written this in great rhyming text and the illustrations together cause for laughter. I will not spoil the ending but the sibling relationship involved, well, we’ll read it tonight and see if my 13 year-old can see himself in Charlie McButton!!!

Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

My step-daughter Kaylee gave me this lovely fat book for Christmas, telling me she had read it and liked it and now it was my turn. Here it is February and I am just beginning it. I’m intrigued by the title alone. On a kid lit note I received many boxes of books last week and was so excited to pull out the 4th Ivy and Bean book by Annie Barrows. J and I love this series and bonus: students also check it out so much that I have even ordered a second set. I also pulled out of the box The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, which I am very excited to read as well. While my dishes ran in my new dishwasher I finished the Frid ay Nig ht K nit ting Club and I cried even though I liked the female friendships plus the excitement of James/Marty and then wondered why we needed cancer to add to the chaos. I thought there was enough going on before she went to the gynecologist. I loved the relationship between Walker and Daughter, Dakota very much.

techno troubles

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I have spent tons of times on tutorials and still not getting any satisfaction.

p.s. Happy Valentine’s Day!! I got a new dishwasher:) Wow!!!
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Poetry Friday

I have been working with poetry a little bit in the library and I found this great silly book by Kalli Dakos If You’re not here, Please raise your hand. Students love this title, they think for a minute and then have this a-ha moment of “hey, that does not make sense!” Love it!
Here is my selection cuz I like to laugh just a little at Texas:)

They don’t do math in Texas

Kate used to live in Texas.
I’d like to shoot her to the moon,
Or into another galaxy,
Whenever she says the word Texas.

“In Texas,” Kate says,
“I was in the sixth grade,
Instead of just in fourth
Like I am here.

“In Texas the kids stayed up
All night watching television
Because school didn’t start
Until four o’clock.

“In Texas we only did math
In Kindergarten.
Once we learned that
One plus one equaled two
We never had
to study math again.

Peace to Molly Ivins, of course.

New Books

I received a new shipment of books yesterday here at my school. Books that I had ordered just a few weeks ago so, for me, it was a little like Christmas or my birthday…opening the box, smelling the new book smell, opening the crisp covers!! Quite a few picture books were wonderful but I have been enthralled with two chapter books; Elvis and Olive by Stephanie Watson and Julia Gillian and the art of knowing by Alison McGhee. Elvis and Olive has a great cover and a great opening chapter. We meet two characters right away that are polar opposites yet new neighbors. Natalie is sad about it being the first day of summer; she misses school (yeah!) and Annie, on the other hand, looks like a boy and shows Natalie a dead bird within 5 seconds of meeting her. This book may be a fifth grade version of Ivy and Bean, which J and I read and loved last summer. I picked up Julia Gillian right after I relunctently set Elvis and Olive down and again was in love with the first chapter. I especially love that it is set in Minneapolis. I don’t live there anymore but I love hearing familiar street names. I am now trying to figure out how to take these two chapter books home and read them around The heart of a chief, The sea of Monsters (yes, I finished The lightning Thief) and The Friday Night knitting club. Oh, and I must fit in some knitting this weekend as well as I have two friends waiting for washcloths. Funny, I noticed both these writers are from Minneapolis when I checked out their websites!!! Interesting.

The Red Shoes by Eleri Glass

This book (published by Simply Read Books) made me want to go shoe shopping in a beautiful downtown boutique!! J and I read this several nights ago for story time and she, of course, wanted to read it again and again! She is, after all a shoe fanatic, a pint-sized shoe diva. When she was two she went for high heels at a Chicago shoe boutique, trying them on, toddling around on 2-inch red heels- not appropriate- like she was trying out for a role on Sex in the City! She is still that way and always wants the fanciest shoes so this gem of a book was right up her aisle. We both thought the words and illustrations were wonderful, especially “the red shoes are happy apples, waiting to be picked.” The look on the shoe lady’s face is priceless. This book deserves to be tried again and again!T/* Webfetti Layout Begins Here */ h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 { margin:0px; } #content { width:740px; margin:0px; text-align:left; } #main { width:485px; float:left; margin:0px; } #main2 { float:left; width:100%; padding:0px; } #sidebar { width:240px; float:right; margin:0px; } body { text-align:center; background-color:transparent; background-image:url(http://ak.webfetti.com/assets/layouts/g/excite_348.jpg); background-repeat:repeat; background-attachment:scroll; background-position:left top; } body, p, .post-body { font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size:12px; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; color:rgb(65,48,16); } a:link, a:active, a:visited, a.username_dark:link, a.username_dark:active, a.username_dark:visited, a.link_blue:link, a.link_blue:active, a.link_blue:visited, a.link_profile_left:link, a.link_profile_left:active, a.link_profile_left:visited, a.link_profile_left_small:link, a.link_profile_left_small:active, a.link_profile_left_small:visited, a.link_white:link, a.link_white:active, a.link_white:visited { font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size:12px; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal; text-decoration:underline; color:rgb(65,48,16); background-color:transparent; } a:hover, a.username_dark:hover, a.link_blue:hover, a.link_profile_left:hover, a.link_profile_left_small:hover, a.link_white:hover { font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size:12px; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal; text-decoration:underline; color:rgb(65,48,16); background-color:transparent; } .post { border:1px solid rgb(255,247,146); background-color:rgb(255,251,211); filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-opacity:100; opacity:100; margin-bottom:20px; padding:10px; } .date-header, .sidebar-title { font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size:12px; font-weight:bold; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; color:rgb(255,255,255); background-color:rgb(65,48,16); background-repeat:repeat-x; background-attachment:scroll; background-position:center top; } #blog-title { font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size:24px; font-weight:bold; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; color:rgb(69,52,16); padding-left:10px; padding-top:5px; } strong, b { font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size:12px; font-weight:bold; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; color:rgb(69,52,16); } .post-title { font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size:13px; font-weight:bold; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; color:rgb(69,52,16); } .date-header, .comment-timestamp { font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size:10px; font-weight:normal; font-style:italic; text-decoration:none; color:rgb(65,48,16); } #blog-title { background-color:rgb(65,48,16); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-attachment:scroll; background-position:left top; height:115px; width:768px; } a:link img { filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-opacity:100; opacity:100; } a:hover img { filter:alpha(opacity=100); -moz-opacity:100; opacity:100; }/* Webfetti Layout Ends Here */.button_sizeL {border-style:none;border-width:0;height:71px;width:120px;}.wfbuttonL {background:url(http://ak.webfetti.com/badge_04.gif) no-repeat left top;display:block;height:71px;text-align:left;width:120px;position:absolute;top:30px;left:10px;z-index:10000;}.wfbuttonL a:link,.wfbuttonL a:visited {display:block;background-color:transparent;}.wfbuttonL a:hover,.wfbuttonL a:active {background:url(http://ak.webfetti.com/badge_04.gif) no-repeat left top;display:block;height:71px;width:120px;}.button_size {border-style:none;border-width:0;height:45px;width:106px;}.wfbutton {background:url(http://ak.webfetti.com/badge_01.gif) no-repeat left top;display:block;height:45px;text-align:left;width:106px;position:absolute;top:30px;right:10px;z-index:10000;}.wfbutton a:link,.wfbutton a:visited {display:block;background-color:transparent;}.wfbutton a:hover,.wfbutton a:active {background:url(http://ak.webfetti.com/badge_01.gif) no-repeat left top;display:block;height:45px;width:106px;}