Peaceful Reader

Hugging Hour

(2009)

This great little book came in my recent order from Titlewave. Great title, great front cover with the sweetest granny on the front!! From the first few lines you are pulled into a little mystery:

“To Drool, it seemed like her parents had been gone for an awfully long time.”

with a perfect illustration of Drool (Drew) gazing down a long and winding road and throughout the rest of the book is Grandma appeasing Drool with fun activities while she misses her parents.
By the end I discovered the “mystery” of the missing parents is a weekend sleepover with Grandma. Upon reflection this little book gives a great look at what it must feel like for a small child to spend an overnight with even a Grandma as lovely as this one; fun but still filled with longing for the missing parents. This will be a perfect book to use for deep thinking…and yummy cooking.
When I explored Aileen’s website I noticed she illustrated another favorite of mine, Bella and Bean(click here for my review of B & B) by Rebecca Kai Dotlich. I also noticed she has an Etsy shop as well. I’m going to explore that a little more as well!

Highly Recommended-Elementary picture book

5/5 peaceful stars

Click here for Aileen Leijten’s lovelywebsite!

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. Do not include any spoilers-don’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here’s mine:

As soon as I got close to Alvin’s field, I strained my ears for Mystery Boy’s violin. All I heard was a distant lawn mower. Even so, I could feel my spirits lifting. p. 71 The Homeschool Liberation League by Lucy Frank.

I’m about half way through this book and am hoping Katya calms down a little. I’m anxious to see the relationship between Milo (Mystery Boy) and Katya.

What words are teasing you this week?

Any Which Wall

by Laurel Snyder

(2009)

This book is a real treasure. I received it in my last order from Titlewave and the synopsis appealed to me so much I took it home to read it even before Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me, which was the one I had been anxious to read. I still look forward to reading the Newberry winner but Any Which Wall was so well-written I’m glad I took a chance on it!

Snyopsis:

If you had a magic wall

that could take you to any place

and any time, where would you go?

Would you want to visit castles

and desert islands?

Would you want to meet famous wizards,

terrible pirates, beautiful queens, and dastardly outlaws?

If so, then you are just like Henry and Emma

and Roy and Susan-and you will probably

like this story a lot.

In fact, you might even wish

something similar would happen to you!

(inside front cover)

The adventure is fun, the characters are believable and the illustrations by Leuyen Pham are reminiscent of Ramona in their adorable simplicity. It’s Snyder’s writing that really drew me in though.

A sampling:

At first, when her mother announded that she’d be spending the summer watching Henry, Emma, and Roy, Susan complained loudly and bitterly, but when she realized that her new best friend, Alexandria, was going to be spending July and August in Chicago, Susan became instantly less miserable at the prospect of babysitting. She didn’t have much else to do, so she dug her bike out from under a pile of garden hose in the garage and dusted it off. (p. 9)

It’s one long, interesting sentence!! The four neighborhood kids bike one night through a cornfield (in Iowa, naturally) and discover this wall right in the middle of the field. Each time they visit the wall they learn new things about it’s ability to transport them. It’s magical, really! I enjoyed how Snyder, often very subtly, talks to the reader. I enjoyed how smoothly her writing flows over me. I loved reading this book and, after exploring her website, need to seek out other books by Snyder!

Snyder’s blog

Charlotte’s Library review

Of Books and Boys review

Highly Recommended-Elementary Fiction

5/5 peaceful stars

Read this book!!

Book Fair Fun

How can you not find great books when you spend 4 days walking around your own book fair. I stand and read even as I talk to parents and students and I stack more books on my desk to buy; some for school and some for home. Luckily, most will stay at school because my daughter’s book case is literally cracking. My son has a huge pile of books in the middle of his room to get rid of because he encountered a mouse family living in his room (oh, this story should really be saved for another post but..) well, the mouse peeked out from his bookshelf two books over from The Tale of Desperaux! So you see why the smallest pile is the one for home.

Back to my book fair finds. First I picked up from the summer reading table, Mick Harte was here (1995) by Barbara Park. A parent reminisced about reading this one in school and how it affected him, so I had to check it out. My favorite lines came just three paragraphs in:

So this isn’t the kind of book where you meet the main character and you get to like him real well and then he dies at the end. I hate those kind of books. And besides I can’t think of anything worse than using my brother’s accident as the tear-jerking climax to some tragic story. I don’t want to make you cry. I just want to tell you about Mick.

What a great opening! Such honesty from a main character I can respect!

For a little while I allowed my inner seven-year-old to roam through The Hidden World of Fairies (Wendy’s Journal) with its maps of Pixie Hollow and glittery stardust wings. So many delicate flaps to peek into as Wendy writes about her discoveries in the land of the fairies.

Next I picked up Confetti Girl (2009)by Diana Lopez-I thought this was going to be all great fun cover with no substance inside but it with a title heading like this: Los amigos mejores son libros-Books are your best friends, I decided to give it a try. I’m on the third chapter already!! Lina Flores’ dad is a bibliophile/English teacher so lots of references to books but he’s hiding behind his books as Lina’s mom died last year. Her best friend, Vanessa, lives right next door and they both seem like very likable characters so I expect to keep reading this through the afternoon as the book fair winds down.

I also read a few chapters of The Princess Plot (2005)by Kirsten Boie and The Girl Who Could Fly(2010) by Victoria Forester. Both of these are more middle school reads so not for my students-how am I going to finish them before I pack up the book fair Monday morning?? What a problem!

Operation Yes

by Sara Lewis Holmes

(2009)

I picked this gem up from our fall Scholastic Book Fair and let it sit on a pile forever at home. Spring Break rolled around and I thought to myself…perhaps I should read it before the next book fair is here. Well, our book fair is here and I’ve finished the book. I don’t know why it takes me so long sometimes because this book was so much fun and easy to read. It takes place at a military base school. This isn’t a topic I’ve given a lot of thought to but it makes you stop and ponder the stress level military kids must go through on a daily basis. Parents missing for long stretches, moving frequently and constant activitity on the base and this book deals with all these issues in a very normal manner. Planes fly overhead as kids plan activities around their parents hectic schedules-all part of daily life.

Add in one incredible teacher though and life goes topsy-turvy. Ms. Loupe is an alumni of this particular base and has come back to teach instead of taking her place in the military as the rest of her entire family has done. She’s found her passion though as these kids love her and her magical lessons. I started reading some of it to my sweet husband and his ears perked up “hey, she’s teaching them the important points of improvisation!” He was pretty excited. Then later he gave it as a suggestion for teachers to use in teaching drama. Ms. Loupe is all about the drama and she gets this otherwise bored kids to be exciting about school and learning again. Suddenly kids don’t want to be transferred out!

When Ms. Loupe’s brother disappears in combat the students learn to work together, forming a createve and unique protest, with very positive results!

Now that I have my book fair set up I’ve already found a few more gems like this one to add to my piles!

4/5 peaceful stars

Recommended for elementary fiction

and all drama teachers

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by

MizB of Should Be Reading

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (don’t give too much away-you don’t want to ruin the book for others).
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here is my teasers:

A set of shrubs had been planted under the library window. Someone else’s bike tossed on the grass. New planters in front of the door with happy little marigolds dancing in the breeze. Not my house anymore. Not my home. p. 9

from She’s So Dead to Us by Kieren Scott

what’s your tease today?

Just Listen

by Sarah Dessen
(2006)

I do love Sarah Dessen books-they are good for escape and wonderfully easy to read. I would compare them to Jodi Picoult books for the young adults (and not-so-young-adults). Sarah has an amazing grasp on teenagers; what they say and think as her characters come alive for me and I’m reminded of young people I know.

Just Listen is the story of Annabel Green. Annabel stars in a local department store’s commercial as the girl who has everything; popular, cheerleader, prom queen surrounded by a gaggle of friends. Happily her life is not really like this but she doesn’t realize how happy this should make her. She’s struggling in the friend department as she ditched her first great best friend, Clarke to hang with bossy and mean Sophie. Why do girls do this? It happens all the time. I see it even at the fifth grade level, girls choosing to be friends with the trouble-making, snappy girl instead of the on-task, perfectly happy girl. Why?! If they could only look into the future. In a good twist of fate Annabel meets Owen in a moment when she really needs someone real. She’s been getting the cold shoulder from Sophie caused by a major summer rift-a rift caused by major denial on Sophie’s part and Annabel’s deep need to be silent on the matter.

I like Annabel and her family, and I like Clarke but I love Owen. Always in Sarah Dessen books I found one character that I wish I knew and Owen was it for me. Owen isn’t perfect by any means but he is true to himself and a deep and interesting character. Owen’s life is focused on music and Annabel, through Owen, learns to just listen.

There are several plot twists going on that I won’t get into (you should discover them on your own) but one circles around Annabel’s family, specifically the middle sister, Whitney. She was a model as well and has gone to NYC to pursue a career in modeling but winds up battling anorexia instead. I really enjoyed Annabel’s sisters and this side plot about Whitney’s journey is compelling.

If you haven’t picked up Sarah Dessen I highly recommend her for good easy reading with very memorable characters! This book could have a soundtrack as well!

4/5 peaceful stars

Highly Recommend for YA/adult reading

My review of Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

and my review of This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

Fulfills Reading from My Own Shelves Project hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea.
As per the terms of the project it needs to leave my shelves and be will be returned to my stepdaughter Kaylee now that I’ve finished it- read her recent review of That Summer by Sarah Dessen.

Recent Reads

Having a cold for the last few weeks has really taken away my ability to get things done, indluding blogging and we’ve been ITBS testing in our building, also throwing off my schedule!

Two weeks ago I got a new order in from Titlewave and I’ve had a great time reading and enjoying all the new books I ordered. I’ve also received three books in the mail this week and I still have two reviews to write from Spring Break!! I’m determined to catch up this weekend.
Here are my top five new books:

1. Redwoods by Jason Chin: This book deserves a page all its own but I already checked the book out to a teacher, who also love, love, loved it! The opening pages of this book show a young boy engaged in reading a book about the Redwood Forest while he’s on a train. We see through the train windows amazing scenery, taking us through the redwoods history (dinosaurs in the background on one page). He enters the forest as he steps off the train steps. It’s magical, really and every library should have a copy. It is picture book format but is nonfiction-it doesn’t matter where I hide this book, kids will find it! It will be the catalyst for many great lesson plans as well! The book sports its own home page as well-which I love and plan to show to students as soon as I can get the book back! I found Jason Chin’s journey of creating this book added to my love of this book. I hope Jason will create more nonfiction books like this blurring the lines between fact/fiction! Really-go find this book.

2. A Day without Crayons by Elizabeth Rusch; illustrated by Chad Cameron: Liza is happily coloring away in her room when she runs out of places to color; her coloring books are filled and her blank paper is all full so (naturally) she begins a mural on the big open wall in her room! Great idea until Mom comes in the room and tells her (aarrgh!)no more crayons for today. This is crushing news until she discovers colors outside adding a new dimension to her artisitic nature. Liza is beautifully impish in the drawings created by Cameron.

3. Twelve Terrible Things by Marty Kelley: This book reminds me of a classic favorite-The monster at the end of this book starring the very lovable Grover. It begins like this: “Please read this: I’m warning you. If you turn the page, you are going to see some terrible things. This book is full of them. Didn’t you read the title?” Once you turn the page…and you know you will, you will find big bright illustrations with 12 very funny things!! I’m not even going to tell you what any of them are just so you can be fully amused all on your own! Kids will love this and I plan to introduce it this week! Marty Kelley’s blog.

4. Henry and the Crazed Chicken Pirates by Carolyn Crimi; illustrated by John Manders: Continuing Henry’s book adventures from Henry and the Buccanner Bunnies. I loved the first one and the second is a pretty good follow-up. Henry gets a threatening note in a bottle and his natural reaction is to get prepared for the impending attack! Again, it is book-reading and lots of thinking and writing that keep Henry (and the rest of the crew) safe.

5. Firefighter Ted by Andrea Beaty (of 3 Silly Chicks fame) and Pascal Lemaitre: Remember Doctor Ted? This time Ted wakes up and smells smoke, can’t find a firefighter so he becomes one. This book has some twisted fun humor in it and I love Ted’s willingness to help everyone! The science fair is a hilarious addition-you don’t hear much about science fairs anymore. Peaceful girl and I got a kick out of the Principal Bigham’s last name-Big Ham-he’s a large boar! P.Girl’s quote upon finishing the book “I just love all Ted’s books!” We’re ready for Artist Ted (see last page for explanation). “No need to thank me” replied Firefighter Ted.

I could probably list more but it’s time to play some Scattergories with the teenagers.

What top five books did you read this week?

Marc Aronson's Race; A History beyond Black and White

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here’s my three teasers:

From Race; A History beyond Black and White by Marc Aronson:

“And to many Black Americans, saying that racism is fading or that race is no longer important is either silly or blind. Anyone can see, whether in images of blacks driven out of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 or the troubling statistics of the persistent “achievement gap” in our schools, that the deep racial divisions in America remain real, and present. Even as I write these words, racial thinking looms behind the latest headlines, whether they are debates over legal and illegal immigration or analyses of wars that seem to pit Muslims against Christians and Jews”. p. 4-5

I do not read very much nonfiction but this book has captured my attention and I would read more by this author. I don’t know if I will read the whole thing as it is 269 pages long but I’m going to keep going for now. I love in the bio information I looked up it says that Dr. Aronson is a committed internationalist…wouldn’t it be great if we all thought on those terms!

What’s teasing you this week??

The Opposite of Me

Sarah Pekkanen

(2010)

With my Kleenex box next to me and a little Vicks Vapor Rub doing its thing, I finished Pekkanen’s first book. Wow.
I am blown away by talent. I follow Sarah through her newsletter, distributed neatly in my inbox and one day I clicked on it and she was drawing readers in, offering a chance to win something if we would only preorder her new book. I was drawn in and even though I’m supposed to be on a book-buying hiatus, I preordered it. I don’t even know what it was she was giving away nor do I care because I liked her book and it was worth it.

Usually I take a few days to ponder the book or I don’t have time to write a review right away but this time since I’m still laying in bed, breathing in the Vicks, I thought I would share the book love spontaneously! I’m going to be somewhat brief just because it is brand-new and I want you to read it fresh and if I tried to explain all the intricacies of the plot I may fall asleep due to symptoms of the common cold.

Summary:

Two sisters, twin sister to be exact, grow up with out ever having that deep connection so many other twins or even siblings feel toward each other. Linsdey is the smart one, having done well through grad school, now works at a very high powered NY ad agency. She’s in line to take over as the new VP of Creative blah-blah big wig job. Meanwhile, Alex, the beautiful sister is modeling and about to get married in their hometown, Washington D.C. Their paths are destined to cross and they do and it’s fun to be there, peeking in.

My Thoughts:

The book is told through Lindsey’s view point and I have to admit the first section I was worried-Lindsey’s character made me all jumpy and I didn’t enjoy the feeling but later I realized Sarah had done her writing job well by making me feel part of Lindsey’s hectic NY lifestyle. I just wanted to slow down. Little flecks of humor emerge between the twins verbally-sparring with each other but the real comedic wit comes from their parents. Woo hoo-what wonderfully-funny parents (embarrasingly funny-yes) but heck what are other people’s parents really for except to help us see our own parents more humorously! Through all the relationships in this book it has a lot to say about families and relationships and how we live our lives altogether, without seeing each other fully.

See great characters+ great plot=easy read and Sarah Pekkanen achieved this on her first time! Of course, like Hollywood fame she didn’t just whip this out I’m sure plus she has tons of other writing credits to her name. According to the interview in the back of the book, she is already working on a new book and I’m so glad!! Once it has a title I can put it on my to-read list.

Buy the book or ask your library to purchase a copy-it is worth it.
Julie P. at Booking Mama’s review and another great one can be found here-S. Krishna’s Books.
Watch the You Tube trailer-nice without giving it all away.

Highly Recommended-Adult Fiction

5/5 peaceful stars

Happy Reading!