Booklist for Blog

For this class, I read and blogged about the following books:

Chapter Books:

The Dreamer

We Are the Ship

A Tale Dark and Grimm

Turtle in Paradise

Twilight

The Hunger Games

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

Bridge to Terabithia

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Blubber

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Feathers

The Witches

Are you There, God?  It’s me Margaret.

Picture Books:

Blue Lipstick

The Uglified Duck

How Rocket Learned to Read

Martin’s Big Words

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach

Dave the Potter

Goal!

The Duchess of Whimsy

Snowflake Bentley

Flotsam

Hey, Al

Saint George and the Dragon

It’s a Book

And Tango Makes Three

Chalk

Are You There God ? It's Me, Margaret.

Are you There God?  It's me Margaret. is written by Judy Blume and appears on the Challenged Book List.

This is a true coming-of-age story about a girl growing up and learning the lessons of being a young girl.  Eleven-year-old Margaret's family has moved to a small town in New Jersey from their apartment in New York, and she makes friends easily, but definitley notices differences in her family and her friends'.  She has an ongoing relationship with God about her worries and anxieties through short verbal prayers and journal entries even though her family has no religion.  As she journeys through the story, Margaret finds that her curiosity about religion and how she will fit in without it actually draws her further from God.  I thought this book had some great lessons and themes, and most girls can learn quite a bit from it.  It reminded me about several books I have read in the past because of some of the things the characters do and how they treat one another.  Most of it is very spot-on for girls of eleven and twelve years old.  I admired Margaret's relationship with her grandmother and found that it reminded me a lot of my own relationship with my maternal grandmother.  She was very much like Margaret's and it made me remember how valuable those times together were.  

Blume, J. (1970). Are you there God? It's me, Margaret . Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Bradbury Press.

The Witches

The Witches by Raold Dahl is on the list of 100 Most Challenged Books.

The Witches is a silly story set in Europe during the modern day.  It is a story of a young boy that is being raised by his grandmother after the death of his parents.  She lives in Norway, but he has grown up in England.  The most important lesson his grandmother has taught him is how to recognize witches and avoid themso he can survive.  Apparently witches are out to destroy all of the children in the world.  After learning about witches, the young boy is more alert in his every day actions and tries to avoid them at all costs.  While on holiday, the boy and his grandmother find out they are staying at the hotel where the witchedsof England are having their annual meeting to talk about there new plan to rid the world of kids.  The boy falls prey to the witches who test their plan on him and turn him into a mouse.  The only flaw is they cannot kill him after he becomes a mouse because he is too smart to fall for dying in a mousetrap.  When his grandmother learns of his new existence, they devise a plan to give the witches a taste of their own medicine, literally.  When their plan works, and all of the English witches turn into mice, they decide they must spend the rest of their days together extinguishing the world of all the witches in the other countries as well using their own plan against them.  I did not really connect with this story in any way, but I did enjoy the relationship between the boy and his grandmother as it reminded me of times In spent with my own grandmother learning many things from her.

Dahl, R., & Blake, Q. (1983). The witches . New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.

Chalk

Chalk is written by Bill Thomson and is a selection from the Notable Books for Children's List.

 

 

Chalk is a super fun book to "read" that uses oodles of imagination.  It is a wordless book that really does not need words as the story leaps off the pages at you from the cover to the end.  Three children are walking in a rain shower to the park and discover a bag of chalk.  Little do they know that the chalk is magical and as they begin to draw, they find what they have created becomes reality.  The sun that is drawn rises and dries up the rain, and the butterflies also rise up from the pavement and fly away.  When the third child draws a dinoasur, it too rises up and starts to chase the kids who run into the playground equipment to escape.  The disosaur artist quickly draws a rain shower and the dinosaur melts away leaving nothing but a chalk memory and green puddle.  The children decide to leave the magical chalk behind as they leave the park for some other children to discover.  This book instantly reminded me of the times when my own children would play with sidewalk chalk for hours and create all kinds of materpieces that also became memories and colorful puddles so they could start all over again on their concrete canvases.  The illustrations are so well painted and bring such life to the storywit their close-ups and illumination.  A very enjoyable book to "read"!

Thomson, B. (2010). Chalk . New York: Marshall Cavendish Children.

Feathers

Feathers by Jaqueline Woodson is a Newbery Honor book.

This is a little book that packs inside its cover a very big story.  The story of Frannie and her hearing imparied brother Sean is one that shows how delicate relationships are and how each relationship leaves its mark on your world.  Frannie and her family live in a large city in the early 1970's and even though the city and school are not segregated, the concept is lost on the city where the black families live on one side of the highway and the white families on the other.  When a new white boy comes into Frannie's class, it rocks everyone's world as he doesn't seem to belong, but somehow does.  Everyone from the good-goody girl to the school bully is taken by the mysterious, new boy who eventually makes his way in his new world.  I connected with this book in many ways because not only have I been the new kid in class, I have also been the one who stood up for someone without knowing them against the bully.  The relationships between Frannie and her family and her friends are so simple yet also seem so complex.  I love the way it is written so that you delve into Frannie's deepest thoughts and understand her fears, and see her understand the symbolism in the feathers. 

Woodson, J. (2007). Feathers . New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

And Tango Makes Three

And Tango Makes Three is written by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell and is on the 100 most challenged books list.

 

 

 

This touching story is one of families and tolerence.  Two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo in New York came to live with one another and adopted an orphaned egg that eventually hatched into a female chick named Tango.  The two males, Roy and Silo, cared for the young chick and took care to raise her and teach her all of the ways of a penguin.  There is so much tolerence at work in this book, from the animals themselves to the spectators at the zoo, and it is a nice way to share the information which is based on two real penguins of the same name at that very zoo.  It made me think of how much the kids have changed since I was in school.  I think that now there are so many more cultural differences and changes that kids are exposed to that they are much more tolerant of differences among one another that I can ever remember as a child growing up.  How nice for younger students to see that there are differences in families even in the natural world, and yet, they are still a happy and thriving family. 

 

Richardson, J., Parnell, P., & Cole, H. (2005). And Tango makes three . New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate is written by Jacqueline Kelly and is a Newbery Honor Book.

 

 

Calpurnia Tate, or Callie Vee as some call her, is an eleven year old girl growing up in a small central Texas town during the year of 1899.  She is surrounded by boys as she is the only girl of seven in the Tate family and happens to be smack dab in the middle of it all.  Callie has a wild spirit about her that keeps her from embracing the fineries of the young ladies of her time choosing instead to explore the world around her with her Grandfather, who is a naturalist and retired from the cotton plantation the family owns.  Her relationship with her grandfather has been nearly non-exitent until he sees her interest in the natural world, and gradually their relationship grows out of mutual respect for their love of nature.  This great book took me back to a time when I was able to spend some very treasured summers with my own Papaw as he worked in his electrician business.  Occasionally I would be allowed to go with him to a job that had to be supervised or for a bid as he owned the company.  Much like Callie Vee, I can remember being in awe of the knowledge that he possessed about his world that was so unfamiliar to me.  I was able to grow close with him over gardening and tinkering around in the garage.  A few times in the novel, Callie takes to her bed in sometimes real and sometimes feigned illness which prompts her to remember her family's cure-all of codliver oil.  That also made me laugh as I remembered my Papaw wanting to mop my tonsils with some red substance that we called "monkey blood" when I mentioned that I had anything resembling a sore throat.  One time was enough for me to know that I did not like it, and nothing would make me say I was sick enough for that.  As the title reads, Callie goes through an evolution or change as she struggles with the internal issues that many strong women of her time must have dealt with; should she become a proper young lady for her family to present to society or follow her heart into science where she knew she could find happiness.  It was a very enjoyable read!

Kelly, J. (2009). The evolution of Calpurnia Tate . New York: Henry Holt.

Blubber

Blubber by Judy Blume is on the list of the 100 most challenged books.

  Blubber is a book that I can totally understand and relate to on many levels.  It is understandable why some people would want to challenge it due to the content of bullying, name-calling, and dishonesty, but these issues are something that is very real in the world today, unfortunately.  The story's main character really learns a lesson about how to treat someone when she becomes the target in the classroom instead of one of the people picking on the target, which is the role she was used to playing.  If more kids read this book, maybe a lesson could be learned about how it feels on both ends of trhe sprectrum.  Each year, I see 6th graders play these games with one another, especially the girls, where there is a ringleader and those that follow blindly without making their own decisions between right and wrong.  With the change in technology and the introduction of cyber-bullying, parents and teachers have to be even more aware of the unfortunate opportunies for kids to lead one another astray.  This tale, while dated, teaches some good lessons.  While I was reading it, I fully expected there to be a more negative outcome simply because I have seen many of the negative things that can happen from bullying.  The lesson may be simple and timeless, but it is even more important now than ever before.

Blume, J. (1974). Blubber . Scarsdale, N.Y.: Bradbury Press.

 

It's a Book

It's a Book is written by Lane Smith and is a New York Times bestseller.

 

 

This book made me laugh out loud!  It is a great conversation between a monkey and a jackass about just what a book is.  The jackass is very much plugged in and wants to understand a book the way he understands tweeting, texting, and computer skills.  The monkey is very patient and lets him know that it does nothing that technology can do as because "It's a book."  Such a simple message, yet very profound.  I would like to share this book at the beginning of class this year with my 6th graders and see if they can get the underlying message that the jackass learned about the value of a book in a digital world.

 

Smith, L. (2010). It's a book . New York: Roaring Brook.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is written by J.K. Rowling and is an A.L.A. Notable Book as well as a challenged book.

 

 

  This final installment in the Harry Potter Series is definitely my favorite.  While I thoroughly enjoyed the entire series, this book for me was the best one for the balance it has in all of the elements present in the previous six books.  After my latest and fourth read of the book, I have come to apprciate the complexity in the characters and their relationships with one another.  The serious nature of their quest for the horcruxes consumes them but still leaves room for things like  feelings of jealousy and questions of loyalty between the characters.  Each time Harry, Ron, and Hermione had to move locations or make a new discovery, the writing takes me to the actual place and time, and it is like I am there to experience the joy and pain of it all.  The feeling of revenge lays thick in the air of the book as the deaths of many key people in Harry's life must be avenged by "the one" and he must face Voldemort in a final battle.  Each time I read the book, my pulse quickens as I get involved in the story and even comment loudly about the choices Harry makes, good and bad.  I find myself in this world of descriptive writing and creative vocabulary and get lost in the words on the pages.  This entire series is one that I will read over and over again, and I think the final book, with a little humor and sarcasm, adventure, and magic is the perfect end to a fantastic journey.

 

Rowling, J. K., & GrandPré, M. (2007). Harry Potter and the deathly hallows . New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books.

A Tale Dark and Grimm

A Tale Dark and Grimm is written by Adam Gidwitz and is a New York Times Bestseller.

The title says it all for this book as the tale is definitely dark and Grimm as in the Grimm Fairy Tales.  Anyone who has read a Grimm tale knows that it is nothing like a typical fairy tale.  This particular tale has a twist to it as it takes the story of Hansel and Gretel and basically follows them through their own story as well as crossing over into some of the other Grimm tales.  Their lack of trust from being betrayed by their parents gives them the fuel they need to keep on going in the face of danger and death.  The narrator's asides and conversations give a humorous twist to the book and keep the reader involved.  As I was reading, I could not help but think about students that I know who would love this book.  There was of course plenty of symbolism in the story as well as lessons that could be learned, and it was fun to go through the stories and see if I was correct in my assumptions as I followed the characters throught their adventures.

Gidwitz, A., Grimm, J., & Grimm, W. (2010). A tale dark and Grimm . New York: Dutton.

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda is written by Tom Angleberger and is on the Master List for the Texas Bluebonnet Nominees for 2011-2012.

 

 

 

     This was a very cute book which would make you think right away is some kind of mystery.  While it was not a mystery, it was a fun read as the story is told from several characters' points of view.  I enjoy books like that because I feel that they have a lot of voice in the writing.  This book really had a lot of voice and interactions with the characters.  It is definitley a book I think that upper elementary boys would enjoy as it has that kind of humor, and you can really get into the mind of how a boy that age would be thinking.  The Origami Yoda is a central figure that is kind of controversial, but it reminded me of cootie-catchers or fortune tellers the my friends and I played with at that age.  The Origami Yoda gave its advice the same way that a cootie catcher gave its advice, and the kids could choose to take it or not.  What was really interesting about this book was the characters.  As a teacher of 6th graders, it made me chuckle when I read some of the conversations the characters had with one another, as they sounded very much like conversations I hear in the classroom, in the halls, and on the playground. 

 

Angleberger, T., & Rosenstock, J. L. (2010). The strange case of Origami Yoda . New York: Amulet Books.

Turtle in Paradise

Turtle in Paradise is written by Jennifer L. Holm, and it is a 2011-2012 Bluebonnet Nominee and a Newbery Award Honor book for 2011.

     This book is an enjoyable read that transported me back in time and place to old Key West after the Great Depression where the main character, and 11 year old girl named Turtle, is sent to live with her cousins and aunt while her mother seeks out a job as a housekeeper in the Northeast.  Having never met her family before, Turtle experiences them for the first time without her mother, whom is the only person she has ever been with in her life.  While her outlook on life is a little more realistic than her mother's, she learns that this small community of family members can be home even without her mother there.  I really connected with this character in a few ways.  When I was ten, my mother decided we should move from my hometown, and where my immediate family lived, to a small town in Northeast Texas where she spent her childhood summers visiting her grandparents.  Much like Turtle, I walked into a small community where everybody knew of me and my family, but I knew nothing of them.  The culture shock I felt moving from a large city to a small town was mirrored in Turlte's experiences in Key West.  I will definitley recommend this book to my students for many reasons, but I love the way it ended.  A bit of a twist made what seemed like a neat and happy ending a little more messy than expected.

 

Holm, J. L. (2010). Turtle in paradise . New York: Random House.

 

Blue Lipstick

Blue Lipstick is a book of concrete poems written by John Grandits, and is a 2008 A.L.A. Notable Children's Book.

This is one of my most favorite poetry books ever!  I read it every time I see it in the library, and I even read some of them aloud for a reading camp wearing blue lipstick.  They are funny, and the young girl, Jessie, who has created them truly has the mind of a pre-teen girl.  The words and pictures created from them remind me so much of my daughters as pre-teens and some of the more sarcastic elements are phrases that I have also echoed aloud.  It is a fun read and a great book for concrete poetry examples, although a few of the poems are likely to result in quite a few giggles. 

Grandits, J. (2007). Blue lipstick: concrete poems. New York: Clarion Books.

The Uglified Ducky

The Uglified Ducky is written by Willy Claflin and illustrated by James Stimson.  It is the 2011 Bluebonnet Award winner.

This super-fun story is a great one to read out loud or with the CD that comes along with it.  It is a classic re-telling of Anderson's the Ugly Duckling with a bit of a twist that makes it comical and entertaining.  Listening to the audio and reading the story brought me back to a time when my two daughters were beginning to put their own ideas into words, and they would say things that sounded just right and made perfect sense to them.  Of course, we still laugh about the phrases today, and some of the words used in the story are very close to the ones they used many years ago.  When I read parts of it out loud to my seventeen year old, she said that it reminded her of the stories I would tell her about phrases they used. Of course, I love the lesson that it teaches and even older elementary kids could get an entertaining kick out of hearing this valuable lesson again.  The glossary and warning at the beginning of the book were a lot of fun to read through as well.  It would be a fun way to start a traditional literature unit!

Claflin, W., Stimson, J., & Andersen, H. C. (2008). The uglified ducky . Atlanta, Ga.: August House LittleFolk.

How Rocket Learned to Read

How Rocket Learned to Read is written and illustrated by Tad Hills and is a New York Times bestselling picture book.

This book was such fun to read and had a fabulous use of vocabulary, particularly the adjectives.  Reading the story reminded me of a few things in my life that I could make a connection to the text.  The yellow bird that outwits the dog was a reminder of sometimes how a teacher must first attract a student, especially a reluctant one, to a given topic before it can be taught.  The way Rocket went around spelling things was another connection I could make.  It reminded me of the time I was learning how to read.  I would walk around speling things the same way Rocket did, and I can remember loving the way the word "something" sounded when it was spelled.  S-O-M-E-T-H-I-N-G was a word that I would practice all the time, and I even made a song out of it.  Its underlying message really spoke to me.  In learning something new, you definitely have to walk before you can run.

Hills, T. (2010). How Rocket learned to read . New York: Schwartz & Wade Books.

Martin's Big Words

Martin's Big Words was written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collier.  It is a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, a Caldecott Honor Book, an A.L.A. Notable Children's Book Award winner, and an Orbus Pictus Award winner.

     This is a beautifully written biographical book about the life and times of Martin Luther King Jr.  It chronicles events from his life where he learned that working toward a goal, no matter how difficult, can be done in a positive way.  Inspired by quotes from King, the story flows through major events in the historical struggle for equal rights for everyone no matter their skin color.  The illustrations are a combination of watercolor pictures and collage that lend themselves perfectly to the symbolism the illustrator had intended.  His metaphor of stained glass windows weaves a perfect story throghout the book.

Rappaport, D., & Collier, B. (2001). Martin's big words: the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale is written by Carmen Agra Deedy and illustrated by Michael Austin.  It is a 2008 Pura Belpre Honor Award winner for illustrations.

Exposition:  Martina and her grandmother are the main characters along with a host of other animals who are living in Havana, Cuba.

Conflict:  Martina is 21 dyas old and ready to search for a husband, but none seem to live up to her grandmother's standards or her test.

Rising Action:  Martina lets the word get out that the beautiful cockroach is on the lookout for suitors who will be her future husband, but she is worried when her grandmother tells her she must give them a test that will show their true colors.  Animal after animal comes calling, and none of them can pass her grandmother's test.

Climax:  Just when Martina is ready to give up, her grandmother shows her another suitor, Perez,  who has been around all along but has never been noticed.  Martina gets ready to give her the test, and he performs the same test on her instead.

Falling Action:  Martina passes the test and learns that his grandmother taught him about the test as well.

Resolution:  Martina's grandmother and Perez's grandmothers both watch as the two begin a courtshio that will surely lead to a happy marriage.

This adorable tale has amazing acrylic painted illustrations that lend themselves beautifully to the setting of the story.  The little details in the pictures like furniture and household items made from ordinary things like cans, combs, and stamps are created so that they blend in with the life of an insect, but also stand out with their Latin flare and writing.  It was a fun book to read and also can be used to teach figurative language with the way it plays with words. 

Deedy, C. A., & Austin, M. (2007). Martina, the beautiful cockroach: a Cuban folktale. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is written by Suzanne Collins.

Exposition:  Katniss, a sixteen year-old girl, who is the sole provider for her family is the main character and her sister Prim, best friend Gale, and her mother are secondary characters.  District 12 is one of the districts in Panem where the story is set.  Peeta is the boy chosen from District 12 to compete with and against Katniss.

Conflict:  All of the 12-18 year olds in each district have to attend a ceremony called the reaping.  At the reaping, one boy's name and one girl's name is called to be tribute to the Hunger Games.  At first, Prim's name is called but Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place.  The boy chosen was Peeta Mallark, and only one of them can survive all of Panem's Hunger Games. 

Rising Action:  Katniss and Peeta go to the Justice Building to say goodbye to their friends and families then take a train to the Capitol.  At the Capitol, all of the tributes are treated basically like celebrities and given a mentor, who is a previous winner, trained, and prepped for the Hunger Games.  At the start of the games, the tributes take advantage of killings at the Cornucopia which is filled with supplies until the Careers, tributes who have trained for the games, take the supplies for themselves.  Katniss and Peeta find themselves in many battles and just when it seems like Peeta has joined forces with the Careers, he helps Katniss escape being killed.  A  rule change in the game provides a twist where there can now be two winners from a district, so Katniss and Peeta end up helping each other in and out of many tight spots.  When the tributes number only three, they find they must outlive only one other to put an end to the games.  Katniss finally kills the other tribute and they think the games are over.

Climax:  Just when Katniss and Peeta think they have won,  they hear an announcement that now states there can only be one winner.  Torn between winning and making a statement, both competitors decide to kill themselves to put an end to such a controlling game.  As they take poisonous berries, the announcer states there are in fact two winners so the Capitol can maintain some control and keep the districts entertained.

Falling Action:  Katniss and Peeta return to the Capitol and get treatment for their injuries that were sustained.  A ceremony is planned for the winners' announcement and Peeta and Katniss have been seperated until the ceremony.  At the ceremony and following events, they must pretend they were taking the berries because they were in love and could not be apart, but Peeta has developed real feelings for Katniss.     

Resolution:  Katniss and Peeta return to District 12 and find that their romance facade might be real for more than just a presentation of the Hunger Games.

Literary elements that could be used with this novel are symbolism, flashback, and irony among many others.  What a fun read!

 

Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games . New York: Scholastic Press.

Twilight

Twilight was written by Stephenie Meyer.

Exposition:  This story takes place in Phoenix, Arizona and the dreary climate of a small town called Forks in Washington.  Bella and Edward are the main characters in the novel with their families and Jacob being secondary characters.

Conflict: Bella, a 17 year old girl makes a difficult choice to leave her home in Phoenix with her mother and moves to a place that is at odds with her own desire.  Shortly after her move she meets and falls in love with a vampire named Edward and must again make a choice to live the life she has always pictured for herself or cast all hopes of normalcy to be with the vampire she now loves. Making this choice creates a deep conflict between Bella and Jacob, her best friend who is a descendant of an ancient Indian tribe that has a historical struggle with the “cold ones”.

Rising Action: Though a constant struggle, Bella and Edward seem to be making their relationship work until a small group of nomadic vampires cross their path.  This creates an intense situation due to Bella becoming the immediate target of James, the leader of this nomadic group.

Climax: James tracks Bella and leads Edward and his vampire family through a deadly game of hide and seek working his way back to Phoenix where he intends to kill Bella.  Bella makes a decision to meet James alone at a ballet studio.

Falling Action: Edward and his family arrive in time to prevent Bella’s death and kill James in the process of protecting her. Though he was able to save Bella, Edward wants to keep her from more attacks in the future by removing himself from her life, but realizes that would be to hard on her.

Resolution: Bella and Edward return to Forks.  They attend her high school prom because he does not want her to miss out on any of her human experiences even though she seems to embrace the idea of becoming a vampire at his will.

Two literary elements that would be easy to teach with this novel are mood and the way the setting plays into it and character development as we see the characters grow and change with one another in the novel.

Meyer, S. (2005). Twilight . New York: Little, Brown and Co.