Tugs at Your Heartstrings

Sometimes a story makes you want to jump into the book and help the character. Leslie Connor's Waiting for Normal is one such book.  Addie is an incredibly resilient and self sufficient girl who has no idea how amazing she is.  Her life is one hardship after another, yet somehow she keeps improving herself. 

Instead of being mad she only gets toast for dinner she has created a whole range of toast dinners with different toppings.  Instead of just accepting she doesn't have, "the love of learning," she keeps a vocabulary notebook to always learn new words.  Small spoiler-she does have a love of learning she just doesn't know it yet.  

After Addie's mother (who she calls mommers-side note: after reading this book I want to start calling my mom that) divorces her stepfather, Addie and her mom are forced to relocate into a trailer.  Addie loves small things and immediately falls in love with the trailer.  She also falls in love with her corner and all the unusual characters that live there.  I'm pretty sure you will fall in love with all of those things too-I know I did.  

I would love to hear a student's perspective on this book,  As an adult this book tore at my heartstrings.  All I wanted to do was help Addie.  I wonder if a student would pick up on all of those little hints that things are not well in Addie's world. SPOILER ALERT: things turn out ok-I just had to say that because I was so stressed and concerned while reading the book I couldn't enjoy it.  Knowing that things turn out ok-not saying how-will, I hope, make this book more enjoyable to read.  

Being resilient...that's kids stuff.   

Finding Answers

It's no secret that Margaret Peterson Haddix is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.  I was thrilled to see her name on the reading Olympic's book list for both 2015 and 2016.  So today will be a special double-feature.

Found is the first book in Haddix's The Missing series.  Much like, Among the Hidden this book is full of intrigue, suspense and amazing characters.  By amazing I mean the characters are likable and well developed but never predictable. Read all about it here.

If you're not quite up for a series-no worries. Haddix also has written a wonderful stand alone book with all the intrigue and suspense of the series, just in a smaller package.  In Double Identity Bethany's world is turned upside down when her always loving but very overprotective parents suddenly drop her at a strangers house.  Now this stranger is Bethany's aunt, but since they've never meet in all 13 years of Bethany's life the familial relation doesn't mean much.

It quickly becomes apparent that Behany's life is not what it seems.  But what makes her different?  You can't seriously think I would tell you that?  Double Identity is truly a page turner. It's one of those books that once you start reading you don't want to put it down until you finish-you have to know what happens.  It's a perfect summer read.

Finding answers...that's kids stuff. 

What an Inspiration

I Am Malala has long been on my reading list and man was it worth the read.  Malala Yousafzai is a remarkable young lady who has fought, and is still fighting, for a girls right to education.  When the Taliban started exerting more influence in her home country of Pakistan, Malala refused to stand down.  She kept speaking out for education, especially for girls, and eventually the Taliban attacked her on her way home from school.  Amazingly Malala recovered and she refuses to stop fighting.  Her family has had to relocate but Malala keeps speaking up from her new home in England.

When you see how hard Malala fought for a simple school house with just a chalkboard it makes you extremely grateful to live in a country where education for girls isn't just encouraged it's mandatory.  Not to mention the beautiful school buildings and awesome technology like smart boards that I get to use every day in my teaching.

Malala made me proud to be a woman and a teacher.  She inspired me to keep teaching, because education really is the only way to change the world.  She is younger than me but she is still one of my heroes.  I want to be more like Malala.

This book is a must-read.  Seriously, go out and buy it.  If you have younger readers pick up the Young Readers Edition (that's what I read since it's a Reading Olympics book for the 2015-2016 school year).  This edition also contains a time line of important events since many young readers are unaware of the tensions in the middle east.

Changing the world (literally)...that's kids stuff. 

PS.   To help Malala change the world as she works to provide universal access to education check out the Malala fund.  I've never asked for money on this blog before and I don't plan to make it a habit, but I hope you consider donating to this worthy cause.

Waves of Luck?

Summer has decided that this is just a year of bad luck for her family.  First she almost died from malaria, then her brothers only friend moved away, after that her parents had to go back to Japan to care for aging relatives right at the start of the harvest.   That means Summer and her brother must travel with their grandparents during the harvest.  You see Summers family owns combines which are very expensive pieces of farming equipment.  So expensive that many farmers chose not to buy them.  Instead, they contract out to people like Summer's family.  It works because you only need a combine at harvest time, so people like Summer's family will travel to many different farms and use their equipment to harvest the wheat for the farmer.

This is the start of Cynthia Kadohata's The Thing About Luck.  Summer effortlessly portrays the intricacies of her world.  A brother with needs that are still unidentified but look similar to Autism, parents that had to return to Japan, a school year fractured by the harvest, and a blend of Japanese and American cultures.  All of these things should add up to a book that I really enjoyed, but somehow they just didn't.

Summer has a unique cadence, a rhythm with which she expresses her thoughts, and I just couldn't catch the rhythm.  The detailed descriptions of farming equipment also didn't help.  Please don't misinterpret, this wasn't a chore to read. The story was good and I truly enjoyed the glimpse into a life very different than my own.  It just wasn't a book I loved.

Does Summer's bad luck ever end?  You'll have to read the book to find out.

Making your own luck...that's kids stuff.  

PS Does Cynthia Kadohata sound familiar?  She should.  She wrote the Newbery Winner Kira Kira. 

Do You Dare?

I must admit I misjudged this book.  I committed the big book sin-I judged a book by it's cover.  I completely ignored the subtitle and pushed this book to the bottom of the list based solely on it's cover and title.  I here admit that I was wrong.

Susan Campbell Bartoletti's The Boy Who Dared is a remarkable read.  It humanizes the Germans during WWII.  I think often we read about the atrocities committed by the Nazi's and group all the Germans together.  We just believe in WWII the Germans were bad.

But history, just like literature, is not black and white-there are not good countries and bad countries.  Helmuth's story is a representation of all German's who stood up against the Nazi regime.  Though technically a work of fiction, Bartoletti sticks to the story of Helmuth Hubener a young German who does everything he can to fight against the Nazi's.  The story is set during Helmuth's time in prison awaiting his punishment and you learn about his actions through a series of flashbacks.

I am a huge supporter of using literature to supplement history classes.  This book should become part of every unit on WWII.  It's important to study history from all perspectives.  Literature is a tool that allows us to do that.

Standing up for what's right...that's kids stuff.  

More to the Story

I love books that give voice to a previously unheard story.  There are many great stories set at the time of the American Revolution but I don't know of any that are from the perspective of a young orphaned slave.

Laurie Halse Anderson gives voice to that story in her novel Chains. Chains tells the story of Isabel a 13 year old slave who thought she was promised freedom but due to the injustice of the time is forced to continue life as a slave, all while caring for her younger sister, Ruth, who appears to have a form of epilepsy.  Isabel is unbelievably strong, brave yet cautious, loyal and fiercely determined.

Set in New York there is the added intrigue of loyalists vs. revolutionaries.  Isabel's masters are loyalists yet the only people she can call friends are fighting for independence.  She is the perfect candidate to be a spy.   Will she take the risk?

Just to warn you the story doesn't end in this book.  If you're looking for a resolution to the story, which I certainly was, you will need to continue with the next book Forge.  

Freeing your soul...that's kids stuff.  

The Great Outdoors

For being only 14 years old Rick Walker has already had more than his fair share of troubles.  Orphaned and left in the foster care system Rick has a couple of brushes with the law.  During his second court appearance the judge sentences him to time at a juvenile detention center with a rough reputation.  Rick escapes (not a spoiler-it happens in the first chapter) and ends up in the great outdoors.

This is the set-up for Will Hobbs' The Maze- not to be confused with the current series The Maze Runner. The Maze has more similarities to the Hatchet series than The Maze Runner.  In fact this would be a great read for anyone who liked Hatchet.  

After escaping the detention center Rick runs into (almost literally) Lon and starts a new chapter of life in the great outdoors.  To be honest (or tbh as the kids are saying) this wasn't my favorite read.  It just wasn't my taste.  I don't have an interest in any of the things that Rick and Lon liked so it was hard for me to relate to the characters.  That being said, I do know several students who would like this book.  It will definitely go on my list for those students who only like realistic books with action.

Living wild...that's kids stuff.   

Love Numbers

I've always had a thing for numbers-not for math-but for numbers.  For example my alarm is always set for the same time forwards and backwards, meaning if I have to get up at 7 my alarm is set for 6:56.   I love to look at relationships between numbers-March 5, 2015 was a good day because March is 3 and three times five equals 15 so the date is even.  Because of that I was immediately intrigued by Holly Goldberg Sloan's Counting by Seven's. 

Willow also loves numbers, especially the number 7.  She counts by sevens to help herself calm down.  She also loves gardening, learning languages and is highly gifted.  Besides all that she doesn't hesitate to speak her mind and her quirky turn of phrase is a delight to read.  For example instead of just saying she ate a chocolate dipped ice cream cone she said: 

"As the chocolate cools, it holds the vanilla goodness prisoner.  Our job is to set it free." 

The book is filled with amazing quotable's like that.  I wanted to do a whole post of just quotes but then I thought that would give too much away.  

I started this book after school one day and did not put it down until I had finished it.  It's an amazing story.  Each of the main characters has their own type of weirdness (for more on the types of weirdness see pages 43-44) but they all work together to create an incredible dynamic.  This book made me wish I had these kind of people in my life.  I wanted Willow's support group.  Sure they have quirks (in the best possible way), but they work to understand each other-true understanding not just surface level things.  

I cannot recommend this book enough.  Good choice Reading Olympic's committee.  A must read.  

Understanding...that's kids stuff.