Great Stories

One of the hardest parts of writing this blog is deciding what books to blog about.  When I don't have access to Reading Olympic's books or Newbery Winners (they're not in the library, someone else has checked them out, etc) I typically stare at my book collection waiting for inspiration to strike.

Then it hits me.  Roald Dahl!  I don't think I have every blogged about him, but he is one of my favorite authors.  I LOVED all of his books when I was a kid and I still love them today.  Even though these books are a little older now, they are still great stories-and that's why people love them.

Roald Dahl's The BFG is the perfect example of Dahl's wonderful stories.  The premise is slightly fantastic ,but still close enough to real life that you can almost believe it.  A giant snatches young orphan Sophie right out of her window one night and carries her away to giant country.  Luckily this particular giant is not a human guzzling giant, he is the Big Friendly Giant.

Instead of devouring humans, the BFG gives them dreams-good dreams, of course.  Oh yes, dreams are living things that the BFG captures, labels, and blows into the bedrooms of lucky boys and girls.  Sophie and the BFG hit it off right away and they could have lived quite happily in giant country except for the fact that there were a whole bunch of other giants who were the man guzzling kind.  Sophie couldn't watch those giants run off and eat humans every night, so she and the BFG come up with a plan to stop them.

Working with giants...that's kids stuff.  

Last but Not Least

Longtime readers of this blog will know that mystery is not my favorite genre.  So when the 7th grade reading department announced that the last novel of the year would be a mystery I was a bit nervous.  Then I read Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and I stopped being nervous and started getting really excited.

This is the kind of book that I couldn't stop reading because I had to see what happened next.  I think my students will have that same excitement.  I like to think that I am pretty good at picking up hints in the text but by the end of the story I had no idea who the murderer was.  Luckily Christie wrote an epilogue that explains everything (to any students reading this don't you dare read the epilogue first!!!).  Trust me I would have been furious if I got all the way through the book and still didn't have any resolution.

This is also the kind of book that as I was reading I had a million ideas of how I could teach this book.  I cannot wait to put them all into practice.

There is no better intro to this book then what is written on the back cover: "Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island mansion...at dinner a recorded message accuses each of them in turn of having a guilty secret and by the end of the night one of the guests is dead...haunted by a nursery rhyme counting down one by one...one by one they begin to die...who among them is the killer and will any of them survive?"

Solving the mystery...that's kids stuff

History is Personal

The third book my class will be reading this year is Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry.  It won the Newbery and I blogged about it here as part of my Newbery project.

My favorite part about this book is that it takes something that can often feel abstract and distant and makes it feel personal.  As a modern, white, female I can't imagine what it feels like to be of color growing up in the deep South during the height of segregation.  The only way I can access that and try to understand is through story.  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry tells that story.  It gives me something to relate to.

One of the best parts about teaching middle school is that it's the time when students have matured enough that they are able to handle more difficult discussions.  They are able to look at themes like racism and segregation and talk openly and honestly about it.  I can't wait to see what this book looks like from a students' perspective and I am so excited to see their maturity come out in the midst of our discussions.

Talking about the hard stuff...that's kids stuff

Yes!!!

I absolutely positively cannot wait until the second marking period of this school year.  Why, you ask?  Well that's when we get to devote an entire marking period to one of my most favorite books of all time.  Any guesses?

It's Lois Lowry's The Giver.  Now I have mentioned The Giver numerous times on this blog and done a traditional post on it here.  I am so excited to be able to share this book with my students.  And to prove to them that this book at least is a million times better than the movie.  Not that the movie was bad (I put it firmly in the "ok" category) but it was not as good as the book.

I cannot wait to see how my students react to this book and I am so excited to start reading and talking about it with them!

Teaching your favorites...that's kids stuff.