Just Right

I am a lover of epic fantasies. The big, thick volumes with the crinkled edges-usually part of a series (at least 3 books).  These are books that create a whole new world, one that you get lost in-when you stop reading it takes you a second to remember where you are and what day it is. But these kind of fantasies can be difficult for younger students-especially those who struggle with reading.  The length alone stops many students from even picking up the books.

Another problem is the cast of characters.  For an experienced reader having an enormous amount of characters helps create the depth and richness of the story, but even for me it can get confusing, especially since many characters have similar sounding names (looking at you Game of Thrones). On the opposite end some children's fantasies are too simple.  There's not enough of a story, not enough characters, not enough depth.

Just right is Christopher Paolini's Eragon.  Eragon is just a regular boy living with his uncle (his parents are very mysterious-always a good sign in fantasy), until he finds a mysterious stone in the woods.  Well this is a fantasy, so of course the stone isn't just a stone-it's a dragon egg.  The dragon, named Saphira, hatches for Eragon (which we later learn is a pretty big deal-dragons choose who they hatch for so Eragon must be something special).  Well life can't be normal when you have a dragon so Eragon embarks on a quest to determine his true destiny.

Along the way Eragon meets all kinds of characters (elves, dwarfs, and other humans), enough to show you the depth of the world Paolini has created, but the cast is kept manageable enough, and the names are unique enough, that you can remember who everyone is without having to look back.

Just a heads up, you don't find any answers at the end of Eragon (in fact you'll only find more questions), because this is part of a series.  I will definitely be reading books two and three over winter break.  These are perfect cold weather, read all day by the fire kind of books.

Finding yourself...that's kids stuff.  

It's Just Nice

I love many types of books but I find myself drawn to certain types of books at certain times of the year.  For example, over the summer when my workload is less I find myself craving dense fantasy'-books that create a whole new world with a myriad of characters.  Once the school year starts I find myself searching for more realistic fiction or even non-fiction, books that my students can relate too, books that I could recommend for them.  Now that the holiday season is upon us I find myself looking for books that are nice.  Books with a happy ending, an uncomplicated yet engaging story line, and just a touch of romance. For this reason Little Women is a book I re-read every year over Christmas break.

Gail Carson Levine's Fairest is one of these nice books. This week was book fair week at school and Fairest was on book fair special for just $1.99.  I noticed that Levine had also written Ella Enchanted, a book I remember loving when I was younger, so I decided to buy the book.  I am so glad that I did.

Fairest tells the story of Aza, a girl who is a bit plumper than her sisters and would never be descried as pretty (unfortunately, many call her ugly).  But Aza can sing.  In a kingdom that prizes singing (side note-I want to move to that kingdom immediately) Aza is praised for her voice but as the adopted daughter of humble innkeepers, Aza will never rise.

Or will she?  A Duchess is a frequent visitor to the inn and when her normal companion falls ill Aza must accompany the Duchess to the King's wedding.  There people hear Aza's amazing voice and her life changes dramatically.  Filled with royalty, castles, grand singing's (yes, the whole town gets together to sing songs together-I'm seriously moving there), romance, goblins and ogres Fairest is a delightful read perfect fora  cozy holiday.

Discovering your true beauty...that's kids stuff.  

In the Lead

Some of you may remember that my favorite Reading Olympic's book from last year was Joan Bauer's Hope Was Here. If you're not familiar with that book read my post on it here then go read the book. Seriously go read it.  You won't regret it-then come back and finish this post.

Now that you've all read (and loved) hope was here we can talk about another Joan Bauer book Almost Home.  This is a 2016 Reading Olympics book and it just might be my favorite of this year...I'll let you know once I finish the list.

Almost Home has 3 components that make for an excellent book.  First, a captivating main character.  I love Sugar (and yes that's her real name). She is resilient and insightful, courageous and inspiring.  She never lets life keep her down.  From the very first page I am connected with her and rooting for her.

Second, the book is real.  It doesn't talk down to you and it doesn't shy away from hard subjects, like deadbeat dads and homelessness.  It's authentic and therefore believable.

Finally, and arguably most importantly, there's a puppy.  Shush is just about the cutest sweetest lil' puppy on the planet (don't judge me that's how everyone gets around puppies).  You just have to love him.

I even like the poems that are included in this book-and that's saying something.  Seriously, if you want a great read go get Almost Home.  

Finding your way home...that's kids stuff.  

Having a Moment

I feel lucky to be teaching middle school reading at a time when juvenile literature is really having a moment.  There is a plethora of wonderful stories to choose from and to recommend to students.  I've found that many of my students are really gravitating towards a certain type of story, the one where we are still on our planet but the world has radically changed somehow, things are fine in this society until suddenly they aren't and our young hero or heroine must save the day.

Sound familiar?  Probably, The Hunger Games, The Giver, Divergent, The Selection Series, Uglies (and those are just the ones that came to my head right away, I'm sure I could list more if yo u wanted) all share that basic story line .  But that's GREAT!! Sure these stories share a similar theme but they are all soo different.  It's the kind of story line I see my students getting hooked on and I gotta admit I am right there with them.

D.J MacHale's SYLO is another one of these our young hero must save the day type of stories and I loved it.  Tucker loves living on Pemberwick Island (something I can identify with-faithful readers will note that I have always wanted to live on an island).  Unlike his friends, Tucker would be content to live the rest of his life on the island eventually taking over his fathers gardening business.  All of that changes when the mysterious branch of the Navy, SYLO, comes to the island saying everyone must be quarantined because of a virus.  Tucker goes along at first but things aren't adding up and he decides he has to figure out what's really happening.

Now of course I'm not going to tell you what's happening.  Partly because it's a spoiler and partly because I don't fully know. That's right, SYLO is the first book in a series.  Which is exciting because now I have another book to read but also frustrating because I still don't know who these SYLO people are.

Saving the world...that's kids stuff.  

Beats and Basketball

Let me preface this by saying I am not a big sports person, nor am I a big poetry person.  I want to be upfront about that because my personal bias is definitely going to show through in this post.

Kwame Alexander's The Crossover is the story of twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan. Though they are only in middle school they love to play hoops and their number one goal is taking their team to championships (I'm trying to use sports language-is it working??).  That is it was their number one goal until girls entered the picture.  Then everything changes. That is until their dad starts having health problems.  Then everything changes...again.

The Crossover is written as a collection of raps (which we all know is a fancy hip term for poems).  This made it very difficult for me to get into the story.  I like a narrative to flow and one of the reasons I don't like poems is, for me, poems seem so segmented.  They feel choppy.  I know not everyone feels this way about poems and some people think they flow beautifully.  So if you're that  kind of person this book is for you.

I do; however, like listening to rap (good wrap with clever lyrics, not sloppy repetitive, cheat rhyming rap).  So I wonder if there was an audio book version of this would I like it more?  Probably, it was a good story.  However, I'm still not a sports person so it would still be difficult for me to relate to the main character.  This would be an excellent book for many of my students.

Coming through in the clutch...that's kids stuff.  

Triple Nickles

Tanya Lee Stone's Courage Has no Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles is a beautifully arranged book.  There is a plethora of photographs which seamlessly enhance what she has written.

 Everyone knows I am not the biggest fan of non-fiction, but I didn't know anything about the Triple Nickles so I did appreciate the opportunity to learn something new. If you also don't know-the Triple Nickles are America's first black paratroopers, quite a feat considering most aspects of American life, including the military, were highly segregated with many people still believing that black people were somehow inferior.

Courage Has no Color has a very academic tone.  Though personal stories are told it reads like a history book, not a narrative. The photographs are a wonderful addition, but they don't do enough to keep the interest up.   The story of the Triple Nickles is remarkable, what they did is an amazing achievement and their story should be told as widely and as loudly as possible, but for me this book wasn't the way to do it.  It just seemed dry.

However, I will be the first to admit this is not my favorite genre and I don't read a lot of non-fiction because most of it comes off dry to me.  If you are a fan of non-fiction you will probably love this book and think I am crazy for saying it was dry.  I will be recommending it to many of my students, especially those who have expressed interest in WWII. This book would also be an excellent companion to our reading of Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry.

Overcoming hate...that's kids stuff.  

Unbelievable

In just one of the many small paradoxes of life I am a big fan of history and a very small fan of non-fiction.  But books like Jim Murphy's The Crossing are helping me change my mind about that.  

The Crossing is a brief (I say brief not because it is lacking information but because compared to the thousands of pages that have been devoted to this subject it is brief) description of George Washington's role in the American Revolution.  In other words, it focuses on his role as the general not his role as president.  

The first thing that attracted me to this book, besides the fact that it is on the Reading Olympics list for this year, was its layout.  The book is the size of a typical children's picture book, meaning the pages are bigger.  There are very few pages of just text, and even those don't feel overwhelming thanks to the large font size.  Most pages are a mix of prints from the time, maps, diagrams and words.  I always love when a book includes maps or pictures and in this case all of that extra info that's in the pictures/maps/diagrams/etc really gives you a sense of the time period. 

After reading this book I couldn't help but think, "It really is unbelievable that we managed to win the Revolutionary War."  Here's an example of what I mean.  Washington's men were camped waiting for another attack.  The British General, General Howe, was just waiting for his warships to move into the East River behind the American troops.  If he was able to attack he would most likely destroy all that was left of Washington's army.  But there was a fortunate wind-the wind forced the warship to stay in the bay.  That night a heavy rain started.  Washington knew the attack would come as soon as the wind changed but he also knew his army could not win should the British attack.  

Washington decided to move his army.  They secretly moved the men onto a waiting Ferry and headed to Manhattan Island.  A strong wind almost pushed the boats into view of enemy ships but at the last second the wind changed and secrecy was maintained.  By morning there were still over 1,000 men who needed to take the ferry.  "It would be only seconds before the British realized what was happening and sent swarms of troops to attack the remaining rebels...At about this time, a very dense fog began to rise, and it seemed to settle in a peculiar manner over both encampments...the last remaining troops of the Continental army made their escape."  Unbelievable...fog saved the Continental Army...unbelievable.  

Knowing your history...that's kids stuff. 

What if...

Scott Westerfeld's Uglies is exactly the kind of book for me.  Uglies is set in a futuristic dystopian society (like The Giver, The Hunger Games, Divergent, etc-so if you liked those books this one will be great for you).  Imagine..

What if there was a society where nobody fought?  What if the main divisions between people were all based on the differences in the ways people look (could we argue that's true today).  So what if when people turned 16 they were given surgery to become beautiful?  What if nobody fought because everybody was pretty?

This is the kind of society that Tally lives in.  Just weeks from her 16th birthday she can't wait to become pretty and cross the river from Uglyville into New Pretty Town.  All of her friends have already become pretty and Tally is desperate to join them.  But what if not everyone wants to be pretty?

Tally's new friend Shay has some strange ideas about the whole pretty surgery.  She's not interested in becoming pretty. So she runs away.  Tally can't bring herself to go with her but Shay leaves directions in case Tally should every change her mind.

What if Tally changes her mind? What if she decides to give up being pretty?  What would happen then?

Uglies is a fantastic read-and even better it's part of a series.  And just a heads up Uglies is a cliffhanger so you'll want the next books in the series, Pretties, Specials and Extras.  

Learning what it means to be pretty...that's kids stuff.