It's Monday and not only is it time for #IMWAYR, there are only
two weeks of school left til winter break. I admit that the latter makes me a
tad more excited than the former, but just a tad. Thank you Jen at Mentor Texts
and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers for hosting this weekly party.
I have held my last book fair. It is very liberating to say this.
It isn't that Scholastic didn't have some spectacular books. They did. In an
ordinary year, I would be having another one in the spring, but this last one
was so frustrating, I decided to just say enough. There are a couple of
reasons for this. First, the 'seasonal' collection was all Christmas books. I
teach at a multicultural and multifaith school. To be honest, I was ashamed to
see this selection of books. I have been complaining about it for the last
number of years, but this year when I was told that they had included some
other titles but they didn't sell, I suggested that maybe they needed to
have better choices. My other frustration came from the fact that they upgraded
their Wi-Fi credit/debit machines and now they don't work at our school. I want
to thank Ms
Yingling, whose comments here last week gave me extra courage to make this
decision.
I went book shopping on Saturday and picked up a passel of new
Hanukkah titles and even scraped together time to do a blog post about them.
You can read my post about them here or see them on goodreads here.
I also picked up some new Christmas books, but I'll blog about
them next week some time.
Other than seasonal books, I did get some other books read.
PICTURE BOOKS
 |
| 4 stars |
If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur by Linda Bailey Colin
Jack (Illustrations)
I must confess that I have adored every Linda Bailey book I have
ever read. In other words, I am a fan. This is one of our Chocolate Lily book
club books for this year. Readers will discover all the truly positive reasons
why owning a dinosaur is a good thing. This is a fun read that will leave
young readers with a model for writing their own story. Colin Jack's cartoon
style illustrations add an extra level of hilarity for the reader.
Of the many picture books I read at the book fair, these are a few that stuck out.
 |
| 4 stars |
The Very Noisy Bear by Nick Bland
I have loved every one of Nick Bland's books about Bear, and this
one is no different. I loved that bear wasn't afraid to keep trying new
instruments until he found the right one, even though the instruments (and
their original owners) suffered for it. I finished this book up with a surprised laugh.
 |
| 3 stars |
Monsters Love Underpants by Claire Freedman
& Ben Cort
Ben Cort's bold and colorful illustrations are perfect, albeit, some are a tad scary. Mostly the poetry works for me but occasionally the rhyme and rhythm falters. I can see that this would be a great book for children just moving out of diapers!
 |
| 4 stars |
Ninja Red Riding Hood by Corey
Rosen Schwartz & Dan Santat
This book is a lot of fun. I read it during the book fair with a few boys I have been doing writing workshops with. It will make a perfect addition to the twisted fairy tale telling ideas they have been coming up with. In fact, I told them they could have written this. (Maybe without the rhyme scheme as they are only 6 and 7 years old) We were not totally satisfied with the ending because while we didn't want the wolf to eat Red Riding Hood, he really had worked hard to become a ninja!
NOVELS
 |
| 5 stars |
The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall & Narrated by Susan
Denaker
Adoration isn't too strong a word for how I feel about the
Penderwick family. Each book is like visiting with a family of old friends. I
can't imagine listening to a finer book to provide a break from the insanity of
book fair week. I loved discovering what was going on with them through the
voices of Batty and Ben. I laughed and I wept a bit while driving home and
listening to this book. Susan Denaker's voice captures this family brilliantly.
The best part of finishing it, is discovering that I missed The
Penderwicks at Point Mouette so I have it to look forward to while waiting for
the fifth book in this series to come out.
 |
| 4 stars |
Rabbit Ears by Maggie de
Vries
This book deals with difficult subject matter. It is the story of
a girl, Kaya, and her family after she ends up addicted to heroin and working
the streets in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, BC. We eventually discover
that an old man in their neighborhood abused her when she was younger. It is
not an easy read despite being a relatively short and simple book. de Vries
knows her subject matter having written earlier about her sister, Sarah, who
was one of the Missing Women from that part of town.
I have to admit that I'm nervous about my grade sevens reading
this book. It's part of the Stellar book club books chosen for high school. I'm
sure glad that I've read it and can debrief it with them in our meetings.
CURRENTLY
I've started listening to The
Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands
and reading The Rule Of Three by Eric Walters.
UP NEXT
Since we separated book club into three groups, and I am leading
only one of them, I feel a bit relaxed about needing to finish them all. I hope
to get a few more of my must read in 2015 titles completed before reckoning day
arrives.
The Rule of Three has been hugely popular with my students. The Penderwicks, though, sit on the shelves. They weren't my favorite (anyone studying Latin these days pushes the book into the realm of fantasy!), and the books sit on the shelf even when I put them out on display. Rabbit Ears sounds a bit much for middle school.
ReplyDeleteI have a few readers who enjoy the Penderwicks, although they are not really popular. Rabbit Ears is a bit much, but it is set here in our city, and I have taught a youngster who ended up in the same situation as the main character. Our book club meets today. It will be interesting to see who has read the book and talk about responses to it.
DeleteMy kids are studying Latin! They like Penderwicks as an audio, but the covers don't lead them to pick them up.
DeleteI get this Beth. The covers are reminiscent of much older times and don't do justice to the story.
DeleteThe picture books all look cute. My students really enjoy the different versions of fairytales and folktales. They'd probably like Ninja Red Riding Hood.
ReplyDeleteIt is a delightful read Lisa. I think there is something universal in the enjoyment of twisting around these traditional tales.
DeleteI did love this most recent Penderwicks, though I'm with Ms Yingling and have a hard time imagining these books being very popular for their apparent age group. Does anyone have students who read these books? I was a bookish child, and I'm pretty sure they would have been too quiet for me too. But as an adult, I do like them--and even moved to adore with the most recent title. I found your thoughts on the Scholastic Book Fairs quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteI only have the first few titles in the Penderwicks, but there is the occasional reader who checks it out. There is a handful of students in our school who like these slow paced feel good family books. I was worried about The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher, but it circulates every once in awhile too. The parting of the ways between myself and Scholastic has been coming. I have all kinds of other issues with having to hold them because of chronic education underfunding, but I'll leave that alone.
DeleteSo glad you raised this with Scholastic re the variety of "holiday" books out this season that they carry! Love to hear more about this. On the Penderwick thread here: My daughter LOVES the Penderwicks and my sister has read the series to my nieces - often on summer holidays. They are also huge fans - these are special books. Maybe as read alouds shared with our children they do best? Not sure. But I know my daughter read them on her own.
ReplyDeleteLike all books, there are readers who adore them and readers who don't. One of my book club members today wanted a book with dragons and lots of violence. The best part of the meeting was when other readers suggested books for him.
DeleteI really miss Bea :)
It is important to show all kinds of holiday books, I agree. Our school changed from Scholastic last year and found an independent person who runs book fairs and brings in whatever we ask for. Perhaps you can find one in your town? I've only read the first Penderwicks, and liked it, but no one in my class read any of them (middle school - mostly YA books). I wonder if a younger reader might enjoy them, like 4th grade perhaps.
ReplyDeleteThe books evolve as the children grow up, although there is a middle grade focus. Carrie Gelsen's daughter in grade 7/8 still loves them and so do many other readers in our school.
DeleteThe Penderwicks is a series I would like to get to at some point. It's on my must read list, but I know that's one I won't end up getting to this year.
ReplyDeleteGood for you for looking at your class and thinking about what they need to see in books. Love it.
Thanks Michele, it's all about making sure that students can find themselves in our libraries. I think when you start The Penderwicks you might become an addict!
DeleteInteresting to read your decisions about some of the things you do! It's very thoughtful and I hope it frees you to do more (or less) things that actually brings you joy!
ReplyDeleteAnything to do with students getting excited about literature brings me joy Earl! I hope I can sustain my decision when I run out of money to spend...
DeleteGood for you for saying something about the need for more multicultural books - It is so important that we all let publishers know what we need in our schools. We are definitely going to Nick Bland's new book - looks wonderful!
ReplyDeleteIt is Tammy. We all need to speak up I think, but speaking up hasn't changed anything so far (although Clifford now has a Hanukkah book) I'm sure you will love the new Bland book!
DeleteRabbit Ears is a challenging book that tackles a painful topic, but as you say, there are children for whom these painful topics are very real and very relatable, and kids can handle mature subjects with support from caring adults like teachers, parents and librarians. If your kids have any thoughts on Rabbit Ears, they are always welcome to share them with other BC youth on the Stellar Award website http://stellaraward.bclibraries.ca/ (Can you tell I volunteer for the Stellar / Red Cedar Awards?) :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Jane. We met today at lunch and the one reader who had finished the book and I met for a few minutes for a personal debrief. I'm so glad we did since I was able to remind her about what her therapist said to Kaya about her conflicted feelings about the man.
DeleteI own around two or three Penderwicks books but have yet to read them - glad to see your enthused response to these novels - will have to pick them up soonest. Rabbit Ears sounds intense. I was in Vancouver a few years ago, and a friend of mine who lives there, brought me to this downtown area - really eye-opening.
ReplyDeleteIt sure is Myra! I think many cities have these kinds of neighborhoods, and lord knows, sexual abuse is a universal problem! The Penderwick family are delightful!
DeleteMy son love loves dinosaur books, so I will have to get that one! I haven't seen it before, so I am very excited about it! I feel like I am very behind on my reading because I've been rereading the same five picture books every week with him!
ReplyDeleteOh I remember those days. These days I end up having rewarding conversations about literature with my sons (age 32 and 34) so you have this to look forward to!
DeleteI purchased Penderwicks for Spring for my classroom before the school year started. I read it and really enjoyed it. My fifth graders haven't really picked it up yet. You have some great looking picture books that I need to check out. Thanks for sharing. Have a terrific week!
ReplyDelete