Red Cedar Club Party 2014

Well, it's been an interesting end to an even more interesting week. I realized earlier on that there was no way in heck I was going to get the library under control by the end of today, and even if we are back at work by Wednesday, it still isn't gonna be enough time. Sometimes, you just have to live with chaos. 

Instead of fretting, today after lunch I had a dessert party with my Red Cedar Book Club members. They've been reading and blogging about the books since last fall. You can read their blogs here. They deserved a celebration! I had a few kids helping with the set up between recess and lunch and a few darlings helping with the clean up later. In the middle was a sugar frenzy and jeopardy game based on the books - me against the kids. They won. I should have taken before and after pictures but forgot. We had so many different kinds of sugar there was a lot left over - even extra chocolate mousse!

In theory school shouldn't be over for another couple of weeks, but because everything is so unsettled due to the strike here in British Columbia, there were all kinds of goodbyes. Darn it all, I hate to say good bye at the best of times, and saying teary farewells just in case, but remaining hopeful we will be back before the end of next week, and then knowing we'll do it all over again, just sucks. 

In spite of all this, I feel blessed. I've now got a house filled with bouquets of flowers (hang the allergies) many loving cards and hugs galore to remind me I'm fortunate to be a teacher librarian, doing a job I love, in a fabulous school. 

It also reaffirms my reasons for why we're walking a picket line this coming week. 

Yetsa's Sweater by Sylvia Olsen & Joan Larson

It's #nfpb2014 Wednesday. Thanks to Alison Beecher at http://www.kidlitfrenzy.com/ for getting it all started. Check out the links to discover many more irresistible information books.

Cowichan Sweaters are an historical icon of West Coast Canadian life. In this picture book we get a behind the scenes look at how they are created. 

Yetsa and her mother spend Saturdays in May helping Grandma prepare the wool before it is ready to knit. They begin by cleaning the hay, prickles, twigs and even sheep poop out of the new fleece. The fleece is then boiled and washed in soap and water before it is rinsed and hung to dry. The next week the wool is teased, carded and spinning begins. By the following week, Grandma is finished spinning and has started a new sweater for Yetsa: a sweater with images that represent Yetsa's life. 

The end of the book has two pages of additional information on the history of Cowichan sweaters. We learn that Yetsa, the author's granddaughter, is the sixth generation in a family of Coast Salish Knitters. 

I love that this book shows First Nation children and families in an authentic and healthy perspective. 

All the children I've read this book to this week (and their teachers) have been fascinated by this look into the process of how these sweaters were created. 

I had a lot of fun Tuesday with a family grouping of kindergarten, grade one's and two's. I discovered that even a veteran teacher librarian like myself still has lots to learn. I brought in some samples of raw fleece, spun yarn and a finished sweater. The kids were vociferously disgusted by the smell of sheep in the raw fleece. Thankfully they were impressed by the finished sweater: although we all agreed it was itchy. Next time, I'll read the book and then share the materials, or show them and then read the book. I've promised them bread and blackberry jam next time I see them. That will be less disruptive I am certain. Well I hope so anyway. 

It's Monday. Here's What I've Been Reading

It's #IMWAYR. Check out TeachMentorTexts and Unleashing Readers to find out about more fabulous books!

There is always an upside to everything, and for me, this job action we're in the middle of here in British Columbia, translates into more reading time. I read during our recess and and lunch time lockouts, and continue while on strike picket duty.

 

I finished Countdown by Deborah Wiles. All I can say about this book is WOW! I loved and was blown away by it. I loved the integration of biography, pamphlets, news headlines and fiction. I loved that Wiles provided background knowledge to ensure a deeper understanding for this whopping great read.
★★★★★
 

I read Fake ID by Lamar Giles. I like this book about a teenager in the witness protection program because of his father's criminal activity. Nick Pearson and his family end up in Stepton, Virginia. It's their last chance because his father has screwed up twice already while in the program. On his first day at his new school he meets a girl, Reya; gets beaten up; and is saved by Eli Cruz, the school journalist and Reya's brother. Soon Nick discovers that someone in Stepton is hiding a dirty secret and is prepared to murder to keep it. When Eli ends up dead, Nick and Reya set out to figure out what is going on. This is a fast paced mystery and action novel. I can think of a number of upper intermediate boys and girls who will love it. However, I do have some reservations about this title. Without giving too much away, I'm not happy with Nick and his father's solution for changing their lives.
★★★

I also finished The Day Joanie Frankenhauser Became A Boy by Francess Lin Lantz. It's a tale of a tomboy who gets the chance to live life as a boy. At first she is delighted, but gradually discovers that being a boy is not as wonderful as she thought it must be. One of the things I love about this book is that it provides a great segue into an analysis of gender roles.. I think it will make a fabulous lit circle for students in grade 3 and up if I can only find some paperbacks in print. 
★★★★★



I've started reading A Snicker of Magic by Natalie LLoyd. Magical realism is my fabourite genre so it's easy to say that at this point, I'm in love with a book.   

I've read too many picture books to keep track of. The one that has stood out I'll blog about for Non-fiction Wednesdays.

I'm still listening to, and enjoying Terrior by Tamora Pierce.

Up next is Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. 

It's Monday, What are You Reading.

It's  #IMWAYR. I'm so thankful to: TeachMentorTexts and Unleashing Readers for starting it all off. 



My world has been very busy so my reading life has been a bit sparse this past week. 

I finished reading Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith. It's not at all appropriate for my elementary school readers, but for older readers looking for something fresh and new (and want insight into what goes on inside a teen age boy's mind) I highly recommend it. Here is my Goodreads review:

Excrementum sanctum!
That was some book!
It's a read you climb into and then hang on for dear life as you are spun in and out of spaces (at least for me) I never thought I wanted to go.
It's set in Ealing, Iowa, a dying town since the local manufacturing plant moved its business overseas. It's a town steeped in religious fundamentalism and rife with homophobia.
Austen, our 17 year old hero is all tangled up in his love and desire for his two best friends, Shann, a girl, and Robby, a boy.
To make matters worse, local hoodlums stole a glowing curiosity from the second hand shop.
It was not a good idea.
They dropped it, unleashing spores of flesh eating preying mantises, and started the end of the world.
My words can not do justice to this book. It's part science fiction, part horror, and part social commentary. It's dark, twisted, hilarious, intense and sweet.
Comparisons to Andrew Smith's writing have been made to Kurt Vonnegut and Hunter S. Thompson. I see both of them here.
My only wish for this book is that Austen's friends' were more equally developed. Shann is essentially a stereotype, while Robby is a richly developed character.

I also finished reading Escape From Mr Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein. It started out pretty slow but once I got into it, I was hooked. I anticipated it would be full of more action, but I came to appreciate the thoughtful integration of book title clues into what turns out to be a literary detective novel. 

I also finished two high interest, low vocabulary books from the Dark Hunter Series by Benjamin Holme-Cross. I think if you click on the book title it will take you to my good reads review. 

  

I've sent them off to a grade 5/6/7 classroom to be tested by real readers. 

I've started reading Countdown by Deborah Wiles. I'm going to confess that I am old enough to remember living the times this historical novel is set in. I'm not sure why I resisted this title, since I have loved all of Wiles' work since first reading Each Little Bird that Sings. (I just replaced our copies of it and Love, Ruby Lavender.) So far, I am loving this title and plan to get the entire series for the library by next September. If you have read and liked this one, you might enjoy Rex Zero: The Great Pretender by Tim Wynne Jones, a book that details the Canadian experience of this era. 

I've also started listening to Terrier by Tamora Pierce. What can I say? Pierce is one of my guilty pleasures. I love her strong female characters. So do all the girls I introduce her work to. 

My Favorite Machines (series) written by Colleen Ruck

It's #nfpb2014 Wednesday. Check out the link to discover many more irresistible information books.

A number of years ago I discovered Nell Duke, and her research on the importance of information books for younger readers. Her work at that time was just starting to show that merely providing access to information books for learners from Kindergarten on up, could have significant impact on children's reading and writing. Her hope was that introducing readers to the language of information at an earlier age would play a large role in eliminating what is known in education circles as the "grade 3/4 slump."




Ever since then I have kept my eyes open for quality titles to add to our collection. When I found this series, I knew I had hit pay dirt. The proof is that there is a certain group of younger readers who love me for bringing these into the library: especially those little folk who love all things technical. Sometimes I have a hard time getting them back so others can read them.

Each page contains only a few sentences of text and has a glossy photograph. Some of these images have a caption and others are labeled. Even if those younger readers can't read the text yet, they love looking at these pictures!  
Each book in the series contains those basic necessities; a table of contents, an index, a glossary and websites. The website I checked out from the Diggers title was a bit overwhelming but the kenkenkiki one did have more detailed information and some videos of machines at work.

Check out this spread from the motorcycle book that shows pictures of different bikes across time.

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It's Monday - Here's What I've been reading.

It's Monday and I've joined up with many other bloggers to celebrate our reading for the week at #IMWAYR Check out  Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers to come up with even more ideas for great books to read.

I've finished The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp. You can read my review here, but suffice to say that, as I am listening to it for the second time, it proves to be even better than the first time round!

I also completed Catherine Austen's All Good Children and started Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith.

I've come to the conclusion that my Goodreads' comments about All Good Children are really not adequate. This book has haunted me ever since I wrote them.

"I liked this book, and I suspect if I hadn't been coming off a binge of dystopian novels, I would have liked it more. It was slow to start and the football scenes in the first section bored me. However, once I got into it, and started thinking about what Austen was saying about the existing educational system, my interest and excitement was piqued. I was hooked by the last 2/3rds, but that is too late for kids."

This book has stirred up memories of Burgess' Clockwork Orange, and Huxley's Brave New World. It's left me worried about what will happen as funding for education dries up even further like it has in this tale. Here's a fact I connected to: the numbers of kids diagnosed with ADHD increases annually in the USA (and most likely also in Canada.) Consequently, the numbers of kids on medication to control their behavior goes up.  

It's the story of 15 year old Maxwell Connors, his friends, and family. A new treatment is being administered to all students to help them become better learners. The worst side effect is death, but even without that, kids become incapable of independent thinking and are easier to control. (Remember soma from Brave New World?) While escaping to Canada is seen as a solution, I'm not so sure that would be a great long term plan since we here seem to follow American trends. Ultimately I think this is a great read, but I still stand by my first impression that it starts too slow for many readers.

So far I'm at page 96 in Grasshopper Jungle. This book grabbed me by the throat and won't let go. (I even read while walking picket lines this morning) I'll try to get it finished and reviewed by next week. So far, I'm absolutely sure this is not appropriate for my Elementary School aged students, but I'm loving it. 

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp written by Kathi Appelt and read by Lyle Lovett

Maybe my reading life could be better than this, but jeepers creepers, I doubt it. No sooner did I finish listening to Lyle Lovett reading The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, I immediately started in all over again!
There is nothing, absolutely nothing, I don't love about this book!

I love, love, love the characters: Bingo and J'miah, the faithful scouts; Chap, the grieving boy, trying to be a man, his departed Grandfather Audie, and his mother, renowned for her fried sugar pies; Sweetums, their cat who doesn't understand why his owners don't speak Catalian; Coyoteman Jim, the radio announcer and voice of intelligence; and the Sugar Man and his faithful rattlesnake, Gertrude, who guard the swamp. I even love those nasty characters: the feral hogs, Clydine, Buzzie and the rest of their baddest gang in history: the Farrow Gang; and Sonny Boy Beaucoup, the owner and scoundrel who, along with champion gator wrestler, Jaeger Stitch, plan to turn Sugar Man Swamp into a gator wrestling theme park.

I love the writing: part tall tale, part magical realism, part fantasy, part oral tradition. It begs to be read out loud, and I’m telling you, holy moly! Lyle Lovett is absolutely the perfect person for the job!

I love that there is serious business going on behind the folksy humour. It sneaks in a lesson or two on environmental stewardship, on greed, and even on belief and where it comes from. 


The only thing missing is sugar pies to go along with it. I wonder if Kathi Appelt has a recipe on her website?