Ricki – Page 104 – Unleashing Readers

Top Ten Tuesday: 2014 Releases We Are Dying to Read

July 27, 2015December 3, 2013 by Ricki

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish are particularly fond of lists (as are we!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.

Today’s Topic: Top Ten 2014 Releases We Are Dying To Read

We can’t wait to get our hands on these titles!

Ricki

1. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Shockingly grotesque coming-of-age story? Count me in. The plot description of this book looks awesome, and I love Andrew Smith’s writing.

2. The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

I will read any book written by this incredible woman. She only writes excellence. I will be pre-ordering this one.

3. Champion by Marie Lu

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I didn’t think Prodigy could live up to the greatness of Legend. But I might argue it was even better! I have high hopes for the third book in the series and can’t wait for its release.

4. The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

I am very ready for the second book in The 5th Wave series. We don’t even have a cover yet, so I better be prepared to wait.

5. ___________ by John Green

Is this cheating? John Green, I am ready for your next book. Let’s do this, friend.

Kellee

1. ________ by John Green

I’m cheating too!

2. Ashes (Seeds of America #3) by Laurie Halse Anderson

I’ve been waiting and waiting for this book and it is finally going to arrive in 2014!

3. Princess in Black by Shannon Hale

Love a good princess to kick butt heroine story!

4. Sisters (Smile #2) by Raina Telgemeier

I cannot wait to hear more about Raina’s life (and my students will be so excited as well!).

5. The Summer of Letting Go by Gae Polisner

I’m a big fan of Gae, and the premise of this novel sounds very good.

Which 2014 releases are you most excited for?

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If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

July 27, 2015November 28, 2013 by Ricki

If You Find Me
Author: Emily Murdoch
Published: March 26th, 2013 by St. Martin’s Griffin

GoodReads Summary: There are some things you can’t leave behind…

A broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence, with the one bright spot being Carey’s younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with greater frequency. Until that one fateful day their mother disappears for good, and two strangers arrive. Suddenly, the girls are taken from the woods and thrust into a bright and perplexing new world of high school, clothes and boys.

Now, Carey must face the truth of why her mother abducted her ten years ago, while haunted by a past that won’t let her go… a dark past that hides many a secret, including the reason Jenessa hasn’t spoken a word in over a year. Carey knows she must keep her sister close, and her secrets even closer, or risk watching her new life come crashing down.

Review: It has been a while since I couldn’t put a book down. This gut-wrenching tale captivated me from the very beginning. When authors try to portray emotions, they can feel superficial for readers. But Murdoch’s writing feels effortless. I connected with Carey in a way that reminded me of how I understood Melinda in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. My hands shook with anger in response to her pain, and as she felt overwhelmed and scared, I cried along with her. The backwoodsy dialect made the story feel real and authentic. It constantly reminded me of where Carey was coming from. Murdoch expertly unfolds the plot for readers, which adds a level of complexity but also makes readers feel as if they are coming to terms with Carey’s life right along with her. This is a beautiful, compelling story that I won’t forget.

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: One of the strengths of this book is the special bond between the siblings. Carey’s love for her 6-year-old sister, Jenessa, fills the reader with comfort and sureness. It would be interesting for students to consider this bond and what holds these two sisters together. I could also see students researching more about child abuse and neglect. Carey and Jenessa have to make a dramatic adjustment to life on the outside, and I imagine that students will want to learn more about this struggle and its potential difficulties.

Discussion Questions: Why does Carey keep secrets? Do you agree with her decisions?; Why does Carey have difficulty forming a relationship with her father? Do you think she has been brainwashed?; What are the long-term effects of abuse? What kinds of abuse are there? Will Carey ever heal?

We Flagged:

“I answer her with my silence, understanding the full power of it for the first time. Words are weapons. Weapons are powerful. So are unsaid words. So are unused weapons” (p. 24).

“We make attachments to what’s familiar. We find the beauty, even in the lack. That’s human. We make the best of what we’re given” (p. 169).

Read This If You Loved: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Room by Emma Donoghue, A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer, The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey (for the sibling bond and the woodsy setting), Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, White Oleander by Janet Fitch, Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher

Recommended For:

Top Ten Tuesday: Things We Are Thankful For

November 26, 2013 by Ricki

Today’s Topic: Things We Are Thankful For

The bookish version!

Ricki

1. Little scraps of paper that make convenient bookmarks.

2. Authors who tweet back to my students.

3. The ALAN Workshop for the wonderful connections with amazing educators and publishers.

4. Historical Fiction because I hate learning about history through facts, but this genre makes the learning fun!

5. Libraries. This is new to me. I used to buy all of my books. With a baby on the way, I have discovered how wonderful libraries are (and how wonderful inter-library loan can be)!

6. Audiobooks…for making my drives to school much more bearable.

7. Books that make me sob. I always love a good cry.

8. GoodReads, for tracking my books automatically.

9. GoodReads (again), for showing me which of my friends have read a book so I can call them to chat about it when I finish.

10. Bookshelves, because without you, my house would make me look even more like a book hoarder.

Kellee

1. Twitter for helping fuel my love of books, introducing me to amazing people, and helping me keep up with the best books out there.

2. Jim for putting up with my addiction.

3. Goodreads for the same reasons why Ricki stated above.

4. Young adult books for helping me find the love of reading after my literature degree.

5. My friends’ blogs for sharing with me the best books that I should read.

6. My students for making why I read even more meaningful.

7. NCTE convention and ALAN workshop helps me hang out with fellow book lovers, amazing educators, and authors.

8. Authors, in general, for making these things I love.

9. IMWAYR (It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?) meme–I love being part of the community and learning about everything everyone is reading.

10. Bookshelves for having dual purposes: making my house look smart and for storing my books.

What are you thankful for?

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Skinny Little Tree by Jayme Martin

November 21, 2013 by Ricki

Skinny Little Tree
Author: Jayme Martin
Published June 30th, 2013 by Outskirts Press

Goodreads Summary: “All the seasons are worth living…” May Skinny Little Tree, Wiggly Worms, and Little Leaves remind you that all the seasons of life are worth living.

Review: This is a fabulous book to teach children about the changing of seasons. A little boy approaches Skinny Little Tree and asks her whey she is smiling, weeping, worried, etc., and she tells him why she is feeling those emotions. She responds with an answer that shows she doesn’t understand how her environment changes as the seasons change. After each season, there is a workbook page that asks the reader to draw a different element of the plot. I imagine that kids would have a lot of great fun with this interactive text!

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: This would be a great book to pair with a unit about the changing seasons or the emotions that we feel. I think kids would have a lot of fun with the interactive drawing sections. I’d love to see students write their own books from the perspective of a different inanimate object as it responds to the seasons changing. For example, a student might choose to write from the perspective of a pond as it goes through the seasons of a year.

It is reminiscent of many Eric Carle books, so teachers might find it valuable to pair them to teach author’s craft.

Discussion Questions: What changes does Skinny Little Tree experience as the seasons change? Which was your favorite season? Why?; What does Skinny Little Tree come to understand by the end of the book?; How does the repetition in this book add to the story?

We Flagged: “‘Skinny Little Tree, / why are you smiling at me?’ / ‘Because Wiggly Worms / are tickling my toes'” (p. 3-4).

Read This If You Loved: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? written by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Jayme Martin for providing me with this copy for review!**

Top Ten Tuesday: Books We’d Recommend to Reluctant Readers

July 27, 2015November 19, 2013 by Ricki

Today’s Topic: Top Ten Books We’d Recommend to ______ Readers

We decided to take our own spin on this topic and address different types of reluctant readers that are common in classrooms. We picked five categories and will give you our top picks in each category!

1. The Reluctant Reader Who Loves Sports

Ricki‘s Pick

Crackback by John Coy

My students LOVE this book. It is about a boy named Miles who finds out the other players on his football team are using steroids. He has to decide whether he has to join them if he wants to keep up with their strength. I have five copies of this book and they are always out.

Kellee‘s Pick

Comeback Kids (series) by Mike Lupica

My students really enjoy this series and they usually graduate from it to other Mike Lupica books. They love how he writes about sports, and I love that his books are well-written.

2. The Reluctant Reader Who Loves Action Movies

Ricki‘s Pick

Maze Runner by James Dashner

When Thomas wakes up, he can’t even remember his name. He is staring at a group of boys who are members of a world different than any he can remember. This book is full of action, and readers will find it difficult to put it down. I chose this title because students love the action scenes, but the book also has great depth.

Kellee‘s Pick

The Lightning Thief (series) by Rick Riordan

I’m still finding students who have not had the pleasure of reading Percy’s adventures, so it is always a go-to for me. If they struggle with the length, I can suck them in with the graphic novel adaptation.

3. The Reluctant Reader Who Loves Mysteries

Ricki‘s Pick

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

Jasper is the son of a famous serial killer, and when several bodies are discovered his town, he knows he is the only one who can think like a serial killer to solve the crimes. He decides to get involved to try to solve the mystery of the murders. My students love this book because it has equal parts violence and mystery. They are hooked from the very beginning!

Kellee‘s Pick

Amulet (series) by Kazu Kibuishi

This is by far the most loved series at my school with my students. They love to read them, reread them, discuss them, talk about them, anything! They adore these books. In Book One, join Emily and Navin to find out what/who has taken their mother.

4. The Reluctant Reader Who Wants to Try Urban Fiction

Ricki‘s Pick

Tyrell by Coe Booth

Tyrell lives with his mother and little brother in the projects of the South Bronx. This book forces readers to face the realities of urban life and is extremely popular in my classroom. Coe Booth’s writing is authentic, and the characters and setting feel very real to readers.

Kellee‘s Pick

Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri

I love this book and am so happy that so many of my reluctant readers have as well. Coltrane is sent to live with his absent father in Philadelphia and he is thrown into quite a different experience than he is used to.

5. The Struggling Reader Who Has Difficulty with Comprehension

Ricki’s Pick

Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper

After a car accident kills his best friend, Andy finds living to be very difficult. He is overwhelmed with his sense of guilt because he was behind the wheel. This book is short, but it has a great impact on my students. It is a powerful book with complex themes but accessible language.

Kellee‘s Pick

Big Nate (series) by Lincoln Peirce

This category is hard for me as it would depend on the reluctant reader; however, Big Nate and Diary of a Wimpy Kid are always great places to start with reluctant, struggling readers. These books are funny, have characters and themes students can relate to, and have illustrations that help with comprehension.

Which books do you recommend to reluctant readers?

and

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

July 13, 2014November 14, 2013 by Ricki

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
Author: Matthew Quick
Published: August 13th, 2013 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

GoodReads Summary: In addition to the P-38, there are four gifts, one for each of my friends. I want to say good-bye to them properly. I want to give them each something to remember me by. To let them know I really cared about them and I’m sorry I couldn’t be more than I was—that I couldn’t stick around—and that what’s going to happen today isn’t their fault.

Today is Leonard Peacock’s birthday. It is also the day he hides a gun in his backpack. Because today is the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with his grandfather’s P-38 pistol.

But first he must say good-bye to the four people who matter most to him: his Humphrey Bogart-obsessed next-door neighbor, Walt; his classmate Baback, a violin virtuoso; Lauren, the Christian homeschooler he has a crush on; and Herr Silverman, who teaches the high school’s class on the Holocaust. Speaking to each in turn, Leonard slowly reveals his secrets as the hours tick by and the moment of truth approaches.

In this riveting book, acclaimed author Matthew Quick unflinchingly examines the impossible choices that must be made—and the light in us all that never goes out.

Review: I have read every one of Matthew Quick’s books. He is a teacher, and I feel as if he understands teenagers in ways that many people don’t. Quick’s characters feel like real people, and while I read this one, I kept forgetting that I was even reading a book. To be cliché, I was lost in the story.

Leonard Peacock is a complex character. Even with his evil intention to murder a fellow classmate, the reader comes to understand that he is deeply troubled and not at all evil on the inside. His plan is to give three gifts to three individuals who have positively impacted his life, then kill his classmate, and then kill himself. I read this book with an uncomfortable stomach. I couldn’t put it down because I needed to know how the plot unraveled. Kids will be hooked. It teaches incredible messages of bullying and loneliness. Leonard’s mother is such a terrible parent that I think it will make many teens appreciate their own parents. I had the urge to scream at her at several points in the book. I have read many books that are somewhat similar to the themes of this text, yet it felt very different. I would urge teachers to read it because it sheds light on issues that are often difficult (or maybe even taboo) to discuss.

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: My initial thought was that this would make an incredible read-aloud. I think all types of kids would appreciate it. My only hesitance are there are several references to awkward scenes (like masturbation), and even the most liberal teachers might feel a bit uncomfortable reading these aloud. That said, I think this would make an excellent whole-class text or literature circle book. Teachers would also find value in close readings of portions of this text to jumpstart difficult (but important) conversations with students about bullying, depression, and suicide. The book has over sixty footnotes, and it would be interesting to discuss this text feature and/or the experiments that Quick takes with the text structure. The book ends a bit abruptly, and I think students would love to write and discuss extended endings to the text. I would love to see this book bridged with classic texts like The Awakening by Kate Chopin or Hamlet by William Shakespeare. There are a plethora of Shakespeare references that will make teachers drool!

Discussion Questions: What leads a person to make rash, violent decisions? Can s/he be stopped?; How does our past influence our psyche?; Is revenge sweet? Can it ever be justified?; How do our parents shape our mental behavior?; What happens after the conclusion of this text?

We Flagged:

“I admire [Humphrey] Bogart because he does what’s right regardless of consequences—even when the consequences are stacked high against him—unlike just about everyone else in my life” (p. 23).

“How do you measure suffering?

I mean, the fact that I live in a democratic country doesn’t guarantee my life will be problem-free.

Far from it.

I understand that I am relatively privileged from a socio-economical viewpoint, but so was Hamlet—so are a lot of miserable people” (p. 94).

Read This If You Loved: Endgame by Nancy Garden, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick, Burn by Suzanne Phillips, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson, Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King, The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp, Inexcusable by Chris Lynch

Recommended For:

Top Ten Tuesday: Covers We Wish We Could Redesign

July 27, 2015November 12, 2013 by Ricki

Today’s Topic: Top Ten Covers We Wish We Could Redesign

If only the covers war more alluring, kids would be more likely to read them!

Ricki

1. Personal Effects by E.M. Kokie

This is an incredible book. I just wish the cover reflected how awesome it is. I bet Kellee will agree with me on this one, as we both adore this book.

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I understand the symbolism of this cover, but I find it to be quite boring.

3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

This is one of my favorite books. Luckily, a quick read-aloud gets kids interested in reading it. That said, I wish the cover was different!

4. Tree Girl by Ben Mikaelsen

I know I talk about this book frequently. It is such a great text, and I loved using it for my struggling readers. They fell in love with it. It took some convincing for them to get beyond the cover, though!

5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I love the color! That said, I wish there was more on this cover. Kids seem to either love or hate the simplicity of this cover.

Kellee

Making up for my huge list last week, I could only think of 3 covers that I would really love to redesign.

1. The Summer of May by Ceclia Galante

I will say, like Miss Movado preaches in the book, don’t judge a book by its cover. The cover (and description) of this book do not do the book justice. First, May is a 13 year old girl, not 12 as the description says and not 9 like the cover portrays. Also, she doesn’t go on a fire escape to dream and she doesn’t have a cat. I think the cover is going to drive away readers who need this book.

2. A Girl named Digit by Annabel Monaghan

This book makes Digit seem like any other girly book, but really it is an adventure-filled book and Digit is not like other girls. I just wish that it had seemed a little bit more kick butt.

3. Bluefish by Pat Schmatz

This cover just doesn’t portray at all what the book is about and I think readers who need the book won’t pick it up because it seems boring.

Which covers would you redesign?

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