Young Jane Austen: Becoming a Writer Author: Lisa Pliscou
Illustrator: Massimo Mongiardo
Published: April 20, 2015 by Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing
GoodReads Summary: What was Jane Austen like as a child? What were her formative influences and experiences, her challenges and obstacles, that together set her on the path toward becoming a writer?
Drawing upon a wide array of sources, including Austen’s own books and correspondence, Lisa Pliscou has created a “speculative biography” that, along with 20 charming black-and-white illustrations, offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of young Jane Austen. Also included is a richly detailed, annotated version of the narrative and an overview of Austen’s life, legacy, and the era in which she lived, as well as a timeline of her key childhood events.
Young Jane Austen is sure to intrigue anyone interested in Jane Austen, in writing and the creative process, and in the triumph of the artistic spirit.
Review: I enjoy the way this book is formatted. The first half (or so) tells the story of Jane Austen as she grows up—before she became a writer. It gives a strong historical background of the expectations (or lack of expectations) for women at the time. While much isn’t known about Jane’s early life, the author does an excellent job creatively interpreting events with what we do know. The next section is an annotated version that reveals the author’s decisions for the text, and the last portion discusses Jane Austen’s later life as a writer. Readers will be inspired to take on some of Austen’s novels after reading this book. The beautiful paper and illustrations of this book made me wish that more books were creatively printed. I felt as if I was reading a text from the time period of Austen’s life, which made me feel warm and fuzzy.
Please note: I tagged this book as historical nonfiction and narrative nonfiction because it bridges both genres. It is a creative nonfiction, and the later portions of the book are more informational. These kinds of books make genre-sorting seem a bit silly.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This text begs for readers to conduct research. They could delve into Jane’s novels to connect her life details with her works. They might also research more about the time period or another favorite author’s early life. The annotated section is particularly interesting to me. I would love to have my students annotate a text looking for the author’s purpose.
Discussion Questions: How was your life different from Jane Austen’s life? How do the expectations for females impact Jane?; What adjectives would you use to describe Jane? Why?; How does the format of the book enhance your reading? Do you know any other books like this?
We Flagged:
I couldn’t help but share how beautiful the inside of this book is. Image taken from: www.goodreads.com.
I have had the honor of serving on the Editorial Team for The ALAN Review for the past year with my dear friends and colleagues, Wendy Glenn and Dani King. We are very excited about the giveaway that Ruta Sepetys is offering—a free classroom set of her books (either Between Shades of Gray or Out of the Easy), and I wanted to share it here. Both are phenomenal books.
When I was a high school teacher, I loved teaching Between Shades of Gray (Out of the Easy is also excellent, but it came out in the last year that I was teaching, so I didn’t have time to order multiple copies). Between Shades of Gray was remarkable in that it touched the lives of so many of my students. That book inspired two of my sophomore boys (who swore they hated reading) to walk over to my bookshelves (together…because it is scary) to look for other books “just like that one.” One boy’s mother called me to thank me for getting her son to read. I highly recommend both books for classroom instruction. They make history very accessible!
Ruta Sepetys wrote a beautiful article that will be published in the next themed issue of The ALAN Review: “(Re)membering and (Re)living: Probing the Collective and Individual Past.” In honor of her article, she is offering a giveaway of a classroom set of books! (I know. We were also stunned by her generosity.) The winner will receive 30 paperback copies of Between Shades of Gray or Out of the Easy. Ruta’s article, “Historical Fiction: The Silent Soldier,” will be featured in the Summer 2015 issue of The ALAN Review. The winner will be selected on June 15, 2015 and *must be an ALAN member*. To enter the giveaway, please go to: http://goo.gl/forms/YWF7VFYfyX.
If you like young adult literature and are not an ALAN member, I highly recommend you consider joining ALAN. Check out the Facebook page or ALAN website. It is $30 to join, and you get three journals per year (filled with articles about young adult literature—these articles are written by teachers, librarians, teacher educators, and young adult authors). I love being an ALAN member. #IamALAN
Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and was started to help promote the reading of nonfiction texts. Most Wednesdays, we will be participating and will review a nonfiction text (though it may not always be a picture book).
Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other nonfiction books are shared this week!
**This book is technically historical fiction, but I felt it was pretty darn close to nonfiction**
Never Fall Down Author: Patricia McCormick
Published May 8th, 2012 by Balzer + Bray
Goodreads Summary: This National Book Award nominee from two-time finalist Patricia McCormick is the unforgettable story of Arn Chorn-Pond, who defied the odds to survive the Cambodian genocide of 1975-1979 and the labor camps of the Khmer Rouge.
Based on the true story of Cambodian advocate Arn Chorn-Pond, and authentically told from his point of view as a young boy, this is an achingly raw and powerful historical novel about a child of war who becomes a man of peace. It includes an author’s note and acknowledgments from Arn Chorn-Pond himself.
When soldiers arrive in his hometown, Arn is just a normal little boy. But after the soldiers march the entire population into the countryside, his life is changed forever.
Arn is separated from his family and assigned to a labor camp: working in the rice paddies under a blazing sun, he sees the other children dying before his eyes. One day, the soldiers ask if any of the kids can play an instrument. Arn’s never played a note in his life, but he volunteers.
This decision will save his life, but it will pull him into the very center of what we know today as the Killing Fields. And just as the country is about to be liberated, Arn is handed a gun and forced to become a soldier.
My Review: When I started Never Fall Down, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I began it because Ricki recommended it to me, but I didn’t read the back or have any prior knowledge about the book. So, when I began, I had no idea how tough this book was going to be.
I also have to preface with my ignorance of the Cambodian Genocide. I blame my lack of world history education because this is a time of history that should be taught. It, along with the Holocaust and Armenian Genocide, was based in racism and the attempt to purify a country. Reading Arn’s story throws you right in the middle of the genocide, and Patricia McCormick doesn’t hold anything back. Every time you think nothing can get worse for Arn and the Cambodians, something does, but you also have such hope for Arn’s survival as you seen him overcome every obstacle he faces. Even though death actually stares him in the face throughout the book, this young boy somehow continues. He continues through starvation, excessive work, lack of sleep, and murder surrounding him. Arn stated in interviews with McCormick that music saved his life, but I think it was more about his willingness to do whatever was needed to survive and especially anything to help those he cared for to survive.
Patricia McCormick tells our story in a broken English dialect that was influenced by “Arn’s own beautiful, improvised English” that McCormick heard in her head after interviewing him and traveling with him to Cambodia over a couple of years. The extent that Ms. McCormick went to ensure that Arn’s story was a true representation of his trials and heroism is honorable.
Teachers’ Tools For Navigation: This would be a perfect cross-curricular text! It could be read in a world history class in full or in parts. Although it is McCormick’s writing, it is definitely Arn’s story, and Arn’s story is one that needs to be shared. This book could also be used in lit circles where each group has a different book about a piece of history or an individual who/that is not usually learned about (maybe with Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, Sold,Caminar by Skila Brown, The Glass Collector by Anna Perera, Son of a Gun by Anne de Graaf, Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai, Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, The Queen of Water by Laura Resau, orNow is the Time for Running by Michael Williams).
One of my amazing 8th grade students read this book recently, and she was as enthralled with it as I was. Immediately after finishing, she got online and started learning more about Arn and Cambodia. She came across an amazing video with both Patricia McCormick and Arn in it. It is 27 minutes long, but it is so worth watching:
Discussion Questions: What do you think ultimately helped Arn survive?; How did Sombo save Arn’s life at the orphan camp? When the war with the Vietnamese started? At the killing fields?; Do you think music is what saved Arn?; How were the Khmer Rouge able to make their prisoners do whatever they wanted them to?; Why did the Khmer Rouge kill all the educated Cambodians?; Why was Sombo so unsure about the Coca Cola?
We Flagged: “All the time now we hear girl screaming, girl running, girl crying. At night but also sometime in the daytime. All the tie, the Khmer Rouge they chase the girl, cut the hair. Sometime with scissor, sometime with knife. Chop short, to the chin, like boy. The girl, they cry and sometime they run. They run, it’s no good. The Khmer Rouge may shoot them, maybe take them to the bushes, do whatever they want. A lot of the girl afterward, they pull on their hair, pull like maybe they can stretch it, make it long, make it beautiful again.
My number two big sister, Maly, her hair like silk. Most proud thing about her, her hair. Shiny black, like blue, like a crow has. Every night she brush her hair, every morning. Sometime even she brush her hair not thinking, just dreaming maybe about the boy she love. One morning I wake up before everyone and see her making rice. Her neck, it’s bare now, her skin there is pale, never saw the sun, her long hair gone. Last night while I was asleep, the soldier, they cut her beauty. So now when she give me a bowl of rice soup, her eyes stay on the ground.” (p. 29-30)
Read This If You Loved: Titles listed above in Teachers’ Tools for Navigation
Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and was started to help promote the reading of nonfiction texts. Most Wednesdays, we will be participating and will review a nonfiction text (though it may not always be a picture book).
Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other nonfiction books are shared this week!
**This book is technically historical fiction, but I felt it was pretty darn close to nonfiction**
A Taste of Freedom: Gandhi and the Great Salt March Author: Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Illustrator: Giuliano Ferri
February 11th, 2014 by Walker Childrens
Goodreads Summary: No one ever forgets their first taste of freedom.
Gandhi’s famous Salt March shook the foundations of the British Empire and the world, showing the strength of a people united in peace to fight for freedom. Gandhi’s march had a significant effect on changing world and British attitudes towards Indian independence, and inspired the use of non-violence in other protest movements, like the US Civil Right movement. You’ll never forget Elizabeth Cody Kimmel’s heartwarming, insightful account or Guiliano Ferri’s stunning illustrations of the event seen through the eyes of a child inspired by Gandhi’s vision for a better world.
My Review: This is a good introduction to one of the greatest, most peaceful men ever to live. Although it is a little tame about the history, it overall stays truthful to the history. I very much liked the story-telling feeling of the story and the water color and pencil drawings were so beautiful and soft.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: The back matter includes a lot of information including resources to get further information, a map that shows the route of the Dandi March, and an afterword with more information about Gandhi.
Discussion Questions: Why did the young boy join the march?; How did Gandhi change India?; Who do you think is easier to respect in this story: the British or the Indians?
We Flagged:
“Gandhi and the satyagrhis are ready to leave by dawn. I join a long line of people as the Mahatma begins walking. His pace is very fast. Even Rajiv has to breathe heavily to keep up.”
Read This If You Loved: Nonfiction books about people fighting for what they believe in.
Recommended For:
**Thank you to Candlewick for providing a copy of the book**
Audacity Author: Melanie Crowder
Published: January 8, 2015 by Philomel
Goodreads Summary: The inspiring story of Clara Lemlich, whose fight for equal rights led to the largest strike by women in American history
A gorgeously told novel in verse written with intimacy and power, Audacity is inspired by the real-life story of Clara Lemlich, a spirited young woman who emigrated from Russia to New York at the turn of the twentieth century and fought tenaciously for equal rights. Bucking the norms of both her traditional Jewish family and societal conventions, Clara refuses to accept substandard working conditions in the factories on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. For years, Clara devotes herself to the labor fight, speaking up for those who suffer in silence. In time, Clara convinces the women in the factories to strike, organize, and unionize, culminating in the famous Uprising of the 20,000.
Powerful, breathtaking, and inspiring, Audacity is the story of a remarkable young woman, whose passion and selfless devotion to her cause changed the world.
Ricki’s Review: This is an inspirational book in verse based on the true story of Clara Lemlich. She was a Russian Jewish immigrant who was forced to work in horrible factory conditions in the early 1900s. Clara stood up for her rights and fought with the union. What I liked most about this book is the author gives so much information about Orthodox Judaism, unions, and feminism, but she doesn’t hit readers over the head with the information. I don’t enjoy reading books about religion, and I don’t particularly seek out books about feminism (or unions, for that matter), yet I found Clara’s story to be both fascinating and compelling. All types of readers will love this story, and it is very teachable.
Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: I would love to teach this book. It offers great opportunities for building background knowledge about history. I wish this book existed when I used to teach The Jungle because the connections are innumerable. If I taught this book, I would use a jigsaw, research, and/or webquest activity where students spent time researching the 1900s, Russian immigration in the 1900s, unions, feminism, schooling in the 1900s, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and Orthodox Judaism. This knowledge would provide a rich reading of this text.
Discussion Questions: How do Clara’s parents and siblings view her actions?; Make a list of your top five values. Then, make a list of Clara’s top five values. Are they the same? Different? Do you think your values differ from hers because of your personalities or because of the different time periods you live in?
We Flagged: “How can I tell Mama / who toils / sunup / to sundown / to be a good mother / a good wife / that this life / (her life) / is not enough for me, / that I dream instead / of words / ideas / a life that stretches far beyond / the bounds of this shtetl?” (p. 12).
*Please note that this quotation is from an advanced reader copy, and the quote may be different in the published version of the book.*
Read This If You Loved: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Like Water on Stone by Dana Walrath, A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Recommended For:
**A special thank you to Penguin for sending this book for review!**
The Carnival at Bray Author: Jessie Ann Foley
Published: October 1, 2014 by Elephant Rock Books
Goodreads Summary: It’s 1993, and Generation X pulses to the beat of Kurt Cobain and the grunge movement. Sixteen-year-old Maggie Lynch is uprooted from big-city Chicago to a windswept town on the Irish Sea. Surviving on care packages of Spin magazine and Twizzlers from her rocker uncle Kevin, she wonders if she’ll ever find her place in this new world. When first love and sudden death simultaneously strike, a naive but determined Maggie embarks on a forbidden pilgrimage that will take her to a seedy part of Dublin and on to a life- altering night in Rome to fulfill a dying wish. Through it all, Maggie discovers an untapped inner strength to do the most difficult but rewarding thing of all, live.
The Carnival at Bray is an evocative ode to the Smells Like Teen Spirit Generation and a heartfelt exploration of tragedy, first love, and the transformative power of music. The book won the 2014 Helen Sheehan YA Book Prize.
Ricki’s Review: When I read the back of this book, I thought, “Hmm.” It felt like a (recent) historical fiction with its emphasis on ’90s grunge music and the highlights of Kurt Cobain’s life. Because my teen years spanned through part of the ’90s, I was intrigued.
My favorite aspect of this book was the fact that the writing felt effortless. Too often, books’ messages or prose feel forced, and with this book, I felt as if I was whisked along for the (very bumpy) ride. As a former high school teacher, I enjoyed the myriad, richly realized themes. The reader feels a wild sense of adventure, the uneasiness that comes with living in a new environment, the loyalty that is tied with love, the heartbreak that emerges with loss and grief, and the utter purity that comes with finding oneself. At times, YA texts feature absent (or horrid) parents, but the complexity of Maggie’s mother was realistic to many parents, I believe. This will leave teens (and adults!) pondering their own relationships with their parents. The intricacies of this text will allow for book groups, students, and readers to have much to ponder and discuss.
Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: This would be a great novel to discuss theme. As stated in my review above, there are many themes to ponder. I would put butcher paper around the room and write a different theme on each paper. Students could travel around the room, discussing each theme, placing post-it notes with evidence from the text. Or, the teacher might discuss a different theme on each day. Beyond the classroom setting, I think this would be an excellent selection for book clubs.
Download the comprehensive study guide (from Elephant Rock Books) here.
Discussion Questions: How does Maggie handle the challenges she faces? Do you think she makes the right choices? Is she brave?; What does her uncle teach her? Was he an admirable character?; What role does the setting (both time and place) play in this novel?; Is Maggie’s mother a positive or negative role in her life?
We Flagged: “But don’t you think that never suffering at all—is its own form of suffering?” (p. 150).
I am not sure whether or not I agree with this quote, but weeks later, I am still thinking about it.
Read This If You Loved: Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira, Timely Persuasion by Jacob LaCivita, Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone, The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler,Get Happy by Mary Amato
**A special thank you to Jessica Powers at Cinco Puntos Press for organizing this blog hop and to Elephant Rock Books for providing this book for review!**
Mira’s Diary
Author: Marissa Moss Lost in Paris Published September 4th, 2012 by Sourcebooks Home Sweet Rome Published April 2nd, 2013 by Sourcebooks Bombs Over London Published August 26th, 2014 by Creston Books
Lost in Paris Goodreads Summary: Mira is shocked when she receives a postcard from her missing mother from Paris. Her father decides it’s time for a trip to France to search for her. While visiting Notre Dame, Mira touches a gargoyle and is whirled into the past. There she meets the famous painter Degas and catches a brief, shocking glimpse of her mother. Mira begins to suspect that her mom didn’t run out on them but is a prisoner of the past. Can one family on an incredible worldwide adventure stop a plot in time?
Home Sweet Rome Goodreads Summary: As if traveling to a new country in search of her missing mother weren’t difficult enough, Mira has to do it dressed as a boy. In a different century.
A new postcard from her time-traveling mother points Mira to the 16th century Rome. But before she can rescue her mom, she must follow the clues left around the city to find Giordano Bruno, a famous thinker and mathematician, who discovered something so shocking that important Italian officials don’t want it revealed. All the while avoiding the Watchers–time-traveling police who want Mira back in her own time.
It’s another whirlwind adventure for Mira, and this time she is determined to bring her mother out of the past.
Bombs Over London Goodreads Summary: In the third book of the popular time-travel series, Mira navigates her way through WWI London, meeting famous suffragists and writers like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Instructed by her time-traveling mother to steal a German spy’s briefcase full of secrets and pass on the information to British Intelligence, Mira struggles with whether the changes she has been working for are the right thing to do after all. How much control do we really want of history? When is it best to leave our fate in destiny’s hands?
My Review of Lost in Paris: I was enthralled by this smart, yet still accessible middle grade novel. Once I began it, I did not want to put it down.
The book was not only packed with an interesting concept (Mira and her mother travel through time to try to right wrongs that haven’t happened yet), but the book was filled with information about late 19th century Paris, French history, and art. Although some may feel like there was information overload, I found it all so fascinating. I am primarily sucked in when a book includes history that is less well known and that is exactly what this book did. Do you know about the Dreyfus Affair? After reading you will. I was also so excited to read a book so full of art history and art elements. Each page includes sketches from Mira and throughout the book you meet incredible artists such as Degas, Monet and Rodin. A cast of characters that is better than any fiction. This part of the book actually reminds me a lot of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris except Mira is trying to fix something instead of fixing herself.
My Review of Home Sweet Rome and Bombs Over London: I don’t want to share too much about these titles as my thoughts are a bit spoilery, but I want to say that they did not disappoint. After reading book 1, all I wanted was to know what happened to Mira next, and I was not disappointed in her next adventures. I know book 4 is going to be in our future, and I cannot wait to read that one as well.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: One wish I had while reading books 1 & 2 was wanting to see the artists’ works as each artist was introduced. I was blessed enough to have an art-filled childhood so I could picture many of the pieces; however, many students do not have that background knowledge. This would be a great thing to do when reading the novel–share the artwork with students as you encounter them in the story. It would also be meaningful to find primary sources from the time period to share with students as you read Mira’s story. This will make learning about the time period even more impactful.
Additionally, Marissa Moss’s writing is one that can definitely be used as an example of imagery and descriptive writing during writing workshop or other writing lessons. She actually sucks you in when Mira time travels, and deposits you in history that you can visualize.
Discussion Questions: Research one of the artists mentioned in book 1 or 2, write about his or her life, artwork, beliefs, etc.; Write about a time in your life when you had to trust your instincts, when you weren’t sure what to do but had to make a decision based on what felt right to you in the moment.; Was there a time when you had a feeling your parents were incorrect? What happened?; Which of the three places that Mira has visited would you have liked to go? Why?
We Flagged: “Dad was right – [Notre Dame is] truly a wonder of the world…
Usually when you go into a building, it’s lighter or darker, cooler or warmer than outdoors, but it’s still part of the same world. Stepping into Notre Dame was like changing time zones or countries, crossing some magical border. A hush filled the cavernous, echoey space of the cathedral, despite all of the voices of tourists murmuring and people praying, as if the sound was absorbed into the bones of the building itself.
Light streamed in from the windows like a physical presence, the kind of light you think you can reach out and touch…The air itself felt still and chilled by the stone all around. The walls were stretched thin between the pillars that soared into a vault overhead, like the skin of a massive beast taut between its ribs.” (Lost in Paris, p. 14-15)
“The day was gray and cold. I found myself in a busy street lined with crumbling brick buildings, shabby tenements with darkened windows. Dingy laundry hung in lines across the narrow alleyways. This may have been historical London, but there was nothing charming here. Just three-story houses of shuddering poverty with narrow doors and small pinched windows, as if sunlight cost money. The whole place was dark, muddy, broken-down, stinking of fish and rot and some indefinable yuck. The stench was so thick it had a physical presence, like a filthy hand pressed against my nose.” (Bombs Over London, p. 26)
Read This If You Loved: Ruby Red (series) by Kerstin Gier, All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, Blue Balliet novels
Recommended For:
**Thank you to Gina and Samantha at JKSCommunications for having us as part of the blog hop!**
