Point of View – Page 12 – Unleashing Readers

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

January 14, 2016 by Ricki

Salt to the Sea
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Published: February 2nd, 2016 by Philomel Books

GoodReads Summary: The author of Between Shades of Gray returns to WWII in this epic novel that shines a light on one of the war’s most devastating—yet unknown—tragedies.

In 1945, World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia, and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, almost all of them with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer toward safety.

Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.

My Review: This is a book about humanity. Each voice serves a unique purpose to foster a complete picture of this great tragedy in history. The characters feel real, and their stories and perspectives are so different that readers are able to fully understand a diversity of experiences toward the war. Wow, wow, wow. I don’t feel that summarizing or reviewing this book will even do it justice. I felt like I couldn’t eat or sleep until I finished it. Salt to the Sea takes readers on an epic adventure and throws them for an emotional tailspin. After I closed the cover, I was reeling. The language is powerful and the story is captivating.

Ruta Sepetys holds a special place in my heart. She is a powerful force in historical fiction, and this book is no exception. Several years ago, I was fortunate to be sharing a drink with Ruta at the ALAN cocktail party. When I asked her what she was working on, her eyes glinted as she talked about the concept of this book. She felt a connection to this tragedy, and while nothing had been written at the time, I knew it would be a remarkable novel. For the next several years, I thought about the way Ruta described the historical event, and I consistently checked her pages to see if I would see any further information about its progress. Several years later, I would (fortunately) receive this book in the mail. Boy was it worth the wait.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: The teaching opportunities for this book are endless. I would love to use this book to teach the theme: What does it mean to be human? or What does it mean to be a good person? Then, I might pair other texts (e.g. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini) and create a text set to consider these themes. The perspective and voice of these characters are strong, and I imagine rich classroom discussions about the ways these four characters show us a slice of humanity. (One of the four main characters is debatably evil, and this would offer excellent, critical conversations). Beyond these four characters, readers might consider the minor characters of this text (or tangential war figures, such as Hitler or Stalin). Are humans innately selfish? Are the innately good? Are we all flawed? Are there any universal characteristics amongst these characters, or are they too different?

Discussion Questions: How does the author balance historical information and story? What tools does she use to do this?; Why do you think the author chose to feature four points-of-view rather than one? Does it add or detract from the story? What similarities do you see across these voices? What differences?

We Flagged: “Survival had its price: guilt.”

*Quote taken from an advanced reader copy. It may change after publication.*

Read This If You Loved: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys; The Watch that Ends the Night by Allan Wolf; The Book Thief by Markus Zusak; A Night to Remember by Walter Lord; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer; Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally; Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Recommended For:

A Wilcox and Griswold Mystery: The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake by Robin Newman, Illustrated by Deborah Zemke

November 27, 2015 by Kellee

A Wilcox and Griswold Mystery: The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake
Author: Robin Newman
Illustrator: Deborah Zemke
Published May 12th, 2015 by Creston Books

Goodreads Summary: When food goes missing on Ed’s farm, Detectives Wilcox and Griswold do what it takes to track down the thieves. In this case, Miss Rabbit’s carrot cake has disappeared. Has it been stolen? Or eaten? Or both? Who dunnit?

“Readers ready for chapter books will solve the crime and then be surprised by the twist at the end. Here’s hoping for more hard-boiled detecting from Wilcox and Griswold!”
— Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

My Review: This book starts with a letter to the reader about the two detectives who will be leading the case, and I automatically thought of Dragnet as soon as I read it, and that was the voice I heard all the way through the book which made it even more fun to read! I love how this book was crafted: set up like a police file with times of interviews, suspects, and clues throughout. The detectives are also quite humorous and the ending is just surprising enough though some students may be able to predict it if they follow the clues.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: The Case of the Missing Carrot is a perfect read aloud to practice inferring and prediction as students try to figure out what is going on at the farm. Students can keep track of clues and characters (suspects), and the book also gives opportunities to discuss sequence, vocabulary, dialogue, point of view, and voice. The text is just so much fun to read, but can also be a great discussion starter/exemplar for so many language arts topics.

Discussion Questions: (Thoughout the book) What clues did this section give us? Who is a new suspect? Who is no longer a suspect? How has your prediction changed? What is your prediction now?

We Flagged:

“Captain, stop the car!” I shouted. “There’s something up ahead. It’s orange.”

The captain grabbed his magnifying glass and tweezers. He picked up the object.

“A carrot!” I said.

I ran back to the squad car to get the crime scene photos.

“This carrot matches the ones we found in Miss Rabbit’s kitchen. We’re onto something.”

The captain twitched his tail furiously. (p. 19)

Read This If You Loved: Francine Poulet Meets the Ghost Raccoon by Kate DiCamillo, The Troublemaker by Lauren Castillo, Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCamillo, Lulu series by Judith Viorst

Recommended For:

*Thank you to Creston Books for providing copies for review!**

Monstrous Fun: A Doodle and Activity Book by Travis Nichols

October 29, 2015 by Ricki

Monstrous Fun: A Doodle and Activity Book
Author and Illustrator: Travis Nichols
Published: August 11, 2015 by Price Stern Sloan (Penguin Young Readers)

Goodreads Summary: You may think you know your holidays, but have you ever heard of Eggster? What about Fangsgiving? This fun-filled book has 64 pages of fantastic monster-themed activities, puzzles, and games, plus plenty of space to color, doodle, and imagine what these wild monster celebrations might look like. Get your pens and pencils ready, and start being monsterific-ly creative!

Ricki’s Review: We don’t typically review activity books on the blog, but we loved the way that this one takes a playful interpretation on holidays. Plus, it is Halloween week, so it is a perfect fit! This fun doodle and activity book is not intended for humans. The pages are designed only for monsters, and each activity flips a holiday on its head (from a monster’s perspective). This would be a great book for parents and teachers to get kids thinking about creatively reimagining the holidays. It would be a great kickstart to a creative writing unit.

Kellee’s Review: What I loved specifically about this activity book is the variety of fun it includes. For parents, kids, and adults alike, there are so many fun activities to do such as word searches, drawing & coloring, finding differences, mazes, hidden pictures, and more!

For teachers, I specifically like the Claws brothers trading cards which includes a photo, description, likes, and dislikes of each Claws brother. This would be a great start to writing a narrative or as a jumping off point for talking about characterization. There’s also Halloween songs that rhyme, made up holidays that could allow students to think out of the box and create their own, a comic to complete, and a page to design a machine that accomplishes a task. All of these activities are fun, but also have educational implications if done correctly.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Ask students to pick holidays they celebrate. Ask them to research customs and traditions of that holiday and to write a reflection about what that holiday means to them. Then, have all of the students design activities that creatively reimagine those holidays. This can lead to classroom conversations about perspective.

Discussion Questions: What are classic traditions behind holidays or traditions your family celebrates? How might these be different for other families?; How does the author take a monster’s perspective for this text? How might you use a different perspective in your own writing?; When creating a character, what should you think about?; What is essential in writing a comic?

We Flagged:

Image from: http://iamtravisnichols.com/monstrousfun

Read This If You Love: Warning: Do Not Open this Book by Adam Lehrhaupt; The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone; Leonardo, the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems; Activity, Coloring, and Doodle Books

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**Thank you to Katharine at Penguin for providing copies for review!!**

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

October 15, 2015 by Ricki

I’ll Give You the Sun
Author: Jandy Nelson
Published: September 16, 2014 by Dial

Summary: A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah’s story to tell. The later years are Jude’s. What the twins don’t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

Review: I haven’t been able to stop talking about this book since I read it. I anxiously awaited its release after reading (and loving) The Sky is Everywhere, and it most certainly didn’t disappoint. Jandy Nelson writes characters that step off of the pages and into readers’ hearts. I cried along with Jude and Noah and felt their grief as if it was my own. The passion of the characters was refreshing, and I felt as if they were my friends by the end of the book. Jandy Nelson is a literary genius. This book is quirky, colorful, and different, which makes it unforgettable for me. I plan to use this in my future Methods courses, and I only reserve those reading spots for the best of the best in YAL. It crosses genres a bit (Jude talks to ghosts), and the alternating perspectives span several years in the siblings’ lives. Students and teachers will find many topics and literary qualities that are worthy of analysis and discussion.

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: Nelson touches on many life lessons in the text, and she presents them in an implicit way. (We all know that readers hate didactic texts!) I would ask my students to create a billboard: “Lessons I Learned from I’ll Give You the Sun.” Then, they could create a word map of different lessons they learned and cut out quotes or draw illustrations of scenes that taught these life lessons.

Discussion Questions: What does this story teach us about humanity?; How do the different characters cope with tragedy? What outlets (creative, emotional, etc.) do the characters use as coping mechanisms?; How does Jude and Noah’s relationship evolve throughout the text?; How does the nonlinear format impact the story?

We Flagged: “I gave up practically the whole world for you,” I tell him, walking through the front door of my own love story. “The sun, stars, ocean, trees, everything, I gave it all up for you.”

Read This If You Loved: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira, The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracey Holczer, Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

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Like Water on Stone by Dana Walrath

October 1, 2015 by Ricki

Like Water on Stone
Author: Dana Walrath
Published: November 11th, 2014 by Delacorte Press

Summary: Blending magical realism and lyrical free verse, this is an intense survival story of three siblings caught up in the horrific events of the Armenian genocide of 1915.

It is 1914, and the Ottoman Empire is crumbling into violence.

Beyond Anatolia, in the Armenian Highlands, Shahen Donabedian dreams of going to New York. Sosi, his twin sister, never wants to leave her home, especially now that she is in love. At first, only Papa, who counts Turks and Kurds among his closest friends, stands in Shahen’s way. But when the Ottoman pashas set their plans to eliminate all Armenians in motion, neither twin has a choice.

After a horrifying attack leaves them orphaned, Shahen and Sosi flee into the mountains, carrying their little sister, Mariam. Shahen keeps their parents’ fate a secret from his sisters. But the children are not alone. An eagle named Ardziv watches over them as they run at night and hide each day, making their way across mountain ridges and rivers red with blood.

Review: This is a beautiful book in verse that is set in the Ottoman Empire during the 1910s. It blends genres of magical realism and historical fiction. The point of view alternates with each poem, so I came to understand the differing perspectives of the family depicted in the text. The horrific genocide against Armenians is not common in literature, and this text sheds light on a time period that should be depicted more often. The strength of the children in this book will be inspirational to readers.

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: I would recommend using this book as a literature circle text. Each group could be assigned a text that depicts a different genocide. This would provide rich opportunities to discuss parallels and differences across texts. Then, teachers might consider having students examine both historical and modern genocide. This might involve critical conversations about how we might work to promote social justice. They might even critique conceptions of social justice, such as slacktivism.

Discussion Questions: What does this story teach us about humanity?; How might a feminist read this text? What issues of gender emerge? Is this acceptable due to the historical setting of the text?

We Flagged:

“Hate makes jagged spikes of light,

and blame can crack the sky.

As pierced with wounds

from sharp white teeth,

the Ottoman air had ruptured.

Massacres would come again

as the drum-capped rulers

spread their hate” (p. 17-18).

Read This If You Loved: Tree Girl by Ben Mikaelsen; Audacity by Melanie Crowder; Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto by Paul B. Janeczko; Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys; Night by Elie Wiesel; A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

Recommended For:

Review and Giveaway!: Your Alien by Tammi Sauer

September 13, 2015September 10, 2015 by Ricki

Your Alien
Author: Tammi Sauer
Illustrator: Gorō Fujita
Published: August 4, 2015 by Sterling Children’s Books

Summary: When a little boy meets a stranded alien child, the two instantly strike up a fabulous friendship. They go to school, explore the neighborhood, and have lots of fun. But at bedtime, the alien suddenly grows very, very sad. Can the boy figure out what his new buddy needs most of all? This funny, heartwarming story proves that friends and family are the most important things in the universe . . . no matter who or where you are.

Ricki’s Review and Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This charming story hooked me from the very first page. Books are rarely written in second person point-of-view, and I am always intrigued by this stylistic choice. I’d love to have students write their own stories in the second person point-of-view. This would offer valuable discussions about the power of POV and why authors might intentionally use this in their writing. Beyond considering the point-of-view, I also enjoyed thinking about the several, implicit themes. This is a story about friendship and about family. However, it is also a story about homesickness. I can imagine that this would be a great story for kids to read when they go off to camp. Teachers might also read this book to a class if students are considering keeping a wild animal, which may be missing its natural home and a habitat. While the main character wants to keep the alien, it has a different home. I suspect that teachers and parents can find a variety of clever ways to integrate this book into their units. The illustrations are captivating, and I suspect that students will fall in love with the story.

Kellee’s Review and Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: I love the little boy and the alien in this book! They are both so cute and sweet. I was impressed with the story which is much deeper than it looks, and the illustrations are so full and colorful. Like Ricki, I am completely intrigued by the point-of-view of the book. The second person point-of-view really makes the reader become invested in the story. I’ve only read novels in second person, so this is a wonderful addition to the picture book world. In addition to the themes Ricki discussed, I think it is also a discussion about sometimes not being able to keep/get everything you want and sometimes you have to say good bye to those you love. The book also has a perfect plot arc with an easy to discuss conflict and resolution. Would be a good introduction to this element of narratives as well as characterization and point of view. This book is going to be a read aloud favorite and is going to start a lot of important discussions.

Discussion Questions: Why was the alien sad? Have you ever been sad for a similar reason?; Do you think the main character made the right choice? Would you have made the same choice?; Why is the book written in second person point-of-view? How does this enhance your reading of the story?

We Flagged: “One day, you’ll be looking out your window when something wonderful comes your way… and you will want to keep him.”

Read This If You Love: Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman, Space Boy and His Dog by Dian Curtis Regan, Faraway Friends by Russ Cox, Even Aliens Need Snacks by Matthew McElligott

Giveaway

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**Thank you to Lauren at Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. for providing copies for review and for the giveaway!**

Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles (Kellee’s Review)

July 15, 2015 by Kellee

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

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!

Disclaimer: This book is technically historical fiction, but I felt it belonged on a Wednesday because of its base in fact (see “A Note About The Text”).

Freedom Summer
Author: Deborah Wiles
Illustrator: Jerome Lagarrigue
Published January 1st, 2005 by Aladdin

Goodreads Summary:

John Henry swims better than anyone I know.
He crawls like a catfish,
blows bubbles like a swamp monster,
but he doesn’t swim in the town pool with me.
He’s not allowed.

Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim. But there’s one important way they’re different: Joe is white and John Henry is black, and in the South in 1964, that means John Henry isn’t allowed to do everything his best friend is. Then a law is passed that forbids segregation and opens the town pool to everyone. Joe and John Henry are so excited they race each other there…only to discover that it takes more than a new law to change people’s hearts.

My Review: Deborah Wiles amazes me every time I read something by her. I think I need to get everything she has written and devour it. Her books make me a better person. This one is no exception to these statements. Freedom Summer starts with a personal story of Wiles’s and sets the stage for the book: What would it be like to have a best friend who is black in the South in 1964? Do you know what it is like? Any other friendship! Except many people felt that it was wrong and you cannot go places together. Freedom Summer is about Joe and John Henry. They are both young boys. They both like to swim. They both love ice cream. However, only one can go to the pool and only one can buy ice cream from the store. I think what makes this story so impactful is that Wiles sets the stage of the friendship as something so normal (because it is!!) then shows how different their lives are. So powerful. Made me cry. It’s lyrical writing, soft and beautiful illustrations, and powerful message are so moving. Go read it if you haven’t.

You can view Ricki’s review of Freedom Summer here.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This book belongs in classrooms. It will start discussions and make students think. Luckily, Deborah Wiles helps us out a ton by sharing so many resources with us on her Pinterest board https://www.pinterest.com/debbiewiles/ and her website http://deborahwiles.com/site/resources-for-educators/.

Discussion Questions: Why was the pool being filled with tar?; What do you think will happen after the end of the book?; Based on Joe’s parents letting him be friends with John Henry, what can you infer their viewpoint of integration is?

We Flagged:

freedom summer spread — from http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Freedom-Summer/Deborah-Wiles/9781481422987

Read This If You Loved: Revolution by Deborah Wiles, Seeds of Freedom by Hester Bass, Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh, The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine, Sin-In by Andrea Pinkney

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