Unleashing Readers – Page 346 – Helping Students Navigate the World of Books

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 2/10/14

July 27, 2015February 10, 2014 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It’s also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…you just might discover the next “must-read” book!

Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee decided to give It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit – join us! We love this meme and think you will, too.

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Last Week’s Posts

**Click on any picture to view the post**

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: I have decided that since I am having trouble reading for a long period of time, I decided to boost up my reading confidence by reading a bunch of really phenomenal picture books: Flying Solo by Julie Cummins, Plastic, Ahoy! by Patricia Newman, The Tree Lady by Joseph H. Hopkins, Marvin Makes Music by Marvin Hamlisch, Who Says Woman Can’t Be Doctors? by Kathleen Krull, Little Red Writing by Joan Holub, Herman and Rosie by Gus Gordon, Weeds Find a Way by Cindy Jenson-Elliot, Parrots over Puerto Rico by Susan L. Roth, Nelson Madela by Kadir Nelson, and Locomotive by Brian Floca. All really, really, really good books! I did read more of Far Far Away by Tom McNeal and am getting into it, but it is still going slowly. I’ll finish soon though!!

Ricki: This week, I read Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education by Nel Noddings. I have always heard of Nel Noddings (a major educational theorist), so I wanted to try reading one of her books. It definitely made me look at caring in a different way. She helps the reader interpret different situations. For example, if I set out bird feeders, it means I care about the birds. But if my neighbor declaws her cat, does she care more? (I simplified this idea a bit from her text, but I wanted to give viewers a taste of the book without making this post too long!) I also read a wonderful nonfiction picture book to my son called Weeds Find a Way by Cindy Jenson-Elliot. It made me look at weeds in a different way. I am sorry for swearing at you, crabgrass between my bricks! 🙂

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I still have lots of picture books to read and I cannot wait! I’ll also keep reading Far Far Away and hope to get even further into it (maybe even finish it!). I am just happy to have reading in my routine again even if it is just in small spurts. [We’ll see how long that lasts, though. I am due in 11 days!!! AH!!!]

Ricki: This week, I definitely plan to finish The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson. My schoolwork has gotten a bit in the way. I only read it during my baby’s night feedings, which are getting shorter and less frequent. Horray! I am also starting Cultural Literacy: What Every America Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch. It is another professional development/theory book that will (hopefully) give me another perspective on teaching!

Upcoming Week’s Posts

So, what are you reading?

Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!

and

Romeo and Juliet by Garth Hinds

July 27, 2015February 7, 2014 by Kellee

Romeo and Juliet
Adaption and Illustrator: Gareth Hinds
Author: William Shakespeare
Published September 10th, 2013 by Candlewick Press

Goodreads Summary: Gareth Hinds’s stylish graphic adaptation of the Bard’s romantic tragedy offers modern touches — including a diverse cast that underscores the story’s universality.

She’s a Capulet. He’s a Montague. But when Romeo and Juliet first meet, they don’t know they’re from rival families — and when they find out, they don’t care. Their love is honest and raw and all-consuming. But it’s also dangerous. How much will they have to sacrifice before they can be together? In a masterful adaptation faithful to Shakespeare’s original text, Gareth Hinds transports readers to the sun-washed streets and market squares of Shakespeare’s Verona, vividly bringing the classic play to life on the printed page.

Review and Teacher’s Tools For Navigation: This graphic novel does for Shakespeare’s text what Leonardo DiCaprio’s Romeo and Juliet film did for the play. It makes it so accessible and helps the reader SEE what is going on in the play so that the Shakespeare’s words are easier to interpret. This graphic novel should be in every classroom and school library and should be used whenever the play is. I also found Garth Hinds’s afterword very fascinating and gives a deeper look into Verona.

Discussion Questions: Gareth Hinds decided to make his characters multicultural to show the universality of the story. How does making his characters multicultural make the story more accessible and show the universality?; Garth Hinds had to abridge the play a bit to fit it into the graphic novel. After reading the play and the graphic novel, what did he remove? Does it change the story?

We Flagged:

Read This If You Loved: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, The Odyssey by Garth Hinds

Recommended For:

Winger by Andrew Smith (Ricki’s Review)

July 27, 2015February 6, 2014 by Ricki

Winger
Author: Andrew Smith
Published: May 14th, 2013 by Simon and Schuster

GoodReads Summary: Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.

With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.

Filled with hand-drawn info-graphics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen’s experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking.

Review: With every page I turned, I fell more in love with this book. I found elements of this text to be reminiscent of Looking for Alaska by John Green, another wonderfully compelling work. Andrew Smith does a beautiful job unraveling the plot of this story. I found it to be incredibly unpredictable—all of my predictions, in fact, were incorrect. The book surprised me in wonderful ways. The characterization and setting shine brightly. I felt as if I was in the boarding school right with the characters, and they were my friends just as much as they were Ryan Dean’s friends. I couldn’t stop reading by the end of the book, and I think readers will equally be hooked to this coming-of-age tale.

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: This text would fit in well with many units—particularly those of bullying, heroism, or homophobia. I could also see it matching well with Looking for Alaska, and readers might draw parallels between the two texts.

Discussion Questions: How does Andrew Smith build character? How does this characterization bolster elements of the plot?; What does the book teach us about friendship? About judging people?; Who is the hero of this story?; How does the sport of rugby play a role in the plot, characterization, and theme of this text?

We Flagged: “And then it’s always that one word that makes you so different and puts you outside the overlap of everyone else; and that word is so fucking big and loud, it’s the only thing anyone ever hears when your name is spoken.

And whenever that happens to us, all the other words that make us the same disappear in its shadow.”

Read This If You Loved: Looking for Alaska by John Green, Deadline by Chris Crutcher, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Recommended For:

litcirclesbuttonsmall

The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown

February 5, 2014 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!

The Great American Dust Bowl
Author and Illustrator: Don Brown
Published October 8th, 2013 by HMH Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Summary: A speck of dust is a tiny thing. In fact, five of them could fit into the period at the end of this sentence.

On a clear, warm Sunday, April 14, 1935, a wild wind whipped up millions upon millions of these specks of dust to form a duster—a savage storm—on America’s high southern plains.

The sky turned black, sand-filled winds scoured the paint off houses and cars, trains derailed, and electricity coursed through the air. Sand and dirt fell like snow—people got lost in the gloom and suffocated . . . and that was just the beginning.

Don Brown brings the Dirty Thirties to life with kinetic, highly saturated, and lively artwork in this graphic novel of one of America’s most catastrophic natural events: the Dust Bowl.

Review: Ever since I read Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, I’ve loved learning about this scary time in American history (also, the danger hasn’t ceased just because it happens less often). This book does a beautiful job of taking this time in history and laying it out for the reader so that it is very easy to understand. It includes background about the geographical area, information about the Depression, and then takes you through the Dust Bowl all the way to modern days. So interesting!

Teacher’s Tools For Navigation: First, this book will make a great companion to Out of the Dust. I think many readers struggle with Hesse’s book because they don’t have the background knowledge needed to understand the book and Don Brown’s book gives all the background needed. The Great America Dust Bowl can also be used as a resource when teaching the Dust Bowl, the depression, or agriculture.

Discussion Questions: How did the Depression impact farmers thus help cause the Dust Bowl to happen?; How is the problems of the Dust Bowl still impacting us today?

We Flagged:

Read This If You Loved: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan, Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards, Dalhart, TX 1935 by Katelan Janke

Recommended For:

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Will Make You Cry

March 29, 2014February 4, 2014 by Kellee

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 Books That Will Make You Cry

Get some tissues!

All of these books made us cry, but they are all brilliant and so worth it!

Ricki

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I imagine this book will appear on most TTT lists. This didn’t just make me cry…it made me ugly cry.

2. Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch

I read this to my son as my husband rocked him to sleep. I couldn’t read the words I was crying so much. What a beautiful story!

3. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

I taught this book for two years, and I cried every time I read it…and every time I read it aloud in class.

4. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

I found this story to be incredibly frustrating because I didn’t know how to feel. I could understand every character’s position, even when they disagreed with each other. It is a tearjerker.

5. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

I read this book in third or fourth grade, and all I remember is the ending and how much I cried (and I was so young!). Oof. This was a difficult one.

Kellee

1. Wonder by RJ Palacio

This book is so touching and although there is a scene that definitely makes me cry because of sadness, most of my tears were happy tears.

2. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Pg. 263. I will never forget that page. Made me bawl!

3. See You At Harry’s by Jo Knowles

And what makes you cry just comes out of nowhere! I lent this book to a friend, with no warning, and I promise that this lead to angry texts when she got about 25% of the way through.

4. Endangered by Eliot Schrefer (and Threatened by Eliot Schrefer)

When I read this book aloud to my class last year, it took me about an hour to read the last 15 pages. Imagine me, sitting in front of 22 eighth graders as I try to read through my sniffles, breath-catches, and massive tears to share the amazing conclusion with my students. (Just read Threatened as well and it, too, will lead to some tears!)

5. Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby

There is a scene in this book that I cannot make eye contact with students as it happens because I know that we would all start crying. Such a tough scene!

Which books have made you tear up?

and

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 2/3/14

June 26, 2018February 3, 2014 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Last Week’s Posts

**Click on any picture to view the post**

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: This, as a reading week, was quite a failure. I read Far, Far Away a bit when I was at the doctor’s office on Tuesday, but that is it. I am finding that once again, like at the beginning of pregnancy, these final weeks take a lot of sleeping (though it is not great sleeping, 10 hours of not great sleeping is what I need I guess). I wanted to get a lot of reading done in these final weeks before Baby Boy Moye graces us with his presence (I am on the countdown! Due date is 2/21 or 2/22/14), but it is not going that way. Hopefully this week will be better, but no promises!

Ricki: I read a lot of great picture books with Henry this week. We went to the library for the first time! All of my books this week are picture books. We started with a children’s book of Walden (Henry’s namesake is Thoreau). This version was by Lowe. To be honest, I didn’t think the classic made for a great children’s book. Some of the books I LOVED this week were: How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? by Jane Yolen, and Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae. Other books I enjoyed reading were Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, You Be You by Linda Kranz, Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson, and The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. The only book I didn’t enjoy very much was R. Robot Saves Lunch by Nicholas R. Kuszyk. I love robots, but this one left me with wanting more.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I hope to get to reading more of Far, Far Away. I really like the author’s style so far and the idea behind it is very clever. Also, I hope to get more of Courage Has No Color listened to. I also have a PILE of picture books I wanted to read and blog about before the baby comes–here’s hoping I can fit that in this week as well. We’ll just have to see how it goes!!!

Ricki: This week, Henry and I will be heading back to the library for more books. Does anyone have any favorites you can suggest? It is a small library, but I hope to grab some good ones. I also want to finish Caring by Nel Noddings and The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson. I am loving LHA’s book. It makes waking up in the middle of the night much more enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong, I love feeding my little one, but I don’t think anything could make me want to wake up at 3am—even chocolate cake. 🙂

Upcoming Week’s Posts

So, what are you reading?

and

Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil (Kellee’s Review)

April 11, 2015January 31, 2014 by Kellee

Life in Outer Space
Author: Melissa Keil
Published August 1st, 2013 by Peachtree Publishers

Goodreads Summary: Sam is a geek movie-buff with a ragtag group of loser friends who have been taking abuse from the popular kids for years. But when the super-cool Camilla moves to town, she surprises everyone by choosing to spend time with Sam’s group. Suddenly they go from geek to chic, and find that not everything boils down to us and them. With their social lives in flux, Sam and Camilla spend more and more time together. They become the best of friends, and Sam finds that he’s happier and more comfortable in his own skin than ever before. But eventually Sam must admit to himself that he’s fallen in love. If he confesses his true feelings to Camilla, will everything change again?

My Review: Loved this book. A perfect combination of Spinelli’s Stargirl, a John Green book, and a rom-com. Loved the voice, quirks, characters, and plot. A sleeper title from 2013 that you should read.

A couple things I really loved about this book:

The characters are such good people. Although they evolve, they never were kids I wouldn’t want my son to hang out with.
A romance-y book from a boy’s point of view!
Camilla is so cool yet so uncool and just shows how the labels and cliques and such of high school are just so stupid. Oh, and that you cannot judge a book by its cover.
The writing, music, and movie references. Just a bit of geeky, but not too much.

Ricki’s Review: Can be viewed here.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: I think first and foremost, this book needs to be in libraries so that kids (and adults!) can get their hands on it. In the classroom, it can definitely be used as for a mentor text. I think it is perfect for an example of character development and voice. The characters in this book are so strong and there are lines and passages throughout that show the characters’ personality. There are also parts that deal with writing poetry/music and would be great passages to talk about writing with students.

Discussion Questions: How does Camilla change the dynamic at Sam’s school? And how did she change Sam and his friends?; (During) Why do you think Mike quit karate?; How does Melissa Keil use music and movies to help move the plot? Show character’s personalities?; How is Sam’s parents’ issues affecting him?;

We Flagged: “She is wearing a yellow dress that looks like it belongs to a 1950s housewife, and a pair of flat red boots. Her hair is longer than I’d imagine would be practical; it’s parted in the middle and hangs in brown waves almost to her waist. She peers around the room impassively. She doesn’t look terrified. She doesn’t look insanely overconfident, like Adrian that time in year seven when he performed a song as his book report for The Outsiders. Mike and I mark that event as ground zero for the downward social spiral of our group.” (p. 11)

Read This If You Loved: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, Paper Towns by John Green, Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Recommended For: