Unleashing Readers

The Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny) by Kathleen Krull & Paul Brewer

March 14, 2014March 12, 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 Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny)
Authors: Kathleen Krull & Paul Brewer
Illustrator: Stacy Innerst
Published March 19th, 2013 by HMH Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Summary: Q: How do you find all this business of having screaming girls following you all over the place?
George: Well, we feel flattered . . .
John: . . . and flattened.
When the Beatles burst onto the music scene in the early 1960s, they were just four unknown lads from Liverpool. But soon their off-the-charts talent and offbeat humor made them the most famous band on both sides of the Atlantic. Lively, informative text and expressive, quirky paintings chronicle the phenomenal rise of Beatlemania, showing how the Fab Four’s sense of humor helped the lads weather everything that was thrown their way—including jelly beans.

My Review and Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: I love The Beatles. There has never been anyone like them and that is what this book is about. It is about their popularity, their brilliance, and their humor. I liked how although the book is nonfiction and a biography of the Fab Four, it was about more than that. It was about how they changed over time and how they changed us over time. It was also quite funny to read some of their interviews and see how they dealt with the fame that enveloped them so quickly. All with illustrations that were a bit zany and like caricatures, but were so well done. This picture book is definitely an excellent introduction to The Beatles for our 21st century kids.

Discussion Questions: How did The Beatles deal with all of the fame when they first became famous? How did their reaction to the fame change over time?; How did their favorite candy cause them trouble in the end?; Which Beatle do you think was the funniest?

We Flagged: “From the time they got together as lads until they became superstars, the Fab Four made music, made history, and made people laugh.”

Read This If You Loved: When Bob Met Woody by Gary Colio, John’s Secret Dreams by Doreen Rappaport, The Beatles by Jeremy Roberts

Recommended For:

Top Ten Tuesday: Our All-Time Favorites by Genre

July 27, 2015March 11, 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 Favorites in ____ Genre

Instead of picking one genre, we decided to share our favorites in 5 different genres.

Ricki

Realistic/Contemporary Fiction

I just want to give a shout-out to To Kill a Mockingbird and Endangered. I am not a cheater who posts more than one book cover like Kellee (Love you, Kel.)!

Fantasy

I love, love, love this book (as you might know, if you follow this blog).

Science Fiction

Every time I read this book, I remember how much I absolutely love it.

Historical Fiction

This is my favorite genre, so this was a toughie. This book takes the cake because it taught me a lot about a time and place I thought I knew so much about…and it made me cry.

Nonfiction

I picked Tree Girl because it is such a phenomenal book to teach. My students absolutely love it, and I think it teaches incredible lessons about strength and resilience.

Kellee

These are my favorites as of the minute I did this post. Some where very hard to choose, so if you ask me at a different time, I may say something else. However, these are all definitely amazing books.

Realistic/Contemporary Fiction

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I know I cheated a bit, but I just cannot choose! Hurt Go Happy affected me in a major way, so much so that I share it with as many people as I can, and I may not have loved Endangered with out it; however, I had to choose Endangered because it is just such an important book. (Wait until you read Threatened too!) I also almost chose Walk Two Moons, Shine, something by John Green, or A Long Walk to Water.

Fantasy

I went with The BFG because it was my favorite book when I was younger and I am feeling nostalgic today. I almost chose Harry Potter, Lightning Thief, or Graceling.

Science Fiction

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Been my favorite book since 1993. Perfection in my mind. The only title I could have chosen even though I love many other science fiction titles.

Historical Fiction

This book left a huge impact on me when I read it and has been a favorite for years. I almost chose Between Shades of Gray or The Watch That Ends the Night–both also amazing books.

Nonfiction

Smile is just so engaging and I love how much my students love it as well. This genre was tough too! I almost went with An American Plague, Me…Jane, Faithful Elephants, or On a Beam of Light.

What are your favorites?

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 3/10/14

July 27, 2015March 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: This week, Trent and I continued our #bookaday reading and I am really enjoying it (I need to really set aside some time to write some posts about these great books we are reading). This week we read:

Rainbow Rob by Roger Priddy (What a fun rhyming book about animals, colors, identity, and feels.)
Do Cows Meow? by Salina Yoon (Another fun animal book–this one with flaps! The rhyming really makes books so much more fun to read aloud.)
Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers (This is a new favorite of mine. Oliver Jeffers’s illustrations are haunting yet beautiful and the story was just perfect. This one is definitely one we’ll reread.)
Daddy Kisses by Anne Gutman (Jim read this one to Trent. It is all about kids and their dads. Very sweet.)
How Do Dinosuars Count to Ten? by Jane Yolen (I had to read a Yolen Dinosaur book after hearing so much about them from Ricki, and they didn’t disappoint. I love how it mixes dinosaurs, math, reading, and humor.)
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. (This classic is so much fun to sing.)
Never Too Little To Love by Jeanne Willis (I reviewed this book on Valentine’s Day and had to read it to Trent because it is just so sweet. He’ll love the flaps and the story when he gets older.)

Ricki: This week, Henry, Dad, and I read Easy as Pie by Cari Best, which was a cute cooking store. I love cooking, and I love pie, so this was a great one! It teaches some nice lessons to kids (including cleaning the kitchen!). I also read Robert McCloskey’s One Morning in Maine. I didn’t like this one as much as the others I read, but it was a good story to read to a child with a loose tooth. We read There’s a Wocket in my Pocket by Dr. Seuss. Oh, this one was quite fun! All of the other children’s books we read to Henry were repeats. We need to go back to the library!

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: Week three with Trent will consist of more picture book #bookaday with him. It is always fun to look through his books and decide what we are going to read that day–he already has such a wonderful library, but there is always more I want to get! I am going to try and read some of my novel this week (though I am not sure where I am going to fit it in yet). Before I had him I was reading The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider and was really enjoying it–we’ll see!!!

Ricki: I am forging on with Michael Apple’s Ideology and Curriculum. It still makes me sleepy. I have been working on writing a research article about my Young Adult Literature elective with my advisor, Wendy Glenn, so that has taken much of my time. My brother-in-law bought me a copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis after reading Tuesday’s post that I have seen the movie but never read the book. It looks like Henry and I will be enjoying that one.

Upcoming Week’s Posts

Top Ten Tuesday Topic: Our favorite books in different genres
and on Thursday, please stop by to complete a feedback survey.

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!

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Period 8 by Chris Crutcher

March 7, 2014 by Kellee

Period 8
Author: Chris Crutcher
Published March 26th, 2013 by Harper Collins

Goodreads Summary: In this full-length novel from Chris Crutcher, his first since the best-selling Deadline, the ultimate bully and the ultimate good guy tangle during Period 8.

Paul “the Bomb” Baum tells the truth. No matter what. It was something he learned at Sunday School. But telling the truth can cause problems, and not minor ones. And as Paulie discovers, finding the truth can be even more problematic. Period 8 is supposed to be that one period in high school where the truth can shine, a safe haven. Only what Paulie and Hannah (his ex-girlfriend, unfortunately) and his other classmates don’t know is that the ultimate bully, the ultimate liar, is in their midst.

Terrifying, thought-provoking, and original, this novel combines all the qualities of a great thriller with the controversy, ethics, and raw emotion of a classic Crutcher story.

My Review: Now, this is not a “normal” Chris Crutcher book, but like all of his books, it is raw, true, and sports plays a role of some sort. And this one is SO full of suspense for the last 25%. It is a hold your breath, read as quickly as you can kind of book there at the end. (I do wish that this suspense had been spread out to 50% of the book. This would have helped the pacing a bit and I think it would have given Crutcher more time to give information into the crime. Although the quick pacing at the end adds to the suspense, I think spreading it out a bit would have kept the suspense and given more time to delve further into the bad guys and the mystery.)

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: I, personally, really loved how he chose to tell the story in 3rd person. Although it doesn’t give as much insight into one character, it gives you a little bit of insight into each one, and as you are trying to figure out what is going one, it is really fun to hear from all the different characters. (Some readers and reviewers have stated that having the multiple 3rd person point of views made it so the reader didn’t really know anyone, but I think it actually helped me get to know everyone a little bit. It also allows for the reader to get snippets of not just the mystery but of the characters allowing you to build the complete character in your head.)

Another brilliant think Crutcher did was include foreshadowing scenes right at the beginning of the novel that did not make sense until the end and then I had to go back and read it. Well done!

Also, if you ever need a mentor text on complex sentence structure or descriptive language–Crutcher is for you!

Mostly, though, this book will find its home in teens’ hands. It will be as loved as other Crutcher books.

Discussion Questions: How does swimming help Paulie deal with his problems?; At what point did you figure out who the “bad guy” in the group was?

We Flagged: “He hits the water, involuntarily sucking air as the cold leaks in. The colder the better. He deserves this. Even so, he pees in self-defense, his only means to counter the ice-watery fingers creeping around his ribcage and into his crotch. He swims away from shore for about a hundred yards as his body heat warms the water inside the suit. He turns parallel to the shore and strokes, finding a candence he can hold over the next two hours. He knows how to play games to allay the monotony; fifty stroke hard, fifty strokes easy; a hundred strokes hard, fifty easy; a hundred-fifty hard, fifty easy, and on and on. An hour up and an hour back. He has taught himself to breathe on either side in order to keep the shore in sight and swim a relatively straight line. On this morning, working on zero sleep, he holds an even pace; no intervals. Just his sweet Hannah wedged in his frontal lobe. His gone Hannah.” (p. 3-4)

Read This If You Loved: Any other Chris Crutcher book, Shine by Lauren Myracle, Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings

Recommended For:

A Response (Ahem…Rant) Regarding E. D. Hirsch Jr.’s Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know

April 22, 2023March 6, 2014 by Ricki

GoodReads Summary:

In this forceful manifesto, Hirsch argues that children in the U.S. are being deprived of the basic knowledge that would enable them to function in contemporary society. Includes 5,000 essential facts to know.

My Review:

This text left me nodding vigorously at some sections and wanting to rip out the pages of other portions. Hirsch gives an impressively extensive background of the establishment of the English language. When my students ask, “Who made these grammar rules and spelling decisions?” I can now give them quite a long answer. I love a book that makes me think, and as an educator, this text truly made me ponder my beliefs about education. Hirsch contends that literate adults know things that illiterate adults do not. They have cultural literacy, and there are common ideas, phrases, and words that literate share that allow them to hold intelligent discussions and read newspapers. I agree with this notion, and Hirsch proves it well.

He then continues by arguing that teaching skills is not enough, and we need our children to learn these extensive facts in order for them to become functioning, literate adults. My biggest problem with this idea is his list. The appendix contains 5,000 words and phrases (about half of the book). If we spent time teaching from this list, our students would suffer. School wouldn’t be about inquiry—but about facts and cold information. I am more aligned with Dewey’s approach. Our students must be given exploratory opportunities to enact inquisition. If we teach our students to be curious, they will want to read and learn, and then they will slowly learn these words and phrases. I imagine educators agreeing with this text and wanting to create multiple choice tests.

My other issue with this text is the fact that Hirsch is narcissistic enough to think that he can create the list of the words and phrases cultured, literate Americans should know. He tries to validate this by arguing that he worked with a few others and they received feedback from over a hundred people. I was not impressed and found this to be quite pompous.

Hirsch ends with practical ways we might approach the integration of these words and phrases into curricula. I was extremely unhappy with his suggestion to provide a test for students at different levels to ensure that they are learning the facts. More tests? We would kill the love of learning with his approach to education.

While there are elements of Hirsch’s argument that are sound, I was disappointed by many of the ideas he put forth. I agree that students need to become culturally literate, and I found this concept to be quite interesting and important, but I don’t think that all educators will agree about which facts are most important. Hirsch does seem to understand this and explains how the process of picking these words and phrases is messy, and for me, the creation of this list is where many of the details of his argument are flawed.

He begins his book by explaining how saddened he is that a literary reference (“The tide falls”) is lost on many people. I understand this allusion, and I disagree with Hirsch. If I used this phrase in a conversation and another person didn’t understand it, I would explain it. That is the power of education and teaching each other. We are always learning, and we can always grow as cultured, literate adults. Knowing these specific 5,000 terms (or the many more his more extensive version) do not make us culturally literate.

Are you culturally literate? I included a few random words/phrases you should know from the “5,000 Essential Names, Phrases, Dates, and Concepts” section:

Luxembourg

metaphysics

microfiche

The Little Red Hen (title)

Interstate Commerce Commission

hubris

L’état c’est moi

Dolley Madison

Planck’s constant

philistinism

wildcat strike

Benedict Arnold

MX missile

juvenilia

intransitive verb

How did you do? Did you get a few?

Blog Tour and Review!: Weeds Find a Way by Cindy Jenson-Elliot

July 27, 2015March 5, 2014 by Ricki

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Weeds Find a Way
Author: Cindy Jenson-Elliot
Illustrator: Carolyn Fisher
Published: February 4, 2014 by Beach Lane Books

Goodreads Summary: Weeds are wonderful! Persistent, exuberant…these plants have personalities, and this nonfiction picture book puts them on colorful display!

From bright yellow dandelions popping through cracks in sidewalks to purple loosestrife growing rampant along roadways, weeds offer unexpected splashes of color and life to the least likely of places. With lovely language and a sly sense of humor, this beautiful picture book celebrates the tenacious temperaments of these pesky plants and is sure to have little ones chanting, “Way to go, weeds!”

Ricki’s Review: The illustrations! The illustrations! I was mesmerized by the gorgeous artwork in this text. As I read it aloud to my son and husband, I was oohing and aahing at the bright, luscious colors. It made me want to go outdoors and lay among the weeds. If it wasn’t the dead of the winter, I would pull my son outside and read the book to him in our garden. There are beautiful passages of figurative language–alliteration that reads like a song, and readers will be sucked into the sprawling passages that evoke lovely images. The book turns readers’ assumptions on their heads. The words and images show that we can find beauty in, of all things, weeds. While I learned much about weeds and found the informational passages at the end (about different types of weeds) to be quite informative, I found the idea of weeds to be symbolic, too.

Kellee’s Review: I was blown away with how fascinating the author made something that we walk by every day and ignore. The text itself is quite lyrical and has the amazing illustrations with it; however, I found the goodies in the research in the afterword. It was very interesting for me to learn that these plants, which we treat like pests, are actually so very useful. I second much of what Ricki says about the figurative language. I love seeing these elements being used in a nonfiction book! Overall, this is a nonfiction book that should be shared with kids and will definitely start some major discussions.

Teachers’ Tool for Navigation: Teachers will find multiple opportunities with this text. They can use it to teach different types of figurative language, or they might ask students to explore weeds in a more symbolic way. We love the idea of using nonfiction at such a young age, and we wonder if teachers might try literature circles with this text. While it is marketed for ages 4-8, it could be used for different purposes with a variety of age groups. The informational passages at the end might allow teachers to help students research about different types of plants. We also love the illustrations so much that we would love to have kids take the pictures and write their own stories to match the images. It would show that nonfiction can be accessible and fun.

Discussion Questions: Why do weeds get a bad reputation? What else might we compare weeds to? Are there other things in the world that are unfairly loathed?; How does the author use figurative language to draw the reader in?; What makes a plant a weed?; Some of the plants shared at the end of the book are useful (for foods, medication, etc.); however, we still treat them as weeds. Why do we have this perspective of these plants?

We Flagged: “Weeds find way to stay, reaching deep with a grip so strong, the stem always breaks first, leaving the living roots behind to sprout again; or pinching into pieces the minute you try to tug them out, spreading into a spray of plant parts that find new spots to take root” (p. 21-22).

Read This If You Loved: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins

About the Author: Cindy Jenson-Elliott is the author of fourteen books of nonfiction and hundreds of articles for newspapers, magazines and educational publishers. She is a teacher and environmental educator with an MA in education and a passion for connecting children with nature. In her free time, she enjoys swimming in the ocean and spending time outdoors in San Diego, where she lives and gardens with her family of four humans and three Buff Orpington chickens. Visit her at CindyJensonElliott.com.

Recommended For:

Check out all the stops on the WEEDS FIND A WAY blog tour!

Mon, Feb 24	Growing with Science	http://blog.growingwithscience.com/
Tues, Feb 25	As They Grow Up	http://www.astheygrowup.com/
Wed, Feb 26	Kid Lit Frenzy	http://www.kidlitfrenzy.com/
Thurs, Feb 27	Sharpread	http://sharpread.wordpress.com/
Fri, Feb 28	Children’s Book Review	http://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/
Mon, Mar 3	Let’s Go Chipper!	http://letsgochipper.com/
Tues, Mar 4	Just a Little Creativity	http://www.justalittlecreativity.com/
Wed, Mar 5	Unleashing Readers	http://www.unleashingreaders.com/
Thurs, Mar 6	5 Minutes for Books	http://www.5minutesformom.com/category/feature-columns/5-minutes-for-books/
Fri, Mar 7	Archimedes Notebook	http://archimedesnotebook.blogspot.com/

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**Thank you to Barbara Fisch at Blue Slip Media for providing us with copies for review**

Top Ten Tuesday: Popular Authors We’ve Never Read

March 4, 2014 by Kellee

Today’s Topic: Top Ten Popular Authors We’ve Never Read

Although they are popular, we just have not gotten around to them (or have no interest!).

Ricki

1. Stephen King

The movie It scared me as a child, so I think I fear his books.

2. Nicholas Sparks

I own several of his books, but I have never tried them. I can’t tell you why! (Kellee, I stole this one from you.)

3. J.K. Rowling

Don’t hate me. I read a page of Harry Potter and didn’t continue on. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t have a strong desire to continue. I should probably give the books a better try.

4. Lemony Snicket

To be fair, I read Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler. But I haven’t read any of the books under his Lemony Snicket pen name.

5. C. S. Lewis

I think I saw a movie of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, but I have never read the books. I’d love to read them to Henry, though! Perhaps, I will set this as a goal.

Kellee

1. Tom Clancy

This is bad… I like his books as movies, but have no need to read his books.

2. John Grisham

I am almost tempted to read his Theodore Boone books since I have some students who love them, but I’m just not sure…

3. George R.R. Martin

Eh. Even people who love Game of Thrones haven’t been able to convince me that I will; however, someone could sell me on it one day.

4. Nicholas Sparks

Romance novels are already not one of my favorites and romance that will make me cry… no interest.

5. Jodi Picoult

I actually have some Picoult books that I really want to read, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Which of these authors should we read?
Are there any popular authors you haven’t read?

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