The Shadow Throne

Title: The Shadow Throne 
Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen 
Publisher: Scholastic 
Publication Date: February 25th, 2014 
Genre/Format: Fantasy/Novel 
GoodReads Summary: One war.
Too many deadly battles.
Can a king save his kingdom, when his own survival seems unlikely?

War has come to Carthya. It knocks at every door and window in the land. And when Jaron learns that King Vargan of Avenia has kidnapped Imogen in a plot to bring Carthya to its knees, Jaron knows it is up to him to embark on a daring rescue mission. But everything that can go wrong does.

His friends are flung far and wide across Carthya and its neighbouring lands. In a last-ditch effort to stave off what looks to be a devastating loss for the kingdom, Jaron undertakes what may be his last journey to save everything and everyone he loves. But even with his lightning-quick wit, Jaron cannot forestall the terrible danger that descends on him and his country. Along the way, will he lose what matters most? And in the end, who will sit on Carthya's throne?Rousing and affecting, Jaron's adventures have thrilled and moved readers in The False Prince and The Runaway King. Journey once again with the Ascendant King of Carthya, as New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen brings his story to a stunning conclusion withThe Shadow Throne. 
What I Think: I have adored this series since the first page of The False Prince. I'm completely in love and in awe of Jennifer Nielsen's writing and masterful storytelling. Every word of the entire series is brilliant. As someone who is trudging her way through revisions of a novel, I'm amazed at how Jennifer is able to put all of these pieces together. There are twists and turns all over the place. All along, we know Jaron always has something up his sleeve but it still feels like there's no way he'll get out of all the situations he finds himself in. It's such a blast to follow along and see what he tries next. 
Speaking of Jaron, the main character, he's definitely quite a character. He seems to always be the underdog but he seems to also thrive on being the underdog and working himself out of tricky situations. From The False Prince readers get a glimpse of what he is capable of but he definitely pulls out all the stops in The Shadow Throne. He's not the only unforgettable character in this series. All of the characters are so expertly crafted that I feel as though I know them. They seem real. 
Along with developing charming and memorable characters, Nielsen makes the setting come to life. She helps readers imagine what it might be like to follow Jaron along on his antics but also to realize the feelings he deals with. In this book especially, she captures what it might be like to be amidst battles. Overall, this book is wonderful and it's a perfect ending to this series. I'm sad to leave these characters and Carthya but I'm glad to know they'll always be there. I'm such a fan of this series. Completely excellent to the last line.  
Read Together: Grades 4 - 6 
Read Alone: Grades 4 - 8 
Read With: The False Prince and The Runaway King by Jennifer Nielsen, Finnikin of the Rock (series) by Melina Marchetta, Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore, Eragon (series) by Christopher Paolini, Inkheart (series) by Cornelia Funke
Snatch of Text:  
     "In my life, I'd had my share of fights, sometimes with fists, sometimes with knives, occasionally with a sword. I'd faced opponents twice my size, twice as mean, and, as a general rule, uglier than I ever hoped to be. But nothing had ever topped the ferocity of the argument now going on in the center of my great hall."(p. 1)
     "Fink was an Avenian boy who returned with me from the pirates. He asked too many questions, paid attention to nothing for more than a few minutes, and seemed intent on crowding multiple sentences into each breath he took." (p. 16)
     "As I drew closer, the clashing sounds of blades, the cries of the injured, and the odors of sweat and blood rushed at me in feral waves." (p. 34-35)
     "'Nobody gives you respect in this life. You must take it, you must earn it, and you must hold it sacred, because no matter how hard respect is to attain, it can be lost in an instant." (p. 43)
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Inferences, Making Connections, Making Predictions, Visualizing
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative, Commas (Series), Anaphora, Characterization, Repetition, Word Choice, $100 Words 
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you were loyal to a friend or a friend was loyal to you. How did that impact your relationship? 
Topics Covered: Determination, Wit, Perseverance, Loyalty, Friendship, Family, Love, Hope, Will, Trust, Belief

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The Snatchabook

Title: The Snatchabook 
Author: Helen Docherty
Illustrator: Thomas Docherty   
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Publication Date: October 2013 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Books 
GoodReads Summary: Where have all the bedtime stories gone?

One dark, dark night in Burrow Down, a rabbit named Eliza Brown found a book and settled down...when a Snatchabook flew into town.It's bedtime in the woods of Burrow Down, and all the animals are ready for their bedtime story. But books are mysteriously disappearing. Eliza Brown decides to stay awake and catch the book thief. It turns out to be a little creature called the Snatchabook who has no one to read him a bedtime story. All turns out well when the books are returned and the animals take turns reading bedtime stories to the Snatchabook. 
What I Think: I can't imagine if our books started disappearing! Little Eliza Brown has to get to the bottom of the mystery when books start disappearing all over the place. I completely can't blame her. I enjoyed how this book celebrates snuggling up and reading stories but also compassion. When Eliza finds the Snatchabook, she helps figure out how to include him in read alouds instead of having him keep ferreting books away. 
     It's so easy to misunderstand people and their actions but Eliza shows us how listening and understanding the root of the problem can go a long way in solving the problem. I also thought it was great that the Snatchabook was able to open up to Eliza and that she was able to help him. This book is a sweet read with potential to spark some interesting conversations.
Read Together: Grades K - 3 
Read Alone: Grades K - 3 
Read With: Won't You Be My Hugaroo? by Joanne Ryder, Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na,  More More More Said the Baby by Vera B. Williams
Snatch of Text:  

"In every house,

in every bed,

a bedtime book

was being read.

Tales of dragons, spitting flames;

Witches playing spooky games;

Pirates on the seven seas;

Princess trying to sleep on peas.

And every child in every bed,

listened hard to each word said."

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative, Descriptive, Alliteration, Anaphora, Rhyme  
Writing Prompts: Write about your favorite read aloud setting. Describe where you are, what it looks like, what it smells like, what you hear. Use your five sense to help your readers visualize what it might be like.  
Topics Covered: Family, Honesty, Forgiveness, Compassion  

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Locomotive

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy. 
Every Wednesday, I'll review a non-fiction picture book. (It may not always be a picture book.) Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other non-fiction books are shared this week!

Title: Locomotive 

Author: Brian Floca 

Illustrator: Brian Floca 

Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books 

Publication Date: September, 2013 

Genre/Format: Non-Fiction/Picture Book 

GoodReads Summary: All aboard! From the creator of the "stunning" (Booklist) Moonshot, a rich and detailed sensory exploration of America's early railroads.
It is the summer of 1869, and trains, crews, and family are traveling together, riding America's brand-new transcontinental railroad. These pages come alive with the details of the trip and the sounds, speed, and strength of the mighty locomotives; the work that keeps them moving; and the thrill of travel from plains to mountain to ocean.

Come hear the hiss of the steam, feel the heat of the engine, watch the landscape race by. Come ride the rails, come cross the young country!  

What I Think: I'm fascinated by Brian Floca's ability to capture a moment in time and describe it so that it feels like we are living in that one moment...walking around and examining every piece of it before you unfreeze that moment and life goes on.
     What I found most interesting about this book is that it's written in 2nd person voice. Throughout the book, the narrator is talking to "you" and it feels like the reader is literally in the book, smelling, seeing, hearing the sights and sounds, climbing on board the train and heading across the country. This book is a great mentor text for descriptive writing. Students have many opportunities to look at the author's craft and to discuss what he is doing. It's also a great opportunity to look at commas and when we use commas. Using this text, you might have a conversation about what comma rules we have and when we can break those rules. There are definitely different types of comma usage here though and we could take the time to notice what patterns we see as we read.

Read Together: Grades 2 - 12 

Read Alone: Grades 2 - 12  

Read With: Moonshot by Brian Floca, Train by Elisha Cooper, How To Train A Train by Jason Carter Eaton

Snatch of Text:  

"The hours and and miles roll by.

The country opens,

opens wide,

empty as an ocean.

Smell the switchgrass and the blustem,

hot beneath the sun.

Here the bison used to roam,

by the hundreds, by the millions.

Here the Cheyenne lived,

and Pawnee and Arapabo.

Here covered wagons used to crawl,

foot by foot, mile by mile,

heading into the West.

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Visualizing, Making Connections, Asking Questions 

Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative, Descriptive, Point of View - 2nd Person, Anaphora, Simile, Comma - Appositives, Word Choice, $100 Words, Alliteration, Author's Craft 

Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you took a trip - describe the "getting there" part of your travels. Write about how you get from one place to another - maybe from your desk to the library, from your locker to the bus, etc. Write from the perspective of an object and how it moves along during the day, describe what it might see or experience through the course of a day.  

Topics Covered: Travel, History, Integration - Social Studies 

I *heart* It:

To Be Perfectly Honest

Title: To Be Perfectly Honest 
Author: Sonya Sones 
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 
Publication Date: August, 2013 
Genre/Format: Teen Issues/Novel In Verse 
GoodReads Summary: Her friends 
have a joke about her:
How can you tell if Colette is lying?

Her mouth is open.

Fifteen-year-old Colette is addicted to lying. Her shrink says this is because she’s got a very bad case of Daughter-of-a-famous-movie-star Disorder—so she lies to escape out from under her mother’s massive shadow. But Colette doesn’t see it that way. She says she lies because it’s the most fun she can have with her clothes on. Not that she’s had that much fun with her clothes off. At least not yet, anyway…

When her mother drags her away from Hollywood to spend the entire summer on location in a boring little town in the middle of nowhere, Colette is less than thrilled. But then she meets a sexy biker named Connor. He’s older, gorgeous, funny, and totally into her. So what if she lies to him about her age, and about who her mother is? I mean, she has to keep her mother’s identity a secret from him. If he finds out who she really is, he’ll forget all about Colette, and start panting and drooling and asking her for her mother’s autograph. Just like everyone always does. But what Colette doesn’t know is that Connor is keeping a secret of his own… 
What I Think: Oh, this book was just so fun. Colette has a wild imagination. It was fun to read this while I was listening to Anne of Green Gables. Anne has a boisterous imagination and Colette somehow seemed like an older version of Anne albeit super modern and openly aware of how her imagination easily gets carried away in her lies...and the story is sooooo different...but both girls definitely have great imaginations.
     What I love about Sonya Sones and her writing in this book (and all of her books) is that she does a great job of capturing teenage emotions and making them just come to life on the pages. I so wish I had her books to read when I was in high school because she gets what teenagers might be dealing with and feeling. I have to say that I was starting to see how all of Colette's lies were going to come crashing down around her when Connor's secret was suddenly revealed. I think readers will totally enjoy Colette's story and how Connor comes into her life and has an impact on her. Ms. Sones does not disappoint and gives young adult readers another book to love.
Read Together: Grades 9 - 12 
Read Alone: Grades 9 - 12 
Read With: I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder, Crank, Tricks or others by Ellen Hopkins, Jumpstart the World by C. Ryan Hyde, Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski
Snatch of Text:  

I've Kissed Other Boys

But 

before tonight

I never knew

that I could ignite.

I can't believe

what I've been missing - 

this 

kissing...

this 

blissing...

this 

thissing!

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Visualizing  
Writing Strategies to Practice: Poetry, Descriptive, Rhyme, Rhythm, Alliteration, Anaphora, Irony 
Writing Prompts: Write a poem about the first time your experienced something exhilarating and describe how it made you feel.  
Topics Covered: Family, Love, Siblings, Relationships, Honesty 

I *heart* It:

Moonshot

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy. Every Wednesday, I'll review a non-fiction picture book. (It may not always be a picture book.) Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other non-fiction books are shared this week!

Title: Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 
Author: Brian Floca  
Illustrator: Brian Floca 
Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books 
Publication Date: April, 2009 
Genre/Format: Non-Fiction/Picture Book
GoodReads Summary: Simply told, grandly shown, here is the flight of Apollo 11. Here for a new generation of readers and explorers are the steady astronauts, clicking themselves into gloves and helmets, strapping themselves into sideways seats. Here are their great machines in all their detail and monumentality, the ROAR of rockets, and the silence of the Moon. Here is a story of adventure and discovery -- a story of leaving and returning during the summer of 1969, and a story of home, seen whole, from far away. 
What I Think: The fact that people have been and are in space is fascinating to me. It's easy to go through life (for me at least) and to not think about people being up in space. I love how this book pulled me back into what it might have felt like when we first sent people to the moon and then it reminded me of all the times I have heard about people in space. I'm sure there are so many stories about what people were doing when man first walked on the moon, where they were, the excitement around it. I was in kindergarten when the Challenger exploded. I remember we were all watching at school and were devastated when we watched it explode. When I got home, we were watching news and I remember them replaying it over and over again. Going into space is such an intriguing topic and Floca does a great job of capturing the excitement and suspense of the first time we visited the moon.
     Floca uses several different literary devices and many of them repeat throughout the book, making Moonshot a great mentor text for descriptive elements of writing. By constructing sentences in a certain way, Floca sets the mood of the story, building the suspense and excitement right to the end.
Read Together: Grades 2 - 12 
Read Alone: Grades 2 - 6 
Read With: Shooting the Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell, other non-fiction books about space
Snatch of Text:   

"The astronauts squeeze in

to Columbia's sideways seats,

lying on their backs,

facing toward the sky - 

Neil Armstrong on the left,

Michael Collins on the right,

Buzz Aldrin in the middle."

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Asking Questions 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Descriptive, Onomatopoeia, Alliteration, Anaphora, Mood, Sentence Complexity
Writing Prompts: Write about what you think the astronauts might have been feeling during different parts of their adventure. 
Topics Covered: Courage, Determination, Trailblazing, Integration - Science 

I *heart* It:

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild - Must Read Mentor Text

Each week Stacia and Amanda at Collaboration Cuties host a Must-Read Mentor Texts link-up. There is a different theme focus every week throughout the month and blogs can link up on Sundays. I'll be rotating through reviews of different mentor texts for language arts, math, science, and social studies. You can check out their blog for previous link-ups to connect with other mentor texts they have shared and other bloggers have reviewed, too. This week, we're talking mentor texts for social studies!

Title: Mr. Tiger Goes wild 
Author: Peter Brown 
Illustrator: Peter Brown 
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 
Publication Date: September 3, 2013  
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Are you bored with being so proper?
Do you want to have more fun?
Mr. Tiger knows exactly how you feel. So he decides to go wild.
But does he go too far? From Caldecott Honor artist Peter Brown comes a story that shows there's a time and place for everything...even going wild. 
What I Think: Today, I picked a maybe untraditional picture book for a social studies mentor text but I love this book so much and the more I thought about it, the more I realized how it does really talk about people and society and culture and to me, that's social studies.
     First of all, this book is great to read with students to talk about being yourself and following your own dreams. One of the classes I took this summer focused on young adolescent development. We looked closely at Erik Erickson's theory of psychosocial development. The identity versus role confusion stage is so critical and it's important that we help students navigate this stage. I love that Mr. Tiger recognize how he might like to change things up and then he follows his dreams. Reading Mr. Tiger Goes Wild with this lens would be great for students of any age.
     It's also a book that I think relates to trying something new or different. Earlier this year a friend told me about the diffusion of innovations which is a theory that attempts to look at how, why and at what rate new ideas and technologies spread through cultures. It's a neat little graph that shows different people: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards. Everett Rogers wrote a whole book on this theory in the 60's entitled Diffusion of Innovation. I had never heard of the diffusion of innovations but it fascinates me. My department last year focused on supporting adult learners and encouraging adult learners to adopt the growth mindset. This helped me see how not everyone is going to jump on board with a new idea, but I believe that if you get a few people going and modeling something new or different and talking about it (especially why and why it's worthy of trying) than others will hopefully follow along. Sometimes being that innovator or an early adopter isn't always easy  so I loved reading this book and seeing that even though it wasn't easy for Mr. Tiger to make the decision to go wild, he believed in himself and trusted his instincts and went for it. How many times in life to we try something new? Hopefully, a lot of times! Stretching ourselves is how we grow and as lifelong learners, we should be pushing ourselves to grow. Mr. Tiger could be the growth mindset mascot! Just keep him in mind when you try something new...and share his story with students and talk to them about trying something new. It can be scary but it can also be invigorating. In the end, Mr. Tiger is a leader. I love it!
     Besides the themes in this book, I love it as a mentor text to talk about dialogue. We get to hear about Mr. Tiger from the narrator but to show what the other characters in the book think about Mr. Tiger, Peter uses the other characters' thought or talking bubbles to show us what they think of Mr. Tiger. Dialogue is super powerful in writing because it lets readers into the heads of other characters. While readers may have a limited point-of-view or even a broad point-of-view, hearing what a character says lets readers see how others perceive the main character(s). In this case it's completely brilliant because we easily connect with Mr. Tiger but it's imperative to his story that we are reminded how his friends and others see him. Through their eyes, we realize how wild Mr. Tiger truly goes.
     I have two more things to point out before my final thought about Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. One is that the artwork is awesome. It's just awesome. I've enjoyed Peter Brown's style in his other books, but the colors and the shapes in this book are great. He uses color and shapes/lines to really show the different between Mr. Tiger's proper life and his wild life. It's fantastic. And, related to the artwork, this book has movement. There are a few moments when my kids and I just looked at the pictures and laughed and roared. When I think about the funny parts, it's because something funny is happening on the pages but each of those moments seem to come to life in my head because the illustrations are full of inferences that come to life as you read. I'm not sure how to articulate this well, but when you read it, I think you'll see how it just seems like Mr. Tiger is running all around through the book. Again, it's simply awesome.
     Here's my final thought: Mr. Tiger Goes Wild is Caldecott worthy. I said it, and you heard it here! I'm not usually one to get caught up in the awards or in anticipating what books will win awards but I honestly believe Mr. Tiger Goes Wild deserves it this year. Bravo, Mr. Brown!
Read Together: Grades Pre-K - 12 
Read Alone: Grades Pre-K - 12  
Read With: Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf  Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell, It's a Book by Lane Smith   
Snatch of Text: 

"He wanted to loosen up.

He wanted to have fun.

He wanted to be...wild." 

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Asking Questions, Making Inferences, Visualizing 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative, Expository, Persuasive, Anaphora, Dialogue, Personification
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you did something different from everyone else, be sure to include how you felt and how you dealt with that feeling. Choose something you feel strongly about - whether it's a feeling or a belief or a thing people should do or try - and explain why you support it. Take that a step further and create a persuasive artifact that encourages others to try something new - make sure to include evidence of why they should try this.
Topics Covered: Instincts, Trust, Belief, Adversity, Leadership, Culture, Integration - Social Studies  

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Poetry Friday - A Kick in the Head

Today, Poetry Friday is hosted by Jone MacCullough (MsMac) on her blog, Check It Out!  Thanks, Jone for rounding up all the posts today! 

Title: A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms 
Author: Paul B. Janeczko 
Illustrator: Chris Raschka 
Publisher: Candlewick 
Publication Date: March, 2005
Genre/Format: Non-Fiction/Poetry/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: From the simplest couplet to the mind-boggling pantoum, the award-winning team behind A POKE IN THE I shows us the many fascinating ways poetic forms take shape.
What I Think: I listed this as non-fiction because this book shares examples of several different poetic forms. There are a range of poems in the book, but I think most of them are fictional. If you are looking for explanations or examples of different kinds of poems, this is a great resource for introducing different forms. After students get some experience with the poetry types, they can write their own, and put them together into a collection of the different poem forms.  
Read Together: Grades 2 - 12
Read Alone: Grades 2 - 12
Read With:  I am the Book by Lee Bennett Hopkins, BookSpeak! by Lauda Purdie Salas, I Haiku You by Betsy Snyder
Snatch of Text:  

"Paper Dreams" 

by Bobbi Katz

Neatly stacked in separate piles,

we wait

for the shape of a stencil - 

the press of a pencil

the

snip               snip

snip

of silver scissors.

We wait 

to become

lacy snowflakes

fat santas

pointy Christmas trees...

White, red, green -

now we are just paper.

We wait quietly on a dark shelf,

dreaming

quietly

dreaming

of becoming...

Reading Strategies to Practice: Analyzing for Features of Poetry, Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections,  
Writing Strategies to Practice: Descriptive, Rhyme, Rhythm, Alliteration, Personification, Anaphora 
Writing Prompts: Choose one of the forms of poetry and write your own poem that fits to the poem.  
Topics Covered: Animals, Writing, Poetry 

I *heart* It:

Brothers at Bat - #NFPB13

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and The Nonfiction Detectives. Every Wednesday, I'll review non-fiction picture book. (It may not always be a picture book. Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other non-fiction books are shared this week!

Title: Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team 
Author: Audrey Vernick 
Illustrator: Steven Salerno 
Publisher: Clarion Books 
Publication Date: April 2012 
Genre/Format: Non-Fiction Narrative/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: The Acerra family had sixteen children, including twelve ball-playing boys. It was the 1930s, and many families had lots of kids. But only one had enough to field a baseball team . . . with three on the bench! The Acerras were the longest-playing all-brother team in baseball history. They loved the game, but more important, they cared for
and supported each other and stayed together as a team. Nothing life threw their way could stop them.

Full of action, drama, and excitement, this never-before-told true story is vividly brought to life by Audrey Vernick’s expert storytelling and Steven Salerno’s stunning vintage-style art.  
What I Think: Reading this book had me simultaneously wanting to be a kid again, ready to run out and play baseball, and wishing I had oodles of brothers. The artwork does a great job of bringing the story that Audrey tells to life. One image that sticks with me is when all the brothers are running out of the houses to play baseball. It was like I was watching them rush out of the door, hearing the screen door slam behind them as they wooshed by. There are more and more non-fiction picture book biographies popping up but I like that this book isn't about just one person, it's about all the brothers and how they worked together and were all bonded by baseball. They had moments of adversity, but by supporting each other, they persevered. I find it admirable to see how loyal they were to each other but also how passionate they were about baseball.
     The girl in me desperately wants to know that their sisters were up to while the boys were playing baseball...even if they weren't playing baseball, I'm sure they were involved or at least up to something themselves. I'm so curious about that!
     I'm really excited to hopefully use this book with a group of middle schoolers this year. At the beginning of the year, they will be focusing on expository writing and I'm going to use this as a jumping off kind of mentor text as well as possibly a mentor text for looking at how we use commas. I really like how narrative non-fiction draws a reader in and this book seems to prompt so many different opportunities to branch off into research: baseball, history of baseball, brothers playing baseball, war, sports in general, etc. I think this is a great text to use to talk about how we have to do research and let research lead us. Recently, I gathered a stack of non-fiction books to start brainstorming ideas for my own non-fiction narrative picture book biography and just checking out the books and seeing what has already been written about the subject I'm interested in is a great first step. Like Chris Lehman talks about in his book on research, Energize, we have to help kids venture into seeing what research is there and making adjustments in topics based on what they discover is out there. I love the possibilities for kicking of a research project with Brothers at Bat.
Read Together: Grades K - 12 
Read Alone: Grades 2 - 12 
Read With: Here Come the Girl Scouts and Players in Pigtails by Shana Corey, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
Snatch of Text: 
     "But there was no jealousy, no rivalry, no fighting. As the younger brothers grew up, the older ones shared playing time. If someone dropped a fly ball or struck out, no one screamed or threw down his glove or stomped off the field.
     'We stuck together,' Freddie said."
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Asking Questions, Visualizing 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Expository, Informational, Personal Narrative, Commas (series), AAAWWUBBIS, Repetition 
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you felt part of a team, whether you were working with family or friends. Do research on baseball and create an informational text to share what you learned about baseball (get creative about what format you use to share your information).  
Topics Covered:  Family, Friendship, Baseball, Integration - History, Teamwork, Determination, Integration - Sports, Adversity

I *heart* It:

Poetry Friday

I love poems and after making it a goal to read more poems in 2012, I feel like I read more but I still don't feel like I read enough of them. I thoroughly enjoy novels in verse and wish there were more. Poetry Friday is a meme where bloggers share poems on Friday. Every Friday a different blogger rounds up all the posts for the week. Click here for a schedule of who is hosting the round-up for the week.

Today I finished rereading Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen for one of the courses I'm taking this summer. It's a class so I can have my middle school endorsement and focuses on young adolescent development. If you haven't read Flipped, I definitely recommend it and realized more than ever just how well it depicts young adolescent development having read it with a specific focus for my class. It also made me think of books I love like 11 Birthdays, Stargirl and Wonder where the characters really connect with each other and grow from being more understanding and compassionate towards others. I found this poem about other people and how people impact us and thought I would share.

People

Some people talk and talk

and never say a thing.

Some people look at you 

and birds being to sing.

Some people laugh and laugh 

and yet you want to cry.

Some people touch your hand 

and music fills the sky.

Charlotte Zolotow

There are so many people who have made an impact - big or small - in my life and it's pretty amazing to stop and think of those people from time to time. And then I have to call or tweet or e-mail them. In Flipped, the girl main character, Juli, is the kind of character who has so much spunk and energy that it's great to read and know she has people who support her and encourage her. I think we can always use more people to support us. I hope this poem inspires you to stop and think of the people who have made an impace on your life...and maybe, just maybe you call or tweet or e-mail them, too! 

Forest Has a Song

Title: Forest Has a Song 
Author: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater 
Illustrator: Robbin Gourley 
Publisher: Clarion Books 
Publication Date: March, 2013 
Genre/Format: Poetry/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: A spider is a “never-tangling dangling spinner / knitting angles, trapping dinner.” A tree frog proposes, “Marry me. Please marry me… / Pick me now. / Make me your choice. / I’m one great frog / with one strong voice.” VanDerwater lets the denizens of the forest speak for themselves in twenty-six lighthearted, easy-to-read poems. As she observes, “Silence in Forest / never lasts long. / Melody / is everywhere / mixing in / with piney air. / Forest has a song.” The graceful, appealing watercolor illustrations perfectly suit these charming poems that invite young readers into the woodland world at every season.  
What Kellee Thinks: Since I received Forest Has a Song, I have read it at least a handful of times. Each time enjoying it as much as I did the first.  Each time also helps me notice new brilliances within the poetry. Within this small yet powerful book, perspective, rhythm, rhyme, internal rhyme, onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, and imagery are all explored. This book could be an entire poetry unit mentor text itself.
      I think this book is crafted brilliantly- Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, accompanied by Robbin Gourley, takes the reader on a journey through seasons and through a forest.  And within this journey, we also get to explore different types of poetry- a poem in two voices, haiku, pastoral, rhyming, and free verse. 
      Another impressing aspect of this book is the amount of observation that went into these poems. It is obvious that Any sat and watched deer, frogs, trees, snow, woodpeckers, leaves, squirrels, and many other aspects of nature before writing these poems because they are pure perfection in tone, mood, and imagery.
      And the final touch to this beautiful book of poems is Gourley's watercolor art that sets the perfect mood for what this book is trying to set. 
     I cannot recommend this book enough to all of my teacher and parent friends. 
What Jen Thinks: After a long week, Forest Has a Song was a breath of fresh air for me to reread. I found myself relaxing just by reading this book. The watercolor artwork is beautiful and added to the wonderful text in the poetry. Growing up, I spent a lot of time outside and taking time to soak in nature is something that still soothes my soul. I love how the poems in this book would be great to read before taking students outside to sit and soak up nature. Students can find their own little spot to sit and focus on what is all around them for a few minutes and then have time to free write about what they hear, see, taste, smell, and feel. This is a great activity for brainstorming and adding ideas to their writers' notebooks. It's also a great introduction to the idea of writer's eye. Once students start to see how there are stories all around us, they begin to see the world with a writer's eye. Everything can be a story, but writer's seem to look at everyday things and to see how a story behind it. Just using a writer's notebook and charging students with recording pieces of their lives in their notebooks helps them be more conscious of the world around them and what stories might be lingering there. Having students sit in nature is a great way to focus on what is around them and to gather ideas in their notebooks. Having students sit in a busy place and to also sit and listen to conversations around them is another great way to start up stories. I often find myself driving along and thinking about stories for the people I see. Just today I saw a woman walking on the shoulder of a very busy road. She had one foot in a medical boot and her two wrists were in casts, too. All I could think was how she didn't seem to be in any condition to be slowly limping along a busy road...and then I was so curious how she got hurt and where she was coming from and where she was going and why was she all by herself and was she happy or or was she sad? Maybe mad or frustrated? The awesome thing about being a writer is that we get to create our own stories to go with these seed ideas that we collect from our lives. Ralph Fletcher has more ideas about writers notebooks and sections for recording ideas. I love seed ideas and have used observations as a section tab as well. Forest Has a Song is full of great poems to share and discuss with students as they embark on their journey as writers with writers' notebooks.
     Throughout this book there are examples of so many types of literary elements. No matter what device you would like to highlight, I'm pretty sure you'll find a sample of it in this book. Forest Has a Song is a wonderfully versatile mentor text!
Read Together:  Grades K - 12
Read Alone:  Grades 3 - 12
Read With:  The Year Comes Round by Sid Farrar, Outside your Window by Nicola Davies, Look Up! by Annette LeBlanc Cate, And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano, Step Gently Out by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder, The Road Not Taken and Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
Snatch of Text:  

Spider

"A never-tangling dangling spinner

knitting angles, trapping dinner."

(p. 14)

Song

"Under giant pines

I hear

a forest chorus

crisp and clear.

Winds whip.

Geese call.

Squirrels chase.

Leaves fall.

Trees creak.

Birds flap.

Deer run.

Twigs snap.

Silence in Forest

never lasts long.

Melody

is everywhere

mixing in

with piney air.

Forest has a song."

(p. 29)

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Visualizing 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Imagery, Rhyme, Rhythm, Descriptive, Anaphora, Alliteration, Onomatopoeia, Assonance, Word Choice, Writer's Eye, Personification, Point of View
Writing Prompts: Take your writer's notebook outside and soak in what is all around you with all of your senses. Write a descriptive poem to describe what you notice. Then write a poem from the point of view of the nature your observed. 
Topics Covered: Nature, Integration - Science, Reflection, Discovery, Observation

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**Thank you to Blue Slip Media and Clarion Books for providing a copy for review**

Jen Rereads Okay For Now

Last year, when I reread in April, I shared my revelations about rereading. This year, I wasn't sure how different my thoughts and reflections on rereading would be. For the most part, I am recognizing again and again how the first time through is truly about reading and soaking in the story or the plot but that multiple rereads are for relishing in the writing and really noticing what the author is doing. This makes sense, but I'm experiencing it with every book and it was really noticeable as I reread Okay For Now.

I first read Okay For Now in May of 2011. I have nothing but great memories of the book and distinct memories about Doug, the main character. Reading it again, I still believe Gary Schmidt does an excellent job with the characters and emotions in this book. One thing that is different this time, is that I found myself not as enamored with plot as much as I thought I was. Rereading allowed me to really think about the book as a whole and how the plot plays out. While I still love the characters and reading about how Doug grows, I didn't end up enjoying the plot as a whole as much as I did the first time around. Now I'm wondering about this! Is it because before I was so wrapped up in the story and Doug that I enjoyed how it all wrapped up by the end and now rereading I realize the plot overall wasn't as strong as I remember? Or, could it be that I'm a different reader now. It's been about two years since I first read Okay For Now and I have read so many books since then. Am I able to recognize qualities of a book differently now from when I first read this book? When I think about Dead End in Norvelt and Splendors and Glooms, those are both books that lacked a strong plot and movement with the plot...and I feel a little bit of this now with Okay For Now. But why do I feel that now compared to when I first read it? 

What I really believe is that we do change and grow as readers. Something we love today may not be something we love later on and vice versa. Similarly, whether it has been two years or two days since we first read something and then reread it, we change as readers. We think about things differently when we revisit. Sometimes, we can reread and love a book all over again or more but other times we can look at a book in a different way by rereading and see things differently. Either way, what a strong discussion to have and what a remarkable thing to notice about rereading. It truly is a powerful strategy that we need to help students embrace. Our first impressions may need to be challenged and tested.

Title: Okay For Now 

Author: Gary D. Schmidt 

Publisher: Clarion Books 

Publication Date: April, 2011 

Genre/Format: Historical Fiction/Novel 

GoodReadsSummary: Midwesterner Gary D. Schmidt won Newbery Honor awards for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boys and The Wednesday Wars, two coming-of-age novels about unlikely friends finding a bond. Okay For Now, his latest novel, explores another seemingly improbable alliance, this one between new outsider in town Doug Swieteck and Lil Spicer, the savvy spitfire daughter of his deli owner boss. With her challenging assistance, Doug discovers new sides of himself. Along the way, he also readjusts his relationship with his abusive father, his school peers, and his older brother, a newly returned war victim of Vietnam. 

What I Think: Doug Swieteck is the most well-written character in children's literature. That's what I think. As I said above, having reread Okay For Now, I can see criticism people might have about the plot of this book, but I cannot imagine anyone arguing with the fact that Doug Swieteck comes to life within the pages of this book. I have so much to say about what Gary Schmidt does as an author. In rereading, I noticed that Schmidt uses voice and 2nd person narrative to really make Doug come to life. 

     To start, Doug isn't any average character. He is a boy with an attitude and, from the start, an un-trustworthy narrator. There are so many times in the book when Doug says, "I'm not lying," which automatically makes you wonder if he is lying or how much he does lie and how much we can trust him. There are so many times in the book when he complains and is completely honest, not holding back in telling the reader how he feels. And there are so many times when he asks the reader questions or asks the reader to imagine. While Schmidt uses amazing description, he also chooses perfect times to just say, "You know how that feels, right?" and he leaves it all up to the reader to imagine. 

     What I really love about Doug, is that he talks in run-ons. I know we aren't supposed to like run-ons, but so much of great writing really breaks the rules. Breaking the rules about writing can bring writing to life as long as it's done in a very conscious and purposeful way. I only pulled one really great example of a run-on (which also happens to be a great passage to infer about Doug's dad as well), but there are many examples of run-ons in this book but run-ons that make sense to Doug's voice and who he is as a narrator. Telling students to not use run-on or to not use fragments or not start a sentence with "and" or "but" is important but dangerous at the same time. I recognize that we have to teach them standard English but I also believe there comes a time to have a discussion about when we can break the rules and WHY we would want to break the rules. Often the best writing does break the mold and that's where we see voice shining through. Using various examples from Okay For Now would be a great anchor text to use in talking about using run-ons and the impact of that. 

     As I reread, I thought about Doug and how he reminds me of characters from some of the classic books I read in high school (and after). He reminded me of Pony Boy from The Outsiders, both seem to be misunderstood. He also reminded me of Holden Caufield from Catcher in the Rye except I so enjoyed Doug and Okay For Now so much more than Catcher in the Rye. I just think these might ladder well or at least make for an interesting discussion about what we as readers know and think about the main character as our narrator. 

Read Together: Grades 5 - 7 

Read Alone: Grades 5 - 8 

Read With: Eli the Good by Silas House, Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt, Paperboy by Vince Vawter, Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, A Separate Peace by John Knowles  

Snatch of Text:  

     "I tried to talk to my father about it. But it was a wrong day. Most days are wrong days. Most days he comes home red-faced with his eyes half closed and with that deadly silence that lets you know he'd have a whole lot to say if he ever let himself get started and no one better get him started because there's no telling when he'll stop and if he ever did get started then pretty Mr. Culross at freaking Culross Lumber better not be the one to get him started because he'd punch pretty Mr. Culross's freaking lights out and he didn't care if he did lose his job because it's a lousy job anyway." (p. 4)

     "Lucas is my oldest brother who stopped beating me up a year and a half ago when the United States Army drafted him to beat up Vietcong instead. He's in a delta somewhere but we don't know any more than that because he isn't allowed to tell us and he doesn't write home much anyway. Fine by me." (p. 6)

     "It was dark inside. And cool. And quiet. And maybe stupid Marysville was a dump, but this place wasn't." (p. 17)

     "The wings were wide and white, and they swooped back into sharp rays." (p. 20)

     "It was hardly morning, but already the room was sweating hot. If there had been curtains, they would have hung like they were dead." (p. 21)

     "I lifted the Coke to my lips, tipped the bottle up, and gulped, and gulped, and gulped. It was fizzing and bubbling and sparkling, like little fireworks in my mouth." (p. 29)

Mentor Text For: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Making Inferences, Visualizing, Personal Narrative, Descriptive, Run-Ons, Voice, Characterization, 

Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you felt defeated; like nobody believed in you, like you couldn't go on, like you should give up. Did you give up (and why) or did you persevere (and how)?  

Topics Covered: Family, Siblings, Friendship, Self-Esteem, Opportunity, Confidence, Honesty, Trust, Integrity, Integration - Art, Hope, Determination, Perseverance 

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