Doll Bones

Title: Doll Bones 
Author: Holly Black  
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books 
Publication Date: May, 2013
Genre/Format: Paranormal Mystery/Middle Grade Novel 
GoodReads Summary: Zach, Poppy and Alice have been friends for ever. They love playing with their action figure toys, imagining a magical world of adventure and heroism. But disaster strikes when, without warning, Zach’s father throws out all his toys, declaring he’s too old for them. Zach is furious, confused and embarrassed, deciding that the only way to cope is to stop playing . . . and stop being friends with Poppy and Alice. But one night the girls pay Zach a visit, and tell him about a series of mysterious occurrences. Poppy swears that she is now being haunted by a china doll – who claims that it is made from the ground-up bones of a murdered girl. They must return the doll to where the girl lived, and bury it. Otherwise the three children will be cursed for eternity . . . 
What I Think: I've been letting this book sink in for a while now. First of all, isn't the cover just creepingly lovely? It's spooky in such a beautiful way...although a little more on the creepy side than not. What has really stuck with me after reading this book are the characters. Holly Black does a wonderful job of developing her three main characters in this book. She captures them just as they are at a pivotal moment of growing up. The story of the china doll keeps them together when life tries to grow them apart. Growing up is a part of life but managing adolescence isn't always easy.
     As a mentor text, I love this book for pulling great snatches of text for description. Whether she is describing the characters in the book or the setting, Holly does a great job of bringing it all to life in such a real way. She strikes me as being brutally honest with her description. I think this is something that students will appreciate and relate to because she is so detailed and honest about the main characters' lives. She brings the setting to life in such a way that I couldn't help but feel the creepiness in the air as well. All the description came together so well to build the tone and mood of the whole story.
Read Together: Grades 5 - 8  
Read Alone: Grades 6 - 8 
Read With: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks, Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol, The Raven Boys (series) by Maggie Stiefvater, Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama
Snatch of Text:  
"The inside of Poppy's house was always a mess. Discarded clothes, half-empty cups, and sports equipment covered most surfaces. Her parents seemed to have given up on the house around the same time they gave up on trying to enforce any rules about dinners and bedtimes and fighting - around Poppy's eighth birthday, when one of her brothers threw her cake with its still-life birthday candles at her older sister. There weren't even family meals, just boxes of macaroni and cheese, cans of ravioli, and tins of sardines in the pantry so that the kids could feed themselves long before their parents came home from work and fell, exhausted, into their bed." (p. 7)

"An eerie wind sang through the untrimmed trees in front of Mr. Thompson's old house at the end of the block." (p. 22)
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Making Inferences 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative, Descriptive, Characterization 
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when realized you were growing up or changing in some way.  
Topics Covered: Friendship, Family, Imagination, Loyalty, Determination, Trust, Growing Up 

I *heart* It:

Goldilocks and Just One Bear

Title: Goldilocks and Just One Bear 
Author: Leigh Hodgkinson  
Illustrator: Leigh Hodgkinson 
Publisher: Nosy Crow 
Publication Date: August, 2012 
Genre/Format: Fiction-Fairy Tale/Picture Book
GoodReads Summary: In this award-winning author/illustrator’s witty sequel to the traditional Goldilocks story, Little Bear is all grown up and Goldilocks is a distant memory. One day, Little Bear wanders out of the woods and finds himself lost in the Big City. Will he find the city too noisy? Too quiet? Or just right? And what are the chances of him bumping in to someone who remembers exactly how he likes his porridge? 
What I Think: Leigh Hodgkinson's artwork is colorful and playful and I am drawn to it every time (ever since Charlie and Lola...I adore them!). I love the sweet bear in this story...even if he does get a bit mixed up and if he does get a bit disrespectful to others' things. There are some great fractured fairy tales out there, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Sciezcka being one of my favorites, and Goldilocks and Just One Bear puts a modern twist on the classic Goldilocks story. I think kids will love predicting what's going to happen to the bear and may even be surprised to discover just exactly whose house he has wandered into...or maybe not, but either way, I think they'll be delighted with the ending. 
     As a mentor text, I really like Leigh's style of writing and the great word choice she employs in this book. There are some wonderful adjectives and vibrant verbs that make the story so much more appealing. Usually these fun and fanciful words are in a different typeset in the book so they stand out. I always enjoyed talking to students about adjectives. We would brainstorm synonyms or look them up in a thesaurus and then rank the words from least to most. For instance, one of the adjectives in this book is "soggy." Synonyms for soggy would be: wet, moist, soaked, damp, sopping wet. Then we would put them in order based on their intensity. The list might become, from least to most:

damp

moist

wet

soggy

soaked

sopping wet

And you might put them in a totally different order...but I liked having the discussion with kids about where we would put them. We would come up with examples for when we would use these words and put them in sentences as we talked through how to use them. I love the thesaurus as a tool but if kids go to a thesaurus, they have to realize they can't just substitute words for each other. They have to realize the intentionality that goes with using one word over another. This is a great opportunity to talk about word choice and how greatly word choice impacts writing. 

Read Together: Grades K - 5 
Read Alone: Grades 2 - 5 
Read With: Other versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears 
Snatch of Text:   

"Once upon a time, there was this bear.

One minute, he was strolling in the woods,

all happy-go-lucky...

The next minute, he didn't have a crumb-of-a-clue

where he was.

He was one 

COMPLETELY

lost bear."

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Making Inferences, Making Predictions 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Descriptive, Word Choice, Adjectives, Compound Adjectives, Compare and Contrast, Personal Narrative, Repetition,   
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you were lost - whether you were confused or really not sure where you were. How did you feel? What did you do in this situation? Compare this story to the traditional Goldilocks and the Three Bears. What did the author change? What did the author imply about the decision that the bear made compared to Goldilocks' decisions from the traditional story?
Topics Covered: Confusion, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Making Decisions

I *heart* It:

Marvelous Maisy Mouse!

I can never get enough of wonderful series books! I was excited to get Maisy at the Beach: A Maisy Sticker Books by Lucy Cousins from Candlewick Press to review. I realized I couldn't just talk about this singular book because all the Maisy books are fun!

Lucy Cousins' Maisy series is full of colorful picture books about Maisy Mouse and her friends. They go to the library, on vacation, camping, and even the beach - and that's just getting started! I love how kids can learn about Maisy's everyday-adventures through these books.

Cousins has over 21 million book in print and Maisy even stars in her own TV show. It's hard not to smile when you see the vibrant illustrations and Maisy's smiling face. The Maisy books are perfect for preschool- and kindergarten-age students. The text narrates a play-by-play of Maisy's experiences for readers to join in on Maisy's fun. Because the books span so many different topics, they are perfect to read before or after kids get to partake in their own Maisy-like adventure. This makes these books ideal for ELLs or students with hearing loss like my students. The language is clear and matches the pictures which makes them wonderful for kids to act out. The My Friend Maisy website shares activities and ideas for more activities. Kids can also join the Maisy Fun Club where you can read books online, print coloring pages, play interactive online games and even find recipes and crafts.

Maisy at the Beach is a sticker book that is perfect for helping kids follow directions and think closely about directional phrases. Being able to follow directions is an important skill! The book comes with directions that ask parents to tear out the sticker pages and put them next to the open pages of the book so kids can look at both at the same time. We have other sticker books in our house, but this book is definitely about kids interacting with the text and listening to what the text is saying.

If you aren't familiar with the Maisy books, I definitely recommend them for young children and especially for kids in special education or English Language Learners. And if you know kids who love Maisy, don't forget another beloved mouse - Miss Babymouse - for when those Maisy fans get a bit older!

 
**Thank you to Candlewick Press for providing a copy of his novel for review**

Piggies In The Pumpkin Patch

Title: Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch     
Author: Mary Peterson and Jennifer Rofe 
Illustrator: Mary Peterson
Publisher: Charlesbridge 
Publication Date: July 2010
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book   
Summary: The romping piggies venture all over the farm! 
What I Think: While this is a simple book, I love all the language that is packed into it. This is a perfect book for little ones working on prepositions like over and under but also great for older students working on using those grand $100 words like peek and sneak instead of overused words like look and walk. The illustrations are fun and the pigs are funny. It's fun to predict where these guys will go next! 
This would be a fun book to read and then have kids write about their own day or even write a class book about what they do for the day and incorporate prepositions and $100 words. Even better, this book is great for students who are learning English as a second language because it can give them access to how prepositions are used appropriately and also provide the visual to help them acquire some of the more obscure prepositions in English. As a Spanish speaker, I know transferring knowledge and use of prepositions from Spanish to English is not always easy because it seems like English does have many more prepositions with some zany rules as how and when to use them.
Read Together: Pre-K - 5
Read Alone: Pre-K - 5 
Read With: Over in the Meadow by Ezra Jack Keats, In the Small, Small Pond and In the Tall, Tall Grass  by Denise Fleming, Under, Over, by the Clover: What Is a Preposition? (Words Are Categorical) by Brian P. Cleary, Behind the Mask: A Book about Prepositions (World of Language) by Ruth Heller, If You Were a Preposition (Word Fun) by Nancy Loewen,
Snatch of Text: 

"Piggies in the pumpkin patch

peek

and sneak,

under crinkly, clean sheets,

over growing,

green beans, 

behind snoring, sleepy sheep,

into the clover field."

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Making Predictions 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative  
Writing Prompts: Write like the author of Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch and tell about your day - where do you go, maybe around your house, around your school? Use $100 words and prepositions! 
Topics Covered: Farm, Animals, Adventure, Parts of Speech - Prepositions, $100 Words 
Translated to Spanish: No