Call Me Kate

Title: Call Me Kate: Meeting the Molly Maguires
Author: Molly Roe 
Publisherr: Tribute Books 
Publication Date: 2008
Genre/Format: Historical Fiction/Novel 
Summary: When her family needs her to work after her father is hurt in a mining accident, Kate McAfferty accepts the responsibility.  She learns more about herself than she could have imagined when she ends up having to set out to rescue a lifelong friend in the Civil-War unrest that surrounds her.

What I Think: This is the first eBook I've ever read!  It actually worked out perfectly since I was home with the baby.  I could scroll through the pages with one hand without having to hold the book up.
     Besides the eBookiness, I really loved Kate McAfferty as a character.  Even though she has to leave school, which is a bummer, but it went with the time period, she remains positive and works really hard to help her family.  I love her relationship with Con and her stick-with-it-ness.  I would recommend this to any middle schooler that likes historical fiction. 
Read Together: 4 - 8 
Read Alone: 4 - 9
Read With: The Other Half of Life By Kim Ablon Whitney; Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, 1847 (Dear America Series) and other books in the Dear American series.
Snatch of Text: "'S'ter, S'ter, I need to see Katie right away!'  The disheveled boy who burst into our classroom was my friend and former classmate, Con Gallagher.  He bent to catch his breath beside the well-polished teacher's desk.  
     Twenty pairs of horror-filled eyes turned in my direction, then darted back toward the frowning nun, expecting the worst.  Sister Mary Charles never tolerated disruptions, especially to her beloved literature class.  I was in for it unless Con had a darn good reason to be here." p.3
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Asking Questions, Visualizing, Making Connections 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative  
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you had to be responsible for something important.  Write about a time in your life when someone was depending on you.  
Topics Covered: History - Civil War, Coming of Age, Responsibility, Family, Friendships, Love, Strong Will, Perseverance, Loyalty 
Translated to Spanish: No

 

Thanks to Tribute Books for providing me with this eBook and asking me to be part of their blog tour!

Dan Yaccarino Author/Illustrator Interview!

     Back in mid-September, I posted a review of The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau by Dan Yaccarino.  I was thrilled when Dan Yaccarino HIMSELF e-mailed me that he saw my post and wanted to share the book trailer with me.  
     If you aren't familiar with book trailers, it's like a movie trailer or a movie preview, except it tells you or teases you about a book.  I love this idea for getting kids excited about books and even for a project for students to make their own book trailer for their favorite read.  I love this particular book trailer because it does such a great job of highlighting the artwork in this book and building intrigue about who Jacques Cousteau was as a person.  
     I gladly share this book trailer with you now...and also an interview with Mr. Dan Yaccarino, author and illustrator!

TMT (Teach Mentor Texts): I read in a previous interview that you read comics growing up.  Were you drawn to comics because of the artwork and the stories or did someone influence you to read comics?  

DY (Dan Yaccarino): I loved the images mostly, but I really liked the way the story telling was equally dependent on both the pictures and the words, which is a balance I try to achieve in my picture books.

TMT: Where was your favorite spot to read as a kid?DY: The public library. It was so quiet. I didn't grow up with picture books in my home. I thought the library was the only place they had them. Not until years later did I learn that you could buy them.

TMT: I loved the library growing up and it's still one of my most favorite places!  Are there any books/comics you distinctly remember from your childhood?

DY: Well, I read Mad magazine quite a bit, but when I got a little older, I discovered Tin Tin, which in my opinion is one of the best comics ever created.

TMT: Why?

DY: Well, Mad was funny and gross and silly, which was just perfect for a 12 year old boy and Tin Tin was remarkably clean, well-written and paced and simply beautiful. Everything about it was top notch.

TMT: Tin Tin reminds me of the Archie comics I used to beg my mom for at the grocery store!  I also read that you spent a lot of time drawing when you were young.  Is there a specific place where you did most of your drawing?DY: When I was very young, it was the kitchen table, but when I got older, my parents bought me a drafting table, which I put in my room. I still use the base of it today. I just put a much larger tabletop on it.

TMT: Do you have a routine when it comes to creating your artwork?

DY: Not really, which I know is a very unsatisfying answer. My books can begin as a picture or a fully written story. I've also created complete stories with just a series of images, then add details I couldn't convey in the images with text. The pictures should do most of the heavy lifting in a picture book.

TMT: It is remarkable to me how important the pictures add to a story!  I'm often talking about how the artwork makes the story great.  How did you come to be an illustrator?DY: It was never a decision. It's who I am. I've always drawn pictures and made up stories. I was the kid in class that knew how to draw. It was a foregone conclusion that I would do this as an adult. I never questioned what I would be doing as an adult. I always just knew. I've been told that I'm unusual that way, but I have nothing else to compare it to. Whenever I'd imagined myself as an adult, I'd imagine I'd be an artist of some sort and I never questioned it.

I also knew I was going to be taller and I never questioned that either. It was inevitable.

TMT: You have two young children, how do you as a parent encourage them to be readers?

DY: My wife and I don't need to encourage them. They're great readers! It may have a little to do with the fact that they see us reading for pleasure all the time. Kids do what you do, not what you tell them to do. If you want your child to be a reader, you need to be a reader.

TMT: I love that! "If you want your child to be a reader, you need to be a reader."  I agree 100% and I do that for my own kids and for my students everyday!  What about encouraing them to be artists?

DY: I would never impose my career onto my kids. My father didn't want his children to take over his business and I feel the same way. They must be their own person and find their own way. I'll love them no matter what path they take.

TMT: Painting with watercolors with my grandmother is one of my greatest memories of her.  It wasn't my career path, but I remember spending time with her every time I look at a painting we did together!  Finally, I have never been to New York!  Since you have lived there for over 20 years, if I were to visit (and I hope to someday!) what is one place you would suggest I would have to see/visit and why?DY: I'll take you to Katz's Deli on the Lower East Side. It has the best pastrami in the world. The Metropolitan Museum has an incredible exhibit of medieval armor, which should not be missed!

TMT: It would be very cool to visit Katz's Deli, part of When Harry Met Sally was filmed there, right? And I love museums but I'm not sure I've ever seen medieval armor!  Thanks for answering my questions!    

     Dan Yaccarino has accomplished a lot as an author and illustrator!  He would make a great subject for an author/illustrator study for any grade.  You can visit his website, www.yaccarinostudio.com,  to learn more about him and his work.  Here are some of my favorites!

        

How Rocket Learned to Read

Title: How Rocket Learned to Read     
Author: Tad Hills
Illustrator: Tad Hills  
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books
Publication Date: 2010  
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book   
Summary: Rocket is happy playing and then napping under his favorite tree when a little yellow bird comes along and declares him her student and teaches him to read.    
What I Think: I get super excited about reading and books about reading get me even more excited.  This one is such a sweet story of a little dog named Rocket who doesn't realize what he's missing when it comes to being able to read.  I love when bird starts reading a story and Rocket is completely engrossed and can't wait to hear what happens next!
     I've been on maternity leave for the last six weeks and today is my first day back!  I've been thinking about what I want to do first with my students and I decided to read this book with them.  I usually start off the school year talking about what they have been reading during the summer and about what books they are interested in to help me choose books to read with them and to recommend to them.  To start the discussion I'm planning on reading this book and then I'll chat with them about books and ask them to take my reader's survey.  I think this book could be used in the same way to start the school year or even throughout the school year to talk to students about their experience with reading and what they loved to read.  I hope this books helps me start my school year and get my students as into reading as Rocket becomes!    
Read Together: K - 12   
Read Alone: 2+  
Read With: It's a Book By Lane Smith (Note: read this book ALL THE WAY THROUGH before reading it with students - I wouldn't read it with my younger students but I love it!); Miss Brooks Loves Books (And I Don't) By Barbara Bottner; Matilda by Roald Dahl
Snatch of Text: "Opening up a book, the bird began to read.  She sang out the story of an unlucky dog named Buster who'd lost his favorite bone.  A cool breeze carried her lively voice across the yard.  At first Rocket was disturbed.
     But before long he found himself captivated.
     To Rocket the story was as delicious as the earthy smells of fall.  It as as exciting as chasing leaves.  He closed his eyes and listened to every word.
     ' 'As Buster dug and dug under the lilac bush,' the bird read, ' 'he felt something familiar.' '
     Rocket waited.  Was it the bone? he wondered.
     Silence.
     'Was it the bone?' he called to the bird.
     More silence.
     'WAS IT THE BONE?!' Rocket hollered.
     Suddenly he was rushing to the tree.
     'Well, was it?'"
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Asking Questions, Making Predictions   
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative, Dialogue
Writing Prompts: Write about your favorite reading memory - this could be your about when you read your favorite book, when someone read to you, where you love to read, etc.  In you writing, use dialogue like Tad Hills does to create suspense or another emotion in your story.
Topics Covered: Love of Reading, Friendship, Curiosity, Success   
Translated to Spanish: No

 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Title: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian  
Author: Sherman Alexie  
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: 2007 
Genre/Format: Teen Issues-Fiction/Novel 
Summary: Junior is growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation when he decides he will leave the rez to get a better education by attending an all-white high school that is 22 miles away.  This book tells his story as he deals with adolescence and trying to find his place in the world. 
What I Think: I listened to this book on audio a little over two years ago (May, 2008) and as I opened the book to read through and look at the language in this book I instantly remembered hearing Sherman Alexie's voice as he narrated the book.  He has an accent and a kind of lilt to his voice that is unforgettable.  This is definitely a book I would recommend listening to because it adds so much to the book and to the character.  I'm not good at "hearing" a character's voice in my head as I read, I usually hear my own voice unless it's a biography of someone famous or of an author I've heard before.  Here is a snip of audio from Sherman Alexie's website that is a perfect excerpt from the book to share.
     I chose to review this book (even though I read it a couple of years ago) because it is on this year's banned books list.  It's amazing to me that this book is on the banned books list but has won numerous awards and been chosen as the best book of the year by various groups.  I do remember cracking up as I listened to this book and I kind of remember thinking it was a high school level book because of the content and language, but it doesn't ever need to be banned.  As I flipped through the pages I remembered why I would recommend it to an older student - because the main character is a teenage boy who thinks like a teenage boy and expresses those teenage boy thoughts in the book.  Obviously, there is nothing wrong with this, and I think it's healthy for teenage boys to be able to read a book like this and relate to what he is dealing with, but I would hesitate to recommend this to one of my 7th or 8th graders, maybe to an end-of-the-year mature 8th grade reader, maybe.
     For high schoolers, I think this book is great!  I think it's important to read books about people from different cultures and to be able to gain some perspective about their lives.  I think the fact that our country forced people onto reservations is a sad part of our history and I feel like the repercussions of that are not often portrayed in mainstream culture...have you ever seen a sit-com set on a reservation?  Me either!  Alexie does a good job of writing a hysterical book with a character you can't help but love while also portraying life on a reservation.  
Read Together: 9 - 12 (I don't think I would choose to read this aloud myself, I might read parts of it or play parts of the audio for students-see above-because the writing is so good and/or booktalk it.) 
Read Alone: 9 - 12 
Read With: Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie By David Lubar; King Dork By Frank Portman; Spanking Shakespeare By Jake Wizner; Drums, Girls, And Dangerous Pie or Notes From The Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick; I Am the Messenger By Markus Zusak 
Snatch of Text: "I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats." p. 6
     "Last week, my best friend Oscar got really sick.
     At first, I thought he just had heat exhaustion or something.  I mean, it was a crazy-hot July day (102 degrees with 90 percent humidity), and plenty of people were falling over from heat exhaustion, so why not a little dog wearing a fur coat?" p. 9   *Good for inferring who Oscar is.*
     "I was hot mad.  Volcano mad.  Tsunami mad.
     Dad just looked down at me with the saddest look in his eyes.  He was crying.  He looked weak.
     I wanted to hate him for his weakness.
     I wanted to hate Dad and Mom for our poverty.
     I wanted to blame them for my sick dog and for all the other sickness in the world."  p. 11
     "Can you imagine what would have happened to me if I'd turned around and gone back to the rez school?
    I would have been pummeled.  Mutilated.  Crucified.
     You can't just betray your tribe and then change your mind ten minutes later.  I was on a one-way bridge.  There was no way to turn around, even if I wanted to."  p. 55
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Asking Questions, Making Inferences, Making Predictions, Visualizing 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative, Anaphora, Metaphor, Descriptive, $100 Words, Slang, Voice
Writing Prompts: After reading pages 9 - 14, write about a time when you felt disappointed in yourself, someone else, or something - use anaphora like Sherman does to add emphasis to your writing.
Topics Covered: Spokane Indians, Reservations, Family, Friendship, Bullies, Poverty, Love, Adversity,  Courage, Prejudice, Death, Disability, Taking Risks  
Translated to Spanish: Yes! Here's the link to Diario completamente verídico de un indio a tiempo parcial, although it seems like it might be hard to get your hands on.  Bummer.

      

This book review is posted in honor of ALA Banned Books Week 2010.

Speak

Title: Speak     
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson   
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux / Penguin Group 
Publication Date: 1999   
Genre/Format: Realistic Ficton-Teen Issues/Novel
Summary: After calling the cops at an end-of-summer bash, Melinda finds herself as an outcast when school starts again.  She struggles with what happened that night at the party but has no one she feels she can confide in so she keeps it all to herself.   
What I Think:  It's hard to talk about this book without giving away what it's all about, and the book itself is written so artfully that it's not really fair to give away what it's about.  Part of the message in this book is that Melinda doesn't know how to deal with what has happened to her, she doesn't want to deal with it and she can't talk to anyone about it.  Anderson does an amazing job expressing Melinda's feelings by implying what has happened to her without coming out and saying it.  This book is an amazing lesson in making inferences.  I strongly believe this is an important book in young adult literature.  There are so many young adults who can relate to what Melinda is going through, whether they themselves have suffered exactly what she is going through or something similarly traumatic.  (**Warning - I am going to list what happens to her below in the topics area - so don't look if you don't want it to be spoiled for you - or look if you really want to know what it's all about.**)
     I have only worked for one year in a high school, but I would definitely recommend it to high schoolers (mainly girls), but I do work in middle schools and I think it's appropriate for mature 7th or 8th graders.  I actually think this would make a great book for small group or whole class discussions even.  I've found that middle schoolers seem to love the realistic fiction genre or teen issues genre and this one definitely fits the bill.    
     This book has recently been challenged for its content.  If you do read this with students or know a student who has read this, it's a great way to start of author's purpose.  Anderson wrote a poem based on all the letters she received after writing Speak.  I think it illustrates why she wrote the book and why the book is important.  You can read her response to this book be challenged here.
Read Together: 7 - 12  
Read Alone: 7 - 12   
Read With: Snatch of Text: Other teen issues books like books by Sarah Dessen - Someone Like You or The Truth About Forever, Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why, Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl and Love, Stargirl, Sharon Draper's Tears of a Tiger or The Battle of Jericho; Nonfiction about depression or traumatic stress disorder or other mental illnesses   
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Making Inferences, Author's Purpose
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative  
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you felt sad or betrayed.  Write about a person in your life that you trust.    
Topics Covered: Rape, Depression, Trust, Friendship, Family     
Translated to Spanish: No, but another of Anderson's books, Wintergirls, is translated to Spanish!  I haven't read Frio, but it looks good from the summary.  It was just released September, 2010.

 

This book review is posted in honor of ALA Banned Books Week 2010.

ALA Banned Books Week!

Today starts the American Library Associations Banned Books Week.  I just read through the ALA website and their pages about banned books.  I love that they promote everyone's right to free speech  and everyone's right to read what they want to read.   

Looking at the list for challenged or banned books in 2009-2010 I recognize that there are 9 books on there that I have read already and 2 that are actually on my to-be-read pile and right here in my house already!  I pretty vividly remember reading all of the nine books, and I do have to say that I can see how they could be controversial.  Two of them I read in school and the others I have read since being a teacher/mother.  As a teacher I'm always thinking about which of my students would enjoy a book I have read, and some of these I would definitely have to think carefully about who I would recommend them to, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend them to the right student who I think would be mature enough to read, understand, and interpret the book.  

Have you read any of these?  These are the 9 I have read that have been challenged or banned recently.  I was surprised at some of these and even more surprised at others that have been challenged or banned in the past (like Harry Potter!!!).  It's crazy.  I believe books should be available to all.  If you want to read it, okay, if you don't, then don't.  If you're a parent and you don't think it's appropriate for your child, then I do believe it's okay to talk to your child and explain why you might not think it's right for him or her, but banning it from a school, library, or school library is not cool.

Some of you have joined the #speakloudly conversation on Twitter after Laurie Halse Anderson's book Speak was characterized as filthy and immoral.  Here's what she had to say about it: "This guy thinks SPEAK is pornography." I didn't post my own response right away, just because it's hard for me to think straight when something so insane happens.  There are two rape scenes in Speak and the book is an intense book because of what Melinda (the main character) deals with when she is raped.  I think it is an important book for young adults to read about what she is going through whether they identify with it in any way or are just gaining perspective.  This is a book that I have recommended to certain students and I always explain that it's a serious book and make sure to talk to them about what they read, mainly because I want them to understand the seriousness of the book and the gravity of it's message but also because Anderson leaves a lot for a reader to infer and I want to make sure the student gets what the book is about.  I believe so many people are outraged by this particular banning because the accusation is really off-base - and I know that because I read the whole book.

Speak and other challenged or banned books need people standing up for them and their worth in schools and libraries.  I hope that everyone out there is reading, but I truly wish that every teacher and parent out there is at least reading what their students or kids are reading.  Had I not read any of these banned books in this post, I wouldn't be qualified to make a case for them and their relevance and importance in society.  Since I have, I know what they are about and I know I would recommend any of them if I thought they were a fit for one of my students or friends.  For the books I haven't read, I can't say I would be interested in reading all of them, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stand in the way of someone who is interested in them.

I wish I could be part of the Chicago Banned Books Week Read-Out!  Even though I can't actually be there, I'm going to make sure I sit down and read between noon and 2:00 p.m. to show my support.  Here are the two books I'll be reading this week in honor of Banned Books Week:

 

Stand up against book banning: 

read one of the books on the challenged or banned books lists, 

buy them, check them out, share them!