Reading Along on I-94 - A Monster Calls - Part 4

There are so many times when I list "Making Connections" as a reading strategy to practice with mentor texts and I'm starting to realize making connections with books might be what reading is all about. How do we connect what we are reading with what we know? Does it fit in nicely or do we have to make room for it and develop our thinking? Either way we are growing as readers as we make these connections with books. Today our discussion ended up being more about what we are taking away from the book more than the writing or the story itself. 


You can catch up with my previous discussions of A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness with Colby here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Next week will be our last post about A Monster Calls...it's sure to be intense!

JEN: I think now is a perfect time to take a break from the monster and talk about Conor and his story when he is awake. I love how Patrick Ness tells Conor’s real life story and his life with the monster story at the same time. At first, they seem parallel but then they start to intertwine.

After the second story with the monster when Conor demolishes his grandmother’s living room, Conor is back at school. (I think it’s horrible that he still has to go to school like everything is normal when it totally is not...I see how it makes sense but I also have no idea how he can go to school and try to act normal.)

This is the part when he actually wants Harry and the other boys to fight him and when it doesn’t happen and they walk away:

“But Harry watched Connor as they left, never looking away from him.

As he left Conor there alone.

Like he was completely invisible to the rest of the world.” p. 126

I felt my heart being squeezed when I read this. I can’t imagine having to deal with so much and having no one to be able to confide in. I was reminded of Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Hannah leaves tapes for the people who she names as part of the thirteen reasons why she finally decides to commit suicide. I felt like so much of her story is her talking about instances that added up in her life but from other people’s perspective they probably were trivial. What I took away from that story is that each little interaction with someone is still part of that person’s whole life. That’s how I felt when I read the line about Conor feeling invisible. It’s not just being bullied at school, there is so much more to his story than being bullied at school. The saddest part is that there isn’t anyone to realize all the layers to Conor’s story.

COLBY: The parts that totally weirded me out were when Connor would wake up and part of the yew tree was near him. Ness really made me think. It was SO creepy.

I think seeing Connor at school is really important for teachers. We don’t always understand what our students are going through at home. I wouldn’t be all that interested in learning how to add and subtract four-digit numbers if my mom was dying.

School can be such an escape for kids dealing with difficult things, but at the same time, we need to be sure that it is a safe and healthy environment for them. School needs to be a place for everyone to feel safe and loved.   

JEN: I think it’s so important for us as teachers to recognize that home life plays such a huge role in our students’ attitude towards school. It would be really great if everyone would realize this because judging teachers by looking solely at student performance just isn’t fair. Do you remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Maslow contends that we have to have certain needs met before we can progress towards self-actualization. I’m not sure it’s the end all, be all to human development but I think it is very relevant.

   

The lowest level on Maslow’s pyramid is for physiological needs to be met: air, food, water, sleep, shelter. After that, an individual needs to feel safe and secure. Then one can progress to achieving the needs of love and belongingness, self-esteem, and, finally, self-actualization. The whole idea is that it’s hard to move towards those three highest tiers if you don’t have your basic needs met. While Conor does seem to have his physiological needs me he definitely can’t feel safe at home or at school and it’s evident that he isn’t feeling loved or that he belongs at all.

COLBY: We do a lot of work with Glasser’s Choice Theory in my building. It sounds similar to Maslow.

He talks about behavior being driven by the following five needs:

        

Survival 

(food, clothing, shelter, breathing, personal safety and others) 

and four fundamental psychological needs:

Belonging/connecting/love

Power/significance/competence

Freedom/autonomy, and

Fun/learning

  

It’s all about people’s quality world, and if they are lacking in any of their needs their quality world isn’t up to par. I’m thinking that Connor is struggling in a lot of these areas.

JEN: I think understanding the students and their home lives really makes a difference to us as teachers. We have to communicate with parents and families to work with them to understand our students and to help them. For someone like Conor, addressing his need to feel connected and to belong somehow is more important at this point than educational objectives. He can’t concentrate on schoolwork when he’s so worried about his mom, not to mention his dad, his grandma, his friends, and other peers.

This makes me particularly mad when I hear lawmakers want to judge teachers on students’ test scores. I get that they want something to assess and it seems like it almost makes sense except kids don’t come to us in pretty packages and identical in every way. Have you heard the story about the award-winning blueberry ice cream? The super short version is that you can’t compare education to award-winning blueberry ice cream. Only the best ingredients go into their amazing ice cream and if the ingredients aren’t up to par, of course, they send them back and don’t use them. In education we get what we get and we can’t send our students back. We can get to know them and learn about them, find out where they are and hope to help them grow, but they are all unique and as hard as we try, they just can’t all be award-winning blueberry ice cream.

Then there’s the analogy about dentists. A dentist isn’t a bad dentist just because his patients have more cavities than another dentist’s patients. Maybe his patients have teeth that are more prone to cavities, or maybe his patients don’t floss and brush morning at night just like he advises them, or maybe they devour candy like it’s their job. The dentist has to work with those patients and do his best to help them but he can only do so much. We as teachers need to do our best to understand students to help teach them the best we can but the reality is that they all have different needs that must be met if we are going to be able to teach them anything. (These aren't my stories, by the way, I've just heard them from others.)

COLBY: I don’t really understand why lawmakers are all about deciding how teachers should be judged. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. My principal does a wonderful job helping us grow as professionals. It seems like the laws always seem to get in the way. The more rules we have for our evaluations, the less I get out of them.

I’m sad for Conor. I’ve had two students lose parents while I was teaching them, and it was awful.

JEN: I’ve had one student who was in remission for cancer and then it came back and he died at the beginning of last school year and I have another student who has a really rare syndrome and it’s amazing that she has lived as long as she has. When I hear teachers make comments about the parents and their attitude towards education for their kids, I have to stand up for the parents, and the kids, and remind them that being with each other and enjoying the time they have together is most important. If they keep them out of school and go get manicures one day, I say why not? You can’t measure manicures with test scores but you also can’t measure love with test scores.

COLBY: School always seemed to be a place for them to come that was safe and secure. I’m sad that school isn’t an escape for Conor.

A lot of our teacher friends read A Monster Calls. I wonder if they thought about what it would have been like to be Conor’s teacher. I do that a lot in my reading.

JEN: I do that a lot when I read except I seem to think a lot about the role of the parents. I think a lot about how the parents interact with the kids and how that changes the kids. Colby, you have to read Eli the Good by Silas House. It was such a good book. That’s a lot about relationships and especially about our parents. The main character talks about how he overheard his mom tell his dad that she loves him more than anything in the world and then he couldn’t stop thinking about how if she loved his dad that much there wasn’t room in her heart for her to love him. Now I am so conscious of not saying that to my kids so one doesn’t think I love the other more. It’s amazing how little things like that can be so important to a kiddo.

COLBY: I just added it to my to-read list. You need to make sure you read Wonder by RJ Palacio. It’s about a boy that has a facial deformity. He has never gone to school because of it. His mom decides that he should start school in fifth grade. The book is nuts! Crazy good, and it will rock your brain. Different parts of the book are told from different peoples’ point of view. It is wild. I wish that I would have waited to read it. Wonder would have been perfect for our book club.

JEN: I added it to my TBR. I can’t even imagine trying to go to school and concentrate on learning with all these others things going on. I’m so glad there are books to help us see through the eyes of others.

COLBY: I think these types of books are important for everyone to read: parents, kids, teachers. Reading A Monster Calls will help me to be a better teacher and father. Empathy is a hard emotion to develop.

JEN: Oh, the power of books!!! If there is anything we have learned through these discussions, it’s that reading helps us grow as people.

  

Dystopian vs. Post-Apocalyptic Week 2: Jo Treggiari Takes on the Zeitgeist

Last week we introduced our Dystopian vs. Post-Apocalyptic Saturday feature that will go through the end of March.  It will be filled will guest posts on the topic and what better way to start a discussion on post-apocalyptic vs. dystopian novels then to start with an author's perspective?!?!  Today we have the honor of having Jo Treggiari, the author of Ashes, Ashes, as a guest blogger. Before I share her post, why don't I tell you some about her. 

photo by Kate Inglis, 2010. www.kateinglis.com

Jo Treggiari was born in London, England but grew up in Canada, Roccasinibalda, Italy and California.She used to work in the music industry and eventually owned her own indie record label. The first CD the label ever put out was by a gangsta rap group. They also did alt rock and punk. She has trained as a boxer and could have been a contender. (Not really). 

Jo started writing stories for my little sister when she was about 8. Often she would rework fairytales so that the princesses had a little more grit. Then she would write them out on white paper, roll them up and tie with a red ribbon. Later on in high school Jo penned personalized naughty limericks by request. She love dogs, crows, and octopi. She blogs. And she enjoys baking desserts.

Jo's first book, a middle-grade fantasy, The Curious Misadventures of Feltus Ovalton, came out in 2006. Her post-apocalyptic adventure, Ashes, Ashes, was published June 1, 2011 by Scholastic Press. She recently finished a punk rock YA- Fierce and is working on an urban fantasy, Briny Deep.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to read Ashes, Ashes for ALAN Picks.  Here is my review: 

Title: Ashes, Ashes
Author: Jo Treggiari

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: June, 2011

Genre/Format: Science Fiction- Post Apocalyptic/Novel

Summary: Ashes, Ashes takes place in the not too distant future after a multitude of disasters have happened. Not only did global warming cause floods, droughts and other drastic weather changes, but a small pox epidemic killed off all of the human race between the ages of 30 and 60 as well as most of everyone else too. But Lucy survived. She is the only one left in her family and is doing her best to make it on her own living off the land in central park. Everything changes, though, when she meets Aidan from a close by camp and finds out that survivors are being hunted. Though Lucy struggles with being able to communicate since she's been alone for so long, Aidan and her find a connection and Lucy finds herself trusting him. From this point on, the action really starts and Lucy's life is truly on the line as well as other survivors.

What I Think: Ashes, Ashes is a truly realistic post-apocalyptic novel that takes you through a young lady's story of survival against horrible odds. The book will grab readers right away with Lucy's struggles, from finding food that is not contaminated to getting away from wild dogs trying to find their own food, as well as the human instincts that come when trying to survive either alone or with a group. One surprising aspect of the novel is the twist about half way through that takes this post-apocalyptic novel and transforms it into a dystopian one.

Now onto Jo...

The Zeitgeist

When I first got the idea for Ashes, Ashes, I was spending my time between New York City and upstate New York, caught amidst the contrast of woodland and rolling pasture, and steel girders, concrete and glass. I called it the summer of the snapping turtle because it seemed I was constantly stopping the car to move them out of the road.

I remember how it felt to leave the city behind. Much as I loved it, there was a lightening around my heart whenever I passed the limits and headed out into the green. I could breathe. I had plans for a huge vegetable garden with zucchini for everyone. I was reading a survival diary at the time and I wanted to forage among the trees for edible mushrooms and ramps and loganberries. One of my oldest friends had been swept out to sea during the Indian Ocean tsunami and survived. All these ideas and experiences went into the stew of my mind and started to whirl around.

Ideas come as little seeds. Sometimes they fall on dry ground and nothing happens. Sometimes they turn into bigger ideas. And books. Sometimes being a new mother (for the 2^nd time), stuck at home during an unseasonably hard and cold winter is the most fertile ground.

I wrote Ashes, Ashes in a big swooping frenzied rush, imagining the worst that could happen to my beloved New York City and the people who lived there after earthquake and flood, pandemic and drought. I wondered what would happen if technology failed and the wilds started creeping in and taking over. It was hardly a unique idea. I’d grown up on books like the Swiss Family Robinson, 1984, and My Side of the Mountain, and disaster movies like Escape from New York and Planet of the Apes, not to mention the real disasters in my lifetime- war, poverty, epidemic, greed, starvation, global warming, resource depletion, the nuclear threat, corruption.

And apparently I was not the only one ruminating on this sort of stuff. It might appear as if The Hunger Games trilogy came out and then presto, the next day there were a bunch of new post-apocalyptic and dystopian YA books on the shelves.

Because you know it was a super-trend. And a lot of us kid lit authors are psychic. ;)

In fact I was already working on Ashes, Ashes well before that. And knowing how long it takes to write a book and sell a book and publish a book, I think I can safely say that all us writers were knee-deep in our manuscripts way before this most recent love affair with all things nihilistic and hopeless began.

We tapped into something universally visceral and urgent because it was what we were thinking about.

It’s sort of like when the Ramones in NYC and the Clash in London both decided at the very same time to play short, fast songs filled with nihilism, outrage, and hopelessness. It’s the zeitgeist. And the same reason we wrote these books, is the same reason people like them. We are all worried about our future and we all express those anxieties and fears in our writing because it is cathartic and it helps us to make some kind of sense of it. And reading about the human spirit is cathartic too.

The Diversity and the Hope

But here’s what’s really cool. Yes, it seems that there is a plethora of PA and Dystopian books but for the most part they are vastly different. You’ve got The Hunger Games, but you also have Enclave,  Ashes, and Legend, Ashfall, Carrie Ryan’s Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy, Blood Red Road, Divergent, and Across the Universe, Matched and Delirium. Umm, and Ashes, Ashes. (Clearly using ‘Ash’ in your title is part of the zeitgeist too).

Some deal with a corrupt social order and the loss of individual freedoms. Some deal with the aftermath of the apocalypse. Some take a Sci-Fi approach. Some have zombies. Some explore survival and how humans rebuild or find new ways to live.

I’d say that along with the grim depiction of the world, the thing they all have in common is the fight. These are stories of helpless or powerless or beaten down or unprepared people deciding to fight.  And who out there, especially among the high-school aged readers, has not felt powerless?

It feels fresh. It feels acutely relevant. And although I talked about hopelessness and nihilism in the first section of this post, I don’t think any of these books would work without that spark of human ingenuity, that drive to survive, that ability that we have to try and fix things and make things right and re-imagine our future.

And I believe that’s what resonates with readers. Sure it’s sort of scarily fun to vicariously experience your worst nightmares. I mean, that’s why people go to the circus right? To see the trapeze artist fall or the lion tamer have his head bitten off.  So a New York City that has been crumbled into the earth is oddly comforting because as bad as things get with weird earthquakes and Armageddon snows (see how we love our disaster movie-themed lives!), it probably won’t get that bad. At least we don’t have zombies. Yet.

Jo hits it right on the head. It is through these novels of disaster, destruction and devastation that the readers find hope.  Thank you so much Jo for guest blogging for us and starting off the feature.  You can learn more about Jo at http://jotreggiari.com.  

We will see you next week for another guest post, 

and 

BookSpeak!

 

Title: BookSpeak!
Author: Laura Purdie Salas 
Illustrator: Josee Bisaailon
Publisher: Clarion Books 
Publication Date: October 2011 
Genre/Format: Poetry/Picture Book 
Summary: A collection of wacky, whimsical poems about books and all the treasures they contain. Laura Purdie Salas, the acclaimed author of Stampede!, is back with another collection of wild and weird, wacky and winsome poems about all the magic to be found on a single bookshelf. In BookSpeak!, each poem gives voice to a group that seldom gets a voice . . . the books themselves! Characters plead for sequels, book jackets strut their stuff, and we get a sneak peek at the raucous parties in the aisles when all the lights go out at the bookstore! Illustrator Josée Bisaillon’s mixture of collage, drawings, and digital montage presents page after page of richly colored spreads filled with action and charm. Together, Salas and Bisaillon deliver a unique collection brimming with ideas as much about spines and dust jackets as they are about adventure and imagination.  
What I Think: I’m so happy for this book. I set out to read more poetry in 2012 and this is the first book on my endeavor. It’s the perfect book to embark on this endeavor. I love reading books about readers and books and this book has poetry devoted to this! There is something wonderful about reading about books and readers, it’s hard to describe other than it just makes me feel like I’m cuddling up with a new book to read about reading and loving books.

The illustrations are collage type artwork that are whimsical and fun. I like how the illustrations bring the poems to life. I’m excited to share these poems with students. Calling All Reader is my favorite but I really like the potential of This Is the Book. In This Is the Book, the poet gives a stanza for everyone involved in the life of a book. Since joining Twitter, I have learned so much about the process of a book. It has been so interesting to interact with authors, editors, publishers, marketing departments, booksellers, etc. I have such a different appreciation for books now that I know more about how they come to be. It has been fun to share the process with students and to help them see how much work goes into creating a book to read. (I love showing kids that I have an ARC they can borrow, a book they can read before it’s even on the shelf in a bookstore! It’s awesome.)

In terms of poetry and literary devices, I especially love the poems in this book that personify parts of a book. My favorites are A Character Pleads for His Life, On The Shelf and Under the Bed, and Index. I especially think librarians could use these poems to talk about taking care of books!

Read Together: Pre - K - 12 
Read Alone: Pre - K - 12 
Read With: I Am The Book by Lee Bennett Hopkins, It's a Book by Lane Smith
Snatch of Text: 

Calling All Readers

I’ll tell you a story.

I’ll spin you a rhyme.

I’ll spill some ideas –

and we’ll travel through time.

Put down the controller.

Switch off the TV.

Abandon the mouse and

just hang out with me.

I promise adventure.

Come on, take a look!

On a day like today,

there’s no friend like a book.

This Is the Book

…And she is the reader

who browses the shelf

and looks for new worlds

but finds herself.

  

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personification, Personal Narrative, Poetry, Perspective, Expository
Writing Prompts: Pretend you are a book and write a story about the book's adventure with a reader. Create a poster, brochure, or video ad about how to take care of books.   
Topics Covered: Books, Respect, Adventure, Care, Responsibility, Perspective 

Jen *hearts* It:

 

The Kneebone Boy

Title: The Kneebone Boy 
Author: Ellen Potter 
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Publication Date: September 2010 
Genre/Format:  Mystery-Adventure Fiction/Novel
Kellee's Summary: The Hardscrabble children are odd. No one in their town wants to have anything to do with them (although the Hardscrabbles do not seem to mind- the older two like their own company and the youngest can entertain himself). This makes it hard to find adventures. However, when their father sends them on an impromptu vacation to London which spirals into a surprising adventure that takes the kids to a castle by the sea and the answer to a secret.
What Jen Thinks: I waited way too long to actually read this book. I put it on my TBR list forever ago and finally read it. I loved Ellen Potter's writing. I was captivated by the Hardscrabble kids and their story. I like reading about how siblings interact with each other. These siblings in particular seem to have a mature knowledge of each other and how they each will respond in certain situations. I think it's interesting to think about how siblings bond with each other when one of their parents dies or isn't present in their lives. So many books now seem to have siblings who are thrown into situations where they have to take care of each other while dealing with their situations after the loss of a parent.
The Hardscrabble kids are the three main characters but there are a whole slew of characters who also make appearances and are so interesting. I loved reading about all the different people the Hardscrabbles encounter on their adventure. What I especially love is that these characters are all important to the story, not superfluous at all.
More than the character development in this book, I really enjoyed the plot. I love it when the author takes the reader on a ride trying to figure out one story and then, in the end, the stories all collide and suddenly everything makes sense. It definitely reminded me of Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me in this way.
Read Together: 5 - 8 
Read Alone: 5 - 8 
Read With: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, A Whole 'Nother Story by Cuthbert Soup, We Are Not Eaten By Yaks by C Alexander London
Snatch of Text: 

"In each of their bellies, they felt a swelling of fear, like a balloon that was slowly being filled with pooshy breaths. Spoon had not been packed...poosh...the fact that Angela was not home...poosh...and wouldn't Dad find it far more preferable to live in an exotic location than in dull old Little Tunks...poosh, poosh, poosh...and then  - most horrible of all - maybe the police's initial suspicions about Dad were true. Maybe he is a psycho who murdered Mum and now he's abandoned his children. They started at one another with quiet dread in their eyes." p. 67

Mentor Text For: Characterization, Making Inferences

Topics Covered: Family, Siblings, Parents, Mystery, Adventure, Courage

Jen *hearts* It:

 

You Against Me

 Title: You Against Me
Author: Jenny Downham
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Publication Date: September, 2011
Genre/Format: Realistic Fiction- Romance/Novel
Summary: You Against Me is based off of a theme as old as time- star crossed lovers but set in a modern time where the dueling families are on either side of a rape case.

Mikey's sister Karyn won't leave her house ever since she was date raped by Tom Parker, so Mikey has decided he has to do something about it.

Ellie's brother Tom has just returned from being arrested for the rape of Karyn McKenzie.  Ellie was the only person home that night and it is her job to be the main witness to save her brothers reputation and future.

Then at a party for Tom's release as Mikey is searching for Tom to finally get his revenge, he meets Ellie.  She is beautiful and it is like she and Mikey were made for each other.  But they can't have anything to do with each other... right?
What I Think: This novel throws you right in the middle of Mikey's and Ellie's life where they both are in quite difficult situations.  They both feel responsible for protecting their family and it is pulling both of them apart.  When the two of them meet in the novel, you can feel the tension through Downham's writing. Ellie resisting Mikey, Mikey resisting Ellie, both resisting their hearts.  Man! So intense every time the two of them got together.  It was a romance that you root for throughout the book.

And always flowing underneath the romance is the powerful topic of rape.  Downham deals with it in a real, but respectful way.  It is also interesting to see the topic from both points of view and see how much a crime can affect not only the victim and the victim's family, but the assailant's family as well.  It is a point of view that is not often discussed when looking at crimes.  Another important aspect of this part of the book is that it also deals specifically with date rape and how no girl is "asking for it" no matter how she dresses or acts. It is such an important thing to teach.  In my review of The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney I wrote: This is a very important book. Although too old for my classroom, high school classrooms should make sure to include this book in their libraries. It has a message that is important for teenage boys and girls to hear. It shows that this crime is just that- a crime. "If a person does not say "no," that does not mean he or she said "yes." Silence does not equal consent. Silence could mean fear, confusion, inebriation. The only thing that means yes is yes. a lack of yes is a no." 


Although all aspects of the story were well done, I felt that the two main characters and their struggles were by far the strongest in the story.  Even though the story also deals with Karyn's rape and the court case, the true story in this book is Mikey and Ellie's.

Read Alone: Grades 9 - 12

Read With: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney, Paradise by Jill S. Alexander, But I Love Him by Amanda Grace, Amplified by Tara Kelly
Snatch of Text: 

"She didn't even look as she jumped.  She knew if she did, she wouldn't be able to do it.  Instead, she screwed her eyes shut and leaped into the air.  The cold shock of the water was crazy.  It was like falling from a plane, plummeting somewhere so alien-cold that ice might gather on her outstretched arms...

He tucked in his knees and jumped like she had.  He yelled, all arms and legs, and s splash so big she had to turn her face away.  when she looked back he'd disappeared beneath the water.  She watched the bubbles and waited." Pg 115-116

Mentor Text for: Descriptive language, Multiple points of view

Writing Prompt: Is it ever okay to lie to protect your family?
Topics Covered: Rape, Love, Bravery, Loyalty, Choice, Alcoholism

Neversink

Title: Neversink

Author: Barry Wolverton

Illustrator: Sam Nielson

Publisher: Walden Pond Press

Publication Date: March 27, 2012

Genre/Format: Fantasy/Novel

Goodread's Summary: Along the Arctic Circle lies a small island called Neversink, whose jagged cliffs and ice-gouged rocks are home to a colony of odd-looking seabirds called auks, including one Lockley J. Puffin. With their oceanfront views and plentiful supply of fish, the auks have few concerns - few, save for Lockley's two best friends, Egbert and Ruby, a know-it-all walrus and a sharp-tongued hummingbird. 

But all of this is about to change. Rozbell, the newly crowned king of Owl Parliament, is dealing with a famine on the mainland of Tytonia - and he has long had his scheming eyes on the small colony to the north. Now, Neversink's independence hangs in the balance. An insurgence of owls will inevitably destroy life as the auks know it - unless Lockley can do something about it. (Taken from Goodreads 12/28/11)

What Jen Thinks: I was really excited to read this book until I started reading it and realized I wasn't sure I liked reading books with all animals characters. I had memories of the Rats of Nimh and Redwall washing over me. I don't think I finished either of those books. I was also reminded of Guardians of Ga'Hoole and I did finish that one...but it wasn't easy. I watch movies with my kids with all-animal characters but for some reason I'm not a huge fan of books in this same way. 

Here's the best part of my story - I stuck with this book and loved it in the end. I tried to read it back in November or December but I had to take a break. I told Kellee that I needed some help, some kind of scaffolding to help me get into the book. She said to try and just think of the characters as people. That's what I tried and I just kept reading. I have noticed that I'm not the best at visualizing books. I've definitely developed this skill more since I have been reading more and more in the last five years but I don't see every detail in my mind. I feel like that impacted my reading of this book. It was hard for me to imagine exactly what Neversink was like. 

As I read, it became much easier to visualize and understand the characters in the story. By the end I was rushing to find out what would happen to Lockley and Lucy and all the birds in Neversink. My favorite part of this story is the emphasis on telling stories and knowing stories from our past. In a sense, that part reminded me of The Giver. We need to know our history to make a better future for ourselves. I love this message. 

What Kellee Thinks: Neversink is reminiscent of Animal Farm and Redwall but by the sea. With puffins! 

Lockley J. Puffin is not your average hero.  He is a good husband, a good friend, but he is not extraordinary anything.  However, he shows that you cannot judge a puffin by its daily behavior because when trouble comes to Neversink, Lockley is just the bird that they need. 

I found this book to be a classic hero's journey, just with auks and owls (with a walrus or two and a hummingbird thrown in).  Lockley goes through many of the Campbell stages from refusing to become part of the conflict to being aided by supernatural elements and guides.  He becomes the hero of Neversink. 

Another fascinating aspect of this story were the myth and world building. Wolverton built a world (complete with a map at the beginning of the book) where the animals played true characters and they even had their own government, history and myths.  But Wolverton did all this while still being true to the animals in his story. The book even begins with a guide to the different types of auks and owls so that the reader is knowledgeable about the animals in the book.  He did a good job at mixing the facts behind the animals into his fantasy novel. 

But what really made this story was the humor.  The dynamics between Egbert the walrus, Ruby the hummingbird, and Lockley the puffin are quite a trio, specifically the say Ruby picks on Egbert.  

"And in that moment of distraction, it crashed.  Right into Egbert to be precise. There was a sound like a cannon-ball hitting mashed potatoes as the flying object collided with a mound of walrus flesh, bounced to the ground, and rolled to a lumpy stop.

'Lockley! Good heavens!' said Egbert. 'Are you okay?'

Lockley sat up, dazed. He shook his head from side to side until the giant walrus and tiny hummingbird came into focus.

'I think you bruised one of my ribs!' said Egbert, rubbing his side.

'There are bones under there?' said Ruby.

Lockley wobbled to his feet. 'Terribly sorry, Egbert.  I didn't see you there.' 

'You're kidding right?' said Ruby" (p. 11)

Read Together: Grades 3 - 6

Read Alone: Grades 4 - 7

Read With: Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham, Redwall by Brian Jacques, Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, Seekers series by Erin Hunter
Middle Grade Companion for- Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Snatch of Text: 

"The sea, the sea!

That's what he wanted.  The sea was where he belonged.  Those funny shapes and awkward moving parts that made puffins so comical on land revealed their harmonious purpose underwater.  Below the surface, their short powerful wings and broad webbed feet propelled their torpedo-shaped bodies deep into the ocean's twilight zone, and their oversized bills allowed them to capture dozens of fish per dize.  Survival challenges that would cripple an eagle were elegantly and skillfully met by the humble puffin. If only we never had to return to land, Lockley often thought, our self-esteen would be much higher." (p. 140)

Egbert: "Although I did have the strangest dream.  I was walking along a beach with a carpenter, and dozens and dozens of happy oysters followed us, and then we ate them all." (p. 259)

Mentor Text for: Myth Building, Setting, Descriptive Language, Making Predictions, Hero's Journey, Humor

Writing Prompts: Have you ever had to stand up to a bully?; Would you stand up for your friends if they were being bullied? Write about a time in your life when you said something hurtful that you didn't really mean. How did you repair the relationship - or was you relationship never the same?

Topics Covered: Tyranny, Friendship, Choices, Bravery, Family, Loyalty, Determination

**ARCs received from Kellie at Walden Pond Press- thank you !**
Also check out the Neversink Interview with Barry Wolverton HERE

Kellee *hearts* It:

Jen *hearts* It:

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 1/16/12

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…who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

After doing the meme for a couple of weeks, we realized this would be a fun meme to start up with a kidlit focus - anyone reading and reviewing books in children's literature - it can be picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, you name it in the world of kidlit and it's in! We have loved being a part of this meme and we hope you do too!  We encourage everyone participating to go and visit the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and to comment on as many posts as you can. We love talking books and believe in sharing and discussing what we're reading. We hope you join us!

Last Week's Book Adventures:

Jen Says: I am so excited that I finished Neversink by Barry Wolverton! I was so proud to tell my students I had finished it and that once I got learned who the characters were and got used to them being puffins and owls and other birds and animals, I really enjoyed the book. By the end I was really anxious to see how things would all get figured out!

I also listened to Sidekicks by Jack Ferraiolo and it was great! It was so much more than being about a superhero who hits puberty but still has to wear his tight white costume to fight evil-doers. This book is definitely worth reading or listening to (the audio was great, too!). I finished The Fault In Our Stars by John Green that I downloaded to Henry, my Nook Color. It is an amazing book! We will need to review this again having read the whole book. It's amazing. I started reading We Dine With Cannibals by C Alexander London and think it's already better than the first in the Accidental Adventure series. I also read a book that I connected with in so many different ways and can't wait to review, Eli the Good by Silas House.

I was on a little bit of a picture book lull but we did read The Quiet Book and The Loud Book by Deborah Underwood.

Kellee Says: I had a good book week!! I read 3 books which is so much better than the 1 I did the week before.  I still am struggling with fitting reading in my schedule- my YMCA moved some of the classes I go to and now I get out of classes much later and I have to go home, eat and then I have less time to read than I used to before I go to bed. But, back to my books- the 3 books I read were all so good! First I finished Kate Messner's Eye of the Storm which comes out in March- you want it! A review of this will be part of our dystopian vs. post-apocalyptic Saturday feature so watch out for that.  


I also devoured John Green's The Fault in our Stars and it is by far one of the best books I ever read. John Green has done it again. He is so amazing at writing these books that are smart, funny, and heart-wrenching all at the same time.  


Finally, I read Andrew Smith's Stick is a must read high school "boy" book. This book filled with many different issues (bullying, homophobia, child abuse, survival, sex) doesn't ever become an issue book, though, it is just a book about love (love for a brother, love for friends, love in general) and a boy. I plan on writing a review for it, so watch for that at some point. 

Reviewed Last Week:

 

Just click on any picture above to go read the review

Upcoming Book Adventures: 

Jen Says: This week I'm going to listen to Beauty Queens by Libba Bray which is a long book and this is a short week so it will probably take me through the week. I'm still working on We Dine With Cannibals and then I'm excited to read Stealing Magic by Marianne Malone, the 2nd in the 68 Rooms series. I also told my younger students I would read through the A-Z Mysteries this year so I'm going to start The Absent Author by Ron Roy.

Of course, I'll be rereading parts of A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness with Colby Sharp. I love this book and I really hope it wins the Printz award. I'll be anxious to see who wins all the awards next week!

Kellee Says: I have no idea what I am going to be reading. I am currently listening to Graceling so I know that will continue, but next to that I have a pile and I will just pick from that.  It will probably include Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys which I have heard amazing things about. I'll let you know what I read next week.

This Week's Reviews:

   

Check back throughout the week to hear about these books. 

So, what are you reading this week? 

Please link up below and don't forget to check out other blogs to see what they are reading!

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