To be read list...

With the school year in full swing, I have not been able to read as much lately. During SSR I have been doing running records. It looks like I will be meeting with a group of students for guided reading during SSR for most of the year, so my days of enjoying a good book and regrouping during SSR may be over. I will have to make reading at home a priority.

I just started reading:
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging
and
P.J. Hoover's ARC of The Emerald Tablet

I have been reading off and on:
Hearts and Hands: Creating Community in Violent Times
and
La travesia de Enrique

All these books are stacked on the shelf on my computer desk, to be read in a timely fashion (hopefully):
The Lovely Bones
The Joy Luck Club
Bridget Jones's Diary
Noticia de un secuestro
Dreaming in Cuban
Yo!
Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination
Cuando Era Puertorriquena
Fifteen Minutes of Shame
Good in Bed
Burro Genius
A Thread of Grace
Water for Elephants
The Tale of Despereaux

There are loads more of books in my classroom library that I also can't wait to read.

Right now my husband and girls are all taking naps, so the house is nice and peaceful. After going to church and then doing housework for most of the day, I am trying to decide whether to do more plans for my guided reading groups or to curl up in my favorite spot of my house (a sitting room where I have a rocker) and read... If only this were still the start of my weekend instead of the end:).

Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel ARC

The same day that I received The Model President through Harper Collins' Children's First Look program, Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel by C.M. Butzer also arrived. I have not read very many graphic novels, but I absolutely loved this one.

Here are some of the reasons why the book appealed to me:
*There is a drawing of Gettysburg 1863 at the start of the book. The title of the map looks like a ribbon and a cutout showing Pennsylvania is in the format of a scroll. It looks great visually and sets the tone for the book.
*The next two-spread of pages has "The Cast of Characters" to give some background knowledge on some of the big players. It is not just a list of names and roles, but rather there is also an illustration. Just like the map page, it sets has a rustic look.
*Next there are two pages explaining "The Story So Far..." I love that these three features mentioned so far give readers some background knowledge in order to better understand what is going on in the book.
*The graphic novel proceeds to tell the story of brief events leading up to Gettysburg, Gettysburg, and after. The last 20 pages of the graphic portion shows Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address. One of my favorite pages shows Lincoln walking across the stage to give his speech with the crowd looking on. The address is broken up into little pieces with illustrations for each part. One portion of the illustration starts with protests to end slavery and shows a span through history to more current day social justice protests (He later explains why he chose to represent this pictures that do not show the Gettsburg time). This would be a great complement to a unit on social justice and how people can be instruments of change.
*Throughout the book there are footnotes. In the ARC the bibliography and footnotes are not included (just the numbers in the text that reference to the footnotes). Nonetheless, I could tell that the book includes portions of first hand accounts, which is important in the history field. Children can start to become familiar with primary resources.
*At the end of the book there is additional information: author's notes, The Gettysburg Address, and with the final copy will of course be the footnotes and bibliography. What I really liked about the notes was that the author gave further background information about what was happening in the book section by section. The author explains what inspired him to write each section. Most importantly, he clearly tells when it is his interpretation of the events. This once again would lead to a perfect teachable moment to have students consider how there are many different versions of historical events and that they should examine them from various points of view.

This book has a lot of potential. It is short enough that students can read through it multiple times - the first time to read through without necessarily understanding all the details and context. Then they can read it again after consulting the author's notes at the end giving more context. I am sure that readers could gain new insights each time they read it. Best of all, if students are exposed to this book prior to discussing the events at school one day, they will have a rich background of knowledge of the main ideas of the battle. Thus, they will better understand some of the fine details that they will learn with further research in a text format that may not have as much support as graphic novels provide. Even if they aren't going to study Gettysburg at school, the book would probably spark their interest on other question they may have about the historical event leading them to want to research more on their own.

The Model President ARC

The Model President by Brian Tacang is a fun-filled read about a 6th grade presidential election. Millicent Madding enters the presidential hopeful scene because nobody else at her school volunteers. One of her close friends raises her hand for her. Although she is going through the election formalities, there is no competition, so she is sure to be class president. That is until a nearby fashion school has to undergo renovations and the students temporarily go to Millicent's school. The majority of the student body and staff seem to lose their minds as they are all enthralled with "The Pretty Liddys".

The leader of the group, Fiona Dimmet, thrives on competition and decides to enter the presidential race and thwart the process turning it to her advantage. She does not care that she will not be a student at the school for the whole year. It is a prize that she must win. As the campaign turns into a fashion show, Fiona bribes students and staff that she will give them makeovers in exchange for their votes. Millicent who comes from a family of inventors and is an inventor herself wracks her brain for a creative invention that will help her pull through and win the election despite her obvious fashion disadvantage. There is never a dull moment as some of Millicent's ideas go awry.

Aside from the election events, Millicent comes from an eccentric family. She currently lives with an uncle and aunt because her own parents disappeared when something went wrong with the time machine they invented. Her aunt, a former circus performer, was stranded with amnesia until recently as a result of a plot against her. At first I thought the book was off the wall. It seemed a little too much to have parents lost in a time machine, an ex-circus performer aunt recovering from amnesia and bizarre names throughout the book. However, most of these details proved to be key to the plot, making for an exciting process of seeing how these unique characters lives are interwoven leading up to the conclusion of the book. Middle schoolers who love unique characters and creativity will fall in love with the book.

*ARC received courtesy of HarperCollins First Look Program. The Model President will be available for sale in January of 2009.

Who's That Baby?

One of my favorite authors is Sharon Creech, so I couldn't resist buying her book Who's That Baby?: New-baby Songs a couple of years ago for my younger daughter's first Christmas. Once I got it, I was excited to see that David Diaz was the illustrator as I enjoyed his art in books such as Going Home by Eve Bunting and Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull.

In this book Creech and Diaz proved to be a great team. The fifteen songs/poems from a baby's perspective provide a perfect mixture with unforgettable lines to get toddlers off to a great start with poetry. Since I have been reading it more with my girls they have both been walking around repeating some of my favorite parts that I emphasize. While A remembers "I am not a little pigskin" from "Football Baby", D says "me me me!", the concluding line to "Photos".

It is hard to choose a favorite, but I have to say "Grandpa" really gets to me because it fits my dad perfectly. The drawing shows the tiny baby in grandpa's big arms and explains how grandpa talks in a soft, low, deep voice. This comes perfectly in the book right after one called "Two Big Grandmas" who ooh and ahh all the time leaving the baby wondering why his/her grandmas have such small vocabularies for grown-ups.

There are many other great lines and surprises in this book!

Sangre de campeón

Last year one of my 8th grade students who arrived in my town from Mexico earlier in the year said that her favorite author was Carlos Cuauhtémoc Sánchez. I remembered that two of her favorite books she mentioned were Sangre de campeón sin cadenas and Un grito desesperado. Last year right after she mentioned him I realized that I had ordered a book by him, Los ojos de mi princesa. I read it right away curious to see what her favorite author was like. I also always love to find books published in Spanish speaking countries.

Los ojos de mi princesa was very unique to say the least. I remembered that at the start of the book a man lures a couple of boys into his van with the guise that he needs their help to sell books at their school, but it ends up that he wants to take them to make pornographic films. I turned to my husband and said I did not think I was going to like the book. However, then I was caught up in it because it was more about the main character's struggle to do what is right and about his parents guiding him to make good decisions. The boy luckily found a way to escape from the vehicle, but told his mom that he was feeling bad for being intrigued by the magazines he saw in the van. She explained that negative influences are a lot like salt water. You drink and drink but always want more and never satisfy your thirst. The novel also had a very interesting format following the boys' love/obsession for a classmate at his school. Part way through the book the font changes and it is the main character writing a novel within the book. Just when I thought that the ending of the novel within the novel was a shocker, I realized that there were still more twists and turns to come. The uniqueness drew me to ponder the book for a long time. I did not include the book in my 6th grade classroom this year because I thought that some of the descriptions/topics were more appropriate for around 8th grade and up.

When looking for books to build up my Spanish library I skimmed other Sánchez books. I thought that the titles my student mentioned, especially the Sangre de campeón books seemed to be more geared toward my age group. I ordered the first one in the series. However, as I started reading it this week I was dismayed to see that I don't think it is a book that I would include in my classroom library. The idea of the book and its themes are great -- to encourage students to make good decisions and to influence positive character formation, but the means to that end are very strange. I only read the first few chapters, but every chapter is very exaggerated. Instead of demonstrating realistic, everyday experiences the first chapter illustrates how an older brother jealous of his younger brother ends up pushing him off a diving board when the younger brother teases him that he must need to show him how it is done. He is instantly repentant as he fears his brother may hit the cement instead of the water and die. His brother does indeed hit his head on the side but mainly falls in water and is okay. As a punishment the dad tells the older son that he is going to have to be grounded and paint the house. The older son throws a tantrum and explains that the younger brother is the one who should be in trouble (guess his apologetic feelings wore off quickly).

In the next chapter his brother climbs up on the roof of the house using the ladder and rather than trying to coax his brother down and make sure he is safe, the older brother runs in the house to tattle on him. The mom, who is in the shower, pleas with him to get his brother down, but he focuses all of his energy on persuading his mom that his brother should be punished. His brother falls from the ladder and ends up in the hospital. He later realizes that his brother had been helping him paint so that he would finish up his punishment faster. As if that was not exaggerated enough yet, while his parents are in the hospital a couple of negative influences come along and invite him to go with them for a while even though he is grounded and supposed to stay at home.

Nonetheless, the main character goes with them and it ends up them only wanted him along so that they could get into the country club where he is a member. They go into a boiler room and spy into the women's dressing room. They get caught when they accidentally break a pipe. The country club manager lets the boy know that he has to pay to replace the pipe.

Wouldn't you think the character formation and positive influences would be kicking in at least the tiniest bit by now? Wrong! The "bad" boys wait outside for him to threaten him for telling the owner that they were spying on females when they broke the pipe. Yet later that evening they call him to come to a party and he once again sneaks out. At the "party" he realizes that the boys have arranged for a dog to attack him with a lot of people watching for entertainment. He wets his pants and then panics and smacks the dog with a chair. Supposedly the dog was trained to just scare people, but since he fights back the dog ends up injuring him a lot. The boy get cleaned up and then goes back out and drinks at the party.

At this point I had to say, "Ya basta" (enough)! I can't take this anymore. It is way too ridiculous. I agree 100% to try to instill good morals in children/students, but the book just has the main character dig himself into a bigger and bigger hole. He does not seem to learn anything from his experiences as he keeps on doing something even more stupid that the last mistake. He works through mental dilemmas but always makes the wrong decision. The chapter titles list a main idea or lesson, but the main character is always an example of not following that suggestion and the negative consequences. Furthermore, he does not apply the lesson from the previous chapter into the later chapters. It would be more realistic if the main character made more balanced decisions -- some negative and some positive. Also there is a very clear "good" and "bad" rather than a more natural mixture of teenagers who are not clear cut one way or the other.

I am just glad that I did not run out and get a variety of his books! Most of all I am disappointed that it did not work out to have a quality book for young adults by a Mexican author, published in Mexico. Many of the Spanish language books available are written in English and translated in the US. I am left wondering what my student saw in his writing. I could see it with Ojos de mi princesa, although now I can see how it is part of the author's style to have the division between good and bad, as well as very exaggerated examples of bad decisions. I prefer books that tell stories/teach lessons through realistic, believable characters. I think that the love of telanovelas and how exaggerated they are is probably part of the reason why my student enjoyed these books.

(Note: On an earlier post I mentioned that I would review Spanish books in Spanish, but I decided to go ahead and do all reviews in English for now.)

The Dirty Girls Social Club

Reading The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez was an up and down experience. I loved the idea of having a group of Latina friends from all different backgrounds who met at college and have now somewhat gone their different ways. Yet, they still meet together for Buena Sucia Social Club meetings. The chapters were told from alternating points of views, and it was fun to get to know each of the voices. They were linked together by all starting with excerpts from one of the sucias' newspaper columns. It was a creative way to bind the chapters together and give reference points throughout the book as to the month or major events happening in other characters' lives. The book also begins and ends from the same character's point of view.

Some chapters and plot lines drew my attention more than others. I was most drawn to Rebecca's and Lauren's plots. I found Usnavys attitude aggravating. Just when I was starting to like her a little bit more toward the end of the book, I skimmed the first part of the sneak peak to Dirty Girls on Top and realized that she cheats on Juan. I was shocked with what Sara was putting up with from her husband, but was satisfied with where her plot was moving by the end of the book.

Elizabeth's first chapter turned me off from the book a bit because it was a little too similar to a plot in Divas Don't Yield. Here's some of the similarities: a group of girls who are great friends. One of them is a lesbian dating a professor while struggling with secret feelings for a straight girl in the group. I know that I am oversimplifying it a bit, but that is the general gist. Sometimes I love books that seem to complement each other well, but I don't like the feeling that I am practically rereading a book in different words. (Note: I am not sure which book was thought of/written first so it is purely that I read Divas Don't Yield first, not that either author knew about the other book.) Anyway, after my initial thought that it was going to be too similar, it ended up flourishing into its own, unique story.

I enjoyed the book, but not enough to rush out and get Dirty Girls on Top.

Princess Academy

Just as I was starting to read Princess Academy by Shannon Hale, I coincidentally stumbled upon her blog. She has recently been writing a series of blogs about who is responsible (the reader or the author) when a reader does not enjoy a book (1, 2, 3). This week I read about half of the book in SSR. On Thursday at the end of SSR I had my 6th graders get in a circle on the carpet, and I told them that they would have a chance to share a little about one of the books they have been reading for SSR and/or their home reading this week since I often see students trying to sneak in a quick conversation with someone sitting close to them to share their book. I started by modeling with my own book.

I briefly explained that the premise of the book was that one day a mountain community was surprised when they received notice that one of the girls in their community would become the princess. All eligible girls needed to attend a year-long academy in preparation for a ball in which the prince would choose his wife, the future princess. I shared with them that I would have to take the book home on the weekend because I could already tell that I was not going to be able to wait until next week to see how it ends.

One of the most avid readers in my class raised her hand and shared that a group of the girls were reading it last year as a literature circle selection, but they abandoned it after a few chapters because they just couldn't get into it. I thought back to Hale's first blog post (see above) and tried to hold back a chuckle. I told them that maybe it would be worth it to give the book another try sometime later on and explained how I have started and abandoned books before only to pick them up later and love them, unable to believe that I was able to put it aside previously (Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros is a perfect example). Another girl who had abandoned Princess Academy last year said she had also had similar experiences. Right now she is rereading Eragon, which she originally read as a 2nd grader. Although she enjoyed it the first time, she is more fully appreciating the book this time as she understands certain aspects that were hazy to her the first time. I am going to print off all three of Hale's posts to share excerpts to discuss with my class later during either reading or writer's workshop.

As I told my students, Friday afternoon came and I knew the book would be coming home with me. Last night I stayed up late, even though I was exhausted, because I just had to see the end of it. I won't give anything away, but I am going to share some of my thought process while reading the book. The reason why I told my students I couldn't wait to see the ending was because I was torn about what I wanted to happen. The main character Miri mentions feelings for a childhood friend Peder, but she also dreams about what it would be like to be a princess. She is a good person and a hard worker, so one part of me wanted Miri to become princess. Yet, I wondered where that would leave Peder and whether or not she would really be happy without him. A big part of me was hoping she would end up with Peder. Nonetheless, I was not sure whether I would be able to be satisfied without Miri getting her fairytale ending by having the prince choose her to be his princess at the ball. My mind started to work constantly considering who would become princess if not Miri and whether or not the option would result in a fulfilling ending. I considered many viable options from Katar, who although not as likable a character as Miri, had her own motivations for wanting to become princess to Miri's older sister, Margo, who missed the academy deadline by being just a little too old. I imagined that some unexpected turn of event may lead to the prince meeting Margo through Miri. That way I thought that Miri's family would not have to suffer because of their mountain lifestyle, but Miri would still be able to end up with Peder - the best of both worlds.

I was guessing and running ideas through my mind up until the very end of the book. I was very satisfied with the ending, as everything fell into place just the way it was meant to be. As I read the third installment right before writing this post, it was fun to get some inside information about the ending of the book. Hale said, "[... W]hen I wrote Princess Academy, I was pretty sure no one would like it, especially the ending. But I worked very hard to turn off those fears and the desire to second guess what readers want, and I wrote it to my internal reader. I remember doing book signings when it first came out and trying to talk people out of buying it, suggesting they read Goose Girl instead. Now, as I mentioned last post, Princess Academy has turned out to be my most popularly successful, as well as critically lauded, book. If I'd tried to write to the fans, or to what I thought the fans wanted, that book would have fallen flat on its face and disappeared. And it was also possible that the story that pleased my internal reader wouldn't please anyone else. But that was the risk I had to take." I could really relate to how she made a good judgment call by listening to her own internal reader because I myself was torn about what I wanted to happen at the end, but her gut instinct was a perfect ending.

Overall, I loved the book. I enjoyed reading it even more in conjunction with the author's insights on the blog. I appreciate that aside from thoroughly enjoying the book I also have a lot of discussion leads for class discussions about reading and writing.

(This is the 4th book I read for the Book Awards Reading Challenge.)

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

WOW! This was the most exciting book to read. I couldn't wait to read The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick ever since I heard about it at a conference last spring. The presenter showed us pictures from the book on a document camera and it looked amazing. When I got a sizable amount of money to build my classroom library this year, I decided to get a copy of Hugo Cabret even though it was a lot more expensive than most of the books I was getting. My boxes from Amazon came in right before the start of the school year, so I didn't have a chance to read it. I reluctantly put it on the shelf. Even though it sounds horrible, I was sad to check it out to a student last week. I know, I know. As a teacher I should be thrilled to check out a book to anyone excited to read but I was dying to read it and thought I hope nothing happens to it (as great books often disappear)! I was shocked when the student brought the 500+ page book back in about a week.

As I flew through the book I realized how it was possible to finish the book so rapidly. This week in the four days of a half an hour SSR I got to page 458. I couldn't stand to leave it over the weekend for SSR next week, so I brought it home and finished up the rest. I had high expectations for the book, and I was definitely not disappointed.

Here are some of the reasons why I thoroughly loved the book:
1. Selznick decided to tell the story through both pictures and words. Here's what Selznick said about the style in his letter to readers on the Amazon link, "[...] unlike most novels, the images in my new book don't just illustrate the story; they help tell it." I loved the combination. Every time I saw a page with a little bit of text in the center of the page, I knew another picture was coming up and I couldn't wait to get through the text to see what surprise would be waiting in the form of visual imagery.
2. Did I say I loved the pictures? Alright, I know that was my #1 reason, but there was so much to love about the pictures, a mixture of drawings and original early movie pictures. It was amazing to see how many of the pictures panned in from large scheme to small details. My very favorite picture is on pages 482-483. I don't want to give away the plot, but there is brilliant contrast between black and white in this endearing scene.
3. There is a black border around all of the text pages that framed the pages well. It was a constant reminder that this book is different. Although I would not want to have every book be like that, it was perfect for this unique book.
4. The story was captivating. Many levels of a mysterious plot are constantly unveiled. I couldn't figure out why the book was called The Invention of Hugo Cabret because while Hugo was a central character, he did was not the inventor of the most interesting focal point in the book, the automaton. However, the last pages answered my question and made for the perfect ending of the book.
5. Last, I was excited to see glimpses into the author's craft in the acknowledgments. Especially with writer's workshop and trying to get readers to create a mindfulness to read like writers and write like readers, I always love to have craft ideas straight from authors. Selznick explains how a book that heavily inspired the book. He mentions how factual information merged with his imagination in order to create this story. The concept will be fun to discuss with my students next week.

A handful of my students have already read it, and I bet that it will be passed around a lot this year among other students who have yet to read it. The students who have read it came from a wide variety of backgrounds and had nothing but positive comments to say about the book. I can't wait to book talk this book and discuss its uniqueness. Selznick clearly let his creativity show in this book.

(This is the 2nd book I have read for the Book Awards Reading Challenge.)