It's Monday - Book Wonders Again

Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who post their favorites. 

       
       If you are interested, I'm writing a poem a day for poetry month, posting a second post on the days that I share reviews.

       Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup shares a roundup of all the Kidlitosphere's goals for poetry month, several that share wonderful ideas for the classroom!

       It's easy to read the summary of this book, about new freshman Aubrey, still grieving the terrible death of her sister who died in a car wreck while Aubrey was the passenger and the death of her beloved grandmother, her main support. But until you read the book, you won't understand the tension Kate offers on page after page. Her mother is distant (facing her own struggles) and her father is away a lot on business. But when Aubrey falls over a dead body of a boy about her age and there is so, so much blood, and then she wakes with the same tattoo of a red flower on her arm that was on that boy's arm, I wanted to write Kate Coombs that the book was getting much, much scarier, that it was very hard to stop reading because I had no idea what might happen next, but then it became more tense and I had to stop, at least for a while. It's a great but a frightening, story based loosely on an old fairy tale that Kate shares at the end - for older middle readers and younger ya. You'll cheer for this 'young woman' and 'little brother' heroes.  

Thanks to Candlewick Press for the following three books!

       
         Young boy Noah "spied it coming from afar. It started with a cloud peeping over the hill like a curious ghost." "It's going to be a beauty," said Noah's father. Mother and little sister stack groceries and fill water jugs in the kitchen while Father got out his tools, ready to board up the windows. With John Rocco's beautifully-colored paintings, the story follows a calm family readying for a big storm. After noticing the small living creatures in his back yard and with a bit of magical realism, Noah himself takes apart his wagon, builds a roof and adds some tiny furniture and a muffin tin of food. He then whispers "Come" to the creatures. And they do! Noah must leave them to run inside as "the sun snapped off its light". The storm has arrived. Preparing ahead shows that it helps the frightening aspect of any storm. The family eats and plays by candlelight; the storm rages, but they are prepared and are safe. You'll need to read the rest to see what happens with Noah's ark! 

        Sometimes that are books that have long stories, some books are brief and poetic, like this one by Carme Lemniscates telling all about birds in opposites. The young girl on the cover seems to be thinking the words, musing about birds as she walks and bikes, sometimes sits with a friend. The poetic text offers observations that will invite added conversation. For example, "Some birds are really big." sits on a double-page spread of an eagle that appears almost bigger than life as it soars over a neighborhood. And "Others are tiny." shows a hummingbird in its glory as it flits around cherry blossoms. Numerous attributes are included, bird homes and songs and their life's journeys, near or far. Birds' importance in human lives is also shown, like "A bird's song is like the loving words of a friend." with a sweet illustration showing the girl and a young boy visiting while sitting under a tree as a  songbird near sings its song. There's a magical ending which all will love.
            

Monday Reading - Books Loved

Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who post their favorites. 
        It was quite an amazing reading week, time to read three fantastic chapter cooks & fall in love with more picture books. Winter weather helped!  
        And I have a second post today HERE with a giveaway of a Shakespeare pop-up book for two winners!

        Mapping The Bones is another story of that terrible time of World War II, focusing on two children caught in the nightmare of Hitler's plan to rid the country of Jews and other undesirables. Yolen weaves the Hansel and Gretel tale into this story of Chaim and Gittel, twins who are taken to the labor camps in 1942 and the horrific abuse they endured especially being young twins at the hands of an evil doctor. I've read that an alternate title was "The Candy House".

        First, forced from their beautiful home and made to live in the Lodz Ghetto, those awful circumstances become too dangerous, and their parents decide to flee to the nearby Lagiewniki Forest, where partisan fighters help spirit the children away. Earlier in the ghetto, the family first is made to share their small apartment with another family and in that time, those children's parents die in separate tragedies. The two left, Bruno and Sophie, also travel with Chaim and Gittel. Sadly, all four are captured by German soldiers, their partisan saviors killed. The story does not stop leaving one wanting both to stop reading and keep reading. It feels like an underlying drumbeat of danger as chapter by chapter, the days and nights terrify. 

        The relief of the story is the loving connection between the twins, Chaim, a boy of few words, but writing poetry, and Gittel, reflecting between chapters as if she's telling their story from afar. It felt comforting because one read and thought that because she was reflecting, she must have survived. Yet because of the utter loss of trust in this time, I found that hard to trust too. I didn't know until the end who was finally free and able to continue their lives and who was not. 

         Jane Yolen has written a story that seems all too real, a fiction based on tragic truth. And through Chaim, Yolen has also shown her poetic expertise. The poems in such a sad story offer relief, though often sad. Yolen also gives Gittel another strong voice. She writes the words and lets Gittel tell them: "Our hearts were minefields in those days. Befriend someone, get to know someone, even dislike someone, it didn't matter, for they might well be gone forever in an hour, a day, overnight." It's a terrific and tragic, heroic and loving story.

          A verse non-fiction book, written by one of the students who lived this "first" in 1956, first school in the American south to integrate after the landmark Brown vs Education of 1954 case that decreed that separate schools for black and white children are "inherently unequal". Jo Ann Allen Boyce partnered with Debbie Levy to write this story, Jo Ann's story! It is about that year, from end-of-summer prep, some family and neighbors' introduction, then those months that actually began fairly well, but worsened day by day, until Jo Ann's family moved to LA. At this beginning are her words "If school were weather, I would say it's serious/with a chance of friendly." Still later, more protests brought in the troops who had to escort the students "down the hill" to school. FYI - African-Americans mostly lived on a hill above the town. 

          " P lease, let the troops bring Clinton back from the

            E dge of the cliff

            A ll we want is to go to our school without the

            C yclone of ugliness without fear without hate with

            E ase "

            There is nothing easy about this story, nothing easy to read about those who spit, hit, shoved, wrote hate notes to these twelve students. It's well done with an underpinning of loss that made me sad for the kids and for the families. And you know some is still happening in our world today, sixty-three years later. 

            There is a wealth of backmatter, notes from both authors, a timeline, a bit about the kinds of poetry, a bibliography and further sources. I can imagine a classroom could use this as a beginning study of desegregation history. 

It's A Giveaway, It's a Pop-Up, It's Shakespeare!

No problem here, just a taste of this fabulous giveaway/Shakespeare/pop-up!

             Thanks to Candlewick Press, I've have the pleasure of a giveaway, offering this pop-up book created by veteran pop-up artist, Mennie Maizell to TWO lucky winners. 

Written by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, two members of The Reduced Shakespeare Company,  (a troupe that specializes in first condensing and then performing works of literature and film), it's a pop-up that includes an enticing overview of Shakespeare’s work and times. There are five double-page spreads illustrated by veteran pop-up book designer Jennie Maizels and including numerous lift the flaps. The first spread introduces the world of Shakespeare. It is thought that he may have been an apprentice to his father, a glove-maker and written rhymes to be put into the gloves. One small rhyme was discovered in a pair for a man named Aspinall. "The gift is small./The will is all./Alexander Aspinall." Small facts like this are spread among the flaps and art, along with the pages for the plays and poetry described below.

The bulk of the work is contained in the next four spreads which present summaries and comments about all of Shakespeare’s plays, divided into four categories: comedies, histories, romances, and tragedies. It is humorous, even on the tragedy pages, and accurate. To include all the information, one must turn these pages around. You can see an example below. I'm sure it will be terrific for upper elementary and middle school classrooms for a beginning study of Shakespeare. 

the front

the back

Jaques:
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

As You Like It Act 2, scene 7, 139–143

        Fill out the rafflecopter entry form below and be sure to leave a comment sharing your favorite play by Shakespeare.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's Monday! Hurrah!

         Visit Jen at Teach MentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who link up. I'm still reading for the Cybils poetry, round one. I'm sharing some of those nominees today and a few more.

         It's a verse novel, not-to-be-missed read aloud about bullying! Jason Parker, Japanese-American lives in a small seaside town with his parents who teach. He has to do sixth grade again because of different rules, but his age doesn't help him be any safer from bullies who want the power over him. This verse novel with a strong voice leads us into Jason's story with so many tense moments, showing Jason's courage and strong wish to learn to be calm. I kept wanting help the teacher "see". Jason keeps quiet and hopes too that the teacher notices how terrible he's being treated. He has friends, but they only can help after school. The book gives a glimpse of this culture and traditions, the wise and the different ways from here in America. There are good developed characters that Jason counts on, too. The poetry/prose tells just what the reader wants to know in lean wording and both lovely and harsh images. Here is one sample from a night experiencing a typhoon: "Cora comes up to my bunk/and in the typhoon night/things rattle, crash/smash, slam/and groan." There’s a glossary, a cultural guide & further resources about bullying. Reading aloud with a group will bring questions and conversation that hopefully will help those who feel alone and unsafe

         Read carefully, preferably out loud! And you will love the wonder and celebration of this new discovery. My granddaughters speak their own language all the time and love this book. Maybe it's really for the young ones, or for others if you remember your own secret languages?