TeacherDance: If i was the sunshine

Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with others who post their favorites.
I'm struggling with some tech issues - ugh! So, I may take a few days to read posts.

This is a debut novel by Kate Allen. I have been on large and small sailing boats, have never followed or searched for sharks, but learned much about them in this poignant story of Lucy, daughter of a marine biologist and a rescue diver, a middle-school girl with a friend named Fred. She lives in a small fishing village with a next-door neighbor named Mr. Patterson, has a few fishing friends named Sookie and Lester. She is surrounded by caring people all through the town this summer and she has challenges to me that such a young one should not have. What I loved most is that Lucy is shown to be a regular young teen, thinking about things in simply regular ways. Her mother died suddenly when Lucy was eight, her father is rather quiet about it, until this summer when Lucy begins working on a school project, a kind of field guide, with her friend, Fred. Lucy is an artist who wants to get things right, draws and re-draws, seeking the realistic look of the sharks. When more tragedy strikes, she begins to learn more about her mother's interest and takes leaps into the research that surprise everyone. That journey helps her neighbor, other friends, and especially her father. She is that 'line tender', keeping everyone connected. It's a beautiful story, made more special by the shark drawings that head each chapter.

That same mysterious outage that has rendered useless all recent computer-driven devices (cars, phones, etc.) is the same as the first three, but this time, it's in a different place, with a new family as the main protagonists, especially Emma, fifteen. She has just moved with her ex-Marine mother and younger brother, Ethan. It's a brand-new condo building and near a lake with islands. They're used to periodic black-outs, but on their way to a weekend camping trip on an island in a lake nearby, the power still is not back. Thus begins their survival, taking all belongings possible in their canoe, for first a few days camping, but with stress increasing as they realize how serious it's going to be.

This family eventually joins a larger community, an interesting group including all kinds of people in a small and isolated little town (also on an island), and the challenge to create a group that will fight to survive is one of many challenges. I read through it rather quickly, was not as intrigued by this particular set of characters as I was in the earlier books. It is perhaps because no matter the different community, I knew what kind of things were going to happen.

I'm not sure this book is for children, perhaps only for them to read with their parents especially. This late August into September, I think it's for parents who've said goodbye to their college-age children, one of the toughest goodbyes I've had as a parent. From baby hood to older adult, Tony Johnston writes goodbyes to a young child, this time a boy, all the way until he's sitting with his older mother, holding her hand. Each poem includes something to do with hands, walking to school for the first time, feeding birds with one's hands, waving goodbye when going off to college. "The boy is going off to school./He asks, "Will I have friends?" "Of course you will," his mother says. They walk there holding hands." It's made even lovelier by Amy June Bates' soft watercolors.

Julie Fogliano and Loren Long have created a poem in words and art you don't want to miss. It is gorgeous to see along with enjoying the unique way Julie has written her lines. I imagine teachers may have fun with these while writing with students. "If I was the sunshine/and you were the day/I'd call you hello!/and you'd call me stay." There is more and more to savor.

Filled with all kinds of kids, all busy being children who are doing what they do, play and run and smile and have wonderful times moving! This particular book is a shout-out for kids with super-sonic energy. They need to be acknowledged and helped to find activities that will benefit from that energy. Susan Verdi talks about this in an author's note. Andrew Joyner's colorful pages fill with children "powered by play, friendship, compliments, love and laughter."

Thanks to Candlewick Press for the following book!

A large book, just right for a few children to lie on the floor and turn the pages together, looking for the places they know, wondering about the places and things they have not yet seen. I took my students to NYC one year and this would have served as a travelogue for us, wondering if we could fit just one more place into our busy days. I imagine those who have spent much time in New York City or who live there will enjoy it even more. Not only does Ingela Arrhenius include the icons like Grand Central Station and the Brooklyn Bridge, but adds the other enjoyments of pretzels and bagels, dog-walking and street performers. It's simply fun to gaze on every page.

Now Reading: A book first out this year in the U.S., but there is already a 'number two' in the U.K. - Malamander by Thomas Taylor.