Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow! Happy Reading!
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My post that shares Irene Latham's new poetry book, This Poem Is A Nest, is shared today on a blog tour. The book came out on September 29th. You can find my post here with a list of others who are on the tour.
Still wishing all of you educators good days with your students! I admire you very much!
Thanks to Edelweiss, I had the pleasure of reading Jerry Craft's new book, the "next" story after New Kid, about Drew, best friend Jordan, white rich friend Liam, and all the other kids with them in their eighth-grade year at the elite school they call RAD (Riverdale Academy Day school). They aren't "new kids" anymore yet still find they don't know each other very well, and each struggle with the age-old question of who they are and accepting self, something most new teens (later too) agonize over. Through various scenes at school and outside of school, examining how they are treating each other, how the old history of neighborhood friends is hard on Drew. He has a new flattop haircut (see the cover) that gets touched without permission by a few girls who really do like him, but. . . Jordan hasn't grown very much and still doesn't have that "boy-stink" he thinks everyone else has, plus he loves drawing and still has to decide whether to transfer to an art school in high school. Liam in his huge home, with pool and maid and driver, doesn't see his father very much and his mother is portrayed as a little out of touch. As you see from the cover of Drew juggling several artifacts. All middle-schoolers, juggle their lives as they grow up. That also includes family, included in the boys' lives as an important part of their support. Craft heightens the tension a few times that made me as a reader turn the pages fast, like one frightening scene where Jordan's dad is driving him somewhere and he's pulled over by the police. Diversity is something the mostly-white school is shown to be of concern, creating some serious moments and some decisions that feel uncomfortable especially for those of color. They are all learning, but it is messy.
Craft has Jordan create cartoon "intermissions" once in a while, talking about race and class, emotions from his and friend perspectives. The chapter title pages themselves are wonderful predictions of what's coming, all different, but some cleverly parody other popular graphic works for readers like Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants - The Adventures of Captain Undertones - now in fool color - Chapter 11. As you read my review, I hope you realize how much I enjoyed this advanced copy, will be sure to purchase for my granddaughter, sixth grade! It's terrific!
Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy!
There is a lake here in Colorado where a small town was flooded in order to create the lake. This is a story for October, for Halloween sharing! As the blurb states, all that can be seen of the flooded village of Spetzia is the clock tower, but sometimes with the right light, one can see the streets and buildings of the old village. Some whisper that this lake is haunted, but along the shore, Jacob and his father live together and make their living as fishermen. Ellen meets Jacob at the market and over time she spends time helping with the fish, cooking for them, going to market. They fall in love but Jacob is older and says they must wait a while before marriage. What comes later as he is lured underwater by a beautiful specter is a tale to be read by candlelight and one that might make you shiver! Illustrations by P.J. Lynch are gorgeous, sometimes shadowy, often full of emotion, bring the story to life. It's quite an intriguing story.
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| Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy! |