Math Fun Time!!

Okay, so this week and next week are going to be TOUGH. I have a math class that lasts all this week and next from 8:30-4:00, plus homework in the evenings. Which means that, between that and my suddenly blossoming social life, I'm going to struggle to find the time I need to just sit and read.

In that spirit, I chose a short book for today. Fraction Fun, by David A. Adler, is a cute little book that introduces the concept of fractions. He starts by describing different contexts in which students might have used fractions in their every day lives, then shows the most obvious example of fractions: pizza. Then, there are activities that students can do on their own to expand their knowledge of fractions. He also uses money and weight as examples of different ways to show fractions, and does a little bit on equivalent fractions. He then challenges students to find other contexts in their lives where they see fractions.

All in all, it's a good supplementary book for students who are just starting to learn about fractions. It might also be a good book for more advanced students who want an opportunity to try something new in their spare time. I'll definitely keep this one hand as a math mentor text.

Hopefully this week I can figure out a strategy for reading more often -I have some seriously good books planned.

Esio Trot...Or: How Lying Can Help You Get Married

I'm starting to wonder if this might have been easier to do when I wasn't on summer vacation. Thinking that I would have plenty of time to read today, I picked out a slightly longer book. Then I went to yoga, went to the pond to go swimming, enjoyed a delicious breakfast (at 2 in the afternoon), took a shower and cleaned my room, then went to dinner for my brother's birthday. I didn't actually read anything until about 8:45 tonight. So I picked a shorter book.

I read Esio Trot, another Roald Dahl book. Also acquired when I was desperate for books at a level N. I'm glad that I've read it. Now I know why my kids think lying is okay.

That's not true, they know lying is bad. But the protagonist in this certainly gets his way by lying. Or rather, by deception.

Mr. Hoppy loves Miss Silver. Miss Silver loves her tortoise, Alfie. (Side note: the author points out that all of this takes place before England put a ban on importing tortoises from North Africa, so all future events are okay, based on their historical context...basically.) Mr. Hoppy has never been able to act on this love because he is too shy to do anything about it. So, to win her affection, he tells her that her tortoise will get bigger if she whispers a little chant to him. He then goes out and buys 140 tortoises of varying sizes -but all with the same shell color - and slowly replaces her tortoise with a slightly bigger tortoise once a week, leading her to believe his chant has made her tortoise grow to just the right size.

At this point, I should add (as a social commentary) that perhaps Dahl is also telling us that women can be duped. Easily.

Anyway, Miss Silver is so thrilled that her tortoise has grown that it finally gives Mr. Hoppy the courage to ask her to marry him. She agrees, and he and her and Replacement Tortoise all live happily ever after.

It was a very cute book, let me preface everything I have to say next with that, lest I appear humorless. It was cute how dumb she is, and cute how he uses deception to get her to love him. I suppose I would know I'm a good teacher if my students pick up on these things. Thus far, since I hadn't read the book before, the biggest inference I've seen my students make is that they realize that Esio Trot is tortoise backwards before they've gotten to the part of the book that explains that. Now I know what direction to lead them in.

A major math class starts for me tomorrow, which leaves me feeling like my summer vacation is over. Additionally, this adds a new level of difficulty in reading everything I want to read. Time management springs to mind. Although I skipped that class at my college's "Life Skills" seminar (yep, an actual class). I might be in big trouble.

Getting Near to Baby

Well, I finished. It really shouldn't have been as painful a process as it was, and yet...I struggled. Probably more due to the fact that I had a lot going on, rather than that the book wasn't interesting.

It was interesting, mostly. There were some parts where it dragged, the whole thing probably could have been a little bit shorter, but on the whole it was very good.

Willa Jo and Little Sister have climbed up onto the roof of their aunt's house to watch the sunrise, and have not come down since. They've been living with their aunt since their father left and their baby sister died, leaving their mom too grief-stricken to care for them. In spite of the fact that living with their mom does offer them a little more stability, they hate most of the things about living with her.

The book jumps back and forth between the present, in which they are sitting up on the roof, embarrassing their aunt in front of the whole town, and the past, in which they struggle with grieving over the death of their sister. As it goes back in time, the narrator (Willa Jo) talks about how she struggles with her own grief, while also trying to explain away to others why her sister has refused to talk since Baby died. While living with their aunt, the sisters friend The Fingers, a large family who lives across the street and who are largely frowned upon by the town's elite. While the author is not specific about dates in the book, there is a stage version which states that the action takes place in 1967, and there are some colloquialisms that aren't really used anymore, so that timing makes sense.

This book is perfect for any student who is currently grieving. I think there's a lot here that a child could relate to, and a lot of important lessons to be learned about grieving, such as the importance of just letting yourself cry sometimes. This book would, however, be tedious for some students who are not interested in exploring emotional issues experienced by the grief-stricken, so I think I will be judicious with whom I recommend this book to. I would love to do this as a guided reading book, since there are so many idioms I would like to explore with students. While the book does not have a level according Fountas and Pinnell, I would guess it's an S or T, because of the idioms and the non-chronological timeline. This non-chronological timeline would also be a great thing to explore with students, since such a style is what modern American fiction is all about.

All in all, in spite of occasionally erring on the boring side, the book is a great one for students who are looking for a challenging read and/or are grieving in some way. I'm excited to return it to its place in my classroom library.

Things Learned

This post isn't about a book, so much as it is about what I'm learning as I do this. When I initially started, all I wanted to do was read the books my students were reading so I could be a better teacher. However, in this process, I think I'm realizing certain things.

The first thing I realized is that I like to write about reading. I do it anyway, on my goodreads account (feel free to friend me), but I don't do it that often. With this, I've been writing almost every day. However, I write when I finish a book. During the school year, my school expects students to write about their reading five days a week. I think, now that I've been doing some pretty intensive writing about reading, that we should cut back on that. I can't imagine that I would have that much to say about a book that I'm only 20 pages into. I can see myself keeping post-its or marginal notes (a practice I employ anyway) throughout a book to keep track of major ideas I want to highlight later. However, I can only see myself doing extended writing when I've finished the book and I feel like I actually have something to say. Otherwise, writing about reading becomes an exercise in making things up.

Which brings me, more or less, to my second point. This requires some background. I started Getting Near to Baby, by Audrey Couloumbis, on Thursday. My reading was interrupted by belly dancing, followed by baby-sitting my nephew. So I picked it up again on Friday. Only I didn't pick it up until after I'd slept in late, gone to the gym, checked out every page on the internet ever, and tried on various outfits for that evening's night out. I read four pages yesterday. Today, my nephew is once again being baby-sat (he's napping now, thankfully), so I haven't done much reading. When he took a marathon nap this morning, I spent the entire time thinking that I'm supposed to be reading, rather than just getting lost in the eyes of a sleeping infant. But because I was suddenly "supposed to" I didn't really want to do it anymore. I read because I like to, not because I have to. I can have a pile of books as assigned reading, but I don't want to read those until I've read my "for pleasure" book to my satisfaction.

I think what I'm realizing is that I need to get out of my students' way when it comes to getting "pleasure" reading done. I'm lucky that my students are young enough that we don't assign them tons of other readings that need to get done, so there's no reason they can't do their reading every night. But I need to let them be in charge of it. I usually don't try to mandate much, but I do mandate a "reading log," in which they record how long they read for, and how many pages they read in that time. I check it every morning with their homework. However, I think I need to stop. I think I'll let them be in charge of that for themselves. I don't keep a reading log for myself, I just note how long it took me to finish a book. I'm a reflective reader, and I notice if I've stopped reading for a period of time so I can remedy that.

In thinking about next year, I'd rather have my students set up their own reading goals, much like I have done for myself on goodreads. I planned on reading 60 books this year (I was on the fence about whether or not children's books will count, but I've been counting them this summer, so I'm going to blow past that number). When I finish a book, I usually write a review of it, but I don't do it if I don't feel strongly about the book, or if I feel like I don't have anything new to say. I can see myself doing this kind of work with my students. They can set their own reading goal (with a few parameters), then keep track of their reading themselves. I'll know if they are reading because of my conversations with them. I don't need to beat them over the head with the need to read: they'll read because there is something innately pleasurable about it.

Now if only I could motivate myself to finish this book without feeling like it's something I'm "supposed to do."

Maybe in the swing of things?

Okay, I think I'm finally doing pretty good with this whole reading thing. Granted, it's easier to read as much as I'm reading when you're not working, but all your friends have normal people jobs, so you can read while they're at work. Next week might be trickier, since I have class from 8:30-4 every day. Plus the week I get my wisdom teeth out will be tough too. You see, I find it's best to make excuses for oneself before you start slacking. That way you avoid all those icky "guilty" feelings once you start slacking.

I'm also not happy that my books from Amazon haven't arrived yet. What good is Amazon Prime if your stuff doesn't actually show up in two days?!

Today's book was Anna Hibiscus, by Atinuke. This is one of my independent bookstore finds. When I found it, I didn't know this was the first in a series of books, but I'm glad it's a series. This was a really cute little book. Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa. She has a huge family, with too many cousins, uncles, and aunts to count, her parents, grandparents, and twin baby brothers, Double and Trouble. This book contains four vignettes in her life that focus around different small issues. Each story could stand by itself in its own book, but it's definitely nice to learn more about Anna Hibiscus.

There's no information about its reading level, but since the vocabulary is a little bit more difficult than Frog and Toad, I'd guess that this book is about an L. The structure, however, is very similar -there are little vignettes that focus around the same characters, but don't necessarily build on each other.

In terms of usage, I would love to have this whole series for a classroom library. Just another series to keep kids engaged across multiple books. Additionally, I think I'll shell out the cash for four more copies so I can use it for guided reading. It's a good book to build comprehension and vocabulary. It's also nice to read a book about somebody who lives in a place very different from our own. At one point, Anna Hibiscus wishes she could see snow. My school has a huge number of immigrants, the majority of whom are from tropical regions, so our newest students have never seen snow. I know that my students will remember that excitement about seeing snow for the first time (followed by the bitter disappointment they feel upon realizing that it gets into every space your clothes don't cover and it's seriously cold). This book is just another nice way to remind students about the different types of places people can live and the different experiences we all have growing up. This book will be a great addition to my classroom library.

One Crazy Summer

Spent almost the entire day indoors, so I managed to not only read a book today, but also glut myself on crime shows. It was a good day indeed.

Today's book was One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia. The picture I have shows the same cover art on the copy I have (or more precisely, the copy my mother, a fellow teacher, owns, but that I have pilfered from her classroom library), except my copy is covered with FOUR awards. And the awards are: Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Award, and National Book Award Finalist. It was also named a best or notable book of the year by just about every organization that has anything to do with children's literature.

And you can see why. Williams-Garcia does a wonderful job of weaving together a personalized family story with historical context. Three sisters -Delphine, the oldest and the story's narrator; Vonetta, her "showy and crowy" sisters; and Fern, the youngest -were abandoned by their mother when they were very young. Now, in the summer of 1968, they are traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland to spend 28 days with their mother for the first time.

Instead of the warm reception they expect, their mother makes clear that they are not wanted there and makes them spend all day at a community center run by the Black Panthers. There, they learn about their rights, and what it means to be black in 1968. In one scene, the girls are asked if they are white or black, since the youngest one, Fern, is holding a blonde-haired, blue-eyed doll. Fern says that she is "colored" so her older sisters go along with it. The Panther asks why she carries "self-hatred around in her arms." They clearly have never considered why her doll is white.

What makes this book great is how the author weaves together the story of the good fight the Panthers are in the middle of with The Man and the good fight the daughters are in the middle of with their mother. At one point, the narrator talks about her mother as being The Establishment.

Once again I found my calm, steady voice and brought our demands to Cecile at our next sit-down dinner. That's what the protesters did. They brought their protest songs and their demands to the Establishment, because the Establishment was in control. The Establishment was someone over thirty year old who had the power. I didn't know Cecile's exact age, but she had to be over thirty. That, plus her holding on to the money Pa had given us, had made Cecile the Establishment. (117)

By drawing a parallel between the two, the author shows multiple layers in the experience of Delphine (primarily, her sisters secondarily) throughout this tumultuous summer.

I am excited to use this book in my classroom. I'd like to use it as a read-aloud with the whole class. This would be especially great to do whole-class close reading of some really interesting sections of the text (and there are many, many sections that beg to be dug into deeply). I'd love to use it as a guided reading book, or to recommend it for independent reading. I could even see it being used as a book to supplement a unit on the Civil Rights Movement, although this would be trickier, since it doesn't have that much information about the Movement. It is good, though, to discuss how the identity issues Blacks were going through at the time. Delphine describes the way her grandmother expects her to behave around white people, then shows how it's different from what the Panthers expect her to do.

All in all, I'm excited to buy this book for myself and add it to my classroom library. Time to get some book talks going!

Playing catch up still...somehow

So as I was counting my book numbers, I realized that I'd left out Ender's Game, which I finished a couple of weeks ago. That made me a little bit sad. But not really. I also realized that I am behind (again) because...I can't count, probably. I thought I was caught up, but apparently not.

About Ender's Game. A highly enjoyable book, and I won't bother talking about it too much, since it's been talked about a million times before. My only issue with it was that the part where the author gets to his point, the lesson of the book, is so short, it's easy to miss. I would have liked to see more on that lesson, but I have no suggestions for how the author could have done that, nor do I think anyone cares about my opinion on the matter. Unfortunately, this book is way beyond the majority of my students, so I would save this for either a student who is super advanced (I have one in mind already), or for sixth or seventh grade students. I do think it is an essential read, but I don't think any of my kids are ready for it.

Speaking of things my kids aren't ready for, I tried to read the book I bought last week, The Cruisers, by Walter Dean Myers. Found out in the early pages that it's not appropriate for my students. In one scene, the narrator is talking with his mom about how he's going to throw a party and drink beer while she's away (he's in eighth grade), and she tells him she wants him to wait until he's at least sixteen. She may or may not be being sarcastic, but I'd rather not let a fifth grader make that decision. I stopped reading it shortly thereafter since I knew it wouldn't be read by any of my students. Off to the book swap it goes.

By adding these two books, I will now finally be caught up. Unless I counted wrong. Again.

I have been inundating myself with books to make sure I stay on top of my reading goal. On Sunday I ordered The Son of Neptune, the second in my new Heroes of Olympus series, and Un Lun Dun, by China Mieville. It was recommended to me by somebody on Reddit, so I thought I'd give it a try. Then today, while waiting for a friend to meet up for lunch, I popped into a local independent bookstore (that also happens to offer amazing teacher discounts) and bought Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke, and Fraction Fun, by David A. Adler. To top that off, I borrowed The Feminine Mistake, by Leslie Bennetts, on the recommendation of a friend. I have five new books to read this week, on top of the thirty or so books I brought home from my school. I had better get to reading all this.

Rabbit Hill, The Forgotten Newbery Book

In the greatest of "Girl, don't do that" teacher moves, I leveled this book. I leveled this book WITHOUT HAVING READ IT. Mistake. Now I know I was off. Way off. Let's look at some evidence as to just how off I was.

There are some seriously difficult sentences with some major academic words. Case in point (on page 2, no less): (I bolded the academic words. You're welcome.)

Do try to adopt a more optimistic attitude. This news of Georgie's may promise the approach of a more felicitous and bountiful era. Perhaps it would be well if I were to indulge in a short stroll about the neighborhood and seek confirmation of this most auspicious rumor.

Shut the front door. What kind of elementary school student knows what "auspicious" means?

"The pictures will be helpful to understanding!"I thought to myself. They're not. Generally, the pictures give some vague indication of who is present in the page you're reading, but they do little to add to meaning. The whole book would probably be better off without them.

And on top of all that, it's pretty boring. Some animals live on the property of this house that used to be a wonderful place to be a small woodland creature, but since then has fallen into disrepair. Now the animals are sad. But wait! New people are moving in! Excitement ensues!

Oh wait, no it doesn't. It just stays boring. It stays boring all the way until page 40, which is where I gave up. Considering the fact that the whole things is only about 117 pages, it should be interesting by then. But it's not.

It's times like this when I'm glad I buy from used book stores (sometimes). This book only cost me $2.00, so I don't feel bad that I'll never finish it, and few of my students will ever read it.

Also, please note the occasional not-so-politically correct phrases, such as when the author writes that the skunks walked in "Indian file." The book was written in 1944 (which is probably why there is no F&P level), so I'm guessing the author just didn't realize that's not the most precise way of describing a single-file line, but I'm sure it will confuse the crap out of some kids.

I originally leveled this at an R, but I'm guessing I would now level it at a T, since it will take a future lexicographer to be able to understand what the father rabbit is saying. Also, I probably just won't recommend this to many students. Unless they like books about animals that have first world problems.

Roald Dahl...But Before He Was Famous

I didn't originally think I would have time to read a book today, which left me concerned about my abilities as a role model. Luckily, the oh-so-important thing I needed to do today (go to a surprise party) was pushed back by two hours, so I had time to get in a book and a blog entry.

All of the books I've read so far are either books I bought for my classroom or books that come from my school's guided reading library. This book, The Enormous Crocodile, by Roald Dahl, comes from my classroom library. I bought this my first year of teaching when, after leveling my books, I found that I had exactly 7 N books and 11 N readers. I then went on a buying spree, purchasing pretty much anything that was an N. Normally, I hesitate with buying something by Roald Dahl that I haven't read first, since there can be some kind of racist stuff in his writing, but I was desperate, so I bought it anyway. I also knew that Dahl is a writer most of my kids have probably heard of, but since his most famous writing is higher level, this less-famous book would be a good entry point into this particular writer.

Now I can safely say that this won't offend anybody. Except people who are offended by crocodiles who scheme to eat children.

In typical Dahl fashion, he takes something that should be legitimately terrifying to children (a crocodile who disguises himself as playground equipment so he can eat you) and makes it funny (his plans are foiled at every turn because he was dumb enough to tell all the jungle creatures what his plans were). In the end, the crocodile gets what's coming to him and everybody can be happy.

While this book is not long on depth or meaning, it is an entertaining story for kids to read. The pictures are heavily complementary to the text, which makes understanding a little bit easier. What I did like about the book is that in the opening sequence, all of the information that we gather about this crocodile and his past is done through dialogue. I can definitely see myself using these first pages as a mentor text in writing to help students understand how dialogue can be used to reveal character and move the plot forward. In most of my students' writing, when they use dialogue it is extremely bland and unnecessary to the story. This dialogue is so essential to the story, so it makes for a great mentor to help students see the importance of good dialogue.

Other than that, I think I'll just throw this back in my classroom library and let the kids enjoy it for the sake of enjoying it.

Oh, Series Books

Somebody on Reddit suggested that I add graphics to each entry, so this fancy looking cover is my attempt at doing so. I also went back and added pictures for some other entries as well, but then I got tired of copy/pasting, so I stopped. Does it look fancy yet?

I finished The Lost Hero, but I don't feel finished. It's a series book, so now of course I have to go and order the sequel.

Anyway, an awesome book. For those of you who have read or heard anything about Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, this book follows that one. I haven't read Percy Jackson, nor did I even realize that this book was at all related to that book until I started reading it, so having read it is not essential to your understanding of this book.

The Lost Hero seems to have picked up where Percy Jackson left off: the Titans have been defeated and things have more or less returned to normal. Except that one day, this kid Jason wakes up on a school bus with a girlfriend (Piper) and a best friend (Leo), but zero recollection of either. He and his friends eventually find their way to Camp Half-Blood, which is the same place Percy Jackson went to when he found out he was related to a Greek God. Because that's what this camp is for: the demi-god children of Greek Gods and Goddesses. Leo finds out he's the son of Hephaestus, the God of the force; Piper finds out she's the daughter of Aphrodite, Goddess of love; and Jason finds out he's the son of Zeus, God of the skies. Then they have to go on a quest, because if they don't the whole world will end.

Coming from somebody who hasn't read Percy Jackson, I can guess that this book more or less has a similar plot to the other one. Do I care? Not at all. The story line was compelling enough to keep me reading (I read 200-odd pages today), the characters were interesting, and the ending was cliff-hangery-enough that I'm going to buy the sequel so I can find out what happens next (and maybe how it ends).

The characters were actually one of my favorite parts. Being that Jason is the son of Zeus, he is somehow the star of the book. However, unlike in Harry Potter, his two sidekicks, Leo and Piper, are given equally interesting backgrounds and unique characterizations. In fact, my favorite character was Leo, the sarcastic son of a mechanic and Hephaestus. His humor and ingenuity throughout the book made him one of the more important characters. Whereas J.K. Rowling seemed to have to work to make Ron Weasley important to Harry, Leo is an invaluable asset to the success of the quest. And the necessity of Leo comes naturally to the story.

In terms of classroom usage, this is definitely useful for getting students excited about learning about Greek and Roman myths. The story talks a lot about Jason and the Argonauts (duh), along with references to Medea, King Midas, Gaea and Ouranos, Kronos, and the roles each of the Gods plays in making the world function (or not, as the case may be). I know that I didn't remember that much of Medea, which left me clicking on link after link on Wikipedia, trying to learn more about her story (while, of course, forgetting the garlic bread in the oven and subsequently burning it -what a dangerous game we lifelong learners play). I can definitely see putting this book in the hands of a couple of readers eager for some adventure, then hooking them into Greek mythology so they can better understand the significance of the myths as they are told in the book. While the book is probably too long to work as a read aloud (550 pages, approximately), if enough students read it, Greek myths could be the next big thing in a classroom. The book isn't leveled by F&P, but if I had to guess I'd say it's a Y or Z, so hang onto this book for upper level readers.

Oh, and read it yourself, because it's just that good of a book.

Making up for lost time...oops

Fourth of July is a busy time. That, and I was reading a much longer book (The Lost Hero, by Rick Riordan) that kept me distracted from the task at hand: read a book a day. More on that book later when I actually finish it (which hopefully will be later today after I go to the gym). But, so, I skipped a book on Tuesday and Wednesday in favor of sleeping in too late, getting mac'n'cheese (which I need a regular supply of), seeing Ted (which didn't end up happening), going swimming at the nearby pond (No Swimming Allowed signs be damned), and barbecuing. Any empty spaces in there were filled with The Lost Hero.

This morning I read five picture books in an attempt to catch up. They are as follows:

A Picture Book of Paul Revere
A Picture Book of Sam Adams
A Picture Book of John and Abigial Adams
(all of the above are by David Adler. Sam Adams and John and Abigail Adams were illustrated by Ronald Himler and Paul Revere was illustrated by John and Alexandra Wallner)
Heroes of the Revolution, by David Adler
Helen Keller: Her Life in Pictures, by George Sullivan

Let's group them, shall we?

A Picture Book of... is always a good series, and now this has been confirmed to me by me. The research is always quality and the illustrations are usually pretty good. I saw David Adler speak, thanks to a professional development I did at the JFK Library and Museum. His assigned topic was about how he came to write historical nonfiction and how he does his research. He had some pretty interesting things to say. First of all, he told about how, when he was growing up, he read a historical fiction book that had dialogue between George Washington and another person. When he asked his mom how the writer knew what George had said, his mom told him that the writer probably made it up. This left him with a bad taste in his mouth about historical fiction. When he became a writer, he decided that he wanted to be as historically accurate as possible, so he uses as many primary resources as possible when he researches. At the time, he was writing a book about Harriet Tubman. The majority of the books about her are written for children (I think there are only two or three books for adults that have been written about her), so he found a book from 1890 that had accounts of escaped slaves, several of whom had escaped with Harriet Tubman. He said he was using this book to write a lot of the information about how she lead slaves to freedom.

Anyway, that's part of what I like about David Adler's books: I know that there has been some painstaking research that has gone into it, so I can trust the information provided.

My favorite of these was the book about John and Abigail Adams. Maybe it's just because I like her, but I thought that this provided the best information about the subject(s) and the illustrations were far superior to those done by John and Alexandra Wallner for Paul Revere. Those illustrations looked a little hokey and young to me. These books are great books for students up through fifth grade to gather information about these people, so the illustrations should strive for some kind of artistic merit. I felt like these pictures belonged in a picture book for younger readers.

As for Sam Adams, I enjoyed it, but the book was more largely focused on the events surrounding Sam Adams, rather than Sam Adams himself. This is fine, since it gives a good context for his life, but I also like getting to know the person when I read a biography.

The thing I like the best about these books in general is that Adler always has an author's note that expands on or, sometimes, corrects the information given in that actual narrative. I think sometimes this is done to exaggerate a point in the narrative -as he does in Heroes of the Revolution when he describes John Paul Jones as shouting "I have not yet begun to fight!" in the narrative, but in the author's note, he says that it's more likely that he said "No, I'll sink, but I'll be damned if I'll strike [surrender]."

These three books, along with Heroes could all definitely be used as part of a research project during a unit on the Revolutionary War. Heroes gives a good context for who all the different people are, while any of the A Picture Book of... books could be used to give more depth to each person's life. They could also be used as mentor texts during a unit on reading and writing biographies, or they could be used just to conduct research during these units. All in all, I think any of the books are a great addition to the elementary school classroom.

Helen Keller I have a harder time coming up with uses for. The example she sets is definitely one to mimic. She overcame a lot of adversity, and definitely deserve recognition for that. The book does not have actual illustrations. Instead, it had pictures taken throughout Helen's life, with a narrative intertwined that described Helen's life. I think I struggle with coming up with a classroom purpose for this book because it doesn't really address any standards. I thought about using it as a text to springboard discussion about how people with disabilities are treated, but other than "they're just like us" there isn't really that much discussion. Yes, they're just like us, but what do you do when they get treated differently? Why does the kid with the behavioral problems get to have a chart with some pretty easy stuff to do on it ("Don't leave the classroom") and then he gets time on the computer? How's that fair?

I guess I keep this book around my classroom library so that I have another biography of another person important to the history of our country around. I do believe that Helen Keller made a difference in the lives of many people, especially the blind and deaf-blind. But I'm a little bit stuck for what to do with this book past keep it as an independent reading book.

Later today (maybe...don't count on it though) I'll write about The Lost Hero.

Desperate to catch up...

So today I went to the bookstore. I'm usually pretty good about not buying too many books, and today was no different (4). While some readers can't help but pull 20 books from the shelves, I like to pull as many as I think I can read, then read then, then buy more. Hence doing lots of trips to the bookstore, but leaving with fewer books. It's how I convince myself I'm not spending too much money.

What did I buy?

Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing, by Judi Barrett (of Cloudy, With a Chance of Meatballs fame) (I originally bought this for my nephew, but I think I'll buy another copy in paperback as a mentor text...more on this later)
A touch-and-feel book for my nephew
Franny K. Stein Frantastic Voyage, by Jim Benton
The Cruisers, by Walter Dean Myers


Since I got home, I managed to read the two books meant for my nephew to him. Oh, did I mention that he's 3 1/2 months old? I don't think he absorbed very much from them, but he smiled a little bit and kicked his feet around, so I'm going to guess that this is a good thing.

I realized as I would reading Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing that it would make a great mentor text for a persuasive writing unit. It makes a claim (Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing), then gives reasons (sheep would be too hot, a camel would probably wear it the wrong way), then provides evidence (pictures with animals looking ridiculous). I have a bunch of mentor texts that I got through Donor's Choose, which I keep in my office for other teachers to borrow when they get to a certain writing unit. I'll throw this book on the pile. It would be great for kindergarten and first grade teachers to demonstrate how they can use persuasive writing in the lower grades. The text isn't leveled according to Fountas and Pinnell. If I had to guess myself, I would say an F or G. The concept isn't difficult, but some of the words are definitely pretty tricky for new readers to sound out.

The next book I read was Franny K. Stein: Frantastic Journey. Franny K. is a series of books about a young girl who is a mad scientist. She conducts evil experiments, is followed around by bats, and has a dog named Igor. He can't talk, but he is anthropomorphized in other, equally awesome ways -such as being prone to suggestion by commercials he sees on television.

I enjoy this series as an easy read, and so do my students. There's very little here that's complex, or worthy of discussion. But, they are nonetheless enjoyable to read, probably because of the lack of complexity. I think I'll keep this (and other Franny K. books) in my library. If anything, it's something to get my reluctant readers to start reading ANYTHING. It is nice to hear kids laughing out loud at a book, even if I know that the joke is a pretty low one. Franny K. is leveled at an N according to Fountas and Pinnell, but it is definitely still enjoyable to kids who are way past it.

I now only have to read one extra book at some point this week, plus the book I need to read for today because the books I read today only count as making up for the deficit. MATH. Go me.

Falling Behind Like Whoa

One of the good things about telling myself that I'm going to read a children's book a day and write about them is that I see just how time consuming this really is. I haven't finished a children's book since Thursday, but I am chock full of excuses about why:

Friday -last day of curriculum planning project. Got home at 3:30, took a FOUR HOUR nap, then felt too groggy to read anything for the rest of the night.

Saturday -errands in the morning, brunch around noon, swimming at the pond in the afternoon, then helping my mom move her stuff upstairs (long story), which consumed the rest of the night. I should have just brought a book with me so I could read at the pond, but I didn't. Damn it.

Sunday -super busy day. Early session at the gym, followed by a trip to a national park to go bouldering (a type of rock climbing), then dinner with my mom (roast chicken...yum), followed by dinner numero dos with friends I had gone rock climbing with. I didn't even get home until around 1 in the morning.

Which brings me to today. I did actually read a book, so there is something to report back about. But I also learned an important lesson this weekend about prioritizing reading.
1. I need to ALWAYS have a book on me. I could have been reading yesterday while I was waiting for people to be ready to go at the rock gym, or I could have been reading while I was at the pond.
2. I need to read books I'm excited about reading. The book I had picked out for Friday (which then became Saturday, then Sunday, then Monday) wasn't one I was terribly excited about, so I didn't really care about reading it. Which meant that I didn't read it. So next time, if I don't like a book, I'll just move on.

So the book I did read today (which means I still have to read three extra books at some point this week) was Felita, by Nicolosa Mohr.

I didn't like it, as I alluded to earlier. The book was published in 1979, which plays into some of the race relations that happen in the book. A young girl, about 9, moves with her family from one neighborhood, which is deemed no good, to a nicer neighborhood with better schools. Unfortunately, because the family is Puerto Rican, they are met with gross, obvious racism. They decide to move back to their old neighborhood. Then some other bad stuff happens which is completely unrelated to the first half of the book. Then the grandmother dies and the book ends.

Can you tell I didn't like it?

If I'm looking for a book that speaks to racism, I might choose The Jacket, by Andrew Clements, which has a more modern take on racism. This book is about white/black relations, but it discusses a more subtle kind of racism than the kind in Felita, which is pretty blatant. It dawns on me now that I can't think of a children's book that I liked that talks about race from the perspective of a Hispanic person. This is kind of a shame. As I wrote this, I went through a list in my head of black/white race relations books for children, but couldn't come up with anything about being Hispanic. Wait, I lied. I would rather use How Tia Lola Came to (Visit) Stay. This is a higher level book (an R, according to Fountas and Pinnell), while Felita is a P. Perhaps I would have students read this book as an introduction to racism with Hispanics, but then move into Tia Lola to help advance their thinking.

The second half of the book I felt like was a completely different story from the first half. Felita has some issues in her neighborhood that are pretty much just normal growing pains and have nothing to do with her being Hispanic, other than that her Abuelita helps her sort through some things. Interesting, but unrelated to the beginning. In fact, race only applies to the first half of the book, not the second. I'll keep this as a guided reading book, but it is certainly not one of my favorites.

Two books I liked better: