Whilst scouting the shelves at my favorite public library a few weeks ago, I spied Hungry Coyote on display. I had recently read this with the kids from "Period Kahn" that I see every day so I skipped over it and looked some more. Two shelf tops over, I saw Coyote Moon and thought, "compare contrast!" So I grabbed it and Hungry Coyote and a few others and trotted back across the street to my own library.
Hungry Coyote by Cheryl Blackford. Illustrated by Laurie Caple. unpgd. Minnesota Historical Society Press, May, 2015. 9780873519649. (Review from finished copy borrowed from public library)
My first glance at the yellow-eyed coyote made me think that I was looking at a photograph. My second, took in the city skyline. As I learned from Ann Downer's book Wild Animal Neighbors, it is not unusual for coyotes to live in urban areas. This book follows one coyote and his family throughout one year, beginning and ending in the winter. The paintings are luscious and detailed. The language is spare and rhythmic. Coyote doesn't always catch his prey, and sometimes his prey is snitched sausage from a summer picnic. Young readers understand his need to feed his growing family. A half-page of additional information concludes the volume. No additional resources are provided.
Coyote Moon by Maria Gianferrari. Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. unpgd. Roaring Brook Press, July, 2016. 9781626720411. (Review from finished copy borrowed from public library)
Wild Animal Neighbors and Hungry Coyote helped me appreciate the tenacity and adaptability of the coyote. Coyote Moon almost endeared me to them. This book follows a female out hunting for her family during a full-moon night. As in Hungry Coyote, the text is spare and evocative and absolutely wedded to the extraordinary illustrations. The ground-up perspective is unique and the lack of light forces the reader to lean in to peer closely in order to appreciate the incredible detail in each painting. My guys were constantly leaning in to touch the book. Just as they got used to the atmosphere, they jumped when the page turn revealed the pounce!
This picture book can definitely be used for elementary report writing because the back matter is terrific. Suggestions for further reading and websites are also included. Make room in your collection for this one. It's a keeper.
The boys did a terrific job of comparing and contrasting these lovely volumes about coyotes.
Samurai Rising: the epic life of Minamoto Yoshitsune by Pamela S. Turner. Unabridged audiobook on four compact discs. Four hours and fifty-one minutes. Narrated by Brian Nishii. Recorded Books, August, 2016.
I must confess that it took me three tries to get through this biography. It had more to do with my aversion to violence and war stories than the writing. I also had trouble with keeping all the names straight. I had received a review copy from the author and felt guilty not reading it. The book certainly did not need my review. It received a number of stars and glowing reviews. Then, the author posted about how thrilled she was with the audiobook and I had my way into Samurai Rising.*
The life of Minamoto Yoshitsune was short and tragic. He was an infant when his father, a powerful samurai warrior was beheaded by a rival samurai family. Minamoto's young life was spared (his older brothers were not so lucky) and he was sent to live in a monastery and ultimately train as a priest. He had a warrior's heart though and escaped as soon as possible to train as a samurai. His half-brother was raising an army of samurai to exact revenge for their father and Minamoto joined him. He soon proved himself to be a brilliant, though reckless warrior. The body count is high and the deaths are pitiless and gruesome. Some thought Minamoto a hero, others despised him, his half-brother among the latter. This book is not for the easily queasy!
The narration by Brian Nishii, with his calm voice and fluid pronunciations of all the names and places enhanced my enjoyment of the book. I did miss the inky, watery illustrations and maps drawn by Gareth Hinds, but the book was not far.
A timeline follows the conclusion of the biography. The book was meticulously researched with nearly fifty pages of source notes; but reads like an action/ adventure tale. A six-page bibliography follows, concluding with an index.
Give this book to readers who enjoy history, biography and/ or war stories. Because of the violence, the title is better suited for grades seven and up though I would've let my history buff son read it earlier.
*Thank goodness for audiobooks! I am such a fan of reading with my ears and always have two going. I will always try a book I'm having trouble getting into on audio before abandoning a title altogether.
Heads up, this is going to be a long and rambling post. I hope you stay. A series of events occurred that led up to my decision to revisit I Want My Hat Back and This is Not My Hat before reading Klassen's latest, We Have Found a Hat.
I was attending a meeting of the valley librarians (seven towns send to two high schools and we all meet several times a year), when an email popped up sent by a colleague whose students I work with daily. She was attending a dyslexia workshop. She went to a breakout session on teaching inference and the presenter recommended the picture book, Widget, to teach inference. J. wanted to know if we had the book in our library. We did not but I offered to borrow it from the public library for her. Neither of my two home libraries owned it so I submitted an ILL request. When it arrived a few days later, I picked the book up and popped it in her box. I must have been busy because I did not stop to read it first.
A week or so later, I had to go to her classroom to work with her kids because the book fair was being held in my library and they couldn't come to me. Since it was the first day of picture book month, I brought a couple of picture books to read and told the kids we were reading picture books all month to celebrate. There was still time after I read the two I brought, so J. asked if I would read them Widget. (by Lyn Rossiter McFarland. Illustrated by Jim McFarland. Square Fish, 2006. 978037448369.)
It is a sweetly humorous story about a stray dog who has to masquerade as a cat in order to stay in a nice cozy home occupied by a grandmotherly lady who owns six cats. The "girls" do not like dogs so Widget meows and otherwise adopts cat behaviors in order to fit in. The illustrations are appealing. The climax is cute, if a tad predictable. I enjoyed reading it and could see why it was recommended as a text for teaching inference, but I wasn't bowled over.
And that got me thinking.
First, it got me thinking that I could think of many other books that teachers could use to teach inference. That if I were presenting, of course I would share my favorite; but I would also provide a list of possibilities because my favorite might not be a universally good fit.
Then, I thought of all the pre-service and early service teachers studiously jotting this title down and trying it with their kids. I thought of myself in my early years of school librarianship, studiously jotting recommendations down at conferences and trying them with my kids. Some worked some did not. What I did find was that, if I felt passionate about the recommended title - it worked. If I used it because x, y, or z said to and I didn't love it? Well, it almost always fell flat.
And that made me think about "required" or "all-class" reading. I've had four sons go through a highly rated high school that dictated what books were to be read in LA classes. The sons who had teachers that were passionate about the book got the better deal.
I told you this would be rambling.
I did like Widget very much. I would have no problem teaching inference using it. It's a fine example. But I would suggest others. My personal favorites are:
The Hat Trilogy by Jon Klassen:
I Want My Hat Back. Candlewick Press, September, 2011. 9780763655983.
Klassen's authorial debut won a Geisel Honor and made the ALA Notables Books list. In it, a big lug of a bear has lost his hat and he plods through the woods politely asking each animal he passes if they have seen his hat. All of them answer tersely and truthfully except rabbit whose word vomit ends with, "I did not steal a hat." It takes a solicitous deer's request for a description of the hat for bear to realize that he HAS seen his hat! He sure does get angry! There are quite a few opportunities to infer in this darkly hilarious tale.
This is Not My Hat. Candlewick Press, October, 2012. Candlewick Press, 2012. 9780763655990.
Not only did this win Klassen a 2013 Caldecott Medal, he also snagged an honor for Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett. In This is Not My Hat, there is a theft and the gleeful little thief is the narrator of the story. The tiny fish has swiped a blue bowler hat from a large lunk of a fish claiming it was too small for him and anyway, he won't even notice it's missing. Big fish does though and the chase is on. The deadpan humor is delightful as is the underwater environment - a black background with collaged aquatic plants and streams of bubbles indicating movement. As in I Want My Hat Back, we must read the eyes. The crab is especially hysterical, ratting out the fish.
We Have Found a Hat. Candlewick Press, October, 2016. 9780763656003.
The trilogy concludes with another hat, this time a found hat. Two turtles find a white Stetson hat on their travels. They each covet it, but since there's only one hat and two turtles, they decide to leave it. Only…Again, astute readers will check out the eyes. As one turtle's eyes narrow, they will wonder what it has in mind. The story is told in three acts and readers who think they know what will happen are in for a surprise.
Not surprisingly, this title is showing up on quite a few "Best" lists of 2016. Also not surprisingly, not everyone feels the love for this. Some just don't get the humor.
I love everything about these books from the dark, deadpan humor to the minimal, almost monochromatic, gritty art. They tickle me to no end and I never tire of reading through any and all of them.
And that's the point I'm longwindedly trying to make. Because I adore these books, (hopefully) my enthusiasm for them will entice my students to go along for the ride. Folks who don't like or don't get the books will have a harder time using the books to teach inference. The moral? One size does not fit all. If you are recommending books, it is fine to model the one that speaks to you but provide a list of others that do the job as well.
Radiant Child: the story of young artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe. unpgd. Little, Brown and Company, October, 2016. 9780316213882. (Review from purchased finished copy)
I had the privilege of attending the Little Brown spring preview, where I not only received an fng of this book, but got to view Javaka Steptoe's original art and listen to him speak about his research for the book and his artistic process. I read the fng immediately and posted a five-star quickie review to Goodreads. I also marked it as a 2016 favorite and intended to review it more fully here. I. Never. Did.
When all the starred reviews started appearing, I still somehow did not get around to reviewing it. Ugh! I am so lame! Now, it's deservedly appearing on many of the year-end "Best" lists. Last Thursday morning, I finally covered my school library's finished copy and, before displaying it on a shelf, sat down to reread it for the fifth or sixth time.
My love for this book has not diminished one iota. In fact, the finished copy is even more gorgeous. The care that went into this book shows on every page from the decorated end-pages to the portrait of Basquiat as a young man before the title page through the backgrounds for the title page and back matter.
In a note, "About This Book," Steptoe explains that he emulated Basquiat and used "bits of New York City to create the artwork for this book." His "canvases" were textured pieces of wood retrieved from dumpsters and exhibit pieces discarded by the Brooklyn Museum. The art is simply stunning. Each double-page spread invites lingering as the textures and colors meld with other media such as colored pencils and tubes of paint. I find something new with each reread.
The back matter includes a page with more information about the artist; an explanation of the motifs and symbolism used in the author/ illustrator's paintings and a note from Javaka Steptoe explaining his own connection to Basquiat and encouraging young artists to pursue their dreams.
Share this title with your art teachers. Radiant Child is a must-purchase title for all kinds of libraries.
Tiny Stitches: the life of medical pioneer Vivien Thomas by Gwendolyn Hooks. Illustrated by Colin Bootman. unpgd. Lee & Low Books, May, 2016. 9781620141564. (Review from purchased copy)
This is the story of Vivien Thomas who wanted to become a doctor. So he worked hard alongside of his father, who was a master carpenter and saved his money. But he lost it all in the stock market crash of 1929. While jobs were scarce for carpenters during the Great Depression, Vivien learned about a job opening at Vanderbilt Medical School. He hoped that by taking it, he could keep his dreams of becoming a doctor alive.
He interviewed with Dr. Alfred Blalock. Dr. Blalock wanted someone to help him with his research into treatment for patients in shock. Blalock was impressed with Vivien and offered him the job. Blalock taught Vivien how to conduct experiments and write up lab reports. Another doctor loaned him medical texts. Vivien was such a quick study that it wasn't long before he was conducting his own experiments.
He learned to suture seamlessly. He also learned that his job description was that of janitor and that white men with the same duties were earning more than he. He informed Dr. Blalock that he would no longer work for him unless he was paid comparably.
When Doctor Blalock left Vanderbilt to join Johns Hopkins, Vivien knew it would not be long before he was fired by Vanderbilt so he moved to Baltimore but could not find housing. It turned out that Johns Hopkins was more segregated that Vanderbilt but Vivien persevered.
In 1943, a pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Helen Taussig, approached Dr. Blalock about finding a way to cure the tiniest cardiac patients, the "blue babies." These were babies who were born with a congenital heart defect known as Tetrology of Fallot, or four defects that prevented blood from being properly oxygenated.
After months of experimenting, Vivien realized that the solution might be a "procedure he and Dr. Blalock perfected at Vanderbilt for a different problem." One stumbling block to trying this surgery was that the needles were too long for the tiny infants' hearts and blood vessels. Vivien needed to make the needles small enough to use on a newborn. He tried his new needles out on animals and found a way to anastomose arteries using them. In November of 1944, Dr. Taussig had a baby girl who needed surgery or she would die.
On the morning of the surgery, Dr. Blalock insisted that Vivien remain in the operating room to help guide him through the surgery. The baby survived thanks to Vivien's help but Dr. Blalock got all the credit and press. Dr. Blalock became world famous and Vivien was never credited for his research until 1971. In 1976, he was given an honorary doctorate and appointed to the faculty as instructor.
Talk about injustice! What tenacity and perseverance on the part of Vivien Thomas! This is an important addition to any school, public or classroom or STEM library. The mostly double-page watercolor illustrations are fantastic. They convey Vivien Thomas' dignity and intelligence. Two pages of backmatter provides more information about Tetrology of Fallot and Vivien Thomas, followed by a glossary of medical terms and source notes.
Truly a first-purchase with cross-curricular uses.
ETA: I almost forgot! The eighth grade social studies teacher has a unit on African-American inventors. I asked him if Vivien Thomas was on the list of possible inventors to research. He was not; but after hearing my synopsis of the story, the teacher wants to add him.
Wish by Barbara O'Connor. 227 p. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, August, 2016. 9780374302733. (Purchased)
After eleven-year-old Charlie's dad, Scrappy, is sent to prison to be "corrected" and her mom can't seem to drag herself out of bed, Charlie is sent to live with Aunt Bertha and Uncle Gus. Not only is she separated from her beloved older sister, she doesn't know these people and they live way out in the boondocks. Her best friend tells her she'll be going to school with hillbillies. She is not happy. At the best of times, Charlie is prickly and prone to fight, a trait she proudly believes she inherited from her father.
Nonetheless, Bertha and Gus are thrilled to have her despite the sulking and nasty comments. Her tough shell repels her classmates effectively except for Howard, a neighbor who lives in a noisy house with many brothers and walks with an "updown" walk. His persistent kindness is a true puzzle to Charlie.
Charlie does have one wish though. Ever since fourth grade, she looks for a sign daily to make a wish on and she has never ever told her wish. She feels unwanted and like she doesn't fit in anywhere. When she spies a dog skulking around town and learns that it's a stray no one seems to own, Charlie is determined to make it hers.
O'Connor evokes a strong sense of setting here and her characters, even the minor ones, are fully fleshed out. The town is fictional but it and the community are so well-drawn, I feel I would recognize Colby were it real. I kind of wish it was. Charlie is a keen observer and her voice is achingly compelling. I winced with each mis-step and fell more in love with Bertha and Gus as they continued to love Charlie unconditionally. Howard is an exceptional character also. He is lucky to be buoyed by a large, loving family to help him cope with his own troubles. He is a steadfast friend to Charlie despite her occasional cruelty.
I adored this book and will recommend it widely - to tweens who love dog stories and stories of friendship; to readers who love gentle, more thoughtful stories; and to teachers who might be looking for a powerful read-aloud to imbue important, discussable messages without a sledgehammer.
The Alphabet from the Sky by Benedikt Gross & Joey Lee. 64 p. Price Stern Sloan/ Penguin Random House, September, 2016. 9781101995815. (Review from copy borrowed from public library)
Even though alphabet books are usually catalogued and shelved in the picture book section, technically, they are part of languages and should be found in the 400s. Exceptions are always made to cater to the needs of each particular library. Alphabet concept books might be more likely found by a parent or child browsing the picture book section. Personally, I lean toward cataloging them all as 400 so that a patron might see the variety and scope of choices. I happen to collect alphabet books and while my home library is not strictly ordered by the Dewey Decimal System, I have all my alphabet books together on the shelf.
I am definitely adding this one to my home library and probably to my school's.
Who isn't fascinated by aerial views? When do we really have the opportunity for bird's eye views? Even if we fly frequently, the view out of the tiny porthole window of a plane is tiny and relatively fleeting. And, except for take off and landing, really too high to identify much.
This book is the result of a Kickstarter campaign by the co-authors, who want to map the Earth's typography. Yes. Typography. That's no typo. Not topography. What letters do roads, buildings, rivers and landforms make?
The result of Gross and Lee's inquiry is this beautiful book. Other than the introduction, there are very few words in this book. Readers are invited to "read the landscape." Each double-page spread has the words, "Find the __" in the upper left hand side of the spread and a small yellow box containing the name of each town, state and latitude and longitude over a map of the US on which the town is located. There are many towns in Florida, two in New Jersey, several from Pennsylvania, a couple from Michigan and Illinois, several from California and Wisconsin, Georgia and Texas are represented with one.
Each photograph is crisp and colorful and startling in clarity. The first entry was photographed over Lake Work, Florida. The reader is asked to find the "A." It's easy enough but one is also distracted by possibilities for other letters. Indeed, the A is part of a neighborhood in which the streets also seem to form the letters, U, F, L, E, J, Y, M, B, O, Q and N. Upon closer inspection of the photo, the neighborhoods appear to float on water!
The children you share this with might want to rush through the book in the excitement of the scavenger hunt. You should let them; but leave time and an invitation to return to each spread to linger. Build inferencing skills by asking, "What do you see?"
Our small group of readers had trouble finding the L. They consulted the handy answer key at the end. Of course! Why hadn't they seen it? The final four pages contain a series of slightly-larger-than-thumbnail photos of additional letters.
This book was great fun and I can see its use in a variety of ways. I would've loved a bit more information about each spot, like what actually is that Q-shaped building? Then again, what better way to spur research than a mystery?
The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat. 64 p. Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! Series. Disney Press, September, 2016. 9781484726365. (Review from purchased copy.)
Elephant and Piggie are BACK! Sorta. Mo Willems and Disney have launched an early reader imprint and Dan Santat is the author of its inaugural title. And what fun it is.
We all know that Elephant & Piggie love to read. Here, the front end-pages feature E & P sharing the book,The Cookie Fiasco and an introductory letter to "Dear Reader" from Mo Willems. Gerald wants to read a funny book and so does Piggie. On the first four pages, Gerald worries about how 2 people can read 1 book but Piggie is pragmatic. It is not until then that the Title Page for The Cookie Fiasco appears!
Hippo bellows, "Hey guys! It's COOKIE TIME!" and the fun starts in earnest because there are 3 cookies and 4 friends. As Squirrel, Croc and Monkey discuss possible iterations of sharing out the 3 cookies, Hippo gets more and more nervous. When Hippo gets nervous, she(?) he(?) breaks things, in this case the cookies. The other friends freak out as the three friends worry the cookies will be reduced to crumbs.
The Cookie Fiasco is a recipe for rollicking read aloud fun. I had the privilege and pleasure of listening to Dan Santat and friends read this aloud in Orlando at ALA Annual.
My listeners anticipated the end-pages, where they used their eagle eyes to spot Pigeon in a trice! I look forward to reading more in this early reader series.
Moo by Sharon Creech. 278 p. Joanna Cotler Books/ HarperCollins Publishers, August, 2016. 9780062415240. (Review from arc courtesy of publisher)
Reena and her brother Luke are city kids through and through. When their journalist parents both lose their jobs and are unable to find new ones, they pack up and head to Maine and the great unknown. Reena and Luke are pretty on board with the move. She anticipates beaches, blueberries and lobster. What she gets is work. She and her brother are volunteered by their parents to help an elderly neighbor, Mrs. Falala, with chores. This includes tending her cow, Zora. Zora is one nasty cow and Mrs. Falala is a bit crotchety herself. Both of them scare poor Luke leaving Reena to deal with Zora. Luckily for Reena, Beat and Zep, who work the cows on a neighboring farm, are willing to mentor Reena. As Reena's confidence grows and Zora becomes more tractable, Reena begins to appreciate both Mrs. Falala and Zora. This is a lovely story about family, friendship and farming.
This poetry/ prose hybrid is classic Creech - sweet, tender, amusing, and udderly readable. For fans of Love That Dog, this book will feel like a warm homecoming or putting on a favorite pair of slippers. New readers are in for a treat. Sharon Creech's books are so accessible thanks to her spare narrative style, her keen eye for small moments and her gentle affection for both her readers and her characters.
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. Unabridged audiobook on 12 compact discs. 13.5 hours. Read by Fiona Hardingham and Steve West. Listening Library, 2015. 978110890776. (Review from finished copy borrowed from the public library)
An Ember in the Ashes was one of the most hyped debuts of 2015. It was on my tbr from before its publication but I wasn't able to get to it until I found it on audio. Wowzers, am I sorry it took so long! Epic storytelling, intriguing characters and vivid world building along with spectacular performances by new-to-me narrators, Fiona Hardingham and Steve West.
The action starts with a bang as Laia and her brother, Darin attempt to escape a Mask raid of the home they share with their Scholar grandparents, Nan and Pop. Laia suspects her brother is working with the Empire thanks to the smell of metal and the sketches of weapons in his sketchbook. But the Masks arrive to arrest Darin for treason. So, is he working for the Resistance? Laia's parents and much older sister died working for the resistance. She is not smart and brave like them. At Daren's insistence, she flees; but has no idea where to find refuge. The Marshals and the Masks have an iron-fisted hold on the mostly oppressed population of the Empire. In desperation, she searches the catacombs for the Resistance.
Chapters alternate between the first-person narrations of Laia and Elias. Elias is about to graduate from his Mask training. He is Blackcliff Academy's most brilliant and gifted student; but he hates what he is being trained to do and is plotting escape. But no one deserts the Academy. Deserters are always caught and always tortured, usually to death.
The emperor protects himself with elite guards but there is a power struggle going on among the elite in addition to attempts at sedition by the Resistance. Elias finds himself entangled in a three-way competition to become the new emperor. He crosses paths with Laia and their fates become entwined.
Why do fantasy books always seem to be narrated by British narrators? Hardingham and West's performances were pitch-perfect. It turns out Hardingham is not new to me. She narrated another favorite audiobook of mine, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. Hardingham's musical voice conveys Laia's fear well. West's growly snarl is my newest voice crush. (I mentioned this in a FB post and someone posted his picture to my timeline - he's not hard on the eyes either!)
A Torch against the Night by Sabaa Tahir. Unabridged audiobook on 13 compact discs. 15 hours. Read by Fiona Hardingham, Steve West, and Katharine McEwan. Listening Library 2016. (Review from purchased finished copy)
The only good thing about being late to the party around a smash hit it that there is less time to wait to read the sequel. I did need to buy my copy though because none of the libraries in my library cooperative had acquired the audiobook yet.
A third narrator was added to A Torch against the Night. Helene's POV alternates with Laia's and Elias' POV and it's quite effective. Not wanting to unintentionally spoil either book one or two, I will say that A Torch against the Night was such a satisfying sequel. It hits the ground running and the suspense remains high for most of the book. I did not skip a day of reading with my ears and had to double up for the final discs. My heart was in my throat for most of the books. There were so many twists and turns and I loved the addition of the Bloodshrike's point of view. There were tears when a favorite character dies and shrieks at a fairly big and surprising reveal. The violence quotient remains high. There was lots of brutality. I cannot wait for the next book and hear that two more are planned.
The performances were first-rate. I highly recommend this series.
Sigh. There was a time when I reviewed everything I read. Then, I reviewed only what I really liked. Lately, I realized that I am not even doing that! I never reviewed two audiobooks that totally blew me away this summer. So here's a double review of two historical fictions not to be missed.
Both of these feature totally fictional characters set during a notable historical event, neither of which, I am embarrassed to admit, I had ever heard. But then, I always learn the most interesting things by reading literature for young people.
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez. Unabridged audiobook on 10 compact discs, 12 hrs., 50 mins. Read by Benita Robledo and Lincoln Hoppe. Listening Library, 2016. 9780735289475. (Purchased)
Set in New London, Texas in 1937, where a deadly explosion at a school killed scores of children, Out of Darkness tells the story of Naomi and Wash. Fifteen-year-old Naomi is Mexican and her five-year-old half-siblings are bi-racial. They've recently been summoned by Naomi's white stepfather to live as a family in New London. Her half-siblings mix easily but Naomi is immediately confronted with racial hatred aimed at Mexicans. All the boys in her high school make assumptions and all the girls hate her because of those assumptions compounded by her beauty and apparent disinterest. She does, reluctantly at first, become interested in Wash, an ambitious African American boy with college prospects. She and Henry, her step-father, share a terrible secret. Henry has supposedly repented and become a Christian, but with each passing day, his resolve waivers and Naomi finds herself the object of his advances.
This just shredded my heart to bits. Nothing like listening to a book and knowing from disc one that lots of terrible things are going to happen. Evocative and layered, this elicited so many emotions-like falling in love with the characters and wanting to keep them safe; like the fury of unrelenting wrongs and injustice. This was one tough but powerful read. The audio performance was first-rate. The narration by new-to-me narrator, Benita Robledo was commanding. I will definitely be interested in listening to more of her performances. Lincoln Hoppe served as the voice of the "Greek Chorus." Highly recommended!
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. Unabridged audiobook on 7 compact discs (8 hrs., 48 min.) Read by Jorjeana Marie, Cassandra Morris, Will Damron and Michael Crouch. Listening Library, 2016. 9780147525451. (Purchased)
Salt to the Sea is told from the points of view of four young people as the losing German army retreats from Russian forces across East Prussia. Joana is a Lithuanian nurse shepherding a group of refugees to Gotenhofan to attempt to gain passage on the ship, Wilhelm Gustloff. She encounters Emelia, a young Polish girl and Florian, a deserting German soldier. There's also the POV of Alfred, a delusional German Navy seaman who finds multiple ways of shirking his responsibility. Each hides secrets both tragic and dangerous. The chapters are short as the point of view shifts quickly from person to person. Be patient with the set-up for as the pieces of this puzzle begin to fit together, the suspense will prevent you from putting the book down (or, in my case, stop listening). So will the love you may be surprised to have for some of the characters. Even the secondary characters are so vividly drawn that I wept over some.
I was unaware that the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustlaff was the worst maritime disaster in history. As she did in Between Shades of Gray, Ms. Sepetys brings a little known segment of World War II to vivid life. While all the characters are completely fictional, what happened to them in the book, really happened to refugees.
The four performers did a wonderful job. Three of the four were new-to-me narrators. Cassandra Morris' performance as Emelia was particularly affecting. I'm not sure who voiced Alfred, but his portrayal was creepily smarmy as fitting Alfred. Great job.
Both books will require a sophisticated reader for both structure and content with Out of Darkness being more appropriate to a high school reader. Out of Darkness won a Printz Honor in January and Salt to the Sea is getting some award buzz for the 2017 season.
Lift Your Light a Little Higher: the story of Stephen Bishop: slave explorer by Heather Henson. Illustrated by Bryan Collier. unpgd. Atheneum Books for Young Readers/ Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, September, 2016. 978148181420952. (Review from finished copy courtesy of publisher)
When I first read this back in July, my first impulse was to feature it in Non-Fiction Monday post until I realized that it is a fictionalized biography since it is written in the first person. I never did get around to writing a review. The book got buried on the bottom of the "to review" pile. Last month, Bookends Blog featured it along with James Madison Hemings in an article entitled Fictionalization in Non-fiction. I recently uncovered and reread the book while reorganizing the mess that is my desk. My review is followed by a couple of thoughts on the trend of fictionalizing Non-fiction.
Stephen Bishop was born in Kentucky around 1821. As a teenager, his master decided he would work as a guide in Mammoth Cave. He learned the cave, over 400 miles of mapped trails. He was not the only slave guide but he became the most famous because he was intelligent and well-spoken. He made many discoveries but did not receive credit for them because he was a slave. He quietly taught himself to read by helping tourists candle-write their names on the cave ceilings. His death is a mystery. The author writes in her author note that because of the dearth of information about his life, she chose to imagine him telling his story.
The illustrator, Bryan Collier, a large man who doesn't like small spaces, visited the caves for research and saw Stephen's candle-written signature. His dark hued collages invoke wonder and claustrophobia in equal measures. Each one invites the reader to pause and pore. Each one is more powerful than the last. The double-page spread where the author writes, "Because I am bought and sold, same as an ox or a mule; bought and sold along with the land I work," depicts an imposing ox with dark silhouettes superimposed on his body. Powerful stuff made especially jarring because with the page turn, the illustration depicts white tourists apparently having the time of their lives.
Share this picture book widely. It's a powerful conversation starter. Don't forget to share the back-matter. I can't wait to begin some interesting conversations with my students.
I remember reading Jacqueline Woodson's Newbery Honor-winning Show Way aloud to most of my students (from grades 2 to 8) the day after the award was announced in 2007. I was impressed not only by the beauty and design of the book, but also by the fact though, Show Way was a family story, Woodson had it classified as a work of fiction since all of the elements could not be verified. She did the same thing with her luminous memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming. Invariably, students in class after class asked, "Is this true?" I asked them what they thought and after listening to their answers shared the answer. They proceeded to ponder big T and little t-truth.
Only eight libraries in my cooperative own Lift Your Light a Little Higher so far. Seven of them have catalogued the book as biography. Technically, it's not though I'm tempted to put it there in my library myself. Thoughts?
Pug Meets Pig by Sue Lowell Gallion. Illustrated by Joyce Wan. Beach Lane Books, September, 2016. 9781481420662. (Review of finished copy courtesy of Blue Slip Media.)
I'm a big dog person, more specifically, a lab person. We've owned and loved three and were about to find a fourth. That is, until son #2 thought it would be a good idea to buy a German Shepherd puppy at the end of his third year of medical school. After a week, he realized that this puppy needed more attention than he had time to give (Ya think?). Since he purchased the pup from a breeder somewhere in the south and picked him up at the airport, sending the dog back was not an option. So we took him.
If I were to own a small dog, it would be a pug. Or a beagle. I'd rather own a pug than a German Shepherd - or at least this one. I love him but he's very skittish, always hyper-alert and extremely protective of us. He needs lots of attention and stimulation. He needs a job.
I think I need a pug. Pugs are the coolest little dog breed ever. They are so ugly that they are cute. And, little as they are, the way their stocky little bodies move and stand, it's very "You don't want to mess with me, Dude." Which brings me back to Pug Meets Pig.
Look at that cover. Pug is facing off with Pig and he is not happy! Consider the front end-pages, Pug is a happy pup, content to be alone frolicking about his yard. Pug has a lovely home, a wonderful bowl, and he works hard in the yard. He has a great little dog house where he can chill. Until. Pig trots in all la-di-dah! Everywhere Pug goes - his food bowl, his yard, even his doghouse! There is Pig. Pug is going to run away. But, what is this? A pug-door? Hm,m.
Yeah, there are other adorable Pug books out there, but make room for this sassy sibling rivalry book. It's completely adorable from it's endpapers through its creamy, lovely illustrations. Pug Meets Pig is a fun read aloud and great for newly emergent readers as well.
Visit the author's web page for more information. There's also an activity guide with curriculum connections. Additionally, there's a Pug and Pig Halloween book in the works for 2017.
Falling Over Sideways by Jordan Sonnenblick. 261 p. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., September 27, 2016. 9780545863261. (Review of arc courtesy of the publisher)
I have a list of authors who are automatic purchases no matter what. I become so confident in them that I stop needing to read reviews and/ or the book to make sure each new book is the right fit. This isn't a long list. Jordan Sonnenblick is on that list. He's also on a much shorter list of authors whose work I will not only automatically buy but also make sure I read. I always approach a new Sonnenblick book with the predisposition toward liking it and usually end up loving it. He has never disappointed nor does he here. In fact, with this book being his first in which the narrator is a girl, Falling Over Sideways is a delightful surprise.
Which is not to say there will be no tears. We fans know to expect much humor and many tears. Claire is our goofy, sarcastic, smart and talented, with a side of clueless and selfish, narrator. She's a dancer about to be left behind by her dancing bffs when they are placed in an advanced class and she is not. She's a saxophonist who's happy to play second chair except that the first chair saxophonist, Ryder takes sadistic pleasure in constantly, well, riding her about it. And then there's the pressure of living up to her perfect older brother, Matthew's, reputation. Her parents can drive her crazy but they're pretty good as parents go and she can always count on her father to jolly her out of a bad mood with his trademark humor.
All the drama and angst suddenly seem insignificant after her father suffers a stroke one Saturday morning. One moment, he and Claire are sitting at the breakfast table amiably ignoring each other, the next her father is acting bizarrely and unable to speak. Claire's quick thinking helps to save her father's life and possibly minimize the brain damage from the blood clot. But her father is a writer. Words are important to him. What will he do; what will he be if he loses his words permanently?
Just like Steven, in Sonnenblick's debut, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie, Claire keeps her family's emergency and her father's condition a secret as long as possible. Understandably, this poses some unique and sometimes hilarious problems. Sonnenblick's years as a middle school language arts teacher may have honed his ear for authentic middle school, tween/ teen dialogue and drama but his compassion and affection for middle school students shines in each of his books. Life lessons great and small are seamlessly woven into compelling storytelling. His characters could step off of the page and fit in in nearly any middle school.
Falling Over Sideways is highly recommended and a 2016 favorite of mine. Don't miss it!
How This Books Was Made by Mac Barnett. Illustrated by Adam Rex. unpgd. Disney-Hyperion, September 6, 2016. 9781423152200. (Review from finished copy courtesy of publisher)
I've hosted quite a few authors over the years. Most come to us for free for an hour while on tour promoting a new book, a few have been hired for the day to deliver large group presentations and small group writing workshops. One valuable takeaway for students next to seeing a real live author, is learning from each and every one of them that even professional authors are not immune to the often painful process of revising and revising and revising. I will never forget the reaction my students had to the slide Kenneth Oppel showed of a four or five foot high stack of revisions for This Dark Endeavor.
Can't host an author? The next best thing is grabbing this book! Metafiction at its very best, How This Book Was Made is a hoot! Let's start with that cover! What a mess! Adam Rex is holding the letter E and Mac Barnett is holding the letter M, but a tiger is front and center, looking askance at a hamburger. Astronauts float up top. There are rainbow and masking tape and lots of cut paper scraps. Ask your students, "What's up with that?"
Endpapers = tiger fur.
Don't miss the front jacket flap. Hyperbole? Hook?
Use the title page as a geography lesson.
Of course the book began with an idea. "Ideas can come at funny times." Yes, they can and the tiger is a great example of metaphor.
Once Mac's idea was born, he went to a quiet place and wrote. And wrote and wrote. He wrote 12 drafts! And still the tiger was not done with him.
Oh how I laughed and laughed at the pages depicting Mac's editor wearing a tiara and lunching on the terrace of a fancy New York City skyscraper!
Don't miss the chance to teach allusion with the lines, "I love this! This is perfect! Now, here are all the things you have to change."
"I took some of her advice. And I ignored some of her advice." Kids will really relate to that. The following pages chronicle the back and forth between editor and author "until most of the United States of America was crossed out."
Once both Mac and his editor loved all his words, enter Adam Rex, the illustrator. He worked very (hilariously) hard while poor Mac sat around and waited and grew a long beard. Once the art was done, the book needed to be printed. It was not printed in the United States. It was sent to Malaysia. We take a detour into space, get waylaid by pirates, deal with an eagle who tries to feed the book to her chicks, who reject it. Then, a toad uses it for cover only to have it picked up by a dog who brought it to his owner, who lost it in a poker game, who...
Looking for a fun, metafictive read-aloud to hammer home some language arts (or art or geography) lessons in a fun, palatable way? Look no further than How This Book Was Made. Your students will love you for it. Highly recommended for all ages. #nevertoooldforpicturebooks!
Want other metafiction treats? Try:
Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett & Adam Rex
Let Me Finish by Minh Le
Frankencrayon by Michael Hall
The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak
Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier
Every Day Birds by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. Illustrated by Dylan Metrano. unpgd. Orchard Books/ Scholastic Inc., February, 2016. 9780545699808. (Review from finished copy courtesy of publisher.)
A good cure for nature deficit disorder is to just get outdoors. One sure way of luring young people outdoors is to share irresistible books that make them beg to go outside. Every Day Birds is one such book.* The other day, I read this blog post by Don Torino, naturalist and president of the Bergen County Audubon society. Great food for thought. My students are a pretty lucky bunch. Our science teachers are amazing and our town has a gorgeous nature center run by another amazing naturalist who visits three or four times a year to explore the nearby stream with students.
I love being out of doors. I love watching birds. I keep multiple bird feeders out in my front yard and while the squirrels who raid the feeders bother me to no end, I delight in watching which of my feathered friends might stop by.
I am also a fan of Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's work. She's so passionate about nature (and poetry writing across the curriculum) and her poems always make me want to get outside. This lovely poem introduces twenty common North American birds. The illustrations are reminiscent of stained glass. Though they are not photorealistic, young readers will easily identify the bird in the wild based on the cut paper collage illustrations. Indeed, a teacher or librarian looking to make a unit out of this could pair photos (and even birdsong files) with the illustrations for a nice cross-curricular connection.
There are several pages of thumbnail illustrations along with a line or two of extra tidbits about each bird. The poem is also written out in its entirety across two pages.
What a lovely book to share with budding birders. Share this one widely. Visit the author's website for more information about her books, including book trailers, and school visits (highly recommended).
*Other fun titles for curing nature deficit disorder are:
Forest has a song by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater.
Step Gently Out by Helen Frost
Sweep Up the Sun by Helen Frost
Citizen Scientists by Loree Griffen Byrnes
The Boy Who Drew Birds: a story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies
