Last of the Book A Day Challenge

I really should have finished this last week, but I didn't quite get to 58, so I had to keep going. It feels great to have read all these books this summer!

We had a Welcome Back Breakfast this week with all the teachers and staff from all seven schools within FFCA. One of the speakers talked about his most dreaded question: "How was your weekend". He said that when he told his parents he wanted to become a teacher, like them, they took him aside and kindly said, "Son, don't you think you'd be happier being a librarian?" He talked about how his perfect weekend involves reading a few books, or listening to a book on CD. He listens to his colleagues who talk about the wild adventures they have on the weekends. He joked about how they fly to Hawaii, swim with the dolphins, and exciting things like that.

I so relate!! This summer I would have been plenty happy to stay home and read read read all summer long. My children wouldn't be too happy with that though so I do end up on some adventures. I'm always happy to get back to the hotel, or get back home, or sneak away to my room and get in another chapter or two. And the more I do it, the more I enjoy it. Yup. I'm a total nerd. :)

Anyway, here is the last of my list!

53/58 Timeless Thomas
54/58 Ivy and Bean
55/58 How They Croaked
56/58 The Wall
57/58 Mr. Popper's Penguins
58/58 The Forgotten Garden

This Week's Books

47/58 Secret Chicken Society
48/58 Off To Class
49/58 What Do Teachers Do After You Leave School
50/58 Wandering Wanda
51/58 The Hat
52/58 Penelope Popper Book Doctor

Picture Books To End the Week...and a new blog!

I've been thinking for a while to start a new blog and have all my book posts on a separate blog. I decided it's time. It may be a good way for me to organize books by topic so that when I'm doing something where I think, "I swear I read a book that would work for this" I can look it up by topics. I thought about figuring out a way to transfer all the posts here about books - but I'm not sure I even want to start on that venture. It would be a long to do list!

I'll finish off my summer reading challenge list on this blog though, with links to the new blog.

41/58   There Is A Bird On Your Head (Mo Willems)

42/58 We'll Paint the Octopus Red Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen)

43/58 Just a Second (Steve Jenkins)

44/58 Chrysanthemum (Kevin Henkes)

45/58 Brothers At Bat (Audrey Vernick)

46/58 Once Upon A Cool Motorcycle Dude (Kevin O'Malley)

You know, I think I just might make it to 58!!

P.S. My new blog is: You should read...

And more amazing picture books!!

Hooway for Wodney Wat (Helen Lester)

I love this book! I had a good friend named Rod when I was a teenager. I remember driving home from church one day. He was in our van as was our little cousin Ryan. Ryan was poking Rod and saying, "Wod! Wod! Wod!" when suddenly Rod turned to him and said, "What Wyan??" We laughed and laughed. Never forgot it! The other reason I love this book is one of the characters is a capybara. When Jill was little she had a thing for capybaras. I have no idea where it came from, and at the time, I don't think I even knew what a capybara was....but when I read this book it reminds me of when she was little.

Wodney Wat is a wodent who can't say his Rs. He is embarrassed about this and so tries to stay out of everyone's view as much as possible. A mean old capybara moves in and torments everyone, and somehow Wodney Wat saves the day. Hooway Rodney!!

34/58



Courage (Bernard Waber)

Often times we label ourselves or refuse to believe that we are smart, or beautiful, or brave, or some other adjective. This book is a great reminder that there are many ways to show courage. It will  be a great book to read for a character discussion at school! When a child needs to work up the courage to do something new it would be a great way to remind them that they are courageous in many different ways!
35/58

One (Kathryn Otashi)

Another story that adds personification to colors, just like Yesterday I Had the Blues. Only this time some numbers come along and kick red in the butt. :)
36/58

My Heart Will Not Sit Down (Mara Rockliff)

What a beautiful story! This is a true story about a girl in an African village who hears of the suffering people in New York are going through during the depression. She cannot rest until she does something to help them. Her village gathers up  $3.77 and sends it to those suffering. $3.77 was a very generous offering from her village, and would have done very little to help anyone struggling during the depression. The sacrifice was much greater than what it could do to help. I loved it! The book I got from the library has the last page torn out. It starts another story of a little town in Guatemala that doesn't have enough to eat and wants to help children in Malawi....never got to read the end of the story though. I think I have to go buy this book! It will be a wonderful book for teaching compassion when we do that character virtue in school!

One curious thing: The author writes under four different names. I've always wondered why people do that! Hmmmmm.....It might satisfy my schizophrenic tendancies to be able to do something like that!! (er, or perhaps it is my tendancy towards multi-talking) :)
37/58

Weslandia (Paul Fleischman)

I love love love this book. It's about a boy who doesn't really worry about  fitting in with the crowd. Summer is a great time for him because he can really get into something that interests him - so he creates his own civilization called Weslandia. He has a staple food crop, food, clothing, shelter and even recreation. Pretty soon all the other kids want to come check out what he is doing.

I like this book because I think almost everyone at one time or another feels like they don't fit in. And who couldn't be inspired by a kid who just goes about doing something great, rather than worrying about "having" or "being" or "doing" just like everyone else. If you ask me, when you quite worrying about everyone else that's what you can really find your own real happiness.

One funny little quirk....inside this book a child had left some sticky notes. Whoever that kid is, I love him/her!


I have really been looking for some great picture books to kick off the school year. This one might be one - but even more, I think it would be a great one to read at the end of the school year as kids are embarking on summer vacation. Although, because this book is so good, and the illustrations are great, it might be a great one to kick off our year's book club discussions!
38/58


Ish (Peter H Raynolds)

Another great self-esteem book. I think there are some great teachable truths from this book! I found a great blog with some ideas for that too! Check it out here.

You can't always do it all perfectly, so do it -ishly....draw pictures that are peace-ish, silly-ish, etc. Writing poem-ish poetry

Love the ending: ...and Ramon lived ishfully ever after.
39/58

The Junkyard Wonders (Patricia Polacco)

I wasn't totally comfortable with this book...but then again, sometimes great books DO make you uncomfortable and make you think about things like how people treat each other. I couldn't quite get over the idea that a bunch of kids were put into one class because they were odd or didn't learn very well. I guess I'm a fan of inclusive education, deep down inside! I also couldn't stand the label - the Junkyard, that was given to the class. So hurtful!! The teacher has a positive spin on it, but I wonder how many kids really bought it, or bought it soon enough to not be damaged by the label.

The story is about a girl who is excited that she will be going to a new school where no one knows about her issues, only to find out she is in the class with all the kids with issues, and everyone knows it. They have a great experience together though that binds them and that they never forget (and the author writes a book about it). It's kind of heart warming, especially as an adult, but I'm not sure it'd be a great one for kids. Then again, it might bring about some great discussions about inclusion and friendship!

40/58

Picture Books Galore

Here's what I've been reading the last few days:

Yesterday I Had the Blues (Jeron Ashford Frame)

This is a cute story that uses great language. The main character in the story talks about how everyone in the family has different moods, and it compares those moods to color. It would be a great way to talk to kids about different ways to use language. Color isn't just something you see, it can be something you feel!

29/58

What Do You Do With A Tale Like This (Steve Jenkins and Robin Page)

This is great sit-with-a-kid-and-read book. I can imagine a child carefully looking at all the pictures and listening as you read, and having lots of questions! It has tails, mouths, eyes, ears, noses, and feet of different animals. So interesting!

30/58

Drumheller Dinosaur Dance (Robert Heidibreder)

This is one of those books I wish I had read to my kids! It would be a great one to read for a few days prior to going on a trip to Drumheller. It's rhythmic and fun and would make for some great bed time reading when you're looking forward to a trip to Drumheller! I need to remember to do that when we're planning a trip somewhere!

31/58

Raven and River (Nancy White Carlstrom)


This book has beautiful illustrations and rhytmic language. It is all about animals in Alaska. It inspired me to find books set in the countries we will study in Social Studies this year. There's so much to learn about a country even just be reading stories about life there.

32/58

Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes (Margaret Atwood)

The more I read this book the less I liked it and the less use I could think of for it - except that you could give a kid a sentence and have them use the dictionary to find out what most of the words meant and see if they could figure out what the sentence means. Ugh. The story uses the letter R all through it....it's amazing in that sense! But not very readable for kids, I think. The inside cover says it is a rare and rewarding treat for readers of all ages - but I don't think it's for many of the younger ages. Odd.

33/58

More Picture Books!

Here are some of the books I've been reading this week. I've been reading a big fat book called The Forgotten Garden, so I've needed to add some pictures books each day.


Missing Math - A Number Mystery (Loreen Leedy)

This is a rhyming story about a day when all the numbers disappeared. It has a great rhythm and you easily get caught up in the lists and lists of things they now cannot do since all the numbers are missing. Cute story!
19/58


Timothy's Tales from Hilltop School (Rosemary Wells)

This is kind of a chapterbook storybook. There is a story about a science fair, a birthday party, a project on birds, lunchroom problems and learning your own strengths, learning about measuring, and a bug study.

20/58

My Big Brother (Valorie Fisher)

I love this book! It's very simple, yet a wonderful view on a baby's perspective of his big brother. It would be fun to make a replica of this book for a big sister or a big brother I know and love!

21/58

Zoe and Beans: The Magic Hoop (Chloe and Mick Inkpen)

This is a cute story about a girl (Zoe) and her dog (Beans). In this story she has a magic hoop and she teaches Beans to jump through it. When he jumps through it he turns into something different. This might be a fun story for teaching the magic of three when the Gr 3's learn about how to create suspense in their stories.

22/58

Little Polar Bear ans the Big Balloon (Hans de Beer)

The author of this book is Dutch and apparently he has a series of books about Little Polar Bear. It is a cute book. Little Polar Bear meets a penguin whose wings have been covered in oil from an oil spill. He helps the penguin out and they end up helping the penguin find its way home by taking off in a hot air balloon they come across.

23/58

The Skeleton in the Closet (Alice Schertle)

The poor boy in this book has a skeleton come into his room in the night!! It is a cute story with rhyming and a funny twist at the end. A great book to read in October!

24/58

The Goblin and the Empty Chair (Mem Fox)


I read a book by Mem Fox once called Reading Magic: How Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever, so when I saw this one I had to take it out of the library.

This is a great story about compassion and doing kind things for each other. A gobling, realizing how scary he looks, hides himself from the world. But then he comes across a family who is sad and he helps them.

A beautiful story! Definitely one to read when we're doing compassion as a character virtus.

25/58

Barnyard Banter (Denise Fleming)


The words in this book are very simple - more a toddler storybook than one for Grade 3, but the pictures are AMAZING!! They're bright and simple. It would be a great example to show kids about the beautiful illustrations they could do in their stories.

26/58

Dream Away (Julie Durango and Katie Bell Trupiano)


This is a beautiful, lyrical book that I would feel great about reading to my sleepy child....the illustrations are beautiful and I believe they would bring sweet dreams to any child! Not sure how I'd use it in the classroom. I'm sure there's some application for it though!

27/58

When Dinosaurs Came With Everything (Elise Broach)


I've blogged about this book before, but when I saw it at the library I just had to get it. It's a hilariously whimsical story about a boy who hates doing errands with his mother, until one day, while doing errands, people keep giving him dinosaurs. How exactly will he get all these dinosaurs home?? His poor mother is having birdies.

The illustrator for this book is David Small, who also illustrated one of my favorite books: The LIbrary by Sarah Steward. I must get some more David Small books! He's amazing!

28/58

Graphix Novels

Further to my plans to read at least one book from series that are popular with the kids I teach, I decided to read some graphix novels. Truthfully, I was a little confused about what they even are. I thought they were all Japanese cartoons (manga??) - but they aren't. There are graphix novels for all sorts of books. They're like a comic book, but they don't end with cliff hangers (usually). I was surprised, when I perused the graphix section at the library, the wide range of graphix novels that exist! I will definitely be taking some of these out of the library for my class to enjoy this year.

Reading these novels, I thought about how it could be a good way in my Sunday School class to go over the reading for the week. It would be a good exercise for me too, to have to translate the reading into a summary in comic form. I wonder if I could do it?? It would be interesting in my class, too, to have them re-tell some stories in the form of a graphix novel! Hmmmm.....

Today I read Stickman Odyssey by Christopher Ford. I actually got two of them out of the library. I couldn't stomach both of them though. I figured one was enough.
 


The good thing about these books is they would help kids who are struggling readers, feel like they are becoming really good readers. If a kid is more visual, the pictures would be really helpful (I found I had to force myself to stop and take time to look at the drawings as I usually just run through the words really fast). Also, this one has lots of typical thigh-slapping humor that kids love. I would imagine too, that kids would enjoy reading these more than once as the stories in this one were quite intertwined.

I really liked the review on Kirkus:

In the first six pages of this graphic meta-goof on The Odyssey, our stick-figure hero, Zozimos, nearly drowns, gets lost in a jungle, is captured by golems and gets thrown in jail. The pace never really lets up over the 200 pages of the book, as he tries to find his way home to Sticatha. Readers may feel as though they’re flipping channels on a remote, and every channel is showing an action movie. There’s too much medias, too much res and not enough time spent developing the characters. Ford almost seems afraid to let them sit down and just talk. Some readers may need to page through the story a second time to realize that Zozimos is sort of charming, and a few turns of phrase are quite funny (“By Hades’ pajamas”). It would be easy, though, to get distracted by Zozimos’ many selfish actions and his refusal to listen to anyone else. Early in the book, King Marnox says, “The way I see it, everything that happened was your own fault for being a shortsighted jerk.” It’s hard to disagree. A few leisurely pauses here and there might have given readers more opportunity to sympathize with the main character.



16/58

The Royal History of Oz (Tommy Kovac and Andy Hirsch)

  THIS book is what I imagined graphix novels to be like....written by a non-comformist type, with violence and a statement about society. That being said, don't worry, it isn't a book that I wouldn't let my kids read. It's just fine. And actually, I learned a lot from it. The author of the Wizard of Oz, Richard Baum, apparently wrote a number of Oz books, 13 in fact! Who knew! The publisher tried pumping out some more after the author's death, but they weren't a great success.   This stody is about a 15 year old boy, Frank. His dad is a writer, but not successful at all. The story is set in the future and he is writing an Oz story even though there has been a cease and desist order on Oz stories.

It all gets very interesting when the dad discovers that Oz is actually real...and that is exactly when the real trouble starts.

Definitely an interesting read! I'd recommend it, for sure!

17/58
    Then I got quite excited about graphix novels when I read this one:
Page by Paige (Laure Lee Gulledge)


This one made me stop and look at the pictures. They were amazing!!  It is a story about a girl who moves from Virginia to New York. She, like any kid who moves, has a hard time feeling like it's home. She buys a blank book and starts to record drawings in it, and they're simply amazing! Like this one:

I tell myself that everyone else feels alone, too.

(not sure why this one is in color...they're all black and white in the book)

There are tons of pictures I can see a kid taking out of the book and putting on their wall - or at least sitting and looking at them and thinking about it. They're really great! And the writing in this one was much better - something I'd be happy to encourage a kid to read! I would love to read and discuss this book with kids Jill's age. I think it would be a big hit! I hope there are more of these to come. The author has a blog (wellk truthfully, when I got looking I discovered she actually has TEN blogs! ....but that link will do) and she says that she is working on her second graphix novel - but it is a different character.

I read a few reviews other people have written and it seems other people were equally taken by the drawings. Check out this review, and this one too.

I will definitely be on the look out for more great graphix novels. Love them!

18/58

Picture Books!

I've been reading a bunch of picture books lately. I really love picture books and plan to use them a lot in my classroom this year. Here are some of my favorites:

The World Champion of Staying Awake (Sean Taylor and Jimmy Liao)

Stella needs to get her toys to go to sleep. Imagination and storytelling finally does the trick. Really cute book!

12/58

Little Ant, Big Thinker - or - Where Does the Ocean End?
(Andrew Usatschow/Alexandra Junge)

I love this book. The little ant, and his elephant friend are trying to figure out how they can see the end of the ocean. Along comes a fish who tells them that it ends right here. Talk about perspective!! It's a simple book but could be a great starter for interesting discussions about thinking and perspective.

13/58

How Rocket Learned to Read (Tad Hills)

Rocket is a carefree little puppy who happens to run into an old bird set on being a teacher. (okay...that's my interpretation...in the book she's really just called a little yellow bird...but I think of her as an old bird because she's so bossy!) Rocket finds it hard to argue with her and eventually does become her student. She hooks him by reading stories to him! Rocket does learn to read, and he learns to love to read books again, and again, and again!



14/58
Zoom (Tim Wynne-Jones/Eric Beddows)

This picture book is for kids with a good attention span! It is 100 pages long. It would be a good way to encourage attention and celebrate being able to read a book that is 100 pages long.

I think this is part of a series. I found a number of Zoom books on the internet when googling for a picture. I loved the illustrations in this book - black and white and great detail. Beautiful!

This book made me laugh right from page 1 where Zoom, the cat, straps wooden spoons to his paws so he can play in water. A cat playing in the water?! I love it! This book is full of different adventures Zoom gets involved with - traveling to the sea, to the North Pole, and ancient Egyptian ruins.

As I was reading this book it suddenly struck me that this would be a great way to introduce Book Club to my Grade 3's this year. In each of Zoom's adventures he actually doesn't leave home (you'll have to read it to see how that happens!) And in his last adventure he gets there through a great staircase of books - great symbolism! I could read this book, talk about Zoom's adventures, and how reading lets us go to all sorts of places. I could talk about where the Grade 3's went last year, and then invite them to join book club. Ooohhh....it makes me excited!



15/58

Animal Masquerade (Marianne Dubuc)

This is a cute little book where the animals are all dressing up as other animals. It has a rhythm too...

The elephant went disguised as... (turn the page)
a parrot.

The parrot went disguised as... (turn the page)
a turtle.

I can see a class of kids laughing out loud as you turn each page.

The best part is now and then there are surprises!

The hen went disguised as...(turn the page)
The hen didn't dress up.
She didn't understand a thing.
(She isn't very smart)

or

The platypus went disguised as...
The platypus didn't dress up.
He looks like he's already in a disguise.

And there are a few more. The best part is they're quite interspersed through the book so it would catch the kids by surprise.

It would be a great book to read at Halloween time, or when you're doing an art project where they turn one object into another object...or just for fun!

11/58

Jonadab and Rita (Shirley Hughes)

My first thought when I read this book was that it really rambles. Then I decided to google and see what others have to say about it. The first thing I came across was an article about the author and how she has been writing and illustrating books for 50 years....maybe her age is a factor in the rambling! The first paragraph talks about how the girl's parents work a lot and travel and so she has a nanny....but that idea is totally dropped. I'm not even sure why it's there. If I were giving feedback to one of my students, I would say, "Your introduction should connect to your story somehow - you might want to re-think how you're introducing your stody." Lots of characters are introduced and dropped along the way. As I read it, I kept thinking it was an odd story. I also thought that kids would probably like it.

It had fairies in it, like The Fairy Ring, and it has toys that come to life...which kids love. It also is about Friendship, which is one of the first units we will do in the fall. I want to do more to introduce my class to great books in the fall (chapter books and picture books) and as I was reading this book I thought I really ought to make a trip to the library as each unit begins and have a stack of books that fit with our unit theme so that when we have five minutes here or there we can read one. Or, I could find picture books that fit with themes in chapter books we're reading for our Gr 3 book club just to see if we can get some interesting conversations going. I definitely will do that!

Here's a summary from a website that seems to be about the author's books (I couldn't find one per se that was just dedicated to the author):

Jonadab is a very special toy donkey – he can fly! But Minnie has so many other toys that often Jonadab and his friend Rita the mouse find themselves sad and lonely and left behind in the toy box. Tired of being ignored, Jonadab flies away and joins a magical fairy feast. But then he can't get back in to Minnie's room, and he discovers his new fairy friends are not as kind as he thought. Will courageous Rita be able to save Jonadab, and will Minnie realise the value of the toy she has lost? A truly magical, beautifully-illustrated story about the friendship between two very special toys.

That being said, I have to give respect to an author who has sold 11.5 million books!! Wowza! Imagine, if she only got $1 per book....she's doing okay! And I've never heard of her. She has won lots of awards too. Very cool.

10/58

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Ransom Riggs)

This book comes at an interesting time. It's a story about a boy's Grandpa who was alive during second world war, which is a bit of a follow up from Unbroken. Also, it's a book that is about pictures, kind of like The Fairy Ring. It is also very much a story about finding out about your ancestors - something I've been thinking I should be focusing more on. He has also written a book about Sherlock Holmes - and the author of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was talked about in The Fairy Ring. There's some characters too who never age, like in Tuck Everlasting! A strange juxtaposition of ideas and promptings in my life!

The story is of a boy whose Grandpa is seemingly crazy. But then again, is he? Maybe the crazy stories he has told are true. The grandson, seemingly Grandpa's favorite, sets out to figure out the mystery after witnessing Grandpa's death. It's kind of a dark, kind of a mysterious, kind of silly mix of a story - and I really enjoy it.

I looked up the author and it turns out this is his first book. He has been overwhelmed with enormous success. It also turns out it is a huge best seller AND a movie is going to be made. How does this happen to these first time authors!!! So crazy. Good thing he seems like such a down to earth, nice guy.

He has a blog, and this was a post just a few days ago, talking about how he can't believe how many books he has sold:

9/58

What I Am Reading

I feel like I'm in part 2 of my summer vacation. July with all the busy plans is almost finished and it is free sailing in August. Time to get caught up on some reading! I think I'm going to have to get into some picture books to get caught up a little bit on where I should be. There's no hope otherwise! (And that is okay with the rule maker!)

This is my reading for this week:

Miss Peregrin's Home For Peculiar Children


Half Broke Horses



The Forgotten Garden



The Whole Truth

Unbroken (Laura Hillenbrand)

Warning: don't start this book while you are in a vacation with your family. They will think you are a party pooper for wanting to sit and read while they want to go do stuff!

This book had me right from the prologue. It is an amazing story. It is the story of Louie Zamperini, a man born in the 1920s that grew up in Torrance, CA. He was a kid that no one could tame: stealing, lying, and doing all he could to cause trouble. He was a fast runner (maybe from having to run from being caught?) and in University trained for and went to the Olympics. His Olympic pursuits got stopped by the 2nd world war. He was a pilot and ended up crashing and survived longer on a raft than anyone else ever has. The stories of survival on the raft were astounding to me! But that was only the beginning. He ended up getting caught by the Japanese and was a POW. I had to read those chapters with one eye closed. The things those POWs endured were unbelievable!

I have a confession. Don't tell the librarians. When I read a book, I turn down the corner of pages I want to remember, or write about. Well, if I am being really good I write down the page number, or make some notes.....but sometimes, when the story is really gripping, I can't take the time to write anything - so I just turn down the page. I had a bunch if turned down pages in this book because I had to keep reading and find out what was going to happen.

There was a common thread in many of the turned down pages: choice in how to respond to the cards people are dealt.

p. 147 It means a mystery why these three young men, veterans of the same training and the same crash, differed so radically in their perceptions of their plight. Maybe the difference was biological; some men may be wired for optimism, others for doubt.

In this part of the story there are three men who are on the life rafts. One of them eats the only food they have while the other two sleep. It was a choice that proved to be a drastically terrible one for them all. And in the end, the one who ate the food never survived. He also didn't survive the trials along the way very well.

When the war is over and the POWs are ready to celebrate, they are told:

p. 309 The POWs immediately gathered for a thanksgiving service. They were told that they must not seek revenge; they were officers and gentlemen, and they were to behave that way.

I was stunned. I had to read that page over a few times to really let the expectation sink in. Here they had been treated worse than animals, and the response was that they were not to seek revenge. If anyone deserved to do so it was them!

Almost all the soldiers suffered immensely after the war. They didn't really know much about post traumatic stress disorder back then, but they all sure suffered from it:

p. 348 Some former POWs became almost feral with rage. For many men, seeing an Asian person or overhearing a snippet of Japanese left them shaking, weeping, enraged, or lost in flashbacks. One former POW, normally gentle and quiet, spat at every Asian person he saw. At Letterman General Hospital just after the war, four former POWs tried to attack a staffer who was of Japanese ancestry, not knowing that he was an American veteran.

It is amazing to me, that now, years later, we live and rub shoulders with Japanese people all the time. I wonder how hard it was for people to look beyond the war and be accepting?

p. 366 The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent on those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when they make their tormentors suffer. In seeking the Bird's death to free himself, Louie had chained himself, once again, to his tyrant. during the war, the Bird had been unwilling to let go of Louie; after the war, Louie was unable to let go of the Bird.

In the story Louie does learn to forgive and learn to let go.

p. 375 Louie found himself thinking of the moment at which he had woken in the sinking hull of Green Hornet, the wires that had trapped him a moment earlier now, inexplicably, gone. And he remembered the Japanese bomber swooping over the rafts, riddling them with bullets, and yet not a single bullet had struck him, Phil, or Mac. He had fallen into unbearably cruel worlds, and yet he had borne them. When he turned these memories in his mind, the only explanation that he could find was one in which the impossible was possible.

Louie is finally able to forgive and let go.

p. 379 At that moment, something shifted sweetly inside him. It was forgiveness, beautiful and effortless and complete. For Louie Zamperini, the war was over.

And when I finally finished the book, I could finally take a breath again. Wow! This is an amazing story. A must read!

7 and 8/58 
(this book was 400 pages long with very small font....so I figure I will count it as two books!)

Geronimo Stilton

I decided this summer I should read a book from all the popular series that kids like to read - so when I finished one book while we were driving, and couldn't get my next book from my suitcase, I grabbed one of Peirce's Geronimo Stilton books. I read Run for the Hills, Geronimo, however one I read doesn't really matter. I'm sure they're all pretty much the same....at least the parts I noticed about it are likely common in all of them. I plan to try Hardy Boys, Goosebumps, the fairy books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Dolphin series.....what else....???

I'd definitely rate these below Magic Tree House. The colored words and illustrations are cool. I'm sure that is one thing that really helps younger kids stick with these books. In the book I read I learned some interesting things about some American Historic sites. That was cool.


The book took me less than 30 minutes to read. Jill mentioned that she used to read one book on the bus ride home from school each day. The interesting thing to me, was that it was written like the kids in my Gr. 3 kids write stories. There are interjections now and then with, "Oh, I forgot to mention that....." and then the story, told in simple first person, continues on. Do kids write like that because they read these books? Or did they write these books like this because kids write like that?? Chicken and egg questions. Not sure. I tried to do some Geronimo Stilton research but I cannot find even who writes the books - which makes me think they're mass produced by some company and have multiple writers.  In this book Geronimo goes on a vacation full of surprises. The plot is pretty poorly developed and the author really missed opportunities to build suspense. Stuff just happens....and it kind of felt like someone was belching out the story.

Yup. One Geronimo Stilton is enough for me.

6/58

The Fairy Ring (Mary Losure)

This book is delightful. It is a true story about two girls in England in the 1920's. Two girls: Frances and Elsie become friends while their families help one another during the war. They have a great friendship. It reminded me of my good friends-the ones that when you get together you have a great time, like you've never been apart. I've never been one to make friends quickly - but these two do. "Elsie was the kind of person  who seemed as though you'd always known her" (page 7)

The photos looked likes ones I think I have also seen. Experts in photography at the time believed that the photos were real. and influential people of the time, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes) were sure that fairies were real and latched onto these photos as proof.

P. 142 Sir Arthur's father lived in that insane asylum. He'd gone away, never to return, when Sir Arthur was seventeen. In the asylum, Sir Arthur's father drew pictures of tiny people holding leaves as big as umbrellas or lucking in flowerpots or hiding on the backs of birds. Sir Arthur didn't mention any of that in The Coming of Fairies. But if fairies were real, Sir Arthur's father wasn't crazy after all.

The story is entertaining as all these people start and continue believing the girls. They're educated and wise and older and the girls become kind of cynical of these people. They grew to be old ladies before the truth of the photos came out. Perhaps people’s beliefs that there are fairies made them more inclined to believe that these young girls were innocent of any scam. They were innocent in that they never intended the photos to become public and particularly not in the vast way that happened.


I think this would be a fun book to do in our school's Gr. 3 book club. They would, however, need to be interested in the idea of fairies to stick with it, I think. Then again, maybe they'd be interested in the simple idea that these girls fooled the world.

5/58

How To Hug a Porcupine (by Julie Ross)

This is a great book. Every time I read a great parenting book I think I should make a list of books that could be read and read again to help me with the little reminders I need to be a better parent. This one would be on that list!

Amazon.com's summary says:

Yesterday, your child was a sweet, well-adjusted eight-year-old. Today, a moody, disrespectful twelve-year-old. What happened? And more important, how do you handle it? How you respond to these whirlwind changes will not only affect your child's behavior now but will determine how he or she turns out later. Julie A. Ross, executive director of Parenting Horizons, shows you exactly what's going on with your child and provides all the tools you need to correctly handle even the prickliest tween porcupine.

This books has lots of great topics - dealing with disorganized kids, defiant kids, computer addictions, sex, need for independence, learning to be more responsible, solving problems with siblings and others, and more.

As I read my heart was really touched. I loved the author's way of encouraging respect and independence as kids enter this age. It also made me sad for people I know who didn't get what they needed at this age. I am starting to believe the tweens and early teens are a real foundation time and that if you can get through those ages with a good relationship in tact, then you can be more assured that it will continue.

 
 
4/58

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

This one wasn't on my TBR list for this week, but I've had it around for a while and I grabbed it while packing for our weekend. I picked up Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool because she is one of the authors coming to Kaleidoscope in the fall. Books like this amaze me: this is the author's only book, and it has received at least seven awards. It is a really great book!

Here's a great summary, found on Random House:

When Abilene’s father puts her on a train headed for his boyhood home in Manifest, Kansas, she is none to happy, but her unhappiness turns to downright disappointment and abandonment when she gets off the train in a dried-up, worn-out old town.  But all is not as bad as it seems when Abilene discovers some old letters and trinkets in a cigar box hidden under the floor in her room.  The letters hint at a spy named the Rattler who lives in Manifest and that sets Abilene and her friends on spy hunt, leading them to talk to the mysterious Miss Sadie who lives down the Path to Perdition and discovering the well-kept secrets of Manifest.   On the surface, none of theses secrets have anything to do with her father and everyone in Manifest is hiding something about her dad from her.  What she discovers will heal her family and the town of a wound inflicted long ago.

It was interesting to read this book while at a family reunion where stories were shared of our own history.

As much as I needed to hear her story, she had a need to tell it. It was as if the story was the only balm the provided any comfort. (page 154)

This book is amazing. The further I got into it the more hooked I was. It would be a great book for a book club discussion. I loved how the story all came together in the end to provide closure for so many in the story. I am not surprised this book has won all the awards it has. It is terrific!


3/58

You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl by Celia Rivenbark

You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl was a book I just ran across in the library and figured it looked fun. It is by Celia Rivernbark. I read this book on our three hour trip to our family reunion. Well, almost read it all. I had to go sneak off to my room to finish it off when we got there.

At first I had a hard time getting into it. I had this fight going on inside my head that I should have picked a book that was more meaningful, would help me learn something or accomplish something. However, after a few chapters of smirks and chuckles I forgot about all that and enjoyed the laughs. It's a hilarious book! She's a southern girl without the southern girl rules of what nice girls say. Love it!


There were so many times when things would come up at the reunion that reminded me of humor from this book. I can't help looking at Chico without wondering what he would tweet in that moment. There's plenty of fun made at US politician dirt bags who have no morals, most of whom I think I heard about in the news but didn't bother keeping in my memory bank. I will never be able to look at Hello Kitty the same again, and single Asian guys will not garner any sympathy - well, maybe a little. Then there's the perspective on parents at elementary science fairs....you have to read it. Hilarious!

2/58