Three Times Lucky

I have a stack of books I brought home to read this summer.  The more I read, the better I can recommend books to my students.  Wish my other ELA counterparts felt the same way . . . but I digress.  I chose Three Times Lucky from my stack because 1) it was a Newbery Honor I had not yet read;  2) it was one of the shorter books which I needed for my time frame; and  3) I loved the cover art (more on that later).  This book was wonderful!  I would highly recommend it to most any of my junior high students.  I loved the small town setting of Turnage's novel.  I loved the feisty protagonist--Miss Moses LoBeau (aka "Mo").  It had mystery.  It had action.  I was full of love.  Great book!

I loved the way Sheila Turnage revealed the story.  She has another book out (released February 2014) called The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing which I may try to sneak in before school starts.  Turnage's website may be found by clicking HERE.  Interesting thing about her site, it just barely mentions that she won the 2013 Newbery Honor for Three Times Lucky.  Love humility!

Gilbert Ford did the cover art for this novel.  His website may be found by clicking HERE.  He created the cover for Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library (another book on my To-Read list).  Mr. Ferris and His Wheel, which will be released in September 2014, is his latest illustrated book.

The Year of Billy Miller

Another book I read for our Newbery book club meeting was The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes.  This is a really sweet book.  Students will find the reading level very low.  My fourth grader could have easily read this in second grade--the age of our novel's protagonist.

I enjoyed how each section of the book was told from the perspective of different people--Billy's mom, dad, sister.  Just a sweet, feel-good book perfect for the end of summer as students get ready to tackle a new school year adventure.

Check out author Kevin Henke's website:  click HERE.

One Came Home

I do a monthly book club with students at my school.  Each spring, we do a Newbery session.  Students read one or more of the Newbery award books for the year.  One Came Home by Amy Timberlake captured one of those awards.

My son and I read this aloud together.  The book was interesting and unexpected.  My son did not like the book the first half, but the action picked up in the second half.  The eighth grader who read the book felt the same way we did.  Stick with this book until the end.

Check out Amy Timberlake's website by clicking HERE.

After the Rain

I had a group of seventh graders that had already read the novel the student teacher was teaching, so I pulled this group of five and we did enrichment.  They flew through the novel I gave them before their peers were even half way done with theirs.  I had a classroom set of After the Rain by Norma Fox Mazer.  I saw this was on the list of recommended novels in our revised graded course of study, so I asked the group if they wanted to read this with me for the first time.  They were eager.

Long story short--they hated it.  We stopped in the middle.  I have never done that before.  I did plug through to the end of the novel to see what we were missing.  It got slighly better, but I would never teach this novel in junior high.  First, the main character was too old and at a different stage in her life for the kids to relate to her.  She was a high schooler with boy issues--not an appropriate forcus for my Catholic school middle schoolers.  Was this book about coming of age or about death?  The focus was off.  I could not relate to the flat characters.

I flat out did not find this book interesting nor well-written--even though it is an award winning book (a 1987 Newbery Award).

Flora and Ulysses

I just finished the 2014 Newbery Award winning book Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo.  This book reminds me a little of her other Newbery honor book Because of Winn Dixie (not to be confused with her other Newbery win for The Tale of Despereaux).  We have an unlikely "animal" who comes in a helps our protagonist and mends some damaged relationships.  It, like Winn Dixie, is a tale of love for others--and ***SMALL SPOILER ALERT*** the animal doesn't die at the end (my son's major complaint about books with animals).

I would suggest this book to students in the fifth through eighth grade students.  It is a little quirky, and very fun.  There were several quotes or moments in the book that struck me as an adult.  One of the quotes can be found toward the end of the novel:  "This I did not expect at all. It is what I love about life, that things happen which I do not expect."  What a wonderful sentiment!

Visit DiCamillo's website for more about her books, her life, and her philosophy on writing.  Click HERE.

Bomb . . . the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

One of this year Newbery honor books was a non-fiction book entitled Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon.  Author Steve Sheinkin tells the complex tale about the first bomb.  Sheinkin does a great job "telling the story" (yes--this reads more like fiction than non-fiction--a real plus for this age group) or should I say STORIES surrounding the first atomic bomb.  Readers get to meet the key players int hese events.

I was not familiar with Sheinkin's other works, but I know having an avid reading son--I am sure I will pick up another one of his books.  His author's site can be accessed by clicking HERE.  This former textbook writer is a great story-teller, too!  A perfect combination!

Hope Was Here

I pulled a box of books from the closet in my classroom and found a set of 2001 Newbery Honor books entitled Hope Was Here.  I know it had not been taught for four years.  From the looks/condition of the books, it was probably only taught once.

Joan Bauer's book was awesome!!!!  I am going to teach it as a whole class novel next April for Poetry Month.  There are so many examples of beautiful and fun uses of figurative language.  I think it will pair nicely with the figurative language I will teach with poetry.  The themes in this book include choosing to do right, being true to self, search for self, what constitutes a family, etc.

Bauer's website can be found by clicking HERE.

I used this novel as one of three my students were simultaneously doing in small groups.  I used a reading guide I found on-line (click HERE), and I modified it.  It really is an excellent starting point for reading lesson plans.

Splendor & Glooms

For April's junior high book club, the students agreed to read at least one of the 2013 Newbery books.  I read Splendor and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz.  It is one of those books where you ask as you say:  "I liked it.?.?."

The book includes interesting detail and characters.  It is rather dark, with an element of fantasy.  Actually--it is a little too creepy for younger readers (I'd say 5th or 6th grade and up) because of the fabulous writing the draws you into the book.  When I was looking for more information about the author, I found the below picture--and it seemed perfect.

This is EXACTLY how I would expect the author of this book to appear . . . don't ask me why.  The picture is beautiful, quirky, funny, serious, over-the-top AND down-to-earth, and dressed in black.  I found an author profile on Goodreads (click HERE).

The Slave Dancer

Paula Fox's The Slave Dancer, set in the late 1830's, was recommended to me by a teacher who used to teach U.S. History.  Our school used to teach this text, but it has been sitting on a shelf for a couple (?few? ?several? ?many?) years.  Because of its short length combined with my students' begging to do some independent reading, I decided to add this to the eighth grade reading curriculum.

Students could work at their own pace or in small groups.  They had a packet, quizzes, and short essays to do along the way.  I gave them two weeks to complete the work.  I'm noticing that the more we get into the novel, the more these small groups are gaining in popularity.  It reinforces that books are meant to be shared sometimes.  Love this unexpected aspect!

Specifically, this novel (1974 Newbery winner) is about a boy who is kidnapped one night while out running an errand for his mother.  He is brought aboard a ship where is primary purpose is to play his fife for the slaves--as a means to keep up their morale and their physical strength.  It is interesting to watch the range of emotions Jesse feels toward the idea of slavery and to the slaves individually.  I have not read a book told from the perspective of someone forced to participate in the kidnapping and sale of slaves. 

I have not explored GoogleLitTrips yet; however, there is one specifically designed for The Slave Dancer (click HERE).  I am definately going to use this next year if I teach this novel again.

Because of Winn Dixie

Spoiler alert (in a way)

"FINALLY!!!" my son exclaimed, "A dog book where the dog does not die!"

I read this 2001 Newbery honor book with my son.  As evidenced above, he loved the book.  He belly-laughed through some of it.  This was a light-hearted read-aloud for a wide variety of ages (grades 2-8).  I love that the characters in this book are "normal" flawed people with issues to which the average person can relate.  And, like my son says, you don't end up crying at the end because the dog doesn't die.

Link to Kate DiCamillo's author site:  http://www.katedicamillo.com/

Charlotte Doyle

The second Newbery Award honoree (1991) novel that the eighth grade class at our school reads is Avi's The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  The teacher with whom I share a portion of the eighth grade class has set out five or six novels in chronological order according to setting time.  This novel is set around the 1830's.

My students really enjoyed this novel.  It was full of action and suspense.  They loved trying to figure out who Charlotte, the 13-year-old main character, could trust and who she could not trust.  In fact, we had a post-it note chart with each character's name.  Every few chapters we would reevaluate where to post a name: under "Trust" or "Don't Trust" columns.  We also made paper representations of the crew and gave them new titles and/or moved them off the ship to coincide with the novel.

Author information may be found HERE.

Turtle in Paradise

For Christmas, I received a gift certificate from my students.  I chose to spend it on Newbery books--something that was lacking in my classroom.  I purchased Jennifer L. Holm's Turtle in Paradise (among several others, too).  It received a 2010 Newbery Honor.

In short, I am not certain why this book received a Newbery award.  I would consider it a "beach read" for adolescents.  Literary value?  I felt like there were too many stories in this short work, none of which were fully developed.  

One of my students did read it during the school year.  From what I recall of the conversation, she thought it was fine.  Nothing exciting.  She was more excited to learn that "Turtle" was the main character's name.  I don't recall her giving much more detail.

The novel was just "OK" in my opinion.  Like I said--a beach read.

When You Reach Me

I guess you'd say this is the first year I am teaching in my field--nearly 20 years after graduating from college (long story).  I'm playing catch-up.  When my students presented me with a gift card for Christmas, I chose to spend it on purchasing some recent Newbery books.  The first one I read was When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead--2010 Newbery winner.  I think I was expecting a mystery, but the science fiction element surprised me.  I chuckled at some of the 70's references (I was born in 1970). 

This book has moved me to read (or reread--I THINK I read it when I was an adolecent) A Wrinkle in Time.  This corresponds well with that novel's 50th anniversary.  In fact, I've started a book club with my students--A Wrinkle in Time will be the book we discuss in late April.  Of course, I will recommend that students follow up by reading our more contemporary When You Reach Me.

I suspect the reading level and interest level of this book is between 5th-8th grade. 

The Cat Who Went to Heaven

I was searching for a quick book for my son to read for his book report.  (He currently is reading a long, difficult novel of his choosing that I didn't think was relevant for a 2nd grade book report).  I came back from the library with several selections, and he chose The Cat Who Went to Heaven.  Coatsworth won the Newbery Medal in 1931 for this book.

My son really liked this "story," but on a very surface level.  I tried explaining how this ties in with religion, even though we don't worship Buddah we can respect all religions, etc.  I overcomplicated it.  He has to write (writing = his nemisis) five sentences about this book.  They are as follows:  1) The cat is white, yellow, and black.  2) The cat died of extreme joy and went to heaven.  3) The cat didn't act like normal cats.  4) the cat had a tail like a bunny. 5) The cat's name was Good Fortune.  Hum?!?