Dull Boy by Sarah Cross

Last weekend I was at my neighborhood book store The Bookery Nook and I picked up Dull Boy by Sarah Cross. It was between the middle grade book section and the JA section. (As a 3/4 grade teacher this is a real grey area to be in.) The cover caught my eye. Bold letters, superhero power boy flying through the words. I was excited because I am in desperate need for books for E. He is a fourth grade that reads at an eight grade level. He was in my class last year and again this year. He has read about EVERYTHING in my library. Well, that grey area wasn’t so grey once I started reading Dull Boy. It is a huge reminder to read books before handing them out.
Dull Boy is a great story about Avery Pirzwick an average 15 year old that has developed superpowers. His parents don’t know and he hasn’t learned how to control them. He soon discovers that there are a few other teens in his town that have superpowers. The group soon discover that they have many things in common. I really enjoyed the book. I SO wished I could let E read it. It’s not the language, though there are some not age appropriate phrases. It’s not the situations, though there are some situations that he doesn't need to know about yet. It’s everything combined. Please understand I am not advocating censoring what kids read, but there are books for kids, books for teens, and books for us. Where does this leave me? I still need books for E!

Wimp Yourself

Click on Greg and have fun. Thanks Travis! http://100scopenotes.com/

The Greatest Moments in Sports by Len Berman

Last night was the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. I thought it was a beautiful show. The First Nations of Canada part was incredible. I loved the kid that flew through the pictures on the changing landscape of our neighbor to the north. NBC finally got it right by showing the countries of the World. They even showed us the countries that marched while we were at the commercials.

I am not a big sports guy. I enjoy listening and watching baseball and it is fun to watch soccer at the local fish and chips joint. So, when I received The Greatest Moments in Sports by Len Berman I said to myself “Boy, are you out of your league!” As I started the introduction I soon realized this is a great book for my class. The author Len Berman writes about how historians can’t even agree on who invented baseball, so how is he going to be able to say what are the best sports moments. It is this line that hooked the teacher (me) “You may or may not agree with my choices, but for each moment, I’ll tell you why I thought it was one of the greatest.” YES!!! An author telling kids you have to have supporting details.

So to date myself I do remember the Miracle on Ice. I was at the Court Club in Denver. I had just finished having my dad beat me at racquet ball for the 8,000,000 time. It was exciting to watch the final minutes. Even further back in time I had a poster of Secretariat hanging on my wall in my room, so it was fun to read the chapter about the wonderful horse.

The book has all the components of a good non-fiction text. It has heading, captions, tables, the list goes on. There is also a CD that has recordings of some of the great moments. I imagine that when this goes in the new arrival basket it will quickly end up in a book bag.


Book Courtesy of the Publisher.

An Unspeakable Crime The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank and Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America

I am not a huge non-fiction reader, but this year I have read two that I have really enjoyed. One is a grown-up book and the other is a young adult book.

A parent at our school recently published a book. Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America by Helen Thorpe. Many of us at school read the book and felt the same. We would come to school the next day annoyed and exhausted because we stayed up WAY TOO late reading the well written, thought provoking, and page turning book. The book follows the lives of four girls in Denver. All four attend college. Two have legal status so they are able to get grants, etcetera. Two do not and even though they have been in the USA for years, attended school, and graduated with honors they cannot apply for the same grants. The debate about immigration is bigger then this little blog, but it is one that impacts everyone. I could go on about his book, but for the sake of your sanity I won’t. I will say very simply this is a MUST READ!

The second non-fiction book, a young adult book, is An Unspeakable Crime The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank by Elaine Marie Alphin. Ms. Alphin writes about a Jew accused of killing a young girl in Atlanta in the early part of the 20th century. It is a fascinating story. Anti-Semitism and, more importantly, hatred of northerners led to this awful persecution of an innocent man. I found it interesting that the Anti-Defamation League was founded because of this trial. The story is about Leo Frank, a northern Jew. He moves to Atlanta to work for his uncle’s pencil company. He falls in loves and marries and soon after he is accused of murdering a 13 year old girl that works at the factory. Most southerners still resented the North. They hated the fact that many families had to work in factories owned my northern companies. This led to the police and media wanting to blame the gruesome murder on a non-southerner.

The book is engaging. The use of photographs, newspaper articles and layout of the chapters makes it difficult to put down. I like how Ms. Alphin explained how the lack of technology played a part in this story. There was no CSI or Law and Order SVU of find the real killer.

Both non-fiction books I have read spotlight the conceptions or misconceptions our society has on people that are “different” from us. As a teacher it makes me think about how I interact with children that are different backgrounds from me. I hope that I am able to provide a learning environment where they will grow to be responsible adults and not judge someone based on the color of their skin, the language they speak at home, the church they attend or the person they love.

Just Like Us was a gift from a student. Leo Frank was provided by the publisher.

Thank You Jon Scieszka

Yesterday was our first day back to school. We spent the morning grading a district mandated writing assessment and the afternoon in our rooms. Oh, and lunch out with teachers. In my box was a Christmas card from a student that I had two years ago. Sadly, his family moved and he goes to another school. Fortunately, his mom still brings him to book club each month. In the card his mother had included a copy of a writing sample G had to do at his other school. I thought I would share a couple of sentences from the writing. They are appropriate in our days of thanking Jon Scieszka.

Here is a little background about G. He was at Montclair for just the year he spent with me. He had been at a private school and left there wounded from a bad year in second grade. He had VERY low self-esteem when he entered my class. He was reading a little below grade level and was very upset when he made mistakes. Over the year G grew more then any other student I taught. He found his voice and was willing to take risks. The writing his mom sent is about me and that year.

There is no better way to thank someone then by telling them the impact they have on your life. I met Ambassador Scieszka at the CCIRA conference a couple of years ago. It was after we had started our Guys Read Book Club at Montclair. So Ambassador here is what a fifth grader writes about the importance of book clubs:

“Mr. Kimmal announced he would start a book club for boys only….Mr. Kimmal handed out fliers to everyone. My friends and I decided to join. On the day it started, we walked up to Mr. Kimmal’s room. He explained how a book club would energize boys. Next he showed us some books that interested us, even though he knew none of us would read them, but after the second book, we got hooked. Mr. Kimmal knew how to make everyone crave reading…..Just by looking at the cover we knew our parents would hate it, and they did.”

I can’t remember the first book. I did know they would read the book. They often are true knuckleheads, but they come each month and the numbers keeping growing, so THANK YOU for inspiring me and my guys.

Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes

Happy New Year and Happy Cybils reading! The Cybils Shortlists are posted and two of my favorites made the lists (from categories I didn’t judge). The Curious Garden by Peter Brown made the fiction picture book shortlist and The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton made the non-fiction picture book shortlist. I love both of these books.

I contributed to the shortlist of Middle-grade fiction. It was hard to narrow down to JUST seven books. Good luck judges. One book that made the list is Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes. (The teacher in the story Miss Loupe is on A Year of Reading’s 100 Cool Teachers of Children’s Literature. She is a great first year teacher. One we would all loved to have had.) I truly enjoyed this book. It even made me cry. Here is my little blurb about the story that is, also, posted on the Cybils site:

Operation Yes is a story that revolves around cousins, Bo and Gari. Bo’s father is in charge of a military base in the south and Gari’s mother is deployed to Afghanistan; so Gari must relocate from Seattle to live with her cousin. They are both in the same sixth grade class and their teacher teaches in a box about the importance of life outside the box. What makes this story standout is how kids can overcome tough times and show adults what kids are capable of doing when they work together.

Book provided by the publisher.

Beyond the Station Lies the Sea by Jutta Richter

A few years ago I asked my friend Carol about finding a new read aloud for my third grade class. I wanted to read something different. I have nothing against the cannon, but I knew there had to be more. She gave me some suggestions (I would not be the teacher I am without her!) and recommended that I also look on line. This began my life in the blog world. It reached a new level this year when I was lucky enough to be a judge for Cybils. As I have written there were some wonderful books nominated.

As we know the read aloud is the soul of the reading day. Our voice (someone else’s words) can bring laughter and tears to a classroom of listeners. That is why it is SO important to find the perfect story. Beyond the Station Lies the Sea by Jutta Richter is one of the books nominated I would love to read as a read aloud. Jutta Richter’s language (or the translators) is full of beautiful imagery. I could not put it down. I am just not sure if it is appropriate for a third/fourth grade class. I am not afraid to push the limit with my kids. I know that kids can comprehend a lot more then they are given credit for. I’m not advocating reading Proust, Tolstoy, or Bellow but reading them books that push their thoughts is so important.

Beyond the Station Lies the Sea by Jutta Richter is stunningly written novella about a young boy that runs away from an abusive home. He befriends an older homeless man. They dream of moving to the sea, but to get the money to move Niner (the boy) must sell his guardian angel to a wealthy woman. She obtained her riches by being a prostitute. Here lies my dilemma, how does one explain to 9 year olds about some of these topics.

Abuse, emotional but doable
Rough language, doable
Prostitution?????

On line the book is listed as 8-12 but in my mind I am thinking 12 and above.

Book courtesy of the publisher.

The Last Newspaper Boy in America by Sue Corbett

When I was in the third grade we moved from Mexico City to Nogales Arizona. It was culture shock when we first moved to Mexico from Denver, but truly a bigger one moving back to the States. Nogales is a small border town about 60 miles south of Tucson. It was in Nogales that I had my first job. I sold the Nogales International in front of the Santa Cruz court house and library. Imagine a 9 year old toe head selling papers. I made pretty good money. My next endeavor in the newspaper business was home delivery of The Denver Post. To date myself it was delivered in the afternoon.
I can honestly tell you that even though the money was coming in it was an awful job.

I think my two experiences with newspapers influenced my reading of The Last Newspaper Boy in America by Sue Corbett. It was one of the books I read for the Cybils Middle Grader Fiction. In the story we learn that it is a family tradition to deliver The Cooper County Caller. When a member of the David family turns twelve they take over the delivery job. However, on Wil David’s 12th birthday he finds out that they are going to stop local delivery of the newspaper. Through determination, civic duty, and a HUGE need for a computer Wil sets out to change the newspapers mind. I really enjoyed this story. It is another story of kids taking control of their lives. There is a lot of humor in the story, often driven by Wil’s older brother, Sonny. He seems unconcerned with the world. Oh, who am I kidding, he seems like a dolt. But we find out a lot about the David family by Sonny’s action. Another great read aloud.

The Cyblis Shortlist and The mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg and now a NEWBERY AWARD HONOR!

Before you continue The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg was just awarded a Newbery Honor. Well deserved.

The Cyblis shortlist for the Middle Grade Fiction is on the way to the judges for the final round. I truly enjoyed being a judge. It was A LOT of reading. There are great books out there. We did notice that death and war seemed to be a common theme this year. That’s not a bad thing, just an observation. My criteria for books that made it on my short list was:

• Would this be a good read aloud book?


• Would I use this as a guided group/literacy circle book?

The final list will not be posted until 2010. That is so far away. Well, not really; but it seems that way. I plan on blogging about many of my favorites.

FULL DISCLOSURE!!! All the books came from the publisher or library, so FCC or FTC go after the bonuses of Goldman Sachs etc. Leave this teacher alone. The few books I received doesn’t come close to what a Goldman Sachs guy pays for a pair of shoes. Another point: in the coming days, before the final list is released, the books I blog about are not necessarily on that list. I know, hard to believe but we didn’t all have the same top lists!

So here goes. (Possible story spoiler!)

The mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick is the story of Homer’s quest to free his older brother from the Union Army. You guessed correctly. This book has war and death, but it is a humors. Homer’s older brother Harold is sold illegally to the Union Army. During the Civil War wealthy people could pay someone else to take their place in the army. Homer sets out to free his brother. He has a tendency to stretch the truth, so he gets him self into some funny situations. I enjoyed this book because the historical information helps carry the story, but what I really liked was the perseverance of Homer to save his family and the honesty that Harold has with Homer at the end.

Reading level is about 4th to 5th grade.

When is it too early to call?

Yesterday was our monthly Guys Read Book Club. We discussed Ark Angle by Anthony Horowitz. The guys enjoyed, but didn’t love it. There was not a lot of discussion during the month about the book. This is an easy way to tell the popularity of the book. Our next book is Cirque du Freak The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan. I have a feeling this will be much more popular. Here is one reason why. This morning a mom told me a funny story about the new book. She said that another student called their house at 7:30 AM to find out how far E, her son, had read. She answered that E was still asleep because he had stayed up to 10:45 PM reading the book. Hmmmmm, “ Late to bed and early to rise” seem to be signs of a popular book.

Friday the 13th and Christmas

It’s Friday the 13th, but it could be your lucky day!

Autumn is my favorite season of the year. I love the colors of the leaves, the pumpkins, the colder weather, and because it leads to Christmas. WOW! A period filled with dazzling colors, joy, and magic. That is why I was excited to participate in this book tour. The Christmas Magic by Lauren Thompson and illustrated by Jon J Muth and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King illustrated by Gail deMarcken are both a must for any library.

Over the years I have learned that the children’s illustrators are very important, so when I saw the names on these two books I knew I was about to read two special books.

I had the privilege to listen to Jon J Muth at a Teacher’s Night at The Bookies. It was fun and interesting to learn how he does his work. He ranks up there as one of my favorite illustrators. He does not disappoint with The Christmas Magic. Lauren Thompson’s story about how Santa prepares for the special day is charming and magical. I have spent the last few months emphasizing the importance of descriptive, rich and exciting language. I want students to use words like: snug, tingling, shaggy, creaky, gleams, and the list in this short books goes on. Thanks Ms. Thompson for a brilliant example. I am a very visual person so Jon J Muth’s magnificent illustrations bring the story to life. Who knew Santa had bunny slippers. Also, I know wonder what parsnips and berries would taste like.


One of my favorite read aloud books is The Giving Quilt. It is a beautiful story about the importance of giving to those in need. The illustrations by Gail deMarcken have made it a book I share year after year.

When I hear The Nutcracker I think of Russian Ballet with cute kids dressed up. I never really paid attention to the fact that it is an old German story. I admit the first thought I had whan i looked at The Nutcracker and the Mouse King was “OK, I blog about books boys will like. Will a boy like this book?” After reading I changed my mind. Boys will enjoy reading and hearing this story. The story has battles etc, but it is Gail deMarcken’s illustrations that will fascinate boys. The intricate illustrations of the tooth falling out of the nutcracker to the seven headed Mouse King will excite boys.

I look forward to sharing these books with my class and my nieces and nephew.

So here is how it is your lucky day. Two, yes two lucky people that comment (Can commenter be a new blog word?) will win both books. I am stealing this idea from the Shelf Elf. When you comment tell me what your favorite holiday book is, also, making sure I have access to your email address. US addresses only.

Billy Twitter’s and His Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Adam Rex

First, I want to say the Billy Twitter did not invent twitter. That was a question asked before I read Billy Twitter’s and His Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Adam Rex. Secondly, it is a great boy book. Billy is not the most responsible kid. His parents tell him that if he doesn’t do his chores etc. he will get a blue whale. Let me think no work cool pet, what would anyone do? Well, you guessed right Billy Twitter does get a whale. He soon learns that it is a HUGE responsibility to care for a blue whale.

The humor in the book is non stop and at many different levels. Yes, adults will love it. What makes the book special is all the factually information about blue whales. It always helps to have non-fiction text wrapped up in a fun fiction book. Here is a question, how many skateboards does one need to haul a blue whale down the block?

Winter’s Tail How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again by Juliana Hatkoff, Isabella Hatkoff, and Craig Hatkoff

I love dolphins. I always have. I remember the first time I touched one when I was in second grade. My dream is to swim with them, so when I was asked to be on the book tour for Winter’s Tail How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again by Juliana Hatkoff, Isabella Hatkoff, and Craig Hatkoff, I quickly said yes. The story is about Winter, a young dolphin that gets caught in fishing net. He is rescued and taken to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida. (Don’t you like my very brief summary?)

My summary is short because YOU MUST read the book to find out all the special events that happen in the life of this young dolphin. I just started a unit on non-fiction reading and writing with my third and fourth graders and this book will come in handy. As a non-fiction text it has the features we are talking about: introduction, photographs, maps, captions, etc. However, it is the engaging story that will suck the kids in. This book is not just “The facts, just the fact!” It has soul. Boys and girls at many different reading levels can and will enjoy Winter’s Tail.

One last exciting bit of information. There is a give away. Stop by and comment and you will have a chance to win the book, a dolphin (not a living one!) and much, much more. The contest ends October 13, 2009.

Book for review courtesy of the publisher.