Crossover by Kwame Alexander

I understand the importance of standards; but when they overpower what we believe, and know is good teaching I get scared.  Very scared.  It is very unlikely that many of the students I have taught over the years will end up as a published poet, but that doesn’t mean that poetry writing should be eliminated from the classroom.  Kids love writing poetry; especially, boys because writing rules can be bent and even broken.  In just a few lines their emotions are down on paper.  They feel successful, and engaged.  Would the following book been written if Mr. Alexander’s teachers hadn’t let him write poetry in class?

One of the books nominated for the Cybils is written in free verse.  Crossover by Kwame Alexander is a beautifully written novel.  It is about twins that are star basketball players.  Their mother is the vice principal of the school, and their dad is a famous ex professional basketball player.  The book is told in first person by one of the twins. Josh Bell, nicknamed Filthy McNasty.  He hates the nickname.  He and his brother are inseparable until a girl comes into the picture.  She causes great friction between the two.

Every once in awhile a book comes around and I start a list of whom I want to share the book with.  This is one of those books.  I can see my friend Carol using this book with a small group of fifth grade to middle school boys at her school.  I can see Liam reading it and sharing it with his friends at middle school.  I can see my friend Jennifer reading aloud to her fifth class.

Boys of Blur by N.D. Wilson

Truth be told I’m much more a vampire person than a zombie person.  I don’t really know why.  Well, the whole flesh falling off is just a bit too much.  With that said, the buzz recently has been about Boys of Blue by N.D. Wilson.  I really enjoyed Mr. Wilson’s 100 Cupboards series so I decided to give it a try.

Charlie moves to a very small town in Traper, Florida with his mom, sister, and stepfather. They originally come to Traper to attend the funeral of the beloved high school football coach.  Charlie’s step-dad was a pro football player.  Traper is not your ordinary small town.   It is close to the everglades where kids chase rabbits and try to out run the sugarcanes that have been set on fire.  This alone would set it off from other small towns, but Charlie soon discovers that strange things happen in the swamps.

As soon as Charlie arrives he befriends Cotton.  Cotton is a distant step cousin of Charlie.  Charlie, also, discovers that his deadbeat biological father lives in the next town.  Rereading this I expect to hear “And like sand through the hour glass, so are…”. It really isn’t that type of book. 

The boys quickly find themselves engaged in something unnatural in the everglades.  They get to the point where every decision could mean life or death.

N.D. Wilson has a way of sucking in the reader.  The laundry can wait, the weeds will be there tomorrow, and the books accrue an even larger fine from the library, but once I started Boys of Blur I was hooked. I remember as a kid meeting someone and forming an instant connection like what happens to Charlie and Cotton.  There were times where I felt the book was very creepy, but in a good creepy way.  The natural flow of the book made everything fit together and not forced. 

The reading level is 4^th grade, but I would be careful.  In my opinion it is end of 4^th grade or to 7^th grade, but one I will quickly recommend to boys I know.

Will In Scarlet by Matthew Cody

Recently I finished The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen.  It was book three in a wonderfully exciting trilogy.  As I searched my TBR stack for my next book, I realized how much I enjoyed the medieval fantasy genre.  A while back I received Will In Scarlet by Matthew Cody from Random House, but hadn’t started it, so here it was a book that fit into the genre I was looking for.  I really enjoy Mr. Cody’s writing, so I knew I was in for a treat.  Little did I know that it was going to be a huge treat!

Copy from Random House

The legend of Robin Hood is one that has been done in film, books and TV.  Most we wish had never been done.  Yes, Kevin Costner comes to mind.  Matthew Cody’s adaptation is one that is sure to be a hit.  (We are doing Lucy Calking unit of study on Fairy Tale adaptations right now in class.) 

Will in Scarlet is the tale of William Shackley heir to Shackley Castle.  Will’s father is currently traveling with Richard I The Lionheart.  They had been away fighting.  Prince John is ruling England during his brother’s absence and the Sherriff of Nottingham is helping.  Will is thirteen and spends most of his time getting into trouble with his friend Milo.  When the Sherriff arrives at the Shackley Castle with Sir Guy of Gisborne tragedy comes with them.  This sends Will and his mother fleeing to safer places.  Unfortunately, for Will he ends up in Sherwood Forest. 

While trying to stay alive Will befriends Little John, a lad named Much, and a drunk named Rob, that used to be very good with a bow and arrow; and was in love with fair maiden named Marian. To buy time Will tells Gilbert, the leader of the Merry Men that he can get them into Shackley Castle to get rich.  Will’s true reason for going back to his home is to seek revenge on the man that murdered his uncle. 

I really enjoyed this book.  I liked the pace of the book and how Will knew right from wrong, but that often that line had to be blurred for the good of everyone.  The book is gritty, but I can see our guys read book club really enjoying this book.  There is action, good vs. evil, and a pretty girl.  All the things that make for a fun read.  The thing that stands out the most is that it often takes the back stories of a legend to really make them exciting.  I can’t wait for this to come out in paperback, so I can order it for Guys Read.

On a final note I am still waiting for a sequel for the Dead Gentleman.  Hint! Hint!

The Magic of Jennifer A. Nielsen

Truth be told I usually only read the first book in a series.  It isn’t that I don’t want to it is that I have enough trouble just getting through my TBR stack. This changed over the weekend.  Over the past few months there has been a lot of press and chatter about The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. 

My friend Carol blogged about it and encouraged me to read it.  She told me about the time Ms. Nielsen visited her school, and how delightful she was with the kids.  I, so much, loved reading The False Prince last week that when I was at The Bookies last Friday I bought The Runaway King, and devoured it over the weekend.  Only difference between the boys and me in the class is that I didn’t beg my mom to get it.

Flash back to the middle of December.  The boys in Guys Read had picked The False Prince as their next book. The boys started the book and within two days a couple of boys stopped by my room to tell me they loved the book, had already finished, and got their mom to take them to Tattered Cover to buy The Runaway King (the next one in the series). 

Throughout the next week the discussion of The False Prince spread through my room.  It started with what happens in chapter 3.  The boys I think were in shock that a scene like that would be in a story they were reading.  I would watch boys walking over to other kids and say, “Here, listen to this part.”

The girls in the class were also talking about the book even though none had read it yet.  Given some of the girls in my class I’m sure many read it over break.

Every morning I could hear boys asking each other:

·       “What chapter are you on?”

·       “How far did you read last night?” 

·       “Wasn’t it cool when….”

I’m sure when we meet next week the boys will have nothing to talk about in book club because it is all they have talked about in class.

Daily I watch kids read books.  The share books, borrow books, and discard books very quickly.  It is that special writer like Ms. Nielsen that gets kids out of their chairs to share the her words.  Over the years I have watched boys read the books for book club.  Sometimes they are totally engaged, and sometimes they aren’t that interested in the book. The only other book with this much magic was The Lightening Thief. 

Thank you Ms. Nielsen for taking the joy of reading to an even higher level.

The Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut Bowling Alley Bandit by Laurie Keller

I adore Arnie the Doughnut, but most importantly my students LOVE Arnie the Doughnut.  For the last couple of years students do a book trailer on a picture book they love.  Every year at least two pick Arnie the Doughnut.  One year one student went the extra mile and brought in a chocolate sprinkle covered doughnut to film.

When I found out the Laurie Keller was going to share more of her humorous writing with us I was thrilled.  As most of us know reading teachers are notoriously non-thorough readers.  I say this because I originally went into The Bookies to buy it only to discover that it hadn’t been released.  I ordered and it came in and then sat on my TBR stack.  I took my niece to a swim meet last Friday, so I took The Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut Bowling Alley Bandit with me to read while I waited.  My parents and nephew arrived as the meet began.  Levi found the copy and that was that. 

Levi opting out of swim meet.

He sat reading it to himself and aloud to my dad.  As a new first grader he will have NO problems with fluency.  He was so excited to learn what a whoopee cushion is.  I’m sure his teacher will be thrilled.

The new Arnie book is an illustrated chapter book.  What is important about Laurie’s books is her use of multi-level texts.  There is the direct text that is easy for the reader to follow. Then, the reader has to notice everything else on the page because the tiny bubble speech might be crucial to the story, or there is a whole page comparing the weight of the doughnut to a bowling ball with Albert Einstein looking on saying “Impossible!”.

As with the Lunch Lady series I foresee begging, “borrowing”, and long lines of students waiting to read this book.  I can’t wait for the next one.