What's New? Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Pop on over there to share your new books and ogle what other bloggers got.

For review:

Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin. 414p. Little Brown Books for Young Readers, August 6, 2013. 9780316203791.

Publisher synopsis: Teen rocker Ritchie Sudden is pretty sure his life has just jumped the shark. Except he hates being called a teen, his band doesn't play rock, and "jumping the shark" is yet another dumb cliché. Part of Ritchie wants to drop everything and walk away. Especially the part that's serving ninety days in a juvenile detention center.

Telling the story of the year leading up to his arrest, Ritchie grabs readers by the throat before (politely) inviting them along for the (max-speed) ride. A battle of the bands looms. Dad split about five minutes before Mom's girlfriend moved in. There's the matter of trying to score with the dangerously hot Ravenna Woods while avoiding the dangerously huge Spence Proffer—not to mention just trying to forget what his sister, Beth, said the week before she died.

This latest offering from acclaimed author Sean Beaudoin is alternately raw, razor-sharp, and genuinely hilarious.

The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook by Joanne Rocklin. 218 p. Aumlet Books/ Abrams, April 2, 2013. 9781419705250.

Publisher synopsis:

In this warmhearted middle-grade novel, Oona and her brother, Fred, love their cat, Zook (short for Zucchini), but Zook is sick. As they conspire to break him out of the vet’s office, Oona tells the stories of his previous lives, ranging in style from fairy tale to grand epic to slice of life. Each of Zook’s lives have echoes in Oona’s own family life, which is going through a transition she’s not yet ready to face. Her father died two years ago, and her mother has started a relationship with a man named Dylan—whom Oona secretly calls “the villain.” The truth about Dylan, and about Zook’s medical condition, drives the drama in this loving family story.

Purchased:

Last week, after I posted my haul for the week, I trekked to my favorite children's book store to sob and buy books. A week ago Thursday, I received an email from them stating that, after 20 wonderful years, the store was closing and that everything was on sale. This is terrible news! I adore that store! It's a bit out of my way and has to compete with the ease of online buying, but I always planned a trip there every few months and devoted the fiction portion of my school buying to the store. 

The good news is that service to schools and libraries will continue so I will not lose total contact. Still, it's sad that the brick and mortar presence will be gone.

I left there with five picture books, which I have already read and donated to my library and these novels.

From top to bottom: (with partial bibliographic info)

The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee by Tom Angleberger. 190 p. Amulet Books.

Poison by Bridget Zinn. 276 p. Hyperion.

Struck by Lightning: the Carson Phillips Journal by Chris Colfer. 256 p. Little, Brown and Company.

33 Minutes...Until Morgan Sturtz kicks my butt by Todd Hasak-Lowy. 210 p. Aladdin.

Will Sparrow's Road by Karen Cushman. 216 p. Clarion Books.

The Bully Book by Eric Kahn Gale. HarperCollins Publishers.

That's it for me this week. Today is the first day of my spring break. I hope to get a ton of reading done this week. TOM, the tbr pile is threatening to take over my house. What did you get?

Happy Reading!

Cat Talk by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest

Illustrated by Barry Moser. 32 p. HarperCollins Publishers, March 19, 2013. 9780060279783. (Purchased.)

When I spied the cover of this at my favorite indy children's book store, several bells rang at once. I thought I had seen a review. Then, hey, a book of cat poems! And, hey, a Patricia MacLachlan book! But frankly, what clinched the sale was the fact that Barry Moser illustrated it. I have been a fan of his forever, but I especially like his own pet books, the books he wrote with his granddaughter, My Dog Rosie; My Cats Nick and Nora and Our New Puppy.

Thirteen cats weigh in in thirteen poems from a tom cat who reluctantly allows himself to be adopted to a reluctant mouser in a barn who has a secret best friend, through a diva Persian and a grey cat whose owner just wore a white dress. The poems are free-verse and the illustrations are 3/4-page to double page spreads. A pleasing collection for cat fanciers.

Follow Follow: a book of reverso poems by Marilyn Singer

Companion to Mirror Mirror. 32 p. Dial Books for Young Readers/ Penguin Group (USA) Inc., February, 2013. 9780803737693. (Purchased.)

I fell so completely in love with Mirror Mirror when it released, (Dial, 2010) that I ordered Follow Follow as soon as I learned of it. In Mirror Mirror, poet Marilyn Singer debuts her collection of reversos, a form that she created in which the poems are read two ways: down and then up (well, actually down again because it's retyped). The same words, with minor punctuation changes change the meaning of the poem. So cool.

Another reason for loving this book is that they are all centered around fairy and folk tales. You know, the ones that kids should be growing up listening to, but somehow grow up thinking that Disney "wrote" The Little Mermaid. Sigh. I will resist a rant here.

In Mirror Mirror, the poems were about more mainstream tales. In Follow Follow, the poet spreads out a bit to include Aladdin, the Golden Goose The Nightingale and the Twelve Dancing Princesses along with more familiar ones like Tortoise and Hare, Emperor's New Clothes and Little Mermaid.

Disney's butchering bowdlerization of Andersen's tale is particularly irksome to me because I had a collection that was well thumbed by me growing up. The mermaid's choice(s) always baffled me. I don't think I ever would've given up my voice to walk on legs that would feel like knives slicing me for any boy; but if I did and had a chance to get it all back by killing them in their sleep...? 

I particularly liked The Little Mermaid's Choice.

For love,
give up your voice.
Don't 
think twice.
On the shore,
be in his shadow.
Don't 
keep your home
in the unruly sea.
Be docile.
You can't 
catch him
playing
"You'll never catch me!"

reversed, it reads

You'll never catch me
playing'"Catch him."
You can't
be docile
in the unruly sea.
Keep your home.
Don't 
be his shadow
on the shore.
Think twice!
Don't
give up your voice
for love.

I think that students will be as tickled over this collection as they were over the first.

Waiting on Wednesday

WoW is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, in which we share the titles of books we are eagerly awaiting to be released.

Mojo by Tim Tharp. 288 p. Random House Children's Books, April 9, 2013. 9780375864452.

Publisher synopsis:

All Dylan wants is mojo. What is mojo? It's power. The ability to command respect. It's everything Dylan doesn't have. He gets no respect at school, and when he finds the dead body of a classmate, even the police push him around. All the thanks he gets for trying to help the investigation with his crime drama skills is a new nickname at school: Body Bag. So when Dylan hears about a missing rich girl from the other side of town, he jumps at the chance to dive into this mystery. Surely if he cracks a case involving a girl this beautiful and this rich, he'll get not only a hefty cash reward, but the mojo he's looking for. 

His investigation takes him into the world of an elite private high school and an underground club called Gangland. As Dylan—along with his loyal friends Audrey and Randy—falls down the rabbit hole, lured by the power of privilege, he begins to lose himself. And the stakes of the game keep getting higher.  

Now, just how did I almost miss this one? I read his Knights of the Hill Country before I started blogging, but I remember it fondly. I haven't read Badd but loved The Spectacular Now. Where Badd and Spectacular are pegged for a high school audience, Mojo and Knights are recommended for ages 12 and up. 

Forest Has a Song

Poems by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. Illustrated by Robbin Gourley. 32 p. Clarion Books/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, March 26, 2013. 9780618843497. (Finished copy provided by publisher.)

Even though I live in northern Bergen County, in New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the Union, I am lucky in that I live in a town that abuts a reservoir and the watershed land is (a long) walking distance from my home. I don't get out there enough, but the option is always there. Happily, my sons regularly rode their bikes along the deer trails and also enjoy camping, hiking and being outdoors, in general. 

There's a creek that runs along the field at my school. Fifth graders go on several nature walks down by the creek with the naturalist from the town's rather large nature center as part of the science curriculum. Sixth graders study earth science and attend a three day environmental field trip. There is also a thriving garden club. So the students at my school have regular access to nature should they choose to get outside.

Luckily for them that do and them that don't, this book will be available in our school library as soon as I finish reviewing it. These 26 poems are the perfect antidote for NDD, Nature Deficit Disorder or even poetry avoidance. This gorgeous collection quietly invites young readers to get outside, to observe, to listen and smell.

A young girl hears a pinecone fall and views that and the spicy breeze emanating from the forest as an invitation to visit in the first poem. We follow this girl and her dog through the seasons as she notes the delights that wait to be discovered. Some of my favorites are:

Forest News
I stop to read 
the Forest News
in mud or fallen snow.
Articles are printed 
by critters on the go.

Foxes pass.
Dear run through.
Turkeys scratch
fort hidden food.
Young raccoons
drink sips of creek.
Mouse and hawk
play hide-and-seek.
Here a possum
whiskery-wild
climbs a tree trunk
with her child.
And in this place
while people sleep
a rabbit hops.
A housecat creeps.

Scribble hints
in footprints
tell about the day.
I stop to read
the Forest News
before it's worn away.

I'm not sure what the rules are for sharing entire poems, so I will just share the titles of the others that tickled me - Fossil; Proposal; Lichens; Woodpecker; and Colorful Actor. But really, each poem offers unique moments to contemplate. 

Teachers, looking for lovely examples to teach the concept of imagery?  Did I mention poetry avoidance? Do you have students who hate poetry? This collection is an evocative mix of bite-sized and longer poems. Each poem is accompanied by lovely,watery illustrations that complement and don't distract from the verse. 

Use of this book need not be limited to use by language arts teachers. Science teachers! Why not incorporate this book in your unit on biomes, or seasons? Why not incorporate poetry into the curriculum regularly? (Take a look at Joyce Sidman's work. I shared Ubiquitous with the seventh grade science teacher, who was delighted to incorporate it into one of her units. But why stop there?)

Bear with me.

Ms. Ludwig VanDerwater presents workshops and presented at a conference last summer that my superintendent happened to attend. She was so impressed by her ideas that she hired her to come to our district, one day at the elementary school and one day at the middle school. 

What a day she had at our school! She started during morning meeting time with a presentation on using poetry across the curriculum. She managed to cram more ideas into 25 minutes than I've gotten from workshops of any length from an hour to a half-day to full-day. One idea that stayed with me since was the suggestion that teachers consider asking the student to compose a poem as an assessment tool. She pointed out that students who can successfully incorporate the learning objective into a poem have mastered the idea. 

I found myself nodding.

She then visited class after class throughout the day and got students writing poetry! And they were excited by it! And their poems were good!

Was I predisposed to liking this debut because of my experience with the workshop and class observation? I won't deny that I was impressed. The poet is passionate and generous. (Visit her website.) Even I, with my tin ear, was able to appreciate the rhyme schemes she pointed out.

This collection is an impressive debut. One of my first thoughts after reading the book was that fifth graders could compose poems after one of their nature walks with Mr. Mark, or that the sixth graders could write poems when they return from their Greenkill trip (they're leaving early tomorrow morning). The teachers could bind them into an anthology or publish them on the school website. Asking students to write a poem is asking them to reflect; it's asking them to dig deep; and, it gives them the time to create and make meaningful connections. 

April is National Poetry Month

Wow, it's April, 2013 already! Holy cow! The year is 1/4 over! How did that happen? And, it's Poetry Month! What will I do? And it's April 2, so I missed my chance to do something about poetry every day in April. Wait. No I didn't. I reviewed Brick by Brick yesterday. Phew! I'm good.

I also contributed some book spine poems over the past month and Travis has posted the gallery over at 100 Scope Notes. Go check it out. There are some great poems.

I will be the first to admit that my blog has no theme. I like to think it reflects my desire to read across age groups and genres in order to be a good school librarian and provide effective reader's advisory. But, I'm just distractible and disorganized. My intentions are good. I have read four poetry books recently in anticipation of the month, but sadly, my reviewing has been spotty despite my best intentions. We'll see. No promises.

Happy poetry month! Keep a poem in your pocket!

PS: I swiped the image above from Poets.org, a truly marvelous resource for anyone interested in poetry. Please visit it. 

Non-Fiction Monday: Four Must-have Picture Books for Middle School Social Studies

Well, there are many more than four picture books that can be used effectively in middle school social studies, but I read three of these this March and the fourth last fall. Technically two are fiction, so I will lead off with the two non-fiction books. There is no rule that the social studies teacher may use only informational books, especially when introducing a unit, especially when a story feels True.

The Price of Freedom: how one town stood up to slavery by Judith Bloom Fradin & Dennis Brindell Fradin. Illustrated by Eric Velasquez. 48 p. Walker Books for Young Readers/ Bloomsbury, January, 2013. 9780802721662. (Purchased)

This is the story of John Price and the town of Oberlin, Ohio. In 1856, Price and two friends, Frank and Dinah, escaped slavery and crossed the frozen Ohio River to Oberlin, where all three were hidden for the winter. Price and Frank were able to get work and were made to feel welcome by most folks. In fact, Oberlin was so welcoming that nearly 400 former slaves decided against continuing their journey to Canada and settled there despite the threat of The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Not all the folks of Oberlin felt welcoming though. When a band of slave hunters led by Anderson Jennings took lodgings in a flophouse, their presence was reported by a ten-year-old, but Jennings still found his way to the Boyntons who were one of the few families that supported the Act. Their thirteen-year-old son was hired to help. He told both John and Frank that he knew of someone looking to hire and offered to take them. Frank begged off, but John accompanied the boy right into an ambush. He was bound and thrown into the back of the wagon. Upon seeing a young college student walking toward Oberlin, John yelled that he was being kidnapped. Seeing no reaction from the student, John despaired. 

That solitary student set straight to work alerting the townsfolk, including former slaves, who armed themselves and set out to rescue John.

The illustrations are atmospheric. Inky night scenes cause the viewer to peer into the shadows to make out the subjects. John Price's kidnappers are menacing and the resolve  of the townsfolk is absolute. The final double-page illustration is a black and white photo of the rescuers, who were found guild of defying the Fugitive Slave Law and jailed for three months. Pages containing a note about the Underground Railroad and Oberlin; a bibliography, suggestions for further reading and websites conclude this compelling story. 

Brick by Brick by Charles R. Smith Jr. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. 32 p. Amistad/ HarperCollins Publishers, December, 2012. 9780061920720. (Purchased)

Charles R. Smith Jr. pays homage to the many anonymous slaves whose labor was invaluable in the construction of the White House. In rhythmic verse, Smith depicts the long hours and sometimes dangerous work required to clear the mosquito and snake infested land, haul and cut the stone, and lay the bricks, while their owners earned the money.

Floyd Cooper's signature style shines here. His palette is sandy, muted and grainy save for the faces and hands of the workers. The eye is drawn to each careworn face in turn, and then are drawn to the hands - strong hands - hands that are busy for most of the day only to return home empty.

I am embarrassed to admit that I never thought about the construction of the White House. This is but one reason why one is never too old for picture books. There is always something new to learn in bite-sized manageable chunks. This moving story belongs in all school libraries from elementary through high school.

The author flap lists websites for both the author and illustrator, only the illustrator's site seems to have been removed. The link is dead. Interested readers may visit the author's site here.

Light in the Darkness: a story about how slaves learned in secret by Lesa Cline-Ransome. Illustrated by James E. Ransome. 40 p. Disney/ Jump at the Sun Books/ Hyperion Books for Children, January, 2013. 9781423134954. (Purchased)

Rosa, a young slave girl is awakened by her mother in the middle of the night with the words, "It's time." Soundlessly, they slip out of their cabin into the night, taking care to avoid the patrollers. It is time for Rosa to learn to read.

She knows the stakes are high. It is illegal for slaves to learn to read, but a man named Morris learned from his master's wife and he now teaches others in a "pit school." Any slave caught learning to read risks a whipping or worse. 

Morris is a patient and competent teacher. Young and old are gathered in the pit watching him make letters with sticks and imitating the sounds he says that each letter makes. 

"Touch it," Morris says. "So you remember with your eyes, your ears, and your hands."

So they learn through the night, return to the quarters just before dawn and try to stay awake to work during the day, all the while keeping the secret.

The author explains that she discovered the existence of these schools while researching her biography of Frederick Douglass.

Unspoken: a story from the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole. 40 p. Scholastic, Inc., November, 2012. 978-545399975. (Purchased)

Silence can be a very scary thing sometimes. When a farm child accidentally discovers a runaway slave in the barn at the same time slave hunters arrive, she know enough to keep silent. Once they leave, she silently offers food while her parents are none the wiser. She discovers that the fugitive has moved on when she finds a cornhusk doll left as thanks for her silent acceptance and aid.

The pencil (charcoal?) sketches are atmospheric and surprisingly detailed. This is one intense and moving book that asks, "What would you do?" at the end, and begs thoughtful reflection, discussion and answers.

I never did get around to reviewing this wordless wonder. I did share it with the ESL teacher at my school when we presented together at a workshop. We shared a wordless unit we developed with area ESL teachers in late October. The book released early and I was able to bring it to the workshop. My colleague fell instantly in love and folded it into her unit on the Underground Railroad for her eighth grade students. Its usage is not limited to ESL students nor is it limited to only the social studies classroom.

These are just four picture books recently added to my school library collection to support the curriculum and inspire.