I Promise I've Been Reading

Somehow, almost an entire month has gone by since my last post, though it's not for lack of reading.  I've had a pretty busy month.  Sick kids.  A crazy puppy.  School.  A fallen tree in my backyard (due to Polar Vortex 2.0).  I guess the time just got away from me.

Regardless, I've read several books.  I briefly thought I might want to see the movie "The Best of Me" which is modeled after the book of the same name written by Nicholas Sparks.  Since I am a book lover, I wanted to read the book before the movie.  It was a decent book, not my favorite Nicholas Sparks novel though.  But decent.  I think the idea of two characters who've both moved on with their lives reuniting is a common plot that's been done before.  I liked how they way in which they were brought back together, through the will of a mutual friend who died.  But it was entirely too predictable and mushy.  And I like predictable and mushy.

After watching the trailer,  the guy who plays Dawson is almost exactly how I imagined him.  Amanda, not so much.  For being middle-aged, I think she looks too young.  Will I see the movie?  Meh...probably not in theatres.  But I will tune in once it hits Amazon Prime.

Currently, I am reading a book called leaving time (purposefully lowercase) by Jodi Picoult, my all-time favorite author.  Pretty much every book she writes deals with some sort of controversial situation or scenario and is told from multiple perspectives.  She usually switches the first person point-of-view every chapter so we are aware of multiple character's thoughts and actions.  Though it can be hard to follow at times if you lose track of the speaker, I admire (and envy) her ability to create so many round characters.

That being said, I am not very far into this book yet.  I am on page 114 out of 398.  The main premise is a young girl named Jenna whose mother, an elephant researcher, disappeared when she was three.  The main characters we hear from include: Jenna Metcalf, Alice Metcalf (her mother), Virgil Stanhope (a detective), and Serenity (a psychic).  Expect an update soon...I promise it will be quicker than a month!

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Countless student readers + being made into a motion picture = why I chose to pick up If I Stay by Gayle Forman.

The equation was simple really.  And the book did not disappoint.  I thought it was a sweet story, beautifully written, and full of emotion.  I think every high school girl would appreciate this novel.

So here is the premise: Mia is a teenager who is in a car accident with her family.  Both of her parents die on impact and her younger brother passes later at the hospital.  The book is told from her perspective while she is in limbo.  She watches the doctors and nurses working on her body; she watches her extended family, friends, and boyfriend gather around her; she decides whether to keep fighting to live or whether to join her family on the other side.  Don't worry - I won't spoil the ending.

I have not seen the movie yet (shocking considering I have three small children at home), but did find the book trailer online:

If you have any interest in this book, you should most definitely watch the  trailer.  I will say that the girl who plays Mia is exactly how I imagined her, from the looks all the way to her voice.  The character who plays Adam, however, was just not what I envisioned while I read.  Not that this is a bad thing.  It's just not what I was expecting.

I enjoyed this book so much that I already visited the MHS learning commons this morning to check out the sequel, Where She Went.  I'm not very far yet, but the most obvious difference is that this book is told from Adam's perspective and not Mia's.  I'm interested to hear his perspective on the situation.

I'll leave you with a line that showed the young love between Mia and Adam.  One of the lines that I thought was just the sweetest: “If you stay, I'll do whatever you want. I'll quit the band, go with you to New York. But if you need me to go away, I'll do that, too. I was talking to Liz and she said maybe coming back to your old life would be too painful, that maybe it'd be easier for you to erase us. And that would suck, but I'd do it. I can lose you like that if I don't lose you today. I'll let you go. If you stay.”  This was Adam talking to Mia while she was comatose.  I know in my last post I wrote about the love between Eleanor and Park was not believable.  This love though...it just was.

Eleanor and Park

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell was a book that many of my students read last year.  I won a free copy from Goodreads.  Did you know they have giveaways?  And as soon as my copy arrived it went from one student to the next to the next.  I even had a girl ask me if she could borrow it over the summer to use it for her summer reading project.  So needless to say, once it was finally back in my possession, I had pretty high expectations.


To be honest, I'm not sure they were met.  I did finish the book, however there were several elements about the book that just bothered me a bit.


#1: I almost put it down within the first few pages due to  the overuse of foul language.  The overuse of foul language in YA books drives me nuts.  Totally unnecessary and really just annoying to read.


#2: I had a hard time believing the love between these two characters.  They seemed so unlike each other that I had a hard time seeing the connection and really believing two characters like Eleanor and Park would fall for each other.


#3: (This one is totally my own fault)  I just took too long to read it.  I only read this while at school and so it was very disconnected for me because I usually would only read it for ten minutes at a time and never gave myself the chance to get lost in the story and the characters.


Despite these observations, I do still think the book has many redeeming qualities and would appeal to a lot of YA readers, so I'll also discuss the pros.


#1: It was told from two different perspectives and switched chapters between Eleanor and Park.  I love when authors do this, as it  allows the readers to truly understand multiple characters since you see their inner thoughts.


#2: The characterization in general.  We've been discussing how authors create round characters by utilizing all five methods of characterization and this author has a good grasp on this.  I loved both characters.  I just didn't see their love for each other.


#3: Figurative language, similes, and metaphors.  Rainbow Rowell can write.  Here is one example of the kind of writing you might see:


"Or maybe, he thought now, he just didn't recognize all those other girls.  The way a computer drive will spit out a disk if it doesn't recognize the formatting.  When he touched Eleanor's hand, he recognized her.  He knew."

So there you have it.  The pros and cons of Eleanor and Park.  On to my next book...

The Goldfinch

Are any of you on Facebook?  I know, I know…it's not so cool anymore with the younger generation.  I, however, am on Facebook and there's been a post going around asking people who are tagged to make a post of the ten books that have changed their life.  Mrs. Kinross, MHS 10th grade teacher, tagged me in this post.  And to be honest, I replied to her with some book suggestions but wasn't quite ready to make my list.  I still am not sure I am ready.  Only ten books?  The pressure is too much.

But I recently finished a novel that I feel confident I would place on that list of top ten.  It is called The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.  The only reason I requested it from the library was because I had seen so many of my Goodreads friends suggesting it, as well as bestseller lists.  I thought it was amazing.  I will also tell you that it was LONG.  771 pages long.

Okay, so here's the abbreviated version of those 771 pages.  It begins when Theo is a thirteen year old. He and his mom stop at a museum in New York City briefly to examine some paintings.  While they are there, a bomb goes off (well, two actually) and his mother dies.  Theo meets a man named Welty after the bombing but before he escapes.  Welty gives him a ring and tells him to save this famous painting of a goldfinch.  Theo obliges and runs home with the painting and ring, never telling authorities about it.  The painting follows him from place to place….to Vegas to live with his father and his girlfriend, back to New York City to live with a friend and confidante, Hobie, who later becomes his business partner.

There are so many things I loved about this book.  It is hard to keep my attention for 771 pages, but Donna Tartt was able to do just that.  Her characterization was well developed, and not just for the main character, Theo.  I felt like his good friend Boris could just walk off the page and introduce himself to me.  My heart tugged for Mrs. Barbour towards the end of the book when two people very close to her died.  When you feel like you know a character, like you could meet them in real life, like you see a person on the street and think, "That's Boris!" then that is plain 'ol good writing.

I also loved the imagination the author must have to spin such a creative, imaginative plot.  Every twist in Theo's life was unexpected to me and I loved that.  I also appreciated that Theo's character was not perfect.   Far from it actually.  Theo did a lot of bad, bad things over the course of the book, but was still able to learn things from his experiences.

And since a post would not be complete without some quotes from the text, I'll leave you with a few of my favorites.  "Isn't everything worthwhile a gamble?  Can't good come around sometimes through some strange back doors?" (Tartt 758).  This line addresses that earlier notion of Theo not always making the best choices or causing the best actions, but sometimes things still ended up okay.  Sometimes even better than okay and he was able to grow from his experiences.

The other line that really spoke to me reads, "A great sorrow, and one that I am only beginning to understand: we don't get to choose our own hearts.  We can't make ourselves want what's good for us or what's good for other people.  We don't get to choose the people we are" (Tartt 761).  This line comes near the end of the book when Theo is reflecting on his experiences through his journey.  So universal and it spoke to me as both a parent and a teacher.  My children are not exactly like me.  Neither are my students.  And that's okay.  They are who they are.  Something for me to embrace and appreciate.

Golden Lines

You know those lines that you read that you feel like everyone should read?  That almost feel like thematic statements themselves?  That make you wish you had written them yourself?  That's what todays' post is going to be about.  I've actually read about five books since my last post, so these lines are going to be from a hodgepodge of different authors.

This first is from Left to Tell, which I blogged about last week.  Here is the line: "Mr. Mehu introduced me to his secretary, Jeane, and she spent the day showing me how to use the computer and write memos, along with the ins and outs of their filing system.  I memorized every function of every button on the computer, and then I drew an exact replica of the keyboard on a piece of cardboard.  I spent three days working on the computer, and stayed up three entire nights practicing, typing on my own hand drawn keyboard" (Ilibagiza 189).  I love what this says about hard work. Can't you just imagine the amazing thematic statement that could come from this: If one works hard, any goal can be achieved.  I too often today people just expecting something, a new car, to be the best in a sport or subject, etc. without putting in any hard work. Unfortunately, I see this with my own children at times already.  And the older two are only four and six!  My four year old plays soccer.  He never wants to practice with me at home, but then wonders why he hasn't scored a goal yet.  He is not understanding (at least not yet) the importance of hard work.  I see it with students at the end of a grading period (in former years of course) who will rush in the last week, requesting extra credit and all of a sudden wondering how they can bring their grade up from a D.  Well, the answer my friends, is hard work and putting in the effort.  Just like Immaculee did in Left to Tell.

Another book I read at home was called The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty.  Another book full of golden lines.  So many, I had to pick two: 

"This was the problem with being friends with someone who knew you when you were a teenager.  They never quite take you seriously because they always see you as your stupid teenage self" (Moriarty 43).

"Over the last few months she'd learned that anything she thought she knew to be true could shift and change in an instant.  Nothing was permanent: The Buddhists knew what they were talking about" (Moriarty 391).

I like both these lines.  The first, just because the advice is simple, but I know the audience of this blog is teenagers, so I picked a line that could possibly speak to you.  That being said, some of my best friends in this world are from high school.  We still meet for monthly dinners, birthday parties, and our soirees have grown to include our husbands and children.  So even though I love the line, I don't think it applies to me all that much.  I could definitely see how it could though…

The second line appeals to those moments that are life-changing.  You can think everything is going hunky-dory perfect in your life.  Until there is a life-changing medical diagnosis.  Or a death of  a loved one.  Or a move.  Or the loss of a pet.  These moments that you remember forever.  And that seem to change everything that instant.  

I have more lines ready, but unfortunately it is 6:15 on a Sunday morning and my children are starting to wake up, which means it is time for me to make pancakes.  Yum!  

I will leave you with the next quote I was going to talk about instead.  This comes from The Goldfinch, a novel I started last week but has quickly consumed me.  It is FANTASTIC!

"Every new event--everything I did for the rest of my life--would only separate us more and more: days she was no longer a part of, an ever-growing distance between us.  Every single day for the rest of my life, she would only be further away" (Tartt 89).

Please respond in the comments: What does this line mean to you?  What do you think is happening to these characters?  Can you make any predictions just from this one line?

Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

Left to Tell is join going to be an upcoming literature circle novel for our CP students.  The unit will focus on multicultural memoirs.  Multicultural meaning it's written about an experience outside the United States and memoir meaning it is told by the person who went through the experience.  I have to say that this book was the one I knew the least about when we started planning the unit.  I was 13 years old when the Rwandan Holocaust occurred and it was not something I knew much about.  Okay, anything.  At least at the time.

But I did know about Hotel Rwanda, a Hollywood film created in 2004 that depicts the Holocaust from the eyes of Paul Rusebagina, who attempts to shelter his own family and over a thousand other refugees at the hotel  he managed.  Though the movie was not real, the story of Paul was real.  And the event was real.  It's hard to believe that something so much like the Holocaust during WW2 could happen again.  More than 50 years later.  It's like the Rwandans didn't learn anything from that experience, nor the rest of the world, who failed to come to the aid of the Tutsi's being persecuted.  Here is a short clip from the film, showing the chaos in the streets, the fear of the citizens, and the brutality of the Holocaust.  (Don't worry…nothing too violent).

The whole purpose of talking about this film is that I had some background knowledge before I actually picked up the book and started reading.  And I'm glad.  Questions I had in the movie were easily explained by Immaculee in her memoir.  If you click on the hyperlink in the first paragraph, you can read a short summary of Immaculee's story.  Immaculee was a successful, smart young woman who had her entire life on the horizon.  She did well in school, earning a scholarship to University.  She had friends and aspirations, a loving family.  When the genocide began, her father begged her to come back from University for the Easter break.  Immaculee was so glad she did.   She was able to see her family one last time.  When the rebels started the attacks and began looking for her family, she escaped to a local pastor's house and was hidden with six other women in a bathroom for the three month duration.  Currently, I am at the part where she is hiding in the bathroom.  She must remain absolutely silent while hiding.

I love her word choice here, where she is describing what it was like when the rebels were actually at the pastor's house to start searching for her: "Hundreds of people surrounded the house, many of whom were dressed like devils, wearing skirts of tee bark and shirts of dried banana leaves, and some even had goat horns strapped onto their heads.  Despite their demonic costumes, their faces were easily recognizable, and there was murder in their eyes" (Ilibagiza 77).  You can only imagine the terror she felt at that moment.  During another attempt and finding the women at the pastor's house, Immaculee reflects, "Prayer became my armor, and I wrapped it tightly around my heart" (Ilibagiza 85).   I loved the personification used here.  Immaculee is a strong writer.  Combine that with a gripping story and you have a recipe for a you-can't-put-it-down book.  I hope some of you choose to read this during our multicultural memoir unit!

Mrs. Palmer's Summer Reading

This post will be a bit atypical from my normal posts.  I typically focus on one text and go into detail about some of it's features.  Today, I plan to highlight several books I've read over the summer since I took a blogging hiatus.

Maus
This book is a graphic novel…to be honest, it's the first graphic novel I've actually read in its entirety.  I guess I always had a preconceived notion that graphic novels were too simplistic and didn't carry much of a story line.  I stand corrected.  Maus was interesting, forced me to use both pictures and words to tell a complete story (something I only do when reading picture books with my children), and actually quite serious in plot.  It is a story about the Holocaust, told from the perspective of a young Jewish boy interviewing his father, a man who survived the Holocaust.  What I was expecting to be an unrealistic cartoon surprised me; it was powerful.  Some of you will have the opportunity to read this later during our multicultural memoir unit this Fall.  If you want to know more, click here.

The Death of Bees
This was the first book I read this summer.  I selected it because it was one of the Alex Award winners, so I knew some students may come in this school year and chose this for summer reading.  The premise of this book was actually quite crazy, and I'm being somewhat vague to avoid spoilers, but here it is: Two girls find their father and mother both dead in their rundown house.  Their parents were horrible to them, so instead of calling the authorities, they decide to bury them in their backyard and just live by themselves, pretending the parents ran off on an adventure when anyone close to them asked.  The girls end up becoming friends with a neighbor…and I have to stop here or I'll spoil something.  I LOVED this book!  Read more here.

The Universe Versus Alex Woods
This was another book title that appeared on the Alex Award list.  This one took me a bit longer to get through than The Death of Bees, though I still did enjoy it.  This title was about a boy named Alex Woods who was struck by a meteor at the age of ten and suffered some health consequences as a result, such as seizures.  The novel starts right in the action of Alex trying to cross a European border with a dead man's ashes in the car.  Then the whole book flashes back to the events leading up to this pseudo-arrest.  There are definitely moments where this one seemed farfetched, but I didn't really mind.  The author kept you interested and the characterization was impeccable.  Another YA book with my stamp of approval!

These were the only three YA books I read this summer.  I can't wait to hear about your summer reading!

Paper Towns

Don't get mad.  I just did what I always tell you not to do.  I used wikipedia.  For the definition of paper towns, which is as follows, "Fictitious entries, also known as fake entries, Mountweazels, ghost words^[1] and nihil articles, are deliberately incorrect entries or articles in reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and directories. Entries in reference works normally originate from a reliable external source, but no such source exists for a fictitious entry.Copyright trap is a specific case where the motivation for the entry is to detect plagiarism or copyright infringement."

It is pretty important to know the meaning behind paper towns, since it is the title of John Green's book.    I've had pretty hit or miss luck with John Green lately.  I loved The Fault in our Stars can can't wait to see the movie.  I thought Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines were okay.  Way too many curse words in my opinion.  But Paper Towns did not disappoint.  I loved the character development of both Quentin "Q" and Margo Roth Spiegelman (You just have to use all three of her names when speaking about her).  

John Green is excellent with his character development.  Even though Margo Roth Spiegelman ran away early in the book, she was still well developed from the messages and clues she left behind for Q to find.  She was the planner of events, the internalizer, the one who liked things done her way.  One quote that resounded with me, not because it was particularly wise, but for the nice detail into her character was a line she spoke, "Yeah. I'm a big believer in random capitalization.  The rules of capitalization are so unfair to words in the middle."   This line comes into play when Q recognizes writing of hers on an online urban dictionary that demonstrates this unique pattern of capitalization.

I also like Green's writing style and description.  He is able to make even the smallest, minute thing important and appear in the reader's mind because he slows down his description.  Check out this description and see if you can guess what he is describing: "There is so much to recommend this house.  It is carpeted throughout.  It has central air-conditioning and heating.  The whole place is wired for surround sound.  Admittedly, it contains only fifty-five square feet of living space.  But you can't beat the open floor plan."  Take a guess in the comments and I'll let you know next post.  (This will also be a true test if anyone is still reading my blog since it is now summer break…)

The Selection Series Ends :(

You might think from the sad face I didn't like the book.  Not the case.  I actually loved it.  I am just sad it's over.  Coming from me, this says a lot.  Normally I completely dislike third books in trilogies.  I wasn't crazy about Mockingjay.  I didn't even like the second book in the Matched series.

This series though.  I loved it.  You can read my blog post about The Selection here.  This gives a basic premise of the plot line.  The second book, The Elite, narrows the playing field down even more, and by the time The One starts, only four girls remain: Elise, Kriss, Celeste, and America.  Obviously, America is one of them.  In the third installment, situations at the castle are getting tense as both the northern and southern rebels continue to attack the castle and the Elite.  It is nice for America that one of the guards was also from her home district and he continues to protect her as much as he can.  I know I am being vague, but this is my meager attempt and not spoiling anything.  Was I successful?

The second book I am going to blog about today was called The Prince.  This was a novella about the beginning of the whole selection process told from Prince Maxon's point of view.  I think Kiera Cass did a great job of switching voices so that we weren't hearing America, but Maxon.  The writing was different and I could hear a new voice, which I appreciate as an English teacher.   We had heard the whole love story from the girl's perspective, and this particular line from the guy's perspective stood out: "I debated hopping into the hallway on the second floor so we could accidentally-on-purpose meet again."  I loved the hyphenated modifier…and I loved that he knew right away that this girl was special.

In all, this series was a bit cheesy.  In my initial post where I suggested, "It is kind of The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor," I was pretty accurate.  If you are a young adult girl, I would highly recommend this series.  It would make good summer reading material.  And if you've already read (and loved) the series, I just discovered there is another novella called The Queen being released.  Cass is satisfying her readers' hunger.  And who knows?  This just may be the next book turned Hollywood movie…

If you want to get a glimpse into what this book is like, check out the author reading the first chapter here:

The World is Ending...

Or at least that is the premise of The Last Survivors Series written by Susan Beth Pfeffer.  I had never read anything by this author before, but when I saw the title as both a Goodreads recommendation as well as on the list of top teen downloads from Overdrive at the Cincinnati Public Library, I figured I'd give it a whirl.

I DEVOURED this book in a matter of days.  The storyline was so different from anything I'd ever read before.  It's not exactly dystopian literature, but if you like that type of reading, you would also probably like Life As We Know It, the first book in the series.  The story starts like any realistic fiction book, by introducing us to the main characters and the Pennsylvania town where they live, complete with the students abuzz about that night's homework assignment: to watch an asteroid hit the moon.  Scientists have been buzzing about it for days; now, students finally get to witness the impact.  But things don't go exactly as planned.  The asteroid knocks the moon off it's orbit and it becomes too close to the Earth.  And the effects are drastic.  Tsunamis and earthquakes and angry tides.  It seems Mother Nature is dumping everything on the world at once.  Miranda's mother goes nuts and takes the kids out of school right away and heads straight to the grocery store where they load up on all sorts of nonperishable food and supplies to stock their home.  Her brothers spend days chopping trees on their property and filling the house with firewood.  Things go from bad to worse in a matter of about a month.  Soon, there is no more sunshine and the sky is filled with gray dust.  Then the climate has a major switch and it starts to freeze in August, shortly followed by full-blown winter with temps below zero.  Many die.  Many.  But somehow, Miranda and her family all survive, living in the sunroom of their house, staying as warm as possible with the aid of their wood-burning stove.  I don't want to spoil the end of the novel, but there is a sudden change with a chance for hope.

I was so eager to start the second novel, The Dead and the Gone, because I liked the first one so much. So I was a tad disappointed when I downloaded the book to my Kindle to discover that it wasn't continuing Miranda's story, but instead telling the story of another family that faces the same crisis, this time in New York City.  The writing is still strong and I'm starting to connect to these characters.  However, I do hope Pfeffer continues the story of Miranda and her family in the 3rd or 4th book in the series.

For now, it has made me wonder about the possibility of natural disaster and how my family would survive.  We have zero food reserves.  Zero.  Does anyone stockpile food in the case of natural disaster?  I had a student write his creative nonfiction piece about this topic earlier this trimester.  Combined with this series, it really made me think about the idea.  It couldn't hurt to have a few extra canned good lying around.  Could it?

The Importance of Reading

My dad sent me this great article from the New York Times.  I thought it was a great read and totally reinforces the importance of putting down technology and picking up a book.  Both of these are issues we've discussed as we explored themes in Fahrenheit 451.  There's not really a lot to analyze and thus this will be a shorter blog post.  But I thought it was a read worth sharing.  And who knows?  Maybe it will persuade you to read for pleasure every day.  At least for a bit.

Wonder: A Book Review

Wonder by R.J. Palacio was one of the summer reading options for freshmen last summer and it was highly regarded by the few students I have who selected this book for summer reading.  I knew a little bit about the book prior to reading - that the main character was a boy with a severe facial deformity.  But that's about it.  I ended up really enjoying this book; let me tell you why.

1.  The characters were extremely well-developed.  The book actually changed first person point-of-view between multiple characters.  It started with August (Auggie), the boy with the facial deformity, but later switched to the voices of his sister Via, his friend Jack, his sister's friend Melinda, etc.  I liked that we got to hear all those different voices in the writing, and it wasn't terribly confusing because it didn't switch every chapter.  You would have several chapters in a row from Auggie's perspective before it switched to another character.
2. The messages of the book are strong ones for middle and high schoolers: everyone is different and it's what's on the inside that counts.  In the time span of the book, Auggie goes to school for the first time (he was home schooled until 5th grade).  And the kids were cruel.  No one wanted to work with him, in fact kids thought they would get the plague if they even touched Auggie and immediately washed their hands if they did so accidentally.  I was very curious while reading where the author got the idea for this book, so I did some Internet digging and found a FAQ section on the author's website, which you can read here if interested.
3. Readability/relatability: this book was not a difficult read by any means, but it was full of wisdom and was a story that most teens could relate to; I know few teens have had a facial deformity, but all of us have experienced a time when we were noticed and didn't want to be, whether it was a bad haircut, a mismatched outfit, bad acne, etc.  Most people, especially teens, could find a moment in their life where they shared Auggie's feelings.

Towards the end of the book, Auggie has made friends with many of his classmates and they have learned to accept him for his differences.  But the whole class attends an end-of-the-year camping trip with classes from other schools.  No spoilers here, but the students from the other schools aren't as welcoming of Auggie and he does have one bad experience.  In his inner thoughts, Auggie reflects, "They had no clue how something bad had almost happened to me and Jack.  It's so weird how that can be, how you could have a night that's the worst night in your life, but to everybody else it's just an ordinary night.  Like, on my calendar at home, I would mark this as being one of the most horrific days of my life.  This and the day Daisy died.  But for the rest of this world, this was just an ordinary day.  Or maybe it was even a good day.  Maybe somebody won the lottery" (Palacio Loc. 3402-6).  This line really reminded me of my last post as well.  All of us have good days and bad days, but we need to treat others with respect and accept them for who they are.  Good life lessons to learn from books…

I'll leave you with a book trailer I found on the author's website, which I think serves as a good teaser to the book and is also a strong example of the book trailers you will be making at the end of the trimester.

Personal Connection to "Perfect Match"

If you were a fly on the wall at my house, you may have heard my husband and I discussing the news.  It's pretty much a daily occurrence, usually in the evening after eating dinner while my older two children are taking a shower.  And usually it is the catastrophic events that fill our conversation.  "A girl I went to high school with that lives in Florida - her husband was killed in a car crash today and they have a 1-year old. Isn't that sad?"  I might say.  He might piggyback with the latest update on the missing Malaysian flight, also commenting on how much he hates flying these days and wishes he didn't have to do it for work.  We often comment on how odd it is that that particular day might be the worst day of someone's life, and here we are.  Just going through the mundane.  The rote events of our day.

And this reminded me so much of the beginning of the book Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult.  She is one of my favorite authors, yet I had never read this earlier novel of hers.  She starts by introducing us to the three main characters.  Nina is a powerful Maine state prosecutor who tries all the cases of sexual abuse and molestation.  She deals with criminals every day.  We meet her son, Nathaniel, a curious five-year old boy.  And finally her husband, Caleb, a bricklayer and devoted father and husband. 

We learn about 10% of the way into the book that Nathaniel has been a victim of sexual abuse and it crushes Nina.  She has been doing this for a living for years, and didn't recognize the signs of abuse in her son.  She feels like a failure.  A line that really captured this feeling (and that reminded me of my nightly conversations with my husband) reads, "How do you find the words to explain that the life you woke up in yesterday is not the one you woke up in today?  How do you describe atrocities that aren't supposed to exist?" (Picoult 49).  This was the worst day of her life.  Finding out that someone was hurting her son.  As a mother, it is the worst thing I can imagine.  The news numbed her, consumed her.  As it should.  But she later reflects, "Life, it turns out, goes on.  There is no cosmic rule that grants you immunity from the details because you have come face-to-face with a catastrophe.  The garbage cans still overflow, the bills arrive in the mail, telemarketers still interrupt dinner" (Picoult 75). 

Reading this book makes me appreciate the healthiness of my children and the fact that my family is not in the middle of a catastrophe.  But there is still that lingering idea that somewhere, someone is experiencing the worst day of their life.  And we should all be aware of this.  Help people when we can. Do what is right.  Put ourselves in their shoes.

As I continue reading, I wonder about many things.  I wonder who has abused Nathaniel.  I wonder if he will tell his mom.  I wonder if justice will be served.  Updates to come!

Book Trailer

Check out the book trailer I made for "My Year of Living with Joy"

My Year of Living with Joy

Computer Lab Checklist for 4/22

1.  Check Edline.  Grades were updated this morning.  Anything that is missing can be found and printed from Edline. Please see me with any questions.  Remember, you have one week to turn in any missing work for 80% credit.

2.  Update Goodreads with the book title you are currently reading and your current page number.

3.  Write a new blog post, focusing on an engaging introduction that makes your reader want to read on and evokes some sort of emotion.  Try to craft an effective ending as well that sums everything up for the reader of your blog and makes a lasting memory, like an eternal flame.

4.  Make two comments on other student blogs. Check the quad blogging schedule located on my blog to determine whose English 9 class you should comment on this week.

5.  Update your blogger chart with your post and comments.

I will be coming around for blogger conferences while you accomplish these tasks!  This should keep you PLENTY busy today!

Writing Craft in Wintergirls

Since we are just finishing up Fahrenheit 451 in my CP classes and are moving into creative nonfiction, it was nice to read a book that was full of both voice and writing craft.  I raced through Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson.  I started it in class during the day on Thursday and finished it Saturday night as I was falling asleep.

First, a brief summary if you have any interest in reading this novel: Two teenage girls, Cassie and Lia, were best friends growing up and both found themselves facing eating disorders in high school.  We never meet Cassie, as she has succumbed to her inner demons at the beginning of the book, so the novel traces Lia.  Lia is not a character I could relate to, but I do believe Laurie Halse Anderson did a good job creating this character and all the idiosyncrasies that come along with an eating disorder.  Though this is a topic I have no personal experience, she made me believe that it really is a mental illness.

I thought the writing itself was unique and crafty.  Laurie told the story from Lia's perspective and frequently she would have writing crossed out (showing Lia's inner thoughts or what she wanted to say) followed by the true dialogue or narration.  To me, this is a really interesting way to show inner thoughts.

She also used many rhetorical questions and fragments - two syntactical techniques we've studied recently.  The book is filled with figurative language, for example this metaphor: “We are crayons and lunchboxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds," or this personification, “This girl shivers and crawls under the covers with all her clothes on and falls into an overdue library book, a faerie story with rats and marrow and burning curses. The sentences build a fence around her, a Times Roman 10-point barricade, to keep the thorny voices in her head from getting too close.” 


I would most definitely recommend Wintergirls to teen girls.  It was a powerful read.

Until I Say Goodbye: My Year of Living with Joy

What would you do with your life if you knew your time was limited?  Susan Spencer-Wendel, a journalist from West Palm Beach, Florida actually was faced with this difficult scenario.  It all started when her left hand started to wither and she was unable to use it normally.  She was in her forties.  After numerous doctor visits and testing, it was decided.  ALS.  A degenerative neurological disease.  There is no cure.

So what did Susan decide to do?  She decided to make the most of her time on Earth.  Happily married with three children, she chose to focus on the bright spots in her life and making memories with her children.  Gone were the days of nitpicking over the tidiness of her kitchen or the cleanliness of her children's rooms.  Instead, she planned special trips with all of the most important people in her life: her husband, John, her three children, Marina, Wesley, and Aubrey, her best friend, her sister.  She took her 14-year old daughter wedding dress shopping in NYC.  She took her son Aubrey to the beach where he went parasailing for the first time.  She went to see the Northern lights with her friend Nancy.  And she lived. 

Though this book was incredibly heart wrenching, the message of living (and living with joy) was rewarding to see.  I connected so much to Susan, not as someone with a terminal illness, but as a mother and a wife and someone who very much wants to see her children grow.  I would recommend this book to most mothers, although I would make sure they knew it was a tearjerker. 

Very near the end of the book, which is really a gift to her children, Susan says, "Look for me in your heart, my children.  Sense me there, and smile...All their lives, I have marveled in front of my children at sunsets. 'Isn't it gorgeous?' I've gushed.  Now they do the same."  Clearly her message isn't about dying, but about living.  And appreciating the moments we do have.

Here is a video of her friend Nancy discussing the story:

Ethos, Pathos, Logos and Rhetorical Techniques

As you watch the instructional video, take notes in your notebook about the following three topics: ethos, pathos, and logos.   Please also take notes on the six different rhetorical techniques discussed in the video.  Be prepared to use these notes in class tomorrow.

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathon Tropper

I found this book through Goodreads recommendations and I also saw it on a best of the year list somewhere so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  And to be honest, I have a somewhat mixed review.  This book is funny at times and I love the sarcastic tone the main character has (and for good reason).  The narrator of the story, Judd, has just arrived to his family home to sit shiva in respect of his dead father, along with his mother and three other siblings, along with their spouses/significant others and children.  Judd arrives alone because his wife has just left him.  It's like a soap opera in book form.  An example of his sarcasm is, "A good speech is like a woman's skirt: short enough to hold your attention, long enough to cover the subject."  This is the type of line that I saw frequently. Little jabs and comparisons to things that just made the reader in me smile a bit.  The bad was just that it was a bit too unrealistic.  The family did not seem realistic--too much craziness in one family.  Although maybe that is how some families are...

Despite the sarcasm and unbelievable events that take place over the seven day span of the book, Tropper also offers a lot of lines that are memorable.  One of my personal favorites was, "You never know when it will be the last time you'll see your father, or kiss your wife, or play with your little brother, but there's always a last time.  If you could remember every last time, you'd never stop grieving."  This idea is something I've been thinking about more and more as I get older.   I've had friends who have experienced major tragedies, such as a friend from high school who became a widow with a one year old son when her husband died in a car accident on Valentine's Day of this year.   She had no idea that morning that it would be the last time she saw him.  Or what about the people who sent loved ones off on the Malaysian flight that's been missing for over a month?  Who could have known that they would probably never see their loved ones again?  I try to always tell and show my family how much I love them for this reason.  I particularly like the second part of the quote above.  It's wise to say that, "If you could remember every last time, you'd never stop grieving."  I see this in little parenting things with my own children.  The older two are six and four and I honestly don't remember the last time I rocked each of them to sleep, but I'm trying to cherish those moments with my youngest (who turns 1 on…sniff, sniff) because I know these moments won't last forever.

The Fault in our Stars

So I finally read The Fault in our Stars.  So many of my students have read this book.  And it's not like I didn't want to read it.  I just didn't want to buy it at first and when I went to initially request it from the library I was like #225 on the waiting list for the e-book.  Whatever the journey, I am glad that I finally did read it.  I've been on a John Green kick over the past month and was starting to get annoyed (see previous posts) with the overuse of curse words.  Fortunately, this book did not have that same style.

As many know, The Fault in our Stars is about two teens, Hazel Grace and Augustus, who are both suffering from cancer.  They meet in a support group and fall in love.  And that's all the summary I am going to give you, as I don't want to ruin any of the joys that come from plot twists in a book while reading.

Today, I am going to choose to focus on a golden line from The Fault in our Stars that I feel really develops the theme.  If I had to choose one theme for this book, I would say his message about human life is that life is meant to be lived and people need to take advantage of the time and experiences they have.  Both of the main characters have cancer, yet they are both well-developed characters who live in the moment as best they can.  They still meet new people, have new experiences and don't wallow in their diagnosis.  The line that was so impactful to me as a reader was, "You are going to live a good and long life filled with great and terrible moments that you cannot even imagine yet."  I think this fits the theme; we need to fill our lives with moments.  Whether they are great or whether they are terrible, we are still taking risks and enjoying the moment instead of staying at home and wallowing in self pity.

I really liked this book.  But it was definitely sad.  It is being made into a movie and I know, without a doubt, it will be a tearjerker.  Here is the official trailer:

The Longest Ride: A Review

One would think that an English teacher would read a ton over her spring break.  And I had high hopes to do just that.  But three small children kind of got in the way.  I normally get a decent amount of independent reading done at school while my students are reading and I lost that time over the break.  My kids also wore. me. out.  Literally.  So by the end of each day, I was lucky to read for five minutes before falling asleep each night.

Regardless, I finally finished The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks.  It was a nice, easy read.   It would have been a perfect beach read…had I been at the beach :)

Here is a short summary: It follows two parallel plots that intertwine at the end.  One plot line involves a couple, Ira and Ruth who were married for many years.  Ira is in a car accident when he goes off the side of a hill in the middle of a snowstorm and his entire plot line is memories of his lifetime with Ruth, starting from when they first met, to his time fighting in the war, to their time as career people, and their lifelong journey of collecting artwork.  The second parallel plot involves a young couple, Luke, a bullridin' cowboy from North Carolina, and Sophia, a senior student studying art history at Wake Forest.  They meet at a country bar and quickly fall in love.  I won't spoil the ending as to how it ends, so I'll stop here.

Though each of these parallel plots was somewhat predictable as a basic story line, I was surprised by how the stories connected at the very end.  Nicholas Sparks had set up the connection so well so I wasn't shocked with the connection; in fact, it made perfect sense.  I kind of have a love-hate relationship with Nicholas Sparks books.  They are somewhat unrealistic and predictable, and not really like normal relationships.  But that's probably why most girls like them.  We want the unexpected, the romance, that love of a lifetime.  And he certainly captures that.

It actually reminded me of last week's proposal on Suburgatory.  I seriously got teary eyed when watching this with my husband, who responded, "No guy really does this."  Probably true, but it was sweet all the same!

Seriously…watch this video.  It is so cute!

100 Books to Read in a Lifetime

Mrs. Bross (Fellow freshmen English teacher) found a great list on Amazon called "100 Books Everyone Should Read in a Lifetime."  That list can be found here.  She is challenging her students to take a look at the list and pick a book from the list that they have not already read and choose that for independent reading this tri. 

So I checked out the list.  I guess I have to give a shout-out to Ursuline Academy and my high school English teachers, as they more than helped in crossing a number of these off the list for me.  I made it to 34 on the Amazon list and 49 on the Goodreads list (there are two separate lists).  Pretty proud of myself, but would have been happier with a solid 50.  I guess I have a challenge for myself too.

All of you have at least one you can cross off the list:  Fahrenheit 451!

There are a lot of great suggestions for reading and I urge you to at least look at the list and see how many you've read and see if there are any you might want to read.  Some of my personal faves from the list include: The Book Thief, The Giver (soon to be a movie if you didn't know), and Gone Girl.  All are extremely well-written and grab you in as a reader.  Have a wonderful spring break!

The Trials and Tribulations of Starting a New Book

I have had a rough go at finding a new book.  See, even English teachers have that experience.  I started with An Abundance of Katherines but I just couldn't get past all the foul language.  Literally, every page.  I know he is trying to create edgy characters.  I get that.  But it was just annoying.  Then I tried starting The Cuckoo's Calling for the second time but was just having a hard time getting into it.  Exact same reason I stopped it the first time.  So I was thrilled when I got an email from the public library that the Nicholas Spark's The Longest Ride was now available on my Kindle.  Hooray!  I always love a good Nicholas Sparks book…and it is perfect spring break reading!

The book (so far) is about a man who gets in a car crash in severe winter weather.  He is 93 years old and keeps having flashbacks to moments with his wife (who died nine years earlier but he feels like she is in the car with him keeping him alive).  He keeps recalling vivid memories and reflecting on when and how they met, their dating relationship, and then their marriage.  It's all told really sweetly, without being sappy or unconvincing.

One of the best lines from the book so far came from Ira (the elderly man) remembering some advice from his father, "He believed most people, when given the choice, would do what was right, even when it was hard, and he believed that good almost always triumphed over evil.  He wasn't naive though. 'Trust people,' he would tell me, 'until they give you a reason not.  And then never turn your back.'"  I love the beginning part about most people being inherently good.  I really believe that and feel that way, but I love the realistic punch at the end about trusting people and not being naive.  I was extremely naive when I was younger and was fortunate that I was never taken advantage of in a major way.  So far, I like this book.  It is an easy read and interesting.  From the book description, I know another relationship between two completely new characters will be revealed, but perhaps that will be the focus of another post because I'm not there yet!

Questions to Ask Yourself in the Lab

Each Tuesday while we are blogging in the lab, ask yourself the following questions to ensure you are on track:

• Did you fill out your Blogger Chart?
• Did you achieve your blogging goal this past week? If not, what can you do this upcoming week to achieve your goal?
• Did you title your post according to the topic of your post and the book you are currently reading?
• Did you pose an open-ended discussion question in your post to invite comments?
• Is your post AT LEAST 10 sentences long?
• Did you include at least one link, picture, or video related to your blog post?

While we work in the lab each Tuesday, you may:

• craft your post and/or comments
• update Goodreads with current book and page number
• use Goodreads to find new books
• browse and download electronic books from the Mason Schools library
• update your Blogger Chart
• read your independent novel

Watch this tutorial to learn how to download electronic books from the Mason Public Library:

Characterization in "Looking for Alaska"

John Green is known for his writing.  He has some fantastic one-liners in all the books I've read by him and I constantly find myself highlighting golden lines that I may use in my blog posts.  And today will be no different!   I loved the way John Green organized the book.  The first vignettes were labeled things such as "one-hundred seventeen days before" and "ninety days before" and the later vignettes were labeled "one day after," "seventeen days after" and so on.  Great organizational structure and he also builds suspense because you are not sure what major event he is discussing in his "before" and "after."  

But I'm getting off track.  Today, I want to focus on John Green's amazing ability to create round characters.  To start, we'll look at Dr. Hyde, one of the professors at the boarding school Miles, the main character, attends.  Here is Dr. Hyde's introduction to the class: "'My name,' he said, 'is Dr. Hyde. I have a first name of course.  So far as you are concerned, it is Doctor.  Your parents pay a great deal of money so that you can attend school here, and I expect that you will offer them some return on their investment by reading what I tell you to read when I tell you to read it and consistently attending this class.  And when you are here, you will listen to what I say.'"  A few paragraphs later, he continues, "'And in my classes, I will talk most of the time, and you will listen most of the time.  Because you may be smart, but I've been smarter longer.'"  What an introduction, right?  Would you like a teacher like this?

He may come off as mean and demanding, but I think that is how John Green wanted the character of Dr. Hyde to be.  And I think he pulled it off fabulously.  I can't imagine introducing myself to a class that way, but then again, mean and demanding is not my personality.  I can tell you one thing - if he had been one of my teachers in high school, I would have been scared to death!

Miles was the narrator of the novel, though he was nicknamed and called "Pudge" most of the book, even though he is skinny.  Towards the end of the book, this line was in his inner thoughts (which is one of the methods of characterization we discussed in the 1A trimester), "When adults say, 'Teenagers think they are invincible' with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.” I think this quote says a lot about Miles and how he feels throughout the novel.  And I think John Green is trying to make Miles "Pudge" relatable to most teenagers, especially teenage boys.  I think most teens do go through a period where they think they are invincible and that adults don't know anything.  And I think that is just a phase of life.  I was the same way when I was in high school and thought my parents were clueless.  Turns out, I was wrong and they were right.  But you can't tell teenagers that...

Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir

"I spent the next 1,427 nights in prison for a crime I did not commit."  This is how Amanda Knox ends the intro chapter to her book Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir.  She starts by telling the story of the night her roommate, Meredith Kercher, was murdered and how she found her the following day, and then backtracks to tell that entire "chapter" of her life.

I've always been somewhat interested in this story.  I followed the news clippings about the trial and the  investigation and really felt badly for her.  Even more so now that I have read her memoir.  To me, it appears that she was mistreated so many times in the investigation and the judicial system in Italy does not follow the American saying of "Innocent until proven guilty."  Quite the opposite actually.  Poor Amanda was put in prison just for being a suspect and held there throughout the investigation.

I felt like her story was one of those awful ones that could happen to virtually anyone who shows up at the wrong place and wrong time.  I know that this has happened to students of mine in the past and they end up getting in trouble for association or walking in on a situation that they shouldn't be a part of (and maybe even didn't know anything about).  Has this every happened to you?

Amanda's experience living in a women's prison in Italy changed her.  It would change anybody.  One of the most impactful lines that I highlighted while reading was said to her by one of her many, many roommates at prison when Amanda started to remain silent the majority of the time: "If you're always hiding inside yourself, you won't ever be able to find your way back."  Obviously it applies specifically to her situation, but I can see this really being universal advice.  I see it with those students that are so quiet and shy who just want to blend into the classroom and never be heard.  In a way, they are hiding, and probably not getting as much out of class as those who are engaged and vocal.

Another impactful line was one spoken by Amanda several years into her prison term.  She said, "And I understand how you could feel so locked inside your own life that you could be desperate to escape, even if it meant that you'd no longer exist."  I personally have never felt this, but I can imagine this is something prison could do to a person.  Could make them change.

I raced through this book in about four days.  I thought it was a quick read, engaging, and honestly…I couldn't put it down.  I am going to continue to follow Amanda's story.  (If you didn't know, the Italian courts are still trying Amanda in the case and are trying to reverse the acquittal).  I, for one, am Team Amanda.

Welcome to 3rd Tri!

Hello, students!  Welcome to your second trimester of blogging.  We have a few changes this trimester in regards to blogging, which will be highlighted in class.  Again, you will  be provided you with  multiple blog post topics, so you should never say, "I don't have anything to blog about."  This trimester, we will be using a holistic rubric to assess your blogging experience.  This can be found both on Edline as well as a hard copy of a handout provided in class.

Since today is  the first day of the new tri, you have a couple of tasks with your blog:
1)  On my blog page, you need to click on "Enter your blog information here" located on the right-hand side near the top.

2) Enter your blog information.  (To do this you need to log in to google, go to blogger, and click VIEW BLOG).  Your URL is what you see in the top window.  It should NOT look like this:
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1859117182435443424#editor/target=post;postID=1296302557718526434
If your URL has the word "blogger" in it, you are in edit mode.  Your URL should look something like this:
http://masonmrspalmer.blogspot.com/
Enter the information and your class period, EVEN if you had me last trimester.  I deleted the old document and started fresh so everyone must enter their blog information.

3)  Log in to goodreads.  Enter what book you are currently reading and update the page number.  Also, update your reading goal if needed.  (You may still be working on your reading goal from last trimester, and that is okay.  But if you exceeded it, please set a new one).  We should all be using a 2014 reading goal.  If you still have the 2013 reading goal listed on your blog, you need to update the widget.  Raise your hand if you need help with this.

4) Friend Mrs. Palmer in goodreads.  To do this, click on the drop-down arrow to the right of your name.  Select "Friends."  Then,  on the right-hand side go to "find by name or email."  Type in "Laura Palmer."  Last time I checked (just a couple of days ago), I was near the bottom.  My picture is next to my name, so you should recognize me.  Friend a few other people in the class as well.  I LOVE seeing your updates.

5) On Edline, look under contents.  Select "Independent Reading/Blogger."  Multiple documents will appear.  Choose blogger chart and save this document to your H drive.  You will update this each week when we are in the computer lab and will ultimately turn it in as a graded assignment at the end of the trimester.

6) Your final task: write a new post!  Your topic idea can come from the handout provided to you on Edline.  Or, you can tell me what your favorite book was from last trimester and why you liked it so much (could even make it like a book review for your peers).  Aim for a solid two-paragraphs and show me that you can do at least one of the following: insert a hyperlink to a webpage, article, etc.; insert a video; or insert a picture.  As a length requirement, I ask that every blog post be at least 2 solid paragraphs and no less than 10 sentences.  Then, use the links to other class blogs in my classes and comment on two other student blogs.  Don't forget to copy and paste these comments into your blogger chart.

Once you have accomplished all of the following, I would like you to spend the rest of the class time exploring goodreads, especially checking out your recommendations and adding books to your "Want to read" list.  If you don't have recommendations yet, spend some time going back and rating books you've read in the past so you can get recommendations.

The China Study: A Whole New Way of Thinking

It took me awhile (I'll blame the grading of creative nonfiction papers), but I finally finished reading I am Malala and began a new book called The China Study.

To wrap up the former, I did enjoy I am Malala.  As I alluded to in my last post, I preferred the beginning and the ending which were all about her personal story and experience.  That to me was so much stronger than the historical piece in the middle where she spent the majority of the book.  There was obviously need and importance in this part of the book; I just wished there was more about her growing up and her personal life, as this to me was the heart of the book.  On goodreads, I gave it three stars.  Her story itself is powerful, amazing, inspirational.  But the book, well…it just wasn't all of the above.

Next up in my reading queue was a nonfiction read I heard about from our media center specialist titled The China Study.  I have been into sports and fitness for my entire 32 years of existence.  I ran track and cross country in middle school and college, swam for a club, played select soccer, and was outside playing football with the neighborhood guys every single day.  You can call me tom boy if you want.  I never really watched what I ate until after college though, and especially after I had three children.  I want to be healthy for them and I know so many people who are fighting cancer currently or have in the past.  This book is about a researcher who basically studied plant-based diets versus diets with higher concentrations of protein and found a direct connection between the two.  Those who lived a plant-based lifestyle had a much lower chance of getting certain types of cancers, as well as heart disease.  (A plant-based lifestyle means that less than 5% of their diet comes from animal protein sources, such as meat, milk or eggs).  A protein lifestyle means that greater than 20%  of their diet comes from the aforementioned animal sources.  I am not a huge protein/meat eater and I feel like I am kind of buying into this right now.  I will update again as I find out more about the study.

I've already talked to a few other people who have read this book, so maybe it is trending?  Have any of you heard of this book or this study?  Anyone eat a plant-based diet?  If you want to read more about the study, click here.

 

I am Malala

Most of you have probably heard of Malala.  A young Pakistani girl who stood up for education in her homeland and was shot for standing up for her beliefs.  The 9th grade English team has actually done some research on Malala for our upcoming Freedom/speech unit, where our essential question is, "How do people stand up for their beliefs."  I downloaded her book from the library for free and am really enjoying it so far.  She starts off her memoir right in the action of when a man boarded the school bus she was on, asked who Malala was, and fired three shots at her.  Her writing is powerful and I felt like I could have been there in that moment.

Next, she travels back to her childhood and the changes that were happening in her homeland throughout her formative years.  Much of this information was new to me, as I don't claim to be a historian or incredibly knowledgeable about world affairs.  To be honest, I prefer the parts where she is writing about her own childhood, her father and how he developed schools, and her experiences at school in comparison to the historical sections.  I understand the need for the historical and government explanation.  I just am intrigued by her personal experience.  So far, this is a quick read.  I just started it a couple of days ago and I am already about 40% of the way through.  I would say it will be finished soon, but I know that this is not the case, as later today I will be collecting 60 creative nonfiction papers from my English 1B students and reading those will take priority.  Happy reading!

Here is an interview with Malala where she recounts some of her personal experience.  Totally worth watching!

Challenging Elements of "The Round House"

I usually focus my blog post on plot development and character, as well as occasionally connections.  Today, however, I thought I would focus on what makes The Round House by Louise Erdrich a difficult text to engage with.  And just because it's difficult doesn't mean I dislike it.  It just means that it has taken me more time to read it, as you can't just breeze through it.  I constantly find myself going back and rereading parts because I may have missed a slight detail that turns out to be important later.  So if you read my last blog post and were intrigued by the plot, make sure to read this one too so you are aware of why I am officially labeling this a challenging text:

1. The dialogue is written without quotation marks and a lot of times without dialogue tags ('He said' or 'she shouted').  And there is a lot of dialogue.  A LOT.  There could be pages of conversation, and it is really difficult to follow along with who is saying what.  Dialogue tags really would have benefited me as a reader.  But, I also understand why the author chose not to include them.  Keeping the conversation as is allows her character''s thoughts and natural speed of conversation to play out in the story.  On a positive, the author does indent and start a new paragraph when the speakers change so that helps (although sometimes it is the same character still talking, just in a new paragraph).
2. The cultural customs of Native Americans are something I am not familiar with as a reader.  Erdrich does a nice job explaining them without losing the flow of the story.  But still, there were quite a few unfamiliar terms of Native American places and ceremonies that I had not heard of before.  (I think this is actually a good thing as a reader, as students and adults alike should read about new experiences).
3. There are a lot of characters.  Joe and his immediate family are the main characters, but this boy knows a lot of people!  He is constantly with different friends or acquaintances (and once even the man accused of raping his mother) and that makes it hard to follow who is who, who is "good", who is "bad", etc. 

Despite this book being a  more though-provoking read, I still really, really like it.  Erdrich wraps a lot of good lessons and sound advice into the story, and here are a few lines I clipped on my Kindle while reading:

"I stood there in the shadowed doorway thinking with my tears.  Yes, tears can be thoughts, why not? (Erdrich 60)" -I love the personification of thinking with tears.  And even though tears can't really think per se, they certainly are an instant reflection of our thoughts and emotions.

"I stayed with him.  They couldn't make me leave him.  I knew what happened if you let a parent get too far away" (Erdrich 244).  -This just made me connect to Joe, the narrator, even more.  It shows he loves his dad and doesn't want to lose his dad like he's lost his mom.  

"We are never so poor that we cannot bless another human, are we?  So it is that every evil, whether moral or material, results in good.  You'll see."  -I love the idea that we can bless and give to everyone, no matter how rich or poor we are in money.  Even if you don't have money to give, you can still give. Love this reminder!  

Hopefully you can see from the above what I mean when I describe this book as a challenging, yet rewarding read.  I am almost finished…about 10% to go.  And a very long waiting list of books on my Kindle...

My Reading Goals for 2014

Hi everyone!
I recently updated my 2014 reading goals and thought I would spend this post sharing this with you, as well as updating you on my current reading.

In 2013, I read and finished 42 books, two over my goal of 40.  And honestly, that was pretty amazing as I didn't even start tracking until the summertime.  I do read like a fiend though in the summer, as I am off work, am home for nap time (every mom loves nap time), and overall just have more free time.  Right now I am a little behind (I've finished one book so far).  I think that's for a few reasons.  One being I am struggling to find a book I love.  If I get into a book, I find a way to read it and usually finish it very quickly.  That hasn't happened in about a month.  I've just been pitter-pattering through books instead of devouring them.  Also, I am currently teaching Fahrenheit 451 so I am rereading that again along with my CLC/1A students so that I can have good conversations with them about their reading.  This takes away my school independent reading time.

And I am ashamed to admit, but the reviewers were right about The Woman Upstairs.  Despite the plot sounding so intriguing, I am embarrassed to admit that I had to abandon this book.  Every time I went to read, I had to go back to remember what happened because, well….it wasn't very memorable.  The writing craft was not memorable.  The plot was not memorable.  The characters were not memorable.  I never made it past 15%.  Then I tried another book I had downloaded from the library.  That wasn't a good fit either.  Next I tried The Round House by Louise Erdrich.   It was another Good Reads recommendation, and so far I really like it.

The Round House starts with a shocking scenario: An Indian family's mother is late coming home one day.  The father, Bazil, and their young son, Joe, go out to look for her and finally pass her on the road, where they catch a glimpse of her gripping the steering wheel and flying home in a panic.  It is soon discovered that she was attacked by a man.  This book (so far) covers the family's struggle to be a family again and regain normalcy as well as finding the man who attacked the mother and bringing justice to him.

So far, so good.  The character development is realistic and round.  The setting is well-described.  The American Indian customs are something I'm no familiar with, but Erdrich does a nice hob explaining these to the reader without interrupting the flow of the plot development.  I am about 30% through just in a couple of days and have no doubt I will finish this one!

Here is an interview with the author you can check out if The Round House sounds interesting to you!