Wonder by R.J. Palacio

A wonderful story of August Pullman who suffers from a congenital facial deformity.  August has been homeschooled, but now that he's going into fifth grade, he decides to attend Beecher Prep. He and his family are admittedly nervous about how going to school will be for August.

The story is touching and told by several narrators in August's life who all share their perspective of the events. What endures is friendship and kindness and deciding what we want to be known for and how we want to be remembered.

Themes:  friendship, acceptance, perseverance, adversity

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Aliens invade the Earth, but not in the way you think...they do it in waves with the goal of destroying humans and saving the Earth. 

16-year-old Cassie and her family have survived the first three waves.  They lose their mother to the 4th wave.  Her father is gone at the beginning of the 5th wave and her 7-year-old brother, Sam, is taken to Camp Haven by the United States military.  

Cassie is left on her own in a wasteland.  The only thing keeping her alive is her promise to reunite with Sam.  Cassie is headed to where she thinks Sam has been taken by the military when she's shot. 

Later she awakes, having been rescued by the mysterious Evan Walker.  But, can she trust him?  Can she trust anyone? What will the aliens/"others" do next?

This is the first in a science-fiction series.

Themes:  survival, trust, relationships

Panic by Lauren Oliver

In the small town of Carp, NY, there's a game that new high school graduates play each year in the summer after graduation.  'Panic' is high-stakes and fear-inducing and only the brave survive.  With winnings of over $50K, competition is fierce.  No one knows who the judges are or what daunting task they will develop next.

Heather and her best friend Natalie join the competition and must face their fears.  However, only only one person will win.

Alliances, friendship and trust will all be gained and lost and what will remain?  How does the game change the players and is it worth it?

May Bulletin Board: Wordsworth

 

I know I did a poetry bulletin board last month, but I figured another was in order!  Since April was about rain and showers, I thought May should be about flowers!  The first poem that came to mind was Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.

I thought, what can I do to make the daffodils 3-D?  Hmmm, cupcake liners!  I just Googled for a flower template, then used the cupcake liners for the center.  A colleague suggested green straws from a certain coffee chain could be used as "stems".  Here's a close-up of the flowers:

I used 11x17" paper stuffed with shredded paper to make the cloud.

May your May be filled with beautiful flowers!

National Poetry Month Bulletin Board

April is National Poetry Month and I created this bulletin board with April Rain Song by Langston Hughes.

Yep, I'm pretty proud.  As a former high school teacher and current Literacy Coach, bulletin boards aren't my strong point.

What are you doing to celebrate National Poetry Month?

Trapped by Michael Northrop

A huge Nor’easter drops a ton of snow on a Massachusetts town and traps seven students and one teacher in their rural high school.  What follows is a survival tale spanning five days and countless cold, dark hours in the school.  15-year-old sophomore basketball player Scotty Weems narrates and tells the reader up front that not everyone will survive.  The students have to find food and a place to hole up for the duration.  As the power fails and then the emergency lights fail, they will have to work together to survive and with this mix of personalities that might be difficult.  Then the pipes freeze and the roof collapses and romance goes bad and jealousy leads to fights.  Who will survive and how?  Will they be rescued and when?  Does anyone even know they are there?

The novel got a little muddy in the middle, maybe because we knew from the first pages that not everyone would survive, so the reader was just waiting to find out who and how.  It’s nice to have a male narrator in a non-sports book for a change.

Themes:  survival, teamwork, priorities, perseverance, ingenuity

Skeleton Creek (Number One) by Patrick Carmen

This book is presented as the handwritten journal of Ryan McCray.  Ryan lives in Skeleton Creek, Oregon, a former gold mining town with an eerie past that he and his best friend Sarah are determined to discover.  On one of their adventures out to the dredge, a former mine site, Ryan breaks his leg and his parents forbid him from seeing Sarah.  While he’s home recovering, he journals what has been going on and of course, keeps track of his contact with Sarah.  (They have both found a way around the tracking software their parents placed on their laptops.)  Ryan prints out Sarah’s email messages for his journal and she posts videos to her website.  Readers can also watch the videos with passwords that Sarah provides.  This is an interactive media with the text and the videos.  The plot was a bit thin and dragged on without a resolution, which may be because this is a series.

Themes:  Friendship, discovery, problem-solving

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba

This memoir of William’s life growing up in Malawi the son of poor farmers, showcases what one can accomplish if one is willing to work for it.  William earns a spot in secondary school, but due to a famine and poor harvest seasons, his family is unable to pay his tuition.  William wants to keep up with his studies so he gets class notes from his friend, Gilbert, and visits the library at his primary school. 

While at the library, William discovers a few books on physics, energy and science.  Although William’s English is poor, he is able to understand the diagrams and looks up words he doesn’t know in the dictionary.  William decides to build a windmill to provide lights for his family’s home and hopefully power an irrigation system for the farm so they never have to go hungry from a draught again.  William’s windmill is successful in providing energy and gains much interest from local villagers and some businessmen in the city.

The windmill changes William’s fortune and future.  His radio interviews yield an invitation to be a TED Global Fellow in 2007 at age 14.  See his TED talk here.  He meets many people at the TED conference who eventually help him with tuition for school and encourage him to write this memoir.  While on the book tour in the U.S., William visits many colleges and decides to attend Dartmouth where he is currently a student.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

Part fantasy, part science fiction, this novel set in present day Nigeria chronicles the life of 12-year-old Sunny.  Sunny is albino and was born in America where she lived until she was 9-years-old, both of these cause her to be teased mercilessly at school.  She does befriend Orlu, a boy who sticks up for her against the bullies, and his neighbor Chichi, who is homeschooled.  Sunny soon discovers something Orlu and Chichi already knew, she has magical powers and can visit the spirit world (Leopard) and the human world (Lamb).  Orlu and Chichi have powers as well and they all meet Sasha when he comes from America to live with Orlu’s family.  These four young people must navigate both worlds while learning many difficult lessons.

I don’t know if a sequel is planned, but I could see the author tracing the adventures of these four adolescents for years to come.

Themes:  friendship, trust, maturity, change, parent/child relationships

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Where She Went (2011) is a sequel to If I Stay (2009), which is about 17-year-old Mia whose family is killed in a car accident that she survives.  Mia’s boyfriend, Adam, and best friend, Kim, help her through the difficult recovery and grief at losing her parents and brother.

Fast forward three years, and much has happened.  Mia has gone to Julliard and is an aspiring cello virtuoso.  Adam and his band, Shooting Star, have made it to the big time, with their first album going double-platinum.  Adam narrates this story as his band’s second album is released and they begin touring.  He is still dealing with Mia’s rejection from three years ago, just after she moved to New York to attend Julliard.  He’s had virtually no contact with her, but cannot move on.  He suffers greatly and is definitely a lost soul after going through so much to save Mia and help her recover to only lose her anyway.

Beautifully written and fast-paced, the second half of this novel is amazing when Adam and Mia reconnect and attempt to recover from tragedy. 

Themes:  loss, reconciliation, relationships, dreams/goals, unconditional love

Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

In the summer of 1936, Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker returns to Manifest, Kansas, her father’s hometown.  The problem is her father isn’t with her.  After years of a nomadic life, Gideon feels a young lady needs a home, so he sends her to Manifest to live with friends of the family, except Abilene has never met any of them.  She’s excited to find out about Gideon’s childhood and to see the town he has described so many times.  However, much has changed since Gideon left in 1918; the town doesn’t seem like the Manifest of Gideon’s stories.  Abilene meets townspeople and uncovers Manifest’s history.  Alternating chapters flashback to 1918, and the war, the townspeople (mostly immigrants) and the local mine which was the primary employer at the time.  Through these flashbacks, Abilene learns all about Gideon, Manifest and the true meaning of home.

2011 Newberry Medal Winner  

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

The Great Gatsby meets Romeo and Juliet…this historical fiction novel is set in New York City and surrounding suburbs during prohibition.  Of course, girl falls in love with boy, boy falls in love with girl, then they discover they are from rival families.  The story was moderately engaging, but I was distracted by the lack of historical accuracy.  I don’t believe young ladies in 1929, would have behaved in the way these characters are portrayed.  Apparently this is the first in a series and I believe the second historical fiction series for this author, her first being The Luxe.

Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O’Roark Dowell

Farm Girl, Skunk Girl, Haystack Girl, Goat Girl…you pick the name and fourteen-year-old Janie has heard it.  She thought it would be cool to live on a farm, but once she gets to high school, it’s definitely NOT cool!  It doesn’t help that her friends from middle school are all spread out and she doesn’t know anyone in her lunch period.  At least she has one class with her best friend, Sarah, and they get to do a project on a great woman in history.  This leads Janie and Sarah to a local lady who taught blacks how to read and write during the Civil Rights Movement.  Janie learns just what it means to live big.

This is very much a coming of age novel about Janie figuring out who she is and what she stands for.  It would be appropriate for middle school readers as there’s no foul language, drug use, sexual encounters, etc.

Themes:  friendship, discovery, standing up for what’s right

The Hate List by Jennifer Brown

High school is supposed to be fun and filled with great memories.  Not so for Garvin High Class of 2009.  In May of their junior year, a classmate opens fire in the Commons area, killing six students and a teacher.  Then, Nick Levil turns the gun on himself.  What Nick leaves behind is much pain and a long road to recovery for these students.

Nick and his girlfriend, Valerie, were bullied by other students.  As a way to cope, they created a ‘Hate List’ with the names of those who hurt or made fun of them.  What started as a way to vent their frustrations turned into a hit list for Nick.

Was Valerie privy to Nick’s plan?  If not, has she missed signs that could have prevented Nick from carrying out this awful tragedy?  Is Valerie partially to blame?

The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson

Ginny’s adventure continues when she gets notification that the last (lost in Greece) letter has been found.  She returns to London to retrieve the 13th envelope and follow Aunt Peg’s final instructions.  The journey continues with Keith, the love interest in the first book, and a new young man, Oliver, who found the lost letter.  When Oliver seems to be less than kind, Keith agrees to join Ginny in completing the tasks for the final letter.   Not sure if a third book in the series is planned, but the author definitely leaves the ending open for another book.

  

  Themes:  identity, friendship/relationships, discovery

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Some say just before death your life flashes before your eyes.  Others see a bright light in their final moments.  High school senior Samantha Kingston gets to pay more attention than most as she relives her final day over and over again.  Sam’s life ends in a car accident after a party one Friday night in February.  However, the next morning she awakes to discover that she’s reliving February 12 again.  What will she do differently?  How will she change her actions?  Will these changes impact the outcome of her life and the lives of those around her?  I did get bogged down in the middle of this book, but greatly appreciated the journey Sam took to her final day(s).

Has some profanity and alludes to sexual situations – more appropriate for high school readers.

Themes:  relationships, death, bullying, redemption, forgiveness

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Who wouldn’t love a year of study abroad? How about your senior year of high school? You would have to leave all your friends and everyone you know to travel to a country whose language you don’t speak. You would have to start over.

Anna from Atlanta (ha, ha!) gets to spend her senior year of high school at a boarding school in Paris.  The problem is, it wasn’t her idea.  Anna’s dad is a popular romance novelist and with his new money has come a concern to keep up appearances.  He decides to send Anna to the prestigious School of America’s in Paris.

Anna doesn’t even speak French, she took Spanish at her old high school in Atlanta. She doesn't want to leave her friends or her little brother, Sean. Faced with new situations, Anna must adapt and thankfully, her new neighbor, Meredith, invites Anna to join her group of friends.  There’s Rashmi, the beautiful Indian girl who’s dating Josh, the Senator’s son and a talented artist.  Then, there’s Etienne St. Clair, the gorgeous, charming boy who lives on the floor above Anna and Meredith.  Everyone’s in love with St. Clair, but he has a girlfriend.

Anna grows to love Paris, learns to speak French, learns a ton about herself and finds her true love. 

Although not a totally predictable romance, it’s still a romance that kept me up until 1am reading. The characters are complex and it is very well-written, especially for YA.

Themes:  friendship/relationships, loneliness, love

Planning for Summer (Reading and Writing)

As we wrap up the school year (whoo, hoo!), it's time to think of our plans for summer reading and writing and set some goals. I created a document (click to see Google Doc) to assist teachers and students in planning and setting goals for the summer.


I am also wondering how this can translate into the first weeks of school in the fall. Will students have an opportunity to share their writing? How about give a book talk about their summer reading? What will that look like?

Anybody have goals for summer reading and writing you’d like to share?

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Are you a risk taker? Would you take an adventure without knowing where you are going, who you will meet and what you will learn? This is what happens to 17-year-old Virginia Blackstone. Ginny’s aunt, Peg, abruptly leaves New York with no explanation. A while later, the family learns that Aunt Peg has passed away. Ginny receives a package in the mail containing 13 little blue envelopes and instructions to board a plane for London and open an envelope for further instructions. Aunt Peg has an adventure in store for Ginny, but is Ginny up for the challenge?


Themes: risk-taking, relationships, family, trust

Sequel:  The Last Little Blue Envelope

Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti

17-year-old Lani is best friends with Erin. They share many of the same interests: astrology, numerology, the environment; however, what binds them together is a tragic accident that happened when they were ten-years-old. Lani feels she owes Erin her life, which is why it’s hard for her when Jason enters the picture. When Erin starts dating Jason, everything seems okay, until Jason becomes interested in Lani. Difficult decisions have to be made. Does Fate intend for Jason to be with Erin or Lani?

The storyline is okay and fairly engaging, but the author seems to be trying too hard to sound like a teenager. There are parts that don’t seem authentic.

Themes: friendship, acceptance, bullying, honesty