Reading Week 18

Go to Teach Mentor Texts to see what other educators are reading and recommending today!  I finished two very different YA books this week. I may join one of the various reading challenges I've seen the past few weeks or just keep reading the books my students continue to recommend.

The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata was a book I read aloud to my wife.  It would also be a great book to read aloud to a class of students, especially those with fewer rural life experiences.  Summer is a twelve-year-old daughter of Japanese harvesters who have been having a spell of bad luck for almost a year.  Usually her whole family, parents, grandparents and younger brother (who is intelligent but somewhere on the Autism Spectrum), spend the spring and summer harvesting wheat from Texas to Canada.  This year, her parents are in Japan helping dying grandparents and Summer must spend the entire summer with her strict but loving (and lovable) grandparents.  The kids help grandma with the cooking and the grandpa is a combine driver.  The challenges of the daily grind, family life in flux, trying to find friend for her brother, secret crushes, and fears (she did catch malaria from a mosquito the year before) are all compellingly told from Summer’s point of view.  She works to understand her grandma, her brother, the adult world, her own responsibilities, when to tell the truth and when to stand up for herself.  A few illustrations of combines, harvesting, and mosquitos help give the reader an understanding of some of the descriptions and also of Summer. A good story well-told and full of humor.

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan weaves together the lives of several rural, gay, high school age boys around an attempt to break the world record for the longest kiss.  Craig and Harry have not dated for a year, but they are going to try and kiss for over thirty hours on the front lawn of their high school, broadcast live on webcam.  Two other boys have just met at a gay prom and are going through the initial excitement and palpitations related to first dates.  A third boy flirts online through a variety of gay hook-up sites while cutting himself off from the outside world.  The characters are wonderfully developed and told with such honesty that their emotions are relatable to all readers.  They deal with varying amounts of support or knowledge from their families and friends, bullies, and love won and lost.  The last character is the spirits or ghosts of all the gay men who have gone before them, many who have died from AIDS. They are written in second person and are an older, wiser and unheard voice commenting on the upcoming generation of gay men. They are cheerleaders, offering a mature perspective to the youthful up and down of emotions the living characters are feeling.  An intense book with mature content that does a great job of showing the human side of the characters rather than branding them with a broad a stereotypical brush.

Slice of Life - "Doing Nothing"

Doing Nothing

I’m reading a biography of Teddy Roosevelt and it is amazing to me all that he did in his life.  It seems that he was always working one something, writing a book, running for office, attending or hosting a party, or just in general doing something.  How is it I just had seventeen “days off” from school and spent so much time doing nothing?

It’s not like I did nothing at all.  There was lots of family time as we celebrated four Christmases. I read nine books, got to be a full-time parent for a bit, played a round of disc golf, and did some stuff that needed to be done.  But I also spend so much free-time accomplishing nothing.  Maybe that’s my issue.  Not that I did nothing, but that I accomplished nothing.

I’m a night owl and it seems I spent hours, playing Candy Crush, surfing the web, reading inane articles about the Broncos (and the resulting comments/flame wars), or watching dumb stuff on TV.  “I should be sleeping! This is dumb, why am I staying up so late? At least do some writing or plan the rest of the school year.”  These were the thoughts I berated myself with often: and then I just kept on doing nothing.  While I did nothing, at least I was really tired the next day.  What was the point of it all?

I am still trying to figure that out.  It’s not like I do nothing only during breaks.  There are way too many wasted hours in my life and I have so much to do, or that I should do, or could do?  There are books to write, blogs to respond to, love poems to craft, art to practice, businesses to start, events to organize, dreams to realize.

Am I really taking time to recharge my introverted self after an extroverted job or am I actually doing nothing?

Winter Break Reading

Happy 2014!  I hope everyone had a great break with plenty of fun time, family time and reading time. Hopefully, some of those times overlapped.  I really enjoyed being able to plow through some books over break and read four (so far) that I will post here.  Other reading included two "Airplane Novels."  One was by Clive Cussler an the other by Saul somebody about a school for gifted kids that were then experimented on by trying to hook their brains to computers.  I'm in the middle of two books right now as well; about 1/3 of the way through a very interesting biography about Teddy Roosevelt, and halfway through A Thing Called Luck, a book my wife and I are reading aloud.

I really enjoyed Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Several of my students recommended this book highly to me and I finally got around to it. It's one of the best YA science fiction books I've read and I hope to read more like it so I can help build a Sci/Fi section in my classroom that does not have to start with Dune.  In this book, the survival of the human race hinges on Ender, a young boy we first meet at age six, who is a potentially gifted military leader.  The humans are fighting against the "buggers," an insectizoid alien life form that have invaded the solar system a couple of times already.  The plot follows Ender through his military training. He struggles with being obviously different, being much younger than the other cadets, who are also children, and being obviously separated out by the military leaders.  He deals with bullies, friends, loneliness, his own inner demons, and not wanting to be a puppet of the adults.  Through it all, he shows himself to be a creative and exemplary leader.  One subplot involves his siblings back one Earth.  His brother is a gifted but scary child the reader expects to become some sort of serial killer.  His sister is brilliant and especially good at influencing people with words and writing.  This book deals not only with the struggles of gifted children in tough times, but is also a nice introduction into political influence.  While some are focused on the bugger war, others are positioning politically and militarily for after the war and humans don't need to be allied together against a common enemy.  I agree with my students and highly recommend this book!

Lunch-Box Dream by Tony Abbott follows three story lines through the South in 1959. A white family from Cleveland is on a road trip to Florida, seeing Civil War battlefields along the way.  A black family in Atlanta sends their nine year old boy to visit family in the country for the summer.  Each chapter is told from different character's perspectives and that makes this book a  little challenging, despite it's shortness and lower reading level.  This book poignantly shows racism both overtly and its more subtle institutionalized ways.  The white family is not a typical racist Southern family, but their fear of the "chocolates" and various comments they make mean they probably don't actually know any African-Americans personally.  The black family deals their fears of the actions of their lively, quick-witted, but ignorant boy. Acting "right" around white people is just part of their lives and is a clear sign of the times they are living in.  Overall, I found the story in this book hard to follow, although each scene was told well.  Since it's relatively short, it's a worthy read to glimpse race issues in an very personal and emotional way, but I did not get into this book like most I read.  It would be a good pairing with The Lions of Little Rock or perhaps Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry.

Everybody Sees The Ants by A.S. King is a great book about a fifteen year-old boy, Lucky, who is dealing with a bully, two parents he refers to as "The Squid" (his mom because she swims so much), and "The Turtle" (his dad because he hides from all conflict and spends most of his time cooking at his restaurant).  He has very odd dreams about his grandfather, who never came back from the Vietnam War, that mostly involve him trying to help him escape from a prisoner of war camp in the jungle.  They have conversations, and while there are plenty of "normal" dream qualities like the ability to have control or choose to do things, they are also abnormal in that they feel too real and there are some surprising after effects.  While the book is mostly realistic, there are a couple of magic qualities related to the dreams and then of course there are the ants; Lucky's little cheerleaders, that only he can see (so he thinks), who say and do the things he wishes he could in the moment.  Overall, this book is a wonderful read about a boy trying to deal with family secrets, disengaged parents, and a bully that's been bugging him since early in elementary school.  There are a couple of other great characters as well that the author does a great job of making us love or despise, usually for each character as we get to know them. This is probably one of the top five books I've read this year and I highly recommend it!


Legend by Marie Lu is the first in a dystopian trilogy set in futuristic LA.  The USA is no more and the western part of the continent is controlled by The Republic.  There is war with the Colonies, The Patriots and massive plagues that move through the city's poor neighborhoods that strike fear into the citizens and also help perpetuate a police state. All children take the Trial on their tenth birthday.  The resulting score sets the person's place in society and the disparity between the haves and have-nots is striking.  The book is told in alternating chapters by two teens around sixteen years old.  Day is a boy who can move like a ninja through the streets and works to take care of his mother and two brothers, who think he is dead.  He also takes care of Tess, a thirteen year old orphan who lives in the streets with him and is treated like a little sister. Day is the most wanted criminal in the area although he does his crimes and sabotage against the Republic without actually killing anyone and his ability to climb buildings is legendary. The other side of the story is told by June, the only person to get a perfect score in the Trial.  She is a fast rising military star whose mission it to capture Day.  She goes undercover in the streets after her brother is killed when Day tries to steal some plague antidote from a hospital.  As the book goes on, the propaganda of the Republic is found to have many holes in it and I was reminded of 1984 and how propaganda was used in that book.  Both main characters are likable, have faults, and the readers ends up rooting for both and hoping they can somehow end up on the same side.  I'm looking forward to reading Prodigy which is the second one in the series.

Up Next on my TBR List:
Finish - The Thing About Luck
Finish - The Rise of Teddy Roosevelt (This will take a few weeks I'm sure since it's think and dense)
The Prodigy  by Marie Lu
A Clockwork Three
Two Boys Kissing
Whatever else catches my eye!

Happy Reading!

Free Verse

The first real snow of winter invigorates me to action
Even though the covers are extra heavy today
And the dark room is uninviting.

No snooze alarm today!
Shower, shave.
And then my daughter appears
Rubbing sleep from her eyes,
To help me choose a tie.

Tigger, Eeyore and Winnie the Pooh animate my blue shirt.
We part the red curtains and gaze into the white world below.
She is excited by the snow she sees
And the snow she remembers licking
Last winter.

"You get me some snow Dada,"
She commands as she climbs into my bed.

Snow sparkling in my hair,
I return with a bowl filled with the bright, crisp smell of winter.

Her mouth greedily consumes
Cold flakes as she snuggles
Next to the orange warmth of my
Snoozing wife.

Max's Reading Week 3

I read two wonderfully different books this week on the recommendation of Kam.  Both are for the more mature young adult or young adult reader, and both are wonderful!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstren – First paragraph:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, is a highly enjoyable book about a magic competition, taking place within the setting of a mysterious circus.  Two players are pitted against one another in a competition without clear rules or even how to win.  Marco has intelligence and hard work on his side, while Celia has natural talent makes better connections with people.  Their feats of magic are well beyond simple illusions and tricks.  When they fall in love, it could not only destroy the circus and the people within it, but each other as well.  

There is little violence, almost no salty language or significant physical romance.  But it is a book for a mature reader, who can follow the plots as it weaves in and out over thirty years with little regard for following chronological time.  However, that is some of the magic of this book, as you are given hints of what is to come and only later come to find out why.

The characters are deep and rich and full of real life.  The circus and its amazing feats draw the reader in and make the impossible suddenly seem believable.  Just like a fantastic magic act, the reader knows there must be some trick, but they want to believe and thus, they do! 

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick, is about a senior in high school who plans to kill his former best friend and then himself by the end of the day.  It is told in the raw and uncensored voice of Leonard Peacock as he goes through his school day, giving four presents to four friends before facing his ultimate “goal.”  As the day progresses, the reader is given glimpses of his pain, his previous hopes, and background with each of the people who were important in his life.  The reader follows Leonard deep into his depression, his uncertainty, his confusion about life and his part in it.   Very mature themes are in this book including consistent curse words, abuse, neglect, sexuality confusion, and of course a student walking around school with a gun and planning on killing a fellow student and himself.  But it is a book that many young adults will connect with as well, but they need to be ready to face these issues in their reading before they read this book.  I highly recommend it, but please check in with me before you read it.  I'd like to give you and your parents a heads up about the topics within.


Next book:  I'd like to read Ender's Game or The Book Thief.  Both are highly recommended by so many colleagues and students that I feel I really should get around to it.

Week 2 - Book Review

Saenz, Benjamin. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012. Print

The book I read last week was Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz.  This is a realistic fiction book based in El Paso, Texas in the late 1980s.  It is 350 pages, but there are many chapter breaks and it reads shorter than that.  The reading level is not too high, but the issues within are more mature, although there is only limited violence and cursing.

 The main character is Aristotle (Ari) who is fifteen, the son of Mexican immigrants, intelligent, a little scary when angry, and never feels very happy so he mostly hides in plain sight.  He worries about everything, keeps his feelings hidden and wonders how he can learn the secrets of his family (Why is his older brother in jail and no one even acknowledges he exists? Why won't his dad talk about the Vietnam War? Was he a "mistake" since he was born eleven years after his youngest sibling?) when no one will talk about hard things.  Ari makes friends with a boy at the pool named Dante.  Together, they form an unlikely friendship that seems special from the beginning.  Neither of them has every really had a true friend, just people who they are friendly with.  They talk about real things, they question the universe and they move through that difficult zone of boys-to-men.  

This book hits on real issues about teenagers realizing who they think they should be verses who they actually are.  It also looks at family dynamics, relationships between family members who loves each other but still struggle to communicate or act perfectly all the time.  Lastly, it takes an honest and not completely surprising turn when issues of love come up and how that can affect a friendship.  It is a book for more mature young adults and it will likely make them a little uncomfortable.  But it is wonderfully written, honest and a good book for teens feeling stuck between two realities, ages, or people they want to kiss.  I highly recommend it!

Here is my TBR List

One for the Murphys by Linda Mullaly Hunt

Rules by Cynthia Lord

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

The Center of Everything by Linda Urban - Read

The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z by Kate Messner (Organization – Alzheimer’s)

Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike (SciFY)

This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel (Dr. Frankenstein as a boy)

The Breadwinner Trilogy by Deborah Ellis (Afghanistan children)

The Matchbox Diary by Paul Fleischman

Eye of the Storm (Recommended by Gavin)

In a Heartbeat (Haley Russel)

Unremembered (HHH)

The Book Thief

A Clockwork Three (Theo)

Ender’s Game

Viral  by Kathy Riechs

The Giver

Eight Keys (Abby)

One for the Murphys (Abby)

Watership Down (JP)

Throat (Hopper)

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick (Elliott)

Reading Introduction 2013-2014

I can not remember not being able to read.  Reading has always been important for me as a way to learn, to keep myself occupied and to escape from what turns out to be a very busy world.  If I'm somewhere and not involved in an activity, I NEED to read.  I hate being at a Dr's office and not having at least a magazine and usually end up reading the pamphlets or wall charts while I wait.

I love fiction in general and as long as the characters are strong or the plot interesting, I will read just about any genre.  As a younger person, I read the Chronicles of Narnina and the Chronicles of Pydrain several times each.  Also, any book related to animals or based around animals captured me.  The Westing Game, 21 Balloons, and The Cay were all books dear to me during 4-8th grade.  They were a little young for me as I was in middle school, but I kept going back to them because they were so wonderful.  More recently, I've been enjoying more and more historical fiction and non-fiction.  I love funny books and also books that draw out strong emotions in me.  I know I'm wrapped up in a book or character when my mood matches theirs when I have to put the book down.

If I were to pick my top three books ten times, I might list three different books each time.  So I've just chosen three wonderful books I've read sometime in my lifetime.

Good Night Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian will always be a special book to me.  It follows Willie, an abused eleven-year-old boy form London, who is evacuated to the country during WWII to avoid German bombing.  He is placed with old and gruff Mr. Tom, who seems a surly loner in the village.  As they get to know each other, past hurts are revealed and their true natures becomes evident.  Each has suffered in their lives and only together are they able to begin to heal and reach out to the world again.  Just as the reader thinks things may work out, their lives are thrown into turmoil again.  This is a wonderful historical fiction piece and considers a side of war not always brought to light.

the curious incident of the dog in the night time by Mark Haddon is told from the perspective of a boy who is very bright in math and also very autistic.  He is brutally honest, but since he has almost no social awareness his words and actions related to the death of a neighbor's dog are misunderstood.  He also does not understand the words and actions of his father, the police or his neighbor and ends up deciding to solve the mystery of the dead dog himself.  Instead he ends up learning more than he ever expected about his father, his dead mother, and himself and goes on an amazing solo journey.  This book is very funny, even though the main character does not really understand humor.  This book gave me real insights into some of the students I have taught and made me aware of how my perceptions of the world are not universal.  Some strong language in this book in the PG-13 category.  

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. 
It is really two stories in one, told from the perspectives of two women fighting for Great Britain during World War II.  One woman, Maddie is a pilot, who through her own skills, initiative and some luck, is among the most experienced fliers of her time.  She befriends another woman with a subtler, less clear, but no less impressive set of skills.  The story of their friendship is full of passion and joy and told in a very touching and meaningful way.  The book is set in 1943, and they have both crash-landed in Nazi occupied France, with a mission to help the French Resistance.  The book opens with one captured friend writing a confession to the Gestapo.  The confession is part history of the characters, and part description of what’s happening during her confinement and torture.  The torture descriptions are real enough, but they are not overly descriptive.  They are however, for more mature readers.  But these scenes get mixed in among the writing and the story, both of which are amazing.  The story has plenty of clues and hidden messages and it is a wonderful challenge to try and accurately decipher the truth.  Both friends must make hard choices and while the ending is satisfying and well done, it is a war they are part of.  One great thing about this book is it gives homage to women in general and to them during wartime.  I loved this book and could not put it down.  I highly recommend it!

Looking forward to continuing our reading blogs and discussions!  I'm so excited by the initial set of posts and comments!  Keep it up!

Max