Oops

Remember when I had a reading blog?

Needless to say, I've been busy. I've still been blogging though. Check me out at my other blog, which is much more about being a first year teacher and less about what books this first year teacher is reading. Maybe one day I'll be back here...but until then, one blog at a time.

http://andrea-smalltowngirl.blogspot.com/

Life Changes

Hi all...just wanted to pop in and say that I'm still alive and I'm still reading, but I'm shockingly still reading the same book my "Currently Reading" tab says I'm reading. And I've been reading it for weeks...but not because it's a bad book. It's actually an awesome book and I'm loving it. I've just been a little preoccupied with my major life changes. But I've moved into my apartment and I'm currently settling my classroom and I'm adjusting and freaking out mildly and trying to pick away at the book for a few minutes each night while I'm still barely awake (only about 60 pages left), and I plan to have it done soon so I can tell you about it and move on to a new one. And hopefully I'll have some student input on here soon enough!

Where She Went

First, let me say that I love that cover. I seriously can't stop staring at it; so beautiful. Second, I also really love this book. Picking up three years after If I Stay ends, part two of Mia and Adam's story is told through Adam's perspective instead. I really don't want to give much away in terms of this plot or the way that If I Stay ends, so I'll just say that I wrestled quite a bit with frustration with characters as well as the paths I saw Forman taking the plot. I knew how I wanted it to go and I started to hyperventilate slightly every time I thought it wouldn't go that way. If that makes me seem like a shallow, too-girly reader...then I'd have to admit that that's probably true. I will say, though, that all of the twists and turns and emotional baggage that is explored and dissected throughout this book - all of which caused me to worry about the ending - I thoroughly loved every moment of this sequel. I think what I loved and appreciated the most is that Forman manages to write two different books about two very different plots that are told from the perspective of two incredibly different characters, but the two books still somehow feel as if they're woven together seamlessly. If I Stay is one hundred percent Mia and Where She Went is one hundred percent Adam, but I can hardly tell where one ends and the other begins. I felt comfortable inside the head of Mia in the first book, and I loved being inside the head of Adam during the sequel. The perfect blend of humor and heartache are continued throughout this plot just as they were in the first, and no matter how hard I tried not to I did end up crying during some unnamed scene towards the end. Just like the first book, I wouldn't want to include this one on my 7th grade classroom bookshelf, but it's perfect for mine. Loved, loved it.

The Widow's Broom

There's honestly not much for me to say about this book, except that it's super creepy and SUPER fun. A neglectful/forgetful witch lets her broom run out of juice and fall to the ground one night, and is taken in by a kindly widow who let's her recouperate from her fall in her home. The witch leaves in the middle of the night, however, leaving her supposedly dead and powerless broom behind. The widow soon discovers, though, that the broom is still more than capable of performing unique tasks like moving around on its own, gardening, and helping the widow take care of her home. When skeptical and angry neighbors become concerned about the broom's witchcraft and "devil's work," the widow has to take things into her own hands. It's a Chris van Allsburg book, so you know there's a nifty dose of surprise and spin to the ending as well.

This book would be a ton of fun for Halloween, but if you're looking for a deeper, more teacher-ey analysis then I would also say that it could work for a character study of the widow or a discussion of jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst.

Walking to School

This book is really interesting, mostly because it dives into a current story line that I'm ashamed to say I know very little about. Using the cultural war between the Catholics and the Protestants in Ireland, the issues of race, prejudice, and unfair assumptions are explored with a vehicle that's different from our somewhat typical go-tos of America's black versus white and Germany's Holocaust. Those examples are extremely powerful and necessary, but the truth is that these issues exist elsewhere as well. I love that this unique picture book gives teachers or parents the avenue to discuss them with a brief plot that opens many doors for discussion. What's also interesting - and realistic, I think - is that the young protagonist is able to see so clearly what the adults around her cannot: both sides of this feud see themselves as wholly pure and righteous in their actions but scrutinize every action of the other side as foul and deserving of punishment. It's just simply not the case, and even this young girl is able to see that as she listens and observes. This would be a great introduction to a unit to get conversations started with kids, and to perhaps introduce a world of other examples of prejudice from all over the world.

Betti on the High Wire

I first heard about this book, like almost everything I read, from a book blog. The person reviewing it was enthusiastic about it and I remember them saying that it was great. Based on the description alone, I figured I would love it. A young girl living in an abandoned circus in a war-torn country who gets adopted by Americans and has to adjust to a strange new world? I am more than slightly obssessed with anything involving adoption, and who wouldn't love a book about a circus girl? And the cover is gorgeous. I have to be completely honest, though, and say that even though it has a lot going for it, I didn't love it as much as I thought/hoped/assumed I would. And what's weird is that I still can't really pinpoint why.

The basic plot is pretty much what I just described. The plot is told from Betti's point of view, and after she arrives in America she has all kinds of funny and strange ways of interpreting the culture we so quickly think of as normal; that provides many moments of both humor and reflection as the reader sees their life through new eyes. Your heart breaks for Betti as you watch her try to communicate with people and fail, either because words she knows are forgotten in the moment of pressure or because she doesn't understand what's going on. Her adoptive parents, however, are gracious, patient, and unconditionally loving. No matter how many plans Betti enacts to try to convince them to send her back home, they forgive immediately and show her that they will never become so tired of her or so angry with her that they send her away. All of these are wonderful and endearing qualities in this book, and so I still can't figure out why I didn't love it even as I sit here and type this. But the truth is that I didn't love it...I liked it very much and I thought it was very sweet, but there I felt that the majority of the plot was slow and somewhat boring. I'm not sure if many middle school students would fall in love with it, but it's completely appropriate for the age group and will be included on my shelf if not only for the sake of having it available. Maybe a student will read it and be able to explain to me why I didn't love it...or maybe why I should, afterall.

Wintergirls

For all the intensity that Laurie Halse Anderson's famous book, Speak, provides, I have to say that Wintergirls provides more. Words that flashed through my mind while reading this book - which explores the world of teenage anorexia, cutting, and suicide - include heartbreaking, frustrating, haunting, and shocking. Anderson gives the reader a window into the mind of her main character Lia in a way that surpasses nearly every other fictional book that I've read. I know that's a bold statement, but let me put it this way: while reading this book, I caught myself turning down a muffin fresh out of the oven because I could be strong and resist. I am not exaggerating and I am not speaking lightly; this book gets inside your head as you get inside Lia's, and it's more than a little disturbing.

Lia and her best friend Cassie have been competing to be the thinnest for years; Lia's chosen method is anorexia while Cassie is bulimic. When Cassie kills herself, though, in the first few pages of the book, and Lia is left alone. Battling against her parents, doctors, teachers, and potential friends, Lia tries her hardest to cheat the systems set in place to protect her and continue spiraling downhill towards the "goals" she's set for herself, even though her best friend is no longer with her. Another small hiccup is that Lia and Cassie had abruptly gone their separate ways months before Cassie's death, creating a world of guilt and inner turmoil for Lia that she doesn't share with anyone but you are an eyewitness to. Just like Speak - and so many of Anderson's books, as I'm finally learning - this book immediately draws you in with its unique writing style, beautiful vocabulary choices, and heartbreaking honesty. I can't even begin to imagine the research that must have taken place in order to write from inside the mind of a girl struggling with anorexia and cutting, but it definitely paid off.

Despite its incredible positives, I am hesitant to bring it into my classroom, not because it's inappropriate but because it's so deeply disturbing and troublesome that I think it would be difficult for many 7th graders to read and appreciate fully. (By the way, I'll be teaching 7th grade this Fall...just found out!) There are definitely 7th graders who could handle it, but I wouldn't want to have it on a community shelf for anyone to pick up. It's deep, it's painful, and it seriously messes with you. I wasn't exaggerating at all about me starting to pay attention to what I ate and how often I was working out...I would never in a million years want an impressionable middle school girl to pick this book up and interpret the wrong message, leading to the development of an eating or exercise disorder. I may, however, consider having a "behind the teacher's desk" bookshelf, which contains books such as this that may be fine for some but not for all, and that, with teacher's and parent's approval, be specially checked out. I've seen 8th grade teachers do that and it worked well. That all being said, this book is excellent, and highly - if not cautiously - recommended by me.