It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. Jen Vincent over at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye from Unleashing Readers decided to put a children's and YA spin on it and they invite anyone with an interest to join in. You can participate by creating your post then visit one of their sites to add your site. Finally, visit at least three participant blogs and comment to spread the love.

If you want to know more about what I am reading, visit me at my Goodreads shelf. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

The Past Week:

Geisel Award Challenge

 

Mr. Schu and Colby Sharp are at it again. They have set up a new challenge. They are going to read all of the Geisel honor and winner books. Of course, they have also invited others to participate. This is a challenge I can easily join since the books are brief and fabulous. It will also only take about 9 weeks since the award began in 2006. I loved the first week. I had read several of them before so they were old friends, but somehow Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas had slipped by me. I am so glad that this challenge helped me discover this gem. I will be sharing it with my students this coming week. On top of the fun books, we get Saturday morning videos from Mr. Schu and Colby. This is good news indeed. :)

Diversity on the Shelf Challenge

First They Killed My Father was quite a difficult memoir to read since the author lived through the genocide in Cambodia in the 70s. Yes, she lived through it, but she saw and experienced many horrifying things and lost family members. Though it was troubling, I was glad to understand more about Cambodia's history. The Pot That Juan Built was uplifting and inspiring. I shared it with my third grade students this week. We were fascinated by Juan Quezada's beautiful pottery and the process that he goes through to create it. I reviewed the book here. It also qualified for the Latin@s in Kidlit challenge and that was one of the reasons that I picked it up.

The Coming Week:

I set aside Privilege, Power and Difference. I may pick it up later, but if I am going to read a professional book, I am going to choose a different one right now. I also set aside Juneteenth. I got completely lost in some of the monologues. I own it so again, I may pick it up sometime in the future. I am completely absorbed by Americanah and suggested it for our book group next month so I will finish that up this week. I had to run out an buy it after hearing this interview with Zadie Smith.

On audio, I've started The Rock and the River in the car and Luka and the Fire of Life on Playaway. I am still reading House of Purple Cedar too. I am reading an ARC of Death Spiral from NetGalley also. Whew. There are a bunch of library books sitting on my shelf, but I don't know if I will get to them. What will you be reading?

Review: The Pot that Juan Built

Title: The Pot That Juan Built
Author: Nancy Andrews-Goebel
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Pages: 32
Availability: On shelves now
Review Copy: Library

Summary: Written in the form of “The House That Jack Built” and accompanied by explanatory material, this celebratory story is also the tale of the village of Mata Ortiz and its people. Juan’s pioneering work has transformed Mata Ortiz from an impoverished village into a prosperous community of world-renowned artists.

With vibrant illustrations by Caldecott Medal winner David Diaz, The Pot That Juan Built is sure to enlighten all who are fascinated by traditional art forms, Mexican culture, and the power of the human spirit to find inspiration from the past. -- Cover image and summary via IndieBound

Review: This book captures me on many levels. There is the mimicry of "The House That Jack Built" so it is a great addition to a unit on cumulative stories. There is a wonderful non-fiction component, so it can be paired with biography or "how-to" units and of course the art component means that this book would be fabulous with a pottery unit too. On top of all of those thematic possibilities, the illustrations are dazzling in themselves. David Diaz uses bold colors and design that captures readers.

My students immediately began to chime in on the rhyming portion of the text. They especially loved the line, "Before it was baked in the cow manure fire." Each two page spread has a bit of the rhyme and the facing page has a brief explanation to go along with it. This is where the details are explained like the fact that Juan does in fact gather cow manure and uses it as the fuel for the fire.

My students were fascinated to learn that this story is about a real person and there is a website that shows some of the pictures from the information section at the end of the book in addition to even more pictures of his actual work.

To see that one man taught himself how to create pots of such beauty using only the natural materials from the land around him is pretty amazing. That he shared this knowledge with his community so they could also create these kinds of pots is even more inspiring. My third graders were quite impressed with his abilities and also found the rhyme to be quite fun. It is a joy to be able to share such a unique non-fiction text with my students.

After using the book in lessons, I also found several videos online so in the future we will also get to hear from Juan Quezada himself.

 

I will be recommending this book to many people in the future.

Celebrations!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on Saturdays where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every day. Here are some of my celebrations from the week.

I have a full day today so the post will be brief.

1. We were able to see our daughter participate in her first high school musical last night. The cast has been practicing for so long and the time and effort has been enormous so it was wonderful to see them all come together and perform. We laughed big belly laughs and enjoyed the evening thoroughly.

2. I completed a fun run this morning that benefited the family of one a student from our school. The sun was shining and there were smiles and friendly faces all around. We even had some canine friends involved.

3. We are almost snow free. The temps are supposed to be in the 50s and maybe even 60s soon!!!!

4. The public library is offering free recycling of tech items so we are getting two monitors (the huge obnoxious kind) and two printers out of our storage room. The church is also having a book sale next weekend so we may get a few boxes of those out of the house too. Spring cleaning is a great thing.

5. My family supports each other and we each flex our schedules to allow for our individual endeavors like fun runs and book clubs (me), Ironman training (husband), musicals (daughter) and more.

6. I almost forgot - I am also celebrating the resurrection of the Sharp/Schu Saturday videos and a new challenge. I totally loved reading the Geisel award books this week and am looking forward to sharing them with my students. It's great to pull out some of the older titles that I know the students will enjoy.

It's been another great week and I look forward to the next.

Poetry Friday

Piles of Poetry is one of the posts that I put together over on Rich in Color. The post was about some great diverse young adult poetry including this spoken word poetry from the Spoken Word Team from the Santa Fe Indian School.

Another form of poetry is in music. This is another fantastic poetic experience from Tall Paul.

April is a time when many of us think about and read poetry. What are some of your favorite poems or poetry books? My favorite recently was What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms and Blessings.

I am looking forward to reading How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Nelson for Poetry Month. 

Here is an NPR interview with Marilyn Nelson. It sounds like an amazing book.

Blogging Silence

I have gotten out of the habit of preparing blog posts ahead of time and so have been quiet a lot lately. I am still getting my Monday post done and my Celebration posts accomplished on Saturdays. Thank goodness for those memes or I am not even sure if I would be posting. Yikes! Life has been busy and I may be a teensy bit busy with several activities right now.

What is taking up my time? In no particular order:

• Zumba
• Running
• Reading
• Teaching
• Twitter
• Blogging and looking for books to go on the Other blog (richincolor.com)
• Driving my daughter various places for her activities
• Time with my family

All of these are important. I may even be doing other things that I left off the list, but you get the picture. Perhaps I can work in some more posting. We will see. 

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. Jen Vincent over at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye from Unleashing Readers decided to put a children's and YA spin on it and they invite anyone with an interest to join in. You can participate by creating your post then visit one of their sites to add your site. Finally, visit at least three participant blogs and comment to spread the love.

If you want to know more about what I am reading, visit me at my Goodreads shelf. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

The Past Week: 

Picture Books

Non-fiction

Young Adult

Adult

The books that really grabbed me this week were King for a Day, The First Drawing, Langston's Train Ride, Saying Goodbye, When I Was the Greatest, March, and Akata Witch. I reviewed Akata Witch here. Chew on This will stay with me for a long time as it completely grossed me out. It's the children's version of Fast Food Nation. Ick.

The Coming Week:

I will finish First They Killed My Father. Then, I will start House of Purple Cedar by Tim Tingle. After that I have Killer of Enemies, Port Chicago 50, My Basmati Bat Mitzvah and a few others waiting on the shelf. I am not sure which I will get to, but it should be fun figuring it out. What will you be reading?

Review: Akata Witch (Akata Witch #1)

Title: Akata Witch
Author: Nnedi Okorafor
Publisher: Viking Childrens
Pages: 349
Review Copy: Purchased
Availability: On shelves Now

Summary: Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she’s albino. She’s a terrific athlete, but can’t go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits. And then she discovers something amazing—she is a “free agent,” with latent magical power. Soon she’s part of a quartet of magic students, studying the visible and invisible, learning to change reality. But will it be enough to help them when they are asked to catch a career criminal who knows magic too? -- cover image and summary via Goodreads

Review: Nnedi Okorafor created a vivid world that pulsed with life. I felt like I was transported every time I opened the pages of the book. The story takes place in Nigeria, but there are times when the characters cross over to a place beyond what we see and I loved experiencing the wonders there. I appreciated that even though a lot of the book was fantasy, it also showed me a view of Nigeria that I hadn't experienced. I knew where it was geographically and had seen pictures of Lagos, but didn't really know a lot about the country. I know I hadn't listened to the music before. There were references so I played some from the Internet while I read. Also, I didn't know of Zuma rock. That is one incredible landform. I definitely have a different picture of Nigeria in my head.

Even more than the setting of the story, the characters captured me. Watching Sunny explore her emerging talents was amazing. Her trio of friends were also equally interesting and highly entertaining. Chichi's confidence and sass brought smiles to my face even as she frustrated me on occasion. Each of the friends have their positives and negatives as they struggle along learning to work together. This is a book about the power of friendship.

I am excited for the series to continue. The next book doesn't come out until Spring of 2015 so it will be hard to wait. If you haven't read it yet, get it soon. This is a fun and exciting fantasy that you won't want to miss.

Celebrating the Week

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on Saturdays where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every day. Here are some of my celebrations from the week.

1. My son was home from college for spring break!!! I love having him back in the house. We had some nice conversations and we also watched a Bollywood movie that was pretty awesome - 3 Idiots. The trailer doesn't have subtitles, but fortunately, the movie did. It did have a few dance numbers, but had a lot more going on than romance though that was certainly there too.

2. I ran outside for the first time this year when it was in the 40s. It was a little soggy from the melting snow, but running free in a straight line breathing fresh air was a treat after all of the miles I have done on the treadmill this winter. We have highs in the mid 20's today and tomorrow, but next week is supposed to be warm again. By the way, as someone who has lived in both Southern California and South Texas, I kind of have to roll my eyes when I describe 40 as warm. 

3. The sun is shining brilliantly outside and I can see more grass in the yard.

4. Tonight there is a Zumbathon. Three hours of wild Zumba fun. So excited.

5. There were lots of amazing discussions and comments generated by the two opinion pieces in the New York Times written by Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers. Watch for the Twitter tag #colormyshelf that has been used to help shout out great titles. It is exciting to see people become vocal about the state of diverse children's literature. Hopefully, conversations like these will inspire real change.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. Jen Vincent over at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye from Unleashing Readers decided to put a children's and YA spin on it and they invite anyone with an interest to join in. You can participate by creating your post then visit one of their sites to add your site. Finally, visit at least three participant blogs and comment to spread the love.

If you want to know more about what I am reading, visit me at my Goodreads shelf. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

The Past Week:

Picture Books

I really enjoy learning about other people's lives. It is fascinating to me. I think I had read a picture book bio of Cesar Chavez in the past, but Cesar: Si, Se Puede! was excellent. The poetry was fabulous and so was the artwork. While it included a lot of facts, it was so much more enjoyable than reading a dry textbook. The language was rich and moved me. Mister and Lady Day was another moving look at a life. Since we were viewing her life in relation to the dog, it was a lighter book than it might have been though the author's note at the end shared some of the difficulties that Billie Holliday was going through. It was one of the books that I picked up at The Reader's Choice bookstore in Milwaukee when I got to visit last week (I talked about the visit here).

Middle Grade & YA

Saraswati's Way reminded me a bit of Boys Without Names and highlights a young boy trying to get an education in Delhi. He has no money for school and many things are against him, but he still has hope. Hush was another book to tug on your heartstrings. The girl and her family are in the witness protection program and their lives have been turned upside down. It is usually labeled as young adult,  but it was right on the border. All the Small Poems and Fourteen More was a super peaceful set of poems about everyday things. It would be great with young children. The one about a dog was one that was featured in Love that Dog. I recognized its loose skin immediately.

Non-fiction

I thought this would be a memoir or biography, but it was a collection of quotations from Jacqueline Kennedy from letters, interviews, and other writing. It wasn't horrible, and it had a certain organization, but it wasn't fabulous either. I felt that I learned a bit about her, but it wasn't very cohesive. She said/wrote some hilarious things though.

Also, I have read it multiple times since I got the digital ARC, so I likely have mentioned it before,  but I reviewed The Shadow Hero over on Rich in Color on Friday. I love, love, love it.

The Coming Week:

I am still listening to Son of a Witch and am enjoying that. Nanny said, "Maybe we are all gifted and we just don't know it yet" and I am holding onto that line today. It sure seems to take a long time to figure out our gifts sometimes.

I have been taking my time savoring Akata Witch, but am almost finished. I will be sad for it to end because the next one doesn't come out until next year.

I have a ton of books that I need to be reading. Ack! For two different book clubs I need to read Half Broke Horses and When I Was the Greatest. I also have a large stack of library books waiting for me, but the book club books come first. What will you be reading?

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on Saturdays where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every day. Here are some of my celebrations from the week.

1. I got to visit The Reader's Choice bookstore which is the only African American owned Indie bookstore in the state of Wisconsin. I also got to buy a nice pile of books there. The owner chatted with the group of us that were there and showed us around. It was an excellent trip. I love talking about books anytime and anywhere.

2. The bookstore trip was part of a day immersing ourselves in cultural experiences. We also spent time at an elementary school in Milwaukee that is doing some amazing things and we danced our way out of an assembly to Lady Gaga. Another part of our trip was a visit to the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum and a coffee shop called Coffee Makes You Black. As a white person in the midwest, I don't experience that feeling of being the "outsider" so very often. I think that's a good reminder for me because I have students who may feel that on a daily basis. Also, I learned a lot of black history along the way. As always, when involved with culturally responsive teaching sessions through the RtI center, I feel that I have things to take back and use in my classroom immediately.

3. I didn't enjoy the time change so much, but I do like that the sun has been shining later in the day.

4. The snow is melting! We can now drive down our street without bumping and sliding around.

5. My son is coming home for spring break in just a few days. Life is good.

Tuesday Trailer

I love this video. Matt de la Peña shares his writing journey and talks about The Living.

This is a fantastic trailer. It totally makes me want to read The Meaning of Maggie.

And thanks to Mr. Schu, I now know about Beekle.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. Jen Vincent over at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye from Unleashing Readers decided to put a children's and YA spin on it and they invite anyone with an interest to join in. You can participate by creating your post then visit one of their sites to add your site. Finally, visit at least three participant blogs and comment to spread the love.

If you want to know more about what I am reading, visit me at my Goodreads shelf. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

The Past Week:

My favorite book all week was definitely A Long Walk to Water. I had heard about it from Holly Mueller and have wanted to read it for quite some time. For such a short book, it sure packs in a lot of information and emotion. I am excited to share it with teachers and students at my school. 

I was happy that when I picked up The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland... this time, I chose the audio. When I tried to read it in 2010, I gave up very early in the book because it wasn't working for me. As an audio book though, I found it much more fun. I wanted to give it another shot since several Nerdybookclub members seemed to like it a lot. 

The Diego Rivera is a well-done middle grade to young adult biography. Diego was such an interesting individual. There are many children's biographies about him. I can only imagine it is because the research must be intriguing in addition to his wonderful artwork. It made me even more eager to get my hands on Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales too. That will be out in September!

Lakota Woman was a rough read because Mary Crow Dog shares many painful things from her past and the past of her people. I appreciated hearing Native American history from someone who had lived it. I just read that she walked on a little over a year ago. The picture book The Ghost Dance was one that then caught my eye since Mary Crow Dog had written quite a bit about that particular ceremony. I wrote a bit about that here.

Last, but not least, I finished The Archived as part of the Batty About Books group lead by Kathy and Maria. It was a nice change of pace. The author describes it as a supernatural thriller. I found it mysterious and a little addicting. I was unable to stick to the plan of the leaders. We were supposed to read it in bits and discuss. I finished it right away. Oops.

The Coming Week: 

I am still listening to Son of a Witch and will likely finish that sometime this week.  I am in the middle of Akata Witch - and am loving it! Up next is House of Purple Cedar by Tim Tingle and My Basmati Bat Mitzvah. What will you be reading?

Celebrate

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on Saturdays where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every day.

1. Eggrolls! Yesterday the Hmong Cultural and Community Agency had an eggroll fundraiser. Yum. It was fun to see so many people bustling around the building. The best part though was biting into a fresh warm eggroll. With this fundraiser, they hoped to retire the debt on their building so it was even better knowing that.

2. World Read Aloud Day was tons of fun. We had multiple Skype visits and lots of reading happening around the school building. I will create a post just about that at some point.

3. Fancy Friday was a blast. As part of our PBIS plan, we wanted to have celebrations throughout the year. Fancy Friday was one of those. We dimmed the lights in the cafeteria, covered the tables in paper, set out crayons and had battery operated tea light candles on the table. There was also jazz music being played and there were ice cream sandwiches for dessert. Staff and students were also encouraged to dress up for the day. There were smiles all around.

4. I met up with friends this week and enjoyed some great conversations.

5. I finished a scarf that I had been working on for a while. It was lovely to finally wear it.

6. I made it to a pilates class that I often intend to go to, but have only actually attended once.

7. We had student conferences this week. Families came to the library and chatted, but I also got some weeding done when things were slow. Yay!

Tuesday Trailer

Here is a trailer for one of the most popular books in my library right now. I didn't know it had a trailer until I saw Mr. Schu's tweet, but I am sure my students will be excited to see it. Now I need to order more copies.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. Jen Vincent over at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye from Unleashing Readers decided to put a children's and YA spin on it and they invite anyone with an interest to join in. You can participate by creating your post then visit one of their sites to add your site. Finally, visit at least three participant blogs and comment to spread the love.

If you want to know more about what I am reading, visit me at my Goodreads shelf. Images via Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

The Past Week:

Picture Books

Young Adult

This was a good reading week with many enjoyable reads. I especially liked reading The Archived as part of the Batty About Books online book club. The cover is mysterious and intriguing just like the book. I am still working on the Diversity on the Shelf Challenge and Latinos in Kid Lit also. It is so cool to find so many titles that are new to me.

The Coming Week:

I am listening to The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making when I am in my car. It is a book I abandoned at one time, but maybe on audio I will make it through. I have some Nerdybookclub friends who loved it, so I am giving it another shot. While I am running, I am listening to Son of a Witch - another book that I abandoned in the past when reading in print. I am also reading a memoir called Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog which is interesting. I like hearing a first-hand account of some of the AIM activities. Also, we spent time in the Badlands a few summers ago and will be returning again this summer. I like knowing some of the history of the area we will be passing through on our way to visit family. I also just started reading Akata Witch. I am loving it so far. What are you reading? Have a great week.

Review: Scar Boys

Title: Scar Boys

Author: Len Vlahos

Publisher: Egmont USA

Pages: 256

Review Copy: Digital ARC from Edelweiss

Availability: On shelves now

Summary: 

A severely burned teenager. A guitar. Punk rock. The chords of a rock 'n' roll road trip in a coming-of-age novel that is a must-read story about finding your place in the world...even if you carry scars inside and out.

 In attempting to describe himself in his college application essay--help us to become acquainted with you beyond your courses, grades, and test scores--Harbinger (Harry) Jones goes way beyond the 250-word limit and gives a full account of his life.

The first defining moment: the day the neighborhood goons tied him to a tree during a lightning storm when he was 8 years old, and the tree was struck and caught fire. Harry was badly burned and has had to live with the physical and emotional scars, reactions from strangers, bullying, and loneliness that instantly became his everyday reality.

The second defining moment: the day in 8th grade when the handsome, charismatic Johnny rescued him from the bullies and then made the startling suggestion that they start a band together. Harry discovered that playing music transported him out of his nightmare of a world, and he finally had something that compelled people to look beyond his physical appearance. Harry's description of his life in his essay is both humorous and heart-wrenching. He had a steeper road to climb than the average kid, but he ends up learning something about personal power, friendship, first love, and how to fit in the world. While he's looking back at the moments that have shaped his life, most of this story takes place while Harry is in high school and the summer after he graduates. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Review: Harry's story certainly grabbed my attention with the freak lightning event and the cruelty that led up to it. The combination of music references and humor is what kept me reading. Initially, I was only glancing at the song titles heading the chapters and imagining what was to come. After a few chapters though, I started looking them up on Youtube and listening.  Sometimes I even watched the videos. Many were videos that I haven't seen since watching MTV in my earlier years. For me, that was a nice part of my reading experience. Sometimes it delayed my reading and sometimes I read with the songs as background, but it created a unique reading situation. One example is the melancholy Cat Stevens song that related to the relationship Harry dealt with in that chapter. The title fit the events in that chapter, but the sound of the song matched too and added atmosphere like the soundtrack of a movie.

The book takes place in the 80s. Some of the references may be lost on teens now such as Mork and Mindy, but overall, I don't think that they will miss much. Many of the pop culture that shows up goes beyond that time frame like Star Wars, Hitchhiker's Guide, and the Grinch. Most of the music is easily accessible online too especially since Vlahos set up a Spotify playlist which I didn't know about until after I finished reading.

I appreciated that this book looks at the relationship between guy friends. Harry gives his friendship with Johnny a close-up inspection throughout the book. How did they become friends, why are they still friends, what do they each get out of it, and most importantly, is this a relationship that should continue?

I essentially read this book in one sitting and enjoyed the journey with much laughter. I would recommend Scar Boys to realistic fiction fans and anyone interested in garage bands or rock music in general.

This book would match up well with Eric Gansworth's If I Ever Get Out of Here and Patrick Flores-Scott's Jumped In which also feature music and male friendship.

Celebrate

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on Saturdays where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every day.

• I got a big hug from a first grade student who also said, "I love you." I don't think I will ever get tired of hugs from students.

• My tech crew does a great job creating announcements for our school about once a week. I fill in with things, but they film, speak, offer topics, and edit. I am lucky to be able to work with such creative students.
• I am officially on a team for Ragnar! I will be part of a 12 woman team who will be running about 198.5 miles over two days. We will start in the morning and run through the night in a relay. It's still a few months away, but I am excited. 

Met a fan of the @Rich_in_Color blog! pic.twitter.com/H11KAtt6rt
— K. Imani Tennyson (@K_Imani) February 28, 2014

• I loved seeing this post about another blog that I am part of, Rich in Color. It's almost our one year anniversary. It's cool to have proof of at least one fan. :)

• I have watched this video at least three times and I get teary with every view. I love that Yuyi Morales shared her joy through dance. Yuyi makes my heart smile.