This week’s book talks 4/24-28

Today is a work day, when I get grades updated for the progress reports that will go out next week in the mail. I also had an excellent training with Kate Roberts and Chris Lehman, so I only taught three days. Lucky me!

Monday

I booktalked Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan. I was worried a lot of students had already read it, but was shocked to find out few had. I was glad I chose it.

Goodreads Summary: Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica.

Decades later, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California each, in turn, become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting a brother, holding a family together. And ultimately, pulled by the invisible thread of destiny, their solo stories converge in an orchestral crescendo.

 

Tuesday

I went to a training with Kate Roberts and Chris Lehman. This was exciting because my PLT has been reading and implementing the strategies they write about in Falling in Love With Close Reading.

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday

I booktalked Cherry Blossom Baseball, the third book in the Cherry Blossom Series by Jennifer Maruno.

Goodreads Summary: Is pretending to be someone else the only way Michiko can fit in?

Michiko Minigawa’s life is nothing but a bad game of baseball. The Canadian government swung the bat once, knocking her family away from a Vancouver home base to an old farmhouse in the Kootenay Mountains. But when they move into town, the government swings the bat again, announcing that all Japanese must now move west of the Rockies or else go to Japan.

Now in Ontario, Michiko once again has to adjust to a whole new kind of life. She is the only Japanese student in her school, and making friends is harder than it was before. When Michiko surprises an older student with her baseball skills and he encourages her to try out for the local team, she gives it a shot. But everyone thinks this new baseball star is a boy. Michiko has to make a decision: quit playing ball (and being harassed), or pitch like she’s never pitched before.

Thursday

The last booktalk of the week came from my Humor tub. Fakespeare: Starcrossed in Romeo and Juliet by M. E. Castle.

Goodreads Summary: Three kids get lost inside Shakespeare’s book and must help Romeo and Juliet finish their story in order to return home in this silly middle school series!

Dear Reader,

You are reading this because you expressed interest in the Get Lost Book Club.

Are you ready to embark on a journey to Italy, where you’ll find yourself right in the middle of a major feud between two rival pizza-making families: the Montagues and the Capulets? A swordsman and perfumer will hunt you. There will be disguises, fake pizza, and tomato fights (make sure to duck!). You must help Becca, her stepbrother Sam, and her dog Rufus convince Romeo Montague to ask Juliet Capulet on a date, or you will all be stuck in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet forever!

Intrigued? Worried? Downright terrified? You should be. But if you’re ready for an adventure, step right up and follow me. It’s time to get lost.

Sincerely,

The Narrator

 

I hope you find something here to pick up and read.

Echo

As a teacher I like to think that the influence I have had on my students echoes down through the years. Merriam-Webster defines “echo” this way:

: a sound that is a copy of another sound and that is produced when sound waves bounce off a surface (such as a wall)

: something (such as a feature or quality) that repeats or resembles something else

: something that is similar to something that happened or existed before

In Echo,  Pam Muñoz Ryan’s new book, I think we have a Newbery contender.

The eponymous echo is something that is similar to something that happened or existed before. This is the story of kids facing hardships and how they manage to overcome them. It is about the power of music.

Publisher’s summary: Lost and alone in the forbidden Black Forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica.

Decades later, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California each become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives, binding them by an invisible thread of destiny. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting a brother, holding a family together. How their suspenseful solo stories converge in an orchestral crescendo will resound in your heart long after the last note has been struck.

The book is set from the early 30’s Germany and stretches through WWII. The harmonica travels through the lives of our protagonists, offering solace and hope. There are moments of heartache and worry for the reader, but it all wraps up as nicely as you hope it would.

 

Standing up for what’s right

It’s MLK Day. I’m not out there, participating in the Day of Service. As a teacher, everyday might be considered a day of service, except I get paid to be there. I went around to our Sunday School classes at church and talked to them about the Souper Bowl of Caring.

We handed our grocery bags for them to bring back on February 2nd to support the Oregon Food Bank, and gave each class a canister so the kids can help less fortunate people overseas, too, by bringing in a dollar.

But let me also talk here about 2 books I love. The first isn’t a new book.

When Marian Sang written by Pam Muñoz Ryan and illustrated by Brian Selznick tells the story of  Anderson’s  historic concert at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, which drew an integrated crowd of 75,000 people in pre-Civil Rights America. Famous around the world, Anderson was prevented from performing in Constitution Hall because she was black. Eleanor Roosevelt came up with an idea to have her perform free, for everyone at the Lincoln Memorial.

It just brings tears to my eyes.

A newer book is The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery written by Dennis Brindell Fradin, Judith Bloom Fradin and illustrated by Eric Velasquez.

Here is the Goodreads summary:

“When John Price took a chance at freedom by crossing the frozen Ohio river from Kentucky into Ohio one January night in 1856, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was fully enforced in every state of the union. But the townspeople of Oberlin, Ohio, believed there that all people deserved to be free, so Price started a new life in town-until a crew of slave-catchers arrived and apprehended him. When the residents of Oberlin heard of his capture, many of them banded together to demand his release in a dramatic showdown that risked their own freedom.”

I suspect this book will be on one or more of the lists of winners that will be announced next week at the ALA meeting in Philadelphia.

Whether you get out today and participating in a day of service or not, I hope you have a wonderful MLK Day. And I hope you think of standing up for others everyday.