The Secrets of Peaches

The Secrets of Peaches is the second book in a series that begins with Peaches and I will be very excited to pick up the third book as soon as possible. Reading the Princess Diaries series and this series have made me remember how much I enjoy reading for pleasure. Something doesn't need to be loaded with academic merit for me to like it and that is surley the case here, though there is some great symbolism with a sick pecan tree and bats flapping around.

As the second book of a series, this book is more mature because it address much more mature topics like leaving home for college, serious depression, and premarital sex. The girl who had sex is the last of the three that I would have expected to do so. With that thought in mind, I don't think that some middle school students would enjoy this book because so much of the content would feel very distant to them. On the other hand, depression and premarital sex may have become middle school topics since I finished middle school.

We have the same three characters, Murphy, Leeda, and Birdie, and we pick up in the same place, Bridgewater, GA, very close to the ending of the previous novel. The girls test each other's friendship in this story as they and members of their family proceede to let each other down, almost constantly. We should learn from reading this that people make mistakes and that they often won't ask for help when they need it the most.

As an avid reader, and some sort of writer, I have come to enjoy Jodi Lynn Anderson's writing because of her ability to write about smells and have me actually smell them. I find this refreshing, whether she is writing about a peach orchard in Georgia or a kitchen in Mexcio.

This book belongs in school libraries because it gives readers the opportunites to learn from the mistakes of the characters. However, I do have reservations about middle school libraries, as I expressed above.

Anderson, Jodi Lynn. The Secrets of Peaches. Harper Teen: New York, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-06-073310-0.

The Incredible Book Eating Boy

The Incredible Book Eating Boy is a great book to read to a class when attempting to promote the idea that reading is cool because it makes you look smart.

The main character, Henry, loves to eat books. But, when he starts to feel sick from the eating of such non-food items, he decides that maybe, just maybe, he should be devouring the book in another way.

The art work for this book was created on pages from weeded books from libraries, found books, or throw away books. The paint and pencil drawings are detailed, striking, and colorful. When the words from the old book pages show through the paintings, the concept or idea behind the knowledge of books is all the more powerful.

I've recently become a fan of Oliver Jeffers because of the way that he can write a book with powerful lessons in it and not sound condescending.

Jeffers, Oliver. The Incredible Book Eating Boy. Philomel Books: New York, 2006. ISBN: 978-0399-24749-1.

Up and Down

Up and Down is a story of friendship and is a great opportunity to help young readers learn to cope if they have to move away or they have friends who move away. The watercolor paintings do an excellent job of conveying emotion and movement.

The story is simple.

Even though the penguin and the boy are very close friends and do everything together, they penguin decides that he wants to fly and he wants to do it on his own.

But Penguins have short stubby wings and fat bodies? But what if the penguin gets hurt blasting out of a cannon? Answer that with, but he has a really good friend, right? Then your child will learn a lesson or two about friendship.

Jeffers, Oliver. Up and Down. Philomel Books, New York, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-399-25545-8.

Roller Coaster

Roller Coaster is the story of "one person's" journey on the roller coaster. Frazee gives the readers the message that it is okay to be scared and okay to be fearful of something new. Because some of the writing contains great examples of onomatopoeia and that onomatopoeia is cleverly used there is a special sense of anticipation created in the roller coaster ride.

The drawings would be great for study in an art class because they show a great sense of movement. Where one loop on the page ends, when you turn to the next page, the drawing picks up.

I believe that Roller Coaster is a a clever book not only because of the continuous roller coaster throughout the book but because of the moral message we can learn from it: it is okay to be scared or afraid. Oftentimes, we forget to let children know this.

Frazee, Marla. Roller Coaster. Harcourt Inc.; San Diego, 2003. ISBN: 0-15-204554-6

Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor

Amelia takes everything literally. For example, when the mayor is with the press because he has to iron some things out, Amelia promises to bring him some actual shirts to iron. This discussion of literal language against figurative language would be useful in older, high school, classrooms. While middle schoolers often are unentertained by a teacher who whips out a picture book, oftentimes high schoolsrs are very entertained by them.

Amelia makes a cake in a pan when she is asked to make "pancakes" and sticks a French flag in toast when asked to make French toast. When a citizen says it is time for change, Amelia offers him the 43 cents in her pocket.

Most or some of these jokes might go over picture book reader's heads, but these books with all the plays on words, is a great or different way to engage reluctant readers in a discussion that they hear from an English teacher every year. This is an opportunity to get reluctant readers to sit up an pay attention in class.

Parish, Herman. Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor. Pictures by Lynn Sweat. Greenwillow Books, New York; 1999. ISBN 0-688-16722-5.

Shipbreaker

I didn't think that I was a fan of dystopian fiction because I thought it was morbid and that often dystopian fiction lacked any form of literary merit. However, it is popular now, so it is probably time that I figure out what all the kids are talking about.

I loved Ship Breaker.

Nailer lives in a futuristic world where he scavenges for copper wiring in grounded oil tankers. When he, and his crew member Pima, find a swanky clipper run aground off of the coast of Bright Sands Beach with a swank girl inside, their lives change with a few not-so-simple decisions.

The world is different. Nailer can't read and is tattooed with light crew tattoo marks. His father is addicted to drugs and beats him regularly. There is no one who can or is willing to help Nailer than Pima and her mother, Sadna.

What makes Ship Breaker have merit is the moral lessons that evolve in the story. You don't need luck just to find success; you need to me smart too. Don't judge someone by their appearance because they can be misleading. The family you are given may not be the people you love the most; you can pick your family too.

Sherman Alexie called Ship Breaker "Exciting, poetic and breathtaking." I agree with him entirely. For the last 100 pages, I couldn't stop reading. I had to know what was going to happen. Would Nailer's father be the winner in the end? Would Nailer be loyal to Lucky Girl, himself, his family, his "family," or some strange combination of those.

I would give this book to students who fell in love with books like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins or The Giver by Lowis Lowery. Also, I would buy this book for a middle school library, a high school library, or any library that services teens. The version I read didn't have any awards on the cover and I was very surprised by this. Upon a little research, I discovered that it won the Printz Award and was a National Book Award Finalist.

Bacigalupi, Paolo. Ship Breaker. Little, Brown & Company: New York, 2010

Princess in Pink

To be perfectly honest, it is time for me to take an extended break from Mia Thermopolis. I am beginning to become concerned about what young girls could be learning Mia's insecurities. In this book, Mia, a freshman who is dating a senior, desperately wants him to ask her to prom.

But, at her birthday party at a swanky New York restaurant, Mia's Grandmere brings her dog and he trips a busboy who gets fired. Lilly, Mia's "best friend" starts a city-wide restaurant worker strike. Further than Mia's insecurities, Lilly is a terrible friend and Mia always takes her back.

Nevertheless, I always enjoy the narrative and get a good laugh at Mia's ability to observe. That makes her a good writer, but it gets her in trouble when she shares personal family information in a public way. Students, who keep blogs and make online posts, could learn from Mia's experience but so much of the plot of this book is wrapped up in Mia's insecurities, younger readers will most likely not find that moral.

Cabot, Meg. Princess in Pink. Harper Trophy: New York, 2004.

Grandfather Tang's Story: A Tale Told with Tangrams

After finishing my unit on quilts, shapes, and the Underground Railroad, I intend to move forward with Grandfather Tang's Story and focus on shapes and storytelling. First of all, a tangram is made of seven shapes that make a prefect square. Students can play with the shapes and make different animals, like a fox or a dog.

Grandfather Tang's Story is about friendship. Wu Ling & Chou transform into different animals/ tangram shapes. For example, when one transforms into a dog the other becomes a squirrel so he can hide in the tree. The moral of the story exists in the idea that competition between friends doesn't help friendship grow. However, with this book lessons in shapes abound.

Giving each student a set of tangrams or maybe even having them cut them out results in a tactile lesson where they can attempt to make the same shapes that are depicted in Grandfather Tang's Story. So few teachers expect librarians to help facilitate math instruction that lessons and books like these add real value to our library curriculum.

Tompert, Ann. Grandfather Tang's Story: A Tale Told with Tanagrams. Illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker. Crown Publishers Inc.: New York, 1990. ISBN: 0-517-57487-X

Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook

This is a great book to begin the school year with 2nd or 3rd graders. Miss Smith has a magical storybook that the characters: dragons, witches and even the three bears, come out of as she reads. When she finishes reading, the characters return into the book.

The real problem arises when Miss Smth is late for school one morning and the storybook scares the principal away from the classroom. The story is great because it ends with the words "Who would ever have guessed that reading could be so much fun?"

For this story to be successful, students need to be vaguely familiar with storybook conventions. The drawings, however, are very exciting. After all, Miss Smith has fire orange hair, a leather jacket, and general rocker appeal.

Garland, Michael. Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook. Dutton Children's Books, New York: 2003. ISBN: 0-525-47133-2.

Actual Size

As the title suggests, Jenkins utilizes a sophisticated form of collage to depict animals in their actual size. Each animal, or part of an animal, is displayed. For example, the Atlas Moth, which measures 12 inches is displayed opposite of the Dwarf Goby, the smallest fish, which measures 1/3 of an inch. Instead of an entire animal, sometimes we only see parts of animals, like an elephant's foot and a gorilla's paw.

This is a great picture book for teaching proportion in an elementary school math class or for use in a science class. There isn't much actual "reading" here, but there is a section that resembles a glossary that gives more information on the animals at the end of the book.

Every elementary school librarian most likely already owns this book. Also, the internet abounds with lesson plans for teaching with this book. Try some of these websites:

http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?keywords=actual+size+steve+jenkins&media=lesson

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/books-teaching-about-animals

Jenkins, Steve. Actual Size. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston: 2004. ISBN: 0-618-37594-5

The Secret to Freedom

In this beautiful piece of historical fiction, the narrator, Great Aunt Lucy, tells her niece a story of a piece of cloth on a wall, and, in turn, the historical signifigance of quilts in the Underground Railroad. Each quilt pattern means something. For example, as told in the story and the glossary, the monkey wrench pattern means to gather the tools and supplies that the slaves will need when they escape and the tumbling blocks pattern announced it was time to escape.

I will be using this book as the second in a unit on quilts, geometry and the Underground Railroad for African American History month. The pictures in the text tell much of the story. The emotions of the characters are visible on their faces. The colors of the quilts are beautifuly exciting. The glossary provides adults and/ or advanced readers with enough information to become informed on the uses of quilts in the Underground Railroad.

Vaughan, Marcia. The Secret to Freedom. Illustrated by Larry Jackson. Lee & Low Books Inc., New York, 2001.

Goodnight iPad

"Ann Droyd" has written us all a beautiful parody of one of our much loved children's books. As we all fell in love with Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown when we were children, now we can fall in love with the idea of "powering down" for one night. Where Goodnight Moon had a few colors on each page, Goodnight iPad has beeps, boops, taps, and booms jumping off the page. Where Goodnight Moon was designed to put children into a sleepy nighttime haze, Goodnight iPad, just like your ipad, nook, Kindle, phone, television, and computer, will leave you bright eyed and awake.

As adult familiar with children's literature, I believe that this is an hysterical parody. As a child, this book issues a challenge: slow down and calm down. The statement is simple, we do not have to be constantly stimulated by technology.

Incidentally, "Ann Droyd" is a pseudonym for an IRN Children's Choices Winner. Upon investigation in the verso I found that Dave Milgram owns the copyright. He has written books like Santa Duck, I'm Getting a Checkup, and My Mum Goes to Work.

Milgrim, Dave. Goodnight iPad: A Parody for the Next Generation. Blue Rider Press: New York, 2011.

Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt

In this picture book, Sam Johnson discovers a love of quilting while his wife is away and the awning breaks. When he tries to join the women's quilting club, he is laughed away. So, he starts his own quilting circle. The men's club builds a quilt to compete with the women's at the county fair. The competition is fierce; who will win?

The drawings are beautiful and color is used to display simplicity and an element of country elegance.

I intend to use this text as part of a unit that combines geometry (the symmetry of quilting patterns), and the historical significance of quilts in slaves' escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad. I will start this unit with second graders with this book because I need to get boys to buy into the idea of quilting. Otherwise, they will not want to join in with our final activity, building a quilt using geometric patterns.

Reference:

Campbell-Ernst, Lisa. Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard: New York, 1983.

Princess in Waiting

More moral/ royal lessons abound for Mia. This time, in Princess in Waiting, Mia opens her mouth too much in her first address to the people of Genovia, fears a break-up from her new boyfriend, takes something she shouldn't from the royal Genovian museum, and is terrified of her grandmother when she doesn't want go to a ball.

Another element that makes Princess in Waiting entertaining, are the different forms of media that Cabot includes in Mia's diary. Mia makes lists of romantic heroines that teach us valuable lessons and of the hottest guys. There are chat conversations, essays for English class, and notes passed back and forth between friends.

Also, Mia's grandmother has her read Jane Eyre so that she may learn how not to chase boys. Mia takes it too far when she doesn't call Michael back upon her return from Genovia and her mother tells her so. However, Mia doesn't really start to question her own actions until she sees that Tina's boyfriend has broken up with her for the "not chasing" pact. Perhaps, some students might be motivated to read Jane Eyre!

To justify my love of this series:

ALA Booklist- "She wines; she gloats; she cheers, worries, rants, and raves; reading her journal is like reading a note from your best friend."

VOYA- "Although Mia has successfully commanded attention on the silver screen, teens will find the readable princess more personal and sophisticated."

Princess in Love

I think that I keep reading the Princess Diaries Series partly because in each book Mia learns a lesson through her mistakes or through her inquisitive nature. This is often missing from many television shows (cough cough Jersey Shore) and books. In this book, Princess in Love, the lesson she learns is more about "kissing."

Mia has been kissed before. Josh Richter kissed her in front of a bunch of cameras when he took her to a dance. Kenny, her boyfriend that she doesn't like "that" way, has kissed her- but not of the French variety. I think that, as an adult or as an experienced kisser, we often forget how never-shattering the entire idea of kissing can be. The best part of the entire book is when Mia writes out a list of questions for her friend Tina, who is an expert on kissing. Tina's point in her answers to the questions Mia writes: kissing, with someone you really like is natural and enjoyable.

The major problem in the third instalment of the Princess Diaries Series, Mia is in love with Michael- not her boyfriend, Kenny. And you can't become an expert on kissing- like all of your friends- with someone you are not in love with.

By the way Kirkus Reviews says "The best ending yet, which proves that princesses always find true love."

Cabot, Meg. Princess in Love. Harper Teen: 2002.

Peaches

I was told that as a southern woman, I had to read Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson. I enjoyed reading this book because the way that Anderson plays young friendships off of nature and the spirit of hard work.

This book has three main characters that are so different the real entertainment begins when they start to become friends. Leeda is the "spoiled brat" who makes an appearance of being perfect but is the misfit within her own family. Birdie is her sheltered/ home-schooled cousin with a passion for her home and the survival of her family's peach orchard. Murphy is a brilliant student who lack guidance and a sense of direction. When they all three end up working at the peach orchard for the summer, some by choice and some not by choice, the relationships they develop will change each of their lives.

Spoiler Alert: The only problem that I have with this story is that Leeda sort gives Murphy her boyfriend. This feels wrong to me on so many levels, no matter how much Murphy and Rex loved each other.

Ann Brashares, the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, said that "Peaches is a sweet and delicious read." This is very true. I have to say that Peaches reminded me of a cross between The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Divine Secrets of the Ya- Ya Sisterhood. I'd buy this book as an addition to a middle school or high school library. It is part of a series that spans the gap between the maturity levels of middle school students and high school students.