When the Whistle Blows–Possible Newbery Contender?? October 20, 2009

When the Whistle Blows by Fran Cannon Slayton is what I would describe as a “Sleeper Hit” of a book. It’s sat in my pile of TBR since last November when I received an ARC at NCTE.  There was nothing about the title , the cover , or the back blurb that grabbed me. I was thinking it was the kind of book that would appeal to my husband, but it hadn’t made it’s way to the top of his pile yet either.

I can’t remember where I saw a little write-up about the book, but the cover looked familiar to me in a, “I am sitting on your shelf waiting to be read,” kind of way. Sure enough, there it was in my study with the other TBR books that don’t fit on my bedside stand.

I LOVED When the Whistle Blows. My husband woke this morning to find me crying over the book (again) while drinking my morning cup of coffee.

I can’t explain why the back blurb didn’t originally pull me in, since it is most of the first page of the book. When I started it this time, the first page grabbed me and would not let go.

The book has a unique format. Each chapter takes place one year after the previous chapter/story. Each story takes place on All Hallows’ Eve between 1943 and 1949.  The setting in Rowlesburg, West Virginia is at a time when the steam engine was still king, but in danger of being tipped from its pedestal by the new diesel locomotive.

The story is narrated in the voice of the main character, Jimmy.

A favorite uncle’s wake, a state championship football game, the new school principal’s refusal for students to take the day off for the start of hunting season, his father’s prediction of the demise of the steam engine train. None of these are stories that someone would be able to convince me under any circumstance that I would want to read about…yet…I couldn’t stop reading. I hung on every word. I was transported to Rowlesburg and felt as if Jimmy was my brother and his family, mine.

Perhaps it is the background I bring to the book:

My aunt’s home in Rocky River, Ohio had a railroad that went through the back yard less than 100 yards away. You can still hear the train when it comes through the country each week (less frequently each passing year).

The only song I remember my father singing to me as a child has the words, “when the whistle blows” in the chorus (Remarkable-I did not remember that little tidbit until I sat down to start writing this review! Now I need to find out what the rest of those words were!)

Just last week I was trying to explain to a parent new to town from the East Coast why some schools south of us are closed (for county fairs or first days of hunting season).

No matter the reason, I found this book a magical read. I hope it is strongly considered for a Newbery (and a Cybil). It haunts me like last year’s book The Underneath by Kathi Appelt.

Buy It!

Read It!

Write it up for Mock Newbery Contention!

It’s

Simply

Breathtaking!

Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff August 24, 2009

There’s a reason I don’t read Jodi Picoult. It involves the size of my eyelids the morning after I read one of her books. HUGELY PUFFY! Something happened when I had child number two-I can’t cry over a sad movie, show, or book right before bed without waking the next morning looking like my eyelids have been stung by bees. It’s not pretty.

This morning-puffy, swollen, bee-stung eyelids. Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff caused me to do some serious de-puffing this morning, but I loved this book! Sad books don’t always make great read-alouds, but I do believe that the conversations you could have make this a good consideration for a read-aloud. I don’t want to say anything else about the sadness, but boy is this a great book! The power of community to help a person heal-what a great message!

The main character Annie, is a girl I can relate to-she worries about everything! Bike safety, dangerous diseases, and more. She worries so much she has given up many of her favorite things to do, like racing on her bike with her best friend. Too dangerous. Now even though I can relate to Annie and her worries, the reason behind our compulsive worrying is not similar. We won’t go into my issues, but Annie feels she needs to do enough worrying to keep herself and her family safe. Through her friendship with an elderly, new, next-door neighbor, the reading of Charlotte’s Web (love books that reference other books!), and a few mishaps along the way, Annie learns that worrying isn’t as necessary or all-consuming as she was letting be.

I’m so happy I loved this book, which sounds like a silly thing to say, but it bothered me that I did not like Bernetta Wallflower when so many other people have liked it.  In my opinion it will become a kid’s classic in the same vein as The Bridge to Terabithia.

Other Reviews:

A Year of Reading

Literate Lives

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters July 3, 2009

The newest Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters is another hit written by Lenore Look and illustrated by LeUyen Pham. 

This book starts with Alvin up to his normal scaredy-cat antics and funny family adventures with a Houdini kit from his uncle. 

The above-mentioned uncle also gives him wilderness survival lessons and a Batman ring for good luck,  both of which are supposed to protect him from the disaster of having to camp with his father.

His brother helps him order survival gear with his dad’s emergency credit card, because what else would you order with an emergency credit card besides emergency survival gear? Right?

The relationship and his sister is highlighted in this book, and just like with his older brother, there are plenty of laughs and mishaps along the way.

This Alvin Ho is also great book to hook readers or get reluctant readers going! You can’t help but be drawn in by the illustrations, different fonts, and Alvin’s lists. 

I also love Alvin’s Very Scary Glossary at the end. What a fun way to introduce or reinforce glossaries to intermediate aged readers.

My second and fifth graders both loved having this book read to them, so if you are an elementary teacher or parent looking for a new read-aloud, look no further than Alvin Ho!

Extra Credit by Andrew Clements July 1, 2009

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know I ‘heart’ Andrew Clements so of course I had to pick up his newest book while I was buying books at Cover to Cover last week.

Extra Credit is another winner by Andrew Clements! Main character Abby is NOT a fan of school. She loves the outdoors and climbing, and has a hard time seeing the value of her classes (sound like any other Clements’ characters?). She is told she is not going to be able to go on to seventh grade if she does not get her act together in a big way (all B’s from then on and a randomly drawn extra credit project!).

Abby is assigned a penpal in Afghanistan who she needs to exchange at least four letters with, create a class display, and give an oral report to her class about the experience. She selected Afghanistan because of the countries her teacher had personal contacts in, Afghanistan was closest to mountains (Abby’s passion).

Across the other side of the world, Sadeed’s teacher requests permission from the Village’s Council for one of his students to be pen pals with an American student. It is decided that it would not be proper for the teacher’s recommended student Sadeed to write to the girl, but he is to supervise his younger sister’s writing of letters.

A friendship blossoms on both sides, with both Abby and Sadeed having an experience with bias about the other pen pal’s country. Both pen pals end up with much more than they bargained. 

A great “school story” by Andrew Clements that I think boys and girls will enjoy reading. It didn’t knock my Clements’ favorite School Story off its pedestal, but it is still a great new best book!

Soupy Saturdays with the Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume June 30, 2009

Soupy Saturdays with the Pain and the Great One was a great audio-book that my children and I enjoyed recently. We listened to the other Pain and the Great Ones by Judy Blume in succession and loved them as well. We had enjoyed the Superfudge books read by Judy Blume herself, but also really enjoyed the voices used to portray sister (aka-The Great One) and brother (aka-The Pain). I’m not sure which of the three of us found the stories the most amusing (I”m guessing me, since my daughter and son don’t recognize that they do so many similar things to The Pain and The Great One!) but we were driving around laughing at many of their episodes.

This book began the series started by Judy Blume’s picture book. I missed the books with my daughter so I am VERY excited to know about them for my son.

The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School by Laurie Halse Anderson June 26, 2009

The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School is a great new picture book by wonderful author, Laurie Halse Adnerson. Poor Zoe has wild, out-of-control hair that has a mind of it’s own. Not only does it have a mind of it’s own, but it can perform tasks  such as setting the table or cleaning. Now it wasn’t always poor zoe-her parents loved her hair. She loved her hair. Her kindergarten teacher loved her hair. But come first grade, Zoe became poor Zoe with a teacher that believes in RULES and order. The hair is attempted to be controlled, but it fights back. Hats-nope. Eventually scrunchies, barrettes, clips, headbands, rubber bands, bobby pins and duct tape-all at the same time are able to keep the hair under control.  

The story reminds me a little of Plantzilla by Jerdine Nolen and Brian Kielher and illustrated by one of favorite illustrators-David Catrow. In Plantzilla the plant, not the hair, has a life of its own and is able to perform some amazing feats. It would be fun to read the books back-to-back and look for similarities or differences.

I think kids (especially kindergartners and first graders) will find The Hair of Zoe very funny. It would be a good first week of school book when some students are apprehensive about their teacher. They, like Zoe, will find common ground with their new teacher and have a very good year.

Tunnels by Brian Williams & Roderick Gordon June 24, 2009

Tunnels by Brian Williams & Roderick Gordon was a great read. I had an ARC of Book Two and certainly wasn’t going to read Book 2-Deeper without having read the first! Tunnels was one of those books that I kept seeing around, but not ever going ahead and making the purchase. During my last trip to Cover to Cover, I picked it up again and was caught by ‘Soon To Be Made Into a Movie’ on the back cover and thought, “That does it. I have got to read this before trailers for a movie come out that RUIN the experience for me”. I’m obviously not a huge fan of books being made into movie for a whole lot of reasons. 

I really enjoyed the characters of Will Burrows, his bumbling father Dr. Burrows, and the rest of Will’s dysfunctional family. His friend Chester made me think, “I hope this is the only Harry Potter similarity”. Fortunately for me, it was. As the story unwinds, other great characters are introduced as well. 

The idea of an underground Colony of people was something that had never crossed my mind before so I really enjoyed how Will’s adventure through the layers introduced new worlds. The idea that humans are “Topsoilers” is a great description of many citizens.  

It wasn’t until I finished the book and started poking around on their website that I became aware that Tunnels was supposed to be the next “Harry Potter” with big royalties for the authors (How do two people write a book together?).  That’s a lot of hype to have to live up to. I’m glad I didn’t know that ahead of time, because it allowed me to read it without that type of critical lens. 

As I was reading, I was quite surprised when I came to Part 2 “The Colony” because I hadn’t anticipated as a reader that that was the direction (ha,ha-not meant to be a play on words) the authors were going. Even though the inside cover starts with “Where the End is Just the Beginning…” the strength of the story kept pulling me along so there were quite a few surprises that in retrospect, I might have been able to pick up more clues as I read.

I’m looking forward to reading Deeper later this summer. If you are a fan of 100 Cupboards or other fantasy books, Tunnels is for you!

Paper Towns by John Green June 20, 2009

This is my first John Green book, even though it is his third published book. Like Franki at A Year of Reading, I didn’t have much time to read YA as I did the elementary and intermediate fiction. I have always enjoyed YA, but since it is for older kids, I wanted to be reading things I could recommend to students. Since I changed jobs last summer, I now have middle/high school students I can talk YA books with so I am making an effort to read quite a bunch this summer. I have a few middle school teaching colleagues that have raved about John Green books, I’d read some “reviews that made me want to read the book”, and he’s a graduate of close-by Kenyon College. 

I loved the book (although there were a few parts that I didn’t feel read as smoothly as the majority of the book, which surprised me some. I also could have done without some of the teenage boy commentary, but reminded myself that they are the target audience, not me. The characters of Quentin, Ben, Lacey, Radar and Margo Roth Spiegelman are greatly developed. Although I wouldn’t have necessarily wanted to be friends with all of them, I could imagine them running around  my high school or a modern high school. For people in my age bracket, think 16 Candles or Breakfast Club kind of relationships and characters. I love that what I thought was going to be a strictly realistic fiction book has a great mystery flair throughout! I will be adding his other books to my pile for summer.  

John Green’s website with his brother can be found at nerdfighters.com. I know I’m going to need more time to explore it than I’ve had!

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson June 14, 2009

Wow! I wanted to stop reading many time because it was just so… disturbing. But like many fictional accounts or memoirs of mental illness, reading the book might be hard, but living through it is too hard for most to understand. Reading an account of mental illness might help you better understand someone that you know or will meet in the future. It can help you be a better teacher, mom, friend-since most won’t experience mental illness first hand, reading about it and realizing that anorexia, depression, and other mental illnesses are not something people can just “think” their way out of. 

Knowing what a deceptive illness cutting and/or eating disorders can be in middle schools and high schools, I felt I needed to read this book. Being a huge fan of Laurie Halse Anderson also helped add this book to my must-read pile.  The story of Lia and her best friend Cassie had me gripped in its clutches from the 

second I read the inside cover:

“dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls

“Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another.

I am that girl.

I am the space between my thighs, daylight streaming through.

I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

 

I knew it was going to be a difficult book to read. What I hadn’t planned for was how compelling it was going to be to read Lia’s thoughts and feelings. About herself. About her best friend. About eating.

The painful descent into the iron grips of mental illness that holds its victims hostage in the arms of anorexia.

The online chat rooms where bulimic and anorexics share their best tips, gather support from others like them…

The cutting…

The inability to be “seen” by anyone…

The obsession with her number…

Her preparing food and baking for her little sister, yet never ingesting a bite…

Anderson is such a lyrical writer, so decriptive. This is just one of many lines that really stood out to me when I was reading,

“The doc would be horrified. All his work, gone, in the endless loop of snot-gray crayon. He would have called my parents and there would be more consultations (meter running, thousands of insurance dollars ticking away), and he would have adjusted my med again, one pill…to make my self-of-steam larger, another to make my craziness small…” (p. 82)

If you are a fan as well or would like to read more about Laurie Halse Anderson, check out June’s issue of  School Library Journal cover story. Add her to your Must-Read Pile for the summer.

A is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet May 5, 2009

A is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet by Stephen T. Johnson is a great new(er) book that I picked up as a gift for an art teacher friend. Having read it to my children, I now believe that art teachers and classroom teachers need to have this book. It could be a whole year’s worth of word study with the alliteration and vocabulary .