American Born Chinese

I have already figured out that I don't particularly love graphic novels.  I recently read The Tempest in graphic novel form and was not a fan.  I assumed that because I didn't like The Tempest, I would not enjoy American Born Chinese also.  To my shock and surprise, American Born Chinese was a very enjoyable and enlightening read.  The book tells great stories about issues that students will face, especially in middle school.  Lots of great themes surface in the book including fitting in with peers and dealing with stereotypes in school.  This book could spark such great discussion among students about how to treat others and what's important in life.  For middle school students, it would be very beneficial as sometimes they need a little help with how to treat one another.

The illustrations go great with the story and the words were very easy to follow on the page.  It was quite a quick read which I think would hold true for middle school students as well.  I also think it would be a useful introduction to graphic novels...I consider it one for myself.  I was confused about one aspect of it.  Tze-Yo-Tzuh basically quoted Psalm 139 at one point, and some parts in particular seemed very symbolic of stories in the Bible.  I just could not ever decide though how religious of a text it really was though.  Like was the author trying to make a point with the incorporation of the Biblical references? I couldn't ever decide.  Any thoughts?
  

Biography Picture Books

Ella Fitzgerad: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa, by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney

This book was really cute.  The illustrations were absolutely gorgeous and a little more abstract than normal I think.  A variety of color was used throughout the illustrations which will keep students interested throughout the book.  One of the great qualities of the book was that it was more than just a list of facts about Fitzgerald, but was most definitely a story that children could be entertained by.  The author wrote about how Fitzgerald actually failed before she became successful.  A story like this one is sure to inspire students to continue trying even when the first few times aren't successful.  The book was told through the voice of a Scat Cat who also appears on every page.  There are also little "chapters" of the book referred to as tracks like on a record.  I thought these aspects might have had a little too much going on for the story in some regards.  With so much going on in the story, I think younger students may find it a little hard to follow.  Overall though, it's an entertaining, colorful book that tells a great story about an African-American female who overcame adversity to be very successful!

Abraham Lincoln, by Amy L. Cohn and Suzy Schmidt, pictures by David A. Johnson

While giving the facts, this book is also written to tell a story about the life of Abraham Lincoln.  The illustrations are nice, not too bright, but are great for the story.  Most of the facts in the book, I had heard before about Lincoln. One thing I did really love about the book was that it had direct quotes from Lincoln.  Almost every page contained one.  At first, I thought it was strange how much the author focused on Lincoln's tall stature, but on the last page, a picture of the Lincoln Memorial accompanies the words, "He looks like a giant, doesn't he? He was."  These few words say a lot about Lincoln's life and how he poured himself into efforts like uniting the country during the Civil War and fighting for the freedom of slaves.  This would be a great book to use for teaching Lincoln, presidents, or the Civil War! 

Choosing Not to Read

This article was very insightful.  Being a person who loves to read and who always has, it is sometimes hard for me to understand why someone wouldn't like to read.  I have often thought about how I would deal with students who didn't like to read as I would have to be the person who made them read and want to be the person who inspired a love of reading in them.  I know that a lot of middle school students are not fond of reading, but I think the article helped me realize it may be more than I originally thought.  It really inspired me to want to cultivate a love of reading in my students, but more than that, to advocate how important of a role parents play in students ability and love for reading.

I grew up with a grandmother, mother, and aunt who constantly read to me, bought books for me, took me to the library, and would spend any amount of time or money on my love of reading and books.  I knew that these were the reasons I loved it so much, but I never thought about if my situation had been the opposite.  If I had not had one member of my family who took an interest in introducing me to and keeping a passion for books and reading, would I have loved it? After reading this article, I'm not sure I would.  My heart breaks to know that students possibly hate to read because a parent or family member did not nurture that so important need in a child's life.  

Another realization that made me sad was to realize that students hate reading because of what we, teachers and educators, have turned it into.  I think the interview with Katy, which is repeated twice in the article, puts it the best:

“So, Katy, what should I tell teachers to do so that they can help students like to read?”

“Tell them to ask the students what they thought. No teacher ever asked me what I thought. And when I start to tell them what I thought, they say, ‘We all have our opinions, but what does the story tell us?’ and you know what that really means? That really means what I think isn’t important. But maybe it is; maybe it was important to me.”

Katy's thoughts simply prove how important it is to recognize children's thoughts, not just about literature, but about everything.  Children need to know their thoughts are important and valued.  Honestly, if I was told that my thoughts didn't matter, I wouldn't like the subject it pertained to either.  Teachers must keep in mind that they do have control over how much a student can grow to love reading in their classroom. Teachers have to create a classroom environment which allows readers to grow in their passion and love for reading. 

On a final note, society as a whole has to put an emphasis back on reading.  Students interviewed in the article cited things like TV, Internet, and video games time and time again as past times that were more entertaining and exciting than reading a book.  We, as a world, as educators, as parents, have a duty to show children the magic, adventure, emotion, and love that can be found between the cover of a book.

The link to the article is below.  It is well worth the thirty or so minutes it might take you to read it:

http://www.csun.edu/~krowlands/Content/Academic_Resources/Reading/Useful%20Articles/Beers-Choosing%20not%20to%20Read.pdf

The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum

I picked this book out in the library because I wanted a biography about someone different, someone whom I didn't really know anything about.  Before reading this, the only thing I knew about Barnum was in reference to Barnum and Bailey's Circus.  I have come to find out there was quite a lot I didn't know! Fleming does a fabulous job of telling the story of Barnum's entire life from childhood all the way to death and everything in between.  She covers his years of owning museums in New York as well as his many personal and financial struggles.  I thoroughly enjoyed learning just how much of a prankster Barnum was and how he shaped American history.  

The book is a little lengthy, but I think it's completely worth the read.  It includes all black and white pictures and photos from Barnum's life, but they are all very interesting and worth looking at.  There are also black inserts on a lot of pages offering extra information like information about Barnum's hometown and circus talk.  I think the book could most definitely be used for middle schoolers.  If I was doing a unit on biographies and requiring students to read a biography, I would most definitely recommend this one. It is around 130 pages, but a student could probably read it in a week's time at most.  The author keeps the reader invested wanting to find out what happens next in Barnum's roller coaster of a life.  Great for middle school students or adults! Fascinating story about an extremely interesting man!

Informational Text Picture Books

Georgia: Past and Present, by Stephanie Watson

This book offered a lot of interesting information about Georgia.  The information wasn't an overwhelming amount and covered a variety of facts about Georgia.  The charts, maps, and photos were also very helpful and showed important facts about the state.  This book wasn't necessarily anything special, but it did give valuable information about Georgia and could be used in a Georgia studies class or as a source to gather information about Georgia.  The glossary and lists of important facts and events in the back of the book are also useful.

The Battle of Bull Run: Confederate Forces Overwhelm Union Troops, by Wendy Vierow

  













This book was interesting.  It was a little lower reading level than I initially thought it would be, but it would be great for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders.  I really liked that it was set up like newspaper headlines and articles.  Each page/section also had an illustration or picture that went along with it which was nice.  The book covered a bit more than just the Battle of Bull Run which I was a little disappointed in because I thought it would just that battle.  It seemed to be slightly scattered because it started by talking about Bull Run, then the beginning of the Civil War, then Bull Run again, and then after Bull Run.  Overall though, it was a good informational text and would be great for younger middle grades students. 

Hitler Youth

I felt like this book was very interesting and informative.  I've always been pretty interested in WWII and all the historical events surrounding it including the Holocaust and Hitler.  I hadn't really ever read anything specifically about the Hitler Youth until this book.  It definitely opened my eyes as to how Hitler was able to so easily take over Germany by going through the younger generation.  One reason I find teaching middle school appealing is because of the stage the students are at in their lives.  Adolescents are so easily influenced and want to fit in with their peers. Hitler really capitalized on this characteristic of young teenagers and took full advantage of it to win over the German people.  For this reason, I think this is a useful event of WWII for middle school students to study.  It shows how their generation can have a tremendous impact on the history of the world.  Not only did the Hitler Youth participate in negative activities, but many of them tried to rebel against Hitler and ultimately lost their lives because of it.  Students can learn great lessons from these stories about bravery, courage, and standing up for what one believes is right.  As far as using this book for middle school students, I'm not quite sure the best way to use it.  If I was teaching on WWII, I might would read snippets from it to the class.  I would also recommend it as a resource to use on a paper or project.  As far as handing it to a student to read, I just don't know about.  It was A LOT of information and slightly overwhelming.  I couldn't imagine a middle schooler being able to make it through the whole book without getting weighed down with all the material, especially if they weren't extremely interested in Hitler Youth.  Although it was written with stories in some parts, I think a book with more specific stories about less characters would be more enjoyable for middle schoolers.  Overall, I enjoyed the informative parts of the book and was really enlightened as to how Hitler managed to conquer Germany as he did.

Poetry Picture Books

Pigmares...by Doug Cushman

I thought this book was adorable and creative while still being very appropriate for middle school students, even the older middle grades. All the poems are based off scary movies that have been turned into poems about pigs.  I would definitely use this book while teaching a poetry unit to not only show students really great poems that are creative, but also to inspire them to write poems like these.  Reading this book and then turning things like movies or stories into poems in a different context would be a great class activity to really channel students' creativeness.  I also think this would be a book that could be read to a class to then discuss the poems and the rhetorical devices they use like rhyme and line breaks.  The illustrations also really go with the poems.  I would really love to see a class compose a book like this one that could be used in a younger classroom even!

The Company of Crows...written by Marilyn Singer...illustrated by Linda Saport

I really enjoyed this book.  Definitely written on a higher level than the previous book.  It's a little more abstract, both the poetry and the illustrations.  I think this would definitely be good for an older middle school poetry unit both to analyze poetry and inspire students to write it.  I loved how the titles of every poem were incorporated into the pictures and how the poems capitalize on different aspects of crows.  I've grown to really love authors notes and this one was great.  The author talked about how he wrote this to change reader's perspectives on crows as most people think they're evil, but they are really loyal, faithful, and good parents. 

Locomotion

When I was told we had to read a poetry book for this class, I was less than thrilled.  I DO NOT LIKE POETRY.  Reading a poem now and then is ok, but a whole story told just from poems...no way.  My very unenthusiastic attitude changed within the first few pages though.  Lonnie instantly captured my heart, sympathy, and respect.  What a kid! He's suffered so much in his young life, yet he is far stronger than he realizes.  And he's a phenomenal poet, especially for his age.  The author did such a great job of incorporating Lonnie's daily life into poems.  This is definitely something I did not think was possible for a whole book.  I also think that if the book had not been written in poems, I wouldn't have gotten as emotionally attached to the story as I did. Lonnie's emotions were much rawer than they would have been had the story been told just in prose.  I think this book would be great to use in any middle school classroom, especially when teaching about poetry.  Students could see that poetry doesn't have to be complicated or have deep, secret meanings.  The subjects of poems can simply be how one is feeling that day, a memory, or what is happening at that moment.  Students can also learn that they can be great poets...it doesn't take a professional or a teacher to be able to express themselves through poetry.  I'm really glad we got to read a poetry novel as it opened my eyes to how great poetry can be!