Three Cool Kids by Rebecca Emberley 1995

This is a 3 Billy Goats Gruff story set in the heart of a city where an enormous rat tries to keep the goats from crossing the street. The illustrations are interesting because they are collage format using scrapbooking types of paper. In this story, there is a reason for needing to change and the setting is pretty well developed against the characters. I'm always looking for other ways people tell the stories the children are familiar with. This is a good one especially in word choice. The words squincha squincha squincha describing the sound of sneakers...kachinga, chinga, chinga describing bracelets and kalomp, kalomp, karangalanglangalanga are fun words to say and repeat because this has, of course, maintained it storytelling style. I wondered when I saw the spelling of the name if this is the same family that did the drawing books. Anyone know?

Scribble by Deborah Freedman (2007)

This is a great picture book. I suspect all adults with kids would really enjoy, but kids would too...I'm sure. She is an architect with real daughters that must have been the creative impetus for this book. Two little girls about 4-5 and 7 are discussing, arguing, about their respective pictures. The initial pictures are pencil with watercolors and very nicely done using speech bubbles. The argument culminates with the younger one scribbling all over the beautiful detailed princess of the other. The fun part is how the scribbled picture comes alive and decides to save the princess. The pictures are all that we know good illustrations to be. It's well worth sharing.

Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilla Giff

As I brush the tears from my eyes and blow my nose, I am reminded of just how real this war was, World War II. Michael, my son, went to Iraq several years ago and returned. I remember the waiting and hoping. I was hoping above hope all through the story that Lily's father would return and that Albert would find his sister. And, it did end well. Consequently, the tears. It was the first book I've read in a while where someone felt good about the fight...about the need for freedom and independence. Most people these days are negative. I related more to the Grandmother than the girl I suppose because I had my 9 year old grandson here last summer and I always felt I was saying and doing the wrong thing with him. Lily certainly seemed to feel that way about his grandmother. Other books this summer have had Grandmothers that had to take the place of moms and in every single one, she is not appreciated for who she is because she has had to take the role of caregiver. Then I remembered two of my kids last year who were being taken care of by their grandmother. In that case, they didn't appreciate them much either...just looked for ways to fight them.
This was a well written book, with realistic characters,and a clear descriptive setting. The plot which centered around friendships was dynamic and realistic. Friends do make a difference for each other. I still worry about kids perceptions of grown ups. This is the third or fourth book now where grownups don't seem to be able to be trusted. I wonder if that's true of all kids or whether just in these author's perceptions. I can see why it was a Newberry Honor Book.

The Doll People by Ann M Martin & Laura Godwin

There are several sets of books about people that are little and live in or next to houses. When one of my girls picked this up this year, I wondered how close this was to the Littles or the Borrowers, and I found out that it was delightfully different. Of course, some of the things must be, by nature similar. For example, small people's ability to get around in a huge space is basically the same. The issues of cats and other animals in their relationships. However, being dolls changes the whole scope of these ideas because it has one unique situation. These dolls act like they come alive when humans cannot see them and if by chance humans do see them, they have to be part of Doll State for 24 hours where they absolutely cannot move. If they really mess up, they become ordinary dolls forever...no secret life, no life at all. period. The story line is very similar to the other small people books. One of them has been missing for a long time and all of a sudden, after 30 years, the daughter wants to explore and find her. The sentences are of varying length. The characters are expected. The language does not push the limits, but the story is fun. I can see why my young lady stayed with it and finished it, enjoying every word. She did not start out the year as a good reader and this is a long book, so I wasn't sure she would finish. It was the comfortable way the book was written that kept her entralled. That makes it a good book.

the mysterious edge of the heroic world by E. L. Konigsburg

I haven't read anything by this author since the Mixed-Up Files. As I got farther into the book, I remembered how hard it was to get into the first one. In this one, there are two very precocious young men who develop a friendship around a mutual "old lady" (neighbor) with an exotic, perhaps dated past. Amandeus is fascinated by this neighbor and all that she was. When she begins to process the antiques in her home prior to moving into a senior facility, he and William whose mother is in charge of the process of "downsizing" a mystery surfaces about a painting... Enough said without ruining the story. It moves quickly from a present situation into a reflection of historical fiction. The young people are not very believable to me, but then I do not live on the East Coast where these kind of kids are more likely to flourish. Amandeus is from New York City previously and moved to Florida where his mother is an executive. His father remains an artist in the North East. His friend William is not a normal kid either because he has the maturity to be his mother's partner. Although they are not types I've every seen in kids, the story of their relationship is very believable. She puts just enough into the story to keep me reading and the amazing history in the last chapters is fascinating. Looking into the requirements of good literature by Tunnell and Jacobs is not always easy. It seems like I think of my own classroom and which students would be likely to read a book like this and whether I could interest anyone in it. So, have I become jaded in the Title I sense that my students being 77% free and reduced lunch would not be interested in stories that are either not fanciful to them, easy to read or part of TV or movies? I hate to think that. So as I continue to read, I find myself thinking past the book to my children. Koningsburg has a unique, but distinctive style and I am going to look up her as soon as I can. Is it a man or woman? Hmmmm.

A Bear Named Trouble by Marion Dane Bauer

The first time I've read a Marion Dane Bauer book and it was obvious from the very beginning that her word choice was specific, definitive and designed to bring the reader into the story. I was there from the beginning. She designed the story around a true event that took place in Anchorage although the children in the story are not real. It amazes me in these stories I've read this summer how independent the children seemed to be in their thinking. In this one, it happens as well. Although this boy's father is a zookeeper, and he seems to know some very specific things about how dangerous animals can be, and it is repeated in this story, still the boy makes decisions that could have gotten him in a lot of trouble. I liked how the the author tried to get inside the motivations of the bear. I also liked the way the boy tries to get inside the mind of the animals he likes. What I didn't like was the subliminal message about parents. Maybe I'm seeing it wrongly. It seems like parents are not to be considered authorities on anything if they disagree about what you, as a kid, want to do. In Jerry Spinelli's Eggs, the kids sneak out and do all sorts of things without anything bad happening to them, and it is accepted. In this book, the kid sneaks out, leaves an actual loaf of bread for the bear, and then later actually follows the bear without his father knowing. It all turns out, but I guess I'm thinking that that is the beauty of the book; it CAN all work out. In real life, there are a lot of hurting people out there because it doesn't work out, and they do get hurt, and it isn't fixable. I wonder why authors have this underlying thought. Are adults so unreliable?

No Talking by Andrew Clements

I was surprised as I began this story how blatent it seemed. The language was definitely not such that you would draw conclusions from it. It was very directive and generalized. However, as the story developed, I found myself chuckling about how the author used this technique to make his point. I didn't bother me after a while In fact, the style enhanced the story line. Andrew Clements is writing to the kids about how kids are and it worked. I enjoyed the story and would probably read it again.

Maggie's Door By Patricia Reilly Giff

I was eager to continue with the story from Nory Ryan's Song until I actually started. I found myself feeling so much pain and wishing it would just be over. I had to put the book down for a while. The pain in knowing that these historical events really happened. That people walked shakily onward hoping for something to be better just up the road, stealing and hurting each other for what they thought they could have. It reminded me of my friends who had newly arrived from Thailand having snuck through the jungles of Cambodia each older child with 1 other child and unbelievably finding each other when they arrived at the border camp. There were 12 children and the parents. The trouble I had then was realizing that although they thought the US was going to solve their problems a whole new set of problems came with it, linguistically especially as they tried to find things to do that fit what they could have done there. I couldn't help but put Nora and her family into that framework of hold on, it might not be over yet. Though...in reality, nothing could be as bad as what they had experienced. I'm glad Nory found her family on the boat, glad she found Sean, and glad they made it. I wonder what the author would say in the continuing saga. Would it be Esperanza like? I couldn't read that one yet. I suspect that I need something funny for a bit, or at least science fiction...not historical.

Nora Ryan's Song by Patricia Reilly Giff

Hardship, struggle, dying for food , being ignored or used by another group of people was wrenching. I'm glad she chose to write another book about Nora and I'm planning to read it today. This is one of the few that I continued to the finish immediately. At first I had trouble with the Irish words. I was glad she put a small glossary at the beginning so that I could check back. And I thought, how hard it would be in America for them. Knowing a little of the Irish struggles in New York and all of the things I've heard over time, I wonder if they felt it was worth it. I appreciated her comments at the back of the book that described her going over and talking and feeling. She was certainly able to communicate this feeling in her story. What a long way she has come since Polk Street School started. The development of her word choice was particularly exciting for me. The Polk Street gang have been staples in my library for a long time, but not as read as this will be. Wow.

Love that Dog by Sharon Creech

The kid is responding and not refusing and frankly that's remarkable. Usually, if a kid doesn't want to, they just don't. I was impressed. I was impressed by the way the teacher handled it also. I wonder if she wrote back or just talked to him. It all came together in the end.

The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech

Another story with a great ending...but not so strong beginning and middle. You have to hang on to finish. Good word choice, believable characters, believable setting and therefore probably well written. I did read Love that Dog recently. I liked it. Would a kid read it? I'm not sure. I need to try others by her.

Crash by Jerry Spinelli

When I started this, I had a young man about 13 in my car and asked how he chose what he read. He said he read the first chapter and if he liked it he would keep reading, otherwise, he doesn't read. So I asked him to read this one, and he would not have chosen it. The last few days I have been reading with a different lense. What is it that draws a kid to read? Is it the easyness? Is it that it's expected? In reading Crash, I almost put it down a few times because of the amount of bullying and the acceptance of bullying in the whole first 134 pages of the book. There are only 162 altogether. I know he was building to a point, and I know as a teacher I would love to read it aloud to a class, but then they have to listen. They don't have to read. By the end, the kid changed but really hard things had to happen in his life which had nothing to do with parents, school or discipline of anybody. Do those kinds of things happen to other bullys or is the school world full of situations just like this one where no one does anything and the bullys do not change and the kid bullied can't handle it anymore and...well, you see what I mean.

Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantos

I was turned off by this book from the beginning. Although it was descriptively written, I'm sorry, there are too many kids just like this one for me to want to read about it. Somehow it frustrates me. I wonder if Jack Gantos really knows someone like this in order to tell it in first person and I wonder what brought about this particular character.

Just Ella - Margaret Peterson Haddix

A Cinderella story. After the engagement, she was disgruntled by nothing to do except "royal" stuff. She was lonely being trained. A quote I thought was so much a part of society at that time is
"duty as women - be protected from unpleasantness, so that our minds and our soul - and our brows - shall be unsullied by worry. Women were created to be like flowers, providing color and beauty to the world. We leave troubling matters to men." pg. 18

Women's perspective has changed so much. I wonder if it wouldn't have been nice to have a little of both - respect and protection by men and yet freedom to be a viable part of life...

There were a few things she said that I found worthy of adding to my booklet of quotes. I'm looking forward to reading more of this author.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - DeCamillo

A delightful and intuitive book that reminded me of the Velveteen Rabbit. This rabbit's journey was much different and long range. The question I would ask is, "Would kids really get the part about loving?' "Would they really understand the purpose of the journey?" They don't really say what the answer is, but in the course of his journey and of his being loved, he had a heart. He never becomes real, but he does go full circle. I wonder, if, in the aging process, we go full circle through to understanding what we could not understand in our past. It is good to love and be loved.

The Secret School by Avi

Another time in history...another kid taking leadership and showing strength. I liked the story, but I've read too much Avi at one time. Again, the idea that something has to remain a secret to be successful is a theme that I don't appreciate in children's writing. Surely, adults can be trusted sometime, at least that's what we want our children to believe. At least in this story, Ida shares with her parents. She finds them supportive and finally, when being caught out by the district supervisory, she finds support. In the process, she did find she could do what she needed to do and that the adults who were able to made a positive difference for her. So...yea! adults are trustworthy...some at least.

Eggs by Jerry Spinelli

Sorry. I know he writes uniquely. I remember Maniac Magee, but this was very uncomfortable to me. Maybe because I have a 9 year old grandson. I would not read it again, but I also will not forget it. What power that child had? Are children supposed to have that kind of power?

The Traitors' Gate by Avi

Avi's done it again in a whole different period of time. 19th century this time. A whole different character. It's amazing that the kid is the hero and that he is strong and courageous from beginning to end. - I wonder how many families at that time were really like that. They reminded me a little of Mary Poppins...not her, but the father and mother. Father is always the leader, Mother with no choices except to make her children marry well. Although in this case, the mother really did not come off well. I'm not sure what the title had to do with it, or who really was the traitor...although I know who it really was. The issue was the power of a kid.

Crispin by Avi

Wow, trying to get a sense of an author and to find something so very different from the snail and ant one. This book reminded me of a book I had just finished set in this period of time, the 14th century. The thing that impressed me from the other book is just how set the authority is and how miserable the regular people are and how few are the choices. To win in this situation is unbelievable. The other book described a flaying and I was sickened, never having really understood what it was or how it came to be. I can't find that other book and do not remember its name, but the impact was clear. So....when I picked up Crispin and started into it, I was astonished by the same feeling coming very quickly. At first, I really thought he Crispin had a mental problem, but as the story moved on, it was just a lack of education and expectation. Isn't it amazing that someone could be a completely different person inside with just a little belief, education and sense of who they are. He was a completely different person at the end. I wondered if such a thing as being a "wolf's head" really existed. And, by the way, it's nice to have a happy ending no matter what anyone thinks. Marilyn

The End of the Beginning by Avi

A very quick book to read with a lot of insight and a few chuckles. Avon the snail reads. He not only reads, but decides he must have an adventure. In the process of beginning, he meets a friend, an ant. I could not figure out at first whether it was a joke or not. Each chapter is only a few pages long and has the insight of Winnie the Pooh especially since each chapter has "in which" in it. This is one I will read to my children. They will get a few chuckles also. - surprisingly wonderful characters.

Twice Told Tales

I think I have two blogs now. Sometimes computers really frustrate me. Amazing.