Raising Awareness about Human Trafficking

Welcome to Wish List Wednesday!

I have been reading the articles that were assigned to us for our 3^rd blog post this week, books addressing diversity.

Some of the books that are mentioned in the articles titled

 “Here I Am” http://www.cbcdiversity.com/post/100506934058/here-i-am and

“How Cross-Racial Scenes in Picture Books Build Acceptance” http://www.slj.com/2014/05/diversity/how-cross-racial-scenes-in-picture-books-build-acceptance/  a few books mention in the articles have made it to my wish list.

I work with a diverse group of students each weeks so this topic hits home for me.  I enjoy learning about how children can learn to accept and mix with each other from the stories they have access to as well as playing on the playground with each other.  Also, like Pinkney the author of “Where am I?” (the article mentioned above) I have always felt like I could not find myself in the stories I read because of ethnicity and the color of my skin.

 I have enjoyed the children’s books focused on diversity that I have read this week and hope my fellow Lit. Mates have as well?

 I will share more of the books that I have read this week with you next Monday, but for now these are on my wish list because they are not yet available at my local library.

Yo! Yes? (Yo!)

by Chris Raschka

Literary Awards

Caldecott Honor (1994)

A book appropriate for 1-4^th grade intended to motivate diverse readers to befriend each other.  Tolerance and richness of interracial friendship seem to be the two themes of this book.

This is child’s book of less than 40 words so I am intrigued to see how the pictures bring to life the budding friendship between an African American boy and his cohort a White boy.

My Friend Jamal

by Anna McQuinn (Goodreads Author), Ben Frey (Illustrator)

Front and center on this children’s book is a White boy and Black boy both are the same age and in sharp contrast to each other.  We readers are told that the two are born a few days apart and happen to be best friends.  This book shows young readers some of difference in the two boys.

Religion is one difference the boys have.  One of the boys is a Muslim and when he visits the home of his friend, his friends mother shows respect by serving him only foods that his religion accepts.  One boy has a health impairment that is potentially fatal and even with this challenge the story shares with us is value as a friend.

I want to read this book so that I can see how similarities can bring cultures together rather than focusing on cultural differences.

Jojo’s Flying Side Kick

by Brian Pinkney

This story stars a little girl (who happens to be Black American) who has her heart set on getting her yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do.  She needs to face her fears and find a way to help herself to achieve her goals. I think this will be light read with a powerful message.

 

Thank you for reading and I look forward to you reading your posts 🙂

Hello and Good Morning Lit. Mates!

Bridge to Terabithia (Unabridged)

by Katherine Paterson

Literary Awards

Newbery Medal (1978), Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1978), Zilveren Griffel (1983), Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Nominee (1979)

This book fits into my Semester Challenge in two ways, it is a Newbery award winner and it is also on the Banned and Challenged list.  Several states banned this book in schools because of the use of profanity, elaborate mystical fantasy, and their thoughts that the book could mislead children.

Readers are guided through this mysterious story that can easily blend with our own experiences.  The theme to this story is friendship, particular to this story is that the friendship is between a boy and girl and based on the uniqueness of each.

Jess Arron’s the main character along with his best and only friend Leslie Burk.  Leslie is a Tom boy and the only child to hippie parents.  Jess is a boy who wants to be the fastest runner in school, he is also artistic (the only artist in his family).  He is from a family of 5 children and his parents have little money. Jess has tension is life daily, he is the only boy in the family, he has little in common with his father, his mother has high demands from him at such a young age, and there in Janis Avery the bully at school.  He becomes friends with Leslie Burks who is the only person at school that is a faster runner than he is. Though she beats him in the race he wants to win.

bridge

These two children are from very different families and yet they become best friends and build the sacred place of Terabithia, a fort across a stream from where they live in the country.  They enjoy playing in their secret world where they are king and queen and fight enemies and have many other adventures.

One day Jess goes to a museum and while he is gone Leslie dies. Just like that! Things are moving along in the school year they are plotting revenge on Janis Avery and BOOM, something horrific happens that Jess cannot reconcile the entire mood of the book shifts. Now Jess is the fastest runner in the 5th grade.  Jess is distraught and lonesome but discovers friendship in his sister who will become the new Queen of Terabithia

Also this past week I was able to slide in a few picture books.

The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin (with CD)

by Joe Troiano, Susan Banta (Illustrator)

The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano and Susan Banta

Spookley The Square Pumpkin was born a misfit until he found is purpose!  This is children’s fiction book with a holiday theme.

Who Am I? Snowy Animals

by DK Publishing

This peep whole book is for 0-preschool as the book is read to them they can  discover animals that live in cold places like Siberia! They will learn about birds and mammals in this board book. The animals are presented in a warm fuzzy way and the entire book is interactive.

The Runaway Bunny (Over the Moon #1)

by Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illustrator)

This is a children’s picture board book that is unique because every other page is black and white pictures followed by the following pages being full color. Bunny seems to be testing his mother’s love as he tells her that he will run away from her and she reassures him no matter where he goes she will go and find him. This is a heartwarming book that reassures young minds that they are loved. Recommended for all age groups.

Gator

by Randy Cecil

Gator is a carousel animal in this beginning readers picture book. Gator leaves his friend the duck to go out into the world with an empty heart after the carousel shuts down. He finds no solace out in the world but does find a family who remembers him and is willing to go back to the carousel for a ride, so Gator leads the way as others follow.

I Love You, Good Night
by Jon Buller, Susan Schade, Bernadette Pons (Illustrations)

This children’s book is enough to make anyone have a heartwarming smile. It is meant to read as a bed time story and is filled with many ways to tell a child in reassuring way how much they are loved. This picture book can quiet the fears of a child as a caregiver in a silly tone or serious tone tells the child how much they are loved. I would recommend this book for all ages 0-99 years!

One Sunny Day
by Tammi Salzano

This is a fun silly book that holds the attention of toddlers and preschool children because of the bright atractive pictures.  A reader can find silly pictures in this board book that has a tactile shiny sun on each page and a cuddly bear wearing his star sunglasses. Toddlers and preschoolers will love this story has the bear travels through a sunny day in a sandbox and much more.

Elvis The Rooster Almost Goes To Heaven (I Can Read Level 3) by Denys Cazet

Rocky the duck (I think he is a duck maybe he is a goose?) saves the day in this children’s picture book.  The problem is Elvis’ Rooster pride getting in his way. So, when he stays in bed waiting to die because he thinks he’s lost his purpose, his friend Rocky gets all the chickens rallied together to help Elvis get his “pluck” or was it “cluck” back and be an awesome rooster again.

One thing that caught my attention was the chapter book format for the newly independent reader.  In this book a child can demonstrate to themselves their ability to read whole chapters while learning how to take care of others.

Reading Challenge Check In

Hip! HIP! Hooray! I have kept up with my reading challenge.  I have read from both the Banned and Challenged List and Newbery award winners.  I wanted to take a minute and post a few books from the Banned and Challenged list that I read a few weeks ago and not yet added into my blog.

 

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

This fiction picture chapter book is on the banned and challenged list in multiple schools. It is charged with teaching children to be deceitful and that the story does not build socially responsible character. It is also charged with teaching children to curse and to lie.
This is classic picture book that was originally published in an era that fueled racial tensions. This book has many curse words and has projections of smoking, drinking and racial remarks.
The main characters in this book are a variety of garden animals and boy named James. James is an orphan taken in by his two abusive Aunts who are smashed to death by the peach.
The giant size peach created by a magic potion serves as the transportation to a new life. James and his friends are seeking a new life and find it when they arrive in America form Europe. All through the story there are conflicts and adventure. The adventure can been felt when you read about Cloud Men and how they build rainbows. It is also a treat to read the how Mr. Short Horned Grasshopper makes music with his body to entertain his friends. Climax falls when the peach lands on the Empire State Building and everyone is rescued and they begin a new life

 

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

This book is the banned and challenged list it is charged with being affiliated with Nazism.  Additionally, it is banned in several institutions and in Europe because the character, Piglet is said to be on offense to Islam.  Other charges in the United States say that that similar to the view of Muslims, the characters or rather talking animals are offensive to the Christian God.
In this story a Tree loves a boy and boy loves the tree they are the two characters as well. The setting is hard to decipher but it is in a forest far removed from others. The tree offers a place for fun as the boy is young and as the boy grows older the tree offers apples to the boy so that he can make money that he is seeking. The tree was happy when it was able to provide for the boy. In the end the boy was an old man and the tree thought it had nothing more to provide but instead found that her stump offered an appreciated resting place. The boy was appreciative and the tree was happy.

Also, on the Banned and Challenged list I found this NOT child appropriate book. Now if it belongs on the list or not is not for me to say of course.  I am posting this book here only because the cover got me initially, the cover said, “for kids” to me anyway, so I started the read… I wanted to share that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, ever!

I am going to need to modify my challenge a bit so that I can reach the 250-book mark by the end of the semester.  So, I will keep reading as many Banned and Challenged and/or Newbery winning books as possible but it may be less that one per week so that I can I dive into more children’s books.  Most inviting to me is the list of wordless picture books that Dr. Ellington shared.

Hope you all have a Sunny Saturday and I will blog you on Monday!

Hi everyone I hope you enjoy this review of

The Wish Giver (unabridged) by Bill Brittian

Literary Awards

Newbery Honor (1984), Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Nominee (1985)

This long read chapter book is fiction/fantasy and fits in perfect to my semester challenge.  I need to report that I am not a fan of fantasy but this was a good read that I will recommend because of the larger than life events that occur in the lives of the Coventry Tree Community.

Plot

The Plot includes traveling circus sinister man who sells 4 wish cards to 3 children and one adult.  He is clear however that the wish the card holders ask for what they absolutely want because once they make a wish that wish will come true.  The turning point in this plot was for me, was at the very end of the book in the epilog when Stew Meat the butcher used his Wish Card to reverse the ill effects of the other 3 wishes that had gone horribly wrong.

The main characters in this fantasy story are Polly Kemp a young pessimistic girl who is lonesome, Rowena a love-struck teenager and Adam Fisk a young boy who wants to help the family farm survive.

Rowena uses her wish card to keep Henry the young salesman she is in love with rooted in Coven Tree.  The wish comes true just as Thaddaeus Blinn the wicked doer from the carnival said it would.  Only now Henry her love is planted firmly and literally in the ground and becomes a talking tree as he cannot move.  Of course, the wish is not fate and therefore Rowena quickly realizes he is not the man for her, yet something must be done to change him back into the walking talking manipulator he is.

Polly poor angry foul mouth Polly makes her wish at the same time as Rowena.  She holds her card, makes a wish for others to like her and for especially one girl to be her friend.  She quickly is granted her wish and finds that she is not able to speak her foul language anymore as a matter of fact her words are replaced with Jug-a-Rum and frog sound. When she is tempted to say something negative she is only able to say Jug-a-Rum.  She also discovers after getting to know the fancy hoity toity new girl that her old friends are her true friends.  She realizes that she enjoys playing with them in the woods with them rather than having tea and cookies in the afternoon the way the new girl does.

Last but now least is Adam Frisk who is a good son but he is growing tired of hauling water to the families dried up farm day after day.  So, he also uses his wish card and wishes that the farm has water and no more drought and Oh Boy did the farm get water.  The farm had 5 springs pop up from nowhere and just as quick they flooded the farm.  The family is forced out with everything in ruin.

The moral to the story here is be careful for what you wish for as the old saying goes, this is also the most important part of the story for me.  Again, I didn’t think I liked fantasy but I really enjoyed playing out the scenes in my mind and that is what kept me interested.  I personally would not like the story to continue is had a perfect ending as the narrator Stew Meat, closed by fixing the mess the children made in their wishing.

Setting

The setting of this story is in a small village like place.  Were many lived just outside of town.  The setting could be changed without changing the outcome, however, the feel of the folk lore would disappear so I would not change it.  The setting does not resonate with me and that is what helped me enjoy the fantasy of the book. I am not familiar with woods and farms side by side, I liked that detail of the dirt and the trees and paths that the children walked on.  I also like the detail of the friendships in the book.  If I could have a conversation with the author I would ask how he came up with the character traits of the children.

Theme

The theme of this book to me is to live and let live. Or better stated as I did above be careful for what you wish for it may not be what you really want.  This is a valuable lesson that we all need to learn.

I also read this past week,  Jesse Bear, What will you wear? By, Nancy White Carlstrom

This is a rhyming children’s board book. Jesse bear tells the readers what clothes he plans to wear. Jesse is pictured alone and with his family in an array of outfits that will bring smiles to young readers.

Alright everyone I’m looking forward to reading your posts as the week goes on.  I’ll post again for Wish List Wednesday!

Saying sorry to everyone for being booked through Thursday and missing my traditional Wish List Wednesday post.

With a big smile welcome to Thursday!

So this meme asks a few pressure questions that I am sure many of us have been asked and I sure will be asked again in the future.  I present this meme as a Q& A here for demonstration.

Q.- I need a really good book to read any genera, what have you read recently? (Actual response please).

A. – Uhh, well I don’t know…I read Where is Waldo? or what about I think you might like Are You there God it’s Me Margaret? No No No, I know how about you try Q.- In text books it is common to write and highlight over the text or in the margins. However, do you do this in your chapter or picture books as well? (Actual response please).

A. – No Way! My personal books well other than faith based books (they are highlighted, dog eared,  & written in) are sitting on my shelf because the whole book impacted me during a season of my life or the adventure in the book that is now a permanent scene in my mind, you know something I  just can’t forget, I would never scare these lovely creations.

Ok, time for one more Booking through Thursday question that I found.

Q.- How or when do you weed out your library? (Actual response please.)

A.- That has happened several times all ending with some regret in my heart.  I remember moving and thinking, “It’s alright to let go of a few I can replace them when I have more space”.   REGRET.

This also happened when I had a garage sale once and I thought, “I am never going to re-read these books let them go someone else will enjoy them”.  So out went my books to a box in the driveway.  Sure I got a few bucks and REGRET.

I am looking forward to you actual responses as well and by the way what size is your library?

 

Now maybe he will be taken off the banned and challenged list?

I just wanted to share some silly with you all!

Hi everyone,  welcome back to a short week. I found time to finish a book I started several weeks ago and that fits into my semester challenge.

The War That Saved My Life (unabridged) by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Theme:

This book is appropriate for middle grades and up.  This is a chapter book about the history of WWII in Britain, the setting begins in a one room apartment that sits over a pub in London.  The room is dirty and sparsely furnished and overlooks a few city blocks.  Inside the apartment two young children who survive on little to eat with their undereducated abusive mother. The air in the apartment smells of hate and war. Ada and her brother later in the story are taken in by Miss. Susan Smith who is forced to care for the children.  The two Susan and Ada share more in common than they realize in their solitude existence.

Persistence is another part to the theme of this book.  Ada’s perseverance is innate and less obvious to her while Miss. Smith’s is set forth because of her own internal motivation and education.  Mam (Ada’s mother) also has her own anger driven perseverance that continues to haunt the children namely Ada, through the entire book.

Setting:

The setting of the story starts in London and moves to the country side outside of London near the sea away from poverty. The setting is very important in this book because Ada is able to receive an education outside a formal school that she was blocked from attending.  In the city her horrid mother only allowed her to view out of the small apartment window.  She had no radio, friends, or anyway of learning anything more than what her younger brother shared with her about his daily mischievous outings.

The events that happen in the daily routine of children that are most connected with the setting are what they learn when they escape (though Jamie was sent away and Ada escaped by following) their mother’s clutches.  The children learned what the sea actually is.  They learned manners and they learned what is like to eat regularly and to be bathed on a daily basis. These are basics that they did not receive from Mam.

Plot:

Ada who is so traumatized by her mother’s abuse is unable to fit into her mind the penetrating effects of WWII that is happening all around her.  Germany and Britain are at war and so is Ada at war with her mother.  Mam has beaten in to Ada that Ada is nothing more than a shame because of her club foot.  Her foot could have been treated if her mother would have allowed it but Mam refused instead because of the cost and inconvenience. Ada at the age of 9 feels like she is a disposable object and that she has no value.  Mam is close to successfully brainwashing Jamie into the same attitude toward Ada that she holds which is despite and contempt.  Ada persists through the book you can see this when she runs away to follow Jamie to the safety his mother is sending him to.  Ada persists when she develops a trust in a Pony named Butter.  Ada again persists to be an asset to Miss. Smith at home and in the war efforts of the WVS.

Though Jamie does love and rely on his big sister Jamie is close to devaluing Ada who cares for him daily in ways like giving up her bread and tea so that his stomach is not empty.

Miss. Smith who is lost in her own depression caused by her partner Becky’s death, a few years prior is renewed by caring for the children when she reluctantly takes in.  Miss. Smith says, “She is not a nice person” over and over and yet gives the children all they need emotionally and physically.

In this story the author gave perspective from both Ada and Miss. Smith having the thoughts from a child and an adult kept my attention.  I liked reading about how Ada didn’t know the words to express her emotions or feelings for much of everything she experienced and learned.  It was very interesting to read about her anxiety and constant state of being overwhelmed.  Reading about single Susan’s ability to accept, care for and teach the lifeless Ada was compelling.  I enjoyed how the author gave Susan’s character compassion and patience.

Tone, Pacing, Point of View, Tension:

If I had to draw a picture of this story to describe it the picture would be two children falling up!  They would be grey, small and with ragged clothes on they would be twirling in the air upward not down like Alice in the story Alice in Wonderland who falls down a hole the picture would be the opposite.  As the viewer looked at the picture the back and white bottom would fade into a rainbow of color near the top.

The language of the book is simple mixed with innuendoes that an older reader would easily pick up.  An example is when the author writes about Becky and Susan moving into the house together and that being the happiest time in Susan’s life.  Another example is found when the author writes how Mam had company late at night in the one room apartment when the children still lived with her.  There was one onomatopoeia that was the word was WHOOP, it was used when the bomb sirens sounded.

The tension in this is so intense it causes me to rate this book a 4 on a scale of 1-4.  The war is getting closer to the village and as that happens the war within Ada to feel and learn strengthens.  The village fills with soldiers who are in dire need of water and medical attention at that same time Ada makes another bold decision to use her new skills and show person strength while helping the soldiers.  This choice is a crossroad for her just as it is Britain.

The story is told in 3^rd person and the pacing of this long read is like rolling hills.  Ada swells with fear as she experiences life outside of her holding cell (her room) and the pace of the story slows as we read about her learning.

I hope this review isn’t to long, this is such a good story in many ways and there is so much to say about it.

This week I have also read the following books;

The central idea of this children’s book is to help children become self-aware and to build self-confidence in themselves. A mirror is strategically placed at the end of the book so that a young reader can view themselves while in a positive mood. The pictures in this book are bright and images of the text. The words are presented to the reader in a question form

The children’s picture book caught my attention because of the mirror placed on the last page of the book so that a young reader can view their own image as a princess. This book is for earlier elementary students who likely are very inquisitive as the main character in this book is.

This silly laugh out loud children’s book features bunnies as the crew and help on the Salty Carrot Ship. As the bunnies cruise across 7 seas they encounter disaster! The unavoidable storm shreds the ship and the crew of looters are thrown around and all is lost except their lives!
The bunnies regroup and learn a lesson and that is that they do not need to rob others they can learn all they need to know by reading and rely on themselves for all they need.

I have 3 new books this week to add to my wish list and all 3 came direct from Goodreads recommendations,  one is an award winner several times over.

1. Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer

by Carole Boston Weatherford, Ekua Holmes (Illustrations)

Literary Awards

Caldecott Honor (2016), Sibert Honor (2016), John Steptoe New Talent Author Award (2016), Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor for Nonfiction (2016)

One of my favorite sayings is the mantra of this nonfiction book, “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired”.  What a powerful statement and filled with charge.  I have added this to my wish list for this reason and one other and that is that I enjoy reading non-fiction.

2. Eating the Alphabet

by Lois Ehlert

This another book that can be helpful to children who are learning English as a second language and preschoolers  I think teachers can gain some fun ideas from this book to help any age student. This is a picture book that introduces children to vegetables from a variety of places while reinforcing the English alphabet.

3. Chester 

by Mélanie Watt

This is an easy read fiction picture book, a “rewrite” a genre new to me, so I have added this children’s book out of curiosity. Chester and the mouse go toe-to-toe after a mishap, that mishap I’ll have to read about and share with all of you!

I am looking forward to reading all these books as my appreciation for children’s lit. grows this has all been a fun experience.  I think my wish list is growing faster than I can read through it, what about you?  And, now that the wish list is growing I have a new personal challenge in book selections,  and that is how do I pick from my ever growing  wish list?  Well, I guess that is why it is so important that we stick to our goals, right?

Hope you all have a welcomed fall break.

Bomb the Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Bomb by Steve Sheinkin

I choose this book based off it being a Newbery Award winner as well as fitting for my semester challenge.  This book is written for reading level 5^th-9^th grade and has also been awarded the following awards;Newbery Honor (2013), Sibert Medal (2013), Rebecca Caudill Young Reader’s Book Award Nominee (2015), Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Nominee (2014), YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction (2013)National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature (2012) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13170021-bomb

This is a Nonfiction book about the history and the science in World War II, of the building a Nuclear Bomb.

There are two climaxes in this story.  One being the detonation of a plutonium bombs in the Trinity project and in Japan.  The other climax is the hunt for and prosecution of those who are responsible for propelling the threat of nuclear warfare worldwide by stealing and sharing the classified information concerning the bomb.  The characters Hall, Feynman, Gold & Fuchs involved in the leaking the details of the bomb to Soviet Spies are sentenced. Even the main character Robert Oppenheimer who loves America and acted only in patriotic duty is persecuted by the government and more importantly by his own guilt.

The Plot of this fast paced book revolves around the chemist Robert Oppenheimer’s race to and success of creating the world’s first nuclear bomb after a discovery by a German Chemist in December of 1938.  Hall, Feynman, Gold & Fuchs are traitors to America along with Greengrass.  President Truman, Churchill, Einstein and Stalin are all connect to the race.As the action rises we are reminded over and over again of several things 1. we are all in this the whole human race 2. we are in a race with the Germany and the Soviet Union. Both of these reminders to come us as read about the growing cold war aka ‘Red Scare” and in modern day.Robert Oppenheimer grows more withdrawn, and smokes heavier as the weight of his actions make their footprints in history.

The falling action comes between the bombing on Japan and the Soviets destination of their first nuclear bomb.  More falling action comes in the ending of book when readers are brought to reality of what we have read, “Super Bombs can eliminate the human race”, India vs. Pakistan exchanging nuclear bomb attacks will ignite “massive firestorms, sending enormous amounts of dust and smoke into the atmosphere.  This would block some of the sun’s light from reaching the earth making the planet colder and darker – for about ten years. Farming would collapse, and people all over the glove would starve to death.  And that’s only half of the one percent of all the atomic bombs on earth were used”.

The most important word in this text is Bomb.  This word is attached to craftsmanship, power, knowledge, regret, theft and suffering. On a scale of 1-4 I give the book 4+, it is a must read, our society needs to know the history and destructive power of the Hydrogen Bomb. The Theme of this book is the destructive power of a bomb that man has created shown literally in the attack on Japan and figuratively in the end where hypothesis of additional use will cause death to mankind.

As for the characters we are given details about their private lives and the secret lives they lead in their respective professions.  We can feel their internal tension and outward fears.  The author gives is a full range of emotion chapter to chapter in the tone of urgency.

The design of the book maybe intimidating to some readers.  I has few pictures and the specific edition that I read (pictured above) has 4 of the awards that it won.  The pictures pasted on the front cover may be inviting as they were to me or they may formidable.

Due to the mood of this book if read in school it would be best read by a teacher who has strength in history and is able to reduce fears in the students as they arise. This story is told in 3^rd person event by event and I will recommend the read to others.