2 more great summer reads!!!

My book cup continues to runneth over. Lots of books waiting for me to dive in....here are two recent reads that I really enjoyed.

Words with Wings by Nikki Grimes

Grimes is a brilliant author, and Words with Wings lies within that brilliant category. Written in verse, she captures the mental meanderings of one young middle-grade daydreamer. As is most often the case, the adults around her blame her for screwing around, not focusing, being lazy....until they see under their judgments. Kudos to Grimes for the multiple angles she crafts for us to spend intentional moments focusing into the world of daydreams.

The author brings quiet and introspection to the pages in this book. I read it in one sitting, unable to stop reading I was so engaged. Grimes does a masterful job of helping us think like her main character and further offers the reader occasional hints on how to daydream ourselves. She also documents again how young people will teach us, if we will only listen.


The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall

The third in a series, The Penderwicks at Point Mouette was a perfect summer read. It is placed in summer at a beach cottage with the ocean licking the coastal seawall just steps away. As usual, the Penderwicks are a tight-knit bunch, although oldest sister Rosalind is away with friends on her own vaca and recenlty-remarried father is away with new (and endearing) wife and newly-youngest son on their honeymoon.  Second-oldest sister Skye is in charge of Batty and Jane, and while stressed that she will never live up to Rosalind's competence, she gives it a good go. The girls are staying with their aunt, and good-friend-who-comes-with-serious-history Jeffrey becomes a houseguest as well. Some neighbors throw in a few twists and turns making for an exciting summer vacation for all involved. Count on moose sightings, a billion golf balls, piano playing, and one gigantic huge massive surprise in this read. I am serious: huge. Smart move by the author to tie this in, really smart and engaging!

Birdsall writes with a quiet calm in her Penderwick books. The first book in the series The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy would be a lovely read aloud. I really enjoyed meandering through a few days with the clan in that book. I have not read the second one The Penderwicks on Garam Street, but I would not be surprised if it offers a similar engaging calm that great summer reads offer. I may have to seek it out when I crawl out from under the pile I have gathered for myself this summer.

Evidently there will be five books when the series is complete. Her website states that she will not review screenplay possibilities until then. Ohh, might there be a Penderwicks movie in our future? What fun!!

2 Great Summer Picture Books!

Summer has finally arrived, and with it, came a wealth of fabulous reads....I can hardly keep up. Because of this plethora, the next few weeks' postings will feature a couple of great books each. ENJOY!! This week we are posting two really fun picture books.

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

Spires wrote Small Saul and a graphic novel series with Binky the Space Cat, both of which I need to seek out. I recently used the most magnificent Thing as a stepping off point in my work with teachers. Interesting things happen when you start with the lurking possibility of failure! 

I will be honest: I expect if my mother read this book, she would see me in it. If you know me, you might even say that is me on the cover...except I would be wearing shorts and my hair would not be as neat. But, dear reader, do you see yourself in the book? 

The girl in the book creates. She always has her "trusty assistant" at her side. She is always gathering, imagining, scheming, and building. Until one day when her work doesn't work, when she can't make the thing she really wants to make. She gets ticked and blows her top. "It is not her finest moment." But how does she find her way out of her anger? What lies beyond her failures? 

You gotta read it to find out. Great artwork, phrasing is just right, and enterable for any age reader. Loved this one.

My Teacher is a Monster! by Peter Brown

Peter Brown is known for his masterful writing. I loved (and use in my classroom) The Curious Garden, and Mr Tiger Goes Wild has recieved numerous awards. Here we get his take on the nasty, mean teacher, yeah, the one who looks and sounds like a monster. As usual, his illustrations lead us into that dastardly world immediately!

Bobby obviously is the most perfect boy in his school. Mrs. Kirby yells, roars, stomps, and makes life in general ugly for said perfect boy. Life becomes really ugly one day at the park. There he sees.....the dreadful MRS. KIRBY!

But as is often true in picture books, some surprises occur...

Brown offers us a fun reflection on days in schools and the people whom we interact with. And, as a teacher transitioning into the kindergarten classroom, he gives me a terrific tool for a read aloud and an even-more solid message: look beneath the monster. 

Juggling Fire by Joanne Bell

Orca Publishers, an independent Canadian children's book publisher, is into putting out high-interest, environmentally-conscious reads. They published the series Seven; I loved the book Devil's Pass by Sigmund Brouwer and reviewed it here: http://bookpeepwonders.blogspot.com/search?q=Devil%27s+Pass. Juggling Fire reads somewhat similiarly--teenager trying to figure out their way in life, who their allies are, and how they will deal with all the crap that comes flying at them. The storyline, the character development, and the writing all held me captive; the setting came alive right in front of me.

If I had had books filled with female teens moving through the Alaskan wilderness alone seeking to unearth life's mysteries, I believe my life's course might have been different. Not that I didn't do my fair share of exploring, but the high country always held a little more risk than I felt comfortable biting into by myself. Juggling Fire is set in Alaska in Yukon Territory. Rachel's dad has not returned from the much-needed nothern-Yukon alone time that he set off for a year prior. Rachel decides that since he didn't leave a suicide note at home, there is more to the mystery than him simply killing himself since struggling with depression. With her mother's support and a plan in place, she sets off for the family cabin, remotely placed into the wildnerness and more than a week's hike from their home nearer town. Rachel competently and comfortably hikes in with her dog, finding the route as a grizzly follows her. The self-discovery embedded in this book offer a sweet glimpse into some of the thinking one might experience as a solo hiker in some gorgeous country. The resolution of the story holds great merit, and I loved how the author wove purpose throughout her tale. Her writing reminds me of Will Hobb's work that I love so much.

Living in the bush seems to be something the author knows a little about. Evidently she spends as much time as she can at her cabin above Dawson, also in the Yukon. A couple of years ago, my family and I travelled up to Alaska, spending time fishing and exploring a bit. Vast space, that land, and well beyond much of my comfort level for exploration (read: what am I supposed to do if I come across a bear?!). I can imagine, had I come across this author earlier in life, I might have found my own way to figuring out life up North. For now though I will be content reading books like this one. 

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

I bet I have read this book 100 times. I first read it as young teen and will always recall my mother's answer to my asking for a dog, a real dog...not some small drop-kick thing (oops, sorry to you small-dog lovers) but a real dog to be by my side through thick and thin, a buddy whom I could talk to and dream big with and explore all of the wilderness outside my door. She said, "No." Now I read it about twice a year, and I still disappear into those gorgeous Ozark Mountains, hunting with Billy and his dogs in my head.

After I got my first teaching job, I waited until my fourth day in a new city to get a pup of my own. Ren was a dream dog--wiggly, soft, and all mine. He would do anything for me and yet he did a bunch for himself---chewing up parts of the rental house, running away, peeing smack dab in the center of my bed in the middle of the night, dragging a bird's talon to me after a quick escape from his leash at the beach (let me tell you: that was a disgusting treat!). But I knew Ren was dedicated to me like nothing I had experienced. We were pals through and through, and little could get inbetween us. We explored all sorts of places in the 11 years he and I were together, and while he was no Little Ann or Old Dan, he was all Ren and maybe the most amazing dog I will ever have.

I recently learned something new about Wilson Rawls, the author that I found amazing. Evidently the story in the book is autobiograhical, down to growing up scrap poor, his mama teaching him as best she could, and not having enough money to buy paper and pencil. As a teen, he left home as a teen to find work; he also started writing then, keeping all of his stories in a trunk. Before he married his wife, he took all of the stories out of that trunk and burned them. When she learned of the bonfire of his more that 300 stories, she demanded he write one for her to read. In three weeks, he recreated the bones of the book and gave it to her, leaving the house for several hours in his deep worry of his spelling errors and lack of grammatical knowledge. When he called her a few hours later, she told him to come work on it with her so they could send it in. That was the beginning of what became Where the Red Fern Grows. Here is a link to that little piece of history:http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rawls.html

And right after you finish checking out that story on Jim Trelease's website, I know you are gonna want to go get a book and a dog, and not necessarily in that order.