Historical Fiction with a Fantasy Twist, Yes Please!

This week has flown by!  I see from your blog posts that several of you have tried the Magic Tree House book series.  My daughter and I are reading a Magic Tree House book as well!  This series mixes in elements of both historical fiction and fantasy.  We have a large set of them and I think she is now confident reading them independently so I’m hoping she starts to really enjoy this series (because she can learn SO much from the historical fiction part of this book).

My daughter is obsessed with all things Paris, so we opted for Night of the New Magicians, which is set in Paris. We are only in the beginning stages of the book currently, but Jack and Annie have landed in Paris during the 1889 World’s Fair. Did you know that the Eiffel Tower was built for this fair? Jack and Annie taught me that interesting fact! (see why I think these books are so educational?)

Their task is to find four “new magicians” and protect them from an evil sorcerer. Here are the four magicians”

1. The Magician of Sound—his voice can be heard for a thousand miles.
2. The Magician of Light—his fires glow, but they do not burn.
3. The Magician of the Invisible—he battles deadly enemies no one can see.
4. The Magician of Iron—he bends the metals of earth and triumphs over the wind.

 After reading these descriptions, my daughter and I took a few minutes to talk about which magician we would like to be if we could pick. We then decided that my her brother would be the Magician of Chaos—he destroys all things! I thought it might be kind of fun to expand this to a “who am I?” game in the classroom. Perhaps with famous people or vocabulary terms.

I’m guessing each magician is going to be an invention. I hope as I continue to read this I’ll pick up a few more interesting historical tidbits!

Dr. K.

Harris and Me

Ahhh-- So much to say about this novel.  I am rereading this for the first time since I was a 5th grade teacher.  If you have a reluctant middle-grade male reader-- this may be the novel that does turn that reluctant reader into an engaged reader!

The setting of this book takes place a few years after WWII.  The narrator of this story is an 11-year old boy (we never know his name), and Harris, a distant cousin who lives life like he has never witnessed.  This book is full of hilarious pranks as the boys both work hard on the homestead by tending to the various animals and certainly play hard too.

I was listening to the Ted Radio hour podcast recently where they referenced a TED talk by Alvin Irby.  In this podcast, he shares how to encourage our kids to become lifelong readers (yes, like Donlyn Miller).  Specifically, he is an advocate for encouraging black male youth to read.  He cites startling research- such as --85 percent of black male fourth graders are not proficient in reading.

He also shares: 

"Scholastic's 2016 Kids and Family Report found that the number one thing children look for when choosing a book is a book that will make them laugh. So if we're serious about helping black boys and other children to read when it's not required, we need to incorporate relevant male reading models into early literacy. In exchange, some of the children's books that adults love so much for funny, silly or even gross books, like "Gross Greg"." 

While Harris & Me isn't a novel with a black male protagonist, it certainly is humorous as they wrestle pigs, hunt for mice, and engage in combat with the crazy rooster, Currently, in the novel, the main character is starting to turn a corner and begin to match Harris's pranks.  I recently read the most HILARIOUS part of the story when the narrator engages in the ultimate payback-- convincing Harris to urinate on an electric fence!  Yes, I did say that right... I was even brave enough to read this book aloud to students-- we could barely get past the laughter to read it.  Yes, there is some profanity in this book, and yes, I substituted the profanity with appropriate words.  :)

One other note of interest is the author of this novel, Gary Paulson, who is best known for the Hatchet series among other adventure novels.  This novel is out of context for this author and written in a completely different genre--I'd be interested to hear more about his inspiration for this narrative. 

Every teacher should read this book-- I promise it will make you laugh and touch your heart.  

Until next week,
Dr. K.

e's  

Owl Diaries

I wanted to read this early chapter book and share with all of you this book, because it was the first “chapter book” that got my girls interested in reading those bigger adult-like books.  

As a teacher (and parent) it’s great to find books that will build a child’s reading confidence.  With the bright and colorful illustrations, speech bubbles, and large font, this book provided a great scaffold for my girls as they made this transition.  They read them over and over again. 

There are three books in this series.  I definitely recommend you add these books to your classroom library!

In this first book of the series, Eva the owl chronicles 11 days in her life.  Eva has received a new diary and uses it to record the details of her life, along with sunny drawings and photographs that make her diary more like a scrapbook.

I wanted to respond today to the creative wordplay in this book.  We have the teacher, “Mrs. Featherbottom” – who teaching “Winglish” and invented “owlspeak”—Exaggerated words include “flapperiific” and “flaptastic.”

How fun would it be to have students get creative with wordplay in their writing?  Graphic novels are all the rage—what if as a writing mentor lesson, we encouraged students to tackle a graphic novel with an animal as the main character?  Student then could make a list of pun words for their story which aligns with the animal or main character (like the owl examples above). Imagine the fun and creativity!  As a mini-lesson, I could see students working in groups to pick an animal and brainstorm words. 

This too reminds me of Roald Dahl books. Have you read any of his books?  Matilda, The BFG, and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory to name a few.  Dahl is known for his word play-embedding fun, nonsensical words into his stories  “Oompa-Loompas” and “whizzpopping” to “humplecrimp” and “zoonk?”  Yes, you can even find a curated list of his most scrumdiddlyumptious words here! 

My daughter has been on my case about reading my next book, Because of Mr. Terrupt.  She was so excited about the first, that we had to rush to Barnes and Noble to purchase the second book in the series!

Until then!

Dr. K.

Using Historical Fiction to Integration Literacy & Social Studies

In the novel, Number the Stars, Louis Lowry begins this novel with a bang by first describing Annemarie’s frightening encounter with German soldiers in the first chapter.  This historical fiction novel takes place during the Holocaust. 

Annemarie explains the world through the eyes of a 10-year old.  I believe this novel would be an excellent mentor text for teaching children how to explain a historical event through the eyes of a character (child, parent, teacher, neighbor, grandparent, etc.)  The author takes complicated historical events and simplifies events within the 10-year old perspective.  

For example, 

“The Resistance fighters were Danish people—no one knew who, because they were very secret—who were determined to bring harm to the Nazis however they could. They damaged the German trucks and cars, and bombed their factories. They were very brave. Sometimes they were caught and killed. (1.55)  

She boils this down to just the essential—just the information a 10-year-old needs to know.  

So, by “reading like a writer,” I thought about how I would use this wonderfully written historical fiction novel as a mentor text for historical fiction.  In the elementary setting, Social Studies must be integrated into literacy.  So, as a writing extension, have student “show what they know” about XX [insert historical event such as the Boston Tea Party] by writing a narrative of the story told through the eyes of a character living at that time.  Wish I would’ve thought of this when I was a 5th-grade teacher!

This really is a great book.  It’s been sooo long since I’ve read it and I’m flying through it this second time around. 

Until next week,

Dr. K.

Out of Mind--Finished!

I finished this book!  It was a great read and I highly recommend this for everyone—especially those who are fans of Wonder.  I WISH I would've  had this book as a classroom teacher.  There was tension as Melody, the main character, falls victim to discrimination.  

They don’t invite her to breakfast before they leave for the championship tournament because it’s inconvenient.  The other students and parents weren’t being malicious, they didn’t want the burden.  Then, Melody is faced with a devastating situation (I won’t share it because I don’t want to give it away!) and the reader is sad.  The reader feels for Melody—we are empathetic!  And, isn’t that what we want from ourselves as teachers?  From our students?  We want them to feel empathy towards others and to create a culture of caring in our classrooms.

Then, after the dust of the above event settles, we are faced with yet ANOTHER turn of events…. Ahh!  Why?  We had the conflict and we are working towards the resolution of the story and BAM, the unexpected happens.   I am still trying to figure out why the author opted for this in this story’s plot.  As a reader (and as a mom), this plot twist was wrenching and by this point, I didn’t find it necessary (again, won’t give away this plot twist).   After finishing, I was left thinking that this is a great read – one I would definitely recommend to each of you… however, my vote would be to eliminate the second sad event in this story – it’s just too much pulling on my heartstrings! 

I can't wait to catch up with what you all are reading!  

Out of my Mind

My daughter just finished the book she shared with all of you, Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper.  She's passed it on to me because "It's sooooo good!" and I'm about 1/2 way through the novel.  

I did a quick search on the novel as was pleased to see this book is a National Best-Seller.  I also found out Draper is a two-time Correta Scott King award recipient, which recognizes outstanding African American authors and illustrators who write for a youth audience.  Pretty cool!  

I found this book a nice compliment to Wonder, and believe both of these books will forever change how we all look at anyone with a disability.  

The main character, Melany has cerebral palsy. But she also has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school, but NO ONE knows it. Most people—her teachers, her doctors, her classmates—dismiss her as mentally challenged because she can’t tell them otherwise. 

I'm finding myself torn between the shock of her mistreatment and the shock of facing any personal biases I might have unconsciously shared towards other with disabilities.  Our brains make incredibly quick judgments and assessments of people and situations without us realizing it.  This is something we all must continually work on.  

This title is so appropriate as the main character is going out of her mind trying to let others know she is more than her disability.  But, the author wrote this story in such a way that we are not to feel sorry for Melany-- Melany does not feel sorry for herself.  She sees beauty in this world.  

I can't help but feel great proudness of my daughter, Alice, while reading this book.  She is the most giving and loving child I know.  She works with a boy who has cerebral palsy at school, giving up her recess 2x/week to spend time him, and it is the highlight of her day.  She is not afraid to stand up for others and she's the first to befriend someone who is outcasted.  I am thankful for books like Out of my Mind and Wonder that raise awareness and generate critical discussions at home and school to promote social justice.  

This book provides a way for us to give ourselves a reality check.  When we see someone with a disability--let's not look away.  Let's not pretend we don't see or don't know what to say. Instead, let's just smile and say hello! 

When I'm Gone

Happy 1st post of the new semester!  This is always an exciting moment for me as I am now able to peek into your minds and check out all the great books you are reading.  My daughter Alice is still up reading Out of my Mind because she says it's just too good to put down.  This will definitely be on my reading list soon and I will fill you in on the book's details.  I do secretly enjoy when she stays up past bedtime because she can't stop reading.  That's the literacy professor in me for sure!

I'm in a few books right now with my kids; however, this week I decided to pick up a book of poems I hadn't read in a looooooong time.  Shel Silverstein.  I read from his books as a 5th-grade teacher, I've read a few poems with my kids, but not page-by-page to really take in each poem in this collection.

I wanted to respond to one poem in particular.  It's a short one so I'll type it out:

When I'm gone

When I'm gone, what will you do?

Who will write and draw for you?

Someone smarter--someone new?

Someone better--maybe you!  

I actually can't recall ever reading this poem, although it's likely I have.  It. hit. me.  As a mom and a daughter.  Our kids grow up.  We do everything for them, then, as they get older, they get more independent.  Our goal as parents is to raise kind, well-functioning citizens of this crazy world.  We do these things and teach our lessons to transfer as much knowledge and inspiration as we can to our children.  Although some readers may see this perspective as the author afraid the person might make the wrong decision so he/she should just take the lead him/herself.  I see this as encouragement from a parent to a child or a teacher to a student.  You become better, smarter, stronger, and more independent with time.  I see this as a reminder to live life when I'm no longer in the picture or living in this world.  

This poem is reflective in a positive light.  It's a good reminder.  You got this kid and I will encourage and support you along the way.  

What is your interpretation of this perspective?  

I think I may make a better attempt and the poetry genre this semester.  Hope you all had a fabulous week stealing many moments to read!