El Deafo es Asi Asi

My daughter is REALLY into graphic novels - My theory is that they are a chapter book, but still have the feel of a picture book (I think all text intimidates her reading--although she is finally transitioning out of this stage).  This week, I searched on Overdrive (where you can link your library card for FREE e-texts!), adn thought I’d try out the graphic novel, El Deafo, by Cece Bell. There’s no doubt this is a memoir of the author’s life (first clue, the main character’s name is Cece, AND of course, the afterward shares this connection posted at the end of the book).

So, this novel tells the story of Cece, who was born of hearing and became deaf after battling meningitis at the age of four. At first, she is scared and clings to her mother as she begins to figure out her newly changed world.

In this story, we are taken through her childhood through 5th grade. She battles bullying, insecurities, and a boy crush along the way. Her “phonic ear” or rather large and bulky hearing aid with cords to her ears is bulky, and she is ashamed of how this makes her difference transparent to her peers (See this picture--Never knew this!)

Although I love the fact this book highlights differences and how other feel who are categorized as “different” from a handicap, I found the comic style quite dull at points. She goes through her friends sequentially and how she liked or didn’t like them. I found myself quite annoyed at times with how long these sections of the book dragged on. The author did use the analogy of her living in a bubble, which I found to be a great analogy for her life. And the protagonist, CeCe, fantasizes herself as a superhero when she discovers how she can hear the teacher (who has a connected microphone she wears around her neck) allows CeCe to hear wherever her teacher was in the building (even while using the restroom!—this part I’m sure students would find quite amusing!). At the end of the story, she does become a true superhero when her peers find this “superpower” quite fascinating, and she soaks in that attention!

Overall, I think it is an interesting medium to tell her story (graphic novel) and elementary students respond well to graphic novels. My niece too has a hearing aid and her teacher as well wears and amplifying microphone. I do think I will recommend this book to her, and possible see if my daughter might find it a better read than me.  However, it did win the Newbery Honor Award.  

Until next week!

Dr. K.

Rules & Order: Do you Follow?

Dear Students,

This week I finished listening to The Maze Runner, and still continuing to read Flora & Ulysses. I did like the Maze Runner, but not enough to want to finish the trilogy.  I can see how this type of novel would be a good fit for many upper elementary readers looking for a challenge. 

I was particularly interested in looking at The Maze Runner in regards to particular themes.  I did some research and found this list @ http://www.shmoop.com/the-maze-runner/themes.html which includes the following themes: 

• Manipulation
• Memory
• Rules & Order
• Fear
• Identity
• Sacrifice
• Justice & Judgment
• Freedom & Confinement

Looking at this list from a teacher’s perspective, this novel could raise some interesting book club discussions.  I’ll discuss one theme within this list, Rules & Order.

I’m very much a rule follower, and I can honestly say I follow rules primarily out of fear—fear I will get caught, fear I will be judged, fear I will set a bad example.  In this novel, I think about the boy’s and their constant adherence to the rules.  The rules kept the glade functioning, but it was Thomas who first broke the major rule (never enter the Maze at night).  My question I ponder is, Was it the system of rules that helped the children find their way out of the maze or was it Thomas’s rule breaking tendencies that allowed the escape?  At first thought, I would say Thomas.  He was the trigger and the one who first questioned the rules.  However, without the rules of the runners to map the day’s route, the code would not have been discovered.  This leads to a larger essential question one could use with students, Are rules meant to be broken? – That could lead to a heated debate and tap into students’ higher order thinking skills for sure!  Of course my mind was constantly making connections to other texts such as my recent novel, Divergent and a classic favorite The Giver.

Overall, I would recommend this book for you to read.  It’s suspenseful and taps into one’s curiosity.  I’m moving out of Science Fiction books this week and reading a realistic fiction book, which is actually my favorite genre. 

Until next week,

Dr. K.

Diverged . . .

Dear Students,

Well, I started the week off strong with reading Divergent, but have diverged (ha!) some since midweek due to a few work deadlines.  I am rereading Wonder with my 9-year-old daughter, and I have managed to tackle two Junie B. Jones books with my 6-year-old daughter, although Junie’s terrible grammar always drives me crazy . . .am I the only one? 

OK-back to Divergent.  The plot is intensifying and her Divergent nature is becoming Tris’sa “achilles heel” so to speak.  She has taken to the leader, Four, and now knows his deepest fears, along with his history.  This week we have examined loyalty, friendship, and trust, all greatly impacted by the competitive nature of the faction. 

 I was glad to see Tris’s mom attend the family visit.  I figured, based on her dad’s reaction at the choosing ceremony, he wouldn’t be able to face his Dauntless daughter, but the mother has become quite an intriguing character.  She has a past Tris is starting to unravel. 

Tris is transforming.  She is becoming stronger and more aggressive.  I personally can’t imagine turning to violence to solve life’s problems, but violence has become a necessity for her survival.  And then there is the chasm, which defined is a “deep cleft in the earth's surface; gorge.” The chasm is filled with sharp rocks, running waters, and embodies fear.   It seems the chasm is representative of a fine line between bravery and stupidity.  It is at the chasm where we see threats, murder, suicide, friendship, and love.  I anticipate the chasm continuing to be a central focal point of this story. 

Until next week!

Divergent

Although it’s been a challenge this week with the flu bug circulating my household, I’ve secured at least 15 minute each day for reading—I’ve carried the novel, Divergent, in my purse "mom bag" and found “stolen time” at the doctor’s office, in the car, and turning off my computer at night before bed to read.  It’s been refreshing to take my mind off life, especially work, to dive into Beatrice’s dystopian Chicago society.  

Her society is divided into five factions.  There is the Candor (honest souls), Abnegation (her former selfless self), Amity (peacemakers), Erudite (academics), and the Dauntless (her new self, the brave).  On her 16th birthday, she, and her classmates, must either decide to remain in their current faction, or devote her life to a new faction.  Beatrice, or Tris as she renames herself, in a last minute call, decides to test the waters of the Dauntless by letting her blood drop into new waters. 

Talk about an identity crisis!  I see my current self, my past, and my future within each faction.  The life I currently live (Erudite), my obsession with rule following (Candor), and the life I live only through others (Dauntless).  I see myself in Beatrice as she comes of age in this novel--moving away from home to test new waters.   Really, it’s the life of a typical teen isn’t it?   A constant flurry of emotions and life-changing decisions.  

            Tris realizes during the initiation that not all members will make the cut—but I know she will thrive.  She is already thriving in her new environment and showing confidence and strength, which are character traits I’m sure will continue to develop throughout the novel.  Her future, which seems uncertain at this point, will unfold during this novel, and I’m glad I’ve jumped on the train along with Tris. 

This book is well written, and the escape to my teenage years is a much-needed break! 

Till next week,

Dr. Kingsley

The World According to Humphry

I recently read the book The World According to Humphrey which has a reading level of 4.2 (4th grade, 2nd month) and an interest level for grades 2-5. I ordered this book from the latest Scholastic Book Catalog.  I noticed my daughter has an interest in this series and her teacher was reading this book aloud to her students, so I thought I would read it myself as well!

So, Humphry is a class hamster in room 26. He loved his time spent with his long-term substitute teacher, Mrs. Mac, but since she’s left, he is heartbroken. When the classroom teacher, Mrs. Brisbane, returns, she does not want Humphrey, does not take him home each night like Mrs. Mac, leaving Humphrey alone and sad.

Humphrey ends up taking turns spending the weekend with first the principal (he wreaks havoc in his home!) and then various classmates. As he spends his time with classmates, we uncover new information about each child’s life (and eventually Mrs. Brisbane's life) that impacts his/her time at school.

What I loved about this book is how Humphrey is able to help each person solve problems. My favorite example of this from the story is the girl who doesn’t participate in class. Mrs. Brisbane pushes and pushes her to participate, even threatening to send a letter home to her parents. From his stay with her, Humphrey realized that English is not spoken in her home and her family has a minimal grasp on the English language. Because the child insists that everyone must speak English around Humphrey for that weekend, the mother makes the decision to enroll in English courses to help her learn the language.

This, to me, stresses the importance of cultural awareness and understanding cultural norms. Not all students see the world from a white, middle-class, and female perspective (i.e. the viewpoint of most elementary teachers).  Teachers must be considerate and understanding of this.

From a teacher’s viewpoint, this novel teaches children that each individual, each family, has its own story. Students could then write, create, draw, etc. THEIR story to share with the class---supporting cultural identities.

Looking forward to re-reading this book with my daughter. I’m also excited to share that I have a copy of Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan which was recommended to me by my friend and 5th-grade teacher.   Can’t wait to get started on that book today! 

Till next week,

Dr. Kingsley

Read it Like a Writer & Notice how Writer's Research

Read Like a Writer Post

Wow, The Thing about Jellyfish has been a great read! I have been reading this entire book “like a writer” and admiring everything about Ali Benjamin’s writing craft. Specifically, I LOVE how she ties in animal research into her plot. The main character connects with science. She finds comfort in the predictability of science and we see a relationship build throughout the chapters with her science teacher.   As Suzy, the main character, becomes more and more focused (obsessed really) with her theory that a jellyfish is what caused her best friend’s death (rather than from drowning), she begins to share commonalities and differences between a jellyfish and a human. She weaves metaphors of herself as the jellyfish, and the world as humans—and using this info to share the magnificent wonders of the universe.

If I were using this text as a read aloud with upper elementary students (5th/6th grades), I would pull in the impact of research and fact in narrative writing. 

To provide a bit of background about this specific passage I’m about to share…. The main character shares many flashbacks of her friendship with Franny (the girl who drowned). Once inseparable, their friendship falls distant as Franny shifts to becoming friends with the “popular girls” and changes her behavior, her core that Franny knows inside and out, to fit in with the crowd. She can’t stop Franny, and Suzzy becomes victim to bullying and middle school harassment.

So here’s the passage I would use:

Another thing you should know: Jellyfish are stronger than we are. Consider this: A jellyfish sting is one of the fastest reactions in the animal kingdom. Their stingers are coiled like harpoons, millions of invisible weapons just waiting. When jellyfish tentacles brush a surface, even faintly, they spring into action. In just 700 billionths of a second—a tiny fraction of the time it would take a person to understand, to think, to react—the jellyfish releases those harpoons, all their position, with the pressure of a bullet.

Jellies can sting long past their own death, long after a tentacle is detached from the rest of the body. Jellyfish are stinging machines, and their stings are as violent as anything on Earth.

But they don’t have to think about that, about who they sting or why. Jellyfish don’t get bogged down by drama, love, friendship, or sorrow. They don’t get stuck in any of the stuff that gets people in trouble.

So, in this example, she is envying the jellyfish – because she is personally dealing with the drama, love, friendship, and sorry and all the hardships that accompany early adolescents. Perhaps in this passage, Franny is the jellyfish---stinging her long after her death.

Most students have a favorite animal—or animal they know a great deal about. There are so many of those amazing animal type picture books as well. For this mini-lesson I would pull this example, and possible others from this book, and talk about how she weaves her highly interesting facts about this animal and connects it to the tension of the story.

I then may do a quick write with a familiar animal (dog/cat) and have students compare/contrast how this animal is alike/different to humans. I then would model or write interactively with my students on how these comparisons can be embedded into a story before encouraging students to do the same. I would pull many of those amazing fact nonfiction books as mentor texts and opportunities for students to research. I think this lesson would be highly challenging, but motivating for this age group. Again, I have been fascinated by how this author weaves her extensive research on jellyfish seamlessly into the plot of this story.

Have a great week,

Dr. K.

Orbiting Jupiter

This week I finished The Year I Got Polio, and have been reading Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt. After starting this book and researching this author, I realized that he was the author of Wednesday Wars, a 2008 Newbery Honor book (which I read and many of my students read when I was a 5th-grade teacher).

So, this is a book that I yearn to read nightly. I’m filled with curiosity and riveted with the author’s writing style. The main character in this text, Jack, is working to find his way with Joseph, a troubled boy who has been taken in by Jack’s family. I want to share one excerpt from this text that I have gone back to and reflected on many times since reading it earlier this week.

In this scene, Joseph walks out on frozen ice, dark ice on a nearby river. Jack is concerned as he knows this river, and its dangers well.

If you don’t know the river, it’s easy to miss where the bank ends and the river begins… it doesn’t wear safe ice until the winter has hung around for a while. And it gets deeper quicker than any river has a right to. I didn’t think Joseph knew the river. 

Joseph ventures out. The tension builds. Joseph steps farther and farther towards the black ice. Jack reminisces back to when he was six and saw a dog drown in the river (Spoiler alert! This is quite sad!).

The yellow dog was farther out on the ice than Joseph, but not much, it had fallen through and its eyes were huge and it was grabbing on with its front paws, scratching, looking for something to hold on to. It wasn’t making a sound. I told my mother we had to go get it, but she held my arm so I wouldn’t go down the river. Her other hand she held over her mouth. Once the dog almost got out, but the ice broke under it again and it was scratching like anything—until suddenly it stopped, put its head down on the ice, slid into the water, and it was gone. Gone. I live on a farm. I see animals die all the time. Never like that.

Even typing this passage from the text is heart wrenching—(its eyes were huge, scratching like anything). Jack goes on to tell about his trauma from this experience. I’ve personally always thought drowning is probably the worst way to die. Viewing this experience through Jack’s eyes was hard for me as a dog lover and a mother.   I see this experience from Jack’s point of view, but also from his mother’s—how do you protect a child from that experience? And, in this moment, Jack is faced fighting to convince Joseph to come back to safety.

I won’t tell you what happens next, you’ll have to read the book yourself! I fully expect to finish this book and hopefully more over fall break. I’ve also downloaded The Boy of on the Porch by one of my favorite authors, Sharon Creech, as an audio book from the Overdrive app. I’m about 1/3 of the way through this book.

Happy reading,

Dr. K.