Marci’s Comments (group member since Oct 23, 2011)

Marci’s comments from the http://www.EDUG573Fall2011 group.

I Am An American is a great book for older students to learn a true story of Japanese Internment after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I could also use this book to follow up a fictional story about the same thing when Japanese Americans lived in camps here in the US. This book cronicles the internment and focuses on the experiences of one high school student before and after this happened. The author, Jerry Stanley, writes about this wartime here in America and the injustice done to Japanese Americans. This was a truly neat book to read as I did not know a lot about this before I read it. Now I will have so much knowledge and background for when my students read their story.

The next book I read was called My Boyfriend is a Monster. My Jr. High daughter was reading it and I wanted to see what kind of things she is reading at the Jr. High level. It is a graphic novel, but seems to be called a comic. It is a hardback book. I read it in an hour or so and was 127 pages. It is about a high school girl that meets a were-bat guy. He ends up saving her life a few times and she finds out about what her calling in life is. I like the book because through the story it seems to encourage getting an education as a very positive thing. The only thing the girl character really struggles with is what she is going to do next after her senior year, until she finds out what her calling is through her all of a sudden near death experiences and the "hot" guy that is also a were-bat there to protect her. He was supposedly assigned to her to protect her until she found out this calling is being passed down to her from a grandfather retiring from it that she thought was dead all of these years. Anyway, it was nice to get through a book in such a short time and still feel like I read a lot, a whole novel. I am finding out more and more that I like these graphic novels and it was nice to read something that my daughter had been reading so I can see what she's interested in...there is a whole series out there and they are a part of the "graphic universe" collections.

The book Unlocked by Karen Kingsbury, my favorite author, is great. It is a story about a family making things work after their 3 year old suddenly begins to slip away into autism. The story takes them on a journey through the years of destroyed relationships and miracles as their son begins to come out from under the cloud for the first time in high school. He meets a girl and is drawn to her music and singing. This author did a fabulous job of letting the readers into his mind as well as feel the emotions of everyone in his life. The book also deals with the subject of bullying as the boy is bullied almost daily because of his disability and differences. A friend of his that was constantly bullied even decided to committ suicide in order to escape his pain. This book is based on a true story of a boy who is autistic and began coming out of it when he discovered a kids theater group and the music that was incorporated into that. This is a high school level book, but could also be enjoyed by mature Jr. Highers. There is NO inappropriate content in this book which is a refresher from most YA/Adult books.

The Tale of Despereaux is such a neat story. I love the writer's craft in this book. Kate DiCamillo has such a great way of story telling and fascinating imagination. This book can also be used for bullying and pointing out that just because someone looks different or is smaller doesn't mean they can do less than anyone else. Kind of reminds me of the Bible story David and Goliath. The young maid girl is also treated badly and has courage to escape her horrible life. This is a neat story of redemption and forgiveness, and has a whole lot of literary value. It is also a great resource for teaching kids figurative language.

Meet Naiche is a book about a Native boy from the Chesapeake Bay area. This is a non-fiction book that gives us a glimpse into the life of an American Indian boy. I liked this book because it is the first book that I have found that I can use in my classroom to show my students what life is like for a student their age that lives on a reservation, continues to celebrate his heritage, shows what he and his family creates with their hands, and even shows him performing a dance. He talks about how it makes him feel to see mascots that use Native Americans. He even goes around to schools to do presentations about his way of life. What is neat though is that we can see that is life is very similar to ours, and he points that out himself. This book is a part of a series by the National Museum of the American Indian/Smithonian Institution.

Tales of American Indians by Peg Hall for Perfection Learning is a neat book to use for exposure to Native American literature. This book has 6 tales, legends, and myths in it along with a play. I do a huge Native American unit so this book will fit nicely with that unit. The kids will get a kick out of the myth "Where Illness and Medicine Come From". Although, I'm a little scared they may take some of them seriously and get scared!

It seems that I read a lot of books with dogs in it, but to tell you the truth they are truly great stories! A Dog's Life is a great example of an autobiograhy of a dog. It truly gave me the perspective of a dog, especially one that grew up on the streets and everything it went through. It was a darling story, sad at times. I read this book out loud to my students the last several weeks and they loved it. It also went along great with our personal narrative unit of study because most every moment we were reading it was like a personal narrative that gave true and exact detail of many accounts of the dog's life. This book actually has a follow up book that tells of the brother dog's life so we could find otu what happened to the sibling when they were separated. It is a great book to promote the students to read the next one. Kids can actually relate to many things that happen whether it be with their pet or even in their own lives when they are not treated well and are neglected.

The Summer of Riley is a good story. This book discusses topics such as divorce and what a boy or child goes through as he deals with everything that comes along with that. It is also a great book for animal lovers, which my grade level loves. This is a good book for 4th and 5th graders. There are many events in the story that can be used to open up discussions amongst book clubs.

For my second chapter book I read How to Steal a Dog. I read this book to my class and they loved it, as did I. This is a great book to zone in on the hard economic times that many of our students are facing, as well as homelessness. The character gets the idea to steal a dog from someone who must be wealthy in order to receive money if the dog is found...what a clever idea and it also helped to teach moral standards and honesty. This is a great book for about the 3rd or 4th grade level.

I chose to read Rules for one of my chapter books. This is a great story for any 4th, 5th, or 6th grade class. This story confronts the naiveness of autism and how people are treated that are autistic and/or has a sibling that is autistic. I think this is a great book for discussion groups as there is a lot of points of interest to center the discussion around. Many kids at the 4th grade level are not too familiar with what being autistic means and what autism is. This is a great way to teach that, especially when there are several or even just one autistic child in the school.

Midnight Rider is what I read for my Historical Fiction. This book is great! I loved it, and I thought it would be hard to read a historical fiction book! I did not think I would like that genre. The story weaves many good details in that students would learn when studying the Revolutionary War, so I can see this as a nice add on when learning about that in social studies. I could see many students in middle school liking this book, but for my class of 4th graders I would recommend it to my higher readers.

For a biography I chose to read Harriet Tubman. I chose this book because I will use it when teaching slavery and civil rights. I also chose this book to compare it to the Harriet Tubman graphic novel (gn). Of course the longer biography told more details about her life, but the gn has many neat pictures that go along with the story. If I have a student researching Harriet I would have that student read both or at least the biography. When I have a student with lower reading skills that is interested in Harriet Tubman I would recommend the graphic novel.

My second poetry book was called My Dog Ate My Homework. This is a book full of poems to make kids laugh. It is divided up into topic sections such as parents, school, advice, siblings, pets, and more. I like that it is divided up for the kids in case they are in the mood for a particular poem. I love to grab this book to read humorous poetry to the kids especially when school gets too serious and we have been working very hard. It sort of gives them a break and time to laugh as well as builds a fun culture in the classroom.

For my second graphic novel I chose one from my own classroom so I know what my students are reading. I have some called Knights of the Lunch Table. This story is sort of a typical cartoon/comic book. It has heroes and villions and there is a problem which is solved by the end. I can see why these hold some students' interests. There are not a lot of words compared to pictures and honestly I do not see the opportunity to learn many new vocab words, but a few. This book makes me think a more about which graphic novels I will add to my classroom library in the future. I think I will only choose the ones that will teach students more. Of course I want them to be fun to read, but I also feel the need to make sure they are educational too where my students reading them will learn and practice reading skills.

For my graphic novels I chose to read Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. I wanted to read this version of the story because I had also read Harriet Tubman for the biography book. I wanted to compare what kids would get out of both stories. This was a good graphic novel for finding out what she was all about and what important event she led. I would say the graphic novel was a litte of an overview of what the biography told. If a student wanted to find out much more indepth information and many more details about her, then they would want to read the biography. Reading both would be recommended.

Because of Winn Dixie is a fabulous book. There are just some books that both adults and kids can enjoy, and this is one of them. There are many topics and areas of great discussion. Opal's mom is missing from her life and left when she was little. Her dad struggles to open up, but with the help from the dog he eventually does. He is a preacher and there are a whole list of topics that go along with misconceptions amongst kids and families that come from a preacher's home. Gloria as well as many other of Opal's new friends have issues that they share with Opal and are great discussion starters for reading groups. When issues that are in books are used for discussion I have found that kids really open up and share things they struggle with which end up being great connections. This book will be great for text to text and text to world and self connections!

I enjoyed the book of Fables by Arnold Lobel. It has 20 fables in it. What is nice is that at the end of each story it gave a quote of what the "moral of the story" is. For instance after the fable The Lobster and the Crab it tells "Even the taking of small risks will add excitement to life." I am going to read some of these stories to my class. I think it will be a nice break each day to begin our literacy time or in the middle of the day to read an interesting fable and then have them guess what the message of the fable was. It will be a great way to teach them what fables are. I have not ever done this before, so I am glad I was exposed to this book. I am use to using these in class for other things, usually test preparation in past years. It'll be nice to read some and not use it in that way.

Giant Children is a great children's poetry book! Our school uses some of the poems to teach the respect code, especially for etiquette, but they are all comical poems. I had not been able to read all of them until recently. This book is a collection of poetry written with a child's perspective in mind. I think this is great for adults too since we sometimes forget how kids think. This book does help exagerate their perspectives, and makes both kids and adults laugh!

This book is also about an adoption story. This story is a great book for explaining adoption when families are multiracial. The mother bear that adopts her little boy bear is a different shade of brown than he is. The little boy asks about the difference, but the mother bear reafirms that the color does not matter and that she still loves him and wished for him, and that receiving him as a son is better than anything she could have imagined. This is a great book for explaining adoption to children, especially when it is happening more and more in our communities. I have had a few adopted children in my classes over the years, and I know from experience that children love to hear their story of how they came to their family or how they were born over and over again. I am getting ready to use this book with my own son who has not yet realized he is adopted.

This is a picture book about adoption. Jamie Lee Curtis has adopted and promotes adoption. There use to be a time when not many books were available to help tell children learn about adoption. This book helps to open the discussion of adoption and their story of how they were born and came to live in their forever family. This book tells a story of how the parents received the phone call their child was born, they hopped on a plane, saw her for the first time in the hospital and then brought her home. This story will allow children to learn about their journey, and help parents with the topic that usually makes them nervous. I recommend this book to anyone that has adopted.