S. Vardell 09
Robert Sibert and Orbis Pictus
Combined Nonfiction Award Books (Since 2000)
Holdings & Circulation Statistics Survey
Date ____12-3-2009_____________
Name of Library _________Fowler Elementary Library WFISD_______________
School library ____X____ Public library ________
City, State _______Wichita Falls, Texas___ ____________________
(All the library’s identifying information is confidential.)
1. _____14_______ Number of Nonfiction Award books in library collection
(Combine both Orbis Pictus and Sibert books)
2. _____70_______ Percentage of all Nonfiction Award books possible
(Combine both Orbis Pictus and Sibert books)
3. _____20_______ Total number of Nonfiction Award book circulations to date
(Combine both Orbis Pictus and Sibert books)
4. ______4_______ Circulation average per Nonfiction Award book
(Combine both Orbis Pictus and Sibert books)
List the ten Nonfiction Award books (Orbis Pictus and Sibert combined) with highest current circulation (from most circulated to least)
Author’s Last Name, First Name Book Title
Montgomery, Sy The Tarantula Scientist____
Montgomery, Sy The Snake Scientist _____
Ryan, Pam Munoz When Marion Sang _____
Giblin, James Cross____________The Amazing Life Of Benjamin Franklin___
Murphy, Jim___________An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story
Of The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
Bridges, Ruby and Lundell, Margo ___ _Through My Eyes________
Lasky, Kathryn The Man That Made Time Travel
Murphy, Jim__________________ Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America
Montgomery, Sy______ Quest For The Tree Kangaroo:__An Expedition To The
Cloud Forest Of New Guinea_
Jenkins, Steve At The Top Of The World__
ROBERT SIBERT AWARD AND HONOR BOOKS AND ORBIS PICTUS AWARD AND HONOR BOOKS ALL COMBINED
*The circulation data report includes total circulation of each book, not yearly.*
AUTHOR COPIES CIRCULATION
Adler, David A. 1 0
America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle.
Illustrated by Terry Widener. Gulliver Books, 2000.
Arnosky, Jim. 0 0
Wild & Swampy. HarperCollins, 2000.
Aronson, Marc. 0 0
Sir Walter Raleigh and the Quest for El Dorado.
Clarion Books, 2000.
Bardoe, Cheryl. 0 0
Gregory Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas.
Illustrated by Jos. A. Smith. Abrams, 2006.
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. 0 0
Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845–1850.
Houghton Mifflin, 2001.
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. 0 0
Hitler Youth:
Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow.
Scholastic, 2005.
Bausum, Ann. 0 0
Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement.
National Geographic, 2006.
Bausum, Ann. 0 0
Muckrakers. National Geographic, 2007.
Bial, Raymond. 0 0
Tenement: Immigrant Life on the Lower East Side.
Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
Bishop, Nic. 0 0
Spiders. Scholastic, 2007.
Blumberg, Rhoda. 0 0
York’s Adventures with Lewis and Clark:
An African-American's Part in the Great Expansion. HarperCollins, 2004.
Blumenthal, Karen. 0 0
Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929.
Simon & Schuster/Atheneum Books, 2002.
Bolden, Tonya. 0 0
M.L.K.: Journey of a King. Abrams, 2007.
Bridges, Rudy and Lundell, Margo. 1 3
Through My Eyes. Scholastic Press, 1999.
Burleigh, Robert. 0 0
Seurat and La Grande Jatte: Connecting the Dots. Abrams, 2004.
Byrd, Robert. 0 0
Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer. Dutton Children’s Books, 2003.
Cobb, Vicki. 0 0
I Face the Wind. Illustrated by Julia Gorton. HarperCollins, 2003.
Curlee, Lynn. 0 0
Brooklyn Bridge. Simon & Schuster, 2001.
Dash, Joan. 0 0
The Longitude Prize. Ill. by Dusan Petricic. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.
Delano, Marfe Ferguson. 1 1
Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein.
National Geographic, 2005.
Fleischman, John. 0 0
Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science.
Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
Fleischman, John. 0 0
Black and White Airmen: Their True History.
Houghton Mifflin, 2007.
Floca, Brian. 0 0
Lightship. Simon & Schuster, 2007.
Freedman, Russell. 0 0
Confucius: The Golden Rule.
Illustrated by Frederic Clement.
Arthur A. Levine Books, 2002.
Freedman, Russell. 0 0
In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America’s Bill of Rights.
Holiday House, 2003.
Freedman, Russell. 0 0
The Voice That Challenged A Nation:
Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights.
Clarion Books, 2004.
Freedman, Russell. 1 0
Children of the Great Depression.
Clarion, 2005.
Freedman, Russell. 0 0
Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Holiday House, 2006.
Gantos, Jack. 0 0
Hole in My Life.
Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2002.
Giblin, James Cross. 0 0
Secrets of the Sphinx. Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline.
Scholastic Press/Scholastic Inc., 2004.
Giblin, James Cross. 1 3
The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin.
Illustrated by Michael Dooling. Scholastic Press, 2000.
Giblin, James Cross. 0 0
The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler.
Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.
Govenar, Alan B. 0 0
Osceola: Memories of a Sharecropper’s Daughter.
Illustrated by Shane W. Evans. Jump at the Sun, 2000.
Greenberg, Jan and Jordan, Sandra. 0 0
Vincent van Gogh. Delacorte Press, 2001.
Greenberg, Jan and Jordan, Sandra. 0 0
Action Jackson. Ill. by Robert Andrew Parker.
Roaring Brook Press, 2002.
Hoose, Phillip. 0 0
The Race to Save the Lord God Bird.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004.
Hopkinson, Deborah. 0 0
Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880-
1924.Orchard Books, 2003.
Jackson, Donna. 0 0
ER Vets: Life in an Animal Emergency Room.
Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
Jenkins, Steve. 0 0
Actual Size. Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
Jenkins, Steve. 1 1
The Top of the World.
Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Johnson, Sylvia A. 0 0
Mapping the World. Atheneum, 1999.
Jurmain, Suzanne. 0 0
Forbidden Schoolhouse: The True and Dramatic
Story of Prudence Crandall and Her Students. Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
Kerley, Barbara. 0 0
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins..
Ill. by Brian Selznick. Scholastic Press, 2001.
Kerley, Barbara. 0 0
Walt Whitman Words for America.
Illustrated by Brian Selznick.
Kurlansky, Mark. 0 0
The Cod’s Tale. Ill. by S. D. Schindler.
Penguin Putnam Books, 2001.
Lasky, Kathryn. 1 2
The Man Who Made Time Travel.
Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. Farrar, Straus and Giroux Inc., 2003.
Lasky, Kathryn. 0 0
John Muir: America's First Environmentalist.
Illustrated by Stan Fellows. Candlewick, 2006.
Mann, Elizabeth, 0 0
Empire State Building: When New York Reached for the Skies.
Illustrated by Alan Witschonke. Mikaya Press, 2003.
McClafferty, Carla Killough. 0 0
Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006.
Montgomery, Sy. 1 17
The Snake Scientist. Ill. by Nic Bishop.
Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Montgomery, Sy. 1 18
The Tarantula Scientist. Photographs by Nic Bishop.
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.
Montgomery, Sy. 1 2
Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition
to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea.
Photographs by Nic Bishop. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Murphy, Jim. 1 3
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying
Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793.
Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Murphy, Jim. 2 2
Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America.
Scholastic Press., 2000.
Myers, Walter Dean. 0 0
At Her Majesty’s Request:
An African Princess in Victorian England.
Scholastic Press, 1999.
O’Connor, Jane.
Emperor’s Silent Army: 0 0
Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China.
Viking Children’s Books, 2002.
Old, Wendie C. 0 0
To Fly: The Story of the Wright Brothers.
Illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker. Clarion Books, 2002.
Rappaport, Doreen. 0 0
Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Ill. by Bryan Collier. Hyperion, 2001.
Reich, Susanna. 0 0
Clara Schumann: Piano Virtuoso.
Clarion Books, 1999.
Rumford, James. 0 0
Sequoyah The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing.
Ryan, Pam Munoz. 1 3
When Marian Sang. Illustrated by Brian Selznick.
Scholastic Press/Scholastic Inc., 2002.
Siegel, Siena Cherson. 0 0
To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel.
Artwork by Mark Siegel. Simon & Schuster, 2006.
Singer, Marilyn. 0 0
Venom. Darby Creek Publishing, 2007.
Sís, Peter. 0 0
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain.
Farrar/Frances Foster, 2007.
Siy, Alexandra and Kunkel, Dennis. 0 0
Mosquito Bite. Charlesbridge, 2005.
Stanley, Diane. 0 0
Michelangelo. HarperCollins, 2000.
Stanley, Jerry. 0 0
Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California.
Crown, 2000.
Sullivan, George. 0 0
Helen Keller: Her Life in Pictures.
Scholastic, 2007.
Thimmesh, Catherine. 1 1
Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon.
Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Walker, Sally M. 0 0
Secrets of a Civil War Submarine:
Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley.
Carolrhoda Books, 2005.
Warren, Andrea. 0 0
Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps.
HarperCollins, 2001.
Webb, Sophie. 0 0
My Season with Penguins: An Antarctic Journal.
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
Winick, Judd. 0 0
Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned.
Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2000.
The Results:
The Fowler school library contains 12,581 titles available for circulation. The school has 631 active patrons, which includes teachers and other staff. At the time the data was collected, there were 530 books checked out from the library. None of the checked out books included a Robert Sibert or Orbis Pictus Award Winner or Honor Book. There were 70 books listed in the Robert Sibert and Orbis Pictis Award Winning and Honor Books. The Fowler Library contained 14 books that were Robert Sibert and Orbis Pictis Award Winners or Honor Books. The 14 books available out of the library’s 12,581 books available, means that less than 1% of the books included Robert Sibert and Orbis Pictis Award Winners or Honor Books.
The 14 books available in the Fowler Library include:
Adler, David A. America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle. Illustrated by Terry Widener. Gulliver Books, 2000.
Bridges, Rudy and Lundell, Margo. Through My Eyes. Scholastic Press, 1999.
Delano, Marfe Ferguson. Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein. National Geographic, 2005.
Freedman, Russell. Children of the Great Depression. Clarion, 2005
Giblin, James Cross. The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin. Illustrated by Michael Dooling. Scholastic Press, 2000.
Jenkins, Steve. The Top of the World. Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Lasky, Kathryn. The Man Who Made Time Travel. Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. Farrar, Straus and Giroux Inc., 2003.
Montgomery, Sy. The Snake Scientist. Ill. by Nic Bishop. Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Montgomery, Sy. The Tarantula Scientist. Photographs by Nic Bishop. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.
Montgomery, Sy. Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea. Photographs by Nic Bishop. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Murphy, Jim. Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America. Scholastic Press., 2000.
Ryan, Pam Munoz. When Marian Sang. Illustrated by Brian Selznick. Scholastic Press/Scholastic Inc., 2002.
Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
The collection includes 1 Robert Siebert Medal Award Winner, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, by Jim Murphy. There were two Robert Siebert Honor Books available. They include: When Marian Sang, by Pam Munoz Ryan, and Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America, by Jim Murphy. There were 5 books available from the Orbis Pictis Award Winners. They included: Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea, by Jim Murphy, Children of the Great Depression, by Russell Freedman, Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein, by Marfe Ferguson Delano, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, by Jim Murphy, and When Marian Sang, by Pam Munoz Ryan. There were 6 books available from the Orbis Pictus Honor Books. They included: Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon, by Catherine Thimmesh, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, by Jim Murphy, When Marian Sang, by Pam Munoz Ryan, The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin, by James Giblin, The Snake Scientist, by Sy Montgomery, and The Top of the World, by Steve Jenkins.
Sy Montgomery had the most Award Winning and Honor Books in the collection, with all 3 of his books being available. Jim Murphy was next, with 2 books. The rest of the authors of the 14 available books, had one of their books in the collection. The majority of Award Winners and Honor Books were not found in the Fowler Library at all. I should add that there were books by all the authors listed, just not the titles that won these awards.
Sy Montgomery also had the best circulation of the authors, with
The Tarantula Scientist being checked out at least 18 times. The history that I could gather stopped at the year 2000, so I couldn’t go back any further. Mr. Montgomery’s other book, The Snake Scientist, was checked out at least 17 times. His third book, Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea, has been checked out 2 times. The rest of the books available have been checked out 1, 2, or 3 times, over the lifetime of the book. Two of the available books have never been checked out. These include: America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle, by David Adler, Children of the Great Depression, by Russell Freedman.
The books on animal science seemed to be the most popular nonfiction books. Followed by weather, catastrophes, and books on famous people. The least popular were books about famous people that students most likely haven’t heard about, or events in history most children are not familiar or are have not studied about.
Analysis:
The results of this survey were not surprising to me. I have been at Fowler for 8 years, and the library has been a sore subject for most of the teachers working there. For the first 5 years I worked there, we had a librarian who was waiting for retirement. She did not make the library fun. She did not let the students look for books. If they took to long, she would make them take a book she selected. She was very into organization. She did not even let the students go to the nonfiction and biography section, because she could not see what they were doing from her desk.
The last two years, we have had no librarian. There were no new books ordered the first year, and the second year, a few teachers took it upon themselves to try and get some new books into the library, and most of the titles were fiction.
To give the librarian or lack of one sufficient credit, there are more reasons why I think the circulation and purchase of nonfiction books is so low. When our school started the Accelerated Reader Program, we did not just use it as a reward for reading. Our Principal wanted it to be used as a grade. She decided that 25% of their reading grade was to be based on their Accelerated Reader average. At that time, our elementary school, had to buy their own quizzes. There were very few bought each year, so it made sense to buy quizzes for the books that all the students wanted to read. Fiction was usually the only Genre considered, because most students were reading fiction. This caused our library to purchase only books that students could read, test, and use to meet their Accelerated Reader goals. I believe that this is the main reason that we have very few Award Winning Nonfiction books in our library. With very little money available for quizzes or new books, nonfiction books have not been valued by our students, teachers, or our principal.
Two years ago, the whole WFISD district decided that, as a whole, the district would enter a contract with the Accelerated Reader program, that the whole district would receive any Accelerated Reader Test available, as they were developed. This means that any book that has an Accelerated Reader test, is available to our students. This could mean a new life for our nonfiction books on the shelf, as well as persuading our principal that students need to learn to love nonfiction books as well. Reading for information is one of that TAKS test main objectives, so this and the new contract with Accelerated Reader should help to increase the purchase and circulation of these award winning books.
Recommendations:
First, I would recommend that more money be considered for purchase of award winning and honor nonfiction books. The Accelerated Reader problem has been solved by the district purchasing all tests. Students can now read a wide assortment of nonfiction, and still be working toward their Accelerated Reader goals. The students just need to be able to get to the great nonfiction books, and unfortunately, they are not available in our library. I would recommend that next year, most of the money used to purchase new library materials, be spent on nonfiction.
I would also recommend that the librarian read an equal number of nonfiction books to classes, as they are read nonfiction. If one really good nonfiction book is read and enjoyed, students will likely go to other nonfiction books by that author, and hopefully, then go on to other nonfiction written by other authors.
I would recommend that the new and award-winning nonfiction books be placed in a preferential spot in the library. They should be moved to a place with better access and more visability. I also would recommend having my student librarians read some of the nonfiction books and we could showcase their favorite picks. The younger students admire the student librarians, because they read them stories and help them find books. It might encourage younger students to read those books. We could also interview members of our staff, as well as the principal, and have them recommend nonfiction books. Make a display which highlights the books and the staff member recommending them. As students read more nonfiction, have different students recommend also.
I also think a bulletin board should be made showcasing at least two award winning or honor books for nonfiction each month. They could also correspond with a date in history, or holiday. Several different nonfiction books should be displayed each month, so they are visable to all students. If possible, have book trailers which showcase nonfiction.
The librarian needs to discuss with staff, teachers, the PTO organization, parents, and administration, that an injustice is being done to our students, because they are missing out on a whole genre. Explain that our library doesn’t many of the current nonfiction books. If you go to the administration, parents, or the PTO, it could possibly lead to more funds found to invest in nonfiction.
There is also grant money available for many classroom needs. If the librarian is willing to do the research, she may be able to come up with funds to purchase books.
If I were to recommend a book for librarians about how to use different literature genres in the library and classroom, I would recommend:
Vardell, Sylvia M. CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN ACTION A LIBRARIAN’S GUIDE. 2008. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 9781591585572
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Review of THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gaimin, Neil. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. Ill. by Dave McKean. 2008. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060530921
2. PLOT SUMMARY
When a man named Jack, murders his family, a boy escapes by crawling out of his crib, to a nearby cemetery. Jack is still in pursuit, but the boys mother, who is a ghost now, begs the other ghosts in the cemetery to save her son and raise him. A couple, The Owens, agree to raise him, and another, Silas, agrees to help. They save the baby from Jack, and since the baby has no name, they call him Nobody Owens. Nobody grows up as the Owens’s child. He is allowed full access to the graveyard, but can’t leave because the killer Jack is still looking for him. He remains safely in the graveyard, and the characters from the graveyard try and give him an education. They also teach him how to fade, which comes in handy during his time at the graveyard. He makes a human friend named Scarlett, but her family soon moves away. As Nobody gets older, he finds that he is very lonely and yearns for the outside world. The Owens and Silas agree to let Nobody enroll in a school in the village. Things go okay for a time, but Nobody takes up for a bullied child, and his parents feel it is too risky for him to continue school in the real world. When he is fifteen, Scarlett comes back into his life. They form a great friendship. Scarlett also forms a friendship with the graveyard caretaker, Mr. Frost. He turns out to be Jack and tricks Nobody and Scarlett into going to his home, which is where Nobody’s family was murdered years ago. He tries to murder Nobody. We also find out that Jack is a member of a club called the “Jacks of All Trades.” They are a group of important Jacks that murder people. Nobody fades to get away and locks Jack in a room upstairs. He and Scarlett escape to the graveyard as three other Jacks show up. The other Jacks let Jack out of the room and they head for the graveyard to carry out their plan of murdering Nobody. Nobody is successful, with the help of his graveyard friends, to kill all the Jacks. Scarlett is horrified that Nobody could kill the Jacks and Silas has to erase her memory of Nobody and everything that happened. Nobody is sad because he has lost his only friend in the real world. Scarlett and her mother move away. Now that the Jacks are no longer searching for him, Nobody is now allowed to leave the graveyard and begin his life in the living world.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book is great reading for grades 7-12. I read a few chapters to my 6th graders and they had a hard time following. My GT students in 6th grade however, are reading it on their own. This book has one of the most exciting first chapters that I have ever read. The plot and characters are well developed and the authors vivid descriptions take us away to this other world, the world of the dead. The plot draws you into the story. You must find out why this Jack is after Nobody, and why he murdered Nobody’s family. The characters created that exist in the graveyard, are original. Some are hilarious and others quite scary. The characters come from all different periods in time, and their language is true to their historical periods.
I was disappointed with the ending of the book. I wanted Nobody to end up with Scarlett, and have her helping him survive in the world of the living. I was also disappointed that Scarlett’s memory of Nobody had to be erased because she considered him a murderer. He saved her life, so I thought that this was not what this character would think or do. Even when her memory was erased, I wanted Nobody to leave the graveyard and find Scarlett by chance and the two could have some secret connection and become friends again. I found it very depressing that he just left the graveyard with no friends or family.
I also didn’t like the reason that Jack murdered Nobody’s family. I was expecting some intricate murder plot caused by revenge, jealousy, family secrets, or greed. I was really disappointed when I realized that Jack just murdered the family because that is what the Jacks do.
4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Review: “Grade 5–8—Somewhere in contemporary Britain, "the man Jack" uses his razor-sharp knife to murder a family, but the youngest, a toddler, slips away. The boy ends up in a graveyard, where the ghostly inhabitants adopt him to keep him safe. Nobody Owens, so named because he "looks like nobody but himself," grows up among a multigenerational cast of characters from different historical periods that includes matronly Mistress Owens; ancient Roman Caius Pompeius; an opinionated young witch; a melodramatic hack poet; and Bod's beloved mentor and guardian, Silas, who is neither living nor dead and has secrets of his own. As he grows up, Bod has a series of adventures, both in and out of the graveyard, and the threat of the man Jack who continues to hunt for him is ever present. Bod's love for his graveyard family and vice versa provide the emotional center, amid suspense, spot-on humor, and delightful scene-setting. The child Bod's behavior is occasionally too precocious to be believed, and a series of puns on the name Jack render the villain a bit less frightening than he should be, though only momentarily. Aside from these small flaws, however, Gaiman has created a rich, surprising, and sometimes disturbing tale of dreams, ghouls, murderers, trickery, and family.”
BOOKLIST Review: “*Starred Review* While a highly motivated killer murders his family, a baby, ignorant of the horrific goings-on but bent on independence, pulls himself out of his crib and toddles out of the house and into the night. This is most unfortunate for the killer, since the baby was his prime target. Finding his way through the barred fence of an ancient graveyard, the baby is discovered by Mr. and Mrs. Owens, a stable and caring couple with no children of their own—and who just happen to be dead. After much debate with the graveyard’s rather opinionated denizens, it is decided that the Owens’s will take in the child. Under their care and the sponsorship of the mysterious Silas, the baby is named “Nobody” and raised among the dead to protect him from the killer, who relentlessly pursues him. This is an utterly captivating tale that is cleverly told through an entertaining cast of ghostly characters. There is plenty of darkness, but the novel’s ultimate message is strong and life affirming. Although marketed to the younger YA set, this is a rich story with broad appeal and is highly recommended for teens of all ages. Grades 6-10.”
5. CONNECTIONS
Students could read the descriptions of the characters and pick one to illustrate. Students could display their vision of the characters. Students could also illustrate the graveyard, and then make a display with their characters in their vision of the graveyard.
Students could write epitaphs for themselves or a friend. What would you say about yourself at this time in your life? What would you say about your best friend, teacher, principal, or family member. Students could make a display and share.
Students could write a paper about what they think Nobody did after he left the graveyard. Where did he go and how did he connect with others?
Students could research the author, Neil Gaiman and his other books. They
could research his biography and the class could read some of his other books. CORALINE or M IS FOR MAGIC.
Gaimin, Neil. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. Ill. by Dave McKean. 2008. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060530921
2. PLOT SUMMARY
When a man named Jack, murders his family, a boy escapes by crawling out of his crib, to a nearby cemetery. Jack is still in pursuit, but the boys mother, who is a ghost now, begs the other ghosts in the cemetery to save her son and raise him. A couple, The Owens, agree to raise him, and another, Silas, agrees to help. They save the baby from Jack, and since the baby has no name, they call him Nobody Owens. Nobody grows up as the Owens’s child. He is allowed full access to the graveyard, but can’t leave because the killer Jack is still looking for him. He remains safely in the graveyard, and the characters from the graveyard try and give him an education. They also teach him how to fade, which comes in handy during his time at the graveyard. He makes a human friend named Scarlett, but her family soon moves away. As Nobody gets older, he finds that he is very lonely and yearns for the outside world. The Owens and Silas agree to let Nobody enroll in a school in the village. Things go okay for a time, but Nobody takes up for a bullied child, and his parents feel it is too risky for him to continue school in the real world. When he is fifteen, Scarlett comes back into his life. They form a great friendship. Scarlett also forms a friendship with the graveyard caretaker, Mr. Frost. He turns out to be Jack and tricks Nobody and Scarlett into going to his home, which is where Nobody’s family was murdered years ago. He tries to murder Nobody. We also find out that Jack is a member of a club called the “Jacks of All Trades.” They are a group of important Jacks that murder people. Nobody fades to get away and locks Jack in a room upstairs. He and Scarlett escape to the graveyard as three other Jacks show up. The other Jacks let Jack out of the room and they head for the graveyard to carry out their plan of murdering Nobody. Nobody is successful, with the help of his graveyard friends, to kill all the Jacks. Scarlett is horrified that Nobody could kill the Jacks and Silas has to erase her memory of Nobody and everything that happened. Nobody is sad because he has lost his only friend in the real world. Scarlett and her mother move away. Now that the Jacks are no longer searching for him, Nobody is now allowed to leave the graveyard and begin his life in the living world.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book is great reading for grades 7-12. I read a few chapters to my 6th graders and they had a hard time following. My GT students in 6th grade however, are reading it on their own. This book has one of the most exciting first chapters that I have ever read. The plot and characters are well developed and the authors vivid descriptions take us away to this other world, the world of the dead. The plot draws you into the story. You must find out why this Jack is after Nobody, and why he murdered Nobody’s family. The characters created that exist in the graveyard, are original. Some are hilarious and others quite scary. The characters come from all different periods in time, and their language is true to their historical periods.
I was disappointed with the ending of the book. I wanted Nobody to end up with Scarlett, and have her helping him survive in the world of the living. I was also disappointed that Scarlett’s memory of Nobody had to be erased because she considered him a murderer. He saved her life, so I thought that this was not what this character would think or do. Even when her memory was erased, I wanted Nobody to leave the graveyard and find Scarlett by chance and the two could have some secret connection and become friends again. I found it very depressing that he just left the graveyard with no friends or family.
I also didn’t like the reason that Jack murdered Nobody’s family. I was expecting some intricate murder plot caused by revenge, jealousy, family secrets, or greed. I was really disappointed when I realized that Jack just murdered the family because that is what the Jacks do.
4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Review: “Grade 5–8—Somewhere in contemporary Britain, "the man Jack" uses his razor-sharp knife to murder a family, but the youngest, a toddler, slips away. The boy ends up in a graveyard, where the ghostly inhabitants adopt him to keep him safe. Nobody Owens, so named because he "looks like nobody but himself," grows up among a multigenerational cast of characters from different historical periods that includes matronly Mistress Owens; ancient Roman Caius Pompeius; an opinionated young witch; a melodramatic hack poet; and Bod's beloved mentor and guardian, Silas, who is neither living nor dead and has secrets of his own. As he grows up, Bod has a series of adventures, both in and out of the graveyard, and the threat of the man Jack who continues to hunt for him is ever present. Bod's love for his graveyard family and vice versa provide the emotional center, amid suspense, spot-on humor, and delightful scene-setting. The child Bod's behavior is occasionally too precocious to be believed, and a series of puns on the name Jack render the villain a bit less frightening than he should be, though only momentarily. Aside from these small flaws, however, Gaiman has created a rich, surprising, and sometimes disturbing tale of dreams, ghouls, murderers, trickery, and family.”
BOOKLIST Review: “*Starred Review* While a highly motivated killer murders his family, a baby, ignorant of the horrific goings-on but bent on independence, pulls himself out of his crib and toddles out of the house and into the night. This is most unfortunate for the killer, since the baby was his prime target. Finding his way through the barred fence of an ancient graveyard, the baby is discovered by Mr. and Mrs. Owens, a stable and caring couple with no children of their own—and who just happen to be dead. After much debate with the graveyard’s rather opinionated denizens, it is decided that the Owens’s will take in the child. Under their care and the sponsorship of the mysterious Silas, the baby is named “Nobody” and raised among the dead to protect him from the killer, who relentlessly pursues him. This is an utterly captivating tale that is cleverly told through an entertaining cast of ghostly characters. There is plenty of darkness, but the novel’s ultimate message is strong and life affirming. Although marketed to the younger YA set, this is a rich story with broad appeal and is highly recommended for teens of all ages. Grades 6-10.”
5. CONNECTIONS
Students could read the descriptions of the characters and pick one to illustrate. Students could display their vision of the characters. Students could also illustrate the graveyard, and then make a display with their characters in their vision of the graveyard.
Students could write epitaphs for themselves or a friend. What would you say about yourself at this time in your life? What would you say about your best friend, teacher, principal, or family member. Students could make a display and share.
Students could write a paper about what they think Nobody did after he left the graveyard. Where did he go and how did he connect with others?
Students could research the author, Neil Gaiman and his other books. They
could research his biography and the class could read some of his other books. CORALINE or M IS FOR MAGIC.
Review of DIARY OF A WIMPY KID by Jeff Kinney
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kinney, Jeff. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID. 2007. New York: Amulet Books. ISBN 9780810993136
2. PLOT SUMMARY
Greg, an unpopular junior high student, writes a journal just in case he becomes famous one day. He and his friend Rowley, are considered losers at their junior high school, but they are constantly striving to change this factor. The plot also revolves around a piece of cheese that has been on the basketball court for years. Anyone that touches it, is as unpopular as leprosy was in biblical days. Greg and Rowley taunt some high school kids on Halloween and they barely escape them by running to his grandmother’s house. They wait outside for them but Greg and Rowley get away. The next day, Greg’s grandmother’s house has been egged. Greg rationalizes that it’s okay because she probably didn’t have anything else to do, so being egged will keep her busy. Greg gets into skirmishes with high school kids and junior high bullies, but always seems to come out okay. He is happy to throw his friend Rowley to the wolves if he can save himself. In the end, Greg and Rowley are trapped by the high school boys they taunted on Halloween, and Rowley ends up having to eat “The Cheese.” Greg finally does a good deed, and tells everyone that he threw the cheese away. He is then, of course, ostracized because he has the dreaded “Cheese Touch.” Rowley ends up being the class clown, which is what Greg imagined for himself. In the end, I think everyone gets what they deserve. Rowley gets a little notoriety and Greg is still considered a loser.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This is a fun book for grades 3-8. I have five sets of this book in my library, and I can’t keep it on the shelves. Students like it because it is an easy read, and it is funny. I can imagine everything in this book actually happening. This book is what junior high is for many students. It’s surviving by your wits. I don’t see any great moral lessons in this book. It does have Greg finally trying to protect Rowley in the end, but how many times does he let Rowley take the heat for his bad decisions? Sometimes kids don’t want a moral lesson, they just want to laugh. The characters are true to life, and the so are the situations. It should be read for fun, and sometimes that is just what a kid wants or needs.
4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
BOOKLIST Review: “The first year in the middle-school life of Greg Heffley is chronicled in this laugh-out-loud novel that first appeared on the Internet. Greg tells his story in a series of short, episodic chapters. Most revolve around the adolescent male curse: the need to do incredibly dumb things because they seem to be a good idea at the time. Yet, unlike some other books about kids of this age, there's no sense of a slightly condescending adult writer behind the main character. At every moment, Greg seems real, and the engrossed reader will even occasionally see the logic in some of his choices. Greatly adding to the humor are Kinney's cartoons, which appear on every page. The simple line drawings perfectly capture archetypes of growing up, such as a preschool-age little brother, out-of-touch teachers, and an assortment of class nerds. Lots of fun throughout”
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Review: “Grade 5–8. Kinney does a masterful job of making the mundane life of boys on the brink of adolescence hilarious. Greg is a conflicted soul: he wants to do the right thing, but the constant quest for status and girls seems to undermine his every effort. His attempts to prove his worthiness in the popularity race (he estimates he's currently ranked 52nd or 53rd) are constantly foiled by well-meaning parents, a younger and older brother, and nerdy friends. While Greg is not the most principled protagonist, it is his very obliviousness to his faults that makes him such an appealing hero. Kinney's background as a cartoonist is apparent in this hybrid book that falls somewhere between traditional prose and graphic novel. The first of three installments, it is an excellent choice for reluctant readers, but more experienced readers will also find much to enjoy and relate to in one seventh grader's view of the everyday trials and tribulations of middle school.”
5. CONNECTIONS
Have students write about one of the worst things that has ever happened to them at school. Let them present their papers to the class if they want.
You could have a great discussion about the situations Greg gets himself into. Ask students about their own school experiences. It will make for some great discussions.
Students could illustrate a scene from the book. They could make it like a cartoon, or make it more elaborate. Then they could make cartoon captions for the scene.
There is a character chart on Greg Kinney’s website. Students could fill out the charts and compare them with other students. The teacher could list all the adjectives for the characters on the board, and the class could discuss the meanings.
Students could pair up and write questions for an interview with Greg. After they are completed, one student is Greg and the other is the interviewer. Each team could practice and present their interview. Students portraying Greg would have to answer questions like they think Greg would answer.
Students could write a journal like Greg. Language Arts teachers could use this as a writing grade. Students would write in their journals each day about what is going on in their lives. Teachers could do one also, and share some of it with the class.
Kinney, Jeff. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID. 2007. New York: Amulet Books. ISBN 9780810993136
2. PLOT SUMMARY
Greg, an unpopular junior high student, writes a journal just in case he becomes famous one day. He and his friend Rowley, are considered losers at their junior high school, but they are constantly striving to change this factor. The plot also revolves around a piece of cheese that has been on the basketball court for years. Anyone that touches it, is as unpopular as leprosy was in biblical days. Greg and Rowley taunt some high school kids on Halloween and they barely escape them by running to his grandmother’s house. They wait outside for them but Greg and Rowley get away. The next day, Greg’s grandmother’s house has been egged. Greg rationalizes that it’s okay because she probably didn’t have anything else to do, so being egged will keep her busy. Greg gets into skirmishes with high school kids and junior high bullies, but always seems to come out okay. He is happy to throw his friend Rowley to the wolves if he can save himself. In the end, Greg and Rowley are trapped by the high school boys they taunted on Halloween, and Rowley ends up having to eat “The Cheese.” Greg finally does a good deed, and tells everyone that he threw the cheese away. He is then, of course, ostracized because he has the dreaded “Cheese Touch.” Rowley ends up being the class clown, which is what Greg imagined for himself. In the end, I think everyone gets what they deserve. Rowley gets a little notoriety and Greg is still considered a loser.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This is a fun book for grades 3-8. I have five sets of this book in my library, and I can’t keep it on the shelves. Students like it because it is an easy read, and it is funny. I can imagine everything in this book actually happening. This book is what junior high is for many students. It’s surviving by your wits. I don’t see any great moral lessons in this book. It does have Greg finally trying to protect Rowley in the end, but how many times does he let Rowley take the heat for his bad decisions? Sometimes kids don’t want a moral lesson, they just want to laugh. The characters are true to life, and the so are the situations. It should be read for fun, and sometimes that is just what a kid wants or needs.
4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
BOOKLIST Review: “The first year in the middle-school life of Greg Heffley is chronicled in this laugh-out-loud novel that first appeared on the Internet. Greg tells his story in a series of short, episodic chapters. Most revolve around the adolescent male curse: the need to do incredibly dumb things because they seem to be a good idea at the time. Yet, unlike some other books about kids of this age, there's no sense of a slightly condescending adult writer behind the main character. At every moment, Greg seems real, and the engrossed reader will even occasionally see the logic in some of his choices. Greatly adding to the humor are Kinney's cartoons, which appear on every page. The simple line drawings perfectly capture archetypes of growing up, such as a preschool-age little brother, out-of-touch teachers, and an assortment of class nerds. Lots of fun throughout”
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Review: “Grade 5–8. Kinney does a masterful job of making the mundane life of boys on the brink of adolescence hilarious. Greg is a conflicted soul: he wants to do the right thing, but the constant quest for status and girls seems to undermine his every effort. His attempts to prove his worthiness in the popularity race (he estimates he's currently ranked 52nd or 53rd) are constantly foiled by well-meaning parents, a younger and older brother, and nerdy friends. While Greg is not the most principled protagonist, it is his very obliviousness to his faults that makes him such an appealing hero. Kinney's background as a cartoonist is apparent in this hybrid book that falls somewhere between traditional prose and graphic novel. The first of three installments, it is an excellent choice for reluctant readers, but more experienced readers will also find much to enjoy and relate to in one seventh grader's view of the everyday trials and tribulations of middle school.”
5. CONNECTIONS
Have students write about one of the worst things that has ever happened to them at school. Let them present their papers to the class if they want.
You could have a great discussion about the situations Greg gets himself into. Ask students about their own school experiences. It will make for some great discussions.
Students could illustrate a scene from the book. They could make it like a cartoon, or make it more elaborate. Then they could make cartoon captions for the scene.
There is a character chart on Greg Kinney’s website. Students could fill out the charts and compare them with other students. The teacher could list all the adjectives for the characters on the board, and the class could discuss the meanings.
Students could pair up and write questions for an interview with Greg. After they are completed, one student is Greg and the other is the interviewer. Each team could practice and present their interview. Students portraying Greg would have to answer questions like they think Greg would answer.
Students could write a journal like Greg. Language Arts teachers could use this as a writing grade. Students would write in their journals each day about what is going on in their lives. Teachers could do one also, and share some of it with the class.
Review of THIS IS HOW I LIVE NOW by Meg Rosoff
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Rosoff, Meg. HOW I LIVE NOW. 2004. New York: Random House. ISBN 0385746776
2. PLOT SUMMARY
A teen-age American girl, Elizabeth, is sent by her father and step-mother, to live in England with her dead mother’s sister and her family. Elizabeth doesn’t get along with her step-mother, and has developed an eating disorder. She arrives in England and meets her new family. Her Aunt Penn lives on a farm in the country. Aunt Penn’s children are Edmond, Isaac, Osbert, and a girl, named Piper. She instantly bonds with the family, and enters into a romantic relationship with Edmond. A war breaks out and the family is separated from Aunt Penn. Then, Piper and Daisy are separated further from Edmond, Isaac, and Osbert. The two girls go to live with a couple, Mr. and Mrs. McEvoy. They go to different areas to do farm chores each day, but one day on the way back to the couple’s home, Mr. McEvoy is shot and killed. The girls, Mrs. McEvoy, and her young son, are taken to a farm, which is also a makeshift army base. The two girls decide to try and get back to their farm. They travel for weeks and finally make it to back home. The home is deserted, except for the corpses of fifteen men, women, and children. They stay on the farm until the war is over. Daisy, is forced by her father to come back to America. There, she enters the hospital. After she is released, she goes back to England to be with Edmond. He has post war trauma because he can’t bear all the terrible things he saw. He was also taken prisoner by the enemy, but later allowed to leave. He hasn’t spoken since the war. Aunt Penn died during the war and Piper, her boyfriend Jonathan, Edmond, and Isaac live at the farm that was their home before the war started. Osment moved out to live with his girlfriend. Daisy arrives and decides to stay on and hope that Edmond will someday recover.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book is a great read for grades 9-12. It contains sexual situations, as well as violence. The main character has an eating disorder, as well as emotional turmoil in her relationship with her step-mother. The characters are well developed and we feel their pain. The author’s vivid writing allows us to visualize what war feels like. The story is set in England during a war which has not yet happened. Her description of how a war in modern times would feel like, is very believable. The story is told in the present until Daisy is sent back to America, and then the story fast forwards to six years after the war.
I think most teen-agers can relate to Daisy and how she is forced to be a hero. She has to learn to survive on her own, as well as take care of her cousin Piper. Teen-agers will see that she is an ordinary teen-ager faced with extraordinary conflicts.
I had some problems with the fact that she falls in love with her cousin. I don’t really know how teen-agers will react to that part of the story, but it bothered me. Why couldn’t it have been a friend of the family, or why couldn’t Edmond be adopted?
4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY Review: “This riveting first novel paints a frighteningly realistic picture of a world war breaking out in the 21st century. Told from the point of view of 15-year-old Manhattan native Daisy, the novel follows her arrival and her stay with cousins on a remote farm in England. Soon after Daisy settles into their farmhouse, her Aunt Penn becomes stranded in Oslo and terrorists invade and occupy England. Daisy's candid, intelligent narrative draws readers into her very private world, which appears almost utopian at first with no adult supervision (especially by contrast with her home life with her widowed father and his new wife). The heroine finds herself falling in love with cousin Edmond, and the author credibly creates a world in which social taboos are temporarily erased. When soldiers usurp the farm, they send the girls off separately from the boys, and Daisy becomes determined to keep herself and her youngest cousin, Piper, alive. Like the ripple effects of paranoia and panic in society, the changes within Daisy do not occur all at once, but they have dramatic effects. In the span of a few months, she goes from a self-centered, disgruntled teen to a courageous survivor motivated by love and compassion. How she comes to understand the effects the war has had on others provides the greatest evidence of her growth, as well as her motivation to get through to those who seem lost to war's consequences. Teens may feel that they have experienced a war themselves as they vicariously witness Daisy's worst nightmares. Like the heroine, readers will emerge from the rubble much shaken, a little wiser and with perhaps a greater sense of humanity. Ages 12-up.”
BOOKLIST Review: “*Starred Review* Gr. 8-11. A 15-year-old, contemporary urbanite named Daisy, sent to England to summer with relatives, falls in love with her aunt's "oldy worldy" farm and her soulful cousins--especially Edmond, with whom she forms "the world's most inappropriate case of sexual obsession." Matters veer in a startling direction when terrorists strike while Daisy's aunt is out of the country, war erupts, and soldiers divide the cousins by gender between two guardians. Determined to rejoin Edmond, Daisy and her youngest cousin embark upon a dangerous journey that brings them face to face with horrific violence and undreamt-of deprivation. Just prior to the hopeful conclusion, Rosoff introduces a jolting leap forward in time accompanied by an evocative graphic device that will undoubtedly spark lively discussions. As for the incestuous romance, Daisy and Edmond's separation for most of the novel and the obvious emotional sustenance Daisy draws from their bond sensitively shift the focus away from the relationship's implicit (and potentially discomfiting) physical dimension. More central to the potency of Rosoff's debut, though, is the ominous prognostication of what a third world war might look like, and the opportunity it provides for teens to imagine themselves, like Daisy, exhibiting courage and resilience in roles traditionally occupied by earlier generations.”
5. CONNECTIONS
The internet claims that this book is going to become a movie. Students could write about what actor and actress they think should play the characters Edmond and Daisy in the movie and why.
Students could make a display of things they would take with them if they were forced to leave their homes. What would they take with them if they had five minutes to pack. Students could explain to the class why they would take the items chosen. Students could then compare their items with other classmates.
Students could also make a chart of one of the main characters, and come up with adjectives to describe them before the war, and then after the war. Then present their display to the class.
Students could also write a paper about the changes one of the main characters goes through because of the war.
Rosoff, Meg. HOW I LIVE NOW. 2004. New York: Random House. ISBN 0385746776
2. PLOT SUMMARY
A teen-age American girl, Elizabeth, is sent by her father and step-mother, to live in England with her dead mother’s sister and her family. Elizabeth doesn’t get along with her step-mother, and has developed an eating disorder. She arrives in England and meets her new family. Her Aunt Penn lives on a farm in the country. Aunt Penn’s children are Edmond, Isaac, Osbert, and a girl, named Piper. She instantly bonds with the family, and enters into a romantic relationship with Edmond. A war breaks out and the family is separated from Aunt Penn. Then, Piper and Daisy are separated further from Edmond, Isaac, and Osbert. The two girls go to live with a couple, Mr. and Mrs. McEvoy. They go to different areas to do farm chores each day, but one day on the way back to the couple’s home, Mr. McEvoy is shot and killed. The girls, Mrs. McEvoy, and her young son, are taken to a farm, which is also a makeshift army base. The two girls decide to try and get back to their farm. They travel for weeks and finally make it to back home. The home is deserted, except for the corpses of fifteen men, women, and children. They stay on the farm until the war is over. Daisy, is forced by her father to come back to America. There, she enters the hospital. After she is released, she goes back to England to be with Edmond. He has post war trauma because he can’t bear all the terrible things he saw. He was also taken prisoner by the enemy, but later allowed to leave. He hasn’t spoken since the war. Aunt Penn died during the war and Piper, her boyfriend Jonathan, Edmond, and Isaac live at the farm that was their home before the war started. Osment moved out to live with his girlfriend. Daisy arrives and decides to stay on and hope that Edmond will someday recover.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book is a great read for grades 9-12. It contains sexual situations, as well as violence. The main character has an eating disorder, as well as emotional turmoil in her relationship with her step-mother. The characters are well developed and we feel their pain. The author’s vivid writing allows us to visualize what war feels like. The story is set in England during a war which has not yet happened. Her description of how a war in modern times would feel like, is very believable. The story is told in the present until Daisy is sent back to America, and then the story fast forwards to six years after the war.
I think most teen-agers can relate to Daisy and how she is forced to be a hero. She has to learn to survive on her own, as well as take care of her cousin Piper. Teen-agers will see that she is an ordinary teen-ager faced with extraordinary conflicts.
I had some problems with the fact that she falls in love with her cousin. I don’t really know how teen-agers will react to that part of the story, but it bothered me. Why couldn’t it have been a friend of the family, or why couldn’t Edmond be adopted?
4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY Review: “This riveting first novel paints a frighteningly realistic picture of a world war breaking out in the 21st century. Told from the point of view of 15-year-old Manhattan native Daisy, the novel follows her arrival and her stay with cousins on a remote farm in England. Soon after Daisy settles into their farmhouse, her Aunt Penn becomes stranded in Oslo and terrorists invade and occupy England. Daisy's candid, intelligent narrative draws readers into her very private world, which appears almost utopian at first with no adult supervision (especially by contrast with her home life with her widowed father and his new wife). The heroine finds herself falling in love with cousin Edmond, and the author credibly creates a world in which social taboos are temporarily erased. When soldiers usurp the farm, they send the girls off separately from the boys, and Daisy becomes determined to keep herself and her youngest cousin, Piper, alive. Like the ripple effects of paranoia and panic in society, the changes within Daisy do not occur all at once, but they have dramatic effects. In the span of a few months, she goes from a self-centered, disgruntled teen to a courageous survivor motivated by love and compassion. How she comes to understand the effects the war has had on others provides the greatest evidence of her growth, as well as her motivation to get through to those who seem lost to war's consequences. Teens may feel that they have experienced a war themselves as they vicariously witness Daisy's worst nightmares. Like the heroine, readers will emerge from the rubble much shaken, a little wiser and with perhaps a greater sense of humanity. Ages 12-up.”
BOOKLIST Review: “*Starred Review* Gr. 8-11. A 15-year-old, contemporary urbanite named Daisy, sent to England to summer with relatives, falls in love with her aunt's "oldy worldy" farm and her soulful cousins--especially Edmond, with whom she forms "the world's most inappropriate case of sexual obsession." Matters veer in a startling direction when terrorists strike while Daisy's aunt is out of the country, war erupts, and soldiers divide the cousins by gender between two guardians. Determined to rejoin Edmond, Daisy and her youngest cousin embark upon a dangerous journey that brings them face to face with horrific violence and undreamt-of deprivation. Just prior to the hopeful conclusion, Rosoff introduces a jolting leap forward in time accompanied by an evocative graphic device that will undoubtedly spark lively discussions. As for the incestuous romance, Daisy and Edmond's separation for most of the novel and the obvious emotional sustenance Daisy draws from their bond sensitively shift the focus away from the relationship's implicit (and potentially discomfiting) physical dimension. More central to the potency of Rosoff's debut, though, is the ominous prognostication of what a third world war might look like, and the opportunity it provides for teens to imagine themselves, like Daisy, exhibiting courage and resilience in roles traditionally occupied by earlier generations.”
5. CONNECTIONS
The internet claims that this book is going to become a movie. Students could write about what actor and actress they think should play the characters Edmond and Daisy in the movie and why.
Students could make a display of things they would take with them if they were forced to leave their homes. What would they take with them if they had five minutes to pack. Students could explain to the class why they would take the items chosen. Students could then compare their items with other classmates.
Students could also make a chart of one of the main characters, and come up with adjectives to describe them before the war, and then after the war. Then present their display to the class.
Students could also write a paper about the changes one of the main characters goes through because of the war.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Review of THE RIVER BETWEEN US by Richard Peck
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Peck, Richard. THE RIVER BETWEEN US. 2003. New York: Dial Group. ISBN 0803727356
2. PLOT SUMMARY
In 1916, a father and his three sons go to Illinois to visit the father’s family. The boys meet their Grandma Tilly, her husband, their great uncle Noah, and his dying wife, Delphine. The story then goes back to 1861, as Grandma Tilly tells the boys about the history of their family during the Civil War. Grandma Tilly and Noah were siblings. They had their Mama, but their father had been out of the picture for some time. They also had a sister, Cass, who sees visions of what has happened in the past and into the future. Their lives in a small village in Illinois is disrupted by the arrival of a beautiful New Orleans woman, named Delphine. She is accompanied by another woman, Calinda. Mama decides that the two, who are stranded, can take a room in their home. From the moment they arrive, the whole town is mesmerized by the beautiful and obviously rich, Delphine. Calinda is much like Cass, as in she can see visions. She is also a great cook and nurse. Noah goes off to join the army, and his mother is devastated. She makes Tilly go to find him and bring him home. Tilly and Delphine go together, with the help of Dr William Hutchings, to find Noah. He gets his arm cut off in battle, and then is sent home with the women. In the meantime, Mama sees a coffin coming toward the house, thinks it is Noah, and drowns herself in the river. While gone they also discover that Delphine is part African American and that Calinda is her sister. Noah falls in love with Delphine, they have a child, but let Tilly raise it because they don’t want the child to endure prejudice. Tilly marries Dr. Hutchings, and they raise the child as their own.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
I would highly recommend this book for grades 7-12 because it has references to mistresses and Delphine being the result of an affair. Delphine also talks about living in the same town as her white father’s legal wife and children.
The author takes us back to the 1800’s through his writing. This is an emotional book about the sacrifices a family makes because of the Civil War. The terrible trips to see Noah on the battlefields and our hope that he will make it home to see his mother, is a very horrific and emotional scene. The description of the setting takes you back to a simpler time. The arrival of Delphine and her beautiful clothes and possessions, totally takes over the life of the small village where Tilly lives. We can imagine how wonderful it would be to have light in the house at night, which Tilly’s family never had before Delphine moved in.
The author starts the book in 1916, with the second generation after the war going to visit Grandma Tilly. She then tell s the story of the family’s true ancestry. I feel this makes the story more effective. The language used by the characters throughout makes the story more accurate. This is a wonderful book about the Civil War from a woman’s perspective.
The story seems researched and accurate from the language to war situations. It is fast paced and just a beautiful book about this time.
4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Review: “In this thoroughly researched novel, Peck masterfully describes the female Civil War experience, the subtle and not-too-subtle ways the country was changing, and the split in loyalty that separated towns and even families. Although the book deals with some weighty themes, it is not without humor. A scene involving strapping on a corset is worthy of Grandma Dowdel herself.”
BOOKLIST Review: “Peck's spare writing has never been more eloquent than in this powerful mystery in which personal secrets drive the plot and reveal the history. True to Tilly's first-person narrative, each sentence is a scrappy, melancholy, wry evocation of character, time, and place, and only the character of Delphine's companion, Calinda, comes close to stereotype. A final historical note and a framing device--a grandson writing 50 years after the story takes place--make the reading even better, the revelations more astonishing. It's a riveting story that shows racism everywhere and young people facing war, not sure what side to be on or why.”
5. CONNECTIONS
Students could read another novel from a different perspective. A male or a possibly another girl on a different side. Student’s could compare and contrast the experiences in each book. Make a display and present.
Delphine was thought by the town to be a spy. Students could do research about spies and spying during the Civil War. I have a message decoder that they used back then. Students can make it easily with cardboard and brads. Students could make messages to each other and decode them. Students could also present their research about what spies used and did to get information for the other side. Make a display. I know the whole school would be interested in this assignment.
Students could read nonfiction books about the Civil War and compare with the book for accurate details. Make a display board showing what they found.
Students could write a reader’s theater. Split into groups and have them write and present it. Then, let groups switch and do each other’s play. Props could be added also if you were going to spend several days on this activity.
Peck, Richard. THE RIVER BETWEEN US. 2003. New York: Dial Group. ISBN 0803727356
2. PLOT SUMMARY
In 1916, a father and his three sons go to Illinois to visit the father’s family. The boys meet their Grandma Tilly, her husband, their great uncle Noah, and his dying wife, Delphine. The story then goes back to 1861, as Grandma Tilly tells the boys about the history of their family during the Civil War. Grandma Tilly and Noah were siblings. They had their Mama, but their father had been out of the picture for some time. They also had a sister, Cass, who sees visions of what has happened in the past and into the future. Their lives in a small village in Illinois is disrupted by the arrival of a beautiful New Orleans woman, named Delphine. She is accompanied by another woman, Calinda. Mama decides that the two, who are stranded, can take a room in their home. From the moment they arrive, the whole town is mesmerized by the beautiful and obviously rich, Delphine. Calinda is much like Cass, as in she can see visions. She is also a great cook and nurse. Noah goes off to join the army, and his mother is devastated. She makes Tilly go to find him and bring him home. Tilly and Delphine go together, with the help of Dr William Hutchings, to find Noah. He gets his arm cut off in battle, and then is sent home with the women. In the meantime, Mama sees a coffin coming toward the house, thinks it is Noah, and drowns herself in the river. While gone they also discover that Delphine is part African American and that Calinda is her sister. Noah falls in love with Delphine, they have a child, but let Tilly raise it because they don’t want the child to endure prejudice. Tilly marries Dr. Hutchings, and they raise the child as their own.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
I would highly recommend this book for grades 7-12 because it has references to mistresses and Delphine being the result of an affair. Delphine also talks about living in the same town as her white father’s legal wife and children.
The author takes us back to the 1800’s through his writing. This is an emotional book about the sacrifices a family makes because of the Civil War. The terrible trips to see Noah on the battlefields and our hope that he will make it home to see his mother, is a very horrific and emotional scene. The description of the setting takes you back to a simpler time. The arrival of Delphine and her beautiful clothes and possessions, totally takes over the life of the small village where Tilly lives. We can imagine how wonderful it would be to have light in the house at night, which Tilly’s family never had before Delphine moved in.
The author starts the book in 1916, with the second generation after the war going to visit Grandma Tilly. She then tell s the story of the family’s true ancestry. I feel this makes the story more effective. The language used by the characters throughout makes the story more accurate. This is a wonderful book about the Civil War from a woman’s perspective.
The story seems researched and accurate from the language to war situations. It is fast paced and just a beautiful book about this time.
4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Review: “In this thoroughly researched novel, Peck masterfully describes the female Civil War experience, the subtle and not-too-subtle ways the country was changing, and the split in loyalty that separated towns and even families. Although the book deals with some weighty themes, it is not without humor. A scene involving strapping on a corset is worthy of Grandma Dowdel herself.”
BOOKLIST Review: “Peck's spare writing has never been more eloquent than in this powerful mystery in which personal secrets drive the plot and reveal the history. True to Tilly's first-person narrative, each sentence is a scrappy, melancholy, wry evocation of character, time, and place, and only the character of Delphine's companion, Calinda, comes close to stereotype. A final historical note and a framing device--a grandson writing 50 years after the story takes place--make the reading even better, the revelations more astonishing. It's a riveting story that shows racism everywhere and young people facing war, not sure what side to be on or why.”
5. CONNECTIONS
Students could read another novel from a different perspective. A male or a possibly another girl on a different side. Student’s could compare and contrast the experiences in each book. Make a display and present.
Delphine was thought by the town to be a spy. Students could do research about spies and spying during the Civil War. I have a message decoder that they used back then. Students can make it easily with cardboard and brads. Students could make messages to each other and decode them. Students could also present their research about what spies used and did to get information for the other side. Make a display. I know the whole school would be interested in this assignment.
Students could read nonfiction books about the Civil War and compare with the book for accurate details. Make a display board showing what they found.
Students could write a reader’s theater. Split into groups and have them write and present it. Then, let groups switch and do each other’s play. Props could be added also if you were going to spend several days on this activity.
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