Mrs. D’s Reads

This has been a rough couple of weeks, but reading always helps me get through.

Here are a couple of gems that are worth a second look…

Girl In a Cage
Jane Yolen
Grades 5-10

This is a historical novel about the capture and imprisonment of the eleven year old daughter of Robert the Bruce of Scotland. Great characters and a unique look at a child’s role in history.

The Hickory Chair
Lisa Rowe Faustino
Grades K-6

A beautiful story about a special relationship between a blind boy and his grandmother. It deals with love, loss, and grief. I love this book.

39 uses for a Friend
Harriet Ziefert
Grades K-4

This would make a great springboard for writing, discussion, art, vocabulary, all kinds of things. Maybe a class could write a book for mother’s day or grandparent’s day using this pattern? Lots of possibilities.

I had a sick kid over the three day weekend, so it was all movies and reading by the fire. Not a bad way to spend a couple of days.

Gregor The Overlander
by Suzanne Collins
Grades 4-7

I just finished the first of this series, and I will definitely be reading the others. This is a well-written and unique quest story with some great lessons and some fabulous action-packed sequences. I was pleasantly surprised.

The Orphan Boy
by Tololwa M. Mollel
Grades 2-6

What a wonderful folktale from Africa about promises, loyalty, and honesty. I think this is one of those that can be enjoyed on one level for primary and another for older kids.

Stone Soup
by Jon J Muth
Grades 1-4

This is a great traditional tale, retold and illustrated beautifully by the same team who gave us The Three Questions. I love the timely lesson in cooperation and valuing the different gifts each of us bring to the table.

The Dragon New Year: A Chinese Legend
by David Bouchard
Grades 1-4

This is not a legend, but an original tale, but it is in the spirit of other Chinese tales that I have read. A nice read about Chinese New Year, and about children’s fears.

It’s raining like crazy here, so I am reading like mad. Here are some of my choices for this week…

Criss Cross
by Lynne Rae Perkins
Grades 6-8

I loved this unique novel about a group of kids coming of age one summer in the 1970s. The author uses some illustrations and some really unexpected devices to tell the story, but none of it feels gimmicky. It is a “sequel” to All Alone in the Universe, which I have not read.

The Colors of Us
Karen Katz
Grades K-5

What an amazing book about the idea of diversity! The language used for all the skin colors is both beautiful and thought-provoking. I especially love the little girl who narrates because she refuses to accept the kind of imprecise language we use for the people around us. She insists on the idea that we are all unique.

Talkin’ ‘Bout Bess: The Story of Aviator Bessie Coleman
by Nikki Grimes
Grades 3-7

Incredible language and point of view in this book. I love the different voices, and the fact that they give a well-rounded version of this courageous, but flawed, woman. I didn’t know her story before, and I wish more biographies gave this kind of three-dimensional portrait.

And a couple “grown-up” books I read for myself…

Sleep, Pale Sister
Joanne Harris

This is one of Harris’ first novels, written long before her fame from the book Chocolat. It is dark and gothic and more than a little creepy. I enjoyed the different points of view presented in each chapter, and the sharp contrast created between the public and private lives of the characters. I also loved Five Quarters of the Orange by her. It’s probably my favorite. Harris is reading at Auntie’s Bookstore here in Spokane January 17th at 7:30.

Thread of Grace
Mary Doria Russell

I loved Russell’s “science fiction” (a term that doesn’t seem to quite fit, but I don’t know a better one) books, The Sparrow and Children of God, and they have continued to haunt me with ideas and images. This book, about Italy during the last few months of World War II, is a beautiful but not sentimental, story about the ways people survived, came together, and fought during one of the worst moments in modern history. She captures the complexity of the political, social, and religious situation, and does it in a way that is sincere, not didactic.

I have been reading a lot over my holiday break. Here are a few things I liked…

Indigo’s Star
Hilary McKay
Grades 5-8

This is the second in a series of stories about the Casson family (Saffy’s Angel was the first, Permanent Rose the third). I love their sweet, touching wackiness. The characters are great, and the situations are engaging stuff that kids are dealing with in life. (absent parents, bullying, making friends, problems at school).

Blizzard’s Wake
Patricia Reynolds Naylor
Grades 5-8

I was hooked into this story set in the historic 1940s blizzard in the Red River Valley. I am fascinated by survival stories, and the teenage protaganist and her battle with her intense anger over her mother’s death is very compelling.

Emma Kate
Patricia Polacco
Grades K-2

I must admit that I only love about half of Polacco’s books, but this sweet tale about friendship with a great twist at the end made me smile.

And one that I read just for me….(Not for kids)

Son of a Witch
Gregory Maguire

I am a huge fan of the book Wicked, and I really think it is one of my favorite books fo the last ten years. I believe this one is a worthy sequel, and for those of us who hope for more on this particulary Oz family, Maguire leaves us with an ending that could be continued, if he is kind.