Me... Jane

Me... Jane by Patrick McDonnell is a beautiful biography about Jane Goodall's life. The story starts out by explaining how as a young girl, Jane, accompanied by her chimpanzee stuffed animal, Jubilee, would spend her days discovering the world around her. She wanted to know where eggs came from, so she and Jubilee hid in the chicken coop to find out. She wanted to climb trees and smell their sap, so they did that, too. McDonnell's illustrations show Jane dreaming of a life in Africa, swinging along vines and helping animals. McDonnell makes this transition from dreams to real life beautifully through his illustrations and words. He says, "At night Jane would tuck Jubilee into bed, say her prayers, and fall asleep... to awake one day.. to her dream come true". On this final page, a photograph of Jane Goodall and a chimpanzee fills the reader with hope and joy. 

This book qualifies as a Well- Illustrated book because its pictures establish the mood of an imaginary land turned real, and since the illustrations develop the plot so well. The colors are soft and warm, and make the reader feel happy and inspired.

This book would be wonderful for introducing students in primary grades to the genre of biography, along with the idea of following your passion and dreams. I would use it as a read aloud, since I would love to watch the look on the class's face upon seeing the photo of the real Jane Goodall, and because the development of the story is great for a whole group.

One important note to mention is that this book mostly covers Jane's life as a young girl. We do not learn much about her work with animals, aside from the fact that she was passionate about them. There is a small portion of text at the end of the book that explains more detail about Jane's work, but this information is not included in the story itself. When introducing biography this would be important to point out, along with the idea that biographies can focus on any given part of someone's life in order to serve a specific purpose. This element of Me... Jane, would probably leave readers inspired to learn more about Jane Goodall's life.

Me... Jane is inspiring and sweet story that kids in early elementary grades would love to read.

Jane and Jubilee dreaming of Africa

Here is a link to the story being read aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaDlPuZ1R4o

Here is a link to a webpage with lesson plans surrounding this text: http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=22956&a=1

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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Cover

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz is a wonderful story about two Mexican-American boys who don't feel like the fit in with the world around them. Aristotle, who goes by Ari, narrates the story from the time he turns fifteen until he's seventeen. The reader watches as he grows from a sensitive, insecure, and lonely boy, to a caring, aware young man. The story starts when he meets Dante at the swimming pool one day. Dante offers to teach Ari how to swim and the two become fast friends. Dante shows Ari poetry and a variety of books, teaching him about birds, and the world around him. Ari protects Dante and shows him loyalty-- something only his family has given him in the past. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe discusses the themes of family, love, growing up, and right vs. wrong. Ari has a unique home-life in which his father rarely speaks, haunted from his time in the Vietnam war, a caring mother who teaches high school, two much older sisters, and a brother in prison, who Ari's parents never mention. Ari feels out of place and constantly wonders if that's just part of being fifteen, or if he is different. He eventually learns how to work through some problems with his family, who help him work through discovering himself and his true love for Dante, who has already openly admitted he's not interested in girls. Dante's family also plays an important role in the story: his father a successful professor, and his mother a social worker, adore Dante and Ari. They provide Ari and Dante with hope of what they could become and want to become in the future. Alire Saenz weaves through different emotions and scenarios beautifully, making the reader quickly turn the pages, hungry for more.

My one criticism of this book is that it is a little slow to getting started, in fact, I checked other reviews of the book to see if I was the only reader who had felt that way-- I was not. Ari is pretty grouchy through the beginning of the book; it can be difficult to read his monologues. However, around half-way through, this book really picks up momentum and hooks the reader.

As a teacher, I would use this book in a high school English class. It does a wonderful job painting a picture that although we all have differences, all humans have the same universal emotions and care, in general, about the same thing. I think it would be a really great book study for high school students, although, possibly a bit controversial, but only because it's a little non-traditional. This book would also probably be relateable for any teenager who has just "come out" or is trying to figure out how to (and has confided in the teacher or whoever is sharing the book-- one wouldn't want to make assumptions, in my opinion). Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe also discusses some of the issues with hate crimes and lack of acceptance. These themes are hard to swallow while reading, but would be important pieces for discussion in a high school classroom.

I like that the main characters in this book are Mexican-American and homosexuals, since these groups can be so under-represented in books. The characters both seemed very genuine and authentic to me. Benjamin Alire Saenz himself is a Mexican-American who is gay, giving his characters even more credibility.  All characters also show power-- the mothers both play a traditional Hispanic mother role of being "over-protective" (something Ari and Dante constantly joke about), but also successful with good careers that their sons look up to them for. I found these characters to be real and inspiring. I also liked that the story took place in El Paso, Texas. The description of the desert and the night-sky added a really beautiful element to the book.


Pick up Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by  Benjamin Alire Saenz if you're looking for a different, refreshing point of view. The book has won the Stonewall Book Award, the Pura Belpre Award, Lambda Literature Award, and the Michael Printz Award for Excellence-- Young Adult Literature, and it's easy to see why.

Here is a link to a book trailer for this book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl78amFemuY

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All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel

All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel by Dan Yaccarino is a cute story about immigration and family. Yaccarino writes about his family's history, starting with his great-grandfather and his decision to leave Italy for America. When his great-grandfather, Michele (renamed Michael upon his arrival in the USA) leaves his native country of Italy, his parents give him a small shovel. This shovel ends up playing an important role in each generations' lives and careers. For example, Michael uses it to measure out dried fruit and nuts. Later, his son uses the same shovel to measure out beans, noodles, and olives. This son passes the shovel onto his son, Mike, who uses the shovel to spread rock salt. Ultimately, the shovel ends up in the author's hands, who chooses to use it to grow a garden on his family's small terrace.


I would use this book to introduce the idea of immigration and different family structures, cultures, and values. Although the book holds no dialogue and has a very basic story-line, the reader is drawn to the characters through the vibrant illustrations and steadfast family values. This book would be great for showing younger students in primary grades that although we all may look different and have different backgrounds, family is a constant in everyone's life in one way or another.




Here is a book trailer for the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVWBJG2l66o

The Westing Game

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin is a mystery that keeps you guessing until the last page. It is so very engaging, that I can see why it won the Newberry Medal in 1978. The story starts by introducing an array of characters who live together in an apartment building. They are all very different: a Chinese family who owns a restaurant upstairs, a wealthy doctor and his wife, a secretary who fakes injuries, and other characters-- all of whom have distinct personalities and voices that can be heard and recognized through Raskin's lovely writing style. The plot thickens when a millionaire who lives nearby is "murdered" and his will claims that one of the apartment building tenants is the murderer. The tenants are paired up and given clues to help them solve the murder, which is when the reader finds themselves bent over laughing at the characters' various antics and turning the pages quickly, hungry for more.

I would give The Westing Game to students in grades 4-9 who may need a little extra push to get reading. The mystery aspect makes this book very engaging, and it has many words that could be good for increasing a reader's vocabulary. This book could be used as a read aloud, but I would recommend that the teacher (or reader) read the book once alone before reading it aloud so that they can practice the various character voices to avoid confusion among the audience when listening to this story.
Turtle, one of the main characters, is a young female who could be described as a "tom-boy". She is wildly smart and funny. Turtle ends up proving herself to be the wisest character in the entire book, despite the fact that she is surrounded with a judge, a lawyer, a doctor, and entrepreneurs. This strong character could be inspirational to young females, especially those who feel less interested in stereotypical female notions.
One aspect of this book that I would caution readers of is that it is not always perfectly politically correct. One of the boys in the story is in a wheel-chair, and he is often referred to as an "invalid". Although I think the author did this to show some character voice and, therefore, character ignorance, it can be a little distasteful and made me cringe every time. This piece also reminds me that this book was written in 1978.

Overall, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin is well-worth the read.

Me and Earl and The Dying Girl

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews was constantly checked out at the library. It took me about three weeks to finally get a call that the book had made its way to the hold shelf-- for me this time. I quickly realized why.

Book cover

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a wonderfully well-done story narrated by Greg Gaines, a senior in high school, whose mother forces him to start spending time with Rachel Kushner, who has just been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. Greg knew Rachel from Hebrew school at a younger age, and had hurt her feelings when he had rejected her invitations to spend time together, saying his "foot was stuck in a toaster", or "I'm digesting an entire wombat right now". Now, Greg is forced to reconnect with Rachel and, without even realizing it, makes it his personal mission to cheer her up-- discussing the most ridiculous concepts and ideas with Rachel ranging from the thought that his parents won't buy him throw pillows for his room since they fear he will masturbate with them, to deciding a polar bear is a regretful animal since it eats all of its friends. The reader is hooked by Greg's outlandish thoughts and ideas and his underlying caring heart that he doesn't even realize he has.

Not only does the reader want to hear everything Greg has to say, but the other characters are developed just as well. His dad eats cuddlefish and kale chips, his sister is going through puberty and storms around the house, his mom periodically checks on him to make sure he's okay, which drives Greg insane, and his cat is named Cat Stevens and brings a few laughs himself. Earl, Greg's friend who comes from a rougher neighborhood than Greg and swears like a sailor, immediately hooks the reader since behind his dirty mouth is a huge heart that sees the all of the world's imperfections and beauties.

The characters in this story make it very genuine and believable. Also, Greg tells you from the start that he and Rachel do not fall in love, and that she dies. The reader is struck by how honest this is-- they do not elope into the sunset on a white horse; this book is too real for that. Greg also struggles with the fact that he doesn't feel like a great person throughout the story. He wonders if he really is a good friend because at times he doesn't want to see Rachel and doesn't really think he's making a difference in her life. He claims that he just wants to make her laugh because it's something he's become good at doing. His viewpoint of himself and his questions about his worth strike me as questions so many high schoolers wonder about themselves and those around them. This book leaves its reader thinking, "Okay, so I'm not the only one who does that sometimes! Good!".

About halfway through reading of this book, I decided to pick up the audiobook and film versions to see how they compared. The audiobook did a magical job of making the characters even more real and hilarious. I would definitely recommend it. The movie was also good, but very different from the book. I would say about half of the plot is altered, including some of the funnier, and at times vulgar, sections. Watching the movie, I was happy I had the background on each character that I did from the text, because some of these little back-stories and dialogues that really showed the characters' personalities were lacking from the film. However, the same ideas of friendship, differences, growth, and self-discovery were nicely presented in the movie. It is definitely worth a watch, as well, just with a less critical eye in regard to comparing it to the book.

Audio-book cover

Movie Cover

I would recommend this book to high schoolers. It is a little to vulgar at times (many references to drug use, alcohol. sex, and swearing) for middle schoolers (perhaps 8th grade would be okay). The ideas and themes about the cliques in high school, the various socio-economic situations of different students in a high-school, and the self-discovery through friendship, classes, and obstacles, would be perfect for this age group. At first I worried that the book may be too profane to hand to a high schooler, too, but I think students would appreciate its message and would connect with the story well since it is real and not  at all sugar-coated. After much back and forth, I decided I would certainly hand this book to a group of high schoolers for a book study. Also as a teacher, I would let the students analyze the film after reading the book, It brought up a lot of questions about writing style and development, in my opinion, and could lend itself well to a lesson surrounding author's
style.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is worth buying at the book store-- don't wait for it to be on the hold shelf, just go get it-- you'll be glad you did.

Pick Me Up

Pick Me Up.. Stuff You Need To Know...

Pick Me Up, created by David Roberts and Jeremy Leslie, is a really wonderful book published by Dorling Kindersley, the same producer of the Eye Witness books. It is a modern-day encyclopedia formatted in a unique way. It is almost a stream of consciousness, helping it to serve the short attention spans of our current technology-driven generation. Its pages also hold bright visuals that the reader can feast their eyes upon as they browse through the array of pages. The catchy headlines like "Why Are We All Puppets?" and "Why Are We All So Obsessed with Celebrity Culture These Days?" grab the reader and pull them in. When I first picked this book up, I had the intention of reading one or two paragraphs and then moving onto the next thing-- before I knew it, an hour had passed and I had read about everything from relationships between males and their mothers, school structure in Japan, and why the potato is white. The 351 pages of this book are filled with everything from DNA to Democracy, Ancient China to Insects, and Rock Concerts to Teenagers. It is jam-packed with information and reminds me of a coffee-table book for kids that never runs out of new learning.


This book could be useful for teaching about specific topics or themes, for example the Ancient China unit could be used in a history lesson about Asia. This book also could serve to help engage readers who can tune out during silent reading. It offers so many opportunities to become interested and can hold almost anyone's attention. That being said, I would not recommend this book to anyone younger than about 10 years old (4th grade, maybe?). It is so packed with information that it would be overwhelming to a new reader, and covers some topics they might not even know exist, such a colonization, Nagasaki, and puberty. Although I wouldn't recommend this book to young readers, anyone over that age would be bound to love at least some part of this book. I think it might become an addition to my coffee table quite soon!

Counting by 7s

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan is about a little girl named Willow Chance who is just entering middle school. The reader quickly realizes that Willow is a genius. She knows everything there is to know about medical conditions, every plant known to mankind, and all about current events. However, Willow knows nothing about being a middle-schooler. She is excited to start middle school, but upon being mistaken for the custodian on the first day, dressed in her gardener outfit, she quickly realizes she does not fit in. When Willow is sent to a social worker, Dell Duke, after a mix up on a test, she meets Mai and Quang-ha at Dell Duke’s office, who she eventually befriends.

Unfortunately, middle school is the least of Willow’s troubles. The reader knows as soon as they finish the first chapter that Willow’s parents die in a car crash. However, after the author introduces this idea, she backtracks to prior to the event. This transition was a bit confusing to me, initially—I couldn’t understand the timeline. The reader gets to know Willow’s family a little bit prior to the accident, so they are more invested when tragedy hits.  Willow is scooped up and saved by her new friends and her odd-ball social worker after her parents deaths. She has to rediscover herself and her hobbies.

I liked this story as a whole, however, it took me a long time to get fully interested. The story started off kind of slow for me, and Willow could be kind of frustrating at times.  However, the other characters really bring the story to life. They each have distinct personalities that the reader can’t help but like. They also understand and learn to love Willow for her whole self—smart, nerdy, and compassionate. The heart of the story lies in this friendship and new sense of family that develops.

I would recommend this story to a child who may struggle due to being very smart and standing out. I would not give this book to a child who was grieving. Although everyone grieves differently, I was surprised when I found very few similarities between myself and Willow Chance. Losing my mom five months ago, I have been going through the grieving process myself. I thought that I might be able to relate to this main character quite well, however, she rarely mentioned her parents at all. Willow was very focused on her situation and finding her new normal—two aspects of her situation that did seem realistic and releatable. She also felt very sad, which made great sense, however she didn’t mention her parents’ names, hobbies, memories at all. She mostly just seemed sad and quiet. I understand having these feelings and not wanting to think about hard times. Also, as I already mentioned, I know everyone grieves differently, but I could not relate to Willow’s experience very much at all. At times her reactions seemed unauthentic and distracted.   Since I struggled to make these connections as an adult, I really wonder how well a middle-schooler would relate. They could surprise me, of course, but I would be hesitant to hand a grieving teenager this book.

Overall, this story is heartfelt and about accepting everyone for who they are, despite their differences. All of the characters are extremely different with regard to their appearances, native language, hobbies and financial situations. The book has some laughs and cute moments. It left me crying at times, but smiling at others. Although it wasn’t my favorite book of all time, I did enjoy it.

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Book Trailer provided on Youtube