It's Like This Cat by Emily Cheney Neville

I often share with my students that I enjoy reading because books can take you places.  It’s true.  Open a book and you can travel any where in the world, and still be snuggled up in your comfy chair in your living room.  This summer I’ve camped in the Everglades, (crashed an airboat in the process), escaped with Fadi and his family from war-torn Afghanistan to San Francisco, and experienced the heat of mid-summer in Mississippi with no pool to swim in!  All this and I never left the state!

In the Newbery Award winning book, It’s Like This Cat, I was able to travel back in time to visit New York City in the early 1960’s.  It’s a culture shock, but in a good way.  New York in the early 60’s is a big bustling city, but a much safer place for a kid to grow up in.  Dave Mitchell is 14 years old and lives in Manhattan with his mom and dad.  He’s your pretty typical teenager, likes to hang out with friends, frequently is at odds with his dad, but tries to keep his mom happy.  The story centers around Dave and “Cat”, a stray tom cat that Dave adopts to spite his father who thinks Dave should get a dog.  Gradually Dave and Cat form a strong bond as Cat leads Dave on new adventures and helps to bring important new people and relationships into his life.

Throughout the book the author uses language and some slang that may have been popular in the 60’s but is rarely, if ever, used today.  As I read the story I found it fun to compare lifestyles today to those of the early 60’s. 

Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood

How would you feel if on one of the hottest days of summer, your town shuts down the city pool until further notice? In the book I just finished reading,Glory Be, it’s 1964 and some of the residents of the small town of Hanging Moss, Mississippi are having difficulty accepting the integration of their town. The President has passed a law that makes it illegal to have “whites only” swimming pools, drinking fountains, libraries,etc. Glory, who’ll be turning 12 this summer, can’t understand what all the fuss is about, she just wants everyone to get along. But others, including the town council, the high school football star, and nosy Mrs. Simpson are determined to keep the town the same,even if they have to resort to violence!

Check out Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood!

Building Stories by Isabel Hill

Cities are filled with beautiful, old historic buildings.  According to Building Stories, "Buildings are like books with stories that last.  They tell us about our present and also our past."   This book is a picture walk through New York City, filled with photographs of historic buildings, highlighting their intricate details.  Through pictures, the reader is able to "read" the buildings and learn about the characters and story lines of each building's past.

Reading this book immediately made me think about going into the city to take photographs of building with unusual details.  Students could have fun writing stories about what they imagine to be the history of the buildings.  A great combination of history and art!

Chomp by Carl Hiaasen

Oh my goodness, reading Chomp is like watching a movie in your head.  Realistically I know I’m sitting on my swing under the maple tree in my backyard, but in my head I’m in the Everglades in the middle of a thunderstorm.  I’m speeding through the swamp on an airboat with Wahoo, Tuna and Link while a crazed lunatic is chasing us.  The mosquitoes are swarming and biting…oh wait, that part’s real.  Seriously, I cannot put this book down; I will be highly recommending it to all my students this fall.  This story has it all:  action, adventure, lovable wild animals (wouldn’t you love to take a swim with Alice the alligator?), villains, good guys, and even a little romance thrown in just for fun.  Has anyone decided to make this into a movie yet?  If not, someone definitely needs to send a copy of the book to Disney or Pixar.

Shooting Kabul by N. H. Senzai

“It’s a perfect night to run away, thought Fadi…”

 

So begins the journey of Fadi and his family as they make their desperate attempt to flee Afghanistan in Shooting Kabul.  I had to keep reminding myself that this was a middle grade fiction book as I read the first few chapters.  The horrible and heart wrenching decisions that Fadi’s family had to make as they ran for their lives made we want to stop reading at times, but I reminded myself that for too many people this story is uncomfortably close to the truth.  In the midst of all this turmoil, Fadi’s six year old sister, Miriam, is accidently left behind in Afghanistan as the family escapes to Pakistan and later the United States.

While family and friends back in Pakistan and Afghanistan search for Miriam, Fadi and his family try to settle into their new lives in San Francisco.  Fadi’s thoughts are never far from Miriam, he blames himself for her being separated from the family.  His one goal: to return to Afghanistan and find Miriam.

This book is hard to put down; the readers easily become wrapped up in Fadi’s life as he tries to make friends, adjust to his new surroundings, and find Miriam.  Then it’s September 11, 2001, and Fadi’s world changes yet again.

As I read about the events of 9/11, many of the memories of that day came flooding back.  Who will ever forget where they were and what they were doing when they first heard the news of the planes hitting the towers? The memories are so powerful, even so many years later.  In the story, Fadi’s family and community suddenly become targets as they struggle in the aftermath of the attacks.

It always amazes me every year when I have students that don’t know anything about 9/11.  They were only toddlers then.  I will be using this book as a read-aloud in the classroom to help spark some intelligent discussions and promote a culture of acceptance and understanding for all.

Wonder Book Trailer!

Just found this!  Book trailer for the book, Wonder.  I get chills just watching this.....

Teacher/Blogger on Vacation!

What makes for a perfect vacation? Warm weather (Ok, it's really hot), sun, the lake , family and of course time to read. Sayner, WI is perfect. It has all that plus a wonderful library full of great books and it's the local wifi hotspot!  I always bring great books to read with me up north, but there is something so magical about walking into this little northern library and finding my special "vacation" books!