The Running Dream (Wendelin Van Draanen)

I read this book because my daughter really wanted me to. She said she laughed. She cried. She really loved it. I wasn't really interested in it, but figured sometimes it's a good idea to read something because your kids love it and you want to find out what they're loving.

Teach Mentor Texts also loved it. Check out her review here.

The story is about a girl who is a runner.  Her track team is traveling home from a meet and gets into an accident. One teammate is killed, the driver of the other vehicle is killed, and Jessica, the main character of this story, loses a leg. It took me a while to get into it. The beginning of the story is just a lot of pain and doctors and misery. Apparently this type of genre though, is a new obsession with teens these days. I'm glad to hear this new obsession. It beats the vampire trend!

(p. 20, Part I, Chapter 9)

A thin curtain separates me from the moans of my new neighbor. It smells sickly in here now. Like diarrhea and disinfectant.

My flowers are dropping and dropping petals. The balloons are sagging too, losing air. It's like they're tired of trying to cheer me up. Like they want me to give up too.

There have been so many calls, but I don't want to talk.

Not to anyone.

I can see why my daughter loved this book. It was inspiring to see how the girl fought through the challenges, found ways to overcome the accident, and rallied with her team to become a runner again.

Jessica becomes friends with a girl named Rosa who has cerebral palsy. Rosa is in Jessica's math class and helps her catch up on concepts she struggles with. The friendship with Jessica and Rosa is touching and reminds me of Wonder. When she first returns to school, Jessica is in a wheelchair and of course, doesn't fit in a regular desk.

(p. 106 Part II Chapter 12)

"There's plenty of room at that table," Ms. Rucker says without looking over her shoulder.

Inside, I panic.
Yes, I'm missing a leg, but the rest of me is...well, it's normal.
Do people think I'm special-needs now?

Is that how they see me?

No! They can't!

But...but if I start sitting with special-needs kids, that is what people will think.

It just is.

Ms. Rucker turns and give me a cool, blank look.

She wants an answer.

My mind is a flurry of contradictions. I want to lie and say I'm nearsighted. That I need to be up front in my own chair. That I hop just fine.

But I also think about my terror in returning to school. Feeling like a freak.

Is that how Rosa feels?

I've never stared at her, but I have....overlooked her.

No-the truth is, I've totally acted like she isn't there.

It's been easier.

Less uncomfortable.

For me.

"Sure," I tell Ms. Rucker. I'd be happy to sit with Rosa."

I loved her descriptions about why she loves running when people wonder. A lot of people think it's really boring. It reminded me of my daughter. People often ask her why she likes swimming. All that back and forth and back and forth must be quite boring, they say.

That's the funny thing about running. The deceptive thing about it. It may seem mindless, but it's really largely mental. If the mind's not strong, the body acts weak, even if it's not. If the mind says it's too cold or too rainy or too windy to run, the body will be more than happy to agree. If the mind says it would be better to rest or recover or cut practice, the body will  be glad to oblige.


Another great quote:

(page 314, Part V, chapter  12)

It's disturbing how fast weeds take root in my garden of worthiness.

They're hard to pull.

And grow back so easily.

It's interesting how we make connections to books. I asked my daughter why she cried in it and she listed a bunch of things that weren't the reasons I cried (yes, it did make me cry). I was really touched by the math teacher showing up to the race the girl runs at the end of the book. That whole teacher-student connection really touched me.

(page 321, Part V, chapter 14)

But there's a woman approaching us. She's wearing a TEAM ROSA shirt, but she's not a cross-country runner.

She's a math teacher.

"Ms. Rucker?" Fiona and I say together.

She's wearing running shorts and tightly laced yellow and black Sauconys.

And a racing bib.

Number 27.

But it's her bare legs that are somehow shocking to see.

"Hi, girls," she says. "I just wanted to wish you good luck."

"You're a runner?" Fiona asks.

Ms. Rucker gives her a little shrug. "In my private life, yes."

"Wow," Fiona says.

I'm noticing Ms. Rucker's watch-it's a serious runner's watch. And her shorts have little pouches built in-I can see the tops of energy gels peeking out from both sides of her hips.

I wonder how she calculates her pace-with her watch or with her brain.

I wonder if she thinks in numbers the whole way.

If she counts her steps.

But despite all the indications that she's a machine, her shirt isn't made of that fancy sweat-wicking technical fabric that would be on par with the rest of her gear.

It's cotton, and more than just a little too big.

"Thanks for wearing the T-shirt," I tell her.

She smiles, first at me, then at Rosa.

It's an amazing sight.

Warm, and a little bit shy.

"Proud to wear it," she says, then moves away. "Run strong," she says. "I'll see you at the finish line."

I watch her go.

Run strong...

I decide right then that that'll be my mantra for this race.

The Checklist Manifesto (Atul Gawande)

This book proves you can write a book a out anything! Perhaps I am too cynical.

I listened to this on CD. It seemed to take forever, and as I was listening I felt like it could have been way shorter! But something about it compelled me to continue listening and in the end I was really glad I did. Mostly, I think because it justifies my addiction to lists! There's nothing like checking stuff off a list. Sometimes I add things to the list that I have done just so I can check them off.

But that's not really the kind of lists he's talking about.

The author's theory is all success in business can be increased by adding check lists. He has numerous examples in the field of medicine, in construction and in aviation. I'm curious to see how I can implement this idea in teaching. I actually have started some small check lists of things to do each morning and each day after school. I find it helps me be more productive and gets the things that are routine, but important, done quickly and done well.

I went to a workshop on attention where the speaker referred to this book (I still can't figure out how it related to her presentation though). I'm glad I wrote the title down. It's definitely a worthwhile read (or listen, as in my case!)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

It always feels good to read a classic. I have wanted to read this book for a while, so my month to pick the book club book seemed like the perfect opportunity. It is kind of like The Seinfeld Show - a book about nothing. Nothing spectacular happens. It's just the story of a girl who isn't very well off who just struggles and continues to make it in life. There is a tree that grows near her house - one tree amidst all the cement. The tree survives and thrives despite people neglecting it, abusing it, even trying to ruin it.....just like Francie and her family always survive.

I really liked that the mother is a strong character in this story, as is Francie. I loved that they realized that the way out of their struggled was through learning and through reading.

There are some strange characters in the book. Francie's dad is a lovable, handsome and fun guy - but never much of a provider for the family. His mother had three sons. Two died and one got married - which was about as good as dying to her. She was kind of bizarre:

Johnny, Francie's dad, is an interesting sort. He's a drunk who makes his money singing. He never really did want a family, but he does stick around mostly. His mother had all boys and had a hard time not having them around. When Johnny and his wife announced they were having a baby she wailed, "Now she's got you good. You'll never be able to come back to me."

Odd. Sort of. Some mothers have a hard time letting go of their boys.

I loved all the talk of school and learning and reading.

Katie deeply wants her children to have a better life than hers. On her mother's advice, she reads to them every day from Shakespeare and from The Bible. It does make a difference in Francie's life - although not always positive. Sometimes it causes her to be too different from her friends.

Francie finds a school she wants to go to instead of the one in the district where she lives. She and her dad conjure up a "white lie" so she can attend that school.

"It was a good thing that she got herself into this other school. It showed her that there were other worlds beside the world she had been born into and that these other worlds were not unattainable." (chapter 23, p. 176)

One chapter that really struck me was when Francie decides that she will never have female friends. This decision is thanks to a bunch of women who taunt and shun and make fun of a girl who has a baby out of wedlock. Francie even shuns this girl by looking at her cold-faced when she smiles at her. However, when the women inadvertently injure the baby by throwing rocks at the mother, Francie is horrified.

p. 237 (chapter 30) Remember Joanna. Remember Joanna. Francie could never forget her. From that time on, remembering the stoning women, she hated women. She feared them for their devious ways, she mistrusted their instincts. She began to hate them for this disloyalty and their cruelty to each other. Of all the stone-throwers, not one had cared to speak a word for the girl for fear that she would be tarred with Joanna's brush. The passing man had been the only one who spoke with kindness in his voice.

Most of the women had the one thing in common: they had great pain when they gave birth to their children. This should make a bond that held them all together; it should make them love and protect each other against the man-world. But it was not so. It seemed like their great birth pains shrank their hearts and their souls. They stuck together for only one thing: to trample on some other woman....whether it was by throwing stones or by mean gossip. It was the only kind of loyalty they seemed to have.

Men were different. They might hate each other but they stuck together against the world and against any woman who would ensnare one of them.

Francie opened the copybook which she used for a diary. She skipped a line under the paragraph that she had written about intolerance and wrote:

"As long as I live, I will never have a woman for a friend. I will never trust any woman again, except maybe Mama and sometimes Aunt Evy and Aunt Sissy."

And she never did.


There's something magical about this book. I think anyone could read it and find themselves in it. It's a story where women stand up for themselves. It's a story where extended family sticks together. It's a story where despite the odds, they do slowly get ahead. There are no quick fixes. There is a lot of heart ache, hard work, patience and going without along the way.

It's definitely a book I'd recommend!

The Dark (Lemony Snicket)

I got this book out if the library because the illustrator is Jon Klassen, the author and illustrator of I Want My Hat Back.  I loved that book!

When I took this book out of the library the librarian saw it and flipped through it. We talked about how crazy Lemony Snicket is, and then the librarian said, "Do you mind if I just quickly read it?" I had time, so she perused it quickly. There were a number of times she raised her eyebrows. At the end she closed it and said, "That's weird." From her description, I kind of agreed.

Then I read it in my classroom. My students had a totally different take on it. They loved it! They said, "Yes, that is what The Dark feels like!" They agreed that The Dark is real. They loved the illustrations and felt like the author totally nailed it.

That is why I love reading with kids. They get things adults just never get on their own :)

If you're afraid of the dark, you should read this book.

And if you've been afraid of the dark in the past, you should read this book.

March 2023: I love the teaching of opposites in this. Without a creaky roof, the rain would fall on your bed, and without a smooth, cold window, you could never see outside, and without a set of stairs, you could never go in the basement, where the dark spends its time. Without a closet, you would have nowhere to put your shoes, and without a shower curtain, you would splash water all over the bathroom, and without the dark, everything would be light, and you would never know if you needed a lightbulb. (Words of the Wiser)

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (Chris Van Allsburg)

Great mysteries! Fabulous story starters.


Goodreads summary:


Fourteen black-and-white drawings, each accompanied by a title and a caption, entice readers to make up his or her own story. A fictional editor's note tells of an encounter with an author and illustrator named Harris Burdick, who provided the images and captions as samples, each from a different picture book he had written. He left with a promise to deliver the complete manuscripts if the editor chose to buy the books. Burdick was never seen again, and the samples are all that remain of his supposed books. Readers are challenged to imagine their own stories based on the images in the book.

Miss Nelson is Missing (Harry Allard)

How did I not know about this book?? One of my colleagues sent me a video to watch. After watching the video I had to go find the book....then I had to share it with my class. Love it! I'm thinking this should be one to read at the beginning of the school year! The kids are misbehaving for their lovely good natured teacher. As a result, a nasty substitute teacher, Miss Viola Swamp comes and teaches them all  a lesson!


We read the story then watched the video. The kids loved it. We discussed what was the same, what was different, and what a great job the class did.

Reread May 2022: Good connection to integrity (do what you're supposed to do even when no one is looking....or you'll get the mean teacher!)

Goodreads says:

Miss Nelson was the nicest teacher in the school. She never yelled and she gave the easiest assignments. She was always smiling and cheery, even when her students cut up in class or would not open their arithmetic books nor pay attention during story hour.

Until one day Miss Nelson did not come to school – a substitute teacher came instead. What an opportunity for everyone to be even more naughty. Not so! Miss Swamp immediately laid down the law – no talking, no goofing off in class – and she gave every student loads of homework.

Where was Miss Nelson? Where was the wonderful unappreciated Miss Nelson? And so the students hunted for her high and low, with the dubious help of detective McSmogg.

Harry Allard and James Marshall, with their incisive feel for the nuances of relationships, point out with imagination and humor the folly of being inconsiderate or unappreciative.

   

Freak the Mighty (Rodman Philbrick)

I loved this book. It is an edgy and entertaining look into a boy's life. I loved the two main characters: Kevin and Max. They're both the kind of kids I would love to play a part in their lives.


Moreso a middle school book.




Goodreads summary:


Two boys – a slow learner stuck in the body of a teenage giant and a tiny Einstein in leg braces – forge a unique friendship when they pair up to create one formidable human force. A wonderful story of triumph over imperfection, shame, and loss.