The Fault in Our Stars (John Green)

The main character in this book loves reading and the story is centered around her love of a book: An Imperial Affliction. I loved this quote:

p. 33: My favorite book, by a wide margin, was An Imperial Affliction, but I didn't like to tell people about it. Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. And then there are books like An Imperial Affliction which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like betrayal.
It wasn't even that the book was so good or anything; it was just that the author, Peter Van Houten, seemed to understand me in weird and impossible ways. An Imperial Affliction was my book, in the way my body was my body and my thoughts were my thoughts.

The author has a great way with words and there were many times where I had to pause and chew on the words a little longer to truly appreciate them.

And to get a little philosophical - I think the underlying message in this book could be that we need to write our own stories. She tries to find out how An Imperial Affliction should end - but is unable. (I loved how Peter Van Houten was portrayed, by the way....shocking and ridiculous and pathetic). In the end, she really should have written how the story should end....just as she writes how her story will end.

I have a confession though: I didn't cry.
I know. I have no heart.
I do, however, think it's really really good. You should read it.

Originally posted July 18, 2013. Reread May 18, 2020: It's been 7 years since I first read this. Since then I've been raising teenagers. I have a whole new perspective on teenagers. The moments where Hazel's parents struggle with Hazel's cancer really got to me. In addition, my brother currently has stage 4 cancer. This was a tough and touching re-read.

                                         -----------------------------------------------

Augustus: He's seldom seen without a cigarette.And by the way that cigarette....is just a metaphor.

"You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing."

P. 157 Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.


I found this on GoodReads. I have no idea who made it, but it's a great summary of wonderful things to remember about this book.

Chrysanthemum (Kevin Henkes)

This book would go well with Rump by Leisel Shirtliff.
Read July 16, 2013

Reread August 31, 2017 - we read this book on the first day of school. Kids really related to the teasing and could relate to how Chrysanthemum felt. For homework, the students wrote a paragraph about their name. Why did their parents choose it? What does it mean? etc.


Goodreads summary:

She was a perfect baby, and she had a perfect name. Chrysanthemum. When she was old enough to appreciate it, Chrysanthemum loved her name. And then she started school. "I'm named after my grandmother," said Victoria. "You're named after a flower." Chrysanthemum wilted. Life at school didn't improve. In fact, it got worse. Then the students were introduced to their music teacher, Mrs. Twinkle. Mrs. DelphiniumTwinkle. And suddenly, Chrysanthemum blossomed

This book would go well with Rump by Leisel Shurtliff

Reading With Dad (Richard Jorgensen)

This book made me miss my dad. My dad wasn't really a big reader and he didn't read with me, but the book is so touching. It stirs up warm feelings. It reminds me of Love you Forever by Robert Munsch. This book made me think I need to do more reading with my kids. They're quite independent readers and often don't want to read books aloud with me because it takes longer. However, when we do do it they don't want to stop. I need to do that more.

How Full Is Your Bucket (Tom Rath and Donald O Clifton)

This is one of those books I should read every 6 months or so. It's simply written, so it wouldn't be hard to read it. It has some great reminders though. Sometimes it's easy to get on a negative trend - and this book is a great reminder to simply just be more positive and kind to people. There are also great lessons in the back that could be used for family night lessons, or in school. Definitely on to keep in easy reach.

Great Blog Posts

I read a lot of different blogs about reading. Here are some great posts I read this week:

• Jen Robinson posted a challenge to read aloud 15 minutes a day. The more I know kids the more I know how important that is. Mine are 11 and 14. I'm going to try to read aloud each day with both of them this summer after reading her great post. 
• Top 10 Ways to Turn Your Classroom into a Hotbed of Enthusiastic Readers made me feel good - like I'm on the right track.
• Lost in My Work made me feel great too. I find myself, in the summer, wanting to discuss books with kids. Everytime I brought up the idea about doing a summer book club most teachers I talked to told me I was crazy and that the kids deserved a break. Thankfully my admin is much more supportive. To me, summer is a great time for more reading, not a time to take a vacation from it!
• I'm a real fan of Donalyn Miller and The Book Whisperer. I found out she hosts a monthly twitter chat with Colby Sharp, another blogger I follow. I really have to figure out how to get in the game with twitter!

Wild Boy (Mary Losure)

I have been curious about this book for a long time. I learned about it after hearing the illustrator, Timothy Basil Ering, speak at the Kaleidoscope conference in November 2012. He was an amazing speaker (I wish I had a link to add. I can't believe I didn't blog about that amazing conference!)

Wild Boy is the story of the Savage of Aveyron. He was a boy that was found living alone in the wild. As we humans like to do, people wanted to assimilate him. He was captured and studied and taught for years. Apparently the scientist who studied him, Dr. Itard, was part of the inspiration for Maria Montessori's work. When Victor, the name the Wild Boy was later known by, was an adult, he lived near the boyhood home of Victor Hugo. Some have mused that perhaps Victor was the inspiration for The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Some think that he might have been autistic. There is so real conclusion on that either.

The book is quite interesting, and in some ways, kind of sad. As Dr. Itard said,  "People looked at the wild boy without really seeing him, passed judgment on him without knowing him, and after that [when he left the home for deaf children], they spoke no more about him."

He died when he was about 40, of unknown causes. The only reason it was even known he died was of a few lines that Dr Itard wrote, that were published when he died.

Mary Losure writes some interesting books. By chance, a year ago, I read another one of her books: The Fairy Ring. I have never forgotten that book. Fascinating book! And, so is this one.

July 31 Update: Here is a review by Horn Book Reviews.

Here is a picture of Mary Losure that I found online. It's just as I imagined she'd look like. I'd love to spend an hour or so over a lovely drink discussing her books with her!

...and just because I love Timony Basil Ering, here are some of his unforgettable illustrations from this book:

Hannah's Suitcase

In school, my son started reading Hannah's Suitcase, a holocaust story. He has talked about it endlessly. He was really taken by the whole story. I haven't read it, so I can't write about the book because I haven't read it, but I wanted to mention it because it would be a great story to read along with Number The Stars. Hana's surviving brother, George, lives in Canada now so it has an interesting Canadian connection as well.