Yours Sincerely, Giraffe (Megumi Iwasa)

As I read this book I kept thinking, there must be something deeper and more meaningful than I'm getting. I'm not entirely sure there really is. It's a cute and fun little story that makes you think about things a little differently. How would you describe someone if you had never seen that type of person, err, animal.

This would be a good beginning of the year read aloud. Lots of pictures and simple text and a few chuckles along the way. Would also be a good introduction to the letter writing we do for special students every week.

Goodreads summary:

Giraffe is bored, as usual. He'd love a friend to share things with. So he writes a letter and sends it as far as possible across the other side of the horizon. There he finds a pen palPenguin.

IMWAYR

Boy, I have a bunch of reading to do this week! I haven't done enough reading lately. My husband has had health issues and I'm having trouble concentrating on books. Instead I worry about him!

Book club book for this month.

This is an issue in so many people's lives! Fascinating read.

I keep taking this one out of the library and then not reading. Stop it! Just read it!

One of my students gave this to me and I never have got around to reading it. He asked me about it the other day so I better get it read!

Passed to me by one of my reading friends and co-workers. Intriguing.

IMWAYR

I'm going to try to not read so many books at one time. I'm in the middle of The Elegance of the Hedgehog and hope to finish it early this week.

After that, I plan to start The Sleep Revolution and then The Wild Robot.

Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Patterson)

I love this book. I have read it a number of times and have even blogged about it before. It was our grade 3 book club choice for this month. In the middle of reading it this time, my husband had a stroke. I had a hard time getting back into it because  knew I wasn't eager to see Jess go through that loss again while I was going through something hard. As my husband improved though, I was able to finish it. Interesting how our own emotions and difficulties make some stories more difficult. 

This time I practice my Notice and Note skills. It was a great experience to find all the sign posts along the way! I have been dancing around the edges of the sign posts, always asking others what they are rather than searing for them myself. After I wrote them all down, I realized there could be some debate about what sign post they fit with. Clearly, there may be be overlap and some would put these ideas in other places. I guess that it what makes for a great discussion. 

I really enjoyed it though and plan to do this with more books. 

 

Our own beloved Storybook Theatre did the play recently too.  Jess was played by one of my son's friends, Gabe T. We loved the play as well.  

Emma and the Silk Train (Julie Lawson)

A great little piece of Canadian historical fiction! It was a great way to introduce this genre to my students. There is some great vocabulary in here as well.

My students were totally captivated by the story. They had a lot of questions after. I didn't know about silk trains at all so this was a learning curve for myself too!

Goodreads summary:

A young girl's longing for a piece of silk almost leads to disaster when she risks her life to recover a length of fabric from the churning waters of a river.

Leave Me Alone (Vera Brosgol)

Oh my gosh. I love this book! My book club is reading Quiet by Susan Cain this month and this book fits perfectly with it.

We had a lot of good chuckles as we read this in class. When the grandmother went to the moon to be alone one of the students shot up his hand and said that that was impossible. Someone else replied, "The point is, she sure wants to have some alone time!"

They got it. We had a great discussion about how important alone time is and that some people need more than others...and that's ok. I loved how this book ended...she came back and didn't say a word about anything.

That is just what many of us need.

Goodreads summary:

An epic tale about one grandmother, a giant sack of yarn, and her ultimate quest to finish her knitting.

One day, a grandmother shouts, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" and leaves her tiny home and her very big family to journey to the moon and beyond to find peace and quiet to finish her knitting. Along the way, she encounters ravenous bears, obnoxious goats, and even hordes of aliens! But nothing stops grandma from accomplishing her goal--knitting sweaters for her many grandchildren to keep them warm and toasty for the coming winter. 

Those Shoes (Maribeth Boelts)

Great story. Have you ever just wanted something because you felt like life would just be better? You'd just be a little cooler? We could all relate. Often, everyone just wants to fit in. In our school kids wear uniforms and they're well aware that one of the benefits of uniforms is that we don't seem to have those issues as much - but they still got the concept. We all had empathy for Jeremy when he just wanted to have the same shoes as everyone else. We felt excited for him when he found some in the second hand store and we understood the crazy idea of squishing your feet into the shoes he finally found even though they were too small. When he gives the shoes away, our hearts sang. There is a great lesson in this story about learning the difference between wants and needs and what really matters when it comes to fitting in.



Goodreads summary:
But all the kids are wearing them! Any child who has ever craved something out of reach will relate to this warm, refreshingly realistic story.

"I have dreams about those shoes. Black high-tops. Two white stripes."

All Jeremy wants is a pair of those shoes, the ones everyone at school seems to be wearing. But Jeremy’s grandma tells him they don’t have room for "want," just "need," and what Jeremy needs are new boots for winter. When Jeremy’s shoes fall apart at school, and the guidance counselor gives him a hand-me-down pair, the boy is more determined than ever to have those shoes, even a thrift-shop pair that are much too small. But sore feet aren’t much fun, and Jeremy comes to realize that the things he has — warm boots, a loving grandma, and the chance to help a friend — are worth more than the things he wants.