Ghoulia: Making Friends Can Be Scary

 

Super cute and fun for Halloween! The ending was a BIG surprise for my class! We read the story on the Epic website.

Goodreads says:

Ghoulia lives in Crumbling Manor with her Auntie Departed and spends most of her time playing with Tragedy, her beloved albino greyhound. But things aren’t as easy as they seem for this little zombie girl—all she wants is a real friend. She tries to venture past the manor’s walls, but she can’t hide her pale green skin or the deep purple circles under her eyes. The other children will be afraid of her, and no one will want to be her friend. But when Halloween rolls around, Ghoulia hatches a brilliant plan. All the other, ordinary children will be dressed up like monsters, so Ghoulia can go out into the town and be entirely herself. In the end, all the kids realize that Ghoulia is (almost) just like them and learn that friendship can come in many forms.

Drawn Together (Minh Le and Dan Santat)

 

This book is beautiful! The illustrations are amazing and the author's and the illustrator's story behind it is amazing. We used this as part of our friendship unit. We can be friends with people that are not our own age!

This book would be good to go back to when we do our biographies in class.

Goodreads says:

When a young boy visits his grandfather, their lack of a common language leads to confusion, frustration, and silence. But as they sit down to draw together, something magical happens-with a shared love of art and storytelling, the two form a bond that goes beyond words.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

 

My co-worked recommended this book to me. I'm a little nervous about it. I feel like it's going to be a heart-breaking story. 

The Chocolate Touch is our lunch time read-aloud. Looking forward to it!

From The Ashes (Jesse Thistle)

 

This is a story that many wouldn't read because there's so much that is difficult to read about - addiction, homelessness, crime. The only way to get an idea of why some people end up with the lives they do though is to read the details. It's sad and difficult but worth the time if you really want to get a perspective on this topic.

Most of this story is hard. Near the end, he finally makes it through rehab and ends up marrying someone who helps him keep his life together. It all seems to happen really fast in the book - but my guess is it wasn't really fast in real life. 

Goodreads says:

In this extraordinary and inspiring debut memoir, Jesse Thistle—once a high school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar—chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is.

If I can just make it to the next minute . . . then I might have a chance to live; I might have a chance to be something more than just a struggling crackhead.

From the Ashes is a remarkable memoir about hope and resilience, and a revelatory look into the life of a Métis-Cree man who refused to give up.

Abandoned by his parents as a toddler, Jesse Thistle briefly found himself in the foster-care system with his two brothers, cut off from all they had known. Eventually the children landed in the home of their paternal grandparents, but their tough-love attitudes meant conflicts became commonplace. And the ghost of Jesse’s drug-addicted father haunted the halls of the house and the memories of every family member. Struggling, Jesse succumbed to a self-destructive cycle of drug and alcohol addiction and petty crime, spending more than a decade on and off the streets, often homeless. One day, he finally realized he would die unless he turned his life around.

In this heartwarming and heartbreaking memoir, Jesse Thistle writes honestly and fearlessly about his painful experiences with abuse, uncovering the truth about his parents, and how he found his way back into the circle of his Indigenous culture and family through education.

An eloquent exploration of what it means to live in a world surrounded by prejudice and racism and to be cast adrift, From the Ashes is, in the end, about how love and support can help one find happiness despite the odds.

Fourth Grade Rats (Jerry Spinelli)

 

We read 3rd Grade Angels and decided to continue on to 4th Grade rats. I'm not so sure it was a good idea though. My students were a little disturbed by the bad behavior of kids in this story. That's probably a good thing. I even had a student who decided to try some of the rat strategies in this book: ignore things adults tell you to do (or not do), never apologize and break the rules whenever you can. I think I'll save myself from that headache in the future. Of course, I'm not sure there's another student that will ever be quite like the student who decided to act out just like the 4th grade rats.

I have enjoyed many Jerry Spinelli books. Not this one though.

Goodreads says:

A fast, fun, friendship read from the Newbery-award winning author of Maniac Magee.

Fourth graders are tough. They aren't afraid of spiders. They say no to their moms. They push first graders off the swings. And they never, ever cry.
Suds knows that now that he's in fourth grade, he's supposed to be a rat. But whenever he tries to act like one, something goes wrong. Can Suds's friend Joey teach him to toughen up...or will Suds remain a fourth grade wimp? 

The Kiss That Missed (David Melling)

 

Super cute and funny. It's a good lesson in slowing down and enjoying each other. A great message for our pandemic times!

Goodreads says:

One evening, when the King is in a hurry, his goodnight kiss to the Little Prince goes astray. After rattling around the Prince's bedroom, it flies out the window and floats into the dark forest, where it has no business to be. The King decides to do something about it. He orders the Knight to climb on his horse, ride into the forest, and bring back the kiss. But the forest is filled with spooky things that frighten both the Knight and his horse. How will they ever succeed in bringing the kiss back to the castle? This funny story features Daivd Melling's atmospheric and richly colored illustrations on every page. It makes a great bedtime story for kids who are about the same age as the Little Prince. (Ages 4-7)

Secret of the Peaceful Warrior (Dan Millman)

 

We just started a unit on friendship and this was a great connection to many of the topics that have come up lately: bullying, what goes around comes around, friendship between genders and more. 

The best part was that my class was totally captured by the story. It's really fun to read a book that really grabs their attention. This was a great one for that!

Goodreads says:

When Danny's family moves to a new neighborhood, he is confronted by a frightening bully. One night in a dream, Danny meets an old man with shining white hair--a man who will soon appear in real life and share a wonderful secret. An inspirational story about courage and love. Full-color illustrations.