All The Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr)

I had a lot of people recommend this book to me. It took me a LONG time to read it because I got busy with work projects and didn't have much time for reading. It was hard to follow since I had spread it over such a long period of time. Once I got back to it and got into it, I quite enjoyed it. The chapters are short and bounce between the character's stories. Once I got the rhythm of it, I quite enjoyed it.  I do love World War II stories. It is amazing the courage so many people showed during that time.

One story is about a boy in Nazi Germany who lives in a orphanage with his sister.  He is gifted at fixing radios and also has a keen interest in many other things. He listens to a nightly science program broadcast from France. Because he is so good at fixing radio and gifts in math and science, he wins a spot in a Hitler Youth Academy. He is happy to have something to do beyond working in the coal mines that killed his father, however, he has to start to not think about what goes on in the Hitler Youth Academy.

The other story is about a young blind girl named Marie-Laure who lives in Paris. She is cared for by her father who works at a museum. She became blind as a little girl. Her father builds a miniature model of their neighborhood, so she can memorize every street, building and corner. When the war comes to Paris, she and her father go to Saint-Malo to live with a great-uncle who lives in a tall, storied house next to a sea wall.

What does the title mean?
"The title is a reference first and foremost to all the light we literally cannot see: that is, the wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that are beyond the ability of human eyes to detect (radio waves, of course, being the most relevant). It’s also a metaphorical suggestion that there are countless invisible stories still buried within World War II — that stories of ordinary children, for example, are a kind of light we do not typically see. Ultimately, the title is intended as a suggestion that we spend too much time focused on only a small slice of the spectrum of possibility." 
- Anthony Doerr

Goodreads says:
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

Middle Bear (Isern)

My class was very sympathetic with Middle Bear's feelings. Everyone has had times when they feel like they're not enough....not big enough, not small enough. Great story about how you are enough just the way you are.


Goodreads says: He was the second of three brothers. ?e was not big, but he was not small, either. Neither strong nor weak, neither tall nor short, neither a lot nor a little ... He was the middle one. Everything about life with his brothers was middle-sized. And when you're always in the middle, sometimes it's hard to feel special. But then, one day the cubs' parents fell ill, and their mother asked them to fetch some medicinal bark from a willow tree on the top of a mountain. When it turned out that this very important task could only be done by a cub of his middle size, he finally realized how special it was to be the middle one.

Author Susanna Isern's lovely, melodic picture book tale --- with a delightful use of repetition throughout --- offers an upbeat and positive message to middle children everywhere. It's a subject that is not often addressed in this format. With its hero's quest theme, the story has the feel of a modern-day fairy tale. Manon Gauthier's spare artwork and understated palette perfectly capture the poignancy of the bear cub's emotional journey. Though the book focuses on the role of middle children, it really celebrates every child's efforts toward self-discovery, as they seek out their own special place in the world. It also offers a wonderful opportunity to highlight the character education subject of perseverance or a lesson on empathy. 

Clever Jack (Candace Fleming)

This story is quite fantastical, yet it made total sense to my students. They were quite enthralled with the story and easily made predictions and connections as we read.

Have you ever had a time where things just didn't turn out as you hoped they would? Same with Jack...but he has a can-do attitude!

This would be a great book to pair with The Book of Mistakes.

I found this idea on Goodreads by Sarah Wheeland:

“Boys and girls, imagine you are planning out a project or surprise for someone and you know it is going to be the absolute best thing you have ever thought up! You think about every detail and plan each part so it will be absolutely perfect. When the time comes, your project starts out just like you imagined it would but then things start to go very wrong and in the end it is nothing like you thought it would be. Has this ever happened to you?”

Pause and wait for student responses.

“Well that very thing is what happens to Jack, a character we are going to meet today in the book Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming. I want you to think about what is happening to Jack while I read. How is it similar to what you have experienced? How is it different? What is it called when we look for things that are the same and different between to events or experiences?”

Pause for student responses (compare and contrast).

“Be sure to listen, compare and contrast in your head. When I am finished reading, you are going to write a response in your Reading Journal comparing and contrasting what happened to Jack’s great plan in the story and what happened to one of your great plans!”

Goodreads says:
Take a bite out of this deliciously funny original fairy tale, which received four starred reviews and was named a Best Book of the Year by Booklist, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and the Bank Street College of Education.

What would you do if you were invited to the princess’s tenth birthday party but didn’t have money for a gift? Well, clever Jack decides to bake the princess a cake.

Now he just has to get it to the castle in one piece. What could possibly go wrong?

Candace Fleming and G. Brian Karas, creators of the bestselling picture book Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!, have teamed up again to bring us a modern fairy tale starring a determined boy and a story-loving princess with a good sense of humor. While girls will fall for a story featuring a princess’s birthday party, Jack’s adventures with trolls, bears, and gypsies make this the perfect read for young boys as well—and ideal for storytime. 

Timeless Thomas (Gene Baretta)

The sub-title for this book is "How Thomas Edison Changed Our Lives". The author does a really good job of showing things we use today and connecting things Thomas Edison did to help bring that tool or item to fruition. Lots of interesting facts and great illustrations. This would be a good book to have during our Hearing and Sound unit as there are many things like the phonograph and the telephone.

It mentions how Thomas Edison changed our quality of life.

Originally read August 2012
Read again December 2019

Goodreads says:

What do record players, batteries, and movie cameras have in common?
All these devices were created by the man known as The Wizard of Menlo Park: Thomas Edison.
Edison is most famous for inventing the incandescent lightbulb, but at his landmark laboratories in Menlo Park & West Orange, New Jersey, he also developed many other staples of modern technology.  Despite many failures, Edison persevered. And good for that, because it would be very difficult to go through a day without using one of his life-changing inventions. In this enlightening book, Gene Barretta enters the laboratories of one of America’s most important inventors.

Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas (Lynn Cox)

This is a lovely story of a determined elephant seal named Elizabeth. We loved the story! There were lots of gasps and worried looks when she'd crawl out on to the road to sun herself. We especially loved the picture of her when she returned back to the city again.

We had a great discussion about genre. This is based on a real story and so it has elements of non-fiction (facts) and elements of fiction (beginning, middle, end, parts are from someone's imagination, characters, setting and plot). We discussed what a book would be like if it was a non-fiction story about Elizabeth. It might have real pictures and you could probably start anywhere in the book and understand the information.

Signposts:
Again and again: She returns to her home despite numerous attempts to re-home her

Tough Questions:
Should someone really do this to an animal? Do we really know what is best?

Contrasts and Contradictions:
Elizabeth surprised everyone by not staying with other elephant seals they tried to re-home her with and instead, returning to the city to sun herself on the road.

Goodreads says:

World-renowned swimmer and bestselling author Lynne Cox and Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator Brian Floca team up to bring us this inspiring story of an elephant seal who knew exactly where she belonged.

Here is the incredible story of Elizabeth, a real-life elephant seal who made her home in the Avon River in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. When Elizabeth decides to stretch out across a two-lane road, the citizens worry she might get hurt or cause traffic accidents, so a group of volunteers tows her out to sea. But Elizabeth swims all the way back to Christchurch. The volunteers catch her again and again—each time towing her farther, even hundreds of miles away—but, still, Elizabeth finds her way back home.

Includes back matter with information about elephant seals.