The Gardener of Alcatraz (Emma Bland Smith)

 

The illustrations in this story are detailed and really held everyone's attention. My class was totally silent as I read it. I think they were struck by the idea of a story about criminal. One of our students had visited Alcatraz and so she told us a bit about it to start, which was really great. This is a great story of how people can change and the value of nature. 

Goodreads says:

A prisoner gardens his way to freedom in this inspiring picture-book biography.

When Elliott Michener was locked away in Alcatraz for counterfeiting, he was determined to defy the odds and bust out. But when he got a job tending the prison garden, a funny thing happened. Thoughts of escape were replaced with new interests and skills--and a sense of dignity and fulfillment. Elliott transformed Alcatraz Island, and the island transformed him.

Told with empathy and a storyteller's flair, Elliott's story is funny, touching, and unexpectedly relevant. Back matter about the history of Alcatraz and the US prison system today invites meaningful discussion. 

The Last Meal (Yuno)

 

I received this book from the author. She found me on Goodreads and asked if I'd review her book. It was flattering to have had her seek me out. .I promised I'd write a review, so here goes! 

This is an interesting read. It is a number of stories of people on death row and what they order for their last meal. All the characters are presented as animals, more specifically, birds - which is interesting and could be something interesting to discuss. The stories are sad and rather touching. 

I really have no use for the book though. I live in Canada and we don't execute people. I read children's literature because I like to infuse it into my lessons as much as possible. I'm pretty sure I won't have a place for this one....except for maybe that kid who needs a stern warning if they don't shape up bad things are ahead. LOL

I think if I could make a recommendation to the author, it would be to revisit the topic, but write for adults. I don't think this is really a topic for a picture book - unless there are adults who really prefer to read picture books!

Goodreads says:

The Last Meal compassionately tackles a difficult and controversial subject to educate readers about the death penalty. The story follows four fictional death row inmates on their final days before their executions. All of the characters are adorable birds who must face the consequence of their actions. Chase, Peter, Fred and James are each given the same opportunity to have one last special meal of their choosing to reflect on the past and find closure as they come to the end of their life.  

The Couple Next Door (Shari Lapena)

This is one of those books that tempted me to stay up way too late reading (I resisted...my sleeping super-powers are stronger!).

I really enjoyed it. It has lots of twists and turns. Every character seems to have a secret and it just never stops right until the very end.

I felt sorry for Anne. I thought Marco was a push over. Detective Rasbach just lets the crime solve itself. 

The author was an English teacher turned lawyer. Two of my favorite kind of people to discuss books with!

Goodreads says:

It all started at a dinner party. . .

A domestic suspense debut about a young couple and their apparently friendly neighbors--a twisty, rollercoaster ride of lies, betrayal, and the secrets between husbands and wives. . .

Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all--a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.

Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they've kept for years.

What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family--a chilling tale of deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist.

Resistance (Jennifer Nielsen)

I'm a big fan of Jennifer Nielsen. I always tell my students that are great readers about her books. Last year I had a student who read all of the books in The False Prince series as well as A Night Divided. One day I was walking down the hall and he stopped me and said he had book for me. "Wait right here!" he said. He ran off to where his backpack was, found the book and raced back to me. He said, "You have to read this...but I have to go play now." I had heard about this book, but didn't realize it was out.  It has been so fun to read it. I spent about two weeks reading it and he would often find me at recess and ask what I thought of things so far. He spilled the beans to me about what happened in the ending and it made me want to slow down and soak it all up before the bad news unfolded. As a matter of fact, that's how I felt as I read the entire thing. I couldn't believe the things these kids went through and what they did.

You have to read this book!

May we never forget. May we live with honor at all times regardless of our circumstances. And may we choose love, a weapon that will defeat hate every single time because love is the resistance. 

I can't really recommend this book for students in my grade though. She doesn't hold back on the atrocities of war.

Here is a video of the author with the background on the story:


(Justyna's Narrative is a book I need to find!)

Goodreads says:

Chaya Lindner is a teenager living in Nazi-occupied Poland. Simply being Jewish places her in danger of being killed or sent to the camps. After her little sister is taken away, her younger brother disappears, and her parents all but give up hope, Chaya is determined to make a difference. Using forged papers and her fair features, Chaya becomes a courier and travels between the Jewish ghettos of Poland, smuggling food, papers, and even people. 

Soon Chaya joins a resistance cell that runs raids on the Nazis' supplies. But after a mission goes terribly wrong, Chaya's network shatters. She is alone and unsure of where to go, until Esther, a member of her cell, finds her and delivers a message that chills Chaya to her core, and sends her on a journey toward an even larger uprising in the works — in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Though the Jewish resistance never had much of a chance against the Nazis, they were determined to save as many lives as possible, and to live — or die — with honor.

Wishtree (Katherine Applegate)

Katherine Applegate has done it again. This is a beautiful book! The narrator is a tree. The tree's neighboorhood has a "newcomer" family move into the neighborhood and someone carves the words "leave" into her trunk. The tree is resourceful and communicates with animals and other trees and they gather their resources to solve some of the friendship issues. Unfortunately, someone wants to cut down the tree, so their time is limited.

This is a great book to talk about empathy as well. What would it be like to be the family that is being threatened or to have no friends?

Activity ideas:

• Make a big tree (on paper) and make wishes
• one for yourself, one for someone else

Goodreads says:

Trees can't tell jokes, but they can certainly tell stories. . . .

Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighborhood "wishtree"—people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red's branches. Along with her crow friend Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red's hollows, this "wishtree" watches over the neighborhood.

You might say Red has seen it all. Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red's experiences as a wishtree are more important than ever

419 (Will Ferguson)

I really enjoyed this book. It was fun to read a book set in the city I live in! The story is quite compelling. It makes me crazy to hear of people who get sucked into online scams. It was interesting to read the story from all sides. In the end, the women prevail. Only right! :)

Goodreads says:

A car tumbles down a snowy ravine. Accident or suicide?

On the other side of the world, a young woman walks out of a sandstorm in sub-Saharan Africa. In the labyrinth of the Niger Delta, a young boy learns to survive by navigating through the gas flares and oil spills of a ruined landscape. In the seething heat of Lagos City, a criminal cartel scours the internet looking for victims.

Lives intersect, worlds collide, a family falls apart. And it all begins with a single email: “Dear Sir, I am the son of an exiled Nigerian diplomat, and I need your help ...”

419 takes readers behind the scene of the world’s most insidious internet scam. When Laura’s father gets caught up in one such swindle and pays with his life, she is forced to leave the comfort of North America to make a journey deep into the dangerous back streets and alleyways of the Lagos underworld to confront her father’s killer. What she finds there will change her life forever...

Small Great Things (Jodi Picoult)

I haven't done a great job of reading this summer. One reason is I seemed to have this sub-conscious need to stay focused on my husband, which meant I couldn't really get lost in a book. I tried, but I was reading a book that I couldn't quite get into and I was dragging myself through it. I finally put it aside and decided to read Small Great Things. It was a great break!

Goodreads says:

Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy's counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other's trust, and come to see that what they've been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong.

With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion—and doesn't offer easy answers. Small Great Things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game.

My thoughts:

Right now there is some awful racial issue stuff going on in the states that totally parallel this story. It was surreal to be reading it at the same time.

It was crazy to see inside the mind of a white supremacist. Crazy.


I had to stop and take a break after this bit:


p. 377: Ruth talks about helping a mother who has just had a stillborn baby: Then I handed her a damp cloth I pressed it into her palm water shocked her into awareness, or if it was the baby. But with my hand guiding her she washed every fold and curve of her baby.She wrapped him in the blanket. She held him to her breast. Finally, with a Saab that sounded like she was tearing a piece of herself away, she offered the body of her child back to me.

.....speaking of the room in the hospital for grieving parents of newborns: I think I know now why it is called the kangaroo suite It's because even when you no longer have a child, you carry him forever

Eleven and Holding (Mary Penney)

This is the same author that wrote Counting by 7s. This is a thoughtful and beautiful book, like that one.  

I love the main character, Macy. Books like this always make me wonder if I don't give kids enough credit. They watch and make sense of things they're not told.

P. 43 I took a big, unladylike bite into my cupcake. My taste buds nearly exploded with happiness. 

Her grandmother has passed away and her business was sold to Chuck, who is friends with her mom. In the story we find out he is also mourning the loss of his partner, Phillip. Then there is Ginger, Phillip's mother, who is in and out of senility  and not quite able to process loss. 

P. 226 I guess Ginger knew that somewhere in her head, but her heart wouldn't really let her know it.  So, she kept pretending he was alive if only she could find him. 

Macy's father is away on what she is told is a secret mission in the military and her mother is a probation officer. Macy is facing moving on to middle school without her best friend, who is a year younger. 

P. 227 Sometimes when we're not ready to hear something painful, we have to keep ourselves busy not hearing it. It can look crazy, but it's not. It's just coping. We all do it differently. 

It is called Eleven and Holding because she doesn't want to turn 12 without her dad being there. She teams up with a runaway boy who is actually a client of her mother's, unbeknownst to her. What they find out changes pretty much everything. 

Goodreads summary: 

Like The Thing About Jellyfish and Counting by 7s, this sweet, heartfelt middle grade novel illustrates for readers what it’s like to tackle loss, confront hard truths, and find the courage to begin again.

Macy Hollinquest is eleven years old, and don’t count on her to change that anytime soon.

Her birthday is just days away, but she has no intention of turning twelve without her dad by her side. He’d promised to be there for her big day—and yet he’s been gone for months, away doing some kind of secret “important work” after being discharged from the Marines. So she’s staying eleven, no matter what—that is, until she meets Ginger, a nice older lady who is searching for her missing dog. Could Ginger be the perfect cover for attempting to locate her dad?

Macy’s search puts her on a path to a head-on collision with the truth, where she discovers that knowing can sometimes be a heavy burden. And that change, when finally accepted, comes with an unexpected kind of grace.

Mary Penney’s earnest, heartfelt story of change, loss, and new beginnings will resonate with readers on the cusp of new beginnings, and stay in their hearts long after it’s done. 

Mercy Watson Fights Crime (Kate DiCamillo)

Re-read February 10, 2016

My class hasn't read Leroy Ninker yet this year - but I plan to get it from the public library ASAP!

They were totally taken by the story. They are starting to see the common threads in these stories: the toast, the firefighters, the cranky old ladies next door, etc. Love Mercy Watson!!

Originally read: January 13, 2015

We laughed and laughed at this book in our class. We had already read Leroy Ninker, so to find out he had been involved with Mercy Watson was a real delight.


Goodreads Summary:

Leroy Ninker is a small man with a big dream: he wants to be a cowboy, but for now he's just a thief. In fact, Leroy is robbing the Watsons' kitchen right this minute! As he drags the toaster across the counter — screeeeeech — and drops it into his bag — clannngggg — little does he know that a certain large pig who loves toast with a great deal of butter is stirring from sleep. Even less could he guess that comedy of errors (not to mention the buttery sweets in his pocket) will soon lead this little man on the wild and raucous rodeo ride he's always dreamed of! Nosy neighbors, astonished firemen, a puzzled policeman, and the ever-doting Watsons return for a new tongue-in-snout adventure about Kate DiCamillo's delightfully single-minded pig.

Mog the Forgetful Cat (Judith Kerr)

We liked the cat, Mog, and we enjoyed his forgetfulness. It made the kids chuckle. Again, some of the wording was pretty British and it was odd to my class. In the end, Mog saves the family from a burglar. Handy cat to have around!

Goodreads Summary:

A special 30th anniversary edition of the debut of Judith Kerr's Mog stories. Mog always seems to be in trouble because she is such a very forgetful cat. She forgets that she has a cat flap and she forgets when she has already eaten her supper. But one night, when an uninvited visitor turns up at the house, Mog's forgetfulness comes in very handy!

The Wife, The Maid and The Mistress (Ariel Lowhon)

I learned about this book from one of my favourite podcasts, Books on the Nightstand: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/books-on-the-nightstand/id278076085?mt=2&i=347675868

In the podcast, the author tells a great follow up story to the book. 

I really loved this book. I had trouble, at first, keeping all the characters straight. I am glad I stuck with it though. There were a number of times I responded out loud with gasps or laughter to things happened in the story. This is a great mystery. It is based on a real life account, still unsolved, of someone who went missing in the 1930's.

Goodreads summary:

One summer night in 1930, Judge Joseph Crater steps into a New York City cab and is never heard from again. Behind this great man are three women, each with her own tale to tell: Stella, his fashionable wife, the picture of propriety; Maria, their steadfast maid, indebted to the judge; and Ritzi, his showgirl mistress, willing to seize any chance to break out of the chorus line.

As the twisted truth emerges, Ariel Lawhon’s wickedly entertaining debut mystery transports us into the smoky jazz clubs, the seedy backstage dressing rooms, and the shadowy streets beneath the Art Deco skyline.(less)

The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones (Will Mabbitt)

                           

I learned about this book from a list of 'must read' books for this summer. I went to the library website to put it on hold and found that the digital copy was available (the printed form won't be out until later this summer). I am not a huge fan of digital books, but I am starting to see some great reasons to read digitally. As I found interesting parts I wanted to remember and blog about I highlighted the text and took a screen shot. It made putting this blog post together so easy! 

This story would be a great read aloud (some of the words might be tricky for my grade three students and it is not too long...about 130 pages) and would be a fun follow up to The BFG. It is full of awful creatures that steal children...but in a matter of fact way that children delight in! They will love the scary bits. They will love the grossness. It is kid perfect!

It is also full of lines that will make any adult snicker, and be perfectly sensible to children. I chuckled all the way through it.

P. 17 Captain Idryss Ebenezer Split turned to his crew and uttered an oath so foul it could NEVER be written down.

 (It contained a word so rude that if an adult whispered it to themselves after bedtime, under the quilt so no one could hear, they could still be arrested and thrown in prison for a very long time.)

The illustrations are hilarious! They seem like the illustrations that would be in Inkheart. Scary!!!

Mabel is taken in the night by a perfectly frightful band of pirates after she does THE DEED (errr, picking her nose and eating it!) They are aghast when they realize they have kidnapped a GIRL. They didn't realize girls did THE DEED.

P. 19 Any final words, girl?” snarled Captain Split.

He made the word “girl” sound like how the smell of dog poo would sound if it made a noise.

It's matter if fastness reminds me of many conversations I have at school with kids all the time. (Insert wings story and balls story): 

P. 23 This morning Mabel Jones had a feeling that she probably wouldn’t be going to school.

This morning she was sitting on a barrel in the cabin of a pirate ship, surrounded by a crew of excited animal pirates. It was actually surprisingly similar to being at school except, instead of a nice principal called Mr. Dobson, there was an evil wolf called Captain Idryss Ebenezer Split.

(That is pretty much the same, right?)

There is all sorts of good advice too! Like: Never trust a man who washes his underpants after just one use. (p. 63)

Mabel Jones is one tough girl....and she isn't even persuaded by handsome princes. She sees right through his beauty for what he really is:

p. 73 She was the man who wanted her to stay with him forever in his castle. As a princess?

A prisoner, more like!

Spinning away from his arm, she snarled...

And there is even a friendship theme that runs through.....poor Omynuss Hush really does need a friend.

Cat At the Wall (Deborah Ellis)

Deborah Ellis never disappoints. I am always surprised, though, that her books are J fiction. While she does handle difficult issues with ease, they are still very difficult issues. I'm not sure elementary or middle school kids would even come close to "getting it". But then again, maybe that is ok.

What I got from this book was similar to her book, Three Wishes. In the Israeli/Palestinian war there is so much hatred that has gone on for so long and it is so complicated, how can there even be any solution. Hating and killing is just a way of life for both sides.

But, somewhere in it all, there is still humanity. However, there is a lot of heartbreak for all to take in.

This book is definitely worth reading. It handles difficult and complex issues and makes you think.

Goodreads summary: 

A cat sneaks into a small Palestinian house on the West Bank that has just been commandeered by two Israeli soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realizes that a little boy is hiding beneath the floorboards.

Should she help him?


After all, she's just a cat.


Or is she?


It turns out that this particular cat is not used to thinking about anyone but herself. She was once a regular North American girl who only had to deal with normal middle-school problems -- staying under the teachers' radar, bullying her sister and the uncool kids at school, outsmarting her clueless parents.


But that was before she died and came back to life as a cat, in a place with a whole different set of rules for survival.


When the little boy is discovered, the soldiers don't know what to do with him. Where are the child's parents? Why has he been left alone in the house? It is not long before his teacher and classmates come looking for him, and the house is suddenly surrounded by Palestinian villagers throwing rocks, and the sound of Israeli tanks approaching.


Not my business, thinks the cat. And then she sees a photograph, and suddenly she understands what happened to the boy's parents, and why they have not returned. And as the soldiers begin to panic, and disaster seems certain, she knows that it is up to her to diffuse the situation.


But what can a cat do? What can any one creature do

Loot (Jude Watson)

This book was recommended to me by one of my former students - a number of times! He stopped me in the hall one day and said he had a great book for book club. Then a couple days later he asked if I had read it. Then again in a couple days. And again. Finally I figured I better get the book!

The story is about a boy who is raised by his dad who lives life as a criminal. He is killed and in his dying words he leaves advice to follow. The rest of the book is a series of twists and turns as a gang of would-be kid criminals go about securing a fortune. Cliff hangers run amok. They are everywhere! 

I can see why kids would love this book. What kid doesn't love kid heroes who get through any tight situations. I found it a little far fetched and figured it could have been told in half the number of pages.....but I do have to give the author credit. It is a fun read!

Definitely best for middle elementary or middle school. A little too complicated for my grade three students, I think.

Long Way Gone (Ishmael Beah)

Considering all the boys went through in this story, it is really trite to say this, but this was a hard book to read. I took a long time to get through it because I kept having to take breaks. I couldn't handle too much of it for too long. It is difficult to give words to the emotions stirred by this book. It is a story, however, that should be heard.

First, I was so heartbroken for Ishmael to lose his family in such violence. After that, for him to have to simply run and hope for the kindness of strangers to help him out was also heartbreaking. He was the same age as my own son is now. When he was taken by the army to be a boy soldier, I was horrified with the violence and drugs. It never ended though. Even when he was taken away from the army to be rehabilitated, it was painful to read! The violence and hate was deep n these boys and thinking they would be removed from the army and go on to a better life was niiave. Inear the end of the book, after being rehabilitated, he finds family again, only to have to run for his life when war breaks out again.

I wonder, as Ishmael did, why do I get to keep living such a good life when others go through so much horror?

Labor Day (Joyce Maynard)

This is one of those books that makes me glad I'm part of a book club. It isn't one I wouldn't have normally picked up. And it also isn't one I would have finished. However, I'm glad I read it because I think it will make for a good discussion at book club.

The story is about a divorced woman who lives with her 13 year old son. She has agrophobia and so she always sends her son to get groceries or do banking. It is just before Labor Day and they have to go get some things for school, so for the first time in months, she starts up the car and off they go to Wal-Mart. While they're there they meet a man who is bleeding and needs help so they bring him home.

Yup. They bring him home. (What kind of a woman does that??)

As he is staying with them for a few days, they find out he has just escaped prison - which is also pretty dumb because he had almost served his time and is about to get out. After being there 5 days the mother and this man decide to get married.

After 5 days??! Serious?!

Oh, and they plan to run off to Canada.

Only it all gets foiled.

It's crazy story. However, I did feel sympathy for most of the characters (well, except the ex-husband...he seemed like a non-caring bland husband). I'm looking forward to discussing it all with my friends at book club!

One thing I thought was weird was how the author never used quotation marks. Why?? Weird.

Update: I sent an email to the author asking about the quotation mark question. Here is our correspondence:

hello dawn. 
so glad you enjoyed the book.  the quotation mark thing is hard to explain. more intuitive.  I wanted you to feel, reading this book, as if you WERE the boy, and to let the dialogue wash through you. did you ever have a hard time figuring out who was speaking?

On Feb 17, 2014, at 10:27 PM, Dawn wrote:
> I have just read your book, Labor Day. It was a lovely read!> > I found it curious that you did not include quotation marks for any of the dialogue and just wondered why.> > Dawn Ackroyd> Calgary, AB> 

Hmmm....apparently she also doesn't include capitals and standard punctuation in her correspondance.

The mystery continues.