New Books!

I was fortunate enough to receive some Barnes and Noble gift cards from the kiddos. They certainly are smart, as they know the books will make their way back into the classroom. I've essentially sworn off adult literature (although I am intrigued by Jonathan Franzen's newest Freedom). I would rather be up on the books that my kids are reading, and be able to recommend books to them. Tough to do when you aren't acquiring and reading new books.

Today I picked up a bunch of books, all new. A rare treat for me. I prefer Third Place Books for their used book selection, particularly as they are mixed in with the new books. It is a good way to get a mixture of books. I also rarely get hardcover, largely stemming from my college days working at Borders- a pain in the rear to tote around hardcover books! Heavier for sure!

So what did I get?

• Trackers by Patrick Carmen (started it right away, really good. I'll post on it in the next day or two).
• The Jaguar Stones by Voelkel (found via the ReadingZone). It is supposed to be similar to Rick Riordan's stuff, except this involves Mayans instead of Greeks, Romans, or Egyptians.
• IQ by Roland Smith
• Half Upon a Time
• Ring of Fire
• School of Fear

I tried to find a seek of some new series as well. Books like the Percy Jackson series, the Ranger's Apprentice, Mysterious Benedict Society, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the Guardians of Ga'hoole have been huge. Kids enjoy getting into a character, and following that storyline. I'm hoping for good things with the books I just picked up. Should be great.

Great Series

This afternoon I finished The Last Olympian, the final book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. At first I resisted the series. My prior experience working in a bookstore where parents got angry when the Harry Potter book wasn't released (not our fault, talk to JK Rowling!) made me resist. I was put off by popular series'. But now that I teach 5th grade, it isn't an option any more. I need to read what the kids are reading, being fluent and immersed in their world.

I will also admit that I strongly dislike hardcover books. I prefer tradepaper, finding it easier to tote around and a cheaper alternative. That wasn't an option in this case, as it isn't scheduled to be released in paper until January and I'd like to finish the series before school starts.

All that being said, whoa! I was engrossed in the final chapter of this series, thoroughly enjoying the wall to wall action throughout. I was also looking for answers to a myriad of questions. What would happen to Percy and the prophecy? Would Luke be destroyed by the Titan lord Kronos? How would Nico's situation with his father, and exile from camp be resolved? I had a myriad of other questions as well, as those are merely some of the larger questions at hand.

I was impressed. The Last Olympian was not entirely predictable (some predictability is needed in kids books, keeping them interested and pulling them along). It balanced predictable ends with turns that you didn't quite expect. Rick Riordan answered a fair number of questions, while also leaving the door open for a future half-blood series (in the notes it mentions the conclusion of the "first" camp half blood series). I also think it successfully showcased all of the characters and their growth (in the book, and series). It was well worth my time this summer.

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Going forward, I still have a few more books to tackle. I am in the midst of the Phantom Tollbooth, a book I haven't read but wish I had. I also would like to tackle City of Ember (DuPrau), and Hesse's Out of the Dust. By then I imagine our staff development days will have started, and my summer reading will have slowed to a crawl.

Struggling to Persevere

My current book choice is Peter and the Starcatchers. While I have chugged along through the Percy Jackson series, and made my way through the first book in the Penderwick series, I've struggled to move through this one. Why is that? As I was reading some of the posts in my Google Reader, I came across one that hit the nail on the head. While she was reading an adult piece of fiction, she was having the same struggle I was having. Desire to finish, but the simultaneous feelings of love and hate.

I'm about 125 pages into the 400+ page book at this point. Who knows when I'll finish, as I've been reading it for about a week and my slow reading rate isn't what is holding me back. Instead I simply can't get into the plot, and don't really have the desire to know more about the characters. That is in stark contrast to my feelings with Percy Jackson or the Penderwick girls. While I thought the Penderwicks dragged, I was curious to see what trouble they might elicit because of the class differences with their hosts. Perhaps it was also the feeling of the latter two stories being written in a way I could relate to them, as they are set in more recent times (full disclosure: I'm also not a huge fan of boats, preferring land to sea any day).

All of that makes me wonder how some of my kids tackle books. I had a few kids this year that read books incredibly quickly, and were able to give fantastic retells with detail. But I also had a few other kids that just struggled to move their way through books, and had some books sitting on their desk for weeks on end. It makes me wonder whether the right thing to do when someone is struggling is to have that friendly conversation about their interest in the book. Why is it that you don't like it? Tell me about the book thus far? What do you think would make this better (and be specific)? I don't want to encourage kids giving up on books easily, but rather having them think critically about why a book doesn't work for them.

Reading Challenge

I've finished the first four books in the Percy Jackson series. Thus far they have been very entertaining. I've enjoyed how Riordan mixed mythology into the stories without being teachy. The books were action-packed, and moved along fairly quickly without an overwhelming amount of downtime.

Having read all four, and planning to purchase the fifth when it comes out in paperback on July 27th, I couldn't help but think of my previous class of kids. They would eat the books up (some were reading them during the year). But going further, I think I am going to create a 40 Book Reading Challenge or something like that. Essentially I'll be going through ALA Notable books, Newberry Award winners, etc to create a list of books that kids *should* read. We'll also do some book talks during the process. The end goal being to get kids reading books that are widely recognized as being good literature. I'm going to stay away from some of the older books that I plan to use for novel study, if for no other reason than they are older (kids and older books can equal pulling teeth). Where did the idea come from? The Reading Zone... the idea came from here.

The Lightning Thief

If you teach intermediate kids and you haven't read the Lightning Thief then you should. I would think the obvious link would be for 6th grade, since the social studies standards focus on Egypt (and Greece to a lesser extent). The next few weeks will likely feature more recaps of books being read than classroom/planning related items. That is on hiatus until July!

What I liked...

I enjoyed how you could relate to who the characters were. You felt like they were 6th graders because of how they talked and how they acted (traits of good writing). I also liked the Ancient Greek interwoven, seamlessly providing mythology along with the storyline. I had forgotten much of the mythology, and it was provided very nicely. Not a lecture, but not too child-like either.

What I didn't like as much...

My only real qualm would be the length. It was 375 pages, which made it a tad long. I lose interest relatively quickly, which is probably a good omen for this book. If it hadn't been interesting than I probably would have set it down. Instead I plowed through almost 200 pages in 2+ hours (after nights of 10-30 pages- I don't read much on school nights, too tired). Some of my kids will struggle to get through it because of the length, not to mention the lack of schema. I also found some of the plot twists to be too predictable. The saving grace, which sets up the second book, is the ending.

Next up: The Penderwicks. Very interesting contrast before leaping into the Sea of Monsters