Satchel Paige

Well, it seems only fitting that we were reading Satchel Paige during the week of "Jackie Robinson Day!"  Its funny how these things all tie together sometimes.  I really loved this different approach to "reading to learn" as I often find that students have a lot of trouble transitioning from narrative texts to informative texts.  I thought this book would be a great in-between book to get used to reading for information while still enjoying a story.  It doesn't hurt either that the book seemed really short, and that there are pictures throughout the book which would make a reluctant reader "excited" to get started. I am a huge baseball fan, and was excited to read this book, especially with the relevance of Jackie Robinson day and the history of African American's and segregation even when it comes to sports.  I think this style of text allows for the author to really emphasize different things using different fonts, and size fonts, as well as what to put into pictures.  As far as using this book in the classroom, I think it would be so important to use in conjunction with a social studies class where you can get background history to go with the story.  This novel will just help the history come to life.  I was thankful for the introduction and the information at the end of the story to really get a full picture.  This is definitely a book I will recommend to future students, and would like to work collaboratively with my social studies teacher to implement it into the classroom.

Wonderstruck

So when I first picked up this book, I was a little nervous because it is an absolutely huge book.  I know, I know don't judge a book by its cover, but honestly this was a heavy book and with a short deadline I was a bit nervous, until I opened up the pages and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of pictures and not a lot of words. This was such a wonderful story that I can see a lot of reluctant readers really enjoying.  I have read graphic novels before, but the novels I have read before were set up more like comic strips where this was two different story lines being told through pictures and written narrative.  The two stories eventually weave together so it all makes sense, but I thought the author/illustrator really did a great job tying the two together.  This is the story of a boy named Ben who loses his mother in an accident and then loses his hearing in a seperate accident of lightning strike.  He travels to NYC and into the American Museum of Natural History where he meets Jamie.  Ben is on a quest to find his father that he has never met nor knows very little about and Jamie helps him do so.  The pictures start with a little girl in Hoboken, New Jersey and much earlier than Ben's story begins.  The pictures and the story end up intertwining, and I don't want to give away the ending so I will stop there but encourage you all to read it!  The entire book was like a mystery and I was trying to connect the characters.  I think there was a great balance between the pictures and the words.  as a reader, I felt accomplished when I looked at how far I got in the story and how fast the reading really went! I was proud of myself for finishing the story quickly, and I can really see a reluctant reader feeling the same confidence and accomplishment!  This would also appear to your students that are more visual learners.  This is definitely a book that I am going to keep in the front of my mind as a recommendation to struggling readers!

I am Nujood

I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced was a great read!  I read this book very quickly because I couldn't put it down!  It was another one of those books that gave a completely different perspective on life in other parts of the world.  Like I said in a previous post, sometimes I feel like I have lived in my own little "bubble" of a world and had not been exposed to many of these things, or I guess I just didn't want to think that these things happened today.  This book reminded me a lot of The Kite Runner in that the main characters had to deal with very difficult situations.  It was hard to believe that Nujood would be married off at such a young age and have to deal with these things.  I tried to picture myself as a ten year old, and my biggest problem was if I got in a little argument with my friends over who got to use the better Barbie.  I can't imagine having to face marriage to a stranger and being taken from your family and then to endure the rape and abuse from her husband.  She had to grow up so fast, but she showed so much courage when she went to court demanding a divorce.  I was happy that her story had a happy ending, as I am sure there are many who do not.  I also really liked how there were so many women in power for Nujood to look up to after having been to court and then spending some time in the spotlight sharing her story.  I don't know that I would have been so strong at her age.

Although the main character in this book is so young, I definitely see this book as more of a high school read rather than a middle school read.  I even think it would have to be a mature group of high schoolers only because the content is a lot to handle and take in.  It is sometimes hard to believe that these things still happen in our world, and I can see a reader brushing this off as work of fiction rather than a serious story.  This might work well in a literature circle where you could select a group of students to read this work.