Blog 11-8-12

For this week's blog I chose the book The Mysterious Benedict Society. The author is Trenton Lee Stewart and illustrations by Carson Ellis. This book is a mind bending read that takes you on an adventure. There are four main characters Reynie Muldoon, Constance, Kate and Sticky. There are a few things that all four of them have in common and they are that they are extremely gifted children, all alone with out a guardian for some reason and have agreed to come and be tested for a "special opportunity". They were each put through a series of tests that are extremely difficult and mysterious. Although the tests were difficult the four children passed them with both difficulty and ease.

     After the tests are done and they are told that they passed the tests the children are told that they now must make a choice. Mr. Benedict, an Narcoleptic individual, tells them that he has chosen them for a mission that is life threatening. All four children end up deciding that they are interested in the mission and accept the difficulty. The mission is that of stopping a person that is sending messages into citizens heads and corrupting them to do unspeakable things. Why did he chose children you might ask? This is because children that are gifted are very good at blocking out these messages because their minds do not want to be deceived. The crew of four are embedded into the "Institution" where they believe the villain to be hiding. They must unravel all the mystery and save the world from an untimely end. 

     This book is a great read aloud book. The text easily keeps the students engaged and interested in the next twist in the story. The reading level of this book I would think would be at a 4th or 5th grade level. It could however be used up through high school due to its interest level. I would highly recommend this book for any classroom!

Blog Week 11

 This week I chose to do my blog on the children's book "Hopper" by Marcus Pfister. This book stood out to me originally because of the amazing illustrations. As you can see in the above picture there is so much detail in the artwork and it is stunning that all the illustrations are done in watercolor. There is just so much life in the images it is almost like looking through "fuzzy" binoculars. You can see that details such as the texture of the bunnies fuzzy fur.

The overall story of this book is that there is a baby bunny named Hopper and his Mother. They are going through the forest during winter as the snow falls gracefully upon the ground. Hopper does not want to go and look for food with his Mom like she requested but she tells him, "Do not be lazy...". I think that this thought of working hard to get the things you need such as food is really important. This concept is really good for younger students to understand, so this book would be great to either have in your library or have as an option for a literature analysis. The characters in this book are very simple yet the author really gets their personalities across. The Mother bunny is very caring and gentle while Hopper is very much a young happy bunny who wants to hang out with his buddies. 

  Marcus Pfister

This book would be a great addition to any Elementary class library. Many of the children that I have seen read this book are very interested and engaged in the reading process. The illustrations are one of their favorite parts of the book also. With so many new age books out there in the world of children's literature this is a nice classic book with valuable moral investigation!

Blog 10-25-2012

This week I chose to do my book talk on "The Vampire Diaries". Many people may know this title because of the hit series on the CW. This is a great story that consists of vampires and werewolves and is comparable to the also hit series Twilight. There are three main characters that drive this modern fantasy literature, Elena, Stephan and Damon. Elena is a high school student that is dealt quite a strange hand of falling in love with a vampire named Stephan. Damon and Stephan are vampires and also brothers that have lived since Victorian times.

These three have many adventures throughout this book that consist of danger and excitement. There is also the fact that there is a love triangle between Stephan, Damon and Elena. This was not the case always because Elena and Stephan had fallen in love before Damon and Elena developed feelings for one another. In the end Elena chooses Stephan and they begin to build their relationship back from the ashes.

This book honestly does not have any curriculum value unless you were teaching a fantasy literature lesson. This book would also be very age appropriate to have in a library in an upper elementary or middle school language arts class’s library. I am going to teach at a middle school level so this is a great choice due to the fact that students their age are infatuated with the series.  I would highly recommend this book!

Week 9 Optional Blog Post

This week I chose to do my blog on a book called "A Walk With Grandpa". The author is Sharon K Soloman and it is illustrated by Pamela Barcilla. I think that this book is a great classroom library addition. One of the mast important factors that make this book great for NM classrooms is the fact that it is a bilingual book. The illustrations are also very great because they show so much detail in the classroom. 

This book describes the relationship between a Grandpa and his Grand Daughter. The story is as simple as them going on a walk for the day. They walk through the forest  and talk about the things that they feel about each other. For example, one of the things they say to one another is, "You are my sunshine." and the other responds, "You are my moonshine.". This is a great book for a first grade level. There are many things in this book that the student can relate to the relationships they have with their grandparents. The bilingual or ESL learner can also read this book and feel like they fully understand the material. Overall I would recommend this book. I have read this to students in the elementary school I work at and the 1st graders really seem to like it. 

Blog Week 7

The book that I chose this week was The Ersatz Elevator. This is number six in a series called The Series of Unfortunate Events. The author of The Ersatz Elevator is Lemony Snicket. These books are great for upper level elementary through high school dependent on who the student is. A Series of Unfortunate Events in a series that describes deceit and despair. This is a story of three orphans who lost their parents in a fire. One of the main points in this series is that the orphans inherited a fortune and this will be given to them once they turn eighteen.

The oldest of the orphans in Violet and she is a great inventor. The middle orphan is named Klaus he is very smart and this helps them through a lot of their troubles. The youngest of them all is named Sunny, she is a baby with some useful teeth that also aide the crew in getting through their many despairing adventures. 

These orphans are forever doomed to a life of avoiding being killed by their foes, most of all their Uncle Count Olaf. He is strictly interested in their inheritance and will do anything to obtain it. In this story they are again effected by the looming idea of death. They encountered a darkened staircase, a red herring, some friends in trouble and a liar with a deadly agenda. At one point they are forced to help their friend that are triplets get out of a pickle. They are being sold at auction and smuggled out of the country. These books are an easy read and I believe that they will be an asset to any classroom library. 

Blog #4

                                        

     Mr. Bumble is a wonderful children' book that was written by Kim Kennedy and illustrated by Doug Kennedy. This book is a great level for the younger groups such as kindergarten through 3rd grade. The overall story is uplifting and teaches kids to never give up. The illustrations in this book are very light and beautiful. They contain many groups of colors and different sized objects that are visually stimulating.

     Mr. Bumble was a very clumsy bee that had many problems when it came to gathering pollen for his hive. He would "bumble, fumble and tumble" every time he attempted to take flight to gather pollen. The hive discovers that there is a undiscovered clover patch that is RICH with pollen and they decide all the bees are going to go and gather as much pollen as possible.


As usual Mr. Bumble has a hard time getting to the clover patch and gathering pollen for his queen. He thinks that he hears something while gathering pollen and stumbles. After he stumbles he falls and gets his bucket stuck on his head, He them starts to feel himself being lifted into the air. He gets really scared and starts yelling, "Please don't pluck out my wings!". Little did he know that he was being carried by a bunch of faeries trying to help him. Once he realizes the faeries help teach him how to fly. Mr. Bumble goes and gathers a bunch of pollen and takes it back to his queen. She is so proud of him and his flying skills that she gives him a golden bucket to gather his pollen forever.

                                                                                                         

Blog #3

This week's blog will be about The Giving Tree. The author is Shel Silverstien and he has made a wonderful children's book! This book would be put under the genre of picture books. The illustrations of this book are simple yet they tell a story better than most! The characters in this book are a little boy and a willow tree that love each other greatly. The story starts with the boy being young and loving to do things like climb the tree's trunk and swing from its branches. However, as the boy gets older he looses interest and comes and visits the tree less and less. Every time he does come to visit the tree he wants something to make him happy and since the tree loves him so much she gives it to him. 

    This image is at the end of the book. The boy every time he came to visit the tree he took things like her branches, apples and trunk. At the end the boy is old and the tree has nothing to offer him besides her stump for him to sit on. This book has a great cause and effect relationship between the boy and the tree. In the end the boy took everything from the tree who graciously gave everything she had to him. All that he had left was an old stump from his childhood memories. 

This book is for the younger age groups such as kindergarten through third grade. It is a simple read but can offer some good life lessons throughout its pages. This was my favorite book throughout my childhood and is my all time favorite children's book. 

Blog #2

     For this week's book blog I decided to do it on Dr. Suess's Surprising Word Book, "The Shape of Me and Other Stuff". This book is for Kindergarten through 2nd grade. Another way that you could use this book for  would be to have your older students read to a younger class. Having the older kids read to the younger kids can be a good community outreach for the older ages. This book helps students look into the shapes around them. It looks at shapes such as a bug, a balloon and a bed while comparing shapes that are made up such as a Blogg. A Blogg is a made up character that in is many of Dr. Suess's books. At the end of this book it makes sure to show that the characters are happy with the shapes that they are and this shows good moral value. The illustrations in this book are simple yet they show a lot of emotion. This book can be a good tool for every K-2 classroom.  
                                                                                                                

Literature Circle #1

     The book Renegade written by Ted Dekker is a very age appropriate book for Middle School. It has

287 pages so it is a sizable chapter book. I was able to read "The Lost Books" series with my little sister

when she was in Middle School. She really was into the whole adventure and fantasy theme. This book is

about a character Billos that turns his back on everything that he was accustomed to. This concept brings the

 ability to relate, adolescents may feel as if their world in is conflict.  He meets this character that is

mysterious Marsuvees Black and he gives him powers that he learns to deal with. This book takes you mind

to different places and times and I believe this is why it is so appealing to the younger generation. This book

has a lot of good vocabulary and has a very good plot line. Dekker also develops a great setting and the

story moves along very well. The story line is very dark at the beginning and begins to lighten as the story

develops. The other two books were equally as wonderful. I think that this is a great series to read for

pleasure and to develop your reading skills but not to use in your curriculum.