36, 37, 38 - combining posts . . .

i am in the process of designing a new class right now.  (shh.  this should have been done a few weeks ago, but i'm finally putting some actual teacher thought into it.)  my friend, micki, at school sent me the link to this lesson plan on www.readwritethink.org to help motivate me a little.  and oh boy!  did it motivate me.  and here's why.

36 - the anchor text for this unit is a chair for my mother by vera williams.  when i saw that, i knew that i absolutely had to do the lesson.  this was my favorite book EVER reviewed on reading rainbow.  i still remember watching reading rainbow, hearing about this book, and going to straight to it the next time we went to the library.  i loved the story, loved the art, loved everything.  so yeah.  i am excited to work with it next week.

37 & 38 - when i went to buy it yesterday evening, i found myself standing in front of several of leo lionni books.  talk about books that have amazing philosophy . . . so i had to get a couple.

25 - the tie that binds

here's another kent haruf novel.  i've written before about why i love his books so much, and the tie that binds did not disappoint.  this novel was a little different from his others, which are usually written in (here's an english teacher word for you) third person omniscient point of view - you get the story told from a variety of perspectives and you get to be inside the head of several different characters.  if i am remembering correctly, all of haruf's books that i've read thus far are written in this style.  the tie that binds, his first novel, is not.  

instead, it is told by sanders roscoe, who now may just be one of my favorite characters from a novel.  (he's up there with scout.)  i could go on and on about why i love haruf's writing as much as i do, but one (main) reason is the characters in his novels.  because he has such a gift at creating interesting characters with authentic voices, it was a treat to read an entire book told in one of those voices.  i really felt like i was sitting at a small town cafe, drinking coffee and eating pie with sanders roscoe while he was telling me his story.

that said, none of haruf's books are very lighthearted.  they deal with very real and serious issues.  i tend to cry quite a bit when i read his books, not because they are sappy, but because i connect so deeply to the themes and issues and characters and settings set forth on his pages.  

21 - a midsummer night's dream

i FINALLY got to teach this play.  last year i had to teach romeo and juliet, which is probably my least favorite of shakespeare's plays . . . not that i don't love it, i just have a few others i would much rather share with my kiddos.   AMSND is one of them.  i owe my love of will to linda batty - my junior high english teacher.  it had been years since i'd actually read this play, but i had great flashbacks to good ol' WRJH during my month with this text.  (in particular, i remember us all turning the desks upside down and sitting on the floor to trick batty.  the teacher next door was NOT amused.)  nowhere in my mind do i think i did it the service that batty did, but maybe someday.  i'm hoping one of the outdoor shakespeare companies is performing it this summer.  i've never gotten to see it outside and would LOVE to.

not a lot of time for pleasure reading lately.  a lot of AP/GT curriculum reading, though.  that's always fun.

20 - lock and key

i have been waiting for sarah dessen's new book forever.  (in case you forgot, she is one of my favorite writers . . . )  it came out on tuesday and it took a lot of self control for me to not go buy it then.  i knew once i did, all i would want to do is sit and read it.  sooooo, i made myself wait until yesterday.  just like all of her other books, this one is now on my list of top whatever.  not only did the story suck me in, but i loved catching all of the references to her other books.  she doesn't really write sequels, but all of her books are set within the same community, so characters and references to characters pop in and out . . . especially in the last couple of books she's published.  (the evil rogerson from dreamland even makes and appearance in this one.  bleh.)

because i've been reading dessen's blog for about the last two years, i had a different perspective while reading this book than i have her others.  for example, one of the characters builds a koi pond in his backyard . . . and i know that dessen and her husband have a koi pond because she has written about it a couple of different times.  so, i like having some of that inside perspective on why things ended up in the book.  if i were still in grad school, i believe there is some interesting research to be done on authors, their blogs, and their readers . . . maybe in a few years . . . 

anyway.  LOVED lock and key.  i tried not to gobble it up yesterday, but it was hard not to.  now i'm sad it's over and i've got quite a few years to wait for another one of her books.

14 - eventide

here's another author i could read and read and read. i think i only have one more of his books to dig into, though, so hopefully he writes some more . . .

i'm at a loss in how to describe why i love haruf's books so much. his writing is completely different than anything else i read. i think part of my attraction to his stories is the connection i feel to where they are set. holt, colorado is so similar to the kansas town that my family is from. (there's even a duckwall's!) so it's easy for me to picture everything in my head. i'm not going to lie eventide is a pretty heavy book. haruf packs a lot of drama into books that don't look like they have much to them. but in the midst of all of that drama, you really get to see genuine compassion haruf has for his characters'.


that's weak, yall. i'm sorry. maybe i'll come back and write more on this one at another time because i really really really really loved this book.

11 - just listen

it took me too long to discover sarah dessen's books. in fact, i purposefully ignored them because i thought they would be too cheesy and girly. where i got this idea, i have no idea. it took my cousin, joy, telling me that i absolutely HAD to read just listen when it first came out. those of you who know joy, know that she is always right. her leading me in SD's direction was just another example of the always being right thing.

so now, i pretty much worship sarah dessen. not in like a creepy way. just in like a i think we would be fast friends if we ever met way. (she spells her name with an 'H' and loves friday night lights and the office and sephora. AND AND AND she LOVES college basketball! um. hello? me too! and noooooo, i don't know these things because of the whole creepy thing. she blogs pretty consistently.)

back to my point. just listen was my first and probably still my favorite of her books. the music discussions all the way through this book make me think of so many moments from my own life. it came out in paperback this last week, so of course i had to get it to read, which pretty much made for a perfect day at the park on saturday afternoon with my pup and 80 degree weather and the start of browner legs and a touch of pink on my cheeks still today. now, i'm really in a dessen mood, so i'll probably end up rereading her other books over the next month. but, that'll have to wait because i put my 'collection' out in my classroom today and all but ONE of the books disappeared for DEAR time and ALL of the girls who picked them up wanted to keep reading them on their own.

just one more reason sarah dessen rocks.

5 - hypocrite in a pouffy white dress

i know right now that any review i post of this book is not going to do it justice. for some reason i forget how much i love to read essays and memoirs. then, i seem to find myself shocked when i read a book that falls into that category and i fall hopelessly in love with it. trust me. it's happened before . . . like the summer i discovered sarah vowell and decided that she and i could be besties. yeah. so that's what i'm feelin' with susan jane gilman here. i'll be honest, i've been trying to decide whether or not to buy this book for the last year or so, but felt bad because my initial reason for wanting to read it was based solely on its cover. but, you can see why, right? so here is my simple review . . . i love how sarcastic, ironic, and crass gilman is and how she surrounds all of that with candid and sincere observations about life. my most favorite people in life seem to have a crazy knack for that. and even though she is jewish and was raised by her extreme leftist parents on the upper west side in nyc before it was gentrified, which is totally different from my suburban-okie-methodist upbringing, i really feel like she was writing for me. things i need to read right now. plus. she's a Feminist. so rock on.

4 - Bookends

So, while I was dusting, I came across my favorite Jane Green book. I know I just read Straight Talking, but this one is soooooo much better. Maybe I love this book so much because Cath - the main character - opens a bookstore and cafe, which is of course my dream in life.

3 - Animal Farm

Yes, I teach this, but I figure if I have to read it five times a day, I get to count it on my list. Not that I'm complaining or anything, I actually love Animal Farm. This is one of those books that I'm amazed I got through school without ever having to read. In fact, the first time I read it was last year. Apparently, I have soft spot in my heart for allegorical novels about Russian history.

Rating: **** of 6