I completed my reading of Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen this weekend.  This is a powerful story that I would highly recommend to teens and pre-teens.  It is presented as the journal/diary of a 12-year-old runaway girl.  Holly has been in foster homes and been mistreated.  She finally runs away from her latest family and travels cross-country.  Her solace is found through writing in a journal given to her by her teacher.  Holly has no intention of keeping the journal or writing in it everyday, but does it anyway.  It becomes a source of healing for her.  During her travels, she stows away in a horse trailer, on a train, and in the cargo hold of a bus.  Constantly looking over her shoulder to see if authorities are after her, she spends her time looking for food and shelter each day.  Even as an adult, I couldn't help but identify with the main character.  I found myself rooting for her to escape the authorities in every situation.  I also found myself feeling thankful for what I have and convicted of thinking about things I may not have.

One of the aspects of this story that I really like, as a teacher and adult, is the fact that the author did not glorify running away.  She presented the events in the story realistically.  Being on the run did not seem glamorous by any stretch of the imagination!  Most teens and children have considered running away at some time; some have left and come back.  This story is an avenue for some very thought-provoking discussions about one's perspective on life and the realities of being on the run.  Check out the author's notes at the end of the book in which she dedicates her book to all teachers.  She feels that teachers care about their students and do everything they can to help, but seldom actually find out how the students turn out.  I find this especially true teaching elementary school.  Ms. Van Draanen encourages students to contact teachers who made a difference in their lives and thank them!

I also read Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade.  I was attracted to the book the instant I picked it up.  Who doesn't look forward to watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade each year?  Knowing the story behind all the floating balloon puppets will make it even more special this year.  Children will be inspired by the story of a little boy who liked toys and had a talent for making puppets.  Such a simple thing turned into a career for Tony Sarg.  The illustrations are perfect for the story.  I plan to get into as many classrooms at my school as I can and read this story during the couple of weeks before Thanksgiving this year!

I finished reading A View from Saturday and have a new favorite book!  There are so many lessons to be learned from this book.  It would work well with upper elementary and middle school students.  I'm in the process of making a webquest focusing on sea turtles so I was very interested in reading about how working with this endangered species influenced some of the children in the story. 

My next book is We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball.  The chapters are called "1st Inning, 2nd Inning" etc.  I have only the 9th Inning left to read.  Baseball is one of my favorite sports so this is an easy, interesting read for me.  Actually, I'm enjoying it much more than I expected.  My husband has been watching me read it and said he would like to read it also before I turn the book back in to the library! 

Although I realized how hard life was for African Americans, We are the Ship points out just how difficult it was.  Many white major league ballplayers began to understand that Negroes were men just like them before the general population did.  As they got to know the players in the Negro League their eyes were opened.  As we know, it was still many, many years before integration and equality became widespread and African Americans were treated like people should be.

I would recommend this book for boys especially.  Reluctant readers would be attracted to this book because of the easy style used to write it.  It is narrated in the personna of a Negro baseball player.  The struggles in the book are similar in many ways to the struggles teenagers go through, at least in their minds.  I don't want to equate the monumental struggles of an entire race to what may seem minor struggles of teens in the big scheme of life.  However, by reading how people in the past dealt with overwhelming odds, some teens may find consolation in trials they face today.

 

 

 

The following video interview with Kadir Nelson, author of the book.  Mr. Nelson tells how the book came to be.  Basically, he was commissioned to paint a picture.  As he was researching the Negro Baseball League before creating his artwork, Mr. Nelson became fascinated with the history of the league.  Instead of one picture, it turned into 40.  This is well worth listening to!  It gives a great understanding of how We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball came to be.   

 

                                        



 

 

 

I've been reading The View From Saturday.  This book has been around for years, but for one reason or another I just never picked it up.  As I find pretty much the case for so many books, the first chapter didn't really grab my interest.  However, once I kept reading, I began enjoying the book.  The author wrote it in such a unique style I became intrigued with that as much as anything.  A group of students are in an academic contest.  With each question, as a child buzzes in to answer, she tells their stories to explain how they know the answers.  It also explains during these stories how they came to be a group called "The Souls."  These relationships are fascinating.  Ms. Konigsburg did an excellent job of making the characters seem real.  Students can certainly identify with the four students as they experience and deal with bullying, divorce, loneliness, and being from another country.  I should be done reading this book within a day or two.  I can hardly wait to see how it ends and everything is tied together!

Noah Gerstrom - He was best                             Nadia - She learned to love
man at the wedding of Ethan's                            sea turtles and helped
grandmother and Nadia's                                    rescue them with her
grandfather.                                                      grandmother.

Ethan - He was a loner who                                Julian - He moved to the
finally decided he couldn't                                   U.S. from Great Britain
allow the bullying of Julian                                  after the death of his mom
to go on.                                                           and was bullied for dressing
                                                                        and speaking differently.

 

 

         Together they form a club and call themselves "The Souls."  They have tea (although Ethan can't believe he's attending tea parties and enjoying himself!) and work on projects together.  They are named to the team for the Academic Bowl.

 

         More when I finish the book!



Over the past week I completed my reading of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.  When I first began reading, I wanted to close the book and choose something else.  A mysterious man had just murdered three people - two parents and a daughter, and was looking for the baby to kill also.  The first chapter describes this man's search for the 18-month-old toddler.  I decided to stick it out.  The first few chapters were still a little unsettling and didn't move as quickly as I would like.  However, I eventually realized that I was thinking about the book during work and while doing chores around the house.  The baby escapes to a graveyard where he is cared for and raised by ghosts of people buried there.  Meanwhile, the evil man continues to search for him.  For the last half of the book, I had a hard time putting the book down.  While I wouldn't particularly enjoy reading the book to my class, I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it.  Some students might be disturbed There are some very good messages to be learned about family, friendship, loyalty, and self-confidence.



Kira-kira

Over this weekend I read Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata.  What a sweet story of a family sticking together through thick and thin.  Life was difficult in America for Japanese Americans in the 1950s.  Although they were often treated unfairly, the family made the most of what they had and loved each other.  The story is told from the viewpoint of Katie, the middle of three children.  Her older sister, Lynn, whom Katie adores, gets sick.  The family takes care of her, especially Katie who is 4 years younger.  Eventually Lynn receives a diagnosis of lymphoma which proves to be fatal.  However, Katie is instrumental in helping her family recover from their grief.  She remembers the lessons Lynn taught her.  Lynn had such a positive outlook on life and taught Katie about kira-kira from the time she was a baby.  Kira-kira is Japanese for glittering.  Everything Lynn loved she referred to as kira-kira.  Katie helped her family experience Lynn's "kira-kira" moments after her death.  I would recommend this book, particularly to middle schoolers.

I read Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos.  It took a few chapters to really get into the book.  A pre-teen boy is grounded for the summer.  Interestingly enough, the author named the main character after himself!  Jack's mother loans him out to a neighbor, Miss Volker, a feisty old lady who writes obituaries for the local newspaper.  Jack reluctantly serves as her scribe and eventually becomes her friend.  A mystery develops when all the old women in the small town begin dying at an alarming rate.  The ending has a cute twist.  Dead End in Norvelt will definitely appeal to young boys because of the main character and his interests and thoughts.  However, girls will probably enjoy the book also.  I don't know that I would read this book to my entire class (it is for 5th grade and up), but would have no problem recommending it to students.

This is my first blog ever!  My blog title probably sounds more like a musician reading a book.  However, the "piper" referred to is my grandfather.  He was not a musician, but did smoke a pipe.  My grandfather lived on the other coast of Florida in Stuart.  As a young child, I loved visiting his house.  There was so much activity there.  He had 11 children and 2 of them still lived at home - my Uncle Bruce and my Aunt Betsy.  Often there were other cousins visiting at the same time.  My grandparents had a large house and an even bigger yard to explore with plenty of spooky woods surrounding it. 
 
But, my favorite time was the time spent reading with my Grandpa.  We sat in his comfortable chair and he would always allow me to choose any book I wanted.  He usually had a pipe lit and that just seemed to be a part of our reading together.  He had bookshelf after bookshelf full of books.  Almost always, I chose a French book for him to read.  While Grandpa spoke the language fluently, I didn't understand a word of it.  But I would sit and listen to him read to me in French every chance I could.  It was a source of comfort to me.
 
When my grandfather passed away, he left his entire book collection to me.  There are some valuable books in that collection, but I will never part with the French books.  They are relatively small and I still don't know what the words inside mean.  Now they are just a sentimental keepsake, some dating back to the 1800s.
 
Those early experiences started me on my journey to a love of reading.  For as long as I can remember, books have been important to me.  Children learn constantly from reading, not just from nonfiction, but any kind of book.  The more experiences we can provide for them, the more they will learn.  This is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a teacher.  Helping students develop a love of reading is priceless!