Detour in the Bend

The road has ended.  All new posts can be found here. (And still in its infancy.)

Good Dog, Aggie by Lori Ries

Ben has a dog named Aggie. Aggie needs some training.  She doesn’t listen.  Ben takes Aggie to dog training class where Aggie causes chaos of all kinds.  Ben learns that he will have to practice with Aggie is she is going to learn.  Along the way, Ben meets many different kinds of people who are eager to see Aggie’s tricks.  Aggie needs lots of practice!  Finally, after chasing cats and hats and other things, Ben finally finds the thing that will help Aggie sit and stay.  Once that happens, both Aggie and Ben have success.

Dogs seem to be popular this year and this story, told in three chapters, is excellent.    This is more of a story than the other easy readers in my Cybils list.  It feels like a complete story, rather than an episode.  The pictures are whimsical and assist the reader in what the text is saying.  The text is repetitive but not redundant.  I enjoyed this very much.

2010 Snow Day Reading Challenge schedule

well, Im not doing so well.

8:30 – 9:00  a little of this and that on this blog.  I tried to get a video of my backyard to show the snow progression.  Not working or I’m incompetent.

9:00 – 9:45 reading Never Cry Werewolf by Heather Davis until my toes got cold

9:45 – 10:45 break for slippers, talking about the weather to Husband, work, friend at work and then trying desperately to try to get my new website to work.  Domain seems to be stuck in limbo.  Now it’s back to reading.

10:45 -  1:00 bit of a failure.  Read for about a half hour then checked work email.  Did some corresponding about a workshop I’m proposing for ILA conference. Then went to facebook, made hubby lunch (hoppin jon left overs with cornbread) and Now i’m reading. the snow has stopped here and I feel sort of silly that we panicked so much. that is usually the case, isn’t it?  Much ado about nothing.  I’m enjoying Never Cry Werewolf very much and can’t wait for the ending…

1:00 – 5.15: Hmmm, I didn’t do a very good job of reading and recording what I did today. I finished my book, hardly an achievement to write about. I wrote an annotation card for work and a review for this blog. Then i did more work, played a little, learned more about godaddy and my attempt to make a website (not a good start, but I’m learning). Suddenly I am sitting here in the dark. Time to go read my Cybils books.

I’m calling it a day. Challenge: a feeble attempt… but I did read.

Never Cry Wolf by Heather Davis

Shelby Locke’s life has changed drastically in the past three years: her mom died, her father’s plastic surgery drug made him a multimillionaire, his remarriage and a move to Beverly Hills. Priscilla, the step-mom is highly critical of everything Shelby does, decides Shelby needs time to prove she can be trusted by going away to “brat camp”. So Shelby finds herself in Camp Crescent near an enchanted forest. It’s not so enchanted, but the camp is filled with teens of high-powered executives from all over, including brooding Austin Bridges the son of rock star. When Austin and Charles get lost in the forest, Shelby takes it upon herself to save them. This puts her on the problem camper list and she spends the rest of her camp stay in and out of trouble. Shelby wants to trust Austin, but the stash of drugs confiscated from Austin’s luggage makes her suspicious. The stash turns out to be a serum that suppresses the wolf in Austin, Yep, he’s a lycanthrope. Without his serum, Austin will change into a werewolf in the next few days. Shelby goes out of her way to help Austin, and gets caught and send to “hell on earth” a bootcamp in the desert of Utah.

Shelby is rather inclined to do then think and this gets her into trouble. The feel good camp counselors want Shelby to focus on working on her issues and not helping others, which seems rather selfish and not team building. Never Cry Wolf is a light and enjoyable story.

Never Cry Wolf has 216 pages. I would recommend it for sixth to ninth graders. SH 6/09

Snow Day 2010 Personal Reading Challenge

I’m not going to work today, too much snow forecasted and I don’t want to take 2 hours to get home.  Too much stress.

It normally takes me one hour to get to work and one hour to get home.  Add the 7.5 hours I work and that is about 9.5 – 10 hours of my day spent working.

So today, on this snowy of snow days (we’re supposed to get 10 – 12 inches), I’m staying home and reading those 9.5 – 10 hours reading.  I will stick to the 48-hour reading challenge rules and spend time blogging as well.  Nothing but reading and blogging til 6.  Bye!

Oops

So, I just found out that I wasn’t supposed to post my reviews of the books I’m reading for the Cybils. So, if you’re stopping by to read one of them, I removed them temporarily.  I’m sorry for the confusion. 

sharon

How Oliver Olson Changed the World by Claudia Mills

Oliver Olson is nine and lives with his parents in Colorado. Because he was sick before he started school, Oliver is only a third grader.  Oliver’s class is learning about the solar system and manned space craft.  When Mrs. O’Neill assigns them a solar system diorama for homework, Oliver’s parent take over . His mom carefully examines the rubric and questions his father on how to actually complete the diorama.  Oliver doesn’t have a say in the matter; he is merely the go-fer.  In class, Oliver and his classmates learn about the discovery that Pluto is no longer a planet.  Oliver’s classmate Crystal, a real chatterbox, protests the demotion of Pluto. After brainstorming their ideas, Crystal and Oliver develop a plan for their shared diorama. They’re going to put Pluto outside the box with a sign saying “let me in”.  Oliver is certain his parent won’t approve and arranges to do the project at Crystal’s house.  When they finish the diorama back at Oliver’s, both Crystal and Oliver discover how different life is for Oliver and his overbearing parent.

There are other things happening in third grade: the annual overnight at school is coming up and Oliver really wants to go.  When he asks his mother about the overnight, she says no… there are too many germs, he won’t brush his teeth for two minutes and there won’t be enough supervision. Oliver really senses that his over-protective parents aren’t the norm.  The other opportunity that comes to the third graders is that a politician is coming to school and Mrs. O’Neill wants her students to come up with an idea that can change the world.  Oliver’s mother has an idea about that–she thinks Oliver should submit a no U-turn policy for the school parking lot.  While experiencing Mrs. Olson’s heavy handed parenting, Crystal helps Oliver develop an idea that students should complete their own homework.  In the end, Oliver gets the courage to talk to his parents about homework, the school sleepover, and his burgeoning independence. 

I have mixed feelings about this book.  I liked the story. I liked how Oliver developed.  I loved Crystal. I loved that her dogs were named Bart, Lisa and Maggie and that Crystal was Oliver’s biggest ally.

So, what is the problem? Why the mixed feelings?  This isn’t the funny novel that you expect for this age group.   I do like the ideas presented in it; there aren’t a lot of problem novels for this age group. There is a reason for that.  Young readers, particularly boys, need to be engaged in the story to keep reading.   I think the school scenes didn’t seem real to me.  I thought the “teachable moments” were shoved down the students throat, and therefore, my throat.  Instead of giving students the opportunity to learn different aspects of the subject, the information was delivered in a lecture.  That isn’t what would normally happen in a third grade class and that is what felt odd to me.  Addtionally, I think there should be a new subject heading: overbearing parents-juvenile fiction.  Those two were over the top and the explanation that Oliver was sick wasn’t explained enough.

Is it enough to not recommend the book?  No, not at all.

Roscoe Riley Rules #7 by Katherine Applegate

I’ve read the first Roscoe Riley book and the seventh Roscoe Riley book.  Poor Roscoe, in both books he’s started off in the time-out corner and in both books (and presumably the five in between) he spends the rest of the book explaining why he’s in the corner.  Roscoe seems to redeem himself because by the end of his sad tale, he comes up with a list of Useful Things he learned.  Hmmm, it just occurred to me that this is why the series title is Roscoe Riley Rules… he doesn’t rule as in I’m the best rather he has rules: from never glue your friends to their chairs (#1) to never race a runaway pumpkin (#7).  (It takes a while, but I catch up.)

This is why Roscoe learns one shouldn’t race a runaway pumpkin: In school Roscoe’s class learns that a local bookstore (three cheers for local bookstores) is running a contest: correctly guess the weight of the giant pumpkin in the window and win books for your school library!  Miss Biz, Roscoe’s longsuffering first grade teacher, tackles the issue of estimating with her class which isn’t easy for first graders, by the way.   Roscoe tells his mom about the contest and she takes the family to the bookstore to enter the contest.  While at the store (Hilltop Books — very important to the plot by the way), Roscoe’s sister Hazel encounters a cute little kitty.  Well, actually a black cat… and Roscoe is superstitious!  The rest of the plot involves black kitties, Roscoe’s superstitious nature, and that giant pumpkin.  Will Roscoe’s contest entry be picked?  Why is that pumpkin chasing Roscoe (note the black kitty) in the cover picture?  And most importantly, why is Roscoe in time-out?

I really enjoyed this book.  It is the right amount of humor. The various pictures help move the story along and give some clues to what the text is saying (important in this level book).  Roscoe Riley really does rule!

15 Books that Inspire Me

This started as a facebook game that I did this summer..but I just read my list and I’d like to keep a more permanent record of it. The rules were to come up with fifteen titles that “will always stick with you”.  (I tried putting links on the books to Worldcat, but it wasn’t working…. I’ll try again later.)  So in no particular order:

1. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery. This is the first book I read that made me feel like reading mattered, that reading can take you places.  I contend that I’m a librarian because of these stories.  My mom forced me to read this title the summer of my eighth grade. I resisted and my sister read it and told me I should read it.  There is a passage in The Novel by James Michener that talks about loving Anne’s story and understanding that books can take you places in your mind.  Anne and I are kindred spirits.

2. Rebecca by Daphe DuMaurier. I read this in high school and soaked it up. I read it and re-read it. It was a book that helped me understand that text can really bring out emotion in a way that movies can’t. I poured over the romantic parts more than anything else.  The movie doesn’t do it justice.

3. Persuasion by Jane Austen. I read this at a time in my life that I had been burned by love and was feeling mousy and unloved. This is my favorite Austen novel, the other one is…

4. Emma by Jane Austen. My first Jane Austen book. It brought me to a new place in a world I enjoyed very much.

5. For Better, For Worse by Carol Matthews, 2002. A fun little chick lit book about a woman from england coming to NY for a wedding. I read it 2 years before I met my husband. It’s light and fluffy and funny and silly, with one section that really gave me hope: life is worth living to the fullest even if it means getting hurt.

6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone The beginning of the story; a whole new world. It still makes me happy.

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Love is stronger than death.

8. Bible …speaking of Love conquering death

9. Disappointment with God My pain matters to God… and how I respond to it. I can worry and act on my own or I can turn to Him.

10. Love’s Something something Gosh i wish i could remember the name of this book. Christian fiction published by Bethany House in the mid 80′s about forgiveness and living in the time of Wesley. And of course it was a romance. I thought I kept the copy i have of it, but I can’t find it.

11. Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot When I was a young woman and trying to discover who God wanted me to be. I read this. The sub-title is Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ’s Control… as I didn’t have a love life I was trying to reconcile my wants/desires with reality.

12. A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot The biography of English missionary Amy Carmichael. She dedicated her life to living with orphans of India.

13. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Skit Skat Doodle Dot Flip Flop Flee, there are very few books I’ve actually memorized.

14. The Eight by Katherine Neville. A confusing mix of french revolution and the 1970′s but a big puzzle. Dan Brown wishes he wrote a book as good as this.

15. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. If I can live my life like Alice Rumphius, then I’ll be a blessed lady.

The Middle-Child Blues by Kristyn Crow

Ray came first, Kate came last, and Lee is stuck in the middle. He’s too young to do what Ray does and too old to do what Kate does.  Being a middle child isn’t easy. I know I am one and I appreciate everything Lee is lamenting. 

I’m not the shiny engine
or the little red caboose.
I’m just a boring boxcar,
so I wonder, what’s the use?

The problem with all this complaining is that no one is listening to Lee, so he gets his electric guitar out and decides to let music speak for him.

When mom and dad join in everybody sings:

We sing the low-down show-down shakin’-up-the-whole-town big-time MID KID BLUES!

You can just feel the guitar riffs.  With bright colors, David Catrow sets the tone for Lee’s burgeoning music career (slick hair ala Elvis). It’s a delightful little picture book that is easily relatable to the sad forgotten middle child everywhere.

The Middle Child Blues is a picture book by Kristyn Crow and illustrated by David Catrow.  for ages 5 – 8.  SH 11.09