Reading Time and Dreaming

So, I snuggled into my warm bed on Friday night and DEVOURED The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I had just finished the audio book of Gregor and the Code of Claw and my students were begging me to finish Hunger Games. I was on pg. 77 when I started and at 1:00 a.m. I closed the cover after the last page. The excitement and nervousness I felt just from experiencing Katniss' adventures through the page were unprecedented. And, my students are studying science fiction right now as well! Collins weaves such an original story that I'm not sure how she dreams these things up. However, I couldn't help but be reminded of Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery". I would love to see kids read both and compare them.

Katniss Everdeen is one of the shrewdest and spunkiest characters I've ever met. The dystopia that is Panem also reminds me of William Nicholson's Wind on Fire trilogy and the way the different sectors of society are segregated and attained. I don't even know where to start with a review except to say that this book is powerful and haunting and kind of mimics a more violent version of today's cliques in middle school! SPOILER ALERT





When Rue died I thought a part of me went with her as well. She was my favorite little darting character and I rooted for her as much as I did Katniss. The writing was powerful enough for me to give an audible intake of breath.




ON A LIGHTER NOTE:

Susan at The Book Chook has posted an absolutely wonderful entry on what her "dream" is. You really need to check it out along with her cute new logo and the awesome pictures that go with her entries.

Also, Kidlitosphere Central is up and being run by my favorite bloggers around! The page that has a link to all children's book bloggers is just what I've been looking for. Now, I have to see how I can get on that list..... Happy Reading

Book Ramblings

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with your TO BE READ pile? Currently, I am! Here are the books I really want to finish and can't seem to find the time to read with my busy household-

YA:
The Hunger Games by: Suzanne Collins (I did manage to listen to the last Gregor book and loved it, but the kids at school have been bugging me to finish this one so we can talk about it)

The Dragonfly Pool by: Eva Ibbotson (ever since Jen Robinson blogged about this book I 've seen it on many "best of 2008" lists. I was sucked in and am about 150 pgs. into it)

Flygirl by: Sherri L. Smith (sent to me as an ARC and it's been published already! Looks great but I haven't read anything about it anywhere else)

The Haunting of Derek Stone by: Tony Abbott (this is a thin volume-1-that I was engrossed in immediately, but was at school and couldn't finish. It would only take an hour at most! I read about it on Ink Splot 26, a scholastic blog)


The Corrugated Castle by: Joan Blos. I've loved other books she's written and I am currently reading this one aloud to my oldest who is learning lots about the gold rush in CA! My penchant for historical fiction seems to be rubbing off on her. It's not a fast moving adventure book, but the letter format has kept both of us reading and enjoying the life of Eldora.

AUDIO:

The Graveyard Book by: Neil Gaiman. Even before it won the Newbery I wanted to read this book because it appeared on so many bloggers' must read list. Border's was out of it, and the public library had possibly a 6 month wait! So, I downloaded it from audible kids and transferred it to disc today. The ride to school was quite eerie with the opening scene and I must admit that I sat in my van trying to squeeze in more before I had to make the long cold trek to the school doors. I can't wait for tomorrow's drive!

Favorite Children's Books for the Twins:

Currently, the twins are way into Dr. Seuss and I think I've read Cat in the Hat about twenty times this week. That's okay, though! I'm happy to do it-

My personal favorites from Christmas are:

The Girl Inside the Castle Inside the Museum by:Kate Bernheimer and Nicoletta Ceccoli (absolutely GORGEOUS art!)

The Tear Thief by: Carol Ann Duffy and Nicoletta Ceccoli (not only is the art gorgeous, but the story is touching and calming for any child with tears)

More about Reading/Read 180

I wanted to discuss Read 180. While I think Scholastic is a fabulous company and I use them often, I am very opposed to canned reading programs. Then, while discussing this with colleagues today, they informed me that students are making some reading progress using this system. One person told me: "Basically, we're making up for the lack of being read to as a child." Read 180 involves lots of audio in addition to other forms of reading comprehension improvement. How sad that educators must do this! Let's try and figure out how much money it would SAVE school districts if everyone read to their children on a daily basis! Each system costs around $60,000 for a district. How many districts in the US use Read 180 or a similar program? We could take that money and make sure that books were in the hands of parents when kids are born so they can read and read and read to them.

Here in Michigan, (and specifically my town) there is a group called Baby Book Club. Actually, now it's now called The Family Book Club. Look it up and see if you can help! http://www.familybookclub.org/history.html