What’s New Wednesday: Book Review

Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor

One word: WOW!! Laini Taylor has delivered a knock out punch with her first novel.

I am a historical fiction type girl. I always want to know about the spark, the event that led the author down the path to write the story.

This is funny because I was all about the faeries, fairy tales, and make believe worlds as a child. I read and re-read Tolkein. Then I switched to a more eclectic approach in my book choices and fantasy got left behind for the most part.

Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringerbrings me back to the world of fantasy. I thought that I would read it lickity-split (and I wonder if Laini has been thinking, why is she taking so long to read it). It is a book to savor. And that is exactly what I did. Savor. I didn’t allow myself to rush my reading.

Magpie Windwitch, the faerie, chases after devils that “mannies”or humans have released from bottles. She travels with crows who are both funny and protective of their Magpie. The troop heads to the forest of Dreamdarkwhen the fiercest of the devils, the Blackbringer, must be caught. He really is creepy. I have to tell you, I was at the edge of my seat as I finished the book this afternoon.

Laini’s writing is tight, flowing, and the language rich. From the prologue, when baby Magpie, is blessed by the animals to the end as she and her family of crows and other friends head to the next adventure (can’t wait for the sequel), you, the reader, are mesmerized.  Jim Di Bartolo’s art work and cover conveys a faerie you just don’t want to mess with.

If I hear students saying “flummox me”, “jacksmoke” or “skived”, I won’t be alarmed. I will know they have pick up some great vocabulary from this book.  

I can’t wait to get my own hardback. Look for it on the Silver Star shelves when school opens. (It will be available at book stores June 21st, the day school gets out).  Happy Reading.

MsMac

Meme: Eight Things About Me

My morning started with an email from Elaine at Wild Rose Reader.  I have been tagged for the “8 Things About Me” meme.

Here are the rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Here are 8 facts about me.

1. I have written five plays for our after school drama club.  I set them up as a story within a story to retell classic folktales.  This way this disrict can film and show on educational television without copyright issues.

2.  I am completing my thirty-third year of teaching, eighteen as a school librarian. I love my job.  The job is constantly changing which makes it interesting.

3.  I go by “Ms Mac” at school but my last name is MacCulloch.  It is a tradition carried from my grandmother who was “Mrs. Mac”, my father who was “Mr. Mac”.  Both were also teachers.

4.  My middle name is “Rush”.  Benjamin Rush, signer of the Delcaration of Independence, is my fifth great grandfather.

5.  I love all the seasons equally. Each is so unique and I like that.  Tonight my husband and I prepared the garden forplanting.

6.  I grew up in southern California. I left there to attend college in Portland, Oregon and stayed.  I am still close with my college friends. We meet every summer.

7.  I have an affinity for the east coast. I think it is because I spent six months when I was four years old with my grandmothers in New Jersey. The family story is that I begged my parents to let me go with my grandmother and they said yes!

8.  I am going to AASL in the fall in Reno, Nevada. It is my first national library conference.  I can’t wait.

 I tag the following people to play:

Eisha and Jules at 7 Imp
Kathy at Library Stew
Els Kushner at Book, book, book
Katie at  Pixiepalace
Akelda the Gleeful at Saints and Spinners
Jennie at Biblio File
Christine at The Simple and Ordinary
Barbara at Cats and Jammers

I look forward to reading your blogs.

Happy Reading.
MsMac

Tuesday Tidbits: Interview with Two Nancy Drew Fans

Two fifth graders, Angela and Tanya, have a goal to read all the Nancy Drew books in the library collection.  Nancy Drew, one of the series, I read as a child starting with my mother’s copy of The Secret of the  Old Clock.

I wanted to learn more about their Nancy Drew experience.

1. How many Nancy Drew books have you read?

    Angela: I have read fifty of the fifty-four titles in the library.
    Tanya:  I have read twenty. I would have read more this weekend but my eyes were sore and I had to stop.

2.  What is the first Nancy Drew book you read? What drew you into reading the books?

     Angela: I read The Clue of the Broken Locket.  I thought the pictures looked interesting.   I have started my own collection of Nancy Drew Books.
     Tanya:   I read The Secret Attic.  My friend, Angela, talked me into trying the books.  Then my teacher showed me the box of Nancy Drew books in her classroom that she bought with her babysitting money.

3.  What is the most recent book you have read?

     Angela:  I have just finished The Clue of the 99 Steps.
     Tanya:  I am reading The Clue in the Jewel Box.
4. What are three words that describe the character Nancy Drew?

      Angela: Brave: She is not afraid to follow bad people.  Clever: When she is kidnapped, she knows how to get out of it.  Has two friends that know her inside and out.
      Tanya:Honest: Always tells the truth. Caring: Wants to help people. Doesn’t like to hurt any one’s feelings.

5.  What do you like about the Nancy Drew Books?

       Angela: I like the how the author explains the mystery.  I try to figure out the mystery based on the clues.  Sometimes I am right but many times I am not. I love mysteries.
      Tanya:I like how the author doesn’t give all the clues away. I feel like I am standing by Nancy, helping her to figure out the mystery. It doesn’t matter if it is real or not.  I love mysteries. Once in awhile I figure the mystery out correctly.

6.  What is your favorite Nancy Drew book and why?

      Angela:  I like The Invisible Intruder. I like it because Nancy has to figure out who is the invisible intruder. She discovers a scret button by the fireplace which leads into a secret room.
       Tanya:  I love The Secret of Shadow Ranch.  I used to live on the farm and this story takes place on a farm. I also love horses.

Both girls heartily recommend the Nancy Drew series, especially for anyone who loves mysteries. 

I finished Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer this  weekend. Review tomorrow.
What’s on your nightstand?

Happy Reading.
MsMac

Monday Matters: Week of May 25, 2007

Most normal people would still be sleeping. It is a holiday but even without the alarm set I wake up early.  It has been a weekend for me to take a few good long breaths and relax.  Naps, that’s what I like, naps. And I take them.

A small group of librarians met last week to decide which eight books would be on our district’s reading choice list.  Our titles come from two other reading lists; Sasquatch(Washington State’s list) and the Young Reader’s Choice Award (a five state list). See all the titles here.

Our goal is to engage students in reading the nominees and vote for their favorite.  And the beauty is that by reading from our lists they can vote for their favorite on the other two lists.

We selected the following after discussing the criteria:
engaging students 
something for both boys and girls
promoting familiarity of authors(some of the authors have been on previous lists, some titles are the beginning of  a series)
eight titles
We also decide to go for quality instead of four from one list and four from the other.   It was clear that some of the titles on the two lists were more appropriate for middle school.  I select all the titles form both lists for Silver Star’s collection but our target is fourth and fifth grade with our list, therefore Airball and The Day Joanie Frankenhauser Became a Boy didn’t make the list. Interstingly neither did Owen Foote. The one librarian gave it to a fourth grade teacher and it just did  not go over well. The characters were third graders, hmmm, wonder if that was why.

The 2008 “Our Evergreen Readers’ Choice Award” (OERCA, pronounced OCRA like the whale)nominees:

Legend of Murphy Spud by Eoin Colfer
Abby Takes a Stand by Patricia McKissack
Ghost’s Grave by Peg Kehret
Misadventures of Maude Marche by Audrey Couloumbis
Giant Rat of Sumatra by Sid Fleischman
Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan
Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson

One of the librarians has been very active on the nominating committee for Sasquarch.  She also book talks the books in the spring with her fourth and fifth graders.  She has a sense of which books sell.  Right now she can’t keep Ghost’s Grave on the shelf. She is retiring so next year someone else will need to step up to the plate to promote these programs.
I have read two on the list, Whales on Stilts and Abby takes a Stand.  My own version of “48 Hours of Reading” takes place next weekend as I will be out of town at a conference the following weekend when the real challenge takes place. I don’t qualify for the fabulous prizes but I am looking forward to the challenge.  The six remaining books are on my stack (I do have to borrow Giant Rat of Sumatra)along with The Sisters Grimm, Defiance,  and Chicken Boy.

Enjoy the day. Happy reading.

MsMac

Poetry Friday: It’s All About the Play

Our school play, “Lost in the Stacks: Finding Aesop” was performed on Tuesday.  It has been all about the play this week.  On Sunday, I scribbled a quick poem in honor of the students:

All in places
Hiding faces
|Behind the masks
Created
Roles earned
Lines learned
Transport viewers to
New places

I so wanted to do this as a video but can’t get Edublogs to accept it. Missed Friday Poetry because of it.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Carnival of Children’s Literature:Multicultural Carnival

Are you ready for a fiesta of sites celebrating multicultural literature?  Head over to Chicken Spaghetti to see the 14th Carnival of Children’s Literature.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Monday Matters: Week of May 21, 2007

Tomorrow is the big day.  Our school play, “Lost in the Stacks: Finding Aesop” will be performed.  We had the typical dress rehearsal on Saturday but I am confident that the perfpormances will be fun and everyone will do a great job.   I spent the weekend locating a final few costumes and making something for the turtle to wear.

 Front of turtle costume.

Back of turtle costume.

The weather is suppose to reach 80 degrees tomorrow. This is typical for our plays.  They are usually one of the warmest days of the school year.

My classes are clicking along. The big push for those missing library books will start next week.  And we need to start packing.  We are getting new carpet this summer so everything must be off the floor. I have some books shelves that need to be packed.  It is going to be a fun few weeks.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Poetry Friday: Allergies

 Allergies have been fierce this season. This popped into my head  yesterday.

Allergies 

Sunny day, pollen count
Runny nose makes me pout
Flowers grin at the bees
Would someone pass me
Kleenex, please
Wonder why my eyes must cry
Allergies the bees reply
Stay inside, instead of out
Sunny day, pollen count

Hope you are enjoying this spring without being bothered by allergies.

Happy Reading.
MsMac

Folk Tales from Around the Planet

I always know when it is spring. Third grade requests all the country books from the library.  It signals me to start my “Folk Tales Around the Planet”. 

Most of my folk tales have been in the library for as long as I have been around.  A good story is like that, it has a long shelf life.  You can see that some of the books need replacing.  So here are five favorites:

Baba Yaga: A Russian Folk Taleretold by Eric Kimmel

Teeth made of iron, bony legs, and a hut that walks  on chicken, what is there not to be caught up in this story.  Kimmel’s retelling of this story is fun.  Marina, a young girl visits Baba Yaga to have a horn in her forehead removed. What she doesn’t know is that Baba Yaga wants to cook her for a meal.  Marina thinks of a clever way to escape and return home.

The Funny Little Woman by Arlene Mosel
This funny little woman makes me smile every timeI read it.  I usually pair it with the Japanese rice paper copy I have had since I was a child.  Sadly, the childhood book is beginning to deteriorate.

Head, Body, Legs; A Story from Liberiaretold by Won-ldy Paye and Magaret H. Lippert
I was introduced to this book a few years ago when it appeared on the Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award.  I love the bold, vibrant art work and the theme of working together.

Tikki Tikki Tembo retold by Arlene Mosel
“Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo”, I love saying it, kids love saying it.  It is one story that I can story tell without the book.  I usually talk about names and how I got mine.

 Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the Worldby Selby B. Beeler

This is not a folk tale but I love the traditions about what different cultures do with their teeth.  Students find it interesting as well.  The also talk about their own family traditions.

I find that kids really like to talk about their cultures and beliefs.  Books like these help to open the doors to discussions. 

What are your favorite folk tales from around the planet?

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Tuesday Tidbits: Week of May 14, 2007

I just finished reading Abby Takes a Stand: Scraps of Time #1by Patricia McKissack.  It is on the Sasquatch Award list(Washington state’s readers’ choice)  for 2008. 

I love Patricia C. McKissack’s books. Abby Takes a Stand is now added to the list of books by her that I love.  I wondered at first how a book about the Civil Rights movement of the early 60’s might translate to younger readers. I had no need to be concerned.

McKissack creates a wonderful way to bring the past to us: an attic, “the way back place” with with Grandma’s treasures, her scraps of time.  In this first volume, a menu from a Nashville, Tennessee restaurant, is discovered.  Grandma (who is Abby) tells the story of being nine years old, going to a restaurant to eat and being told to leave.

The reader is transported back into time with the story. What a story it is! Abby’s mother and cousin get quite involved in staging the Nashville Sit-ins as they were called. There is plenty of excitement and drama throughout.  I was engaged in the story and really felt that I was there, in that time and place.

I love how McKissack includes information at the end of the book in regards to what is factual.  It was also great to see “The Rules for the Nashville Sit-ins at the end of the book.

Reading this book couldn’t have been more timely.   The fourth grade team focused heavily on slavery and the Civil Rights movement this year.  Books that are engaging, that children can relate to are a challenge to find.  Abby Takes the Stand will fit the bill next year for them.

And I can’t wait until the next Scraps of Time adventure  comes out.  Thank you, Patricia C. McKissack for a wonderful read.

What’s on your nightstand?

Happy Reading.
MsMac