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This book was this year's Newberry winner and it is fantastic. Like most books for children, a good reader can figure out where it's going before it actually gets there. But even so, it was hard for me to put down. I am really looking forward to reading it aloud to my class as I think it will initiate some good discussions and thinking.
Veronica
PS Right now I'm reading The Graveyard Book - Newberry winner from two years ago. The kids are hooked! :D
Thank you! Although my kids are grown, it is always good to know some "good" childrens reading material. I like giving books as gifts.
~ JoAnn
Thanks for the head's up. I'm not a teacher and I don't have kids, but I have to admit that I still enjoy reading certain children's/young adult books. There are a handful from my own youth that I still count as some of my favorites of all time--The Westing Game, Jacob Have I Loved and the entire Wrinkle in Time series. I reread them occasionally as an adult. They take me back to happy times, and a good read is a good read!
A Wrinkle in Time and The Giver are my 2 most favorite books.
Surprising, since I ordinarily dislike sci-fi. A Wrinkle in Time won the Newberry when I was in 6th grade and when I was teaching, it still was one of the most checked out books in my classroom library.
I remember feeling the same way when I read the Giver... I could not put it down and distinctly remembering saying out loud. "This is going to win the Newberry Award."
Did you think he died at the end of The Giver? I always thought he did and then she wrote a sequel and obviously he didn't.
Veronica
I haven't heard of the Giver; I'll have to take a look.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
I'm not a Sci Fi fan either, but I loved A Wrinkle in Time, and I loved how everything came together in A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I love a number of Madeleine L'Engle books in fact. Her other series--about the Austin family--is wonderful, too. I didn't have the happiest of childhoods; books provided a a much needed refuge. My favorites are now like old and dear friends.
Veronica, I did think he died, until my kids started reading the sequel! I haven't read it, though.
I remember distinctly the first time I used Giver, with a group of very smart 7th graders. So many good themes to use. Then, when I switched districts, it didn't go over so well the first time I tried it. But, eventually, I tried again and it when I gave the kids choice in a sci fi unit, there was always one group that did well with it.
I love "kids" books. I just find that they are not limited to any parameters and the authors can let their imaginations go wild. Harry Potter's better written than a lot of "adult" books, in my opinion.
I'll definitely check this book out!
I placed and Amazon order today that included Moon Over Manifest, and "adult" novel by the auther of the Graveyard Book and When You Reach me, the 2010 Newbery Award winner.
Thanks for the suggestions!
I've read a bunch of Neil Gaiman's adult stuff too. He's weird, but interesting. :)
When You Reach Me is also fabulous! I read it last year when I had 5th graders. I think it's a little beyond my current group. But I'm looping with them, so I'll probably read it aloud next year.
I'm just about done with One Crazy Summer, one of this year's Honor Books. It's a very good read, but I don't think it's one I'll read aloud. It takes place in 1968 in Oakland. Three girls go to visit their mom, who abandoned them, and she's now a poet for the Black Panthers. I think it's a little too heavy for my kids right now. Feathers a previous Honor book was also awesome, but more appropriate for read aloud to an older group.
I buy the winners and Honor books as soon as they are announced. I just like having good literature in my classroom. Okay, really it's 'cause I like to read. I'm always thrilled when I have already purchased one because it caught my eye at Barnes and Noble.
Happy reading!
Veronica
The irony of this thread for me is that just two weeks ago, I was roaming around Barnes & Noble's young reader section hoping to find some recent award winners. Sadly, our local store has been overrun by teen vampire books. They even have their own section. Now I know nothing about the quality of those books, but it saddened me how little else the store had for young readers.
I know!! what is the teen fascination with vampires?!?Quote:
Originally Posted by indysteel
S*x, at least according to E. Micheal Jones. I've an interesting book called "Monsters from the Id. The Rise of Horror in Fiction and Film" (2000). It starts with the French Revolution and winds up in Hollywood. The author's thesis is that horror stories come out of sexual repression and fear of death - that monsters such as vampires and so forth repackage those repressed fears and urges in a more palatable public way.Quote:
Originally Posted by badger
Regardless of what one thinks of his conclusions, it is an interesting read. What makes it more interesting to me is this was published in 2000, prior to the current vampire "fad".
BTW, I love well written sci-fi and fantasy fiction, as well as mysteries. The problem is the "well-written" bit, that can be hard to find.
Wasn't there a soap opera about vampires - Dark Shadows - in the sixties or early seventies I think?
I can remember my grandmother telling me I couldn't watch it when she did. But she would let me watch Another World with her. :D I was only like 5 or 6.
Veronica
It was in the late 60s's/early 70's. I loved it and would sneak out of school sometimes to watch it. Basically it was a gothic soap-opera that developed something of a cult following - probably because the acting was so bad :) I have tried to watch it as an adult but couldn't make myself sit through it - it was that bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by Veronica