Curse or a Blessing

Within the first two sentences an author has the unique opportunity to hook the reader immediately. 
William crouched behind the fallen oak tree and listened.  Close by, someone---or something--was whimpering in pain.
We have already been told beneath the chapter heading that it is winter 1347 but now we want to know:  Who is William?  Where is the fallen oak tree?  Who or what is in pain?

William was orphaned when his entire family, except for an older brother who left several years ago, were burned in a fire that destroyed their home, the town mill.  William was found dazed and unharmed after the fire.  None of the villagers would take him in believing William to be not quite as normal or natural as they; in other words, why did he survive the fire?  The monks at Crowfield Abbey have given him a place to live where he works for his keep.  He is gathering firewood in nearby Foxwist Wood when he hears the sounds of distress. 

For a few moments, William's mind went blank.  He stared down into the large, watchful eyes and felt the hairs on the back of his neck hackle. This was neither animal nor man, but he could speak.  What manner of creature could do that?  Fear stroked a cold finger down William's spine. His mouth had gone dry and his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.  Part of him wanted to turn and run, but another part of him was rooted to the spot by curiosity.

A hobgoblin, hob, has been caught in a trap set by nearby villagers.  Only those with the Sight of Old Magic can see such creatures.  Being a compassionate soul, William releases the trap and secretly brings him back to the abbey to be healed by Brother Snail.  Returning to the Wood William fearful but determined walks to the Whistling Hollow throwing the trap into the pool so no more harm can be done.  Words whispered on the air say to him, This will not be forgotten.  Sinister sensations lay thick about William in this place.

Overheard conversations, two visitors, one a leper and the other deadly silent with a face scarred like lines on a map,  an old crone with her white crow,  a stunning feather hidden in the abbey, century old secrets, unseen eyes following his every move and questions whose answers could shake the very foundation of peoples' beliefs draw William into an age old battle that could tip the balance between the forces of good and evil.

This is how author, Pat Walsh reels the reader into The Crowfield Curse totally and completely after only two chapters.  Her background as a trained archaeologist is evident in her vivid descriptions of life and events in this story.  Her skill with words makes us feel the the constant, bitter cold, the day to day struggle for the merest scrap of food and clothing.  Believable depictions of each character as well as the dialogue between them is so well wrought it is surprising they do not walk off the page into our lives.


What sets this fantasy apart from others is the subtle blending of the two worlds, European medieval and the fay; it's as if this is the way that it truly was and always will be. By the book's end readers know this is only the beginning of a story they will gladly enter again.  Crowfield Demon is on its way to Charlevoix as of this writing and this reader can not wait.

Walsh does include a timetable of daily life in the winter at Crowfield Abbey along with a glossary of terms at the conclusion of the book.

Just A Little Bit M. O. R. E.

In exploring the familiar when widening your view you sometimes discover something that was there but never noticed before.  In using the Michigan eLibrary my main focus has been the MeL Databases and MeL Cat.  Today M. O. R. E. , Michigan Online Resources for Educators, caught my eye. 

This is truly a goldmine of tools to facilitate classroom instruction free for the taking.  Their stated goal of Putting More Tech In TEaCHing is well met.  To take full advantage of all the options available register by giving your first and last name, a username, email address, educational role, ISD, school district, grade level and password.  By registering you can click on the Tools tab and use the Resource Locker, a place to store all your "finds", the Lesson Plan Builder, a detailed template for designing, saving and printing lessons, and the Collaboration Center.  To use the Collaboration Center you need to register to be a member of edWeb which is a professional social networking site for the education community. 

To search the site select the Search by GLCE/HSCE, content expectations to standards to sub-standards, and further sub-standards, or Search Across GLCEs/HSCEs, search across the content expectations by keyword, grade and subject, or Browse Subjects, twenty-seven educational categories with sub-groups or the Advanced Search, a combination of resource type, subject, source, and audience (grade level).

Happy Trail-ers To You...Until...#2

Larry Ferlazzo posted on his bog,  Larry Ferlazzo's Web Sites of the Day this morning about using Fotobabble as a practice vehicle for students making more sophisticated book trailers.  I had previously posted (September 22, 2010) about this web 2.0 app but had thought of it more as a voice enhancement for a particular photograph rather than as a book review device.  This would be one of those "Now why didn't I think of that?" moments for me.  A colleague of his developed a simple rubric which is free for all to use.  Depending on your classroom requirements students can write a review, script, etc. individually or with a partner prior to recording their voice coupled with a picture of the book jacket.  Images for use in Fotobabble can be uploaded from your computer and Facebook or via a link to an image.

 Due to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act they must be 13 years of age to use this app.  What a great opportunity for an adult to partner with a younger student to take advantage of this integration of technology into the classroom setting.

 

That post also linked to a previous post dated August 3, 2010 that mentioned an additional app called Bookr .  As far as I can tell there is no registration or age requirement.  Bookr is a tool to create and share your own photobook.  To begin users type in a tag which searches the site Flickr for creative commons photos.  These can then be dragged to fit a frame on the original four pages or clicked to fill the entire page of a book. Text can be added to each page.  Each book needs a title and an author.  Following a rubric students can create a book trailer which is another step up from the Fotobabble style.  A photobook can be embedded in a page entirely or with a link. 

A final site mentioned in Ferlazzo's older post is Book Trailers For Readers .  This wiki was started and is maintained by teacher librarian, Michelle Harclerode, 2010 Elementary Media Specialist of the Year, Lee County, Florida.  Categories include New Releases, Popcorn Worthy, Blockbusters (Student created) and Cult Classics (Teacher favorites). 

Harclerode includes on her wiki highly useful pages, Rules for Book Blogging and How to Make a Book Trailer.

What a fantastic way to promote reading and writing, blend technology into the curriculum and break away from the traditional dreaded book report.

Beat The Heat #2

While signing up students for the Scholastic Summer Challenge  who are to be 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders
at Charlevoix Middle School in the fall of 2011, I had a student ask me what he should read. I immediately snagged a couple of titles awaiting cataloging on my desk but I won't be able to do that for the next three months.  Here are some suggestions.

EMAIL--Please feel free to contact me at any time on my school email at mculver@rayder.net.  Be sure to tell me what genre you like best or the last book you read that you liked.  I would love to talk with you not only about what you want to read but what you are currently reading.

BLOG--Check out the pages on the left side of my blog.  I have four lists of books that I have read that are outstanding for middle school readers.  If you need more information about a specific title just send me an email.  If you want to search my blog go further down on the left and type in the tag, books and reading , for a list of posts of all the books that I have read and reviewed this year.  And remember to check my blog often.  I hope to post reviews several times a week as well as updating my elementary and middle school pick of the week.

CHARLEVOIX PUBLIC LIBRARY--When you arrive at the public library web page either click on Kids or Teens.  On those two pages are a link to NoveList.  To connect to it from home you will need to enter in your library card number.  This is an online database provided to us for free.  You can search by age and genre on the left.  The newest titles appear in the center.  At the top you can search by author, title or series.  On the right there are several other resources that are designed to direct the reader to the perfect book.  There is even a guide on how to use NoveList via the Michigan eLibrary.

ONLINE---Pulling from lists at Amazon and Library Thing The Book Seer generates a list of recommended books based upon the title and author that the user provides.  The individual titles that appear on the list are linked to Amazon or Library Thing where more information about a specific title can be found.

Thanks to Joyce Valenza at her School Library Journal blog for this suggestion in her May 2, 2011 post.

Remember to check out the fantastic web pages designed for guys by Jon Scieszka.  At Guys Read Scieszka has lists, lists and more lists of guy-tested great books. 


On my blog are numerous good web sites where books are discussed and reviewed.  Go to Essential Links.  Click on either Flamingnet Book Reviews , reviews for teens by teens, Teenreads.com , Kidsread.com , or the American Library Association (ALA) links to Best Books for Young Adults or Notable Children's Books for reviews and suggestions.

The last link is called Fantastic Fiction.  I use this web site quite a bit if I want to make sure to read all the books in a series or want additional titles by a favorite author. 

Whatever you do,  read whenever you can.  I know that I will. 

Stacked for Summer

For weeks Xena has been talking about all the stacks of books growing around the house.  Boxes have been delivered daily on the doorstep from favorite book vendors packed with the newest titles. 

Some of the titles are must reads from last year.  Others are favorite books soon to appear on the silver screen.  There are even much awaited sequels.

 Yes, there will more stacks appearing.  And yes, there will be weekly visits to local bookstores to snag up the latest and greatest books for children and young adults as well as numerous stops at the Charlevoix Public Library.  But for now this is what is stacking up to start off my summer of reading.

I can't wait to finish reading Readicide by Kelly Gallagher and begin The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller.

  Just for pure pleasure I found a copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond. It looks like an extension of her wonderful blog noted in my post about Charlie The Ranch Dog but absolutely loaded with pictures and tips to complete her recipes.

What have you got stacked up for summer reading? 

Good Golly This Goose Is Gothic

Mother Goose has reached the proverbial end of her rope.    In trying to turn the ways of naughty children to the right she has had little success.  An unusual, a frightful school headed by her sister is her only option.

...There are hundreds of rules
all beginning with NO,
and Spinster's bleak school
is the place you will go
if you are a brat
and you need to outgrow
your horrible habits.
She waits down below.

Spinster Goose:  Twisted Rhymes for Naughty Children (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, March 8, 2011) chronicles twenty-six wayward boys and girls from the world of nursery.  These rhymes are fractured with pithy, pointed phrases that point to sinister shadow images of what we thought we knew about Mother Goose.  Bobby Shaftoe is a thief, Baa Baa Black Sheep has a bad language habit, Little Miss Muffet enjoys chewing chalk, Jack Sprat and his wife have become cafeteria cooks from the dark side, Georgie Porgie is a bully and Mary of little lamb fame is a bold-faced liar.

The Nursery rhyme of old, There Was A Little Girl, has been morosely modified to read:
                                 
                             The Hair-Twirler
                      There was a little girl
                     who liked to twist and twirl
                     every single curl on her head.
                     When she was good, she was very, very good.
                     But when she was bad, she was...
                                             bald.

The mind behind these twisted, terse textual renditions is none other than Michigan author, Lisa Wheeler .  Bubbling to the surface of each short tale is her offbeat, catchy humor.  Once the reader rolls these verses off their tongue, sideways glances will be shared with listeners before the laughter bursts out as all relish the wicked wackiness.  Her books, Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum, Boogie Knights, Dino-Baseball, Dino-Soccer, Dino-Hockey, One Dark Night and Mammoths on the Move, to name a few are ever popular with all our students.  What a joy to read this newest book by the writer who graced our Charlevoix Elementary School for a visit.  It seems just like yesterday. Her gift with words is as evident as ever.

Softly, menacing illustrations done in Chinese ink and watercolor by Sophie Blackall heighten the discord present in these poems.  At times the wide-eyed, sad children's heads are replaced by those of animals furthering the grim, off-kilter atmosphere of this educational institution.  Blackall's illustrations are most recognized in our school in the popular Ivy and Bean books, Meet Wild Boars and Wild Boars Cook. 

I can't wait to read her newly illustrated  Aldous Huxley's The Crows of Pear Blossom. 

While being suggested for younger elementary readers, this devilishly, delightful book would be most appreciated by older readers.

Beat The Heat---I Challenge You To Read

In it's fifth year the Scholastic Summer Challenge encourages reading throughout the vacation months. 

This program is free to use and provides incentives for students to log the minutes spent reading.  In the 2012 Scholastic Book of World Records the top 20 schools with the most minutes read will receive recognition. 

All participants must have a user name and password.  Users can track their minutes read on their own private page at the Summer Challenge site.  Upon registration the school name and location will be requested.  This is just so a record can be kept of the total minutes read school wide.  No school information will ever be displayed in relation to a particular student.  The student, the student's parent or the student's teacher can provide this information. 

Teachers can "bulk" register students and add to this list at any time.  Randomly generated user names and passwords are created.  When students log-in the first time they are required to change their password.  The new password is unique to them and for their eyes only.  Teachers can still track their minutes read by class or grade level if they have multiple classes.  Parents can also receive email updates about their child's minutes and progress in the reading challenge. 

If a child/young adult wishes to participate by registering on their own that is available too.  No personal information is ever asked except for country, state, gender and age.  Only the username chosen will ever be displayed.  A new user is also asked to select a security question and to provide an answer.  If the student is under 13 years of age they will be asked to provide a parent's email address where consent can be given.  When a child/young adult signs up they have the option of creating a THE STACKS account.
THE STACKS is Scholastic's site about books and reading for tweens, where children can create profiles and communicate with other children about books, authors and other subjects of interest.

At the end of the Summer challenge all school information is deleted from the students' accounts but they continue to have a Scholastic.com account, including user name and password, and the user's minutes read, badges and prizes won will continue to appear in that user's profile and widget(if any).

Scholastic 2011 Summer Challenge Privacy Policy is available online for more in depth information.

During the summer of 2011 I have registered as a teacher/library media specialist for Charlevoix Middle School keeping track of our students' minutes read.  In addition to receiving any of the incentives provided at the Scholastic web site, prizes for the top reader in each grade will be provided at the end of the Summer Challenge by Mrs. Culver.  Let's read everyone and put Charlevoix Middle School in the 2012 Scholastic Book of World Records.  Let 's show the world what we can do!