Category Archives: Reading

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An emotionally stunning book, perhaps because as a verse novel, the reader is able to rush through all the experiences in a brief period.

No, this story would be just as emotional (but likely less beautiful) had it a typical word count. Within just a few pages, the author had me choked up with worry over the fate of an unripe papaya, even while I was too emotionally invested to recognize the papaya as representing the main character.

And what a wonderful main character Ha is, her voice familiar when she lives in an alien world, and yet alien when she moves somewhere more familiar. For the rest of the day, her voice echoed in my ears whenever my students spoke, so alive and authentic is Lai’s creation.

I am sure Inside Out will be repeatedly pressed into the hands of bullied children – and bulliers – and for once I find myself thinking such earnest bibliotherapy may have the intended result. Familiar enough to appeal to those children who want to know they’re not alone, foreign enough not to put off others who want their individual troubles respected .. I, for one, cried several times, both as a child who was bullied and as a teacher who wishes for an impossible panacea. And as a teacher, I closed the book, pleased that the journey within was so much more than a simple story of one child’s struggles in various hostile worlds.

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Scumble by Ingrid Law

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When a book is as original and delightful as Ingrid Law’s Savvy, it is usually hard not to be disappointed by the sequel.  Somehow, Law has avoided that trap, creating a follow up that keeps some of what made Savvy wonderful but also moving forward to fresher fields.  Scumble is not only a satisfying read on its own, it withstands comparisons to its predecessor.

Thirteen year old Ledger Kale is Mibs Beaumont’s cousin and just coming into his own savvy.  Most pleasing for the reader, Ledge has some of Mibs’ highly original narrative voice, but not so much that it becomes precious.  He is her cousin, and their voices are clearly cousins, too.  The book opens with another road trip, but that’s quickly completed and the setting this time is the Wyoming ranch of another cousin.  Ledge’s personality and his story are more focused on himself, proving that an adolescent’s self-discovery doesn’t need to have a strong external force to be compelling.

ELLs may find Scumble easier to read than Savvy because Ledge’s way of speaking is less regional, but it will still require readers from other cultures to have patience navigating a highly idiomatic narration.  For those advanced students who do read it, they may find some personally familiar themes of upheaval and adjustment, as well as the frustration of trying to care for family and self in an unfamiliar setting.

(Savvy was reviewed on Tuesday.)

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Savvy by Ingrid Law

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A delightful swim in the mind and family of Mibs Beaumont. The Beaumonts are a family of get special powers, their savvies, on their thirteenth birthdays and their story falls somewhere between a tall tale and a Cynthia Voight novel. A Wizard of Oz motif adds flavor and meaning without committing that literary sin of drawing a series of parallels and allowing the referenced work to do all the heavy lifting. And there certainly is heavy lifting as Savvy touches on first love, family loss, alienation, and overall the teenage odyssey to find one’s true self.

Although a wonderful book, its deft use of colloquial and idiomatic English for characterization will sadly be lost on all but the most fluent ELL readers. If you have the patience, save this gem until later in your studies, when you become familiar with regional differences in American English.

(Coming on Thursday: a review of the sequel, Scumble)

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Two Chicago friends take a summer road trip and end up in rural Tennessee, where one of the boys begins to recover from being dumped for the nineteenth time by a girl named Katherine by crafting a mathematical equation to determine the ending of all future relationships.  Romantic math, anagrams, hunting wild boar, and a suspect tomb: this book has everything necessary to make a nicely empathetic YA novel.  (Grade level: 9+.)

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love John Green – I am a proud nerdfighter, in fact – but his female characters fall a bit flat for me. This time, I began to wonder if that doesn’t have its advantages. For example, all characters are being interpreted through the eyes of Colin Singleton (whose name is a sly reference to the Green’s background reviewing conjoined twin stories), so how would such a young man with great intelligence but limited social skills see the young women around him? One theme of the book is the difference between memory and reality, after all. Colin spends much of the book attempting to turn his romantic history of failure into a mathematical equation – a flattening out of female characters if I ever did see one. That one typical complaint dealt with by claiming it is an asset, I can whole heartedly recommend this books. We need more authors like Green who can address teen romance in a way that will appeal to male readers, particularly while staring down the barrel of rampant adolescent awkwardness.

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In The Obstinate Pen, a pen refuses to write what the writer intends, instead producing some choice insults and urging the writers to action.  Of course, such obstinacy usually gets it ejected and on its way to another unsuspecting owner.  (Grade level 2+.)

The Obstinate Pen by Frank W. Dormer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great read-aloud or read-alone that managed to get a most anti-romance second grader cheering along with the text, “Kiss her, banana head!” I guess that makes this the added material Peter Falk’s character needed in The Princess Bride. Although both text and illustration felt a bit flat, it wasn’t for any reason I could identify, and both are generally charming. Particularly for a pen that yells insults.

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We’ve just posted our first booklist: a list of 20 great wordless books!

Wordless books can be used as extended writing and conversation prompts with both English-learning and English-fluent students.  Furthermore, they can be enjoyed with family and friends in a child’s first language, and we believe it is important to seek out ways to support all of a student’s languages.

Our booklists will feature:

• A quick list with cover images
• A longer list with bibliographic information, links to the books’ Goodreads pages, and a brief description
• Notes for teachers and parents on how to incorporate the books into a student’s work.

After the death of her father, Gilda Joyce takes control of her life through “storytelling” – though some might bluntly call it lying.  Her imagination and drive earn her a trip to California for the summer where she meets a long-lost uncle, his daughter … and perhaps even a ghost.  (Grade level 6+.)

Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator by Jennifer Allison

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ah, the beloved Quirky, Notemaking Narrator, in the tradition of Anastasia Krupnik and Harriet the Spy. Perhaps my cooled affection is because I encountered Gilda as an adult, though I am still pretty quirky and I still take lots of notes… Regardless, Gilda Joyce is a lovely character, and I can see why several students have regarded her with such great affection, but some small something is missing for me. A hallmark of such characters is a sweetly desperate earnestness; Gilda Joyce certainly has that, but (and please take this with a grain of salt, since I don’t criticize authors for being different from their characters and I don’t actually claim to know anything about this author’s personality) perhaps Jennifer Allison could use a bit of earnestness herself?

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