My rating: 5 of 5 stars
With all the recent conversation about introverts, this book makes a nice offering for kids who like their solitude but still want a friend or two. Further important lessons learned? I did not realize that Sasquatches carried their pet bunnies in Snuglis. Sadly, Spires does not clarify whether this is for all journeys or merely those in which the Sasquatch is in disguise.
Posted in Book Reviews, Reading
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lowry’s understanding of how to pack a message or a little self-help into children’s novels continues to amaze me. Too often in books, the message is simply spoken by one character to another, a la Glinda’s “You’ve always had the power to go back to Kansas […but you] had to learn it for [your]self.” (The ending did skate a little too close to that for me, but the bulk of the work is more subtle and respectful of the reader.) By making the plot the message here and in other books, Lowry allows young readers to decide for themselves whether and how much to adopt the message for themselves. She is inspirational, not didactic. Here, the struggles of an abused boy and the individuals who want to help him may be fodder for anyone trying to cope with their own bad dreams.
Posted in Book Reviews, Reading
The Book Without Words: A Fable of Medieval Magic by Avi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
It was lovely, really, and I have no major complaints about it, but a few hours after finishing it, I can’t remember how it ended. Parts were enjoyable, and I liked the concept and plot, but never really cared about the characters.
Posted in Book Reviews, Reading
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Having deeply loved Ferdinand for well over thiry years now, I had not expected to discover anything except an old friend among its pages. Imagine my delight to discover that the cork tree is actually hung with clusters of corks – a suprise that tells me I have learned something about the world since the last time I read it. I still hope that one day, in a time of strife, I will find that I have an inner Ferdinand.
Posted in Book Reviews, Reading
You just finished a book you love. Maybe you’re an avid reader and you love most books. Maybe reading isn’t your thing, so loving a book is a pleasant surprise. No matter which person you are, I bet you want your next book to make you feel the same way. You may already know about Amazon’s many ways to get you interested in buying more books (great recommendations to take to your local library or bookstore, too). Here are several more ways to find similar books online. (I’m going to use Gary D. Schmidt’s Okay For Now, which was my favorite book of 2011.)
If you are looking for a book, why not start at a library’s website? One of the great things about the internet is that you can use websites from all over the world, so explore a little bit. However, if you use your local site, most libraries allow you to place an online request, so you don’t have to go back to the library over and over, hoping that their copy of Divergent will be on the shelf (not to say that happened to me … 😉 ). Libraries are using many of the same tricks as Amazon to show you other books you may want to check out:
My personal favorite is my home library’s page. Perhaps I am biased, but look at all the information the Minuteman Library Network gives you! Now, you do have to look for it. The top of the page doesn’t tell you …
…the awesome stuff hiding down at the bottom!
This bottom material sometimes loads slowly, so give it a few extra seconds.
Like many libraries across the country, the Boston Public Library‘s catalogue includes links to book lists and tags, which the red arrows are pointing to. Libraries using the Bibliocommons service will have this material, including the New York and Seattle libraries, to randomly pick two.
After the Minuteman Library Network, my next favorite source of recommendations is Goodreads.
The right column, underneath the “Genres” list, has “Readers also enjoyed…” recommendations:
Don’t forget to click through several pages of recommendations. Many books have 10-20 suggestions. I think the computer created this list by looking at the books read by someone who gave Okay For Now four or five stars, and seeing what else they rated highly. This gives really good results, because they are recommendations from people you know you already agree with!
Goodreads also links to lists and forum discussions that mention the book; both are in the left (main) side of a book’s page:
… and …
These aren’t as reliable for finding “another book like that one,” but they may introduce you to a book you would never have thought to try. Keep in mind that anyone can add to and vote on lists – I tend to ignore books that only have one vote, assuming that if they are a good match for my interests, I will see them recommended somewhere else.
If I don’t already have a pile of ten books to try next, I go on to:
Recommended sites (click images):
Posted in E-Resource, Reading
We Two Tutoring will be closed Friday, August 17 for professional development. We apologize for the inconvenience and will see you on Monday!
Posted in General
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A beginning reader book in which the main character is literally playing with words? Yes, please!
Posted in Book Reviews, Reading
I am horrible at writing dialogue. This is one reason I steer away from fiction – I heard a rumor that characters like to talk. *shudder* But I also know it’s important to keep pushing myself as a writer, to keep trying those parts of writing I am not good at. And yesterday … I did it!
“How did you achieve this wonderful thing?” you might ask. (<– More dialogue.) Simple: I cheated.
In my opinion, all my dialogue sounds like I, myself, am talking. So I borrowed a few characters from one of my favorite TV shows – one of the characters is pretty weird, so he doesn’t talk the same way most people – and imagined a scene. I’ve heard hours of these characters talking, and I know exactly what they sound like. I closed my eyes and listened to what they were saying inside my mind. The story I came up with is only 249 words long and only includes three lines of dialogue but hey, that’s better than none at all.
A side trip into a discussion of fanfiction…
Now, this kind of writing is called “fanfiction,” and you can probably guess why. It’s important to do it responsibly because those characters are actually the property of other people. They don’t belong to you or me. If I sold that story to a magazine, I would be breaking the law. In fact, I won’t even put it up here on the blog for free. Some authors are also upset by the idea of other people copying characters they worked so hard to create, which is understandable.
Generally speaking, people are allowed nonprofit, educational, fair use of the characters, so a story you wrote in a private notebook to practice your skills as an author would be fine. That is similar to seeing art students copying paintings at a museum. They would not then hang it in a gallery and say, “Look at this beautiful portrait I made! I call her Mona Lisa!”
A list of authors and their positions on using their characters in your own writing is available here; it is not a complete list.
Another challenge is that not everyone respects fanfiction, either. I do, and I’ve seen my students do great work when they were inspired by characters and settings in their favorite books, movies, or TV shows. Just keep in mind that, again, your own practice notebook is a good place for fanfiction; handing it in to a teacher for a grade is riskier; trying to sell it as a book is wrong.
Always, always, always acknowledge the wonderful writers whose hard work creating those characters and worlds inspired you, even in your own notebook. Those authors who allow fanfiction are sharing a special gift with you, and they are awesome.
Back to the writing exercises …
Posted in Writing
