Picture Book Update

Here is a small list of some picture books I have recently enjoyed:

Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse
By Marilyn Singer
Illustrated By Josee Masse

Poems from Fairy Tales written from two perspectives (reversible text). Radical Change.

Personal Thoughts: Loved it!





Gods & Heroes
by Matthew Reinhart & Robert Sabuda

An Encyclopedia of mythological tales
Traditional Sabuda Pop-Up construction

Personal Thoughts: Engaging and educational tool to cross curricula. Fantastic!



City Dog. Country Frog
By Mo Willems
Illustrated by Jon Muth

A city dog's adventure in the country. Friendship, gentle example of a friend's passing. Seasons

Personal Thoughts: What a great combo...Willems and Muth. Not what we have been seeing from Willems, but absolutely wonderful.


The Chicken Thief
By Beatrice Rodriguez

Wordless picture book. Quick story of misunderstanding. Friendship and adventure

Personal Thoughts: I love almost any wordless picture book, and this one is right there.

Chester's Masterpiece
By Melanie Watt

Book Writing. Radical Change.

Personal Thoughts: Melanie Watt is quickly becoming one of my favorite author/illustrators. Loved the dialog in this book.




Happy Reading,
Dr. Quinn

Meanwhile

By Jason Shiga

Desiring a creative "radical change" graphic novel? Then Meanwhile by Jason Shiga would be a great choice. This "choose your own adventure" style book has 3,856 different story possibilities. Your first choice is chocolate or vanilla ice cream, and then the adventure begins.

At this point I have only tried a few paths so I can't give you a lot of feedback about the book, but I can tell you that I like chocolate better than vanilla.

I love this quote from the author, "With perseverance and curiosity, you too can unlock the book's secrets and find your way home. Good luck and choose wisely!"

Grade level: upper elementary

Happy Adventuring,

Dr. Quinn

YA List

I had actually thought about stopping my blog since I have neglected it for so long. However, just this past weekend two past students told me how they use it, and that I better not stop. So I guess I'll do some posting again and see how it goes.

Today's post will have a list of books that are a part of my YA class. This class is an elective for any student on campus. However, it usually fills up immediately with elementary education majors. Just a little about the format of the class. The class is a part of Taylor University's January term. We meet twice a week in the evening at my house. We discuss YA books, drink coffee, and eat dessert. Plus there are no papers! Just read and discuss.

Here is this year's list: Stuck in Neutral, Cruise Control, Speak, Inexcusable, Monster, American Born Chinese, Give a Boy Gun, Wintergirls, Mexican Whiteboy, Hunger Games, 13 Reasons Why, Before I Die. Several of the books have already been mentioned on the blog so I will just briefly discuss some of the others.

Hunger Games
By Suzanne Collins

This has been the best book I have read in quite awhile. I loved the action, description, plot, and characters. I found Hunger Games to be a very engaging read, and I highly recommend it for middle school.

Quick Summary: This is a futuristic tale and the US is called Panem, and it is divided into 12 districts. Each year one male and one female (age 12-18) from each district must participate in the Hunger Games, a televised event where contestants fight to the death. The last on living wins.

There was a bit too much romance for me in the book, but I understand the role it plays, and how it will impact the second book in the trilogy.

Rating:

Give a Boy a Gun
By Todd Strasser

This is a difficult read that I like to pair with Nancy Garden's Endgame. The premise of this story is about two boys that have been teased and harassed throughout school. Finally they take situations in their hands during a school dance.

The story is told in first-person by various characters of the book including the suicide notes from each of the two boys. Various factoids and news snippets are found throughout the book in regards to real school violence events. The format of this book would be identified as radical change.

Wintergirls
By Laure Halse Anderson

This 2009 book tells the story of two friends that struggle with an eating disorder. After a falling out Cassie makes a desperate but unsuccessful attempt to connect with her former friend Lia. The result is death for Cassie and potential death for Lia. Throughout the story Lia tries to put the puzzle pieces of Cassie's death together while also putting herself in a downward spiral towards death.

13 Reasons Why
By Jay Asher

In this story a high school girl commits suicide, but before doing so she sends 13 cassette tapes to 13 people who had an impact of her decision.

Asher write the book in a radical change format. He tells the story of Hannah via cassette tapes by writing it all in italicized font. Then he adds to the story by inserting the voice of another character by printing it in a regular font. This formatting allows the reader to "hear" the tapes while getting immediate insights from a living character in the book.

I found this book very creative, insightful, and engaging. Asher did a great job illustrating how rumors can snowball and have a negative impact on people.

Keep reading and I'll try to keep posting,

Dr. Quinn

Dying to Meet You: 43 Old Cemetery Road

Written by Kate Klise
Illustrated by: M. Sarah Klise

The Klise sisters kicked off their 43 Old Cemetery Road series with this creative and unique mystery titled Dying to Meet You. The book introduces the three main characters of the series: I. B. Grumply - a children's book author, Seymore Hope - 11 year-old boy, and Olive C. Spence - the woman that built the home on 43 Old Cemetery Road (she died 97 years before the story opens). Together these three live in the old home; however, the living arrange is not a smooth one at all. One is self-centered and grumpy, one is abandoned, and one is a Ghost.

The book is composed of letters, notes, newspaper articles, and drawings which makes it so creative. I enjoyed it, and I am interested in the next title. However, I think I am more interesed in the format than the storyline.

Age level: 3rd through 5th grade

Keep Reading,
Dr. Quinn

A Book

Mordicai Gerstein's A Book is a creative and unique picture book. A young girl wakes up from her sleep when the reader opens the book. Throughout the story she searches for "her" story. Her parents each have a story and her brother has a story, but she doesn't know her own story. Via text-to-text (intertextual) connections, she visits various characters from other stories...all trying to help her find her story.

From the concept of the book, to the illustrations, to the mix of speech bubbles and traditional narrative, Gerstein has put together a fun read.

Keep Reading,
Dr. Quinn

Dork Diaries: Tales of a Not-So- Fabulous Life

Rachel Russell's Dork Diaries is an entertaining read for upper elementary and middle school students. Many readers will easily connect with the protagonist Nikki Maxwell. Nikki is an eighth grade girl going through all kinds of typical middle school scenarios; however, her biggest problem is MacKenzie Hollister...the most popular girl in eighth grade.

Russell does a great job of integrating current pop culture into the book...current musical artists and YA authors, tattoos, TV shows, and more.

The storyline here is be yourself, a universal theme that many teenagers need to hear over and over.

Fans of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series will also enjoy this book.

Personally, I found it a fun read, and the illustrations complimented the text well. I would recommend this book.

Happy Reading,
Dr. Quinn

Dragonbreath

Ursula Vernon's Dragonbreath is a book that both late bloomers and procrastinators will be able to connect. The protagonist is Danny, a fire breathing dragon; however Danny has not matured enough to breathe fire. Danny also hasn't matured enough to complete his homework on time. After earning an "F" on a science paper, Danny decides to do some firsthand research for his "Ocean" report. Both Danny and his best friend meet up with Danny's uncle, a sea serpent, to explore the sea. During this exploration the two youngsters run into a little trouble.

Vernon mixes cartoons, illustrations, and narrative to tell this story. This book would fit under the radical change category. It is a light read that will appeal to 3rd and 4th graders.

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen: The Potato Chip Puzzle

I have just finished my first Winston Breen book and was happily satisfied. I believe upper elementary readers will enjoy this puzzling and interactive book as well. This book has a familiar format for those of you who enjoyed The Westing Game. I also noticed some similarities to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and some reviews, which I agree with, compare it to Encyclopedia Brown books. The bottom line is that this book is fun and creative.

Summary: Winston Breen is just finishing his 8th grade year when he solves a puzzle for his school's principal. By solving the puzzle Winston's school is invited to participate in a puzzle adventure set up by Dmitri Simon, President of Simon Snack Foods. Winston's school along with several other will all compete in an all day adventure with the winning school receiving $50,000 for their school. Of course the adventure is filled with tricky puzzles which the reader has the opportunity to solve, but there are also other problems to solve along the way. Let me just say there is a cheater in the competition!

I recommend this read for 4-6 grade students.

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

I have just finished Jeff Kinney's last installment of the Wimpy Kid series. It was entertaining and like his previous diarys, I laughed out loud at times. However, I felt like I had been there and done that. The novelty of the format and the storyline seemed to wear off a little. Although, I do think Kinney writes about topics in which many readers will connect or at least be entertained.

Rating:

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn

Emily Gravett

I just returned from NCTE's Annual Convention were I had the opportunity to meet several children's authors and illustrators. One of those talented individuals was Emily Gravett. Emily shared about her writing and drawing experiences at the Children's Literaure Assembly's session titled Notable Children's Books in the English Language Arts.

I am a huge fan of Emily's work. I love the way she thinks out of the box and creates radical change picturebooks. I was first introduced to Emily's work a little over a year ago via Wolves. Since then I have loved all of her other books.

During the CLA session at NCTE, Emily shared two books that will be coming to the US in the future: An Odd Egg (a very fun book about a duck that finds a beautiful egg) and Dogs ( a book of opposites). She also read her newest published book, Spells....I think I may have a new favorite!

Visit her site: http://www.emilygravett.com/

In the very near future I will post about my new friend Jerry Pallotta (thanks Deb!).

Happy Reading,
Dr. Quinn

Radical Change

In this blog, I do not plan to write up each book I read, but every once in awhile I'm sure I will feel the need to do so. It just so happens that I want to share my most recent read.

I just completed April Wayland's Girl Coming in for a Landing: A Novel in Poems. This is a very quick YA read. This book is all poems written in first person, and it follows a young teen-aged girl through her school year. I enjoyed the poems, the storyline, the illustrations, and the topics (the topics were very relivant...actually several of the poems were from Wayland's journal of her teenage years). What I enjoyed most about this novel was the format. I love books written in unusual formats, and this one definitely fits what Eliza Dresang would call a Radical Change book.

Rating

If you are not familiar with Radical Change: Books for Youth in a Digital Age by Eliza T. Dresang, I would recommend that you pick it up. Dresang looks at three kinds of change: changing forms and formats (graphics in new forms and formats, nonlinear organization, etc.), changing perspectives (multiple perspectives, etc.), and changing boundaries (previously forbidden subjects and overlooked settings, etc). Wayland's novel is definitely a radical change type of book.

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn