Holes

Book Cover:   

Book Title: Holes

Book Summary:  Stanley Yelnats is an over sized preteen who is falsely accused of stealing shoes, after he had a really bad day at school.  His family thinks that there is a cruse of bad luck on them because of Stanley’s great great great grand pa.  The judge provides him with the option to choose between jail and Camp Green Lake. Stanley is not well of, and has never been to camp, so his choice is obvious.  How bad can camp be right?  Sit inside all day talking to counselor’s about how you feel, sounds sweet.  Camp Green Lake is unlike any other camp out there, here for your punishment you have to dig holes. No one really knows why they are digging holes just that they are.  Along the way the boys get to have an adventure of a lifetime and maybe Stanley will figure out why his family his cursed and how he might fix the cruse.

APA Reference:

Sachar, L. (1998). Holes. New York, New York: Random House Children's Book.

My Impressions:  What I liked best was the flow there it is a steady roller coaster of a ride and once you start you really can’t get off or put it down. Stanley is not whinny even in the face of grave danger, he remains his calm self with his dry sense of humor, blaming his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather" for almost everything this comes as a relief to me. I think, they were my favorite parts as they reminded me of me and my sister creating stories to tell with the puppets that we had. 

Professional Review:

School Library Journal September 1998

Gr 5-8-Stanley Yelnats IV has been wrongly accused of stealing a famous baseball player's valued sneakers and is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention home where the boys dig holes, five feet deep by five feet across, in the miserable Texas heat. It's just one more piece of bad luck that's befallen Stanley's family for generations as a result of the infamous curse of Madame Zeroni. Overweight Stanley, his hands bloodied from digging, figures that at the end of his sentence, he'll "...either be in great physical condition or else dead." Overcome by the useless work and his own feelings of futility, fellow inmate Zero runs away into the arid, desolate surroundings and Stanley, acting on impulse, embarks on a risky mission to save him. He unwittingly lays Madame Zeroni's curse to rest, finds buried treasure, survives yellow-spotted lizards, and gains wisdom and inner strength from the quirky turns of fate. In the almost mystical progress of their ascent of the rock edifice known as "Big Thumb," they discover their own invaluable worth and unwavering friendship. Each of the boys is painted as a distinct individual through Sachar's deftly chosen words. The author's ability to knit Stanley and Zero's compelling story in and out of a history of intriguing ancestors is captivating. Stanley's wit, integrity, faith, and wistful innocence will charm readers. A multitude of colorful characters coupled with the skillful braiding of ethnic folklore, American legend, and contemporary issues is a brilliant achievement. There is no question, kids will love Holes.-Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY

Citation:

Follos, A. (1998). Holes. School Library Journal, 44(9), 210. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/211720888?accountid=7113

Library Uses: to make up their own camp song and crazy reason their family is cursed.   

Looking For Alaska

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Book Title: Looking For Alaska

Book Summary: Miles decides that he needs a new adventure in his life because he feels stale and stagnate in his life and at the school he is at.  So he tells his parents that he wants to go to a boarding school to find his “Great Perhaps”.  While there he meets a bunch of new people and his life has become more interesting to say the least.  There is one girl, Alaska, that makes an impression on him and he falls for her but she does not fall for him.  As the book continues you learn more about Alaska and why she is the way she is.     

APA Reference:

Green, J. (2005). Looking for Alaska. New York , New York: Penguin Group

My Impressions:  I love John Green and his ability to make his characters seem and feel real.  This is the second book of his that I have read and I could not put it down for anything in the world.  I have this for my is a book that I can not go and see the movie for, what happens in the story affects you and makes you think about what if.  I have an imaginary friend in the back of my mind taunting my with What if?  How would you react to this situation would you become as implosive as Alaska?  

Professional Review:

School Library Journal February 1, 2005

Gr 9 Up-Sixteen-year-old Miles Halter's adolescence has been one long nonevent-no challenge, no girls, no mischief, and no real friends. Seeking what Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps," he leaves Florida for a boarding school in Birmingham, AL. His roommate, Chip, is a dirt-poor genius scholarship student with a Napoleon complex who lives to one-up the school's rich preppies. Chip's best friend is Alaska Young, with whom Miles and every other male in her orbit falls instantly in love. She is literate, articulate, and beautiful, and she exhibits a reckless combination of adventurous and self-destructive behavior. She and Chip teach Miles to drink, smoke, and plot elaborate pranks. Alaska's story unfolds in all-night bull sessions, and the depth of her unhappiness becomes obvious. Green's dialogue is crisp, especially between Miles and Chip. His descriptions and Miles's inner monologues can be philosophically dense, but are well within the comprehension of sensitive teen readers. The chapters of the novel are headed by a number of days "before" and "after" what readers surmise is Alaska's suicide. These placeholders sustain the mood of possibility and foreboding, and the story moves methodically to its ambiguous climax. The language and sexual situations are aptly and realistically drawn, but sophisticated in nature. Miles's narration is alive with sweet, self-deprecating humor, and his obvious struggle to tell the story truthfully adds to his believability. Like Phineas in John Knowles's A Separate Peace (S & S, 1960), Green draws Alaska so lovingly, in self-loathing darkness as well as energetic light, that readers mourn her loss along with her friends.-Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Citation:

Lewis, J. (2005). Looking for Alaska. School Library Journal, 51(2), 136. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/211790927?accountid=7113

Library Uses: It would be fun to study peoples last words.  Then put together a biography of a historical person and quote what their last words were.  Then taking the time to sit down and figure out what they could have meant.  Like the labyrinth what did that dead guy mean was he stuck in a personal/mental labyrinth or was he stuck in a real labyrinth?  Then I would have the students create a power point of themselves and have explain what their last words were if today was their last day on earth.  

Scaredy Squirrel

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Book Title: Scaredy Squirrel

Book Summary:  Some days you just want to stay safe and sound in your home or wherever you call home and not worry about all the nasty, crazy, weird things out there in the world. Things would get a bit boring if you did that every day, all day.   Well meet Scaredy Squirrel he does this for a while just living in this tree to scared to go anywhere.  Until one day he gets tired of his life of eating nuts and looking at the view from his tree, has a surprising adventure and discovers that he may just have to add a dash of crazy to the mix of life every once in a while.

APA Reference:

Watt, M. (2008). Scaredy Squirrel. Tonawanda, New York: Kids Can Press Ltd.

My Impressions: 

Scaredy is a charmer, from the cover illustration where he’s gamely gritting his teeth.  His graphs & lists & comparison charts, also help out to make this squirrel a loveable character.  Every time I want to do something new I have these same Scaredy Squirrel talks with my self about is going to be safe, will I have enough money, and will I die?  Watts has an excellent grasp of a helicopter mom that has these same worries.  This is a book that if a student reads it they will become introverts or extroverts.  I see the latter happening that the students will want to explore and learn new things about themselves and the world around them.

Professional Review:

School Library Journal November 1, 2011

PreS-Gr 3-Melanie Watt's picture book (Kids Can Press, 2006) comes to life in this humorous production about taking risks. After a cute introduction encouraging viewers to wash their hands, David de Vries's announcer-style voice brings the book pages to life. Simple animation of Watt's charcoal-outlined cartoon-like illustrations accompanied by text from the book depicts Scaredy Squirrel and his various fears-germs, killer bees, sharks, Martians, and more-as he stays safely hidden in his tree. Amusing music adds to the fun of the story as the drama unfolds and Scaredy Squirrel is finally forced to leave his tree-only to discover something very special about himself in the process. Optional features include a read-along version, subtitles, and an interview with the author, which even young viewers will enjoy thanks to the many cartoons interspersed within the interview. The teacher's guide offers suggestions for utilizing the DVD in the classroom with activities for both pre- and post-viewing. Viewers will be left wanting more episodes of Scaredy Squirrel and his funny antics, so have the other books in the series available for them to read.-Cathie Bashaw Morton, Millbrook Central School District, NY (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Citation:

Morton, C. B. (2011). Scaredy Squirrel. School Library Journal, 57(11), 62.

Library Uses: I would have the students draw or use Puppet edu to create a story of what could happen to Sacredy squirrel if he left his home.  Then would you compare and contrast how our stories are different from the actual story.

Pete the Cat and His four Groovy Buttons

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Book Title: Pete the Cat and His four Groovy Buttons

Book Summary:  Pete is just skating around when he loses a button.  But it is not a big deal he continues on his way singing his song when he loses another button.  He does end up losing all of his buttons and crashes at the end, but to Pete the Cat everything is fine. 

APA Reference:

Litwin, J. D. (2012). Pete the Cat and His four Groovy Button. New York, New York: Harper Collins Children's Book.

My Impressions:  Pete's got buttons four to be exact or does he have two, Pete's looses buttons.   But he does he get upset? No. He's cool with it because he has more buttons.  Pete the cat is just cruzing along on his skateboard in his very bright yellow colorful coat.  This book is filled with fun and a carefree attitude. Kids learn subtraction, and a way to deal with loss in a positive way.  That just because you lost a button, a hair bow, or a crayon that the world will not end, and Pete has a great way of showing kids that not everything has to be taken as a crushing blow.  Children learn how to deal with things from a very early age, this is a positive step in how to "not sweat the small stuff"!

Professional Review:

Publishers Weekly May 28, 2012

In his fourth picture book, Pete the Cat loves (and sings about) the buttons on his yellow shirt, but when they pop off one by one, he doesn't freak out: "Did Pete cry? Goodness, no! Buttons come and buttons go." In bold, primary colors, the number of buttons remaining on the shirt appears at left, both as a numeral and written out, and the diminishing buttons are represented in basic equations (3-1=2). Even after all his buttons are gone, Pete takes it as a cue to go surfing. Readers who need a reminder not to sweat the small stuff will find a model of unflappability in Pete. Ages 3-7. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Citation:

Children's reviews. (2012). Publishers Weekly, 259(22) Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1017850728?accountid=7113

Library Uses: That math is simple and to not sweat the small stuff.  If you lost a library book there will be other chances to bring it in.  If you get a bad grade in a class there is still time to make it up and that everything will be fine.