Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier

Break out the tamales, the Fanta (that's orange soda, right?), concha (yum--"sorta like a donut"), a bag of your favorite Halloween candy, a bouquet of marigolds, a couple of tissues and take an escape to the Northern California coast for awhile.  The most talented, incredibly imaginative, I-just-want-to-meet-and-leap-with-you Raina Telgemeier has unsurprisingly done it once again.

6th grader Cat and her family just moved to Bahia de la luna from Southern California.  And although Cat isn't impressed with the scenery, I certainly am from Raina's illustrations.  Cat's sister, Maya, has had cystic fibrosis since birth.  The family's move North is with hopes that she will feel and breathe better. Interestingly, this is at least the second book this year which includes a significant move for a younger sibling's health (see Counting Thyme).

The thing about Baha de la luna is that it is home to many ghosts.  Cat and Maya's introduction is neighbor, Carlos's ghost tour.  Want to see more?  Be sure and be around on the Day of the Dead. But after the ghosts they meet with Carlos inhale some of fragile Maya's breath, Cat is on her own to explore their new surroundings, and make friends (both alive and dead).  This is not a fearless gig for her, especially on the eve of Halloween and the midnight Day of the Dead party, and is not something Cat jumps into enthusiastically.

I cried tears of joy when I met Jenni Holm at ALA in 2015 and then riled up the courage to ask her to leap with me.  I imagine the same will happen with Raina, if I ever get face time with Raina.  How people can be so talented literally "blows" me away, something like Cat did with Carlos and Jose.  Raina's heart warming and thought provoking text paired with her unique style and detailed images of a diverse family and new friends make this one I couldn't put down and can't wait to talk about with students.

Right now my Smile, Sisters, and Drama are all pretty tattered, always checked out, quite loved and well read.  As soon as I get a copy of Ghosts, I'm sure it won't take long to join that club.

Please don't judge me for my need to weed

This whole week our Internet and wifi was glitchy. That can be a real problem when your plans include every fourth and fifth grader using a computer to do research. So, we went old school. We pulled out dictionaries. We looked in the encyclopedia. We even explored print books. However much the students learned today, I learned more. Check out my students looking up something in a state book that I was surprised to find out wasn't older than me:

The World Book encyclopedias that I have were published before the current juniors in high school were born. This is a huge problem and I am going to solve it immediately. I'm going to put on my weeding hat and get these books off the shelf. How embarrassing! 

I'm collaborating with a teacher and she asks if I have any books on Arizona and I give her a book from this shelf that is older than her.  OY VEY! If this isn't a wake up call to weed, I don't know what is!

Seriously. The extra shelf space will be welcoming and new books (purchased with what funds I don't know) will look amazing living there!

I did get rid of some World Books a bunch of years ago and the amazing Mr. Warland made them into a bench for me.  Looks like I might be putting him to work again!

Sayanora World Book circa 2000!

Gertie's Leap to Greatness

Move over Ramona!  There is going to be a new girl in the stacks who is on a mission to be the best fifth grader ever.  Her name is Gertie Reece Foy and I guarantee that you will not be FICKLE and love her 100%! Mark your calendar for October 4 now so you can be like me and "hop with impressive leaps" to the bookstore when it comes out.

My first day of school last week went well.  I love reuniting with my students, now all a grade older with teeth missing or new front teeth, braces on, shorter hair, longer hair, new glasses, big smiles, new clothes...We all hope for great first days of school but when an evil seat stealer, Mary Sue, who knows film star, "Jessica Walsh", out-interests a Zombie frog in the annual first day summer speech "contest", things just go downhill from there for our friend, Gertie.

Gertie lives with her great Aunt Rae.  Her dad works on an oil rig off the coast of Alabama and gets to come home for two weeks at a time.  He enjoys his job and it provides for his family.  Embedded nicely as a second theme in the story, you would never guess this occupation could cause such distress for innocent Gertie.

It's hard to imagine any mother leaving their child, especially Gertie.  So when Gertie notices the "For Sale" sign out on Rachel Collins's (it pains me to call her Gertie's mother, but she is) lawn of her house on the "impressively housey Jones Street" Gertie embarks on her mission to show her that she is the best fifth grader ever.  As adults we can only imagine how badly this could end up and how Gertie must be feeling. It certainly doesn't help that Audrey, the kindergartener Aunt Rae watches after school, absolutely loves "The Waltons."  I can completely relate.  My parents divorced when I was really young and I spent my entire childhood wishing we'd somehow become "The Brady Bunch."

Phase after phase, Gertie perseveres to become the best fifth grader ever.  But things just keep getting in the way.  Career day.  A lobbyist.  Mary Sue's party.  Evangelina and an unforgettable visit to the office.

Debut novelist, Kate Beasley has done it!  How much more poetic can her descriptions within this prose get?  There is the "crackling category 5 speech" and the "twinkies that tasted like despair" and saying something "quickly like she was ripping off a Band-Aid" and "Fifth grade was a dragon, and she had beaten it like a pinata."  Those are just the ones I caught because I actually stopped reading for a moment to get a sticky note or jot them down.  The book is filled with them.

The character descriptions are incredibly vivid and spot-on genius, too.  And although, Caldecott honor winning illustrator, Jillian Tamaki, has some lovely illustrations sprinkled throughout the book, they really aren't necessary.  I can picture Aunt Rae, Audrey, best friend Junior, teacher Ms. Simms, seat stealer Mary Sue, and especially Gertie, with her "brown hair which she wore in a ponytail that stuck straight out the top of her head, which encouraged blood flow to her brain, which made her have lots of ideas."

There are times tears will well up in your eyes and other times you will laugh out loud.  Your stomach may get in knots sometimes and you may hold your breath there at the end.  You will want to brush up on your capitals and buy some twinkies and gold wrapped chocolates to have nearby when you get the craving.  A little Kevin Henkes's, The Year of Billy Miller feel with the southern twang of Mo and Dale from Sheila Turnage's Three Times Lucky, this book is a winner.

My name is Rattner.  Stacey Rattner.  And I say LEAP don't walk to get your hands on a copy of this book as soon as you can.

Ms. Bixby's Last Day

By Thursday, I imagine most schools in this country will have the halls filled with happy children and "six kinds of teachers in the world."  My guess is that you, like sixth grade teacher Ms. Bixby, are one of the Good Ones.

Filled with Bixbyisms (think Wonder precepts), white chocolate raspberry supreme cheesecake, carnations and Hobbit references, this is another back-to-school, in-the-middle-of-school, towards-the-end-of-school good one. A perfect read aloud for any time of year.  Even if you already have your first day read aloud, take it out in November or February, have kleenex available and you and your students will not be disappointed.  "You never forget the good ones" says Topher and like Miss Honey, Mr. Terupt and many others that came before and more that will follow, you won't forget Ms. Bixby either.

Three boys: the artist, Topher; new to the district after his Dad's accident, Brand; and genius, Steve. Three unique personal connections to Ms. Bixby.  And three different first person narrations of their take on excursion to visit their very ill teacher in the hospital.

Amidst this touching book are moments that you make you laugh out loud.  From cooties to a bakery named "Michelle's" run by a guy named Eduardo to McDonalds turned "Chez Mac's" this book has it all.  It is filled with life lesson quotes as the boys take their full on journey to the hospital, skipping school just to see the teacher that has made a difference in each one of their lives.  Here are just a few of the quotes:

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." - Ms. Bixby (p.14)

"...when you are content to be simply yourself, everyone will respect you." - Steve saying what Ms. Bixby would say (p. 80)

"...stories are everywhere, just waiting to be found." - Steve sharing Ms. Bixby's wisdom (p. 94)

"The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it." - Ms. Bixby (p.168)

"...sometimes you're beat before you even get started, but it doesn't matter.  You keep going.  No matter what." - Brand saying what Ms. Bixby would say.

As I reread my notes, my eyes are starting to well up.  This is a good one.  Pick up some carnations and give them to a friend who needs them.  Then read this book and find out why carnations and no other flower.  Do something spectacular.  "Live every day as if it were your last."  But remember, "...it's not the last day that matters most.  It's the ones in between, the ones you get the chance to look back on.  They're the carnation days.  They may not stand out the most at first, but they stay with you the longest."

Ms. Bixby's Last Day will stay with you for a long time and to keep it with you even longer, share it with some kids.  They'll thank you for it later.

A link to the great New York Times review is here.
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My Ode to the Debut Novelist

I love that I have the luxury on this Sunday morning to sit with my coffee, enjoy some chocolate chip banana bread that my daughter baked yesterday and actually read the fine script of the Sunday New York Times.  This is one of my vices, when I have the time.  We actually get it delivered on Sunday...Ahhh...it brings me back to my Queens childhood.

In the back of the Book Review, the first section I pull out so I can see what beloved books and authors have made it to the bestseller list albeit a few weeks old, is a column I like to read called, "Bookends."  There's always a question with two authors offering differing opinions.  Today's topic completely struck me--

Why do debut novels command so much attention?

I am a huge fan of the middle grade debut novelist.  In fact, I get a little jolt when I read the biography that says, "This is _____ first book."  Yes!  I don't know if it is because I feel that I, and I alone, can help this author's career.  Hardly, but I love a good book for kids and boy do I love promoting that book, sharing reader enthusiasm with the debut author and just waiting to see how the future unfolds.

Did you know that there are Twitter accounts and hashtags for the middle grade debut writer community?  This year it is 

The Sweet Sixteens

@TheSweet16s

I'm embarrassed that I've only read five of these so far MG novels but I've heard great things about more of them! I loved all of the ones I read--I actually think I blogged about all of them--Paper Wishes, Fenway and Hattie, Counting Thyme, The Adventurer's Guide to Successful Escapes, Hour of the Bees and The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary School. In fact, my students read The Adventurer's Guide and loved it so much they read way ahead for book group. We had a blast in early August with our summer book group chatting with Last Fifth Grade's Laura Shovan.  I don't think a non-debut novelist would do this, but she offered to Skype with us only a day or two before and we were able to make it happen!  It's a win-win situation for both of us--my students are thrilled with the opportunity to meet an author and the new author gets to experience enthusiastic readers first hand.

 

 

Here's the link for the debut novelists from last year:

Fearless Fifteeners

We loved a bunch of those, too!  Circus Mirandus was one of our top Newbery 2016 books, winning an honor from our Newbery Consensus club and we loved Skyping with Cassie!  We also loved Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman and Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones.  Both of those were book groups for Newbery and we had the wonderful opportunity to Skype with those fabulous debut women, too. On a side note, I hear there is a Book Scavenger hiding in NYC right now--I keep saying I'm going to hide one in Albany. I have to make that happen.

And I can't let this go without talking about Kwame Alexander.  Even though The Crossover wasn't his debut novel and he had been writing poetry (and prose) for 20 years before, The Crossover is what introduced this incredible poet novelist to the world. I got on board with the book from the beginning, got my students to love it and him and the rest, as they say, is history.

All in all, I love how Leslie Jamison put it in the "Bookends" column.  

"Part of the thrill of watching the [NBA] draft is the possibility of watching the future before it happens, which is also the thrill of of the debut novelist:  the chance to read an author before she has become a legacy, before she has become part of the canon.  It's a chance to imagine yourself, as a reader, inside the greater wingspan of literary history:  Witnessing the ascendance of a debut novelist means witnessing a career when it's just beginning, being part of a moment that will ultimately matter."

-Leslie Jamison

I couldn't have said it any better.  I thrive on being part of history and being "one of the firsts."  Now off to read to be part of history...

ps-Looking ahead, here is the link for next year's debut MG and YA novelists:

The Swanky Seventeens

Sea Change

Move over Kinston, NC because perhaps my happy place next summer is going to be Point Aconi, Nova Scotia. We never drive north but Frank Viva's Sea Change may just be the inspiration I need to switch our direction. 

When Eliot boards the plane from his home town of bustling Lakefield he has no idea how much he will change in two months.  Living with his great uncle Earl is not easy at first.  But after getting used to the early morning wake ups to fish on his uncle's boat, YNOT (you'll have to read the book to find the inner meaning of that name), facing fear of the water and Miss Louisa in spite of his embarrassing mermaid towel, making friends, and fighting for the town he thought he was destined to hate, leaving becomes almost as hard as it was to set foot in the town.

The artwork is beautiful and the use of words as art is simply poetic. Viva uses the page as a pallette and the words as his brush strokes.  There's no other way to describe it.  Often, the prose become concrete poems and it works.  In fact, it works so much, I wanted way more of it than was there.

This  sums up some of the "nice" things Eliot experienced in Point Aconi:

"... the stars in the sky, the library in the attic, the taste of lobster dipped in butter..." (p.72).

And since I'm not a huge lobster fan and definitely not one of tongue, I will go grab a peanut butter and jam sandwich, a pile of gingersnap cookies and think of Eliot, Mary Beth, Timmy, Jack, Eddie, Happy, Uncle Earl, Old Miss Gifford all in hues of pink, dark grey and muted yellow.  That will make me smile, giggle and even get a little choked up.  This is another one that will stick with me for awhile.

And if that's not convincing enough, check out this beautiful trailer:

And here is a short video that includes clips from Frank's cottage:

Sophie Quire

I have to admit that I have not read the first Peter Nimble book. But I did love The Night Gardener so when a new Jonathan Auxier book was released I knew I had to read it. And after reading the multiple starred reviews saying that this book could stand alone I put it on my TBR pile.

Full disclosure:  I am not a fantasy reader.  My brain has a hard time imagining other worlds and magical creatures and accepting that they are believable.  But that's what's so great about good fantasy authors--their language and descriptions make you believe.  Jonathan Auxier is one amazing storyteller that has given us all "a story worth remembering."

Hints of Harry Potter, J.A. White's Thickety series, Narnia, Lloyd Alexander and Fahrenheit 451, this book is filled with strong characters that you will love and hate, a plot that keeps you turning the pages and language so rich and beautiful you almost think Auxier has some magical spell cast on him when pen hits paper or, more likely, fingers strike the keys.

12 year old Sophie Quire lives with her father in their bookshop in Bustleburgh.  As the annual Pyre Day, book burning day, approaches and Peter Nimble shows up with The Book of Who requesting it to be mended by Sophie, things get exciting immediately.

"What if" you are on a quest to find four books to save your world?  Could you do it?

"What if" there was a mystery about your mother's death and you craved to find the truth?  Would you?

"What if" evil was out to destroy all stories because "...there is nothing harmless about filling people's heads with nonsense.  Children deserve better than to be lied to about magic buttons and talking wolves.  They deserve a proper, scientific education.  They deserve the truth."  Do they?  Reading Auxier, I realize how valuable it is to escape the mundane reality of my real world and young people will, too.

This is not a short book but it moves fast.  You will root for Sophie Quire; Peter Nimble, the "greatest thief who ever lived"and his side kick, Sir Tode; Akrasia, the tigress and find your heart racing and your voice cheering as they fight the evils in their world.

As Sophie says, "A world without stories is a world without magic" and I say--

Dear Jonathan Auxier, Please do not stop writing the stories because I am already yearning for my next magical escape...

At AASL in Columbus last year

Are we miming the Zeitgeist without me knowing it???

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