Moving Day
Here goes! I’m moving the posts about the books I’ve read this year from the old Paris Reads blog to this one. I hope it works!
#14 - A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
This is one of the books I brought home from school to read since it’s on one of our reading lists. I know this book has been around a while and has been on lots of lists since it was published back in 1972, but this was my first time to read it.
The book told from the point of view of a young, Shaker farm boy from Vermont, and Peck writes in the veracular of the family and the time period. The first chapter had me hooked and laughing out loud. Poor Robert finds himself the unwilling midwife to a runaway cow who is giving birth to twins. He saves her life and is rewarded by the cow’s owner Mr. Tanner with a piglet. The irony is that Robert’s father kills pigs for a living. The book is a wonderful coming of age story as Robert becomes responsible for Pinky and eventually for his family.
Many lessons are taught in this book that even our toughest kids need to learn. They’ll learn about responsibility, honesty, making choices, and family. I’ll be sure to recommend it to both students and teachers.
# 13 - A Time to Embrace by Karen Kingsbury
My friend Barbara handed this book to me before I started traveling so that I’d have something to read on the plane. I started it on one trip, but I didn’t get it finished until after I returned from the second trip. Oh my…what a book! Barbara has become quite a Karen Kingsbury fan, and she’s determined for me to become a fan as well. If this book is any indication, I’ll probably join a fan club sometime soon.
The subtitle of the book is “A story of living life to its fullest.” That’s exactly what John and Abby Reynolds do. John is a high school football coach who, in spite of having a winning season, is under pressure from parents to resign. Abby and John have just come through a very trying time in their marriage, but they’re learning to trust one another again. (That story is told in “A Time to Dance” which I haven’t read.) After returning to school after a football game, John decides to stay at school for a while to get caught up on paperwork. This proves to be an almost fatal decision that affects John, Abby, their children, and John’s team in numerous ways. John and Abby show God’s love and are examples of how to live life to its fullest.
I’ll admit that I teared up often as I read, so have the box of Kleenex handy if you plan to read it. I’ll definitely look for more books by Kingsbury or borrow them from Barbara.
#12 - Motivating & Inspring Teachers by Todd Whitaker
One more EdAd class down, and one more book read. Dr. Stanfield requires us to choose a book for each of his classes and report on it. After three classes with 20 or so people in each class, we’ve heard reports about almost 60 books since January. It’s a great way to find out about books that I want to add to my professional library.
I chose this one because I wanted something positive and something that would help with teacher morale. I have worked in schools that had morale problems which has made me very aware of the importance of a positive staff morale. Whitaker gives many easy to implement ideas for improving morale in any school. His tips include everything from time-management tips to ways to communicate better with the staff to strategies for praising and confronting staff in a positive way. It was a great book that I’ll be sure to keep close at hand on my professional shelf.
#11 - The Documentation Handbook by Frank Kemerer and John Crain
What a great resource for a principal! This book gives the legal framework for principals when they are considering documentation, termination, or non-renewal for an employee. The book is full of easy to understand examples of the kinds of documentation needed for employee appraisals. This does not take the place of PDAS appraisal, but it gives guidance for many kinds of documentation a principal might need to make. The forms and examples would be useful for any principal. I read the third edition, but the fourth edition is now available.
#10 - Slow Burn by Julie Garwood
Here’s my summer adult novel for this year…or at least the first one. A colleague gave me this book with a note attached telling me it was one of those “just for fun” novels. I finished it within just a few days. It was the perfect quick, summer read with just enough romance and just enough mystery to keep it interesting.
#9 - The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
We’ve had this book on our English reading list for several years, and the kids who read it enjoyed it. So I decided to add it to my list for the summer. It’s not what I expected, but I liked it. It’s the story of Esperaza Cordero, a young Hispanic girl who lives in Chicago’s Hispanic quarter. She introduces the reader to many of her neighbors and shares their stories. Sandra Cisneros writes in such a way that helped me visualize the neighborhood and the characters she “painted.” She addresses topics such as family and sexuality that make us think. It’s a great book that I will encourage students and teachers to read.
# 8 - Life of Pi by Yann Martel
FINALLY!!! I can’t believe it has been almost two months since I finished a book to post. This one was worth the read, but it definitely took longer than I expected.
I don’t remember when I first heard about Life of Pi. It’s quite an adventure story which reminded me of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. The struggle between man and nature is amazing. I felt as if I were in the lifeboat with Pi as he floated across the Pacific Ocean. I could smell the sea, and I could see the unending horizon. I’ll admit that I gagged more than once as Pi described his meals along his journey. And Richard Parker! What a character! To be stuck on a lifeboat in the middle of nowhere with a 450-pound Bengal tiger as my only “companion” would be quite an experience. If you like adventure novels that keep you wanting to know what’s going to happen next, you’ll enjoy reading Life of Pi.
#7 - Alaska Twilight by Colleen Coble
This is the fourth book in the set I got at the Women of Faith conference last fall (See January 10). It was a good, quick read. Haley returns to Alaska as a nature photographer whose responsiblity is photographing Kipp as he tries to get as close as possible to grizzly bears. But for Haley, there is another reason for being there. She survived a horrible accident as a child which caused her sister’s death. Her parents virtually disowned her after the accident, but their mysterious death also drew Haley back to Alaska. She finds some things that she never expected including a half-sister and a nature guide who steals her heart, and she learns quite a bit about herself.
I enjoyed this quick read. There were many interesting characters including some bears, and the descriptions of the Alaskan landscape were wonderful. This was very enjoyable Christian fiction with just enough adventure, romance, and intrigue to keep me entertained.
#6 - Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper
This is the first book in Sharon Draper’s Hazelwood High Trilogy which won The Corretta Scott King Award and was also named as an ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. The book begins with a newspaper article about the death of a Hazelwood High basketball star in a fiery automobile accident. What a beginning! The book traces Rob Washington’s friends’ reactions to his death and also describes how his friends cope with his death. Each chapter is told from a different point of view and includes diary entries, essays written for class assignments, and conversations between characters. The book is written in conversation form rather than in paragraph form. I found it quite effective in portraying the emotions of the characters. It’s a great read that teens will love.
#5 - Measure of a Leader
For my educational administration class, I had to read a book on leadership. I found Measure of a Leader while browsing the leadership books at Books-A-Million in Texarkana. The first chapter hooked me. I generally don’t read this type of non-fiction, but it certainly gave me lots to think about. Aubrey and James Daniels discuss leadership in terms of how followers behave in response to the leader. They encourage positive reinforcement and advocate that it should be used often and immediately but that it should also be very personal (no one-size-fits-all) and earned. The least effective types of positive reinforcement are financial. Interesting, huh? I probably underlined and re-read more passages of this book than any other book. If you’re looking for a thought-provoking book to help develop your leadership skills, give this one a try.
#4 - Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende
The waiting is over. I finally finished #4 for 2007. I expected to have more books read by now, but life and work and stuff have slowed me down considerably. I’ll find something at school next week that I can read quickly for #5. I’m anxious for more dialog about the books I’m reading.
For this one, I’m glad I read it. Portrait in Sepia is one of those books I’m glad I finshed. Granted, the motivation came from TLA since they chose it as the “One Conference, One Book” selelction. I probably wouldn’t have heard about it if it hadn’t been chosen by TLA. Nevertheless, I’m really glad I read it. This book is rich in imagery and emotion. The story of Aurora de Valle’s life is told from before her conception (beginning in 1862) through her mother’s tragic death at her birth to her marriage into a “good” family in Chile and the love that she finally found around the turn of the century. The story is told amid the backdrop of the political turmoil of both San Francisco’s Chinatown and of the civil war in Chile in the late 1800’s. It’s a portrait of characters - Aurora’s grandparents (both maternal and paternal), her legal father and her biological father, her husband’s family, and her extended families. It’s more than historical fiction; it’s literature that is set in a historical context. I won’t soon forget these characters.
#3 - Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson
Yes, I admit it. I didn’t read this book when I was younger, and it took the upcoming movie to inspire me to read it. But, WOW, am I glad I read it. The novel won the Newberry Medal in 1978.
Jess is determined to be the fastest runner in 5th grade. He worked all summer running and running to run as fast as he could. During the first recess of the new school year, Jess’s confidence is shattered by Leslie who beats him in the race. Leslie is the new girl whose family has moved in just across the pasture from Jess and his family. Leslie and Jess become fast friends and create a kingdom called Terabithia in the woods near their homes where Jess is the king and Leslie is the queen. Their fantasy comes to a tragic end in an unexpected way.
Read this one. You’ll be glad you did.
#2 - Wait for Me by An Na
Mina’s life is a lie. She has lied to her parents about everything from her grades and accomplishments at school to adjusting the receipts at the family’s dry cleaning business to save money so that she can escape her Korean-American family. She’s grounded by her hearing-impared sister Suna and the responsibility she feels for her. Two boys are entwined in her life - Jonathon, the boy Mina’s mother thinks is perfect for her, and Ysrael, a migrant-worker who is hired to work in the dry cleaners, but who is not the kind of young man Mina’s family wants her to date. Ysrael makes Mina look at herself in a way no one else ever has. Nothing is as it seems in Mina’s life.
Interesting book. I kept wanting Mina to come clean with her parents about everything - her grades, Jonathan, the money, Ysrael. I think students will identify with Mina and with the secrets she keeps from her family as many teens do.
#1 - Ship Sooner by Mary Sullivan
Ship Sooner can hear more than anyone else. She can hear everything from whispers in the next room to a newborn baby crying in the woods. She wears “ear caps” to muffle the distracting noises. Ship is an outcast with only one true friend, Brian, her next door neighbor. She knows that something is going on with his family, but she just can’t put all of the pieces together. Her older sister Helen is Ship’s opposite - a popular cheerleader. Ship overhears her sister’s tryst with her boyfriend Owen and is surprised to see someone else involved. Life is not easy for Ship, and she learns more about herself and her family than she ever thought possible.
This was an interesting book that some mature readers will enjoy. The first half of the book was an easy read; the last half kept me up until I finished it. There are lots of twists and turns; some predictable, others unfortunate. It’s available in the PHS library. Happy reading!
December Reads
I finished 2006 in quite a flurry of reading. In August, I attended a Women of Faith conference where I purchased a set of four novels - RV There Yet?, Reconstructing Natalie, My Life as a Doormat (in Three Acts), and Alaska Twilight.
I read RV There Yet? in the fall, and I enjoyed it. It’s a tale of three middle-aged women who set out cross-country in an old RV. Their goal is Estes Park, Colorado, where they plan to help renovate a Christian camp they attended as teenagers. It was an easy read, but not my favorite of this set.
Next, I read Reconstructing Natalie, the story of a 26-yr old single woman who discovers that she has breast cancer. The story of her journey through diagnosis, surgery, and treatment is spell-binding. I was laughing on one page and crying on the next. It was one of the most powerful books I have read in a while.
Just before New Year’s, I finished My Life as a Doormat (in Three Acts). Leah is a struggling playwright who is trying to write a play that equals her surprise hit first play. Her personal life is too predictable - so predictable that she is bored with it. When her boyfriend signs her up for conflict resolution class, she learns more about herself than she dreamed she would. It took a few extra pages to really get into this one, but I enjoyed it.