M+David+-+Book+Reviews

=__**Review #1**__= Bragg, G. (2011). //How they croaked: The awful ends of the awfully famous//. New York: Walker & Company. ISBN – 978-0-8027-9817-6

Genre: Non-Fiction

Award: Bluegrass Award for Middle School in 2012 (Grades 6-8)

Curriculum Connection: SS-HS-5.1.1 Students will use a variety of tools (e.g., primary and secondary sources, data, artifacts) to analyze perceptions and perspectives (e.g., gender, race, region, ethnic group, nationality, age, economic status, religion, politics, geographic factors) of people and historical events in the modern world (1500 A.D. to present) and United States History (Reconstruction to present). SS-HS-5.1.2 Students will analyze how history is a series of connected events shaped by multiple cause and effect relationships, tying past to present.

KY Common Core Curriculum: KY.9-10.R.U.SC.7 Students will demonstrate understanding of informational passages/texts: • locate key ideas, information, facts or details • use information from text to state and support central/main idea • use information from texts to accomplish a specific task or answer questions • use text features and visual information (e.g., maps, graphs, timelines, diagrams) to understand texts

Summary: This was a very interesting read about famous historical figures (19 of them) with brief descriptions (five pages or so) of their lives and in depth descriptions of how they died. This book does a good job of dispelling common misconceptions about these famous people and presents accurate depictions in a straight forward and easy to follow way that would specifically appeal to middle and even high school readers. It can loosely be termed a bibliographical reference book for any collection. At the end of each chapter on the specific person’s demise, there are a few pages of brief facts describing specific illnesses, phobias, cremation, etc. that provide young readers with more information about things they may not have understood or known previously. At the very end of the book, there is also a further reading and surfing section where readers can find out more about each person in the book. This book would especially appeal to male readers because there are some graphic and gross descriptions – like Christopher Columbus bleeding out of his eyes.

Promotional Activity: This book has many possibilities to showcase not only the book itself but could lead students to read other books, listen to music, spark an interest in science, etc. One way to use this book would be to select one or two of the figures from the book and create a display center within the media center. A display, for example, could be created for Marie Antoinette. Other books and references about her could be displayed, a model of a guillotine and information about the invention itself, books about France and the French Revolution, etc. This could easily be extended into other student activities and projects. Other displays could be set up by topic/theme: writers, musicians, English monarchs, scientists, exploration, Ancient Egypt and so on.

=__**Review #2**__= Cashore, K. (2008). //Graceling.// Orlando, FL: Hartcourt Publishing Company. ISBN – 978-0-15-206396-2

Genre: Fiction/Fantasy

Award: Morris Finalist in 2009

Curriculum Connection: SS-HS-1.3.1 Students will explain and give examples how the rights of one individual (e.g., smoking in public places, free speech) may, at times, be in conflict (e.g., slander, libel) with the rights of another. SS-HS-4.2.3 Students will explain how people can develop stereotypes about places and regions (e.g., all cities are dangerous and dirty; rural areas are poor).

KY Common Core Curriculum: KY.9-10.R.U.SC.1 Students will use comprehension strategies (e.g., using prior knowledge, generating clarifying, literal and inferential questions, constructing sensory images, locating and using text features) while reading, listening to, or viewing literary and informational texts KY.9-10.R.U.SC.5 Students will make text-based inferences; state generalizations; draw conclusions based on what is read KY.9-10.R.I.SC.5 Students will demonstrate understanding of literary elements and literary passages/texts: • analyze the use of supporting details as they relate to the author's message • analyze the relationship between a character's motivation and behavior, as revealed by the dilemmas • explain or analyze how external or internal conflicts are resolved • explain author's craft (e.g., rhyme scheme, description, symbolism, foreshadowing, flashbacks) as appropriate to genre

Summary: This book gives the reader a great heroine to cheer for in the lead character, Katsa. Katsa has a gift, in her world called a Grace, for killing. People who are Graced are easily identified by their eyes and are viewed differently by people in the Seven Kingdoms. In her Kingdom, she is forced by her Uncle, King Randa, to do his bidding. She has grown weary of his demands and has formed a secret Council which uses subversive activities to right as many wrongs as she can in her world. Katsa has few people whom she trusts and does not make friends easily because her Grace scares away most people. She meets her match early in the book in Po, a Graced fighter – so she thinks – and together they embark upon a journey to free their world of the evil King Leck who possesses a terrifying Grace of his own. Along their journey, Katsa gains many unexpected things including love, a new friendship in Bitterblue (Leck’s daughter), and a greater insight to who she is and what that means for her life.

Classroom Activity: This book would be ideal for using Strategy 14: Conflict Dissection. There are many main characters within the Kingdoms and students could easily break into small groups to choose a character and dive further into who they are, what their purpose is, are they what they seem, what their main conflict or problem is, and make predictions about how they will resolve their own conflicts. Students can then switch groups to layer how other characters fit into their character’s conflict and how they overlap in the story. They can look at how they will work together, what they want and how they are trying to achieve it, what issues they face and are they related, etc.

=__**Review #3**__= Morgenstern, E. (2011). //The night circus//. New York: Doubleday. ISBN – 978-0-385-53463-5

Genre: Fiction/Fantasy

Award: Alex Award in 2012

KY Common Core Curriculum: KY.9-10.R.U.SC.1 Students will use comprehension strategies (e.g., using prior knowledge, generating clarifying, literal and inferential questions, constructing sensory images, locating and using text features) while reading, listening to, or viewing literary and informational texts KY.9-10.R.U.SC.5 Students will make text-based inferences; state generalizations; draw conclusions based on what is read KY.9-12.R.I.EU.2 Students will understand that references from texts provide evidence to support conclusions, the information presented, or the author's perspective. KY.11-12.R.D.SC.6 Students will analyze the effectiveness of literary devices or figurative language in evoking what the author intended (e.g., picturing a setting, predicting a consequence, establishing a mood or feeling) KY.9-12.R.I.EU.3 Students will understand that authors make intentional choices that are designed to produce a desired effect on the reader. KY.9-10.R.U.SC.2 Students will use text structure cues (e.g., chronology, cause/effect, compare/contrast, proposition/support, description, classification, logical/sequential) to aid in comprehension

Summary: This novel was really different than anything I have ever read. It is one that would be great for teens because the chapters are short and can be read in small amounts of time. I loved that this book tells its story in small segments and you have to keep reading to figure out how, when, where and why we were told this piece of information. You are hooked into the story from the very first line ~ The Circus arrives without warning. The story unfolds within the larger setting of a circus, but the circus is so not the story. The story is really about a game that two magicians have been playing for ages. The magicians themselves aren’t the players in the game, but instead they choose others to play for them. Both girls and boys would enjoy this book as the main players are both male and female. The game itself is very mysterious, as is the entire book and plot, and it is typically deadly. The best parts about this book are the descriptions and images the author paints for the reader. Morgenstern gives us vivid detail and we can picture what is happening. It is a dream mixed with reality in a world where true magic exists. I used this book to make a book trailer Prezi and it is a great book to do some sort of visual project with as there are many images and scenes that can be represented.

Classroom Activity:
 * Strategy 40 - Journaling: Helping Student to Respond, Reflect, and Learn Through Informal Writing
 * Strategy 13 - Imagination Recreation: Deepening Understanding Through Creativity

I thought of Strategy 40 first for this book. Have students write and respond to chapters (which are short and targeted to a specific event). Have them recount what happened, but also list questions they have about why we were told this particular part of the story at this particular time. Have them guess how this will fit in to the plot line as a whole. Predict what will happen to this character based on the events detailed within those few pages. I can also see Strategy 13 fitting in well here. Students could recreate/retell aspects of the story from another character’s perspective, they could tell the scene using only pictures, or they could even perform a skit of a scene for the class.

=__**Review #4**__= Gruen, S. (2006). //Water for elephants.// Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books. ISBN – 978-1-56512-560-5

Genre: Fiction/Historical

Award: Alex Award in 2007

Curriculum Connection: SS-HS-5.2.5 Students will evaluate how the Great Depression, New Deal policies and World War II transformed America socially and politically at home (e.g., stock market crash, relief, recovery, reform initiatives, increased role of government in business, influx of women into workforce, rationing) and reshaped its role in world affairs (e.g., emergence of the U.S. as economic and political superpower). SS-HS-2.2.1 Students will explain how various human needs are met through interaction in and among social institutions (e.g., family, religion, education, government, economy) in the modern world (1500 A.D. to present) and the United States (Reconstruction to present).

KY Common Core Curriculum: KY.11-12.R.D.SC.6 Students will analyze the effectiveness of literary devices or figurative language in evoking what the author intended (e.g., picturing a setting, predicting a consequence, establishing a mood or feeling KY.9-10.R.I.SC.5 Students will demonstrate understanding of literary elements and literary passages/texts: • analyze the use of supporting details as they relate to the author's message • analyze the relationship between a character's motivation and behavior, as revealed by the dilemmas • explain or analyze how external or internal conflicts are resolved • explain author's craft (e.g., rhyme scheme, description, symbolism, foreshadowing, flashbacks) as appropriate to genre KY.9-12.R.I.EU.1 Students will understand that interpretations of text involve linking information across parts of a text and determining importance of the information presented.

Summary: This book is set during the Great Depression. The main character, Jacob is just finishing Veterinary school when he gets unexpected news about his parents. They were involved in a car crash and both were killed. As he returns home, he realizes that he has no money (his father, also a vet, had been accepting in-kind payments to treat animals because of the Depression) and nowhere to go. He ends up jumping a train that will change his life forever. It happens to be the train of the Benzini Brothers circus. This story, told by Old Jacob as a series of flashbacks, takes the reader into the world of the traveling circuses of days past, but also details the realities of life during the Depression in America. Jacob faces many trials along the way, including ultimately escaping the brutal and mentally disturbed character of August. It’s a coming of age story of a man who grows into not only himself, but finds purpose, love and redemption.

Classroom/Promotional Activity:
 * Strategy 22 - Digital Storytelling: Creating Digital Text
 * Strategy 25 - Book Trailers: Insights and Discoveries About Texts

This book would be a good one to use to have students create multimedia and visual projects. They can incorporate content knowledge from the Great Depression as well as elements from the book. These projects could be used to promote the book to other students. Some sort of project could also be done to compare and contrast the book to the film version. This book could also be used as part of a display or project pulling and showcasing other resources within the LMC about the time period and circus history as well.