Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein (Module 7)

Summary
 This is a biography of Albert Einstein, from childhood on. It starts by explaining how Albert was born, and how different he seemed from other children and the rest of his family. Albert was not a very friendly child and was very focused on math throughout childhood. It then touches on his life as an adult, for a few pages, and how he became known for his genius ideas.

Suggested Activities
This would work well in a biography or autobiography section for children. It would also be great for science teachers to use when introducing Albert Einstein or famous scientist.
However, when I was reading this I thought it would work well with the gifted and talented kids. A lot of gifted and talented kids feel different from other kids or like their social skills aren't their strong suit. It would be great for the gifted and talented kids to do a research project on other famous gifted and talented people. This would be a great start for the kids to use as a starting place.

Reviews
Don Brown chronicles Albert Einstein’s life from birth to adulthood in a creative way that describes the scientist’s personality to the reader, explaining how he was not a great student and even disliked school. The author reveals that Einstein was supported by his par- ents even though he was considered, as the title sug- gests, an “odd boy.
Royce, C. A. (2009). Discover reading. Science and Children, 47(3), 14-16. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/236962241?accountid=711
My Thoughts
  I really enjoyed this book and reading about his childhood. I think it was great to read how different he was and how he didn't fit in at school and didn't do well in school. That was really encouraging and I think would mean a lot to kids who struggled in some aspect of school. However, I think that it could of explained more about his life once he grew up. It only had two pages on his adult life and didn't explain much about it. It mentioned he got married and had a baby, but earlier it had mentioned how isolated he felt as a child. I couldn't understand then how he got married, when he struggled with people earlier. I wish that had been explained more, along with more about his discoveries.

Bibliography

One Crazy Summer (Module 6)

Summary
 During the middle of the Civil Rights movement and the height of the Black Panthers, Delphine and her three younger sisters go visit their mother in Oakland, California. The three sisters live with their father and grandmother, Big Ma, in Brooklyn and have never known their mother- she left when the girls were very young. Their mother seems to have no interest in them or their visit- in fact she encourages them to leave everyday. Eventually she starts sending the girls to a Black Panther summer camp, where the three of them make friends a learn a lot about what it means to be a black girl and how to stand up for themselves.

Suggested Activities
This would be a wonderful book to help children with the a deeper understanding of the Civil Rights movement. If the school was doing a decade study, or even certain classes could use it to supplement history lessons. There are so many references to pop-culture at the time and things that could lead to a bigger research project about the movement and The Black Panthers. It would be great to have kids look into the music of the time, books of the time and poetry of the time. They could use One Crazy Summer as a starting point and then explore the pop-culture of the times and present that to fellow classmates. For example the poem "We Real Cool" by Gwen Collins is mentioned in the book. Students could read this and then go find other popular poems from this time period.

Reviews
The titular summer is that of 1968, when Delphine and her little sisters, Vonetta 
and Fern, travel from Brooklyn, where they live with their father and grandmother, 
to Oakland, California, the home of their estranged mother. Once there, they find 
that their mother, Cecile, has renamed herself “Nzila,” that she’s a poet, printing 
on her own kitchen press, and that she has no interest in her visiting kids (“I 
didn’t send for you. Didn’t want you in the first place”). She kicks the kids out 
during the day, sending them off to get breakfast from the Black Panthers at the 
People’s Center, where they decide to stay for the summer camp program. Delphine 
finds some friends there, and she also makes some inroads into connecting with 
her prickly, irascible mother and the cause that she’s supporting. There are occasional contrived moments in the tale, but the characters are compelling enough 
to overcome the flaws. Eleven-year-old Delphine, plain-faced and plain-spoken 
and big-sister capable, is a compelling narrator, and her perspective on the cultural contrasts and shifts is enlightening and credible. She’s coming from a home 
dominated by an Alabama-grown grandmother, who’s determined that the girls 
not make a “grand Negro spectacle” in public, but her stubborn independence and 
inquiring mind echo her mother’s defiant ways and bring her to consider the new 
ideas she’s encountering. This is for younger readers than Magoon’s The Rock and 
the River (BCCB 3/09), also a story of black activism in 1968, and while it’s got 
some details about the Panther movement, it’s even more effective as a portrait of 
a girl whose understanding of both her family and her racial identity is enriched 
by the challenges she faces.
Stevenson, D. (2010). One crazy summer. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 63(6), 266. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/223698160?accountid=7113

My Thoughts
 I was surprised by this book in many ways, and how it moved me so much. The story is so heartbreaking, even at the beginning, the story of these three girls who are forced to spend the summer with their mother who doesn't seem to want them in anyway. I just felt like Delphine got the short end of the stick throughout the whole book. She has to protect her sisters from everything- each other, the world and their own mother. And while Delphine and her mother eventually cleared some of their past up- her mother, Cecile, never fully explains her reasons for leaving or shows her full love towards the girls. I wanted it to have a wrapped up, nice, happy ending- and that just didn't happen. Which is more truthful to life, I know, but harder to handle.

I was also surprised by how much I learned from the book. I really thought I knew a lot about the Civil Rights movement as it is something that interests me so much. But I was clueless about the Black Panthers and Huey Newton. I was so happy to see Delphine find herself and learn to stand up for herself in ways. At one point in the novel, Cecile tells Delphine that it would do her good to be MORE selfish. And I feel in some ways, Delphine did learn to do this. She really stood up for herself, and stood her ground in so many ways at the end. Just by going to business to ask them to put up Black Panther flyers in their windows, especially when so many sad no. Delphine will always look after her sisters and be their caregiver, but I felt she learned to balance that with her own needs as the book went on.

Bibliography
Williams-Garcia, R. (2011). One crazy summer. New York, NY: Amistad.

What I Saw and How I Lied (Module 6)

Summary
Evie lives in Queens with her beautiful mother, her stepfather and her step-grandmother (Grandma Glad). Evie's stepfather, Joe, has just returned from World War II and is welcoming new success. He decided to take the family to Palm Beach, Florida for a vacation at the beginning of fall. Fall is Palm Beach's dead season and there aren't many things to do or people to meet. Evie's family soon meets Peter, a gorgeous 23 year old who knew Joe in the war. Evie quickly falls in love Peter but he's hiding a secret about her stepfather and her mother, that even Evie doesn't catch onto until it's too late. During a hurricane, everyone but Evie goes on a boat ride, and Peter turns up dead. Now Evie must decide whose side she's really on and what's more important- true love or family love.

Suggested Activities
This could be a great book used to highlight certain times of history. It would be great to have this, along with other books, displayed when middle school classes are covering World War II. Blundell's book would be a great choice for girls who are less interested in the War but more interested in the culture of the time. With lots of talk of "Commie Spies" it would also be a great lead way into the Cold War.
One fun activity with this book, and other historical fiction, is to have the kids who read it research the historical facts in the book. They could try to see how accurate the book actually was and try to find any false information about the time period.

Reviews

 

World War II is over; fifteen-year-old Evie’s stepfather, Joe Spooner, is home; and

with several of his newly opened appliance stores busily supplying returning GIs

with a post-rationing glut of consumer goods, Joe has announced a spontaneous

trip to Palm Beach, Florida for Evie and her mother. Palm Beach isn’t quite what

Evie expected. It’s a ghost town in autumn, and their hotel—one of the very few

even open before the winter season—has few residents. Fellow guests the Graysons

seem like a friendly enough couple, decent dinner companions who propose an

entrepreneurial venture with Joe; another visitor, Peter Coleridge, a young veteran

who knew Joe before they returned from Austria, quickly becomes the object of

Evie’s infatuation. Evie is so thoroughly smitten that she fails to interpret the halfheard

conversations of the adults around her or to question carefully the increasingly

odd behavior of her parents. Eventually, though, even a lovestruck teen can’t

ignore the explosion of tensions in their tiny, closed community—the Graysons are

Jewish and unable to transact any business at all in restricted Palm Beach; Peter is

blackmailing Joe for his share of illegally obtained treasure confiscated by the Nazis

from their Jewish victims; Mom has been slipping out with Peter on the sly. When

Peter is found dead after a boating excursion with Joe and his wife, suspicion falls

squarely on Evie’s parents, and it’s the testimony of the betrayed teen at the inquest

that will determine their futures. Blundell crafts a richly atmospheric period piece,

reminiscent of the films that intrigue adolescent Evie, movies about worldly wise

dames played by Joan Crawford or Barbara Stanwyck. The girl’s heartbreaking

coming-of-age tale rings true as she brazenly joins the world of adult deception

and lies yet manages ultimately to pull off her own small but significant stand for

social justice.

 

Bush, E. (2008). What i saw and how i lied (review). Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 62(4), 150. Retrieved from http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2153/journals/bulletin_of_the_center_for_childrens_books/v062/62.4.bush10.pdf

My Thoughts

I felt like this book less focused on the history part of "historical fiction" and leaned more into the fiction side of things. While the fact that her father had returned from war, that was how Peter knew him and together they had taken some things that helped them earn money from Austria helped move the plot along it wasn't the biggest factor. This book could have been set at almost any time and could still have the same plot line- just instead of World War II, Joe could owe Peter money some other way.
However, I still thought this book was great- especially the end. I felt the overall themes of this book were strong and very mature, yet any teen could relate. I loved how Evie was so in love and blind to all around here. As a reader there was so many times when I put the pieces together faster than Evie, which was frustrating, but also realistic to show how blind love can be. Also, the end of the book was just a shock - in a good way and a bad way. Evie betrayed someone she loved to save someone else she loved. I think that really showed the reader that sometimes things aren't black and white and sometimes there's no right choice, just two bad choices that you have to make the best of. The book was very moving and I would recommend it to anyone.

Bibliography
Blundell, J. (2008). What I saw and how I lied. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale (Module 5)

Summary
Skilley, is an ally cat, who gets "hired" to become a mouser at the Cheshire Cheese Inn. But Skilley has a deep, dark secret. He doesn't like the taste of mouse, instead he loves cheese. Skilley befriends a mouse, Pip, and the rest of the mouse gang only to find out Pip has a secret! Pip is hiding a raven from the Tower of London, who has been wounded and can't make it back to the Tower. The two friends decide to help the raven get back, all while fighting off the cooks, and another evil cat. This book has cameo's by Charles Dickens, and Queen Victoria.

Suggested Activities
This book would be great to use along with a history lesson. It covers a lot of history of England in the 1800s all while being very entertaining. Using excerpts of the book, you could teach about the Tower of London or even Queen Victoria. I also thought this would be a great book to use in a high school English class to help introduce Charles Dickens and his work. You could use the scenes that include Charles Dickens as a way to get kids interested in his writing.

Reviews

Part historical fiction, part fantasy, THE CHESHIRE CHEESE CAT is an action-packed story with a little something for everyone. The book takes the reader back to the streets and alleys of 19th century London where a street cat named Skilley longs to live comfortably at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. When a cat is needed to handle the mouse infestation, Skilley becomes their mouser. Unfortunately for Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese he has a secret; he is a cheese-loving cat that has no taste for mice. An unlikely alliance forms between Skilley and the mice that reside there. Author Charles Dickens is a frequent customer to the establishment. He has a case of writer’s block, so instead of writing he has been observing the interactions between the cat and mice jotting down notes and theories in his journal. Another mouser is brought in to help alleviate the mouse problem. This tom, Pinch, is a vicious cat with a taste for blood. The mice are no longer safe and Skilley’s secret could possibly be revealed as well as what the mice are hiding in the attic.

Moser’s drawings are scattered throughout the book and add personality to the characters. Pages from Dickens’ journal are also included which show his suspicions and his humor.

Jergensen, J. (2012, February 26). The cheshire cheese cat: A dicken's of a tale. Retrieved from http://librarianschoices.blogspot.com/2012/02/cheshire-cheese-cat-dickens-of-tale.html

My Thoughts
My aunt had told me several times how much she loved this book, but I wasn't interested. I've never read Charles Dickens and I hate cats so I just didn't feel like this book was for me. Seeing it on the list, I thought I might as well read it since she had suggested it and she usually doesn't steer me wrong. I'm glad I did decide to read it, I found this book so charming and engaging. I loved the story of a cat and mouse becoming friends and I loved all the history it taught at the same time. I had no idea there were ravens at the Tower of London (and I've been there!) and I didn't know much about Queen Victoria. I felt like this book was a great way to get readers interested in other topics and would be a challenging, but fun read for kids.

Bibliography
Deedy, C. A., & Wright, R. (2011). The chesire cheese cat: A dickens of a tale. Atlanta: Peachtree.

The Grimm Legacy (Module 5)

Summary
Elizabeth goes to a fancy private school in New York City- but has no friends. She lives with her dad and her evil stepmother since her mother has died, very similar to a fairy tale we've all heard. Elizabeth also loves fairy tales, especially the real Grimm Brothers fairy tales. Her history teacher recommends her for a job at the New York Circulating Material Repository. It's like a library where users check things out, but instead of books they check out objects- historical, modern or just plain odd. But down in the dungeon is the special collections and the most interesting is the Grimm Collection. The Grimm Collection holds magical objects from fairy tales but something is wrong. Many of the objects are being stolen or losing their magic. Elizabeth and her new friends at work must figure out how to save the Grimm Collection.

Suggested Activities
This book would be great focus in a collection of fairy tales- modern or classic. While I was reading it, I kept thinking of A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz. Gidwitz takes the Grimm fairy tales and adds his own twist on them. Also, this year is the 100 year anniversary of the Grimm Fairy tales. At the school library, you could create a collection of all different kinds of fairy tales-classic, retold, modern. This could be in the collection as something to read when you have finished most of the fairy tales. It does help to be familiar with the fairy tales to read The Grimm Legacy.  I know a lot of teachers also do fairy tales in the classroom and this could be used to support their classroom lessons.

Reviews
Elizabeth Rew's Social Studies teacher has just helped her land the perfect parttime high-school job—as a page at the New-York Circulating Material Repository, a quirky cross between a library and a museum, specializing in realia of all sorts and catering to both the business needs and personal whims of researchers, artists, [End Page 43] and curiosity seekers. Perks include a generally friendly and supportive staff; the proximity of Marc Merritt, a school basketball star well above Elizabeth's social set; and some deliciously creepy rumors of a huge bird that haunts the stacks. Best of all is the bonus promised to all pages who work their way up—access to and borrowing privileges from the Grimm Collection, a locked room filled with magical items pertaining to fairy tales collected by the folklorists themselves. Elizabeth and her fellow pages earn their way in and do a bit of forbidden but harmless larking about, borrowing the seven-league boots and a mermaid's hair-enhancing comb. The threatening bird, however, turns out to be quite real, and there are dastardly persons who have been pilfering charmed items for their own permanent collections; it's up to Elizabeth and her new friends to solve the crime and keep the world safe from abused magic. Conversations can be pretty leaden, and character development nearly nonexistent, but the premise of a repository for fairy-tale material culture is bewitching enough to carry an otherwise tepid mystery. Readers who enjoy the tales of Gail Carson Levine (but are still a long way from reveling in Bill Willingham's Fables) can muse on the malignant and benign possibilities of DIY magic.

Bush, E. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Volume 64, Number 1, September 2010, p. 44 (Article)

Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: 10.1353/bcc.2010.007

My Thoughts
I was dreading reading this book- the cover made it look just so dark. It looked like a high fantasy book to me book and I hate reading high fantasy books. But I was wrong to judge this book by it's cover. I loved everything about it. I enjoyed the library feeling of where she worked, the mystery, the magic and the romance as well. I really liked Elizabeth as a character and her good intentions- that don't always turn out so good. What I really loved most about this book is you never knew who you could trust. I was always guessing at who was responsible for the missing Grimm items and I was usually wrong. I spent about half of the book thinking the basketball stud, Marc, was to blame and then towards the end I started to blame Aaron.( I really didn't want to blame Aaron- he liked Elizabeth! So he couldn't be bad!) But luckily in the end I was wrong about both of them.
I loved this book so much it had me wishing there was a sequel.  But I just found out there is a sequel! I can't wait to read it!

Bibliography
Shulman, P. (2010). The grimm legacy. (1st ed. ed., Vol. 1). New York City: Putnam Pub Group.