Snuggle-worthy: A Lancaster County Christmas

Each year for Christmas I usually have a small but select list of books on my wish list. This year's list included several tree growing books, some travel books, vegetarian cook books and I forgot to add "The Big Year" to my list. I didn't even bother to list some of my favorite authors' new books because I haven't paid attention as to what's been in the works. I usually pick something up to read after it's been recommended to me or after I've stumbled upon it in the school library or a student/friend/family member foists it on to me (which happens a lot! And I'm NOT complaining!). One of the Christmas books I received was "A Lancaster County Christmas" by Suzanne Woods Fisher. My mom picked the book up for me since she'd also bought me a handful of other titles by Fisher and I devoured them and then promptly shared them with some friends, students and family members! So, since I breezed through Lancaster County Christmas in a whopping two days, I felt I needed to share about it online ASAP before I begin circulating it amongst my cronies.

Did I enjoy the book? Yes, very much so. Would I recommend it? Yes, very much so. Who would I recommend it to? Anyone wanting some basic conflicts with some basic resolutions. The story starts with two women waiting for doctor's appointments. Mattie is a Plain housewife who is having a check up after recently having had a miscarriage. Jamie is an "English" woman who is seeking more sleeping pills rather than allowing herself to grieve and process the death of her mother. Jamie ends up dropping off a toy to the Plain family because the doctor asks her to make the quick trip. I don't think it's an accident that this doctor's name is "Dr. Engel" which literally means "Dr. Angel" in German (and I'm guessing in Pennsylvania Dutch too-- which is a dialect of German and it's what the Plain Folk (Amish) speak).

While Jamie agrees to drop of the toy to Mattie, the readers find out that Mattie and her husband, C.J. have been having issues. Jamie quietly suspects that C.J. is having an affair, even though it's obvious to the reader that she is just being irrational and it seems she realizes she hasn't been entirely "right" since her mother's accidental death. Jamie and C.J. get stranded at Mattie's house because their car rolls into the farm's pond and they end up spending the weekend with the Amish family. C.J. is obviously relieved to be freed of his worldly obligations with Mattie's father. Mattie sees the whole situation as crisis and she's bent on meeting up with her superficial, untrustworthy father, despite all of the warning bells sounding to the reader.

Meanwhile, Mattie and her husband, Sol, take in the English couple. The couple bonds with the family and strangely Mattie and Jamie give one another some tough love that somehow works-- even though they're little more than strangers. At the same time, C.J. helps Sol, Zach and Danny with farm chores and Sol and C.J end up discussing the miscarriage and adoption-- which might seem farfetched to some readers, but I feel it was pulled off in a believable way, because even the men acknowledge that they're surprised at how quickly they've bonded-- even though Sol still doesn't consider the English one of them. Sol is wise enough not to trust too quickly, but honest enough to know when sharing a situation can be helpful. At the same time, Zach has fallen in love/lust with Jamie and Sol tries to keep their adopted "son" Zach from making eyes at Jaime-- knowing that such behavior will only end badly for Zach.

Finally, Sol is so worried about Zach's negative influence on Danny, who is only 6, that Sol asks Zach to leave. Jaime and C.J. are finally able to get the car out of the water and the roads are cleared. Then C.J.'s dog takes off with Danny, who has decided to do something to make Jamie feel better about a phone call from her dad. Jamie is set to leave C.J. behind with Mattie and Sol so that he can find his dog and so he can help them locate their son, but then she has a sudden change of heart that moves her to stay.

I don't think this book is Fisher's strongest book, but it was enjoyable because of the conflicts and their simplicity. In past stories of Fisher's, I've seen the characters resolve some tricky situations in some very crafty ways, but I felt that this story could have easily used another 75 pages to throw in some elements of surprise that may have added to the overall intrigue of the characters and the intrigue of the book. I enjoy that the characters aren't one dimensional, but I think that of all of the character that Jaime-- really one of the two main characters-- seemed to need some further development. Her story of wanting daddy's love just seemed a little to simplistic and naive compared with how obvious it was to everyone that her dad was bad news. It just seem that there needed to be a bit more to her story to really buy into her believing that her dad would actually do anything for her. It seemed that there needed to at least be one or two positive things that her father had done for her to make it understandable as to why she could so easily be fooled by him. Aside from Jamie, the other characters were charming and I would have liked to have seen a bit more from the rascal Zach and from lively Danny. It just seemed the the male characters were the best developed and it makes me want to see Fisher write a story with male characters as the main characters rather than in supporting roles (although I have appreciated her strong females in her past books). I'll be looking forward to see her try something new in this way.

Through the Dog's Eye: The Art of Racing in the Rain

Rarely does peer pressure work on me, but I am swayed when it comes to reading. Sooner or later if enough people talk about a particular book, I feel I must read it just for social/ cultural references. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein is/was one of these books (as well as Twilight, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Water for Elephants). One of my co-workers had really enjoyed it and she had mentioned it to me several times and then I kept seeing it at large box stories (i.e. Walmart and Target). Finally, while trying to decide on a gift for my grandfather for his birthday, I picked up the book and figured: what the heck. I'll see what he thinks and I'll get it out of the library and read it at the same time. It'll give us something to talk about if nothing else. I thought the idea of a dog narrating the story was a bit gimmicky, but I decided I could deal with gimmicky to see if it actually worked for the story and I knew that my grandfather was a big enough reader that he's usually open to at least trying something new.

The Art of Racing in the Rain left me wanting... but not necessarily in the I-gotta-have-it sort of way. I just felt like the author had something good going and he spoiled his opportunity with throwing in enough heavy conflicts that the story felt a bit muddled. I realize life doesn't always throw one challenge at a time, but sometimes the joy about writing and reading is that elements may be added or left out and this is up to the author (and maybe the editor too) and it's important for writers to remember this lesson. It can be annoying when a writer doesn't give enough conflict, but it can be equally annoying when an author includes so much that the main threads of the story tangle together, rather than winding together to form a cohesiveness.

What were the strong points of the story? The narrator, Enzo, the most loyal and loving dog, has thoughts and questions much like any person, but there's enough dog personality to be cute-- i.e. playing the "dumb animal" card by intentionally chewing/peeing on certain things. The main character, Denny, drives and teaches about European cars for a living. The story also starts at the end of Enzo's life, so he's very contemplative and is able to give us a more objective look at Denny's life (and his own life too) because he can only influence the large characters subtlely by his actions. This perspective is one of a character with nothing left to lose, and thus it feels genuine. Also, the last strong point? It has plot... but maybe a little too much (is that possible?).

What doesn't work? The overwhelming conflicts. While the book has a lighthearted style, with Enzo pondering various trivialities of life, the conflicts suddenly become very serious. The mood/tone is awkward with the agenda and it's not like the tone is so different that we should take something away from this absurdity (i.e. A Clockwork Orange).

The first conflict is that Denny falls in love with Eve and this puts Enzo below Eve on the pecking order. The next conflict is that Eve gets pregnant and then has a daughter with Denny which unsettles Enzo because he doesn't know what to expect. Denny & Eve name their daughter Zoe. Enzo isn't so sure about the whole pregnancy process at first, but during the pregnancy he and Eve begin to understand one another and he helps her through the process while Denny is off driving with his work. Once baby Zoe enters the picture, Denny, Eve, Zoe and Enzo are the epitome of happy-- except that Denny is gone a lot because of his work. This brings on the next conflict: Denny's absence and Eve's unexplained "episodes". It's obvious to the reader that something is seriously wrong with Eve, but she's in denial and she pretends not to worry about it so as not to bother Denny.

With Eve's sickness and finally with her relenting to see some doctors, we find out that she has brain cancer. Eventually this denial ends up killing her. (No I wouldn't consider this a spoiler- because there are more conflicts to come!) In the meantime her parents have convinced Denny to let Eve and Zoe stay at their house to take care of both best-- citing Denny's travels/work as their reason. In reality, they've intentionally positioned themselves to become Zoe's legal guardian once Eve passes, especially because they aren't fond of Denny and they think their daughter married below her station. But don't worry... because if you were afraid that there weren't enough conflicts-- get ready for another one-- one that will potentially mean that Denny won't be able to leave the country and it will potentially keep him from winning the custody suit over Zoe...

Would I suggest this book? Yes, but with reserve. I had to laugh but when I talked with my mother about the book, because she suggested that anyone planning to read it should read the first few chapters and then stop, because it deviates from the charming beginning and this charm only reappears sparingly. Simply enough: it's a tease. The reader gets a taste of how great this author can be with his narrator's wit, but then he goes a different direction and it becomes a bit frustrating because the reader keeps hoping this charm will come full circle, but it only comes about 270 degrees... feeling like he simply got tired of being witty and he decided to cut out the wit and only focus on the story. Simply enough it feels as if two different authors wrote it; This should serve as a warning to aspiring writers about the dangers of losing motivation or losing the big picture when writing. Overall, I hate to be so hard on Garth Stein, but I've got a be a bit skeptical because I can't say that he's really earned his hard won fame just yet-- at least based on this sampling of reading.

Perfect for the Holidays: Pictures of Hollis Woods

This time of year is perfect for reading and this book helps make the coziness of reading with a cup of hot chocolate (or for us sissies: decaf coffee) even more inviting. Why? First off, there's plenty of snow and word pictures describing cozy, fire-warmed homes where hot chocolate is bountiful. Secondly, the main theme is family and discovering what "family" really means. Thirdly, there are lots of moments of selflessness and true desires for familial companionship. These reasons alone make the book worthwhile, but there's also a poetic or even artistic element to this book that compels the reader to take the time out from holiday shopping to simply SLOW down and enjoy the scenery.

I hadn't necessarily been looking for a warm and fuzzy feel-good read when I picked up Pictures of Hollis Woods at the library, but I had been thinking a lot about some of my students home-life situations, when this book's cover jumped out and grabbed me. A few things about the cover did this: 1. It's a Newberry Award Winner and 2. the image of a child's slightly fuzzy legs reminded me of how my legs looked when I was a kid- athletically wearing shorts and fuzzy enough to show the innocence of a child who isn't old enough to care about the womanly ways of shaving. 3. Lastly, the grayscale of the image created a feeling of isolation and a dreamy hopelessness.

When I checked the book out, our school librarian confirmed that the book was touching and a fast read-- which was exactly what my brain was ready for. I wasn't disappointed.

Hollis Woods is a "runner." She was found on a blanket as a baby and was named after the woods in which she was found-- thus, Hollis Woods. Her story bounces back and forth between two of her most recent foster homes- one with the Regans and the other with Josie Cahill. We find out as the story progresses that Hollis has some major guilt issues. She's convinced she's a bad girl and that's all she'll ever be. She can't come to term with the idea that someone may actually want to care and love her. Her struggle: allowing herself to be loved.

We also find out that she loves both the Regans (John AKA "Old Man," Izzy & Steven) and Josie Cahill, but she feels that she can't stay with either. She can't stay with the Regans because of "the accident" and while she loves Josie's whimsical ways, the agency has started to realize that Josie isn't with-it enough to be caring for children anymore. So Hollis does something drastic, she suggest to Josie that they go on a trip and Josie agrees. Hollis directs Josie through darkness and snow to the Regan's summer home, knowing that they'll be able to hide out there long enough to evade the agency and to decide what to do next. They spend their Christmas eating their remaining canned goods and apple pancakes in the company of Josie's crotchety cat, Henry. Hollis and Josie do their best to make merry by entertaining themselves with Christmas Carols and by drawing and whittling wooden figures, respectively.

As Hollis realizes she and Josie can't stay in the summer house any longer because of their dwindling food supply and lacking funds... she sets out to make a phone call to Josie's sister Beatrice and encounters her own personal "Santa Claus on a snow mobile."

I don't have the heart to spoil this book for potential readers, but I can say it's worth the meager 167 pages, which really feel more like 80 "real" pages. Just know that you may need to have your hot chocolate on standby as you have your life consumed for a few hours. It's so refreshing to read something about foster care that doesn't involve abuse and mistreatment. Also, while doing a little research about the book, it looks like there's also a Hallmark Movie version of the book, so this may be another option to share with the family if you enjoy the book.

Food for thought: Gaia Warriors

I happened upon the book Gaia Warriors (by Nicola Davies) earlier this week in our school library. I was feeling like I needed some serious fuel for my brain and fictional YA lit just wasn't going to do it-- but I lucked out and ran across this eco-warrior book targeted for teens.

Gaia is the name for the earth and all of its delicate life systems intertwined with it. Therefore, the book is urging teens to get serious about fixing Gaia by facing global warming head on. Gaia Warriors is broken into super-fast-to-read chapters, by starting with the basic science of global warming: essentially, the earth is getting warmer on average because the gases we put off trap heat between and earth and the atmosphere. There are some ways to decrease these gases (and therefore stabilize this super-heating process) and these include some of the basics we hear all the time: plant trees to soak up the CO2 and stop using so many fossil fuels for driving, heating, cooling etc... However, starting the book in this way, may have scared off many readers who may have found the science- particularly without easing into it-- a bit daunting.

The book does a nice job of spotlighting individuals the world over by interviewing them about their contributions (since they are eco-warriors) and it ties in how different cultures/regions are being effected and have been effected by the global climate shift. The book also shows how lots of little changes can mean large-scale changes. I especially enjoyed how the book connected various professions and how some professionals in these area have been using their skills to bring awareness to the topic and have helped cut down on use of resources. Some of these professionals included an architect, a lawyer, a fashion designer and handful of various scientists.

Toward the end of the book there are more resources to learn about climate change and there's a fabulous glossary that explains all of the basics of the topic. I particularly found the definition for "Cap and trade" to be useful to review exactly what this term entailed. This book would be a great gift- along with a tree whip (teeny-tiny tree sapling) for a great Christmas or even Earth Day present.

Overall, it reminded me just how much trees really can be the answer! It also made me wonder why it is that we don't all have roof-top gardens with solar panels for a little shade and small trees and veggie gardens to suck up CO2 and provide some basic veggies while they're in season..? And then I remind myself, "Be the change you want to see in the world..." and I know that once I get my rooftop, solar garden put together, then and only then, can I wonder why others haven't followed suit.

Divided about Something Wicked by Alan Gratz

First off, apologies for the delays in writing lately. I've been reading, but VERY slowly lately. I currently have three classes in the midst of writing research papers, which I absolutely love teaching (no, I'm not joking!), but this means that I find that I have less "me-time" than usual-- which equates with less fun reading and difficulty finding the time to blog. Nonetheless, I did finish a book recently: Something Wicked by Alan Gratz. This book is a sequel to Something Rotten (I also reviewed this about a month ago).

While Something Rotten is based on Hamlet, Something Wicked is based on the story of MacBeth. Both stories are told by Horatio, who was a minor character from the original Hamlet, the modern day Horatio, who tells these two stories, is anything but minor. Because these stories are based off of Shakespeare's originals, it's hard to decide how I feel about this interpretation because they are based loosely on the originals. Maybe we need to make a pros & cons list so that we can really see which side I think should win. (Maybe I have been teaching research papers a little TOO much.)

PROS:
1. This is a modern day version of MacBeth.
2. Horatio is a snarky narrator.
3. Horatio is a trustworthy narrator, minus his penchant for cute, smart girls. (This actually could make us like him more because we approve of his taste in women.)
4. The setting is on a mountain at a Scottish festival-- which tries to tie in the setting of Scotland from the original.
5. The protagonist is Joe MacKenzie (Mac for short) and he's dating Beth Weigel (hence, Mac + Beth.
6. People actually die in this book.
7. Mac is obviously being manipulated through sex; it isn't just an allusion to sex. He actually states that he acts in such a way to make himself more desirable to Beth.
8. Good guy wins; bad guy loses (Sorry for the spoiler, but you should have seen this coming if you read Something Rotten).
9. There's a "greed is bad" theme.
10. Some of the original themes still hold true: greed, murder, manipulation, mental illness...
11. Some relatively light-hearted reading because of the humor and the tone... the death seems campy rather than serious.
12. While it makes references to sex and death, it's pretty tame and could definitely be used as a teaching tool to introduce MacBeth or other Shakespeare.
13. Bonus points for creativity: MacBeth has now been turned into a murder mystery.

CONS:
1. Snarky narrator (Horatio) is so snarky that it almost feels forced. He's so cool that he isn't believable.
2. Horatio was a minor character in Hamlet and wasn't a character at all in MacBeth... so why in the world is he even in this story?
3. Not enough people die. Seriously, it's supposed to be a tragedy and it ends all hunky-dorey... not sure that I like this. It seems too sugar coated. Main characters that are supposed to die, don't. I think this influences the story in such a way that it's not reliable.
4. Horatio's girl dies, but it seems so out of the blue and Horatio seems so non-chalant about it that I actually thought I'd mis-read something for about three pages. I finally realized that it was just THAT random and it didn't seem necessary to push the plot forward and it didn't gel with the Shakespeare version.
5. Many of the characters names are borrowed from other Shakespeare plays: Juliet, Desdemona, Horatio, etc.
6. The main characters' names don't follow MacBeth, but a many of them are a attempting to connect with the orignal.
7. The character symbolic of Lady MacBeth doesn't commit suicide. Come on, we were all hoping for it since she's such a despicable character. It feels like a little justice was lost by her not offing herself.
8. Too many red herrings. Right away we know that Mac is the killer, but Horatio can't wrap his narrator-brain around this. It's annoying to have so many clues, but then just have to wait for Horatio to figure out how his best friend really was the murderer.
9. The tone is definitely not that which Shakespeare intended. MacBeth was meant as a warning against greed and manipulation. It is the thing that horror movies may be made of, but this version is light-hearted and even ends on a positive note.
10. This version will definitely not prepare students for the serious nature of the true MacBeth and if students thought that they could simply reverse engineer this version to have the basic names and plot points, they'd be sorely mistaken.

Conclusion: Overall, I'm torn. Read this book if you want something silly with a snarky narrator. Do NOT read this book if you're expecting Shakespeare's story. The connections to Shakespeare can be fun, but for a serious connoisseur, the unnecessary changes to the original story can be very distracting and downright annoying. I like to use such versions to teach comparison and contrast skills to my seniors. After being introduced to both stories, I have my seniors fix the modern day version by killing off the necessary characters and making sure that the same victors win in the end as those Shakespeare had originally intended.

Like second nature: "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall

It's always funny to me how sometimes I'll hear about something like a book or a song and then suddenly I stumble upon in almost immediately afterwards. This happened to me recently with Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. My former student teacher and I had been talking about running and she mentioned the book to me in passing and not a week later my mom mentioned that a friend of hers had sent a book for me to read, but she was already so engrossed in the book that I'd have to wait until she finished it and sent it along my way. Serendipity? Quite possibly. So, sure enough, once dear old mom had finished up the book and sang its many praises, she left it with me, and she seemed curious to hear what my reaction would be to it since I run on a near-daily basis.

My reaction? Is it possible to run and read at the same time? I found myself drawn to reading and simultaneously wanting to work out too to test out some of the notions presented in the book. I loved the combination of the genres with this book. It starts off as a running/medical narrative and then morphs into an anthropological study of the Tarahumara tribe of Mexico. It then ties in some of the craziest distance running competitions and the wackos who compete and excel at these competitions. Then, before I knew it, all of these topics were being tied together in an Outside Magazine-like story about excessive personalities and how these ultra-runners, though so different, are drawn together through this compulsion.

Did I mention that I'll never look at running shoes and Nike the same way again? Nor the human body and our "SAD" diets. This book amazed me in that I learned so much and found myself increasingly persuaded to want to go shoeless and throw off the shackles of a diet laden with meat and animal by-products. At the same time, it wasn't preachy; it just presented the facts. Why was I so convinced? I was convinced because I could legitimately feel the author's struggle and natural progression from amateur runner and a force to be reckoned with... particularly because he achieved the goal he'd hoped: increased mileage and increased speed without the hampering injuries. I think I found what I'll be spending my Barnes and Nobles giftcards on... volumes of "Born to Run" for friends and family.

Something Rotten

Something Rotten (by Alan Gratz) is a story loosely based on Hamlet (by William Shakespeare). Like Malcolm X (graphic novel), I really enjoy teaching this book with my high school students. It's a fairly easy reading level, but there are still plenty of vocabulary words to push students and the class discussions surrounding the story's mystery are absolutely juicy. It's always fun to teach this book because both girls and guys love the who-dunnit drama of a mystery and it's all surrounding teenage main characters. I also particularly enjoy the sassy humor Gratz has managed to work in with his narrator, Horatio.

Horatio helps investigate his best friend's father's death. Hamilton, Horatio's best friend, has recently returned home to mourn the death of his father and then witness the marriage of Trudy (Hamilton's mom) and Claude (Hamilton's uncle). Hamilton's rage manifests itself in drunken stupors and outrage.

In the meantime, Horatio tries to contain Hamilton's rage by agreeing to help him find the killer. Shortly after this agreement, Horatio realizes he's in over his head. There's a pollution problem, a curious ex-boyfriend of Hamilton's mom, and Hamilton's ex-girlfriend. Horatio finds himself not only looking for facts to find a killer, but he's also trying to figure out how and why Rex Prince (Hamilton's deceased dad) was murdered... but things are never as simply as they seem in a small town named Denmark, Tennesee.

I particularly enjoy reading and re-reading this book because of the snarky humor and the great twists that lend for amusing student discussions and fun pictures to represent each day's reading. At the end of the unit, I enjoy comparing this story to the original (Hamlet) and then we connect the stories by creating graphic novels to represent the stories and the inconsistencies. I find that the creativity is really able to flow with this assignment and students love the opportunity to read something fun, funky and drama-filled. This is definitely a winner and I've also had student tell me that Something Wicked (based on MacBeth) is just as good.

X-treme history: Malcolm X (graphic novel)

There are very few books I actually make my students read, but Malcolm X by Andrew Helfer is one of those novels. The book is actually a graphic novel based on The Autobiography of Malcolm X and the graphic novel actually pulls in other history during Malcolm's lifetime.

I love teaching this book because it makes for great discussions with the students. I teach at a predominantly white, rural career center (once called a vocational school) and it's great to teach about racism and history being "white washed" head on. It's also great to have a safe place for students to really inspect the U.S.'s history, particularly regarding racial relations and it's good for my students to really think about what it means to be Black in America.

Malcolm X is a short (about 100 pages) of American racial history from the early 1920s to the mid 1960s (Malcolm lived from 1925-1965). As well, it's interesting to see how little students actually know about Malcolm and it's even more amazing to see what preconceived notions they had about Malcolm and then watch them learn the truth and revel in how far off they really were.

The story starts with Malcolm's life with his mother, who later goes crazy, his father, who dies a suspicious death, and later it progresses into his life in a foster family after he'd been separated from his siblings. The following sections recount his "hustling days" and his descent into illicit activities which eventually land him in jail. While in jail he's introduced to the Nation of Islam (a Black Nationalist religious group loosely based in Islam) and he becomes inspired to take up a preacher's life and with this he essentially becomes a self-taught religious speaker and civil rights activist.

The book is wonderful for getting students to notice inconsistencies in stories and notice how people are easily manipulated through lacking education and naivette. I love using this book as a springboard for discussion because it allows the readers to really dig deep and think about such things as the civil rights movement, McCarthyism, Islam v. the Nation of Islam and how powerful leaders such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Kennedy Brothers threatened the status quo. Lastly, it's a great teaching tool for readers to investigate their own prejudices and really reflect on stereotypes and the harm that they've done to those who believe in them and those who've fallen victim of them.

Overall, I'd highly recommend this read for anyone 14+ years of age. Anyone younger than this age will probably be missing the firm historical based to really appreciate this visual and textual masterpiece. As well, Malcolm X, a film by Spike Lee based on Malcolm X's life is a great complement to the book because it poses his life using clips of his actual speeches in addition to fabulous acting by Denzel Washington. Lastly, Malcolm X ties the racial struggle in the U.S. and abroad back into ongoings in the mid 1990s when the movie was made-- which shows how far we've come, but also how far we have yet to go.

Eastern Trees: Peterson Field Guides

I enjoy reading both fiction and non-fiction, but over the years I've increasingly found myself drawn to non-fiction because I'm a constant learner and I feel that non-fiction feeds this "need" moreso than the average fiction book. With this said, each year I ask for a handful of books for Christmas and one year in particular I really wanted books about trees. I ended up receiving a book from my mom as well as from my husband's parents. The book my mom gave me was Eastern Trees, which is one of the Peterson Field Guides. The other book, the one from Mark's parents, was Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs. This pretty much explains my family: my mom= self-taught botanist and Mark's parents= landscaping outfitters (they coordinate trees from nurseries to go to large landscape projects). While I enjoy both books, I enjoy them for entirely different reasons. Most recently, I've been glued to the Peterson Guide since I've been doing some recon in the local parks and wildlife areas.

The Peterson Guide to Eastern Trees is wonderful in that it breaks down the trees in the table of contents based on the characteristics of the tree, much like the Newcomb Wildflower Guide, only on a much less complex level. Immediately after this, there are a couple of pages that diagram the main parts of the tree and it explains the differences between needles, leave, leaflets and the various structures of buds. The next section includes a general overview of the overall structure of the trees-- silhouettes. This is particularly helpful for identification from a distance and also for when the leaves are no longer on the trees. After this section, there are charts with the characteristics of the trees and then color drawings on the opposite page to help the reader visually identify the tree by the leaves and the fruit/seeds/nuts. The last main section is the "species accounts" section. This section tells more about the individual species, where they're found, the trees' preferences and their uses for animals and people.

I have found myself particularly drawn to the silhouettes and the quick reference charts and drawings because they're so helpful in identifying the trees while in the field. With this said, I have not been drawn into the species accounts because it feels like it should be part of a separate book since the style is so different. I would probably have been more likely to read these accounts if they were linked in with the charts and drawings for the identification (like Newcomb's Wildflower Guide). As it is though, I've found myself using the Peterson Field Guide whenever I'm away from internet access, but then once I'm home, I can't help but be drawn to the internet's resources to answer my infinite questions about when the trees seed, what they're used for and where they're originally found. While most of this information can be found in the Peterson Guide, I also find that it feels merely surface level and I may be needing something a bit more in depth as my curiosity deepens.

"The Girl Who Played with Fire"

I've been reading "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest"-- which is the second book in "The Millenium Series," but I've been struggling to make much progress with it. There are a few possible reasons for this: 1. I think just reading during my lunch and during DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) is not nearly enough reading for me. 2. Stieg Larsson must have had a contract that paid by the word. 3. I really must be a slower reader than I realize. With this said, I'm writing the review now even though I'm only 170 some pages in to the 500+ page monster. I know the story is decent as a whole, because I made a point to see the Swedish version of the movies (they'll be coming out soon in an English version too).

Why am I writing the review now? Well, in all honesty, I'm not sure that I can bring myself to finish the book in a timely manner (i.e. within the span of two months at this rate!). I've not just taken to reading the book when I need something to fill my time-- which is rarely, because I'm pretty good at keeping myself busy. Also, I feel like my impression of the book hasn't changed since the first 50 pages. So, what's my recommendation? Save your time.

I love the main character, Lisbeth Salander. She's an autistic misfit with a penchant for putting domestic abusers in their shameful places. However, for some reason Stieg Larsson decided to try to clean her up a bit by having her get a tattoo removed, take out some of her piercings and then get a boob job. Seriously, a boob job. Nothing goes more against the grain for everything Salander would have stood up for than a boob job.

My next bit of beef with the story... the sex. Seriously, I think Larsson was just looking for an excuse to write some lesbian love scenes and he was vicariously trying to live through Mikael Blomkvist, who happens to bed any dame in his proximity but never has to deal with much fallout in the way of jealous ladies. Again, Larsson couldn't sell me on this one.

Aside from the overdone sex forays and the boob job, the story has been decent enough: someone is out to murder Salander, her former abusive guardian is trying to figure how to get back at her, and the Millenium crew is hot on the trail of some corrupt officials who enjoy underage prostitutes. So, that part of the story is decent... it's just the other silliness that must be overlooked. So for now, this read will drop to the "bored and/or looking for something to read before bed" category. Sorry for your luck, Stieg.

It's still working: A Clockwork Orange

On Fridays, I sometimes have my classes do "Booktalks"-- which are 3-5 minute informal speeches about something, anything that they've read. If a student isn't sure what to talk about he can always pick up a book or magazine from the classroom and simply read to us. It's really fun when students get excited and ham up the presentations. Some give wacky gestures and others just really use their voice changes to draw us in. This week, I was reminded of a book I read ages ago that my students have also found captivating: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. Of course there is also a movie based on the book, but the book is a bit challenging and it doesn't get 'artsy' like the movie does.

Please be warned, the content of both the book and the movie may be quite disturbing to some, but the author does a great job commenting on society through the story and the sex and violence are necessary to get the point across. First, you must know that the author has adopted russian words (Anglocized of course) in order to convey a sense of slang words that the main character uses. This is a bit tricky for the first 20 pages, until you realize that mahlenki means little, balshoy means big, and krovy means blood. Also, the old "in-out, in-out" refers to sex. Believe me, there is lots of krovy and lots of "in-out".

The story is essentially this: Alex is the leader of a gang. His gang members are called "droogs". Alex and his gang are hoodlums who rape and pillage from whomever they choose. Finally, there is a challenge of authority from one of the droogs and the droogs sell out Alex. Alex ends up in some sort of asylum and he is forced to have "therapy" which involves watching violent and sexual videos while he is poisoned. Thus, Alex becomes conditioned to no longer be able to stand the sight of sex or violence. The story doesn't end there, because Alex encounters his droogs after he's released from his 'treatment'.

This book has long been a favorite with teens. Why? Is there sex and violence? Yes. There's also the challenge to authority and I think more than anything, teens especially love to read a story written from the "bad guy's" perspective. At least I know I do. And, it's nice to feel torn about whether a character is really "bad" or not. It's nice to read a story that actually has character development and this definitely has that.

Lastly, would I let my teens read this...? Yes. Would I let my teens watch the movie? Not until they'd read the book (and if they were over 17). This is the type of story that requires reflection or even "debriefing" because of it disturbing nature--which is what I think many teens are looking for with their reading; They're looking for answers and ways to experience the "dark side" without having to actually go to the dark side for the answers. This book is one way to do so.

Whistling in the Dark: Potential Movie Material

Peer pressure can do amazing things and I, too, am sometimes a victim. However, peer pressure isn't always a bad thing and it wasn't for me this time. I ordered a copy of "Whistling in the Dark" (Lesley Kagen) because I read a quick synopsis advertising the staff's book club's latest choice. I was intrigued by the idea of the book because it indicated that it was a murder mystery set during the 1950s and a little girl was the narrator. As well, the narrator tries to protect herself and her sister and the synopsis indicated that the narrator knew who the "murderer and molester" was.

The first night I began to read the book, I was instantly sucked in because of the young narrator's tone. The young narrator is an eleven year old named Sally O'Malley. Sally has a 10 year old sister and an eighteen year old sister. The ten year old, Troo (which is short for her nickname, Trooper), is an outgoing, too-big for her britches, Francophile. She goes out of her way to say inappropriate things and come up with "plans" to make others bend to her every whim, and yet you can't help but love her because of her quick wit and take-no-prisoners attitude. Meanwhile, Sally is the reliable, responsible narrator who tries to keep Troo from getting into too many dangerous situations.

The girls' parental situation is a sticky one. The mother in the story is on her third husband (I think?) and at least her third lover. She has also been stricken with an illness that has left the children with Nell, the love-stricken oldest sister, and the drunken, carousing step-father, Hall. This means that Troo and Sally figure out meals on their own, which usually means showing up at friends' houses around dinner time, and the girls stumble into bed (or the bath) whenever they feel like it or when someone finally decides to take responsibility for them (which adds up to roughly once every week and a half).

In the meantime, a handful of girls in the neighborhood have disappeared and then grotesquely reappeared after being sexually assaulted and murdered. Sally has a close call two different nights and she's convinced that she knows who the murderer is, but she knows no one will believe her, not even her risk-taking little sister. While the reader comes to think of Sally as a reliable narrator because of her desire to avoid trouble (usually), we find out that Sally sometimes has an over-active imagination-- which is indicated through her family and friends' periodic remarks regarding her stories. As well, Sally is convinced that most of her peers, particularly her closest friends, are liars, and yet she claims them no-less.

There aren't many books I'll refuse to spoil the ending to, but this is one of those books. It's too much of a charmer to spoil. Its got witty dialogue, nostalgic images of bike parades and holiday celebrations, waitresses on roller skates, and 1950s music and television. While you'd think that the book would neglect some of the less-than-savory elements of the 1950s (racism and sexism), it puts them in their place as contributing evils-- particularly when characterizing the protagonists from the antagonists.

I enjoyed this book, but after reading another blogger's review, I was reminded that there were some annoying elements that felt a bit contrived and that's the diversity aspect. Believe me, I'm one for diversity and I love when authors actually include someone who isn't white, male and hetero, but the list of characters who were minor but randomly thrown in-- seeming like a school recruitment ad (you know, we've got a gay, a couple of black kids, a jew (or two) a Native American and oh and wait, someone with Down's Syndrome). The only way it could have been more forced was if there was a Latina and a Chinese neighbor. It felt like she wanted to do something with this show of diversity, but it never materialized, except that the discussion questions at the end of the book tied in some of these diversity elements, but very poorly. For instance, one question was: "13. Mr. Gary and Father Jim were gay. Did you find their relationship touching in any way?" I'm just not sure what to do with these questions at the end because I felt that they were pretty topical. And while the setting was a major metropolis, and these are diverse populations, it just seems peculiar that some of these characters had to be introduced with their stereo-typic qualifiers. I think the author may have been going for the child's point of view with trying to pidgeon-hole people, but it didn't quite work because there were other times when the thought processes for the narrator were obviously beyond that of a ten year old.

Despite this inconsistency in the narrator and the overreaching diversity, the story's tone was fun and yet scintillating. I would recommend the book, but not for those readers who take their reading too seriously. It's a light-hearted read. Put it in the Twighlight category; with much scrutiny it could be ripped to shreds, but for a secret read and for making a potential movie from it, it will appease the masses. And while the historic setting is ubiquitous, even to the point of some's annoyance, this is a great read for anyone- but the 45+ reader may get the biggest kick out of the references for the sheer nostalgia.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: Twigh- Lite

I love knowing that a main character is going to die. Call it morbid, but it's a refreshing change from "happy-ever-after" endings and in particular it's a nice way for Stephanie Meyer to end "the short second life of bree tanner". I felt like Meyer was able to appease my "Pulp Fiction" loving side by writing a novella that was merely created to explain the lead up to a newbie vampire's death at the hands of the Volturi and the Cullenses.

I picked up TSSLBT only because a student brought it in to me and handed it to me to read. And, I'm a sucker for suggestions from my students-- particularly when they deliver the book to my desk. I'd read all four of the Twighlight books (again, because of my students' pressure and/or nagging), so I wasn't really feeling ANOTHER piece by Stephanie Meyer. I was worn out on love stories and for the glittering vampires, I just have to laugh a bit. However, while I felt like Meyer took her good old time building Bree's life as a vampire, I felt like she finally started to hit her stride once Bree was in the hands of the Cullenses and the Volturi.

The simple breakdown is this: Bree is a newbie vampire who is trying to figure out the characters of the other vampires in the clan she's been into. She goes hunting in a small group that varies every couple of days and she starts to trust on of the other characters, Diego. She and Diego bond over some of the bone-headed decisions some of the other young vampires make and ultimately these two start to figure out that the main leader of their vampire clan is using them, but they aren't quite sure what for. Come to find out that this clan leader is trying to build a mini-army of vampires to deal with some other vampires. (This is where the Cullenses and the Volturi come into play.)

Did the book make me feel like some of the vampires the Cullenses/ Volturi killed were innocent? Yes. I guess they didn't deserve it because vampires have feelings too, but as a whole I didn't really feel very emotionally attached to Bree even though she and her vampire-beau did figure out that light doesn't actually kill the Meyer's-version of vampires. I was hoping that Bree would get her head ripped off (seriously, there is lots of nonchalant limb-ripping in this book) and burned for something witty she might retort to the Volturi. Instead of feeling satisfied with having knocked out another YA lit. phenom, I felt a twinge for some Tarantino vampires (Think: "From Dusk 'til Dawn") in my life. At least with Tarantino's vampires, I can laugh at the gore and punchy one-liners.

Meditative Read: Long Quiet Highway (by Natalie Goldberg)

I'm not really sure how I came across "Long Quiet Highway," but I found the book in one of my many book stashes. I'm sure that once upon a time I saw that Natalie Goldberg had written this and since I'd read "Wild Mind" and parts of "Writing Down the Bones", I knew I'd be in for a writing treat.

As an English teacher, I'm always looking for good books that teach about the writing process. While Wild Mind is more of a guide for topics to write about, "Long Quiet Highway" is part auto-biography and biography. The biography element tells about Goldberg's most influential teacher, her Buddhism teacher: Katagiri Roshi.

Goldberg describes her own restlessness in her quest for a purpose and in her marriage. Only through Buddhism and through her deepened interest in writing does she begin to gain a sense of quiet calm like her teacher. Goldberg's story is interesting in that it is multi-textured with her descriptions of childhood memories of classrooms, her parents and grandparents and the old-world ways, as well as her descriptions of New York, New Mexico and Minnesota.

This book is for anyone interested the writing process and the ways that writing teaches its students to dive inward for inspiration and for understanding.

Just in case: Richards' Bicycle Repair Manual

Apparently the stars were aligned for me yesterday because my husband and I happened to stumble onto the Lancaster Public Library's annual booksale despite having seen no prior advertisements for the sale. We considered ourselves smiled upon by the gods. And even though fate put us in the path of the sale, I managed to behave myself and only by a handful of items. I found a few rock cds and the humble, yet pictu-rific "Richards' Bicycle Repair Manual". The book is co-written by Richard Ballantine and Richard Grant.

My husband and I love our mountain bikes dearly and my husband has no qualms about jumping right in to work on his bike. He sees it as a learning process. I'm a bit more conservative, I'll wrench on a few obvious pieces and parts, but aside from that, I defer to the professionals... Because of this, I immediately bought the RBRM in hopes to repair future damage to my bike that I'm sure I'll incur with increased biking and with my increased eco-habits.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well organized the manual is. It walks the reader through repairs by starting with simplistic repairs and it moves to advanced repairs as the book moves forward. Toward the end of the book are a couple of very useful tools. 1st are some checklists for riding and maintenance and 2nd is the comical, yet useful "emergency repairs" diagram. Lastly, I particularly appreciated the glossary and the index. These are well organized and super easy to use.

Overall, the book does a fabulous job teaching for visual and kinesthetic learners (like me!) by including multiple pictures on almost every page. As well, all of the pics are in color, which makes the guide very accessible and a great book to simply pick to skim for desired info. I'm very excited about trying out the maintenance and repairs suggested as soon as possible.

Rocking My Socks Off: Fat Kid Rules the World

I started "Fat Kid Rules The World" last night just before bed as a pathetic attempt to put a larger dent into my box of YA lit I borrowed from my school's library. I was feeling a bit too guilty about only wanting to read non-fiction-- particularly about organic gardening. While I thought I'd just calm my brain with some reading before bed, instead I found my brain strangely roused from its plant-track mind. I've read one other book by the same author (K.L. Going) which was Saint Iggy. It was unconventional and gritty enough so I figured "Fat Kid" would be worth a try. And it was refreshing.

I found myself awaken this morning after dreaming about the first day of school and I decided that immediately after my obligatory run, I'd be snuggling into the couch to finish "Fat Kid". It was rainy and gray out, even if it was going to be 90 degrees again, and "Fat Kid" sucked me further into its depths.

Like "Saint Iggy", there is a homeless teen as a main character. There's also a bit of school skipping going on- which is beginning to make me wonder if K.L. Going was ever homeless and if she skipped school a lot. The protagonist is "Big T" who is a dorky, 300 lb softie. He's contemplating throwing himself into an oncoming subway train when the homeless rock prodigy Curt MacCrae interrupts him and forces him to buy lunch for the two of them.

Curt and "Big T" become an odd coupling in that Curt twists "T" into playing drums for a band that has just recently dreamed up. For some reason Curt sees potential in "T" that no one else sees or is willing to invest in. Curt and "T" begin the hang out at the expense of "T's" attendance at school, but "T's" dad puts a quick end to this truancy all while showing that he not only cares about his son, but also that he's concerned for the welfare of Curt.

"Big T" is a big baby and he trie to come up with reasons for why he isn't good enough to be the drummer that Curt is hoping to cultivate. Curt also exposes "T" to some of the seedier sides of life and he even gets T out of the house to go to a "real show".

I couldn't help but think that the author would magically fix T's problems by having him lose weight and get lots of attention from girls, but this didn't happen. I was pleasantly surprised. Instead, T had to earn his own respect and the respect of those around him- which was refreshing rather than seeing a simplistic ending to the story. The author forces the protagonist to deal with the real problems and she also forces him to look at his family members in a new light in order to better understand himself- which is something we could all use to do once in a while.

Pinned: the ultimate cop-out (spoiler alert!)

I'd seen the book "Pinned"(by Alfred C. Martino) sitting on the library bookshelves for the last few years and I finally decided to check it out for summer break for a handful of reasons: 1. there's a perception, particularly among boys, that reading isn't cool and I felt compelled to find some guy-lit that was solid. 2. I probably relate more closely with boys/ young men and the subject matter in "guy-lit" because of my love for competition and adventure and my extreme distaste for romance novels 3. a family friend (my sister's boyfriend & one of my college friends) recently put together a documentary by the same name as this novel and I was curious if there was any overlap between his movie and the novel (the only overlap is that both stories primarily follow two teenage wrestlers- but the movie deviates is a totally different style & genre than the book). 4. Lastly, I needed a book that would kick my athletic competitiveness into overdrive because I was preparing to run a 5k in my old hometown and I wanted to push myself that extra bit.

Did "Pinned" satisfy all of these desires? Yes. Except, that I'm not sure how strongly I would recommend the book because of the unsatisfying end (at least to me). However, it did push me to be competitive and push my training, it allowed me to see how much it overlapped with my friend's movie and it gave me at least another book to possibly suggest or even simply know as my students look for suggestions and put together projects based on novels they chose.

"Pinned" follows the senior years of two wrestlers: Bobby Zane and Ivan Korske. The chapters bounce back and forth between the two wrestlers and their conflicts.

Bobby Zane is a rich white boy whose parents are constantly arguing. Bobby is in love with a Portuguese-American girl name Carmelina. Bobby is straight laced but hormone-driven. He's almost always a cool customer, except for when he feels that his parents are messing with his and his little brother's lives or when Carmelina misses her period. Bobby trains hard while at practice and he counts his calories and fluid intake to the point of absurdity- which made me wonder about whether or not I'd recommend this novel to teens because the main characters do some dangerous things (starving, going without fluids, extreme sweating, using diuretics) all in the name of working for a state title and without repercussions. All of this is semi-supported by Bobby's hard-pushing, but loving father.

Ivan Korske is a real contrast for Bobby in that Bobby looks like a spoiled brat next to Ivan's self-lessness (at least at times). Ivan lives with his soft-spoken, widower father. Ivan and his father are still raw from the mother's recent death. Ivan sees wrestling as his ticket out of town and through college. However, Ivan's father wants Ivan to stay in the area and Ivan's good female-friend Shelley also wants him to stay- mostly so that the two can pursue a relationship that involves more than studying together.

I really enjoyed the two boys' stories and conflicts. It was refreshing to find very solid conflicts and some resolutions to each of these conflicts. However, I was left disappointed with the ending in that the author didn't seem to have the guts to pick a clear winner in the state title. The open-endedness leaves possibilities (especially now that I think about it for teaching purposes), but it also felt like a cop-out and it made me think that the author had simply tired of the story or he just couldn't pull the trigger. Would I recommend the book for sheer reading pleasure? Not necessarily. Would I use the book as a teaching tool with teens? Yes, but only if the teens had an adult-led discussion because there's some great potential for the reader to interpret some very harmful practices as being acceptable or even positive and these issues DEFINITELY need to be addressed. With the proper guidance, it'd be a good book to encourage critical thinking skills, but left unaddressed it could plant some dangerous ideas.

Selective Reading: The Edible Front Yard

Because I recently moved, I got the pleasure of getting a new library card in my new hometown. I was pretty excited at the prospects, even if it meant I was only temporarily allowed to take out two books until my card showed up in the mail. Once the card showed up, eureka, I could get out 50 at a time. Talk about serious reading time. Before I've gotten myself into too much trouble with getting out 50 at once, I chose "The Edible Front Yard" as one of my two first items to borrow. I'm becoming a little bit of a gardening freak so this book was a perfect fit.

I was particularly excited about the book because I find myself obsessively shopping for small houses online since my husband and I are still in the renting phase of our lives. I hate the idea of maintaining a lawn by mowing (which is a total waste of gas and time). But, I do enjoy growing veggies and fruit trees. I'm all about the practical, so this book seemed like it was just what I needed to feed my obsession. Ivette Soler fed my imagination more than she actually fed my mind with this book. I guess I probably got more out of the concept of the book than the actual content.

Much of the book is set aside for talking about the various types of veggies and herbs to grow and how they function. I was excited by the section on actually designing the front yard, but I was sorely disappointed when I found that there were only 3 plans laid out as examples. Much of the advice given was pretty basic and mostly common sense: check with your local building codes & call before you dig. As well, the discussion of irrigation systems was definitely lacking. Soler basically mentioned irrigation systems as a useful thing but then didn't explain the best methods for putting together these systems- while she does describe lots of other "crafty" types of projects for the front garden.

I did find it helpful to see the best methods for actually destroying the front lawn's grass and the few examples designs were interesting to see and I would have like to see at least 7 more of these (rounding out the examples at an even 10).

Also, Soler does mention that plants native to the planting area should be used and avoids getting very specific on this topic- even for her native state of California. Am I disappointed that I took the time to flip through the book and read selectively? No. But, I'm glad I didn't buy the book since I felt like I'd read the whole 200 page book within an hour. The more I think about it, this book is probably best used as a coffee table book because it has an abundance of lovely pictures and just enough info. to tease the reader a bit, but not allow the reader to get too cozy. It makes me want to write a book or two since it seems like any noob can do it but it does make me a bit interested in her blog to see what all she covers.

Just another zombie story? The Walking Dead Volume 1 (Spoiler Alert)

After a serious dose of reality from Trump & Kiyosaki's "We Want You to be Rich", I was ready for something short and trashy. I found it with the 1st volume of the graphic novel "The Walking Dead" by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore. My husband, who is my zombie enabler, bought me the 1st volume when he was popping in to our local comic book store.

I flew through the novel in just under two hours, but then again there wasn't an abundance of text for me to consume. Instead the focal point was the graphic quality. The novel is totally in gray scale and I'd heard from my husband that his "dealer" had told him that this had to do with the explicit content of zombies eating flesh and it all being shown. The graphic novel was roughly 100 pages or so, but I'm not really sure because the pages weren't numbered. All I know is that the $10 cost for merely 2 hours of entertainment seemed a bit steep. I'm not even at a stage in my life where 2 hours of Harry Potter could be justified as costing $10. What concerned me about the price was not the fact that I couldn't afford $10, but the fact that this booklet was the first in a series-- which made me feel that the story was being milked for all it was worth-- which indicated a more serious committment if I chose to continue the series.

The story itself was simple: Rick wakes up from a coma. He's a police officer who's been shot and forgotten in a hospital while zombies have taken over. Rick stumbles back to reality, gets enough information that he packs up his police gear and heads south in attempt to find his family. He gets rescued by a looter and the looter named Glenn takes him to the makeshift camp with a rag tag group of travellers. At the camp Rick is reunited with his wife and child and one of his buddies from the force and meets several new faces.

Rick and his buddy, Shane, are at odds because the brawny buddy has already fallen for Rick's wife and apparently the wife and Shane hooked up during a trying time. Mind you, Rick was only in a coma for a month and a few days passed between waking up and finding his family. Rick suggests that the camp begin to prepare for winter by moving to a more secure area away from the city and that all of the camp members need to learn how to shoot. Shane doesn't want to leave the camp's spot but he goes along with teaching all the members of the camp how to shoot- including Rick's young child named Carl.

The camp gets attacked by a small mob of zombies and two of the camp members are sacrificed, but Carl proves himself as valuable by saving his mother's life. Shortly hereafter tensions culminate to the point that Rick and Shane have a shouting match and it comes out the Shane is in love with Rick's wife, Lori. Shane aims his shotgun at Rick, while shouting about how Rick has ruined his life and Carl, Rick's young son, shoots and kills Shane.

While I'm looking for another zombie addiction, I don't think the Walking Dead series will be my new addiction. While I enjoyed the images and the brief amount of story, I just can't justify the bang for the buck. I feel a bit cheated. That being said, I've found myself reading a bit of non-fiction again so that I don't feel so used.

Needed Inspiration: Why We Want You To Be Rich

I found a copy of "Why We Want You to be Rich" at Kroger in the bargain bin. I'm not usually about reading get rich schemes but I was curious because the book was written by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki. I didn't know who Robert Kiyosaki was until a started to read the book and then I realized that I had heard of "Rich Dad Poor Dad". Nonetheless, I was intriqued by the book because I wanted to learn a bit more about Donald Trump since he's so controversial. And I like a good controversy.

I was amazed at the rate in which the book sucked me in because Trump and Kiyosaki took turns telling about their backgrounds as well as how they made their fortunes. Overall I found the book extremely inspirational and not just inspirational in the money making sense, but they did get my brain thinking even more about business ventures and investing. While I'd found I had a bit of curiousity about investing and especially realestate, T & K were good resources for giving lots of other books and authors to seek out. Of course they pluggeed their own products quite a bit, but I guess I expected some degree of that because obviously they know how to market and sell.

The pieces I took away were unique in that T& K suggested to stop taking the advice of "professional investors" because of the lack of training most investors actually have. Instead they suggested people do their own reasearch on investing and that basically simply diversifying in mutual funds was to "protect" investors from ignorance- whether it be their own or their investor's. They pointed to their investments in real estate, oil, gold & silver as having been the most productive- because these were long term investments and basically, the more politicians don't work together, the more the price of gold goes up (which just happened this last week with the debt talks & gold hitting an all-time high), even though this book was published four years ago.

More than anything, Trump & Kiyosaki suggested further educating oneself and simply being willing to make a commitment to educating oneself about finances through reading & college classes (suggested areas: business law & accounting). Another main theme was simply finding what you love to do first and then consistently working at this. However T & K don't recommend that everyone go it alone and become entrepreneurs because some people would simply rather have a steady income rather than have the freedom of working for oneself & simply enough, some people just aren't cut out for it. T& K pushed determination & perserverence with kindness, but without naivette. They were realistic in that people would try to take advantage of anyone willing to simply handover money (whether for investments or other business deals) and this is where their desire to show the reader the amount of hard work it takes comes in.

I also found it interesting that they didn't push scrimping and saving, but instead they pushed finding what makes one happy, pursuing it whole heartedly and investing in educating oneself, and then enjoying the money as it came in and reinvesting it in order to expand one's means.

T & K's appproach won't work for everyone, but it will work for the few willing to put in the time and those willing to be bold in going after their dreams. This book would be good for anyone looking for motivation to go out and do something great- business or non-business related.

Worth the hype: Water for Elephants

We all know that I'm a bit of a grouch when it comes to finding good reading. Either that, or I just know what I like. I'm not sure which just yet, but I do know that I absolutely loved Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I was just so flabbergasted to have found a read that I thoroughly enjoyed that I was speechless for a whole 24 hrs as to what to write about it.

First off, the cover of the book is misleading; there is NOT a "mute heroine" unless you consider an elephant a heroine-- which, I guess, is possible. Secondly, the story didn't take any unexpected twists of turns, except the very end, which was a bit refreshing because the story wasn't so convoluted that the reader couldn't keep up (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo did this a little).

Instead, the protagonist is the young (and old) Jacob Jankowski and it is told simultaneously from his 20 year old self and his 93 year old self. This works in that the author uses the 93 year old's happenings as a springboard to reflect on the 20 year old's time in the circus.

What I particularly enjoyed about the book was the grittiness and the absolute filth. The author described the sights and smells in such a way that I could picture each animal in the menagerie and the worker to accompany it. She also mentioned such things as public fornication and masturbation in such a way that she showed she was willing to go the distance to show the honesty of the protagonist. As well, she showed the many sides of any one character-- which made the characters round and interesting-- rather than simply casting "good guy" and "bad guy".

I have not yet seen the movie based on the book, but because of my sheer enjoyment for the book and the richness of the characters, I can't help but be intrigued at how the director may have interpreted this characters and depicted them on the screen.

Walter Dean Myers is "Bad Boy"

I must admit that I've recently been sucked into the tv series Dexter and I feel that right now many stories will simply pale in comparison to the storyline of this show. My husband and I have been compulsively watching it over the past three weeks and was thrilled to see it based on a book: Darkly Dreaming Dexter. This may need to make it onto my list once I make it through my summer stack. With this said, I have been reading when I haven't been recovering from my daily distance running...

I picked up this biography by Walter Dean Myers because he's written a few books I absolutely loved: Fallen Angels and Monster. Both won numerous awards for YA lit. Myers' biography is a mere 205 pages. Above all it's packed full of his love for reading and writing.

Myers recounts his shaky school history and his history of fighting and sports addiction. While I appreciated his attempts to connect with troubled youth and aspiring writers, I felt that his book was speaking to two disconnected audiences. His first audience is the troubled youth, who gets into fights, skips schools but still manages to have parents who care. His second audience is for those who love reading. While he attempts to combine these audiences, it seems that he perceives them as disconnected. The conflict of the book is just this: his struggle with being a troubled but bright youth who enjoys reading. It's funny, but I feel like he should have written "the First part Last" because of his self descriptions.

While there are numerous authors from backgrounds different than my own that I've been able to connect with, I had a hard time connecting with "Bad Boy." I'm an avid reader and I have definitely found myself less than pleased with school, and at times I found myself doing reckless things just because I could. And yet, I felt disconnected. It seemed that he was telling the story from some perspective outside of himself which relied on dates and facts more than emotions and memories.

Like most people, I too, have struggled with identity. And I feel that most of us have. Have I struggled with racial issues during the time of civil rights? No, but I've read other authors who have similarly toiled and been able to continue to relate to the reader. Audre Lorde, James Baldwin and Sherman Alexie all come to mind.

There were many points in the book when I felt like Myers was recounting many of the books he read and too much about the books he read. It made the story feel cataloged. While I, too, have enjoyed reading, I can't say that I could remember the exact book I was reading at a particular time for more than 5 times in my life, yet Myers does this about 20 times. It gets a bit cumbersome because the books aren't meaningful to his overall struggle- which is reconciling being a bright, but trouble black youth, who is emerging as a writer, when writing was not an option as a career.

I'd give Myers a "C" for his work because I felt that it fell flat as far as passion and humor, particularly based on the work I've previously read by him. I'm not judging his life, but I just felt that something about the book did not compel me to continue to read. For being such a short book, it took me nearly a week to push myself to sit down and just read it.

Short & Sweet: Dead Girls Don't Write Letters (pseudo-Spoiler Alert)

I, being the commitment-phobe that I am, decided to find the shortest book I had out on loan in order to cleanse my mental palate from the last two literary duds. It worked. Dead Girls Don't Write Letters by Gail Giles was a short, skin tingling thriller. I read the book in one sitting (which is highly unusual for me) because it was a perfect 105 pages long.

The premise is this: Sunny, which is short for Sunflower, is a teen who is trying to deal with an alcoholic father and a shock-induced mother. Sunny's older sister, Jasmine, has been killed in a fire in New York. While Sunny's life wasn't exactly peachy with Jasmine around, Sunny manages to go through the motions with her school work and taking on family responsibilities. Then, Sunny manages to find a letter in the mail from her sister that is dated post-firey-death. Sunny's hesitant to open the letter, much less share it with her parents, because she's afraid it will just open the fresh wounds wider. She does open the letter and then finds out that Jasmine is apparently alive and going to be visiting in the very near future (within two days of receiving the letter). Sunny is guarded because she knows that Jasmine wasn't the angel everyone else thought she was.

Sunny's parents are thrilled at the news and Sunny's mother suddenly snaps out of her funk and begins to cook and clean as if it were Thanksgiving. The only problems is that when Jasmine arrives at the house, Sunny realizes it's not Jasmine. It's an imposter. Sunny plays it cool until she has a moment to speak with her father privately- who is also acting peculiarly because he can tell that this girl is not the same "Jazz" the family knows. Sunny's mother is in perfect denial even though the little signs have indicated that this "new" and nicer Jazz is not legit.

Sunny and her father team up to deal with the imposter, but it's obvious that Sunny is less than forgiving of her father's drinking and there's serious tension along the way. Sunny and her family deal with the imposter... but then we find out there's reason to believe that maybe there wasn't really an imposter... or maybe there was an imposter and she's a threat again. Either way, the open-ended ending is satisfying in that there's the possibility for a follow up book. Kudos Gail Giles. You kept me reading in a time a reading-need and you didn't bog me down with unnecessary details. I won't forget your name when I skulk through the library annoyed at an inept author and I need a decent writer to pull me out of the funk of being recommended lacking storylines.

will grayson, will grayson: repetition & texting filler

Every year, at the end of the school year, I load up on summer reading books from my school library in attempt to get in touch with the latest YA lit. Sometimes I find some wonderful reads and sometimes I find myself attempting to poke my eyes out rather than finish a weak book.

I guess I found another eye-poker. It seems like I've been on a blah-book run lately and I apologize as much as anyone. However, I'm hoping to spare future readers from my mistakes; so, live and learn. With that said, will grayson, will grayson by John Green and David Levithan should be put at the bottom of anyone's reading list. I've tried to read John Green's work before and got so bored I put it down as well (An Abundance of Katherines). This work, with David Levithan's help (author of Boy Meets Boy- which was OK and super short), also fell flat. My main complaint: I just couldn't connect with the characters. I felt no compassion for them and I didn't feel as if they were really encountering conflicts that made me want to continue to read. I felt that Green and Levithan were so focused on describing how often the characters used their computers and cell phones for IMing or texting that they forgot to focus on the story.

The story is told from two perspectives: two young adults both named Will Grayson, who both live in the Chicago area. The two young men happen to meet one another because of a fake blind date. One man is straight and the other is gay. Both are trying to find their ways in new, pseudo relationships. After 210 out of the 305 pages I just simply gave up out of boredom. I just didn't feel like I was going to learn anything from the characters- which is an automatic way to turn me off. I didn't feel like I really learned anything about Chicago or Chicagoans, and I didn't feel like I learned anything more about being a gay teen (or being a straight teen for that matter). Instead, I felt like there was an unnecessary abundance of lyrics for Tiny's musical and lovey-dovey boys reasssurring one another in order to build self esteem. I feel that I'm doing myself and the reader an injustice because by my description it could appear that there's actually substance to the book, but please don't be fooled; it's simply authors trying to imitate teen life with pithy one liners. I feel that this book is an insult to the teens I know and work with. Their feelings are real and are compelling. Their struggles are gut-wrenching and difficult. It's time some authors started to respect and reflect that.

All I can say is that this book makes me miss reading Suzanne Woods Fisher (The Search, The Waiting, etc.) and Alexie Sherman (The Almost True Story of a Part time Indian) because they know how to describe emotions and tie these emotions to compelling conflicts.

Just another baby book: The First Part Last

Well, I got my cheap and easy YA lit. read in for the week: The First Part Last by Angela Johnson. The book is a Michael Printz Award winner, but I can't say that I was overly impressed. I felt like it was just another book with a teen raising a child before he was ready.



The book is interesting in that it jumps forward and backward in time and it's a one-day read. It's only 130 ish pages- which are a quick read. The main character, Bobby is a 16 year old inner-city New Yorker who gets his 16 year old girlfriend, Nia, pregnant.


I did find it interesting that the main characters talks about all the ways that his parents had talked to him about sex and preventing STDs and pregnancy and yet the teen still ends up a young parent. Bobby talks about the difficulty of raising the child with minimal parental support (despite them being really strong parent for him they're really pushing him to take responsiblity). Bobby also talks about his love for both the baby and his girlfriend (and there's a big twist as to how he ends up the sole provider for the child).


I'm not sure what the author is trying to convey about teen pregnancy. I think she may be pushing for teens to own up- but I'm not sure that this is always the best choice for the baby & thus the community. It seemed to me that Bobby just naturally knew how to care for his baby and there was very little discussion about learning how to discipline, care for the baby, and learn how not to snap on the child. Instead, it seemed that the book reinforced what so many of my students express: Every thing will just work itself out, teens don't really need guidance, babies are how you get attention, and babies are how you solve relationship problems. While the author did demonstrate the young father's desire to goof off and needing to sacrifice these feelings in order to be responsible, I couldn't help but feel that the book wasn't giving young people the needed guidance: which could have more effectively been spreadsheets of the costs, time demands, legal responsibilites, and experiences sacrificed in order to truly be a good and effective teen parent.


Maybe I'm just too jaded from seeing teen pregnancy with multiple students, but the story was myopic and didn't really have a conflict. The conflict should have been "is Bobby going to keep the baby, even though he's not ready for it?" But it wasn't, because we knew from the first page that he would end up with the baby. Instead the conflict for me was: "why in the heck is the author just showing the excitement a new baby brings? This contradicts what we want teens to learn. "


What teens need to be given are examples of characters who are tempted to make the wrong decisions but instead, find creative ways to make positive decisions. We've got plenty of negative role models, but it seems young adults have the hardest time recognizing the positive role models. Instead, YA readers get sexed up, drugged up, vampired out, when they should be getting the strength needed to tell their parents and teachers the truth or ask for adult guidance with tricky situations; they really need the strength and guidance as to how to indentify abusive relationships and knowing when just fooling around really means getting oneself into situations with long-term consequences. At the same time it seems that parents and teachers need the positive role models as well, to know how to help guide their young adults to wise decision making, while realizing that young adults (like anyone) love attention, so we'd better be giving them attention and support for their positive deeds and courageous acts- not just attention when they OD, get pregnant or crave human blood. It makes me think that we need a few more parents and teachers like those in the movie Easy A (great examples of easy-going but concerned, supportive parents & an English Teacher). I know it's just a movie, but check it out and you'll know what I mean.

Savor-worthy: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Some people read the book first and watch the movie second. I ALWAYS (when possible) read the book after I watch the movie. Some would say this spoils the book, but I disagree; the book is always better than the movie, so I find myself rarely disappointed. Instead, I use the movie-version of a story to whet my appetite and I then seek out the book to fill in the interesting details the movie couldn't include. I also get interesting character insights from the book that the movie was unable to tackle or was too confined to begin to tackle the topic. With this said, I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo after I'd seen the swedish version of the movie (with English subtitles). Apparently, there's supposed to be an English version in the making as well.

I kept hearing about TGDT (my new abbreviation for it) on NPR and from my artsy, indie friends. The story was written by Stieg Larsson, who passed shortly after having the trilogy published. I heard TGDT was fabulous, but then came the disclaimers: do not watch or read this if you're squeemish about sexual violence-- because this theme pushes the entire conflict. As well, when I heard about it on NPR, I was reassured that the sexual violence is necessary to the plot and that the main character gets vindication (which helped me stomach one scene in particular).

The gist is this: Lisbeth Salander is a punk-rock (minus the rock) investigator. She makes her own hours and her own rules. She's also a warden of the state... which the book never explains (but gets explained later in the TGDT aka Millenium Series). We catch up with her at the point when her state guardian dies and she's assigned a new, sexually sadistic state guardian.

Meantime, Mikael Blomkvist is a financial reporter who's recently lost a libel lawsuit and he's baited by the head of the Vanger family to write a chronicle of the family (publically) and attempt to solve a 30 year old disappearance mystery (secretly).

Lisbeth and Mikael become an unlikely pair after Mikael makes enough progress on the mystery to realize that he's in over his head. He enlists Lisbeth because he read the thorough, and unsettling report she wrote for Mr. Vanger in order to assure Vanger of Blomkvist's skill and ethical standard.

The story is both sexual and a bit gory, but it's far from unintelligent. The story has a strong plot that holds up to it's (at times) unnecessary wordiness. At 630+ pages, I couldn't help but want to chew out Larsson's editor for not requiring him to cut out 200 or so pages- particularly unnecessary info about what type of sandwiches the characters ate as well as an diatribe about a Swedish tycoon via an explanation of the Swedish banking industry. However, I slowly wandered through the story because it had intrique: Why was the Harriet Vanger missing? And then, what did these other brutal murders have to do with her- if her body was never found? I couldn't help but be sucked in, but I decided I was also ready for some cheap and easy YA lit. reading immediately after this commitment-of-a-book was concluded.