Rules by Cynthia Lord

Rules is a coming-of-age story of twelve-year-old Catherine, who both loves and is embarrassed by her autistic brother, David who loves to quote from Toad and Frog. Catherine dreams that one day David will wake up in the morning and be normal kid. But realizing that this prospect is very slim, she creates a list of rules to help David understand both overt and implied rules of the world, such as “if someone says “hi,” you say “hi” back, or “a boy can take off his shirt to swim, but not his shorts.” With a father who is a pharmacist and a mom with her own home tax preparation business, Catherine is often “left in charge” of David and feels her parents have little time left over for her after keeping up with all of David’s needs. And as Catherine comes up with rules for her brother to learn, she is also creating rules for her own life along the way, such as “if you don’t want to do something, say, “Hmm. I’ll think about it” and maybe the asker will forget the whole bad idea” or “sometimes you gotta work with what you got.”
Ever since she was little, Catherine has often gone with David to see his occupational therapist. One day, while waiting for David, Catherine meets a boy named Jason who is wheelchair bound and “talks” by using a communication book filled with word cards and corresponding drawings. She befriends Jason and begins making more cards for him filled with words she feels are more “useful” to him such as gross!, awesome!, and stinks a big one!. In contrast to his original black and white words-only cards, Catherine’s new cards are illustrated and in color, and a deep friendship begins to blossom. Yet, Catherine also befriends Kristi, the new girl next door that she so wishes to be her best friend. Yet, this friendship is more like work, especially after watching Kristi fall for the neighborhood bully, Ryan. Consequently, Catherine can’t bring herself to tell Kristi about Jason. She is also not too sure she wants the other kids at school to know that she is friends a boy who is “different,” and so she is torn between inviting Jason to the school dance and having her friends find out about Jason. Catherine eventually decides to invite Jason to the dance but it may be too late. Jason feels Catherine is embarrassed by him, but eventually comes to the dance once Catherine calls and apologizes. At the dance, Catherine uses more word cards that she has created for Jason to both tell and show him that she appreciates him even more so because of his differences. Catherine learns a lot through her experiences and relationships. She learns lessons about tolerance, acceptance, appreciation, and love.
In an age where so many more cases of autism are showing up each year, this book would be a great read aloud to introduce the topic of autism and other mental or communication disabilities which students could research afterward. It really shows what the family members of a person with any type of disability goes through in lessons on empathy and acceptance of others.

The Janitor's Boy by Andrew Clements

"And what do you want to be when you grow up, Jack?"
There was no hesitation. Jack smiled with perfect second-grade certainty and he said, "I want to be a janitor, like my dad."
Before Miss Patton could say something like, "That's great, Jack," some kids in the class began to giggle. Raymond Hollis blurted out, "A janitor? That's a job for dum-dums! Hey, Jack wants to grow up to be a dum-dum like his dum-dum daddy!"
That got the whole class laughing. Miss Patton shushed them and said, "Raymond, that was not nice, and you owe Jack an apology. Being a janitor is a perfectly good job, and I'm sure Jack is very proud of his dad."
Jack was proud of his dad, and he loved him very much. But laughter from kids is more powerful than words from teachers. Raymond had to stand up and say, "I'm sorry, Jack," but Jack could tell he didn't mean it.
Ever since that day in second grade, whenever the conversation turned toward parents and jobs, Jack clammed up.

The Janitor’s Boy is the story of Jack, whose father is the janitor at the old high school, where all middle school students will be transferred until their new building's construction is completed. Jack’s father calls out “Hi Son!” one day in the middle of a class and he is mortified and angry as the other students tease Jack about his father’s job. To get back at his father, Jack chews up multiple pieces of the stickiest, smelliest gum he can find (13 pieces of Bubblicious watermelon flavor) to stretch and smear under a desk and seat so that his father will have to scrape it off.
When the principal catches Jack, his consequence is to help the janitor scrape gum off of desks and tables after school for three weeks. While working out his punishment, Jack finds a cabinet that holds keys to different locations in the school. Jack takes a copy of the keys to the bell tower and the storm tunnel, which runs under the school and under nearly the whole town of Huntington. Jack explores different places in the school until he finds the storm tunnel. When entering the storm tunnel, Jack accidentally locks himself in, and gets lost in its vast twists and turns. Jack has to explore the dark tunnel to find a way to escape and eventually sees a light coming from a nook in the tunnel. In the nook, he meets a young man who is living in the tunnel and Jack comes to learn many things about his father, the janitor because of this encounter. Jack finds out that after his father had returned from Vietnam, he had problems re-entering society. To help John out, the janitor at this school helps him get a job, and later, John finds out that his new friend and co-worker has given up overtime and some of his own work hours so that John could have the job. This act of kindness is never forgotten and John is determined to “pay it forward” for the rest of his life. Consequently, Jack learns that his father had set up this place in the storm tunnel as a safe location for people in need of a place to stay beginning with his army buddy Lou, who is now his co-worker. Jack even finds out that his father has tapped into the city’s electrical lines in order to give the nook’s residents needed electricity. Yet, his father also installed a meter and makes donations each month to the city for the amount of electricity that is used. On the refrigerator in the nook, Jack sees a whole list of people (beginning with Lou) who have been helped in such ways by his father and others. The young man living in the nook eventually helps Jack get out of the tunnel.
Jack's emergence from the dark storm tunnel into the light could be considered a metaphor for Jack's enlightenment after years of being unaware of his father's benevolence. Now, the laughter of the other students doesn’t seem to hold the same power over him. For now Jack knows the real work of his father’s hands, and he holds a new respect for the hard work which his father carries out for others, both publicly and privately.
Andrew Clements, once again tells a “coming of age” story with humor and poignancy, for parental embarrassment is an almost universal phenomenon of adolescence.
This story is a natural fit for teaching character education, teaching theme, or for teaching dynamic characterization, or internal conflict.

The Sisters Grimm, Book One: The Fairytale Detectives by Michael Buckley

The Sisters Grimm, Book One: The Fairy-Tale Detectives is the first in a series of six fantastical adventures which follow the life experiences of Sabrina and Daphne Grimm. The story begins with a very pinched-face caseworker delivering them from an orphanage into the hands of their grandmother, Rhelda Grimm and her friend, Mr. Canis, after the girls’ parents disappear without a trace. One would think the girls would be happy to make a home with their grandmother in Ferryport Landing, but Sabrina doubted the older woman was her grandmother, as her father had told them that she was dead. Sabrina’s wariness of Rhelda only intensifies when the old woman cooks strange things, talks to her house, and tells the girls that not only are they the last descendants of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, but also tells the girls Ferryport Landing is filled with fairy-tale beings. It is only after a failed escape resulting in the girls being blood-let by pixies, and subsequently seeing a picture of her father as a boy with a young Rhelda that Sabrina begins to tentatively accept that the old woman just might be her grandmother after all. Later that day, with only the clue of a beanstalk leaf, Rhelda and Mr. Canis are captured by a giant during their investigation of a crushed farmer’s home. Sabrina and Daphne manage to escape only to find themselves lost in the forest where they meet Puck, who happens to be a friend of their grandmother. Puck takes them back to Rhelda’s home where they use books to find information and then find a note from Rhelda telling them to go to the locked upstairs room for their answers. This is when they meet “Mirror-Mirror” from Snow White who shows them an image of Jack, the famous giant-killer. He is in a jail cell, and the Rhelda and Mr. Canis are captured by the giant tells them that they will need to break Jack out of jail to help rescue Grandma Rhelda and Mr. Canis. Mirror-Mirror also gives them a magic carpet upon which to travel and escape the police who are in pursuit of them. Jack helps them form a plan to get into Mayor Prince Charming’s mansion during a fund-raising party in order to get information about the giant but the giant finds them first and crushes the Mayor’s mansion. But Jack was not a help to the girls. We find out that it was actually Jack who had unleashed the giant upon the community in hopes of slaying him and regaining notoriety. Jack unleashes his anger upon everyone including the girls who use the sword, Excalibur, to fend off Jack’s arrows as he admits he is working for the underhanded organization known as the Scarlet Hand, who he says kidnapped the girls parents. In the end, we find out that Mr. Canis is really the “big bad wolf” as he and Jack fight savagely. Yet, it is Puck who saves the day by bringing the Pixies to attack Jack with a bloodletting force that he could not hinder or stop until he was no more. When all of the Grimms, Mr. Canis, and Puck (who has decided to move into the house with everyone) return to Rhelda’s home, they see Sabrina and Daphne’s parents lying in a deep and magical sleep and Grandmother promises they will do everything to find them and bring them home.
This book has me looking forward to reading the next in the series and considering how I could use it in my literature class next school year. I think it would make a great read-aloud during a unit on folktales, fairy tales, and fables. I am so surprised how many of these stories have ever been heard by my students and a unit whereby students read these stories and then scripted them for a reader’s theater would incorporate both reading and writing, as well as back-fill knowledge on stories that are often alluded to in other pieces of text.

NPR: Something for Everyone

www.npr.org
I regularly listen to National Public Radio (NPR) and hear stories that I want to pull up and share with students in class. I have also shared several stories with other content teachers from the “This I Believe” project, the “Story Corps” collection, and radio expeditions. Next to a great book, I just love what radio has to offer!

http://booklust.wetpaint.com/
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to Nancy Pearl’s book recommendations on NPR, you might be interested in joining her “booklust” community "for people who love to read." Also, make sure to check out one of her newer titles, Book Crush: For Kids and Teens—Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason!

Grandpa always said to keep the right tools handy!

www.classtools.net
This is a free! user-friendly resource for setting up games and quizzes with ones own content information. One can enter class lists into the cherry-picker to randomly select students for activities throughout the year, and create interactive games, as well as graphic organizers which can later be printed as class notes.

Great Resource

www.readwritethink.org
This website sponsored by N.C.T.E. and I.R.A. is one of the best resources on the web for reading and writing resources (that can often be used across the curriculum). It features information for teachers, lessons plans and resources, as well as interactive skill-building activities under a “student materials index.” It also features a gallery of suggested web-based resources for teachers.

What's Up?

www.cnn.com/studentnews/
Check out the CNN Student News site for daily student news segments on big national and international news stories. There is also a quiz segment where students are asked to shout out answers. The site also has a segment on “Young People Who Rock” featuring people under 30 who are doing extraordinary things as well as regular features such as “one sheet” informational articles which can be used in the classroom.

Tween Tribune for the Classroom

A site that I recently came across is:

http://tweentribune.com

This is a news site for tweens and teens ages 8-14 by students for students. Interesting news stories are pulled together on this moderated website especially created for students to read and comment on--Speak about interacting with text--yay! If teachers are interested in signing up their classes (for free) they have the ability to customize their class page so that everyone can see the stories that their classmates find interesting and read the comments being made. Also, teachers can choose to receive reports of individual student comments and give feedback on student writing!

Have you ever wordled?

Here's a great website to copy and paste text into to create a graphic representation of ones writing!
www.wordle.net
Words that are used most frequently will appear the largest in the design and will visually show students when they are overusing a word. This visual representation will also let students "see" words they have used in an isolated way in order to help writers edit and revise. I like to have my students create a wordle of their first draft when writing and then use the wordle for visual feedback as they revise and edit. Then, they create a new wordle with which to compare their first and final drafts.

Numbering All the Bones by Ann Rinaldi

HISTORICAL FICTION

My daughter-in-law has been suggesting I read Numbering All the Bones for a couple of years now. So when I picked it up and saw that Ann Rinaldi was the author, I knew that I was in for a real treat. I was not disappointed. Numbering All the Bones is the story of thirteen-year-old Eulinda, a house slave and daughter of the master of Pond Bluff plantation, situated just outside of Andersonville, Georgia at the end of the Civil War.
The book begins with Eulinda staring at a ruby ring inside a pawn shop window in Washington City. Seeing this particular ring sends Eulinda flashing back to the plantation and her early years when the master’s first wife hates her and her mother so much that she accuses Eulinda’s little brother Zeke of having stolen the ring to justify selling him away. After Zeke is sold, Neddy, Eulinda’s older brother, actually steals the ring believing the Mr. Hampton’s wife “owes it” to them for selling his little brother. He believed that this ruby ring would be a nest egg with which they could someday start a new life.
When Mr. Hampton’s first wife dies and he takes on a new wife, Eulinda is given a place at the dinner table as a part of the family and taught to read and write by “Mistis.” Yet, as Eulinda grows up, she realizes that Mistis is only putting on an act, and always has an ulterior motive to anything she does. Because Eulinda lives in the “big house” she is never really trusted or accepted by the slaves, she has to walk a thin line between two very different realities. There are times when it seems as if Eulinda’s real father has feelings for her, like when he goes to the Andersonville Prison to get her dog back to keep the men from eating it. Yet, he never seems to have the mettle to stand up for any reason. Even after finding out that Eulinda’s brother, Neddy, who ran away from the plantation to join the Union army is a prisoner in Andersonville, Mr. Hampton tells Eulinda that Neddy acted as if he didn’t know who Mr. Hampton was, and so he let him stay at the prison rather than bring him back to the plantation.
When the war is over Eulinda stays on at the plantation out of loyalty to Mr. Hampton for a while, but eventually she ends up working for Clara Barton at the Andersonville prison as Clara’s secretary. This part of the story recounts how the prisoners were buried and how Dorence Atwater, prisoner-turned-clerk, had kept secret records of the dead at the prison and returned to help document the account of Andersonville along with others. Alongside her secretarial duties, Eulinda helped paint grave markers. So, when the time came to rebury the colored troops, she had help finding her brother Neddy’s grave to look for the ring she would find with his bones, as the message he had sent her stated. Many freed slaves and ex-soldiers came to work at the prisoner of war camp for food and a place to stay. When a family came and a baby boy was born and then named Zeke, just like her brother who had been sold, Eulinda took it as a sign that the ring should go to this young black family to start a new life. Eulinda left Andersonville with Clara Barton and continued on as her secretary in Washington, starting a new life for herself in the north.
This story could have happened, and one feels like surely it did, as it is richly filled with real people and authentic situations of this time period. My daughter-in-law has taken her students to the Andersonville prison after reading Numbering All the Bones. There, they found the graves of several people in the story, and were able to vividly experience elements of this prisoner of war encampment as it was so long ago, giving them a rich and satisfying experience with this book.

Hooray for Diffendoofer Day

Another teacher recently reminded me of the power of Dr. Seuss. And so I went to the book store in search of a specific Seuss favorite. What treasure did I find? Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!

Filled with rhyme, humor, irony, hyperbole, and even a large dose of (state testing) humor, it’s only a matter of time before both teachers and students alike are going ba-zonkers over Miss Bonkers herself!

The words of Seuss,

Have the power of Zeus!

So Prelutskey and Smith,

Resurrected him forthwith,

And begged him pLeAsE,

While on their knees,

Would you, could you,

Show us your final book?

Our kids must read,

You’ll be the hook!

Up on a cloud,

Up in the sky,

You’ll make us proud,

The kids will cry!

And so, Miss Bonkers came to be,

Along with cooks McMunch, all three!

The principal is Mr. Lowe,

His eyebrows are bushy-thick as a ‘fro!

The nurse, Miss Clotte knows what to do,

If you have a splinter or the flu!

Mr. Plunger cleans the school,

because Diffendoofers will always rule!

And so. . .

Dr. Suess and friends,

Thank you, thank you,

I must say,

I’ve read your book,

You made my day!

Breathless by Lurlene McDaniel

Lurlene McDaniel’s realistic stories of teens facing life-altering situations are almost always a sure bet for teen girls. They are filled with drama, friendship, and young love. This is why I was surprised when I was told that several newly purchased Lurlene McDaniel titles could not even be put out on the shelves of our middle school library because of inappropriate content.

Breathless is not the story of young love as much as it is a story of a young man who, after fighting bone cancer for close to two years, makes plans to choose how and when he dies rather than go through the series of heroic medical measures his parents insist he should want because “scientific miracles come along every single day.” The story is realistically told through four very different voices. First, is Travis, a champion diver, whose bone snaps one day as he’s making a dare devil dive off a mountain cliff and eventually has to have his leg amputated, as well as face chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The second voice is Cooper, Travis’ best friend since the third grade, who is fatherless and lives with an inattentive alcoholic mother. We also hear the perspective of Darla, who is Travis’ girlfriend. Darla is considered an “easy” girl at school and lives with a verbally abusive father at home. Yet, Darla has found a boyfriend who respects and cares for the real person within her in Travis. Finally, we hear this story through the voice of Emily, Travis’ younger sister, who is so loyal, that when he was grounded to his room when younger, she sat outside his bedroom door, coloring pictures for two days. Each one of these teens grapples throughout the story with their own life situations, as well as Travis’ controversial decision to end his own life. In the end, a stroke puts Travis in the hospital and stops his own plans for choosing how to die…or does it?

In regards to this book not being placed on our middle school library shelves? There is one scene where Travis and his girlfriend are alone in his room and she lifts her shirt over her head and he asks her “are you sure?” and she kisses him and says, “way sure.” I do not think this book is inappropriate for the eighth grade girls in our school.