LEGO Construction Club

At the last minute, I decided that this week's theme would be ninjas.  Surprisingly, a lot of the kids were not thrilled.  Doesn't everyone love ninjas?  Thankfully, I couple kids threw some ninja kicks and punches when I announced the theme, so it wasn't a total loss.

Pictures below the cut.

One-Handed Catch by MJ Auch

Book Jacket

Not even losing his hand can keep Norm from trying out for the baseball team What would life be like with only one hand? That's exactly what eleven-year-old Norm finds out when he loses his left hand in an accident at his family's store. It's July 4, 1946. World War II has ended, and life is getting back to normal. But for Norm, the pressing question now is whether he will ever be able to play baseball again, or be an artist. It's up to Norm to find the strength to get beyond this roadblock and move on with his life. Set against the quickening pace of life after wartime constraints, this inspiring novel is about an optimist who overcomes his misfortune with discipline and humor--and fulfills his dreams in ways no one could have expected.

 

Review

 

Norm is a fantastic kid.  I would adopt him, befriend him, whatever works best.  Despite loosing a hand--something which would validate a downward spiral of depression, I think we can all agree--he has so much optimism and ambition. 

 

The story isn't really about a boy who loses a hand.  It's about a boy living life, growing up and making friends, learning responsibility, and working for his dreams.  Doing it all one-handed is a challenge, but I love that it never defines him.  He creates art, enjoys eclairs, and complains about homework all the same. 

 

Norm and his family are really quite extraordinary.  The way the handle tragedy is believable and inspiring.  Maybe the fact that they live in the era of World War II makes them more used to amputations?  Or maybe they are just stronger than I am.  Probably both. 

 

Four out of five home runs.

 

Release Date:  September 2006

Reading Level: Grade 5+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: CAUDILL

The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney

Book Jacket

You can learn a lot about life by observing another species.  That's what Humphrey was told when he was first brough to Room 26.  And boy, is it true!  In addition to his classroom escapades, each weekend this amazing hamster gets to sleep over with a different student.  Soon Humphrey learns to read, write, and even shoot rubber bands (only in self-defense).  Humphrey's life would be perfect, if only the teacher wasn't out to get him!

Review

Hamsters can apparently fix any problem in the world.  Lonely and single?  Consult a hamster.  Family won't turn off the TV?  Get a hamster.  Your parents are too scared to practice English?  Make them talk to a hamster.  Your husband is ill and cranky?  Play with a hamster.

I'm pretty amazed at how convincing Humphrey is as a hamster narrator.  He can't actually talk to anyone, but he's a genius, and he sneaks around to make everyone's life better.  This is a great fluffy (hah) story about class pets and the power of companionship--as someone who loves pets, Humphrey won me over very quickly.

Four out of five locks-that-don't-lock.

Release Date:  May 2005
Reading Level: Grade 2+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: BLUESTEM

All Stations! Distress! by Don Brown

Book Jacket

All Stations!  Distress!  Titanic. 

It was past midnight.  The ship had come to a dead stop and sank down at the bow.  Distress rockets were fired skyward from her deck.  Steam shrieked as it escaped Titanic's boilers.  Passengers made their way to the uppermost lifeboat deck with their life belts strapped on.

Barely three hours later, the crippled Titanic would plunge more than two-and-a-half miles to the ocean floor, taking two-thirds of her passengers and crew with her and leaving seven hundred survivors adrift in lifeboats and rafts on an icy ocean.  It was April 15, 1912, and the luxurious giant ship, said to be unsinkable, had been destroyed on her maiden voyage by a collision with an iceberg.  This gripping account dramatizes the disaster in the words of the survivors and in watercolors that portray the chaos, desperation, and numerous individual dramas of a night remembered for the most infamous shipwreck in history.

Review

I used to be completely obsessed with the Titanic, and this book does a brilliant job of detailing the horror and stupidity (not having enough lifeboats, not filling up the lifeboats they had) of one of the most tragic events of the last century without getting overly macabre.  I think this is a fantastic book for children interested in the Titanic for just that reason.

What makes the story of the unsinkable sinking so endlessly fascinating?  I suppose it is largely due to the hubris--is there a better story that illustrates "pride goes before a fall"?  And there are so many revealed social injustices, with poor people essentially barricaded to death while rich men and women fled in unfilled lifeboats.  Both courage and selfishness come out all the stronger in such overwhelming situations. 

All Stations! Distress! tells all of these stories. 

Five out of five distress rockets.

Release Date:  December 2008
Reading Level: Grade 2+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: BLUESTEM

Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen

Book Jacket

Thirteen-year-old Samuel lives with his parents on the edge of the wilderness in the British colony of Pennsylvania, a long way from the civilization of any town.  Samuel knows how to hunt and how to survive in the untamed forest that surrounds his home on the frontier, where it can take days for news to arrive.  There are rumors that American patriots have begun a bloody war against the English; to Samuel, the fighting in the cities and towns to the east seems far away.

Then the war comes to him.  In a savage attack by British soldiers and Iroquois, Samuel's parents are taken prisoner.  Samuel follows their trail, drawing on his forest skills, determined to find a way to rescue them.  Each day he confronts the enemy, and the unbelievable cruelty, tragedy, and horror of the war.  But he also discovers unexpected allies, men and women working secretly on behalf of the patriots.  And he learns that he must plunge deep into enemy territory to find his parents.  He must follow them all the way to the British headquarters in New York City.

Gary Paulsen brings readers into the flesh-and-blood reality of one boy's struggle in the long and savage war that was the American Revolution--a war that changed people's lives in infinite ways, and whose outcome continues to reverberate throughout America today.

Review

The strongsuit of this book is the outside-the-box information.  Stories of the American Revolution usually focus on big cities or famous events, and the bloodshed is minimal.  Woods Runner is the exact opposite.  I learned a lot about life in the frontier at that time, including that racoon meat is apparently delicious and guns are way more varied than I knew.

My biggest problem with the book is that although it does not shy away from the gritty aspects of war in most respects, it absolutely does in the main plot.  The reason why Samuel's father is captured instead of massacred is tenuous at best, and his mother's capture is even less likely.  Call me a cynic, I know.

I didn't think this was a great novel.  The non-fiction bits were the better parts.  I never really got invested in the story.

And anyway, I'm predisposed to be skeptical about American Revolution stories.  All I can focus on is how awful it is to fight both the people from whom you stole their land (Native Americans) and the people who currently own it (British).  I'm supposed to root for anyone in this mess?  Ugh.  America, not the best beginnings.  Is there ever a good beginning of a country that doesn't include violence and massacre?  Let me know, because I want to read about THAT.

Three out of five merchants who are also spies.

Release Date:  January 2010
Reading Level: Grade 6+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: CAUDILL

LEGO Club

Twas the week after Christmas and all through the LEGO Club....kids were arguing about the existance of Santa Claus.  Since they weren't necessarily being mean to each other, I let them go at it.  They've got to figure it out someday.  I don't think any of them were budging in their beliefs anyway.

It was all very normal until this conversation happened, and I had to bite my hand to keep from busting out laughing:

Cynic:  Santa is completely imaginary!
Believer:  Then who brings you presents!?
Cynic:  It's one of those elves.  An elf brings you presents, not Santa, obviously.

Also, there was LEGO building.

How to Build a House by Dana Reinhardt

Book Jacket

Building a house takes time and hard work.  But a home can be destroyed in one terrible moment--as Harper discovers when her dad and her beloved stepmother get a divorce.  Even worse, the divorce separates Harper from her stepsister, Tess.

It's time to escape.  Harper joins a volunteer program to build a house for a family in Tennessee who have lost their home in a tornado--not that she knows the first thing about construction.  Soon Harper is living in a funky motel and working long days with kids from all over the country.  She works alongside Teddy, the son of the family for whom the house is being built.  Their partnership promises to turn into a summer romance, complete with power tools.  For Harper, learning to trust and love Teddy isn't easy, but it could be the first step toward finding her way back home.

Award-winning Dana Reinhardt has written a rich and irresistible story; Harper's honest, sometimes sardonic voice makes this a novel that readers will take to heart.

Review

I am automatically biased toward this book for several reasons:  while I went to school in Tennessee, my university was hit by a tornado, and we underwent major reconstruction for the next couple years. I also spent my high school summers going on construction mission trips such as World Changers, where I learned how to use tools and meet people from around the US.  I also, like Harper, was unprepared for the heat in Tennessee, and felt the need to make up a word to describe it (unlike her, I actually did:  swelterfuego.)

These similarities make me a bit hard on the book, though.  I wanted more description from Teddy about what it was like to survive a tornado.  I couldn't believe Linus's lax attitude about summer relationships. 

However, Harper's need to escape her crumbling family rang very true.  Sometimes we have to run away from our problems to see them with a better perspective.  I was glad that although it delves into a summer love plot, the heart of Harper's story remains with her estranged family members (and how they take steps toward rebuilding their home, see what I did there?).

Four out of five hammers.

Release Date:  May 2008
Reading Level: Grade 9+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: LINCOLN