Month: February 2014

I am joining in on this weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Each week there is a different top ten list topic and a bunch of bloggers weighing in. Head on over there to see more of the great blogs participating.

This week the topic is a rewind to any topic that you might have missed.  Since I only started participating this year, there were many topics for me to choose from that I missed out on. The one that stood out the most was Childhood Favorites.  I have always been a voracious reader and have many fond memories which include books.  I thought I would share my top ten favorite reads from my childhood.

I had many of these silly poems memorized and my copy of this book was beat up and well-loved.  Shel Silverstein was a hero in my eyes and I adored his poetry.  The Giving Tree is also one of my favorite stories.

My grandmother and I read these stories every time I was over at her house for many years.  It became a sort of ritual and I loved that I had this book that was just ours.  It seemed to me when I was younger that no one else had really ever heard of this book so the stories seemed like our own private treasures.  

Anne Shirley was another character that my grandmother and I both adored.  We read the books and enjoyed the PBS movies every year during the telethon.  I devoured the entire series and re-read many of them multiple times.

Once I read Little House in the Big Woods and discovered that Laura Ingalls Wilder had lived in Wisconsin, I was hooked on this series.  I remember soaking in the knowledge about how people lived in wagon trains and as pioneers.  It was so far from my experience and it made me feel so adventurous to read all about it.

I have a signed copy of this one from when I was ten years old.  We didn’t go to many author events, but my mother knew that this one would be one to remember for me.  I had read all the Fudge books and was a solid fan of Judy Blume.  I stood in a long line to get my copy of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret signed.  When I finally got to the front of the line, Judy Blume asked if I was sure my mom said it was okay for me to read this book.  She thought I was a little young for the book.  I got the book anyway and absolutely loved it.  I think I must have read this book ten times during those early pre-teen years.

I was blown away by this book.  I followed it with every book by Madeline L’Engle that I could put my hands on.  Her stories were so scientific, but also so spiritual.  I loved them.

What list of childhood favorites would be complete without a Dr. Seuss book?  The Butter Battle Book was always my favorite one.  I love the story and the lesson in it about war.

I don’t even actually remember why this book was one I remembered so much.  I just remember the beautiful story.  E.B. White is another one of those authors who wrote so many books that I loved.  Another one of my favorites is Charlotte’s Web.

I think my love of mysteries actually started with this book.  Ellen Raskin is a Wisconsin author and I loved learning that when I was younger.  This is such a fun book with so many clues and twists.  I absolutely loved it as a kid and sought it out for my students once I was a teacher.

I had such feels with this book.  I couldn’t believe how tragic it was.  I think this was the first time that I really thought about how not everyone has a happy ever after.  I was so affected by this book.  Along this same line, there was a book called The Island on Bird Street that my teacher read aloud and I had a difficult time listening to it.  Also, a book called The Wave by Todd Strasser was such a good book for helping to understand how propaganda makes it possible for radical ideas to catch on.

Series that were important to me:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.
Books Finished This Week:

This book was absolutely fabulous! I so loved the relationships between the characters and how they all rallied around Willow.  I highly recommend this book to all middle grade teachers and students.

This is the second book in the Ridley Jones series.  It is another fast-paced mystery novel.  I really enjoyed reading this one and will look forward to reading more by Lisa Unger.

I finished listening to The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon.  I really enjoyed the narration on this audiobook.  I also really liked the story.  I am not usually a fantasy reader (at least adult fantasy), but I really enjoyed the world created by this author.  I would highly recommend this book.

It took me awhile to get through The Notorious Benedict Arnold because I do not often read non-fiction.  I decided this weekend that I needed to get through this book and made a conscious decision to pick it up more often.  I didn’t need to force myself for very long.  I got really caught up in the story and was fascinated to learn more about this notorious historical figure.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I started reading The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness.  So far, it is meeting all my expectations.  He is such an amazing author!  I also started reading The Freedom Writer’s Diary. My sister gave me this book for Christmas.  I have had a copy of the book for a few years, but the gift made me decide to pick it up and start reading.

What’s Next?

I will be starting Crown Of Midnight tonight probably.  I just got the digital copy from my library so I have a week to read it.  I will also start A Red Herring Without Mustard which is a Flavia de Luce book and Dangerous by Shannon Hale if I get to it.

Last Week on My Blog:

This is a fabulous idea from Ruth Ayres in which we write about something to celebrate each Saturday. I love participating in this link up each week and hearing about the awesome things happening in everyone’s classrooms and lives.

We had an author visit at school this week.  Tuesday, Ilsa Bick, author of White Space, visited our school.  I am so happy that I am on the contact list with the local independent bookstore.  I have been able to arrange multiple author visits and I am so excited for the opportunities.  My students were excellent listeners and had some very good questions for this author.  I love what this kind of event does for the book buzz at school.  So many students are now really excited to read her books!

I actually posted on my blog more than just on Monday and Saturday this week.  I participated in a blog tour leading up to the release of Elizabeth Eulberg’s new book Better Off Friends. This one is set in Wisconsin and there is a launch party scheduled at our local indie bookstore.  Check out my post and the others on the tour for more information.

There is a local theater who does some excellent work with the schools in Milwaukee.  We have a partnership with Skylight Music Theater and they do a number of residency programs at my school.  One of the residencies is called Stories That Sing.  The 8th grade classes use a piece of literature as inspiration and write their own versions.  The story is made into a script and then we work to rehearse and make all the set and prop pieces.  This is a really great program, but it can become somewhat chaotic and it takes up a lot of class time.  Our performance was on Friday and I am celebrating the fact that it is over for this year.  I love that we do this, but I was ready for it to be done.

My students are such readers.  It has just become so evident that so many of them are making reading into a daily habit and enjoying it.  This week I am celebrating the fact that so many of them are not relying on my recommendations anymore.  I am always willing to give suggestions, but I am loving seeing the evidence of their conversations with each other in the way certain books are racing through the classroom.  Lately, The Fault in Our Stars has become the biggest hit.  I can’t wait to help them discover the rest of John Green’s books.

On Thursday morning, one student arrived at school late.  All of the other students were in Music or Library classes so the hallways were empty.  After taking a moment to say hello to this student and make sure he knew where to go, I turned to go into my classroom.  This student stopped me and said, “Ms. Payan, I just wanted to say thank you for being such a good teacher.” Anyone who has worked with adolescents knows that this kind of compliment is a very rare occurrence.  This was just what I needed that morning to help adjust my attitude after a long and frustrating staff meeting.

What do you have to celebrate this week?  I would love to hear from you in the comments!

We’re celebrating the launch of Elizabeth Eulberg’s new book Better Off Friends here in Wisconsin.  Follow with the blog tour as we lead up to the launch party on February 25th at Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee.

In December, when I attended the Novel Cuisine luncheon, hosted by Liza Weimer of WhoRuBlog, I was the lucky recipient of an ARC of this excellent novel.  This book deals with the age-old question: can a boy and a girl be just really good friends?  

Goodreads Summary:  For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can’t be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan’s friends. They are platonic and happy that way.
     Eventually they realize they’re best friends — which wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep getting in each other’s way. Guys won’t ask Macallan out because they think she’s with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Macallan, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can’t help but wonder . . . are they more than friends or are they better off without making it even more complicated?
     From romantic comedy superstar Elizabeth Eulberg comes a fresh, fun examination of a question for the ages: Can guys and girls ever really be just friends? Or are they always one fight away from not speaking again — and one kiss away from true love?

One of the things I loved about this book was the setting in Wisconsin.  Since Levi moves here from California, the things that are unique about Wisconsin definitely stand out.

This book does a great job of highlighting our Wisconsin pride.  The best place highlighted in the book is Culver’s.  Now, depending on where you live you may or may not have heard of this amazing chain of restaurants.  I happened to work in my local Culver’s while in high school, so the references to the chain brought me back to that time.

At Culver’s you can get their famous ButterBurgers or a frozen custard.  I thought it would be fun to share a little about the history of this restaurant in my blog post.

Here we see the owner of Culver’s, Craig Culver, working with a custard machine. Throughout the day the custard will be churned through the machine and kept in a bin below. The story of Culver’s is actually a great story. In 1984, Craig and Lea Culver, along with Craig’s parents, opened the first Culver’s in Sauk City, Wisconsin. This is a small town family that prided themselves on providing quality food that is locally sourced along with what they call “hometown hospitality.” In 1990, the first successful franchise opened in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Then in 1995, the first franchise outside of Wisconsin opened. Now, there are more than 450 restaurants in 19 states. I love that this franchise has had such success.  What a great Wisconsin story!  Over the years, the menu at Culver’s has expanded to include Wisconsin favorites. In 1997, they added cheese curds to the menu. According to the Culver’s website, “Cheese curds are unaged bits of cheddar, breaded and deep-fried. They’re supplied by a family-owned Wisconsin dairy.”  If you have not experienced the deep-fried cheese curd, you are definitely not from Wisconsin.  Next time you are in the dairy state, you need to try this treat!

Craig Culver in front of the expansive menu in a Culver’s restaurant.

In Better Off Friends, Macallan and Levi head to Culver’s on multiple occasions for celebrations and for comfort.  They share cheese curds and eat turtle custard (Which is Macallan’s favorite flavor of the day).  So the perfect thing to do would be to buy your copy of this book, find the Culver’s nearest to you, and go eat frozen custard while devouring this great romantic comedy!

Enter to Win a SIGNED copy of Better Off Friends below.

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I am joining in on this weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Each week there is a different top ten list topic and a bunch of bloggers weighing in. Head on over there to see more of the great blogs participating.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books I Finished This Week:

Books I am Currently Reading:

What’s Next?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? –From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books I Finished This Week:

Books I am Currently Reading:

What’s Next?

                                               

This is a fabulous idea from Ruth Ayres in which we write about something to celebrate each Saturday. I am looking forward to participating in this link up each week and hearing about the awesome things happening in everyone’s classrooms and lives.

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After weeks of feeling like I was in a teaching slump, this week I felt the energy returning.  In my reading workshop, I conferenced with about half the class so far and asked them to evaluate themselves as readers.  I was so pleased to hear that all of these students felt like they were improving.  They were all able to give me concrete evidence to back up their thoughts: some said they were reading more, some said they were reading faster, and some said they now like reading when they didn’t before.  All of these were reasons to celebrate with each reader.  I was also impressed with their abilities to pinpoint weaknesses and set a goal for improvement.  I am glad I decided to do this goal-setting/evaluation conference with my students.  I think it will help all of us to get back on track.   I also have focused our energy back to the strategies we have learned so far this year and the signposts we have learned.  I would like to start some literature groups soon and I was glad to get all my readers focused again.  (January was such a weird month with a lot of days off, planned and unplanned.  I think all of us lost our school mojo for a little bit).

What do you have to celebrate this week?  I would love to hear from you in the comments!

I am joining in on this weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Each week there is a different top ten list topic and a bunch of bloggers weighing in. Head on over there to see more of the great blogs participating.

I am a crier. I am the person you might see tearing up at a touching commercial. I am absolutely the person you will see crying at the end of almost any dramatic movie. It doesn’t matter if it is happy or sad, I will be touched by it. I remember crying so hard in Steel Magnolias that the stranger behind me offered his package of tissues. (That was embarrassing!) Therefore, I am sometimes hesitant to watch a movie or read a book when I know there is something sad involved. I was actually quite surprised that I was able to come up with this list, because of the avoidance. But here it is, in no particular order:

See You at Harry’s by Jo Knowles is an amazing book that will have you sobbing in an ugly, snot-dripping, unable-to-breath way.  The characters are so very real and the grief is so raw and realistic.  This book brought me back to a time of loss in my own life and I actually had to put the book down and get under control so that I could see the print through the tears.  It is the type of story I usually avoid, but I am so glad I did not do that with this one.

Predictably, the book about two cancer patients falling in love brought me to tears.  This is a sweet love story and a touching book.  John Green really knows how to bring out the feels.  I was an emotional wreck at the end of this book.

I read Gone With the Wind in middle school.  All I remember is how the end of the book gutted me.  I remember putting the book down and sobbing.  It was all just so UNFAIR.  Why couldn’t he just see that she loved him now and be with her?  My preteen self was really rocked by the injustice of it all.

When I read A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton, I didn’t know what to expect.  This was a good thing because the story was much more tragic than I had anticipated.  If I had known ahead of time, I would probably have avoided reading this book, so I am glad I did not know.  I just can’t imagine what it would feel like to be this protagonist experiencing the guilt that she feels after the awful events.

It took me three tries to get into Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta before I finally stuck with it.  I am so glad that I did!  The story is so intricate and amazing.  I was heartbroken when I finally knew the full story of what had happened.  This book brought out so many feelings!

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is a beautiful story about living with a chronically ill person.  My heart broke for Conor throughout the book.  I listened to this one on audiobook and should not have been on my spin bike while listening to the end.  The noises that came out of me must have sounded quite scary.  Ugly crying and working out don’t mix so well.

If I Stay was incredible.  I don’t have words for this one.  You just have to read it.  Don’t forget to have the box of tissues handy.  (Then you should also read Where She Went and continue to have the box of tissues at hand).

In Bruised by Sarah Skelton, the protagonist has survived a shooting at a local diner.  Throughout the book, she deals with survivor’s guilt and PTSD.  It was such a realistic look at how someone might deal with this type of psychological stress.

I am so close to my sister so The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson really hit in a place close to home.  I felt so awful for Lennie and cried about the way that she made mistakes that stemmed from the grief and desperation she felt.

Honorable Mentions:

One for the Murphy’s by Lynda Mullaly Hunt is an amazing story about a girl in foster care and the family who wins her over.  It is a middle grade book so is a quick read and definitely worth your time.

The Summer of Letting Go by Gae Polisner is coming out in March.  You need to go read it.  It is a book about a family that is trying to heal after a tragic death.  I loved how this book was at once heartbreaking and hopeful.