Field Experience Log

1. How many hours did you complete?  5 hours
2.  In a short paragraph or bulleted list, how did you spend your time?
1. 3 hours in the Media Center at Madison Central High School (split into two sessions)

                                                               i.      This year’s senior prank was a destructive one.  A handful of creative students thought it would be tons of fun to scamper through the Media Center, pulling books off the shelves as they went, pulling framed “READ” posters from the walls, and creating “book forts” on top of the lower shelves.  As soon as I found out about the incident, I went down to see if I could be of use helping the Media Specialists clean up the mess that the students had made the evening before.  I spent the next hour and a half reacquainting myself with the Dewey Decimal System and taking note off all the amazing resources we have in the Media Center that I had no idea were available to our students!  Eventually, the other women in our English Department came down to help as well, so we found ourselves discussing some different ideas for how to incorporate some of the print resources that we didn’t know existed in our classes.  Ideas from new literature circle novels to possible research topics to a Media Center Scavenger Hunt came up.  While the main purpose of this time was getting the room back to the way it was before the vandalism, we also used it as a productive pseudo-department meeting! 

                                                             ii.      My first task was to play around on “Titlewave” which is the company from which the Media Center orders the bulk of its inventory.  I located a few books that the AP Human Geography teacher had requested on the system and saw how it works.  My next task was to work my way through recent issues of various local newspapers, clipping articles that may be of interest to students doing research on various topics, then filing the articles in the appropriate locations.  It was very interesting to me to have a chance again to see what resources are available to my students in our media center!  Even our local newspapers have valuable attributes to which I need to make an effort to call my students’ attention.  As I was working on these tasks, the two Media Specialists and I had a chance to talk about the constant threat of censorship and book challenges that they face and how they handle them. 

2. 2 hour in collaboration with a colleague planning for next year

                                                               i.      We made many changes to the sophomore English curriculum last summer in preparation for the End of Course Assessment, but my colleague Susan and I sat down to re-assess what worked this past year and what didn’t.  In so doing, we decided that our literature circles were effective but that we needed to take another look at what types of books we would offer for the students to read.  Since we had both helped cleaning up the Media Center after the senior prank vandalism, we knew what was available to the students there.  We also discussed many of the issues that seem to come up with regards to book choices, availability and the like, so I said that, since I was taking this class in children’s and young adult literature, I would have a better idea of what types of books to include later in June, so we made a plan to meet in over the summer to finalize our plan of attack.  One problem that always seems to crop up is the issue of the summer reading assignment.  Each year, every student at Madison Central is required to read a book over the summer and write a report on it.  BORING!  So, we decided that this year’s assignment for our rising Pre-AP sophomores would be to read The Freedom Writers Diary keeping their own 20-day journal over the summer and taking a brief test (just to make sure they read it) when they returned to school.  The test would not be one of comprehension; it would need to deal with the themes that arose in the book as well as the budding writing style of the high school students who wrote the book. 

3. How did the experience help you to strengthen at least one Kentucky Teacher Standard? (be sure to name the standard)
1. My field experience helped me to strengthen both KTS 2 (Designs and plans instruction) and 8 (Collaborates with colleagues, parents and others).  While collaboration with Susan Cintra is something that I do often since she and I work very closely together throughout the school year, I had not really spent too much time with our Media Specialists.  I was thrilled to have this opportunity to have conversations with them about how to incorporate the resources available in the Media Center into my classes.  That being said, not only did I strengthen my collaborative relationships by building connections with those ladies, I was also able to consider more fully the library’s role in my instruction.  I will enter next school year armed with a number of ideas for how my students can take advantage of what the Media Center has to offer. 
4. Talk a little about one thing you learned because of this field experience.
1. I learned how hard the ladies in the Media Center work!  They’ve got their hands in EVERYTHING!  They’re required to be librarians, yes, but they’re also experts in research techniques as well as being the primary contacts for technology and the audio/visual resources at school.  These daunting tasks do not diminish their accessibility, however, and they’re always willing to lend a hand.  I also learned the amazing resources that are available there and that I will be much more excited to take advantage of them in the coming school years.  Because I’ve learned this, I now know that I can go to these ladies and work in collaboration with them in order to make my instruction more effective.  

Reading Log and Wiki Checklist

READING LOG            

          I.      Non-fiction/Informational (1 reflection required on blog)

1)      The Freedom Writers Diary by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell

2)      Breaking Night by Liz Murray   

3)      Leonardo’s Horse by Jean Fritz

4)      Immersed in Verse: An Informative, Slightly Irreverent, & Totally  Tremendous Guide to Living the Poet’s Life by Allan Wolf and Illustrated by Tuesday Mourning (Blog Reflection)

            II.      Poetry (1 reflection required on blog)

5)      Who Killed Mr. Chippendale? By Mel Glenn. (required for discussion)

6)      A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms Selected by Paul B. Janeczko and Illustrated by Chris Raschka (Blog Reflection) – Also a picture book

7)      Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

          III.      Modern Fantasy (1 reflection required on blog)

8)     A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. (required for discussion)

9)     The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (Blog Reflection)

10)   The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

11)   Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

12)   Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

13)   The Rift Riders by Adam Leonard

          IV.      Historical Fiction (1 reflection required on blog –can be a picture book) 

14)   Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. (required for discussion)

15)   The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer (Blog Reflection)

16)   Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

            V.      Multicultural/Traditional (2 reflections required on blog – one can be a picture book)

17)   Stone Soup Retold by Marcia Brown (Blog Reflection) – Also a picture book

18)   Beowulf: A Tale of Blood, Heat, and Ashes Retold by Nicky Raven and Illustrated by John Howe(Blog Reflection)

19)   Wonders and Miracles by Eric A. Kimmel

20)   The Legend of King Arthur by Robin Lister and Illustrated by Alan Baker

          VI.      Realistic Fiction (1 reflection required on blog)

21)   Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis. (required for discussion)

22)   Shakespeare’s Secret by Elise Broach

        VII.      Picture Books (6 reflections required on blog)

23)   Seven  Blind Mice by Ed Young. (required for discussion)

24)   Lilly’s Big Day by Kevin Henkes (Blog Reflection)

25)   Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg (Blog Reflection)

26)   The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (Blog Reflection)

27)   A Good Day by Kevin Henkes (Blog Reflection)

28)   Kristy’s Great Idea by Ann M. Martin and Illustrated by Raina Telgemeier.  Graphic Novel from The Babysitters Club series

29)   Chester’s Way by Kevin Henkes

              30)   The Bored Book by David Michael Slater and Illustrated by Doug Keith

WIKI CHECKLIST

____ Social Studies

____ Science

____ Math

_1__ Music

_1__ Art

_1__ Reading/Language Arts

____ Physical Education

_1__ Other 

Immersed in Verse

Wolf, A. (2006). Immersed in verse: An informative, slightly irreverent & totally tremendous guide to living the poet’s life. New York, NY: Lark Books.

“Poems are all around us, waiting to be written.  The world teems with words, images, ideas, sights, sounds, colors, anecdotes, notions, and emotions” (Wolf, 2006).

What a spectacular book on which to write my final assignment for my master’s degree in secondary education!  A published poet himself, Allan Wolf has managed to turn the process of writing poetry into a fun and (seemingly) easy enterprise – something that anyone, young or old, could do.  Immersed in Verse is not a poetry book nor is it a textbook covering the elements or types of poetry.  Instead, throughout the course of this informative and entertaining book, Wolf takes his readers on a step-by-step journey through the a poet's world. 

Immersed in Verse begins by describing what he calls the “three essential elements of a poet’s life: a bloom, a boom, and a secret room.”  Curious about what those are?  Read the book!  You won’t be sorry!  He then goes on to explain how a poem takes shape, and he describes the different kinds of poets – from the beat poet to the angry poet, from the secret poet to the professor poet.  In so doing, he shows readers that anyone can be a poet and that they may be a different kind of poet on on any given day.  Then, he outlines the various types of poetry, but, rather than spending his time defining strict poetic forms in terms of rhyme scheme, meter, and number of lines as in sonnets, haiku, ballads, etc. as a textbook would, he instead chooses to discuss the forms in more general and accessible terms, as long poems or short poems, sad poems or funny poems.  For the most reluctant of poetry scholars, Wolf walks readers through how to read a poem…it’s no use trying to write a poem if you don’t know how to read a poem, right?  

In one of my favorite parts of the book, Wolf defines his “Nine Habits of Highly Successful Poets.”  Not only are these excellent tips for budding poets and writers, but they are also great tips for life in general!  For example, one “habit” is to “live life as if only two things matter…You…[and] The World.  He explains that poets should always actively reflect on who they are as well as be constantly aware of what’s going on in the world around them.  What wonderful advice to students who oftentimes are so focused inward (many times on negatives) that they tend to forget to be aware of the world that surrounds them.   Want to know what the other eight habits are?  READ THE BOOK! 

All this background information is all well and good, but how do poets actually go through the process of writing their poetry?  Wolf has an answer for that question, too.  As the reader, I followed along with him through every step of writing a poem, from his original inspiration through to the final product.  His description of the process reads very much like the Think Aloud (Beers, 2003) technique that we have talked about in this course in that he writes a few lines then, in a conversational tone, explains what was going on in his head while he was writing.  He also outlines the questions that occurred to him as a result of the writing, questions that need to be answered in the next step of the writing process. 

I could continue to go on and on about the different informative sections of Immersed in Verse but this blog entry would get way too long.  The book is just loaded with handy “tricks of the trade” and is chock full of ideas for activities to get a writer’s creative juices flowing. 

Throughout this course, I’ve found myself returning to poetry a several times: first to discuss Who Killed Mr. Chippendale?, then to write the blog on A Kick in the Head, and finally to write this last blog on the informational book Immersed in Verse.   I think I must be trying to find better ways to teach poetry to my students…they hate it so much when they enter my room at the beginning of the school year!  I don’t want them to hate it!  In discovering trade books like Immersed in Verse and A Kick in the Head, I think I may have found a couple of resources to help them to rediscover the joy they no doubt found in poetry when they were younger.  With A Kick in the Head, we’ll play with some of the poetic forms and incorporate some of Wolf’s techniques for finding inspiration in even the most mundane of places. With Immersed in Verse, I hope to boost my students' confidence in their writing abilities…everyone CAN write poetry and here’s how you do it!    

I’m not sure how this all will turn out, but I can’t wait to get started!

References

Beers, K. (2003). When kids can’t read: What teachers can do. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.  

The Case of the Missing Marquess

Springer, N. (2006). The case of the missing marquess. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

"The only light struggles from the few gas street-lamps that remain unbroken, and from pots of fire suspended above the cobblestones, tended by old men selling boiled sea snails outside the public houses.  The stranger, all dressed in black from her hat to her boots, slips from shadow to shadow as if she were no more than a shadow herself, unnoticed.  Where she comes from, it is unthinkable for a female to venture out at night without the escort of a husband, father, or brother.  But she will do whatever she must in order to search for the one who is lost.”  This first paragraph of Nancy Springer’s novel will lure you into an exciting tale of action and suspense, independence and ingenuity that's infused with the sights, sounds, and sometimes very unpleasant smells of Victorian London.

Do you ever feel like you don’t have freedom?  Do you feel like someone’s always telling you what to do, how to dress, how to act?  That’s exactly how Enola Holmes feels after her feminist, socially progressive mother disappears without explanation on Enola’s 14^th birthday.  A girl who, for her entire life had the freedom to explore and be herself, Enola is suddenly thrust into the care of her much older and very traditionally-minded brothers Mycroft and the world’s only private consulting detective, the famous Sherlock Holmes.  When those men appear, she discovers what life is truly like for a young woman in Victorian England, and her world is turned upside down!  

While her brother Sherlock merely alerts Scotland Yard of his mother’s disappearance then sits back to await the resolution of the case, Enola springs into action.  She devises a plan to embark on a dangerous journey to London to track down her mother, disguising herself alternatively as a grieving widow and a blind woman in order to escape detection and follow the clues left behind in the mysterious birthday gift from her mother.  Along the way, she finds herself involved in the disappearance of twelve-year-old Viscount Tewksbury, Marquess of Basilwether and followed by murderous villains all while trying to hide her true identity and discover her mother’s whereabouts.  

Will she escape her pursuers?  Will she elude the strict control of her brothers?  Will she solve the case of the missing marquess? 

Will she find her mother…? 

You’ll have to read The Case of the Missing Marquess to discover the answers… 

Shakespeare's Secret

Broach, E. (2005). Shakespeare’s secret. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co. 

What a delightful book! I don’t care if it is written from the point-of-view of a sixth grader, I’m going to suggest this one to some of my high school students. Because I’m an English and Theatre teacher and a self-proclaimed “nerdy girl,” (It’s a thing…we have t-shirts…) I’m fascinated by Shakespeare and am interested in, though not convinced by, the notion that his plays were not actually written by the man from Stratford…an underlying concept in this well-written, fast-paced piece of realistic fiction. Broach’s writing style that incorporates intelligent, realistic dialogue and a number of fun allusions to history and literature is enjoyable and easy to read, and her sympathetic, dynamic characters change and grow during the course of the story. 

Our protagonist is a 12-year-old girl named Hero Netherfield whose father is a Shakespeare scholar and has just moved his family (Hero, her 8th grade sister Beatrice, and their mother) to a town outside to Washington, DC for a new job. Hero, as any budding adolescent, is struggling to figure out who she is, and she often bemoans her unusual, though fitting, Shakespearean name. If you’re familiar with the play Much Ado About Nothing, the two major female characters are named Beatrice and Hero. As a side note, the family's last name of Netherfield was not lost on me either as the name of the house that Mr. Bingley leases in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

The suspenseful progressive plot opens as Hero starts a new school year and befriends the family’s kindly next door neighbor Mrs. Roth. Mrs. Roth, as it turns out, was extremely close to the couple who owned the house in which Hero’s family now lives, the Murphys. When Mrs. Murphy passed away, Mr. Murphy gave her (Mrs. Roth) his wife’s very special antique necklace, believed to date back to the Elizabethan age in England and possibly even earlier to Elizabeth’s mother Anne Boleyn, to Mrs. Roth, but it’s missing a very important jewel…the center stone…the huge diamond came to be known as the “Murphy Diamond.” The diamond had been reported missing by Mr. Murphy years before, but many, including Mrs. Roth and soon Hero and her new friend, handsome 8th grader Danny Cordova, believe that the diamond is hidden somewhere in Hero’s family’s house. Thus begins the search…as with any mystery tale worth its salt, Shakespeare’s Secret is about more than finding a diamond, it’s about people discovering their identities. Who is Hero? Who is Danny? Who is Mrs. Roth? Who was Shakespeare, really?

So why would Shakespeare's Secret be popular with its target middle school age group? Why can it be classified as realistic fiction? The answers to the two questions are essentially one in the same. Hero is just...real. She’s a normal 6th grade kid. She’s insecure, especially because she’s beginning yet another year in yet another new school. The kids in her school are realistically unkind and thoughtless…as Abilene would say in Moon Over Manifest, “It’s a universal” (Vanderpool, 2010). Fortunately, Hero discovers what so many kids yearn for: a supportive adult who treats her as a legitimate, intelligent person; Mrs. Roth doesn’t talk down to her or treat her or Danny like a child. All three are conspirators in an exciting diversion to their otherwise humdrum lives. Kids can identify with these characters, but they can also find that diversion as they read about a slightly more exciting version of what they live daily. This book is realistic but incorporates an element of the extraordinary, in this case, the promise of the mysterious Murphy Diamond and the discovery of the mysteries it holds…the possible connection to Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, Edward De Vere, and…Shakespeare? There’s also an added twist at the novel’s conclusion that brings the question of an adolescent’s true identity to light, but I don’t want to ruin it for readers!

BIG QUESTIONS: What is your identity? Who are you? Who will you become? What mysteries exist in your life that you yearn to solve? What will history say about you? 

*Note: Since Google Chrome, the apparently required platform for Blogger, is being a pain in the derriere, I can't get the images I'd like to do what I'd like.  Therefore, the pictures of Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth I, and Edward de Vere are regrettably absent.  Also, the font of this post is not consistent with my other posts...another element that seems to be unavoidable (or I just have other things to do with my life and don't want to spend yet another hour of my vacation trying to fix the problem...my apologies).

Works Cited 

Vanderpool, C. (2010). Moon over manifest. New York, NY: Delacorte Press

A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms

Janeczko, P.B., selector & Raschka, C. (2005). A kick in the head: An everyday guide to poetic forms. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

I can’t wait to use this book teach poetic forms to my students!  In the introduction to his specialized poetry book, A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms, Paul B. Janeczko asks and answers the question so many students wonder about: “Why…do poems have rules?”  His answer: “…rules make the writing of a poem more challenging, more exciting.”  He then draws a simile, comparing the rules of writing of poetry to the rules of playing a game; the rules make the game more exciting.  I chose to read this book this week because I know that I should be teaching more poetry, but my students hate it and have hated it for years.  When I saw this as a suggested text then checked it out of the library, I couldn’t believe my good fortune.  This was just the book I had been searching for to make teaching poetry a little less painful for both my students and myself!      

From the front flap (it holds an acrostic poem) to the last page, A Kick in the Head takes readers on a journey through the most simple forms of poetry through to some of the most complex in terms of rhyme scheme, rhythm, and meaning.  Starting with the couplet and ending with the pantoum, Janeczko offers examples of poetry by great poets along with a brief, easy-to-understand description of each form.  To simplify matters even more, he includes notes on each form at the end so that readers could also use the book as a reference.  

All of the poetry contained in A Kick in the Head, for the most part, easily understandable…meaning that none of poems require a huge amount of time to get to their meaning.  Students (and I) get so frustrated when they just don’t get the poetry they have to read.  I really enjoy that, because most of the poems are humorous, the book reads more as entertainment than as an educational text, and Chris Raschka’s abstract watercolor, ink, and torn paper illustrations, sometimes involving a mule who has gotten himself somehow involved in an aspect of the given poem, supplement the light-hearted nature of the book.  No longer is poetry a stuffy genre meant only for the brainiacs who stroke their beards as they ponder the meaning of life...it can be fun, too!  In some cases, Janeczko offers silly versions of serious forms.  For example, he selects a sonnet by William Shakespeare, then, on the facing page, includes a parody of that same poem by another poet using the same form.  What is of particular interest is that the description of the form is in tiny letters, hidden a little bit from view.  The intention is that the reader will read the poem first and possibly try to figure out what the definition of the form is before looking it up. 

Our reading in the text this week suggested beginning and ending each day with a poem.  Unfortunately, I don’t know that it’s necessarily possible or realistic for a high school teacher to do that.  What I could do, however, would be to introduce my students to a different poetic form each week and encourage them to try their hand at writing each one.  I don’t want to give them any more constraints than the form with which to play because, in many ways, the form is constraining enough!  Since Janeczko begins with the couplet, a relatively simple form, the students would have something easy(ish) to cut their teeth on and build their confidence as they work through to some of the more complex rhythm and rhyme patterns.  Perhaps part of the assignment could be to look up, properly cite, and publish a collection of famous poems written in that week’s form along with the student’s own work on our class website.  There are so many ideas floating around my head right now...

BIG QUESTION:...
Well, I can't really come up with a big question right now since the challenge for my students will come with further study and the attempts at their own poetry! 

Beowulf: A Tale of Blood, Heat, and Ashes

Raven, N. & Howe, J. (2007). Beowulf: A tale of blood, heat, and ashes. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

 Yes.  I’ve read Beowulf.  Who hasn’t read Beowulf?  I even teach Beowulf, but I don’t teach this version.  The story was certainly familiar but the retelling of this classic tale of heroes and monsters was not.  I know we’re supposed to be picking books that we haven’t read before, but I also understand the purpose of this course being to find new ways of incorporating children’s and young adult literature into our instruction. Figuring out how to teach Beowulf and have my students not hate it is a constant concern.  Because it’s so old, my students tend to have a hard time getting into Beowulf, so I’m always on the lookout for ways to make it relevant to them.  I think I may have found it.  Nicky Raven’s retelling of the epic is, I think, pretty gosh darn true to the Beowulf poet’s original intent.  The characters are the same, for the most part, and the plot follows the same events from the attacks of the monster Grendel through the battle with the dragon and on through to the end.  One aspect that was particularly pleasing about this newer adaptation is Raven’s use of literary devices that are commonly found in Anglo-Saxon literature such as kennings (two-word metaphorical descriptions that take the place of a noun, like whale road for ocean or ring-bearer for king) and alliteration.  As is fitting for traditional literature, Raven maintains the clues to important characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon warrior culture within his retelling. 

If you’re not familiar with the plot, it’s actually very simple.  Beowulf is a big, strong hulk of a man (a Geat) who is pretty much indestructible.  His father’s buddy Hrothgar is having a little trouble with a cranky monster named Grendel, so Beowulf sets sail for Heorot in Denmark (Hrothgar’s crib) to rid him of this Grendel character. He succeeds in ripping off the monster’s left arm in the fray, and he (Grendel) slinks armless back to his dark, dank, cold swamp home.  Uh oh…now Grendel’s mama is cranky that someone ripped her baby’s arm off!  She comes after Heorot in revenge.  So, what does Beowulf do?  He goes to fight her on her turf, wins, and returns home to Geatland.  Fifty years pass.  Beowulf becomes king of Geatland.  Then a thief steals a dragon’s special cup, so he (the dragon) gets cranky and attacks Geatland.  Here we go again!  But now (monkey wrench) Beowulf is OLD!  He decides to fight the dragon anyway.  Problem is, even though he takes a bunch of guys with him, they all run away like scared little girls. (Please excuse the sexism…it’s fitting for a discussion of Anglo-Saxon literature.)  All except one that is…Wiglaf sticks around and fights the dragon with Beowulf.  That’s good old-fashioned loyalty for you.  Unfortunately, the end of this battle isn’t the same as the other two…and, as always, you’ll have to actually read it to find out the details of how things turn out for Beowulf and his lone supporter Wiglaf.

This is the plot of the epic that was passed down in the oral tradition until it was eventually written down by the anonymous Beowulf poet.  From here on out, I’ll just call that version “the original.”  Nicky Raven’s retelling is very similar but not a match.  One aspect of the newer version that might make it easier for my students to relate to is that the story is told in a third-person-sympathetic-omniscient point-of-view, primarily from Wiglaf’s perspective.  Rather than having an anonymous narrator, the reader is given a consistent frame of reference from which to digest the action.  Also, Raven also includes text told from various other characters’ perspectives as well.  We are able to read Grendel’s thoughts and that of his mother just as we are able to understand the action from Wiglaf’s side.  Raven uses this device to add some dramatic irony, since when we are reading the text from Grendel’s point-of-view we don’t know what’s happening with Beowulf and his crew and vice versa. 

Because we are reading the story primarily from Wiglaf’s point-of-view, Raven does have to shift the timeframe for the final battle with the dragon to thirty years after his battles with Grendel and his mother as opposed to the fifty years that passed in the original.  It doesn’t really change much except that twenty years is a long time when you’re talking about the ability of a man to fight a deadly monster without the help of modern medicine!  Beowulf might only be 50 or so in Raven’s retelling when he’s probably pushing 75 or so in the original…quite a difference in fighting ability, I would imagine. 

John Howe’s illustrations would also make reading this text more enjoyable for my students.  His rich watercolor, ink, and colored pencil creations capture the movement and intensity of the epic.  I often ask my students to draw Grendel or his mother the way they picture them as they read.  Howe translates the strong imagery of the text into the lush illustrations which would help the students envision the action unfolding before them. 

Because I could never let the original go, I might incorporate Nicky Raven’s book as a supplement to our study of Beowulf.  Therefore, my BIG QUESTIONS would be: How does Nicky Raven make use of Anglo-Saxon literary elements in his retelling of Beowulf?  What similarities to the original can you find?  Differences?  Which do you like better?  Explain why you think so.     

Stone Soup

Brown, M. (1947). Stone soup. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons.   

 “There’s nothing in the fridge, so I guess we’ll just have to make stone soup for dinner” were words I heard from time to time out of my mom’s mouth.  To be honest, I had read Stone Soup before a LONG time ago.  It may actually have been one of the first books I ever read on my own!  So, when I saw it on the list in the textbook as an excellent example of traditional literature, I just had to revisit it. 

 This book fits almost all of the characteristics of traditional literature: simple plot, vague characters and setting, fast-paced action, an easily recognizable theme, and, of course, a happy ending.  The simple plot revolves around a village in a “strange land” that has been visited by a trio of soldiers from “the wars.”  Because the story is French, I thought it was possible that “the wars” may be a reference to what would become known as the Hundred Years War of the 14^th and 15^th centuries between England and France.  The villagers are wary of these tired and hungry visitors and tell them that they have no food or lodging to offer them.  Considering the possibility that there may actually have been food that the villagers were hiding (which indeed they were), the soldiers resolve to make stone soup.  They set a cauldron of water on a fire and place three round stones in it along with salt and pepper.  Eventually, the villagers all offer ingredients like carrots, cabbage, potatoes, beef (that they have “miraculously” relocated) , etc. to add to the soup.  Large tables are set up in the square and the whole village turns out for the feast of the most amazing soup any of them had ever tasted.  After a long night of eating, drinking, dancing, and singing, the villagers and the soldiers are exhausted, and, even though upon their arrival the soldiers were told they were not welcome to sleep in anyone’s house, they are now invited to sleep in the homes of the three most prominent townspeople: the priest, the mayor, and the baker…and naturally I’m not going to divulge the VERY end…  The action moves quickly, and there are no subplots to muddy the waters of the main events of the plot. 

Marcia Brown’s illustrations help to enhance the action of the plot.  Unlike many of the picture books I’ve read for this course, with the exception of Jumanji, the illustrations have very few colors.  They’re not monochromatic, but the only non black or white color that appears is an orange-ish red.  Because there’s not a lot of color to distract the eye, the reader is able to visualize the process of involving the entire village in the preparation of the soup.  Also, the facial expressions of the soldiers help to foreshadow their craftiness in finagling some dinner and a place to sleep out of the suspicious villagers.   

 If I were to teach Stone Soup to a class of elementary students, we might whip up our own stone soup with foods that are commonly found in our area, asking all of the students to bring something in to add to the soup.  Naturally, there would need to be some control over what would go into the soup, and it would make most sense to assign certain ingredients to particular students.  The important part of the lesson would be, though, to make sure that all of the students contributed to the making of the soup in some way, even if it was a task as simple as stirring the pot.  This lesson might translate well to the concept of teamwork, where students could work in smaller groups, perhaps to collaborate on creating something else – an art project, writing a story, etc.

The simple, easily recognizable theme is that when enough people share their resources, the result will benefit all those who contribute.  There’s probably a theme of the necessity of extending welcome to anyone who needs it, but, in light of the horrors against innocent peasants committed by many soldiers in the Hundred Years War and other wars, I really don’t blame the villagers for being skeptical of the motives of the soldiers! 

 BIG QUESTION: What times in your life have you witnessed the contributions of many people coming together to benefit a group?  Have you ever been part of such an effort? These don’t have to be tangible contributions…perhaps people are sharing of their time and/or talents as opposed to actual items.      

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Ryan, C. (2009). The forest of hands and teeth. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

Fantasy Week!  I normally like reading fantasy.  Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series and Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games trilogy are some of my favorite books!  Yes.  I even liked the Twilight series.  The movies ruined those books…they’re a joke now.  Indeed, they sound like they’d be ridiculous, and they’re not great literature by any stretch of the imagination.  What they did offer was a fun read over which I could then bond with my students.  But I digress… Unfortunately, The Forest of Hands and Teeth is the first book that I’ve blogged on for this class that I really just didn’t like all that much.  It wasn’t terrible, and it had a few pretty good moments, but it just didn’t grab me. 

The plot follows our protagonist Mary as she deals with life in her oppressive post-apocalyptic society, surrounded by fences that are the only barrier between the village’s inhabitants and “The Unconsecrated” in “The Forest of Hands and Teeth” beyond.  Like every teenager, she feels trapped literally and figuratively.  She yearns to discover what lies outside her village and to see the ocean that her mother had visited when she was a girl…before “The Return.”  Mary is betrothed to a boy named Harry but she’s in love with his brother Travis who’s betrothed to Mary’s best friend the beautiful Cass who’s in love with Harry.  Got that?  Yeah.  It’s high school drama wrapped up in dystopian fantasy.  Every girl’s dream!  Her father was among the first to be infected when the virus first hit, and she knows he is somewhere in the forest behind the fence. 

Mary’s mother, in one of the few exciting moments in the novel, eventually becomes infected (after having possibly located her infected husband by searching from her side of the fence day in and day out) and is sent off to “live” (be undead searching for brains?) in the forest.  This inciting incident sets off a series of events that unfortunately just sort of spin around for a while.  The plot never really reaches a climax.  Mary ends up living in the Sisterhood and being generally defiant for a while but, at some point, the fence surrounding the village is compromised and “The Unconsecrated” (zombies) attack!  Mary and her band of merry friends set off into the forest protected by fences hoping to get her to her dream destination…the ocean.    In their travels, they find another village like theirs, and then zombies attack there, too.  Lots of people die...well…become undead, and it just gets out of control.  If you do choose to read this book along with its prequels and sequels, I won’t tell you the end.  Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend that you do read it.

The novel is loaded with Biblical allusions that are, unfortunately, never explained.  For example, the protagonist’s name is Mary as an obvious reference to the Virgin Mary, and the dystopian village she and the other characters live in following a virus epidemic (“The Return”) is controlled by a “Sisterhood” of women who live in what seems to be similar to a medieval convent and the “Guardians” who patrol the border between the village and the dangerous forest beyond.  They have an ancient text full of secrets to which only the Sisterhood has access, but we never really learn anything about this book.  Additionally, the virus causes people to become zombies, only they’re not called zombies; they’re “The Unconsecrated.”   (On a side note: why is it that zombies never seem to be called zombies anymore?  On The Walking Dead, they’re “Walkers.”  In this book, they’re “The Unconsecrated.”)  

I chose The Forest of Hands and Teeth because it was one of the selections for the faculty book club at school this year.  I thought surely our Media Center ladies wouldn’t have chosen a bad one!  Well, they didn’t really like it all that much either.  Perhaps if the plot had followed a more understandable arc and if some of the minor characters that were introduced then thrown away had actually served to progress the plot, it may have been palatable.  My biggest problem, however, was the lack of explanation of the allusions.  I understand that, as a reader, I need to be able to make the connections on my own, but no information was provided at all.  Throw me a bone, here!  While The Forest of Hands and Teeth certainly fits the genre of Modern Fantasy (it deals with the supernatural and the author is able to create a setting and characters that are believable to the point that I was able to empathize with their plight and envision their reality), it just was not a great read.  Because of these reasons, I’d probably use this book as an example in class of how NOT to write a book.  I might ask my students how they might rewrite some of the passages to make them more interesting or coherent. 

BIG QUESTION: The character of Gabrielle seems to be pivotal to Mary’s motivation to explore the world outside of her village in The Forest of Hands and Teeth, but the reader doesn’t get enough information to understand why Mary is so fascinated by her.  What details would you add to Gabrielle’s characterization to make her come alive for the reader?  How would you help the reader to empathize with Mary’s interest in her?          

Jumanji

Van Allsburg, C. (1981). Jumanji. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

I seem to be sticking with the Chris Van Allsburg-book-made-into-movie theme this week, so I might as well go with it!  After being enchanted by The Polar Express, I picked up Jumanji.  I have not seen the movie, so I came in with no preconceived notions.  Unfortunately, the book was ok.  Not bad.  Not great.  Just ok.  I think the theme is something to the effect of “You should finish what you start even if the going gets tough,” but, unlike the other picture books I've read over the last couple of weeks, it was less clear.      

The plot of the book follows a brother and sister who are left to their own devices when their parents go to the opera.  The opera.  The parents have invited some people to come over to the house after the opera (really?  The opera?), so they ask the children to “please keep the house neat.”  They’re kids…but, fine, we’ll go with it.  Naturally, they get bored keeping the house neat, so they decide to go to the park across the street to play.  At the park, they discover an abandoned game called “Jumanji” that is “fun for some but not for all.”  They take the game home and read the directions which stipulate that “’ONCE A GAME OF JUMANJI IS STARTED IT WILL NOT BE OVER UNTIL ONE PLAYER REACHES THE GOLDEN CITY.’”  (The caps are in the book, I’m not yelling at you.)  These directions unfortunately prove to come true as each turn brings new “adventures” for the players – lions hunting the children, monkeys stealing food, a monsoon in the living room, and more.  They do eventually finish the game, but they did NOT keep the house neat!  What will their parents say when they return home from the opera with all of their friends who are undoubtedly TONS of fun?!  What will happen to the children?  Will they be sent to boarding school in Sweden as punishment for their childlike transgressions?  You’ll have to read the book to find out…   

As is always the case with Chris Van Allsburg’s books, his illustrations are beautiful.  In Jumanji, however, the illustrations are in black and white.  There is no note to indicate what media were used to create the drawings, but it looks to me like they are either pencil or charcoal.  With a jungle adventure game like Jumanji, I must say I would probably prefer color.  Perhaps, however, the monochromatic scheme requires readers to insert their own colors with their imaginations.  Regardless of my opinion on the color or lack thereof, the illustrations unequivocally complement the plot.  Without them, the story would very likely fall flat.  My favorite illustration is that of the rhinoceroses stampeding through the living room…I’m reminded of the proverbial bull in a china shop!   

I’ve been a little snarky, because I think the opera thing is funny. I realize that Van Allsburg is using this detail as a device to allow the reader to understand to what socio-economic status the characters belong. Knowing this information allowed me to create a vivid picture in my mind of the parents as well as the home in which this family resides. Overall, the book isn’t bad, but I don’t know that I’d put it at the top of my recommendation list for my sisters-in-law.

BIG QUESTION: Toward the end of the book, two new children pick up the game.  How do you think the adventure will turn out for them?  As a possible activity, students could write a sequel to Jumanji that follows the boys’ adventure.     

The Polar Express

Van Allsburg, C. (1985). The polar express. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

I had never read The Polar Express. 

Now that you’ve had a chance to get over your disbelief, I’ll move on.  Yes, I had seen the movie, but, to be honest, I wasn’t as moved by it as perhaps I should have been according to pretty much everybody in the ENTIRE WORLD.  Perhaps it’s because I don’t have children of my own with whom I could share the wonderment of this magical tale.  Perhaps it’s because I’m an old fuddy-duddy who’s far removed from the whole Santa Claus thing. Perhaps it’s because it just seemed a little long.  And perhaps Hollywood just didn’t need to mess with the perfection that is this beautiful picture book, even if they did snag the loveable Tom Hanks to play the Conductor. I don’t know. 

This year, as their major Christmas gift, my in-laws took my husband’s brothers and their wives and young children to the Polar Express train ride in Indiana, and based on the stories we heard from their experience, it was truly magical.  So, when I saw The Polar Express as a possible reading option in our text, I chose it as one of my selections to read for a blog posting thinking that maybe I could figure out what I was missing.  Certainly everyone reading this post has already read this book, so a synopsis is probably unnecessary, but I’ll give it a whirl anyway... 

The story is told in first person from the point-of-view of a young boy nearing the age of no longer believing in Santa Claus.  Some of his friends are already sharing their cynicism.  On Christmas Eve, he is whisked away to the North Pole on a magical train named "The Polar Express" that pulls up right in front of his house.  When the train arrives at its destination, all the children on board hope to be the first to request a gift from Santa Claus, and our narrator is selected.  Rather than asking for a football or a “Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time” (Clark, 1983) the boy asks only for a silver bell from Santa’s sleigh.  Santa gladly grants the child’s humble request, cuts a bell from a reindeer’s harness, and hands it to the boy.  Once they’re aboard the train, the children ask to see the boy’s gift, but, because of an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction (a hole in the pocket of his pajamas), he discovers that it has gone missing, creating an element of suspense for the reader.  Heartbroken, the boy returns home and opens his gifts under the tree the next morning…  Will he ever find the bell?  You’ll just have to read the book to find out the ending that you most likely already know.  (Read the book…the movie is a bit of overkill in my humble opinion.)

Chris Van Allsburg both wrote and illustrated The Polar Express.  He creates somewhat realistic settings with a touch of magic with his words and artwork.  Each page comes alive with movement and color.  I particularly love the illustrations of the interior of the train.  Each character is endowed with a life and personality.  Even though the pictures are still, I can just see the children excitedly chattering and squirreling around the train car while chefs and waiters cheerfully serve hot chocolate (not even worrying about whether the kids will knock over the huge urn and cups!).  The North Pole is a vibrant hub of Christmas activity, and the boy’s home is warm and loving.  What is exceptionally lovely is that, while every page contains huge illustrations that complement the text, the last page contains only one small rendering of a silver jingle bell and a short paragraph that illustrates the theme of the book simply urging readers to keep the spirit of childhood, the belief in Santa Claus, and the beauty of Christmas alive even as reality and strains of life may pull us down.  It made me tear up just a little bit!

Would I recommend The Polar Express?  Heck yes I would!  Millions of readers can’t be wrong.  This is the kind of book that makes me look forward to having children and starting a special tradition of reading it on Christmas Eve.  While infants wouldn’t have a clue what’s going on, I know that even my 3-year-old-niece sits still for this one, so I might try starting reading this one to a two-year-old (TRY being the operative word) and continue until they stop hearing the sweet sound of Santa’s silver bell…which is hopefully never.

BIG Question: How does Chris Van Allsburg create suspense throughout The Polar Express?     

Works Cited

Clark, B. (Director). (1983). A christmas story [Film]. Los Angeles: MGM.