Moon Over Manifest

Clare Vanderpool won the 2011 John Newbery Medal for her book Moon Over Manifest. “The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year.” (http://www.ala.org)  I think any author would be excited to win the Newbery Award, especially when it was their first book. When asked how happy she was to win the award, on a scale of 1-10, Clare Vanderpool answered, “15!” Sounds pretty excited to me.

Moon Over Manifest is pretty interesting. The main story is about a young girl, Abilene, that is sent to live with her father’s friend in the small town of Manifest, Kansas, during the Great Depression of the 1930s. She tries to learn what her father, Gideon, was like when he was a little boy living in Manifest. When she finds a box of mementos, letters, and a map that she believes once belonged to her father, Abilene pieces together much of the town’s history and secrets. Part of the story is told from the perspective of a boy named Jinx who lived in Manifest during the time of the United States involvement in World War I (1917-1918).

When I first started reading Moon Over Manifest, I have to admit, I was not immediately hooked. But as I kept reading I became very interested in the story’s characters and in the history of Manifest. The more I read, the more it felt like the town itself was the main character of the story, not Abilene or Jinx. I believe that where we live and grow up has a major influence on our lives and how we turn out as adults. I’m sure that I would be a very different person if I grew up in a big city rather than the small town where I did. The people and customs of the area gave me a different perspective of life than that of many other people that I know. We’re lucky at our school that we live where we do.

I’m glad I didn’t give up on this book in the first couple of chapters, because I would have missed out on a wonderful, heart-warming story. It was a good read, but perhaps not for everyone. As is so often the case, just because you can read and understand the words in the book, doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to follow and understand the deeper meaning of the story. And that’s OK. That’s why there are so many books out there.

Quick Contest

1 FREE POSTER from the Book Fair to the first one of my students to leave a comment on this post. Remember to be polite and safe when online. Never use your full name or give out personal information without your parents approval. Personal information includes your phone number or address. When using your name online, just give your first name and the initial of your last name or make up a screen name that you like. Use Your Netsmartz (UYN)!

This contest ends Friday, September 21.

Book Fair Time

It’s time, once again, for the Scholastic Book Fair. This is an exciting time of the year when we get to buy new books. We’ll be running the fair in the library from Wednesday, September 12 to Friday, September 21. Every year as I unpack and set up the fair I look through the books to see what’s new and this year’s batch of books look pretty fun. So come on in and look to see what you can buy for yourself or for someone special. Remember, “a book is a gift you can open again and again” (Garrison Keillor, 1942 -).

This year you can also shop our Online Book Fair. Go to the website (search by state and town or just enter our zip code, 89025) and shop away . Although it’s not as fun as actually holding the books and looking through the pages, there are more selections online than they can actually pack on the truck to send to our school. There are books for all levels, preschool to adults. You can send wish lists and eCards to family and friends that live far away and they can buy too. Whatever you buy online gets shipped to the school at the end of the fair. That way you don’t have to pay shipping.

I appreciate all that you buy at the book fair. Not only do you put great, fun literature into the lives of your kids, but the profits from the fair go to buying more books for the library, thus putting more literature into the lives of your kids.

9/11 - Patriot Day

Tuesday, September 11, 2012, will be the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attack that crashed 4 large passenger planes, 2 into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, 1 into the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and 1 into a field in Pennsylvania. Most adults can tell you exactly where they were when they heard the news, but most of our elementary students weren’t even born yet. A couple of years ago I put together a little video to commemorate the event and to educate our students about what happened on that dreadful day. I used photographs that were posted on the Internet and set them to Mariah Carey’s song: Hero. I hope you are touched by the video and that we never forget 9/11 and how it changed all of our lives. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgrAWnAjOtc

Inheritance Cycle

Over Labor Day weekend I finished reading Inheritance by Christopher Paolini. This was the fourth and supposedly last book in what the author calls the “Inheritance Cycle.” Most people I talk to just call it the “Eragon Series.” This is the story of a poor, orphan, farm boy (Eragon) that discovers a dragon egg while out hunting. The dragon hatches and grows and Eragon becomes a Dragon Rider. He is thrust into a giant struggle against the evil emperor Galbatorix. Eragon must learn to control magic as well as his own mind to fight the emperor’s army and other magicians.

I really liked the story. It was exciting and full of interesting characters. What makes it even more amazing is that the story was started when Christopher Paolini was only 15. After he wrote the first book, Eragon, his family helped him publish it. After selling the book on their own for a while it was finally picked up by a major publishing company that was able to really sell it worldwide. Christopher went on to write the sequel, Eldest, and then what was supposed to be the final book, Brisingr. He had too much story to just fit into three books so Inheritance became the fourth and final book.

As I already said, I really liked the story. I didn’t always like the writing, though. I thought that the author got a little long-winded at times. He would go on and on about things that maybe provided some background, but didn’t really move the story along. But just when I was about to give it up because I was frustrated with the story, Chris Paolini would save the day with some really great action. I would definitely recommend this book and this series, but only to those who are not afraid of sifting through tons of pages to pull out a real gem of a story.

Wonderstruck

Well, today was the start of a brand new school year. It was good to get back in the swing of things. Summer's great and I enjoy the break, but it's always nice to get back to the routine of school life. I enjoy catching up with the other teachers and staff and of course the students.

Over the summer I was able to read some really good books. The one I finished most recently was Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. I really enjoyed it. Brian Selznick is also the author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Both books are done in the same style. Half of the story is text, while the other half of the book is done with wordless pencil drawings. 

Wonderstruck is told in two parts. One part is set in 1977 and the other takes place 50 years earlier in 1927. The two parts come together in a very sweet and moving way. The story focuses on family, museums,  and deaf culture. The book is 460 pages long, but because about half of the story is told by the pictures, it didn't take me too long to read. And I'm a slow reader. The bottom line is I think most fourth and fifth graders (and some third graders) could read this and really enjoy it. I totally recommend this book.

New Adventures

As we get ready to start back to school I'm excited about some new changes and challenges this year. As I do most years, I bought some new books for the library. I'm pretty excited about sharing some of them with you soon.

This year in the library we will be using a computer program called Class Dojo to help us remember our "Library Manners." I'll be explaining more about that later as well.

And the biggest adventure for me this year is starting and trying to keep up a blog. I hope that I can make it fun and useful. I'm sure that the blog will change and evolve as I learn more about what I'm doing and get a feel for what could be helpful. If you have any ideas, leave a comment.