MODULE 6: HISTORICAL FICTION Tomas and the Library Lady

· Book cover image (OPTIONAL)

 Book Summary:
While helping his family in their work as migrant workers far from their home in Texas, Tomas finds an entire world to explore in the books at the public library. 

 APA Reference of Book:

 Mora, P., & Colón, R. (1997). Tomás and the library lady. New York: Knopf. 

 Impressions:
This was a very entertaining book. I wasn't aware that the writer is from El Paso, Texas. The cover is a little too much for me. The story was wonderful. The Illustrations helped bring the story to life. The life of immigrant children is not easy to discuss and their lack of school is something that needs to be brought to the forefront. This librarian took Tomas under her wing and helped to open doors to worlds he might never have known about and gotten a chance to explore. This book to me seems like it was written from the heart and with a lot of love. This book will be a book I will read to my class this next school year. 

 Professional Review:

It's not easy moving time and again, but Tomás and his family are migrant workers who travel from state to state, helping farmers harvest their crops. When they arrive in Iowa for the summer, Tomás finds an escape from the scorching heat at the town library. And once inside, he also discovers a surprising world filled with dinosaurs, tigers, and a great new friend.

"A gentle text and innovative artwork depict a pivotal summer in a boy's life when he and his family leave their Texas home for farm work in Iowa. One morning, while his parents pick corn, Tomás visits the imposing town library and meets a kindly librarian who gently coaxes him inside. Throughout the hot days thereafter, she offers Tomás cool drinks of water and adventurous escapes into books; on slow days he teaches her Spanish until it's time to return home to Texas: 'I have a sad word to teach you today. The word is adios. It means good-bye.' . . . While young readers and future librarians will find this an inspiring tale, the end note gives it a real kick: the story is based on an actual migrant worker [Tomás Rivera] who became chancellor of a university — where the library now bears his name." — Publishers Weekly

 Tomás and the Library Lady by Pat Mora | Scholastic.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/tomas-and-library-lady#cart/cleanup 

 Library Uses: 
Using this book can teach students about several different  issues that are covered in this book. First, immigrant students, and how going to school can be difficult with the moving with the seasons. Another lesson that can be used, is how librarians can be helpful, and how they can help children with books and can make a huge impression in child's lives. Also, another aspect that can be discussed is how some families might not have a lot of possessions but are richer than the wealthiest. 

Module 7 Information Non-Fiction & Biographies Mysteries of Beethoven's Hair

· Book cover image (OPTIONAL)

 Book Summary:
Beethoven is a name we all know. He was one of the greatest composers of all time. As  some of us might remember , Beethoven had health issues, which plagued him and his work. The health issues caused mood swings that people did not understand. They thought him strange and most did not like being in his company. It was customary that when someone died, who was famous, people snipped off sections of their hair as a memento. A young child who had meet Beethoven, prior to his death, Hiller had visited Beethoven's death- bed and took a snippet of his hair. He had it placed in a locked, which was passed down in his family. Because of the distrust and dislike of Jewish people, Hiller, and his family had to leave Austria for safety reasons. They were believed to have moved to Denmark, and hide out in a small town in their church. The locket of hair ended up in a Doctor's family, and no one is really sure why. It is rumored that the locket was given for safe keeping, and with the intent of returning after the war. This doctor and his wife did not have any children of their own but adopted a girl, who did not know of the hair until she had grown. As an adult, she was in dire need of money and needed to sell, and it was placed on the market from Southerby's in London. In Arizona, there was a collector who wanted something that was more personal than other items he had in his collection. A friend heard about the sale and bid on the hair. The two new co-owners had the hair tested to verify it was Beethoven's and then ran tests to see if they could figure out what had plagued Beethoven and his health. The result was a massive amount of lead was found in his hair. Lead poisoning can have the same symptoms as the ones Beethoven had died with. These two gentlemen and their scientists had full filled a wish that Beethoven had, that someone day, people would understand the reason behind his strange behaviors.

 APA Reference of Book:

 Martin, R., & Nibley, L. (2009). The mysteries of Beethoven's hair. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge. 

 Impressions:
There are several book covers to this book. All of them are interesting and eye catching. 

I love history, and this book caught my attention. I did not know there was any mystery surrounding Beethoven and his hair. I like this book. Mr. Martin did a great job of weaving the past and more current story lines. The book covers Beethoven's life, his struggles and his music and his health issues. Mr. Martin also weaves the history of the hair being snipped after his death and how the hair was put in a keepsake locket and passed through the family and into strangers hands. The current owners, in Arizona and Texas  ( co-owners) are huge fans of Beethoven and have a wide variety of collections of his work. They had the hair DNA tested to validate that it is actually Beethovens and then ran tests to see what minerals were in his hair. They discovered that Beethoven had a large amount of lead in his system at the time of his death. This led the doctors and scientists who ran the tests, to understand and diagnosis Beethovens pains and symptoms. Before Beethoven's death, he had written a letter to his two brothers, were he said he wanted people to understand him and what was wrong with him. He never mailed the letter and it was found in his belongings after his death.Beethoven's symptoms were stomach issues, constipation, diarrhea, his wild mood swings. While he was in the hospital his doctor draining the extra fluid in his stomach. He drained him 3 different times and there was a lot of fluids. Beethoven went into a coma, and he awoke briefly during a thunderstorm, then passed away. 

I had never known about this story, this mystery, and the amazing history that this book followed. 

 Professional Review:

Beethoven's Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved

by Russell Martin

 3.71  ·   Rating Details  ·  1,228 Ratings  ·  193 Reviews

Ludwig van Beethoven lay dying in 1827, a young musician named Ferdinand Hiller came to pay his respects to the great composer. In those days, it was customary to snip a lock of hair as a keepsake, and this Hiller did a day after Beethoven's death. By the time he was buried, Beethoven's head had been nearly shorn by the many people who similarly had wanted a lasting memento of the great man. Such was his powerful effect on all those who had heard his music.

For a century, the lock of hair was a treasured Hiller family relic, and perhaps was destined to end up sequestered in a bank vault, until it somehow found its way to the town of Gilleleje, in Nazi-occupied Denmark, during the darkest days of the Second World War. There, it was given to a local doctor, Kay Fremming, who was deeply involved in the effort to help save hundreds of hunted and frightened Jews. Who gave him the hair, and why? And what was the fate of those refugees, holed up in the attic of Gilleleje's church?

After Fremming's death, his daughter assumed ownership of the lock, and eventually consigned it for sale at Sotheby's, where two American Beethoven enthusiasts, Ira Brilliant and Che Guevara, purchased it in 1994. Subsequently, they and others instituted a series of complex forensic tests in the hope of finding the probable causes of the composer's chronically bad health, his deafness, and the final demise that Ferdinand Hiller had witnessed all those years ago. The results, revealed for the first time here, are startling, and are the most compelling explanation yet offered for why one of the foremost musicians the world has ever known was forced to spend much of his life in silence.

In Beethoven's Hair, Russell Martin has created a rich historical treasure hunt, an Indiana Jones-like tale of false leads, amazing breakthroughs, and incredible revelations. This unique and fascinating book is a moving testament to the power of music, the lure of relics, the heroism of the Resistance movement, and the brilliance of molecular science.

An astonishing tale of one lock of hair and its amazing travels--from nineteenth-century Vienna to twenty-first-century America. 

 Beethoven's Hair. (2008, February). Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/126669.Beethoven_s_Hair 

 Library Uses: 
This book could be used for biographies and science. The tests ran 100 plus years after his death, is amazing and interesting. The history in this book is also another way for students to learn history without coming from a history book.

Module 8 Mysteries This Gum for Hire

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 Book Summary:Chet Gecko is a fourth grader. He is a private investigator for hire. Suddenly player from the football team starts disappearing. Chet and his sidekick partner Natalie, a mockingbird, were hired from Herman, the Gila monster. As theThey have a brilliant idea, Chet will join the football team, which he hates sports and Natalie will become a cheerleader. When Herman hired Chet, there were only three football players that had disappeared. As the story goes on, a total of six. While Chet and Natalie find them, by the time they have their major football game with the rival school?  

 APA Reference of Book:

Hale, B. (2012). This Gum for Hire. Austin, TX: Harcourt Paperbacks. 

 Impressions:
The book cover is dark and a little gloomy looking. I had to look closely to see Chet in a football helmet and Natalie in a cheerleader outfit. In the background, an ominous figure lures in the doorway. The cover really isn't an eye catcher to me.
The story has a lot of humor, and some grossing out food items. Chet loves his food and some of the food he discusses is cockroach cupcakes, a bucket full of worms, Lice Krispie treats, peanut butter n dragonfly sandwiches, and fresh baked vanilla grubworm dream bars. These menu items would have any young 3rd-grade boy, licking his lips. ( kidding). The characters are very well throughout and Chet and Natalie interactions with each other shows a true friendship. The characters are animals, mockingbird, gecko, moles, Gila monster and a chuckwalla. The animals are placed in the correct character, that helps to give the reader a visual picture. 
Since this is a series, the characters have grown as each story is told, and the friendship of Chet and Natalie grows. 
Chet understands that as a gecko, he is small and is never going to be a Gila monster in stature. He uses his sense of humor to get out of sticky situations. This is a recommended book for my 3rd grade-students. 

 Professional Review:

This Gum for Hire: A Chet Gecko Mystery(Chet Gecko Mystery #6)

by Bruce Hale (Goodreads Author)

 3.82  ·   Rating Details  ·  100 Ratings  ·  5 Reviews

Kidnapped! One by one, the members of Emerson Hicky's football team are disappearing. As far as Chet Gecko is concerned, this is a cause for celebration.
Only trouble is that Chet's old nemesis, Herman the Gila Monster, is the number one suspect, and he wants Chet to clear his (not quite) good name.
Chet and his mockingbird partner, Natalie Attired, must solve the case fast, or Herman will make sure it's their last. But which is more dangerous--Herman . . . or P.E. class?

 This Gum for Hire. (n.d.). Retrieved, from http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/726919.This_Gum_for_Hire

Goodreads authors

 Library Uses:
This book is full of idioms, humor,and visual pictures of the characters and food items. The books that are in this series is a good tool to help students understand how to write using adjectives. Since students don't enjoy writing this could help them in the bigger picture of how important adjectives are. The humor also can help students to understand that writing and reading books do not have to be boring. 
The books are entertaining and just a basic reading for fun, and A.R. points. 

Module 5 Fantasy Fiction

Rapunzel's Revenge 

Book Summary:

We all know the story of Rapunzel, locked in the tower. This story takes the basics and adds some fancy twists. Rapunzel had been kidnapped when she was younger and the evil witch uses her magic to keep everyone in the story under her control. The story has moral lesson throughout the story. Rapunzel escapes the same way by letting her hair down. She meets a lot of colorful characters along the way. Her hero happens to be Jack as in Jack and the Beanstalk They steal horses, but feel remorseful all the way through the story. At the end, Rapunzel admits she had grown pretty fond of her horse and she wants to return the horse or offer to buy the horse.

The dwarfs from Cinderella's story was there and helped Rapunzel and Jack escape and find a way down the river. 

This story was interesting , pictures were great and the sense of humor was right on. This would be a great book to read to any class that does AR points. 

APA Reference of Book: 

 Hale, S., Hale, D., & Hale, N. (2008). Rapunzel's revenge. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. 

 Impressions: 

I did find the book fun and interesting at the beginning. The middle of the book seemed a little slow and boring, then after chapter 3 my interest was peaked.The drawings were drawn out nicely, and it was a compliment to the story. The adventures were well planned and thought out. The characters were funny and the names of the towns were cute. This is a very good book to help students practice their reading. Since the book is a graphic novel, students would enjoy reading this and sharing with their friends, over the comics.

The chapters were a bit too long for my preference. The flow of the story went smoothly, and I liked how other characters were woven into Rapunzel's story. All of the storybook characters we grew up on, were in this story. All were heroes in their won right in this story. 

 Professional Review: 

Book Review: Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Rachel

When Rapunzel finds that she was kidnapped as a small child, the woman she thought was her mother locks her away…you guessed it…in a tall, secluded tower.  That will likely be the last prediction you make as this re-imagined classic unfolds.

Rapunzel frees herself and learns that the evil ways of her adopted mother, Gothel, were not reserved for her alone, but the heartache and depression across the land have been caused by Gothel’s sinister reign. 

Rapunzel’s cohort, Jack, as in Calamity, unwittingly helps her find courage and strength throughout their adventures, all while toting around a goose that just won’t lay a seemingly innocuous egg.  Jack, in turn, is given a purpose to abandon his vigilante life, as he helps Rapunzel seek revenge and justice.

This is a story of growth, revenge, love and friendship that is both entertaining and absorbing. The colorful illustrations and witticisms complement each other in the telling, and the reader is allowed to experience the actions, emotions and hair-whipping brawls of the main characters as a result.

The illustrations, including a detailed map of “Gothel’s Reach,” are convincing in their portrayal of Rapunzel’s world. The plight, made clear by the presence of the barren lands and affected characters throughout the tale, is intensified by Nathan Hale’s (unrelated to the authors) attention to artistic detail.

This story re-introduces us to classic fairytale characters in a new way, and the heroine’s determination to pursue justice by honorable means is a particularly relevant theme to offer young readers at any time.

Rapunzel’s Revenge is the recipient of the 2008 Cybils (Winner Graphic Novels) for elementary/middle grades in the United States, but should be on everyone’s must read list.  If you’ve never found yourself drawn to graphic novels, this may be one to whet your appetite.  The story continues in Calamity Jack, also by the Hales.

“Rich with humor and excitement, this is an alternate version of a classic that will become a fast favorite of young readers.” (Booklist/September 2008)

“The dialogue is witty, the story is an enticing departure from the original, and the illustrations are magically fun and expressive.” (School Library Journal/September 2008)

“…Nathan Hale’s full-color panel illustrations fulfill the possibilities of this witty tale full of long-haired heroism.” (CCBC/2009)

Book Review: Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale. (2011, October 22).                           Retrieved, from http://dallaslibrary2.org/blogs/bookedSolid/2011/10/book-review-               rapunzels-revenge-by-shannon-and-dean-hale/ 

 Library Uses: 

This book could have great use as lessons of moral values. I would use this book to just have a good story with some funny names and characters. This would be a good book just for the entertainment.

Module 4 Realistic Fiction

Book Cover image

Book Summary
Ivy and Bean are best friends.They seem to start a lot of activities and then they quit. Bean's grandmother send her a book about ballet and as the two girls look over the book, they dream about doing the same dance moves. Both girls beg their mothers to sign them up, and the deal was none of them could complain. When they realized they are bad at dancing they had planned and schemed of ways to get out of the dance recital. The girls were given the roles of squids.They thought about breaking their arms, spraining their arms, catching a cold, and run away. Their class goes on a field trip to the aquarium. Ivy and Bean take off from their class to find a place to hide. On their mini adventure, they saw a film pertaining to squids.  The film scared the girls, so they changed their runaway plans and went home. After trying on their costumes, the girls decided that being squids would be fun after all. 

APA Reference of Book

 Barrows, A., & Blackall, S. (2009). Ivy Bean doomed to dance. San Francisco: Chronicle       Books. 

Impressions
The book has started off slow. I first thought that in today's time, the story line would not be very well received with students now-a-days. As I read more, and finished the book I really began to like the characters and their personalities. I will use this book to read to my class.

Professional Review

This delightful series, for more independent readers, shows how best friends learn to work together, solve problems, and have loads of surprising fun. Full of expressive black line illustrations, Book 6 has Ivy and Bean launching into ballet lessons thinking they have it made—or they are in over their heads? Will their friendship survive multiple disappointments? As the title implies and several chapters indicate, such as "Dip, Dip, Crash!" and "Bad News Beneath the Sea," unpleasant circumstances turn Ivy and Bean into master schemers. They are intent on finding a way to escape tremendous humiliation when ballet teacher Madame Joy casts them as Two Friendly Squids in her original production. As they stumble through practice sessions, they cannot believe they had begged for lessons. "We have made a terrible mistake." However, Ivy and Bean are definitely not quitters, except when it came to playing softball which was an entirely different situation. Performing "Wedding Beneath the Sea" on a real stage in a real theater as part of The World of Dance would be awesome. These best friends have incentive to remain true to their own creative devices. As plans for an aquarium field trip are announced, the girls decide to run away. An aquarium would be a quiet, safe place to lay low for awhile, and their ticket out of the ballet for good. Areas like Coastal Zones, the Kelp Forest, and where penguins, alligators, and sharks are located certainly offer possibilities. But when they come to "Life without Light: Creatures of the Deep Sea," they find the best, temporary hideaway. Or did they? Chapters called "Ocean Life Gone Bad" and "In Hot Water" tell about discovering a real squid that isquite frightening, but "oh, so interesting." Lastly, "Squidarinas" concludes the book with the girls deciding they have some authority to educate others about real squids. The once dreaded ballet production becomes exciting. It can be an artful scientific lesson that everyone will enjoy. Once again life is good, ballet is actually pretty fun. Ivy and Bean have brought readers another splendid adventure. Part of the "Ivy and Bean" series. Reviewer: Susan Treadway, M.Ed.

 Treadway, S., M.Ed. (n.d.). Ivy and Bean Doomed to Dance (Ivy and Bean Series #6).     Retrieved  from http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ivy-and-bean-doomed-to-dance-annie-barrows/1018814563#productInfoTabs 

Library Uses

This book would be a good story to help teach children about starting something and never quitting. Children don't follow through on what they start, because once it gets too hard, or confusing, they quit. Children haven't learned problem solving skills, and this book is one of many that would introduce them to solving issues even with a sense of humor.