Book Twenty Two: The Spell Book of Listen Taylor

Book Twenty Two: The Spell Book of Listen Taylor (and the Secrets of the Family Zing)
Finished: April 28
Pages: 479

Okay, so I had heard a lot about the book The Year of Secret Assignments, but never got around to reading it. I didn't even realize that this book was written by the same person until I was quite a ways into it. When my students were at the library choosing books to read, I happened to see this one and thought "Huh, that looks interesting."
I"m not going to say that my initial reaction was wrong, but man, this book was a trip, totally different than I was expecting. Not just because it was written by an Australian, and therefore was a little bit of a culture shock, or because it took me about 100 pages to realize that the setting was Australia, and that was why I was so confused, and then that it was also

Some of the characters I absolutely loved. I adored Listen, and the middle school girl I once was identified totally with the struggles that Listen went through with the horrible girls at her school: Not understanding why the girls don't like her, thinking that it was something that she did, rather than just those girls being awful bitches.
I found the Zing family to be a little too quirky to really appreciate. As much as I enjoyed the craziness of the Zing Family Secret, in the end, it was just too unbelievable for me to really accept. Some of the characters I really enjoyed, but by the end of the novel I just found them to be obnoxious. After a while, I think I just expect people to act like normal human beings, or at least, that they would change and grow as characters. The other main character in the book, a second grade teacher named Cath Murphy, I originally liked quite a bit too, but she made one bad decision after another, and in the end I had little respect for her.
Part of the reason why I decided to read this book was this interaction between two of the characters on the first page:

"Little alien starships! Putting your elevator shafts on our--" She stopped as she reached the wall, and stared at its smooth surface.
"It was just here--" She turned back to Nathaniel, who was waiting patiently.
"Yes?" he prompted.
"Huh."
"Are you awake now?"
"I was sleepwalking."
"I know"
They both stood still in the moonlight.
"It's hot, isn't it?" said the woman, after a moment. "I wonder if we should--"
"It depends on whether Listen is awake," agreed the man, peering into the hallway.
"Yes." The woman raised her voice slightly. "I wonder if she is awake?"
"COULD SHE BE AWAKE?" boomed the man.
"I HOPE WE HAVEN'T WOKEN HER!" shouted the woman.
They both paused hopefully.
A twelve-year-old girl appeared in the hallway, linking into the darkness.
"Hot, isn't it?" said the girl.

The three characters then proceed to break into a middle school swimming pool, and go for a midnight swim. Quirky! I would probably recommend this book to my students, but I'm actually not sure how many, since thinking back, there were several parts of this book are a little more risque then I have perhaps mentioned in my review. Several affairs, and more sexual innuendo than would generally be present in an American young adult book.

Good Reading,
Caitlin

Book Twenty One: The Truth-Teller's Tale

Book Twenty One: The Truth-Teller's Tale
Finished: April 27
Pages: 276

I've read a few other Sharon Shin books this year and they never disappoint. They are just what you expect: rousing fantasy with interesting and inventive magic, a few solid twists and turns of plot and a happily ever after that is moderately transparent without being overly sentimental.
Sometimes a girl just needs a happy ever after, and I was happy for these mischievous and sweet twin main characters. Mirror twins Adele and Eleda are girls gifted with the abilities Secret-Keeping and Truth-Telling, talents that get them in and out of all sorts of trouble, as well as in and out of love.
The book reminds me a lot of Robin McKinley's Beauty (my favorite of all the re-tellings of fairy tales) both in the voice of the narrator and the action being centered around everyday activities.
All in all, a delight.
Good Reading,
Caitlin

Book Twenty: Mudbound

Book Twenty: Mudbound
Finished: April 20th
Pages: 340

There are no words to express the anger, frustration, tears, and surprising hopefulness that I feel after finishing this book.

I will not even attempt to.

Good Reading,
Caitlin

Book Nineteen: Readicide

Book Nineteen: Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It
Date Finished: April 15
Pages: 150

Throughout the courses and activities I underwent in preparation for teaching, I have read numerous books that have infuriated and depressed me, and books which have given me great joy and a renewed passion in teaching. I would certainly place this book at the top of the list of books that did both. I found this book to be alternately infuriating and inspiring. I agree whole-heartedly with the author on most points in the book, and certainly plan to incorporate these ideas into my future planning and classroom activities.
Readicide is defined as “the systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools” (1).
Kelly Gallagher is no moron; he gives real world examples and some pretty hard hitting studies to back up his assertions. I agree that the way we teach, and the interactions that our students have with books kills the love of reading in them. If we were to teach differently and have different goals-lifelong readers rather than good test takers-we would have the higher tests scores and students prepared for college and the real world. His strategies are things that would make intelligent, modern teachers say “duh.”
His first, and loudest claim is this: “Making sure every student has a book to take home to read is the single most important issue in our quest to develop young readers” (46). He asserts that Silent Sustained Reading in classrooms helps to foster students who like to read. Students should split their time 50/50 between high level challenging academic texts and high interest age-appropriate texts. I also like the idea of augmenting books with authentic real-world text. This means that even if they are reading a novel, the students are also assigned an “Article of the Week” that pertains to the real world around them that they read outside of class. As a teacher I am constantly surprised by how little my students know about the world they live in. These articles give students a glimpse of the world that they will soon by members of, and hopefully create active citizens.
High-stakes testing, teaching to the test, and teaching only test-taking strategies at the expense of real in-depth teaching are some of the problems that help lead to readicide. Over teaching and under teaching are also issues that he discusses, that I think will help be to balance my class discussions and activities in the coming years.
What is the real goal of education?
I would say that, as Sternberg says, we should emphasize the skills that would make our students “creatively flexible, responding to rapid changes in the environment; able to think critically about what they are told in the media, whether by newscasters, politicians, advertisers, or scientists; able to execute their ideas and persuade others of their value; and, most of all, able to use their knowledge wisely in ways that avoid the horrors of bad leadership, as we have seen in scandals involving Enron” (25).
Considering that Mr. Gallagher advocates not following set standards, that following curricular guides, and having students stop and dissect books leads to a lack of learning and turns students off of reading, I find it ironic that Wendy received this book from our English facilitator. He posits that while students need to read academic texts, they also need to learn how to achieve “reading flow”-the point in which you become immersed in what you are reading. “No student ever achieved reading flow from analyzing every nook and cranny of a complex work” (65). Instead he suggests that teachers frame texts, give them meaning before they begin reading, and focuses on the meaningful lessons rather than the trivial. Gallagher tells us not to give them excerpts but rather whole novels, because they need to learn how to read long texts because it affects the brain differently. When students see real value in reading “It’s not just a story; it’s an imaginative rehearsal for living a productive life as an adult” (79).
I’ve read a lot of Nancy Atwell’s books, including In the Middle, and The Reading Zone, and I learned more from reading her books than I did in any college class. Mr. Gallagher has many similarities, and he talks about her quite a deal in this book. I did enjoy having something familiar when he talks about several theorists that I haven’t even heard of. I do not, however, agree with him on the subject of classics. I do not believe that all books that are considered “classics” are inherently good books. Many of these books do not add anything to a classroom, and if they are not within the sweet spot of being difficult without being unattainable, there is no purpose in teaching them. I do agree with this: “I never focus on whether my students will like the books. Sure, I’d like my students to enjoy the books as much as I do, but it is important that they take away something valuable after wrestling with them” (93). The difference that I would stress in his statement, however, is that the teacher has to see the validity and importance in what they are teaching as well. If they don’t, then there is no reason to teach it; the students and the teacher will only be frustrated with the text and with each other.
There are so many other things that I would like to talk about, but I would really just be copying the entire stinking book into my blog, and that doesn’t really serve my purpose. Most importantly, this book has taught me so many strategies that I plan on implementing in my classroom next year. The book made me so angry, because we are doing our students such a disservice, but at the same time, inspired me to become a better teacher. “If we are to find our way again…we must find our courage to recognize the difference between the political worlds and the authentic worlds in which we teach, to swim against those current educational practices that are killing young readers, and to step up and do what is right for our students” (118).

Good Reading,
Caitlin