Category: Book Reviews

Blink: A Look at How We Make Decisions 

Rating: 4.5/5

Psychology has always been a favourite subject of mine. How the human mind works is truly fascinating, and even that is an understatement. Having dabbled in Malcolm Gladwell before, I appreciate his finesse for writing. So, when I had the chance to sink my teeth into Blink, I was excited.

In Blink, Gladwell tackles the rather complex concept of human decision-making. He delivers with succinct detail, thoughtful examples of scenarios where humans have used different pathways to make their decisions. He divides the paths into two: deliberate thinking accompanied by information-gathering, and subconscious ‘gut’ instincts that lead us to ‘just know’. Gladwell is able to make this very multifaceted idea a very accessible one for readers not well-versed in the psychological jargon. In the same breath, he offers even psychology aficionados insights into this very intriguing human mindset. I have a degree in psychology and I was thoroughly enthralled by his various research points and deductions.

One of the many things I genuinely appreciated about this book was the care Gladwell has taken in organizing the material. He begins with scenarios to get you thinking about various connections, and then proceeds to poke at them to break things down so he can piece together the bigger picture, so you can have your “Aha!” moment. In doing so, he conveys his very interesting information in a scaffolding fashion (my fellow teachers will smile here), thereby building on your knowledge throughout the book to create a sound understanding of this topic.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, evidenced by the many notes I made in margins and sticky tags on every other page, for ideas I found worth revisiting at a later date. To anyone who wants to learn more about what influences our decisions, you’ll definitely want to grab this book off a store shelf. I have also, through the reading of this book, begun to pay closer attention to my conscious and unconscious thinking and how each affects my behaviour. If nothing else, I have gained a keener sense of self-awareness, and that in itself is quite a gain.

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Shania Twain’s Autobiography: The Woman in Her

Shania Twain has been the only idol in my life whom I am not related to, or haven’t met and bonded with. My love and deep admiration for this fellow Canadian began at age 12. I was transfixed with her songs when I heard them for the first time. Her lyrics affected me in a way no other artist had done before, because they moved me from deep within to places of comfort and understanding, love, sadness, resilience or uplifting confidence. I can honestly say that over the years, I have reached for one or more of her albums in both happy and rough times to help with my emotions. So, it came as no surprise that when this incredible human being wrote her first book, I HAD TO read it. I always knew though that reading her book would not just be something that I would do because it was the next book on my list. I knew a special time in my life would call for a reading of her words and that special time came this Fall. For a lack of a better word, life has been ‘rough’ over the last few months and when my eyes fell on From This Moment On on my bookshelf where it had taken refuge for a few months, I knew it was time.

Before I jump into my review of her book, I have to share that I have always wanted to see Shania Twain in concert. In fact, that has been on my bucket list since I fell in love with her music. Sadly, she did not do concerts in Canada for a long time and about the Fall of last year (2015), a year when I had somehow gotten so busy with life I forgot to comb newsfeeds for any mention of her touring in Canada, there she was. Now, had I been left to my own devices, this wish would have remained on my bucket list, but that’s where God puts angels in my life, and my amazing baby sister surprised me with tickets to her last concert in Toronto. I cannot explain the emotions I went through when I opened that ticket package from Ticketmaster…my heart exploded inside my chest. I screamed. And I do NOT normally scream. Not only did I see this star of a human being in concert one unforgettable Sunday night, my baby sister (God bless her beautiful heart) bought me tickets so close that I got to touch Shania’s hand! Let me stop here with my recollections of that incredible day…my heart needs a moment to calm down.

Okay, on to her book then. From This Moment On is a painstaking re-enactment of the life that Eileen (Shania’s birth name) has lived. She goes over the most poignant events of her life with such bare-boned honesty that you can’t help but fall in love with who she is as a person. Sometimes, as fans, we admire the artist so much for their onstage persona and their music, and when we have the chance to meet them or get to know a bit about them, we are put off. Somehow the fantasy doesn’t translate to the reality. Not so with Eileen Twain. Eileen is a Canadian right down to the soles of her feet. She is unapologetic for her strong mind and unwavering in her sincerity. She loves hard and she works hard, and at a young age, even though life pushes her to the ground and gives her a good beating, she gets back up and fights for one more round. The raw emotion that seeps through this book left me gasping (literally). There were moments when the emotion was so great I had to put the book down. Perhaps because I was drawing emotional lines to my own feelings, but Eileen is able to surpass the restrictions of censorship and deliver her voice and her heart to her readers with no apologies. There is no pretense. At times it feels as if you are sitting in a Tim Horton’s coffee shop and chatting away with this deeply moving human being. Her words are laced with humour through the mess of her childhood, they are heaped with wisdom (but in a completely non-preachy and humbling-epiphany kind of way) through the heartbreak of her adolescent and young adult years. And through her wisdom and humour, she equips her reader with the ability to understand his/her own emotional intelligence through the lens of experiencing and overcoming pain.

Themes of domestic violence and physical abuse are threaded through the pages. Moments of blinding clarity offered through Eileen’s incredibly wise and forgiving heart bring into full view the messiness of our existence and how we navigate through it the best we can. Family, friendship, poverty, isolation, fear, betrayal, Indigenous relationships, and love are some of the profound concepts that feature throughout this book. Eileen does not talk down to her audience, no, she explains with enough brevity to give you an understanding of the technical elements (the music industry in Nashville, her job as a tree planter) she is narrating, but not too much as to bore you and make you feel stupid.

Eileen shares her deep connection with her family even though the various needles of life try to pick them apart from each other. She talks about her childhood winters in Canada and how her way of life did (and did not) prepare her for a life of fame and fortune. Throughout the book, her small-town humility and conservative-ness shine through. Her in-your-face honesty allows her readers to see her at her most vulnerable and know a bit more about the woman behind the sassy lyrics and skip-to-the-beat rhythm.

I fell in love with Shania Twain all over again after I read her words. I now see her, apart from her on-stage person of Shania Twain, as Eileen Twain too, a woman of undeniable courage and wisdom, a woman capable of forgiving and loving, a woman not without her own faults and insecurities, but a woman who is strong and beautiful on the inside and outside. Most of all though, this book gave me the insight into quite a few life situations that only a thing like someone else’s experience (barring your own) can equip you with. A long read at 400 pages, this is definitely worth the time. You will cry at moments and then you will find yourself chuckling in the very same breath. Such a voice as honest and vulnerable as Eileen Twain’s, I have yet to find within the pages of a book.

I shall not give this book a rating out of 5, I will say though, that if you are a fan, this is ESSENTIAL reading. And, if you are not a fan, well, you just might become one after you read this.

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Aaron Becker’s Journey: A True Picture Book

I was first introduced to Aaron Becker’s Journey while doing a teaching placement not too long ago. What I did not realize at first was how versatile this book would become, on not only an age level, but a conceptual and skill-teaching level as well. I have since read it to students at the primary and junior levels, and each time, this book has not failed to create a splash. Becker relinquishes the use of words to tell a story completely in the hands of a child’s imagination. He trusts our young readers, as we must, to make their own meaning out of this heartfelt tale.

I will intentionally not discuss the plot of this book, as I do want to create any skew toward a certain interpretation when the book provides for many. Suffice to say, this book is about a young girl who begins a journey and along the way, discovers much about herself and life.

Juxtaposing grayscale pictures with bold singular colour in the beginning, and then opening wide a world blossoming with colour as the book progresses, Becker unfolds a world that students can envelope themselves in. With magical crayons and castles, boats and hot air balloons, rescue missions and the king’s guards, this book will allow your students to draw the important messages of friendship, selflessness, generosity, imagination and compassion. The sensitively-coloured and poignantly-drawn illustrations provide your students with the opportunity to lose themselves in another world where they can tell you a story as it plays out in the turning  pages. For once, you will not be the one narrating, they will, and they will take much pleasure in making their own tale. The thing I love most about this book is that it allows for a variety of different levels of interpretation that your students can attach themselves to. It prods their critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, it allows them to use language to describe pictures, it helps them with recall and attention to fine detail, and at its best, it provides them with the opportunity to acknowledge the value of a variety of perspectives. It is especially great for those of your students who just do not like reading; a great place to start to show them that books can be fun and instructive, without the burden of a multitude of words.

Teachers, this book is well worth the investment, and a true gem that will prove timeless for your students each year.

 

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Mitch Albom’s For One More Day: Another Tear-Jerker

Rating: 5.0/5.0

I have read Mitch Albom before, I recall Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, two of his more popular books, both as heart-tugging and tear-eliciting. For One More Day, however, furnished me with a new perspective. This is a book that reaches across the the divide between life and death and affords one man one more chance at reconciliation. It sinks into the heart of what it means to love someone unconditionally, and what it means to forgive yourself and another.

For One More Day is the story of a “cup of coffee” professional ball player and his strained relationship with his mother, his adoration of his father and the tumult of their lives as a family unit that fractures into pieces. Charles “Chick” Benetto is revealed to us in a baseball field where he shares his deepest secrets, his guilt, his fears, his joys, his pride and his shame.

Bared for us in this novel is the life of a mother, Chick’s  mother, detailed with absolute sensitivity by Albom, the life of a divorcée in the mid-60s in suburban America. We see firsthand how a woman must survive to preserve her sense of self, while shielding her children from a cruel world that is quick to judge and punish her for that which is not her fault. We see how people view a woman after her marriage falls apart, how the world judges her differently than her male counterpart potentially just as responsible for the failure of the marriage. We see how this woman saddles all her strength onto one horse and then barrels through life with all her strength intact. She is a force to be reckoned with at her best, and in her darkest times, she is still tender and loving and forgiving. She wants the best for her children, and like many mothers the world over, she will stop at nothing to achieve just that, even when they break her heart and shatter what she has put blood, sweat and tears into building for them. Such is the tenderness of a mother, such is her strength that the well-being of her children becomes the sole reason for her living. And many children, much to the chagrin of mothers everywhere, do not understand this, but they will, one day. To my own momma, who is inevitably smiling as she reads this (or tearing up first, and then smiling!), I love you, and I understand  you, and I appreciate you, even when it does not seem like it.

With eye-stinging scenarios where mother and son are afforded last moments hovering between life and death to say to each other what they could not say in life, Albom paints the seamless tale of a love that defies the end of a life to still reign strong. He paints with an experienced and swift wrist the picture of a man so weighed down by life that no redemption can seem to save him. And in much the same stroke, Albom paints the picture of a mother’s love that comes and cradles the brokenness of her child, and brings him back to a place where he can forgive himself. The tight rope between love and betrayal is tested, the fine line between selfishness and selflessness is frayed even more, the thin rays of hope that exist amidst a life of shame and guilt and bitterness and anger turn into blinding promise that saves even those of us who believe we are too wretched to be worthy of the saving. Through this book, dear reader, we understand the value of a second chance and the value of missed opportunities and lost time. We understand with absolute heaving weight, the value of life in its entirety and how loving people unconditionally can bridge barriers and heal even the most rotten of wounds.

For One More Day is a quick read, a few uninterrupted hours at most, but a read that will take you to a place where you will see the relationships in your own life with entirely new lenses. A place where you will appreciate that the time you have with the ones you love is always worth more than financial or career-related opportunities that can be taken away from you when this life ends. And even though this book deals with the running thread of death, it stays that hopelessness that many feel upon death’s arrival, and in its stead reveals the promise of times full of love to carry us through to whatever comes next. With all its brevity of a 197 pages, this book celebrates a mother’s untethered love, and a child’s need to be reminded of this to piece together his life.

Do yourself a favour, if your heart is closed to the ones you love or even if it is wide open, pick this book up, grab a handful of tissues and read. Sometimes, in the letting go, we are freed.

 

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Miriam Teows’ A Complicated Kindness

Rating: 4.7/5.0

Earlier this Spring I began reading A Complicated Kindness by renowned Canadian author, Miriam Teows. This book, at first, was a dry read; I could not commit. Still, I know the value of seeing a book to the end, and so I held on. About 110 pages in, that payoff began. I started to feel a kinship with the main character, Nomi Nickel, an understanding that often life can just be a straight line to nowhere when you feel trapped and devoid of options.

Set in the Mennonite town of East Village in Ontario, on the border with the United States, Teows paints the picture of a bleak and exhausted town with not much to go on but the constant threat of eternal damnation. Nomi is a rebellious and pondering teenager on the brink of graduating high school, if she can just get a final paper written to the satisfaction of her teacher. Plagued by the abandonment by her mother and older sister, and the responsibility of caring for her father, Nomi wanders around town playing out the internal dialogue of her mind. With several short and clipped sentences, Teows admits us into the corners of Nomi’s mind where her pain and curiosity, her harsh realizations and kinder self reside. Nomi is not a character prone to over-exaggeration, and truly there is nothing about this book that reverts to the dramatic. Teows presents the reader with the bare bones of life in a Mennonite village, and one could elucidate that this is a book taken from  a few chapters of Teows’ own life growing up in a Mennonite town.

Nomi stumbles aimlessly through her days in her quiet village where people are brimming with frustration and anxiety at being denied and limited in their living. We see the slow disintegration of her family, juxtaposed with her developing self identity despite the losses that accumulate in her life.

Teows is very sensitive in her construction of Nomi’s thoughts, concerns, fears and valuables in life. Nomi is just a regular girl in need of a family she can rely on, and with whom she can share her love. This girl may be perceived as devoid of emotion and unable to get her act together, but the love within her comes through in her defense of her best friend, Lids, in her compassion toward the little neighbour girl whose little whims she is forever indulging in just to make happy, in her ability to see her mother and sister as still parts of her and forgive them for abandoning her, and in her unconditional, unwavering and soft love for her father. Her strength peeks through in her ability to let go of the wrongs heaved at her by various people in the town, and despite the tumult inside her, to hold steady and still find a way to take care of herself. This is not just a coming-of-age story as it has been hailed since it made its debut in 2004, but this story settles its heels into what it means to be human. It explores our desires and fears, our weaknesses and strengths, the things that can break us and the love that helps us stand up again. It is a compassionate portrait of a young girl brave enough to build a hope out of an inferno of lost innocence.

And again, like a lot of books I review, I would say this is one for your reading line-up, because truly, Miriam Teows is brilliant.

 

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daytripper: A Graphic Novel

I am a fan of the graphic novel form. There is much, as I have addressed in previous posts about the graphic novel, to be learned from this relatively new way of combining writing and art. So, when a good friend recommended that I read daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, I did not need much convincing.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Set in Brazil, this story is structured in the past, present and future. It revolves around the life of Bras de Oliva Domingos. The novel is sectioned into chapters, each chapter a different year in Bras’ life, and each chapter ends with Bras’ death. Perhaps, this is a way to show the reader the different possibilities inherent in a life and how as easily as we can begin new things, these things can also come to unexpected ends.

When I began reading this graphic novel, I thought the situations too contrived, the dialogue and captions too scripted. Some things felt forced. However, I trudged on. I reasoned that maybe I was missing the point; putting too much emphasis on style and not enough on sentiment. Three-quarters of the way into the book, I realized I was gripped, and barreling toward the finish to conjure a stable understanding of the novel. I will admit that this book is very cleverly structured. Bras is presented at different points in his life, and with each new point, we are given a new perspective on who he is as a person and his relationship with the other characters in the book. Each chapter fills in pieces left open by the previous chapter, amounting to a big jigsaw puzzle that also requires the reader’s perspective and contemplation to come into a fully-formed picture.

What I most enjoyed about this book was the artwork. The artwork carries a depth that paints this story in a more ‘real’ light. The characters’ aches and sadness, their joys and misgivings, their weaknesses and baser natures, are exposed in gestures and expressions, all adroitly captured in stunning visuals.

Covering themes of family, death and the fragility of life, achieving dreams, lost dreams, the art of writing, being a writer, developing a sense of self, friendship, love, parenthood and all the messiness in between the day-to-day of our collective lives, this graphic novel does surely leave you thinking about the brevity of our existence and perhaps the purpose of our lives. Lovers leave, family members die, friends abandon, dreams fall through, crises take over and doubts creep into the mind, but love finds a way to blossom and leave a hope that pulls the characters through.

This book merits a few readings, and not just to better understand what the talented twin-brother duo of Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba are trying to convey, but also just to admire the artwork and appreciate that life is lived with a better understanding, when presented with the concept of purpose and then finally, death.

If you’re up for something different, I would say, give daytripper a try.

 

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The Deborah Ellis Installments (Part II): My Name is Parvana

As promised, here is Book#4 in the Breadwinner Series, My Name is Parvana by Deborah Ellis.

In this last book, we meet an older Parvana. She is 15-years old now, and has been through more heartbreaking tragedy. When the story opens, Parvana is in prison. She has been captured by American soldiers, while wandering through a bombed-out school site. As we follow Parvana through her ordeal in prison, the story jumps back into the past to fill in the gaps with what has transpired since we last met her. Ellis does a fantastic job of superimposing the past on the present. Parvana is no longer the feisty young girl with a quick tongue. No, now she holds her tongue to create a deafening silence when questioned by the American soldiers. Over and over and over and over again. Yes, Parvana has matured. And logically so, because she has lost more, and made more difficult and selfless choices. Her innocence is replaced with shrewdness and air-tight resolve. If she was strong when we were first introduced to her, she possess mammoth strength now. If, as readers, we admired her courage and smarts in the beginning, we will love her for these now. Ellis reaches into the soul of Parvana’s character and brings her to life. She makes her feel like a real person. And therein lies a huge portion of Ellis’ talent; her ability to make her characters come to life. It is no wonder we feel a closeness to them. Ellis does a great justice connecting her audience to children around the world who have no voice to fight for themselves. In this series, and finally, in this book, Ellis gives them all a voice. Especially through Parvana’s silence while she is in prison, we see the grace and bravery with which this young girl operates.

Teachers, your students can compare Parvana’s life to their own. They can make connections and then draw contrasts. They also get to understand a bit about how things work in military prisons in areas of war. This book can even be done with older grades (intermediates – 7 & 8) as a stand-alone with a thorough backstory provided. Students can jump into the psychology behind scare tactics and how prisoners are treated in war-torn countries, even if they are innocent, and even if they are children. You can use this as an opportunity to talk about bigger concepts in their basic form, such as different types of governments and their structures, democracy, justice and injustice, the effects of perception on belief. Your students can further see hope and sacrifice at one of their bests through the many sacrifices made by different characters, and the hope kept alive by others.

Teachers, you can also talk about the Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan Organization and their not-for-profit endeavours to improve the lives of women in war-ridden countries such as Afghanistan. Deborah Ellis is a true genius at her work, and she has the passion to make her work endearing and relatable.

So, even if you don’t actually end up teaching this last book, you yourself will find it a worthwhile read. To say it is an eyeopener would be too much of a cliché.

 

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The Deborah Ellis Installments (Part I): The Breadwinner Trilogy

Deborah Ellis is a renowned Canadian author who has written a number of books with a lens to promoting awareness about the plight of marginalized children in war-stricken countries. Her fiction and non-fiction are sensitively crafted to present the reality faced by many of these innocents.

In possibly her most famous books, The Breadwinner series, Ellis paints a picture of the life of women in war-torn Afghanistan. This entire series showcases an especially strong cast of female characters that will leave you feeling like you know them personally. Teachers, having worked in a library for a year, I have seen this series being read with great vigour by junior students. Granted these books might appeal more to your female students because the protagonists are mostly female, I do think there is great value in making it part of your teaching, as it allows your male students to understand and appreciate the hardships faced by many children and women in places like Afghanistan.

There are 4 books in the Breadwinner Series:

The Breadwinner

Parvana’s Journey

Mud City

My Name is Parvana

Today, I will speak to the first 3 as they follow closely in chronological order, and can be taught together over the course of a couple of months, if you so choose.

In The Breadwinner, we meet our leading girl, Parvana. She is bursting with energy and opinions, and is not the kind to bend over backward for anyone. Right away we get the sense that this strong young lady is built to tackle much. And much, she does. She is chosen to be the breadwinner of her family when the Taliban enforces bans on women leaving their home without a male companion. With Parvana’s father imprisoned for no fault of his own, her mother and siblings rely on her ability to dress up as a boy and go out into the market to continue her father’s job. Parvana is sharp and kind. She has a conscience that shines through her stubbornness. We understand as an audience that this is reality for a lot of Aghani girls. And at the young age of 11, Parvana must shoulder a lot of the responsibility if she is to help her family survive. Teachers, your students can view this first book through the lens of how the family structure is impacted by war.

In the second book, Parvana’s Journey, Parvana is reunited with her father, but separated from her mother and the rest of her siblings. The book opens with her at her father’s grave, and goes back at points in time to describe the short journey they took together to find her mother and siblings, before his mind and body gave out. For the remainder of the book, we follow Parvana on a harrowing journey as she must use both her cunning and strength to stay alive. This strong young girl has matured significantly since the last time we saw her, but she retains some of her best qualities, like her compassion. With this compassion, she makes and keeps a handful of friends. Teachers, your students can add to their understanding of the interactions of strangers in a war-torn country, and how the youngest of the population must fight for survival.

In the third book, Mud City, we reconnect with Parvana’s friend, Shauzia, whom we have met in the first book. Shauzia has ended up helping out at a Widow’s Compound on the border with Pakistan, but despite being clever and useful, she wants to venture beyond the grounds of the compound and start her own life. She is convinced that if she can reach the nearest city across the border in Pakistan, Peshawar, she can earn a living and then go on to have her own life and do great things. Shauzia does succeed in getting out of the Widow’s Compound, but life in the big city of Peshawar is not everything she bargained for. There is not much work to be had, and going hungry is just in addition to struggling to stay safe and alive. Teachers, this one will offer a bit of perspective on the internal world of an Afghani child, specifically a girl. It will allow your students to draw connections with their own hopes and ambitions, and those of Afghani children. It will also help them see that despite these hopes and ambitions, the contrasts in circumstances and opportunities is what makes achieving both possibly easier for them, and harder for their Afghani counterparts. This book offers teachings in different perspectives, gratitude and hard work.

Teachers, this entire trilogy is a great way to teach your students a bit of geography when you talk about Afghanistan and its location in the world, with reference to other countries such as Pakistan. Students can make connections to other countries they know of in the region. It can further offer the opportunity to delve into social studies as you discuss the government structure of then Taliban-led Afghanistan, and today’s present government. You can also use this to make comparisons with our own Canadian government, or other relevant governments.

The first three books in the series are great for grades 4-6 and offer a range of cross-curricular opportunities because of their versatility.

Stay tuned for a follow-up post where I will discuss the final book in the series, My Name is Parvana.

 

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Sunny Side Up: A MUST-TEACH for Junior Grades

Dear Teachers,

Now, some of you might have begun to take heed of your students’ growing interest in graphic novels. I wrote a piece on August 3rd, 2016, here, detailing why graphic novels should be used in classroom teaching.

Today, I would like to talk about one of my favourite graphic novels for your junior grades: Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm. This very well-done novel tells the heartfelt tale of 10-year old Sunny Lewin, who goes to spend some of the summer of 1976 with her grandfather in Florida. Young Sunny has been sent away by her parents not as punishment, but as protection and distraction. Sunny’s grandpa lives in a retirement community and his idea of fun is not quite the same as young Sunny’s. Still, Sunny shows great maturity in doing her best to make the most of it. This graphic novel is told with great sensitivity from a child’s perspective. A child who is dealing with a lot in her life. With flashbacks to earlier points in time, little by little the readers become aware that Sunny has been sent to live with her grandfather while her parents help her older brother deal with his substance abuse. With thoughtfully constructed artwork, the Holm brother-and-sister duo showcase the sibling bond shared between Sunny and her older brother and how his substance abuse affects her life. Teachers, this is a great way to get your students talking about an issue that they might either have no awareness of, or be dealing with on a daily basis. Sunny’s resilience throughout the book is a poignant point that deserves discussion. How does a 10-year old learn to navigate these dark corners of life, and often by herself? The story builds on Sunny’s relationship with her grandfather, someone whom she loves very much, and her role at 10-years old as his keeper. Sunny tries to keep her grandfather in check about his smoking problem, and she plays along while he lies to her, until at one dramatic moment in the book, she loses her nerve. Here we see how this young child, with all of her 10 years, has roughed out life to arrive at a juncture where she will no longer tolerate being treated like a child, because as she proves, she has grown up enough to understand how reality works.

Teachers, your students can do various things with this graphic novel because it is so very versatile. You can dip quite easily into the arts and explore language through that lens, while at the same time fulfilling grade-specific expectations across different curriculum.

With a setting ground in the 1970s, your students can chart important moments in history from the 1970s and work their way forward, they can talk about ways in which the artist uses frames and panels and gutters and speech bubbles, and other graphic novel techniques to convey meaning, you can delve into psychology and the background of substance abuse and how it affects the person who is dealing with it, and his/her family. This book is teeming with things to teach your students, and the best part is, it comes in a form that doesn’t pose a hard sell! Your students will be so excited to jump right into the pages, you will only have to say when!

Teachers, if you are looking for resources to start a unit on this book, please visit my Teachers Pay Teachers account: Cross-Curricular Ideas when teaching Sunny Side Up

 

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Back to School: First Day Jitters!

For a lot of us Canadians, school begins next week. And yes, teachers everywhere are hunkering down for 10 months of a lot of work. And it is no far-fetched notion that the first day gives a lot of us returning to school (staff and students alike) the jitters, which is why First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg is a fantastic book to read to your students K-3.

The author and illustrator, Judy Love, are very clever with the big reveal at the end of the book where we find out that the person with the jitters about her first day at a new school is a grown woman, a full-fledged teacher. This book provides a platform for discussion about your students’ feelings around their first day of school. Questions such as “How do you feel about going to a new school?” “What are some ways that you could help someone who is new?” are a great place to start. These questions can seek to calm down students who are nervous about their first day of school, and help other students who are not, become more empathetic to their experiences. It further raises a lot of other themes such as facing your fears, being confident in yourself, welcoming new people. And it has the added advantage of being funny! Your students will love the illustrations, dear teachers, and they will find it hilarious that their teachers’ feelings are not so different from their own.

Parents, this would also be a great way for you to prepare your little one for his/her first day (back) at school. To know that his/her teachers experience a similar struggle will allow your child to be a bit less worried about what to expect on his/her first day.

I know I tout a lot of books as must-have when I review them, but I usually review books that I think are particularly helpful or poignant. It is no surprise then, that I declare this book an absolute MUST-HAVE!

Happy preparing for the first day of school, dear teachers, students and parents!

 

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