Category: Book Reviews

I Knew You Could!: Such an Inspiration!

I should begin this post by saying that I am quite fortunate to have friends and family who are loving and supportive no matter what twists my life takes. They jump with me on my highs and hold me through my lows. So, when a very dear friend of mine gave me this book to celebrate an important event in my life, I had to share it! This book is a great gift to someone who is in need of a little inspiration or encouragement, or just a pat on the back to show your support, but also a fantastic read for your students, dear teachers.

Written by Craig Dorfman with artwork by Cristina Ong, I Knew You Could! is a truly special book. Using rhyme to make the journey one that flows quite seamlessly, Dorfman draws in his readers with thought-provoking life lessons that can be applied at the different stages in our lives. What I love about this book most is that it is relevant. It uses the symbol of  a train to chronicle a journey through life and along the way, likens a train’s experiences to bigger life experiences. The metaphors are rich and the similes just as compelling. This book is imbued with positive thinking that a lot of people can relate to. It draws attention to the harsh times we face in our life journeys, and positions hope and perseverance as the tools essential to get through the journey.It encourages the reader to be true to him/herself and rely on friendships and loved ones during hard times. It is a book truly that should belong on every shelf as the first piece of positive-thinking or self-help literature that one might own.

Teachers, do yourselves a favour and buy a copy. Not only will you love reading this to your students as you teach them valuable life concepts, but you will smile as you read this to yourself. Moms and dads everywhere, you might just want to head off to the store to pick a copy to read tonight to your precious little one(s). Trust me, you will be glad you did.

And to my dear friend (you know who you are if you are reading this), thank you for believing in me, and for this beautiful memento of inspiration.

 

©booksnnooks.org All Rights Reserved

Judging a Book by its Cover

Whoever said you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover obviously didn’t appreciate the beauty in the cover of a book.

As a book lover, I must confess that each time I am browsing through titles I would like to buy, my eye is always drawn to the prettiest, the most sophisticated or classic-looking, the one with the most character!

Sure, there is infinitely more in the textual material that is found within the book, but why should one not enjoy the prettiness of the cover?

I for one gravitate toward the hardcovers more than the paperbacks. Expense be damned. Book-collecting is an art. And having books on your shelf that you can be proud to look at or touch is something of a dream for a book lover. I dream of hardcovers bound by a trained hand, with gold embossing. I dream of books carefully fashioned in the early 1900s, with thoughtful cover art. I dream of leather-backed books with a texture that is the doorway to the wonder of what lies within. Yes, the stuff of today is modern and sleek and easy to carry around (unless you are lugging around an 800-pager), but am I the only one nostalgic for a more unique copy that avid readers before my time enjoyed?

Purple faux leather with textured embossing and foil-glossed flowers by World Cloud Classics
A simple, yet classic Reader’s Digest Edition
A gorgeous blue faux leather with hints of gold embossing also by World Cloud Classics

 

©booksnnooks.org All Rights Reserved

The Polacco Series: Gratitude

Some of you, and maybe a lot of teachers, might be familiar with the name Patricia Polacco. As educators, I think her books are essential components of our libraries. Polacco is a truly gifted author, who uses her life experiences and cultural heritage to write immensely touching books that, if you were being honest with yourself, border on a “tear-jerker”. Not only is this very talented author a moving writer, she illustrates her books with emotional sketches and tugging colours. I have done countless read-alouds with my students where we discuss her choice of colour for specific artwork, coming to the conclusion that like her words, her drawings are also bursting with meaning.

One of my favourite books from Polacco is the ADORED Thank you, Mr. Falker

This book weaves a heart-rending story of a young girl, Trisha, who faces challenges in her learning. She has dyslexia, and none of the teaching staff at her school are able to pick this up. This challenge makes our young protagonist a target for name-calling and bullying. And, unlike other children, when Trisha welcomes the chance to move to another city and start over at a new school, her hopes are met with despair, as she painfully navigates yet another school system stuffed with bullies and teaching staff who do not seem to care. Until of course she meets Mr. Falker. Mr. Falker, like a lot of teachers these days who get into teaching despite its hardships, is the teacher who makes a difference in this girl’s life. He takes a gamble on her and his gamble pays off, leading to a moment, brilliantly narrated with emotion, that changes Trisha’s life forever. Based on a true story, this narrative is packed with feel-goods.

Perfect for  grades 3-6, and abounding in themes of gratitude, compassion, bullying awareness, self-confidence issues in children, learning challenges and their effects, this book should really be read to every child out there. If nothing else, it lets children know that they are not alone in their struggles, and that they can rely on that one teacher to make a difference in their lives.

 

©booksnnooks.org All Rights Reserved

The Constructivist Approach to Teaching

Recently, I have subtly introduced a perforated silence here on Books ‘n’ Nooks and not so much as intentionally as I would like. The reason is more the commonplace cross of our current world where we are afflicted with a “lack of time”.

Either way, I would like to briefly touch upon an important concept I have become very interested in, and one that I believe seeks to inform and consequently, improve, teaching.

Constructivism can be defined in many ways. One may use the Latin origin to break it down into meaning-inducing fragments of the whole, or one might simply elucidate on the notions that spring into consciousness on mention of the word.

Think for a moment what meaning you might derive from “Constructivism” (Yes, this is the teacher in me calling into action inquiry-based learning).

Constructivism is a way to teach whereby students are allowed agency over their own learning; they are given the opportunity to direct their learning by building new experiences, while simultaneously drawing on their past ones. A teacher’s role in all of this still remains crucial, because unlike the cut-and-dry approach of student-centered learning, the value of an expert, namely the teacher, is honoured. Teachers are tasked with “guiding” the student’s knowledge by providing opportunities for students to discover their worlds and make and build on their own experiences. They are to help students develop and hone their problem-solving, inferencing, critical-thinking and meaning-making skills to achieve a cohesive framework for how to learn.

Students become active and motivated participants in their learning and the teachers act as their guides through this process, functioning as the Yodas of a student’s life.

Now, I could elaborate and confuse you with more complex interpretations of Constructivism, and punctuate this blog heavily with academic jargon, but everyone knows that as teachers, we always appreciate the most accessible methods of learning. So, think of Constructivism as the work of a Scientist or an Artist or a Pioneer. There is a lot of theory, a lot of testing and finally a conclusion, an understanding for how it works. And in the end, isn’t that the crux of life?

 

©booksnnooks.org All Rights Reserved

George Leigh Mallory: The First to Summit Everest?

Rating 4/5

George Leigh Mallory

For most of you, that name does not ring a bell (Unless you’re a mountaineering enthusiast of course, or just a rare brainiac). You are however, in all likelihood, familiar with the names of Edmund Hillary, a mountaineer from New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay, a Nepalese Sherpa who made the journey with Hillary, the first 2 climbers to conquer the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. Little is known about the brave man, George Leigh Mallory, who in 1924, led the 3rd expedition from England to reach the summit of Everest. Mallory and his climbing partner, Andrew “Sandy” Irvine disappeared in June 1924, and whether they reached the summit or not has been a cause for much speculation since they disappeared 92 years ago.

Jeffrey Archer, a former British politician, has written a page-turner with George Leigh Mallory as the charismatic Protagonist, titled, Paths of Glory. Mallory is positioned as a devil-may-care gentleman who seems to scale the most domineering mountaintops with little regard for failure. Although Archer’s writing style leaves for something to be desired, he has a flair for fluffing up the facts to deliver tones of adventure,  and creating dramatic hooks that leave you hanging and hungering for the end. And while the world has yet to  find out whether George Mallory and Sandy Irvine reached the summit in 1924, Archer ends his narrative having taken a side. The facts that have been uncovered over the years are presented with much pzazz to deliver a cast of characters who are true to their roles and remain, to the very end, very convincing. Mallory’s family and friends are constructed as integral characters to the story, and Archer shows a lot of respect to Mallory’s Expedition team and his beloved wife, Ruth Mallory.

The relationship between Ruth and George Mallory provides for much heightened drama as it weaves together a roller-coaster of emotions that take the reader on the journey of a wife longing for her husband, and a man torn by the ache to be with his family and the relentless desire to achieve his ambition.

This was an adventure that spear-headed my need to research more about the 1924 Expedition to Everest, and George Mallory’s Life. There is much information out there, and most of it says the same thing, but George Mallory seems to exude a mystery and elicit desire to know what happened to him on his journey up the mountain. Mallory’s body was found in May of 1999, 75 years after he disappeared, by a team of American climbers. There is fascinating video footage shot by the team upon the discovery:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFr1KdY6aiw

And while Archer’s book is but one way to reconcile the mystery around the final moments of Mallory and Irvine, Archer leaves his readers with a feeling of awe, thoroughly honouring this fascinating and skilled mountaineer who tried to defy the limitations of his time, and conquer a giant.

If you’re looking for dexterity of writing style, this is not the book for you, but if you thrive on adventure and mystery, then this is a must-read.

©booksnnooks.org All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

 

Recognizing Teachers: Thank You, Todd Parr.

So often a Teacher’s job is berated: “You get summers off” “You get paid too much for the little you do” “You don’t know what you are doing when it comes to raising a child”.  Not a lot of people actually respect the job of a teacher. And while I am not here to dispel the falsehoods that seek to trample my kind here at home, I would like to share why exactly I am a Teacher. And in doing so, a lot of these damning falsities will crumble.

I did not come to the conclusion to be a teacher lightly. No. When I was little, sure, I played Pretend-Teacher. My momma is a teacher and like a lot of  young girls, I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. So I chalked endless mathematical equations, and grammatical sentences, and diagrams on the dark wood door of my bedroom, with an imaginary classroom paying rapt attention to my lessons. And I enjoyed it! I would explain the concepts to my invisible students and then answer their voiceless questions.

Years later, when I was graduating from university, all I wanted to do was travel the world. And I knew I couldn’t do it on my savings, so I decided to build a portfolio that would market me to the international world of employers hiring tutors and teachers of English. So began a couple of years of travelling abroad and teaching students who were 3 years old one summer, and then 18 years old the next winter. And it felt good! At the time, I thought it was just the freedom and the opportunity for self-discovery and exploration that gave me such joy. However, when I returned home, I realized that continuing teacher-like jobs still afforded me the same happiness. So, at the urgency of friends and family, I began my journey to becoming a teacher. Today, I work in the school system and no matter how hard the day stretches before me, I am content. I have the opportunity to help in a way that I have wanted to since I was a child. In what other job could I be surrounded by a classroom full of young minds hungry to learn what it is I have planned for them that day? In what other job could I smile when I see one of my students complete a task (s)he has been struggling with since the beginning of the school year? Or when I am coaching cross-country and one of my students decides she is going to push herself to be a stronger runner after heeding my encouragement? Or when I am able to deliver a book of interest into the excited hands of a student who does not really love reading? What other job is out there where I can help make such a positive difference in the life of a child?

Some of the most valued people in my life are teachers. Some of them have been instrumental in bringing me to where I am today. Such is the destiny of a teacher, and I wanted to continue that trend. For me, being a teacher is a vocation, and within that vocation, my students’ education and well-being becomes the priority.

I know the job of a teacher is difficult. With the limited, and soon-depleting, resources and supports in many school systems, that job is made harder, whether the outsider is privy to it or not. As teachers, we don’t spend our lunches and recesses coaching children who are struggling in Math or Science because we get paid more. We do this because we want that child to succeed, because we want him to know that we believe in him, and hopefully one day, he too will believe in himself. As teachers we do not offer 2-3 extra hours a few times a week to coach soccer or hockey or chess club just because it is a party and we get paid more. No, we do it because we want to inculcate a valuable skill-set within our students. A skill-set that will prepare them well for a healthy and well-rounded future. As teachers we don’t spend evenings and weekends and summers devoted to our own personal enjoyments, but devoted to planning different lessons for all the different learners within our classroom. We make sure that because Tommy is a visual learner the lesson should have pictures, and because Jane learns better with sound we should play an audio clip to illustrate the concept, or because Matthew is a tactile learner, there should be a hands-on activity to fortify understanding at the end of the lesson. And then, there are our students who need us a little more; maybe they don’t get it the first or the second or the third time, and therefore need extra time that the regular class schedule does not allow for. Or maybe we have students with autism or dyslexia or other intellectual abilities that do not allow us to teach everyone with a one-size-fits all lesson. Or maybe there are students who have severe emotional needs that no one else is meeting, and cannot learn at the same pace as their peers. We step in and play a plethora of different roles: Teacher, Instructor Therapist, Counselor, Mentor, Nurse, Cheerleader, Confidante, Disciplinarian, Coach. We do not sit behind our desks and just do paperwork. No, there is much more to the job.

Therefore, when I came across Todd Parr’s Teachers Rock!, I felt a smile edge onto my face. At first I was surprised, because really, ask a handful of teachers, they are not used to receiving much, if any, praise or recognition. However, here is an author who gets it. Parr has an accompanying beautiful illustration for everything a teacher does, and his sensitivity to the minutiae of a teacher’s job is truly heart-warming. So, thank you, Todd Parr, truly, for understanding and standing by us. And all you teachers out there, this is a copy you’ll want to own. If not for your students, then at least for yourself. You owe it to yourself to be reminded of what a good job you do for your students.

©booksnnooks.org All Rights Reserved

 

Harvey: A Simple, Yet Artistic, Account of Loss and Grief

Rating: 5/5

Let me begin with a warning that today’s blog discusses a concept that makes many of us grimace with pain. Death. Five letters that can quite literally shatter our lives. When I came across this book by Hervé Bouchard and Janice Nadeau, I was both deeply moved and in awe.

Harvey, written by Hervé Bouchard and illustrated by Janice Nadeau is a project that truly synchronizes illustration with text. And with that segue, I will begin with the technical elements that make this book a gem to own. When I think about categorizing this book, I am unsure whether it falls within the realm of picture book, it is a bit too long for that, graphic novel, while it does have graphic illustrations and real-time dialogue(minus the speech bubbles) it is missing the characteristic panel-structure of graphic novels, or junior novel, the subject matter and the textual length and level seem to offer signs of this. I then came to the conclusion that it really is all 3: picture book with a hint of graphic novel and junior novel.

Now, the subject matter focuses on the death of our main character, Harvey’s, father. Harvey and his brother, Cantin, live in Quebec, and on their way home from school one Spring day, find an ambulance and a crowd of people outside their home. A stretcher holding a blanketed figure is brought out of their house with their mother wailing behind. Then, a key set of events is set off in slow motion as our writer and illustrator quite dexterously capture the grief inherent in loss. A child often processes the loss around death differently than an adult. And while the stages of grief are similar for more or less all of us, children often are left confused and filling in the  gaps that a loved one’s demise has created. There is the knowledge of loss, but pieces of  life seem to move out of kilter, with a child having to struggle to return to some semblance of normalcy. Harvey processes his loss in a very practical matter. He lays out the facts and then follows through on what must be done to deal with his father’s death. His younger brother, Cantin, however, takes a different route when dealing with his loss. His reaction is more emotive. Harvey is the older one of the two and perhaps this difference in reaction is in part due to age and maturity. I would argue though that loss affects us all differently depending on our different personalities. The matter-of-fact text that Bouchard uses to explain the progression of events gnaws at your mind and heart. Nadeau is exceptionally  clever with her use of colours and lines and spaces. She employs darker, smudged-out, and consistently  faded and ragged colours to convey the heaviness of loss. A “grayness”, both of feeling and colour, hover over throughout the book. I don’t normally tout the illustrator of the picture books I review, but that is usually because the text stands out more to me. In this book, Nadeau’s illustrations take the cake. She is superbly talented in conveying the gravity of emotion and state of mind that someone dealing with loss encounters. And it is this talent of hers that I believe renders this book a masterpiece.

Winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award, this book is a gentle reminder of death looming in lives. It offers a raw interpretation of loss suffered by a child and in doing so, makes us as adults more keenly aware of how we can better support our young ones through such a difficult process.

 

© booksnnooks.org All Rights Reserved

 

Making an Eternal Case for the Printed Word

The printed word, such as a hard copy book, is not a gem that is appreciated by all. My fellow book-lovers, you will understand when I talk about the absolute euphoria I feel when I open a new shipment from Chapters and Indigo to find beautiful hard copies of some of my favourite titles.

Now, commercial giants, and those looking to create new and inventive technology have, over the last decade or so, tried to reinvent the way we read. And, while I have no real dual to enact with the Kobo or the Kindle or the other what-have-yous out there, I feel it is completely necessary that I champion the printed word as the best invention ever. Yes, I will concede that e-books are able to make accessible reading in ways we could not have imagined before, such as what do I do when the lights go out and it’s dark and I still want to read? Cue headlines: Order is restored with My New Kobo Amidst a Frenzy of No Electricity! Or, Kindle Solves Space Issues: Every Title I Ever Wanted in One Compact Device! Now, while these reasons are all great to catapult stories into the 21st century, and let’s not forget, make millions of dollars, there is something to be said about a plain and simple paperback or hardcover that you house on a shelf. Never mind the intoxicating smell of a brand new book, or, for those of us more sentimental readers, the concreteness of the page to flip back and forth, the option to pen down your thoughts and ideas in the margins for someone else to find a few years from whence you last held the book. Never mind all of these. Imagine now if you will, a society where all is destroyed. Where human beings remain, but all the inventions and luxuries that make our lives easier are demolished because of war or natural disasters. Now, imagine that the only thing left behind is a large edifice stocked with some of the world’s best books. Such is a world created by Jeanne DuPrau in her City of Ember Series. Jeanne skillfully brings front and centre the problem of a world with no electricity or technological invention with which to learn or communicate. Instead, our merry band of characters finds a way to pull themselves out of a slump of human intellectual degradation by, in various ways, using the printed word. Be it letters passed between people, or journals left behind for the new blood to read, or just books about space and electricity, the printed word is an invention that helps to bring back a generation groping in the dark for evolution.

In his book, It’s a Book, Lane Smith illustrates with candour and cheekiness, the merits of a book. He juxtaposes the characteristics of a book with the mobile devices of our current lives, and through it, showcases the simple, yet everlasting quality of the printed word. Maybe Smith happened upon this idea in an attempt to leave behind a memoir of the printed word should it ever fall into an abyss of non-existence, but I don’t think such will ever be the case. Not merely because as human beings we are a sentimental lot, but because there is sheer practicality inherent in prolonging the lineage of hard copy books everywhere. Hard copy books are a way for generations to communicate with each other. They are a way to reach beyond the dead and continue with the evolution of our species in the absence of the inventors of scientific, literary and other advancements. They are a way to learn new things to further our own minds and a means of finding connections to each other regardless of barriers in race, intelligence, creed, or gender. They are doors to new worlds that we may never visit. They are sanity-keepers for those of us who enjoy unwinding with a good book. They are worlds to escape to when our lives get messy and too hard to live.

Working in the school system, I have seen and heard of initiatives to move toward a more Learning Commons way of education. And while marrying technology with books is great, some administrators have the wrong idea when they champion only laptops and iPads over books on shelves. Not all students have access to laptops and iPads beyond the school grounds, but every child can, and should, have access to a book from the school or public library.

The printed word will never go out of style, and so pushing toward a paperless world where we undervalue the contribution of the hard copy book is not the wisest course of action. Technology will advance, and maybe someday be completely obliterated because of a man-made or natural calamity. Maybe a universal blackout will wipe out all means for us to communicate with each other via our mobile devices. Either way, the printed word, hard copy books will remain permanent means of education and communication and wonder.

 

© booksnnooks.org All Rights Reserved

 

The Munsch on a Lesson in Selflessness

No really, who doesn’t love Robert Munsch? Robert Munsch is one of those timeless Canadian authors who makes me proud to be Canadian. His books are always based on real-life people, and every now and then, amidst the hilarity and the true-to-form made-up sounds, there is a moral. Cue entry of this book, easily one of my favourites from the Munsch.

Ribbon Rescue by Robert Munsch is one of those books that leads readers on a journey to discover their inner selflessness. Based on a character who is of Indigenous origin, this book really gives voice to the culture of our Indigenous brothers and sisters in a light-hearted and compassionate way. It is true, a lot of books written by, or based on, Indigenous characters tend to be heavier, with sadder, and often horrific, undertones. While that entire breadth of literature is essential for our Canadian Literary Canon, to ingrain in our minds the requisite components of our Canadian history, Robert Munsch goes off on a lighter tangent to showcase the grace and kindness of this beautiful culture.

Our main character, Jillian, is a young girl who dons a traditional Ribbon Dress and throughout the story, she selflessly offers ribbons to different people who cross her path and seem to need them. Eventually, she is left with nothing and this puts her at a disadvantage, but is her selflessness enough to overcome that disadvantage?

Munsch weaves a compassionate story-line that allows parents and teachers alike to pose questions to young learners about what Jillian is doing. Teachers, your young students might describe Jillian as “kind”, and “nice”, and “sweet”, but herein lies a fantastic opportunity to teach them how to exercise the kinder and selfless side of their everyday selves. This picture book is ideal for a bedtime story or read-aloud with children aged 4-8, and offers plenty of invaluable teachable moments. So pick up a copy of Ribbon Rescue today, and like me, you’ll discover how much young readers (and YOU) will love it!

 

© booksnnooks.org All Rights Reserved

Picture Book Spotlight: Educating Our Children about Homelessness

Homelessness is a growing concern in our society in North America. As Canadians we sign off on millions of dollars in relief aid to the needy in other countries, and as we should – because we are a generous lot and generosity helps make everyone a little richer, but what of the homeless in our own country? The poverty-stricken men and women, or worse still, children? No, to this problem we turn a blind eye, a deaf ear, we walk quicker. And I think that stems from a culture that is lacking in education around this concept of homelessness. What is homelessness? What does it look like? Whom does it affect? These are questions we need to ask ourselves before we as adults make quick judgments about homeless people we see, and then pass these judgments off to our children. Children feed off the exemplars in their lives. They practice what they see, not what is preached.

So, when I came across Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting, two things happened. For one, it broke my heart, and then, it provided me with an Aha! moment. I could use this book to teach my young students a little about what homelessness looks like! And so, I did a Read-Aloud using this book with students in Grades 1-3.

Told from the perspective of a 5 year-old boy who is homeless and lives in an airport with his father, this story is delivered with compassion and sensitivity. The facts are laid out for us to see. The day-to-day lives of the father and son, as they struggle to outwit airport security by blending into the travelling consortiums that hustle and bustle through the airport, are shown to us. The little boy learns a lot of wisdom at a young age, and this book nudges in a couple of really good metaphors to help understand the mindset of a homeless child better. Teachers, you can pause at various moments in the story and ask your students why the father and son are doing the things they are, or what certain things mean. Their answers will surprise you, and in turn you will be able to surprise them with yours. Among other themes that Bunting weaves into this delicate tale, are those of family and survival. The things you do to stay together and stay alive and well. There are sad moments to this story too, but there are moments of hope and positivity, where students can learn that people can still shine bright their candles of hope in the bleakest of situations. When you have finished reading this with your students, you will find they adorn a new-found appreciation for the homeless and their difficult lives. And in doing so, you will help to make them more sensitive to the aches of society around them.

 

©booksnnooks.org All Rights Reserved