Book Review Unit 4: Flush

    Book Summary: As with other Hiaasen books, Flush is centers on an environmental problem in Florida—water pollution related to ship sewage dumping. The story opens with Noah and Abbey’s dad in jail (again) and mom making up her mind whether this is the time she’s finally getting a divorce. Noah and little sister …

Book Review Unit 3: Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer

Book Summary: Sophie is a fish out-of-water after her family’s move to her late uncle’s run-down farm in a very small, very white community. To deal with her boredom and loneliness, Sophie begins writing letters to her deceased Abuelita, which is where we first hear of the appearance of some very strange chickens.  After the …

Book Review Unit 2: They Were Strong and Good

Title: They Were Strong and Good Book Summary: Lawson traces the history of his immigrant maternal and paternal great-grandparents and grandparents as they weave the fabric of America by contributing in ordinary ways and having many children.  Lawson describes the struggles of ancestors as representative of all Americans in the way they built our country through …

How to keep kids moving to the next book

It's not even Wednesday, but I'm in love with a reader's advisory (RA) suggestion from my Young Adult Literature  textbook.  Since RA can get rather crowded or, if classes do not have scheduled library time, students select totally independently , having book recommendation bookmarks by genre could help kids find more.  I think I would also …

Book Review Unit 1: Miss Brooks Loves Books!

Summary: One girl who can’t find a single book she likes faces down Miss Brooks, the school librarian when she has to do a book report for the dreaded library book week and discovers that maybe libraries do have something for everyone. Bottner, B. 2010. Miss Brooks loves books! (and I don’t). New York, NY: …