Ship Breaker

Nailer is foraging for copper wire in the guts of an old tanker that has washed up on shore. The work is grimy, claustrophobic and very dangerous. Nailer is with a group of teenagers whose nasty boss expects them to meet their copper-wire quota or else they will be easily replaced by other youths. Nailer's world is ugly. His Dad beats him. Many people are high on drugs. Some sell their own blood for money. Some kidnap others and sell them for organ parts. Living in this degenerate futuristic society is so ruthless that it is either kill or be killed. Loyalty and trust don't really exist although teenagers try to establish it among their crews. But even this is shaky.  The only safehaven for Nailer is with the adult, Sadna, a woman who actually shows kindness and caring in a brutal community. 

Nailer's world is the result of humans causing global warming which has melted the ice caps and changed the climate. Hurricanes come so frequently and the ocean has risen so high it has submerged some cities completely. Nailer lives with poor, illiterate people who believe that the only way to improve their lot is to get lucky. When Nailer finds a clipper ship with a beautiful wealthy girl, Nita, he thinks about more than luck and money - he thinks about getting out. Out of the poverty. Out of the violence. Out of the despair. He wants to leave his city and be with Nita. The only problem is that others want Nita as well, but they want her for the money she will bring them either dead or alive.

The story is action-packed and full of violence. The author, Paolo Bacigalupi, does a nice job describing the details and incorporating the senses. I felt I couldn't breath along with Nailer when he was inside the tanker. Another strength in the writing is the internal conflict  Nailer has as he debates doing the right thing or wrong thing. Some weaknesses in the story are how  Bacigalupi never fully explains the new government and how the power has shifted in such a way that there are very few rich people. I never had a complete grasp of who was in control of the government and how it fit into the society. In addition, the characters are supposed to be illiterate but the voices are too educated. They swear a lot and I think the author was using that to show them as uneducated but they started to sound alike and it didn't ring true. The author does do a great job developing the character, Tool, who is part human and animal. I would have liked more of an explanation on why he isn't loyal to a master. That was not explained to the reader. Another part of the plot that was clumsy was when Nailer was taught to read in days. No one learns to read in days. That's just silly. The ending didn't bring closure between Nita and Nailer. Why isn't he on the ship with her? It seemed like it was written with a sequel in mind which I guess is supposed to come out in 2011.

Last, this is an incredibly violent book and much of it comes from Nailer's Dad and the adults. There are descriptions of dead bodies, Nailer and Pima discussing cutting off dead people's fingers to get gold rings, and selling Nita so her eyes and heart can be used by harvesters or her body to make babies. People are killed and mutilated throughout this entire book. Also, Nailer and Nita have a small romance going but they are too busy trying to stay alive for much to happen besides a kiss.

This book won the Prinz award and was a finalist for the National Book award. I was surprised because of the flaws in the plot. Also, the swirling tattoos the ship breaker crews have reminded me of Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld and didn't seem original at all.  Bacigalupi is a good descriptive writer and readers will love the action, tension, and suspense, but I didn't think it was an awesome award-winning book just an entertaining one albeit extremely violent .

:-) :-) :-) 3 Smileys

The Library: an Illustrated History

Of the 123,000 libraries in the U.S., almost 100,000 are in public schools. Libraries have been around since ancient civilizations, but in the U.S. libraries have been supported and increased as a result of peaceful times, philanthropists, democratic ideals and more. The rise of the middle class in America meant demands for education and knowledge and libraries were interwoven into existing democratic ideals. It was believed that freedom of thought and the ability to think for oneself was necessary in a democratic society made up of educated, informed citizens. In his book, The Library: an Illustrated History, Stuart Murphy looks at libraries from ancient Mesopotamia to modern times.   He examines libraries in the East and West in this beautifully illustrated book full of information about fascinating people and anecdotes. Many funny and interesting stories make this book easy-to-read from the book-cursing scribes to Mark Twain's hysterical and witty comment to the librarian that requested him to defend his offensive book, Huckleberry Finn. He told her to put it next to the equally violent and offensive book, The Bible.

I'm not sure if anyone would find this book interesting except book lovers, book collectors, and librarians. Maybe an English teacher because libraries are linked with world literature. The last chapter is on famous libraries all over the world. I always drag my husband into libraries when we travel so I particularly liked this section. The book doesn't go into great depth but gives an overview. This made me want to read up on some of the famous people in history that ruled countries.

I did have problems with the author jumping forward and backwards in history with the narration. The book is not chronological and for my random brain I got lost as to where I was in time. In one chapter they were talking about the Boston Town Library from 1800-1850's and then at the end they wrote about the first public library in 1653. It would have been better to place the information on the first public library at the beginning of the chapter. Maybe the author used an unorganized timeline to be funny. The majority of librarians tend to be obsessive about organization.

Museum of Thieves

 All children in the city of Jewel are chained to a Blessed Guardian until their Separation Ceremony. This is for their own good and protection. On her way to the Separation Ceremony,  12-year-old Goldie, is in trouble again and is wearing the heavier, more cumbersome chains of punishment around her wrists for not obeying the Blessed Guardians. Goldie longs to be free and cannot wait for her chains to be cut, but while the ceremony is in process the man in charge of the Blessed Guardians, Fugelman, bursts into the auditorium announcing to the parents that there was a bombing that killed a child. Horrified, the adults stop the ceremony because they feel the children should not be separated from their protectors, the Blessed Guardians, with a Bomber on the loose.

Goldie cannot stand the thought of being so close to her freedom only to have it snatched away. She escapes from the ceremony and finds refuge in the Museum of Dunt while her parents are imprisoned for her running away. The museum is alive and keeps balance in the city. Goldie is taught to be a "keeper" of the museum with the help of another runaway named, Toadspit, a magical dog, and three adults. When the museum comes under attack, Goldie is the only one who can save it and the city.

The story is full of action and has some some strong characters. The plot has some incidents that are never explained such as who set off the bomb. I think it is Fugelman who wants to control the city but it is never confirmed. Also, why does the museum need Goldie as a Keeper? I think it's because she can withstand the wildness of it better than the others when they sing the First Song, but again, it never says exactly why. I also found it too unbelieveable when the levee broke that the people wouldn't run to higher ground for safety because the city had crippled them so much with the inability to think for themselves.  The citizens do show signs of disobeying the system with Goldie. I think survival instincts would have kicked in for them to run. I thought Fugelman was a one-dimensional villian and that the friction between him and his sister, The Protector, should have been explained more. Why was he jealous of her? There is a scene at the end of the book where she basically says good ridance to her brother who is probably dead and deserves it. She's a kind person and it was out of character. I would have shown her to be sad as well as angry. I think their relationship should have been fleshed out more and made more complicated.  But these were small incidents in a book that overall had fine pacing and a strong main character.

One reason Goldie is chosen as a Keeper is that she is a thief like Toadspit. The author tries to explain through the adult, Olga, that she doesn't mean thieving but being brave and standing up for what is right. She means civic duty or civic responsibility but uses the word thief. I thought Olga got preachy at one part about overprotective parents as well. It wasn't really necessary because the whole novel shows this. I feel like I'm nitpicking this book because I know students will like it, but I think all the little things make it an average read.

Reading Level 4.7

:-) :-) :-) 3 Smileys

Technology Course

Here's a link to lessons for class.

Bink & Gollie

• Bink & Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile

At first I thought Bink and Gollie were sisters, but they are best friends who learn to get along even though they have differences. One lives in the house in a tree while the other lives in a house on the ground. Three adventures take place with no parents present in the story. Bink is short with hair that looks like a dandelion. She is energetic and carefree. Gollie, on the other hand, writes and speaks in sentences using big words that Bink can't understand half the time. She is smart, organized and looks neat. In the first adventure Bink buys a pair of bright socks that irritate Gollie so much she doesn't want to be with her if she is wearing them. They have to learn to compromise in order to solve their problem. In the second adventure, Gollie is pretending to climb the Andes Mountains in her room, but Bink keeps knocking on her door because she wants to be with her and have a peanut butter sandwich. Gollie eventually lets her in and the two pretend together. The third adventure has Bink buying a pet goldfish and Gollie is irritated or jealous that Bink wants it as a friend. When Bink has an accident with Fred (her goldfish), Gollie is the only one that knows how to save it.   

I love these characters. Bink is an active girl who wears a skirt and sneakers. I read the book to seven grade 1 and grade 2 classes and many asked if Bink was a girl or boy.  She has a strong character, is good-natured and doesn't get mad or give in when Gollie tries persuading her to not buy the bright socks and the goldfish. Gollie has a neat bob with a barrett holding her hair off her face. Her socks go over her knees and she likes to be dramatic and use big words. I must journey forth into the wider world. But where? Tasmania? Timbuktu? This book is reminiscent of Frog and Toad and their friendship; one where they irritate and adore each other. Like Frog and Toad, each chapter is complete in itself ; that is, the action at the beginning of the chapter is resolved at the end of the chapter. Unlike Frog and Toad, Bink & Gollie uses difficult words such as bonanza, compromise, gray matter, marvelous companion, outrageous, and more. The words repeat themselves and the illustrations help with children understanding their meaning.    

Tony Fucile, illustrator, did an incredible job that gives this book a unique look not found in any other easy readers. His illustrations give the girls their distinct characters such as Bink with her peanut butter sandwiches and the illusion of constant movement, to Gollie with her pancakes, staid personality and deliberate movement. Fucile worked as an animator on the movie, The Incredibles, and Bink reminds me of the character, Dash. Although according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune they are supposed to represent the two authors. The layouts are different than any books to date. A full page spread is followed by another that is divided into three sections that show Bink falling down with the goldfish. Other pages separate the story into scenes such as the example to the left.   

I wasn't sure if Fucile's illustrations would give young readers enough clues to help them work out the difficult words in the text or if the repetition in the storyline was enough for readers to figure out words not in their vocabulary. After reading it to seven classes I found that most of them were able to figure out all the difficult words in the text because of the clues in the pictures. I had more success with the grade 2 students. For instance, they were able to figure out the idiom of  ...it's either Gollie's way or the highway and the metaphor gray matter. The book is 96 pages and the first graders had problems staying with it. Except they loved the third adventure and it was able to pull their attention back to the story; however, they got a little restless during the second story. The double-page spreads are magnificent. The students laughed at Bink who has to take her fish to the movie theater and they gasped when Bink fell and the fishbowl seemed to fly out of the page of the book. The aerial view of Bink falling is marvelous. While this book looks like a level 1 reader and has a reading level of 1.5, it is really more appropriate for the level 2 reader because of the length and difficulty of the words. A book I can read over and over and over. I can see why it won the 2010 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award.

Reading Level 1.5

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) 5 Smileys

As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth

Ever have one of those days where everything seems to go wrong?

Meet Ry.

He's had one of those days. And while this is a realistic fiction book, you have to suspend your belief in reality because the things that go wrong with Ry are unbelieveable in the book, As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth, by Newbery medal winner, Lynn Rae Perkins.

So what goes wrong? 

Ry gets off a stalled train to make a cellphone call when the train takes off leaving him stranded in the middle of Montana with no food or water. He hikes to a town and along the way loses a shoe, gets a bloody nose, and a black eye. He tries calling people with the phone but no one answers. His parents are on a trip and his grandpa is taking care of him.

In town, Ry meets a nice and stubborn man named Del who decides to help him by driving him to Wisconsin to find Grandpa. Ry calls Del the "ninja cowboy fix-it man" who can repair and build just about anything. Their adventures and castrophes continue like a steam engine on full power as they become friends on their unlikely road trip.

The character descriptions in this book are fantastic. The thoughts of Ry are funny and the prose beautiful:

Ry found himself looking at the tattos on Pete's arms. There were two, one per arm.

A colorful dragon was entwined like a magnificent 2-D pet around one arm. The tip of its tail pointed at Pete's shoulder. It breathed orange and yellow flames onto his wrist. On the other arm was a coiled snake and the words DON'T TREAD ON ME. Or was it - wait - there was a t missing. Whoever had done the tattoo had left out the second "t." It would be an easy mistake to make, you might be doing one t and your mind would go on to the next letter. The words on the scroll said, DON'T READ ON ME. (p 54)

I thought the plot was messy and Lloyd's story took away from the main story (even if it was written well - I love the description of Lloyd drinking coffee on the porch.) I also got exhausted by the descriptive prose. The author has so many beautiful sentences piled on top of each other that capture the essence of the passage it slows down the reading and the pacing. For a hyperactive person like myself , it was hard for me to stick with the story when reading the slow passages - I started to skim. I probably should have put the book down and picked it up rather than read it in two sittings. I might have enjoyed it more if I had savored it slowly. Or not. I might still have been impatient for the resolution.

The book has two near death experiences for Ry, but he is such an easy-going traveler and doesn't panic that they aren't presented in a frightening way. Also, the vocabulary is going to be high for a 5th grader. To wrap up, the characters are quirky and the descriptions are beautiful but the plot was unsatisfying for me in this book.

:-) :-) :-) 3 Smileys

The Search for Wondla

This book reminded me of the Star Wars movies. Strange aliens and flora on another planet.

Twelve-year-old Eva Nine has been raised underground and has never seen the surface of her planet. Her mother is a robot, named Muthr, who has been training her in survival methods. When their home is attacked and Eva is forced to the surface she and Muthr realize that all that training didn't prepare them for a world of alien creatures and plants. Eva meets Rovender, a blue creature, who helps her survive and Otto, a water bear, that she can communicate with telepathically. The foursome set off on an adventure to find if there are any more humans left in the world. They are pursued by Besteel, the hunter, who captures rare artifacts or creatures for the queen's museum. Besteel is hunting them to free his brother but we never know his side of the story. Eva is a strong female character.

The story is full of action and fast-paced. It would not be easy creating characters that have a relationship when one is a giant bug, a machine, an alien, and a human but the author manages to do this. The author changes the voices of the characters to fit their beings. The water bea,r which looks like a giant bug, speaks simply with one word at a time, not sentences. The robot sounds like a dictionary. The Halcyonus put plurals on words randomly in their sentences. For instance, "Anyone's we know?" p 236

The theme of nature and how living creatures are interconnected runs throughout the story. The queen shows her prejudice toward those different but in this story it is the human who is the unusual creature. The adventure has violence throughout but I felt slightly removed from it because they were made-up creatures.

Reading Level 7.5

:-) :-) :-) :-) 4 Smileys