New Books

Hello,

I have a couple of great new books for you this week.

First, one of my favorite authors for students in grades 3 – 6 – Andrew Clements. I first read his book “Frindle” about 20 years ago. My son and I went to the public library in Cleburne, Texas and stocked up on reading material. I saw a book on display titled “Frindle” with a hand holding a pen. It looked interesting, so I put it with my pile. On the way home, my son picked up that book and asked about it. I told him to start reading it out loud so we both would know. The library was less than 20 minutes away from home, but by the time we got home, we were both loving this story and laughing. We had a play argument about who would get to read it first, and decided that we would only read it together. While I fixed supper, John read to me, then later on I read to him. It is still a favorite.

Andrew Clements comes out with a new book every couple of years. Most of them are school stories about children that are usually in 5th or 6th grade. This year his book is titled “The Losers Club”. I thought it was going to be a book about bullying. Although there is a little bit of bullying, it is not about bullying, but about reading and the bullying resolves itself.

The Loser’s Club by Andrew Clements. Random House, 2017.

Alec is a reader. He reads so much that he has a reputation with all the teachers at his school. Alex pretends to be doing his work, but instead is hiding a book and ignoring the teacher. He is sent to the principal on a regular basis, but this year, things are different. Alec’s parents and the principal have laid down the law. If he is sent to the office for reading instead of doing his assignments, he will be required to attend a special study skills program in the summer. This means he cannot visit his grandparents at their lake cabin with all the lake activities he enjoys. Also, this year Alec and his younger brother will be attending the after school activities program. Each student must sign up for a club and participate. All Alec wants to do is read, especially since he cannot do this in class anymore. He starts a club of his own that is just for reading. He names it “The Loser’s Club” hoping by that name no one will want to join. This way he can just read alone. Things turn out a bit differently than Alec plans, but they end up working out in a great way.

The Year of the Garden by Andrea Cheng. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing 2017.

Thought this book is new, it is actually a prequel to the other books. This is the story of Anna Wang, a Chinese American girl and her friends and family. Anna gets a copy of The Secret Garden and that inspires her to grow a garden.

School Library Journal says that the Anna Wang series “deals deftly with a range of thorny adoption and ethnic stereotyping issues.” This series is a great start for younger readers that are ready for chapter books. The font is slightly larger than most, illustrations are scattered throughout, and the books are a slightly smaller size. There are four other books about Anna. The Year of the Book, The Year of the Baby, The Year of the Fortune Cookie, and The Year of the Three Sisters. I highly recommend all of them.

I hope you enjoy these books. I’ll have more for you next week.

Audrey

Books about Latin America

Hello,
This year our 5th and 6th graders are learning about countries in the world. I decided to find picture books in our library that support this particular study. I have a few books on Latin America to share with you today.

One book is called Biblioburro by Jeanette Winter. This is a true story from Columbia about Luis Soriano who lives in a remote town in northern Columbia. He decided to share his personal library with others who didn’t have books to read. He built carriers and packed up books, then took his two burros into the isolated villages and acted as a ‘bookmobile’. A week or so later, he returns and exchanges books. His lending library has grown from 70 books into nearly 5,000 books.
The artwork is Columbian folkart with many colorful pictures. It is actually quite simple, but the students who are studying this part of the world enjoyed it.

A follow-up book is Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown. This also has many colorful pictures and isn’t difficult. Again, this is the story of Luis Soriano, but from the perspective of a young girl who is looking forward to the next visit of the biblioburro so she can have another book to read.


Eight Days: A Story of Haiti by Edwidge Danticat is about an eight-year-old boy who was rescued after being trapped for eight days after the Port-au-Prince earthquake on January 12, 2010. The story is written from the young boy’s perspective as he is trapped. He uses his imagination to help him escape from his immediate surroundings. The pictures are large and colorful and cheerful.


Hope for Haiti by Jesse Joshua Watson is another book about the devastation of the same Port-au-Prince earthquake in 2010. In this story, people have lost their homes and are being sheltered in the soccer stadium. They are building small shelters for their families with whatever they can find. Some children make a ‘ball’ out of rags and begin to play. Others join in and an older gentleman comes by and stops to watch. A bit later he comes back and gives the children a real soccer ball to take the place of the ball of rags. It turns out that the man was a famous soccer player years before. The story is quite moving. Pictures are realistic drawings with lots of color and action.


I’ve saved my favorite book for last. Ada’s Violin by Susan Hood is the story of the now famous Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay. Children who live in Cateura, Paraguay, one of the poorest slums in South America, live beside a mountain of garbage consisting of tons of trash. Most of the adults and older children make a small amount of money by picking through the garbage and finding items to sell or recycle. This is the story of a musician, Favio Chavez, who worried about the children and decided to offer music lessons to them. A problem arose when the children could not or would not take the instruments home to practice because they were too valuable and would be stolen. Favio Chavez decided to make instruments out of recycled materials and his orchestra began. Now the Recycled Orchestra plays to sold-out venues all over the world.

After you read this book, have one or more of the websites ready and also a YouTube video ready to show.


I hope you have a great week. I’ll share more next week on another section of the world.

Audrey