Catch up with a Book Blurb

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was forced to skip last weeks blog entry.  I won't go into great detail about what we did at the meeting, because I'm sure all of you are anxiously waiting to know what book was picked for the scary month of October.  The choice was between:

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.  This Newberry winner is about Tabitha "Turtle" Wexler and the fifteen other heirs of Sam Westing.  Who ever solves the mystery of his will wins the game and the fortune!

and

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz.  Gruesome, yet awesome is how this book has been described.  This unique combination of Grimm's original stories and the author's imagination bring to life, with gory detail, the story of Hansel and Gretel and more.

And the winner is.....

A Tale Dark and Grimm

Reader, beware.

Warlocks with dark spells, hunters with deadly aim, and bakers with ovens retro-fitted for baking children lurk within these pages.

But if you dare,

Follow Hansel and Gretel as they walk out of their own story and into the wilds—where magic, terror, and a little bit of humor shine like white pebbles lighting the way.

Come on in. It may be frightening, and it’s certainly bloody, but, unlike those other fairy tales you know, this one is true.

Once upon a time, you see, fairy tales were awesome.

In this mischievous and utterly original debut, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other classic Grimm-inspired tales. As readers follow the siblings through a forest brimming with menacing foes, they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses, and outwitted witches.
Fairy tales have never been more irreverent or subversive as Hansel and Gretel learn to take charge of their destinies and become the clever architects of their own happily ever after.

About the Author

I was born in San Francisco in 1982, but moved to Baltimore when I was two and a half. I grew up there, attending a school without very many rules. Somehow, I found a way to break all of them. I spent my entire middle school career in the principal's office. One day I will write a book and tell you about all of the ways you can be sent to the principal's office during middle school. Maybe each chapter will be a different way to be sent to the principal's office. There will be three hundred and forty-five thousand chapters.
I straightened myself out during high school and ended up going to college in New York City. I thought about majoring in religion, and then in philosophy, but ultimately chose English literature, because I think that the deepest truths about life tend to be written in works of fiction. Also, you can't beat the homework in English: "Enjoy this book! Now this one! Try this one, it's amazing!" I spent my third year of college in England. I walked around the old university town and ate beef pasties and sat in parks and read John Keats all day long. I only had to go to class twice a week, for an hour at a time. If you're any good at math, you'll know that that means I only had to be somewhere for two hours out of every 168. That means I was free to do whatever I wanted 166 out of every 168 hours, or 98.8% of the time. I didn't realize it then, but it was in that year that I discovered I could be a writer--me, a beef pasty, and my imagination is all I seem to need to be happy. (My fiancée tells me that this is untrue. I refuse to believe her.) 

After graduating, I stayed in New York and took a job in a second grade classroom at Saint Ann’s School, in Brooklyn, while attending Bank Street College of Education in the evenings. So during the days I was telling stories to kids at lunch and recess and story time, and at night I was meeting writers and reading bags full of children's books and thinking about how it all went together. 

Six years later, I'm still at Saint Ann's part-time, but now I teach second grade, fifth grade, and high school. I know. Crazy. It's the best thing ever. I may be discussing literary theory with 10th and 11th graders and then, an hour later, I'm building adding calculators out of batteries and wires with second graders. With my fifth graders, I pretty much just try to prevent them from going through puberty. 

Book and Author information taken from  http://www.adamgidwitz.com/

I hope you enjoy the book and I will see you for our next club meeting on Friday, October 28, 2011 at 3:00 pm at the library!

Gloria

Get Talking: Ella Enchanted

How does the curse cause Ella to be "in danger at every moment"? What happens to her if she tries to disobey an order?

What does Mandy reveal about herself to Ella after Ella's mother dies? What does Mandy tell Ella about Ella's family line?

Why are the gnomes friendly to Ella? What does the gnome predict for her?

Ella's father doesn't know about her curse. Why not? Why does Mandy advise Ella not to let him find out? What kind of man is Sir Peter?

How does Hattie figure out that Ella will obey her commands? What does she do with her power? Why doesn't she tell anyone? What does Ella hope to learn from the bogweed?

Even though she is cursed with obedience, how does Ella disobey orders? Does Ella's curse ever help her? Find an example of a positive result of the curse.

Each time Ella's book of fairy tales is opened, a different tale appears. Do the tales reflect the person reading the book? Why else do you think the fairy book shows certain things at different times?

Can you find any patterns in the different languages spoken in the book? Can you find any spelling, punctuation, capitalization, or other characteristic that distinguishes each from the other? Make a chart or list of your findings.

How does Prince Charmont feel about Ella? Does Ella realize how he feels? Find passages from his letters and their conversations to support your answers.

After meeting Lucinda, Ella thinks, "I knew I was happy only because I'd been ordered to be, but the happiness was absolute." If you were cursed as Ella was, would you rather be free to hate being obedient or be forced to be happy about it? How much freedom do you have to disobey orders in your own life? What keeps you from disobeying? If you do disobey, how does that come about?

What would you do in Ella's situation if you were forbidden to continue a dear friendship? If your circumstances prevented you from marrying the person you loved? Can Ella behave differently? How? What would the consequences of her actions be?

What do you think is the worst "gift" Lucinda bestows on anyone during the novel? Compare your choice with other gifts and discuss the disadvantages of each. Try to think of unusual ways each gift would affect the person's life.

What is the difference between small magic and big magic? Discuss how Mandy's and Lucinda's ideas about big and small magic are different. How do Lucinda's opinions change? Can you think of real-life situations in which people have power equal to big magic?

Ella Enchanted is based on the story Cinderella. Discuss how Ella's character and story is similar and how it is different from the traditional tale. What do you think the three most important differences are? Explain.

As always, this is just to get you thinking.  I'll see you next week!

Gloria

These questions are taken from
              http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=10952_type=Book_typeId=4279

Book Blurb: Ella Enchanted

At birth, Ella is inadvertently cursed by an imprudent fairy named Lucinda, who bestows on her the "gift" of obedience. Anything anyone tells her to do, Ella must obey. Another girl might have been cowed by this affliction, but not feisty Ella: "Instead of making me docile, Lucinda's curse made a rebel of me. Or perhaps I was that way naturally." When her beloved mother dies, leaving her in the care of a mostly absent and avaricious father, and later, a loathsome stepmother and two treacherous stepsisters, Ella's life and well-being seem in grave peril. But her intelligence and saucy nature keep her in good stead as she sets out on a quest for freedom and self-discovery, trying to track down Lucinda to undo the curse, fending off ogres, befriending elves, and falling in love with a prince along the way. Yes, there is a pumpkin coach, a glass slipper, and a happily ever after, but this is the most remarkable, delightful, and profound version of Cinderella you've ever read.

Taken from http://www.amazon.com/

About the Author

Gail Carson Levine

I grew up in upper Manhattan, Washington Heights to be exact, a hilly, pretty neighborhood. My family lived across the street from P.S. 173, my elementary school, and from a park where I used to climb what my friends and I called the "danger" rocks, which were part of the palisades that overlook the Hudson River. Going up, clinging to cracks with my fingertips, terrified, I'd think, If I live, I will never do this again. When I reached the top I'd work my way down and start over just as frightened as before.

From third grade through high school I wrote stories and poems, and a few of my poems were published in an anthology of student writing, but I never thought of becoming a writer. The authors of most of my favorite childhood books were dead (Mark Twain, L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Anna Sewell). I knew a few artists because my dad owned a commercial art studio, and I saw actors in the movies and on stage, but I didn't think of writing as work that any modern person did.

In college——first Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, then City College of New York (Phi Beta Kappa, not that I'm bragging)——I majored in Philosophy, a useless major for a future writer. Philosophers use winding, twisty, endless sentences and words like posit, predicate, epistemology, ontology. Don't get me wrong. Writers need to have enormous vocabularies, and I never met a word I didn't love, but we use our arsenal judiciously. We don't go all sesquipedelian at the drop of a hat.  And in college I met and married my husband David, who is a very witty man. He's been giving me humor lessons ever since!

After college, I worked for New York State government, mostly in jobs that had to do with welfare. My favorite time was the first part of my career when I helped people find work. How satisfying that was!
Meanwhile, I did my first bit of writing for children. In the 1970's I wrote the script for a musical called Spacenapped. David wrote the music and lyrics, and it was performed by The Heights Players, a community theater in Brooklyn. But I still didn't think of myself as a writer. I read novels constantly, as I always had, and one day while I was meditating I asked myself why, since I adored stories, I never made up any. That was the beginning of The King's Cure, an art appreciation book for kids. I wrote it and drew pencil illustrations of birds and used reproductions of famous art for the illustrations——and no one would publish it——but I became hooked on writing. I took writing classes and joined critique groups and The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (find it online at www.scbwi.org, a great organization). And I collected rejection letters for nine years until an editor wanted the manuscript for Ella Enchanted. You know the rest.

Taken from http://www.gailcarsonlevine.com/

Wild Girl meeting

The attendance for this meeting was a bit lower than usual, but with school just starting it was to be expected.  The meeting focused on picking the book for next month.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.  At birth, Ella is inadvertently cursed by an imprudent fairy named Lucinda, who bestows on her the "gift" of obedience. Anything anyone tells her to do, Ella must obey. Another girl might have been cowed by this affliction, but not feisty Ella: "Instead of making me docile, Lucinda's curse made a rebel of me. Or perhaps I was that way naturally." When her beloved mother dies, leaving her in the care of a mostly absent and avaricious father, and later, a loathsome stepmother and two treacherous stepsisters, Ella's life and well-being seem in grave peril. But her intelligence and saucy nature keep her in good stead as she sets out on a quest for freedom and self-discovery, trying to track down Lucinda to undo the curse, fending off ogres, befriending elves, and falling in love with a prince along the way. Yes, there is a pumpkin coach, a glass slipper, and a happily ever after, but this is the most remarkable, delightful, and profound version of Cinderella you've ever read.


Princess Academy by Shannon HaleThe thought of being a princess never occurred to the girls living on Mount Eskel. Most plan to work in the quarry like the generations before them. When it is announced that the prince will choose a bride from their village, 14-year-old Miri, who thinks she is being kept from working in the quarry because of her small stature, believes that this is her opportunity to prove her worth to her father. All eligible females are sent off to attend a special academy where they face many challenges and hardships as they are forced to adapt to the cultured life of a lowlander. First, strict Tutor Olana denies a visit home. Then, they are cut off from their village by heavy winter snowstorms. As their isolation increases, competition builds among them.


And the winner is....Ella Enchanted.  I'm excited for this book.  It's been one of my favorites from the first time I read it.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

We will be meeting to discuss the book on September 23, 2011 in Community Room A.  I look forward to seeing you there!


Gloria

Super Woman Spotlight: Rosa Parks

I've been trying to think how I could get everyone more involved in the book clubs and I finally came up with the idea to have the girls write the Super Woman Spotlight.  Once a month the blog entry will be by them.  They can pick any woman they want to.  She can be someone famous, someone they know or anyone at all.  Just write a little bit about her and I'll post it.  Let me know if you are interested in writing it.

This first one is written by Lydia, age 9 and is about Rosa Parks.

In 1932, Rosa married a man named Raymond Parks.   He helped Rosa finish high school.  They lived in Montgomery, Alabama.   They became members of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).  They worked for civil rights. They wanted all people, no matter what color, to be treated fairly.  Rosa worked hard at the NAACP.   She wanted to do something the civil rights.   

On December 1, 1955, Rosa made a very important decision.   She was going to take the first step to change things.  That day, Rosa left work feeling tired.   She had worked for many hours at a department store. She took a seat on the bus, she was not allowed to sit in the front of the bus the. White are the only ones to sit in the front.  She was allowed in the back only. Buses were segregated and in the south it was the law. Soon the bus was filling up.  The bus driver told Rosa and other blacks to move.   Rosa did not move as the law stated.  It was very un-life like for Rosa.

Rosa Parks was arrested and taken to jail.  She was told to pay a fine.  When she was released from jail, she decided not to pay the fine.  Instead she decided to fight the unfair bus law.  Many people were ready to fight segregation.  But Rosa took the first step.  Rosa and her friends did a boycott.  (A boycott is when many people come together and refuse to buy or use something.)  The black people that usually took the bus to work agreed to walk instead.  This meant that the bus company would lose money.

An important minister helped tell people about the bus boycott.  His name was Martin Luther King, Jr.   He told people to fight for what they believed in, but to do it peacefully.  

While the boycott was going on Rosa’s lawyers took her case to the Supreme Court.  (That was the highest court in the United States.)   Rosa should never have been arrested.  They said that segregation on the buses should be against the law because it treats all black people unfairly.  

The boycott lasted for more than a year!  Then on December 20, 1956, the city of Montgomery got an order form Supreme Court.  Segregation is not allowed, period on bus.   It was great victory.   But many restaurants, stores, and even hospitals were still not open to the blacks.  It took very many years, and lots of battles to end segregation.  Rosa Parks worked very hard for civil rights movement.   She has won honors and lots of awards for all that she has done.   But one right stands before them all- the right to be treated fairly and with respect for ever.

Thank you Lydia for telling us about Rosa Parks.  She really was an amazing woman.

I'll see everyone next week at the meeting!

Gloria

Get Talking: Wild Girl

Here are a few questions to get you thinking about Wild Girl.


Lidie has spent five years living away from her father and brother.  Would living away from your family be hard for you?

Lidie moves from Brazil to America.  What do you think it would be like to move to another country?  What would school be like?

How would you feel if you had to go to a school that

When Lidie finally gets to America, she has changed from the little girl her father and brother knew.  Was it hard for her to show who she had become since they last met?

Lidie's father is a horse trainer and her brother is a jockey.  Would you like living around horses that much?

Why did Wild Girl react the way she did to the cat that Lidie brought to be her friend?

What is similar between Lidie's and Wild Girl's stories?  How are they different?


I hope these questions get you thinking about the book and what you want to talk about.  I'll see you at the meeting!

Miss Gloria

Book Blurb: Wild Girl

About the Book

Wild Girl  by Patricia Reilly Giff

Lidie lives in Jales, Brazil, where she’s free to ride, to be a wild girl, and to dream of going to live with her father and older brother, Rafael, in New York City. Finally Lidie is 12—time to leave Brazil for New York.

Meanwhile, a filly is born and begins her journey to a new home. As Lidie’s story unfolds, so does the filly’s.

Lidie’s father runs a stable at a famous race track, and Rafael is training to be a jockey. As much as they want to make Lidie feel welcome, they still think of her as the little girl they left behind. They don’t even know what a strong rider she is, and that she’s determined to befriend and ride the wild filly her father has just bought: Wild Girl.*

About the Author

  "I want to see children curled up with books, finding an awareness of themselves as they discover other people's thoughts. I want them to make the connection that books are people's stories, that writing is talking on paper, and I want them to write their own stories. I'd like my books to provide that connection for them." --Patricia Reilly Giff

Patricia Reilly Giff has received the Newbery Honor for Pictures of Hollis Woods and Lily's Crossing, which is also a Boston Globe—Horn Book Honor Book. Nory Ryan's Song was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and an ALA Notable Book.
 
"I always start each day by writing. That's like breathing to me," says Patricia Reilly Giff. In fact, this bestselling author admits: "I wanted to write from the first time I picked up a book and read. I thought it must be the most marvelous thing to make people dance across the pages."
 
Reading and writing have always been an important part of Patricia Reilly Giff's life. As a child, her favorite books included Little Women, The Secret Garden, the Black Stallion books, the Sue Barton books, and the Nancy Drew series. Giff loved reading so much that while growing up, her sister had to grab books out of her hands to get Giff to pay attention to her; later, Giff's three children often found themselves doing the same thing. As a reading teacher for 20 years, the educational consultant for Dell Yearling and Young Yearling books, an adviser and instructor to aspiring writers, and the author of more than 60 books for children, Patricia Reilly Giff has spent her entire life surrounded by books.
 
After earning a B.A. degree from Marymount College, Giff took the advice of the school's dean and decided to become a teacher. She admits, "I loved teaching. It was my world. I only left because I was overwhelmed with three careers--teaching, writing, and my family."
 
During the 20 years of her teaching career, she earned an M.A. from St. John's University, and a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University. Then one morning, Giff told her husband Jim, "I'm going to write a book. I've always wanted to write and now I shall." Jim worked quickly to combine two adjacent closets in their apartment into one cramped workspace and, as Giff jokes, she "began [her] career in a closet."
 
Giff explains, "I want the children to bubble up with laughter, or to cry over my books. I want to picture them under a cherry tree or at the library with my book in their hands. But more, I want to see them reading in the classroom. I want to see children in solitude at their desks, reading, absorbing, lost in a book."
 
Giff tries to write books "that say ordinary people are special." She says, "All of my books are based in some way on my personal experiences, or the experiences of members of my family, or the stories kids would tell me in school." Therefore, when she runs out of ideas for her books, Giff says, "I take a walk and look around. Maybe I spend some time in a classroom and watch the kids for a while. Sometimes I lie on the living room floor and remember my days in second grade or third. If all that doesn't work, I ask Ali, or Jim, or Bill"--Giff's children, whose names often appear in her books.
 
When she's not writing, Patricia Reilly Giff enjoys reading in the bathtub and going to the movies and eating popcorn. She and her husband reside in Weston, Connecticut. They have three children and five grandchildren. In 1990, Giff combined her two greatest loves--children's books and her family--and, with her husband and her children, opened The Dinosaur's Paw, a children's bookstore named after one of her Kids of the Polk Street School novels. This store is part of Giff's quest to bring children and books together. She and her family are trying to "share our love of children's books and writing and to help others explore the whole world of children's books."

Throughout the year, Giff visits schools and libraries around the country and speaks to her readers about her books, and about writing. When discussing her work, Giff claims, "I have no special talent, you know. I never took a writing course before I began to write." She believes that "anyone who has problems, or worries, anyone who laughs and cries, anyone who feels can write. It's only talking on paper . . . talking about the things that matter to us."*

As a Beehive Nominee for this year, Wild Girl might be a little harder to get a hold of than usual.  Luckily we have an extra week to read this time.  Please try to read quickly so everyone can have a chance to finish the book before our next meeting.  I'm excited to see you there!

Gloria

*The book summary and biography of Patricia Reilly Giff were taken from http://www.randomhouse.com/features/patriciareillygiff/index.htm