Autobiography Revision

When I think about reading, I think about how I used to read all the time as a child. I used to sneak a flashlight under my pillow and stay up until all hours of the night waiting to get to the end of my book. I could hardly put a book down until I got to the very end. Yes, I admit that I went through the Sweet Valley High /Babysitter Club/ Boxcar Children phase, but two of my favorite authors were also Mary Downing Hahn and Lois Lowry. I couldn’t keep my hands off of their books! Particularly, my favorite books by these two were Stepping on the Cracks, The Anastasia series, and Sam series I remember in the third grade my teacher read to us All About Sam, and we couldn't get enough! I always wished that the library would carry more books by these authors so that I could read all of them.
One of my earliest memories of reading is of when I was just learning to read, and my Granny took me to the bookstore to pick out a book as my birthday present. After carefully looking through the many shelves, I remember that I chose Clifford’s Book of Jokes and Riddles. Seeing as this is one of the few presents that I can remember receiving when I was younger, it must have been a really exciting experience for me! I also remember thinking back in those days that it was such a privilege to go to the library. My mom used to take my brothers and me to the public library after school, and I remember being so excited! We used to spend hours there just looking through all of the books. One of my favorite series from this time that I used to love to read with my brothers were the Little Critter books. One of our favorite Little Critter titles was the Christmas book, because there was a recipe for Christmas cookies in it.
In elementary school, one of the coolest things that we got to do was have Read-Ins. A Read-In meant that we got to come to school with our sleeping bags, some snacks, juice boxes, and a backpack full of books! We got to spend the whole day reading and sharing books with our class mates; it was a dream come true! I also remember that my school participated in a Book-It program, which meant we got to go to Pizza Hut for free pizza every time we filled up our Book-It Badge with all the books we’d read. Over the summer, our local movie theater had a similar program, where if you read a certain amount of books, you got to come watch a free movie each week. It was so great to get rewarded for doing something I already loved to do!
Growing up, my family also used to spend lazy Sunday afternoons together in the living room reading various books and newspapers. As kids, we always fought for the comics, but we also liked to read my dad’s collection of Calvin and Hobbs comics. Reading has just been a huge part of my life, as well as my family’s, which I feel has helped to encourage my love for reading. Once I hit middle school, I began getting into fantasy books, such as A Wrinkle In Time, The Giver, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Another one of my favorite books in middle school was Bridge to Terabitha. This book was one of the first coming-of-age stories to touch me because of the strong emotions portrayed in the story. Whether it is between the wild imaginations of the two characters, or to the traumatic ending, this book tells a great story of two courageous children that the reader will always remember (and that can’t be conveyed throw a CGI-animated film!)
In High School, we began to read the Classics, such as The Great Gatsby and Slaughterhouse 5. My junior year of high school I was introduced to one of my favorite books of all time, The Catcher In the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I could not put this book down! In fact, I read it 3 more times in a row when I was done with it. A few years ago, when I found out that absolutely none of my friends had read this book, I gave it to them as a Christmas present. I just could not believe that anyone had gone through their life without being able to read it! I just loved the use of free thought in the book. I also loved all of the points that the main character, Holden Caulfield, makes in the book about “phoniness.” I remember in my class, after discussing this book, that everybody either loved the book like I did, or they just couldn’t get through it. As much as I loved this book, I could see how it would be frustrating for some people to get through, especially since you can’t put your finger on a specific event that happens. Really, I think that the main point of this book is the coming of age, and character’s identity. After reading this book, it left me wondering, “Is Holden Caulfield really the crazy one…or is everybody else crazy?”
Today, I do not make much time for casual reading due to my busy schedule. I am, however, excited about one of the current books that I just bought called, Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things… which is a book of short stories by authors Lemony Snicket, Nick Hornby, Jon Scieszka (The Stinky Cheese Man), and Jonathan Safron Foer. I have started on the first two stories, which I really liked, and I am excited to finish it. I think this would be a good book for anyone to read, no matter what age, because I think with the contributions from Lemony Snicket and Jon Scieszka, even older kids would enjoy this book.
And while you will not catch me staying up until all hours of the night trying to finish a good book under the light of a flashlight, I do very much still enjoy reading. Some of my favorite authors right now are Chuck Klosterman, Kurt Vonnegut, and John Irving. Most of my reading time right now is spent dedicated to homework, or to reading to the little girl Terra who I watch. I try to read to her any chance I get. In fact, when I went home for Christmas I brought back a collection of books that I used to read (including Little Critter) so that Terra could read them as well, and she loves it! I also try to take her to the library when I can so that we can pick out more books to read. Terra really likes the David series by David Shannon, especially David Gets in Trouble. And come to think of it, all this talk about how important reading is for children makes me wonder why we don’t do away with text books and emphasize reading literature in college as well!

Annotated Bibliography

This Next New Year
By Janet Wong

This is a great book for a little bit older children to be introduced to the fact that American traditions are not the only one's celebrated in our country. I also like how it compares the Lunar New Year, with the American New Year's, so that kids know the difference between the two. I also liked the fact that many different ethnicities celebrate the new years in the book. This shows kids that anybody who wants to could celebrate a chinese new year! I also loved the idea of cleaning to "move these mountains of bad luck off the floor" and scrubbing the house "rough and raw" to bring in good luck. The little boy also washes his hair to soak up good luck. I also like at the end of the story, that the little boy talks about how he is ready to make his dreams come true. This is very similar to the American New Year's because traditionally Americans make up New Year's Resolutions. I think that the main idea of New Years, whether it is Chinese or American, is that you are getting a fresh new start.



Twist
By Janet Wong

Janet Wong has a great way with words, and I loved reading these poems because of their simplicity, but also because the poems were true for each movement. She also had reasons behind each movement, such as in the poem "Cat/Cow", where the pose starts out as a cat, but the cat wants to turn into cow so that she can make her own milk. I think that the poems in this book are wonderful. However, I might not use it in a classroom because the poems seem a little bit older/you might need some background knowledge in Yoga, but if I had a student who really liked Janet Wong I could introduce this book to them.



I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today
By Dr. Seuss

Who can't relate to this book? Everyone has a day (or maybe it's EVERY day!) when they just don't want to get out of bed! This book goes through a whole series of events that could happen, even the police showing up at the house, and the character still will not get out of bed. This is another book that I've read to Terra and I think that she really likes the classic Dr. Seuss rhyming scheme as well. I think that this would be a cute and fun book to share with your class. You could maybe even use the title as a writing prompt, and have kids write their own versions of I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today!



Shadow Play
Paul Fleischman

This book is actually full of illustrations by Eric Beddows. It tells the story of Beauty and the Beast, and how what we see on the outside does not always represent what is in the inside. I thought that this book had a good message, and that the illustrations were very clever, however just like in Sidewalk Circus, when I showed these books to the three-year-old that I babysit, she thought that the pictures looked scary, and I had to agree with her. Most of the illustrations are of shadows, which look dark and scary. I know that the shadows are part of the message of the book, however I'm not sure that this would be a good book to use as a teaching tool.



Clementine
by Sara Pennypacker

This is one of the cutest books I have ever read! Clementine has so much energy and all of her ideas really make perfect sense, even if they don't always work out the way she plans. This is really a coming-of-age story for the little ones, and I think it would be appropriate for about 2nd grade to 4th grade. One of my favorite parts about this book was when Clementine kept pointing out that she was really the only one paying attention when her parents or teachers told her to "Pay attention!" I think that a lot of young readers would be able to relate to Clementine, especially since she is always misunderstood.



Babymouse: Queen of the World!
By Holm & Holm

I really enjoyed the Babymouse series, and I really think its cool that you can buy her T-shirts on this website that I found: BABYMOUSE T-SHIRTS HERE!!! (I'm thinking about buying one...) Just like in Babymouse:Our Hero, Babymouse is stuck in yet another dilemma! Babymouse really wants to go to the most-popular-girl's slumber party, but the only problem is: Babymouse isn't invited!!!! So Babymouse resorts to doing this girls homework just to go, and ends up ditching one of her good friends to go to this (really lame) party. Fortunately for Babymouse, she quickly figures out who her real friends are, and who she would rather be spending her Friday evening with. I think a lot of kids today find themselves in the situation where they want to hang out with the "cool kids", however we all have to find out own niche. I think that its important for kids to learn that your real friends are the ones you can be comfortable around, even if they (and you) are big dorks. I also happen to be a big dork, and I am really excited to get my hands on a copy of Babymouse: Rockstar!

Zoom Craft Lesson

For a craft lesson on Zoom, I would use this to show how things have to work together in a way that every little thing that we do becomes a part of a much greater thing. This might be a hard concept for students to grasp, especially depending on the age level, but you could take this to another level, such as in the movie "Pay It Forward", where everyone is encouraged to do three nice things as payment for receiving a good deed. Students would be encouraged to try to "pay it forward", and then write a paper about their experiences and thoughts of the assignment.

Zoom

I think that this book had a really cool concept, however I am not the biggest fan of picture books. And while the idea was interesting to see how everything fit into all of the pictures to show exactly how small this world is, I didn't really like the pictures and it even started to get a little old after awhile. I think that if I had a student who was into books like this, I would recommend it to them, but I don't think that I would be able to use this in a classroom.

Babymouse Craft Lesson

This book deals with peer pressure, as well as bullying. It can be hard for students to find ways to fit in with others, especially if they are not good at something already. Just like Babymouse, I hated kickball and I always stood in the back as to avoid the ball! After reading this book, our class could have a discussion about things they are good at, as well as things they are bad at. This way students can discover that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Afterwards, students could come up with ideas on how to work on their weaknesses, such as getting together with a friend in class who might be able to help them.

Children's Literature, Briefly

Chapter 17.... Motivating Students to Read

Many children do not like to read. One of my friends was even "forced" to read as punishment when she got in trouble, because her parents knew she hated it so much! While this might sounds like a strange form of torture, there may be better ways to get kids to read! Just like how we talked in class about introducing kids to books, whether it is by an author they already know and enjoy, or if it is a book we recommend because it deals with something we know that student may be dealing with. One of the biggest problems with students is they feel that reading is a chore, or obligation. Our role as teachers is to find a way to make reading a fun and enjoying experience. I always personally loved to read, and I hope I can share that love with future students.

Children's Literature, Briefly

Chapter 16.... Controversial Books

I feel that it is important to be sure of what books you are putting into your classroom, and to make sure they are appropriate by age, as well as by school standards. While it is good for young students to begin to think on their own, you also have to think about what parents might think. Some parents can be very restrictive as to what their children learn according to different belief systems. However, I love the example from the movie, Donnie Darko, where the parents decide that children should not be allowed to read Graham Greene's "The Destructors" because the parents felt that the book would lead to the students own destruction of the school (which does happen in the movie). However, the book is an allegorical story that represents the destruction of something corrupt.