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The Superteacher Project by Gordon Korman

Jul17

What makes a good teacher? A great middle school teacher? A super-teacher? Well, a teacher should first of all know the subject matter that he’s teaching. Mr. Aidact, the new teacher at Brightling Middle School, has that covered. In fact, Mr. Aidact seems to know just about everything. His encyclopedic knowledge of algebra American history, French, song lyrics, trivia, and even field hockey (which he is assigned to coach) is amazing.

But to be a Superteacher requires more than knowledge. A teacher has to have the ability to impart that knowledge to students and to inspire or engage those students in learning for themselves. The jury is still out as to whether Mr. Aidact is capable of being that kind of teacher—and whether or not he can keep up with Oliver and Nathan, the resident pranksters at Brightling Middle School. And when Oliver becomes convinced that there is something fishy about Mr. Aidact, he’s determined to find out just who—or what–this new Superteacher really is.

The Superteacher Project is science fiction about the near-future and is therefore very up-to-date, dealing with current events, and that is both a positive and a negative. It’s probably going to be about as popular in the short term as Mr. Aidact because it deals with something that is the topic of the day, artificial intelligence. But it will just as quickly become dated as events progress. The characters in the books make references to Elon Musk, Motor Trend, and Jeopardy!, among other pop culture allusions. How long will those be known and understood cultural touchstones?

Nevertheless, it was a humorous and light-hearted read, with some thoughtful moments. I recommend it for the sake of entertainment and maybe as a way to open a conversation about AI and the implications it has for the future.

A Sky Full of Song by Susan Lynn Meyer

Jun29

Susan Lynn Meyer is the Jewish author of two previous books, Black Radishes and Skating With the Statue of Liberty, both of which I read and enjoyed. In fact, I have Skating With the Statue of Liberty in my library, and I would love to have Ms. Meyer’s other two books in the library, too. I’m fairly picky these days about what I include in my library (running out of shelf space), so that’s a high recommendation.

A Sky Full of Song is set in the early twentieth century, beginning in 1905, and it’s a sort of Little House on the Prairie with Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. Persecution and pogroms have driven Shoshana and her family out of their home in a Ukrainian village, and they are leaving to join Shoshana’s father and older brother in “Nordakota”. Shoshana is sad to leave her cat, Ganef, behind, but Mama says it’s too difficult to take a cat across the ocean on a boat. “More difficult, that I don’t need.” Mama already has four daughters to take care of on the long journey to Nordakota, and that’s enough. (I agree with Mama.)

Anyway, the family finally gets to North Dakota and homestead that Papa has been preparing for them, but all is not roses and joy on the prairie. There is loneliness, and prejudice, and the struggle to make a new beginning while hanging on to old customs and identity, here in a new country. Shoshana gets used to the beauty of the wide plains that make up her new home, and she loves school and learning and making new American friends. However, she is somewhat ashamed of the language (Yiddish) and cultural habits that make her and her family different from those who live around them.

Shoshana’s family seems to be deeply Jewish in identity and culture, but not so religious. There’s little or no mention of God or prayer or scripture in this book, but much emphasis on Jewish traditions and holidays and the Yiddish language. Shoshana knows that her family wouldn’t want her to be celebrating Christmas at school by making Christmas decorations and singing Christmas carols, but she doesn’t seem to know why her family would eschew such things, other than the fact that Jewish people don’t do Christmas. For the setting of this story, the idea of finding one’s identity in one’s own family and cultural heritage, without examining the underlying meaning of that heritage too deeply, makes sense.

“But the lights of the menorah, all together on this last night of th holiday, burned strong. They stood for the way the Jews carried on.

For the way, wherever we went, we held onto who we were.”

The blurb for the book begins with the words: “An untold American Frontier story . . . ” And indeed the thought of a Jewish family proving a homestead on the North Dakota prairie was new to me. I think of Jewish immigrants coming to New York City like the All-of-a-Kind Family and like the family in Skating With the Statue of Liberty, not farming on the prairie. But immigration happened in all shapes and sizes, from all countries, and to all sorts of different places. A Sky Full of Song tells one story of Jewish immigration and assimilation as well as strength and heritage.

Content considerations: Persecution and violence both in Ukraine and in the U.S., name-calling. Shoshana’s older sister gets her first menstrual period and is ridiculed and harassed.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alice Tonks by Emily Kenny

Jun28

“Alice Tonks would love to make friends at boarding school. Being autistic, she really hopes people will accept for who she is. But after a rather strange encounter with a talking seagull on her first day, she faces a new challenge. Animals are going missing, and Alice can’t solve the mystery alone. With new friends behind her, can she harness her magic powers and become the hero she never imagined?”

From the back cover

This novel is a British import, and as such, there may be some cultural nuance I’m missing. It was never clear to me why Alice is going to boarding school, since her guardian seems worried about her going away to school, and Alice herself isn’t at all sure she wants to be there. Also, there’s a family heritage of magic, shape-shifting, that no one tells Alice about until three quarters of the way through the story. Why not? Maybe it’s a British reticence thing.

Nevertheless, Alice Tonks is a decent story, in the Harry Potter tradition. Alice does manage to “harness her magic powers” and save the day, along with her new friends. Some erstwhile enemies become friends along the way, while some seeming friends turn out to be villains. The autism that Alice experiences is almost certainly high-functioning autism, and it doesn’t seem to hold her back or interfere with her life too much. (The author herself “is autistic and wanted to write her debut novel about an autistic child protagonist.”)

The last paragraph of the book reads, “As Constance (the cat) nestled in her arms, Alice knew her life at Pebbles (the school) was going to be all right. Better still, it was going to be an adventure!” So, we’re all set for a series of books about Shapeshifter Alice Tonks and her life at Pebbles Boarding School. I’m not sure there’s enough depth in this first book to sustain a series, but I suppose we’ll see.

Clarice Bean, Scram by Lauren Child

Jun22

I have met Clarice Bean before in other books, and I like her. At least one of my children liked her, too, and wrote about about her here and here. Some of you who are parents are not going to like Clarice Bean. Clarice is something of a menace. She’s not a delightful little girl who just needs love and attention to become The Perfect Young Lady. And she’s not really a brat, although she does have her moments. Clarice is normal. And normal kids think and act in ways that sometimes get them into trouble, or cause trouble for others. And normal parents might even get tired and annoyed enough to tell their normal child to “scram!” So if any of that, plus a bit of deception (taking in and hiding a stray dog) and some name-calling (“Little big mouth” and “creep”) are dealbreakers for you, then this book will not be for you.

I think Ramona Quimby and Clementine and Clarice Bean are funny. I enjoyed reading about how Clarice desperately tries to stay out of trouble and keep her parents and older sister and younger brother happy and amuse herself, but utterly fails. Until she finds a dog that no one seems to own or want. Then, Clarice becomes the proud caretaker of a dog named Clement (or Cement), and her only problem is how to break the news to her parents and to her granddad whose bird may or may not be averse to dogs and cats and other four-legged animals.

Other books about Clarice Bean by Lauren Child:

Dog Journeys: Books About Dogs

Jun19

Roverandom by JRR Tolkien.

One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith.

I have often heard people say that they avoid dog books because the dog always dies. And indeed, many beloved dog books do turn out that way: Old Yeller, Sounder, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Art of Racing in the Rain, Stone Fox, White Fang, and many more. (Sorry for the spoilers. Or maybe, you’re welcome to the warning.)

Anyway, I read a couple of books recently in which the doggy plot heads in a different direction. The dogs in these two books are endangered and face obstacles and go on a difficult and challenging journey, but the dogs do not die. Roverandum by JRR Tolkien, of hobbit fame, began as a bedtime story for Tolkien’s sons to explain and console them for the loss of a toy dog on the beach. In the story Roverandom was once a real live dog, turned into a small toy by an irascible wizard. When Roverandom is lost on the beach, another, more benevolent wizard can’t undo the first wizard’s curse, but he can send Roverandom on a journey, first to the moon where he has many adventures, and then to the depths of the ocean where Roverandom, after many more adventures, finally manages to get permission to be returned to his normal doggy state. The stories in this short 148 page book would be fun as a read aloud for elementary age children and might even engage the interest of those a little older than that.

I have also heard some people opine that the adventures of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins become somewhat repetitious and even tedious after a while. Those same readers would find Roverandom even more dull. On the other hand, those of us who enjoy imaginative flights of fancy and dueling wizards and journeys full of unusual adventures are primed for reading about a toy dog who visits the dark side of the moon as well as hobbits who visit dragons and gigantic spiders.

The other book I read was 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. I saw the Disney movie long ago, and of course, I thought I knew the story. But also of course, the book is much more engaging and humorous than the movie ever could have been. It’s a Christmas story, beginning just before Christmas, in which a pair of Dalmatians, mother and father, Pongo and Missus, go on a perilous and difficult journey to rescue their kidnapped puppies–all fifteen of them. Cruella de Vil is both cruel and devilish, but she eventually gets her just deserts. There are no wizards or magic spells in this book, but it is full of fun as the dogs, who think they own their humans, the Dearlys, exhibit humor and personality and independence and courage in the face of danger.

I highly recommend both Roverandom and 101 Dalmatians as stories in which the dog does NOT die, but instead goes on a brave journey of self-discovery and also exploration of the world and its wonders.

More good dog journey stories in which the dog does not die (I don’t think):

  • The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford.
  • Silver Chief, Dog of the North by Jack O’Brien
  • Lassie, Come-Home by Eric Knight
  • Big Red (and sequels) by Jim Kjelgaard
  • Kavik the Wolf Dog by Walt Morey
  • Red Dog by Bill Wallace
  • Hurry Home, Candy by Meindert DeJong
  • Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes

Any other suggestions?

Mr. Apple’s Family by Jean McDevitt

Jun5

What a delightful book! Mr. and Mrs. Apple are the parents of five little Apple children: Macintosh, Jonathan, Delicious, Snow and Ann Apple. Mr. Apple is the one who wanted to name all of his children after types of apples, and the first chapter of the book tells how he managed to do so, almost. Then the story moves on to tell about how the Apple family outgrow their apartment in the city and work hard to buy a little crooked house in the country.

This easy chapter book with six stories or chapters is another one of the books I purchased from The Good and the Beautiful’s closeout sale. But this one is no longer available at a reasonable price, so if you see a used copy, snap it up. The illustrations are by classic illustrator Ninon (MacKnight) who was born in Australia, but came to the U.S. as an adult and became a well regarded artist for children’s books and for greeting cards. Her black and white illustrations for Mr. Apple’s Family are simple and sweet and quite suited to the simplicity and sweetness of the story itself.

A long time ago I had a curriculum idea book from the company Good Apple with lots of worksheets and crafts and puzzles and coloring sheets, all about apples. The idea was for teachers to do a fall/September unit study about apples that encompassed math, science, language, and literature. Although unit studies can be overdone, I think this book about Mr. Apple’s family, along with A Basket of Plums, and a few apple activities, plus a few apples to munch on, would make a fun story time or mini-homeschool unit study.

More Apple Books in the library:

  • Apple-picking Time by Michele Slawson
  • Apple Fractions by Jerry Pallotta
  • From Apple Seed to Applesauce by Hannah Lyons Johnson
  • The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail GIbbons
  • Cezanne and the Apple Boy by Laurence Anholt
  • How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
  • How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro
  • Applebet: An ABC by Clyde Watson
  • Spaceship Under the Apple Tree by Louis Slobodkin

I also like how the Apple family members, over the course of the entire story, are learning to honor one another in community as they make choices or give up their right to choose to allow for the preferences of others. As the story puts it, “They knew that they could not always have what they wanted. (Someone else) must sometimes have what they wanted.” Embedded in the story in several places, it’s not so much a moral lesson as a true commentary on the way the world should work, if we were all busy loving one another. And as the Bible says (Proverbs 25:11), “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”

A Basket of Plums by Maud McKnight Lindsay

Jun4

This picture book is one of several that I purchased from The Good and the Beautiful recently when that publisher announced that they were going to close out all of their inventory of reprinted children’s books and in future only print original works written by living authors. I’ll say upfront that while the decision may make business sense, it’s a loss to the community. Older books (this one was originally published in 1915) are often treasures to be preserved and enjoyed by a generation that is starving for true, good, and beautiful literature. We are drowning in the new, the current, the flashy, and sometimes deceitful, but we need the the old, the tried, and the true.

Of course, not all old books are excellent, just as not all new books are sub-standard. However, A Basket of Plums would be a lovely addition to any library. Ms. Lindsay was a kindergarten teacher, founder of the first free kindergarten in Alabama. She wrote more than 18 books for children, and she was also a poet.

A Basket of Plums is a gentle story about an elderly woman who sets out from her home with a basket of plums, hoping to find apples for the apple dumpling that she wants for her supper. As the old woman walks along, looking for apples, she finds others in need of what she does have–plums and the things she trades for–but it takes a bit of time, and a few bargains, to find the apples for her apple dumpling.

The illustrations in this modern edition of Ms. LIndsay’s story, by a modern illustrator, Dan Burr, are colorful, photo-realistic paintings that complement the quaint old-fashioned tone of the story. The title old woman in Mr. Burr’s pictures feels like a real grandmotherly figure and at the same she has a storybook quality that goes with the story. That’s a a hard combination to pull off, but Mr. Burr does it beautifully.

If you can find a copy–I have one in my library now— enjoy reading this story to both preschoolers and older children. Other stories about bargaining and trading and barter include Oxcart Man by Donald Hall, A Bargain for Frances by Russell Hoban, Monkey for Sale by Sanna Stanley, and for older children (middle elementary) The Toothpaste Millionaire by Jean Merrill and Alvin’s Swap Shop by Clifford B. Hicks. Oh, I checked and as of June 4, 2023, The Good and the Beautiful has a few copies of A Basket of Plums left. I recommend you purchase a copy now if you’re interested.

The Windeby Puzzle by Lois Lowry

Mar31

In The Windeby Puzzle, Newbery Award-winning author Lois Lowry gives readers two short stories with archaeology and history lessons interspersed before, between, and after the fiction. The stories are Lowry’s attempt to imagine the life of the Windeby Child, a young teenager whose body was found in the Windeby peat bog in northern Germany in 1952. The body was determined to be that of a girl or a boy about thirteen years of age who lived during the Iron Age, first century A.D.

Since we don’t have all that much information about the lives of the Germanic people of that time, Lowry was able to let her imagination run wild. And the two stories in the book spin a yarn of two possible backstories for the Windeby Child and how he or she managed to die at such a young age in a peat bog. It’s a bit hard to maintain interest and suspense when both you and your readers know how the story ends. In both tales, the main character dies–young. And in both stories the lives of all of the characters are portrayed as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (Thomas Hobbs).

In the first story, a girl named Estrild is a sort of proto-feminist who resents her female life and longs to avenge her uncle, killed in battle, by becoming a warrior herself. The boy protagonist, Varik, in the second story had to be a victim, too, since he dies at the end, so Lowry made him disabled and suicidal. Maybe first century northern European lives were just this grim and ugly, but I could have done with a bit of romanticism and hope in the story.

Half fiction, half history lesson, this book is at least different from your average middle grade fiction book. It was not my cup of tea, but maybe a youngster interested in archaeology or ancient history or finding things preserved in peat bogs might like it. Be careful, though, if you’re exploring any peat bogs. According to Varick, “If you go too deep in, the bog sucks at your feet.” Yuck!

The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh

Mar29

The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine by Katherine Marsh. Roaring Brook Press, 2023.

Not having read the subtitle before beginning the book, I thought this was going to be another of the many, many books yet to come about the Covid year(s). And it was, to some extent. Matthew is a thirteen year old boy who’s been spending most of his time playing Zelda and other video games since the Covid virus made him homebound with his mother and great-grandmother. Matthew’s father, a journalist, is stuck in France, also because of the virus. The first few chapters are a little slow with Matthew acting spoiled and entitled, but the action picks up as the story switches focus to tell about the childhood experiences of Matthew’s great-grandmother, Nadiya.

But when Matthew finds a tattered black-and-white photo in his great-grandmother’s belongings, he discovers a clue to a hidden chapter of her past, one that will lead to a life-shattering family secret. Set in alternating timelines that connect the present-day to the 1930s and the US to the USSR, Katherine Marsh’s latest novel sheds fresh light on the Holodomor – the horrific famine that killed millions of Ukrainians, and which the Soviet government covered up for decades.

I figured out the “family secret” a couple of chapters before the revelation, but the story was told in such a way that the revelation was foreshadowed but not obvious and very satisfying to read about. Matthew got better as a character, and in his character, as he came to be interested in someone besides himself, namely his 100 year old great-grandmother. And the historical event, the Holodomor, that the book illumines is one that is too little known. Knowing about the Holodomor can help to explain some of the historical animosity that is being played out in war now in 2023.

Recommended for ages 12 and up. Starvation and disease are obviously a key aspect of this novel, although readers are mercifully spared the most graphic and horrific details.

Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow

Mar10

Simon Sort of Says is funny, and well written, and at the same time thoughtful and trauma-sensitive. It also features mild profanity, inappropriate jokes and sexual innuendo, and post-traumatic stress disorder. And it’s written for middle grade readers, with a twelve year old seventh grader as the protagonist. So not for everyone.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading my first volume of middle grade fiction published in 2023. Simon and his parents move to Grin and Bear It, Nebraska, a place with “no internet and no cell phones and no TV and no radio.” Why they move to this place, a National Quiet Zone where scientists study radio waves from outer space, is a complicated story, and if you want the story to unfold gradually (as I think the author intended it to do), don’t read the blurb on the inside front dust jacket. I would certainly have preferred to figure out what happened to Simon and his parents that brought them to Grin and Bear It over the course of the story instead of being hit with the big reveal in the blurb.

And I would have preferred that the book itself left out the sex jokes, which seem a little too informed for twelve year olds, and the few instances of profanity. Honestly, the humor in the book overall is really funny, but again seems a little too witty and mature for a bunch of even very intelligent twelve year olds. Simon’s new friends in Grin and Bear It are Agate, an autistic girl who lives with her large and quirky family on a goat farm (also ducks and bees), and Kevin, a Filipino-American boy whose mom and dad are astrophysicists. (But Kevin’s dad runs a coffee shop.) If that’s not enough for comedy to ensue there are, in the story, alpacas, emus, a stabby peacock, dead bodies (Simon’s mom is an undertaker), and a squirrel who eats . . . Well, I’ll let you find out what the squirrel eats in the Catholic church, should you decide to read this book.

I am placing this one in the category of “I liked it but can’t recommend it.” There’s some bad or incomplete theology stuck in there, too, but I can’t give specifics without spoilers. So, read it if you’re curious, and give it to the kids if you think it’s harmless. It would have confused my kids–and made them laugh out loud. I’m always looking for clean and humorous stories for middle grade readers, by the way, so if you have suggestions, please comment.