This week we read books from the following categories of realistic fiction:
Elementary/Young Middle School
Middle School
High School
Lots of fun stuff this week! The two I'll be sharing about are Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford and Mockingbird (mok ing burd) by Kathryn Erskine:
Gifford, P. (2008). Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little. New York, NY: Schwartz and Wade Books.
What a fun book! Moxy and my eight year old have very much in common! They both love to read but they both also love swimming, cartwheels, bugs, summer, playing outside, not cleaning their room, running, jumping, laughing, etc. etc. Moxy has a summer reading assignment - she is supposed to finish Stuart Little before the first day of the new school year. She really wants to read the book, plans to read the book, means to read the book......but it's the day before the first day of school and Moxy still hasn't read the book!
Great book for elementary age readers, especially those just getting started with chapter books. They'll feel a great sense of accomplishment while reading since some of the chapters in this book are only a page (sometimes just one word) long! Accompanying the text are "photos" taken by Mooxy's brother - they're very kid-friendly and really bring the story to life. Great addition to a school or classroom library!
These are reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal:
MOXY MAXWELL DOES NOT LOVE STUART LITTLE (reviewed on April 1, 2007)
A chapter-book picaresque hilariously chronicles one day in the life of almost-fourth-grader Moxy Maxwell. From the heretical title to the short chapters, headed in fine 18th-century style (“In Which Moxy Realizes Her Mother Is Home”), and Fisher’s snort-inducing “documentary” photographs, everything about this offering reaches out to draw the reader in. A slyly intrusive narrator relates the events of August 23 (the day before school begins), occasionally commenting on the action or offering an alternative interpretation as Moxy struggles with Stuart Little, the assigned summer reading she has avoided for months. Moxy is an exuberantly unforgettable character, her reluctance to settle down to read partially explained by her list of 211 Possible Career Paths. Newcomer Gifford surrounds Moxy with equally memorable family and friends, from twin brother Mark, who finished Stuart Little on the first day of summer, to Mom, whose “consequences” loom ever larger as the disastrous day progresses. With its brilliantly accessible application of a usually complex narrative technique, this work represents a significant raising of the bar for writers of chapter books. Technique or no technique, kids will recognize Moxy—and they will love her. (Fiction. 7-11)
Pub Date: May 8th, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-375-83915-3
Page count: 112pp
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little
From SLJ July 2007
Pat Leach, Lincoln City Libraries, NE -- School Library Journal, 08/06/2007
Gr 2-4–How many ways can a soon-to-be fourth grader find to avoid reading Stuart Little? It's the one book that Moxy Maxwell has to read over the summer. Her remarkable imagination, coupled with stubbornness, gets her to the night before school starts. She's kept the book with her, but just couldn't bring herself to dig in. It's not that she doesn't like to read–she just despises being told what to read. It may be no surprise that when she finally picks the book up, she loves it. Gifford's depiction of an overly exuberant nine-year-old may remind some readers of Lois Lowry's Gooney Bird Greene (Houghton, 2002). Moxy is funny, and most readers will empathize with her avoiding something simply because it's required. One might wish for a little more depth from Moxy, more moderation of her self-centeredness, and, after a few chapters, her aevoidance tactics grow a tad stale. But the photographs–touted as having been taken by her twin brother–are fresh. (He read Stuart Little the first day of summer vacation.) Moxy's sarcastic captions for them seize the tone of her day. A dryly observant narration, clever chapter titles, and the spot-on illustrations provide added lift to the story.
Erskine, K. (2010). Mockingbird (mok'ing-burd). New York, NY: Philomel Books.
I cannot say enough good things about this book! I wish every teacher and every kid in every school had their very own copy to read and cherish! Caitlin, a 5th grader with Asberger's Syndrome, has just lost her beloved older brother during a school shooting. Told in her voice, this is a beautiful story of how Caitlin views the world, how she learns to feel emotions and adjust to life without Devon, and how she teaches the poeple in herlife about herself. Erskine's daughter has Asberger's, so her writing is authentic and comes from the heart. This book is a great example of how a talented writer can really make you feel you are seeing and experiencing the world through another person's eyes.
This book is appropriate for all readers - great for reading aloud to very young children, or as a read alone for middle/high school. Great way to make kids aware of how different the world is for someone on the Autism spectrum. Words have different meanings, facial expressions do too. The "rules" of friendship are not the same for these kids, but they need friends too - it's all about awareness! Highly recommended!
Here's what some other folks had to say in Kirkus and Childrens Book Review:
MOCKINGBIRD (reviewed on March 1, 2010)
This heartbreaking story is delivered in the straightforward, often funny voice of a fifth-grade girl with Asperger’s syndrome, who is frustrated by her inability to put herself in someone else’s shoes. Caitlin’s counselor, Mrs. Brook, tries to teach her how to empathize, but Caitlin is used to depending on her big brother Devon for guidance on such matters. Tragically, Devon has been killed in a school shooting. Caitlin, her dad and her schoolmates try to cope, and it is the deep grief they all share that ultimately helps Caitlin get to empathy. As readers celebrate this milestone with Caitlin, they realize that they too have been developing empathy by walking a while in her shoes, experiencing the distinctive way that she sees and interacts with the world. Erskine draws directly and indirectly on To Kill a Mockingbird and riffs on its central theme: The destruction of an innocent is perhaps both the deepest kind of psychosocial wound a community can face and its greatest opportunity for psychological and spiritual growth. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: April 1st, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-399-25264-8
Page count: 240pp
Publisher: Philomel
Congratulations to Kathryn Erskine! She is the winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.
Publisher’s synopsis: In Caitlin’s world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That’s the stuff Caitlin’s older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon’s dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger’s, she doesn’t know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white–the world is full of colors–messy and beautiful.
Kathryn Erskine has written a must-read gem, one of the most moving novels of the year.
And, here are excerpts from a School Library Journal review that isn't very favorable (not eveyone likes the same stuff, right?!):
Review of the Day: Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
October 26th, 2010
Children’s librarians read quite a few books for kids and the result is that we tend to want to discuss them with one another. Unlucky librarians are surrounded solely by people who agree with their opinions. You’re much luckier if you happen to have a group of close folks around you who can offer alternate takes on the books you read and critique. Now, it doesn’t happen every year but once in a while children’s books (novels in particular) become divisive. Folks draw battle lines in the sand and declare that a book is either infinitely lovable and the greatest thing since sliced bread, or loathsome beyond belief, the words shaming the very paper they are printed upon. In the last few years such divisive books have included everything from The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane to The Underneath. This year, 2010, one particular book has earned that honor. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine marks the author’s second foray into books for youth (the first being her young adult novel Quaking). It has garnered a great deal of praise, from such notable authors as Andrew Clements and Sharon Creech. It has been nominated, as of this review, for a National Book Award in the Young Person’s category. And I tell you truly, I’m afraid that it’s a book that just doesn’t do it for me. There are some great books coming out in 2010, but this is simply not one of them.....The writing itself for the most part wasn’t problematic. However, there were little moments when I found it getting a touch cutesy. After hearing Mrs. Brook tell her that she is convinced that Caitlin can learn empathy, our heroine slips off her shoes and touches her toes to the floor. “I pull my feet off of the floor and shove them back into my sneakers. At least I tried dipping my toe in empathy.” That’s a fair example of a couple points in the story where the text becomes a little too on the nose to feel real. It doesn’t happen often, but there are moments.
Must admit, that last review caught me off guard since I really loved the book, but it's always good to consider alternate viewpoints - tolerance, yes! These books would both work great for library lessons, but probably not together since they address such different topics. Moxy is all about having fun - it would fit well with an end of year lesson - what to do (or not do!) on summer vacation. Mockingbird, on the otherhand, it a bit more serious and would fit better in a lesson about learning about how people are different, what it means to have a disability or need special services, and how to be a good friend. I can imagine role-plays developing from Mockingbird - letting the kids take turns 'being" Caitlin so theu get a feel for what her world is like.
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