Book Club Party: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

On April 14, 2012, we celebrated A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. We read this for our night time family read aloud a couple of months ago. Coconut is very artistic and loves to make things with clay (especially at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival) so she called dibs on the party for this book.  We read books and talked about something we really want to be good at  . . . just like Tree-ear. The children (we invited boys this time!) and their mothers brought objects to represent something they liked about the story. Then we parceled out clay and the children got creative. We had rice with a spicey Korean sauce on the side and Aerie made Chinese food style cupcakes (with noodles and broccoli and fortune cookies on top . . . all made from frosting and candy.) 

One funny moment: After I had been reading for about 40 minutes, I suddenly remembered that the rice  on the stovetop had finished cooking over an hour before, but in my rush to get ready, I had forgotten about it! I must have had a terrible look on my face in the middle of book, because the mothers said, "What??!! What is it?" Someone had turned off the stovetop, though and saved the day. The rice wasn't fabulous, but at least it was edible. (Another reason why I am not the main cook in my home!) 

As the children get older, it is getting a bit harder for me to find picture books with connections . . . but the children always amaze me with their insights. 

We read: 

This is one of my FAVORITE books of all time. I have yet to read it aloud without getting "chokey".  Heather Henson tells the story inspired by the "Pack Horse Librarians" in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky. The connection? The book woman does hard things and keeps her commitments, even when things seem almost pointless. And, she is brave, just like Tree-ear. 

Willoughby discovers a lion on a rock at his new house. The lion can grant him ten wishes, but can only return home if Willoughby wishes for the "most wonderful thing." After nine (really amazing) wishes, the lion is still on the rock, but Willoughby finally wishes for the most wonderful thing . . .a true friend.  Crane Man and Tree-ear are true friends. 

We also read Basho and the Fox, a fun story about a poet who tries to impress a fox with his amazing haiku. The fox always shoots him down . . . the poems are nothing compared to what the fox poets can create. Basho's final poem is about a fox, and is declared amazing, simply because it has a fox in it! The connection is the fox that kept Crane Man from entering the monastery. 

Poor Ima Bean was "just trying to help" but everything goes wrong. She is all set to run away, when she is reminded of something special about her family . . . "In my family, your always family . . . even when you goof". The connection? Things went wrong for Tree-ear, but he kept going and ended up with a family. 

Poems:

Foxes from The Llama Who Had No Pajama by Mary Ann Hoberman

Trees by Joyce Kilmer

A Few More Books I Wanted to Read:

 

 (In English it is called "You and Me", but apparently Amazon doesn't carry it in English anymore. Sad, it is such a treasured book in our family!) 

(Our happy readers show off their artistic endeavors!)

Sneak Peek: Coconut's next book club will be The Year the Circus Came to Town by Lawrence Yep

What I've Been Reading This Past Week (or so)

What I've been reading . . . the first part of March 2012)
(Posting late . . . the last week we were on family vacation at the "Happiest Place on Earth" and did very little reading. But this is what I was reading the week before that!)

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

I'm actually listening to this in preparation for a homeschool mom's book club. It is really good . . . but L O O O N G. I'm just about to finish up part 3 of 4 parts . . . each about 8 hours long.  I like it. A dear friend (who chose it for book club) calls it her favorite book, and that keeps me coming back to it with a determination to finish it. Why does Heather like this book so much? Will I learn to be more like her (she is one of the kindest, most positive people I know) if I read this book? 

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

I read this in preparation for a Lifelong Learning class I'm taking on Tuesdays. The class is excellent, and this was  a great book. I have read many, but not all of the Narnia series. This book makes me want to go back and read all the previous books in the series.  

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer

The Boy and I are still working on this. Only a few chapters to go. I like it! 

Emma by Jane Austen

Dancegirl and I will be reading this for a long time. I'm trying it out on Kindle with my iPad. I haven't quite decided if I like reading without a pen in my hand. I know I can highlight, but it takes a long time, and I'm not used to it. And will I "flip" back through like I do other actual books if my notes are digital? hard to say . . .
The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

Loved this book, what a great discussion with Cupcake! We have a book club party in the works for this one.
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

Coconut and I are reading this. We stop now and then to search out or watch a Youtube clip of historical references from the 1930s that are referred to often in this book. We an hour in the car last Saturday talking about Little Orphan Annie and listening to the soundtrack. Coconut and Lala were thrilled to hear stories of when Dancegirl played Annie and Cupcake played Molly in the community theater version of Annie. 

The School Mouse by Dick King-Smith

Lala and I just finished this. She loves mouse stories. I like Dick King-Smith's way of telling a child a story without talking down to the child. 

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Lala and I usually have a couple of "books on the fire" because she likes to carry them around with her (along with 10-30 other books in her book basket). So sometimes when it is time to read, we can't find her current book. My sister said she tried to get my nine year old niece to read the Little House books, but she just wasn't interested. Lala (age almost six) loves them, so I'm glad we started early!

 Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary

Lala and I are also working our way through this one, a big type read aloud version with pictures by Tracy Dockray.  I remember these stories from when I read them as a girl, but I miss the illustrations from my day by Louise Darling (I remember the pictures more than the stories!). About a week after we started reading, I found an "old" paperback edition of Ramona the Pest with the illustrations that I remember.  Lala has enjoyed reading both versions and comparing the pictures. When Dancegirl and Cupcake were younger, we read several Ramona books, (and even had a mother's tea when we celebrated Ramona and Her Mother, and they enjoyed them, and read several on their own,  but I haven't been able to get my Coconut interested in Ramona, (too many similarities? hmmm . . . . . ) so I started Lala early ... I didn't want to risk my sister's tragic Little House on the Prairie experience. Plus, I have big plans to visit Klickitat Street someday when we visit cousins in Portland. 

Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby

I LIKE this book. It is our nighttime family read aloud (which mostly means reading it to the three littlest girls, The Boy sleeps downstairs, Dancegirl is almost always at dance when I'm putting the last three to bed. Lala often falls asleep, but Cupcake and Coconut really like it as well. My children didn't like his last novel, The Clockwork Three, as much as I did, but I think we all like this quite a bit. My favorite part . . . hearing Cupcake and Coconut talk about the book after the lights are out, and they think I'm out of earshot. Priceless!!

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

This one is for my neighborhood book group. I think the discussion is next week, and I'm only half way through . . . I like it, though. Intense reading, a bathtub read . . . similar to a beach read in summer. Entertaining, quick moving, smart . . . but not too demanding, thought provoking, and not a lot of underlining necessary (because I don't like water spots on my books!) 

Legendary Learning: The Famous Homeschooler's Guide to Self Directed Excellence by Jamie McMillan

I read through the first three fourths of this book so quickly I'm going to have to read it again to let it really sink in! Originally, the title intrigued me. I'm underlining a lot and thinking how I am implementing (or ought to be implementing) these principles. Very inspiring! 

The Celestial Globe (Book Review by Coconut)

Coconut and I read the first book in the series, The Cabinet of Wonders, last month. She absolutely loved it. (It is a previous Beehive Book Award nominee) She got the second book in the series for Valentines Day, and finished it today. She knows I have the third book (The Jewel of Kalderash) up in my closet (a.k.a. Book Diva Land) and asked how she could earn it.  

I have a deal with The Boy that after he reads or listens to a classic if he writes about the book and discusses it with me he can get a book of his choice. I offered the same deal to Coconut, and this was the result. I was amazed. I even asked her if she copied it off the back! (She didn't)

Here is her report: (Three words (surprised, mischievous, intrigued ) was spelled wrong . . . so I fixed it in this version. All other punctuation and asides are hers.)

The Celestial Globe is by Marie Rutkoski. It is the story of Petra Kronos. She is transported to London by John Dee, a witty man who has created a link between their minds. Petra is enrolled in fencing lessons along with a mischievous (but attractive) fencing teacher. When Dee takes her to the palace of Queen Elizabeth, Petra finds herself in a bargain with Dee for her freedom. Meanwhile, her friend Tomik is hunting for her. Intrigued by her disappearance, when he finds himself with Neel, a thieving gypsy and a friend of Petra, it is no surprise that they work together to find Petra and the Globe which Neel's crewmates are rapidly trying to find. 

My favorite part is when Kit, the fencing teacher, is to be executed. Petra visits and makes him promise to be good for his next two weeks of life. When he shakes hands on it, she hands him his ticket out.  

Picture book recommendation: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

Why: In "I Want My Hat Back" the bear wants his possession or item back. Petra wants her name and happiness back. 

(I was so tickled with her first ever chapter book report, I just had to share it.)

By the way, I Want My Hat Back is a hilarious little book, won the Theodore Geisel Award from the ALA, and was a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2011.