Book Share-The Warrior Heir

About a week ago, Gerry recommended a book to me:  The Warrior Heir.  "You'll love it," he said, "You've got to read it!"

We have a common love for fantasy stories.  About a year ago, Gerry and Santino and I all swapped fantasy favorites as we pored through book after book.

Reading The Warrior Heir was challenging because I couldn't share it with Santino.  Not wanting to spoil it, I had to bite the bullet as the book wound its way through intrigue, suspense, and thrills.

Now it was my time to say to Santino, hurry up and read the book!

As I speak, he's interrupting himself.  "Ellen's an enchantress, isn't she!"  and "That vest is armor, isn't it?"  And minutes later--"I knew it!"

Santino read that book in less than a day and then immediately downloaded the next two onto his Kindle.  So, Santino---Hurry up and finish!

Fool's Gold

Last Friday we had the day off from school, so I was sleeping in.  My phone rang at 7:15 am.

"Hey, did you look out your window?"  Old friend.  Only old friends call that early in the morning.
"I was sleeping, so I'd have to say no."
"Well, I drove by your house and there's a big statue in your yard.  Did you see the statue?"

I live on a busy street and the whole universe goes by my house every day.  So, the idea that someone left a statue in my yard was in the realm of possibilities.  I stayed on the phone with my friend as I walked around my miniscule front yard in my jammies.

"I don't see it.  Where is it?"
"How could you miss it?  It's HUGE!"
"Can't see it."
"It's a big statue of Jesus.  How are you missing this?"

No Jesus in front, none in back.  Wait....Oh, right.  It's April 1.  I resigned.

"Got it, I got it!  You got me.  Have a great day--can I go back to bed now?"

I have always been harangued by April Fool's Day.  I'm not the one making the jokes, but I'm usually the one on the receiving end.

Santino woke up shortly after that and found a cuddly spot on the couch.  Yawn.  "Oh mom, I hate to tell you this but the window in my bedroom is broken."

Sigh.  I walked into his room and checked his window.  "Honey I don't see it.  Is it a break or a crack?"

My lovely son came into the room snickering.  "April Fool's, Mom!"

So early in the morning on my day off and already I was fooled twice.  But that wasn't the end of it.

Over the course of the day, Santino gleefully told me all of the following:
1. He smelled smoke in the house.
2. My bed was on fire.
3. Baskin Robbins went out of business.  (Not true but the local BR is closed.)
4. He had a huge science project due on Monday that he hadn't started. (That one was totally believable.)
5. We didn't have the day off school after all--cruel joke by the school district.

Probably my most memorable April 1st was when my principal (a great prankster) announced her retirement at a faculty meeting.  Everybody laughed.  "No, really," she said, "I'm retiring."  Some of us called out, "April Fools!"  "Really, I'm retiring.  And I hate to leave you all."  Then we knew it was true. It was no joke.  Sadly she was gone three months later.

But I digress.  Being the target of Santino's April Fool's jokes gives me endless joy.  He's a sweet kid, his pranks are benign, and they are mixed enough with reality that they are usually believable.  He unearths every verbal prank like a nugget of fool's gold, hoping I'll fall for the trick.  He fights hard to surpress his giggles. I admit, he got me a few times, but after the first three or four pranks I was on my guard.

All in all, though--even if it's fool's gold, every prank feels like the real thing.  And I love it.

Goodreads Challenge 23-30/85: Books for kids, books for me

I am really behind in my Goodreads Challenge posting.  That's a sign of the school calendar, I suppose.  As time gets closer to testing in May, schoolwork becomes more intense, I spend more hours working, and I'm a little more exhausted at the end of the day.

But this will not stop me from reading!!!  Here are updates from the last few books I've read for my Goodreads Challange.

                 

Goodreads Challenge 30/85: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

     Wow, that was fun to read. Michael Crichton expertly puts together a suspenseful thriller. Please don't complain that it's impossible to clone dinosaurs from blood extracted from mosquitos suspended in amber. Take an intellectual leap so you can go for a wild ride. Lighten up. Have fun with it.  Let yourself enjoy this book. To do this, you need to suspend any doubts you might have about the science of the book--after all, this is science fiction. And it's well-written science fiction. Some of the characters are flat and have absolutely no arc. Who cares?! With the threat of getting eaten by a velociraptor, you find yourself crossing your fingers that those two dimensional heroes escape the bite, and those two dimensional villains get what's coming to them. 

Goodreads Challenge 29/85: Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs

         I. Am. So. Tired. Of writers. Who. Think. That. One. Word. Makes. A sentence.  Suffice it to say I am unimpressed by Kathy Reich's writing style. The story was a little confusing because there were too many victims and suspects for my scorecard. And what really bugged me is that the villain responsible for everything didn't show up in the book until the last 20 pages. Aarrghh!    Some complain that her books are hard to read because the language is overly technical, but I actually enjoyed that aspect of the book. 

      I wanted to read a Kathy Reichs book since she is the originator of the Bones tv series, of which I am a huge fan.  Maybe it's time to go back and watch a regular Bones episode instead.  

Goodreads Challenge 28/85: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

   Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by veteran children's author Judy Blume is just an adorable book.  My fourth graders will definitely be reading this one.

     

Goodreads Challenge 27/85: Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

    I read this for a book club.  It annoyed me so much I'm not going to waste any more key strokes writing about it.

Goodreads Challenge 25/85: Witch and Wizard by James Patterson

          Dystopia, kids in peril--add magic to the mix for a fun read.  James Patterson doesn't have the best prose style, but he puts together an action-filled plot.  HOWEVER, I am so frustrated because this book does not end on the last page; you really have to read the next book to complete the story.  I hope.  I'm looking forward to The Gift since this one ends on a cliff-hanger, or end of a rope.  Take your pick.

Goodreads Challenge 26/85: The Gift by James Patterson

     Okay, James Patterson, you have made me NOT a happy camper.  The Gift is just the second act of the Witch and Wizard series--and the third act won't be released until May.

      

Goodreads Challenge 24/85: Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
      Another dystopic future in which there are strict government controls on the number of children each family can have.  Among the Hidden is followed by popular sequels, but the story and the writing weren't enough to make me care to move on.

Goodreads Challenge 23/85: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter

     The third installment of the Gallagher Girls spy stories is like the two previous books.  In Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover, Cammie ventures outside the walls of the Gallagher Academy to spend time with her roommate, Macey.  Macey is the daughter of a senator and needs Secret Service protection during a presidential campaign.  A good spy book for girls, especially if they are reluctant readers.

More Tsunami Letters

March 11, 2011

********
Dear Me,

   My class couldn't go to the whale watching field trip.  All the beaches are closed.  I will tell you why they are all closed.
   There was an earthquake in the ocean floor.  The earthquake happened in Japan.  I saw it on the news and was surprised.  I was glad we didn't go.
   It was a tsunami.  Mud slides, broken homes, and mass destruction.  People have to go to high ground to stay safe.  I saw pictures of destruction Ms. A.  put for the class from her computer.
   The destructions were so horrible I feel so sorry for those people.  People died, houses flooded, and buildings were destroyed.  Even a bridge with cars on it were destroyed.
   I'm so glad my class didn't go whale watching.  Yet I still feel upset, but hey I'm not complaining.  I also feel sorry for those people who died, but that's life.

Love,
Alan

******

Dear Me,

     We didn't go on our field trip.  We didn't go on the field trip because of a tsunami.  The tsunami was in Japan.
     There were plates crashing into each other in Japan.  It made an earthquake in Japan that was 8.9.  It happened on March 11, 2011 in the afternoon.  The lights were flashing and some turned off.
     The earthquake made a big big tsunami.  The tsunami killed kids and parents.  There were mudslides and it flood villages, farms, buildings, and houses.  People in Japan lost everything.  Some people alerted Hawaii.  They evacuated Hawaians to higher ground.
     I feel sad for the Japanese people and my class.  I feel sad for the Japanese because of what happened.  I feel sad for us because we couldn't go on our whale watching trip.

Yourself,
Brenda

Tsunami Letters--Do Not Open Until March 11, 2021

As I mentioned in a previous post, we had to cancel our whale watching field trip because of a tsunami advisory.  The 9.0 earthquake in Japan on March 11 triggered a tsunami that made its way across the Pacific Ocean and into the waters of California.  We were forced to postpone our much-awaited whale watching trip that day.

The tsunami was definitely one of those teachable moments.  World-wide events affected our little classroom in Highland Park.  So, instead of boating out in Long Beach Harbor, my kids and I watched videos of the tsunami.  Then they wrote letters to themselves "in the future" about their experience.  They sealed the letters in envelopes that said, "Do not open until March 11, 2021."  Here is one of those letters:

****

March 11, 2011

Dear Linda,
    Today our class didn't go to our field trip to go to Long Beach on a boat to go whale watching because today a very important thing happened.  In Japan there was a 8.9 earthquake.  When the earthquake happened two plates crashed into each other and started a tsunami.
    At March 10, 2011 there was an earthquake.  This earthquake was so big that it was an 8.9 earthquake and because it started a tsunami.   The earthquake lasted for about a couple of minutes.  And after that there were so many after shocks.
    After the earthquake there was a tsunami.  This tsunami killed alot of Japanese people and it also flooded all the houses and it also destroyed it by mud slides.  The tsunami went from Japan to Hawaii and to California.  That's why we didn't go to the field trip today.  The Hawaiians had to evacuate to higher ground.  Many buildings got destroyed and Hawaiians had to get on a roof of a building.  Many Japanese people lost everything.  And many houses got flooded.
    I am so sorry to those Japanese people.  They lost everything and their city or country got destroyed.  I'm very lucky that we didn't go to the field trip today and I think my mom was so happy that I didn't go to the field trip today.

Your best friend,
Linda

The Day the Earth Stood Still - NOT!

Last Thursday my phone rang at 11:17 pm.  Since I'm a teacher, the alarm goes off early (4:45 am), so I pretty much crash out by 9pm.  I was in deep rem sleep.

It was my brother.  He called to tell me that an 8.9 earthquake just hit Japan, and that a tsunami was making its way across the Pacific and was expected to hit the shores of California in about 10 hours.  He was concerned--he was at a friend's in Redondo Beach and they were deciding whether to evacuate.

Ten hours???  I was going to be on a boat in Long Beach Harbor in 10 hours! This would be the day of our whale watching trip.  This was the trip that the kids held a bake sale to raise money ($750).  This was the trip that we have been talking about--how to behave on a boat, what to bring, how to recognize a whale in the water.  We were well-prepared for the trip, but not for a tsunami.

I watched CNN for about an hour and learned that the tsunami would hit Hawaii at around 5 am, so I went to bed.  When I woke up in a few hours, the waves had certainly hit Hawaii and were still coming.  Online I found out that a "tsunami advisory" had been issued for the coast south of Point Concepcion.  That would be us.  Even though the waves would be no higher than about 3 feet. going whale watching just seemed to be a bad idea.  Imagine the worst case scenario--Fourth Graders Perish in Whale Watching Accident as Teachers Ignore Coast Guard Warnings.

So yes, we called off the trip.  The kids were disappointed, but many of the parents who showed up to school thanked me for canceling.  It was a tough call, but there were plenty of lessons to learn.

I seized on one of those great teachable moments to have the kids do research on the tsunami.  We watched videos of the earthquake and devastation.  We looked at diagrams showing how a tsunami is created.

And then my kids wrote letters.  They wrote letters to themselves in the future, talking about the day that an 8.9 earthquake halfway around the world affected them personally.  They sealed the letters and wrote, "Do not open until March 11, 2021."

Global events always affect us--we just aren't always aware of it.  But in the case of the great earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011, our world got a lot smaller.

Goodreads Challenge 22/85: Henry Huggins

Henry Huggins by the prolific children's writer Beverly Cleary is a cute book.  I read it to evaluate its appropriateness for my class.  Written in episodic form, this book presents clever situations written in very simple language.  I think it would be more appropriate for a third grade class than my fourth graders.