quick post: great stories.
This is a great, truly American story: From Migrant Worker to Brain Surgeon.
Most of the books I've ordered so far for my classroom library from Amazon and Alibris have been trickling in, two or four at a time. I just finished Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Lawson in my quest to work through the Virginia Readers' Choice picks for 2008-09. I loved this book! As a kid, I was big on Little House on the Prairie and Catherine Marshall's Christy is another favorite book of mine. I love stories of fiesty, female pioneers and, living in the country, I've always found shades of my own neighbors in these kinds of stories (the Ingall's neighbor Mr. Edwards, for example, reminds me of my dad's best friend Paul, who would give anyone the shirt off his back). Hattie is cut from a similar calico cloth: she's an independent woman ready to make a life for herself on the frontier. I was thrilled to find in the notes in the back of the book that Hattie is based on one of Lawson's own ancestors! (See my previous post on my family's colorful past).
The book also shared a theme with The Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman, another VRC book for this school year: the mistreatment of immigrants and those who are different during times of turmoil in this county. In WWI-era Montana, it's Hattie's kind German neighbors who feel their community's anger at the faraway Kaiser, and Hattie who struggles to decide what is right. The book was so good and really engaging- I read it in two sittings. I will definitely be using this one in my English classroom!
until next time,
heather***
Most of the books I've ordered so far for my classroom library from Amazon and Alibris have been trickling in, two or four at a time. I just finished Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Lawson in my quest to work through the Virginia Readers' Choice picks for 2008-09. I loved this book! As a kid, I was big on Little House on the Prairie and Catherine Marshall's Christy is another favorite book of mine. I love stories of fiesty, female pioneers and, living in the country, I've always found shades of my own neighbors in these kinds of stories (the Ingall's neighbor Mr. Edwards, for example, reminds me of my dad's best friend Paul, who would give anyone the shirt off his back). Hattie is cut from a similar calico cloth: she's an independent woman ready to make a life for herself on the frontier. I was thrilled to find in the notes in the back of the book that Hattie is based on one of Lawson's own ancestors! (See my previous post on my family's colorful past).
The book also shared a theme with The Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman, another VRC book for this school year: the mistreatment of immigrants and those who are different during times of turmoil in this county. In WWI-era Montana, it's Hattie's kind German neighbors who feel their community's anger at the faraway Kaiser, and Hattie who struggles to decide what is right. The book was so good and really engaging- I read it in two sittings. I will definitely be using this one in my English classroom!
until next time,
heather***