2011 Book Challenges

What a grand year of reading!  I signed up for three reading challenges...and here are the results!

Dana Huff's Challenge Books I Should Have Read in High School : I initially signed up to read twelve books.  Yes, aggressive!  However, I did read eight, achieving "graduate student."

1. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
3. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
4. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
5. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
6. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
7. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
8. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Vern

What's in a Name :  Uh, oh!  Missed this challenge by one!  I should have paid more attention and chosen a book for each category.

• A book with a number in the title:
• Fahrenheit 451
• The 360 Degree Leader
• Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25
• Slaughterhouse Five
• The 9th Judgement
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
• A book with jewelry or a gem in the title:
• Hum...just cannot find a title from my list that fits within this category! 
• A book with a size in the title:
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (league is a size, right?!)
• A book with travel or movement in the title:
• The Walk
• The Sun Also Rises
• Miles to Go
• A book with evil in the title:
• The  Poisonwood Bible (poison!)
• Wicked
• The Book of Unholy Mischief
• City of Fallen Angels
• A book with a life stage in the title:
• Dead in Dallas
• The Christmas Wedding

RIP :  This was my second year to complete this challenge!  September and October are just the perfect times to read such novels!

• The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
• Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
• Cross Fire by James Patterson
• The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

Gillmore: More Reads in 2011 - This was a personal challenge to myself.  I won!

• 2010 = 30 books read
• 2011 = 59 books read!

All in all, this has been an excellent year of reading!  Yes, I had hoped to read more professional books, more classics, but again, all in all, a very good year!

#59: Focus

My final read for 2011, Focus:  Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning, by Mike Schmoker, is the selected read for our entire school district.

Our superintendent read this book, and it spoke to him as the answer to our implementing the Common Core Standards.

Here are my initial thoughts on Focus in a post entitled Surreal? No, Real Focus and later here in post A Friendly Literary Merge, where I also discuss Pérsida Himmele's and William Himmele's professional development book Total Participation Techniques.

The first three chapters discuss the what and how we teach literacy, discussing two templates the author promotes:  authentic literacy and interactive lecture. Then, the next four chapters focus on the curriculum areas of English language arts, social studies, science, and mathematics.

Schmoker repeatedly promotes teaching less more indepthly and utilizing textbooks, which is interesting since our department no longer uses textbooks. Hum...

We have spent one professional development day reading portions of the book, then discussing in our PLN's.  We are scheduled to continue our work with this book and the implementation of its key components next Wednesday as we return to school for another day of developing professionally.

I recommend this book, for it is based on common sense, of which education needs a healthy dose!

More December Reads: #56-58

Christmas Break is a success when one is reading, and that has been my main goal this week!

#56:  The Christmas Box Collection by Richard Paul Evans

I meant to read this before Christmas...just glad I pulled it off my bookshelf.  These three inter-connected stories essentially tell the story of  David and Mary Parkin over a span of several decades years and in several flashbacks and their impact on others.

I recommend reading all three, as I did, as one read.  Waiting until an author completes a series has its advantages!

As a  Christian, concerns consumed me that Evans did not proclaim Christianity more vehemently, as he had the narrator seem to question God at times.  For this reason, I really appreciated the character Mary...the mother...wonder if that name were chosen deliberately?...for she bears much, looses much, then is eternally rewarded with much.

I also so appreciated the stand David took for Laurence as he fought the Goliaths of his time.  Yes, another intesesting connection.

If you are an Evans fan, then please read this collection!

#57 The Awakening by Kate Chopin

A read often assigned in our AP Lang class, this one I had been meaning to read for some time.  Hum, how do I say this?  Well...I was glad when I finally finished all 117 pages of the novella. 

I do not like the main character Edna.  Maybe I am not supposed to?

I suppose I began reading the novel with some presuppositions, thinking that this would be a read about women's rights, about a woman learning who she truly is and overcoming all odds...which Edna does to some degree.

For this read, I would have to agree with peer teacher Amanda when she states she just does not care for American writers.  I just did not care for this novel.  That was hard for me to admit/type!

#58 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Interesting.  I agreed to read this novel with a lit circle group in one of my English 11 classes back in October.  Needless to say, I did not meet that reading deadline!  Did meet the deadline, though, for this to be a part of Dana Huffs Books I Wish I Had Read in High School but Didn't Reading Challenge.

First, let me say everyone needs to read this book because of all the allusions made to this novel.  Definitely a classic.  Jules Verne is definitely the father of science fiction!

Reading the introduction helped me immensely when Bruce Coville grants permission for some readers to skim/scan the lists and lists and lists of the many underwater species that Verne includes (although these lists certainly add validity to the novel!).

The novel relates the 20,000 league journey of several men in an underwater vessel, one unlike anyone has ever encountered.  The professor, narrator of this adventure, brings to life Captian Nemo (might keep in mind that Nemo means nobody), Harpooner Ned, and his personal servant Conseil.

While I could have forgone the many lists, I actually did learn much about life underwater and the geography of the journey.  I just thinking...if I were teaching this novel, my students and I would create a Google Map of the journey.  That would be cool!

Yes, I definitely recommend this novel...just be prepared to journey 20,000 leagues!

December Reads: Books #52-55.5

Christmas has come and gone...amazing!  With the passage of December, thus far, I have read three Christmas novels and, along with the season, have enjoyed these literary creations

The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson

A quick read, this one tells the story of a mom who invited all her kids home for Christmas and to her wedding to a groom she has yet to announce...from the three who have proposed.  Interesting dilemma!  One that I enjoyed, though!  More info here on the James Patterson website...

A Chesapeake Shores Christmas by Sherryl Woods

The O'Briens have fallen in love and desire to remarry, but mother Meagan holds out for the approval of all her children.  As I completed this one, I wished for the next in the series.  Ah..will have to wait for next year, I suppose!  AND according to the Sherryl Woods website, I am year behind in this series.  Uh, oh!

A Log Cabin Christmas Collection by various authors

Last year, I began the first in what I now think is going to be a series of these short story collections....A Prairie Christmas Collection. I only completed half of the short stories then, so I resumed where I stopped, and then while shopping for a Christmas present in a local Christian store for a friend, I found A Log Cabin Christmas Collection.  Now, I just hope there is a third installment to this series!

Shakespeare Christmas by Charlaine Harris

The third in the Lily Bard series, this novel takes the reader to Lily's home town for her sister's Christmas wedding and a few murders.  I just love this series!  Lily, a survivor of a brutal rape, works hard to become physically independent (she's very strong now), has a hunky boyfriend (her past scars do not deter him), cleans houses for a living (this just makes her even more believable to this working mom), and assists in solving crimes (in her spare time, of course!).

I went in search of the next in this series, but having misplaced it from myself, I instead chose Richard Paul Evan's The Christmas Box Collection.  December is not over yet!  Good, so far...more on that to come!

I hope your holiday is finding the gift of books in your life also!

46-51: Fall Reads

I have met my goal to read 50 books this year!  Yay!

For the R.I.P. Challenge:  4 novels

1. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen: So good! I enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed Allen’s Garden Spells. Just a touch of fairy tale and magic.  I loved main character Josey, who seems so human because she is not perfect.  The main imperfection at the moment is Della Lee who has taken up residence in Josey's closet and is now privy to Josey's secret:  she loves sweets (me, too). Want to Read by This Author:  The Peach Keeper and Shoot the Moon.
2. Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris: Need to read more in this series! I have several more of Sookie Stackhouse's adventures awaiting on me.  Remember, Sookie is not a vampire herself. She just dates a vampire.  Her "gift" is that she can read minds of everyone except her vampire.  While I do enjoy this series, I must recommend Harris’ Lily Bard series…must be the English teacher in me and that I live in Arkansas!
3. Cross Fire by James Patterson: I so enjoy reading James Patterson. This one I purchased before my daughter’s surgery and read following our move out of ICU…a nice escape from reality! This novel continues the adventures of Alex Cross, who once again must protect those he loves the most as their lives are endangered by the return of Kyle Craig, who has escape prison and has adopted the persona and face (via reconstructed surgery) so that he might more invade the live of Alex Cross.
4. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton: This one which I just finished this morning, took me a while to read; even read a couple in between. BUT it was good, just not as good as my previous Morton read The Forbidden Garden. This novel relates the story of this house through the memories of Grace as she records them for her grandson.  This novel reminded me somewhat of The Great Gatsby, as it was set in the 1920's and 1930's.  To read by this author:  The Distant Hours.
5. The Host by Stephanie Meyer...I completed this one after the R.I.P. Challenge.  It was on my original list to read.  So good!  Why did I wait so long to read this one?  Loved it!  Much more so than her Twilight series.  Seriously!

For My English 11 Class:

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is one of those classics that I should have read somewhere along the way but did not.  This is the first of four novels that I purchased, thanks to a grant I received, for all of my students.  I enjoyed it.  No, it is not a chick flick, but the novel relates an interesting perspective of war. 

My favorite lesson that I taught using this novel also involved a movie clip from Forestt Gump.  At one point main character Henry Fleming runs because he is scared.  We compared this scene to the one of Forestt when he was in the Vietnam War and he was instructed to run.  Interesting comparison.

Fifty-one books...and more to read!

45: The City of Fallen Angels

Cassandra Clare continues her The Immortal Instruments series in The City of Fallen Angels as she builds several of her characters, especially Simon who has just recently become a vampire...thinking Simon may now be my favorite character, for he seems to be the most "human" of all.  Weird, uh?

Before I began reading this one, in a discussion with a teacher-friend who is also hooked on this series (yes, I like it as well, if not better, than the Twilight series), she commentd the author must be going to write another one, for "she just can't let it end that way."  I agree...but that is all I can tell you!  (I did check out her website, and Clare is working on #5:  City of Lost Souls, coming in May 2012.)

Another note on the popularity of this novel...three students want this novel as soon as I return it to the school library.  Very proud of myself...I checked this book out, instead of buying it.  I am just too addicted to books, so in one small step to break this trend, I went to the shelf, read it, and did not annotate one single place in the novel.  (Annotation is part of the addiction, also!)  Now, I am excited to return it to school tomorrow and share!

Now, to begin The Infernal Devices series...book one The Clockwork Angel sits waiting on me.  (Yes, I bought that one!)  This series is actually the prequel to The Immortal Instruments series.  A flashback of sorts, I am assuming.

NOTE:  Cassandra Clare blogs here.

44: A Midsummer Night's Dream

My motivation for reading this particular play:  Our drama department will perform A Midsummer Night's Dream later this fall, and I am reading Iron King because I heard it referenced this play.  Thus, my thoughts are that I might create some mini-lessons for our English department to use by connecting this two genres in hopes of promoting the drama departments production.  Sneaky?  :)

Admission of Guilt:  I went online and read an overview of the play (had never read this one!  How did that happen?)...(in a very quiet voice)...this did help much in my quicker reading of the play!

Our drama teacher has modernized the storyline, and I can now further understand her enthusiasm, for this plot line will definitely appeal to this age group and especially to those who have enjoyed the fantasy literary revival of late.  Her production will be set in a modern high school setting.

Shakespeare has everyone falling in love...with the help of a little magical concoctions...and then falling out of love...and even includes a Romeo and Juliet extreme love scene.  Oh, and one cannot help but laugh as several make donkeys of themselves.

Yes, the drama department and the audience should appreciate this one!

Now, to finish reading Iron King and to begin making text-to-text connections between the two genres...

Read A Midsummer Night's Dream online here.