Review: Resistance, Book 1

Resistance, Book 1 by Carla Jablonski

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Resistance, Book 1 is historical fiction set during World War II in France. This story is about a few French kids who want to join the underground resistance against the German occupation of France. Two children are harboring their Jewish friend, and their goal is to help him escape to Paris. It's an interesting look at what WWII was from somewhere outside the concentration camps.

If you liked Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, Resistance might be a good graphic novel supplement.

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Black Heroes in 1777? With Powers?

The Sons of Liberty #1 by Alexander Lagos

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was an interesting read and I'm curious to see where the rest of the series is going. What kind of experiments did William Franklin do on those animals and Brody and Graham to give them powers. What are the extent of the boys' powers? I don't know much about art, but I do like the visuals. The colors change with the time period - when Ben Lay recounts his experiences on slave ships, there is a hint of sepia to the images. I'm excited to see what happens next.

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Eye of the Storm

  Bone, Volume 3: Eyes of the Storm by Jeff Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I started this series because I bought most of them in support of my middle school's library. I remember wondering what it was that drew so many boys to this series that the books were almost always checked out.

After reading Eyes of the Storm, I have a pretty good idea. There's fighting, gambling, these two stupid rat creatures who make me laugh every time they appear in a frame because they argue like an old married couple.By the end of this installment, I was hooked. By now we know that Kingdok, leader of the rat creatures isn't the guy calling the shots. I thought the guy calling the shots was the guy in the hood who cornered the really annoying Bone cousin in the last book, but it turns out it's not him either. So who's trying to take over and where did they come from?

Oh, and I said this when I read The Last Dragon Chronicles by Chris d'Lacy too, but I want a dragon.

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Connecting With the Classics: Dracula

I stole the title of this blog post, and my post on Beowulf, from an episode of the NCTE/IRA podcast Text Messages about ways to engage students with classic stories. You can play that episode right here.



All-Action Classics: Dracula by Michael Mucci


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I thoroughly enjoy reading books from the Victorian Era in England. Dracula was one of the novels I taught during my student teaching. I love the graphic adaptation as an introduction to the story. Bram Stoker's original used correspondance to tell the story -- Jonathan Harker's journal, telegrams, newspaper clippings, letters. Mucci's adaptation takes the big events and makes them visually stunning. The colors he uses are dark and subdued, giving the graphic novel a gothic feel that mirrors the book.

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Connecting with the Classics: Beowulf

Beowulf by Chris Ryall



I wasn't aware that Neil Gaiman wrote the screenplay for the live action/animated theatrical version of Beowulf. I get the sense that things changed from the epic poem to the film (and this graphic novel based on the film) but I can't remember. Reading this graphic novel makes me want to go back and reread Beowulf and maybe find a copy of Grendel.

I think this graphic novel would be a intro to the more difficult Beowulf text. Teach with graphic novels, anyone?

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Amulet, Book 2: The Stone Keeper's Curse

Today, I stumbled upon some code that will allow me to embed my Goodreads review in my blog. I thought to myself, "Self, this might not be a bad idea. Then you don't have to use space in Picassa with book covers, and you only have to write the review once." My self made sense, so here's my first short attempt just to see what it looks like.

Amulet, Book 2: The Stonekeeper's Curse by Kazu Kibuishi


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another cliffhanger, this was a quick read with beautiful graphics. Reminds me a little of Lord of the Rings--The Amulet's attempt to gain power over Emily is similar to Frodo's struggle with the ring.

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Ah...Testing...

This year's standardized testing has been an interesting experience for me. Instead of testing an entire class, as I've done in the past, I'm proctoring the tests of two students taking the test one at a time with a scribe. What that means is either 1. I stare at student while student is testing or 2. I do something that isn't distracting while sitting at the same table as student, like reading. So I've been reading. We still have 2 1/2 days of testing left next week, but I thought I'd go ahead and share the novels I've read in the last two weeks.

I found it interesting that I picked a few novels with similar thematic content in close succession. On Friday, I finished the 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation. On Saturday, I read I, Q: Independence Hall, which also discusses terrorism. During the week I read Bystander by James Preller and The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, both of which have to do with bullying and are not pictured here because I checked them out from the school library. The Tomorrow Code by Brian Faulkner was particularly interesting and reminded me quite a bit of A Wrinkle in Time. I liked that it didn't take place in the United States (it's set in New Zealand) but the language isn't so difficult to understand that an adolescent from the US couldn't understand it. Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening #1 was okay--a Heroes/The Incredibles type read. It's one of those series novels where I didn't feel compelled to run out and buy the next book. I did enjoy the second Artemis Fowl novel, The Arctic Incident, as well as Edward Bloor's Taken. The twist in that novel wasn't one I expected. I read The Compound by S.A. Bodeen on recommendation from another blogger, and enjoyed it as well. I realize I'm being vague as far as plot, etc. is concerned here. My goal was to list the novels I've been reading rather than reflect on them this time. What I really need to do is a reader response project. Maybe this week.

I'm thinking about going the Skeleton Creek route. I'm interested to see how the videos add to the story.

American-Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

I blame my recent obsession with graphic novels on the Text Messages podcast I listened to this summer that discussed the popular graphic novels and their draw to teens. I have one student in my class who is currently reading American-Born Chinese, and having just finished it, I'm rather happy about this fact. Hopefully, he can identify with the idea that everyone, really, is trying to figure out who they are, and find a place to fit in whatever social/cultural circle(s) they choose to run in.

American-Born Chinese is told in the form of three parallel stories: the story of Jin Wang, a middle school student who has just moved to a place where no one looks like him; the story of the Monkey King who lets his pride stand in the way of understanding what it really means to be a diety; and the story of Chin Kee, a caricature of the Chinese stereotype in America. These three stories come together, and each of the main characters understands what it means to have a place in America.

I do have to point out one funny bit before I sign off. Do you remember William Hung of American Idol fame? American-Born Chinese wouldn't be complete if Chin Kee didn't make fun of him, too. As much as I'd love to show you an image of that particular page, I'm not going to. If you're really interested, you can see it for yourself. What I will leave you with, however, is a video of Gene Luen Yang talking about his graphic novel. Enjoy.