Book Talk: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Book talk of The DIsreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart.
@ Amazon: http://dft.ba/-frankielandaubanks

National Book Award: http://www.nationalbook.org
Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/printz
Me: http://thebooksupplier.blogspot.com or http://thebooksupplier.tumblr.com

Review: The First Part Last

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When a student asked me for a book about teenage pregnancy, this was the first book I thought of. I was disappointed to find out that we didn't have a copy in the library (because I could have sworn that we did). When the second student asked about the same topic, I knew I had to go pick up this title.

First Part Last is written in alternating "Then" and "Now" chapters, and told from the point of view of the father. He is sixteen, discovering that he loves his daughter, and struggling with the role change when he's not done being a child himself.

The story is beautifully told in short enough chapters that it might make an excellent read-aloud.

View all my reviews

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

This one was a read aloud with one of my book buddies, which is why it was on my reading list for so long. I wasn't entirely sure we were going to get through it at the beginning.

Also, I recommended Out of My Mind to my mother this summer, who teaches special education. She got excited because she had a student who had cerebral palsy and felt like his world opened up when he got a computer he could use to vocalize what was in his head. Mom said he moved when he was still in elementary school, but came back and had lunch with my mother and the speech pathologist at her school years later. I think it's pretty awesome when a reader, even and older reader, can connect with the story, ideas, and themes in young adult literature.

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Sharon Draper is one of the first authors I suggest when I have a reluctant reader. Most of my students have loved the Hazelwood High series, Romiette and Julio, and Battle of Jericho. While I liked Out of My Mind, I think it is a little slow to start, where readers will spend the first 50 pages or so thinking, "Okay, where is this going?"

The protagonist, Melody, is a fifth grader with cerebral palsy. Most of her life, she's had trouble communicating, controlling her limbs, and doing much for herself. All she wants is to be normal. So when she gets a computer called a Medi-Talker, that she can program to speak for her, Melody decides to show her smarts by joining her school's quiz team.

In Melody's quest to be as normal as she can be, she learns about the reality of being in a circle of "friends." Except that she never feels like she really fits in. When her team wins the local quiz competition and they go out to celebrate after, Melody is embarrassed because she has to be fed. While he teammates don't comment, the silence at the table speaks volumes about their opinions about Melody, despite her obvious talent and intelligence. I found myself getting angry at the way her classmates responded to her and talked about her, and felt like in the end, Melody got shafted. But that's the reality, isn't it? Unfortunate.

Out of My Mind is a story for anyone who feels like an outsider. It's a story that special education teachers can relate to (hi, mom). And it's a story that will give readers insight into what it could be like to not have a fully-functioning body, but still a fully-functioning mind.

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Final Thoughts on Skeleton Creek

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the novel as a whole, especially since my memories of the Blair Witch Project weren't the most pleasant. I am going to have to admit that I did get a little frightened by the story and decided that I'm wasn't going to read any right before bed, even though the story kept me engaged the entire time. This is another one of those titles (along with I, Q: Independence Hall and Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening, that I bought last year at the New Mexico Library Association Conference and just got around to reading).

I thought quite a bit about the difference the videos make to the story, and I came to the conclusion that it was the videos that pushed this novel to the edge of the thriller category. The only other author I've read that has made me feel that much nervous anxiety is Stephen King. I was completely freaked out when I read It.

When I was hunting for the videos, or rather, trying to get the website to work, I stumbled upon a couple other websites that are related to the Skeleton Creek universe. On the companion website, Sarah Fincher's webpage, there's a link to the Skeleton Creek Investigations fan page on Facebook. I was slightly surprised by this, though I shouldn't have been. I'm not an avid Facebook user--there are a few friends I keep track of through this interface, but it's not something I check regularly. Skeleton Creek Investigations has 4,867 fans. This may not seem like a huge number, but think about the viral influence of sites like Facebook and MySpace. 

The character Sarah Fincher has a MySpace page, but it hasn't been active since September 2009, which is near the time Ghost in the Machine was released. Unlike the Facebook group, Sarah Fincher's page only has 55 fans. Makes me wonder if kids are making the move away from MySpace and toward Facebook. Or the production people realized that the MySpace page didn't get many hits and moved their efforts toward Facebook, where there were more followers.

On the Skeleton Creek Is Real website, the author claims that Patrick Carman's book and the events therein really happened. I haven't had the opportunity to read through the blog that goes along with this website, but I plan to. I think the Skeleton Creek following is significantly bigger than the 4,867 people who are following on Facebook. I can't help but wonder if Skeleton Creek will have a following (possibly more short-lived) similar to the MuggleNet fandom for Harry Potter. Comments on Skeleton Creek include links to other sites of interest to fans of the show. One comment links back to the Facebook page, which apparently continues the story by giving clues to fans, and the fans have to figure out a piece to the puzzle. 

The final link that I found particularly interesting (and posted on my Twitter feed earlier this week) is Skeleton Creek Analytics. I couldn't find any information about the author of this website, but he took the passwords to the videos and analyzed the choices the author made in the context of the larger picture of the novel. I've read two of the postings thus far (and they're only for the first book so far) and the author makes some interesting connections. The site was only started a month ago, so I'm guessing the author isn't done yet. I'll be interested to see what else he has to say.

Carman did a fantastic job of keeping readers from one novel to the second. There is no resolution at the end of Skeleton Creek. In fact, the characters are left in the most precarious of predicaments that I'm going to get made fun of when my family and I travel to Las Cruces on Monday and I have to pick up the second book so I know what happens. So you'll be hearing about The Ghost in the Machine here soon, dear readers because I am a book addict and cannot help myself.

The final thing I'm interested in is how this book would play out as a read-aloud. Would the integration of video help hold the attention of reluctant readers? Many of mine didn't really care for When You Reach Me, and many of the novels that have recently made my Top 10 list are too long to function as good read alouds.

Thinking on Other Ways to Utilize Edmodo

During our professional development today, I posted a few tweets with the hashtag #learningcube. My thinking was along the lines of "I want to be able to refer back to this later when I'm writing my blog post on this workshop." So I'm sitting here 2 1/2 hours later thinking about the iPad and the tweet by @zemote who said that the iPad + Edmodo is going to be super-cool. Also crossing my mind was the fact that @chadsansing uses iPod Touch technology when our kids chat on Fridays. Finally, in this blender of thought, I think of the #edchat backchannel and the #ncte backchannel and how webinars have conversation happening in a sidebar during the presentation. All of this is swirling around in my head and somehow my read alouds get caught up in the swirl and what I end up with is this:

I want to use Edmodo as a backchannel for mini-lessons and read alouds. I don't quite have 1:1 except in my 2nd hour class, but two students running on the same username isn't a big deal.

I was thinking specifically about read alouds, and helping students monitor their thoughts while they're reading, or initially, being read to. They would be able to see this both on the screen in front of them and on the big screen at the front of the room. After the read aloud, we'll look at the channel together and debrief about how they're making meaning, what kinds of questioning and predictions they're coming up with and how they can use these strategies in their independent reading.

I also happen to have a SMARTboard and a second projector. During mini-lessons, to foster engagement, students could take polls, ask questions and make comments that would be projected onto the SMARTboard and discussed during the presentation, much like what is done during webinars.

For the moment, though, I think I'm going to start with read alouds.

Thoughts before implementation?

I Must Be Doing Something Right

The last grading period this semester my students participated in book groups. They used Edmodo to converse with students in other classes and completed imaginative response projects as a way to respond to their reading. In my morning classes, many of the students finished their novels well before the end of the grading period. Because they're writing me book notes, and it is a reading class after all, they were/are still required to read during full-class SSR.

Of the 15 students in my first period class, 8 are reading books I've either started during a read-aloud, or books that they've seen me read over the course of the semester. Two of those eight students asked me specifically for a book they saw me read that they found interesting. One of the kids saw one of my reader response projects and asked me to explain. I told him to read the book to figure out what it meant, and he did.

All of this is to say there is power in reading aloud to middle school students. There is power in doing book talks with reluctant readers. There is power in completing and displaying the projects you ask students to complete. There is power in modeling silent reading and entertaining the questions they ask about your book. They're NOT always stalling. And teachers shouldn't listen to instructional leaders who say that middle school students shouldn't be read to.

Some of the books I've read this semester that students picked up:

• Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• Unwind by Neal Shusterman
• The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman
• Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
• ttyl by Lauren Myracle
• Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman
• Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Listen (Video) by Laurie Halse Anderson

I found video on Youtube of Laurie Halse Anderson reading her poem, Listen. The purpose of the poem is to show reader's responses Speak. I think the title is appropriate. Check it out.

On Read-Alouds

I'm not sure I have a blog roll on my blog anymore, especially since the blogs I follow all run through my Google Reader, but I read this post on The Reading Zone, and had to share.

One of the strategies I started using this year to get my students interested in stories is the read-aloud. I had a novel that I read aloud to the class when we'd have extra time at the end of the period. The only one we got to this year was Dreadlocks by Neal Shusterman, but I already have a list lined up for the fall, including Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sharon G. Flake's The Skin I'm In, and Richard Wright's Rite of Passage. I might pull in some more Shusterman, but I haven't decided yet. Hopefully, the book talks I'm planning to put into my weekly podcast will help me and the students decide what I should read to them--what will get them interested in reading the most.

My favorite book off of her list has to be The Giver by Lois Lowry. I recently finished the third in the series, called Messenger. Fantastic. I should have blogged about it, but I think it's one of the novels I read recently that has yet to make it up here.

One aspect of TheReadingZone's post that I particularly liked was her students' comments on their novels. She mentions that she has students read a variety of genres, authors, etc. so at least something resonates with each of her students. What I like even more was that she has them register an opinion. I want to take a page out of her book.

The List of novels (and only the novels) I'm considering for my 8th graders (they'll get to choose)

• The Giver by Lois Lowry (of course -- and I might teach this full class instead of small group)
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
  
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
• Bad Boy: A Memoir by Walter Dean Myers
• Tangerine by Edward Bloor
• That Was Then, This Is Now by S. E. Hinton

I think there might be more on that list, but I can't remember off the top of my head.