Black Storm Comin’ by Diane Lee Wilson

RL 5.5  

Colton Wescott has had a tough life. His family left Missouri in their covered wagon to head for California. Their journey is made more difficult than normal because Colton’s dad is white, but his mom is black, and the others in the wagon train don’t approve of them. When Colton’s dad accidentally shoots him and runs away, Colton is left alone to get his sick mother and his younger sisters to California. Out of desperation, Colton joins the Pony Express to try to earn money for his family, but constantly has to worry that others will find out he is of mixed race. This adventurous story will appeal to many readers, and it provides a great description of what life was like during the 1800s before the Civil War.  

Cindy’s Two-Cents

This is a great historical fiction story that I think our 3^rd and 4^th graders will love. Because our kids study the Pony Express and it is tied to our state, I think it will really be a great book to use to enhance your social studies instruction. There is enough action in the story that the kids will be hooked, and it has plenty of historical information to make it a great classroom resource. There are many topics addressed in the story that you could expand on: race relations, pre Civil War history, the actual Pony Express route, the California gold rush, and more. I loved the book, I think it would be a great read-aloud for 3^rd and 4^th grade, and I really think you are going to enjoy the story.

Online Resources

I really thought I would find tons of great online information on the Pony Express, but I was disappointed in what was out there. I linked a few things that you might be able to use. Be sure to check World Book Online for some additional facts. 

Brief Author Bio
http://www.simonsays.com/content/destination.cfm?sid=33&pid=367921&agid=13 

Pony Express History and Culture
http://www.nps.gov/poex/historyculture/index.htm 

History of the U.S. Postal Service
http://www.usps.com/history/his2.htm 

Gold Rush Chronicles – The Pony Express
http://comspark.com/goldminer-mall/chronicles/ponyexpress.htm 

Photograph of a Pony Express Rider
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/four/64_02.htm

Well, the seventh and last Harry Potter book was released on Saturday. I have to admit, I’m feeling pretty sad about it.   I’ve been anxiously waiting for the book to get here for so long, and now it’s simply over. No more adventures from Harry. I feel a bit teary.

Friday night around 9:00, our family (plus Corey’s friend Bradley) went Harry Potter party hopping. We started out in downtown Springfield at Well Fed Head. They had transformed their bookstore into Weasly’s Wizarding Wheezes, complete with cans of U NO POO and extendable ears. There were many people downtown dressed in costume, taking carriage rides, and visiting the other downtown stores that were participating in Harry Potter events (the glass shop was making custom wands, the Moxie theater was showing old HP movies, etc.). Next we traveled to Barnes and Noble. They had quite a few people in the store, enough to make it pretty clausterphobic as we tried to make our way through the store, but it was not as crowded as the last HP book release two years ago. They didn’t have as many activities to participate in, so we left pretty quickly. Our last stop was Borders bookstore. They, too, had a pretty decent crowd, and they had more activities for people do to. They had face painting, a variety of crafts, fortune telling, and a magician.
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We ended the evening back at our house where we watched J.K. Rowling read the first chapter of the book live from London on the Scholastic website. The boys helped me make decorations for my Harry Potter party, which was held Saturday. I finished making the chololate frogs while they created some pretty cool house crest shields. At midnight, we went to Wal Mart in Ozark to get our book. There was a pretty long line, but it moved quickly. The lady at Wal Mart was very nice and gave me a bunch of extra posters and bookmarks to give my kids Saturday at the party.

When we got back home, Corey and Bradley immediately started reading, and I had to finally make them stop reading and go to bed around 2:00 a.m. I think they would have read all night!

My party at the library on Saturday was very fun. We had 31 kids attend (plus parents), and Corey, Bradley, Ms. Kern, and Mrs. McKoy helped about by serving as “prefects” for each house. The kids “shopped” for school supplies in Diagon Alley (they made robes, hats, and wands), and then we had a sorting ceremony in the library. We moved to our house tables and had a contest with some trivia questions and went on a hunt for the snitch. I read the first chapter of the book to the kids, and we had drawings for prizes, including two copies of the book! We finished by going to Hogsmede and visiting the Three Broomsticks for butterbeer and Honeydukes for sweets such as chocolate frogs, licorice wands, etc. Each students got to take home a Harry Potter pen, a poster, a bookmark, and lots of sweets.

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And yes, I read the whole book already. The library will have six copies that the kids can check out when school starts.

Hope the rest of you get to enjoy the last book soon!

Cindy, your very sad library lady

Gentle’s Holler by Kerry Madden

RL – 5.1 

“The sixties may have come to other parts of North Carolina, but with Mama pregnant again, Daddy struggling to find work, and nine siblings underfoot, nobody in the holler has much time for modern-day notions. Especially not twelve-year-old Livy Two, aspiring songwriter and self-appointed guardian of little sister Gentle, whose eyes “don’t work so good yet.” Even after a doctor confirms her fears, Livy Two is determined to make the best of Gentle’s situation and sets out to transform the family’s scrappy dachshund into a genuine Seeing-Eye dog. But when tragedy strikes, can Livy Two continue to stay strong for her family?”
- Publisher’s Description

Cindy’s Two-Cents Worth:

This is the first book in the Maggie Valley trilogy (Louisiana’s Song and Jessie’s Mountain will be the sequels), which tells the story of an Appalachian mountain family living in the early 1960s. It is definitely a family relationships, touchy-feely kind of story. The story is told from the point of view of the main character, Livy Two (short for Olivia, who was named after her sister who died at birth, also named Olivia, therefore why she is known as Livy Two). The story touches on poverty issues and living in a large family. I thought it was a good story with many touching moments, but I think it will be one that won’t immediately appeal to our 3^rd and 4^th grade students (especially boys – kind of a “girly” book). I think it will take some adult encouragement to get them to give it a try, but it’s worth the try. The author really makes you care about this family and the tragedies that happen in the story. If you are an emotional person, you might want to keep a box of tissues handy.

Online Resources

Author’s Website
http://www.kerrymadden.com/books/bk_gentl1.html 

A brief profile of the town of Enka, North Carolina
http://www.basf.com/careers/careersenkancprofile.html 

Ghost Town in the Sky Amusement Park
http://www.ghosttowninthesky.com/ 

Maggie Valley Visitors Bureau
http://www.maggievalley.org/ 

History of the Mountain Dance and Folk Music Festival
http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/mss/mountain_dance/default_mountain_dance.htm

Cas Walker Radio Show
http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=W004 

Braille Bug
http://www.afb.org/braillebug/ 

You’ve Got Braille
http://pbskids.org/arthur/print/braille/index.html

The Naked Mole-Rat Letters by Mary Amato

RL 4.3

When Frankie Wallop’s father begins receiving email messages from a zookeeper in Washington, D.C., Frankie decides to take matters into her own hands by writing back to this lady to prevent her father’s new relationship from growing. Frankie’s deception causes her many problems at school and at home, and she quickly learns how one lie can blossom into many. Frankie’s email correspondence with Ayanna, who cares for naked mole-rats at the zoo, starts off with a very malicious ploy to destroy any hopes of a relationship between Ayanna and Frankie’s father, but an odd bond forms between the two people as Ayanna serves as a source of female advice for Frankie. This is a nice story about human relationships that many students will enjoy. 

Cindy’s Two-Cents Worth:

I really enjoyed this story and thought the author did a great job of making the characters seem real. If you have a student who is dealing with a single parent who might be dating (especially if the other parent passed away), he or she might really relate to Frankie’s situation with her father. Because of some of the very emotional aspects of this story, I would use caution in reading this one aloud to 3^rd and 4^th grade students. The story addresses very personal issues such as the death of a parent, single parents dating, privacy issues regarding reading someone else’s email, lying to friends, family, and teachers, and skipping school. It would be a great character education resource for the honesty trait. Just be sure you read it first before using it with your young students. It’s a great book for 5^th grade and up. It could be a great book to use with the right group of kids in a literature circle setting. The story mentions the play The Miracle Worker, so you could do a literature tie into any Helen Keller story or biography. I think you will enjoy how the author used a combination of email messages and diary entries to tell the story.  

Online Resources 

Mary Amato’s Website – includes background information and a reading guide for the story
http://www.maryamato.com/ 

National Zoo: The Truth about Mole-Rats
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2002/3/nakedmolerats.cfm 

Samples of Dulcimer Music by Brian Thomas
http://www.brianthomas.ca/listenonline.html 

Helen Keller Kids Museum Online
http://www.afb.org/braillebug/helen_keller_bio.asp

Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park

R.L. 4.3

When Julia Song and her friend Patrick decide to enter an animal husbandry project in the state fair, Julia is excited. Doing an animal project is a challenge when you live in a townhouse, so when Julia’s mother suggests they raise silkworms like she did when she was a young girl in Korea, Patrick thinks they have found the perfect solution. Julia, who hates anything having to do with her heritage, doesn’t think the idea is go great, but doesn’t want to disappoint her best friend. So, Project Mulberry begins. The story presents many problems for the characters: finding a mulberry tree (silkworms only eat mulberry leaves), pesky little brothers, accepting your heritage, and learning that you have to kill the silkworms to make the silk. This 2007-2008 Mark Twain Award nominee is a must read!

Cindy’s Two-Cents Worth:

I absolutely LOVED this story. After each chapter, the author presents two pages of a “conversation” that she shares with the main character of the story, Julia. I think these bonus pages really give insight into how authors develop their characters and story plots, and it is written with humor, so I think our students will enjoy it as well. This is definitely a story you could read out loud with both our 3^rd and 4^th grade students. The story has many sub-themes that could be explored. For example, there are many race issues that could be discussed. Julia’s family is Korean, and Julia sometimes gets teased at school because of her race. When the kids find the only mulberry tree in town, it is owned by a black man. Julia suspects that her mother is racists against black people. The story also delves into sustainable farming, the process of raising silkworms and harvesting the silk, sibling relationships and family dynamics, the U.S. state quarters and more. It really is a wonderful story, and I encourage you to read it for your own enjoyment.

Online Resources:

Linda Sue Park’s Website
http://www.lspark.com

Interview with the author from Teachingbooks.net
http://www.teachingbooks.net/content/Park_qu.pdf

Diary of Raising Silkworms
http://www.lspark.com/books/mulberry/mulberryread.html
This site is a diary of the author’s father who raised silkworms to help her with her research.

How to Raise Silkworms – A Full Tutorial
http://www.aurorasilk.com/raisesilk/index.shtml

Silkworms – Information for Teachers
http://www.susankayton.com/silk.htm

What is Sustainable Agriculture?
http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/concept.htm

Sustainable Agriculture (USDA)
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/agnic/susag.shtml

Sustainable Agriculture for Kids
http://agebb.missouri.edu/sustain/sustainkids.htm

Life in Korea: Kimchi – Korea’s Food
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/culture/kimchi/kimchi.cfm

Korean Embroidery
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/culture/embro/embro.cfm

Mulberry Trees
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/forestry/trees/mulberry.htm

50 State Quarters Program
http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/index.cfm?flash=yes&action=50_state_quarters_program

Welcome to Lit Picks and Tech Tips, the blog of Cynthia Matzat, Branson Elementary Library Media Specialist. This blog will provide my teachers (and anyone else who cares to read this) with reviews of books we have in our elementary library, inlcuding Mark Twain Award nominees, and ideas you can use in the classroom to support these books.

Being the tech geek that I am, I will also share some cool online tools, websites, etc. with you that you might find useful as a teacher.

Please be sure to add comments and share additional ideas, links, etc.

Happy reading!

Cindy the Library Lady