Writings, Wanderings

  Alma and How She Got Her Name  by Juana Martinez-Neal was my favorite children's book read for the month of January. As my blog entry for it says, this story was so much more than I expected, and I highly recommend checking it out. I really appreciated the honest, strong message in When I Was Eight by Christy Jordan-Fenton. This book is a very respectful introduction to what some indigenous children in Canada faced, a story that was paralleled in some places in the United States as well. Little Pea  by Amy Rosenthal was a four-star read for me. It was just so cute! How many parents (aunts, uncles, babysitters) can relate to a young kid not wanting to eat their vegetables? Well, this tale turns that idea upside-down: Little Pea desperately wants to get to eat his dessert of vegetables but first he has to face eating sweets for dinner. I also love the clean, minimalist drawings of the book. After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again by Dan Santat...

Sometimes I read a book and it's just so good that I want to give it more attention than adding it in to a monthly wrap-up of reads. This Caldecott Honor Book is one of those stories. As a Spanish teacher, I am always keeping my eyes open for any literature that connects to my classroom; Spanish, English, bilingual, I simply want more good options for my students to connect them to the language and culture. When I saw this book at the library, I knew I had to evaluate it and today while my Spanish IV students read their own free-reading choices, I opened the book up. I had expected a basic story that explained the traditional Hispanic naming pattern of two last names, but I was immediately endeared to spunky Alma who found her string of given names too long. However, as her father explained the family connection to each name, the little girl beamed with discovery of similarities to her relatives. I loved this! The message of the importance of family came through clearly wit...

Published in 1955 by Elizabeth Cadell, The Lark Shall Sing  is a delightful novel that intertwines the story of a family with a romance. After their parents' deaths, the Wayne siblings moved away from home for a year, the older ones into the workforce and military, the youngest with an aunt and uncle. One year to postpone making any big decisions and then they were to come back again as a family. However, situations change in a year, and engaged Lucille, the oldest, now plans to sell the family home. What she expects to be a straight-foward move--put the house on the market and move on--quickly grows complicated as each of her siblings finds their way home, bringing with them acquaintances met along the journey. Soon Lucille finds herself facing emotions and realizations that make her question her once-solid plans for her future. I adored this book the first time I read it and am now proud to be the owner of a secondhand version that once graced the shelves of a high school lib...