Running-Nerdy

(New Year’s Eve seems a perfect time to think about the goals we have for the year ahead. To think about where we want to grow and what we need to do to get there.  In my usual tradition, my main goals each year have to do with fitness and exercise…)

So, I am not a runner. This is not a surprise to anyone who knows me. But the thing is, I have been fascinated for years by runners, and I have toyed with becoming one. I actually have all of the knowledge necessary to become a runner. I have read many, many books about running. I subscribed to the print version of Runner’s World for years, and I currently get their daily emails.  I subscribe to several blogs on running and follow some of the running news. I buy shoes at running stores and sometimes just hang out there. I listen closely when my running friends are talking about training for races, running injuries, etc. I have just never gotten around to actually…running.

A few weeks ago, I was with a group of friends. One was getting ready to run his first half-marathon. He was talking about the gel packets he would have with him to keep up his energy.  I knew all about these and was able to explain them to our non-runner friends. They were amazed that I (a non-runner) understood about race food.

A week later, I was in a conversation with a different group of friends who had run the Chicago Marathon. They were talking about women in running skirts and I had remembered reading all about those on ANOTHER MOTHER RUNNER (http://anothermotherrunner.com/) blog, a blog I read regularly since reading their book, RUN LIKE A MOTHER. On their blog, I learned that running skirts are all the rage.  Women runners either hate them or love them. No happy medium. In the midst of this conversation with my runner friends, I wanted to jump in with some thoughts I had about running skirts. But then I remembered that I was not a runner and I did not have the credibility to talk about running skirts with real runners.

I have been in several conversations lately that have reminded me how very much I know about running. I sometimes actually “know” more about running than my running friends. These are conversations that I am not quite comfortable participating in because I am not a runner.  I am not part of the club.  I just watch from the sidelines.

No matter how much knowledge I have, I cannot call myself a runner. Running is not part of my life.  I could probably not even run to the mailbox and back (and my driveway is not very long.) But here is the thing that I can’t stop thinking about:  I am certain I could pass a test on running. I am certain that I could probably pass a test at a higher level than most of my runner friends could. I have a lot of knowledge and understanding about running and feel confident about doing well on a test about running.

I keep thinking about this and acknowledging the fact that knowing a lot about running is not the same as running. This knowledge might end up becoming important if I ever become a runner and it does help me in some conversations. But what good does that do me, really?  When I don’t actually run? When I am not part of the club?

How different this is compared to my life as a reader. Even though I attained a nearly perfect score on Tony Keefer’s quiz, “You Might be a Nerdy Book Clubber if…” (http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/you-might-be-a-nerdy-book-clubber-if),  I don’t need anyone to tell me I am a part of the Nerdy Book Club. I don’t worry that some members read more than I do or that some members read faster than I do. I don’t worry about joining conversations that I have no business participating in. Even weeks when I can’t fit in a book, I know I am a reader. Reading is a huge part of my life and I don’t feel the need to prove that to anyone.

One of my favorite things about my job as a school librarian is that kids stop me in the hall constantly, mentioning a book they finished or one they want to read. They tell me the page number they are on or an author they’ve discovered. Sometimes I wonder if reading is the only thing they think they can talk to me about. Then I realize that it is at those times that they see me as a fellow club member; that they know I will understand their need to share their reading lives.

But I also see kids trying to get into the club.  Standing on the edges of these conversations. Checking books back into the library with a bookmark about 1/3 of the way through, never having been finished. These kids seem to get excited when someone mentions an author they know. But they don’t feel confident joining the conversations. They don’t see themselves as readers.

This year, I’ve bumped into lots of past students – students I taught in 4th and 5th grades who have recently graduated.  It is so fun to see what they ended up doing, which passions they discovered.  They tend to tell me all of that, and then often mention what/if they are reading.  They know I’ll wonder and that no matter which career path they’ve chosen to follow, that I still hope they are lifelong members of the Nerdy Book Club.  I like to believe that I was one of the people who first invited them to be part of this club.

Each of us was invited into the club by someone who wanted us to be part of the fun. We saw something that we wanted to be a part of and there were lots of people in our lives who made joining the Nerdy Book Club possible.  As a teacher, I know this takes commitment and hard work. I know it means giving kids great books, time to read, a reading community to be a part of, and instruction that moves them forward as readers.

So in 2012 I have two goals.  I am going to be very deliberate in helping every child become part of the Nerdy Book Club.   I am going to watch carefully to see which students feel confidently part of this club and which are standing along the sidelines wishing to be part of it all. I’m going to try to give them the support they need to become lifelong members.

And, of course, in 2012….I am going to actually run.

Franki

@frankisibberson

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Franki Sibberson is an elementary media specialist in Dublin, Ohio.  She blogs with Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading (http://readingyear.blogspot.com).

Writing Style

Melina and HD are 12 and 13 year old book bloggers that love books. Texans at heart and readers at mind, they love gushing about books and finding new read. Melina’s favorite reads at the moment include Fracture by Megan Miranda and The Gone Novels by Michael Grant. HD is currently obsessing over Fracture as well, and long since fell in love with The Gone Novels.

HD on Writing Style: How it can make or break a book for him!

When I read books, I always look at writing style. It’s my favorite thing about books, and for me it can make a book or break a book. Loose, boring writing style makes a book slightly lukewarm. It doesn’t capture my attention, and a lot of the time it makes a character implausible and extremely two dimensional. There’s a certain point where a writing style matters the most. And a lot of the times, without the writing style, the book would be really boring and nothing special.

So, I’ll be sharing a few quotes from some of my favorite YA novels and explain what they did to make something so mundane or normal become something emotional and…different. Unique, somehow.

First off is the inevitable. I must quote Shatter Me. I must, I must, I must.

“Killing time isn’t as difficult as it sounds.
I can shoot a hundred numbers through the chest and watch them bleed decimal points in the palm of my hand. I can rip the numbers off a clock and watch the hour hands tick tick tick their final tock just before I fall asleep. I can suffocate seconds just by holding my breath. I’ve been murdering minutes for hours and no one seems to mind.”

-       Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

Basically, Juliet is killing time. That’s all she’s doing in this passage. This paragraph that is taut and almost emotional is just Juliet’s crazy, messed up mind explaining how she kills times. The meaning is so double and ambiguous it’s chilling and unbelievable. I’m reeling just reading it because, the way it’s all structured and the way Juliet speaks and how her train of thought is completely there is just…wow.

“I spent my life folded between the pages of books.
In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”

-       Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

Basically, Juliet is saying she’s lonely, and her life is books. That’s it, that’s all she could have said. Tahereh only had to write that and go on with the story. But, no, she was brave, and look what she wrote. It’s so poignant and graceful and perfectly worded it’s almost unbelievable.

“He reaches towards her, his fingers black and bloody, his eyes deranged, unblinking. Janie is paralyzed. His cold hands reach around her neck, squeezing tight, tighter, until Janie has no breath left. She’s unable to move, unable to think. As his grasp tightens further around Janie’s neck, his face turns a sickly alabaster. He strains harder and begins to shake.
Janie is dying.
She has no fight left in her.
It’s over.”

-       Lisa McMann, Gone

I’m in love with  Lisa McMann’s writing style. It’s my favorite ever (besides Ms. Mafi’s!) because of the atmospheric way she writes. It’s engrossing and creepy and chilling. It grabs you by the neck and leaves goosebumps on your arms! This is from the back of Gone, and I haven’t read the series of Wake, Fade, and Gone because I hear they’re extremely mature, but the moment I feel mature enough I’m buying every book in the series! This passage is eerie, thrilling, and the way it’s written is just…WOW!

“I am the kid who sticks her finger in the light socket. I am the person who doesn’t check the expiration date on the milk. I am the idiot who has never looked before she leaped. I am the girl who is falling apart, right now.”

-       Amy Garvey, Cold Kiss

“It wasn’t love right away, because nothing ever is no matter what the songs say, but it was the start of it. A beginning in one way, and the end in another. I think that might always be true of love.”

-       Amy Garvey, Cold Kiss

Amy Garvey is the most…intelligent author. Wren, the main character of Cold Kiss, is probably my favorite protagonist ever, am I right? I read Cold Kiss on a whim, not expecting much due to the lukewarm reviews it had received on Goodreads, and was sucked in. The two quotes above, pulled from Cold Kiss, are both just so true and meaningful.

The first quote is just a simple way of saying that Wren was never one to fit in or go by the rules. But when I was reading Cold Kiss and found that line nestled into the story, my heart sang a little. The words were so marvelously used and so little fluff was there. It was raw yet not raw. Perfect yet slightly angled differently.

The second quote is a quote that probably no girl YA character lives by anymore. Ever since Twilight came around insta-love has been ever present and infecting every book. Stalker boys and two dimensional rag doll girls are the status quo usually, but when I opened Cold Kiss and found that, could I say it was my favorite line of the year? So short yet holding so many emotions. It was…perfect.

Writing style: it can make a book or break a book. Good plot and good idea plus bad writing style and terrible prose equals…trainwreck. If you don’t have the writing style you can’t fleshout your characters or enhance your plot of engross the reader. I need a book that has such an amazing prose it sends goosebumps up my arms or shivers down my spine. A book that will keep the light on into the night.

Melina on Writing Style: Sticks with her long after turning the last page!

After I finish a book, the thing that sticks with me the most is the writing style.  Long after I have forgotten the names of the characters and the details of the setting, I find the author’s words following me.  The author’s voice, the way they craft the words, the way it all comes together.  THAT is what I remember.

Let’s do this.

My turn to quote Shatter Me!

 “I always wonder about raindrops.
I wonder how they’re always falling down, tripping over their feet, breaking their legs and forgetting their parachutes as they tumble out of the sky toward an uncertain end. It’s like someone is emptying their pockets over the earth and doesn’t seem to care where the contents fall, doesn’t seem to care that the raindrops burst when they hit the ground, that they shatter when they fall to the floor, that people curse the days the drops dare to tap on their doors.
I am a raindrop.”

-       Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

In the very last sentence, Juliet simply states that she is a raindrop.  Ah, but Tahereh’s magic lies in the earlier paragraph.  As she describes the insignificant raindrops that no one gives a care for, she is describing how Juliet pictures herself.  Raindrops rupturing on the ground, just as Juliet’s mind is breaking into a zillion pieces.  This is an image that lingers.

 “WE
When it is over, we breathe and ache like old oak, like peeling birch. One of Our lost souls set free. We move, a chess piece in a dark room, cast-iron legs moving a centimeter at a time, crying out in silent carved graffiti. Calling to Our next victim, Our next savior. We carve on Our face:

Touch me.
Save my soul.”

-       Lisa McMann, Cryer’s Cross

Lisa McMann’s writing style uses very few words to bring the scary.

Did you see what I did there?  I used Lisa’s trick, only it doesn’t work as well for me.  She has this way of writing that puts her reader on edge.  Just look at that passage!  She is describing a desk being moved around a classroom from the POV of the presence within that desk.  Creep to the tastic!  But she does it with sparse words.

“So I kissed you.
No, I kissed you, Hannah.
A long and beautiful kiss.
And what did you say when we came up for air?  With the cutest, littlest, boyish smirk, you asked, “What was that for?”
Right, you kissed me.
To which I said, “You’re such an idiot.” And we kissed some more.
An idiot.  Yes, I remember that, too.”

-       Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why

 “You can’t stop the future
You can’t rewind the past
The only way to learn the secret
…is to press play.”

-       Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why left me speechless and I had to take a step back to examine how what I say and do to others affects them.  The reason I came away from this book so jarred, had little to do with Hannah making tapes for her friends so they would understand her suicide.  No, the reason was the writing style. Let me explain.

In the first quote, Clay has a conversation in his mind as he listens to Hannah’s recorded voice.  The tone is so real, so matter-of-fact….so alive.  The way Jay brings this conversational tone into the story, makes Hannah present.  And that left me stunned, because Hannah lived on in those tapes.

The second quote is just pure epic.  Hannah uses stop, rewind, and play to talk about the tape recorder.  But, she is also describing life and death.  This little gem, tucked in with the rest of Hannah’s conversation, is a deal-breaker.  This book was going to make an impact on my life.

A unique writing style will make the ordinary memorable.  No matter how fabulous a plot may be, the way the authors brings it to the page will make the difference between a so-so book and a truly inspiring book.  Remember how I said I liked books that follow me.  Writing style makes that happen.

Discussion time!

What is your verdict on writing style?

Give me quotes from books that have amazing prose!

Agree, disagree, but do NOT be mean!

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Check out the blogs of these young reading superstars!

Reading Vacation

Reading Writing Breathing

Permission Granted

I’ve always been a voracious reader. I couldn’t tell you exactly when it started, but growing up in a house surrounded by books and seeing my parents and older brother reading all the time made a difference. It’s just what we did. Seeing the models of good reading around me, and that it was a valid choice for a relaxing, free-time activity, gave me permission to become a reader. I was surrounded by Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High, Archie, Mildred D. Taylor, and Danielle Steel. Some I sought out, some were passed on from my mom. But I had a dirty secret – I only read what I wanted to; I didn’t read what I “had” to. Teacher assigned book with questions and discussion taking away the enjoyment and escapism that was reading to me? Nope. Not gonna do it. The exception – Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. I actually read that one in middle school…and then I went to the library to search out every other Mildred D. Taylor book I could find. I didn’t read the other books the teacher wanted me to-I sought out and read the books I wanted to. High school came…and reading went. I managed to get through Honors and AP English classes having read only one complete book assigned to me in the entire four years – The Invisible Man. Why that book out of all the ones I could have read? Who knows why that was the one that connected with me at that point in my life. Seems like I could have picked a shorter or easier one.

I don’t know why certain books connected with me when others didn’t, but I do know the way in which books were being picked and taught made me rebel against them. Don’t think I wasn’t reading – I absolutely was, but I was not being granted permission by teachers to read in the way I wanted to. I was devouring books outside of school. They were my escape from adolescent self-esteem issues and drama. I was choosing what I needed at the time, and that made all the difference in my reading habits. My AP English test essay question: how the dance scene in Romeo & Juliet changes the course of the story. My college entrance essay: the impact Message From Nam had on changing the course of my life. Books impacted my world-just not always in the way teachers might have prescribed them to.

As a teacher myself now, I can only cringe when I imagine how frustrating I must have been as a student. Intelligent and capable, but doesn’t do homework. If she would just read and turn in this assignment, she can pass. Attitude problem - oh, yes, my famous phrase was “I don’t want to do stupid busy work.” Then I became a teacher myself – a middle school language arts and reading teacher. I start my first job as an eighth grade teacher. They teach The Outsiders so I go to read it and I can barely get through the book myself. How could I possibly teach it to my students and get them excited about it?! The teachers choose books based on what they have in the cabinets and teach one book to the whole class. I hated it when I was a student, so why was I doing it to my own students now? Because I didn’t know any other way. I wasn’t granted permission to do it any other way and I didn’t know how.

Then came the master’s program and the books that gave me permission to do what I knew was right. Professional books and journal articles saved me as a teacher-they gave me the research base and methods and structure to support the changes I wanted to make so I didn’t have to feel like a hypocrite of a teacher anymore. Atwell, Allington, Gallagher spoke to me and who I wanted to be as a teacher. Give kids choice! Don’t give comprehension quizzes! Let them read books at their level! Don’t teach one book to every student! Have them respond in authentic ways! Be the model for them of what you want them to do! Get them engaged and motivated to read! And guess what…it worked. Once I was granted permission to do what was best for students, what I would have wanted as a student, I was able to love the teaching of reading. Students started reading and then I started reading more and more so I could keep up with the necessary recommendations. Then I started blogging to share those recommendations on a larger scale. I read more widely and voraciously now than I ever did before because it’s necessary to do my job as an educator.

Books gave me the permission to do it my way. Books gave me the permission and strength of character to fight for what I know is right for my students. Books save my students from boredom and disengagement. Books allow me to communicate and connect with my students and get them reading. Books grant me the ability to do my job to the best of my ability. Books help me to understand myself when I can’t figure it out any other way. Books help me make a difference in the classroom and in my own life. Teaching reading and helping grow an appreciation of it in my middle school students has brought me back to the joy that I had as a reader myself, and it’s what makes me a life-long, card-carrying (do we have those cards yet?) member of the Nerdy Book Club. I’m granting myself permission to start a chapter at my school next month to recruit more members who can carry on the tradition for us. Get books, read books, talk books, share books, but don’t “teach” books. Do what you know is right. Permission granted.

Jillian
Heise Reads & Recommends
http://heisereads.blogspot.com
Twitter: @heisereads
Middle School Language Arts & Reading Teacher

A New Year of Nerdy

Determined to continue this blog as a place for readers to celebrate books and authors, wave our nerdy reading flags, and share why books and reading matter to us and the children in our lives, I invite you to contribute your ideas and opinions about 2012 Nerdy Book Club Blog content.

Take the Nerdy Book Club Community Survey and help shape the future of the Nerdy Book Club. It will only take a few minutes and the survey is infinitely less painful than our recent Nerdy Book Club Award ballot!

While Colby, Cindy, and I manage the daily management of the Nerdy Book Club blog, we invite anyone who wishes to participate and contribute to site content. Our ongoing mission:

Every reader has value and a voice in this community.

Thank you for making the Nerdy Book Club a marvelous place for readers. Let’s make 2012 even better.

-Donalyn Miller

A Dozen Funerals

A dozen funerals. A village of 300 people. A dozen funerals. One school year. A dozen funerals. A Native Alaskan community where nearly everyone is related. A dozen funerals.

The second week of school last year a student of ours committed suicide.  A few weeks later a recent graduate in the neighboring village committed suicide. Less than a month later the father of two boys in our K-12 school passed away. Less than a month after that we attended the funeral of another boy’s father. The day after Christmas my husband and I were in the church for the funeral of the mother of another student. The list goes on and on and on.

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A dozen funerals. Day after day I dwell on these funerals as I try to teach Alaska Native students in a rural village only accessible by plane. How can I not?  The grief is palpable in our school every day. After all, there is no detachment when every person that lies in a casket is either a friend, a cousin, a neighbor, a parent, an aunt, or an uncle.

Here, there is no escape from death and certainly no escape from grief. My family and friends are thousands of miles away, the comfort they can offer from such a distance is limited. A weekend trip to distract oneself and get away from it all? Impossible, it’s $700 and two plane flights to the nearest city.  Heading out to a movie to momentarily forget the grief? Also impossible, the nearest one is hundreds of miles away. Getting out walking, hiking, or skiing? Doable in the fall and spring, but difficult in the winter when the sun rises just before noon and sets by 4PM.

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So, that left me with just one escape, just one temporary relief: books. When I immersed myself into the world of The Hunger Games, I could temporarily forget about it all.  While reading Hatchet I was able to distract myself by worrying about Brian, instead of worrying about my students.  Reading Roald Dahl gave me laughs that were scarce elsewhere.  Last year, as I dealt with these dozen funerals I threw myself headfirst into piles and piles of books. On a personal level, reading helped me maintain a positive and hopeful outlook on life. But, much more importantly, because I spent time in these fictional worlds each evening I could return to school each morning with energy; energy that was used to teach my students and help them through this difficult time (After all, they were the ones really grieving). Books got me through the year of the dozen funerals.

Erika Schneider

@verystillnorth

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Erika is the lone middle school Social Studies and
Language Arts teacher in a 300 person Native Alaskan village. She
blogs at http://verystillnorthteaches.wordpress.com/

Just Let Them Read

One of the hardest things I have to do as a teacher is to tell that kid to stop reading and start listening. You know the ones. They have furtively slipped a book onto their lap, and as I drone on about figurative language or vocabulary rules or narrative arc, they are immersed completely in a world of their own. I’ll look over at these kids and think: that was me. I was one of those readers, too.

Sometimes, I just let them read. Why not? While I am confident I have a lot of advice and knowledge to impart on my students (what teacher doesn’t have grand images of themselves?), I figure that the writer in that book they are reading just might have something more important to say to them.

I remember my own youth with books and books, piled high in my bedroom, and on the bookshelves and, well, just about everywhere. And my mother, in particular, bringing me to the town library on a regular basis. Finances were tight, so new books were rare for us. But the library was like a treasure trove of stories, and it was one of the most exciting journeys of the week to head out for an hour to the children’s room of the town library.

Then, it was back home, reading until sleep came over me. I remember sitting in classrooms the following day, wondering what was going on in the lives of the characters of the books I had stopped reading. Were they living beyond the margins that I could see? I still wonder about that magical possibilities, don’t you? So, I would sit there, blocking out the drone of my teacher, and sometimes, I would pull out my book, hide it on my lap or on the inside of my notebook or binder, and I would just read.

So when I see my own students doing the same thing, I feel for them. All too often, we teachers drive the love of reading out of our students with over-analysis and picking apart words and phrases and characters. Sometimes, we just have to let them read.

Kevin’s Podcast Version

By Kevin Hodgson

http://dogtrax.edublogs.org

@dogtrax

Holiday Thank-you Notes

Dear Nerdy Book Club Members,

I’m sure many of your families had holiday traditions when you were growing up. My family did, too. One of our family Christmas traditions was that on December 26, my Christmas loot was basically held hostage by my mother until I wrote my thank-you notes. Year after year, my kind, generous relatives received hastily-scribbled, borderline illegible thank-you notes that sounded exactly the same:

Dear [GIFT GIVER],

Thank you SO much for the lovely [ITEM]. It is exactly what I [WANTED/NEEDED]! I can’t wait to [VERB APPROPRIATE TO ITEM'S USE] with [ITEM]. Happy Holidays, and thank you again!

Love,
Melissa

I think it’s safe to assume that no one who ever received a thank-you note from me would have expected me to become any kind of writer.

For this December 26, I’m going to deviate from this time-tested thank-you note formula. Today I want to thank the authors who have made a difference to my students over the past year. But first I want to tell you about my idea for a really cool invention.

If I were a brilliant inventor I would invent some kind of impending-awesomeness-detecting device that can sense the exact moment when a kid is about to have a game-changingly meaningful experience with a book. If I had an impending-awesomeness-detecting device, I could have a camera ready to capture that student’s face at the exact moment of book-induced awesomeness. I would need my camera, you see, because sometimes it’s not the student’s words but the look on the his or her face that reveals the book’s true power.

Take, for example, my student Chris. When he recently finished The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger, this is what Chris said to me: “Mrs. Thomson, I finished.”

I finished. If I were making a movie of my teaching life, “I finished” wouldn’t be best-original-screenplay material.

See, this is where my impending-awesomeness-detecting device would have come in handy. Because if I had taken a picture of Chris’s face at that moment, it would have shown him saying more than just “I finished.” His face said, “Mrs. Thomson, I finished. I have been abandoning lots of books this year, but I finished this one. I am so, so proud of myself. Oh, and I’m going to volunteer to do a book talk for the first time this year.”

Thank you, Tom Angleberger, for that look on Chris’s face. Thank you for the book that let him begin seeing himself as a proud, confident reader.

Next I want to thank Kate DiCamillo for Opal’s imperfect parents in Because of Winn-Dixie. After we read the book this fall, my quiet student Ana found the courage to read aloud—in front of the whole class—a personal essay she had written. It was called “Some Families Have Problems They Can’t Fix,” and despite the vagueness of the phrase “some families,” the essay was clearly about the pain of Ana’s parents’ divorce. After she finished reading about what “some families” have gone through, a student asked, “Did that…happen to you?”

“Yeah,” Ana whispered.

The room was silent. “I’m sorry,” the student said. There was another silence, Then more students raised their hands to empathize with Ana or share their own similar experiences.

Another brief exchange that, on the surface (“Yeah”–”I’m sorry”) doesn’t say much, but any of you who work with children can imagine what a powerful moment that was. It was a moment that I don’t think I’d have witnessed had we not read Because of Winn-Dixie. Opal’s emotional honesty in Because of Winn-Dixie created a safe space for Ana to be emotionally honest with her classmates. Ana saw her classmates respond to Opal with empathy, so she believed they might respond to her the same way. And she was right.

Thank you, Kate DiCamillo.

Now a posthumous thank you to the great Roald Dahl, whose books have provided meaningful moments for many of my students over the years. This year was no exception. In the spring, my student David lost his beloved uncle, who had lived with David and his mother. I saw David change in the way I’d seen other children change who had suffered a great loss. I imagine that, unfortunately, many of you  have seen this with your own students.  It seems like these students instantly look older, like they carry a weight, like they intimately understand the phrase “heavy heart” much too early in life.

In grief, your thoughts go where they want to go. They go to that hole in your heavy heart and it can seem impossible to pull yourself up out of that sadness. Who could blame David for not exactly caring as much about books during his sorrow?

I don’t remember what eventually led David to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but one day, a couple of months after his uncle’s death, he was reading it in my classroom. I called the kids to line up for recess, and David didn’t move. “David,” I said. He didn’t respond.

I walked over to him. “David,” I said, tapping him on the shoulder.

He jumped about a half a mile straight up. Then he looked at me with utter surprise. “I…I forgot I was here,” he said. Then the biggest, brightest smile took over his whole face. The first smile I had seen from him in months that couldn’t be described as wistful. He looked so happy, and so young.

Thank you, Roald Dahl, for the book that let David forget he was here.

I could go on for pages and pages thanking the other authors who have provided powerful reading moments for my students this year. Thank you Kate Messner, Katherine Applegate, Abby Kline, Sharon Creech, Jennifer Holm, Louis Sachar, Mary Pope Osborne, Augusta Scattergood, Meg Cabot, Gary Paulsen, Dan Gutman, JK Rowling, Jeanne DuPrau, Rick Riordan, Barbara Park, Eve Bunting, Betsy Byars, Steve Jenkins, Nick Bruel…really, I could go on and on. Thank you to the authors whose books are covered with shiny stickers, and thank you to those whose books may never be on any short list. If your book made a difference to one of my students,  if it was exactly what they wanted or needed, you deserve all the shiny stickers in the world.

Thank you, too, to the teachers and librarians who put the right books in the hands of the right students. There isn’t enough fancy stationery on Earth to thank you properly.

Happy Holidays, and thank you again.

Love,
Melissa

Melissa Thomson is a fifth-grade language arts teacher in Alexandria,
Virginia, and the author of the Keena Ford series of early chapter
books. She is @melissathomson on Twitter.

Happy Holidays from our Reading Spots

Happy holidays Nerdy Book Club members.  Thanks for sending your pictures.

Sharp and Schu Gift Books

Can you think of anything better to get or give as a gift than a book? Mr. Sharp and Mr. Schu are giving lots of books this holiday season. Check out their videos below, to see the wonderful books they are giving. You might notice a few Nerdies winners in the video.

We would love to hear what books you are gifting this year. Please share the  books you are gifting in the comments below. We would love to hear the books that you feel are gift worthy.

Sharp Gives Books

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Schu Gives Books

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We would love to hear about the books you are gifting this holiday season. Please tell us the books you are gifting, who you are gifting them to, and why.

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Colby Sharp is a fourth grade teacher at Minges Brook Elementary in Battle Creek, Michigan. He loves helping out with the Nerdy Book Club, and #titletalk. He blogs at sharpread. 

John Schumacher (aka Mr. Schu) is a teacher-librarian at Brook Forest Elementary School in Oak Brook, Illinois. He is a proud member of the Nerdy Book Club.  He has taught English in Seoul, South Korea, and is loving his eighth year at Brook Forest. John serves on ALSC’s Children and Technology committee, AASL’s Best Websites for Teaching and Learning, and two readers’ choice award committees. He was a judge for School Library Journal‘s 2011 Trailee Awards and recently became a FableVision Ambassador. In his spare time (ummm…what’s that?) he reads, travels, and blogs at Watch.Connect.Read.and Two Libraries, One Voice. John is a 2011 Library Journal Mover and Shaker.

The 2011 Middle Grade Fiction Nerdies Go to…

Middle Grade Fiction

Wonderstruck

By Brian Selznick

Wonderstruck was moving, captivating, and inspiring. I had this book on pre-order but when it arrived, my students begged me to let them have it first. Once I did, it passed from hand to hand, never returning to my desk so I could have it. When I saw a student finish it yesterday I swooped down and had to promise it would be read in one night. My students, as always, were right. This one is a stunner.

Katherine Sokolowski
@katsok

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Okay for Now

By: Gary D. Schmidt

Whenever you hear great things about a book and you go to pick it up, your first thoughts are, “I hope it doesn’t disappoint.” Well, Okay for Now is one of the books that I’ve been hearing about for months now. It is on most people’s mock Newbery and Printz lists. Everyone told me I should read it. Boy, am I glad that I listened to them. I read it in one day because I couldn’t put it down and I know that it’ll be a book I’ll be thinking about for a while.

Kellee Moye
@kelleemoye

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Bigger Than a Bread Box

By: Laurel Snyder

I am not a big fan of magical realism, so I was worried when I began this book; however, I am happy to say that Laurel Snyder did just the right balance so that the realism didn’t seem fake and the magic didn’t seem far fetched. This just shows me that if the magical realism is done well, I am a fan. I love how Laurel used the magic element in this book. It is such an original concept!

You can tell that Laurel Snyder put much of her heart into this book because emotions that grab at your heart flow throughout the entire novel. Rebecca is such a truthful representation of a middle school girl, specifically one who is going through a tough situation such as a parents separation and sudden move.

Kellee Moye
@kelleemoye

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Darth Paper Strikes Back

By: Tom Angleberger

I am always a little hesitant with sequels – especially ones that might end up in the middle of a series/trilogy. However, Angleberger really does well with this second book. I liked it as much and possibly even more than the first one. A lot of great lessons in the book without being preachy too. And I LOVE the reference to Robot Dreams.

Alyson Beecher

@alybee930

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Breadcrumbs

By: Anne Ursu

Middle grade readers will be mesmerized by Anne Ursu’s modern day version of The Snow Queen. Hazel is unhappy over her parents divorce, and she feels like a misfit at school. The only one who really understands Hazel is her best friend, Jack. Hazel and Jack spend their free time together sledding and playing in the snow. The children share a strong bond until something happens to Jack causing him to turn cynical and mean. When Jack disappears into the woods behind his house, Hazel must find the courage to rescue Jack from The Snow Queen. Readers of fantasy will appreciate the many references to beloved children’s books such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Alice in Wonderland, and When You Reach Me. Warning: once you pick up this book, you will not be able to put it down!

Cathy Potter
@cppoter