Day Four: You Wouldn’t Want to Be Joan of Arc: A Mission You Might Want to Miss by Fiona Macdonald

Continuing on my nonfiction kick for day four I read You Wouldn’t Want to Be Joan of Arc. This is part of the You Wouldn’t Want to be…series. This is a great series that makes history so accessible for kids and provides the facts and information in a fun format. The books talk about all the gross, horrible things that people had to live through during certain periods of history, historical events or famous historical figures. The book I read is about Joan of Arc and why being her might not have been so much fun. There is the obvious, being burned at the stake that would be a bit of a downer, but it gives lots of facts and information about why growing up in the 1400’s during the Hundred Years War was a pretty awful time to live. One of the handy hints listed in the book “Don’t be brave! If enemies attack, don’t try to fight back. Just run away and hide. With luck, you might survive.” The whole series is wonderful, my students love it and it exposes them to history and facts. Plus the cartoon, fun format draws kids to the books and the gross out facts make them think they are not reading history, but they learn something! 

Day 3: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose

One of my goals this summer, other than reading a book every day, is to read more nonfiction. There are so many great nonfiction titles out there but I tend to gravitate towards fiction books. For my day three book I read Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose. This is an amazing story and a shocking little known one! Claudette Colvin was a fifteen year old high school junior when she stood up for her basic human rights. All of her life growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, Claudette lived as a second class citizen and she heard adults talk about change and challenging a system that denied them their rights but all she heard was talk. On a March 2, 1955 Claudette made her stand. She was on the bus on her way home. All of the seats were taken and a white woman walked onto the bus. The driver told Claudette to give up her seat, Claudette said no. She refused when the driver stopped the bus and screamed at her, she refused when the two police officers boarded the bus and as the police dragged her off the bus she kept repeating, “It’s my constitutional right.” Claudette spent time in the city prison she was tried and convicted of violating the segregation laws and “assaulting” police officer. Claudette went onto be the key witness in Browder vs. Gayle, the federal case that ruled segregation of the buses was unconstitutional. Claudette’s stand took place nine months before Rosa Park’s but her story is little known. This is an amazing story for young people to hear. That someone so young could spark a movement and inspire adults to act is a tale of the power that young people can have in this world. Some of the topics and language in the book are for older students.  I would recommend this book for fifth grade and up. 

Day 2: The Grand Plan to Fix Everything by Uma Krishnaswami

Day two, I read The Grand Plan to Fix Everything. I picked this book because the main character, Dini is Indian. I’m always looking for chapter books that feature children of different ethnicities to have in the library. I was happy to come across this book and hoped that it was also a good book! And it is a good book. Dini lives in Tacoma Park, Maryland down the street from her best friend Maddie. The two friends spend their free time watching Bollywood movies with their favorite star Dolly Singh. When Dini’s mother announces that the family will be moving to Swapnagiri, India for two years, Dini is devastated. She is moving thousands of miles away from her home and best friend and Swapnagiri is nowhere near Mumbai, where Dolly lives. Dini soon finds out that Swapnagiri, which means Dream Mountain, holds more surprises then she thought. This is a sweet book, with friendship, family, chocolate, monkeys and a happy ending. It is a good choice for third and fourth grade girls that like friendship books. 

Day One, Book One

The first book I read is The Emerald Casket by Richard Newsome. This book is the second book in the Archer Legacy series. The first book is The Billionaire’s Curse.  A short recap of the first book, Gerald Wilkins, age 11, becomes the world’s richest kid when his great-aunt Geraldine passes away and leaves him the entire Archer fortune, $40 billion. Upon his arrival in London, Gerald finds out that his great-aunt was murdered and her death is linked to the theft of a famous diamond. Gerald, joined by two new friends Sam and Ruby, soon learns that the diamond is tied to three caskets that are hidden and hold the mystery to the greatest power in the world. Gerald’s family has been protecting this mystery for a thousand years. The second book picks up with Gerald, Ruby and Sam finding documents, picture and drawings about the Archer family and the legacy. The trio heads to India to try and find the next clue in the mystery and the trail to the second casket, the emerald casket. The book is full of action and adventure. The evil Mason Green is on their tail trying to get to the caskets first. You also find out that somehow Gerald is the key to the caskets, there is a bit of a supernatural element. The book is fast paced and the story moves along with lots of escape scenes and near death experiences. I would recommend this series to kids who are into the 39 Clues series books. Students are always looking for adventure books and this series fits the bill. 

The Challenge

I have accepted Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer, challenge to read a book a day this summer! The Book Whisperer is an amazing book about how having students read can actually help them become better readers! Shocking! Also that the best thing you can do is let students read the books they want to read and, another shocking result, they will actually like reading! I figure since I want my students to spend their summer reading, I should spend my summer reading. 

I'm a little late starting but Saturday will be my first day. Being a children's librarian, I will focus on kids' chapter books, graphic novels and yes, picture books, and maybe an adult book will fit in! Saturday, June 25 will be my first day and I will read till the first official day of school and the end of summer, Tuesday September 6. I will update this blog with the details of the books that I have read. I think keeping this blog will make sure that I stick to this commitment. 

So here goes, one summer, 74 books! I think I am up to the challenge!