Book Talk: Bigger Than a Bread Box

Everybody's parents fight, right? It's normal. They disagree, say things they don't mean, forget birthdays and anniversaries- but they forgive each other... right? Well, not always. Sometimes parents don't make up. Sometimes a mom or a dad can only take so much before they just need a break. A break- from being married, a break from the person they married. Does this mean they don't love each other? I guess that's what the break will tell them. But what about the kids? When a mom and dad decide to take a break- what happens to them? Do they get a choice in the matter? Probably not... parents usually make those kinds of decisions without consulting the kids. 

But think about it. How would you feel if one morning you woke up and your mom had packed the car and told you that you were going to Atlanta- right this minute. No chance to say goodbye to your friends, or pack your favorite things or turn in your homework. You had to get in the car and leave everything... including your dad. And what if your dad hugged you goodbye and your mom drove away? What if you looked back to see your dad chasing the car and yelling at your mom to come back? How would you feel?
Bigger Than a Bread Box, by Laurel Snyder will show you how you might feel. In this book, Rebecca is the girl who wakes up to find that her mom is leaving her dad in Baltimore and driving to Atlanta to stay with her mother (Gran). Rebecca knew that her parents had been having trouble- but enough trouble to leave her dad behind? And what is worse? Rebecca had no idea. Rebecca had no choice.

After a silent drive from Baltimore to Atlanta, Rebecca, her brother Lew and her mom arrive at Gran's house. When Gran tells her about the new middle school she will be starting on Friday, Rebecca realizes that they aren't there for a few days. She hides in the attic so she doesn't have to talk to her mother. While in hiding, she looks through some of Gran's things and finds a collection of bread boxes. (Bread boxes were used back in the day to keep bread fresh- before it was made with all the preservatives we use today... it would go stale so fast. It also kept out the bugs and the mice)  
Rebecca is drawn to a beautiful red bread box that seems to stand out from all of the others. As she sits in the attic, bored and covered with dust, she wishes, out loud, that she had a book to read. Instantly, she hears a thud come from the red bread box. She opens it up and finds an old ratty copy of a Nancy Drew book. Rebecca takes the book and the bread box back to her room. She wishes that she had 20 bucks- again, the box makes a sound, Rebecca opens it and there is a 20 dollar bill. Rebecca realizes that she can wish for anything that will fit into the bread box and it will appear... it's magic. 
Rebecca decides to use this box to her advantage- she wishes for things that will help her adjust to her new situation. (new jeans for her, lip gloss for the new girls at school, gravy fries to ease her homesickness). Eventually, her wishes start to backfire on her. Everything she wishes for ends up causing her trouble. But when she wishes for something to get her parents back together, the box sits empty. 
What good are wishes when you can't get what you really want? What does Rebecca really want? She wants to go home to Baltimore. She wants her parents to fall in love again. She wants her mom to notice her. She wants the kids at school to think she's cool. She wants to fit it. She wants to make her own decisions. She wants people to listen to her. But can a bread box, even a magical one grant these wishes? May be what she really wants is bigger than a bread box. May be you can't wish for love and have it magically appear... may be love is something that has to appear on its own.

   
In Bigger Than a Breadbox, Rebecca has a memory of her parents when they were their happiest- they would listen to this song and dance around the living room.

I think this is what Rebecca really wanted to find in that box.

This book will be very popular with kids in grades 4-8. From my experience, it will be the girls who devour this book. Most (or some) boys just can't read a book with all of these emotions and feelings and self discovery. If the bread box turned into a robot that destroyed the city of Atlanta with its laser eyeballs, they would love it.  If they give it a chance, they will love this story too. Even though there is a magic breadbox in this book, it still reads like realistic fiction. The times when Rebecca is at her worst- when she is completely devastated by her parent's separation, your heart breaks. You feel every single raw emotion that this little girl feels and you are helpless- you have to watch her go through this storm alone. As a parent, my heart aches to think about how kids take in all of the things that adults do to them, thinking it is for them. They may be kids, but they are little humans who have feelings, desires and opinions. We, adults, are quick to dismiss them because they are shorter than us. I am guilty of this as well. but will be making a concerted effort to change. 

Don't be too quick to play biblio-therapist with this book. It would be easy to say "Oh, Kelly's parents got divorced, she needs to read this book." or "Leah's parent's aren't divorced, she wouldn't relate." But this book has greater appeal than "just the divorced kids". All kids (girls AND boys) want to be loved, all kids want their parents to love each other... all kids have a list of things that they would wish for if they had an unlimited supply of wishes... so let them wish, let them be loved, let them be heard and let them read. 

This is how I picture Rebecca's home in Baltimore

This is how I picture Gran's house in Atlanta

Book Talk: Hidden

I am so impressed with the books that are coming out for tweens this year. Tweens (kids 8-12) are a special group of kids. They are pretty much done learning to read and most of them are now reading for pleasure. You can tell  that I have tweens in the library because you will see them flocked around me asking me for a great book to read. It's like a pre-game huddle and I am the QB. I grab books from the shelf and give a quick booktalk- then the kids fight over who gets to check out the books. : ) I have been blown away by the quality of books that are available for these kids so far this year. The Newbery Committee is going to have a very difficult time selecting a winner this year.  A book that I am sure will be fought over in The Lemme Library is Hidden by Helen Frost.

8 year old Wrenn is sitting in her mom's gold mini-van when she hears a gunshot. She quickly hides in the backseat as a man enters the van and speeds off. The man has stolen the van without knowing that there is a child in the backseat. Wrenn finds herself alone, scared and unintentionally kidnapped. Each time the kidnapper opens the door that leads into his house, Wrenn gets a glimpse of his family- his wife  Stacey and 8 year old daughter Darra.  When Stacey learns that there is a stolen car in her garage, she gets a black eye. When Darra hears on the news that there was a little girl inside that stolen car, she is told to turn off the news. Darra has a feeling that the girl is hiding in the garage and worries about what will happen if her dad finds her- so she is determined to find her and help her escape. Wrenn does escape and the police are lead to the house and the man is arrested. 

Flash forward 7 years and it seems that Wrenn has grown up to be a happy, well-adjusted teenager. She is just settling into camp when she notices a new camper who is not at all happy to be there. When the new girl runs off, her mother calls after her and to Wrenn's surprise and terror, the camper is Darra- the daughter of the man who kidnapped her 7 years ago.

The 2 girls end up in the same cabin and in the same activities. They are forced to deal with feelings that they have been hiding all these years. Darra is angry- angry at Wrenn for getting her dad arrested and causing her parents to get divorced. Wrenn is overwhelmed with emotions from anger to terror- she didn't even know she felt that way until now. 

That is all I will tell you about Wrenn and Darra. This story begs to be unfolded by the reader and not the reviewer. 

At one time, Darra is out on a glass bottom boat- the kind of boat that you can look through and see right into the water. She sees all of these sunken ships that are resting on the bottom of the lake.  She realizes that no matter how calm the water looks, you never know what is hiding just under the surface. That passage sums up this novel perfectly. Children (and adults) are walking around this great big world with a whole lot of stuff on their minds- issues from their past, problems they have now and worries about the future. Just because someone puts on a happy face and looks calm on the outside doesn't mean there isn't a hurricane brewing on the inside.  This book will inadvertently teach kids to stop and think about other people before they pass judgement. An example from my experience- I am not quick to judge a rude store clerk because you never, ever know what they are going through. May be they just flunked a test or their grandma died or their parents got divorced today. You just never know- you should give people the benefit of the doubt- and I think that is a message that kids will walk away with after reading Hidden. 

Hidden is a free verse novel written in alternating chapters. Free verse novels are great for tweens. The spacing of the text on the page is perfect, providing plenty of white space. Kids tend to get overwhelmed by too much text. The second I open a book with lots of small words, they freak out! I love that a tween reader can pick up a book with great substance and not be impeded by the text. And- lots of kids who can relate to this book may be reluctant readers... I will say that I have to talk to my students about a novel written in verse before I just hand it to them. I explain that it looks a little different, but it reads just like a book. Helen Frost worked extra hard on this free verse novel, because upon further reading, kids will discover a hidden story within the story. I would hand this book to any student grades 4 and up. Because the main characters are girls, boys may hesitate to pick it up, unless you can sell them on the great story.  I dare the Newbery Committee to snub this book!

Tween Fiction

tween  (twn) n. A child between middle childhood and adolescence, usually between 8 and 12 years old. 

What is it about kids these days?  They think they need to grow up so fast!  Try as we might, we just can't convince them that there is no hurry.   I have noticed these days that my "tween"readers (ages 8-12) are quick to jump in to books that are intended for young adults!  (They ask me for Hunger Games and Twilight!) Young adult fiction is geared towards kids ages 14 to 21.  Tween readers are ages 8-12.  

Today I will let you in on a little known librarian secret: we trick kids.  That is right.  We trick them into thinking they are reading books that are meant for older kids.  I bet you didn't know that, did you?  So, today I open my bag of tricks and give you 9 books that I use to trick these "children" into thinking they are reading "young adult" books... if you are a kid, this blog post will self destruct in 10 seconds and you will have no memory of what you've just witnessed. 

Realistic Fiction 

Draper, Sharon. Out of My Mind
 Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient fifth-graderwith cerebral palsy discovers a technological device that will allow her to speak for the first time.  Starred Review.  

Lord, Cynthia. Touch Blue 
When the state of Maine threatens to shut down their island's one-room schoolhouse because of dwindling enrollment, eleven-year-old Tess, a strong believer in luck, and her family take in a trumpet-playing foster child, to increase the school's population. 

Willner-Pardo, Gina.  The Hard Kind of Promise
California seventh-graders Sarah and Marjorie made a promise in kindergarten to always be friends, but Marjorie is weird and Sarah, wanting to be at least somewhat popular, makes friends with a fellow choir member.  Starred Review  







Science Fiction 

Buckingham, Royce. The Dead Boys
Timid twelve-year-old Teddy Mathews and his mother move to a small, remote desert town in eastern Washington, where the tree next door, mutated by nuclear waste, eats children and the friends Teddy makes turn out to be dead. 

Landon, Kristen. The Limit
When his family exceeds its legal debt limit, thirteen-year-old Matt is sent to the Federal Debt Rehabilitation Agency workhouse, where he discovers illicit activities are being carried out using the children who have been placed there. 

Lupica, Mike. Hero 
Fourteen-year-old Zach learns he has the same special abilities as his father, who was the president's globetrotting troubleshooter until "The Bads" killed him, and now Zach must decide
whether to use his powers in the same way at the risk of his own life. 






Historical Fiction

Fawcett, Katie Pickard.  To Come and Go Like Magic.
Chili Sue Mahoney longs to escape her tiny Kentucky hometown and see the world, but she also learns to recognize beauty in the people and places around he.

Klise, Kate. Grounded 
After her father, brother, and sister are killed in a plane crash, twelve-year-old Daralynn's life in tiny Digginsville, Missouri, proceeds as her mother turns angry and embittered, her grandmother becomes senile, and her flamboyant aunt continues to run the Summer Sunset Retirement Home for Distinguished Gentlemen, while being courted by the owner of the town's new crematorium.  

Wittlinger, Ellen. This Means War
In 1962, when her best friend Lowell begins to hang around new friends who think girls are losers, Juliet, a fearful fifth-grader, teams up with bold, brave Patsy who challenges the boys to a series of increasingly dangerous contests. Starred Review

Book Talk: Touch Blue

In Touch Blue, by Cynthia Lord (F LOR) Tess and her family live on Bethsaida, a small island off the coast of Maine.  So many families have moved off the island, that there aren't enough children to keep the island school open.  As a last resort, the islanders decide to bring foster kids to the island to live with families and attend the school.  We meet Tess and her little sister Libby as they are waiting for the ferry to arrive with her new foster brother.  Tess has high hopes that he will be everything she wanted in a big brother.  Libby hopes that he will like reading and playing Monopoly.  When the ferry docks, Tess has a bad feeling- it's bad luck to have a red-head on a boat, and here is her new red-headed brother, Aaron.  Aaron doesn't say much, he roles his eyes and he seems to turn his nose up at island life.  At that moment, Tess decides that she will make Aaron want to stay and be her brother and she she tries so hard to make things work.  She relies on her good luck charms and superstitions to get her through this rough patch- like her blue sea glass and lucky pennies from the year she was born.  Each chapter of the book begins with a superstition that gives Tess strength: "Touch blue and your dreams will come true" and "Never whistle on a boat".

Tess has been told to give Aaron space and time to adjust to his new life- and she does.  She shows great restraint in questioning and pushing Aaron.  She lets him come to her and never presses him about his life before he came to the island.  Her patience pays off as Aaron grows to trust Tess.  She learns that Aaron lived with his mom until he was 5, and then he moved in with his grandmother when his mom's drinking got out of control.  After his grandma died, he lived with 2 other families before coming to the island.  He gave up jazz band and everything he knew when he was deserted by his last family and sent to live on the island.

At one point, Aaron packs his bags and is ready to board the ferry for the mainland.  He wants to live with his own mother, even if it means he has to care for her.  Tess realizes that she has been so worried about losing her school and island that she hasn't thought about how Aaron might be feeling.  Tess comes up with a plan to get Aaron's mother to the island, thinking that if he would see her one time, he would know that he is better off on the island.  By the end of the book, Tess learns that sometimes, all the good luck charms and superstitions can't bring you luck- you have to make your own luck.  She also realizes that as long as you have people around you that care about you, you will always belong.

Touch Blue would be a great book for teaching setting.  Cynthia Lord does such a great job of describing the Northeast surrounding, that I almost smelled the sea air and heard the seagulls.  It would be a great read aloud with a class that is studying US Regions.  You could also use this book to teach character because Tess grows so much by the end of the book.  This isn't a weepy, cry your eyes out book, although when I read Aaron's back story, I was ready to get a box of Kleenex.  Instead of creating yet another story of a foster kid that is helpless and abandoned, Cynthia Lord turns the foster kid into a person of great character and strength.  Kids going through a similar situation will find great inspiration from this book.

(Kelly Butcher 2010)  My 100th post... wicked cool!