Maria's Mélange

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as being able to incorporate the excitement over a major event in your fandom into high level learning tasks in my classroom. If you have ever read my blog or know me in person - you can probably guess what we used…. That’s right…. I have felt it. The Force is Awakening! My fifth grade reading group has been working on the Hero’s Journey this marking period. We watched the trailer and made predictions using the character archetypes we’ve learned. We had already covered a lot of the standard archetypes from the Hero’s Journey framework, but I found a few more great ones on the Mythcreants site. I especially liked the addition of the “shapeshifter” category. We had talked about how sometimes characters change sides through the comparison of Warbeak from Redwall to Gollum in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, so they already understood the idea of this archetype.        http://mythcreants.com/blog/the-e...

I am thrilled to be part of the Fable Comics Blog Tour! This book is beautiful. It's filled with amazing adaptations of many of the fables your students already know and quite a few that will be new to them. I spend a lot of time reading fables with my third graders, and I can't wait to introduce them to this anthology. I anticipate wonderful discussions about the rich vocabulary, delicious art, and time-honored "morals of the story". My older students already love the work of George O'Connor, and will be thrilled to discover some new short stories about Hermes in this volume. Fable Comics by Chris Duffy (Editor), James Kochalka (Contributor), Simone Lia (Contributor), Graham Chaffee (Contributor), Maris Wicks (Contributor), Vera Brosgol (Contributor), Keny Widjaja (Contributor), Corinne Mucha (Contributor) , Liniers (Contributor), Mark Newgarden (Contributor), Ulises Farinas (Contributor), Tom Gauld (Contributor), R.O. Blechman (Contributor), Gr...

Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate (Goodreads Author) Hardcover, 256 pages Expected publication: September 22nd 2015 by Feiwel & Friends ISBN 1250043239 (ISBN13: 9781250043238) Goodreads Blurb: Jackson and his family have fallen on hard times. There's no more money for rent. And not much for food, either. His parents, his little sister, and their dog may have to live in their minivan. Again. Crenshaw is a cat. He's large, he's outspoken, and he's imaginary. He has come back into Jackson's life to help him. But is an imaginary friend enough to save this family from losing everything? Source: ARC from publisher My Thoughts: There is so much to love about this book. (Be sure to enter the giveaway for a copy down below!) Crenshaw is timely, yet also timeless. So many kids are struggling in families who are just barely making ends meet. This is something that, unfortunately, is a very timely topic. Yet there are not so many "current day" ...

Well, well, well.... I did a pretty lousy job of blogging this summer, didn't I? On the plus side, I *DID* read over the summer. If you want to read more blogs - and end up with an even BIGGER TBR list.... go to www.teachmentortexts.com and www.unleashingreaders.com to read other posts. I'm just going to toss a few collages onto the blog, and then I'll describe some of my favorites... Well, this collage had some real winners! I'm not sure I can pick just a few... Crenshaw - You WANT this book by Katherine Applegate; trust me. I loved learning more about comics with Understanding Comics and Adventures in Graphica . Speaking of comics - Nimona  (YA) and The Underground Abductor were amazing. X: A Novel made me want to learn even more about Malcolm X. ECHO was beautiful. I loved how we got multiple perspectives on World War 2 and how the stories wove together. Calpurnia Tate was fabulous! I think I liked book 2 even more than the first one (a...

Shadowshaper by   Daniel José Older   ( @djolder ,  ghoststar.net ) If you missed it - we started by chatting about the cover of the book last week! Cover Appeal First Half discussion (pages 1-140) Check out the other half of the discussion at The Brain Lair Visit our Facebook page , comment here, or tweet us (@thebrainlair or @mariaselke with #BattyAboutBooks and/or #Shadowshaper) to join in the discussion! I love the fact that we chose a book that is being praised for how it represents elements of American life that are so different from my own life story. Since we often talk about the need for diverse books to provide us both windows and mirrors, I’m going to frame at least some of my thoughts around those two ideas. ** For those reading my blog who aren’t familiar with this framework**  Many think of diversity in literature giving us a window into lives that are different from our own (helping build connections, empathy, and un...

It's been a while since Batty About Books hit the trail. Last year seemed so crazy - so hectic - that we really didn't get a chance to read anything together. What would it take to get us moving? What kind of book would push us to get the band back together again? Well... take a LOOK at this one. Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older (Goodreads Author) Hardcover, 304 pages Published June 30th 2015 by Arthur A. Levine Books (first published January 1st 2015) ISBN 0545591619 (ISBN13: 9780545591614) (Join us on our blogs  (Kathy is at The Brain Lair ) , on  Facebook , or Tweet/IG with #BattyAboutBooks and/or #Shadowshaper. We'll post brief thoughts and quotes from the text during the week.) I'll admit, I had heard about this book before seeing the cover. There were rumbles about this being an intriguing storyline. When I saw the cover, though, I was hooked. FRONT: + The first thing that strikes me is the strength in that face. So often I feel lik...

Time for my quarterly "Must Read in 2015" update! I put 39 books on my list for this year. Full List for the Year First Quarter Update   (Read 12 of the 39) This quarter went fairly well, though I slowed down more than a little due to my current obsession with amigurumi. Some AMAZING books on this list, my friends.  Nonfiction - Adventures in Graphica was filled with fabulous information on teaching comprehension using graphic novels and comics. Middle Grade - The Dungeoneers is amazing! Fun, fast paced, and adventurous. Young Adult - Okay, so mostly I read YA for this challenge this past quarter. Glory O'Brien and Aristotle and Dante were the stand out titles. Afterworlds was a intriguing style - weaving the story of a person WRITING a novel in with the actual novel itself. The Body Electric was a fascinating science fiction tale.