Divergent

Divergent

Genre: Fiction

Suggested age: 12 -18

Author: Veronica Roth

ISBN: 9780062024039

Publisher:  Katherine Tegen Books

Imagine if you had to make a decision at 16 years old; a decision that would determine, your beliefs, your friends, and your allegiance.  In a world where faction is thicker than blood, you choose your faction once, no turning back.  

In a dystopian Chicago, Beatrice Prior is faced with such a choice.  Chicago has been divided into five factions, each dedicated to a virtue:   Abnegation (selflessness), Amity (peaceful), Dauntless (bravery), Candor (honesty), Erudite(knowledge).  Upon inconclusive results from Beatrice’s aptitude test, Beatrice makes a bold decision shocking everyone, including herself, and sets forth to discover if she can truly live (and perhaps die) solely under one faction’s rule.  Reinventing herself as Tris, she must turn her back on her family and endure a dangerous and daunting initiation, all while hiding a deadly secret about herself.  Failing in either endeavor means death or worse, being rendered factionless. 

 

Roth’s dystopian future is reminiscent of both DuPrau’s City of Ember and Collins’ The Hunger Games, which in itself warrants a vague suspicion of the reality holding this society together; who’s holding the puppet strings?  The action that surrounds the train tracks reminds me of Westerfeld’s Uglies series and gives me hope that those tracks go somewhere free of the madness of the faction system, what’s behind those gates that Dauntless soldiers tirelessly patrol?  Although this is only book one of the series, I would have liked to have been given a few more tasty hints at what incited the faction system (besides “war”) and possibly have been introduced to older members of this society that may or may not harbor the no doubt, bloody history of the faction system.  All in all, I’m on the wait-list for the ebook version of Insurgent, Book Two and am eagerly waiting to read more about Roth’s futuristic world.  

For a preview of Divergent visit HERE. 
Or, view my book trailer!

Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea:One Man’s Journey to Change the World…One Child at a Time.

Genre: Non-fiction-- 371.822

Suggested age: 8-13

Author:  Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

ISBN: 9780142414125

Publisher:  Puffin

Who would have thought that a failed attempt to scale K2 would result in a life-changing mission to bring world peace to all through building schools in remote villages?  Three Cups of Tea is a true story about just that!  Greg Mortenson wandered into a remote village in Pakistan upon making a wrong turn that could have turned deadly.  The people of this village nursed him back to health.  In return, Greg promised to come back to build a school for the village’s 84 children so that they could learn indoors with a trained teacher and much needed resources. 

This is the type of story that I never tire of.  The bravery, perseverance, and resourcefulness of Greg Mortenson is inspiring to readers of all ages.  I also love that this story is available for all levels of readers in picture book, adult, and young reader editions.

Shhh! Canadian Scientists and Inventors RULE

Shhh! CanadianScientists and Inventors RULE

Genre: Non Fiction—609.71

Suggested age: 8-13

Author:  Diana Cruchley

ISBN: 9780986909405

Publisher:  Charterhill Press

Shhh! Canadian Scientists and Inventors RULE  is a great book for sampling information on Canadian discoveries and inventions.  Organized alphabetically, the text and the graphics are engaging and current to 21^st century students.  From the invention of the Jolly Jumper to the SmartBoard, this book gives students current and relevant facts on inventions that they will want to know about!

As an educator in British Columbia, I love supporting local talent and can see many curricular-connected activities that could follow the introduction of this book.  Hmmm…..author visit anyone?

Walter the Farting Dog

Walter the Farting Dog

 

Genre: Picture Book

Suggested age: 4-9

Author: William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray

ISBN: 9781583940532

Publisher:  Frog, Ltd.

Walter the Farting Dog is a story about a true underdog with a terrible flatulence problem who, on the eve of his return to the dog pound, becomes an unlikely hero.

It’s not the greatest piece of literature but this story has been my secret weapon to breaking the ice with my toughest little reluctant readers and kindergarteners.  Who can resist a teacher-librarian willing to read a book about farting?

RULES

Rules

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Suggested age:  9-13

Author: Cynthia Lord

ISBN: 9780545036405

Publisher:  Scholastic

Winner of:

Newbery Honor Medal
Schneider Family Book Award
Mitten Award (Michigan Library Association)
Great Lakes Great Books Award (Michigan)
Maine Student Book Award
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award (Vermont)
Kentucky Bluegrass Award
Great Stone Face Award (New Hampshire)
Buckeye Children's Book Award (Ohio)

Catherine is a twelve-year-old girl and aspiring artist who is torn between yearning for acceptance from her peers and her loyalty and love of her younger brother, David, who has autism.  She loyally keeps track of all of the rules that she must teach David about how to act in society.  Rules ranging from, “flush!” and “keep your pants on! Unless Mom, Dad, or the doctor tells you to take them off” to candid and heartfelt ones like, “looking closer can make something beautiful”.  Catherine also subscribes to her own rules that threaten to drive all potential friends away.  

Reading this story brought me right back to grade school where the tangle of emotions, peer pressure, and emerging sense of self seemed to contradict one another.  I identified with Catherine and wished fervently through the book that she would recognize what a truly kind and beautiful person she was.