Exploring Learning

Doll Bones by Holly Black Definitely for Middle School readers, this a book about friendship and adventure - with very creepy overtones. Poppy, Zach and Alice are best friends, and invent magical, fantastical adventures. In their constructed world, the Queen resides over the lands, a precious porcelain antique. Locked safely away in the cabinet, the friends feel safe to give her powers to rule the kingdoms - but once they take her out, her powers seem real. A twisted tale underscores the history of this doll; a father, a master craftsman used his dead daughter's corpse to create the doll. Her hair is woven from the remains of the girl's own, the limbs are made from bone china ground out of the little girl's skeleton, and her stuffing is a bag full of her ashes... The friends are visited by her ghost in their dreams, where she demands to be laid to rest once and for all - or promises a deadly curse upon them all.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe  by Benjamin Alire Saenz This is a story of friendship, growing-up, loyalty and love. It is a joy and a pleasure and I read with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. Two Hispanic boys more dissimilar than alike, form a bond stronger than friendship, the kind that can teach a lesson to us all. Whilst written for Young Adults, this is a book that is worth reading by adults too - the role we play in shaping the lives of our children is laid bare and resonates across generations. It forced me to want to be more honest and open, to support and not judge - particularly when my children get to trickier teenage times ahead. I would recommend this to anyone struggling with the courage to be themselves, or anyone who wonders just whose rules we are living our life by. If you like this, you will love: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan Every Day by D...

Trackers (Book 1) by Patrick Carman I am currently planning an inquiry based unit asking learners to think about the future of fiction. Where fiction is going is of great interest to me. I own a few Kindles, though personally, have not fully integrated myself into this realm. I love the fact I can have a book in seconds - but, I still go out and buy the 'real' version of any I read and love on my Kindle. I do not think you can beat the feel and smell and sound of a brand new book. Geek that I am, nothing excites me more than an hour or so to wander around Kinokunyia  (Singapore hosts the largest store outside of Japan), or the lastest  arrival from Amazon, of a stack of books for me to explore and lose myself in. Kinokunyia , Ngee Ann City, Singapore Throughout my MEd ., I have been focusing on where reading and writing might be going for learners growing up in a digital age. I wrote an essay about Kindles , exploring whether they may re-engage le...

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Persepolis is a graphic novel chronicling the story of the author's unforgettable childhood and coming of age in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution. Having lived and taught in the Middle East for four years, I have first hand experience of women and girls who live the kind of double-life shown in the book, where "behavior in public and... behavior in private were polar opposites" (p . 305). I enjoyed reading about the feelings and opinions of women who had lived without the veil, but who are then forced to wear it. I especially loved Satrapi's statement to a mullah, interviewing her regarding her 'ideologies' for a place at university (once they re-opened having had the curriculum re-written to support Islamic beliefs):  I have always thought that if women's hair posed so many problems, God would certainly have made us bald. (p. 284). I enjoyed Satrapi's constant questions about the 'regime', an...

Fangirl  by Rainbow Rowell ( @rainbowrowell ) This is the second book by Rainbow Rowell that I have read this year. I loved Eleanor & Park , and my tweets about it led my PLN to read and love it too. As a result, Starr Sackstein ( @mssackstein ) ( her review of E&amp ; amp ; amp ; P ) and I decided to read Fangirl together. We were separated by time by more than half a day, yet we read and chatted about this book via Twitter. It was great to share reading, as although it can be a mostly solitary pursuit, it HAS to be shared. The worlds we inhabit when we read, and the characters we meet have to be talked about. In The Book Whisperer , Donalyn Miller suggests that readers lead richer lives, more lives, than those who don't read, and I think that one of the main ways I am successful in endearing the majority of my students to reading is because we talk about the characters as if they are real. To me, while I am in the world, they are  - and Fa...

Daytripper  by Gabriel Ba  and Fabio Moon What are the most important days of your life? Daytripper  is a beautiful collection of ten stories by Brazilian twin brothers that uses the quiet moments to ask the big questions. Orignally  published as ten comics, Daytripper follows the life of one man, Bras de Olivias Dominguez. Each of the ten stories features an important period in Bras’s life and each ends the same way: with his death. Like a puzzle, the stories fit together to weave a complete tale. Each starts up at a different point in Bras's life, oblivious to his death in the previous chapter, whilst at the same time, ends with him dying again.  Told in non-linear chronology, the story follows him through his entire existence and the many possibilities life holds for us. Like a book, we read ourselves; we write our own stories. Like books, our lives all must have an end: No book is complete without its end. And once you get there, on...

Legend Trilogy Boxed Set (Amazon) Legend , Prodigy and Champion by Marie Lu. He is a Legend. She is a Prodigy. Who will be Champion? I am a bit of a fan of dystopian fiction; it was Atwood's  The Handmaid's Tale that began it all, I think. Anyway, having just steamed my way through Veronica Roth's excellent Divergent trilogy, as well having just watched Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins second in The Hunger Games triology - I wanted more! A search led me to Lu's Legend trilogy and, it being Christmas and all, I treated myself to a boxed set. The hardcover books are lovely with tactile dustcovers  (these things matter in the whole reading experience). Chapters are told in third person but alternatively focus on either June or Day's perspective. Day's chapters are printed in coloured  ink to match the colours of each novel - gold, blue and red respectively. The story occurs in a post- apocolyptic  world destroyed and disjointed by immense f...

Every You, Every Me by David Levithan Last year, I read Everyday by David Levithan and became an instant fan. He is what I aspire to be as a writer - unique, original, intelligent, thought-provoking... I am also very much  inspired by his writing process . Will Grayson, Will Grayson , co-authored with John Green (another of my favorite authors - read ALL his books if you haven't yet!), was penned by each author assuming a voice of one of the two protagonists. Each was a 'Will Grayson', and they wrote alternating chapters that together, compromise a wonderfully crafted, realistic depiction of teenage life that appeals to us all.  Every You, Every Me  does not disappoint in both the way it was written and the final outcome. Inspired by a photograph seen pinned to a fridge at the home of Jonathan Farmer, Levithan set out to write a psychological thriller inspired by photographs. Farmer sent Levithan images upon which the next par...

A Wrinkle in Time is a classic children's favourite . Somehow - don't ask me how - it had gone under my radar until I read When You Reach Me  by Rebecca Stead, in which time travel plays a huge part due to Miranda, the protagonist, being a fan of L'Engle's novel. And so I bought the graphic novel. Time travel is something that both fascinates and baffles me. No amount of Back To The Future  (the second one in particular) can help me wrap my head around the concept of travelling through time, which in itself is an abstract concept I struggle with. L'Engle's novel was first published fifty years ago and graphic novelist, Hope Larson, has brought it to life for a whole new generation to enjoy. According to the School Library Journal, Larson's illustrations remain "true to the story, preserving the original chapter format and retaining L’Engle’s voice. Black-and-white artwork is accented with blue, echoing the original cover color" (Amazon). C...

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell John Green, who happens to be one of my favourite  YA authors, sums this book up perfectly: “Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it’s like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it’s like to be young and in love with a book.”—John Green, The New York Times Book Review I could not put this down and read it incessantly until I was done. I absorbed the characters, their heartaches, their joy - I was reminded of what it is like to be young, an outsider, in love. This book has some strong language so I will recommend it with caution to my learners, but to every adult, particularly of my generation, I would make it a must-read. Set in the late 80s, anyone who was a misfit, a punk, a skater; anyone who loved Vans, dressed for themselves without a care for others, who didn't quite fit, who was bullied, who was insecure; anyone who appreciates great comics and great music, anyone who remembers first love - they will identif...

Solanin  by Inio Asano Asano wrote Solanin  when he had just graduated from college. It is a document of the transitional time between leaving education and entering the real world. Asano said he "was feeling a bit insecure about my ability to succeed as a manga artist and whether I would be able to continue to draw manga that were true to myself . In my anxiety and impatience, I felt that all I could do in my manga was try to get a true depiction of the times as experienced by my generation." I remember this time well. I remember beginning my final year at university with a sense of dread. Since 5 years old, I had known what was coming next. Infant School, Junior School, Secondary School, College, University ... but then what? For the first time in my life I did not know where I was going to be the following year, or what I was going to do. This beautifully drawn manga depicts Tokyo and the lives of a group of friends in that very position. E...