Celebrate This Week - July 12, 2014

This year, I am trying to increase my awareness of the many good things that happen, which are frequently overlooked by me.  To help me, I am joining Ruth Ayers' Celebrate This Week.  

This week was quiet compared to my last few weeks, but here is what I am celebrating.

1.  Meeting long-distance swimmer, Diana Nyad - Yes, the Diana Nyad who successfully swam from Cuba to Florida last year. There is always a chance that you might run into someone famous when flying from Los Angeles to New York.  Most of the time I choose to respect the person's privacy and keep to myself.  However, when someone introduces herself to me, I am not going to be rude.  Ms. Nyad was very outgoing and friendly and our conversation while we waited for our planes to board was a lot of fun.   

2. My flight not being cancelled and actually making it from Los Angeles to New York.- Since they were predicting thunderstorms and rain on the east coast there was a concern that the flight might be cancelled. After a 3 hour delay, I made it onto the plane. The Virgin America staff were great and offered everyone free movies as a result of the inconvenience. And though, all the delays resulted in me not getting to my parents' home until 4 a.m., I was still glad that I had made it. 

3.  Hanging with my parents in Connecticut. - As my parents get older, I try to visit them twice a year.  My mother has multiple sclerosis and each time I am thankful to just see her. My dad is the other reader in our family. And I am always sharing something with him when I visit.  This trip I shared several graphic novels with him.  I don't think he has read any comic books since he was a kid, but I loved seeing him completely absorbed in reading. 

4. Breakfast, today, with Lynda Mullaly Hunt (One for the Murphys, Fish in a Tree).  - Last year at NCTE, I had a chance to meet Lynda for the first time.  I love her book - One for the Murphys, and excited to see that she has a new one coming out in February 2015.  Lynda found a great place for breakfast that was half-way between her home and my parents. And it even had a bookish theme - Huxley's Bookmark Café.  We had a delightful conversation around books, teaching, children and more.  I hope she makes it to Los Angeles for a visit at some point. 

5. Completing a proposal that I have been working on. - More news to follow in the near future. 

Book Review: Saving Lucas Biggs

Saving Lucas Biggs

by Marisa de los Santos, David Teague

HarperCollins Publishers (April 29, 2014)

Fiction * Mystery * Time Travel * Fantasy

Audience: Grades 5-8

Indiebound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads:

When thirteen-year-old Margaret's father is unfairly sentenced to death by the cruel Judge Biggs, she is determined to save him, even if it means using her family's secret-and forbidden-ability to time travel. With the help of her best friend, Charlie, and his grandpa Josh, Margaret goes back to a time when Judge Biggs was a young boy and tries to prevent the chain of events that transformed him into a corrupt, jaded man.

Carolyn's thoughts on this book:

The book opens with the main character, Margaret, watching as her father is handed down the death sentence for a crime he never committed. As a scientist, Margaret’s father was in charge of ensuring that the fracking done in their small Arizona town was done safely and legally. However, when he discovered that fracking was done neither safely nor legally, he revealed everything; in retribution, Victory Fuels (the energy company he worked for) framed him for arson and murder. There is one thing he has going for him, though: Margaret, like the rest of her family, possesses the ability to travel back in time. She travels back to the 1930’s , wherein an attempt to prevent a young Lucas Biggs from becoming the evil, bitter judge that she knows.

I loved the fascinating premise but also the beautiful solution presented to such a complicated situation. I appreciated that instead of acting in anger or retribution, Margaret decides to act with compassion and understanding. Because of her emotional maturity, Margaret is able to look past (pun intended!) the judge’s actions against her father to see that there is an underlying problem that goes back to his youth.  I found her sensitivity towards others and her actions to be a pleasant surprise; all too often, characters of her age are immature and lash out when upset (usually to teach the general lesson to “be in more control of your emotions”), but I also liked the subtle political messages.

While fracking wasn’t discussed too much in the book, Margaret’s father’s discovery and subsequent trial portrays fracking (and corporations) in a negative light. During her trip to the 1930’s, Margaret sees the sad results of the mistreatment of coal workers (when they go on strike to protest unfair treatment of an injured coal miner, they are fired and evicted); thus, corporations are portrayed as faceless entities that have the potential to use their power for evil.

Overall, Saving Lucas Biggs was a surprisingly excellent read. The mixture of time travel, modest political messages, and wonderful characters make it a perfect book for older kids, teens, and adults alike. 

Music Video: One Republic's Ordinary Human with The Giver Footage

SYNOPSIS:  

The haunting story of THE GIVER centers on Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), a young man who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Yet as he begins to spend time with The Giver (Jeff Bridges), who is the sole keeper of all the community’s memories, Jonas quickly begins to discover the dark and deadly truths of his community’s secret past. With this newfound power of knowledge, he realizes that the stakes are higher than imagined – a matter of life and death for himself and those he loves most. At extreme odds, Jonas knows that he must escape their world to protect them all – a challenge that no one has ever succeeded at before. THE GIVER is based on Lois Lowry’s beloved young adult novel of the same name, which was the winner the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. 

Official Facebook Page | Official Twitter | Lois Lowry Reflects on The Giver

One Republic Music Trailer - Ordinary Human

Images from The Giver

The Giver will be in theaters on August 15, 2014. 

Nonfiction Picture Wednesday - July Releases

Thank you everyone for all of the great posts each week for the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge 2014.  

At the beginning of each month, I like to try to do a post to spread the word about recent releases or upcoming nonfiction/informational titles.  It is not comprehensive, but I do try to include a variety of titles that might be of interest to readers.  Some of them I have read and some I have yet to read.  Often I include reviews in later posts.

Here are some July titles.  If you missed the posts from the past six months, I have included links to them below.

January Post | February Post | March Post | April Post | May Post | June Post

July 2014 Releases

Animal School: What Class Are You? by Michelle Lord; Illustrated by Michael Garland (Holiday House)

Body Bones by Shelley Rotner; Illustrated by David A. White (Holiday House)

Not My Girl by Christy Jordan-Fenton, Margaret Pokiak-Fenton; Illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard (Annick Press)

Roller Derby Rivals by Sue Macy; Illustrated by Matt Collins (Holiday House)

The World's Best Noses, Ears, and Eyes by Helen Rundgren; Illustrated by Ingela P. Arrhenius (Holiday House)

50 Body Questions: A Book That Spills Its Guts by Tanya Kyi; Illustrated by Ross Kinnaird (Annick Press)

Summer seems to be a slow time for nonfiction picture book releases but there are some wonderful titles being released in September and October. Keep an eye out for mentions of these upcoming releases. 

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews:

Slice of Life - Summer Fun

Slice of Life is hosted by Two Writing Teachers on Tuesdays.  Join us each week and come to love this awesome writing community.

Squeals of delight drifted in through the open windows while sounds of rushing water melded together for a summer soundtrack for childhood play. As I listened to the ecstatic shrieks, I was drawn back in time to my own childhood when water and heat and friends were the perfect recipe for entertainment.  For a moment, I wondered where my own sense of unabashed enthusiasm had gone.   

As I looked around my living room and the piles of books and other things that I was organizing, I knew that joining in was impossible but the longing was still there. Maybe I wasn't going to be able to be carefree and embrace the moment but my eye landed on my camera.  I could capture it.  I snuck outside with my camera to where the girls were fully engaged in their play.  

I nearly burst out in laughter when I saw the older one using the cooler as a makeshift water tub while drinking from the hose. Before long, she had turned the hose on her sister.  The spray of cold water shocking her as it shot out from the hose causing her to turn away. 

Oh to be young and carefree and fully in the moment.  I am glad I captured this slice on camera.