The Book Theif

Zusak, M. (2006). The Book Thief. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers.

This multi-award winning book, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize, Daniel Elliot Peace Award, School Library Journal's Best Book of the Year and many more, is a must read. Narrated by Death, this book follows the life of a poor young girl in Nazi Germany who becomes 'the book theif'. Put into foster care by her destitute mother, Liesel builds a network of loved ones on Himmel Street, including her curmudgeonly foster mother, her foster father who teaches her to read, a poor neighbourhood boy who becomes a constant companion, and a Jewish boxer her foster father agrees to hide in the basement.  Liesel is a clever, curious girl who sees the world and those in it in poetic detail.   Books (and words) become Liesel's secret strength even before she learns to read and each book theft occurs at a turning point in her life. Zusak portrays the injustice and horrors of Nazi Germany with compassion and hope and creates characters with depth. Despite, or perhaps because of, the tragedies in Leisel's life she never succumbs to the hatred around her. Be ready to laugh, cry and mourn - Zusak's poetic language and imagery bring this book to life.

Young Adult

13 Words

 "13 Words" by Lemony Snicket, the author of  "A Series of Unfortunate Events", is a clever exploration of beautiful words. While the story does not have much of a plot - in fact it is rather silly - the illustrations by Maria Kalman are bold and colourful with clever details that draw the reader's eye to look closer and the reader's mind to add more details to the story. At the end of the book, Lemony Snicket uses the same 13 words to create a different story.  A great way to introduce some new vocabulary, this book lends itself perfectly to children creating their own stories using the 13 words. After reading it to one class,  a student responded to a complement about her hat by saying, "Thank-you, I thought it had panache"!

(Primary and Intermediate as a writing starter)

Khan Academy

 Khan Academy Retreived from http://www.khanacademy.org./

I have heard a lot of buzz about the Khan Academy and decided to check it out for myself.  Being a primary teacher, I had a look at the early math skills sections. I pretended to be a child struggling with basic addition and subtraction facts and worked through these two sections.  Khan Academy did not win me over. The 'badges' and incentives are fun (although they don't fit with the intrinsic motivation we believe in at our school). I like that the program changes the questions with the proficiency of the user - as I got tricky questions wrong, the program gave me more simple questions in each 'stack' of practise 'cards'.  I showed that I knew about adding to 10 and some of the doubles (eg. 3+3) but had trouble with the usual tricky ones (eg. 5+8). The basic addition section moved me on to the next concept with a very tenuous hold on addition facts. The instructional videos, while narrated in a friendly and relaxed voice and using standard examples of addition, are not great teaching tools. They provide very basic explanations and little strategy. A student who used a number line for every question could do quite well on the practise, but would only be proficient with that one strategy.  Primary teachers know that we need to teach various strategies and a real understanding of how numbers work. We teach about using doubles, doubles plus one, how to break numbers into manageable pieces, how to estimate to know if your answer makes sense, which numbers make 10, how to use that knowledge to make 9 or 11....  Khan Academy may be useful for middle or high school students who already have some knowledge of basic facts and strategies, but it is lacking in depth for early numeracy.  As a forum to practise skills after a some skilled math instruction, Khan Academy could be useful.  However, there are more accessible and appropriate programs out there for elementary students. One is Destination Math, created by Riverdeep, which is linked to our school district e-resources. Destination Math uses virtual manipulatives and follows a carefully designed progression of early numeracy skills.  Ask your teacher for a password to try the Destination Math site from home or download a trial demo here.

Primary/ Intermediate/Young Adult depending on the topics/exercises chosen

The Village of Many Hats

Woodward, Caroline. (2012). The village of many hats. Fernie, BC: Oolichan Books.

When this novel arrived with the box from the donation book sale, I had to read it right away.  I discovered Caroline Woodward last year when her picture book "Singing Away the Dark" was listed as a Chocolate Lily Award nominee. Her lyrical style and clear images of country life that reminded me of my own childhood won me over immediately.  In this, her first novel for young readers, Caroline describes small town life with the same understanding.  She brings Gina, the nine year old narrator, to life by using clear, short sentences that give you the feeling you are really listening to a grade four student. Gina is forced to grow up a little faster as her family deals with her little sister's serious heart problems. Her journey, and the characters who help her along the way, offer deep insights into the virtues that help us to live together and the innate kindness of neighbours. You will be pulled along into Gina's world as she learns, with the help of a wise hat maker, how to stand up for what she believes in and recognize the virtues in herself and others.

Intermediate