Share Books Sunday Two-fer Edition

It's #ShareBooksSunday! What are you reading today? My daughter stole my book last week, so I'm just now getting to read The Wednesday Wars (which I'm completely in love with) even though I shared it already. I also started reading Peter And The Starcatcher. While not as good as the play - which knocked my socks off at the Utah Shakespeare Festival last summer - it's still pretty entertaining and I will recommend it to my kids. 

Learn more about these books here and here.

#ShareBooksSunday - The Wednesday Wars Edition

Today is #ShareBooksSunday!  I'm curious about what you're reading.

I just picked up The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt.  I've heard of this book here and there over the last few years but one of my friends from high school (who is a teacher) recently listed it as one of her top 10 favorite books.  I decided I need to read it, so here I am!  I'm only a few pages in, which means I don't have an opinion yet, but when I finish it I'll be sure top post a short review here.

Click here to learn more about The Wednesday Wars.

I'd love to know what you're reading!  You can comment here or look Lost Cat Books up on Facebook or simply send a tweet with the tag #ShareBooksSunday.

Lois Lowry's Brilliance

I truly love this quote from Lois Lowry's Newberry Award acceptance speech.  I grew up on a very rural farm, but my mind has travelled the world through books.  I found ideas that were foreign to my family or school experience.  I have been enriched in ways I can't even begin to count because of books. My world is a better place because I am a reader.

Click here to learn more about Lois Lowry.

Welcome to the Future?

Happy New Year!  It's 2014, and I woke thinking of all the dystopic futures writers like to imagine.  There is no shortage of books about perfect societies that are formed some time in humanity's future, but of course some are more memorable than others.  The series that sprang to mind this morning was Lois Lowry's The Giver Quartet.

Click here to learn more about The Giver

I hesitate to tell even a bit of the details of these books because the revelation of secrets is so key to their stories. Suffice it to say Lowry uses these stories to examine the idea that people may sacrifice their humanity for safety's sake. Choice for security. Is the danger that comes with freedom worth it?  The Giver (and it's three accompanying books) are not for very young readers, but as a teacher I used them with my sixth graders and would find them generally appropriate for 4th grade on up if accompanied by discussion opportunities. They are a great springboard into conversations about liberty vs. safety and sacrificing self for society. Of course I also recommend them to adult readers because they are excellently written and thought provoking on a whole new level in a more mature mind.  Though written as companion books, each one is satisfying on it's own.  You can find links for all four books in the series below.

Review: Jerry Spinelli's Jake and Lily

Click here to read more about Jake and Lily.

I've read a lot of Jerry Spinelli's excellent work.  I have yet to meet a Spinelli book I don't like, and Jake and Lily is no different.  Spinelli likes switching among his characters voices to tell his stories, and it's a fun way to read and really get the whole picture.  In this case, we hear from twins, Jake and Lily.  Their grandfather gives them each a notebook and asks them to write their story.  In places they are very connected and finish each other's sentences, but in others they are distant and we see their divergent thoughts as Jake reaches for his own identity, forcing Lily to find herself, too.  Spinelli revisits familiar themes of individuality and connectedness, and while not as movingly done as in Maniac Magee, or Wringer, this is still an entertaining and insightful look at finding ones own way in life.  I especially liked the comment my 10 year old made after she read it: "Jake had to figure out for himself why Lily didn't like (the bully)."  She didn't know it, but she just got an introduction to the idea that people have to make their own mistakes and learn things on their own terms if they are to learn them at all.   Over all, I'd recommend this book to upper elementary or middle school age readers.