Wednesday Wars Part 2

I have always loved reading. You can gain so much from reading. You can get so invested in the characters that sometimes you might forget they are in a book. There are some books that I never want to put down and would pick up to read over again. But sometimes you find a book that does not hold your interest like others.

At first I was into Wednesday Wars, but as the book went on I wanted something else to happen. Holling at first was a character that I wanted to see what happened next to him. He was always in these weird situations like the play or the rats getting out of the cage. But somewhere along the way I lost interest in Holling. I gain more interest in Mrs. Baker and we were only given so much information on Mrs. Baker. I wanted to know her Olympic experience, and about her husband. I also wanted to know more about what was going on in history around Holling. They talked about the presidency and Martin Luther King Jr., but Holling never really talked about what he thought of everything, just what his sister thought. I also became mad at the dad, for not helping his daughter when she ran away and then wanted to come back home. I don’t know what I was looking for in this book, but it never came, whatever it was. At the end of the book Holling wanted a Barometz like his friend because it was a moment to become a man. I wanted to have a bigger moment, something that was memorable or words that I could come to over and over again. There were moments in this book that were great, but most of it could be easily forgotten.

With all that said I think that it is important that students know it is okay to not like all books. The thing that I really think you need to emphasize is that there should be a reason not just “because I didn’t”. I would still have my students read to book to see if there was something they did like about the book. I also think someone who does not like the book can provide great feedback and discussion; they could provide a different point of view. I do have to say though that I did like they added in different parts of history. These book leads well in to social studies. These parts of history in the book can lead to teaching about the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King Jr. or Kennedy. Ask the students what they might know about any parts of history they talk about. I would even have student’s choice different historical parts from the book, and do a report on it. You can ask “What are the most significant events of the Vietnam War?” “What was Martin Luther King Jr. marching to Washington for?” The questions could go on and on.

The Wednesday Wars

     Wednesday Wars. There are so many things I thought of when I read this title. I thought that there was going to be a war between schools or teachers. I did not expect the type of experiences and stories that I am getting when reading this book.

      Wednesday Wars is about a middle school boy named Holling Hoodhood. I know weird name and they have not really said what the meaning of the name is or even if there is a meaning. But Holling is a Presbyterian, so he does not get to leave school for church on Wednesday. He gets stuck staying with his teacher that he believes is out to get him. She even makes him read Shakespeare.  To me that does not sound fun at all, but Holling is really into it. At first Holling is against read the book, but he has to because his father is trying to get a contract to build a building for Holling’s teachers family. I should probably tell you the teachers name, her name is Mrs. Baker. Even though Holling believes that Mrs. Baker is mean and is out to get him, the truth is she is really nice and wants the best for her students.

There are some great stories that Holling tells, like the time the rats got lose and him and Mrs. Baker had to stand on the desk. There was also the time where Holling was clapping out some chalk board erasers and the chalk floated in to the classroom and got all over the pastries. I think my favorite one was Holling getting in to a Shakespeare play and playing a fairy. Holling wanted nothing to do with the play after he got the part of the fairy, but did it because he needed money for pastries for his class. These stories make you smile because so many things go wrong for Holling, but even though Holling thinks that Mrs. Baker is out to get him, she is the one that helps him out the most.

I do not know a lot about the Vietnam war, so even for me it would be great to talk about or look up. I would use the fact that the Vietnam war was talked about to turn it into a chance to talk about a part of history. I would turn it into a teaching point about how certain people were treated. In the book, there is a little girl named Mai Thi, she is not treated very well by one of the cooks. When all the other students got hot chocolate, Mai Thi did not get any because she is from Vietnam. This would be a good time to talk about how we can make others feel like outcast just by small things that we do. You could have one student picked out (make sure to talk to that student beforehand and tell them what you are going to do) and not give them something, and see what the other students say or do. Is there a student that does something or says something about that student not getting what everyone else has? I guess you could talk about Shakespeare, but for elementary students it might be hard to understand the books they are reading in the Wednesday Wars.

The interesting thing about this book is that there are so many different things that deal with parts of history. At first I did not know when this book took place, but then they started talking about the Vietnam war.  

I think that this book is interesting. At first I was not very into the book, but as it went a long I have seen the little important pieces of this book. You get caught up with the characters. I want to know more about Mrs. Baker, I want to find out what happens next to Holling. I think that some students many not be into this book and some it may take a while to get into, but it is a good read (so far).

Hatchet part 2

                 Have you ever been in a situation where you just have to do whatever it cost to survive? It could be as simple as a school assignment or as hard as surviving in the wilderness. Brain had that thought of having do anything to survive in the hope that someone will find him. It seemed like Brian was willing to try anything to get someone to find him, but as time went on he started to give up hope. Brian faced many hard and scary situations. He faced animals that were watching him or wanted to hurt him, like the bear or the moose that went and attacked him. At that point I would have given up or ran far away. Brian was also very resourceful. He found food all over the place with eggs and berries. There was one time when Brian invented a bow and arrow to catch fish. Brain had to think really hard about the bow and arrow being in the water because you think you know where the fish was but it was in a different place caused by the bending of the water.

At one point I thought Brain would have given up completely. A tornado came through and

destroyed a lot of what he had, and almost killed him. At that point and time, even thought it was a disaster, it gave Brian hope because the tornado caused the water to move and the plane to be exposed.

 There brain was able to gather more supplies from the plane. There was one thing that I thought was really interesting in this whole book, Brian said that he was the new Brian. The line that I thought was so important to Brian’s new found identity was, “He was not the same. The plane passing changed him, the disappointment cut him down and made him new. He was not the same and would never be again like he had been. That was one of the true things, the new things. And the other one was that he would not die, he would not let death in again. He was new.” That sentence shows that Brain has made a transition from old too new, and I think was a great line.

There are many great lines in this book, and many great experiences that Brain goes through. Most experiences, we would never have to experience. I think a great activity would be for students to find a situation that Brain has gone through, and then write about how they would get through that experience. Maybe it was trying to find food. What kind of food could you find? What animals would you have to share the food with? Another great activity is to change the location of the plane crash. What if the plane crashed in the desert or jungle? What food would you find? What about the shelter? This would require some research by the students, but could be fun and interesting to see what the students come up with.

I truly thought this book was great, and kept me guessing what would happen next. I would recommend this book to students, especially students that are not interested in reading because this will keep them hooked.

Hatchet part 1

Have you ever been so scared of being alone? Has there ever a time that you thought that you were going to die because you were in a situation that you were uncomfortable with. That was what Brian Robeson, a thirteen-year-old boy experienced when his plane crashed in the middle of the woods. Brain was traveling to see his dad in Canada after he saw his mom with another man. In his mind he was dealing with a lot. Then the pilot had a heart attack as they were flying. Brain was freaking out. I was freaking out for Brain. When the plane landed in the water Brain had only a few things left with him, one of those things being a hatchet.  

What do you do when you are so desperate, and need of survival? Do you just sit back and wait? Do you make the most of it and figure out how to survive? Or do you just give up? These are some of the questions that I think Brian was asking himself not only when the plane landed, but as time went on and no one was coming. I would even turn these questions into questions for my students. Depending on which one they picked, I would have them design a plan of action. If they were to just sit back and wait for someone to rescue them, what would they do with their time? Would they need a shelter and food? If they were to build a shelter what would it look like? What food would they find, and how would they get that food? What about other animals in the wild? So many questions can come from this book and so many activities. If you are wanting to know what the shelter would look like, provide some material and have students design their shelter. To make it hard have them consider rain or other weather elements. Also have them write or tell why they built the shelter the way they did; make it so they have to think about it.

This book kept me interesting and wanting to keep on reading, so I could see what happened to Brian. This is a great book to make predictions with.

There is one line in the first half of the book that I loved. Brian was thinking about what Perpich use to tell him, “You are your most valuable asset. Don’t forget that. You are the best thing you have.” I thought this line was great because you are one of the most valuable asset you can have while surviving. Thinking quick on your feet, and thinking about every situation either before or after something happens is important. I think this is a great quote for students and one that should be talk about with the class. Some students have different assets to them. Some are more physical that could, most likely build the shelter or move logs. While others are more of the visual, they can see what the shelter could look like before they actually build it. I can see a teacher putting this together as a project. A group of students is stranded in the forest each of you has a different job. What job would you have and why? I think that would be really fun and great interaction among students.

The BFG part 2

       There are so many quotable moments in the BFG. One of my favorites is, “Giants is also making rules. Their rules is not suiting the human beans. Everybody is making is making his own rules to suit himself.” This is a great line that can lead into a great lesson. You can talk to students about respect and selfishness. There are so many different character traits that lessens can be designed around like bullying, and you talk about the BFG getting bullied by the other Giants.

     Another character trait that you can talk about is courage. Sophie wanted to tell someone about the giants so they could not hurt or kill any more children. It took a lot of courage for the BFG to trust Sophie with her plan to tell the Queen of England about the giants. The Queen and the people of England could have turned against the BFG. Other people besides Sophie, don’t know that he can be trusted to not eat anyone. Trust is another big character trait because Sophie had to trust the BFG to not harm her, and the BFG had to trust everyone else.

      Besides character traits, I love the imagination and creativity not only from the author, but from the characters he created in this book. When the BFG and Sophie went to England to talk to the Queen and the Queen invited them to eat breakfast the butler, Mr. Tibbs, used his imagination. Mr. Tibbs used a grand piano, four clocks, and a ping pong table to create a table for the BFG. I think that it would be a great lesson for students to use their imagination to create a structure for a giant. This would include math to figure out measurement, like “how tall would a table have to be for a giant to eat at?”

       For a teacher there are great lessons, but for students it is a great book. The book would keep students interested, some parts would make them laugh. While other parts will make them upset with the consent bullying. There are so many great parts of this book that many students would want to pick this book up again and again.

The BFG part 1

     Oh how I love this book it gives so many great lessons for kids. This book is sweet and engaging, not only for me, but could be for students. Form the title of the book you know that the big friendly giant was going to be friendly, but when he showed up to take Sophie, I thought maybe he was mean. That idea of figuring out what might happen in the book based off of the title is a good exercise for students.

    I liked the relationship between the BFG and Sophie, they talked about themselves and the conflicts they have encountered. It is a true best friend relationship, well at least after Sophie realized that the BFG was not going to eat her.

      One thing I noticed right away was the language that was used. On page 28 the author writes, “make the giant cross.” I know that the language is different because the book is based in England and the author is from there as well. I think the language or word choice needs to be explained to students. The teacher can also use this as a way to introduce geography and culture to the class. I also think that the way the giant talks needs to be addressed or even use it as a launching point to talk about people learning English and how it can be difficult. The BFG explains his language the best on page 53, he states, “Words, he said, is oh such a twitch-tickling problem to me all my life. So you must simply try to be patient and stop squibbling. As I am telling you before, I know exactly what words I am wanting to say, but somehow or other they is always getting squiff-squiddled around.”

     Another thing I loved, is the author’s use of words to draw up images. The author uses great imagery on page 33, “The sun was up now and shining fiery-hot over the great yellow wasteland with its blue rocks and dead trees.” Doesn’t that put just a great image in your mind. Also, a great way to show students that they can put this style and images into their writing.

     There is so much I love about this book. I love the funky words because they are funny and remind me of Dr.Seuss. I love that the BFG captures dreams and gives them to kids, and that the dreams the author describes are descriptive. I love the BFG’s big heart.   

      The BFG also has some great lessons that he teaches Sophie. One that I like is on pg. 48 where he says, “Just because we happen not to have actually seen something with our own two little winkles, we think it is not existing.” Such a great line and I think that you can use this sentence for a great lesson on imagination and write something great.

How to Steal a Dog Part 2

      Having a conscious is sometimes a hard thing because you so desperately want to do one thing, but your conscious tells you not too. Georgina had that same conscious when she stole Willy from his owner. She knew she did a bad thing, but really wanted the reward money. Georgina felt even more guilty about stealing Willy when she meets with Willy’s owner, and saw how much she loved Willy. When Georgina thought that she would get reward money, but found out that Willy’s owner was not rich like she thought, was a very sad part of the book. That part of the book was a good lesson for Georgina, and even students, that even though people look like they have a lot of money or even look like they have a good life, does not mean that it is the truth. Georgina had that same situation with the students at her school, she wanted them to think that she still lived in her house, and still had a loving family with a dad, but that was not the truth.    

      I thought that adding in Mookie to the book was great because he was teaching her without actually saying anything. He was like her conscious, and when he started talking about Willy not being at home, you could tell that Georgina was upset about what she had done. Mookie also showed Georgina that even if you do not have a lot, you can still be happy and help others along the way. Even though the book never stated that Mookie fixed Georgina’s mom’s car, you could figure it out from the context clues. Which is something that students should be taught about.  Teachers can use the context clues to help figure out different scenarios in this book and many others.  I also thought it was funny that Mookie would share food with Willy because it was horrible sounding food like liver, but Willy still at the food. Mookie had such a good heart to help Georgina, her mom, and Willy, when he did not have to.

      The one part of the book that I did not like was the way Georgina treated her little brother, Toby. Georgina stated in the book that toby was dumb for being in third grade, but he was actually the smart one. Toby wanted to return Willy from the beginning, he also kept on asking the questions that Georgina never thought about, and questions the reader could be asking.

      This is a great book for students to get an understanding of homelessness, and stealing. It also teaches students to help others even when you do not get the recognition, like when Mookie fixed the car. I hope that students like this book like I did because this book has heart, and great lessons.