Module 10 - When Jessie Came Across the Sea

Hest, A. (1997). When Jessie came across the sea. Massachusetts, Candlewick.

Summary

Jessie, a young girl who lives with her grandmother, is given the opportunity from her rabbi to travel to America to begin a new life.  Having learned to read and sew in her home country, Jessie takes her skills and travels by boat, alone, wet, cold and sick to America.  Jessie lives with a family connected to her home village and works in a seamstress' house to save her money.  Jessie finds an old friend from the days sailing to America and the friendship blossoms into more.  She is asked for her hand in marriage but puts it on hold until she can bring her grandmother to America to live with her.

My Impressions

The story alone can tug at any reader's heart, but the illustrations with the immense detail bring this story to life.  Following Jessie across the ocean to what you hope, page by page, is a better life keeps the reader engaged in the story.  I thought this was a great story to tell of life as it was many years ago when sending a young child, alone to another land, took faith and hope!

Review

This narrative of 13-year-old Jessie's journey from a poor village in Eastern Europe to New fork City at the turn of the century affords readers a panoramic view of events and people. The author's exploration of a variety of emotions and feelings provides modern youngsters with a sense of connections with times long past. There is the familial devotion between Jessie and her grandmother whom she has to leave behind. A shipboard friendship with Lou, a young shoemaker, helps Jessiesurvive the hardships and uncertainties of the ocean crossing. Her skill as a lacemaker painstakingly learned from her grandmother, insures her success in the dressmaker's shop where she goes to work.Her romance with Lou is rekindled when they meet years later on a wintry day in Central Park. Jessie'sreunion with her grandmother, whose ticket she has purchased with money saved during years of hard work is the poignant conclusion to this tale. Lynch's luminous watercolor and gouache illustrations capture the characters' feelings, at the same time recording the storms at sea and teeming streets of the Lower East Side. The two young people's spirit of hope and optimism, created by the straightforward text, is enhanced by these pictures, as they provide a visual record of difficulties encountered by the scores of immigrants who reached these shores. This book will be particularly useful for units on immigration and family histories, used in conjunction with Allen Say's Grandfather's Journey (Houghton, 1993) or Jeanette Winter's Klara's New World (Knopf, 1992, o.p.).

Rosen, M. (1997). [Book review of When Jessie Came Across the Sea, by Amy Hest]. School Library Journal, 43,11, 82-83.


Suggested Use in a Libray
This book could be used in a library setting as a read aloud to compliment a classroom's unit on immigration.  

Module 9 - The Postcard

Abbot, T. (2008). The postcard. New York: Little, Brown and Company.


Summary:
When Jason's grandmother dies in Florida, Jason is sent to help his father with the arrangements.  It's the beginning of summer and Jason was looking forward to staying in Boston with his best friend for the summer.  First the heat and humidity about does Jason in.  But when he and his father are receiving the condolences of his grandmother's  friend, Jason begins to get suspicious about who his grandmother really was, as he has never met her.  While helping his dad  clean out the house, Jason finds a postcard that appeared to be taped and hidden in an old desk.  He also receives a strange phone call telling him to look closer at the postcard.  Jason is baffled and just wants to go home!  After a little too much to drink Jason's dad falls from a ladder and injures himself.  While his father is in the hospital Jason starts to uncover his grandmother's past and gets to the bottom of that strange characters at the funeral.


My Impression:
It took a long time to get into this book.  I think the beginning wasn't as well written as the middle to the end. Maybe that was for the sake of the mystery, to keep the reader as confused as Jason.  However, had I not had to read this book in a limited amount of time, I would have abandoned it.  I did enjoy the end where the mystery wraps up and answers are given.  It just took awhile to begin to enjoy it.


Review:
"How smart are you?" Jason, a teenager helping his father sort through the belongings of his recently deceased grandmother, is asked this question by a mystery voice over the phone in this novel (Little, Brow, 2008) by Tony Abbott.An old, yellowed postcard provides the first clue in a hunt for long-hidden manuscripts that tell a continuing story of circus villains and true love, among other things. Jason also finds an old magazine with a story about someone named Marnie-a name the funeral director calls his grandmother Agnes. Jason and his sidekick Dia visit several of Florida's older landmarks to learn about his grandmother's hidden past. This is a story-within-a-story: Jason and Dia search for the hidden manuscript, and there are scene switches to the story of Nick Falcon and his beloved Marnie. How these two stories intertwine and end up at the same place is the best part of all. The excellent plot contains twists and turns around every corner, and the story is fast-paced with enough mystery and humor to keep the attention of listeners. Lincoln Hoppe creates individual voices for all the characters, from teenagers to eccentric circus folk.


Baker, L. (2008). [Review of The postcard by Tony Abbott]. School Library Journal, 54,8: 64-65.


Suggestions for Library Use:
This book could be used in a display of mystery books.

Module 8 - Uglies

Westerfeld, S. (2005). Uglies. New York: Scholastic.


Summary
Set in the future where the world is different than today, children are brought up as Uglies until the age of 16 when they undergo an operation that makes them a Pretty.  This operation changes each individual into a beautiful being with bright eyes, full lips and the perfect skin.  Tally Youngblood anxiously awaits her 16th birthday in order to join her best friend, Perris, in the city of Prettyville.  During her wait Tally meets Shay, another ugly who will turn 16 the same day as Tally.  Tally and Shay build a great friendship learning to hover board and playing tricks on other Uglies. Days before their 16th birthday Shay tells Tally of her plan to leave the city and not have the operation.  Shay escapes to the join the Smokies, a rebellion group that lives beyond the ruins of the Rusties (who the reader concludes is the people of today).  Shay leaves Tally with a poem of clues telling Tally how to reach Shay if she changes her mind and wants to leave before her operation.  On her 16th birthday Tally eagerly awaits her surgery but is taken to the Specials and told she will not receive the surgery until she leads the Specials to the Smokies - a group they have been attempting to find for years.  After days of turmoil, Tally decides to help the Specials so she can become a Pretty and join Perris.  Tally is prepared for  many days of traveling and sets off to follow the poem Shay left her.  Tally finds the Smokies and joins them, but is it a rebellion group that keeps people there against their will, as the Specials said or do the Smokies have reason to believe everyone is beautiful without surgery?  Tally begins to see that life away from the city is hard work, but not what the Specials made it out to be. Tally decides to remain with the Smokies and destroy the communication device the Specials provided her but her plan back fires and causes the Smokie's village to be ambushed by the Specials.  


My Impressions

The book started off slow, setting the stage for the futuristic way of life in Uglyville and Prettyville.  Establishing characters and setting was important or the rest of the book would never make sense.  However, the process of establishing took awhile and almost caused me to not continue reading.  Once the author has provided a firm setting the book picks up and the reader can put themselves in Tally's shoes and the world she lives in.  I enjoyed the book tremendously and look forward to reading the other two in the series.  These types of books makes you wonder if this is where the world could end up - so albeit fantasy, one could see materialism taking shape in the manner Westerfeld has written.

Review
Tally Youngblood lives in a futuristic society that acculturates its citizens to believe that they are ugly until age 16 when they'll undergo an operation that will change them into pleasure-seeking "pretties." Anticipating this happy transformation, Tally meets Shay, another female ugly, who shares her enjoyment of hoverboarding and risky pranks. But Shay also disdains the false values and programmed conformity of the society and urges Tally to defect with her to the Smoke, a distant settlement of simple-living conscientious objectors. Tally declines, yet when Shay is found missing by the authorities, Tally is coerced by the cruel Dr. Cable to find her and her compatriots-or remain forever "ugly." Tally's adventuresome spirit helps her locate Shay and the Smoke. It also attracts the eye of David, the aptly named youthful rebel leader to whose attentions Tally warms. However, she knows she is living a lie, for she is a spy who wears an eye-activated locator pendant that threatens to blow the rebels' cover. Ethical concerns will provide a good source of discussion as honesty, justice, and free will are all oppressed in this well-conceived dystopia. Characterization, which flirts so openly with the importance of teen self-concept, is strong, and although lengthy, the novel is highly readable with a convincing plot that incorporates futuristic technologies and a disturbing commentary on our current public policies. Fortunately, the cliff-hanger ending promises a sequel.


Hunter, S.W. (2005). [Review of the book Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld]. School Library Journal, 51,3, 221.


Suggested Library Use
Because dystopian societies are a popular theme  amongst young adult books, this book could be used in a display for dystopian societies - including Hunger Games, City of Ember, The Giver, to name a few.  However, I would create this display to be more than "just a display."  I would create commercials for each book, or have students who have read them create the commercials, to have on a continual loop playing with the display of books.  

Module 7 - Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record

Barrows, A. (2007). Ivy and Bean break the fossil record. San Fransico: Chronicle Books.


Summary
Their 2^nd grade teacher introduces Ivy, Bean and their classmates to “The Amazing Book of World Records.”  The class including Ivy and Bean gets crazed to break a record.  Ivy and Bean try different ways to break different records, including breaking glass, placing spoons on their faces and straws in their mouths.  The girls are on a quest to break a record when they start digging in the backyard.  One after another the girls dig up bones, which they are sure, are dinosaur bones.  They believe they will be the youngest paleontologists in the world and can't wait to show their friends.




My Impression

This is a cute book for young elementary school students.  Ivy and Bean are as innocent as they come and strong-willed enough to try to beat any record they can.  The characters are very believable and children of similar age will be able to identify with them and their goals, their relationships, and their wanting to show off to their classmates.

Review

When Bean’s teacher introduces The Amazing Book of World Records, everyone in the second grade vows to set new records. Bean tried stuffing her mouth full of straws, speed washing dishes, and screaming (with predictably disastrous results); finally, Ivy involves her friend in digging for dinosaur bones so they can become the world’s youngest paleontologists. Barrows’ dynamic duo is as appealing here as in the first two books, and emergent readers will identify with their outrageous antics. Also intriguing are Bean’s sister, Nancy (who never misses an opportunity to put down her sibiling), and her ever-supportive dad, whose banana bread fixes almost any problem.  

Weisman, K. (2007, July 1). [Review of Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record]. Booklist, 75(11), 58.

Suggested Library Use
This would be a book to use to create a book talk for 1st and 2nd graders who are just beginning to get into chapter books.  There are more in the series which would help build the confidence of these new chpater book readers.