The Book Thief

Sadly, I must admit that I was not expecting Markus Zusak's The Book Thief to be such a compelling novel. As an English Major, I am ashamed to admit that I thought that all of the Holocaust books and Literature I read in middle school, high school, and college would provide me with enough of a grasp of the time period. I am ashamed.

Zusak's The Book Thief proved me wrong about Holocaust Literature on a multitude of levels. First of all, as a work of historical fiction (and also as a Young Adult text--although there is some controversy as to this text's classification) I was expecting the main character to be a young girl or boy. However, the entire story is narrated by "Death" and it follows Liesel, a German girl living during the Holocaust. When she is brought to live with foster p

arents who struggle to make ends meet, Liesel tries to have a carefree childhood but faces many obstacles. Although the story was narrated by Death, the other characters I read about were round, complex characters.

If you want to hear Zusak explaining his inspiration for penning The Book Thief, please watch the following YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7B8ioiZz7M

The Book Thief is a must-read! No matter how many texts you have read that take place during this time period, none can compare to the emotional rollercoater that you will experience while reading Zusak's masterpiece!

Building Up My Young Adult Lit Arsenal

Next semester at TCNJ (my final semester at TCNJ! YIKES!) I will be taking LIT 310. Translation: Lit for Young Readers with Dr. Meixer. Student teaching in a middle school this semester made me realize that I need to quickly expand my arsenal of Young Adult authors and novels so that I can provide reading recommendations to my students. This past semester, the students were the ones recommending most of the books to me! Oh the irony!

Courtesy of my students I have now grown to love Suzanne Collins and The Hunger Games trilogy. I even made my very own book trailer for the first novel, The Hunger Games, which I shared with my students. (You can view my book trailer at the following link: Ms. C's Hunger Games Book Trailer.)

Anyway, the 16 books that I will be reading with Dr. Meixner for LIT 310 are (in no particular order):

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Love that Dog by Sharon Creech
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold by Francesca Lia Block
• Pedro and Me by Winick (a graphic novel)
• Poetry Speaks Who I Am by Paschen (poetry anthology)
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
• The Skin I'm In by Sharon Flake
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
• Thirteen by Howe (short story collection)
• Getting Away with Murder by Crowe
• The Misfits by James Howe
• The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

I've already read a bunch of these novels, but I'm looking forward to reading them from a new perspective: that of a future English teacher. I particularly like how the novels span from elementary level texts to high school level texts.

I'm especially excited to read Markus Zusak's The Book Thief. My former seventh and eighth grade students will be reading that novel in the spring.

It's safe to say I will definitely add to my YA Lit arsenal after taking this class.

Digital Book Trailers

I am so proud of my students for creating incredible digital book trailers for their last Book Talks. Rather than forcing the students to all write a summary of the book to share with the class, I let the students unleash their creativity for this assignment. Click on the following link to view one of my student's incredible book trailers:

Student-created book trailer for I Heart You, You Haunt Me

Mull and Shusterman at NCTE

Video of Neal Shusterman

(reading Bruiser excerpt)

At the NCTE Convention in Orlando, one of my favorite sessions that I attended was an Author Strand session, featuring Young Adult authors, Brandon Mull and Neal Shusterman. Click on the above video link to watch a clip of Neal Shusterman reading the opening pages from his novel, Bruiser.

Afterwards, I had the pleasure of meeting Brandon Mull and Neal Shusterman, both of whom signed copies of their books for me. I was even lucky enough to receive an advance copy of Mull's newest novel, Beyonders, which isn't scheduled for publication until 2011.

Brandon Mull signing a copy of Beyonders for me.

Neal Shusterman signing a copy of Everlost for me.

Countdown to NCTE Orlando

Only three more days until sunny Orlando for four magical days of professional development in the heart of Disney! Now that I have flipped through the nearly 400-page digital convention booklet, I have determined which sessions I most want to attend. Below is what my tentative NCTE Orlando schedule looks like for the first two days of the convention:

NCTE 2010

Orlando (11/18-11/21)

Thursday, November 18^th

- Check-in at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort. Take shuttle to Disney Coronado Springs for Convention.

- Universal Studios after 2pm

- Harry Potter movie marathon 6pm-3am

Friday, November 19^th

9:30am-10:45am

A. 06: Building Teacher Communities Through Social Networking (pg. 55)

11:00am-12:15pm

B. 25: Author Strand: Brandon Mull and Neal Shusterman (pg. 74)

B. 52: A Look in the Rearview Mirror: What Did and Didn’t Work in a Pre-Service English Education Program (pg. 80)

12:00pm-6pm (ongoing)

Coronado/Veracruz Exhibition Hall

12:30pm-1:45pm

C. 22: Putting Art into Language Arts

4:00pm-5:15pm

E. 34: Beyond Graphic Novelty: Transforming the Hype into Powerful Practice

Getting Pumped for NCTE Orlando

In five days I will be taking a mini break from student teaching in order to attend a major professional development convention in Orlando, Florida. Last year, one of the most significant choices I made in advancing my professional career was to join NCTE, the National Council of Teachers of English. I attended their 2009 Annual Convention in Philadelphia, at which I attended excellent workshops on learning how to teach graphic novels, how to integrate technology in the classroom, and how to use reading strategies to enhance comprehension. Over the past several days, I have been eagerly flipping through the online program, attempting to narrow down my session choices for this year's convention. There are so many seminars I would like to attend, some of which include: Building Teacher Communities Through Social Networking, Author Strand with Brandon Mull and Neal Shusterman, and Putting Art into Language Arts.

One of the greatest resources available to English teachers at this convention, is the Exhibition Hall, in which publishers from companies such as Scholastic and Random House, bring advance copies of Young Adult Literature texts, which they willingly distribute to the teachers. Many times throughout my student teaching experience I have been able to foster a love of reading for my students by loaning them books that I received at last year's convention. Avid readers, they eagerly soak up new materials, constantly asking for more suggestions. Hopefully after this year's convention I will be able to bring back new books and new choices for my students.

Using Technology in the Classroom

I decided to add to my original introductory lesson for The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963, by creating my very own video using Windows Movie Maker. I put together clips from the 1960s race riots and social injustice, hoping to construct an idea of the time period with my students. You can view my video at this link: Watsons Introduction.

Luckily, my classroom is equipped with a working projector and computer, so I can integrate technology into my lessons. I try not to let the technology run my lessons; rather, I use technology to enhance my lessons.

For example, when I completed a mini nonfiction unit with my students, I used the computer in my room as a means of projecting nonfiction articles onto the screen, so my students could follow along as we dissected characteristics of nonfiction texts. I will continue to integrate technology into my classroom during my next unit as well.