Cornelia Funke

She is a fantastic author and I loved her books when I was younger and I still do today. The Thief Lord and Inkheart were and still are two of my favourites.

The Thief Lord is a book about a group of young children in Venice who are just trying to survive. There are two brothers who ran away from their aunt to Venice and join this group who live in an abandoned movie theatre. Their leader is Scipio, or "The Thief Lord". He supplies the group with treasures to help them survive. This book is abot friendship and trust and is absolutely amazing!

Inkheart is a trilogy about a man and his daughter and he has an ability that when he reads from a book, he can bring things out of the book such as the gold or flowers but also people. But when something comes out, something else must go in. When his daughter was very young, he was reading and the villain, Capricorn, emerged but his wife had gone in and he vowed never to read aloud again. Except now, Capricorn has come in search of him.
There was a movie adaptation of this book made in 2009 with Brendan Fraser and Helen Mirren.

Both of these books are amazing and she has so many more that I am eager to read. Give them a go!

Every Day

Every day by David Levithan is not about a boy or a girl. It is about a person who wakes up in the body of someone else each day. Everyday the main character is in love with the same girl. It's a really creative story that bring up all kinds of questions of what it means to be a person, male or female. I really enjoyed this book.

Schooled

Cap, short for Capricorn Anderson, grew up in a dwindling hippie commune. When his grandmother breaks her hip he is placed in the care of a social worker in San Francisco. Cap has never before gone to school and has spent very little time in society. For Cap attending middle school is definitely an adjustment. Cap doesn't fit in, he wears different clothes, listens to different music, acts different, all in all he is the perfect candidate for the eighth grade president. Each year the popular students pick the strangest outcast and elect him or her eighth grade president. Cap may seem like the most clueless kid in school but appearances can be deceiving.

Meet the PDPP Posse

I would like to introduce some of the contributing members to the PDPPPosseRC blog.  We are a sub-set of the current group of post-degree students working our way through our Elementary/Middle Years B.Ed degree at the University of Victoria.

Pascale (far left) loves to read and hopes to share that passion with her future students.  She enjoys running on a philosophical level and, given time, might strap on the Asics for real.  She likes to learn about learning and share her learning with other learners. She holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Victoria and has worked in bookstores and the Greater Victoria Public Library.

Kira comes to the program with teaching experience already, having worked as an ESL instructor at Global Village English Centre.  She is an import to Victoria and calls Kamloops her home.  Kira loves to read especially fantasy and fiction that reflects reality.   Her bookshelves are overflowing with already digested literature.  She is always looking for new material to devour.  

Genevieve is a great adventurer.  She is heading to India to complete her first practicum in a grade 3/4 classroom in a rural area.  Genevieve holds a bachelor's degree in Visual Arts with a focus on painting. She is also a dance enthusiast and teaches Highland Dance out of the goodness of her heart.  Her favourite author of all time is Tamora Pierce, in fact, Genevieve has a dedicated bookshelf to hold all her Pierce novels.  

Britney, Mlle Allen, is a Science and pun phenom.  She is passionate about learning to teach and about all things science, french and wordy.  Britney finds the time (somehow) to constantly upgrade her skills and knowledge while rocking the PDPP program.  She is the envy of all and the Twitter go-to gal.

Jocelyn has an interest in picture books and hopes to end up in an elementary classroom using some of the great resources she has found.  Her current favourite author/illustrator is Oliver Jeffers.  Jocelyn's undergrad degree is in History which has contributed to her passion for great story-telling.  She enjoys seagull and people watching and is a wonderful artist in her own right.  

Ginger has dreamed of becoming a teacher for mangy years and is excited to be pursuing that goal.  Her first degree was a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Hispanic studies and she spent a year in Mexico for that purpose.  She also holds a diploma in Business Administration from the University of Victoria.  Ginger hails from the Gulf Island but loves the big city of Victoria.  Being the eldest of 6 children has given Ginger the opportunity to work extensively with children, contributing to her desire to be an educator.  She loves to ride her bike, work in her garden and travel the world.

Caroline (far right) is enjoying starting up her third career.  Her former lives included working for the Canadian Red cross and raising four lovely children while teaching music. In her spare time she loves to peruse Netflix watching Suits and eating up House of Cards.  She runs and cycles and runs a household and cycles through laundry.  Caroline is an avid reader.  Especially on holiday.

Self

Self is a great book from Yann Martel that explores the topics of sex, love, identity, and ambiguity. It is about a young male writer that wakes up one morning as a woman. The book is like an autobiography and I love the dialogue in it. Many characters speak another language and instead of having everything in English, the dialogue runs simultaneously down the page, English on the right, and the other language on the left. There are also no chapters in this book which makes it quite different from many books of fiction. If you liked the style of writing in Life of Pi, then you will probably enjoy the writing in this book.
Just a warning, there is a violent rape scene in this book and although it is good to talk about topics like rape, the character does not really deal with the rape because of events in the book (from my memory).

Rivers of London Series

"Rivers of London" by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rivers_of_London.jpg#/media/File:Rivers_of_London.jpg

This is an awesome series that I have been reading that centres on Peter Grant, an officer in the Metropolitan police of London, who after a strange encounter with a ghost, joins a part of the force that deals with the supernatural and becomes the first apprentice wizard of the force in 70 years. Diana Gabaldon claimed this is "what would happen if Harry Potter grew up and joined the Fuzz."
Through the books, he is learning to become a wizard as well as solve crimes and learn about what there is in the supernatural world. It is great British humour.
The books do touch on themes of sex and alcohol and such but don't shy away from letting people read them. They could start some good conversations but the themes aren't so prevalent that they will. If students are already reading series' such as Mortal Instruments or Steven King books, I think these are okay.

11 Birthdays - Wendy Mass

This was a very cute book about friendship and insecurity and adventure. It is Amanda's eleventh birthday and this is the first time she is going to celebrate it without Leo because they have been in a fight for one year. She goes through the motions and doesn't have the greatest time at her party. Once it is over, she is glad and can't wait for the weekend. Then her alarm goes off and it is her birthday again...

This book is definitely targeted towards girls but there might be some boys who could enjoy it. I think it could resonate well with some people because of the struggles Amanda goes through. Her problems are ones that many people could relate to and I think most people go through these feelings at some point in their lives.

Tamora Pierce

Sandry's Book by Tamora Pierce

 I would suggest reading any of Pierce's books, she has created beautiful, elaborate and magical worlds full of heroines and heroes. She's best known for her strong female heroine characters.

The Circle of Magic and Circle Opens Quartets are 2 series that take place in the same magical world with the same characters and has a culminating book The Will of the Empress as well. They follow 4 kids with very different stories who, because of circumstances beyond their control, come together to form a family. These would be great for a middle school age group. I created a novel/author study unit for grade 5 based on the four Circle of Magic books. There's a unit plan and 21 lessons plus worksheets etc. at this address.

Here's a bit about the characters:

Sandrilene fa Toren is a good-natured noble who finds herself at Winding Circle Temple when her parents are killed by an epidemic. She loves to embroider and create things using needle and thread and has a disregard for the station or hierarchy of society.

Trisana Chandler is a stubborn girl very aware of the hierarchy in society. She stands up for herself and for animals. Strange things happen when she gets angry or upset. This has been what has caused her family to entrust her to the care of Winding Circle Temple.

Daja Kisubo is a hated trader whose whole family has died in a storm at sea. She was the only survivor and is taken to Winding Circle Temple to be taken care of until she becomes an adult. She’s a very strong and proud person with a strong belief in her trader Gods.

Briar Moss is a street urchin from Sotat who’s been caught stealing for the 3^rd time in his life. He’s given a second chance at life when he’s offered life at Winding Circle Temple in Emelan instead of life on the docks doing hard labour.

Circle Opens Quartet

And a culminating book with the same characters years later,
The Will of the Empress:

There's also one more book that follows Briar's time in Yangjin (between the Circle opens books and the Will of the Empress book)
Melting Stones
 
 Battle Magic
The book follows Pierce's characters Briar Moss, Evumeimei Dingzai(nicknamed Evvy), and Rosethorn after the events of her 2001 novel Street Magic. The action is set in the fictional countries of Gyongxe and Yanjing as they become embroiled in war. All events take place two years before Pierce's previously published Emelan universe novels The Will of the Empress and Melting Stones.

Some of her other series are:


The Immortals Quartet
(similar world to Emelan in the Circle of Magic Books)

Song of the Lioness Quartet (as blogged by Caroline)

Beka Cooper Series 

(A prequel Series set in Tortall

 the same world as Song of the Lioness books)

Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen. 

This is a short but powerful series about 

Alanna's (Lioness) daughter also set in the world of Tortall

Protector of the Small (also set in Tortall) 

This series follows Keladry as she becomes 

the second female knight. 

(the years after Alanna's Song of the Lioness Books take place)

The Boy Who Paints

The Boy Who Paints by K. Jane Watt, illustrated by Richard Cole 

Youtube video of someone reading the book

This is a great book about art and how a little boy discovers colour. It explores how colour can be mixed and used to paint landscapes. The illustrations are interesting in that the artist has used some photos of his own paintings in the book as well as the use of collage and printed word in showing the silhouette of the boy.

They have also made a similar book "The Girl Who Writes" with the same illustration style.

Pendragon Series

The Pendragon series by D.J. MacHale is an exciting fantasy series of novels for middle school aged students (and beyond).  It may be of particular interest to boys, based on my experience with two of my sons, who both loved this series and devoured all 10 books.

The premise is that Bobby Pendragon and his two best friends must save ten distinct territories, which are not part of Earth's space or time.  Each book deals with another unique territory and what Bobby and his friends must do to save it from destruction.  But how do Bobby and his friends end up in these territories?  They have been trained by Bobby's uncle to be "Travelers", able to travel through space and time to other dimensions. Part science fiction, part adventure, part fantasy, these books might just appeal to a lot of kids looking for a good read.

Tooling Around: Crafty Creatures and the Tools They Use

On Saturday, I read Tooling Around: Crafty Creatures and the Tools They Use to the grade 1/2 science club that I lead for our Biodiversity Day. They really enjoyed it. It has beautiful images and verse, and very interesting examples of animals using tools,

A Mango Shaped Space

A Mango Shaped Space, by Wendy Mass is an interesting (and sad) book about a young girl with a condition called "synesthesia" in which sounds, objects and words have colour.  Because she faces ridicule at school, Mia, the protagonist, hides her condition for as long as she can.  She eventually has to admit it, though, and as a result of a diagnosis from a specialist, meets a boy with the same condition.  There is a crush and obsession and forgetfulness that often accompany a first crush.  During this period of extreme distraction, Mia forgets to bring her beloved cat, Mango, in from the cold one night and, spoiler alert, the cat dies.

This is a book about being different, coming of age, acceptance, loss and love.  It is a multiple award winner and well worth reading at any age although it is recommended for grades 5 - 8.

The Song of the Lioness Quartet

The Song of the Lioness Quartet is a series by Tamora Pierce featuring a strong female protagonist, Alanna.  In the kingdom where Alanna lives, she is expected to grow up to become a proper young lady in the palace court and her bother, Thom, is expected to train to become a knight.  Neither want to pursue the path fate has for them and so they hatch a plan to trade places and assume each other's future.  The four books in the series follow Alanna's journey as she grows up, gains skills and wins hearts.

This series would be of interest to middle school aged students, possibly especially girls, although there is action and adventure enough for all kids to enjoy.

The Umbrella

I selected The Umbrella because I really enjoy Jan Brett’s stories and illustrations and I wanted to learn more about her work and how it can be used in the classroom. This book was inspired by a trip that Jan Brett took to the Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica. About a year ago my sister and I also travelled to Monteverde and I was captivated by the beauty and splendour of the Cloud Forest. Jan Brett captures this enchanting forest very well with her use of words and amazing illustrations. When I first read this story it transported me right back to the misty mountains and lush green forest of Costa Rica. There are so many different things that you can do with this book. Jan’s website has some wonderful recommendations and there are also lots of other ideas on the Internet. From finger puppets to animal masks for sequencing and re-telling to colouring pages for bulletin boards, there is so much you can do with this book. The Umbrella can also fit into a cross-curricular study because it could branch into Science and the study of the flora and fauna of the rain forest.

The Owl and the Pussycat

The story of The Owl and the Pussycat is written by Edward Lear and illustrated by Jan Brett. It is a beautiful poem about two animals that fall in love and go on an adventure at sea. Edward Lear was an amazing author and painter and he originally wrote this poem in 1868. Since then, this poem has been loved and enjoyed for generations. He created this ‘picture poem’ to cheer up a three-year-old girl who was very sick. “The Owl and the Pussycat is an entirely happy story of courtship and marriage. Despite its humour and nonsense, the poem is charmingly romantic from the Owl’s serenade on the guitar to the moonlight dancing in the last verse” (Julia Donaldson, Forward in The Owl and the Pussycat).

Jan Brett’s illustrations bring the poem to life in a Caribbean setting with palm trees and tropical fish. There is a second story line in the illustrations that depict a golden fish, seeking its true love, just like the owl. The golden fish meets new friends under the sea but he can’t find the one he is looking for. As the book continues, the golden fish is followed by all of his friends that he meets along the way. Then he notices the other golden fish that is in a goldfish bowl on the boat and falls in love. While the owl and the pussycat are dancing on the island, the other golden fish jumps into the ocean to meet him. The owl and the pussycat and the two golden fish all dance to the light of the moon.

BloodyJack

"Bloody Jack" is the first novel in a series by L.A. Meyer.  It is about a young orphaned girl in the 1800's who, to navigate the harsh England in which she finds herself alone, pretends to be a boy and gets hired on as a Ships Boy.  She chooses this path knowing that it will keep her fed and clothed and that she has a better chance of survival as a boy than a girl in the world in which she lives.

Complications arise as "Jacky" matures and develops but you'll have to read it to find out how she deals with such things.  There are currently 12 books in the series.  In each book, Jacky encounters a huge obstacle to her well being (slavery, pirating, the law, war) and, in each case, through ingenuity and bravery, she prevails, winning friends and gathering supporters along the way.

These books are great for readers that can't find enough books to read.  A student can immerse themselves in the world of Jacky Faber for a long time.  They are exciting, interesting and adrenaline pumping and they feature a strong, irresistible female protagonist.