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!

@h_james18's Middle Years Book Recommendations

We had a BlueJeans chat with @h_james18 last Thursday. Check out her blog post with a list of middle years book recommendations!

Jacob Have I Loved

In 1980, Katherine Paterson wrote a beautiful coming of age novel about the older, less celebrated twin, Sara Louise, and her struggle to find identity and value.  She lives in a time and place that does not privilege her unique gifts and interests which causes bitterness and envy of her beautiful, sweet and talented younger twin.  Sara Louise navigates her youth with neither charm nor grace but with feelings of resentment and envy overwhelming her at every turn.  I won't give away the ending . . . but my 11 year old daughter and I both read this book and it lead to engaging conversations about injustice, sibling rivalry and being comfortable in who you are.  I would recommend this book as a middle years literature resource.  It's not the newest book on the block but it stands the test of time.

Fortunately, The Milk!

I saw the name of this book and the author and just had to buy it and it was a joyous read! I think this would be a great book for lower intermediate students to inspire creativity. There are still many pictures in the book but it is set up more like a novel without chapters. A great transition book. Get students to make up their own wacky stories! It would be a great story to read out loud or get your students to read out loud. 

Also, Neil Gaiman has many other great books (as well as great books for adults or older students). 

- Kira (@kmychelle)

On the wings of a . . . bat

I just finished reading Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel - a fantasy about an adventurous bat named Shade, a runt with a chip on his shoulder who would like nothing better than to climb the social ladder in his bat community.   It is a book about friendship, loyalty, determination, courage and love.  This book provides many opportunities for cross curricular studies in science:  a study of bats - different varieties, their special skills and their habits; hibernation; lightening and other weather patterns and the healing properties of plants.  

"Instead of saying 'ew', say 'interesting!"

Kimara (@KimaraBee) just suggested this book, Boys, Girls & Body Science by Meg Hickling, as a great resource for teaching primary students about body science.

-@MlleBallen