Reading List 14-23

Hitler Youth by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

An informational text about, you guessed it, Hitler Youth. There were things that surprised me, like how it was set up like the Scouts. They did a lot of camping and having campfires, much like my experiences with Girl Scouts. It wasn't meant to be the atrocity it became, but then, neither did Germany as a whole at that time.

Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer

Poetry based on fairy tales. Two poems per fairy tale, as well as two pictures per fairy tale. The pictures are meant to mirror each other. The poems are written using the exact same words, but backward.

The Three Pigs by David Wiesner

Basically, the same story we all know, but with a twist. The pigs end up in other nursery rhymes and stories, make friends with the characters, and bring them back to their own story to defeat the Wolf.

Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet

This is the story of puppeteer Tony Sarg, and how he came up with the idea of the floats used in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

Spiders by Nic Bishop

An informational text about spiders. Awesome pictures. Even if you are not a fan of spiders, you can appreciate these pictures.

Primates by Jim Ottaviani

An informational text in the style of a graphic novel. In this case, it is about Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Birute Galdikas and their contributions to the study of primates.

It's So Amazing by Robie Harris

I had a hard time getting my hands on this one, and, frankly, I could have done without reading this one. It is about the facts of life, including how babies are made, menstruation, circumcision, adoption, STD's, and love. Unfortunately, this book will stick with me because I am scarred for life from some of the illustrations. Naked, hairy cartoon me. Old cartoon women with saggy boobs. Come on! No child needs to see that!

My Teacher is a Monster by Peter Brown

Robert thinks his teacher is a monster until he sees her one day in the park, and they hang out. He begins to see her as a regular person, until they are back in the classroom.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Honestly, when I saw the size of this book, I started cursing my professor. It's 620 pages, and I have this long-ass reading list. I am generally not bothered by the length of a book, but, again, I have a long-ass reading list. My school librarian pointed out it wasn't truly that long, and I would knock it out in no time. She was right; I finished in about an hour and a half.

This is the story of Rose in 1927, told mostly in pictures. And the pictures! Simply stunning! Rose is 12, has a fascination with an actress (who turns out to be her mother), and is deaf. She runs away from home because her father is overbearing, and they think she can't make it in the world because she is deaf. She finds her older brother in New York, and he helps her find her way in the world.

This is also the story of Ben, who is partially deaf (until he is truck by lightning through the phone, which makes him totally deaf), almost twelve, living in Minnesota, who has recently lost his mother. He finds some clues the night he is struck by lightning of the father he's never known. He runs away from the hospital to New York to find his father. While there, he sees some of his father's work in the Natural History Museum, and makes a friend. In his search, he meets Rose, who turns out to be his grandmother.

Lovely story that made me cry a little.