The Midwife

Petersheim, J. (2014). The Midwife. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers.

Well, Jolina has done it again.  Since I finished The Outcast, I have been waiting for her sophomore novel, The Midwife.  She did not disappoint.  Once again, Jolina (I will always refer to this author by her first name since she is a friend of mine) enters the Tennessean Mennonite community as the backdrop for The Midwife.  Like The Outcast, Jolina takes on multiple personas to create a story that is told from the mid 1990's and today.  

The narrators include Roda--the head midwife at Hopen House, a place for young unwed mothers who is keeping a long and dark secret--Beth--a graduate assistant, who is a surrogate for her professor and narrates from the past--and Amelia--a teenager who is the newest resident at Hopen House with an undiscovered past of her own.  Each narrator has a distinct and independent voice.

The Fault in Our Stars

Green, J. (2012) The fault in our stars. New York:  Dutton Books.

First I want to day that I have not seen The Fault in Our Stars movie yet. My twelve-year-old cousin leant me her copy of John Green's young adult novel. I have seen a lot of my students reading this book lately. And with a title that alludes to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, how could I resist?  After reading The Fault in Our Stars, I look forward to both watching the movie and reading some of Green's other works.

National Library Week

In honor of National Library Week, I thought I would share a little bit about the two libraries in my life.

First of all, I have been to many public libraries in my life.  I have to say that the public library in my town is my absolute favorite.  It is everything that a library should be.  It is so inviting.  The children's and young adult selections are to the side as soon as you enter.  The children's section is a great place for kids.  Sometimes I don't even make it to the adult section.  I am glad that the children section is separate.  Adults don't have to be bothered by children while they try to read, and parents don't have to worry about the noise level of their children disrupting others.  The section is a big area so that children can run and play.  Multiple times a week, the library offers activities for different age levels for children.  I took Brody once a week last summer and plan to take him again this upcoming summer.  The rest of the library is gorgeous.  When I am feeling down, sometimes I go to the library just to walk around and gain some perspective.  The library offers a large selection of choices and gets new books regularly.  When my friend Jolina Petersheim published The Outcast, I could not find the book in any book store near me.  However, I checked my public library and they had a copy on the shelves within a week of the release date.  There are so many wonderful things I could say about this library, but I will save that for another time.

The other library currently in my life is the library at the high school where I teach.  My school has two wonderful librarians.  They sponsor a book club at the school and are constantly trying to get the students to read.  They host a "blind date with a book" event near Valentine's Day every year.  Often, the librarians will order class sets of books, so that the teachers do not have to use their purchasing money to order books.  These two women are always great references whenever you are looking for something to read.  They are like literary match-makers.

Ben Franklin founded America's first library, the Library Company of Philadelphia, in 1731.  America's first library was founded before America was even a country!  Libraries are so important to our cultural literacy.  I love to read (obviously) and own so many of my own books; yet, books are becoming more and more expensive.  Libraries are great places to borrow books from.  And guess what?  That's their purpose in the first place.  Studies have shown that exposing children to books at an early age improves their reading and cognitive abilities later.  Brody is almost two.  I read to him almost everyday.  His language is beyond that of other toddlers his age.  He is already gaining use of correct pronoun usage (I vs. me) and verb usage.  He has an expansive vocabulary and picks up on things very quickly.  He can sit still for a half an hour, as long as he is reading.  He is far from perfect; yet, literature is helping him develop into a little person.

I know it has been quite some time since I have posted anything.  I am so busy with teaching, finishing my masters degree and life that I haven't had much time to read anything, let alone post.  But, several months later, my life is finally slowing down a little bit.  So I hope to be positing again soon!

The school year ends in a little more than a month, so if anyone has some summer reading suggestions, let me know!

A Separate Peace

Knowles, J. (1959). A Separate Peace. New York:  Secker and Warbug.

This year, I decided that I wanted to teach something new to my advanced sophomore class. I still taught Lord of the Flies, but I wanted something different. As I was looking at the book list, I realized that A Separate Peace is also on the AP list. So I thought, "Why not?  If I don't like it, I won't teach it again."  I am so glad that I decided to give Knowles's novel a chance.

Catching Fire

Collins, S. (2009). Catching Fire. New York:  Scholastic.

Yes, I am a fan of The Hunger Games trio.  Yes, I get very excited about the movies.  I did see the recent movie.  It was good.  But of the three novels, Catching Fire is my favorite.  I teach The Hunger Games to my sophomore English class every year.  And every time I finish, I have the urge to read the subsequent novels.  Since the new movie was releasing soon, I decided to read Catching Fire, again.

Catching Fire is my favorite of the three novels.  The novel begins several months after the events of the seventy-fourth Hunger Games.  Katniss and Peeta have returned to life and made it as normal as possible.  But the Capitol is angry with the events that took place.  Now to save her own skin, Katniss must pretend to be in love with Peeta for the rest of her life.

Collins second novel is a great midpoint in the trilogy.  While The Hunger Games is used to introduce the world of Panem and the character of Katniss, Catching Fire is used to bring in the political undertones of the novel.  Katniss just wants to lead a normal life, but that isn't possible.  I would argue that the beginning of the novel moves pretty slowly.  The suspense of the games doesn't occur until much later in the novel.  Quite often, the reader is left confused along with Katniss as to the motives of other characters.  Collins uses present tense first person narration, just like The Hunger Games.  So the reader feels Katniss's emotions.

If you enjoy The Hunger Games, you MUST read Catching Fire.  And always read the novel before watching the move.  ALWAYS.  Or else the odds will never be in your favor.

The Poisonwood Bible

Kingsolver, B. (1998). The Poisonwood Bible. New York:  Harper Perennial.

Sometimes I get very tired of reading the mundane and overdone love stories.  I always enjoy a novel with a different perspective.  When two of my colleagues recommended Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, I decided to give it a chance.  Since Kingsolver is a Kentucky native whom I have never read before, I felt even more pressure.  And once in a while the novel appears on the Literature and Composition Advanced Placement exam.  I always want to find novels to recommend to my students that may assist them for the exam.  So, based on the above criteria, I just had to read The Poisonwood Bible.  And Even though it took several months to read (because of my very busy schedule), I'm so very glad that I read Barbara Kingsolver's amazing novel.