My One Hundred Adventures Book Trailer

I made this book trailer at work to try out imovie so I can help students make their own:


My One Hundred Adventures Review from Erica Bretall on Vimeo.

Book Spine Poetry

We had our fifth graders make thier own book spine poetry in honor of national poetry month (inspired by scope notes).  We all had a lot of fun, and here are some of my favorites:

I even made my own:

It's a lot of fun, try it at home with your own personal libraries or head to a library with your camera for wider line selection!

April is national poetry month

I made this presentation at work for national poetry month.  I think it's pretty fun just because it has so many different countries represented.  There's a lot of fun poems in there too, although I had to keep them all kid-friendly so they're not necessarily the ones I would have picked if I had free-range.  I hope you enjoy it! (click on 'more' to get the option to make it full screen if you're having difficulty reading the poems)

World Poetry on Prezi

Godless

On on a not-so-special day in a not-so-special small town Jason Bock makes up a religion.  While in a teen church organization meeting Jason claims to worship the Ten-Legged God, mostly to tick off the youth group leader.  But it doesn't end there.  Jason figures that if others can make up a God without any proof, so can he.  So he decides to worship the town water tower.  After all, water gives life, water is found everywhere, the water tower is the tallest structure in many towns.  Jason even manages to recruit a few members who become Chutengodians to worship the tower with him.  But soon what starts off as a harmless joke gets out of hand.

Despite the absurd premise of a boy starting a religion around a water tower, this book is actually very believable.  When it comes down to it it's a book about a teenage boy questioning his religion and the very concept of belief.  The difference he makes between belief in a god and belief in religion is interesting.  It's also interesting to read about how his friends react, especially his obsessive friend Shin who actually seems to start taking the religion seriously.  The details are also great.  At the beginning of each chapter is an excerpt of the Chutengodian holy book.  It's far-fetched, sure, but not so far-fetched I couldn't see someone actually believing it.  The narration was also done well and I enjoyed watching Jason as he puzzled through these difficult issues and dissected the arguments of his father and others.  As Jason puts it: "Being Catholic is hard.  Being ex-Catholic is even harder." 

Godless, by Pete Hautman.  ISBN: 0-689-86278-4

Zorgamazoo

If you're stuck in your room or you're stuck in a rut,
If your life needs adventure no if, and, or but,
If you love magical creatures and mysteries too,
I've got just the right thing: read Zorgamazoo!

If you want to read rhymes much better than mine: Pick up Zorgamazoo, don't waste any time!  Okay, I'm done.  I promise.  Sorry about that.  Zorgamazoo is a delightful rhyming romp that reminded me strongly of Dr. Seuss, except in long form.  It's apparently Weston's first novel and I'm eager for the next.  In addition to rhyming the novel does a lot of fun things with typography and has illustrations at the beginning of each chapter and all I could think of while I was reading it was how much fun it would be to read aloud.  I even imagined how I'd vary my voice to match each character and different typographic effects.  Another strong heroine in this one, although I think this book could easily be enjoyed by both sexes.  The book is fairly bursting with an exuberant spirit that is infectious and while not terribly deep it's certainly clever and I support its message whole-heartedly.


Zorgamazoo, by Robert Paul Weston.  ISBN: 978-1-59514-199-6

The Diamond of Drury Lane

Cat is an orphan, but she considers herself to be one of the luckiest people alive. You see, when her parents abandoned her she was left on the steps of the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane, and that's where she has lived ever since.  Life in the theatre is never boring, but it becomes even more exciting with the arrival of a diamond and two new friends--all of which seem to bring nothing but trouble into her life.  With dodging gang members on the street and nearly dying on wayward set pieces nowhere seems to be safe for Cat.  It's a good thing cats have nine lives because she'll need every one!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I'm admittedly more than a bit biased due to the book's setting in a theatre in 1790 England.  Cat's narration does get on my nerves at times when she decides to address her audience directly, but that doesn't happen very often and overall I like her spirit.  I also, of course, enjoyed the peek into theatre life at the end of the 18th century.  Cat curses a lot in her narration and she spends a lot of time interacting with gang members or attending boxing matches or other less-than-respectable activities but there's nothing really that bad about it and I think it would be fine for younger readers.  Especially because none of her cursing would be really recognizable to a child today and if there's anything I've learned it's that people seem to find cursing cute if it's from another time or place and this is from another time AND place so I don't anticipate parents having any problem with it.  The book is fun and has a strong female lead so I'd recommend it as a nice bit of light reading, especially to those with any interest in theatre.


The Diamond of Drury Lane, by Julia Golding.  ISBN: 139781596433519

My One Hundred Adventures

One summer twelve-year old Jane decides that she is ready for some adventure in her life, so she decides to pray for adventures to come--one hundred of them to be precise.  What follows is an unforgettable summer that changes her life forever.  From hot-air-balloon rides to all-night car rides Adventure follows her wherever she goes.  Unfortunately, so does Trouble. 

This charming novel seems the embodiment of the old Oscar Wilde quote: "When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers."  Jane lives in a small town in a house on the beach with her poet mother and her three younger siblings.  Over the course of the summer her mother's ex-boyfriends show up making her question how they live and who her father is and the local pastor takes her on bible-spreading missions that make her question religion as well.  She learns a lot of serious lessons for a girl her age, and while she is a bit precocious her narrative is believable throughout and perfect in its childhood logic.  A great book to read aloud to a child this summer or for a child to read themselves, although I'd say this book is definitely geared towards girls more than boys.

"It is inestimably comforting to have a friend, someone who is not horrified at you but with you."

"All our lives are mundane but all our lives are also poetry."
My One Hundred Adventures, by Polly Horvath.  ISBN: 9780375845826