Hold Fast

Hold Fast 

by Blue Balliett

Published March, 2013

From Barnes & Noble:

• From NYT bestselling author Blue Balliett, the story of a girl who falls into Chicago's shelter system, and from there must solve the mystery of her father's strange disappearance.  Where is Early's father? He's not the kind of father who would disappear. But he's gone . . . and he's left a whole lot of trouble behind.
  
  As danger closes in, Early, her mom, and her brother have to flee their apartment. With nowhere else to go, they are forced to move into a city shelter. Once there, Early starts asking questions and looking for answers. Because her father hasn't disappeared without a trace. There are patterns and rhythms to what's happened, and Early might be the only one who can use them to track him down and make her way out of a very tough place.
  
  With her signature, singular love of language and sense of mystery, Blue Balliett weaves a story that takes readers from the cold, snowy Chicago streets to the darkest corner of the public library, on an unforgettable hunt for deep truths and a reunited family.

Excerpt:
"...'Reading is a tool no one can take away.  A million bad things may happen in life and it'll still be will you, like a flashlight that never needs a battery.  Reading can offer a crack of light on the blackest of nights.'
    Early looked carefully at her mother's face.  'You sound like Dash now.'
    'Do I?' Sum smiled with her eyes, one of the saddest smiles Early had ever seen."  (p.166)

With themes of everything from homelessness, mystery, words, puzzles, to family, Hold Fast is a book I cannot wait to share with my class.  So much so that I am working on a bunch of activities to go with the novel.  When they're done, I'll put them up in my TpT store.

I'm linking up with Heather at Peacocks and Penguins to share with her Read it Wednesday Linky!  (Just cannot resist!!)

I'm off to start a new book.  Have you read Capture the Flag by Kate Messner yet?

Chalk Talk

I found a new linky to join!

So, of course, I did.

This linky is a once a month kind of linky.  My fav.  When they are once a week, I'm behind by about week 2.  But give me 30 or so days, and I can totally keep on top of it!

Anyway, Julie over at The Teaching Bug hosts this great linky; each month the prompt changes.  Here's this month's question:

IMHO, the last week of school is the MOST DIFFICULT of the year!   Kids are done.  It's too hot.  I just want the year to end and get out of there for the summer.  And it's too stinkin' hot!  Add in a principal who wants grades done and honors awarded before the year actually ends, and the stress can make a girl nutty!

My solution:

MYSTERY WEEK!

As a kid - heck even as an adult - my favorite genre has always been mysteries.  Kids don't always appreciate the complexities and many even say they can't stand to read mysteries.  *Gasp*  "It's the not knowing.  I hate that I don't know who did it and have to wait to find out," one of my darling readers told me this year.

This is the book I used.

I inundate my kids with mystery week.  It's starts at the door with a password.  These vary from year to year, but this year I wrote word puzzles called Plexers on scraps of paper.  Students had to draw from a box and solve the riddle before they could enter.  I let the kids go ask other older kids in our hallway if they needed help.  The kids moaned and groaned - and loved every minute of it!

We spend the week talking about how detectives solve crimes.  We experiment with fingerprints, chromatography, and forensics.  AT the end of the week, I invite the DARE officer back for a visit to talk about these things.  It's very, very cool!

You know those books of mini mysteries that have picture clues?  Years ago I made copies of  the pictures and made little booklets for the kids to use during mystery week.  I read the mysteries, they have to solve it using the picture.  You would not believe how hard it is for kids to use the pictures.  They just make stuff up!  Great learning going on!

I have secret codes the kids have to solve when I need a minute of quiet and hands off time.  Some of them are math codes, some are reading or grammar codes.  The codes are used to 'unlock' the next activity.  By wording it that way, my students go crazy for them.

My favorite activity are One-Hour Mysteries:

 

These books by Mary Ann Carr are so much fun!  Some of them are fairly easy, but this year's class was definitely up for the challenge:  They solved one that was super challenging!  Some of the detectives left the room when I was giving the answers because they hadn't finished yet! They were so proud of themselves when they finally cracked it!

I love this question because I LOVE my end of the year plans!  One of the hardest things I go through is resisting the urge to pull out this stuff in February when it's dark and cold and everyone's crabby - even me!

Thanks to Julie at The Teaching Bug for a great linky!

The Billionaire's Curse

The Billionaire's Curse

Richard Newsome

April 2011

Gerald is a fairly ordinary thirteen-year-old living in Sydney, Australia with his fairly ordinary parents.  Until his Great Aunt Geraldine passes away in London.  Suddenly Gerald's hope of a holiday getaway with his best friend is suddenly dashed as he is whisked away to England for the funeral and reading of the will.  Having never even heard of Great Aunt Geraldine, Gerald is stunned when he is named the heir to the bulk of Geraldine's vast fortune!  Now owner of multiple homes, billions of dollars and even a private Caribbean island, Gerald soon discovers Geraldine was murdered - and he may be next!  With the help of his new friends, twins Sam and Ruby, Gerald sets off to solve the mystery of Great Aunt Geraldine's death and save his own life in the process.  

THE BILLIONAIRE'S CURSE reminded me of a great mystery story from my childhood!  Think Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden with more action and adventure.  There are no vampires, no witches, and no aspects of fantasy to detract from the mystery the characters face.   And it's a great mystery full of twists and turns, excitement and danger that doesn't relent!  

I cannot recommend this book enough.  This is the first in the Archer Legacy Series; I'm looking forward to the other two in the series. Even the most reluctant readers - especially boys - will be caught up in the story and not be able to put it down!  I don't know if I can see this as a read aloud, however; there is some moderate graphic violence that may not be appropriate for every child in my classroom.  (It's no worse than what they see on TV and in movie, but I don't want to assume every parent would be okay with it.)  But I do see this book as the book that is passed from student to student throughout the year.  I must definitely buy at least a couple of copies of the book for my classroom library!

Buy it now at Barnes & Noble

The Code Busters Club #1: The Skeleton Key

The Code Busters Club #1: The Skeleton Key

Penny Warner

September 2011

Cody, Quinn, Luke, and M.E. are middle school students who have one thing in common: they love writing, deciphering and working with codes.  Strengthening their code busting skills and turning them into more than a simple hobby, they create a club - complete with secret clubhouse and ever changing passwords. 

When a nearby house catches on fire, the Code Busters Club is on the case.  They are determined to find out what caused the fire that landed the Skeleton Man, their strange, reclusive neighbor, in the hospital.  Soon they are embroiled in the midst of a real life mystery with codes leading every step of the way!

In this very cleverly written series, readers are encouraged to solve the puzzles along with the Code Busters.  The Code Busters must decipher all kinds of codes - everything from American Sign Language and Morse Code to Consonant Code and Semaphores. (I didn't know what it was either!)  Don't worry, though, there are decoders and answers at the back of the book.

I loved this book!  The concept is clever and lets the reader be the detective along with the characters.  The mystery is fast-paced and intriguing, and the characters are likeable and daring.    As I was reading this, I kept thinking about all the novels I love that have to do with language, words, and how people communicate and decided this would be a great read aloud (showing the codes on the document camera) during a guided novel study of such books as FRINDLE (lower level) and NO TALKING by Andrew Clements, THE WORD EATER by Mary Amato, and for my advanced students THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norman Juster.

Of course this would also be a great tie in to our annual Mystery Week in fifth grade, but I don't think I can fit one more thing into that week!

Pish Posh

Pish Posh

Ellen Potter

June 2011

Clara Frankophile is the 11-year-old daughter of  famous restauranteurs and owners of the very exclusive restaurant, Pish Posh.  According to Clara, everyone is either a somebody or a nobody - and Clara has taken on the job of deciding into which category the patrons of her parents' restaurant belongs.  When a person is declared a nobody, they are banished from not only the restaurant but also from New York society as a whole.  Hiding behind her sunglasses, Clara remains detached from the people around her.  That is until she declares Dr. Piff to be a nobody.  As he leaves the restaurant, he whispers a mysterious message that only Clara is able to hear.  Through a series of unlikely adventures, and a sudden new friend, Clara reaches outside of her normal realm to uncover a mystery and solve a century old puzzle.

The best part of this book is not the mystery; it's learning about Clara herself.  She's been pampered but completely ignored by her well meaning but clueless parents.  She lives alone, and doesn't even know enough to miss her childhood.  I would love to read a prequel about her early childhood; there were hints of stories there that could prove to be more fascinating than this story.  Clara's transformation to thoughtful and caring child is certainly the lesson taught.  Although far-fetched and unrealistic, the mystery keeps the action moving and the plot races forward quickly.  

I would not use this book in my classroom.  However, most of my girls - especially the girly-girls - would enjoy Pish Posh very much, and I will add a copy to my classroom library.

Buy it now at Barnes & Noble.

Pie

  

Pie

Sarah Weeks

October 2011

When Alice's Aunt Polly, Pie Queen of Ipswitch, Pennsylvania, passes away, Alice is shocked to find out her inheritance: Lardo, Aunt Polly's beloved cat.  Even more shocking is that Aunt Polly has left her prize winning pie crust recipe to Lardo!  Suddenly, mysterious things start to happen: Polly's pie shop is broken into, and Lardo disappears.  Alice must discover what is going on and save her aunt's precious cat.

One of my favorite children's authors has done it again.  Pie is a charming story about loss and friendship, family and, naturally, pie.  With a recipe at the start of each chapter, I wanted to try my hand at pie making.  And, yes, the end made me cry!  Don't you just love a book that makes you cry?

Buy it now at Barnes & Noble.

Mudshark

Mudshark

Gary Paulsen

May 2009

Mudshark is cool.  He doesn't mean to be cool; he just is.  Lightning quick reflexes and a photographic memory have made Mudshark a legend in his own time.   His fellow students know he is the go to guy for missing items - Mudshark always knows where they are!  When the school's supply of erasers start to go missing, the principal is desperate and, naturally, turns to Mudshark for help with this school wide mystery.  With help from his friends and a strange new addition to the school library, Mudshark works diligently to put things to right again. 

Laugh out loud funny, Mudshark should be on everyone's must read list!  Slightly too hard for most of my fifth graders to read alone, I read it aloud and they love, love, loved it!  The language is perfect for a read aloud - lots of sarcasm that would be lost on most children if they didn't hear it out loud.  I have taught this book as a small group novel, but it really worked better as a read aloud.

Buy it now at Barnes & Noble.

The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall

The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall

Mary Downing Hahn

Publish Date: September 2010

When Florence is summoned from the orphanage where she has lived most of her life to live with her Uncle, she dreams of a better life. Unsure what to expect but still hopeful, Florence is almost immediately disappointed. Her spinster aunt seemingly hates Florence. Florence bears a remarkable resemblence to her cousin, Sophia, who was killed in an accident not long ago. Aunt resents Florence for taking Sophia's place in the house, making Florence miserable. In addition, James, Sophia's sister, has been bed ridden since Sophia's death. FLorence's hope for a friendship with her cousin is dashed.


Soon, though, Florence's quiet and sometimes boring life is shaken when she begins to see, and hear, Sophia's ghost. Sophia is a spiteful and jealous girl who has returned to get revenge on her brother. Florence must find a way to save both James and herself from her vengeful sister.


Spine-tingling, thrilling and sometimes downright scary, THE GHOST OF CRTCHFIELD HALL will engage readers of all ages. It is a perfect tale for young readers who like mysteries or ghost stories. Fast-paced and intensely creeepy, Ms. Hahn will have many readers at the edge of their seats. This great book is not recommended for late-night reading - readers may never get to sleep! I will definately add THE GHOST OF CRUTCHFIELD HALL to my classroom library.

Buy It Now at Barnes and Noble