Few things can draw a reader to a new book like a book trailer can.
Get the popcorn ready.
Lights…Camera…Action!
Mrs. Polisner is an ultra-cool and in-touch author. She is quick to reply on Facebook and Twitter, which has been cool. We’ve gone back and forth a number of times.
While Nick Gardner’s family is falling apart, his best friend, Scooter, is dying from a freak disease. The Scoot’s final wish is that Nick and their quirky classmate, Jaycee Amato, deliver a prized first-edition copy of Of Mice and Men to the Scoot’s father. There’s just one problem: the Scoot’s father walked out years ago and hasn’t been heard from since. So, guided by Steinbeck’s life lessons, and with only the vaguest of plans, Nick and Jaycee set off to find him.
Characters you’ll want to become friends with and a narrative voice that sparkles with wit make Gae Polisner’s The Pull of Gravity a truly original coming-of-age story.
As I told you, both of my daughters recently read and loved this book. I did too 🙂 Give it a shot. Oh, you might also see this cover floating around. I think I like it better:
You can also keep your eyes open for her second book that’s on my shelves:
The author of the beloved One for the Murphys gives readers an emotionally-charged, uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who’s ever thought there was something wrong with them because they didn’t fit in.
“Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.”
Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike.
{Celebrating the books we’ve read in the past week
&
the titles we are currently reading.}
This meme is originated by Jen and Kellee at TeachMentorTexts. Thanks!
Tap to read a sample.
It was tough to stop reading this book. Partly because with terrorists and Homeland Security and spies and investigations and planned attacks, it is so pertinent today. There
Tap to read a sample.
was tons of action here, which I wasn’t expecting. I thought it would be more of a drama and an inner struggle than an in-the-middle-of-the-action thriller. Perhaps that’s my fault for not reading the blurb more carefully.
Regardless, this is a page-turner. If you are up for some action—and are willing to suspend disbelief just a tad, you’ll probably get a kick out of this one. It’s way different than Gratz’s Prisoner B-3087, but still a worthy read.
From Scholastic:
About This Book
From the acclaimed of author of Prisoner B-3087, a timely, heart-racing action-adventure about the War on Terror and the bond between brothers.
Kamran Smith has it all. He’s the star of the football team, dates the most popular girl in school, and can’t wait to enlist in the Army like his big brother, Darius. Although Kamran’s family hails from Iran, Kamran has always felt 100% American. Accepted.
And then everything implodes.
Darius is accused of being a terrorist. Kamran refuses to believe it, but the evidence is there; Darius has been filmed making threats against his country, hinting at an upcoming deadly attack. Kamran’s friends turn on him; suddenly, in their eyes he’s a terrorist, too.
Kamran knows it’s up to him to clear his brother’s name. In a race against time, Kamran must piece together a series of clues and codes that will lead him to Darius and the truth.
But is it a truth Kamran is ready to face? And is he putting his own life at risk?
Book orders are due today! Don’t miss out on the great books available for fantastic prices.
Wow. Another WWII historical Fiction novel. This comes out February 9th. It’s pretty amazing so far. Sepetys is so talented weaving four characters’ stories together.
From Barnes and Noble:
For readers of Between Shades of Gray and All the Light We Cannot See, international bestselling author Ruta Sepetys returns to WWII in this epic novel that shines a light on one of the war’s most devastating—yet unknown—tragedies.In 1945, World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia, and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, almost all of them with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer toward safety.Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.Told in alternating points of view, and perfect for fans of Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning All the Light We Cannot See, Erik Larson’s critically acclaimed #1 NYT bestseller Dead Wake, and Elizabeth Wein’s Printz Honor Book Code Name Verity, this masterful work of historical fiction is inspired by the real-life tragedy that was the sinking of theWilhelm Gustloff—the greatest maritime disaster in history. As she did in Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys unearths a shockingly little-known casualty of a gruesome war, and proves that humanity can prevail, even in the darkest of hours.
When Temple Grandin was born, her parents knew that she was different. Years later she was diagnosed with autism.
While Temple’s doctor recommended a hospital, her mother believed in her. Temple went to school instead.
Today, Dr. Temple Grandin is a scientist and professor of animal science at Colorado State University. Her world-changing career revolutionized the livestock industry. As an advocate for autism, Temple uses her experience as an example of the unique contributions that autistic people can make.
This compelling biography complete with Temple’s personal photos takes us inside her extraordinary mind and opens the door to a broader understanding of autism.
The critically acclaimed Scientist in the Field book about how one boy’s interest in backyard science inspired a career in scientific discovery.
When Tyrone Hayes was growing up in South Carolina, he didn’t worry about pesticides. He just liked to collect frogs. Tyrone’s interest in science led him to Harvard University, and though he struggled at first, he found his calling in the research lab of an amphibian scientist.
Meanwhile, scientists discovered that all around the globe, frogs were dying. The decline has many causes, including habitat loss and disease. Tyrone discovered that the most commonly used pesticide in the United States, atrazine, may also play a role. Tyrone tested atrazine on frogs in his lab at Berkeley. He found that the chemical caused some of the male frogs to develop into bizarre half-male, half-female frogs. What was going on? That’s what Tyrone wants to find out
A discussion with featured Frog Scientist, Tyrone Hayes:
{Celebrating the books we’ve read in the past week
&
the titles we are currently reading.}
This meme is originated by Jen and Kellee at TeachMentorTexts. Thanks!
Fascinating book that reminded me a bit of Nielsen’s
A Night
Divided. Since my wife and I watched Amazon’s Man in
the High Castle, this seemed a fitting book to read.
I’ve always been fascinated about what it was like to live in Europe as a non-Jew during Hitler’s rise. Why didn’t people stand up to him? Why didn’t more fight back?
This is a glimpse into that—how kids were brainwashed and used as tools of the Reich against their parents. And as we see here, there were plenty of power-hungry adults willing to go along with what was going on, too.
But there was a resistance. And that’s where this book takes us.
Talk about a page-turner! This is right out of the current news, and it reminds me of the series Homeland.
From Scholastic:
About This Book
From the acclaimed of author of Prisoner B-3087, a timely, heart-racing action-adventure about the War on Terror and the bond between brothers.
Kamran Smith has it all. He’s the star of the football team, dates the most popular girl in school, and can’t wait to enlist in the Army like his big brother, Darius. Although Kamran’s family hails from Iran, Kamran has always felt 100% American. Accepted.
And then everything implodes.
Darius is accused of being a terrorist. Kamran refuses to believe it, but the evidence is there; Darius has been filmed making threats against his country, hinting at an upcoming deadly attack. Kamran’s friends turn on him; suddenly, in their eyes he’s a terrorist, too.
Kamran knows it’s up to him to clear his brother’s name. In a race against time, Kamran must piece together a series of clues and codes that will lead him to Darius and the truth.
But is it a truth Kamran is ready to face? And is he putting his own life at risk?
Few things can draw a reader to a new book like a book trailer can.
Get the popcorn ready.
Lights…Camera…Action!
Before we get to our trailer, I have some new book news and updates you might be interested in.
First, I know some of you love the Amulet series. Did you know there’s a Seventh Book coming out?
I was scrolling through Instagram the other day and came across Raina Telgemeier’s (Smile, Sisters, Drama) post. (She also has a site!) Guess what? NEW BOOK COMING IN SEPTEMBER!!
I’ve seen a bunch of you reading the I Funny series.
I was in Barnes and Noble the other day and this literallyjumped off the shelf at me.
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pederson and the Churchill Club by Phillip Hoose
At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation’s leaders, fifteen-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not. Naming their secret club after the fiery British leader, the young patriots in the Churchill Club committed countless acts of sabotage, infuriating the Germans, who eventually had the boys tracked down and arrested. But their efforts were not in vain: the boys’ exploits and eventual imprisonment helped spark a full-blown Danish resistance. Interweaving his own narrative with the recollections of Knud himself, here is Phillip Hoose’s inspiring story of these young war heroes.
Just started Code of Honor, a WWII novel, and I’m already into it. It reminds me a bit of Nielsen’s
A Night
Divided. Since my wife and I watched Amazon’s Man in
the High Castle over vacation, this seemed a fitting book to read next.
Thanks to Holly Mueller for inviting me to participate in this week’s DigiLit Sunday, an idea that Margaret Simon started as a Sunday Link Up for posts about digital literacy at her blog to challenge us to share our technology journeys.
This week, a few words about One Little Word. I’ve seen many CyberColleagues choosing and blogging about OLW for a few years now, and over Christmas decided that I would choose my own OLW, then make a mini-unit as students arrived back to school in 2016 to help students choose their OLW for the year.
The bonus to this is that students will be TriBlogging—sharing their OLWs and commenting with some of their CyberClassmates: Holly’s students in Ohio, and Chanmi Chun’s students in California.
Here’s what we did…. followed by MY OLW.
We watched this intro video:
and the first 1:30 of this one:
These set the framework for thinking about the OLW.
Some other guidelines:
What is a word that will:
help you remember who you want to be this year?
help you remember how you want to live this year?
motivate you?
stretch you?
help you accomplish your goals?
remind you of the plans you have for yourself?
Look up the few words you’ve narrowed it down to on Dictionary.com or the app. Do they mean what you think they mean? Tap “Thesaurus” or “synonyms” and see if the similar words match what you’re thinking. Write some of these synonyms down. You may use them.
•••
Eventually students settled on their OLW for 2016—quite a wide-range of words: from BE to BLOOM to ACHIEVE.
Before they sat down to blog about their word, we took time in groups to read one of six different OLW blogs I found. Students annotated what they noticed—what was included. We then compiled this into a Google Spreadsheet.
Here are the blog posts we used, followed by the spreadsheet of noticings.
And now I wait— to see what brilliance they come up with. How will they write about it? What graphic will they find or make to show their OLW? Can they find a quote to match? One graphic that they will have is a picture of themselves and their OLW. It will look something like this one we took at the beginning of the year, but will feature the OLW on a card, and will be used in their individual posts:
That said, here is my personal OLW post for 2016:
If I’m not careful, life just happens.
Days go by—weeks go by—and life happens to me.
I don’t want life to happen to me. I want to make life happen. As I think of this new year, the word that I would like to focus on in my life is INTENTIONAL.
I’m busy. I’m sometimes unfocused. I’m distracted with home when I’m at work or I’m distracted with work when I’m at home. I want to start being intentional with my time. When it’s time to work and grade and plan, I want to zero in on what needs to be done and get it done. Then I can intentionally spend my time doing other things I want to do—playing games with my family, reading, watching a show. Sometimes it can be tough to fit it all in.
Social media is another area where I want to be intentional. I can easily get sucked into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even YouTube. All of those things are fine—in fact, they’re often amazing. But if I’m honest, I let social media happen to me instead of being intentional about using it. I could have more reading time, more family time, more time for prayer and Bible reading if I was intentional about how and when I used social media.
I want to be intentional about my relationships. My family deserves to have me wholeheartedly with them when I’m with them. Having a family and children is a huge responsibility and honor. I want to pour into my family. My friends count on me, and developing those friendships is a lifelong pursuit.
Finally, I want to be intentional about my eating habits. Man, I like to eat. Anything. I like so many kinds of food—and lots of it. I can mindlessly vacuum up a lot without really thinking about what I’m doing. That has to stop. I remember hearing a former Buffalo Bill talking about Eating to live instead of Living to eat. Yeah. I need more of that. Especially in the evenings. Getting more regular with my exercising will help, too. I want to be healthy in body, mind, and spirit, and I will need to be intentional to do it.
I know there will be many times when I will slip back into mindless stuff. I’m hoping to make a little card or something as a reminder—put one in my car, my mirror, my iPad or phone.
Few things can draw a reader to a new book like a book trailer can.
Get the popcorn ready.
Lights…Camera…Action!
Tap the cover above to read a chapter.
From New York Times bestselling author Patrick Carman comes PULSE, a breakthrough teen novel and the first in a trilogy.
About PULSE:
The year is 2051, and the world has changed, but is still recognizable. With the help of her mysterious classmate Dylan Gilmore, Faith Daniels discovers that she can move objects with her mind. This telekinetic ability is called a “pulse,” and Dylan has the talent, too.
In riveting action scenes, Faith demonstrates her ability to use her pulse against a group of telekinesis masters so powerful they will flatten their enemies by uprooting street lights, moving boulders, and changing the course of a hurtling hammer so that it becomes a deadly weapon. But even with her unusual talent, the mind-and the heart-can be difficult to control. If Faith wants to join forces with Dylan and save the world, she’ll have to harness the power of both.
Patrick Carman’s Pulse is a stunning triumph about the power of the mind—and the power of love.
{Celebrating the books we’ve read in the past week
&
the titles we are currently reading.}
This meme is originated by Jen and Kellee at TeachMentorTexts. Thanks!
You’ve seen this book on my BOOK ON DECK pile for some time now. I’m glad to have finally read it.
This was an ARC that will be born on February 16th. You KNOW what day of the week that is…
I really enjoyed digging into this realistic fiction novel by Hannah Barnaby. I have a hard time imagining losing someone close to me. I get teary thinking about my mom or dad passing. I’ve never really thought about losing my sister—that would create a huge hole in my life.
That is the pain that Tallie and her family are dealing with.
For fans of Love Letters to the Dead and I’ll Give You the Sun comes a heartrending story of a teen who sets out on an unusual quest.
For months, Tallie McGovern has been coping with the death of her older brother the only way she knows how: by smiling bravely and pretending that she’s okay. She’s managed to fool her friends, her parents, and her teachers, yet she can t even say his name out loud: “N ” is as far as she can go. Then Tallie comes across a letter in the mail, and it only takes two words to crack the careful facade she’s built up:
ORGAN DONOR.
Two words that had apparently been checked off on her brother’s driver’s license; two words that her parents knew about and never revealed to her. All at once, everything Tallie thought she understood about her brother’s death feels like a lie. And although a part of her knows he’s gone forever, another part of her wonders if finding the letter might be a sign. That if she can just track down the people on the other end of those two words, it might somehow bring him back.
Hannah Barnaby’s deeply moving novel asks questions there are no easy answers to as it follows a family struggling to pick up the pieces, and a girl determined to find the brother she wasn’t ready to let go of.
Tallie’s suffering was palpable: The aggravation with everyone asking her if she’s okay; seeing her parents tune out and fade out; desperately seeking a connection with her lost brother through music and memories. Tough to read—but an important and meaningful book to read.
One of the cool things about this book is that Barnaby used a song title for the title of each chapter. That’s right up my alley. I also had fun tweeting back and forth with her about the songs. Here is the playlist on Spotify.
Put this one on your calendar.
A few favorite lines:
• Everyone could see I was different. Of course I was, because what kind of person would I be if my brother died and I stayed exactly the same? But they still don’t know what the real change is, that I can’t make the words come out right, that I can’t feel anything the way I used to. That my heart is twisted, a knot I can’t unravel.
•Or maybe he knows that the plan is the only perfect part of the process. Once you set the plan in motion, things get messy, full of holes and unexpected trouble.
•Bad things happen, and we are not the same when they are over. But we go on.
Just started Code of Honor, a WWII novel, and I’m already into it. It reminds me a bit of Nielsen’s
A Night
Divided. Since my wife and I watched Amazon’s Man in
the High Castle over vacation, this seemed a fitting book to read next.
Wow. Another WWII historical Fiction novel. This comes out February 9th. It’s pretty amazing so far. Sepetys is so talented weaving four characters’ stories together.
Nielsen’s
Night
She looks tough, doesn’t she? And do you think she was mean through the whole book?
I want to be 
{Eat the Book} 
