Module 9: Paper Daughter

Title: Paper Daughter
Author: Jeanette Ingold

Summary:
This story is about a journalist name Steven Chen who while working on a story for the newspaper was killed by a hit and run car that was never located. His daughter Maggie Chen who is now an intern for the Herald Newspaper is  seeking for his real identity as she finds out a lot of missing and false information about her father that he created himself. The school that he attended has no record of him and the one friend Mr. Bill Ames that he went to school with have no idea where he came from and cannot remember if he has any family members who live close by. The only lead Maggie has are some old photos of her father that he kept in his file, but even that she wasn't sure if any answers would come out of it. While working with her partner Harrison on a very important story, the case on her father re-opens up again because of the way he died. Thinking that her father was in trouble and would be involved with criminal and bribery, Maggie sets out to find the truth and look for reasons of why he was killed at an area that he wasn't even familiar with. She's confused and can't believe why her father would make up lies and not tell her and her mother the real truth about his family and where he came from. She believes that her father had lived in California and have traced back his roots with the Chinese immigrants, so her searches take her to the Chinese down town area. She finally comes up with clues that leads her to Mr. Li's house asking him for help. Although he can't help her at first she returns a second time with photos of a girl that somehow resembles herself. She receives a call from Jillian, a friend and also an intern at the same place of work telling her that her dad has been cleared, and that it was someone else that was being blackmailed. Maggie is relieved to hear the good news, as shes still standing there before Mr. Li, he decides to finally tell her everything he knows. When she gets home she tells her mother everything and they both decide to invite Mr. Li and his nephew along with his parents. Maggie have come to know that Mr. Li is indeed her great grand-father, and is very happy not only for herself but also for her proud father. She and Jillian are planning to go on a shopping spree for bathing suits so they could go on a vacation with her other friends Bett and Aimee.

Biography:
Ingold, J. (2010). Paper Daughter. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing

My Impression:
I was very impressed with this story line as this story took me back to how people especially immigrants from other countries were treated very badly and so it made them want to leave their country. Leaving behind parents and children for better life elsewhere. I admired how this hardworking Chinese man wanted to make a better living for himself, his wife and daughter, but still wanted to find out where he came from. The author tells a great story line of how even though Mr. Chen had a good job and raised a good family still had the urgency to try and look for his parents. Example: Here in our Island we have a lot of the Western Samoan people come for 3 days permit to visit their families or for business meetings, sometimes they would just come to do shopping, but when they get here they decide to stay. Their documents are not done properly and they end up not wanting to go back. The only problem will be for these individuals not to get into any trouble or create any problems because if it does happen, immigration or police will be called in and they will get caught, especially if they are over stayers. These people come here to American Samoa to work so they can take care of their families back in Western Samoa. I liked how Maggie wanted to clear her fathers name, doing a lot of searching yet at the end was able to meet the family that her father always wanted to meet.

Professional Review:

Voice of Youth Advocates
( October 01, 2010; 9780152055073 )

Historical fiction, mystery, and realistic fiction weave together to create an enjoyable read in Paper Daughter. Maggie Chen is a teenage girl coping with the recent death of her father, a summer internship at a local newspaper, and a local political crime that creates questions about her identity. As Maggie begins dealing with each of these events, the world as she knows it starts to unravel. Her father was a noted reporter with an impressive educational pedigree, or so she thought. Although Maggie is Chinese American, she knows little about what happened to the Chinese as they immigrated to Seattle in the early 1900s. Her investigation into the political crime and the hit-and-run death of her father parallel her discovery of his real life as an orphan; her great grandfather, a paper son, whom she never knew; and a glimpse into their history. This glimpse helps Maggie understand her heritage, herself, and her family a little better. Jeanette Ingold does an excellent job of weaving these stories together and making it seem as though they could be happening today. This is an enjoyable read with a wealth of information about the history of Chinese Americans. The author's notes and Internet sources are assets to the reader. This would make a good book club or novel study book.-Lona Trulove.

Review retrieve from:
Bowker Books in Print

Use in Library:
I would use this book in the library for students to have an open discussion on ethnic groups. Discuss why do some people leave their countries and families to go elsewhere. History and culture are also important issues where other people cannot leave, which is more important.  

Image from: http://www.jeanetteingold.com/

Module 8: Insurgent

Title: Insurgent

Author: Veronica Roth

Summary:
This is an extra ordinary story line that elaborates on characters seeking for revenge in order to eliminate enemies that have been trying to break their factions and to completely destroy what is left. Tris Prior must never let her guard down or she will lose everything that she has worked hard for. Working and disguising herself under the Abnegation factor, Tris must make the right choice in choosing who to trust so she can find out the real reason why her father died. Mocked as a Dauntless traitor she maintains a close relationship with her boyfriend Tobias. Although she can't really rely on anyone for information, she rally's on her strength and power to seek out those who want to take over the entire world. With many obstacles along the way, Tris decides to confront those whom she feels are waiting to destroy their faction by starting a war. Jeanine, the leader of the Erudite faction has planned to destroy other factions by starting a war so she could gain the power and rule the world. While entering one of the rooms, Tris is confronted by a replica of herself and decides that the only thing do to was to get rid of it in order to survive. She aims, she shoots and it drops dead. In the meantime an altercation breaks out between Tori and Jeanie, and Tori ends up stabbing Jeanine with a knife that was tucked in her boots. It is believed that a video was located and everyone who were listening now knows the truth. Tris and her friends continue to fight for what is right. Tris understands that she must help those who are trying to survive, to bring peace, comfort, and freedom.

Biography:
Roth, Veronica. (2012). Insurgent. New York, NY: Katherine Tegen Books.

My Impressions:
I am very impressed with this book because not only the author is young but her story line is great. Her imagination that she puts in her work is tremendously expressed throughout the characters that she uses. Ms. Roth has released another captivating story tantalizing her audiences with a unique writing style of suspense and thrilling actions in surviving the torments of war. The readers will enjoy reading this story especially as the main character is a girl. I would recommend this book for the young adults as they would truly have a better understanding of how the author has written utilizing teens and young adults as the main characters in her book. It was quite a long story, but I enjoyed reading it.

Professional Review:
Booklist
( March 15, 2012; 9780062024046 )

While the hugely popular Divergent (2011) welcomed dystopian fans of every stripe with its irresistable concept and hybridization of genres, this sequel is more for hard-core fans a good thing if you're a devotee but a bit overwhelming for fence-riders. Rocked by the recent simulation war, the five factions engage in increasingly dangerous power plays to pick up the pieces. Tris and her love, Tobias, both daredevils of the Dauntless faction, are key players in these skirmishes, most of which focus upon the fiendishly logical Erudites and almost all of which are complicated by backstabbers and turncoats. It remains a great deal of fun to watch these cliques-taken-to-extremes duke it out with their various strengths and weaknesses, and Roth delivers the goods when it comes to intense, personal violence (no superpowers to be found here) and compelling set pieces (as when Tris undergoes a public truth serum interrogation). Newcomers, and even some old hands, might get buried under all the transposable characters and faction minutia, but those who stick it out will be rewarded with quite the cliff-hanger HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Divergent was the kind of best-seller juggernaut debut authors dream of. With high-profile movie rights already sold, you can bet you'll see this sequel on everyone's must-read list.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist

Retrieve from: Bowker Books in Print

Use In Library Setting:
Being that this is a very long book, I will divide the class into groups of two. I will give them a chapter to read and present to the class. That way they will have a better understanding of the story and than have a class discussion every time a group is done presenting their chapter. Students will be able to ask questions about the characters in each chapter presented.

Image from:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/113748939094895172642/albums/5783771289392526977/5802057775208513074

Module 7: There's a boy in the girls' bathroom

Title: There's A Boy In The Girls' Bathroom
Author: Louis Sachar

Summary:
Bradley is the biggest boy in his class, he sits way in the back of the class, no one wants to sit by him, as he doesn't have any friends. No one in his school and his class wants to be friends with him, and he doesn't want to make friends with anyone. He goes to school everyday but doesn't do his homework, and his teacher seem to not say much to him because he always has an excuse or make up stories about why his parents never show up for teacher/parent meetings. His father doesn't tolerate Bradley's behavior but his mother tends to do what ever he wants. His sister is a smarty pants that always wants to know what is Bradley up to. Until one day a new boy name Jeff enters the classroom and is pointed to sit by Bradley, which he doesn't mind. They become friends after a while but end up fighting because of bad stories circulating in school. But when the word gets out that a boy was in the girls bathroom, and Bradley finds out it's Jeff, he thinks it's cool and they become friends again. Finally the new school has a new counselor name Carla, and she accepts and becomes a friend of Bradley even though he didn't want to in the beginning. Because Bradley has a lot of problems he is told that he must go and see his counselor and get help by telling her what he needs and why he doesn't do any homework. Things take a turn for the good and slowly Bradley changes his ways, he starts greeting people, and even become friends with some boys that use to beat him up, he tries to do his homework but ends up ripping the paper and trashing it because he couldn't see himself turning it in. Only Carla sees that he's trying really hard at first, and she's the only one that tells him what he wants to hear. So now Bradley is a bit confuse because he's beginning to fall in love, well at least he thought he was. As other students were seeing Carla, parents started to complain and a meeting was held as parents wanted to remove the counselor saying that she was feeding their children with wild ideas. Bradley's meetings with Carla always turned out positive even if Bradley was angry, but he always enjoyed talking to her. Finally, Carla told him that she was moving to a new school that needed her assistance. Bradley was angry and walked out, but before he left she asked him for help in packing and moving her things. Bradley never showed up on that day, but soon as he remembered he ran all the way to her office but she was already gone. He was surprise the next day when he went to school, he saw next to his name were stars that the teacher had placed there. He wondered what were the stickers for and came to find out that Carla had turned in his book report to the teacher. Now all he wanted to do was thank her for it, and that he did by writing her a letter.

Biography:
Sachar, L. (1987). There's a boy in the girls' bathroom. United States: Random House Children's Books.

My Impression:
I was very familiar with this type of situation, so my impression was "okay! I know the type of student this boy is because there are so many students just like him in our own classrooms. Bradley's case is very popular even today as we find students go to school but don't like doing homework only because they don't understand. There are students out there that can't ask questions because they're shy. Sometimes kids think that if they ask question other students think they're stupid, so they sit and don't do anything. Using myself an example when I first started taking courses at the college. I haven't been to school since I graduated so everything seemed new again. I sat in my math class, I couldn't understand what the teacher was saying, even when he was working out the problems. I went home not knowing what to do, so I ended up not doing anything. It went on for days until I finally decided that if I don't do anything I will fail, and I won't be able to graduate. I started asking my children for help and slowly I started to understand, but my son always told me "mom, just ask it's the only way you can understand, because sometimes there are different ways of solving them". I had no choice but to ask, so I waited until everyone left and then I went to see the teacher. Everyday after that things started to get better, I never got an A but I was able to pass which is all I needed was a passing grade. Bradley just needed to find the right person to talk to and I think that's where Carla came in. She always said the things that he needed to hear, making him feel comfortable and just listening was all Bradley needed. It's a good story line and a very familiar problem that can help others in true life.

Professional Review:

School Library Journal ( April 01, 1987; 9780394985701 ) Gr 4-7 An unlikely protagonist, Bradley Chalkers is a friendless, lying, insecure bully who is the oldest boy in his fifth-grade class. In this humorous novel that tells of Bradley's learning to like himself and to make friends, Sachar ably captures both middle-grade angst and joy. Bradley's triumph comes through the friendship of a new boy at school and the help of the new school counselor. Readers, like the astute counselor, can see the strengths that Bradley has, and will cheer at his minor victories and cringe at his setbacks along the way. The story is unusual, witty, and satisfying, if not always believable: a few incidents just do not work. For instance, even though Bradley has not been doing his homework, his complete ignorance of it is unlikely (``He hadn't realized. . .he would need to bring his book home''), and his total unfamiliarity with birthday parties is too extreme for a ten year old, even one who hadn't been to a party in three years. Yet Bradley's need for acceptance even as he holds back from classmates who might mock or hurt him is genuine, and his eventual success will gratify readers. David Gale, ``School Library Journal'' (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution
Retrieve from:
http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:4874/DetailedView.aspx?hreciid=|5561956|6706850&mc=USA
Bowkers Books in Print Use in Library Setting: I would love to utilize this book in a short skit where students can witness how bullying and not doing homework is not a good thing. Students learn faster when they actually get up and play a character. Students can take turns playing the part of Bradley and Jeff, then the class can have a discussion to decide if the teacher can pass you without turning in any homework. Image from: http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Module 7: Olive's Ocean

Title: Olive's Ocean

Author: Kevin Henkes

Summary:
 Olive's Ocean is a book about a girl name Martha who receives a letter from the mother of a dead girl name Olive who was in her class but have never met or talked to her. Martha is surprised by the early morning visit, and after getting the letter she finds a quiet place and read the note. After reading the letter, shes feeling awkward and wishes that if only Olive was alive they could be really become good friends. Martha and her family plan a vacation that they normally do every year to visit her grand mother. This is the trip that will also give her the chance to see the boy that she likes, and to find the opportunity to tell her family especially her father that she wants to be a writer. She is also aware as she finds out that Olive also wanted to be a writer as well as an individual that loved the ocean. Martha and her grandma decide that they would tell each other things that are important matters to one another, but grandma sees that Martha is holding back so much and wished that her grand-daughter is up-front with her feelings. The beach is beautiful as always and she gets excited as she knows soon she will be seeing Jimmy Manning, the boy she likes. Although she kept herself busy, she couldn't help but think about Olive, so she decide to take something back for her, and because the loved the ocean she decided that she was going to take a bottle of water (ocean). She finally runs into Jimmy and they go for a walk, even taking pictures. She allows Jimmy to take a picture of them kissing, and he tells her that he will be using it to show his friends. Martha tries hard to get the film but Jimmy jokingly laughs it off which leaves Martha all pissed off. As the vacation comes to an end, she finds out that Jimmy isn't the one she likes, it's his brother Tate, and he tells her that he had always liked her since the first time they met. Martha and her family start packing to go back home, she makes sure she has everything packed, especially the jar of water for Olive's mom. Martha feels good about herself, especially after finally telling her father that she wanted to be a writer. She starts to miss her grandmother wishes that they could stay longer, but she realizes that they all needed to go home. It's time to leave and she doesn't hear anything from Tate, but when the car pulls out they see someone running towards their car, they come to find out it's Tate. The car stops and he gives her a letter, she is so happy. Soon as they arrive home, she takes the jar of water out and runs to find Olive's house. She gets there and finds out from the landlord that she had moved. So she gets the bottle of water and writes Olive's name on the cement stairs pausing to say her good-bye. She walks away and starts to run all the way home.

Bibliography:
Henkes, K. (2003). Olive's Ocean. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

My Impression:
I had a very different impression on this story book aside from the other books that I had read, maybe because I was a bit thrown off because the characters weren't even friends. I mean it's pretty hard thinking about someone that you don't even know, yet you get a letter saying that you were the nicest person and wished you were friends. I find that the author had to really think deep for a good writing story line, as her main character Martha felt really sorry and wished that somehow if Ocean was alive, they could really have gotten to be good friends. After meeting Olive's mother and getting that letter, Martha took the news really hard. Sometimes we don't pay too much attention to the people around us, we don't take the time to say hello because there's so much things in our mind, yet we forget that there are others who need more help than we do. Olive was a loner, having only her mother and moving to a new school with no friends to talk to or play with. I think she Olive had her own connection with Martha, being that she loved the ocean, and also wanted to be a writer. So seeing Martha in class, maybe the way she smiled gave Olive hope that she would be a good friend. Thinking about Martha, I would have been really surprised to get a letter from someone that I don't even know, then to find out that they died, I would have felt really awful too. I think what Martha did was great, getting something for Olive and putting a closure so she wouldn't feel as bad as she did. It was a really nice gesture, the bottle of water (ocean).

Professional Review:
Booklist starred (September 1, 2003 (Vol. 100, No. 1))Gr. 5-8. More than anything Martha wants to be a writer. The problem is that her father does, too. Is there room for two writers in a single family? This is only one of the many questions that beg to be answered during Martha's twelfth summer. Here are others: Is Godbee, the paternal grandmother whom the family is visiting at Cape Cod, dying? Why is Martha's father so angry? Could Jimmy, the eldest of the five neighboring Manning brothers, be falling in love with her (and vice-versa)? And what does all this have to do with Olive, Martha's mysterious classmate, who died after being hit by a car weeks earlier? Olive, who also wanted to be a writer and visit the ocean, and hoped to be Martha's friend. Like Henkes'Sun and Spoon (1997), this is another lovely, character-driven novel that explores, with rare subtlety and sensitivity, the changes and perplexities that haunt every child's growing-up process. He brings to his story the same bedrock understanding of the emotional realities of childhood that he regularly displays in his paradigmatically perfect picture books. This isn't big and splashy, but its quiet art and intelligence will stick with readers, bringing them comfort and reassurance as changes inevitably visit their own growing-up years.

Retrieve from:
http://www.flr.follett.com/search?SID=c7ba9e1be57b0b4ee5073c3401c6af0d

Use in Library Setting;
I would ask the students to collect things from the beach and ocean such as sand, shells, bottle of water (ocean), anything dealing with the beach or ocean. Students will get up and talk about what they have collected.

Image from:
http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=568&tbm=isch&tbnid=4fXEcVf4HUduOM:&imgrefurl=http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/olivesocean.html

Module 6: Dear Mrs. Larue: Letters from obedience school

Title: Dear Mrs. Larue: Letters from obedience school

Author: Mark Teague

Summary:
This is a really funny book about a dog name Ike. Mrs. Larue who owns the dog decides to send him to the Igor Brotweiler Canine Academy because she was fed up with him. Ike did a lot of things that Mrs. Larue didn't like, and what made it worse was he pulled her down and tore her coat while she was crossing the street. Ike starts writing letters to Mrs. Larue telling her about all the bad things that he was going through. He wanted Mrs. Larue to come and pick him up, but she never went. Ike writes another letter telling her that he was been treated badly and that he was going to be sick. Ike continues to write and mentions that she needed him to assist her with chores and other things that needed to be done. He finally writes and tells how bad they're treating him and he's sick and is diagnosed with a really bad disease. He gets a get well card, but is really surprised that she's not there to get him so now he's thinking of breaking out (running away). Mrs. Larue learns from reading the Gazette paper that Ike has escape the doggy detention. Soon after the escape she receives another letter stating that he was coming home. To everyone's surprise he arrive just in time to save his owner Mrs. Larue who went to town to purchase a new coat wasn't looking at both sides of the street when suddenly was knock off to the side of the road  before being run down by a delivery truck. Mrs. Larue was so happy that she threw the biggest party for her dog name Ike.

Biography:
Teague, M.(2002). Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from obedience School. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

My Impressions:
This is a great book for children. I love the illustrations of how Ike is writing his letters telling her everything that is happening to him. He doesn't give up even when she doesn't write him in the beginning. From what he's telling her I can tell Ike is a smart dog, it's what got him in trouble in the first place. The best thing was that it was Ike who saved Mrs. LaRue, his actions really gave the old lady no choice but to take him back. Ike saved her life and she was very thankful for that. Example: We do things that we regret and later get punish for repeating the same mistake over and over, but its hard for us to apologize for what we did wrong. Ike from the beginning knew what he did wrong and started apologizing to Mrs. LaRue. He also ran away but ended up going home, naturally for us we would never go back home. This story has a good moral lesson that we could all learn from.

Professional Review:
Section: Multimedia Review

Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Disobedience School. CD. 12:26 min. with paperback book. Scholastic Audiobooks. 2011. ISBN 978-0-545-31537-1. $18.99.

K-Gr 3--David de Vries presents Marc Teague's sad tale (Scholastic, 2002) of poor Ike LaRue with vim and glee. Falsely accused of being a "bad dog," Ike is sent to reform…er…obedience school. In heart-wrenching letters, he describes his ordeal, pleading his case. C'mon, those cats weren't REALLY hurt. And that whole barking thing? Completely overblown. Teague's drab illustrations show the miserable life the pooch is leading, while full-color insets imply that all is not as bad as the pooch insists. A daring escape leads to an equally amazing rescue and Ike is welcomed home. The narrator goes delightfully over the top, using the first-person narrative of the letters to project Ike's rascally personality. Background music reflects the tone of the text, and occasional sound effects add just the right touch. Children can enjoy the presentation while perusing the detailed and amusing illustrations. This will make a nice listening center, and would be a good choice while teaching "point of view."

~~~~~~~~

By Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA

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Source: School Library Journal, November 2011, Vol. 57 Issue 11, p65, 2p
Item: 525911466

Use in Library Setting:

This book would be really good to use in the library setting for a skit play by the students, especially for the little children. Students can take turns to play the character of Ike, as they will learn how important is it to writing letters when you're in trouble. Students can create a list of how you can disobey and obey, and discuss it with the librarian.

Image from:

 http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&biw=1219&bih=513&tbm=isch&tbnid=PhGuWkcbOCLucM:&imgrefurl=http://www.publishersweekly.com