So What Is This #throwdown Thing Anyway?

Many of you who happen across this blog post will probably know that my students have engaged in 2 different #throwdown challenges with my Sister Classroom, Mrs. Heise’s class in Wisconsin. Jillian (the aforementioned Mrs. Heise) and I have heard and fielded many questions about this, so we decided it would be a good idea to put some blog posts together. For her amazing post, check out this link right here.

Our story begins on a warm February night (okay, probably a cold night), as Jillian and I were discussing ideas for March is Reading Month (if it helps [and I think it does], imagine me tracing my hand against the canvas of the sky, painting the picture of this narrative). We had talked about a few things, and decided to do March Book Madness with Lea Kelley (more on that later).

But I knew that wouldn’t be enough:

Of course, Jillian, with utmost confidence in her students, was not going to back down from such a challenge. And thus #throwdown was born.

The rules are simple:

1. Any book completed by a student in the month of March counts
2. Graphic novels count as 1/2 books (later revised for #throwdown2)
3. The winning classroom will be based on average books read per student, not total number of books

This was a fantastic contest, and our combined 46 students read 208.5 books for over 4 and a half per student! Unfortunately, my students came up a bit on the short end, and we went down 4.19 books/student to 4.9 for Jillian’s students. I’m told they enjoyed their Mackinac Island Fudge prize.

We had so much fun, we decided to do it again. We decided, on April 24th, to begin #throwdown2 on April 25th. So from April 25th until May 24th, our students competed in #throwdown2. This one had slightly different rules for counting books:

1. Novels in verse count as 1/2 books
2. Graphic novels count as 1/4 books
3. Chapter books below grade level count as 1/2 books (henceforth known as the “Geronimo Stilton Rule”)

This one was ridiculous. I figured the March numbers were high because of some long weekends and elevated time reading in class. We flat-out destroyed those numbers — and this with more restrictions! Our students read a total of 262 books, for 5.7 books/student. My classroom ended up on top this time (WOO!) by an average of 6 books/student to 5.36 for Mrs. Heise’s students. The students had a blast, being sure to remind me to do a count when they had finished a book, and really getting excited about their reading.

Now, in March, our classrooms competed in March Book Madness (MBM), as mentioned above. This was a wildly popular (my classroom, my assessment of popularity — don’t you counter me on this one!) tournament of fictional characters voted on by our students. Innocently enough, Jillian tweeted this:

And thus was born a competition between the teachers. We filled out brackets NCAA-prediction style, and this became a #throwdown of sorts for the teachers — a #teacherthrowdown. It was fun to watch as the winner we BOTH chose (Katniss) went down in the first round, and we could see our brackets fall to pieces before our eyes.

For #throwdown2, though, Jillian (I think it was her) suggested we also compete in a head-to-head reading challenge. Same rules as the students. A true #teacherthrowdown.

Something magical happened here. May is an insanely busy time for most teachers, and I know neither of us are the exception to this. Jillian had field trips going on and all kinds of grading and planning. I had poetry units to grade, a debate unit to figure out (my little brother has been wanting to come in and debate my students about the value of reading all year — but that’s another post for another time [maybe]), and the biggest thing: 8th grade graduation to plan. There’s usually not much time to breathe. But then there’s the magic of #teacherthrowdown. I started to chisel away time to read. 10 minutes of planning left — not enough time to begin grading another assignment? Time to read. Need to relax at the end of the day? TV’s going off — it’s time to read. Heading up north with the parents to see the little brother graduate college? I brought more books than shirts.

So what is this #throwdown thing? It’s a fun, loosely competitive way to get students excited about reading. The school year’s wrapping up, but if you’re a teacher reading this post, you need to try this next year. Find a classroom to do it with — or do it within your own classes (but I think having different teachers adds to it). But whatever you do, give it a whirl. It’s a blast.

And one last thing I couldn’t find a way to work in above: the students (for the most part) did not just read “easy” books or anything. They read what they wanted to read. They just read a lot. They still comprehended what they read and talked about their reading. They just had fun with it. Jillian and I did, too. Your turn.

Blind Spot by Laura Ellen

I was fortunate to receive an early ARC of this October debut, and I just about devoured it. I was on a trip with my family to my little brother’s graduation (he goes to college about 9 hours away), and I was very happy to read this along the way, but I was pretty upset when I was slated to drive around town all weekend! Not because I didn’t want to drive (as I somewhat knew the town), but because it meant I had to put this book down! So, let’s get into it.

The book opens with the middle of the plot. It’s fascinating, because we know the major turning point of the story at the outset (unlike John Green’s Looking for Alaska). Yet, nothing feels like it’s spoiled or revealed because of this. I like the choice of making the hook not just a hook, but a nice piece of meat to chew on for a while.

Our story revolves around Roz (short for Roswell, not Rose) and her life being relegated to a special-ed “Life Skills” class. She is adamant about not needing this. You see, Roz has macular degeneration, which causes her to see large spots in her vision, the most notable being one right where her focus would be. She must look to the side and use her peripheral vision to see things properly. The irony here, of course, being that if she does look someone in the eyes, that’s when she actually cannot see them at all. Anyway, she has an IEP, but this clearly states that she really only has one accommodation: she must be allowed to sit up front in class. Nowhere does it say she has to take a Life Skills class.

Except Mr. Dellian is in charge of her IEP now, and he happens to teach this Life Skills class (not to mention AP History). It is mandatory for anyone receiving special needs services. So everyone from the severely autistic kid, to the legally blind Roz, to the possibly psychotic Tricia are in this class.

This class has a feel of Mr. Kotter’s class in a way. Everyone is tight-knit and watches out for one another. One student even brings in baked goods every morning. Jonathon, a hockey player is an aide in the class (Mr. Dellian is also the hockey coach, which is believable, as there is a small-town small-school feel to this book). He has got an eye for Roz, and she has weak knees for him.

But don’t let yourself get fooled into thinking this book is about the romance between them (don’t worry; there is some). No, it’s much more than that. You see, Tricia has gone missing, not long after Roz and Jonathon help her get some weed to help her cope with her heroin addiction. Things went sour at the homecoming dance, and Roz is trying to piece it all together. The thing is, her vision isn’t the only thing that has a blind spot. There’s a lot of that night she can’t remember. She’s losing her friends as she dives further after the truth. The cops are breathing down her neck — can she see through her blind spots and figure out what really happened in time?

There are so many things going on in this book, most of them fantastic. First off, the cover. Whoa. I can’t believe how good the cover is. Secondly, the characters are phenomenal. Mr. Dellian, Tricia, Roz, Greg, Fritz (I love Fritz), Jonathon. . .it’s just a great cast. Every character is so real. Some of them may be a bit one-dimensional, but it’s also first-person narration. And who didn’t view some of their friends as “the ________ girl” or something like that in high school? Most of them are full, deep characters, and it’s neat to watch them all interact. I imagine it was fun to write with so many characters who have some pretty strong personas.

Also great here is the mystery. I’ve seen this categorized as a thriller, and I’d disagree with that a bit, but it certainly is a mystery. I mean, someone’s gone missing, and it seems like Roz should know what happened. . .but she doesn’t. So neither does the reader, though there’s just the right amount of foreshadowing going on in there.

The best thing, though — the BEST THING — about this book is that it is not an issue book. Does the narrator have macular degeneration? Yes. Does that impact the plot in a meaningful and not insignificant way? Yes. Is that what the book is about? ABSOLUTELY NOT. And this, I think, is exactly the way it should be.

Honestly, I could keep going, but I’ve rambled enough already. Okay, just a little more: there were a lot of parts in the beginning that I thought “the Printz committee should read this.” Not because I think it would win, but because it’s good, and it’s a debut. I think Laura Ellen has something going on here, and I’d like to see her write more.

Ultimately, though, I can’t give this 5 fish. It’s a solid book, I really enjoy it, etc., etc. But I think it tried to do a little too much at times. Also, the ending, while I liked it, was a little too rushed (in my opinion). But really, the nail in the 5-fish coffin: comparing Tesla to Buckcherry. Come on. I guess I just can’t be as open-minded about that as Greg. Now, excuse me while I go rock out to some “Modern Day Cowboy.”

I recommend this to high schoolers and up. I think the language and some topics (explicit drug use as well as references to drugs like GHB as well as sex — consensual and otherwise) may be a bit much for middle schoolers.

Rating: 4 out of 5 fish. 

In My Mailbox (3)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It’s a way for people to share what books they have received that week (or recently). I went to the Scholastic Warehouse Sale and. . .well, I got pretty excited. I did keep in mind some budgetary type concerns. . .which means I actually put about 8 books back on the shelves. Here are the 22 I ended up with, plus some more.

Let’s start with these three:

A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata

The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander

Gone by Michael Grant

A couple to continue series I already have:

Maximum Ride: Volume 2 by James Patterson

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (really, I didn’t own it!)

I think I call this pile my 7A books group (that’s my all-female class that loves romantic drama):

I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

 Some #nerdprintz books I’m excited to have:

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

A nice dystopian stack:

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (I think this is the 3rd or 4th copy I’ve bought; it won’t stay put!)

The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner: The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure

 Finally, some fantasy/sci-fi:

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

First two of the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare: City of Bones, City of Ashes

First two of the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan: The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune

Finally, an ARC received from Mrs. Andersen:

Insignia by S.J. Kincaid

Not pictured, but purchased a copy and received an ARC from Jessica earlier in the week: Insurgent by Veronica Roth (both copies have been checked out all week long)

All the new books together, most of them soon to be friends on the bookshelves (not to mention some bookshelves in the background):

Insurgent by Veronica Roth — Student Review

If you’ve been reading this blog or following me on Goodreads or Twitter, you know my thoughts on Insurgent (hint: I love it!). But it’s a young adult book, so why not have a young adult review it? Well here, on release day, we have that opportunity! One of my 8th graders, Nicole, posted the following review after reading the ARC last week. Enjoy!

Well, I guess book reviews start somewhere, but I can NOT come up with anything good. I can’t express how amazing this book was in any words. EVER. When I first finished it, my first thought was: WOW. (I then proceeded to run around spazzing out). My second thought was: NO, I HAVE TO WAIT A WHOLE YEAR FOR THE NEXT ONE TO COME OUT! HOW IS THIS FAIR? I AM DYING INSIDE!!! I still proceeded to spazz out. So anyways, this book was amazing for many reasons. First, all the emotions. One minute you wanted to laugh out loud, the next you wanted to pee your pants, the next you were freaking out (hoping no one would die), the next moment you were feeling the pain, anger, happiness, and every emotion Tris felt. You felt like you were in the story. You felt like you were in the battles & lived in the factions. I can not express how much I loved this book, so this is as close as I may get. This is definitely not a formal book review. But I just NEEDED to somehow express my feelings for this book.

So there’s my book review. All in all, Insurgent was amazing, astounding, bewildering, breathtaking, extraordinary, impressive, marvelous, miraculous, spectacular, staggering, startling, striking, stunning, stupefying, stupendous, wonderful, and wondrous.
THE END.

Needless to say, she’s pretty excited. Now get out there and read Insurgent!

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

“One choice can destroy you.” Well, Ms. Roth, I chose to read your latest, Insurgent, in more or less one sitting this past Saturday. That which did not [destroy] me has only made me stronger.

I was extremely fortunate to receive an ARC of this wonderful book courtesy of my sister classroom teacher Mrs. Heise, who blogs over at http://heisereads.blogspot.com/ (go check it out — you will not be disappointed. I’ll wait here for your return). Thank you again!

So, the book. My initial response was, simply, “wow.” There is so much to love about this book. Before you read on, be aware that this review is entirely spoiler-free for Insurgent. I’m trying to also remain spoiler-free for Divergent, but there may be some links you don’t want to click. Such as the two in the next paragraph.

We pick up right where we left off at the end of Divergent. Seriously, right where we left off. Ms. Roth posted a wonderful help for that today right here, so go check that out before you read Insurgent. Since that didn’t exist for me, I relied on the Divergent Wiki, which did prove pretty helpful as well.

Tris and her gang are heading around, trying to find answers for what happened at the end of Divergent, as well as come up with a plan of action going forward. This involves them going places they’ve never been, and meeting new and old friends along the way. I really don’t want to go into more detail than this, but just know that it is full of the same breathless action as the first book.

Personally, I love this book. It takes my breath away (present tense, even though I read it four days ago). I had too many crazy predictions along the way to share here, some of which came true and some of which didn’t. I was angry (with the events of the book; the characters; and, at times, the author), I was happy, I was scared, I was rejoicing, I was even a little turned on (there are some fairly hot, but fully appropriate, moments). TMI? Maybe. But the thing is, this book really ran the gamut of emotions.

But the whole time, it’s a freight train barreling ahead. These emotions are fully present and fully experienced, but the book never stops moving forward. It’s a wonderful mix of action and emotion.

The writing style is great in this book, too. I wasn’t expecting that. It started sort of. . .I dunno, okay, I guess. But by about 10 chapters in, it really began to. . .I guess I’d say it began to mature, in a way. By the end of the book, it was as if I was reading a master’s work. And I truly believe I was.

There’s a lot more I’d like to talk about here, but I don’t want to spoil anything. I do want to go on the record saying that I absolutely loved the ending. A lot of people, I think, might not. Whatever. They can go read something else. I thought it was absolutely fantastic. Thank you, Ms. Roth, for this. I can’t wait to buy it and share it with my students.

I recommend this for everyone ages 12+, especially those who like dystopian novels and themes. Well-written, engaging, and exciting. It also makes for great e-mail chats

My rating: 5 out of 5 fish. 

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Remember when I challenged myself to read all the Printz Award winners this year? Well, I’ve been getting off to. . .let’s just call it a less-than-running start. I am yet to read any winners, but I now have read a Printz Honor book! So let’s dive in and see what’s going on here.

The Scorpio Races is a blend of far-away fantasy and next-door neighbor familiarity. It could just as easily be read from a haves versus have-nots perspective as a beauty of the simple life perspective (which, one might argue, are sort of the same — but that’s for another place and time), or a gender roles perspective. It’s a unique book, and one I had heard a lot of good things about. When the Printz committee said good things as well, I knew I’d have to take a look.

The story is told from a dual-narrator perspective. Honestly, this is a writing style that’s picking up speed that I kind of wish would go back where it came from sometimes (notable exception: As I Lay Dying). In the world of YA lit, I think this puts too much impetus up front on the relationship between these characters. Our girl, Puck, is more of the protagonist than is our boy, Sean, but we know something important is going to happen with them, as they both narrate the story. Is it too much to ask for Puck to tell the story and for Sean to be there, in his place, until their stories properly intersect?

I’m getting way ahead of myself. Perhaps some plot would help.

Puck is a poor girl whose parents were killed by a capaill uisce. What are these? These are the water horses that come out of the sea, and once a year, on the first of November, are raced. These are no ordinary horses. They are from the sea and long to return to the sea. They are massive beasts, and can and will kill anything in their path. These races, the Scorpio Races, are deadly. They are also, in many ways, the lifeblood of the island on which our story takes place.

Puck is going to enter the races. Puck does not have a capaill uisce. She’s also a girl in a tradition-steeped male-dominated race.

Sean is the winner of the past several Races. His father was killed by a capaill uisce. He works for the only rich man on the island, taking care of his horses — both the water horses and normal horses.

It’s tough to talk too much more about the plot without going on for far too long or giving too much away. But suffice it to say, things are not easy for Puck, nor are they easy for Sean. And they learn to help each other out because of this.

I wonder if the fact that I’d need to go on for a while to explain the whole plot portrays part of my difficulty getting into this book at first. There’s so much we need to know about the characters, the world in which they live, and their motivations, that I felt I had to be about 150 pages in before I could really immerse myself in the story. Looking back on my status updates from Goodreads, it was page 220 that I felt I was really into it. That’s a long time. Not every reader is going to hang on that long. For me, it was worth it, but I wonder if I could have been hooked earlier.

I really did enjoy the story. Some people don’t like the ending; I thought it was really good. You’ll just have to read it and let me know what you think

I recommend this book to people who like their fantasies tame or their realistic fiction a little far-fetched. I think girls would probably enjoy this more than boys, and I’d put it at ages 12 and up. Horse lovers may enjoy this more than others, so I would say they should give this a shot. I think they’d understand some of the relationship between human and animal a lot more than most would.

Rating: 4 out of 5 fish. 

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

I hope you’re ready for this one when you pick it up. It hits the ground running (well, actually, it hits the ground sleeping), but there’s no time to regain your footing if you’re not paying attention. We all know the ending of Delirium (and if you don’t, stop reading this right now! Not because I’m going to give away spoilers [I'll try not to], but because you need to get off the Internet and go read Delirium!), and Pandemonium picks up. . .well, actually not right where we were left off. We start some unknown amount of time in the future, and Lena is. . .Lena is in school? In a city? What? What happened? Where’s my copy of Delirium? Did I miss something? What’s going on?

These are the deliciously bothersome questions I was asking 3 pages in.

The story is told in an irksome back-and-forth between Then and Now. It’s irksome because we start with Now, which is actually the future from where we left off. The Then is what we would associate with the present. But it’s that good kind of irksome, like when someone teases you by keeping a sealed envelope just out of your reach. You wish they would just show you what’s inside, but you’re enjoying the chase and will enjoy the discovery that much more. I often felt that way as I was trying to connect the dots between Then and Now.

We find our heroine, Lena, alternating between finding her way in the Wilds and just trying to survive, and part of an underground resistance group who seems to be quite interested in the happenings of Julian Fineman (a 17-year old scheduled to be cured soon; he’s also the youth leader of a group trying to allow the cure to be given even younger). Soon, it seems as though Lena is playing the part of Alex to Julian, but not by conscious choice, and certainly not with the same intensity.

I don’t want to get too much more into the plot. If you liked Delirium, you’ll read and probably like Pandemonium, so I don’t really need to sell anyone on this.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I thought there were some things that didn’t quite work (the relationship between Lena and Julian [I don't mean dating relationship, so don't worry about spoilers or misleading comments here; I just mean the way they work with each other] didn’t seem genuine, the way Lena is treated by Tuck and Raven seems a bit contrived), but there were far more things that did work (the aforementioned Now and Then, the real emotion from everyone in the Wilds, the way Julian is just so ignorant). I didn’t like it as much as I did Delirium, but I think that’s largely because there’s no new ground to break here. Oliver already introduced the world, so now it’s just a matter of continuing to explore it. And exploring it with her masterful hand as our guide is pretty fun

I recommend this book to anyone who, like me, is loving all the YA dystopian that has been coming out lately. This is one that’s near the top of the pile as far as quality is concerned. There are a few curses (ranging the entire gamut), but I think this is still fine for middle schoolers and up.

My rating: 4 out of 5 fish. Okay, it’d really be 4 1/2, but I don’t do halves. So it’s 4 out of 5. If you don’t like it, write your own review (and then share it with me, because I’d love to read it!).