More Reading and a little Slice-18/31

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a kidlit meme hosted by Jen and Kellee at TEACH.MENTOR.TEXTS.  Visit to find posts about terrific books!  Plus, there is a terrific meme hosted by Sheila at BOOK JOURNEYS that offers more reviews of all kinds of books, adult and children.  

Don’t forget to tweet at #IMWAYR

And-it’s slice 18 of 31 in the March Slice of Life Challenge at Two WritingTeachers.  Tweet your post at #slice2013

This is what I thought about Hattie:  My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter.  ~Thomas Helm

Hattie Ever After – Kirby Larson

       I took a long time to finish this, but not because I didn’t like it, I just had less time to read.  It’s a wonderful second book about that courageous Hattie character created by Kirby Larson, this time she’s not homesteading, but pushing herself into a new career of newspaper reporting, and in a time when women weren’t welcome, and when they finally did land a job, were given assignments like “best outfits for touring”.  How Hattie gets to San Francisco is a good start to this tale that combines new challenges for Hattie into a tale of women’s courage, mystery and romance.  Kirby’s writing is lovely, using the language of both historians and story-tellers, along with good writers.  I sticky-noted numerous phrases I liked, like this one: “These stories of real people were as irresistible to me as the Italian nougats one of Maude’s suitors had brought her.”  Hattie further says, “I had come to believe that there was something sacred in telling stories and telling them true.” Although this book is fictional, Kirby Larson’s research of the people during that time of the nineteen-eighteen’s, comes to us as real.



        One of the classes I work with is studying fossils, and I discovered the following two books there:

Mary Anning and the Sea Dragon – Jeannette Atkins, illustrated by Michael Dooling

           It’s the story of a little girl whose father taught her to be a wise observer.  The family owned a little shop by the sea in Lyme Regis, England that sold “curiosities” and part of Mary’s responsibilities was to find interesting things to sell in the shop.  Her father has died and it is important that she and her brother find good things to sell.  One day she discovers what seemed to be a row of teeth, and as she dug and chiseled it became larger and larger, appearing to be what folks called a sea dragon.  The tale of this find, one of the largest ever at that time and Mary’s persistence as a female fossil hunter is inspiring.  The pictures reflect a cloudy sky, wet and wild landscape, what one often thinks of on the ocean in England.  They are beautiful. 

The Fossil Girl, Mary Anning’s Dinosaur Discovery – Catherine Brighton

      This is another book about the famous Mary Anning, who lived in Lyme Regis, England and discovered the world’s first complete fossil of an Ichthyosaurus.  The format is a graphic novel, making the story accessible for young readers.  It focuses on the discovery, but mostly on the challenge of getting the rock off the high cliff, one piece at a time.  Eventually, the fossil is sold, but Mary doesn’t stop looking; all her life was devoted to finding and learning about fossils. 

Inside the Books: Readers and Libraries Around the World – written by Toni Buzzeo, and illustrated by Jude Daly 

            I read this because my friend (the expert on picture books) loaned it, knowing I would love it!  The worst part about it is that it’s too short.  Told poetically, the author takes us the reader to places all over the world that show us different kinds of libraries.  For example, one in a certain beach in England, sunbathers are served books in wheelbarrows, and in Chile, two large train cars have been placed in a park, and made into libraries.  I had no idea there were so many kinds of transports for libraries!  The line, “I love to look/inside the books” is repeated each time a new country is there.  Illustrations are ‘postcard perfect’. 

What's Next?

It's going to be Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

by Steve Sheinkin-I'm excited!