Adequate Yearly Progress by Roxanna Elden

 

There were times when I taught when I was certain no one else knew what I was going through. It is strange that in a profession where you are surrounded by other humans all day long, that I could feel so lonely and isolated. Roxanna Elden gets it. Maybe because she taught for eleven years. That perspective I only get when talking to other teachers, I got here in this book as well.

The essential loneliness of the job came through to me. So many characters going through individual crises all by themselves, even when surrounded by colleagues. Lena Wright, the African American, spoken word artist, English teacher who wants so desperately for her students to see the power of language, touched me. Kaytee Mahoney, the young, overly-idealistic TeachCorps teacher, caught between the perfection of her goals and the reality of her students, embodies many young teachers I knew. Hernan D. Hernandez, the laid back science teacher, who was always tongue tied in Lena’s presence, was the teacher who pretty much ignored the testing insanity and really taught his students. Even characters that in other hands could be seen merely as antagonistic were given depth. The assistant principals were pretty much cut outs, but I have worked with so many who fit the two in this book to a T to feel disgruntled there.

Told with wit and understanding, rotating to a different teacher in each chapter, this is the story of a school in Texas that has a new superintendent, a man who has never taught but has written a best seller about how to fix education, who turns their school on its ear. Insane initiative after initiative being forced down the teachers’ throats—I thought that the continually increasing number of things they were required to write out on their boards throughout the book was a terrific metaphor for all the foolishness teachers are saddled with. 

It was a story about people. Each in their own way a dedicated teacher. Each in their own way trying to survive another year in the classroom. Each in their own way reminding me of so many I have taught with.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who teaches, especially middle and high school. It was funny and sad at the same time. I think you’ll like it.

I received a free electronic ARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

I enjoyed this. The demon Bartimaeus was a delightfully unreliable narrator.His high opinion of himself and occasional overestimation of his abilities lead to much merriment. I liked the way the narrative was traded between Bartimaeus's first person account and a third person account following his young human master, the apprentice magician Nathaniel. Not only is Nathaniel magically gifted, he is underestimated by Arthur Underwood, the mid-level bureaucrat/magician who was assigned to train the boy, whom he mainly ignores. This leaves Nathaniel with the tools and talent to get in a lot of trouble because if there is anything full grown about Nathaniel, it is his own arrogance and need to prove himself. In that respect he and Bartimeaus are perfectly matched.

The magic system devised by the author is similar in trappings to others I have read, but with a new twist to make it just different enough to work for me. Lots of twists and turns and just enough loose threads left to lead to the next book in the trilogy. It was a fun read. I am happy to recommend this book.

Big Nate Goes Bananas! by Lincoln Peirce

I taught middle school for the better part of 31 years and I see so much in Big Nate that is true to the middle school experience. Although in reality he is kind of dorky and prone to get put in detention, in his own mind he is the hero and the focus of all good things. While he's generally well-intentioned, he has a knack for trying hard (and not to subtly) to always get his own way. The fact that this rarely works for him never seems to slow him down. I laughed out loud more than once reading this. It was a fun time and a quick read. But one I would read again just for the laughs.

I received a free electronic ARC of this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Practical Applications for Multiverse Theory by Noa Gavin and Nick Scott

This is a wild ride! Scott and Davey hate each other. To Davey, Scott is nothing but an unpopular nerd. To Scott, Davey was a stuck-up, mean girl cheerleader. Their scheduled peer mediation is a few days away, but in the meantime, the animosity just grows and grows.

And so does the weirdness. It starts with a soft drink that changes from one to another and back and a soon-to-be-dissected frog begging for its life. It only gets more bizarre from there. Reality is collapsing and the multiverse is converging on their high school. If they don’t figure out what the heck is going on, reality is over.

The authors use a dual narration between Scott and Davey; that really works for me. Seeing the escalating situations from their two very different points of view only makes this more fun. I have to admit to identifying more with Scott. His desire to just get through high school without being noticed is one I felt pretty often back in my own high school days. While Davey just wants all the craziness to stop, Scott tries to figure out exactly what’s happening.

I laughed out loud more than one reading this book. It is great fun. My only problem with the book is the sheer amount of profanity in the book. It doesn’t really bother me as a reader, but it keeps me from putting it in my classroom library. There is a lot of violence, but it is almost cartoonish in its excess. If you don’t mind a lot of salty language, and you do like a lot of laughs, I’d suggest you give it a try.

It's the End of the World as We Know It by Saci Lloyd

This was a whirlwind of a book! It took off fast and kept accelerating. The author's view of the wacky parallel universe was fun and not what I expected. For me, that's always a plus. The twists and turns kept me reading.

 I especially enjoyed the way the author handled the dialog. It gave me a good verbal image of each character.

 If you are looking for a lot of logic and a book that makes total sense, this may not be for you. If you're just looking for a good time, I say give it a shot.

Staked by Kevin Hearne

I really love this series. For the past several books the original main character, Atticus O'Sullivan, has been fighting a war with the world's vampires. A war that the vampires thought they won almost 2,000 years before. A war he aims to finish. But, as with the last book, O'Sullivan is no longer the only narrator. There are now two other druids besides him. Granuaile, his former apprentice, and Owen Kennedy, trapped on an island of slow time for the past two thousand years (and the druid who trained Atticus), are also rotating narrators in this volume. And each of his fellow druids also has agendas of their own.

It is a fast-moving, funny, and often violent book. The rotating narrations worked well for me. The weaving together of these stories made for an interesting ride. Hearne has an impressive knowledge of world mythologies and makes them understandable even to those who are not well-versed. I know a lot about a couple of ancient pantheons and little about a few others, but Hearne blows me away. The writing is confident and a lot of fun.

I listened to the audiobook; Luke Daniels does an excellent job of bringing each character, even the two hounds, to life. He vocally becomes each character and that enhances my enjoyment of this series.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has read the previous volumes. This is part of a continuing story and could be a bit confusing to those who start the series here. If you haven't read this series, you should. It has entertained me for many, many hours.

Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America's Gutsiest Troublemakers by Nick Offerman

I really enjoyed listening to Nick Offerman's first book, Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living, and was looking forward to his second book with a great deal of anticipation. I was not disappointed.

In this book Offerman talks about gumption:  combination of hard work, courage, and a willingness to go down the less travelled road. It began in an almost expected way--with several of the Founding Fathers. What made his biographical sketches of them different were the way he told these stories and his own particular interpretations of their lives and the lessons he learned from them. Offerman is a great story teller. And while he takes himself lightly, he does not take his message lightly: that an intrinsic quality of the American character is the willingness to go against the grain and to do your own thing. More than that, though, to do it well enough that you can make enormous change--whether this is what you set out to do or not.

The book was idiosyncratic in that, after some of the expected historical figures (Washington, Franklin, Madison) and moving to other, less expected, figures (Frederick Douglass, Theodore Roosevelt, and Eleanor Roosevelt) his list becomes much more personal. I was introduced to historical figures I had not heard of and contemporary Americans--some known to me, some not. All these stories were told with a dry wit and wry humor that stayed on message.

I have often thought that many of the best comedians were also philosophers. That they spread the world views of their philosophies with humor to help the medicine go down. Offerman is in this vein. He has a philosophy of life that he is passionate about. It includes such attributes as individualism, working hard at work worth doing, perseverance, a fierce defense of our American right to be who we want to be, and a fiercer belief that government should stay out of our private lives and decisions, but be there to help those who need it.

This is all told in an extremely amusing way that kept me listening raptly. While I won't be putting this book in my seventh grade classroom library (there is some language in there that would get me fired), I do not hesitate to recommend it to older teens and to grown folks. This is not just the usual historical subjects. It is worth noting that while I did indeed learn a lot from the book, it was at no time pedantic or boring. This is something the best teachers strive for and that Offerman delivers.

Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living by Nick Offerman

Sometimes I come to something a little later than everyone else. Case in point, this year (2015) I just discovered Parks and Recreation on Netflix. That led me to the good fortune of getting to enjoy Nick Offerman's portrayal of Ron Swanson, the Head of the parks department in the mythical town of Pawnee, Indiana.  That led to seeing his special, American Ham, on Netflix as well. Between that and my fiancee raving about it, I finally got to listen to Offerman narrate his book, Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living.

This book made me laugh. Out loud. A lot. It also made me think a great deal as well. While Offerman is often self-denigrating when it comes to his own intelligence, he seems to me to have the thoughtfulness of one who has spent a great deal of time in contemplation. He knows who he is, and he is comfortable with that person. He has his own strong, definite opinions, and is not shy about expressing them in a plain and blunt manner.

This book is part autobiography, part philosophical treatise. That does not mean it is dry or dull, just the opposite, in fact. It is extremely entertaining. It is also very honest. He does not try to pretty up some of the mistakes he made. He does explain what he learned from those mistakes that he incorporated into his life. I agree with many of the points he makes in this book, with many of his precepts for "living a delicious life." He has somehow managed to escape become all-consumed by his career and remains intent upon recognizing that there are more important things in life.

I would recommend this book to adults--it would never find its way into my classroom library. There is too much profanity and too many "adult" situations of one kind or another. If you like the character Ron Swanson, you will probably like the book. He makes it clear early on the he is not the character he so masterfully portrays, but the two men have a great deal in common.

I Funny: A Middle School Story by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein

A kid who wants to be a stand up comic, reminds me of my own childhood dreams a bit. As a teen I listened to some of the classics: George Carlin, Robin Williams, Steve Martin. I like to make people laugh to this day. But the main character in the book, Jamie Grimm, has one big difference from my own youth: he’s in a wheelchair.

He lives in New Jersey with an aunt, uncle, and dangerously spiteful cousin. He works after school in another uncle’s diner, where he tells jokes to the customers. Uncle Frankie tells him about The Planet’s Funniest Kid Comic contest. Keeping it a secret, Jamie decides to go for it.

There’s more to this book than just laughs. Jamie, even though in a wheelchair, is still bullied and picked on. And there is a painful secret that eats at him. He uses the comedy and the jokes to hide the real person he is inside. Middle school kids can identify with him because he has doubts and identity issues that all middle schoolers deal with.

Ultimately this book is one I really like because it has heart. It’s a going to show up in the classroom library very soon. I am looking forward to reading the sequel—as soon as my daughter is finished with it.

No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman

Gordan Korman is one of my favorite writers for young adults. He has a sense of humor that resonates with my own. And, the one time I met him (years ago), was a heck of a nice guy. In this book he takes on one of the most common tropes of young adult fiction: whenever there’s a story which stars a dog the dog dies at the end.

The star of this story is, luckily, not a dog. It is Wallace Wallace, an eighth grade football player with an absolute refusal to ever be anything but 100% honest--coupled with a complete and total lack of tact. As might be expected, the two do not make him a lot of friends. This is especially true when he writes a book report on his English teacher’s favorite book. Wallace doesn’t like it and he is not gentle in his criticism. This prompts his English teacher to give him detention--and keeps him on detention until he changes his report to reflect the teacher’s views of the book.

This knocks him off the football team where, through a fluke play the season before, he is considered a hero by everyone except himself and his ex-best friend.  Instead of football, he is forced to sit and watch as the English teacher directs the school play. Which, of course, is based on the book he and the teacher disagree over.  And Wallace Wallace has some ideas he just can’t help sharing…

Although I personally find it personally and professionally galling to see an English teacher portrayed this way, I have to admit it makes for a good story. As Wallace and his teacher try hard to out-stubborn each other, things get stranger and stranger. It was difficult to see how either one could back down without looking silly. The tensions between Wallace, his friends, the football team, and the drama club are realistic for a middle school. I could see much of what went on as true-to-life. The parts Korman exaggerates are done for comic effect and to heighten the dramatic tension.

This is a book I am already processing to put into the classroom library. It’s worth a quick read.

Big Nate: Say Good-Bye to Dork City by Lincoln Peirce

My daughter turned me on to the Big Nate books. She loves them. I had seen some of the kids in my classes reading them, too. So I tried some of them. And I got a lot of good laughs. The Big Nate books seem to come in two types: long-form graphic novels and series of shorter comic strips. This one is the shorter comic strips.

From sadistic soccer coaches to health food Halloweens, Nate and his friends rock the sixth grade life. In the central set of strips, Nate works his way into the posse of the coolest kid in school. There he learns that getting what you want is sometimes a double-edged sword.

It is a quick, light read. It is fun and enjoyable. If you have read Big Nate before, there won’t be any bad surprises. If you haven’t read Big Nate yet, it is a good introduction. This one goes into my classroom library.

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

Have you heard the story about Prince Charming?  Think so? Think again. In this amusing book, several fairy tales in which Prince Charming has a role are turned on their ears. It seems the bards are not all that accurate in their renditions of the stories. That can be a problem when the stories sung by bards are the only way news gets around.

There are actually four different Princes Charming. And each one is a bit different from the tales told about them. Prince Liam, who woke up "Sleeping Beauty" (Briar Rose), is a slandered hero. Prince Frederic, who danced with Cinderella, is a bit delicate. Prince Duncan, of Snow White fame, is, well, I mean isn't all there--really nice guy, though. And Prince Gustav, who was rescued by Rapunzel, needs to prove himself in the worst way possible--and is unfortunately often successful in finding that way.

When these Princes team up to save their Princesses and their kingdoms from the evil, publicity-hungry witch Zaubera there are some very funny results. Healy and Harris do a good job with the characters. They are flawed, but decent. They mean well. They try hard. They are, however, constantly tripping over their own personalities. A lot of the jokes are fairly obvious for me as an older reader, but they may be a bit less predictable to the younger readers at whom this book is aimed.

I had a hard time getting into the print version of this for some reason, but I got a chance to listen to the audio and wound up having a lot of fun. Bronson Pinchot does a wonderful job narrating the story. I had to check to see if he is the same Pichot who was Cousin Balki so long ago (yes, that dates me, I know). He is, but unlike his famous character, his voice is smooth and mellow. He doesn’t just read the story, he tells it.

I’d say give it a try. If you like it, there are several sequels.

The Misadventures of Salem Hyde: Spelling Trouble by Frank Cammuso

This was a cute little graphic novel. I read it because my daughter had it and I wanted to see what she was reading for fun. Frankly, for me, it was very reminiscent of Sabrina, the Teen-Aged Witch, but with a younger title character.

Salem is not too popular at school. She wants to show what she can do. When she hears of a spelling contest, she immediately wants to participate. It is only after signing up that she realizes that is for spelling words, not casting magic spells.

Highjinks ensue as misspelled words cause teachers to transform. With Salem trying her best to reverse the curse.

Not recommended for adults or older teens. A toss-up for kids and younger teens. I found it a bit predictible.

Oh Myyy!: There Goes the Internet by George Takei

I love George Takei’s Facebook feed. It is consistently amusing and quirky. I feel much the same way about his book Oh Myyy!: There Goes the Internet.

I have to admit that I had some misconceptions about this book. I thought before reading it that it was nothing more than a collection of the various pics and memes that he has shared on Facebook. It was nothing of the sort.

It is more of a memoir. He tells the story of how “Oh myyy!” became his trademark. He explains how he slowly entered the social media world with Twitter. He has several amusing stories about his Twitter experiences. It is conversational in tone, as though Uncle George is just talking to me. Telling tales.

He goes into how he got into Facebook. And how he was as surprised as anyone else that he became such a sensation. While he could have come off as pompous or self important, he instead seems to be a regular guy. He has his own views on what he should and should not post. He stands by these principles.

I love the self-deprecatory humor, the apparent candor, and yes, the quirkiness of this tale. I also want to reread the last couple of chapters that has tips on how to build and hold on to an audience on Facebook.

I would recommend this book. It was fun. I read the 244 page Kindle version of the book in an evening. Not earth-shattering, but definitely a fun way to spend a Sunday night.