Betsy Ross By Peter and Connie Roop

I bought this book on a trip to Philadelphia last summer but never got around to reading it. I toured her tiny little house while on the trip and saw the recreated things she surrounded herself with. I tell you these because I am not a fan of informational books that do not directly relate to information I am actively seeking. I taught trade books as a 5th grade teacher and had to work very hard to make them interesting to students. The fact that I visited the home Betsy Ross made the reading experience a bit more personal.
As adolescent informational books go this one was pretty good. The print is large with adequate space between words. There are several illustrations that help with visualization. Many of the pictures are of Betsy Ross but I learned from reading the book that no photographs were ever taken of her so all pictures are based on written descriptions of what she looked like.
Another interesting feature of this book is that it does not just go into every last detail about how she made the flag but it also tells her about other aspects of her life. It begins by telling us why she is a historical figure and then begins telling of her life from birth.
One of the most interesting things I learned about Betsy was that her father made her take an apprenticeship in sewing so that if she were ever widowed she could take care of herself. Sadly her parents died many years later of Yellow Fever. I also did not know that she was married three times and widowed two times and basically raised two young daughters alone. What an inspiration.

Joyful Noise By Paul Fleischman

Poems for multiple voices remind me of dark coffee house scenes in movies where artsy folks are resighting very insightful deep poems in the smokey haze. I think that makes me seem very old. I actually struggle to teach poetry because I am not a very poetic person. I enjoy reading poetry but can not create any thing of value. All of that personal information was to get to the point that I need good examples of poetry to support the teaching process.
I really enjoyed Joyful Noise. Insects are a great way to engage children The language used is beautiful as well as enriching. I learned more about insects while reading this book than I did in elementary school. Who knew Whirligig Beetles actually turn around and around. The vocabulary was so challenging and intriguing. I loved the words serpentine, tortuous, twisty, and turny. The illustrations are fabulous. I love that they are in black and white. It gives cute fun poems a touch of maturity.
The Cicadas was one of my favorite selections. The featured critters with their great big eyes won my heart. They hum and sing and buzz. How great is that?
This book is a wonderful opportunity for peoples of all ages to have fun with poetry.

Bull Run by Paul Fleischman

It took me a really long time to read this book. I like some historical books but this one did not start off great for me. As I got further along I began to really take an interest in the character Dietrich Herz. I really thought he had died when everything went black for him. Other characters were far less interesting to me.
Gideon Adams intrigued me. I thought it must be very difficult for him to conceal his identity to his comrads. I wonder how the students and their parents will handle the fact that he signs a letter "Your Wood Headed Jackass"?
I liked how the author separated the characters into North vs South on the last page of the book.
This is a wonderful book readers theater and I would bet the students would absolute love the gore and violence if they had a general idea about the battle of Bull Run prior to reading it. This would be a great pick for boys.

Begging For Change By Sharon Flake

Begging For Change is the sequel to Money Hungry, another novel I recently posted. This particular book takes us a little deeper into Raspberry's troubled life. Forced to continue to live in the projects, Raspberry's mother is attacked by a thug neighbor girl called Shikera. When Shikera is arressted for assault her friends band together to make life miserable for Raspberry adn her mother. Raspberry is also forced to consider life on her own without her mother to look after her.
Raspberry's father, a homeless drug addict, comes around multiple times and steals money from her. Each time she is deeply wounded by his betrayel.
As you would expect her mother heals and things end up working out. But is not the predictable happy endings that draw me to Flakes books. It is the insight I gain from getting this private glimpse into the lives of Raspberry and her extended family.
Flake allows me to see into a culture to learn that there is more than meets the eye. There are bad scarey people that live in the projects. There are drug addicts and thieves. There is also a strong community spirit when it comes to helping people out and looking out for the people you care about. There are people willing to go to bat for you. Friends who allow you to be yourself. I learn so much each time I read a Sharon FLake novel. Most importantly I learn to look a bit closer. I used to always say that color didn't matter to me. But it should matter in positive way. I should take time to get to know other cultures and assume we are all alike.
I look forward to reading more works from Sharon FLake.

The Westing Game By Ellen Raskin Newberry Award

Overall I would give this book two thumbs up! The beginning was intriguing and I was hooked right away to piece together the clues to discover the connection between the heirs and to identify the murderer. The last five or so chapters were also great as they pieced together the lives of the heirs. It was interesting to discover how they ultimately effected one another simply by participating in the Westing Game.
I had a feeling that Turtle would be a very important character but had trouble getting past her always kicking people.
Honestly, I got sort of lost in the middle. There were so many clues with so many variations and characters with multiple names and histories. I spent more time sorting through information than I normally do in informational texts.
I was left with one question: Who was the guy who died in the study of the Westing House? If Sandy was actually Westing and Westing died five years later, who was that?