No Impact Man by Colin Beaven

Are you the type of person who tries? Colin Beaven is. He sets out to live, with his wife, daughter, and dog, in NYC, for one year without creating a environmental footprint. Then, he writes a book about the experiement.

They stop making trash, they stop using any transportation that is not self-propelled, they only eat food grown/made with ingredients from within a 250 mile radius, and they turn off the electricity.

He doesn't do it to self-promote. He doesn't do it to be a martyr. He doesn't do it to be a over-acheiveing environmentalist. He does it because he doesn't know what else to do, but try.



As a story, it works. And, in my opinion, it works well as an experiment too. Ultimately, he asks questions that go beyond what's good for the climate, and he begins to ask questions about what is good for us? And, he means what is really good for our quality of life and our happiness levels.

As non-fiction goes, this book will be enjoyed by mature kids and grown-ups in their lives. I'm really sad I didn't read it with someone I love. I'm going to sign off and start lobbying the Tall Guy to read it.

No Impact Man by Colin Beaven can also be sampled at this site, the No Impact Blog.

Keep reading, everyone!
-stenson

Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia

At the end of one school day, one girl threatens to beat-up another girl, and a third girl overhears. Will she speak up?

What You Should Know about this Book:
1. National Book Award nominee.
2. Intense, realistic, powerfully written.
3. Ultimately about girl bullies, teenage girl friendships and relationships, and the "laws" of high school.
4. Told from three different perspectives; three different high school girls who are each very different from the other.
5. Think of it like an episode of 24. The entire book takes places in one day at school.

3 questions to think about as you read this book.
1. The Shakespeareish question: to tell or not to tell? Leticia overhears one girl announce she is going to jump another girl.
2. The age-old question: Can a teenager be an individual? Adults always say yes, but what happens when the individuality of one girl intimidates or irritates or confuses others? Trina is herself but ultimately is punished for trying to be herself.
3. The geometry question: Do different perspectives, different angles, change the reality of a situation? Is what is obvious to one person impossible for another person with a different view to understand?

A few other things I loved about this book:
1. Readers will somehow understand the bully and almost empathize.
2. The African-American teenage girl voice is lyrical, melodic, and can be heard in the readers' minds as they read.
3. The identifiable roles the teachers and school staff play is almost over-the-top, but ultimately recognizable to anyone who has ever been in high school.

I would recommend Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia to 8th graders and older. It's a mature book, but one that shouldn't be missed!

Keep reading, everyone.
-stenson

p.s. image taken from Readingrants.org

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You. by Ally Carter

What a fun series! Four books all about Cammie Morgan and her best friends at Gallagher High who are all spies. We're talking honest to goodness spies...security clearance, counter-surveillance, martial arts defense moves, and everything else a good spy know about.

The Gallagher Girls might be spies, but they are also regular girls in many ways. They take friendship very seriously, though they don't always take school seriously, they both love and deplore their parents, and they know all about heartthrobs and heartache.

Here are the books in order. Hope you have a chance to read on! Spy on! Enjoy! -stenson

Images are courtesy of Ally Carter's website which can be found here,

Good & Sticky

A great book to teachers, students, parents, ANYONE trying to make a point.

I love the premise, the writing, the ideas, and the details. This non-fiction book gives readers a nicely packaged, easy-to-read-and-understand checklist to help them get their ideas to stick (meaning the ideas will be memorable, understandable, and effective). As readers work their way through the checklist, they meet all sorts of ordinary individuals who did something extraordinary with their messages. The authors pick apart these stories and give detailed analysis of the methods used to make ideas stick. Witty, well-written, astute.

Click here to read more. And here to read more (scroll down a little, or while you wait to get to the book you know you are interested, take a peek at the other ones there...).

Have fun reading, everyone!

-stenson

image can be found at http://socialmediab2b.com/2009/10/b2b-social-media-books/

Claudette Colvin & Friends

Some of my favorite books have nominated by or have received this award. It's an award that is given not just to books that are widely popular and well received, but to books that represent excellence in young adult literature. Here are some of my favorite National Book Award nominees and winners:

• What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell,
• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang,
• Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin,
• Inexcusable by Chris Lynch,

and I could on and on and on but I won't. I'll just trust that you look at the links and pick a few to add to your future book lists. Go ahead; you are about to be wowed!

Congrats to this year's nominess and winner:

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
Stitches by David Small
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
Jumped Rita Williams-Garcia

This years nominess and winner are officially on my book list. As I read them, I'll certainly post about what I've experienced. Add them to your lists too! Go ahead; you are about to be wowed by the talent listed here. Keep reading everyone!

-stenson

*image taken from The National Book Foundation and http://us.macmillan.com/claudettecolvin

The 1st 5 Books of Stenson's Summer

Super exciting stuff...

1. I'm 5 for 5 with books this summer. I've been on a roll. Some of them are really just for grown-ups, but the two I'd recommend for kids are The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (though I don't need to talk it up that much...it's a huge hit that I'm just getting to) and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (a book written for all ages, brilliant writing, a fun and feisty protagonist, and an amusing caper).

2. Have you heard of Animoto? Love this free site where you simply upload picutres, pick the music, add some text and submit it all. A funky, original video appears after a few moments. I can't wait to use this in Room 103 with 7th grade readers. Here's a peek at what it can do. *It was my first attempt, so please just humor me. You can watch by clicking on the image above....

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Flavia, the protagonist from the mystery The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, made me laugh, made me want to study Chemistry, and made me keep reading until the caper was solved. I really fell in love with little Flavia. Feisty, smart, fun- this little girl has two sisters she's constantly trying to poke, pinch, and prod and a father she is constantly trying to delight and charm. The family lives in her deceased mother's family's estate in 1940's Britain.

Day by day, Flavia is entertained mostly by the chemistry lab in the family mansion, but all of that changes one day when she stumbles upon a dead man in the garden of the estate.

Flavia is part Scout, part Sherlock Holmes, and part Marie Lavoisier (don't worry, I didn't know who that was until I read this book either), and she pulls you right into her mind, her home, and her life- a land where emotions though rare sneak out, observations are detailed, complete, and funny, and the story, like the mystery at the center of it, only gets better and better.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is definitely a challenge book (those of you who have had me as a teacher will know what I mean) because I think it's intended audience is grown-ups. However, this delightful tale will be enjoyed by all ages, and the writing is simply too brilliant and too fun to not be shared by everyone of all ages.

Enjoy! The book is a part of a series so get excited for all sorts of amusement.

Please visit the sit for more information about this charming, fun series. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. The picture above was taken from the site linked to the left: www.flaviadeluce.com.

Keep reading!

-stenson