Book talks, Talking about books, books and talking and books and talking.

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It's time for Booktalks! All year, 7th graders have worked hard on their independent reading. What have they been reading? We'll soon find out. For a few samples, check out the 7READ podcast. You recognize the booktalks because the titles are in all caps (as shown above).

So the ones currently on the website are samples from last year. Soon, this year's booktalks will be up and running. Take a listen. You might want to check out a few!

Keep Reading!
-Stenson

We Are the Ship

I love baseball. I love good writing. I love this book. Have you heard about it? It's popping up everywhere--most recently at the Young Adult Book Awards where it was honored and celebrated.

This is what Phil Taylor of Sports Illustrated said about the book:

The artist finds beauty even where there seems to be none, and in that way Kadir Nelson and the men of the Negro leagues are soul mates. Negro leagues baseball (1920-47) was an exquisite flower grown from poisonous soil -- the ugly racial attitudes of 20th-century America -- and nurtured by men who refused to allow the ignorance that barred them from the major leagues to extinguish their passion for the game. Nelson, some 60 years later, saw the dignity in that passion and has honored it with a book of oil paintings, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, depicting Negro leagues stars and game scenes, some of which grace these pages.

So it's a Young Adult book, but it's written like a children's book because of the intense illustrations. You'll pour over the pictures and the voice of the characters. Amazing book. Enjoy.

-Stenson

Our DA Challenge

Booktalks! Podcasts! New Genres! It's madness!!!!

So, the DA readers are embarking on a new challenge this week. They are writing booktalks that will eventually be a part of the DA Booktalk Podcast.

Once the booktalks are recorded, we are going to find the perfect audiences. Other middle schools, other classes, other kids, public libraries, anyone interested. We'll us our marketing skills to get the word out there.

The kids were urged to try new genres. Here's just a preview of the books that the DA kids read:

Shape Shifters by Bruce Colville
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
Next by Michael Crichton
The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzack
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Persopolis: The Complete Story by Marjane Satrapi
R is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury

Have you read any of these? Will you subscribe to our booktalk podcast? Hope to hear from you, and you can count on hearing from us!

Keep Reading!
-Stenson and the DA 7th graders