Throw Back Thursday

Throwback Thursday is a meme started by Taste Life Twice and is a post about a book that has been out for a while that deserves to be talked about again because yes, it was that good!

This week we throw back to:

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

I LOVE this book.  I've been teaching it to at least three different class periods every year since 1996! I never tire of it.  What I love most about it is that it hooks even my most reluctant readers.  I just warn them to hang on past the first chapter.  Every year I have at least one student that tells me it is the first book they've actually read and FINISHED in a long time. Thank you S.E. Hinton for that!  Of course I make sure to hand them all the other books she's written, so they'll keep reading. 

Side note: a few years back they re-released the movie finally including all the deleted scenes cut out from the original release.  It's something like 20 minutes of addition scense.  Those scenes made the movie even better - following the entire book not just the rumble and the issues between the Socs and the Greasers.  There are also some fantastic extra features including a news piece about the kids that started the ball rolling on the film.  My students love seeing that.

If you haven't read The Outsiders ever or in a long while I suggest you pick it up!

From Barnes and Noble: (I've never actually read a summary of The Outsiders before.  I didn't like any of them!)

Three brothers struggle to stay together after their parents' death, as they search for an identity among the conflicting values of their adolescent society in which they find themselves "outsiders." 

From Shelfari:

Ponyboy lives with his two older brothers, hanging out with his gang of Greasers. The gang is like a family, they look out for each other, protecting themselves and each other from the Socs. Ponyboy cannot see why the Socs, rich west side kids, always make life miserable for the Greasers.

Throw Back Thursday

Throwback Thursday is a meme started by Taste Life Twice and is a post about a book that has been out for a while that deserves to be talked about again because yes, it was that good!

This weeks throw back is:

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

This is a book that has been out for a while. It won the Newberry in 1995, but I never read it. I had student after student tell what an great book it was. My own daughter loved it, but I just couldn't get myself to read it. I was afraid that the main character would annoy me as some main characters in serious MG book do. I couldn't have been more wrong! It is a beautiful story that shows not only the love of a girl for her mother, but also what happens when that love is tested. I'm glad I finally sat down and read it, and that I now get why everyone told me I should.

From Barnes and Noble

Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle's mother has disappeared. While tracing her steps on a car trip from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, Salamanca tells a story to pass the time about a friend named Phoebe Winterbottom whose mother vanished and who received secret messages after her disappearance. One of them read, "Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins." Despite her father's warning that she is "fishing in the air," Salamanca hopes to bring her home. By drawing strength from her Native American ancestry, she is able to face the truth about her mother.

Throw Back Thursday

Throwback Thursday is a meme started by Taste Life Twice and is a post about a book that has been out for a while that deserves to be talked about again because yes, it was that good!

This Thursday I'm not just throwing back to one book, but to the entire work of Lois Duncan. I remember reading Daughter's of Eve back when I was in school (and I'm talking like middle school!) and LOVING it! I then went on to read:

Down a Dark Hall (still my favorite)
I Know What You Did Last Summer - nothing like the movie
Stranger With My Face
Ransom
Killing Mr. Griffin. I laugh at this one now because I'm an English teacher
Summer of Fear

Check out the covers in the slide show.  They are pretty cool, but they are not the covers I remember at all.  I searched and couldn't find any pictures of the old covers.  The only old cover I really remember that I could get a pictures of was Down a Dark Hall.  Here it is:

I still suggest her books left and right to my students. They look at me like I'm crazy when I talk about loving them at their age, but if they get past that and try one - they want to read more :)

So on this Thursday, take a moment and check out Lois Duncan. You can find her website here. I think I may have to reread Down a Dark Hall after writing this post!

psssst - she also wrote Hotel For Dogs - yes the book the movie was based on.

Throw Back Thursday

Throwback Thursday is a meme started by Taste Life Twice and is a post about a book that has been out for a while that deserves to be talked about again because yes, it was that good!

My Throw Back is:

 
Rules by Cynthia Lord
 
I read this book about two years ago and fell in love with it. I've now read it to my students twice.  It's about a middle school age girl who has a brother that is autistic.  She doesn't like when kids tease her brother, but she feels resentful of having to stand up for him and of all the attention he gets from her parents.  She meets a young man confined to a wheelchair, and he helps her see and cope with her feelings towards her brother. 
 
I have found it to be a great book for teaching my students about autism and being more accepting of people with disabilities. 
 
Here's the summary from Barnes and Noble
 
Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public"---in order to head off David's embarrassing behaviors.

But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

Throw Back Thursday

Throwback Thursday is a meme started by Taste Life Twice and is a post about a book that has been out for a while that deserves to be talked about again because yes, it was that good!

My Throw Back is:

 

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen

 

I read this book several years ago and loved it.  I started reading it aloud to my students, and read it aloud for 3 years in a row.  Last year Ben Mikaelsen came to our school for an author visit.  He was the kindest man and treated the students who got books signed as if he had all the time in the world for them.  The highlight was when he came into my classroom unexpectedly to say goodbye to my students. 

 

If you haven't read this book I suggest you do.
 
Summary from Barnes and Noble

Within Cole Matthews lie anger, rage, and hate. Cole has been stealing, fighting, and lying for years. His attack on a classmate has left the boy with permanent physical and deep psychological damage and Cole in the biggest trouble of his life. To most, Cole seems beyond hope. But when he's offered a chance at an alternative path called Circle Justice, based on Native American tradition, Cole finds himself banished to a remote Alaskan island, where his rage and isolation lead him to another brazen attack. This time, his intended victim is the Spirit Bear of Native American legend—and the clumsy assault ends with Cole mauled nearly to death, desperately clinging to the life he has tried so hard to waste.

Rescuers arrive to save Cole's life, but it is the attack of the Spirit Bear that is the start of Cole's long journey to accepting responsibility for his life and saving his soul.