FAME AND GLORY IN FREEDOM, GEORGIA- Barbara O'Connor

I've become a Barbara O'Connor groupie. I can't help it. Everything she writes is terrific! So far I've read HOW TO STEAL A DOG and GREETINGS FROM NOWHERE. Last night I read FAME AND GLORY IN FREEDOM, GEORGIA. I own BEETHOVEN IN PARADISE and TAKING CARE OF MOSES (that might not be the exact title), and those are on my pile of books to read soon. 

I love, love, love how Barbara O'Connor's main characters. They are usually kids with lives that are not all that easy (kind of like the kids I teach). They are not the kids with nice clothes, and dance lessons, and families that eat dinner together every night. And yet in spite of all of their difficulties, they manage to survive and actually do pretty ok. Georgina and Kirby and Willow give my kids the courage to try just one more day, and a little bit of hope that maybe better times are just around the corner.

FAME AND GLORY IN FREEDOM, GEORGIA definitely fits into this category. Bird is a sixth grade girl. She's the kind of kid who is pretty much on the outs of the social scene, no one wants to be her friend. Her best friend is Miss Delphine Reese, a neighbor who spends her days taking care of her elderly father. Bird has two goals in life-- she wants to be noticed, to have a few minutes of fame and glory, and she wants to go to Disney World.

When Harlem Tate moves to town, Bird can see that he needs a friend as badly as she does. Harlem is bigger than all of the other kids, and is rumored to have spent three years in the sixth grade. He's messy and doesn't smell too good. And he lives above a tattoo parlor with Mr. Moody, the town miscreant whose only job is collecting tin cans in a black plastic bag slung over his back.

One day Bird's teacher, Mrs. Moore, announces that the school will have a spelling bee, with great prizes like bikes and encyclopedias. The winner will go to the state spelling bee, and the winner of that event will get a trip to Disney World. Bird knows that the spelling bee is her opportunity to accomplish her two goals. The trouble is, the spelling bee is a partner thing and of course no one wants to be Bird's partner. Bird goes to work on Harlem and the two develop an unlikely friendship.

This is one of those books that's a great story, but also teaches kids lots of life lessons. The book reminds kids (and adults) to be gentle, because you never know what people might be going through. It reminds them to follow their dreams.  And it gives kids a friend named Bird, a girl who has the courage and strength of character to keep hoping and to do right things, in spite of what people around her may do or think. (There's one scene toward the end, I don't want to give it away, but Bird reminds me of Atticus Finch sitting in front of the courthouse).

I loved Bird and Harlem and Miss Delphine. I love this book! Barbara O'Connor is amazing.

POETRY FRIDAY

ORDINARY THINGS: POEMS FROM A WALK IN EARLY SPRING is not a new book. It was published in 1997. It is, however, one of my all-time favorite poetry books, and definitely my favorite book of spring poetry. It's been in the mid-50's all week in Colorado (well, ok, today was cold and windy) but most of the week it's been decidedly spring-ish. My teaching partner even saw crocuses when she was out walking on Wednesday night.  Even if you are in some place that is still cold and snowy, you could look for this book now, and have spring in your heart, while you are waiting for the real thing to appear.

ORDINARY THINGS, like most of Ralph's poetry books, is a series of poems, that kind of tell a story or follow a journey. In the first poem in this book, Ralph leaves his house to walk a large loop through the rural New Hampshire countryside. Each poem is about a different image along the way. Ralph has poems about daffodils, horses, birches, a fern, how  cut hair becomes part of a bird's nest, even one about an overturned Volkswagen beetle. Midway through the book, he rounds a big boulder and loops for home.  You could devour this book in one sitting, or you could just bite off one poem at a time. Either way, it's mudluscious!

Ralph's ability to create an image with just a few words is absolutely amazing. The poems are short and relatively simple, yet also incredibly deep. Ralph is a craftsman who uses language more capably than any one I know. His choice of words, and his metaphors are amazingly complex and beautiful, but also simple enough that kids can easily pick it up. 

I read this book to my fourth and fifth graders on Wednesday. I had only planned to read them two or three poems as an opening for class, but they begged for more, and we ended up spending about twenty minutes sharing poetry. Yesterday, as M (one of my hardest-to-focus fifth graders) burst through the door she said, "Are we going to do more poems by that guy?"

If you don't know Ralph's poetry books, check him out. He has six or seven other poetry books (HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE BEACH LATELY, RELATIVELY SPEAKING, and ROOM ENOUGH FOR LOVE) are some of my favorites. 

Happy Friday! Happy Poetry Friday! Happy Spring! Poetry Friday is here.

YOU HAVE TO READ THIS!

We are in the middle of getting kids ready for state tests. And it's hard, because it feels like our kids start the race about fifty yards behind the starting line, with used sneakers, instead of fancy cleats. And we are having a visit from the CDE today. And that's hard, because they will tell us that our teachers are not good enough, because they cannot get the kids who start out fifty yards behind the starting line with their used sneakers caught up to kids who have new sneakers, and lessons, and special coaches, and good meals. 

Then I read this, (thanks Frankie!) and I decide I will try for one more day.

A LITTLE LAX

I have been a little lax in the blogging department this week. I have been busy with other important stuff:

• Coordinating the testing schedule and materials for CSAP, our state assessment (the absolute least favorite part of my job, which I will not blog about, because I would probably get fired).
  
• Researching remedies for plantar fascitis (sp?) so that my eighth grader can continue playing basketball and also play in a new high school development football league.
  
• Helping my high school son complete two ten-page grammar packets, including an African American history word search that took us approximately one hour to complete.
• Chasing my two four-footed Houdinis around the neighborhood. They have gotten out of the yard twice in the last week! Thankfully, they were found by some dog angels and I didn't have to pay pound fees.

As I struggle through life in the slow lane, my smart friend, Lauren, has been doing some really big thinking. I love her post about remembering the "important stuff." Head over to Pictures, Words, and Wisdom and check it out!

GROWING READING HEARTS, continued

Boy, oh boy, can I dink around a lot on the internet. I'm up early this Saturday morning to fill out paperwork so that Kadeem can play in a spring football league (because we do not have enough sports in our life), after which I will go to school and finish packing up the third grade CSAP books, then go buy a shirt and a pair of size 16 shoes so my son does not have to wear tennis shoes to a wedding this afternoon, then be at the wedding downtown at two. Yikes! 

Anyway, just came over from Chicken Spaghetti where I read a wonderful quote by Donalyn Miller, a middle school teacher who blogs as THE BOOK WHISPERER. Miller writes:

There are many days when I don't get it right-- my lesson falls flat, my temper is short, or I am too distracted to focus on the child standing in front of me. My students forgive me on those days because I am one of them- a reader. I rarely fail when talking to children about books and why they should read this one. It pleases me when my students consider me an expert whose opinions about books they value; I convince a lot of kids they are experts because they read too.

This fits right in with what Mary Lee and I have been talking about regarding reading engagement this week. Bottom line, I think, teachers who care hugely about books help students become people who care hugely about books.

POETRY FRIDAY

TO BE OF USE

Marge Piercy

The people I love best

jump into work head first

without dallying in the shallows

and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.

They seem to become natives of that element,

the black sleek heads of seals

bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,

who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience

who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,

who do what has to be done, again and again. 

The rest of the poem is here.

POETRY FRIDAY is at THE HOLLY AND THE IVY.