2 posts tagged “middle grade”

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letting freedom ring in lieu of alarm clock

Feb 1, 2008
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The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963

In honor of Black History Month, I've been reading some overdue middle-grade novels

dealing with the African-American Experience: The Watsons Go To Birmingham -1963 (which I'm embarrassed I haven't read yet, and only because Christopher Paul Curtis just now won a Newbery Award? Honor? I don't know for Elijah of Buxton, which now I also have to read) and Feathers, by Jacqueline Woodson. Feathers was more interesting than I expected, leaving more questions unanswered than kidslit usually does. For instance, the main kid, who moves from the white side of town, is hazed for being a "white boy", but he is adamant that he is not any whiter than any of the lighter-skinned black kids. And when we meet his parents, they are indeed "authentic black" people, but THEN we find out he's adopted, so ... what's the deal ? Is he white? Is he just light-skinned, a la Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark? Or even my man Barack Obama, for whom I am canvassing tomorrow? And what makes people authentically anything? Pretty interesting things to consider these days.

In other news, my Scrabble elective started today and is filled with serious Scrabblers who are going to rock the house. I can't wait to start competition. Favorite word of all 8th grade boys: FAQIR -- used as in "What the FAQIR are you doing, blocking my triple word score?"

Another fun end-run around the F-word: "fuh-kidding." As in "Are you fuh-kidding me?" Have to bust them, but laughing secretly on the inside. LOVE middle schoolers.

Everyone! Cover your mouths!

Jan 20, 2008
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The Real Benedict Arnold

The Last Town on Earth: A Novel

I just finished The Last Town on Earth, in which a progressive little labor-friendly village barricades itself against the 1918 flu epidemic (going against its open-arms values with somewhat predictably tragic results) and now (also somewhat predictably) I'm all worried about Pandemic Flu and other assorted infectious diseases. However, despite the fact that I am of course now developing all the symptoms of Spanish Flu (or maybe H5N1, or perhaps Ebola ... I'm sure it's going to take me quickly and horribly) I highly recommend this -- it was very suspenseful and exciting historical fiction on a number of fields (the labor movement, World War I, the flu epidemic). So interesting, in fact, that I'm now going to have to go learn more about each of these subjects.

But how, you wonder? Am I not busy reading vampire teen novels and doing crosswords? Allow me to lay out my new strategy for Easy Knowledge Acquisition. I am going to read non-fiction intended for middle grade readers!

Yes, it's true. I've already begun this new regimen with another other recent awesome book: The Real Benedict Arnold. I knew next to nothing about BA prior to this book, other than he was a traitor in the Revolution. Treason seems kinda interesting to me, but did I want to seek out some damn David McCullough ten-pound tome to learn more? Absolutely not. But this book is well-written, well-researched, and just detailed enough for me to learn EVERYTHING I want to know about BA in 200-ish pages and a few hours of reading. I've even picked out my next middle-grade non-fiction, by the same author: