Miss Brooks' Story Nook, by Barbara Bottner

Title:  Miss Brooks' Story Nook
Author:  Barbara Bottner
Illustrator: Michael Emberley
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Year: 2014
Pages: 40
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Themes: Reading, Imagination, Bullying
Age Range: Kindergarten through 3rd Grade

Summary: from Goodreads

Missy loves her librarian, Miss Brooks. And she loves to go to Miss Brooks’ before-school story time. But to get to Story Nook, she has to pass Billy Toomey’s house—and she does not love Billy Toomey.  Billy always tries to steal her hat and jeers, “I’m going to get you!” It’s vexing. Then one rainy (and hatless) day, Miss Brooks changes story hour to storytelling hour. She teaches the kids about characters and plot and action and satisfying conclusions and encourages them to make up their own tales. 

And that’s when Missy has a brainstorm. She sees a way to use her made-up story to deal with her real-life bully. 

Review:
Barbara Bottner is the author of some really high-quality books for primary grade readers, including Bootsie Barker Bites and Marsha Makes Me Sick.  She has a knack for writing fully rounded characters, mostly little girls, who are not just sugar and spice and everything nice.  Girls who have their flaws, but who learn and grow throughout Ms. Bottner's imaginative stories.

I found this book at a small bookstore in Lelan, Michigan, and was immediately enamored.  I think that part of the reason that I  love this charming picture book is because I was Missy when I was a child.  I loved stories, books, and teachers with a passion that bordered on reverence.  I was also the kid that was likely to get picked on in my rough-and-tumble blue collar neighborhood.  Of course, I am also Miss Brooks.  I see one of the major goals of my role as literacy coach at an elementary school as fostering a love of stories, both reading and writing them, in the students at my school.

The story of Missy and her annoying neighbor Billy is one that should resonate with lots of children. I appreciate that Missy finds a way to solve her Billy problem using her imagination to come up with a story that definitely makes him think twice about giving her a hard time again!  I think that we do a disservice to children when we don't acknowledge the agency they have over their relationships with peers.  While adults must obviously get involved when there is real physical danger to children or repeated patterns of abuse, we must also teach children how to navigate their own conflicts in a way that is assertive but not aggressive.

What makes this a good book for use in the classroom aside from the massage about bullying is the way that it guides young readers through the creative process behind story writing.  Miss Brooks continually asks Missy questions to guide her storytelling, and offers her suggestions about what readers want in a story, such as a satisfying ending.  Without getting too technical about the writing process, Missy learns that all it takes for a good story is an idea and her imagination.  The story also gives teachers a chance to teach their students the importance of writing for an audience.  Not every child in Missy's class appreciates the scarier parts of her story, but all along the way there is an acknowledgement that authors tell/write stories for readers to read-they are not squiggles on a page disconnected from context.  It is the interaction of the written word and the reader's interpretation where the magic happens!

Apparently this is actually the second book about Miss Brooks.  The first is Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I Don't), and I suspect, though I haven't seen a copy of the first book, that they would work as a pair to introduce both reading for pleasure and writing.

Teacher Resources
Barbara Bottner's Website
Miss Brooks' Story Nook Book Trailer

Hold Fast, Blue Balliett

Title:  Hold Fast
Author:  Blue Balliett
Publisher:  Scholastic Press
Year:  2013
Pages:  288
Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Mystery
Themes:  Family, Poverty, Homelessness, Reading
Age Range:  4th through 8th Grade

Summary:  from Goodreads

Where is Early's father? He's not the kind of father who would disappear. But he's gone . . . and he's left a whole lot of trouble behind.

As danger closes in, Early, her mom, and her brother have to flee their apartment. With nowhere else to go, they are forced to move into a city shelter. Once there, Early starts asking questions and looking for answers. Because her father hasn't disappeared without a trace. There are patterns and rhythms to what's happened, and Early might be the only one who can use them to track him down and make her way out of a very tough place.

Review:
Run, do not walk, and get this book!  Balliett's writing is always magical-the way she uses language to create not just evocative settings and believable characters but truly beautiful prose is astonishing.  Both of the novels I've read by her have been such a treasure of beautiful language usage!  And while the language itself is worth reading the book for, the plot is nothing to sneeze at either.  Balliett deals with issues of homelessness and poverty in such a delicate, compassionate way, making very difficult topics accessible to child readers.

Early as narrator is frank and honest, at times wise, other times naive about the way the world works.  The one unshakable fact of her life is her father's love and loyalty.  There is not one minute of his disappearance that she is not sure that he would come home if he were able.  She throws herself into solving the mystery of his kidnapping with a fervor that is only matched by her desire to help her mother survive their present circumstances.  When her family ends up in a homeless shelter, Early's mother has a hard time holding fast to her hope, but Early is there to comfort her and prod her into keeping herself together for the sake of her younger brother Jubie.  Balliett's description of the shelter is honest and forthright, neither exaggerated or minimized.  The people at the shelter do the best they can to provide warmth, food, and help to the many families that come to them, but as the revolving door of characters moving into and out of Early's life at the shelter shows, working with the homeless population in Chicago is a more daunting task than a few hot meals and a bed for the night can accomplish.

While the most compelling parts of the book for me were the ways that the life of the family was affected by homelessness, there is actually a really good mystery in here as well.  The people at the shelter may think that Early's father just took off, as so many men seem to do, but Early knows he would never abandon them, and she is right-there are some nefarious characters that have taken advantage of her father's good nature.  The big reveal is made even more powerful by the knowledge that the terrible situation that Early and her mother and brother found themselves in is almost over.

There are so many things to love about this book.  Balliett uses the poetry of Langston Hughes as a frame for the events in the story, and the family shares a love of words and reading and learning that touched me. Early's parents do all the right things, but still find it so difficult to lift themselves out of poverty.  Balliett's characters put the lie to the assertion that people live in poverty because they lack the ability to plan for the future, or that they don't value education enough, or that they don't work hard enough.  In no fair world should someone as bright and capable as Early's family be denied the same opportunities that those who come from privilege already have.

Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind, by Judy Fincher

Title:  Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind
Author:  Judy Finchler
Publisher:  Walker Books for Young Readers
Pages:  32
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Age Level:  2nd-4th Grade



Plot Summary:(from Goodreads)

Miss Malarkey can make a reader out of anyone.

Principal Wiggins promises to dye his hair purple and sleep on the school roof if the students read 1,000 books this year. Miss Malarkey is determined to find the right book for each student so they’ll participate in the school program, and learn to love reading. She’s got a tough audience — video game fanatics, artists, sports lovers — nonreaders all. But she won’t give up until Principal Wiggins can flip his purple wig. 

Review:
If you are looking for a good back-to-school book to read with your class, add Miss Malarkey to your list. This picture book, suitable as a read aloud for ages seven through ten, is sure to please both students and teacher.  This year I used this book to introduce how to find a just right book with my students.  They are all reluctant readers, and they could appreciate the narrator's trouble finding a book that held his interest.  This book also pokes slight fun at the "No Child Left Behind" law, by turning something that causes a lot of stress for teachers and students alike into something fun and funny.  I especially like that this book makes a point of addressing what so many children seem to believe-that it's not cool to like reading.  The narrator thinks that he and his friends are all on the same page when it comes to what they would rather do-play video games.  But when his friends start discussing the books they are reading instead of shooting monsters, he realizes that not reading makes him the odd man out.

Teacher Resources:
Books by the Month Idea   

Author Information from Bloomsbury Kids