The Cat with the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin by Susan Goldman Rubin

Genre: Children, Biography, Holocaust
Source: I own a copy

When Ela Stein was a young child she and many other family members were shipped to Terazin. This was a Czech ghetto.  Shortly before they were shipped to Terazin her father was taken away for expressing his opinion about Hitler. That was the last that Ela saw of her father. In the ghetto her mother made a hard choice to send Ela and her sister to a barrack that was specifically for girls around her age. The living conditions were somewhat better and they received a little more food. The girls in room 28 formed a tight group. Soon someone decided they were going to present an opera. They practiced and practiced.  At one point the Nazis used their production for propaganda.  This book is a book that shows us what friendship and music can do to help people survive. It was a ray of hope in their lives.   This is a short book to read, but filled with so much information and lots of pictures to help understand.

Advanced Reading Instruction In Middle School: A Novel Approach - Janice I. Robbins, Rh.D.

Genre: Educational

Source: I received a copy from LibraryThing

I received this quite some time ago. I took it to school with me and completely forgot to write my review. So many books I have on my school shelves or have shared with other teachers are all about working with reluctant readers. This book is all about working with those gifted students who read well but don’t respond to the same types of lessons. 

The book starts off with information to help students choose a variety of books. From there it shows you how to help students interact with the books. I have my students keep a notebook. One of the things they use the notebook for is to write down things that pop into their head as they read. They also write down words, phrases or sentences that they find interesting for whatever reason.

There is a section that talks about asking questions about the novel. For those teachers who think that it is ridiculous that someone should talk to them about asking questions, I am here to tell you that after almost thirty years of teaching it is easy to fall into a rut. We need books like this to help remind us of all those great ideas we had when we first started teaching.

For me this book, full of ideas for the gifted reader, but  has ideas that will work for those reluctant readers as well. I loved the sections on different genres. This book is something that every beginning teacher should have.

Silent Death by Ron Ripley

Genre: Adult, Horror

Source: I won a copy from LibraryThing

This is the first book in this series that I have read. I have now had to go back and purchase the others.  Abel Worthe is one extremely wicked and mixed up man. Money has always bought him what he wanted. He has a whole village of ghosts he has had trapped for years. Amongst all of these ghosts is a young boy named Alex. He can see and communicate with the ghosts, and more. Abel wants him removed from the village. He doesn’t seem to care what it might cost in lives.  Add to this mix a young teen ghost, the most evil of all and you have a wonderful story you will read from beginning to end.  Kimberly killed her whole family with a hatchet. She likes nothing more than killing people and ripping out their voice box. Here reason for this is just as crazy. I was drawn in to a story I couldn’t put down, from the very first chapter.  This is one of those book I can’t say too much about because to do so would create all kinds of spoilers. I will say this much. I will be reading the books before this one and the next one. This author has a new follower.