Student Saturday: Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

Welcome to the first Student Saturday of the new school year!

So you may be asking what Student Saturday is.  This is a time when I showcase my student's reviews.  They get to speak out about what they are reading.  In the process they are LEARNING how do create a book review.  So be kind.  This is their first attempt at letting you the reader know what they think makes a great book review.  Find out what books they have discovered and their opinions.

My first reviewer of the year is Maddy D.  The words and opinions written here are hers.
This book is recommended for upper elementary or lower middle grades.

I think Clementine is a very fun and energetic book.  I loved the book so much I want to recommend it to you.  I am like Clementine in many ways.  I want to share one with you because it is an important lesson.  Clementine and I like to help friends whatever the situation.

I think the setting of the book is anywhere like school and her apartment.  If you like to be a daredevil you will definitely want to read this book.  I think even if you are not someone who likes to get down and dirty or go extreme and you like books like that then you should definitely read this book.

This book mostly is about her life and how it is going.  It is also about how it is different from our everyday life.  So, if you like how it sounded, definitely read it.  It is an amazing book.

I AM STILL HERE!!!

So you are probably scratching your head wondering if I dropped this blog.  I know, I know, I usually write at least once or twice a week when I am super busy.  So, you are probably wondering what happened?  School did.  I took on the added position of Testing Coordinator at my school this year.  Since the kids returned August 20th, we have given three district tests with one more to go next week.  I've had to miss half days of school for training.  I have close to 150 students this year and they have been steadily turning in essays and that lovely Summer Reading Project.  The other testing coordinator and I staved off major upheaval by agreeing to take on the responsibility of grading the ENTIRE school's District Writes Essays.  That would be 600+ essays.  What I figured would be "not too hard" a job has turned at times into a nightmare.  I know I'm not the only teacher who is so compulsive that I always separate the tests and answer sheets and alphabetize them to make the testing coordinator's job easier.  I know I am not the only teacher to follow the testing directions when it comes to taking attendance, returning said tests (in a timely fashion) and above all else, pulling out the tests of those students who were absent for make-ups.  Yes that is some of the idiotic things I've found testing coordinators must go through.  My cohort and I have been staying anywhere from 1-3 hours after school for this and coming in 1 - 1 1/2 hours early for this.

Now you would think when I get home that I would be free.  NOT!   Most evening when I get home my grand kids are there and my granddaughter asks me to help her with her homework.  After that it is grade until I can't keep my eyes open.  So what about reading?  Great question.  I have three books I am currently reading and not getting very far.  I am reading S.W. Lothian's  The Golden Scarab, Max Anderson's When the Lights Go Out, and Oliver Neubert's last book in The Wind of Life Series: Vita.

I am lucky.  I am one of those people who can read two plus books at the same time and keep them straight.  My problem is time.  We are helping my daughter out since she has become a single parent.  My husband babysits making sure to get the granddaughter off to school each morning and picking her up.  He takes care of the grandson each day.  Because my daughter works for Publix she doesn't have a Monday - Friday job so weekends we usually have the kids.  There has been little down time for reading.  My granddaughter reads to me now.  My two year old grandson Occasionally lets me read to him.  So have the reviews gone away?  Not at all.  I am happy to announce that starting this Saturday my Student Saturday reviews will begin and I have several reviews for next week.

Thanks for hanging in there with me while I tried to get the beginning of this new school year underway.  By the way, if you are looking for a great book to read, we are reading Loser by Jerry Spinelli in class.  We will be reading The One and Only Ivan beginning October 1.  So stay in touch.  I haven't gone anywhere.  I had a slight bump in my road.

So tell me,  how your school year has been so far?  It is different for teachers, parents and grandparents.  So come on and tell me how yours has been so far.

Back to Bataan - Jerome Charyn

Publisher:Farrar Strus & Giroux

Pages:  101

Source:  Review copy from publisher

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Back to Bataan Summary:

New York City, 1943. War is raging in Europe and the Pacific, while Jack Dalton is stuck attending Dutch Masters Day School. What Jack really wants is to enlist in the army, to fight...

Everything changes when Coco, Jack's "fiancee," throws him over for one of his classmates. Jack sees red and does something drastic. Then he runs away. Hiding out in a nearby park, Jack joins ranks with a group of vagrants and is soon under the sway of a man called the Leader, an ex-convict who is as articulate and charismatic as he is dangerous. The Leader turns Jack's world upside down. To put things right, Jack must prove himself a braver soldier than he ever imagined.

My Thoughts:

This is one of those stories that stays with the reader long after they have read it.  It is very well written.  We get to look through the eyes of a young man who has lost his father to the war.  He is like many who lose their way only to find it in a strange turn of events.  I look forward to putting this on my shelves at school.  It will give my students a look at life during the 1940’s for children of that time.  There are so many lessons to be learned through this book.  There is so much they can compare to today and the war we fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The book was a look at one life in particular, Jack Dalton.  However, we see that not only is he affected by decisions he makes, but his decisions affect others as well.  This is a must read for anyone interested in life during this period in time.  This is a book for old a young alike.

Jerome Charyn's Bio:

Jerome Charyn (born May 13, 1937) is an award-winning American author. With nearly 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life. Michael Chabon calls him “one of the most important writers in American literature.”

New York Newsday hailed Charyn as “a contemporary American Balzac,” and the Los Angeles Times described him as “absolutely unique among American writers.”

Since 1964, he has published 30 novels, three memoirs, eight graphic novels, two books about film, short stories, plays and works of non-fiction. Two of his memoirs were named New York Times Book of the Year. Charyn has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been named Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture.

Charyn lives in Paris and New York City.

Important Links:

Back to Bataan web site

Jerome Charyn's Facebook

Jerome Charyn's Website

Jerome Charyn's GoodReads

Tribute Books Website 

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