Student Saturday: Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova

 

Two Reviews by two of my students.

Jahnavi's Review

In the book  Awkward there is something that connects to my life and many other's lives. This story is about this girl named Penelope, Peppi for short. She goes for her first day of school at Berrybrook Middle School. As she opens the front doors, something unexpected happens; she trips. This might not seem too big of a deal, but she did it in front of everyone. This part of the story can connect to people's lives because small things can mean really big things. For example, first appearances on your first day of school. Embarrassing herself on the first day wasn't enough, I guess because the so-called, "school nerd" came to help. Everyone who saw this burst out laughing, saying "nerder found a new girlfriend" or "nerder girlfriend." A lot of people have first days that could go better too, their first day ruined.

The main character in the book, Penelope, has a lot of relatable personality traits to me and most likely other teenagers. I'm similar to this character because she is very, very awkward. She has terrible communication skills, something I should work on too. She is shy and has one friend group she's really close with. She gets really nervous and is really dramatic, sometimes like me. I want to be more like this character because she might be in art, messy, and not that smart, but she's also very compatible to work with, friendly, and just a good person. I want to be more like her.

Penelope has a creative mind and personality. She is so kind that she would do almost anything to help a friend or make someone proud. She's an amazing person as well as an open, helpful, and unique person. I love that about her, and I would like to be more like her.

Alicia's Review

In the book Dork Diaries, Tales from a Not-So-Smart Miss Know-It-All, there is a socially awkward teen with a crush on a boy and she has a diary that she writes every day. She also has a younger sister, Brianna, and her parents. Her best friends Zoey and Chloe, like any other friendship, help her with her confidence and are there for her all the time. Nikki has a unique sense of fashion.

In this book, Nikki and her friends decide to do something rebellious, and they get caught. Mackenzie thinks someone else did it and Nikki, Zoey, and Chloe are relieved. Nikki goes to school the next day and suggests her crush to join the newspaper crew. Once they go to the interview, they sign up for the position they want to be in. Nikki gets excited until something unexpected happens. Nikki did not get the position she signed up for and lost hope. Her best friends encourage her to tell the newspaper teacher and she gets a different position. She gets to be the schools “Miss knows it all” and she gives advice to people. She joined the newspaper crew because she did not want anyone to know something, and Mackenzie would obviously tell everyone by writing it in the newspaper, so Nikki had to pay attention to her.

This book reminds me of the book I recently read, I Know Your Secret, because it holds a subject about secrets. I recommend this book to my best friend Sophia because it reminds me of her a lot. They have similar personalities. They both have bubbly-like personalities, they’re both awkward at times, they’re not too social, and they both seem to be very likeable people. I like this book because it takes me back to 4th

Grade when I read one of the first Dork Diaries. I like it because it has fictional Drama, and I can relate to the main character. This book met my expectations because it entertains me when I finish my work early and in my free time.

Taking Books Away From Our Students

"Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance." —— Lyndon B Johnson

"I have it that Americans are taught to fear some books and some ideas as though they were diseases..." —— Kurt Vonnegut

This is my favorite:

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture, Just get people to stop reading them. -- Ray Bradbury


I promised my principal yesterday I would not post what I am going to say here, on Facebook. I did not say I wouldn't post it on my blog.

The first item on yesterday's Department Chair agenda was to tell us of something new he had learned at his principal's meeting. Due to a State House Bill, as of today, I have to box up and secure my classroom library. My principal is not happy about this, and he did mention the fact that I have worked so hard, like my whole department, to get kids to read. At the beginning of the school year, they would send out a list almost weekly of books that were challenged or banned. We had to pull these from our library. This was ironic because one of those books on the list has an excerpt, one chapter, in our new textbooks. We were told to skip that reading until further notice.
He pointed out he was trying to find boxes for me because not only do I have eleven bookcases in my room, but I also have two cabinets full. Some of these were gifted to me by authors. Between the cabinets and my bookshelves, I have nearly 2,000 books, separated by genre. So let me tell you some reasons I am angry.

Every year I MAKE my students set a goal of at least 15 books from 11 different genres. A lot of these kids would never read if you didn't make them. I also do this to introduce them to different genres. I have helped turn many non-readers into readers. The best compliment I have ever received was from a kid many years ago that came to me on the last day of school. His exact words were, "I want you to know I hate you. You taught me to love reading." Then he hugged me. Students don't always know what to pick, and I can help with that. Many students have no access to books at home or to the public library. These are the reasons why I have so many books. My principal knew I was hurting. He sat beside me and told me he had asked if we could just put curtains over our bookcases, and he was told no. A student might reach around and take one off the shelf. He said he felt we had returned to the days of Hitler and book burnings.

Although this is said to be a temporary thing, it hurts. We were supposed to Buddy-Read with elementary next week. Now my middle school students won't have that joy of sitting and reading with a younger child. We are a 100% choice school, and I tell potential students about my extensive library to hopefully draw them in. We are waiting, for who knows how long, for our district to tell us what we have to do, what hoops we have to jump through to be able to put them back on our shelves. ALL books have to be vetted to be placed back on our shelves. Tell me, who in our downtown offices will have time to read my 2,000 books? How long will my students have to go without reading anything except dry, boring textbooks? Here is what really scares me. We were told that if we violate this it could be considered a 3rd-degree felony. Are we as a society criminalizing reading? For the sake of our world, I sure hope not.

 

Henrietta Hedgehog's Prickly Problem by Carole P. Roman

Genre: Children's Picture Book
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

 I have long been a fan of Carole P.  Roman's Books. I was excited to receive this one in the mail. Henrietta is a hedgehog who is teased at school about her looks. She tries to disguise herself. All this accomplishes is hurting another animal's feelings. Henrietta learns from other animals that they are all different for a reason and being different is okay. This is a lesson that so many children need to hear. Every day I hear kids complaining about what someone said about the way they look. As a teacher it breaks my heart to hear this from any student. Excellent book, a must read.