Review: Mac Undercover

Mac Undercover by Mac Barnett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I will start by saying I am a huge Mac Barnett fan! I received this ARC at Txla this spring and placed it in my Summer TBR pile and today was the day I read it. I was not disappointed. It has all the hallmarks of a great Mac B read. It is quirky and filled with sly and offbeat humor (my favorite kind)

The premise of the book is that Mac B the author was, as a child Mac B the kid spy. He spied for Queen Elizabeth... I could stop there and i am sure you would want to read this! I swear that Barnett writes his books to be performed and this is no exception. I can hardly wait to read this book aloud to my fifth graders, even though it would probably be more appropriate to read to 4th and below. There is a great amount of history involved and some great vocabulary. My favorite is the redacted instructions for breaking into the Louvre....so funny! He is sly about inserting factual tidbits among the humor and I can see many discussions while reading.

This is destined to be a series and I am most excited about that. The book will be released in September and I urge you to preorder your copy now.


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Review: Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got this book at TLA this past year and read the first couple of comics and then once I returned home it languished in my TBR pile.
Today I picked it up and started reading it again. This book is a grapic novel comprised of 29 individual comics about rebel ladies who rocked the world. It shouldn't have taken me, the more than 5 hours it took to me to read it. However, the pace of reading slows down considerably when one must Google each person after reading their short story.
This book is so fascinating and so amazing. I had not heard of the majority of these women, but I am so glad I have read about them now. Some of them I might share with my fifth graders in the fall, although some might get me nasty emails from parents, so I won't make it available to read on their own.
I would encourage you to read it though. There are woman in here who many of us know of, such as Temple Grandin, Mae Jemison, and Nellie Bly. So many of these were women who I had never heard of, each of them doing extraordinary things. There is Sonita Alizadeh, I young rapper from Afghanistan who rapped about children being sold in marriage, She was 15 at the time and her family had already tried to sell her. She is just one of the many that I googled..
I feel empowered and inadequate all at the same time.


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Review: Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading

Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For any ELA teachers out there, I highly encourage you to read this book. It was recommended to me, by a good friend, and when I left the library to return to teaching reading, I knew I had to read it.

The book is setup around 6 signposts that we can teach children so that they can learn to notice things in what they are reading. The authors read and reread the most common books taught in classrooms and discovered that these 6 signposts almost always occurred, and some always occurred. By teaching children what to look for, they can notice changes that occur in characters. They can identify theme and conflict.

My book is all marked up and I have spent much time looking for more. I am excited to use these signposts as I teach the curriculum this next year. The book contains model lessons to introduce the signposts as well as many other forms and charts to help you be successful.



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