Book Review: Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Having loved Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, I was really excited to get Her Fearful Symmetry for Christmas.  Excited, but not suprised, since I had put it on my Christmas list.  I've had a difficult time this year finding books that grabbed me and kept me reading, but I sank right into this one.

Julia and Valentina are twins, and the daughters of a twin.  Their mother, Edie, has been estranged from her twin, Elspeth, since marrying.  Now twenty, Julia and Valentina are inseparable, and adrift.  They've been to three different colleges, never staying more than a year, and now live in their parents' house, where they float through their set routines.  All of this is disrupted when Elspeth dies and leaves her London flat to the girls, with some conditions: they must live there, together, for a year, and their parents are never to set foot in the flat.

Moving to London, the girls recreate their aimless ways in a new city, with some notable changes.  Their close tie begins to feel more like a bind to one of them, each developes a friendship "outside" of their twin-relationship, and they begin to realize that they aren't exactly alone in the flat.

The book is a good read and a quick one--I read it in the course of a day.  It would be a great book club selection because there is a lot to talk about.  It's definitely worth reading. That said, I didn't love it the way I loved Time Traveller's Wife.  If you read it, or have read it, I'd be interested in hearing what you think.

Book review: Basic Illustrated Map and Compass

My brother got me this book for Christmas since we're planning to do an adventure race this fall.  I can read a regular map (though, to be honest, it takes way more thought and concentration than it should), but navigating by compass and topographical map is not in my skill set.

While the book isn't subtitled "Orienteering for Dummies", that's basically what it is.  It's a short book and quick read, with clear explanations.  It's filled with illustrations and interspersed with short quizzes to make sure you're getting the concepts.  Of course, reading about navigating is no substitute for actually doing it, but this was a good introduction for me.  If nothing else, I'll have a better understanding of the race reports I've been reading.  I'm looking forward to actually practicing some of the concepts on our next free weekend, when I'm hoping to drag my husband out to Rockwoods Range, which has a permanent orienteering course.

Children's books: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Early this week we finished Little House in the Big Wood, which was a big hit, even with my boys. After watching the Little House Christmas special (which made me cry a little), it was time to start a new book.

But which one? I couldn't decide between The Indian in the Cupboard and Mrs. Frisby, so I took a suggestion from the EducationWorld.com article I talked about a few posts ago and put it to a vote. I read the back of each book to the kids (which also gave me a chance to talk about the way that I pick out books for myself) and then the kids voted. Now, in my experience, raised-hand votes don't work. You have kids who'll raise their hands for both options. Instead, I have my kids move to different areas of the room depending on their choice. That way we stick to "one person, one vote" instead of "vote early, vote often". :)

Somewhat surprisingly, Mrs. Frisby beat The Indian by a pretty large margin. We're about three chapters in now, and it's been interesting how we've been able to draw parallels between our current story and the other novels we've read. For example, Mrs. Frisby (a field mouse) was afraid to go through the woods at night just like Pa (in Little House) was. We've been able to make connections to things we've seen in our own lives: the way the crow, who accidentally ties himself to the fence reminds us of a dog on a tether. We've been able to talk about the nature of courage (Mrs. Frisby crossing a dangerous field so that she can get medicine to her sick son or risking her life to free the crow). And we've talked about new vocabulary and concepts, like what the crow means when he tells Mrs. Frisby that he's in her debt.

All of this and more, in only three chapters. Our reading time is WELL worth the "instructional time" we lose to fit it in. And best of all, it's both a real treat for the kids, who love to listen, and a real-world example of why they're learning to read...not so they can say the words on the page, but because books are the closest thing to magic we have in our world.

Book review: The Echo Maker

I wanted to like this book. It's a Pulitzer Prize finalist, for heaven's sake! But I didn't. Maybe that means my taste is along the lines of the box wine of books...I don't know, but I'm a little annoyed that (a) this book has taken up precious shelf space for nearly two years, and (b) I spent as much time as I did reading it.

Richard Powers's language is beautiful and discriptive, but the book very quickly reminded me of listening to a person who won't get to the point. All of the words fogged up the story. When I was younger, I loved reading my dad's Tom Clancy novels, but I would skip over vast passages of technical description. I'm sure some readers cared about the specs of a nuclear sub; I just wanted to find out what happened.

I still want to find out what happened in The Echo Maker, too. Though the book didn't grip me at all, I plodded through because I WAS vaguely interested in the characters and was hoping maybe I'd get some satisfaction in the end. Like Mick Jagger, though, I was out of luck. My reaction throughout the book and at the resolution, if you want to call it that, was a resounding "huh?"

So, in short, I found it tiresome, confusing, and overly descriptive without the description adding to the story for me. It did have some beautiful writing and an intriguing premise, but those weren't enough to lead me to recommend it. Unless, that is, you're having trouble sleeping.

EducationWorld.com says I know what I'm doing

I've posted recently about using classroom read-alouds to foster a love of reading in my students.  Of course, it's not completely unselfish...I love reading, I love reading good books, and I love watching my class fall in love with a book.  I also know it's good practice, but every once in awhile it's nice to have an outside reminder that you're doing the right thing.  A recent EducationWorld.com article did just that for me.

"The Read Aloud Experience", by Cathy Puett Miller, touts reading aloud to students as the way to move students from learning and practicing discrete skills (phonemic awareness, phonics, etc) to being engaged readers.  In the article, she lists the components of "good practice" read alouds.  I was pretty happy to see that I hit these.  Here are her recommendations and what it looks like in my classroom:

• "Read aloud for at least 15-20 minutes a day, at the same time(s) each day."  We read for about 15 minutes each day, sometimes a little longer, right after lunch.  Check!  

• "Present the read aloud as an enjoyable experience, not as a 'learning opportunity'." Our read aloud isn't tied to our curriculum, it's purely for the joy of listening.  If possible, I'll refer back to something from our story if it comes up in a class, but that's not the goal.  One thing she suggests that I don't regularly do is incorporating a variety of material...newspaper, poetry, etc.  I can remember loving Shel Silverstein's poetry as a kid...I ought to drag out my kids' old Silverstein anthologies.

• "Choose materials of interest to your students and think outside of the box." You'll have to read the actual article if you want specifics for any of these, but I'm not as on target with this one.  I don't give my kids a choice, as she suggests, though I do choose material that's above their reading level--for me, that's half the point.  I don't choose books that connect with content learning, though as I mentioned above, I'll certainly link to it during instruction--or link to instruction during the story--where appropriate.  Check!

• "Introduce new vocabulary in at least one daily read aloud session." Because the stories I read are above my students' reading levels, and because some of them come from homes where vocabulary and experience are somewhat limited, we come across lots and lots of words they don't know.  So we stop frequently and talk about the new words.  Today, we even came across a word I didn't know (galluses), so then we had to stop and look it up.  Check!

• "Make it your aim to turn reading from a chore into an adventure." She goes on to say, "The cardinal sin is to have no interruptions and little expression."  My cooperating teacher, when I student taught, told me I was one of the best questioners she'd ever heard.  My current student teacher said the same thing.  We stop a lot to talk about what's happening, why someone is acting that way, etc.  And there's expression to spare, both from my voice and my hands.  :)  Check!

•  "Close the read aloud session at a cliffhanger moment." Always!  Sometimes I end up reading extra just to find a good stopping point.  I love it when I stop and they say, "No!....just a little more!!" Check!

  If you're teacher or a parent, I'd encourage you to check out the full article at the link above.  Lots of good information and a few additional resources.

Wish list

A short list of books I'd like to read.  Most of these are books that have caught my eye at the store.  It's mostly so I don't forget, but I'd welcome any suggestions.

• The Happiness Project
• Once a Runner, by John L. Parker, Jr.
• Teach Like a Champion--I want to buy this every time I see it at the store, but I know it's cheaper on Amazon.  But then I never get around to ordering it.  So I want to buy it every time I see it at the store.  And so on.
• Half Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls
• Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger
• Sara Gruen's other books--I've read Ape House and Water for Elephants and loved them.
• Passing Strange--think I heard about it on NPR
• The Cookbook Collector--another NPR suggestion
• Stolen Horses, by Dan O'Brian
• Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby
• I noticed Stephen King has another collection of short stories out.  I'm thinking I'll buy it for my son and read it first.  That's what I did with The Dome.  :D

Book Review: The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs

I read and reviewed this book in March 2009, and it still sits on my "keeper shelf".

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible As Literally As Possible by A.J. Jacobs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a book club pick. I had previously read Jacobs' book The Know-It-All, about his experience reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. I thought that book was funny but often found the author habit of overthinking everything annoying. I guess I expected the same thing from Living Biblically, but it was a pleasant surprise to me.

I was quickly caught up in Jacobs' evolving view of religion and was intrigued to see where his beliefs would fall at the end of the experience. His emphasis on following the entire Bible, particularly the more obscure laws led to a lot of funny incidents (and the revelation that his wife is a paragon of spousal tolerance!), but he never made fun of his subject(s) and occasionally came up with something profound (or quoted someone else's profound observation).

Rather than "go it alone", he had a team of Biblical experts from different traditions to help with understanding the context of the Bible passages he was exploring. I learned a lot about the Bible--or, at least, I learned a lot about different views and interpretations regarding the Bible.

The bulk of the book relates to Jacobs' exploration of the Old Testament. Towards the end he also delved into the New Testament. I thought this segment of the book was weaker, which is maybe not so surprising seeing the author's background as an agnostic Jew. It gave an interesting look at some fundamentalist Christian organizations...some of which were pretty surprising...but this section didn't have near the depth of the rest of the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading the book, following the author's progress and misadventures, and just seeing the way that the idea played out.

Verdict: Definitely worth reading.