At the beginning of this year, I decided that I needed to re-explore some of the things that energized me. One of those things was doing more pleasure reading. I began by doing a book club with my students which was a great excuse to combine “work reading” with fun since I thoroughly enjoy reading children’s and YA literature. Then in an effort to encourage my 8 year old niece’s budding interest in reading, I started exploring new books and book events to share with her. The results have been amazing, but that is for another blog post. 

As summer approached, I decided to set a goal for myself as to how many books I would read this year. My goal was 50 books for 2009. I was feeling really bad about only setting my goal at reading 50 books this year but I set the goal in June and at that point I really hadn’t read that many books. As of the beginning of June I had read 9 books and one was a “did not finish” (DNF). So when I think about it, I actually did well. From June to December, I have read 58 books which includes one more DNF and a few adult novels as well. (Note: This does not include the numerous picture books that I read over that time as well since I didn’t think that should really count.)

Before sharing my favorites of 2009, I will say that it was good to read outside of my primary interest level. Typically when reading YA fiction, I chose from the fantasy/urban fantasy category. Thanks to so many people raving about new releases, I started reading lots of new authors and other categories including realistic fiction and a few graphic novels. Though I am still partial to YA urban fantasy, I was pleasantly surprised at some of the other stories that I read. 

In finally reviewing all of the books that I read in 2009, I came up with my favorites list. All books were released in 2009 unless otherwise specified. If the pick was a series, the current book had to be released in 2009.

 Favorite Paranormal Romance:
 Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Favorite Book About Werewolves:
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Favorite Book About Zombies:
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Favorite YA Series:
Mortal Instruments Trilogy by Cassandra Clare

Favorite Dystopian:
The Maze Runner by James Dashner tied with Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Favorite Middle Grade:
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead tied with SLOB by Ellen Potter

Favorite Middle Grade Series:
The Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch

Favorite Realistic YA Fiction:
Food, Girls, And Other Things I Can’t Have by Allan Zadoff

Favorite Book with a Character with a Disability:
Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

                                         

Favorite Picture Book:
The Seeing Stick by Jane Yolen (2009 release – with new illustrations the original was in 1977)







Favorite Book Read in 2009 that was released before 2009:
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and to great reading in 2010! I am upping my goal to 100 books next year. Oh man, the pressure is on...


Note: If you are interested in more of what I read in 2009, please refer to my two earlier posts.

One of my favorite memories of reading books series was that my dad would read quite a few of the mystery books with me including all of the Nancy Drew stories.  To me this was impressive.  First, the books were geared for young girls so that he would be even willing to read one let alone probably 25 books about these teenage girls out solving mysteries was amazing.  Second, I am not sure that my dad would have considered himself a book person back then.  My father, whom I adore, specialized more in technical stuff and things he could learn by doing. He learned most things from working with his hands and always credited me with having the “book smarts” in the family.  Soi, it was fun to grow up together as readers.  Passing books back and forth, sharing our favorite passages, and in some ways influencing one another’s reading habits. 

We have both long since moved beyond Nancy Drew, but we haven’t moved beyond exchanging books.  I remember introducing my father to the Elvis Cole series by Robert Crais.  I was so excited a few years later when I saw that Crais was going to be signing books at Vroman’s in Pasadena.  It was right before Father’s Day that year and it was my first time attending an author signing (growing up in a small town in CT we never had author signings).  Here was an opportunity to get a book signed to me, but I didn’t even think about doing that.  I automatically had him sign the book for my father which I then proudly gave to my Dad for Father’s Day.   

To this day, I still share books with my dad.  I read a lot more novels and a greater variety of genres than my dad but I often find myself browsing the mysteries and crime section in the bookstore looking for just the right series to introduce to him.  And even after all these years, we still tend to like many of the same authors and same books.

So in honor of my Dad’s birthday, and since I can’t be with him, I think I’ll go hang out in a bookstore. 

Happy Birthday Dad!   I love you!

Educators have a skewed sense of the calendar.  The end of the year is the middle of the calendar year.  I have been on an academic calendar for nearly my whole life.  I’m not sure what I would do if I actually had to follow a regular schedule.  With that said, teachers and school administrators work our butts off during the school year and truly earn whatever time we get off during the summer. 

Today was the last day of the 2008-2009 school year.  It will take me awhile to actually unwind, recover, and rejuvenate before the next school year begins.  A few nights of 10+ hours of sleep and a couple of days of doing nothing and I begin feeling human again.  Summer is a chance to dive into the stack of books that have been waiting for me, or finally get to the piles around the house that need organizing. 

At the beginning of the year, the actual calendar year, I promised myself that I would begin exploring some creative outlets and reconnecting with friends.  Over the past several months, despite an intense work schedule, I am excited to report that I have made headway with both those areas.  I have carved out more opportunities to hang with friends going to plays, movies, museums or other special events.  And I have found myself diving into my writing in ways that I have never explored before.

This past weekend I found a way to combine both of my goals.  When I attended the UCLA Festival of Books, I discovered this organization named WriteGirl.  They pair professional women writers (or those in related fields) with at-risk teen girls.  Together the girls and their mentors explore writing in various areas (poetry, songwriting, journalism, fiction and non-fiction) and the results are compiled into an end of the year publication.  I became so excited about what this organization is doing that I applied to be a mentor for the 2009-2010 season.  I was so thrilled to be accepted.  In order to find out more about the organization, I attended their End of the Season Celebration at the Writer’s Guild Theater.  The girls and their mentors read some of their writing, people mingled over a light lunch, and everyone has fun. I dragged a couple of my friends to the end of the season celebration for WriteGirl and we were inspired by what we saw and heard.  When the 2009-2010 school year arrives, I will be eagerly anticipating this new adventure.

"Well, there goes my plan for selling them all on ebay," Clary muttered. 
"Selling them on what?" 
Clary smiled blandly at him, "A mythical place of great magical power."" 
— Cassandra Clare (City of Bones)

***  No Spoilers – Read Freely***

Some women love shoes.  I love books.  Whereas some people can shop for clothes for hours, I can get lost in a book store for hours a habit that drive friends of mine crazy.  I have always thought that my retirement career would be working in a bookstore, a children’s bookstore.  In fact, I have had a love affair with books since second or third grade when I discovered chapter books and could actually read them with understanding.  And series books were near to heaven for me.  The Chronicles of Narnia, Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie just to name a few.  I loved disappearing between the pages of a book, imagining myself in whatever time or place that the book was set in and assuming the role of one of the characters.  When the series came to the end, there was a terrible sadness like a best friend had moved away. 

As a child, I could devour one or two books a day and by middle school I was moving into adult literature and read “Gone With the Wind” in a weekend.  As an adult my love of books has remained but my time to get lost between the cover of a book became limited.  When I open a book, I am a little like a drug addict.  I can’t stop.  I’ll tell myself “Oh, just one more chapter” and five chapters later I’m still reading.  Work, errands, chores are all neglected and even sleep is sacrificed.  I have had to have a friend hide a book if I started one when I didn’t truly have the time to read it.  When the last Harry Potter book arrived on my doorstep, I purposely cleared everything on my calendar for that day and read it until I was finished (about 14 hours after cracking open the cover).  On long plane rides, I have to take at least 2 books of at least 500 pages each in length in order to still have something to read.

Though I read my share of adult fiction, there is still something about books written for children or young adults that call to me.  My current obsession is a new trilogy called the Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare.  The first book is “City of Bones” followed by “City of Ashes” and concludes with “City of Glass”.  If I had had 3 days absolutely free I could have finished the series in that amount of time.  Unfortunately work and life got in the way and it took me a week to do a first read of the series.  I already know I will return and read parts of it over and over again.  It falls in the Young Adult/Urban Fantasy category which is probably my favorite guilty pleasure of all time. 

In the Mortal Instrument (TMI) series, the author, Cassandra Clare, created a beautiful, edgy world with complex and flawed characters that jump off the page and into your life.  She makes you care.  She makes you laugh.  She makes you want to read more.  Inspired by the people and places of Manhattan, the majority of the series takes place in New York.  Old world fantasy is intertwined with present day trends, styles, and vernacular.  Body art or tattoos are used for healing and protection.  Secrets. Love Triangles. Adventure. Battles.  What more can you ask for?!  Hmmm…some more time to read.

For whatever reason, I did not watch “Akeelah and the Bee” when it first came out but it has been sitting on my cue on Netflix forever.  But then again, it is not unusual for me to see a movie several years after it is released.  Recently, I have begun selecting movies off my cue to watch with a friend and/or her family.  When my friend’s eight year old heard that we were watching the movie, she piped up and asked to watch it with us.  Hence, a family movie night was planned.    

Living in the Los Angeles area and being a principal of an urban elementary school and trying to help prepare students for spelling bees, this movie spoke to me at a very basic level.  I was really touched by the story that Director/writer Doug Atchison wove about a young girl in living in South Los Angeles who goes on to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.  He did a magnificent job of capturing some of the realities of life for students.  So many of my students have incredible potential but their life circumstances make it nearly impossible to overcome.  There is a lack of understanding or support at home for academic accomplishment, peer pressure deters promising students from intellectual pursuits, and lack of funding limits enrichment opportunities.

Recently my fourth through sixth graders competed in our District’s Math Field Day competition.  I was proud of the four medals that they won.  However the more affluent schools in our District won 24 out of 36 potential medals.  They accomplish this not because they are smarter than the students in my school but because the environment supports them.  In affluent schools, the parents inquire about the selection process for the teams, and partner with the school staff to provide math field day clubs and practice sessions.  What the students from the elite school may lack in intrinsic motivation is more than compensated for by the support, encouragement, and structure provide to them by their parents.  In our case, students show up during their lunch period or after school because they are motivated not because parents required it of them.  My students work around obstacles that the other students do not face in order to study, practice and memorize information that they will need to be successful.  Even the simple task of arriving on time for the math competition can be a challenge.  They don’t drive and they can’t control the chaos of the morning.  So the 4 medals won by my students are often more precious than the multitude of medals won by the other students.

Unlike real life, the movie is able to  conquer all those challenges in a feel good way with a happily ever after ending.  Akeelah is able to give her neighborhood and community someone to rally behind and a reason to feel proud.  Additionally, her relationship with her mother is strengthened and she gives her hope in the future.  And of course, her spelling bee coach not only provides Akeelah with the support and motivation needed to take on this challenge, but she brings healing to the broken part of his life as well.  And I hope that if I share parts of this movie with my students that they may also receive some much needed inspiration to dream and go after those dreams.

“I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr. Paine. All you people don't know about lost causes. Mr. Paine does. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for. And he fought for them once, for the only reason any man ever fights for them; because of just one plain simple rule: 'Love thy neighbor.'... And you know that you fight for the lost causes harder than for any other. Yes, you even die for them.” – Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart) in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939)

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Sacramento. This has become my annual trek. As with many professional organizations, a day is designated to descend on the capital and make your voice heard. When I was a child, watching the news on television or seeing TV shows or movies of politicians made the whole world of government seem surreal. Lobbying seemed like a “dirty” word and visiting legislators was something others did. And I really wasn't sure it made a difference.  So four years ago when I had my first opportunity to advocate on behalf of education in the state capital, I thought it might be a good experience. I just planned on tagging along and listen to veteran educators converse about topics that though impacted me, I didn’t always feel I understood. 

Our professional organization did a great job of preparing us with a briefing on the talking points, key terms, bills, and tips for the process. I was surprised that in the first meeting or two with various Senators and Assemblypersons that our senior members would turn to me for a story or an example of how a bill if passed could impact us at the site level. The day wore on and the stories came easier and the ability to answer questions with solid answers was like second nature. What shocked me was that many of the legislators and their staffers really were interested in what we had to share and often times had really good questions. 

Since then, I have looked forward to and almost eagerly anticipated another visit. Over time, I was becoming the experienced voice and sometime lead.  And I had learned that a well planned message really could make a difference.  However, this year, I knew that even the legislators who had been friends of education might not really be able to assist us. Once again, we had our talking points and kept our message focused. We knew that asking for money with an $8 billion dollar deficit would be futile. But we did find messages to share, concerns to voice, and even some possible solutions. We were able to discuss proposed bills that did not have a cost, and put our heads together about other issues that might result in some new legislation.  And once again, I came away thankful for the political respresentatives our city and school has.  Men and women who understand and support education. Yet, despite the wonderful support we have, there are others that don't feel the same way and the message needs to continue to be spread.  With term limits, our voice and stories need to be continuously shared lest they be forgotten.   And though things sometimes feel like a lost cause, children are always worth fighting for. 

“There are no victims in this classroom.” – Louanne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer), Movie – Dangerous Minds, 1995

Note: This entry contains spoilers for the movie - The Class. Do not read if you plan on seeing the movie and don’t want to know the ending.

It is always hard as an educator to go see films that depict how a teacher comes into a failing school or takes on the most challenging class and in just a few months turns it around. As someone who works with challenging students, I know how hard and complicated it really is. For years now, movie-makers have depicted these stories where a passionate teacher usually in a high school setting is assigned the class that no one wants to teach, and with a no nonsense attitude, a dose of humor, and a willingness to challenge the administration or status quo they elicit some kind of change in the lives of their students. Years ago, we saw Sidney Poitier’s passionate and inspiring performance in “To Sir, With Love” as he sought to change the lives of students in the seedier side of London. There was then Edward James Olmos’ portrayal of Jaime Escalante in “Stand and Deliver” as he inspired Latino students to learn math in order to pass the AP Calculus exam. And Michelle Pfeiffer played Louann Johnson in “Dangerous Minds” who seeks to connect and build trust with her inner city students.   

Recently a friend of mine suggested that I see the French movie called “The Class” (“Entre les Murs"). She wasn’t sure that I would like it because it was a foreign film with subtitles but since is was about a teacher working with challenging students she recommended it to me. Now, to be fair, I have nothing against foreign films with subtitles if the movie interests me. I just tend not to go to a lot of movies and if I am going to expend the time and money to see a film then I want it to be good or at least really entertaining. So when a teacher friend of mine suggested that we see “The Class”, I took a chance. 

For those who haven’t seen the movie or even heard of it, the movie is about François Bégaudeau, a French school teacher, working in a tough multi-cultural section of Paris. It is filmed more like a documentary than a well-crafted story. I had to keep reminding myself that this is a French film and not something that Hollywood had an opportunity to glamorize into a polished piece. As I watched the film, I couldn’t help to think that the students in the classroom could be students in any inner city school in the United States. Some issues are the same no matter where you live. However, something kept eating at me. After the movie, I processed my feelings with my friend. I couldn’t understand whether I felt I was missing something because of the language translation or the culture of school in France vs. the U.S. I think that what I put my finger on was where was the transformation? Maybe it was more like reality than I wanted to see. Maybe even though I laugh at the incredible student transformations romanticized in our American versions, I still want to believe it is possible, that change, miraculous change, can happen for my students as well. I walked out of the theater feeling like the teacher didn’t get it and the students didn’t really grow from their encounter with him. At the end, when the teacher asked the students what they had learned one of the students claimed she read the “Republic” by Socrates. It’s not that she couldn’t have read it, but it felt fake or contrived as a way to bring meaning into the story. It was more heart-wrenching when the final student leaving the class shared emotionally that she was afraid that she had learned nothing and that she didn’t want to be stuck going to a vocational school. The teacher’s attempt to comfort her felt thin and uninspiring.

I guess for me…I sometimes need the glossy Hollywood version of educators making a difference rather than the stark reality that we sometimes lose more students than we care to admit. Regardless of who’s version is truer, I will continue to seek to make a difference for as many students as possible.