Elissa's Quest

This summer I was lucky enough to get out of taking a Research Methods course at the College of William and Mary. This meant that while most of my cohort was taking two classes during June, I was floating along with one measly 3 credit hour course. Suddenly, for the first time in over 8 years, I found myself with time for pleasure reading. I quickly devoured nearly every Young Adult and Junior fantasy series that had been released in the last 8 years. Therefore, I was surprised to run across this series when I visited the library last week. I guess I must have missed it in my ravishing quest for great adventure stories.

Elissa's Quest is the first in a three part series about a young girl who is prophesied to be the Seeker. The book opens with a mysterious prologue, in which this goddess, or at least we can assume it is a goddess, is sitting around a fire falling asleep. She knows she is suppose to do something, but she can't remember what. Suddenly she remembers, and the chapter ends.  When the next chapter starts, the reader finds themselves in a quaint village, where they are introduced to Elissa, a spunky green-eyed red head who lives with an old herbalist. From that point on, the book follows the story of Elissa, and the quest that she finds herself on. It is only later that readers learn of the Prophesy of the Phoenix, which states that every thousand years, the Phoenix must throw herself into the fire and rise again from its ashes, or the world will end. At that time, the Phoenix thrusts a Seeker into the world to help guide her back from the fire.

I love this book because it threw some curve balls at me that I wasn't expecting. In case my first paragraph didn't clue you in, I inhale fantasy books. Nothing makes me happier than a great new series to curl up with. So I fancy that I know a  good deal about the fantasy genre, but this book had some interesting components that I wasn't expecting. Now mind you, it does have the traditional "orphaned" main character, talking animal, magical elements, and imagined world, but something about the Middle Eastern setting and the layout of the text really intrigued me. The opening chapter was a masterful touch, and the prophesy itself is unique enough to really hold my interest. However, there was something else that really struck me about this book, and I just couldn't put my finger on it until I read the Author's Note on her website. Apparently, Erica Verrillo based this story on a tale she had told her daughter. The setting is based off of a trip the author took to Morocco, and even the mysterious Blue People from the tale find their basis in the reality of the Tuareg Berbers. I think the way that the author integreated her experiences into this imaginary world adds tremendously to the believability of the story, and makes it that much more enticing of a story. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series, Elissa's Odyessy.

Three Great Children's Books about Cancer

       Cancer is another issue that is close to my heart. When I was a sophomore in high school, my mother found out that she had a very fast spreading form of Lymphoma. She was put on intensive treatments of chemotherapy, and yes, she lost all her hair. When her hair grew back in, it was no longer the shiny red that it had been. Now, it was a dull grey color. But we didn't care, because it was so wonderful that she was getting better and had the strength to do things again. Today, that strand of cancer is in remission, but the doctors have found another type of Lymphoma in her kidney. Because of its location, they are not going to treat her unless she starts showing symptoms of the illness. This may never happen, or it could happen tomorrow. This always keeps the topic of cancer floating in the back of my mind.

       The same day I found, "Still My Grandma", I also ran across the book "Hair for Mama". Ironically, I wasn't looking for books on either topic at the time. In fact, I was actually looking for a children's book on even and odd numbers, but you know, that's just how libraries are. You go in looking for one thing, and come out with 20 great books on topics completely unrelated to your initial search. If you are lucky, you will also have one or two books on the topic you actually went into the library for.

Anyway, on this particular occasion, I saw the book, "Hair for Mama" propped up on top of a shelf, and I just had to pick it up and read it. This book is told by a young African American boy whose mother has cancer. The whole story centers around his family's traditional photo session. Every year, the family would get a group photo taken by a professional photographer, but this year, mama isn't sure if she wants to be in the picture because she has lost all of her beautiful hair. The boy decides that he is going to find hair for his mama. He looks everywhere, and finally decides that there was only one thing to do: get his own hair cut off to give to his mama. This story is a wonderful tale about the power of family, and love, in the face of hardships. It talks about cancer in a way that children can understand, comparing the cancer cells to the weeds in mama's garden. Amy June Bates did an amazing job illustrating the book, and the pictures really make the story a joy to read.

Of course, I couldn't just leave it there. I ran out and searched for other children's books the library had about cancer. After all, how can I be sure that one book is really so great when I haven't read any others on the topic. I was surprised by the narrow selection that the library offered. To be fair, there were many young adult books dealing with the topic, but there were not very many picture books. I was able to find two other amazing stories that I think deal with the topic in a thoughtful and sensitive way.

 The book, "Promises" is actually written in first person from the perspective of a little girl who's mother has cancer. It makes you want to both laugh and cry at the same time. The narrator's perspective really makes this story powerful. It's really easy to relate to, and it gives the story a very personal feel.

The third book I would highly recommend is, "The Lemonade Club" by Patricia Polacco. This story is based on a real event from her daughter's fifth grade class. Her daughter's best friend and the teacher both develop leukemia, and must undergo chemo treatments, but they band together and give each other strength through everything. Illustrated in Patricia Polacco's classic style, this story is a must have for any classroom library.

Dealing with Alzheimers through Children's Lit.

 

My Grandparents During WWII

         As some of you know, my grandmother passed away of pnemonia a few weeks ago. She had suffered from dementia for about 6 years prior to this happening, and by the time she past away, she had been unable to truely communicate in words for at least two years. Recently, my grandfather has began to have similar memory and communication problems, and he can no longer carry on extending conversations. As is often the case with memory loss, he sometimes does not recognize members of the immediate family.

        I mention all of this because a few weeks ago I ran across an incredible children's book that presented memory loss, and specifically Alzheimer's disease, in a way that children could relate to. The book is called, "Still My Grandma" and it tells the story of a little girl who would always go over to her grandmother's house to bake cookies, look at grandma's "treasure box" and spend quality time with her grandmother.

Then one day her grandmother begins to act kind of funny. She starts forgetting names and places, and she starts doing odd things like put her shoes in the refrigerator. By the end of the story, the little girl's grandmother is in a nursing home, but the little girl still comes to visit. Now, the little girl is the one who tells stories to her grandmother, and her and her mother bake cookies to bring to the nursing home. The illustrations in this book are simply beautiful. They are simple, but each picture is chalked full of emotion. This book would be wonderful for any child in 1st grade or higher who is dealing with this tough issue. After reading this book, I went to the Williamsburg Regional Library and checked out every picture book they had that talked about Alzheimers. After reading them all, this is still my favorite, but I'll list a few other good ones that I found.

My Grandmother,
Christina Hambley
 on her Wedding Day

Other good books about Alzheimers:

The Memory Box By Mary Bahr (2nd grade or higher)

Singing with Momma Lou by Linda Jacobs Altman (2nd grade or higher)

What's Happening to Grandpa?  by Maria Shriver (3rd grade or higher)

Grandfather's Story Cloth by Yawg Daim Paj and Ntaub Dab Neeg (3rd grade or higher) * This book is based on a Hmong family, and talks about remembering in the context of the Hmong story cloth tradition*
A Young Man's Dance by Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton (2nd grade or higher)

Thebes in 1463

I wasn't aware of it until I went to the library to find a historical fiction book, but apparently my subconscious believed that historical fiction books had to be about wars or early American life. Although I have read thousands of books about characters living in ancient Greece, Rome, Persia, Mesopotamia, China, England, and different European courts, I had never thought of them as historical fiction because they weren't boring, and somewhere back in my life, I had decided that historical fiction books were boring books about wars. That was why I was so surprised when I was looking down the library shelves and came across this book "Maia of Thebes" marked as a historical fiction book.

This story is about a young girl who lives with her aunt and uncle in a province of ancient Egypt during Hatshepsut's rule. When Maia discovers that her uncle is stealing grain from the temple, she must decide whether or not to turn him in. Her choice takes her on a wild adventure that eventually brings her to the feet of queen Hatshepsut!

I loved this story because it really incorporated a lot of details about what life might have been like in ancient Egypt. I found myself thinking, "This would be a good place to have students create a mental image of what is being described", or "Wow, I didn't know that most people slept on the roof of their house during this time period". The author, Ann Turner, collaborated with Catharine Roehrig, the Assistant Curator for the Egyptian Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to ensure that the story contained historically accurate details.

Because we have been focusing on reading strategies in my Elementary Reading and Language Arts Curriculum and Instruction class, I could hear one part of my brain processing where I would want to stop with my students and point out different strategies they could use. The story starts with a flashback, and when you reach the end of chapter one, it is necessary to go back and verify that you are now reading about a part of the story that happened after the flashback, because it is not instantly apparent.