Growing Minds Through Reading

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Walton, Julia. WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS. New York: Random House, 2017. ISBN: 978-0-399-55088-1. PLOT SUMMARY:  Adam is a 16-year-old that is schizophrenic.  He hears and sees people that others can’t.  Adam starts a new experimental drug.  The drug has side effects such as headaches, sensitivity to light and increased hallucinations but it seems to work in how he reacts to his visions. At his new school he has befriended a boy named Dwight and a girl named Maya.  With the medication working, Adam starts feeling hopeful that he can be a regular guy and continue to be the person that Maya thinks he is.  Adam and Maya become a couple and even though Adam knows he should be honest with Maya about his condition he doesn’t say anything.  After seven months on the medication, the doctors conclude that Adam is no longer a good candidate for the drug since he has shown signs of resistance to the drug.  During prom, Adam has an episod...

  Read the following interview with Ashely Herring Blake on her book Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World . https://www.younginklings.org/2018-12-ashley-herring-blake/ BIBLIOGRAPHY Herring Blake, Ashley. IVY ABERDEEN’S LETTER TO THE WORLD. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2018. ISBN: 978-0-316-51546-7. PLOT SUMMARY:  Ivy Aberdeen is a twelve-year-old whose family has lost everything when a tornado destroys her house.  Ivy’s notebook with her special drawing goes missing when her family stays at the local school.  Ivy worries that her notebook will be found and her drawings of girls holding hands will be discovered.  Ivy finds some of her drawing in her locker with notes telling her to be honest about her feelings.  Even though she does not know who is leaving these notes, Ivy starts communicating with this person through notes. During this time, Ivy starts developing a crush on a girl named June.  Ivy is torn on how to handle the feelings she...

Read this interview with Alex Gino on his new book You Don’t Know Everything, Jelly P.! and the book George. https://medium.com/@afalck/trans-author-interview-alex-gino-da00eebf1651 BIBLIOGRAPHY Gino, Alex. GEORGE. New York: Scholastic, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-545-81254-2. PLOT SUMMARY:   George is a fourth-grade student who identifies as a girl.   She has been keeping her secret from her family as well as her best friend.   When her class is preparing for the play Charlotte’s Web, George wants to play the part of Charlotte.   Her teacher does not allow her to audition for the part because she is a boy and George is heart-broken. With the help of Kelly, her best friend, they come up with a plan for her to play Charlotte.   Not only does George get to play Charlotte but it also helps her to show her family who she is.   ANALYSIS:   George has always felt like a girl and wishes she could freely express herself with her family, friends and classmates...

Listen to this audio recording of Joseph Bruchac sharing some of the backstory in creating Code Talker:  A Novel About the Navajo Marines in World War II. https://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=4858&a=1 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bruchac, Joseph. CODE TALKER: A NOVEL ABOUT THE NAVAJO MARINES IN WORLD WAR II. New York: Speak, 2006. ISBN: 978-0142405963. PLOT SUMMARY:  This is a historical fiction story about the Navajo Marines that played an important role during World War II.  Using their native language, they were able to send messages back and forth that helped save many American lives.  For many years, their work remained classified which prevented people from knowing the important role these Navajo Marines played during this time.   ANALYSIS: The main character in this novel is a Navajo boy.  The reader is introduced to him as Kii Yazhi, a six-year-old who must leave his family to go to boarding school to learn the way of the white peopl...

Watch the book trailer for In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse created by Texas Bluebonnet Award . BIBLIOGRAPHY Marshall III, Joseph and Jim Yellowhawk. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CRAZY HORSE. New York: Abrams, 2015. ISBN: 978-1-4197-0785-8. PLOT SUMMARY:  Jimmy Mclean is a Lakota boy through his mom who is Lakota and his dad who is half white and half Lakota.  Jimmy is constantly teased by two boys at school because he is a Lakota with blue eyes, light-brown hair and his last name is Mclean.  After finding out that he is being teased at school, Jimmy’s grandfather Nyles, takes his on a trip during the summer.  During the trip, Jimmy comes to learn the story of Crazy Horse, a Lakota war leader who also had light skin and brown hair, through his grandfather’s storytelling .  After learning Crazy Horse’s story, not only does Jimmy learn about this Lakota ancestry but it also helps him to realize that he can handle anything that comes his way.   ANALYSIS: Jimmy...

  Watch author Nobel Maillard read his book Fry Bread. BIBLIOGRAPHY Nobel Maillard, Kevin and Juana Martinez-Neal. FRY BREAD A NATIVE AMERICAN FAMILY STORY. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2019. ISBN:978-1-62672-746-5. PLOT SUMMARY:  Fry Bread written in free verse is the story of a modern Native American family sharing family time to make fry bread.  Fry bread represents time spend together but also their history and culture.    ANALYSIS: The characters represented in the story show how diverse a Native American family can be.  There are different skin colors and different hair types, yet they represent a family that shares so much with each other.   SETTING : Most of the story takes place at the home where the family gathers to make the fry bread.  Within the home we see the colorful patterned clothes used by older family members, in the kitchen the patterns are visible in many of the dishes as well as in the artwork when creating handm...