Module 4

SLIS 5420/ Module 4 June 27-July 4

Books Read this week:
"Frindle" by Andrew Clements

"Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech

Summary for "Frindle" by Andrew Clements:
A boy named Nick renames a pen to be called a frindle. It quickly takes hold and it is the students against a teacher using this new word. Eventually the word has spread across the country and there is nothing Nick can do to stop it anymore. It is a story of learning to be able to achieve anything that you set out to and following it through till the end.

My Impressions: This is such a fun story. Its a quick read and an enjoyable one. It is fun and exciting and you just have to know what happens. Nick is very clever and I think lots of young students can relate to this story and enjoy it.

Reviews:

Reviewer: Buraq K. '12

The lesson to be learned from reading Frindle is that it is possible to make up a word! Nick makes up a new word "frindle" for pen. Nick's teacher, Mrs. Granger, is very strict, and does not want the children to use the made up word for pen. Nick appears on T.V. for an interview because of all the commotion that his word "frindle" is causing. Will the word "frindle" make its way into the dictionary? Is Mrs. Granger really hoping that Nick's "word" won't become a "real word"?

Fall 2004

http://www.germantownacademy.org/academics/ls/superreader/title/f/frindle.htm

Publishers Weekly

Trying to aggravate a tough language-arts teacher, a fifth-grade boy invents a new word for pen: "frindle." Soon, the whole country is using it. "Dictionary lovers will cotton to this mild classroom fantasy," said PW. Ages 8-12. (Feb.)

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Frindle/Andrew-Clements/e/9780689818769

Uses:
This book is just a great classroom read. It can be used to teach the students about the dictionary and also just making anything possible.

Clements, Andrew. (1996). "Frindle". New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Summary for "Ruby Holler":

This book is about twins a boy and girl named Dallas and Florida who are orphans and live in a home that has awful owners and tons of rules that they are always breaking. They have been in and out of foster homes and finally are sent to "Ruby Holler" to help an older couple and finally learn that they can be loved.

My impressions:
I liked this story a lot. I thought it was great in showing children that they can be loved no matter what. It can also be good to relate to children who have moved a lot or are adopted.

Reviews:

From the Publisher

"Trouble twins" Dallas and Florida are orphans who have given up believing there is such a thing as a loving home. Tiller and Sairy are an eccentric older couple who live in the beautiful, mysterious Ruby Holler, but they're restless for one more big adventure. When they invite the twins to join them on their journeys, they first must all stay together in the Holler, and the magic of the place takes over. Two pairs of lives grow closer, and are changed forever.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ruby-Holler/Sharon-Creech/e/9780060560157/?itm=1&USRI=Ruby+Holler

It's not only what angle you choose to see an event from, but how close you go to it, and how long you spend with it, and when you look away. In Ruby Holler, Creech does an unusual thing for a children's book: she distributes her attention equally among the adults and the children. She looks at whatever is interesting, whatever moves the story forward, and tells us what she sees, and never tells us more than we need.
Philip Pullman is the author of the His Dark Materials trilogy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/jul/06/booksforchildrenandteenagers.shopping

Uses:
This book can be used for learning about the value of family, for children who are adopted or have moved around a lot.

Creech, Sharon. (2002). "Ruby Holler". New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.