Where the Wild Things Are

For my fifth and final choice book I read "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. The book tells the story of a young boy who is sent to his room without supper by his mother after misbehaving and then goes on an incredible journey through his own imagination. The boys name is Max and when he departs on his imaginary journey he arrives on an island full of violent and angry beasts known as "wild things". Max, dressed in his wolf costume is able to intimidate and scare the beats. The beasts believing they are defeated name him "king of the wild things" after which a celebration is held and the wild things and Max dance around and celebrate together. After some time on the island however, max grows bored and lonely and decides to return home. The wild things are very upset but Max decides to go nonetheless. When he returns to his room he finds his supper waiting for him. I think that this book teaches two very important lessons. I think the first is of a mothers unconditional love. Despite being furious with Max his mother brings him supper even after threatening to send him to bed without it. This is also what also brings Max back into the real world from his imaginary adventure. I think this portrays a mother and her unconditional love for her children and the comfort that it brings a child to know that they can count on that. I think the second story that we see in this is on of imagination. I think this book really focuses on showing just how powerful a child's imagination is and how easily it can be used as an escape. I think that this shows that allowing children to be creative and imaginative is really pivotal in progressing not only their learning but their happiness as well. Overall I really enjoyed this book. I love the sense of adventure and imagination that is portrays and also love the memories it brings back of reading this book when I was young. I think in a way this book can be relatable for everyone as I think we all need to use our imaginations and find a little escape now and then.

Voices From the Middle

For my second teacher journal I read "Voices From the Middle" coedited by Sara Kajder, University of Georgia and Shelbie Witte, Oklahoma State University. This journal contains texts not only from educators but also students, teacher educators, and researchers. I think that having all of these perspectives readily available in one single composition of writing is really great. This forces the reader to take on many different perspectives at once and really analyze everything that is being said to its fullest extent by comparing and contrasting different viewpoints, understanding why they exist, why they are relevant or not, and why you may or may not agree with them or incorporate them into your own practice. The article focuses mainly on teaching English and how to teach English in different middle school settings. I think the fact that this journal focuses on teaching English was extremely relevant for me personally since I'm in the GECP at MSU and teaching English to those who don't speak it as a first language is one of our main topics. I thought being able to have a number of different perspectives on the issues also helped me to better understand what I, as a teacher, need to do in order to be effective in teaching English to my students. I found that all of the research done in this journal seemed very reasonable, moderate, and well thought out and looked into. I felt that everything in this writing was also very sincere and positive. I think that after reading this journal I really gained a lot of very useful insight and knowledge into something that I care about very much and strive to achieve in my future. I think having the knowledge that I gained from this journal can be nothing but beneficial in my future journey and that's why I felt that this text was so relatable and easy to understand and get into.

JOCI

For my first teacher journal I read "The Journal of Curriculum and Instruction" which is co-edited by Chan Evans and Sharilyn C. Steadman, College of Education, East Carolina University. The journal focuses on various aspects of k-12 curriculum and education. Going into this reading I thought it was going to be very dull and boring but after going through it I actually found it to be extremely relevant and helpful. As someone who is going into elementary education I found that this journal was extremely relevant to what I want to do and the skillset that I need to develop to be able to do so effectively. I found a lot of very helpful and relevant information that I think I would benefit greatly from holding onto and incorporating into my studies and one day my job. The text includes many research studies, practitioner articles, and book reviews along with information and guidance on how to incorporate all of this information into the classroom as a teacher. I thought that this was extremely helpful and beneficial for me to read as often times I feel that this is one of the things that is very much lacking in my classes. I really enjoyed being presented with information and then not being left with it but instead being advised and instructed on how I can use it to not only improve my abilities and my effectiveness as a teacher but also as a person in general when dealing with kids and understanding child development and learning. I believe that this was overall the most helpful and relevant piece of text that I read. I think for this reason I also appreciated this text more than any of the others I read. It was just so relevant to everything I want to do ant everything that I want to learn that I couldn't help but enjoy it.

Owl Sees Owl

For my second book review journal book I read "Owl Sees Owl" by Laura Godwin. The book is very cool and extremely aesthetically pleasing. The book contains very few words, usually only 3-4 per page and instead focuses heavily on the artwork to tell the story. The illustrations in the book are absolutely gorgeous and make it very easy to follow the story even with very few words. The books follows reverso poetry in its writing style and ends on the same text that it begins on. It tells the story of a baby owl who leaves the safety of his nest and goes on an adventure of his own for the first time one night. The story seems to capture the excitement of the baby owl flying on his own for the first time with the simple phrase "Soar, glide, swoop, swoosh" and portrays a feeling of amazement and adventure. As simple as the book is its as if you can really feel the excitement and wanderlust that the baby owl feels as he takes off into the unknown. When the owl gets to the pond he sees his reflection "owl sees owl" and gets scared and turns back where the poem reverses itself where it ends on the same phrase it began on "home, mama, brother, sister" I think the style that the book is written in also really helps to portray the feeling of the book as it starts of in the "comfort zone" and goes more and more into the unknown before reaching a climax of excitement and wonder and then fleeing quickly back to that comfort zone.  I think in a way myself and many people can relate to this book as I think everyone has an inborn sense of wanderlust whether great or small we all want to explore a little bit. I adored the illustrations in this book and thought that  even if there hadn't been any text in this book you would have known what was happening in the story. The illustrations were just that well done and that specific all the while retaining their absolute beauty and sense of excitement and wonder.

The White Cat and the Monk

For my first book review journal book I read "The White Cat and the Monk" by Jo Ellen Bogart. The story is a modern adaptation of the classic Irish poem "Pangur Ban" which I also read to get a better understanding of the text. I found this book on SLJ.com (school library journal). The story tells of a cat that every night wanders into the monastery where each night he sits outside a mouse's hole waiting for him while a monk sits up all night working on his writings. The monk and the cat each stay up until dawn each day patiently doing their "work" The story teaches a great lesson of patience and companionship. The monk realizes that he and the cat are very much alike. Each night they sit up and patiently work away at their task both of them doing what they were made to do. Though they never directly interact they form a sort of bond knowing that they are both fulfilling their purposes in each others company. The story teaches a great lesson about companionship and how simple it can be while still being very meaningful. It also addresses the virtue of patience and how consistent patience will lead to good things. I think these are both very important things and are two concepts that I personally try to work into my daily life so this book was very relatable and easy for me to read. For me companionship is one of the most important things in life. Family, friends, and my wonderful girlfriend are all incredibly important to me and I think that without companionship mankind would be a dull and meaningless species. Patience is also something that I have always prided myself on. I believe patience is extremely important especially in times of conflict. I believe that being patient in the face of adversity will 100% of the time lead to a happier and more fulfilling future than acting on pure emotion and being rash. Overall I thought this book, while very simple, was very meaningful and well done.

The Outsiders

For my second librarian recommended book I read "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton. The book was recommended to me by Mrs. Costello at Eaton Rapids High School. The book follows the story of Ponyboy and his two brothers Darry and Sodapop. The boys live in Oklahoma and are in a gang known as the greasers. They are the lower class and dress like you stereotypical 50-60s bad boys with leather jackets and greased back hair (hence the name). The gang is always at war with the Socs, the upper class preppy gang of boys. The two gangs despise eachother and violence regularly breaks out. The book shows the struggles of the boys as they live in Darry's custody without their parents who were killed in a car accident. One night a fight breaks out and Ponyboy's friend Johnny ends up killing a Soc in order to save Ponyboy from being drown. The two boys flee town and hide. Later the boys come across a burning church with kids trapped inside. They manage to save all of the kids but Johnny is badly burned and breaks his back. After this incident the boys are seen as heroes. Eventually Johnny dies from his injuries and in a fit of rage another gang member, Dally, robs a grocery store before ultimately being killed by the police. To cope with his grief Ponyboy writes this book in remembrance to Dally. This book is a classic and I really enjoyed rereading it. I think reading it again for the first time after 7th grade, I really understood more of what was going on in the book. I enjoyed getting to relate the problems in the book to real world issues that I was had been unaware of before such as gang violence, social inequality, and how home situations can deeply affect a persons life. I feel that aside from these major issues the book is also full of small, easily relatable details such as friendship, unconditional love, guilt, and fear. I think all of these are things that anyone can relate to, to a certain extent. Overall I love this book and feel that I can very well relate to it and think that I enjoyed even more reading it a second time.

Christmas Tapestry

For my second teacher recommended book I read "The Christmas Tapestry" by Patricia Polacco. This book was recommended to me by Leanne Kregel who teaches 4th and 5th grade at Springport Elementary School. The book talks about the main character Jonathan Jefferson moving from Memphis Tennessee to Detroit Michigan when his father accepts the position of pastor at a new church there. Jonathan and his sister are initially unhappy with the move and have trouble with adjusting. They complain that the church is not as nice as the one in Tennessee. Their father tells them that the church in Memphis was in even worse shape than the one in Detroit and gets them to agree to help him make the Detroit church beautiful again. The begin working very hard and start making new friends and notice that more and more people started attending church services and lending a hand in restoring the church with the goal of having it done by Christmas. On one wall in the church a huge mural of god is meant to be painted but during a winter storm standing water causes damage to the church on the wall and makes it unpaintable. Jonathan is very upset to learn that the wall wont be fixed until after Christmas and begins to miss home again. When out with his father soon after his father and him find a beautiful tapestry that would be perfect for the wall in the church. While waiting for the bus home they spend sometime in the company of an old lady and his father helps her get home after hanging up the tapestry in the church. After examining the tapestry the lady realizes that its an old antique that she hand knitted herself when she still lived in Germany. The woman tells the story of how the cloth was her wedding Suppa and the cover on her wedding bed before the Nazis came and separated her and her husband. On Christmas eve the man who is to fix the wall in the church comes and recognizes the tapestry and says that his wife made it before she was taken by the Nazis. The family is astonished and take the man to his wife to reunite them. The illustrations are very beautiful as should be expected from a Patricia Polacco book and accompany the text well. I thought this was a really beautiful story about making the best of every situation and always staying hopeful. I always love Patricia Polacco books for this reason. They are always very hopeful and relatable and remind the reader to stay positive through tough times. This is overall my favorite book that I read for this assignment.