The Watsons Go to Birmingham

This book was very funny. I laughed out loud on several occasions. The Watsons are a colored family whole live in the the north during the 1960s. Byron Watson is constantly teased and harassed by his older brother and his friends. His older brother finally goes to far and his parents decide to take a family vacation to Birmingham and drop his brother off at their grandma's house and make him stay there the entire summer. While they are there a tragic incident happens and causes Byron to rethink life. Great read.

Out of the Dust

I loved this book!!! I couldn't but it down. The story in written in a poetry format so it is very easy to read. The story takes place in the 1920's when a girl named Billie Jo is born in a small cabin in the pan handle of Oklahoma. She is a very good pianist and loves apples. One day her and her mother have a tragic accident. All Billie Jo can think about it leaving Oklahoma and the dust and getting a new life. This is a heart wrenching book. It is a book of hope, tragedy, and love. I think I will read this aloud to my class next year.

Elephant Run

This is another WWII book (LOL!! do you think they boys in my class enjoyed reading about WWII?). Nick Freestones apartment in London gets blown up during the war. To keep him safe his mother sends him to Burma to live with his father because she thinks he will be safer there. While he is there the Japanese invade Burma and capture him and his father. They are separated for about a year. The book deals alot with Nicks mission to free his father. It was a great book. It is another book that has a different look at WWII. Several boys in my class tried to read it but couldn't get interested in the first couple of chapters so they abandoned it. I wish they would have kept on because I know they would have loved it.

Facebook

I have taken the plunge and joined up with facebook. If you read this blog I would love to have you has a friend on facebook. I have been reading Bill's facebook and decided I would get my own so I could comment to friends. I'm not sure I will like it. It seems like a bunch of "rubbish" but every once in a while I read something interesting.

Sea World

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

SOLD

I know most of you read Bills blog and heard that we sold our house. YIPPPEEE!! The realtor took this picture and I just had to post. It is such a relief. We will probably wait until after the first of the year before we purchase here for several reasons.

Al Capone Does My Shirts

I just finished reading this and it was a big surprise. I thought this would be a very humorous book but it really wasn't. It was very hard to get into but I LOVED the ending. The book deals with "Moose" and how he learns to deal with his autistic sister Natalie. Their father is a maintenance man at Alcatraz so the whole family lives there. I had a hard time trying to get any of my students to read this book this year. I may have to read this out loud. There are a few inappropriate words that I will need to mark out otherwise it was a great story.