Blind date with a book

I wanted to share this fab idea that one of my colleagues (Lovely Lisa!) shared with me. She had seen it at a reading conference, so I apologise for not accrediting the initial sharer of the idea. We both now give our children the choice of changing their reading book in the normal way, or selecting a blind date book. 

Algona Public Library

Each blind date book is wrapped so that children cannot see what they are getting. I teach class 2, so the books may be at the appropriate level, or a challenge for the child. I preempted confusion about this by sending a letter home to parents explaining about blind date books and that they are for reading alone or sharing together. I have included favourite class stories, picture books, early independent readers and some longer stories, which get put into a 'blind date tub'. Not only does it introduce children to books they may not usually choose, it makes them read (or read more quickly) at home because they are keen to choose another blind date book. 

Interestingly, two children at the end of last half term chose not take a blind date book. One of them was keen to read the last book from our reading scheme boxes, the other child just didn't want to take the risk!

You can see some more examples of blind date books on pinterest.

Reading for pleasure

I've just had another one of those enjoyable book chats with my son when we reminisce over the books we have shared and enjoyed - before he berates me for not having read all of the mighty Feist's books (our conversation usually ends thus - I'm saving them for retirement!) As with music, we share the same tastes, although I veer off from fantasy fiction every so often to read books that have been recommended, or have come across accidentally. I've blogged about some of them here. I'm always in awe of Ben's phenomenal memory for detail, especially where Game of Thrones is concerned. Unlike me, he doesn't watch the TV series and gets quite ranty about the discrepancies.

I thought it would be nice to share some of the books we have enjoyed reading over the past few years. I recommend them all to families with teenagers/young adults. They are in a kind of chronological order - though some books we obviously had to wait for the next one to come out. I'm not sure Ben ever read the Northern Lights trilogy, but it ought to be included in a list like this. We also read some teenage fiction (Kate Cann books mostly) in his teenage years.

I've included Amazon links as I'm far too lazy to write synopses, but should point out that Game of Thrones and the second and third books of the Painted Man trilogy have very adult content. Ben is now 26, so quite old enough to read what he likes.

• The Wind Singer Trilogy - William Nicholson
• Noughts and Crosses set - Malorie Blackman
• Bartimaeus trilogy - Jonathon Stroud (Loved the humour of these!)
• Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen - Garth Nix
• The Painted Man trilogy - Peter V Brett (fantastic - we have both read these twice. More books to come too)
• Game of Thrones - George RR Martin (I confess that Ben was nagging me for ages before I finally got round to reading this, about a month before the televised series was broadcast. Ben has read them twice already.)
• Magician - Raymond Feist (I've read 2 books from the Riftwar saga ... Ben has read these all twice too.)
• The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins. I didn't think Ben would be impressed with this, but he enjoyed them as a quick read
• Divergent - Veronica Roth
• Traitor's Blade - Sebastien De Castell
• Blood Song, Tower Lord - Anthony Ryan (I found these, though Ben read them much more quickly. Tower Lord is hot off the press and is my next read having just finished Blood Song).

I have tried to get Ben to read more widely than fantasy fiction, forcing books such as Pigeon English and Vernon God Little into his room. He starts them, but doesn't finish. I would like him to read 'We need to talk about Kevin' at the same time as me too as I have had a recommendation from a colleague to read it. I would love any more recommendations for our mother and son reading for pleasure!

More 'post Game of Thrones' reading

Before you read on, don't expect a critically written post about books I have read; this is merely a list of books that I have managed to read (and enjoyed) during a busy term at school. As always 'scuse the grammar/typos. I'm not great at proof reading my own work (as proved this week when I was mortified at missing out an apostrophe. Eeek! I no longer have the right to criticise those who add them willy-nilly!)

In my last post about books I ended with the book I was reading at that time - The Goldfinch. It is based around Theo, a character who I fell in love with because his heart-breaking situation was written so believably. I'm not going to go into detail as I don't want to plant seeds or accidentally write a plot spoiler. Needless to say I really enjoyed it, despite getting annoyed during some of the Las Vegas part of the story (and a little bit of the Amsterdam part too). I would even have been happy with less grit and more detail about the relationship between Theo and Hobie.  I imagine the book would make a good film in the future and I would certainly go and watch it, but then I usually* enjoy watching books come to life, even if they don't follow the text accurately.

After this I read The Room by Emma Donoghue, which I find quite disturbing. It was a half term holiday read - possibly not the best choice! Someone on Amazon claims to have 'adored' this book. I question that. I found it believable, but the nature of story would hardly put it in the adorable book section, in the same way that The Lovely Bones would never end up on that shelf.

In our book club we have read Coram Boy, The Hen who Dreamed She Could Fly and our current one, which is I am Malala. These are not books I would usually buy and are all relatively easy reads. Coram Boy is a children's book that deals with the fate of children born out of wedlock in the 1700s. This book was chosen by a friend, who read it as part of her course on children's literature. I think I would have loved reading this as a child, but I found it a tad frustrating (I can't remember why - it's a while since I read it) and the ending wasn't brilliant.  Our book club discussion was great after this book though - and I did learn about some historical situations because of it.

The hen who dreamed she could fly

This story has been translated into English from Korean. Apparently it is a good translation, but nevertheless I felt confused whist reading it. My book club friends seemed to love it a lot more than I, which made me question how much of an animal lover I am (I thought I was a big on that!) I couldn't read it as a story about a hen - I kept reading more into it, analysing it and making judgements about the author's life experiences. When I copied the link from Amazon just now I had a quick look at the reviews (I tend not to read these beforehand). This review by Ia890 captures my thoughts nicely.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars basic 20 April 2014

By la890

Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

I thought it was like a primary school book on diversity. Blindingly obvious parables. First I thought it was some sort of political statement. The hen wants to live in freedom not oppression. Then finds out its hard to fend for yourself.
Then a lesson in racial diversity , then a lesson on death. All a bit simply written and I can't understand why it's such an applauded book
Am I missing something?

I have been left wondering if this is book is a metaphor of the complexities of cultural difference, or merely a story about a hen.

In between book club books I have read Perfect, The Shock of the Fall, The Fault in their Stars, Traitor's Blade, The Boy who Killed Pigs and Life after Life. They are all relatively easy reads that can be read during term time and have all served the purpose of sending me off to sleep thinking of something other than work. For more information about each one, follow the links!

The shock of the fall A quick read about a young person with mental health problems. A quick read for term time.

The fault in their stars Another quick read that I wanted to finish before the film came out. It's easy to guess what is going to happen in this one and I don't fancy sobbing through the film. I quite enjoyed reading it though-I liked the characters in a Dawson's Creek kind of way.

The boy who kicked pigs I found this book on the stairs. Someone had loaned it to my son and I was intrigued. It is written by Tom Baker and I read it in a Tom Baker voice. It's a very odd (quirky?) black comedy with illustrations in the style of Lemony Snickett. That's all I'm going to say about it!

Perfect Loaned to me by my friend Becca, it is a story that flits from two children growing up, an insecure mum and blackmail, to an adult with mental health problems. It is set in the 70s and is a little slow moving (the mum's naivety annoyed me immensely) and I did guess the attempted twist in the tale, but it enjoyed it for what it was. It's not a book I would highly recommend, but if someone gives you a copy and you have nothing else, it's worth reading.

Life after Life There were some sections (only a couple) in this Groundhog Day style story that I wished were shorter, but I really enjoyed this read. It is cleverly written and quite believable. I would recommend this to friends and would appreciate a book club chat about it.

Traitor's Blade was recommended by a fellow Game of Thrones fan. I read somewhere that it was a Three Musketeers style story and that is how I subsequently read it. It's not as gory or unpredictable as GoT, but is an enjoyable read (measured by how quickly I read it). I started at the same time as my son and he read it in about three days. He has taken a break from re-reading Feist's huge collection of books and is road testing Blood Song for me. I enjoy it when we read the same books as there's always a debate to be had.

For the summer, so far I have Snow Child (a recommendation from colleagues), The tent, the bucket and me (perfect for the holidays!) and Blood Song. I have also borrowed Creating Learning without Limits from the library again, though at this point it is the only school book I intend to look at during the summer.

I would love to hear any more recommendations.


*The Time Traveller's Wife is a notable exception. For some reason he came across as more of a weirdo in the film who shows up naked in front of small children.

Dog listeners

Sometimes you read those tweets on twitter that just make you think 'Wow - what a perfect idea!' This morning I read another conversation - and have time to write a quick post about it whilst catching up with f1 qualifying. Skip my waffle if you want to get to the juicy part! (Links at the bottom.)

Reading for pleasure is something very important to me, as I assume it is with most teachers. I was an avid reader as a child, but my children have shown me that sometimes you need extra tricks to get them to read. One of my sons (now 26) reads whilst eating, travelling and between conversations. He confesses that he's not the best conversationalist and would rather be reading than chatting. My youngest son had the same diet of tractor and Thomas books alongside the many other picture books that I picked up for 20p at the boot sale. He would rather be outside and doing than reading. At primary school he struggled throughout and although the school challenged his level 3 result at the end of year 6, I knew that's what he was. Gifted and talented mathematician, logical thinker, weak reader. Even though I bought him motocross / big machinery books, he wasn't particularly interested. The only fiction that inspired him as child were Lemony Snicket's, read to him by his enthusiastic teacher. I could go on about his secondary experiences and the fact that the only book he has ever chosen to buy was a Wilderness Survival Guide (yes, we live in a rural location - but it's not that rural!), but this post is about something that I wish I'd thought of years ago. We've always had dogs. They are great listeners. I never thought to get him to read to our pets. So the tweets that I read this morning reminded me about how I had read before about dogs being used in a therapeutic way, but I'd never thought about how wonderful  it would be to have them as non-judgemental listeners for our struggling readers. The Bark and Read programme argues how dogs are perfect listeners - attentive and non-judgemental. Stroking dogs reduces stress, which is the part of dog 'therapy' that I have read about before, particularly with the elderly and children/adults with SEN. But it doesn't have to just be about children with SEN.

Meet Macy and Sabre (I named the former!) at Nettishall Heath

I think about how my son, who is similar to many of the loveable rogues that you will encounter in your classrooms, would have loved the opportunity to work with a dog - and yes, I truly think he would have read a story to one. I have 5 low attaining boys in my class and I would love to find out if a 'dog listener' would boost their confidence. One thing I can do immediately is to find out if any of them have dogs in their immediate or extended families and maybe suggest it as a homework activity. I'm sure my parents already think I am a bit bonkers, so I doubt they will find this too odd.

The other thing I can do is change the focus of our class bears. Instead of the children writing about what they have done with him (I don't insist on this, they all just seem to love doing it) I will get them to read him a bedtime story, then record the title of the book and author and maybe mark it out of 10. That way, other children and families can see the range of books and stories being read. It will hopefully be a good influence.

I intend to read a story to Macy later to see what she does, just so I can tell parents my experience of it. I imagine that Macy will just wear her usual bemused expression - and probably fall asleep. She's not know for any friskiness!

Macy

Although I would be more than happy to raise a smaller breed of dog that could come to work with me and inspire children, I'm not sure how schools that do embrace this scheme work around children with allergies. It is something totally worth looking into in the future though, when time permits. I'd love to be 'that SENDco who used dogs in the classroom'...

Our beautiful Norfolk coast, looking a bit grey

Quick links 

Children urged to read to dogs- perfect listeners - BBC post

The Bark and Read programme

Still buying books to inspire Jake to read!

My 'post Game of Thrones' reading list

Getting to the end of A Dance with Dragons was bittersweet. Who knows when the next one will appear and even the debates/discussions/theories/opinions that I have shared with my son (and others) have not filled the space that this book has left. I have read lots of blog posts, teaching books and research, but a spot of fiction is much needed at bed time. So here are a few of the books that have kept me going and helped me nod off to sleep at night!

The Magician was recommended by my son who has a plethora of Feist books. I have read the first two books of the Riftwar saga and no doubt will read more, but I don't feel they are on the same level as Game of Thrones. That said, they are a good read for fantasy fiction fans.

The Daylight War (The Painted Man, book 3) another much anticipated book that didn't disappoint. I read books 1 and 2 again before reading this - mostly because I was in the post GoT void. I loved these books, even though the first time I read book 2 I felt that Brett had written it for TV (I didn't feel this on second reading funnily enough). Now I have to wait for book 4...

The 100 year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of a Window and Disappeared - I started this, found it too twee and only picked it up again recently, thinking I had to finish it really as other people were commenting on it. I found it a bit too Forest Gump and am ashamed to say that I didn't particularly enjoy the historical references. It's a bit silly and I only bought it because I liked the title (and it was 99p on my Kindle recommendations list) so i can't complain for the price!

Pigeon English was recommended by Jenni H and was a massive change from the fantasy fiction I had been reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it! It's easy to read, but thought provoking. And heart-breaking. More sobbing!!

Ketchup Clouds is an easy teenage fiction read, written by the same author as My Sister lives on the Mantlepiece. 

The God of Small Things has sat on my book shelf for a while as another boot sale bargain that caught my eye. It is set in Kerala, which (having been there) was why I was keen to read it. The prose was a bit too 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' for my liking when I first picked it up and reading it coincided with starting my new job, so I put it down until October half term. It is not an easy read if you don't like overly floral language, and I admit it took me a while to get into it. I am pleased I persevered though because it is a beautiful and moving story. Another one that made me cry (sob).

Divergent when I went to see The Hunger Games II at the cinema we were all given the first five chapters of this book, which is a clever way to get folk to buy the book. I enjoyed this, but not enough to pay full whack for the next two books. An easy read, but I'm happy to wait until they come down in price.

At this point I decided that the best way to keep up with my reading and to try new genres was to start a book club. I phoned a few friends from my old school who often read similar books to me and it started from there. We are only on a first book, but we have selected our next four, so I have got ahead in case work takes over.

A Tale for the Time Being was my choice for the first book. It is a story that I know will stay with me for a long while, partly because it reduced me to tears in more than one place and partly because I learned a lot of new things from it (facts that no doubt I will never remember). I found it harrowing at times, but it is a very believable story and I would recommend it.

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul was a much easier read than the previous book and is essentially a romantic novel. I was grateful for this at the time as it didn't take a lot of brain power to read, but equally I found it very annoying at times and lacking substance. To me it felt like it had been written in the hope that it would be made into a chick flick with the kind of sentimentality (and sickly happy ending) that American films often have. If you want an easy read, it won't disappoint, but you have been warned!

Goldfinch was another recommendation from my cousin - and I have always enjoyed her recommendations (Middlesex and vernon God Little were both great reads). I  am only about one fifth of the way through, but it has me gripped...

I'd love to know what you have been reading!