Thing 3

I like to read blogs but I don't always have the time to keep up with them. I would love to blog about books for middle school, especially if kids who like to read would comment and add their own reactions and responses to their reading. But with the need to disassemble (if that's a word) a middle school library by summer, my blogs will probably be centered around that. And that might involve more whining than anyone else would want to read!
Maybe I should blog about books I find as I scour the shelves for things that should have been discarded years ago! Nothing like moving to get rid of clutter! See, it's really hard for me to blog about blogs when I keep getting distracted by this huge job ahead of me -- but I can understand that blogging as part of the everyday activites in a classroom would be beneficial for students and teachers.

Newbery winner 2010

The Newbery Award winner for this year is a book I've actually read and enjoyed! (That doesn't always happen -- still haven't opened Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village from 2008.)
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead is this year's winner and I think it's a great middle school book. It deals with a lot of different issues -- bullying, isolation, latchkey children among them -- but with a difference. The main character's mom is preparing for an appearance on the old quiz show $10,000 Pyramid and each chapter title is based on that program; e.g. Things you lose, things that disappear, etc. It also involves alternative realities and mysterious notes, leading to a surprising but satisfying ending, at least to this reader!