The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

http://www.globalreadaloud.com

This book is one of the titles for Global Read aloud this year. I have had this book on my shelf as it is by one of my favourite authors Kate Di Camillo. It is about a porcelain rabbit named Edward who lives with a little girl, she dresses him each morning in the most stylish of clothing. Her family decide to move abroad one day and Edward accompanies them on the sea journey. Edward is a great companion for Abilene, however, the other children on the ocean liner, fight over Edward and he goes overboard. The story reminds me of the movie Toy Story as it is narrates the adventure Edward has once he becomes lost. Going from owner to owner. It was a lovely story but I think it would be best suited to a younger audience, maybe Grade 2-3.

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler

This book has mystery, adventure and some quirky characters, all ingredients in a recipe for a fantastic read. Claudia decides to run away, and her younger brother Jamie has the savings to get away without being caught. So she convinces him to join her in running away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they travel one Wednesday with $25 between them to New York and begin their adventure. Here the story gets really interesting with the pair hiding among the exhibits and concocting plans to avoid being detected. When a sculpture appears in the museum, Claudia decides to find out the origins of it and refuses to return home until she does. A quick read!

The Giver

In the same genre as The Hunger Games and Divergent, The Giver is about a utopian society. In this world, society is organised by ages, and people are assigned roles. In this world there is no hunger, no pain, no war or choice. We discover this society through the story of Jonas. He lives happily with his mother and father and sister Lily. The story starts just before Jonas' twelfth ceremony, so we come to know what life is like before he encounters the Giver. When Jonas is twelve he is assigned his role. The role of receiver. He alone is trained by the Giver to be the holder of memories. Once assigned there is no going back.

I loved this story and only discovered, now that I have finished reading it, it is one of four books about this society... I am going to have to go out now and see if my local library has any other titles in this series. Highly recommended!

Our Village in the Sky

I was so blessed to be given a copy of this delightful book from the publishers Allen & Unwin. This beautiful book is a collection of poems written by Janeen Brian and illustrated by Anne Spudvillas. The poems tell about the daily life in a Himalayan village. Janeen has a way with words, capturing the sounds and images of the routine tasks of gathering water, washing clothes and playing with a ladder as a seesaw. Anne's illustrations are vivid and demonstrate the innocence and delight in the faces of the children in the village.

I can't wait to share this book with my class. I want to explore with them the beautiful imagery and figurative language used. It's a wonderful book to illustrate the effective use of repetition, personification and alliteration at the same time as comparing our daily life with that of the children portrayed in the poems.