Category Archives: Books

Jul18

My love affair with Harry Potter

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My love affair with Harry Potter

I am admittedly a Pottermaniac.

So, when I say it was an emotional weekend because I watched the Harry Potter 7.5 movie, it’s a little complicated.

Let me explain:

I had heard about the series off and on, but was skeptical about how great they were, really. I mean, everyone goes on and on about Justin Beiber, and I just don’t get it. (PLEASE DON’T THROW ANYTHING AT ME OR LEAVE AWFUL COMMENTS BECAUSE OF THAT!) So I hesitated on trying to read them.

What changed my mind? Well, way back when I was about 14, one of my awesome cousins, Amy, was visiting our house. Instead of hanging with me, she had her full attention in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. And every fifteen minutes or so, she would start laughing out loud. She would try to explain something to me, but like any time you haven’t read the book and gotten to know the characters, I just couldn’t appreciate it like she could. I started to feel really left out.

So what can you do? I immediately grabbed a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and I was lost. Within a few days, I had voraciously sped through all the first four Harry Potter books.  I fell in love with the various characters, the humorous writing, the allusions to all sorts of mythologies. I then joined the nearly four year wait for the fifth book to come out.

(By the way, this would be a great place to say that there are NO hard feelings about being ignored by Amy for Harry Potter. I GET IT. I only feel indebted to you for opening my eyes to an amazing series.)

So, for the fifth, sixth, and seventh books, I was one of THOSE people who attended the midnight release parties at Barnes and Nobles to be one of the first to know what was next in the series. Because if I didn’t know, as soon as possible, I JUST MIGHT SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST! (I really hope you all know that feeling–the excitement, tension, and relief that come with being so entranced with something magical like this.)

I even dragged Jared along to those last two. We were dating during the sixth book’s release, and had just been married for a few months with the seventh. And let me tell you, that is true love. Standing in a line with a bunch of people dressed up in ridiculous costumes because you are supporting the girl you love’s obsession for something other than you.

(And since his sister, Sarah, and my two younger brothers were both just as in love with the series, it wasn’t like he had much better to do than play card games with us. Like sleep or play video games. I am sure that I will regret this aside sometime later when he reads this post, but I couldn’t help myself. But I digress.)

So I read those books, and I cried at some point in every one of those books, Goblet of Fire and on. And the tears only increased in frequency with each new book, too. Like, only the end of book four, when Voldemort comes back and Cedric dies, kinda sad. (What?! Lord Voldemort returns in full force?! Really, have you have been living under a rock all this time?) So that was only a little bit of the end. By The Deathly Hallows, I think I cried off and on through most of the beginning and then nonstop through the last half of the book.

So with that history in mind, I have a love-hate relationship with the movies that drives anybody watching them with me crazy. Because the books are just so much more in depth and the movies just can’t get all of that in there, or focus on weird parts that I don’t think are integral. What do you expect? I AM an English teacher, after all.

And I know the movies can’t get it all in unless they do extended editions that are four hours long, like the Lord of the Rings series, meaning by the end it’s TWELVE hours. And most people don’t really have the endurance for that, especially when they might not have read the book. So you have to cut some details. I GET IT, PROMISE. But the movies, even the best of the series, all have flaws. This one was no different. It wasn’t bad, at all. It was actually pretty good, for the most part.

But, the movie was more of a hollow echo of all those powerful emotions I felt when back in July 2007, as I finally reached the end of a masterfully written tale. It was over, then, for me. Because no other format can truly cover this story that is the very picture of the word epic. As in, when you look up “epic” in the dictionary, next to where it states, “heroic; majestic; impressively great” you will find a picture of JK Rowling or one of the Harry Potter covers.

All Saturday evening, I relived the ghost of this tale, felt moved by the ghostly echoes of the powerful waves that sweep over me whenever I read the book. And when you have had a love affair with a story like this for over a decade, that can be emotionally draining.

My hats off to you, J.K. Rowling, for being able to create a world that has swept over this world with such power. I can only hope that some day, I could write with such power, beauty, and creativity as you have.

Harry Potter

Jul5

The Help

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The Help

I just finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Wow.

You always hear people going on about a great book, and then the hype usually doesn’t live up to the expectations you formed. And plus, it wasn’t a fantasy/sci-fi novel that I tend to gravitate to; it’s more of a historical fiction.

It just got me thinking about all the lines, borders, fences, etc., we put up between ourselves and anybody else who might be considered “different”. In our daily chats at CTWP, this came up over and over again, in multiple settings and different issues.  Race. Religion. Sexuality. Social status. Abuse.

We fear different. Different might even be better than what we do, and we can’t have that. It’s like the Demotivator: The tallest blade of grass is first to be cut by the lawnmower.

Underacheivement

(Thanks, Despair.com)

We often like to pretend those lines aren’t there. It’s wrong or inappropriate to discuss them as a teacher in the classroom setting. Some things are acceptable now that weren’t when my parents were children. And even then, some people still have deep rooted prejudices towards the Civil Rights movements of the 60s. And students are amazed when they realize, in several parts of the world, the country, the state,  some people still keep their lines drawn firmly between themselves and “The Others”.

So it’s always there, the current deep and powerful, lurking under the waters. That’s why I love novels, reading, writing, so much–because deep in every important story, the lines are discussed, crossed, eliminated, or held up. And your reaction to whatever it is, tells more about you than you even realize.

Stories like The Help tear at me. I wonder how many times I just accepted something that was told to me because it was “just how things are”? How many times I treated somebody based on a preconceived stereotype, not thinking about what I was really doing or saying? How naive and ignorant have I been?

In the end, I desperately wish that people could just truly care about each other the way they should, not withstanding these lines. What a place this world could be, I wonder, if everyone treated each other with a little more kindness and acceptance. If we all lived by The Golden Rule: treat everyone how you would want to be treated yourself.

Would we have those lines still?

Aug28

Mockingjay

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Mockingjay

On a slightly unrelated side note to the last post, this week also was when the final installation to The Hunger Games series came out.

I was blown away by The Hunger Games, and even though I felt Catching Fire was not maybe as clear and well written as it’s predecessor, I have been eagerly awaiting Mockingjay (not mistaken for Mockingbird– as those familiar with the series know) pretty much since I finished Catching Fire.

Of course, a cruel twist of fate made it so that Mockingjay was released my first week of teaching this year, and so I wasn’t able to do my “all-nighter” sort of thing to go get it, then read it til my heart desired to stop. But then again, once I did finish it Thursday, maybe that was all right after all.

Because, even after a couple of days, I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about the end. I’m not saying “HORRIBLE!” I’m also not saying “GREAT!” I’m not even saying “Neutral” because the emotions left in me are NOT anything that could be shrugged off.

I need some of my fellow book nerds to talk this out so I don’t ruin anything for those of you who are planning on reading it!

Jun9

End of Year Two

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End of Year Two

I have now officially put two years of teaching under my belt. What a wonderful feeling!

Despite a few of my challenging kiddos, I enjoyed this year so much more than last year. The first year of teaching is THE PITS.  You just have to muddle through. There are a lot of uncertainties- even things not directly related to my teaching, like firedrills, are scary.

Year Two gave me more confidence and certainty of what I was doing. I was able to use several items from the first year, or improve on them, cutting back on stress time quite a bit.  I also had a better feel of what to expect from my students. I was able to maintain higher standards with them and challenge many of them better. Even the “rubric system” (a system created by Robert Marzano where all assignments are graded as 1-4 in place of 1-100 pt scale. 1 is below expectations, 2 is basic, 3 is expectation met, and 4 is advanced. Students receive these grades in relation to specific skills that match state standards or expectations ) was easier to adapt to this year, though I will admit I don’t agree 100% with Marzano on a few of the things he tries to suggest in his writing.

Preparing for year three is getting pretty exciting. I am looking forward to opening the new middle school and the training opportunities I will have this summer for it. I actually only have a few weeks of summer available because I have over 4 weeks of trainings that I will be doing, plus the last week before students return is dedicated to district stuff and meetings.  I’ll get to move into my new room August 4th, so that will be AWESOME!

Meanwhile I guess I will be trying to clean up the house and possibly read a couple of good books. I have several that I would like to try to get to. I am finishing up the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. if you HAVEN’T read it yet, make it a priority. It possibly is as awesome as Harry Potter. I’ve read it all through once, but I am working on it again.

Fablehaven

Bruce Coville FINALLY came out with the final installment of his Unicorn Chronicles series (years and years in the making). I am gonna have to read all of the books for that again too, though he is a fairly easy read. Start with Into the Land of the Unicorns. The last book is called The Last Hunt. 🙂

The Last Hunt

I also have heard from several students that The Maze Runner is a fabulous book, so I am making it a priority to read that sometime this summer too.

The Maze Runner

If you liked Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (like The Lightening Thief), Rick Riordan has just come out with a new series called The Kane Chronicles which has to do with Egyptian Mythology. Book 1 is called The Red Pyramid. I am hoping to check it out sometime this summer since I enjoyed his spin on Greek Mythology books so much .

The Red Pyramid

Last but not least, the third book of The Hunger Games series comes out late August. I am SO psyched for Mockingjay. If you haven’t read that book yet, you REALLY REALLY should. I got a lot of my kiddos into the series this  past year, and they really loved both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.

Mockingjay

I had a few others that I wanted to read, but I can’t think of them off the top of my head. A couple of them are also professional development books for teaching, and since most of you AREN’T English teachers, they probably wouldn’t be that interesting for you.

I also have a lot to do with cleaning the house and yard projects this summer, so I definitely will be keeping busy. If you have any book suggestions for me as well, feel free to let me know! 🙂 I always enjoy a good book.