[R3librarians] Tuesday's Trash & Treasures

[Cindy Franklin]

 Two treasures to pass along to you today.
Contributed by Toyya Cisneros, Librarian,
McAllister MS, Bay City ISD
I hope everyone has read
Surviving Antarctica ....or is it No
Child's Game? I have the book under both titles so I can
never remember! It is authored by Andrea White from Houston, wife of Mayor
Bill White. 

It takes place in the future. No one goes on
to High School unless they have lots of money. So, they hold an event
where kids roll dice to see if they get to go on to secondary school. The
characters in this book all lose the dice throw and are forced to take
undesirable jobs. Then they hear about a new reality TV show called
Surviving Antarctica. The winners get to participate in an expedition that
recreates Robert Scott's. The winner receives enough money to attend
school. 

I thought Andrea did a fabulous job of combining
science fiction and history. I would recommend this book to high level 4th
graders on up. The characters are very real, everything flows beautifully
and it is hard to put down. There are underlying themes of putting aside
backgrounds, cooperation, and the problems with the media exploitation in
reality TV. 

Plus, it really is good to see one of our own
Texans produce such a good read! 

Thanks,
Toyya! 






Contributed by Terri Smith-Chavira,
Secondary Reading Specialist, Region III ESC
The
Other Side of Truth by Beverly Naido
A powerful novel
about the injustices the African people face and the dangers and plight of
life as a refugee. This novel is an excellent classroom read which can
connect with many of your classroom short stories, poems, and class
novels. Beverly Naido’s language is gripping in that it creates
images wherein all readers will connect with experiences in their own
lives. These connections will produce engaging classroom
discussions. 

The book also contains various examples of
written expression as the main character Sade has internal conversations
which is found in italics, letters written to her journalist father who is
jailed due to his illegal escape from Africa and entry to 


London 
written in bold font, and a large part
of the book is written as  a
dialog. Therefore, it would is an excellent tool for modeling the
reading-writing connection (strategies +traits). I highly recommend this
book for any middle school or high school classroom.


“If she could bury herself in her
writing, she could forget everything else for awhile. Sade knew exactly
what she wanted to write about. The forest behind the Family house. Papa
had gotten lost in it once as a boy and she and Femi were only allowed to
play at the forest edges insight of the village….”
Pg.122

Thanks, Terri!





Cindy Franklin 
Library & Technology
Specialist 
Region III ESC 
cfranklin at esc3.net 
361-573-0731 ext 277 
www.esc3.net/mlib 



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