I'm over at From the Write Angle today talking about some benefits of reading aloud your own work. I hope you'll pop on over and join the discussion.
Our teachers never read aloud to us when we were in school. I wish they had.
When I'm in the classroom, I read aloud to my students every day. It's often the favourite part of the day for me and the students. There's something very special about sharing a good story about strong characters. We talk about why things happened, what we think will happen, and agonize when things go wrong.
Over the years I've developed a huge pile of favourite read-alouds. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, The Outsiders by SE Hinton, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, and Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan are huge favourites with the older kids. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, The Giver by Lois Lowry, & Dogsled Dreams & Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson are the faves for the slightly younger crowd. And then are lots more!
How about you? Any favourite memories of books read aloud by teachers?
Showing posts with label Lois Lowry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lois Lowry. Show all posts
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Dear Author I Shall Not Name
A book really surprised me last night, but not in a good way.
I'd picked up a book by a new-to-me author. I liked the premise and the characters sounded fun. I enjoyed the set up of the story, the way I could see what the characters couldn't see coming. It's a romance and I thought the author had some unique twists and turns for her characters to face. The dialogue was great and for the most part their interactions were fun and honest. The story was working at a solid B+ for me.
Then I got to the last page.
I'd spent a few hours with these characters, I'd gotten to know them and I liked them. I wanted them to have their HEA (happy ever after). And I thought they were getting it - I liked the way the author was setting it up, another good twist (or so I thought). Then the last page exploded it all.
To me none of it made sense. The direction the last page took was in exact opposition to the characters & their goals & their feelings.
The author probably intended it as a cliffhanger (there is a book 2), but it didn't work for me at all. Not only would I downgrade the story to a D or worse, I will never read the next book. In fact I doubt I will ever read anything by this author again.
As a romance writer, I tend to prefer HEA or happy-for-now endings, but ambiguous endings can totally rock too (think The Giver or Possession). Above all the ending has to make sense and be true to the rest of the story.
This one didn't and wasn't & I felt cheated out of the hours I'd spent with the book.
Okay, rant over. No, I will not reveal the book or author, nor will I write a review - I only comment on books I've enjoyed enough to share. But I probably will stew over it for a little while longer.
And you can bet I'm going to be looking more closely at the endings for my own stories!
How about you, do you get annoyed by shocker endings? Do you have things that turn you off authors forever too?
I'd picked up a book by a new-to-me author. I liked the premise and the characters sounded fun. I enjoyed the set up of the story, the way I could see what the characters couldn't see coming. It's a romance and I thought the author had some unique twists and turns for her characters to face. The dialogue was great and for the most part their interactions were fun and honest. The story was working at a solid B+ for me.
Then I got to the last page.
I'd spent a few hours with these characters, I'd gotten to know them and I liked them. I wanted them to have their HEA (happy ever after). And I thought they were getting it - I liked the way the author was setting it up, another good twist (or so I thought). Then the last page exploded it all.
To me none of it made sense. The direction the last page took was in exact opposition to the characters & their goals & their feelings.
The author probably intended it as a cliffhanger (there is a book 2), but it didn't work for me at all. Not only would I downgrade the story to a D or worse, I will never read the next book. In fact I doubt I will ever read anything by this author again.
As a romance writer, I tend to prefer HEA or happy-for-now endings, but ambiguous endings can totally rock too (think The Giver or Possession). Above all the ending has to make sense and be true to the rest of the story.
This one didn't and wasn't & I felt cheated out of the hours I'd spent with the book.
Okay, rant over. No, I will not reveal the book or author, nor will I write a review - I only comment on books I've enjoyed enough to share. But I probably will stew over it for a little while longer.
And you can bet I'm going to be looking more closely at the endings for my own stories!
How about you, do you get annoyed by shocker endings? Do you have things that turn you off authors forever too?
Saturday, April 7, 2012
(The) Giver
As a writer, my A to Z challenge is going to be about books, characters, TV shows and movies that have impacted me somehow. Enjoy! Be sure to check out Lee’s blog to find more bloggers taking on this challenge!
Lois Lowry. Genius. I read this book every 2nd year (I usually have some kids 2 years in a row so I can’t read it every year). This is one of those books with an ending that will blow your mind and make you want to scream. And it will keep you thinking and wondering for days. (If you’re crazy enough to visit me every day in April so far, you know this is a trend for me.) It’s usually the first book my students read/hear that has a utopian world - and this is NOT a place they’d love to be. It's a great opening into dystopian stories for them. We have the most amazing discussions about choices and emotions and love and risks when I’m reading this book. Awesome! It’s also a highly challenged book – a lot of people want it pulled off shelves. More great discussions about that!
What are some of your favourite banned books?
Lois Lowry. Genius. I read this book every 2nd year (I usually have some kids 2 years in a row so I can’t read it every year). This is one of those books with an ending that will blow your mind and make you want to scream. And it will keep you thinking and wondering for days. (If you’re crazy enough to visit me every day in April so far, you know this is a trend for me.) It’s usually the first book my students read/hear that has a utopian world - and this is NOT a place they’d love to be. It's a great opening into dystopian stories for them. We have the most amazing discussions about choices and emotions and love and risks when I’m reading this book. Awesome! It’s also a highly challenged book – a lot of people want it pulled off shelves. More great discussions about that!
What are some of your favourite banned books?
Friday, December 18, 2009
The Giver
Yvonne Osborne over at The Organic Writer and Jean Oram at her self-titled blog have blog posts today discussing Lois Lowry's novel The Giver. Yvonne challenged herself to read some banned books. Knowing Jean & I had read the book, she asked us a series of questions. Our answers are posted at her blog here.
The Giver is one of my favourite books. It has so many layers of interesting and thought-provoking "stuff". It has been banned in several places. Amazing what people fear, isn't it?!
I read it often to the students in my class. Students invariably love it, although they're generally not convinced by the first chapter. It takes a few days of reading until they are hooked. After that, I don't dare attempt to miss a day of read-aloud time :)
Lowry creates a world devoted to Sameness. It's safe, predictable and utterly lacking in anything important, like emotion. When students discover partway through the book that Jonas, the main character, is one of only 2 people who can see colours, they're always taken aback. How could it be possible? Continued reading brings more and more surprises and discussions.
When I finished up the book today in class, the kids were shocked by the ending. Lowry has made them think and wonder all the way through the book. She makes them continue to think and wonder after it's all over. No neat endings, no pat answers. More questions. Awesome! There was dead silence when I finished the last sentence & closed the book. Then the questions flew :)
Have you read the Giver? If you have any thoughts on it I'd love to hear them! Or you can pop on over to Yvonne's blog and comment there.
Do you enjoy books with multiple layers? Someone once told me a good book is like an onion. You keep peeling back layers and finding more good stuff underneath. What's your favourite onion book?
The Giver is one of my favourite books. It has so many layers of interesting and thought-provoking "stuff". It has been banned in several places. Amazing what people fear, isn't it?!
I read it often to the students in my class. Students invariably love it, although they're generally not convinced by the first chapter. It takes a few days of reading until they are hooked. After that, I don't dare attempt to miss a day of read-aloud time :)
Lowry creates a world devoted to Sameness. It's safe, predictable and utterly lacking in anything important, like emotion. When students discover partway through the book that Jonas, the main character, is one of only 2 people who can see colours, they're always taken aback. How could it be possible? Continued reading brings more and more surprises and discussions.
When I finished up the book today in class, the kids were shocked by the ending. Lowry has made them think and wonder all the way through the book. She makes them continue to think and wonder after it's all over. No neat endings, no pat answers. More questions. Awesome! There was dead silence when I finished the last sentence & closed the book. Then the questions flew :)
Have you read the Giver? If you have any thoughts on it I'd love to hear them! Or you can pop on over to Yvonne's blog and comment there.
Do you enjoy books with multiple layers? Someone once told me a good book is like an onion. You keep peeling back layers and finding more good stuff underneath. What's your favourite onion book?
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