Grace is simply Amazing! She has creativity and determination to get through anything life throws her way! Grace imagines herself as many things that she sees in her life and when her school puts on the play "Peter Pan" she wants to be Peter. Her classmates tell her she could never be Peter because she is a girl but int he end she gets her dream role of Peter. I would use this book for a writing activity and have students create a newspaper article about grace complete with headline, illustration, and article. This would be a great book to accompany a lesson on the text feature in nonfiction text (such as the newspaper article they are going to write) so they are able to take what they have learned and put it into their writing in a fun way with the context of this book. 

Lexile Measurement: 680L

12/8/2015 ** Wow! Just wow. If Steve Sheinkin wrote it, you should read it. Even if you've never heard of the issue or topic, even if you think you won't be interested. I'd never heard of Daniel Ellsberg, the subject of this biography; I thought his story might be rather dry. However, Sheinkin skillfully conveys the intense historical drama and spy-thriller like aspects of Ellsberg's quest to leak of the Pentagon Papers - a 7000 page top secret report which outlined the pervasive pattern of lies and corruption behind 4 presidential administrations' decisions to get into and stay involved in the Vietnam War.

Ellsberg's decision to leak these documents, despite the risk of being tried under the Espionage Act, was influenced by his belief that some governmental secrets shouldn't be kept from the people of a democracy. The epilogue highlights the continuing importance of these questions in light of the Snowdon leaks about recent governmental programs of surveillance of Americans.

Read it. Seriously.

10/24/2015 ** This book would make an EXCELLENT book study for schools looking for ways to bring non-test score indicators of student achievement to their own communities. The student voices of ways teachers can help them learn are especially powerful.

After 4 years immersed in the day-to-day school life at Mission High, Rizga wrote at highly compelling, descriptive book about the ways teachers bring rigor to their instruction; build strong, positive relations with their students; and successfully help their students prepare for life after high school, even as the state and federal departments of education label the school as "failing" (on the basis of standardized test scores).

The chapters contain alternating perspectives: case studies of students, case studies of teachers, and mini-histories of the progress of educational reform.

This is a MUST read for those who 1) want to see how a school labeled as "failing" is actually make a tremendously positive impact in the community and for students. OR 2) for those who believe in test-based "reforms" and want to see what true reform could look like.

10/21/15 ** I found the first half to be more compelling than the second half. The early life, setbacks, and perseverance of Joe Rantz, the focal team member was riveting. The author told the tale with compassion; also, he clearly linked the skills Joe learned early in life with his three years in crew.

The second half of the book focused more on the mechanics of racing - number of strokes per minute, strategy of racing, race conditions, etc. These were important to the University of Washington's crew team's win of the gold medal, but were inherently less interesting to me. 

All told though, this is a book worth reading, whether one is into racing or not.

Enigmas of History: The Mysteries of the...

In my efforts to learn more about the Maya, this has been my favorite book so far. It is full of rich details about specific aspects of Maya culture, including three specific archaeological sites. There are also chapters on the ball game, science & math, the codices, and possible reasons for the decline of the civilization.

In multiple cases, including the outcomes of the ball games and the possible causes of the civilization's decline, the editorial staff presented several theories, explaining that historians disagree. However, this book continued to present the traditional three periods in Maya history, something that some archaeologists now contest (see Harris, Nathaniel; the National Geographic book Ancient Maya: Archaeology Unlocks the Secrets of the Maya's Past.)

A major flaw of this book is that World Book seems to only sell it as part of a set. I would like to own it, but anticipate difficulty locating an individual copy.