Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Under a Red Sky by Haya Leah Molnar

Under a Red Sky by Haya Leah Molnar was published in 2010 and is the autobiography of the a young girl in Post War Communist Bucharest.

I haven't read about a book about this particular part of the world during this time frame, and I found the story interesting.

Eva, the main character, does not know she is Jewish when the story begins. Her father was in a death camp during WWII, and she thinks he doesn't believe in anything. Her mother was a ballerina and now teaches dance. When they file for passports to go to Israel, her parents are fired from their jobs.

They live in an apartment with her Grandparents, Aunt, two Uncles, and their maid. Each family lives in one bedroom. If they move out of a bedroom, the Communist Party will assign another family to move into that bedroom.

They have to be careful what they do and say in order to avoid retribution by the Communist Party.



Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

These books were donated by Anne Corts. Every donation helps us keep this project going. Thank you, Anne. 

Monday, October 28, 2019

The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld

One of the books sent to the NICU by Liam's family is The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld. I believe Liam's grandpa sent this book. It was published in 2018 and has already won twelve awards. 

I posted several of the pages of this book because it could be used to help a child deal with a disappointment, a loss of any kind, frustration, grief, and help them learn to be empathetic. 



Inside the cover is a book plate letting the family who gets it know that it is from Liam. 


 A child builds a great thing and is happy about it.

 But something bad comes and destroys his creation.

The child is sad.

Several different animals come and try to tell him how he should feel and want to feel that big feeling with him.


But the child doesn't want to be told how he should feel. He needs to feel his own feelings.

The rabbit comes and cuddles up to him and listens. He doesn't tell him he should be mad, or get over it, or anything else. Rabbit just listens. 


And after the child gets all his feelings out and the time is right, Rabbit helps him rebuild. 

They say that those who read have more compassion. I love books that model good behavior without being didactic. This is a great book to add to your library. I know I will be purchasing this book for my own library.

It seems like when ever I am having a really hard day, I get a package with books from Liam's family. It makes me feel like Liam wants to come play in the books with me. This package arrived the morning after my sister passed away, and while it didn't make everything better, it did brighten my day and made me think about another angel in heaven whose family remembers him and brightens the world in his name. Thank you to the aunt or uncle of Liam who picked just the right day to send this package.

This books are so cute and just the right size for little hands. Each has a bookplate letting the recipient know that these are from Liam.


Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project by Jack Mayer

Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project by Jack Mayer was published in 2010 and is a well researched story. This story begins with high school students in Kansas who pick a history research project. Liz finds a short note about a woman named Irena Sendler who saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto. She placed their names along with their new identities in glass jars and buried these jars under an apple tree, so their families could find them after the war.

Two other students join her on this project and they create a play based on what they find. The author had a big job in writing this book as he tells the story of these girls and the story of Irena Sendler. I'll admit that the parts about the girls are a bit clunky, but the story is so good, that I can look past it. The parts about Irena Sendler flow well. Her story is amazing.

With the help of many people she found homes for 2,500 children and provided long term finances for the families who helped. She risked and nearly lost her life by doing what she did. She was Catholic and had been raised that there are two types of people in the world: good people and bad people. Her father taught her that if she saw someone drowning, the drowning person must be rescued.

I liked the parts about the students because it shows how important project based learning is - the difference it can make in so many lives. This project came alive and did much to change the world for the better. I think this book is of value to teachers and to everyone who enjoys a good story that challenges us to be our best selves.

Quotes I liked:

"Anything you do to repair the world is heroic" (29).

"Irena called it Warsaw's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - over crowding, poor sanitation, rodents, and malnutrition" (96). In speaking of the Warsaw Ghetto.

"The Hebrew Talmud and Kabbalah speak of 36 righteous people for whose sake God keeps the world alive . . .  In our blessed ignorance, we are encouraged to act as if we are one of them" (141).

"Irena felt the burden of her deadly knowledge - the devil's bargain she had made with Schmuel - save a few children, but don't alarm their parents. Doing wrong to do right" (172).

"She knew that if she survived the war, she would suffer for those she could not save, and this regret would shroud the rest of her life" (177).

"My dear Pani Sendler, I was born without fear, and without fear one cannot truly be said to be courageous. My mother, God rest her soul, said I had a congenital absence of good sense" (199).

"It is the great sorrow of our time that one cannot be humane without risking one's life" (199).

"Maybe everybody's world falls apart in one way or another, some more spectacularly than others" (325).

"I wanted to thank you  for starting to fix the world at the very moment it was breaking" (327).

"Only the dead have done enough" (343).

I purchased my copy of this book at a library sale for 50 cents, but it is pretty hammered, so I will buy a new one, as I will read this one again.



Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Teresa sent this book for the NICU.

Angie sent these books for the NICU.

As always, I appreciate every single donation we get to our NICU book project. Thank you, Angie and Teresa.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.


Friday, October 11, 2019

Falling Over Sideways by Jordan Sonnenblick

Falling Over Sideways by Jordan Sonnenblick was published in 2016. This middle grade novel is about a girl, Claire, who is struggling to feel like she fits in with her friends. She's struggling in dance, and to top it all off, her father has a stroke. She is alone with him at the time and has to get help for him. 

I liked the way Sonnenblick handled the medical information in the story. My daughter had a stroke a few years ago, so I felt like I could connect with what was happening. 

I like the growth in Claire. She matured a lot in the course of this novel. I liked that Sonnenblick dealt with problems kids face in school along with issues they face at home and at dance. He wrote this little girl well. 





Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was published in 2003, and a movie has already been made about it even though I haven't watched it, so I'm a bit late to the party, but I enjoyed this story.

The story is about Henry DeTamble, a librarian, who involuntarily travels through time. He isn't able to control his time travel, and each time, he leaves behind his clothing and travels naked, which causes all sorts of problems for him.

He meets Clare Abshire who gives him some dates written on a paper, and he travels back in time to meet her when she is child. She alone knows about his abilities until he finds a doctor who tries to help him.

I was interested all the way through this book.




Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Because of your generous donations, we have been able to add a second hospital to our NICU book project! 

Here are a few more donations we received that allow parents to read to their babies while they are in the NICU. Each family gets a packet of five books to take home. 

The books in the first two pictures were dropped off at McKay Dee Hospital for our project. Dr. Seuss books are always welcome. We are not sure who donated them, but thank you so much for supporting our project. 

Someone also dropped off thirty board books. Some of these are Spanish books - hooray! I love board books for babies. These came packaged with a bookmark and a list of why you should read to your baby all in a ziplock bag. Thank you to whomever dropped these off for our project.

Kimberly Bailey, a mother of one of our NICU graduates, held an Usborne book drive and sent two large boxes of books - 137 in all. The rest of the pictures show the books that she and her friends donated.

If you are not familiar with Usborne books, they are wonderful for children. Their books are sturdy. Their board books are interactive and have touch and feel to them. Their hardback books use sturdy pages - sometimes they are wipeable if your child gets fingerprints on them. Their softback books are also made of sturdy paper. The stories are darling and the books are such good quality.

Thank you to Kimberly and her friends for all these wonderful books. The babies will love them.





Hooray for Usborne for matching 50% of the money that was donated to this project. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.