Hidden by Helen Frost

Hidden by Helen Frost was published in 2011. This story is written in verse, and I found the story compelling enough to read in one sitting. 

The story begins from Wren's point of view as an eight-year-old who was unintentionally kidnapped by a car thief. Her sense of fear is well written. 

From page 15, "I was shaking.                                                                                                                                                         Trying hard not to cry.                                                                                                                               How could I sleep                                                                                                                                                  in the crowded boat?                                                                                                                                   I was thirsty.                                                                                                                                                    Hungry.                                                                                                                                                            I had to pee."

In the next section we get to hear the point of view of the kidnapper's daughter. Her story is also written in verse, and pay attention to the end word of each line because they let the reader know what else was happening. I found this cleverly crafted. 

Darra is upset that her abusive father has been sent to jail, which some readers may find unbelievable, but I understand the desire to have a father in your life even if he isn't a good father. 

Later, the girls meet at camp and things become even more interesting as they both have trauma they act out. 

I think teen readers will like this book, and I will add a copy to my classroom. 

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

Link to our NICU book registry 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.

Your Name by Makoto Shinkai

Recently Matt (my youngest son) has introduced me to light novels. Light novels are generally written before the author/artist writes the Manga. I enjoy watching anime, but I'm not a fan of manga because for me it takes so much work to decode all the pictures. I love words, so light novels are right up my alley. I definitely want to get some of these for my classroom. 

Your Name by Makoto Shinkai was published in 2016 and has a manga and anime that go with it. This story has two main characters: Mitsuha, a high school girl who lives in a small mountain town, and Taki, a high school boy living in Tokyo. 

They begin to have what they think are dreams about each other even though they've never met - except they aren't dreaming. They are switching places. These switches are sometimes comedic and sometimes confusing for both of them. Will they ever be able to meet in person, or will the stars get in their way? I loved the symbolism of threads and cords in this novel and how the author wove everything together. 

I enjoyed reading about Japanese culture and look forward to visiting there sometime when they reopen to tourism. 

Quotes I liked: "Joinin' threads is a called musubi. The passage of time is musubi. It's the name for our god, and the god's power. It describes the braided cords we make, divine acts, and the flow of time itself" (59). 

"Puttin' anything in your body is also called musubi. What you put in your body binds to your soul. . ." (60).

The anime that goes with this book is beautiful, so if you get a chance to watch it, do. 

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

Link to our NICU book registry 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.

Amina's Voice by Hena Khan

Amina's Voice by Hena Khan was published in 2017 and is one of the books I purchased a few months ago when I was looking for books by POC. I really liked this book about Amina, a girl who plays the piano and sings beautifully, but she is afraid to sing a solo. 

She has two good parents and an older brother. Her family is Muslim, and I enjoyed learning more about their faith. While their faith is important to her family, this isn't a book about religion. This is a book about friendships, change, growing up, and learning to be brave in hard situations. 

This book is beautifully written and has wonderful cover art. I look forward to reading Khan's other novels. 

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

Link to our NICU book registry 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.

Tomorrow I'll be Brave by Jessica Hische

 Tomorrow I'll be Brave by Jessica Hische was published in 2018, and it's a darling book with a wonderful message. I found out about this book from one of our NICU families. They brought it to read to their baby, and Angie sent me pictures of some of the pages. This family recently sent 10 more copies of this book for our NICU book project, and have now donated 20 copies of this book. 

This is a great book for babies in the NICU. It reads, "Tomorrow, I'll be adventurous. I'll play and I'll explore. I'll make or learn or try something I've never done before. Tomorrow, I'll be strong. I'll climb and jump and run. It doesn't matter if I win as long as I have fun!" The ending message is that even if the child doesn't do it today, they can try again tomorrow, and of course, they will always be loved. 

Every parent in the NICU is waiting for the day they get to take their baby home, and this book is a great one to read to their baby while they are growing. 

We recently received book donations from three donors, and they are greatly appreciated because we are quite low on books right now - especially board books.  

These are the books that were donated by one of our NICU graduates. 

My friend, Grace, donated $20, and these are the books, I purchased with her donation. As a teacher, I am good at finding deals on books to get the most out of every dollar. 

My friend, Tanya, sent these books from our Amazon baby registry. 

Combined with books I've purchased, I'll be able to send more packets to Angie next week. I love that these babies are getting read to early as it will help them when they start school. The more words a child hears before kindergarten, the easier reading will be for them. 

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

Link to our NICU book registry 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.

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell was published in 2008. This non-fiction book shows how factors other than intelligence, ambition, and personality create successful people. 

Blurb from the back of the book: In understanding successful people, we have come to focus far too much on their intelligence and ambition and personality traits. Instead, Malcolm Gladwell argues in Outliers, we should look at the world that surrounds the successful - their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way, Gladwell reveals what the Beatles and Bill Gates have in common, the reason you've never heard of the smartest man in the world, why almost no star hockey players are born in the fall, and why, when it comes to plane crashes, where the pilots are born matters as much as how well they are trained. 

The lives of outliers - people whose achievements fall outside normal experience - follow a peculiar and unexpected logic, and in uncovering that logic, Gladwell presents a fascinating and provocative blueprint for making the most of human potential.  

I listened to the audio book and found it interesting and feel this book is important for teachers and parents to read. I wish he had included a woman outlier in this work - are there no women outliers?

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

Link to our NICU book registry 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.