Author, Peter Abrahams's Echo Falls Mysteries

Here's an author many readers may have missed

Once in a while I am desperate for a book to read over the weekend, so I'll just pull what looks good off of the shelf.  This fall I got lucky with a book called Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams. This book is part one in a three part series that the author calls, The Echo Falls Mysteries. Of course, as most great books will do, I was now motivated to read the rest of the series and other books by Peter Abrahams.

Down the Rabbit Hole introduces the reader to thirteen year old Ingrid Levin-Hill.  Ingrid coincidentally makes the acquaintance of Crazy Kate, and unfortunately leaves her red soccer shoes behind.  Little did Ingrid know that her shoes would become important evidence in the murder of Crazy Kate later that day.  Follow Ingrid as she uses her Sherlock Holmes like intuitions to clear her name, solve Crazy Kate's murder, and curiously discover many other secrets about the residents of Echo Falls.

Peter Abrahams follows up his first book with two more Echo Falls Mysteries, Behind the Curtain and Into the Dark.  Now that the dirt on the residents of Echo Falls has come to the surface in book one, the reader gets to follow Ingrid as she finds herself caught in the secrets, deceptions, and relationships of Echo Falls. Some of these secrets the residents, and even her own family, may be dying to keep.

Peter Abrahams has written many books for young readers.  There is something for everyone, even the most reluctant readers.  If you are in need a good book this weekend, or over break, why not give one of his books a try. Click here to see a list of all Peter Abraham's book. If you have read a book by Peter Abrahams, feel free to tell me about it here.

Baseball Fans Will Enjoy Calico Joe

Calico Joe by John Grisham is certainly a change from the John Grisham books many people may come to expect from this author.  When shoppers see a book by John Grisham in the check out line at the store, they tend to be New York Times best sellers, adult murder mysteries, and dramas.  Many of his books have become hit moves like The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, and A Time to Kill, among many others. Researching John Grisham's biography, revealed that he has a passion for baseball, and has written a few novels (Bleachers, and Playing For Pizza) that are based on the drama of high school, college, and professional sports.

Calico Joe is certainly a sports book written for the baseball fan of all ages.  The setting for most of the story is the 1970s, and baseball is truly America's pastime. Players like Yogie Berra, Catfish Hunter, and Johnny Bench cover baseball cards that every kid in America cling to like golden dollars. In 1973 a virtually unnoticed rookie named, Joe Castle, is brought up to the struggling Cub's major league team to fill in for injured first baseman Jim Hickman. From Joe's first major league at bat he becomes an instant sports sensation, breaking rookie and major league records.  Unfortunately Joe's career is cut short by one famous pitch. It's a pitch that instantly brings to a halt the baseball career of three individuals, Joe Castle, Warren Tracey, the pitcher, and incidentally, Paul Tracey, Warren's 12 year old son, the narrator of this fascinating baseball story.

The reader will follow Paul as he tells the story of that fateful day, and the history that led up to the moment that cut Joe Castle down.  Paul lives with the consequences of his father's reckless behavior for over 30 years. It's not until Warren is dying of cancer that Paul derives a plan to help all three ballplayers bring closure to their lives.

Reading this book brought me back to the time when I was a kid, and baseball was life for me.  Even though this book is fiction, many of the characters are real.  I had the baseball cards of most of the real players mentioned in this book.  I wonder where those cards are today.  I wasn't a statistics kind of kid, but I do remember mimicking the style of the most successful players.  I know I would have loved to watch Calico Joe play ball.  The nostalgia in baseball has changed.  The million dollar contracts and performance enhancing drugs have made the game seem less real. Baseball for young kids has been benched by technology and over zealot parents.  Gone are the days of sandlot games when kids managed their own play. Watch the diamonds as you pass by.  Celebrate the few times you might see a group of kids in a pick up game a baseball without a parent in sight.  Ghosts of players like Calico Joe, and even Paul Castle don't seem to haunt the diamonds any more. The field of dreams is gone.

The Ledge: Experience a wonderfully dangerous adventure

THE LEDGE by Jim Davidson and Kevin Vaughan.
An adventure story of friendship and survival on Mr. Rainier.

In July of 2013 my family and I took a trip to Seattle, Washington.  We went on many different tours during our stay, but hiking 7,200 feet up Mt. Rainier was one of the most exciting things I have ever done.  The pictures and video in this blog are just a sample of the views that we encountered during our days on the Mountain.  Even though we only climbed about halfway up Mt. Rainier's 14,409 foot peak, we were close enough to appreciate the effort it would take to climb to the top. We could actually see groups of mountaineers on their way to and from the summit. We joked about the next time we visit, that we would go all the way to the top, so my sister-in-law bought me the book, The Ledge, by Jim Davidson and Kevin Vaughan as a Christmas gift.  After reading about Jim Davidson's harrowing adventure on his summit climb in 1992, I have a new understanding, and renewed respect for what it would take to me to summit Mt. Rainier and survive.

Jim Davidson and his friend, Mike Price were expert climbers.  Together they had climbed some of the most difficult mountains in North and South America. They were a team, and their experiences made them as accomplished as climbers could be, but as a team, they had yet to conquer one of the prized summits in the United States, Mt. Rainier.  In this narrative, Jim Davidson takes the reader back to his days working with his dad as a specialty painter on structures like bridges, high voltage power stations, and high voltage transmission towers.  His experiences working under such strenuous conditions, became the groundwork for other adventurous endeavors including climbing and mountaineering.  As Jim and Mike finally conquer the summit of Mt. Rainier, tragedy strikes, and Jim is required to rely on every lesson his father has ever taught him, pushing his physical and mental limits, in order to get off the mountain alive.

I have read a few books about survival such as Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, Avalanche by Arthur Roth, Everest by Gordan Korman, and a few others.  First of all, this book is nonfiction. It is a true narrative about Jim's survival.  Secondly, it is very recent, and my experience on Mt. Rainier made his story seem so much more believeable. Text to self connections are some of the easiest thinking strategies kids can make.  The problem is that they often are so literal and rarely promote further thinking.  Consider reading a book set in a place that you have visited, or even one set in your hometown.  Think about how your text to self connections might promote higher level thinking.  What if you read a murder mystery that took place at Menominee Park? How would your thinking be different than if the setting was somewhere you didn't know?

Divergent: the book, not the movie!

Divergent by Veronica Roth is another one of those book series that is taking young readers by storm. Like the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and the Maze Runner by James Dashner, Veronica Roth taps into our current fascination with a post apocalyptic scenarios that seems to leave the fate of the surviving world in the hands of a few courageous teens who seem to have the intelligence, strength and background knowledge to outsmart the evil adult attempts to take over what is left of society.

Beatrice recently turned 16 and has a very important decision to make. Which faction of society should she choose to live? The five factions have been established to divide the population into similar character traits to avoid the global conquest that destroyed their way of life years ago. The Factions have established aptitude tests to help the teens narrow down their choices before the Choosing Ceremony. The aptitude test takes the candidates through a series of moral choices to eliminate factions, and promote strengths in one specific faction.  Unfortunately, Beatrice's results are inconclusive. She is labeled Divergent by her test and warned never to share the results with anyone if she want to avoid a terrible fate.

Created by Are Bergonia for DevientART

Of course this warning haunts Beatrice throughout the story as she chooses to leave her family, and join the most reckless faction, Dauntless,  known for their bravery and risk taking. Now called Tris, or Stiff, by her enemies, Beatrice discovers that being Divergent in the faction, given the responsibility for guarding the society from an unknown enemy, has it's advantages, and draws the attention of many different faction leaders.  As the plot thickens to a climatic battle ending, it sets you up nicely for the next book in the series, Insurgent.

I have to warn you that the movie for Divergent comes out March 21.  Watch the movie trailer to get an idea of the type of story you might be getting into.  It's is pretty intense.  Now if you are like me, I recommend reading the book soon, or put off seeing the movie until later so you can finish book one.

My question is, why are these books so appealing?  The plots don't seem to change much from book to book. Are they just becoming a money making machine for mediocre authors taking advantage of a popular trend?  Do these books deserve the accolades they are receiving world wide?

The Rise of Narcissism - Is Social Media to Blame?

In recent research for my class's next debate, the topic about the effects of Social Media on our society, and specifically teens, kept coming up in the search.  I have strong opinions about today's social media.  That's not saying I am against it.  I am currently involved in a wide variety of social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Linked In, and Edmodo. I am also an active participant on various educational blogs, as well at the manager of two blogs I use in my classroom. Of all of these sites, only Facebook is used for personal communication with family or friends.  The information I receive on all of these sites are instantaneous, up-to-date, and productive to my success professionally and personally.  I have had the joy of watching my nieces and nephews grow up through Facebook, as well as improve the technology utilization in my classroom thanks to all of these great resources.  But, I am alarmed by one word that keeps coming up when it comes to the effects of these social networking sites on today's population.

Narcissism: The inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love, vanity.  Synonyms: self-centeredness, smugness, egocentrism. (Dictionary.com)

I remember hearing this word, but narcissism remained off my radar.  I have never considered how I could use it in my every day conversation or writing.  It seems that narcissism is slowly becoming the latest catchphrase label to describe our most recent developing "Me" generation.  Who or what is to blame?