El Deafo by Cece Bell (Newbery Honor 2015) Booktalk

When Cece was four years old, she got very sick with meningitis. Although she recovered from it, her hearing did not. She was deaf. At first her own family and doctor missed the signs, but once they figured it out, she got tested. She would have to wear hearing aids [show kids the Phonic Ear picture].

Problem solved - right? Wrong. Hearing is complicated - it's not just a question of making things louder. Hearing aids don't solve every problem for the deaf: there still may be sounds which a deaf person cannot hear. Some words sound muffled, even if they're "loud" enough. Cece would have to learn new strategies: how to lip read and how to guess from context what people might be saying to her.

But her Phonic Ear made her feel self-conscious and different. Imagine feeling as if people were always staring at you. Imagine that your teacher has to wear a microphone which sends sound to your hearing device. It's both a blessing and a curse.

And you know what Cece can do that no other student in her class can do? She can hear the teacher outside of class - away from the students - because the teacher keeps forgetting to turn her microphone of. She can hear her teacher in the restroom, in the teacher's lounge, you name it.

Being deaf can make friendships tricky, too. One of Cece's friends treats her like a slow-witted person. And the cute boy (on whom Cece has a crush) wants Cece to "spy" on her teacher and share that information. Read the Newbery Honor winner titled El Deafo by Cece Bell.

El Deafo by Cece Bell. 233 pages. Newbery Honor 2015. Amulet Books, 2014. Booktalk to grades 3-8. 

Booktalk: Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine (Virginia Readers' Choice)

Why would a girl hate recess? Why would she need one-on-one lessons from a teacher on how to be a friend?  Why would she hide in an unfinished wooden chest? Let’s start with the first two questions. Caitlin has Asperger’s syndrome. She’s a smart girl and a gifted artist, but she needs more work than most of us on her people skills. She has to learn them and study them almost like you’d study a school subject. Caitlin has to work on which facial expressions on people match up with their corresponding emotions. Because she really doesn’t like making eye contact with people, she has to work hard on that, too. She doesn’t like loud noises, chaos, and people running around and shouting, and that’s recess in a nutshell. Recess freaks her out: she’d rather be alone, drawing.

But it’s so important that Caitlin learn how to make friends and how to be a friend. This connects us to the question of why she was hiding in an unfinished wooden chest. The chest reminds her of the closest friend she has ever had, the person who understood her the most and loved her dearly. Caitlin’s not done with that chest, and luckily, she’s not done with making friends or learning how to be a friend. Get inside the mind of a truly cool and unique girl. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine.

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine. 2010: Philomel Books. 235 p. Virginia Readers’ Choice 2011-2012. Booktalk to middle school.

Booktalk: How to Heal a Broken Wing [Birds; 3]

Cities are full of tall, glass buildings, and sometimes poor birds fly into the glass and hurt themselves [show pp. {1-2}]. No one saw this poor bird fall [show pp. {3-4}], but little Will spotted him lying on the sidewalk, his wing broken. A bird with a broken wing cannot survive for long in the wild. Will and his parents took the bird home. They gave the bird food, water, a safe place, and time. It takes a long time to heal a broken wing. Read about this bird's recovery in How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham.

How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham. Unpaged. Candlewick: 2008. Booktalk to pre-k, younger elementary.

Booktalk: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane [Kate DiCamillo; 3]

[Hide the book cover.] Abilene LOVED Edward. She loved him with all her heart and soul. [Now show cover.] Edward is _not_ a person. He's a beautiful china rabbit, made out of the finest porcelain china. And Abilene was the little girl who owned and loved him.

But there were two problems. The first was this: Edward doesn't really love anyone or anything, even though he's smart and capable of love. The second problem happened on a ship. As you know from stories, bad things can happen on the sea. Abilene was taking a cruise with her parents, and she was taking excellent care of Edward. Sadly, though, two boys grabbed Edward and started throwing him around. Edward went overboard. He sank like a log, deep into the depths of the sea. Months passed. He had lots of time to think. He felt very, very alone. You could even say he missed Abilene. Sometimes the sea spits out its treasures, though. An old fisherman named Lawrence found him, and Edward's adventures started back up again. But I want you to remember the most important fact: Abilene loved Edward. And the love had finally lodged itself into Edward's formerly cold heart. The title is your first clue: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. 228 pages. Candlewick, 2006. Booktalk to intermediate grades [3rd-6th].

Booktalk: The Magician's Elephant [Kate DiCamillo; 2]

[Show cover]. The magician messed up. I mean, this magician really, really blew it. You know how magicians can make a bouquet of flowers appear out of nowhere? Well, this magician intended to produce a bouquet of lilies, but instead he inadvertently conjured up an elephant who fell from the sky, landed on a lady in the audience, and broke both her legs, crippling her. Huge, huge mistake! The magician ended up in jail. But the elephant didn't disappear on anything. The elephant is real, and he meets with a sad fate: he ends up chained up in a room in a rich lady's house, all alone. There's a young boy, Peter, who is all alone, too, in this story. Peter is not literally chained up, but he's chained up in other ways. An old soldier, who is not Peter's father, owns Peter. Peter is sort of a lonely young servant. And one day he disobeys his master and goes to a fortuneteller. The fortuneteller tells Peter something which could change his whole life --- and, not to give anything away --- could change the life of this poor, lonely elephant. Can a huge mistake result in something wonderful? The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo.

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo. 201 p. Candlewick, 2009. Booktalk to intermediate grades [3rd-5th] and to middle school.

Take a Second Look: Booktalk 1

Samantha – also called Sam --  is one of the most popular girls at her high school, and she’s part of a tightly knit group of four girls. It’s Cupid Day, the day at their high school where the students get and receive roses with notes from friends and admirers. It’s a fairly normal day, with one exception: Sam dies, and I’m not giving away the ending, because it’s not really the ending. Even though she’s dead, Sam wakes up the next day – and it’s Cupid Day again. This time Sam makes some minor adjustments in how her day goes, because she knows full well how it ends. And she starts noticing little things that she hadn’t noticed before. Then she starts making some changes in what she says, who she interacts with, and ways she treats people. Little things: like eating lunch in the bathroom with a unpopular girl, or giving roses to another girl who is called “Psycho.” Other little things: like noticing her boyfriend Rob is sort of a jerk, and that another guy, a non-popular friend from her childhood, is actually the most interesting guy around. Sam gets to replay her day over several times, and the more she does it, the more she realizes exactly how important words and actions are, even to the point of determining whether another student lives or dies. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. 470 p. Harper, 2010. Booktalk to high school.

Book talk: The Underneath by Kathi Appelt (Newbery Honor, 2009)

Our theme so far has been ‘hang in there.’ As you know, it’s another way of saying ‘survive’ or ‘endure.’ This novel, The Underneath, shows us the embodiment of survival and endurance. When you look at the cover of The Underneath [display cover], you see three animals cowering, probably in fear: Ranger, a hound dog chained to the house, and two cats. An unlikely trio. They’re living beneath a beat-up shack in the middle of an obscure forest in far east Texas, with bayous, creeks, wilderness, snakes, turtles, frogs, and alligators. The owner of the shack is a terribly cruel man who lives alone, and his only name is Gar-Face. Gar-Face hates other people and animals, too. He’s abused Ranger, who lives alone under the house in fear and hunger and solitude. But Ranger’s life starts to show a little hope and love when a pregnant cat shows up. She’s literally been thrown away by her owners. When she gives birth to two kittens, she and her kittens live with Ranger in the underneath and love him completely. They’re their own little family, as odd as it may seem. The cat and her kittens make Ranger’s life worth living. Yet there is such danger in the forest. There is a snake who is over 1,000 years old, plotting revenge. There’s an enormous alligator whom Gar-Face wants to catch and kill. And there’s a mysterious, beautiful hummingbird whose appearance to a creature or person announces that person’s impending death. Who will die? Who will survive? The Underneath by Kathi Appelt is a truly amazing novel, beautifully written and brilliantly imagined.

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt. 313 p. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008. Booktalk to advanced intermediate readers, middle school, high school, adult. Newbery Honor, 2009.

The Underneath

Your Medical Diagnosis Is ... : Booktalk 2

[Once again, you’ll be doing first-person narration. If you have any football stuff, like a helmet, wear it. Or, if you have any books by or about Malcolm X, hold them, cover facing out.]

I don’t look sick, do I? [Long pause.] Yeah, I got you fooled, just like everyone else: my parents, my teachers, my girlfriend, and my brother, who is also my best friend. Before my senior year in high school started, I had my routine physical, along with bloodwork. And I got some very bad news. Yeah, I’m terminal. Terminal, as in - dying. Dead. Gone. Sooner rather than later. It’s a blood disease, and I’m not going to bore you with the gory details. [Put your hand up to your ear as if you missed a comment from the audience.] What’s that? Skip school? Are you kidding? And miss all the drama? Miss being around the hottest girl in school, who actually _chooses_ to hang out with me? Miss being around my ignorant government teacher, who spews propaganda in spite of my efforts to correct him? Miss being on the football team? [Pause, look insulted.] Yes, that’s right, I made the team. Okay, so the coach is a close personal friend of the family. Okay, so the only sport I only have a chance with is cross country. I’m dying: I might as well go all out. You know all those people who say “I’d like to do X before I die?” Well, that’s my own personal homework assignment that I created just for me. There’s something else you need to know. I’m 18, which means I can keep my medical stuff all to my lonesome self. If I want to tell my parents, that’s fine. If I don’t want to tell them, well, heck, that’s perfectly legal, too. So which did I choose? Get the book, lazybones. Don’t give me that look - you’d be difficult, too. I’m under deadline. Deadline by Chris Crutcher.

Deadline by Chris Crutcher. 316 p. Greenwillow Books, 2007. Booktalk to high school, adult.

For Wimpy Kid Addicts: Booktalk 1

It’s hard to duplicate the success of the Wimpy Kid books. Everyone’s read them, and pretty much everyone loves them. Well, if you’ve read them, and you want more, I have good news and bad news for you. First, the bad news: the next Wimpy Kid book is not due out until November 2010. Next, the good news. There are some books which are a little reminiscent of Wimpy Kid, but in different ways.
The first one I want to talk to you about is called My Life as a Book by Janet Tashjian. [Show your readers the cover.] Just looking at the cover gives you a clue about the main character, Derek. Derek is a smart kid who loves to draw and hates to read. He’s been labeled a reluctant reader, and his mother basically bribes him with chocolate chips per page and threatens him. His dad, who is an illustrator by trade, is a little more sympathetic, but only a little. It’s summertime, and Derek has been procrastinating, nosing around the house, hanging out with his dog and his friends, and … oh, I almost forgot the worst part – Learning Camp. Yes, it is as bad as it is sounds. You’ll have to read about it for all the gory details.
Anyhow, you may be thinking: oh, this is the typical book about the boy who learns to love to read. No, this is not that book. This is a much, much better book. It’s funny, but it’s also more than that. Derek becomes really interested in finding out about a girl who drowned. He found this newspaper that his mom had been hanging on to, and every time he asked his mom about the drowned girl, it’s as if he hit a secret nerve. Who was this drowned girl? Derek may not like to read, but he’s got other talents, including getting his way, being a cool but nice kid, and being a good researcher and sleuth. Once you find out what he’s researching and why, you won’t be able to stop reading. My Life as a Book by Janet Tashjian was a great summer read.

Strange Journey: Booktalk 1

[Booktalkers: before you booktalk this, you may want to consider flagging some of Lynne Rae Perkins' cool drawings in this to show your audience. I consider this title appropriate for both middle school and high school.]
When we first meet Ry, he's taking the train to camp. The train stops, and the conductor allows a 40-minute break, so Ry gets off the train. Before he knows it, the train is moving off...without him. Oh, and one other thing. While he _was_ on the train, he opened a letter which he didn't expect to have such disastrous news. It said, "Do not come to camp. There is no camp." So, the logical thing for Ry to do now is to go home, right? Not so easy. Events start conspiring against Ry's homecoming. In fact, the same things starts happening to his grandfather -- who falls down a huge sinkhole -- and to his parents, who are thousands of miles away, on a sailboat. One of the chapters in this fabulous book is called, "When the Rug is Pulled Out, the Earth, too, You Have to Move Your Feet to Keep from Falling." You have to move your feet to keep from falling. And that's what Ry does. This is a wonderful, crazy, fast-paced adventure with intriguing characters. Check out As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins.