Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff

Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Someone told me that their daughter thought this book was "a LITTLE sad." Umm, try uncontrollable crying. Maybe it was just me feeling sentimental, but I thought this book was so sad. But sad like you feel for the characters, not like a tragedy happens during the story. You already know the tragedy before the story starts. It is the healing process that made me so weepy. Definitely a book I will recommend to my students. Don't think I could get through reading it aloud. I know the cover will totally turn off any boy fifth grade readers, but I would still try.

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My Life in Flashcards by Charise Mericle Harper

I know it seemed as though I had vanished again, but if you notice I am taking breaks on the weekend. As the summer moves along, my book reading is moving slower and slower. I apologize for that.
So this weekend I read My Life in Flashcards by Charise Mericle Harper. I thought this was bar none the cutest teen book I have read all summer. For the most part I keep finding myself reading books about boys, so it was good to get into one where the main character was a girl. Again we are reading along with a middle-schooler who is going through all those middle school things (boys, friends, parents, school, etc.) Something that makes this book a little different is the main character, Emily, received a set of flashcards from someone she calls Aunt Chester (not really her aunt or named Chester). The flashcards have labels on one side such as: Friends, Kiss, Hate, Embarrassment, Food, Love, Clothes, etc. and on the other side you are suppose to write or draw pictures about yourself and those topics. Is that not a cool idea? I wonder if it really exists? I am sure someone has thought of it. I loved how there were lots of drawings, check lists, and diagrams that look to be made by the main character, Emily. It helped to make the book flow and seem very realistic as if a teen were telling the story herself. I noticed the author, Charise Mericle Harper had also written a graphic novel.
I would not be able to read this book to a fifth grade class, it had some subjects that were very much middle school but not so much fifth grade. Again, and I feel like I am starting to sound like a prude, there were some cuss words I wouldn't be comfortable reading aloud. I have never felt this way about books, but what is up with using a word like -- the "B" word in a children's book. I know it is realistic and teens use it and hear it, but that totally ruined me suggesting the book to any fifth grader in my class. Although I will for sure put it on my shelf and hope someone picks it to read anyway. I guarantee this is not the end of Emily. This book lent itself perfectly for a second one.

Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes

I know Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes is not a very new book or anything, but I just got to it. I am so glad I did! I really liked this book. I absolutely loved the way Henkes dealt with the subject of life and death and how fragile life is. I thought the young girl was so believable and so genuine. The book also taps in on a topic that I myself would have related to at Martha, the main character's, age. (Puppy love and the disappointment of an immature teenage boy's idea of fun) I thought the family of the book was realistic even though the father was a stay-at-home father, which is not the norm. I thought the dynamic of a father who was torn between following a dream or providing for a family, and the mother who was a little over-worked would ring true for many families today. The writing in this book is some of the best I have read this summer. Kevin Henkes has a wonderful way with verbs and drawing the reader into each and every sequence of the story.
That being said, I have to admit I felt the ending was a little abrupt and I would have liked to have seen more of the plot line resolved. I also felt the cussing in the book and some of the more risque topics might be a little too much for a fifth grade student. Although I would not hesitate to recommend it to some of my more mature readers.