Book Talk for Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Paolini, C. (2003). Eragon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Have you ever discovered an unusual or beautiful stone and dreamed that it possessed magical powers?

Imagine yourself alone, sitting in the middle of a dark forest.  Suddenly, an explosion rattles your bones and shakes the very ground on which you stand.  You look toward the sound to see smoke rising.  Naturally, at fifteen years old, you want to investigate, so you walk toward the smoke and discover a large, blue, flawless stone lying in the middle of a burnt patch of grass.

Eragon, the main character in the book, Eragon, takes a seemingly harmless stone home with him.  All was well, until one night...

            ”The moon was shining through his window when he woke again.  The stone was rocking rapidly on the shelf, rocking against the wall.  It was bathed in cool moonlight that bleached its surface.  Eragon jumped out of bed, knife in hand. The motion stopped, but he remained tense.  Then the stone started squeaking and rocking faster than ever...It quivered then rolled forward and dropped onto the floor with a loud thump.  He inched toward the door in alarm as the stone wobbled toward him” (Paolini, 2003, p. 36).

You want to find out what happens next?  Then read the book, Eragon, by Christopher Paolini.



Book Reflection - A Single Shard

Park, L. (2001). A single shard. New York: Clarion Books

Tree-Ear is a homeless orphan boy who lives under a bridge with his friend and father figure, Crane-man. Fascinated by the art of pottery, Tree-ear hides in the woods near the house of Min, a master potter, and watches him make a beautiful pot. Later, out of his eagerness to learn the pottery trade, Tree-ear sneaks into Min’s shop, and while looking around, breaks a piece of pottery. In order to pay for the damage, Tree-ear must work for Min. Though the days are long and the work is difficult, Tree-ear learns about pottery.
Hoping Min will receive a royal commission to make pottery for the palace, Tree-ear journeys to the King’s Court to present the Emissary with a piece of Min’s pottery. However, during his journey, robbers destroy Min’s vase. Consequently, upon his arrival at the palace, Tree-ear has but a single shard left of the vase to present to the Emissary. Since Min’s work is of the finest quality, the Emissary recognizes its worth and grants Min the commission. When Tree-ear returns to give Min the good news, he discovers that Crane-man died in a terrible accident. Though devastated by his friend’s death, Tree-ear finds hope when Min’s wife welcomes him into their home as their son.
A Single Shard is a splendid work of realistic fiction that magnificently shows the beauty of human relationships through its characters. Tree-ear is the protagonist in the story. Park describes the character fully in the story. She shows his good and bad traits. For example, he is a hard worker when he is with Min (the antagonist), but also eavesdrops and spies on others. I especially enjoyed reading about Tree-ear and Crane-man’s complex relationship. One aspect shows a father and son relationship while another shows them as equal parts of a team and friends. Both of them teach, nurture, and watch out for the other in a variety of ways. Even more meaningful and increasingly important toward the end of the story is Tree-ear’s relationship with Min. At the beginning, our protagonist and antagonist have an owner/slave relationship that changes over time and blooms into a relationship of mutual respect.
The book is appropriate for late primary and intermediate elementary students. Though teacher can connect this book to many content areas, art and math are good areas to begin. In Art, students can use paper, colored pencils, oil pastels, paints, etc. to design their own vase with a unique flower or animal design on the front. In addition, they could use the design on paper to shape an actual vase using modeling clay. Teachers can establish a cross-connection to Math by finding possible answers to this question: How does size and shape affect volume? Students will measure their clay vase’s height and distance around the vase. Students will predict then experiment to determine which student’s vase has the most volume. This lesson would connect to the Common Core Standard:
CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.A.2 Measure and estimate liquid volumes and masses of objects using standard units of grams (g), kilograms (kg), and liters (l).1 Add, subtract, multiply, or divide to solve one-step word problems involving masses or volumes that are given in the same units, e.g., by using drawings (such as a beaker with a measurement scale) to represent the problem.

Book Reflection for Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming

Fleming, D. (1995). Time to Sleep. New York. Henry Holt and Company.

Summary:
Bear, the main character in the book, realizes winter is approaching and it is time for a long nap, but first she wants to tell her friend, Snail so he can prepare too. Well, Snail wants to tell one of his friends, and the chain deeps growing until it reaches Ladybug, who wants to tell Bear. However, by this time, Bear is already asleep. Ladybug realizes this when Bear can barely open one eye to talk, so they both go to sleep for the winter.

Literary Terms:
The texture of the illustrations in the book is spongy and somewhat jagged. For example, the pictures of the animals and the surrounding habitats look almost as if the illustrator has painted them with a sponge. The illustrator also uses no fine lines to draw the illustrations. For example, on the rear inside cover of the dust jacket, which is the paper cover around the book, it states that the author/illustrator, Denise Fleming uses colored cotton pulp that was poured through hand-cut stencils to create the pictures.

Common Core Standard for Writing: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

Curriculum Activity including Big Question: How does the way I sleep and eat compare and contrast to animals that hibernate. Students will research the topic of hibernation in two different species of animals and will compare and contrast those animals’ hibernation habits with their or human sleep and eating patterns.

Intro

Hello to all,

My name is Audrey Popham.  I am married, and my husband and I have 2 sons.  Teaching fourth grade at Flaherty Elementary, running with and for my boys, and taking masters classes keeps me hopping, but when I have a few extra minutes, I love to read.

This is my 3rd year teaching.  Returning to college to complete my degree and begin a teaching career has been a challenge, but a fulfilling and rewarding endeavor.  Each day is filled with new challenges and wonderful students.

Currently, I am enrolled in a masters course, Young Adult and Children's Literature, that requires a great deal of reading, and I am happy to say that I am looking forward to it.  Reading is one of my favorite things to do.

I hope you enjoy reading the posts on my blog!