Ok, here's the books I just finished reading and the one I am starting.
Finished:
Farm City by Novella Carpenter
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Both of these were great and I highly recommend them.
Farm City is about a woman who lives in Oakland in the middle of the ghetto, in spite of this, she starts a farm. She uses the abandoned lot next door and plants a huge garden, raises chickens and bees. She also raises other animals for food, but I will leave that as a surprise for those people that want to read the book. I found this book really inspiring and hope to do some research to turn my backyard into a vegetable producing garden next summer (I always grow something but usually not very well). I also found it fascinating because she is combating the processed food that most people in the inner city eat because it's cheap and easy to get. I teach kids that eat only that kind of food and it is a travesty. Their favorite foods are soda and hot chips. And I am not kidding. Some of them eat only one fruit or vegetable in a week. We have "universal breakfast" at our school-where ALL the students get breakfast no matter their income. You would not believe how much fruit is leftover from breakfast everyday!! But here I go again getting off topic. This was well-written and really kept my attention even when she got slightly technical. If you like reading non-fiction I would suggest this book.
Switching topics, Sarah's Key is a fictional account of a little known event that occurred during WWII. The deportation of thousands of French Jews to Auschwitz carried out by the French police. I had no ideas this happened and was shocked and dismayed. I don't often read Holocaust books anymore, but my curiosity was piqued by this book (probably also because my 7th and 8th graders are reading Maus). This was emotional, gut-wrenching, and thought-provoking. It was also an easy read-I read it in a day and a half. If you like to read serious topics, I would definitely suggest checking this out.
I am starting in a perfect world by laura kasischke simply because I heard such wonderful things about it. I hope it lives up to the expectations. If you want to read it along with me, feel free.
7 comments:
i plan on heading to the library tomorrow (day off, yeah!) so i'll look for the new book you mentioned...and i am glad you liked Farm City..i totally know what you mean about it inspiring you - i grew a few things this summer but i totally didn't plan it well and i hope to do a lot more research and planning this spring...i also agree with you about the nutrition (or lack thereof) issue you see at your school - i see it at mine, too and it is so frustrating - you want to change the way they eat but it's such a battle....i would love to do an Edible Schoolyard (i think that's what it's called) project at my school...but it's just a fantasy really...i read a good book last year, called Lunch Lessons - it's a pretty short book and an easy read - by 2 moms who are trying to make schools provide more nutritious meals...it has a bunch of healthy, kid-friendly recipes, too...ok i think this is more like a post than a comment :)
shalva, we could totally talk about gardening-compare notes!! i am dying to know what school you work at, i'm in area 2 at stockton. i wanted to go to the library today too but am not sure it is open. the book sounds good, you know i'll have to read it now, i can't hear about a book and not read it or at least look it up!! also, i love your comments, especially when they're long!!
lol, thanks for making me feel good about my crazy long-winded comments :). isn't it funny how all of us in cps love finding out about other people who work in cps - and what schools they work for...i'm in area 6 at burley...now i'll have to google stockton and see where it is :)
do you read district299.com? it's a journalist's unofficial take on anything and everything that is cps-related...interesting stuff! i was at evanston library today - it was open but pretty quiet - i don't think evanston schools are off today...and yes we should totally compare gardening notes - i love doing the research and talking about it - and then i get overwhelmed when it comes to choosing what to plant, etc. and it becomes too much! oh and slightly off topic but green city market (in front of the peggy notebaert nature museum) is open wednesdays from 8-1, i know next wed. is report card pickup but maybe you can go beforehand? they had apples, all kinds of squash, purple carrots, potatoes...it's the closest i can get to gardening til spring :)
ok so i hope my comments aren't getting too annoying - i remembered another good book i read recently - did i recommend Home Girl by Judith Matloff? it's a great book (nonfiction) about a journalist couple who have lived all over the world and decide to settle down and start a family in ny - the only place they can afford to buy is in harlem, and the book is about their experience - it's written by the wife and it's a really good read...
have you heard of Telex from Cuba, by Rachel Kushner? i just started it, i was thinking maybe we could do a future book discussion on it - it's historical fiction based in Cuba in the 50's, written from the perspective of an American boy (the author's mother spent time in Cuba as a girl)...it seems like the reviews are kind of mixed, but so far i like it...google it and see what you think.
I think I took telex from cuba out from the library and tried to read it but couldn't get into it. but I'll try again and see if I feel differently now. I reserved home girl and have used all my holds at the library, so I'll have to wait a while. I looked up the blog (which I didn't know existed-I will be reading that often!) also, are you just at burley? I have never heard of it, where is area 6?
i am only on page 8 so far, so i hesitated for a bit before recommending it but so far it seems like it has potential (and this is coming from a non-lover of historical fiction)...yeah, i don't remember how i found the blog but it's great - and most people at my school have never heard of it either...i am at burley full time...it's on ashland just south of belmont...i was at rogers for abt a month last winter, but it was just a part-time, 20 min/day as opposed to a full time position, so when this opened up i moved over to burley...
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