So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkin

So Far From the Bamboo Grove was my second book read out of this and Year of Impossible Goodbyes. I think that because of this I did not take to this book as much. After reading about the war from the Koreans point of view, I didn't feel very sorry for the Japanese in this book. I know that this was rude of me but it was true.

I also felt like when I was reading Year of Impossible Goodbyes, that except for the beginning, I felt like the rest went through my head like a movie. But this book I found myself not really wondering or caring what happened next. So I don't know if it was a good or a bad thing that I read these two books together.

The book was about a little girl and her family and were trying to escape from Korea and go back to Japan to try to escape from hardships. Before they left they left a note for their brother so that he would know where they went to because he was off at the factory making things for the war. Throughout the story they were spotted by a couple of soldiers but something always happened that ended up saving (one example is that a bomb dropped right when a couple walked up to them with guns.) The mom and two daughters made it to Seoul, where they were headed and did not see their honorable brother there. The went on to Japan then after standing in line and putting up signs for the brother that they were going there. Right when they got to Japan, the mother decided to send the children to school. I couldn't believe this. I know that education is important but geesh I think that she should realize what they just went through.

The Little One hated school because all of the kids made fun of her. The mother left to search for the grandparents and soon died after she returned. This turned the two sisters' lives upside down even more. They dug through trash cans for food, sold things they made door to door, and shined shoes for some extra money. Throughout the journey many kind people came into their lives to help them and finally in the end the brother found them from the signs they had put up (how predictable).

So I'm sorry that my summary of this story was so bland. It just felt like to me that it was almost too hard to believe. There were a few good parts throughtout the story but over all I just really couldn't get into what I was written. After reading the Year of Goodbyes it just made me not believe this story as much and therefore I didn't want to read it as badly (I know that sounds horrible but it's how I felt).

A Picture Book of Lewis and Clark by David Adler

So again, this was a book that I used for social studies when talking about the exploration that Lewis and Clark went on through the Louisiana Purchase. This book worked really well for my activity because of the fact that it gave tons of facts but it wasn't all that interesting to me.

It mainly told about Meriwether Lewis and William Clark before they went on this journey for the most part. It told about what they were like and that didn't really interest me. I would have to say that unless I plan on doing a unit with my students on Lewis and Clark, I will probably not ever pick up this book again.

So if you want about book with a lot of facts on Lewis and Clark, this is the book for you, but if you are looking for a good book to just sit and read, I wouldn't recommend it.

You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer by Shana Corey

So, I am not going to lie. The main reason that I even picked up this book was for a social studies project that I had to do. I thought that it looked really interesting though and we were talking about women's rights. I am not that into non-fiction books but this book was not totally that.

It was about a girl who did not having to wear tight dresses all of the time and she thought that they made her look really silly. She decided that she wanted to be different, which many people did not think was a good idea. She met a girl one day though that looked very comfortable in a bloomer outfit (dress like top with pant like bottoms in this case) and she decided that she wanted to be comfortable too and wear something like that. So, she got to work on her sewing machine. No one could believe what she was wearing when it was finally done but many women from other cities had seen it and wanted to know exactly how to make them. She received tons of mail! Soon after that everyone was making their own bloomer outfits and everyone was comfortable.

The reason that I didn't mind this book so much was that it wasn't straight facts. It actually put some plot and story line along with the facts. It made it easy to learn something about history but not be bored to death while doing it and I liked that a lot. I think that it worked really well for the social studies activities because it showed what some women did to change history.

Soap! Soap! Don't Forget the Soap! by Tom Birdseye

Have you ever known one of those really forgetful kids or maybe been one yourself? Well if so, this is the book for you! Once again, by looking at the front cover of this book, your first impression may be hick but that doesn't make the book bad.

This book starts out with the narrator explaining to you that Plug Honeycutt is so forgetful that he sometimes forgets his own name. The only person that really believes in him is his own mother. One day they are out of soap at home so Plug's mother sends him to the store to get some. And along with some money she gives him a song to recite, "Soap! Soap! Don't forget the soap!" Well obviously the book just doesn't end there. Plug goes through many different adventures throughout where he forgets and then is reminded by people yelling at him about what he has to get. Finally he makes it to the store and buys the soap and then runs straight home to get it to his mother.

I thought that this was an interesting book but it really gives a good lesson to people who can be a bit careless. At the end of this story, after getting yelled at several times, Plug knows that he will never forget anything that his mother says again. I think that I enjoyed this book because I have had times like Plug where I can be really forgetful and I think that many kids can make some kind of a connection to the story. It also has so good pictures and I think that kids would enjoy reading about all of the adventures Plug goes through. (Also, isn't Plug a sweet name? haha)

Oh Yeah! by Tom Birdseye

I read a bunch of Tom Birdseye books for an author study that I did on him and this was another that I had read. Unlike Air Mail to the Moon though, this one did not really spark anything with me. It actually kind of annoyed me. I can't really pinpoint a reason why but I think that it was because it was SOOO repetitive. I know that with younger grades a repetitive book is great because the kids can get into it more. But with this book, for me, it just went too far.

The book was about two little boys who are friends and they are camping out in a tent with their two stuffed animals. The two boys keep telling each other than they aren't afraid to do different things and then the other boy would say, "Oh Yeah!" (Doesn't surprise ya, right, since it is the name of the story.) Well that part is fine. But then they get into this like war and they keep repeating everything that the other one says.

A lot of different things do happen to them. They think they see a big, hair, child eating monster (which happens to just be the dog) and they end up leaving their two stuffed animals outside and then having to go back out and look for them to save them.

I don't know? The first time that I read the book I didn't mind it but as I have read it a few times it just isn't a book that I would enjoy reading again. Like I said though, it would be a good book for younger grades because it is so repetitive and you could even do some sort of order game with it.

Air Mail to the Moon by Tom Birdseye

If you're looking for a good book with some old fashioned names, talk about the tooth fairy, and a little girl who thinks her tooth gets stolen, then Air Mail to the Moon by Tom Birdseye would be a great book for you. When first looking at the front cover to this book, I couldn't help but laugh. A little girl with a big grin and a big hole in her mouth just didn't look all that normal to me for a book. As I began reading through it though I realized that it was a hilarious book.

It starts out with a little girl who has a loose tooth. Her parents tell her not to go around and tell everyone that she is going to lose it though, just in case it takes a long time. She does good at this for a while but then she just has to come out and say it. Later on her tooth finally falls out and when it does her family tells her to put it underneath her pillow so the tooth fairy can come and give her money. So she goes to bed and the next morning she wakes up and neither her tooth or any money is under her pillow. Someone stole her tooth!! She goes and confronts all of her family for stealing her tooth and then they get talking about wacky things that the tooth fairy does with the teeth.

At the end of the story the little girl gets really mad after telling everyone, “I’m gonna open up a can of gotcha and send ‘em airmail to the moon,” and she digs her hands down into her pockets....and what could she find??

So this book really showed me not to judge a book by its cover. The pictures were really good, even though a little hickish, and they showed the story perfectly. It's a great book and I would really recommend it if you want a book that will make you laugh.

Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi

This book gave me a lot of mixed emotions. For about the first 3 chapters I hated it and did not know how I could possibly read the whole thing. After that though it became much more interesting and I really found myself getting into the book and rooting for Nuna and her family to get through the war and have freedom.

I don't know why the first few chapters bothered me so much. It may be because it was more of a before hand view and not so much about what was actually going on. I also thought that the book was going to be a lot different from the beginning so I was expecting more to be going on right from the beginning. Once they started to talk about the war and what the soldiers were actually doing to the Koreans and how the lived their lives in fear everyday of doing something wrong or getting sent away, the book became much easier to read and I actually could not put it down.

It amazed me how brave this little girl and her brother were. I could not imagine having to keep my home life a secret and not being able to tell anyone anything in fear of what may happen. I also thought that she was very brave when she went to school. The part about her sitting on the floor in the back of the room and having to go to the bathroom but being afraid to ask just devistated me. And then her having to see all of the little puddles underneath the little girls desks and then them being called on to go up to the board but them being really embarrased to, I just couldn't even imagine a thing like this happening.

There were so many parts to this book that just made me really think about how good I do have it. Having little kids go to "school" to make weapons to kill a group of people that they don't even dislike and brainwashing them into believing something totally different from what they had. I also thought about the sock girls and them being taken away. I knew the whole time what was going on but I really wish they would have talked about that more because I do think that it is a big deal. And the fact that now the Japanese are saying that it was all voluntary was crap.

I was so happy for Nuna and Inchun in the end. They had worked so hard and made it so far that they really did deserve to for once feel free. Them being so young but so brave really made you think that the things that we think are bad in life really aren't always as bad as we take them to be. You just have to look around at what other people are going through because you might just see that you have it pretty good.