Among the Hidden

Among the Hidden (Shadow Children #1)
Written by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Ages 8-12

Luke is a third child in a country where it is illegal to have more than two children. Due to overpopulation and lack of adequate food, he has stayed hidden from the world his entire life, afraid the Population Police will find him. However, Luke's world changes when he notices a new face peeking out the window of a neighbor's house where he was sure everyone had left. As he discovers a new friend, he must decide how much he's willing to risk to stop hiding.

I heard about this book 12 years after it was published. It wasn't until I was a fourth grade teacher and just about every student in my class was raving about it that I became interested. I figured there must be something to it to get the entire fourth grade to be so excited about a single book. But despite the many recommendations, I'm just now getting around to reading it a couple years later (I blame the endless stacks of papers to grade and planner to fill). While it was entertaining and enjoyable, I did not love it. It seemed simplistic and lacking. Even though it is a children's book, I felt there could have been a bit more meat to it. The story addresses several important issues but stays fairly shallow. Perhaps I need to read the rest of the series to get the whole picture, but I finished this one feeling a little disappointed.

However, it is wildly popular among fourth graders and sometimes you've got to jump on the bandwagon when they're excited about reading. Here are a few of my ideas on how to use this book in the classroom:

Read Aloud: The story is a pretty quick read with lots of short chapters (perfect for filling 5 or 10 minutes and still finding a good pausing spot). It is very engaging and would hold the attention of the class. Haddix leaves most chapters with a good cliffhanger (one of my favorite moments of teaching is when you close the book at the end of read aloud and the class, in unison and completely devastated, shouts, "NOOOO!!!") making this one an excellent choice to share together.

Government: In my fifth grade class, we spent a good chunk of time studying the American government: the three branches, bills and laws, the election process, etc. One issue in Among the Hidden is that of overpopulation. The law limiting families to two children is the solution provided by the government which led to lots of problems. It could be a lot of fun to use this issue in a mock classroom government. How would they solve this problem? What would the effects of their decision be? Let them discuss, research, present ideas, and vote on a solution. This would include skills in debate and public speaking and the students would seriously love it.

Literature Circles: Although I didn't love the book, I cannot deny that Haddix skillfully uses cliffhangers to suck you into the exciting world that she creates. Some good discussion questions could be: How does she help you relate to the characters? How is this world different from ours? How is it the same? How does she get us so excited to read the next chapter? I would love for the students to find their favorite cliffhangers and share them and discuss what makes them good. This would be fun to incorporate in their own mystery stories, too.

Writing: This would be a fun novel to use when discussing the use of cliffhangers and how to make your story more interesting for the reader. Students would enjoy revising stories they have written (possibly mystery stories) to include cliffhangers. Many of my students were always working on their own novels and could also incorporate this into their own writing.

Overall, I would give this book a 6 out of 10.  It was engaging and a fun, quick read. Though it lacked the depth of some of my favorite novels, I enjoyed reading it and I know it was a fourth grade favorite at my school. It could be a good one to encourage students who have difficulty finding books and help them get more excited about reading.

Cheesecake Bites

Here's the recipe!

I have an interesting relationship with cheese.  I can really enjoy a good cheese.  I think I learned this during my 18 months in France.  The French make cheese like Americans make cereal.  They have an entire refrigerated aisle dedicated to every kind of cheese you can imagine.  I was always amazed at the variety and selection of cheeses. One of my favorite things to do was browse the selection and choose a new cheese to try that week.  When visiting Paris with Jacob, I asked him several times if we could just buy a chunk of cheese from a farmer's market and a fresh baguette for lunch.  It may be my absolute favorite meal.

However, I don't seem to appreciate melted cheese as much.  I have been slightly disappointed in the world-famous Chicago Deep-dish Pizza.  Don't get me wrong - It's good.  It's just that the deep dish is filled with melted cheese.  And it turns out that Chicagoans don't really like sauce on their pizza which is actually my favorite part.  I feel the same about quesadillas and really gooey mac and cheese.  I just don't like eating a mouthful of melted cheese.  

But back to the good stuff.  I love that Jacob can appreciate a good cheese like I can and sometimes we'll buy a fancy cheese and pretend we're back in France.  You can find some really good ones here, though the selection is generally quite a bit smaller (and we have yet to find a really good, authentic baguette!).  This weekend we wanted to share our love with some friends and hosted a "Cheesy Game Night" where each couple was invited to bring a yummy cheese to share.  We ended up with quite a good spread and some seriously yummy snacks.  

To go with all the salty snacks, I wanted to make something sweet and found these delicious-looking Chocolate-Covered Cheesecake Bites on Pinterest (because I DO love a mouthful of cheesecake).  The recipe was easy to follow, not too difficult, and turned out SO GOOD.  I was quite relieved that we had a few leftovers.  I will most definitely make these again.  These bites are not a last-minute kind of dessert because you do need to make the cheesecake the day before and freeze it.  But none of the steps were terribly time-consuming and they came out looking pretty good if I do say so myself.

  

I stuck pretty close to the recipe, though I did slightly more cream cheese and slightly less greek yogurt (a little closer to the original recipe that she followed).  I only dipped about a third of the cheesecake bites, left a third plain, and drizzled chocolate and peanut butter on a third.  I have never thought to put coconut oil in the chocolate to thin it out (I've only ever used shortening).  It worked so well and gave the chocolate a slight hint of coconut flavor which tasted really good.  I would definitely recommend making these.  You will not be disappointed.

Inside Out and Back Again

Inside Out and Back Again
Written by Thanhha Lai
Ages: 8-12

This is a historic fiction about a ten-year-old named Ha who grows up in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Because the country is becoming dangerous, she must flee with her mother and three brothers to the United States. The story reveals her physical and emotional struggles as she becomes a student in Alabama who sticks out in every way. We learn about Ha's experiences, her hopes, and her memories through a series of poetic journal entries.

I really enjoyed this one! I actually didn't know it was poetry until I opened to the first page to begin reading. While I wasn't so sure about it at first, I soon began to love that her story is told through poems. It has a simplicity in it. I am no history buff and don't know much about Vietnam or the Vietnam War, but I found this story a great way to get a little background into the culture and country. You still don't get many details about the war, but you do get many snapshots of life in Vietnam. Ha teaches a little about the food, religion, and customs of Vietnam through her journal entries. I also enjoyed the narrator, Ha. The scary and exciting and sometimes-heartbreaking story is told through her young eyes. She is very easy to relate to; Each of us has felt like an outsider trying to fit in at some point in our life. She is a sort of hero, not necessarily because she does anything extraordinarily heroic in the story, but because she faces real problems with courage and patience. 

There are so many ways I would use this book in my classroom. It is filled with teaching opportunities! Here are a few ideas I had while reading and reflecting:

Bullying: There is a very evident theme of accepting those different from us. Ha shows up to a new school where she looks, talks, and behaves differently from everyone else. Most of the children make fun of her or stay away from her, but a few important characters take the time to get to know her and help her. This would be a great book to help children think about how their actions can affect others and what they could do to help include others instead of isolate others. 

Making Inferences: This would be a great tool to use in reading comprehension while teaching the skill of making inferences. Ha uses her journalistic poetry to give us clues about things that happened during her day or how she is feeling. The book is filled with entries that would be fun to discuss with a class. I would read through an entry and decide together how she was feeling or what happened. Then, using the text, we could identify the clues Ha gives us that helped us figure it out. 

Poetry: This is a verse novel, narrated through poetry. It is a more abstract form of poetry, quite different from a lot of the poetry that we read and wrote in my 4th grade class. I think students would enjoy trying something a little less formulaic. I love that each poem is like a journal entry and she keeps them short and simple. Each one has a very specific subject (usually evident from the title). Some stood out to me as having a bit of a pattern that could help students get started. These would make fun lessons: 

• "Birthday Wishes" (p. 30): In this entry, Ha reveals some of her hopes and wishes that she wouldn't say aloud. She begins, "Wishes I keep to myself" and then lists seven wishes, each in its own stanza. She ends with an eighth stanza that begins, "Mostly I wish..." Students could follow this pattern and share some of their own wishes through short, descriptive lines. 
• "Not the Same" (p. 232): Papaya is a repeating symbol of Vietnam for Ha and she describes it several times. This poem is written after she is given some dried papaya and tastes it for the first time. It would be a fun poem to talk about adjectives and to let the students write their own poem using some juicy, descriptive words of a favorite, a hated, or a new food they have tried.

I would definitely recommend this book. As a read-aloud, a class novel, or a bedtime story, it would be a great one to read and discuss together.

Superman

I don't claim to be super original.  I do think I am crafty.  But sometimes (okay, most times) I need some help.  I need inspiration.  I love browsing pinterest and perusing blogs to find good ideas.  Especially in my photography, I find it helpful to see examples of poses, backgrounds, and lighting that look good.  Now that I have my own personal doll, I like to try to recreate my favorite ideas.  This was very difficult at first.  I pinned so many of the cute, posey newborn shots and then found out that those are IMPOSSIBLE to do in real life.  I would love to accompany a professional to some of these shoots to see how she does it.  I found myself getting very frustrated when I couldn't recreate those adorable looks with my little guy.  However, over these first four months, I've tried to relax and find the poses that work.  These tend to be more natural and candid and they turn out a million times cuter than the complicated ones I tried.  And both my little guy and I end up a million times happier.  Looking for some four month picture ideas, I came across a superman pose.  It was pretty simple (just requires some daddy strength) and shows off one of his favorite positions.  He loves when I hold him on his tummy and zoom around the house.  Here are a few of my favorites (and the inspiration post).

And the inspiration:  

Icicles

While backing out of our garage last week, I noticed the most beautifully icicle-covered light on the street.  Well, it was actually the ONLY light that was covered in icicles.  It must be in just the right spot where all the snow and water from the roof and gutter drips down onto it.  I've been wanting to snap a few photos of it before it melts away.  And hopefully it WOULD melt away.  I finally grabbed my camera (and the baby monitor) while Bubba was asleep and headed outside.  It was starting to warm up a bit and the icicles were dripping.  I played around with the shutter speed to see what it would happen as I changed the shutter speed.  I ended up getting a few cool shots that I thought I would share.

I love this perfectly formed droplet.  

My Little Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!  My poor little guy is such a good sport.  I dress him like my little doll daily and he is often subject to my photography whims.  I came across a really cute picture on Pinterest that you may have seen and decided to recreate it.  He wasn't quite sure what to think when I started giving him lots of kisses, but I was excited to get a few little smirks out of him.  We made a cute little card out of one picture for dad with a note that said, "Kisses for Daddy."  I got to spend the night with the most patient, loving man and the sweetest, cutest baby.  I think I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

The hat kills me!  What a stud.

Gender Reveal Cake Balls

I love the recent trend to have a gender reveal party.  It's probably because I love guessing games and cheesy excuses to dress up.  I wanted to do something kind of fun to reveal the gender of our little one to my coworkers and finally decided on cake balls.  It has taken me many attempts, but I finally feel like I can make a pretty mean cake ball.  The concept is pretty simple.  It's the creation part that takes practice.  Here's my simple how to:

1.  Bake a cake.  Any box.  Any flavor.  Then let it cool.
2.  Mix up a little frosting.
3.  Crumble the cake and mix with frosting.  You can mix as much as you want, but a little goes a long way.  You don't want the cake to be too sticky.
4.  Roll the cake/frosting mixture into walnut-sized balls.  Freeze.
5.  Melt chocolate and dip one a time.

The key is getting the chocolate the right consistency.  I've found that almond bark usually melts the best.  Then, I add a tablespoon or so of shortening so it is nice and thin.  It makes it easier to get a smooth covering of chocolate which makes a really pretty cake ball.

It was fun to bring them to work and make everyone guess what I was having.

 

Always add sprinkles.  They make everything more fun.

It's a boy!