Book Review: One Shot at Forever by Chris Ballard

One Shot at Forever by Chris Ballard

"A beautiful and unforgettable book." - Buzz Bissinger, author of Friday Night Lights

Summary by Goodreads:

The Inspirational Story of a Coach, a Baseball Team, and the Season They'll Never Forget

In 1971, a small-town high school baseball team from rural Illinois playing with hand-me-down uniforms and peace signs on their hats defied convention and the odds. Led by an English teacher with no coaching experience, the Macon Ironmen emerged from a field of 370 teams to represent the smallest school in Illinois history to make the state final, a distinction that still stands. There, sporting long hair and warming up to Jesus Christ Superstar, the Ironmen would play a dramatic game against a Chicago powerhouse that would change their lives forever.

In this gripping, cinematic narrative, Sports Illustrated writer Chris Ballard tells the story of the team and its coach, Lynn Sweet, a hippie, dreamer, and intellectual who arrived in Macon in 1966, bringing progressive ideas to a town stuck in the Eisenhower era. Beloved by students but not administration, Sweet reluctantly took over the ragtag team, intent on teaching the boys as much about life as baseball. Inspired by Sweet's unconventional methods, the undersized, undermanned Macon Ironmen embarked on an improbable postseason run that infuriated rival coaches and buoyed a town suffering from a damaging drought and the shadow of the Vietnam War--one in desperate need of something to celebrate.

In a final grace note, Ballard returns to the present day, revisiting the 1971 Ironmen to explore the effect the game had on their lives' trajectories--and the men they've become because of it. Engaging and poignant, One Shot at Forever is a testament to the power of high school sports to shape the lives of those who play them, and it reminds us that there are few bonds more sacred than that among a coach, a team, and a town.

My Thoughts:

As I have stated in previous posts, two of my reading goals for 2015 are to read more nonfiction and boy books.  When asked by my department chair to read a few of our 2016 Abe Lincoln Award Nominees over spring break, I picked this one to read first and I am glad I did.  Reflecting on the story, I realize now I how much I truly connected with this story.

Reading One Shot at Forever reminded me so much of the importance of high school athletics and the influence a coach can have on his/her athletes.  Just like Coach Sweet, being a former high school diving coach, I  understand how hard it is to compete with the big/rich schools. I learned that it doesn't matter how much money or how many students go to a school, hard work is the one thing that the athletes have the power over.  The harder they work, the better they became.  Our school didn't have the best diving boards (actually they were probably some of the worst boards in the state of Illinois) or the best pool, but my girls had the same heart that Sweet's baseball players had when they went to on to play in the state baseball finals. It was also that same perseverance and determination that continually pushed my divers to make and place in the Top 12 at state meet for several years in a row.  

What I liked even more than the story about Sweet's baseball team making the state finals, was where they are at today and what they have done with their lives after this experience.  The one thing I enjoy more than anything, is keeping in touch with my divers who are now all graduated from college and have moved on with their lives.  Just like Sweet, it didn't matter how well my divers did, what was far more important were the life lessons that my athletes and I took away from the experience.  I know I learned as much from them as they learned from me.  My favorite quote from the book...

"Treat people well, believe in them, entrust them with responsibility, lift them up."

Here is my takeaway.  If you like...

• nonfiction
• high school sports
• baseball
• small town heroes
• friendships
• inspirational stories

then check out One Shot at Forever.  Definitely worth reading. My only hope is that this one can be made into a movie.

Book Review: Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles

Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles

10 Characters, 1 finger, and 1 very eventful day...

Summary from Goodreads:

Does anyone ever see us for who we really are? Jo Knowles’s revelatory novel of interlocking stories peers behind the scrim as it follows nine teens and one teacher through a seemingly ordinary day.


Thanks to a bully in gym class, unpopular Nate suffers a broken finger—the middle one, splinted to flip off the world. It won’t be the last time a middle finger is raised on this day. Dreamer Claire envisions herself sitting in an artsy café, filling a journal, but fate has other plans. One cheerleader dates a closeted basketball star; another questions just how, as a "big girl," she fits in. A group of boys scam drivers for beer money without remorse—or so it seems. Over the course of a single day, these voices and others speak loud and clear about the complex dance that is life in a small town. They resonate in a gritty and unflinching portrayal of a day like any other, with ordinary traumas, heartbreak, and revenge. But on any given day, the line where presentation and perception meet is a tenuous one, so hard to discern. Unless, of course, one looks a little closer—and reads between the lines. 

My Thoughts:

I have always been a fan of Knowles' writing, but this by far was my favorite.  At first I was a bit confused by the amount of characters and how they were going to connect throughout the story, but as I read further, I could picture every single one of them at my high school going through these exact same situations. In each vignette, the character reflects on who they are and who they really want to be.  Beyond that, they deal with the consequences of a parent's unemployment, scams, drunk driving, sexual assaults, hoarding, questioning one's sexual identity, eating disorders, and more.  There are definitely characters and issues that students can relate to throughout the book.

My favorite vignette, was at the end of the story - Ms. Lindsay.  I think many teachers have felt her struggle to gain respect of her students and her determination not to be bitter.   What I loved was her honesty.  Every teacher has those days (or classes) that just get to them and make them want to give up.  Ms. Lindsay didn't.

"Today will be better.

She will stand in front of the class and hold up her three fingers to quiet them down, and for a moment she will think, Read between the lines, class.

But then, as she looks at their unsuspecting, uninterested faces, she will start to think about what that really means.  That just like there is more to her than what  they see, there is more inside each one of them. 

What's your story? she will wonder as she scans the room from face to face.  

And this time when she pleads with them to read between the lines, she will try to do the same. "

What a great ending to a heartfelt, emotional story that I didn't want to end.

Side note:  If you don't follow @AndersonGL on Twitter, you must read Gary Anderson's interview with Jo Knowles about Read Between the Lines.

Book Review: Confess by Colleen Hoover

Confess by Colleen Hoover

I must confess (hee hee) that Colleen Hoover's books are my guilty pleasure.  They read quickly and always have a romantic plot that pulls me in and makes me want to read more.  Confess lives up to all of the hype with this one!

Summary by Goodreads:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a new novel about risking everything for love—and finding your heart somewhere between the truth and lies. 

Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there’s no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry.

For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover Owen is keeping major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it.

The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can’t seem to convince her that truth is sometimes as subjective as art. All he would have to do to save their relationship is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin…

My Thoughts:

I honestly loved this book.  Maybe it was timing, maybe it was the connections I made with the characters, maybe it was my desire to know the secrets Owen and Auburn carried with themselves causing them to make the decisions that they do throughout the novel.  Either way, I was shocked by some of the negative reviews on Goodreads.  I started reading this book on Thursday and finished it Friday night.  

I felt this bond with Auburn and Owen and couldn't stop reading until I uncovered their secrets.  I sensed their connection from their first I loved how Hoover weaved this theme of secrecy and confessions throughout the novel.  It wasn't until towards the end of the story that I started to pick up on all the clues of how Owen knew Auburn from the past.  As in all Colleen Hoover novels, there are definitely some scenes with sexual tension and I am not sure I would recommend this book to the 9th and 10th graders, but I can see many of our older students checking this one out. 

2016 Abe Lincoln Reader's Choice Nominees - My Summer To-Read List

2016 Abe Lincoln Reader's Choice Nominees - My Summer To-Read List

Yesterday I shared my favorite books that I have already read from the 2016 nominee list.  Today I am excited to share the books that I am intrigued with and have added to my summer to-read list.

#1  I Am the Weapon by Allen Zadoff (previously published as Boy Nobody)
A high school boy is an assassin for his father; Then he falls for the daughter of his next mark.  The reviews say it is fast-paced, a page-turner, gripping, a thriller.  If it doesn't freak me out, I will be reading this one.

#2  I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
According to Goodreads, this book is "a brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell."  Sounds good to me! 



#3  Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern
This is "a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them." (Goodreads.com) Both my teammates read this and told me I had to read it.



#4  One Shot at Forever by Chris Ballard
This is more than just a true story about a small town baseball team from Macomb, IL that made the state finals. Ballard revisits these players years later and finds out the true impact that this team had one their lives. As a coach I have seen how my athletes involvement in high school sports has shaped their lives as they grow up.  Though I am not a huge baseball fanatic, I want to read this with my sons.

 

#5  Butter by Erin Jade Lange
A lonely obese boy decides that he is going to eat himself to death, live on the Internet, for everyone to watch. This one hits on real life issues that teen's face in our society.

2016 Abraham Lincoln Reader's Choice Award Nominees

2016 Abraham Lincoln Reader's Choice Award Nominees

Every year at the beginning of March, I anxiously await the new list of "Abes." These books always top my to-read list for the summer.

For those of you outside Illinois, the Abe Lincoln Reader's Choice Award is given to an adult or young adult fiction/nonfiction book on the nominee list that has received the most student votes.  To make the master list, titles are nominated by teachers or librarians and evaluated by the nominations committee. A group of high school librarians, teachers, public librarians and students chooses the final master list of twenty titles. From September through February, registered schools promote these books and students who have read four or more titles are eligible to vote. (islma.org) At my high school, we use these on our summer reading recommendation list.

Here are some of my favorites that I have already read from the 2016 list:

Boy 21 by Matthew Quick:

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson:


(Warning for teachers... I am so sad that there is explicit language on this trailer.)

Positive by Paige Rawl:



This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales



And my favorite book on the list:  We Were Liars by E. Lockhart



Tomorrow I can't wait to share which books I am looking forward to reading :).

Book Review: The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

Book Review:  The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

I promised myself that I would stretch this year and take on new genres and books that others recommend even if they aren't ones I would normally pick up.  This was one of those books.

Summary from Goodreads:

Two kids with the same name lived in the same decaying city. One went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. Here is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation. 
In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore.  

Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen?

That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that have lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own: Both had grown up in similar neighborhoods and had had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices would lead them to astonishingly different destinies.

Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.

My Thoughts:

I had such high hopes for The Other Wes Moore as I had heard such great things from a few colleagues. Sadly though, I felt disappointed when I finished the story.  I wanted to learn so much more about both Wes's.  The author does go into detail about what happened to each of the Wes's but he doesn't really spend time on why they both ended up in opposite places (him successful, the other in jail.)  I went into this looking for Wes Moore to compare his life to the other Wes Moore and that depth was lacking.

The one powerful point that this story left me with is that even in today's society there are still so many questions that we have to find answers to about helping our most impoverished youth find support to get an education and have a better future for themselves and their families. Even though I wasn't a big fan, I do have students that will connect with both stories and find them worthwhile so this is going to the top of my book-talking list for next week.

Professional Book Review: In the Best Interest of Students by Kelly Gallagher

In the Best Interest of Students: Staying True to What Works in the ELA Classroom by Kelly Gallagher

Summary by Goodreads:

What is in the best interest of our students? Is it teaching to the newest standards movement, like the Common Core? Teaching that prepares students to take a test? Or is it something more meaningful and authentic?

In his new book, In the Best Interest of Students, Kelly Gallagher notes that there are real strengths in the Common Core standards, and there are significant weaknesses as well. He takes the long view, reminding us that standards come and go but what remains constant is the need to stay true to what we know works in the teaching of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Instead of blindly adhering to the latest standards movement, Kelly advocates:

• Dialing up the amount of reading and writing students are doing.
• Balancing rigorous, high-quality literature and non-fiction with high-interest, student-selected titles.
• Giving students much more choice when it comes to reading and writing activities.
• Encouraging readers to deepen their comprehension by moving beyond the “four corners of the text.”
• Using modeling to enrich students’ writing skills in the prewriting, drafting, and revision stages.
• Helping young writers to achieve more authenticity through the blending of genres.
• Resisting the de-emphasis of narrative and imaginative reading and writing.
• Providing students with more opportunities to sharpen their listening and speaking skills
• Planning lessons that move beyond Common Core expectations. 

In this provocative and insightful new book, Kelly surveys the teaching landscape since the publication of his highly regarded book Readicide, and finds that although some progress has been made, more needs to be done. Amid the frenzy of trying to teach to a new set of standards, Kelly Gallagher is a strong voice of reason, reminding us that instruction should be anchored around one guiding question: What is in the best interest of our students?

My Thoughts:

I have always been a fan of Kelly Gallagher's work since I first read Readacide back in the summer of 2011.  After that one book, I became obsessed with trying to incorporate more of his ideas in my own classroom.  Write Like This was a perfect mix between theory and strategic practice for writing and Deeper Reading helped me get my students to dig more deeply into the texts they were asked to read.  Now that the educational reform world has moved from NCLB to CCSS, more and more professional books are emerging focusing on these ideas.

In his latest book, Gallagher looks more closely at the Common Core State Standards in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. He shares what he thinks are their strengths and pinpoints the concerns that many educators see in focusing solely on these new standards.  As always, Gallagher also offers simple strategies that can be used right away in the classroom.  He is a teacher at heart and no matter what educational reform is politically being pushed, he reminds us of what is most important in our daily jobs - teaching students how to read and write.  It doesn't matter what the standards are, we must take time every day to have our students engaged in learning. Once they are engaged, there is so much that we can get them to do.

I highly recommend Gallagher's latest book to new and refined teachers alike.  Even though I have read all of his other books, I still feel like I walked away with several new ideas and revisited a few of my favorites from past books.  

Book Review: Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally

Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally

Summary by Goodreads:

Annie hates running. No matter how far she jogs, she can’t escape the guilt that if she hadn’t broken up with Kyle, he might still be alive. So to honor his memory, she starts preparing for the marathon he intended to race.


But the training is even more grueling than Annie could have imagined. Despite her coaching, she’s at war with her body, her mind—and her heart. With every mile that athletic Jeremiah cheers her on, she grows more conflicted. She wants to run into his arms…and sprint in the opposite direction. For Annie, opening up to love again may be even more of a challenge than crossing the finish line.

My Thoughts:

Breathe, Annie, Breathe definitely falls under the category of my guilty pleasure books. Looking through my list on Netgalley, I knew I had to read this next.   I love reading YA/new adult romance stories and after reading so many books outside my comfort zone in February, this book was a perfect read.  Miranda Kenneally knows how to write in a way that hooks the reader in and not stop until you are done. After reading Breathe, Annie, Breathe, I have added several other books from Kenneally to my to-read list.  I think this one will be popular among the high school girls.