Friday, March 2, 2012

Feature & Follow Friday (2)


This is my secpnd Friday joining in Feature & Follow Friday hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read. You can find out more about the hop by checking in at either of the blogs and signing up:  Feature & Follow Friday on Parajunkee's View or Feature and Follow Friday at Alison Can Read


Q: What book would you love to see made into a movie or television show and do you have actors/actresses in mind to play the main characters?

I finished Partials by Dan Wells last weekend and would love to see it made into a movie.  However I am not up on my young actors and actresses so I can't cast it very well, so if you have some suggestions, please feel free to leave them.  I still need to review Partials, but it is coming in a very close second to Cinder as my favorite YA book of the year so far.  It was amazing, complex and I'm looking forward to the next installment.

So what do you want to see as a movie?  I would love to visit your blog if you have posted so leave a comment and I'll come visit over the weekend.




Book Review: Chase Against Time by Steve Reifman

Chase Against Time by Steve Reifman
Publisher: Brown Books
Publish Date: March 15, 2012
Hardcover, 140 pages 
Fiction, Middle Grades, Mystery
 Chase Manning Mysteries #1






My Review:
What a fun book and perfect for the age group that Mr. Reifman intends it for.  I can see reading Chase Against Time to my almost 7-year-old who is an advanced reader and he would enjoy it and I can see my 11-year-old enjoying it on his own.  And the nice thing is I can see both girls and boys enjoying this one.  Yes the main character is a boy (which is nice for this mom of boys), but I'm a girl and I really enjoyed it.  Chase's best friend is a girl, and while she doesn't have a huge role, she is still important and I think that lends a credence to the novel for girls as well as boys.

Chase Against Time has a great mystery plot.  As an adult, I was even trying to figure it out for a time.  Mr. Reifman does a great job presenting numerous what-if situations for Chase to investigate.  I also found that Chase is just an ordinary fifth-grader.  No super-powers and no extraordinary investigation skills beyond what he has seen on tv, which gave me a good laugh.  He just uses his head and that's what kids reading the book will do, they will reason out what they have seen in the book to try and figure out who did it and why.  I also liked the music angle.  Chase and his friends are trying to save the music program, which is something that seems important to the whole school.  And while it wasn't something I could relate to personally, the love of the program from the kids came off of the pages and I felt for them.  So I can see boys that love sports even liking this book and empathizing with these kids.  Mr. Reifman really seems to understand kids and how to portray them in fiction in a very believable way.

The characters are interesting, the plot is interesting and the length is perfect for this age group.  Yes your more advanced readers can read longer books, I can too, but sometimes this type of book is just what a kid is looking for.  It grabs their attention, they can read it, understand it and it just might be the type of book that endears them towards reading for life.  That's why I love this book.  I think it fulfills a niche that needs to be fulfilled, it's hip enough for this age group, it has a good mystery and it's a quick and easy read without being too easy to insult their intelligence.  It's just perfect.  Mr. Reifman has scored a home run with this one.  I look forward to more books in this series, so get out there, recommend this one, get a copy for a child you know and there will be more in the series to come!

My Rating: 5.0/5.0

Parental guidance: It's for middle grade, ages 8-12, very clean as expected.

About the Book:
In a last-ditch effort to save Apple Valley Elementary’s award-winning music program from looming budget cuts, the PTA plans to auction off a recently-donated, handcrafted cello at the school’s annual fund-raising dinner. Confidence is high – until the cello turns up missing the morning of the event. The school principal charges Chase Manning, a fifth grader who has dreamed of playing in the Sixth Grade Honors Orchestra his whole life, with finding the cello by three o’clock. Each hour of the school day involves surprising and suspense-filled plot turns as Chase pursues the elusive cello. This single-day, real-time mystery thriller truly is a Chase against time!

About the Author (from Goodreads.com): 
I am a National Board Certified elementary school teacher, writer, and speaker in Santa Monica, CA. I am the author of several resource books for educators, including Eight Essentials for Empowered Teaching and Learning, K-8. I am also the creator of the Chase Manning Mystery Series for kids 8-12. Each book in the series features a single-day, real-time thriller that occurs on an elementary school campus. For tips and strategies on teaching the whole child, visit http://stevereifman.com

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FTC Information: I received this book from the author for an honest review.  




Guest Blog: 7 Ways to Encourage Reluctant Readers by Steve Reifman

Today I welcome author Steve Reifman back to My Reading Room, today with his middle grade fiction offering, Chase Against Time which I will review later today.  First up is a wonderful guest post from Steve on encouraging reluctant readers.

7 Ways to Encourage Reluctant Readers

by Steve Reifman

Reading is a tremendously appealing, satisfying activity, and children will become hooked once the adults in their lives consistently build it into their daily schedules. The key is getting children started. The following seven strategies will help even the most reluctant reader become more enthusiastic about the endeavor. By employing the strategies described below, reading will become something that students do willingly, even eagerly, and the adults in their lives will not have to resort to trickery, bribery, manipulation, or any other tactic that will, at best, lead to temporary compliance. After all, we’re striving to make reading a joyous lifelong habit.
 
1.   Start with the child’s passions.  Children will be more excited about reading when they can choose books or magazines related to their interests. This suggestion is far and away the most powerful one when it comes to encouraging those who are reluctant to read. When kids own the choice of what they will read, motivation increases significantly.
2.   Make reading a social experience.  Children who don’t enjoy reading alone often enjoy reading with somebody else.  Children can read with their parents, siblings, other relatives, and friends.  Some children even start mini-book clubs and discuss books related to their common interests.  Asking children to read to their younger siblings and cousins can powerfully impact their own motivation to read.
3.   Read aloud to children.  Many parents regularly read aloud to their children when they are very young, yet stop this activity as the kids get older.  Parents should read aloud to children throughout the elementary grades.  Doing so makes reading more enjoyable, improves listening skills, builds comprehension, lengthens attention spans, and grows the imagination.
4.   Take advantage of new technology.  Children who may not find books interesting may enjoy reading the same texts on smart phones, computers, and electronic readers, such as the iPad or Kindle.  Technology makes everything seem cooler and more engaging to children, and we should capitalize on this fact when it comes to reading.
5.   Be a role model to children.  When children see their parents reading frequently, discussing what they have read, and carrying books around, they will value reading to a greater extent.  The power of modeling cannot be underestimated.
6.   Camouflage reading.  Parents can increase the amount of time their children spend reading by subtly building the activity into other, seemingly unrelated activities.  Examples include reading menus at restaurants, reading the directions to board games, and looking at various websites together. Children who may not yet enjoy reading for its own sake may enjoy it tremendously when it’s incorporated into other engaging pastimes.
7.   Be sure children read books that are appropriately challenging.  Many times kids don’t want to read simply because the books they encounter are too difficult.  This seemingly obvious point is frequently forgotten. None of us want to encounter frustration, and we will go to great lengths to avoid experiences that make us feel this way. Appropriately challenging books are those in which students can fluently read approximately 95% of the words. Encountering a small number of difficult words can help children grow in their reading skills, but encountering too many of these words can interfere with fluency and lead to discouragement.

Commit to trying one or more these ideas to help your child become a more enthusiastic reader. Teaching the whole child means that we focus on developing children’s academic skills, but just as important, we focus on children’s attitudes about these skills. We want to raise children who read well and read because they want to do it, not because they have to do it.

About Chase Against Time
In a last-ditch effort to save Apple Valley Elementary’s award-winning music program from looming budget cuts, the PTA plans to auction off a recently-donated, handcrafted cello at the school’s annual fund-raising dinner. Confidence is high – until the cello turns up missing the morning of the event. The school principal charges Chase Manning, a fifth grader who has dreamed of playing in the Sixth Grade Honors Orchestra his whole life, with finding the cello by three o’clock. Each hour of the school day involves surprising and suspense-filled plot turns as Chase pursues the elusive cello. This single-day, real-time mystery thriller truly is a Chase against time!