GG Reads – Wesley The Owl

Did you know that barn owls mate for life?  Are you aware that they are extremely emotional creatures and have many ways to express their feelings?  Could you guess that they practice birth control and will breed only when they perceive an excess of available mice for food?  These are some of the many intriguing facts about owls that readers learn in this little gem of a book.

This book was recommended to me by my sister-in-law.  I enjoyed its message so much that I am recommending this for my school’s next summer reading list.

Wesley the Owl by Stacey O’Brien is a book about love and devotion.  It is a true love story about a woman and her owl.  Stacey O’Brien is a Southern California biologist who adopts a baby barn owl with an injured wing.  He could not survive in the wild so she selflessly takes him in, oblivious to the joy that stands before her in raising this creature.  Through the trials and triumphs Stacey experiences with this bird, the reader realizes just what a significant role a pet plays in our lives.  As Stacy states in her book, “When humans and animals understand, love, and trust each other, the animals flourish and we humans are enlightened and enriched by the relationship.”  (O’Brien 202)  Animals are more intelligent than we may give them credit for; this book reminds us of that intriguing reality.

The story chronologically follows O’Brien’s 19 years with Wesley from owl infancy when she weaned him into his “nest box” in her bedroom through the end of his long life with his battle with cancer.   She gives both her scientific, factual views and tender-hearted observations about Wesley.  O’Brien even shares the insides of Caltech and some of her interestingly eccentric colleagues.  I laughed when Stacey brought Wesley to the grocery store wrapped in a blanket as a baby, I gagged when she described how she killed endless amounts of mice for Wesley’s diets (yes, as much as I have much more respect for owls, I won’t be raising one any time soon), I melted when Wesley “held” Stacey with his wings, and I cried when Wesley tried to console Stacey through a horrible dehabilitating disease she contracted during Wesley’s later years.  I could sit here and let my fingers ecstatically fly off the keyboard with all of my favorite tidbits from the book . . . but that would take out the fun of reading this book.  You can definitely read this within a day or two; O’Brien writes her observations and feelings with fervor.  As a bonus, she includes “Some Things You May Not Know About Barn Owls” at the conclusion of the book.

We humans can learn from owls about devotion, trust and love.  I am inspired by Stacey O’Brien’s life philosophies and the devotion she returns to Wesley.  As she proclaims, she made a vow when she was very young to live life not by wading in the shallow water but by diving into the deep end as much as possible, no matter how dangerous.  The way she raised Wesley attests to her commitment to that vow.  As of the book’s print, she was contemplating raising another owl and beginning the whole process again!  If I am ever lucky enough to have a chance encounter with one of these magnificent feathered friends, I will stop and admire this feathered friend and be very grateful for the opportunity.  GG gives Wesley the Owl an A for the heartwarming lessons and touching account of this love story.  Extra credit for the wonderful photographs spattered throughout the book – most of which O’Brien took herself while raising Wesley.  They help illustrate just how funny, complex and beautiful Wesley was.

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Have You Ever Been Cubed??

Shhhhh . . . Keep this a secret . . . Don’t tell a soul about this post . . . Read on only if you are ready to be enlightened, tickled and shocked.  

Begin if you dare! 

WARNING:  For maximum validity, enlightenment, and fun, do NOT read down to the bottom until you have completed the exercise in its entirety!!!

 

 

 

This is the tone you will encounter when you open the book The Cube . . . Keep the Secret.  It is a self-awareness game I play with my students on the day before a holiday.  I’ve been using this book for many years now, and I’ve yet to encounter a class in which the students are not in awe of its accuracy.  When we’re done with the game, I ask the students to write either a one-page analysis of their findings from the game or a descriptive piece illustrating their landscape.  Never is there a complaint for this assignment.  I also have fun with this at family gatherings!!

• Readers are asked to picture a desert landscape.  In the desert landscape are five specific elements:  a cube, a ladder, a horse, a storm and flowers.  The idea is to write down and describe the very first image of each that arrives in your head to achieve the most accurate results.  Each element represents something about the reader – therein lies the secret.  I’ve always been good at keeping secrets so I’m going to make you wait until you have the book itself in your hot little hands to find out what each represents.

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Color Your World!

There’s something to this.  I was shopping in Francesca’s boutique, flipping through Michele Bernhardt’s Colorstrology book, and discovered that my personal color is Jaffa Orange.  There is something to this because the cotton tank I already had in my hand to purchase matched the color exactly.   Hmmm . . . Colorstrology tells us that our birthday carries a numerological value and meaning.  That value corresponds to a color palette from which we can draw just as we do with the month in which we were born.  Wearing, decorating and surrounding ourselveswith this specific color is supposed to bring out our true selves, our best selves.  We are not to confuse our personal color with our favorite color – Bernhardt says that our favorite color can change as we evolve or change our surroundings.  Our personal color, on the other hand, remains constant.

This fun book rests on my coffee table.  There is a page for every day of the year.  There are even color swatches in the back to take with you when shopping for your color.  In addition, each color has its PANTONE® Color identification to help find the perfect match.  I like the suggestions Bernhardt gives for using your personal color.  Grading Girl gives Colorstrology an A+ for an interesting alternative to traditional zodiac and astrology readings.

I’d say this is pretty accurate . . .

My Personal Color ~ JAFFA ORANGE

Analytical, Responsible, Sensitive

If you were born on this day:  “You love to use your mind.  Your ability to analyze problems and situations is exceptional.  You never really know just how good or talented you are due to your yearning for perfection.  Many of you cover your sensitivity with facts and a composed exterior.  You actually have a very sensitive spirt that needs to be nurtured and recognized.” (Bernhardt)

Colorstrology says that wearing or surrounding myself “with Jaffa Orange helps you live life more freely by integrating your intellect with your emotions and your passion with self-control.” (Bernhardt)

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GG Reads – Handle with Care

I just finished my fourth Jodi Picoult novel this afternoon.  I was sitting poolside and vowed not to get up until I finished it.  My redder-than-usual arms attest to the follow-through.  It’s an interesting thing about “Jodi books” – they provide conversation starters and bonding opportunities.  As I was sitting engrossed in the last 75 pages of the book, a woman whom I never met came up and asked me what I thought of the story so far.  We ended up having a 10 minute conversation about various references in Picoult novels; another woman joined in when she overheard the conversation.  Yes, Jodi Picoult is known for her in-depth, well researched twisted, surprise endings.  Handle with Care may be her saddest story yet.  I have to admit that I shed a few tears while reading – only accomplished once before while reading My Sister’s Keeper.

I am personally impressed with the thorough background on osteogenesis imperfecta (serious brittle bone disease) and the realistic trial experience.  Charlotte and Sean O’Keefe’s daughter, Willow, is born with severe OI. As the family struggles to make ends meet to cover Willow’s medical expenses, Charlotte thinks she has found an answer. If she files a wrongful birth lawsuit against her ob/gyn for not telling her in advance that her child would be born severely disabled, the payouts might ensure care for Willow. But it means that Charlotte has to get up in a court of law and say that she would have terminated the pregnancy if she’d known about the disability – words that her husband can’t abide, that Willow will hear, that their daughter Amelia also painfully takes to heart and that Charlotte cannot reconcile. And here’s a really sad twist:  the ob/gyn she’s suing is her best friend.  This twist brings up questions on friendship:  can a very strong, old friendship be broken instantly?  Is family more important than friends?  Can a broken friendship be put back together?

Grading Girl recommends this book to anyone interested in exploring medical ethics and personal morality. When faced with the reality of a fetus who will be disabled, at which point should an OB counsel termination? Should a parent have the right to make that choice? How disabled is TOO disabled? And as a parent, how far would you go to take care of someone you love? Would you alienate the rest of your family? Would you be willing to lie to your friends, to your spouse, to a court? And perhaps most difficult of all – would you admit to yourself that you might not actually be lying?  If you’re looking for a light summer read, this may not be your rag right now.  But if you’re interested in these compelling questions, this gut-wrenching tale will keep you thinking.

One element I truly admire about this story is that Picoult illustrates it in the second person point of view.  This view is rarely used; in fact, I plan on using this book as a model for defining point of view to my students who have a hard time grasping that the second person point of view is when the narrator is speaking directly to another character using the pronoun “you.”  The chapters rotate between five narrators :  Charlotte (mom), Sean (dad), Amelia (sister), Marin (lawyer), and Piper (best friend being sued).  Each of these characters reveals how they see events unfolding to Willow, the little girl with OI.    They are explaining themselves to Willow, in a sense.  A cool effect is that the reader feels viscerally what it’s like to be at the center of this controversy.

Grading Girl gives Handle with Care an A-. The minus is given because I wasn’t happy with the ending (hey, who said grading is objective?).  Some readers will misinterpret Willow’s motivations in the end.  Her actions seem uncharacteristic of her intelligence.  For fear of writing spoilers, I’ll say no more.  Just go out and borrow or buy this book for another page-turning Picoult.  Your time will not be wasted, GG assures you.

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GG Reads – Change of Heart

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult did not receive quite the notoriety as My Sister’s Keeper or 19 Minutes but not for lack of a compelling story.  The controversial topics of religion and capital punishment are what kept this book off of some people’s nightstands – but not mine!!  Picoult is my favorite contemporary author and she does not disappoint with this one; she carries her characteristic twists to the end once again.

Within each of her 16 novels, Jodi Picoult delves deep into the most troubling contemporary social issues.  In Change of Heart, she examines a convicted killer on death row, Shay Bourne, who has taken the lives of Officer Kurt Nealon and his young stepdaughter, Elizabeth.  When Shay discovers that his victim’s living daughter, Claire is desperately in need of a heart transplant, he sees his only chance for salvation – donating his own heart after his death sentence.  Standing in his way, of course, is the law and a mother filled with anger.  On his side are three unexpected allies:  a Catholic priest (who had a hand in Shay’s sentencing!), an ambitious attorney who is determined to see Shay die on his own terms, and a community that sees Shay as a messianic character who gives them hope.

Picoult’s research never ceases to amaze me.  Her meticoulous portrayal of death row laws along with the book’s attention to Christianity, Judaism, and the Gnostic gospels gave me new insight.  This story is told from four different points of view:  the Catholic priest, the attorney, another death row inmate, and the mother of the victims.  Through their thoughts, the reader is given some very deep food for thought . . . “There’s a big difference between mercy and salvation” . . . “Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate if it meant saving someone you love?” . . . “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.  If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you” . . .  quotations such as these make for a very provocative book.  In fact, Picoult uses several famous quotations here from some of the greatest thinkers in history including Lewis Carroll, Mother Teresa, Albert Einsten, the Dalai Lama, Woody Allen, Albert Einstein, etc.

I enjoy books that make me think, challenge my philosophies, and offer new perspectives.   Change of  Heart does all that and more.  In the story, religion seems at times to bring characters together and at others to drive a wedge between them.  All the while, what defines “justice” is continually challenged.  We all know it’s wrong to execute someone innocent, but what about someone who is guilty?  The book never screams one side or another.  Rather, through the completely varied characters in Change of Heart, the reader is left with perspectives on all sides of these compelling issues so that one closes the book exploring one’s own values and beliefs.

Grading Girl gives Change of Heart a B+.  While this did not make me outwardly cry like My Sister’s Keeper did (something I never normally do when reading), this did leave me with some deep, concerting thoughts.  It’s a captivating story of redemption, justice, and love.

On to more books off of my very high summer reading pile . . . Picoult’s Handle with Care is one of them and I look forward to exploring more thorny moral and ethical issues with this compelling author.

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Unwinding the “Bill of Life”

Just finished reading this and have to share.  This is a book that will make you appreciate your own life and question when life truly begins and ends.

Unwind

What could cause a Second Civil War? What would happen to our society if we had such a war? The fantastical answers to these questions are conveyed in Neal Shusterman’s latest novel, Unwind. In this story, the Second Civil War was a long and bloody battle between the Pro-life and the Pro-choice armies. The final settlement, the Bill of Life, ended abortion but allowed parents to choose retroactive “abortion” through unwinding, or the transplanting of teen body parts between the ages of 13 – 18. The process and emotional distress behind unwinding is thought-provokingly revealed throughout the story culminating with a horrific ending scene that will linger long after closing the book for the last time.  We meet Connor, whose parents want to be rid of him because he’s a troublemaker, Risa, who has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs, and Lev, whose unwinding has been planned since birth. As we follow the trials of these three teenagers, we see how one moral issue leads to countless questionable moral acts. Never is the story portrayed with blood and guts; instead, the philosophical anguish experienced, the strong bonds of friendship formed, and the difficult lessons learned are “unwound” in an objective yet compelling manner.  Never does Shusterman take one side over another.  He leaves it up to the reader to address his/her own philosophies.

My reading students just completed this social commentary novel; needless to say, they had a million and five questions that held their interests intently. In fact, I haven’t seen them this excited about a book in a long time. This is not a novel I would normally pick up off the shelves to read; but, this book definitely peaked my interest with its harrowing depiction of what these teens go through as they desperately attempt to escape their fate and understand the cruel society in which they live.

Watch this video to catch a preview!

Neal Shusterman is the author of 12 novels for young adults, including Everlost and Downsiders, which was nominated for 12 state reading awards and was an ALA Best Book for Yound Adults. He also writes screenplays for the Disney channel, and for motion pictures and television shows such as Animorphs and Goosebumps. The father of four children, Neal lives in southern California.  Grading Girl’s insider scoop: GG just learned this during Shusterman’s visit to school.  He is in the process of writing a sequel to this novel, UnWholly. He has not started drafting it yet, so it should be out within a couple of years.  In the meantime, he just sold the movie rights!!  I smell the Twilight craze of tomorrow!!

**It was an honor to have Neal Shusterman visit my classes on Monday, May 18th.  He spent the first hour with my students, answering questions about the story of Unwind and revealing his motivations behind the writing.  It was very interesting to hear what part he left out and why, what part almost didn’t get in because of its horrific content, which character he most admires, and what inspired him to write the story.

A story that is screaming to be told is the story worth writing.  This, according to Shusterman, is the single most important factor in deciding to put an idea to pen and paper.  If it’s a story that readers can connect to, that makes each reader feel like it was written for him, then it’s a story worth writing.  Shusterman pointed out that his first two novels did not get published.  It was his third novel, Shadow Club, that finally sold to a publisher.  His next 11 novels proved much more successful!  We thank him for taking the time to come to our school and share his writings and philosophies with us, and look forward to his upcoming novels!**

Grading Girl gives UnWind an A for a creative, suspenseful, off-the-wall plot and for sympathetic, believable characters.  Grading Girl gives author Neal Shusterman an A for writing about relevant topics in provocative ways that command the teen audience attention.

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