Promote Green Week On Your Blog

Kirthi, of the blog Pages, is hosting an excellent giveaway/ blogging challenge. Here is what she has to say about this awesome challenge:

Happy 40th Earth Day! (week!)
I hope you all are recycling, picking up trash and litter, and are turning off your electricity! Everyday this week I'll be posting fun "green" posts to promote Earth Week!

Visit:
40 tips for 40th Earth Day for some cool tips
Earth 911
Greenpeace
Complete List of Environmental Organizations!

So, join me in signing up for this challenge. If you are one of my students and would like to complete this challenge for extra credit, please send me an email and we can work something out. I know that a few of you blog in your spare time and might like to participate in a challenge of this nature. (No pun intended!)

Plus, Kirthi is giving away a choice of two reads to a lucky winner:

Book of the Week

One of the most interesting historical time periods to read about, in my opinion, is WWII. There were so many countries, personalities, and issues involved in this war that one could read about it forever and never truly understand all that happened. One of the most intriguing aspects of this time in history is that there were so many ordinary people who risked their lives to help others. The historical fiction novel The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti is one such story.

This story takes place in Hamburg, Germany and is about a real teenager named Helmuth Hübener, who was executed by the Nazis in 1942 for spreading anti-Nazi propaganda. In a series of flashbacks, Helmuth narrates his story from his solitary confinement cell as he's awaiting his execution. He recounts his indoctrination into the Hitler Youth and his subsequent disillusionment with the Nazi Party and their hypocrisy. He grows up in a home where his stepfather is a ranking member of the Nazi Party, but Helmuth is doubtful of the tales of German successes against the Russians and that all Jews are evil. When Helmuth acquires an illegal radio, his knowledge of the actual circumstances of the war and the destruction that's happening opens his eyes and seals his fate. He can never go back and pretend that he agrees with the lies of the Nazis. He begins to print pamphlets that tell others what's really happening around the world, and this eventually leads to his execution. In the end, Helmuth faces the guillotine for his crimes. He was only 17 and was the youngest person to be tried, sentenced to death, and executed by the Volksgerichtshof (The People's Court).

After reading a book such as this, I cannot help but look at my life and wonder what I would do if I were in Helmuth's situation. I also wonder what I can do now to help those who live in oppressive countries or who are oppressed within this country. I admire the courage and wisdom that this young man displayed. His story is inspiring; you cannot help but be moved by it.

Book of the Week & Challenge Book

As some of you know, I've decided to participate in a few reading challenges this year. One is called The Chain Reading Challenge, were I need to read one book and connect it to another and so on. After reading Markus Zusak's The Book Thief as my first title for this challenge, I needed to find a book that had some sort of connection to Zusak's book. I didn't want to simply read another Holocaust lit title, and Karin at The Book Jacket had suggested some possible threads I could follow. I decided to take up one of her ideas, which was to read about another orphan.

I've had Ashley Rhodes Courter's memoir Three Little Words sitting on my To Be Read shelf for some time now. I've wanted to read it, but always had some reason or another to put it off. Though Ashley was not an orphan, she was in foster care for much of her childhood. During her time in Florida's foster care program, she was subjected to abuse and neglect from foster parents and case managers. She is like the main character in The Book Thief in that she finds a home with caring parents, but she has to wait many years and is moved multiple times in this process.

This is a disturbing book because it is true. The Book Thief has lots of disturbing themes and images, but the plot is fictionalized. Three Little Words exposes the inadequacies and the outright negligence of the foster care system. Had Ashley had competent, caring case managers, she may not have had to endure the pain and unease that was her childhood. She never knew when she was going to be moved to another placement, or if she was ever going to see her mother again. She was often unable to take any of her possessions with her when she was moved. Most of the time, adults in her life gave no explanation at all as to where she was going and why she was being moved. Whenever she tried to advocate for herself, she was not listened to or called a liar.

This was an eye-opening book for me to read. I've worked with several students who were foster children or who were adopted. I feel like reading this book has given me some insight into the life of a child who is unsure that he or she will ever have a home. I definitely learned a lot from this book would recommend it to anyone who's interested in learning more about foster care. This book is available for check out at the back of the room.

**Also counts toward my participation in the To Be Read 2010 Challenge and the 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge.