Wednesday, January 19, 2011

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak


Plot:


The story begins Ed Kennedy, a down-and-out underage taxi driver who is hopelessly in love with his best friend Audrey. She, however, does not have the same romantic feelings towards him. One day, Ed is standing in a bank line when a robbery takes place and forever changes his life. He accidentally foils the robbers' escape, and is proclaimed a hero. Shortly after, he receives a playing card,an ace, in the mail. Ed does not know who has sent the ace but on it is written a list of addresses and times. This is where the adventure truly begins.

My thoughts:

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak has been on my reading list for a couple of years now. I had read the Book Thief by him and wanted to see if he was indeed a wonderful author or he just hit the jackpot with the Book Thief. Over the holidays, I decided that enough was enough and grabbed the book from the library. Needless to say, I was not disappointed! This book was really good. Zusak has a way of grabbing the reader and pulling them into the story. I especially like the fact that he never sugarcoats anything, he just tells it like it is. Once you finish the book, you are left with thoughts on how you perceive your life and how you can affect others. I highly recommend this book!


On a side note, I AM THE MESSENGER won the 2003 Children's Book Council of Australia's Book of the Year Award.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Storytime Ideas: Penguins

There are so many activities that you can do with penguins. Here are a few suggestions:


Books:

Cuddly Dudley              by Jez Alborough
Penelope Penguin : the incredibly good baby     by John Bianchi
A penguin pup for Pinkerton                             by Steven Kellogg
Tacky the penguin         by Helen Lester
Penguin moon              by Annie Mitra
Penguins                      by Liz Pichon
A penguin story           by Antoinette Portis
Pink!                          by Lynne Rickards
Little Penguin’s tale     by Audrey Wood


Movies:
March of the Penguin
Happy Feet


Craft Ideas:

DLTK penguin crafts:
http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/birds-penguins.html

Easy Penguin craft:
http://familycrafts.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=familycrafts&cdn=parenting&tm=9&gps=94_609_988_551&f=02&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.dltk-kids.com/animals/measypenguin.html