If you have any suggestions for frog-related reading for Kermit please forward them to Mr. Doyle (tdoyle@muhsd.k12.ca.us)

Kermit lives in a coffee cup on the window sill of my office. Kermit was a gift from one my student aides. The gift was inspired by a drawing by our resident hit-artist (a.k.a. Mr. Gehres) depicting me as Kermit while announcing a basketball game (apparently I’m no Bob Costas). Anyway, sitting in a coffee cup watching the students come and go gets old so, being a library frog, Kermit reads. Of course he reads frog-related literature. Here he is reading Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel. It is an easy read but it takes him back to childhood (tadpolehood?) when his mama used to read to him.

Here is the original charicature by Mr. Gehres, our photography teacher. That is supposed to be me behind the microphone. This is what happens when Mr. Gehres has too much free time.

Daniel and Armin, though from different social classes, are the best of friends. They are excited about the rise of the National Socialist party and its leader, Adolph Hitler. Just as Daniel is ready to become an official member of the Nazi Party his parents tell him he can’t because he is half Jewish, therefore half human. Daniel must keep the family secret or risk dire consequences. As the Nazis consolidate their power and begin the “Final Solution” life becomes increasingly dangerous for Daniel and his parents. Can they survive in their native Germany? Will they have to leave? Or is it already too late?

Chotjewitz puts the reader in the midst of horrifying but true historical events in which the characters must choose between friendship and patriotism, loyalty and justice. He ends the novel with a shocking twist that will leave you stunned.

By Mr. Doyle

Mr. Doyle

http://teenreads.com/features/2006-reading-list.asp

If you like good science fiction I recommend his books. The Old Man’s War, though based on the works of Stephen Heinlein, is a very original story. It is set in a future in which the Earth is caught up in shifting alliances with alien races all competing for habitable planets. Being a soldier for the Earth armed forces is a dangerous job requiring superhuman strength, high intelligence, and a lifetime of experience. The only way to find soldiers like this is to create them. Using the modified DNA of retirees and advanced technology new bodies are created and the minds of the old folks are transferred to the new bodies. As the main character fights his way across various alien planets he begins to wonder just what it means to be human and whether the never-ending war is worth it.

By Mr. Doyle

However, in the novel, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, the protagonist, a young African American girl named Pecola Breedlove, is having difficulty discovering her own identity. Like many children, she wants an intangible gift, blue eyes.

Society is only making it harder for Pecola to understand what she needs to really value. In fact, Pecola prays every night for her eyes to turn blue. She wants to become beautiful and loved like all of the other little children who have blond hair and blue eyes. Pecola is yearning for blue eyes, ultimately ending in a fulfillment, which is unexpected and a tragedy.

You will not know what hit you, when the novel comes to a finish. The novel The Bluest Eye is very powerful, one that everyone can connect to, one way or another. It is difficult understanding our own identity and remaining true to others and ourselves. Discover Pecola’s story behind just wanting blue eyes. Who knows, you might even learn something valuable? I know I for one did.

By Rajvir Chohan