You can always tell when baseball happens during the week. I don’t get my blog post in before 9:30. It was a fun yet incredibly busy day between school, a literacy leadership class I’m taking, and then immediately a baseball game that one of my son’s was playing. The boys hit the ball very well and it was enjoyable to see them do so well.
Speaking of baseball, I’d like to share a book I just finished as a read aloud for my eighth graders. I wanted to put in a few good words for Jordan Sonnenblick’s new book, Curveball: The Year I Lost my Grip. If you at all familiar with young adult author Jordan Sonnenblick’s work, you’ll be pleasantly surprised that he continues to pull at your heartstrings with his new book. If you aren’t familiar with Sonnenblick’s work, you should be. He has a way of touching on emotional and topical issues while teaching you a lesson about life. His writing is very personable and pulls you in with his wonderful wit and voice. Sonnenblick’s strength is in his storytelling. At times he can be a tad cliché, but what writer isn’t.
Curveball, is about a teen who is dealing with an injury that ends his baseball career, a new girlfriend and a grandpa who is displaying signs of Alzheimer’s. Oh, did I mention grandpa is a photographer and is best friends with his grandson? Baseball, photography, grandpa and Alzheimer’s had me immediately. If you know anything about my blog, Alzheimer’s and grandpa, you’ll know why. I found myself having an incredibly tough time reading the conclusion of the story to my students because I was connecting on so many levels. I did manage to keep it together, but there is something about Sonnenblick’s writing that has this impact on me. In my first year of teaching, I read Sonnenblick’s book Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie and did manage to cry a couple of times in front of my students. Sonnenblick has a way of sucking his readers into a story and connecting on a very emotional level. Sonnenblick’s sense of humor shines in his storytelling ability. If an author can make a bunch of eighth graders laugh, you know he’s good. If you’re looking for a lighthearted read with a deeply personal message, give this book a try. This is easily a book you can read in one to two sittings.
Photos of the day feature a photo that my son obviously didn’t shoot with his iPhone. But I’ll give him a break. It’s a nice photo of a robin. Again, not something that I would shoot myself, but I’ll give him a lot of credit for going out every day and shooting what he sees. And how many 21-year-old men would shoot a photo with his old man for 134 straight days? My photo is from a recent trip to the park my kids play ball at. The sign shows just a small number of the rules they have posted. There must have been at least 12 more rules that I chose not to frame in the picture. My immediate thought was why come to the park, they are taking all the fun away. Unless I go just so I can break some rules. Hmmmmmmm, sounds like fun.
Rules
Robin
Until Next Time,
Peace!
