YA Book Review with Supplemental Printable!

Hello to all of you! I am fortunate enough to have Carolyn Wilhelm, The Wise Owl Factory Book-a-Day Blog & owner of Connect-a-Blog, guest post today to tell you about a young adult novel she recently read! 

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A Catastrophe of Nerdish Proportions (The Nerd Girls #2 by  by Alan Lawrence Sitomer) is a humorous book that will definitely appeal to middle and secondary school students. While there is much fun and adventure, the life lessons addressed are clear and valuable. The outlandish events are not intended to inspire readers to commit similar crimes, but to learn from the "what if" possibilities of fighting between nerds and popular girls  The ending is not perfect and everyone doesn't become friends, but everything works out well enough to cause YA readers to think about what is really best in life. 

The Nerd Girls come out ahead but not in the way you might expect. The descriptions of the scholastic competition are so very true to life, and I say that as a former teacher of gifted/talented classes and academic coach. Situations like in the book really do happen and there are frustrations in academic competitions just like in sports. The humor will catch the attention of students and the story is far from preachy.

There are two groups of three girls in this sequel to Nerd Girls Book I: The Rise of the Dorkasaurus. The ThreePeas are lovely to look at but not very nice people!  The Nerd Girls have some physical or personality flaws, so most readers can relate to them.  In the end, one of the ThreePeas joins the Nerds for all the right reasons, and the two remaining Peas still have miserable personalities.  Usually three friends do not work well together, but in the two cases in the book they do for most of the story.  One Nerd girl is struggling for independence from her overly concerned mother, one has a father reappear after years of being divorced from her mother and absent from the family, and one has Mrs. Department Store mom who overdoes the homemaker role.  These six girls are put together on an academic team to be forced to work together and get along, which makes the story captivating.  

That is all I can write without giving too much of a spoiler!  I will just say your students will want to read the book, and you might find it interesting yourself.  I will say there is a tiny bit of romance (enough to keep the attention of readers) but no kissing and all.  I always liked books like that as a teacher, and I avoided "mature" books in the classroom.

The author is an amazing teacher who has won many awards and is a speaker at many well known conferences.  He was California teacher of the year.  On his web site, he has many FREE lessons called SAT Essay Prep.  It isn't easy to see at first, so go to this link  http://www.alanlawrencesitomer.com/resources/freesatessayprep/, and look on the right and lower side bar and you will see a list of free materials provided by the author.  He created the free materials to offer more equity in education. What a guy!  And, he can write from the viewpoint of a teen girl!
Check out his novel here on Goodreads!

Here is my free PDFwork page for A Catastrophe of Nerdish Proportions (The Nerd Girls #2 by  by Alan Lawrence Sitomer). Students will have to read the book to answer the questions!

Carolyn Wilhelm

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Thanks so much to Carolyn for providing your free PDF work page and for sharing her thoughts on the novel. 

As a contributing author to Carolyn's Connect-a-Blog (A collaborative teacher blog K-12), I encourage you to visit and see all it has to offer!
If you are interested in purchasing this book, you can find it here:

I hope you take a second to let us know if you have read this book or the first book; please feel free to tell us your thoughts about either one or both! 
Be well,
A. Smith

The Underneath and Supplemental Free Activities!

My name is Carolyn Wilhelm and I am so glad to be a guest blogger for Ann Marie Smith's Innovative Connections blog today.  I write for my own K-2 blog, but I guest blog on other blogs, as well.  I have taught mostly primary classrooms, but have also taught grades 4 and 5 and loved teaching units about novels.  Guest posting gives me a chance to blog about a novel.

I recently read THE UNDERNEATH by Kathi Appelt, a book suggested for ages 10 and up.  This narrative deals with tough realities of life for some animals who take turns telling the story.  The harsh conditions of living in the bayou are revealed through wonderful writing which helps the reader feel empathy and concern, as the animals struggle with their living conditions.  At different points in the story a single animal could be freed from the cruelty, but instead tries to help the others.  

Interwoven with the story of the animals is a mysterious tale of a lamia (Grandmother Moccasin), based on the local folklore of the bayou.  The magic snake also has some conflicts and problems. The story is remarkable and has a satisfying ending. 

So, what is the underneath, for which the book is named?  It is the space beneath a house that is built above the ground.  The human character is a rough hermit back-woods type of character who has become very mean from his difficult life.  Gar-Face (because of his scars) mostly stays away from people.  He gets a dog, Ranger, which disappoints him so much on their first hunting trip, that he chains dog beneath the house and barely gives him enough food.  A calico cat about to have kittens finds the space, and together they make a little family.  The two kittens are Puck and Sabine, and all is well when they are too small to venture out into the open.  The dog and three cats make a perfect family until the kitten, Puck, breaks the rule and goes to the open, setting off a series of suspenseful events. Students who love complex stories about animals will not want to put this book down.  The way Kathi Appelt writes engages the reader to want to read until the story is resolved.  

The questions at the end of the book deal with anthropomorphism, lamia (half-serpent and half-human), promises made by characters in the novel kept and at what cost, music's big role in the book, the theme of loss, learning from mistakes, the role of the hummingbird, and true friendships demonstrated in the story. Teachers will find the set of questions very helpful for using this book as a novel study.

For the independent reader or small group, here is my free PDF (with an answer key) to accompany the book. 

Thanks for reading, 

Carolyn

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Thanks to Carolyn for guest blogging today! This is a fabulous, valuable post, and it's such a bonus for her to include this fantastic freebie! Teachers, you can download this free pdf instantly! No logging in anywhere! I encourage you to visit Carolyn's Wise Owl Factory Book a Day Blog! She's got UBER awesome posts on books with supplemental materials! Click on her blog button to check it out! Don't forget to download your free pdf docs to accompany THE UNDERNEATH!!

Have a beautiful day!
Ann Marie

Wise Owl Factory's Video Gives a Shout Out to Teacher Resources...

I am soooo grateful that Carolyn Wilhelm of Wise Owl Factory featured a product of mine, found on my blog and in TpT and TN Stores, in her you tube video about the Pinterest board "Featured on We Teach!" Various other bloggers/teacher-authors' products are mentioned as well! It's totally worth your time to view video and check out the products!

Visit the "Featured on We Teach" Pinterest board here!

If you are not yet a member of We Teach, it is a great place to connect/collaborate with many teachers and bloggers, and other great people!
Thank you so much, Carolyn Wilhelm!
Check out the video below and feel free to comment to tell me what you think!

The product of mine she mentions in the video is my free Persuasive Essay Research Organizer Pack! Please download it and use as you see fit!

Have a great rest of the week!!