Ms Rush Reads

copyright date: February 2010 primarily marketed for: intermediate and middle school readers (5 th -8 th ) A Mrs. Rush-Levine confession:   I had to wear headgear when I was in middle school (thankfully, not to school, but I did have to wear it overnight).   I am wondering if the fact that I feel like this is a book about my own youth might not be the reason I am madly in love with RainaTelgemeier ’s graphic text Smile.   Somehow, Smile made me see the humor in my own humiliating past.   Smile is an autobiographical story of the author as a young girl.   It is drawn in full-color comic strip style illustrations and tells the story of Raina’s dental woes, beginning when she knocks out a tooth in a nasty spill.   The initial damage causes a large gap in the front of her mouth and leads to multiple dental procedures.   The rest of the book continues to follow the story of perfecting her now imperfect smile at the ...

copyright date: March 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) Despite the fact that the teacher in me sees so many lesson possibilities in Kevin C. Pyle’s graphic novel Take What You Can Carry , you should read it simply for the grace of its stories.   The artwork is as striking as the stories it tells.   Using artwork in two different colors and styles, Pyle tells the stories of two teenage boys living years and miles apart.   And yet, he communicates the universality in their experiences.   One boy is a Japanese American forced to move into an internment camp during WWII.   His family struggles to maintain their dignity and sense of peace under unbearable conditions. The other is a rebellious boy with an attitude whose reckless behavior causes him to wind up in trouble with the law.   To make amends, he finds himself completing community service hours in the most unlikely place.   I found my...

copyright date: February 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) This summer I officially became a fan of graphic novels.   Somehow, I am more willing to suspend my disbelief when reading a graphic novel.   Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks is no exception. Maggie, who has been homeschooled up to now, is starting high school.   Her only companions have been her older brothers, who become her only support system in high school as well.   That is, until she meets Lucy and her somewhat elusive brother Alistair. Maggie, Lucy, and Alistair eventually find themselves in the midst of an adventure involving a museum, a graveyard, and a soul plagued with a sense of unrest. While Maggie gets to know her new friends and works through the adventure they’ve uncovered, she also gets to know herself better.   There is depth to her personality and although the ghost story Maggie’s life becomes is fanciful, the dynamic within her f...