BOOK REVIEW: "How Children Succeed"

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character
By Paul Tough
Copyright 2012
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
Non-Fiction

4.5 Bookmarks

This one was recommended to me by a friend who happens to be a school teacher.  I was looking for some way to encourage my daughter to be a little more focused on the important things in life and she told me about this book.  Interestingly enough, the principal at my daughter's middle school also mentioned this book at Back to School Night, which was another good recommendation!

I started off with the expectation that I would find ways in this book to help my daughter be successful.  Instead, I found some fascinating information, based on case studies and real life examples of Paul Tough's main assertion, which is that success is based more on a child's character rather than their intelligence.  Skills, such as optimism, perseverance and "grit", are more likely to lead a child to success than just simply being smart.

Tough asserts that parents are more influential with these characteristics than anyone else.  Studies show that children who come from stressful backgrounds (abject poverty, divorce, chaotic homes) have altered brain chemistry that makes it more difficult for them to form and keep the character skills necessary to be most successful in life.

Schools are leaning on this research as they add more intensive character-development programs to their curriculum to give children additional support in developing these important characteristics.  But it really comes down to the parents.  Do you hug your child every day?  Does your child feel safe?  Does your child feel loved?

This book explained a lot of my own characteristics, but also helped me to see that the best ways to help my daughter be successful may not be by pushing her to study more, or work harder, or be more organized (as much as my OCD-self would LOVE for her to do those things!)  It comes down to making sure she has a safe environment, doesn't feel threatened, and has the security to be able to devote the portions of her brain necessary to develop good character.

How Children Succeed was a great book, but it had a few too many anecdotes and not quite enough "what to do about it" stuff.  With a little more "how to", it may have gotten 5 bookmarks.  But still, a very important read for anyone who has children or works with children.  Read this one!

BOOK REVIEW: "The Buddha in the Attic"

The Buddha in the Attic
By Julie Otsuka
Copyright 2011
Alfred A. Knopf, Publisher
Historical Fiction

4 Bookmarks

A poignant look at Japanese "picture brides" brought to San Francisco in the early 20th century. These girls and women were married to Japanese immigrants without ever having met, only seeing a picture of the man they married, then leaving their families and setting sail for the United States and a new life without knowing anything that was in store for them. 

The book is written in a beautiful sing-song fashion that feels like a poem.  It is the story of numerous women, not just one, and gives an all-encompassing description of the lives these women traveled into.  The women who arrived only to find the picture they'd been sent was 20 years old...or belonged to another man.  The women who arrived to find lives as migrant workers, instead of the beautiful homes with white picket fences that their husbands had described to them.  They arrived to find harsh lives and sacrifice awaiting them, instead of the opportunity they had been promised.  They arrived to find harsh judgment from their new countrymen, and found it easier to live in secluded areas surrounded by their own.

Eventually the women experience childbirth, the good and the bad that go along with it. They experience the joy of motherhood and the grief of lost children. They also experience condemnation due to the color of their skin and shape of their eyes when Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.  And, eventually, they disappear into nameless internment camps across the country.

The book is written in the first person, "Some of us chanted Buddhist sutras while we worked and the hours flew by like minutes," "We simply worked. That was all," or "We were the best breed of worker they had ever hired in their lives."  Each sentence describing another person in the "we", another experience, another feeling.

I liked the style of this one, the emotions it brought up, and the bits of history from a time in our country we would be hard-pressed to truly understand.  A quick and heart-felt read.  Good for a book club, or just a rainy Saturday afternoon. 



  

BOOK REVIEW: "Nothing Happens Until It Happens To You"

Nothing Happens Until it Happens to You: A Novel Without Pay, Perks, or Privileges
By T.M. Shine
Copyright 2010
Crown Publishers
Adult Fiction

3 Bookmarks

Well, here's another of your fairly typical "Oh my heavens! I just got laid-off!" books.  Perhaps in the current employment climate, that's appropriate.  This one, though, was pretty humorous, even from the beginning. 

Jeffrey Reiner is a low-key newspaper guy.  Only he really doesn't do much at his job.  Like, really not much at all.  Instead, he socializes a lot, and comes up with crazy ideas that don't really go anywhere.  And, it seems, the economy and his lack of productivity finally catch up to him and he's on the chopping block. 

He starts out his unemployment by doing all the things he's supposed to do (encouraged by his highly-energetic wife, Anna); filing for unemployment, seeing an employment counselor, working on a resume, etc.  But soon his enthusiasm fizzles out and he starts really freaking out about the small number of days he has left on unemployment.  This soon leads him to start grasping at employment straws; i.e. hooking up with a guy known only as 'enterprising dude', who puts him to work in a Statue of Liberty costume, delivering pizzas, and eventually breeding fish in a muddy trough.  All the while, Jeffrey worries about where his wife is and what she is up to, as it seems she is having an affair with a drug salesman (the legal kind). 

As Jeffrey goes a little crazy and his world starts spinning around him, he has a few epiphanies and big garage sale and that's pretty much the end of the story.  Didn't care for the lack of resolution at the end, but there were some pretty funny moments in the book, and it was generally well-written.  Just not a great ending. 

BOOK REVIEW: "Organizing the Disorganized Child"

Organizing the Disorganized Child: Simple Strategies to Succeed in School
By Martin L. Kutscher & Marcella Moran
Copyright 2009
HarperCollins Publishing
Non-Fiction

3.5 Bookmarks

Stuck at home recovering from a cold has finally given me the opportunity to catch up a little on my writing.  I read this little ditty at the beginning of the school year for my now middle-schooler.  Love her dearly, but organization has not been her strong suit over the years.

While it had some great suggestions for standard organization, some of the ideas don't work with all children.  Getting an organized homework area set up is a great idea, but keeping it organized and usable is an entirely different story!  Setting up a single binder or notebook for each subject is a great idea, but when the student doesn't remember to write notes in the correct notebook, it sort of defeats the purpose.

One of the best suggestions in the book was to have an assignment calendar on the wall of the homework area so the student can keep track of upcoming assignments.  If only those assignments would write themselves on that calendar, though, because the child doesn't ever remember to do it.  

My favorite parts of the book were the "how to take a test" section and the "how to take notes" section.  With lots of great tips and practical information, these seemed like areas we could really improve on and utilize.  Wish I had known some of these strategies when I was in school! 

I do wish the book had had more guidance on teaching the value of organization, not necessarily just the basic "where to file papers" stuff.  So much of the book was just very basic and practical information. I was hoping for something a little more in-depth to really address the nitty-gritty problems associated with disorganization.