Book: Searching for Sky
Author: Jillian Cantor
Pages: 288
Age Range: 12 and up
I picked up Searching for Sky to skim the first few pages, and couldn't put it down. It's not that it's action filled, but more that the premise and the narrator are irresistible. Fifteen-year-old Sky has lived for as long as she can remember (since she was 2) on a tiny Pacific island. She was raised by her mother, Petal, and her mother's partner, Helmut, along with Helmut's son, River. Since her mother and Helmut died a year earlier, Sky and River have lived alone on the island. Though they worry a little bit about survival, they are happy, and just starting to perhaps have grown-up feelings for one another. Everything changes when a boat arrives one day, and takes the two frightened teens to California. Back to a world that they didn't even really know existed.
There are mysteries in Searching for Sky, as Sky seeks to understand what led Petal and Helmut to the island in the first place. She struggles to reconcile her own memories with the things that other people tell her are true, and begins to realize that not everything was as she thought. She is separated from River, and wants desperately to find him. These issues kept me turning the pages, wanting to understand. Wanting Sky to understand. Wanting to know what would happen to Sky and to River. But the remarkable part of Searching for Sky actually lies in Sky's reaction to the more mundane details. It's fascinating to watch as someone who has never seen civilization tries to understand things like money, lipstick, and the Internet.
I thought that Cantor did a fine job of keeping Sky in character (frequently baffled), even as certain things become more clear to the reader. This is a book that could only have been written in first person present perspective. This aspect of the book reminded me a bit of reading far-future dystopias, in which the characters come across artifacts of our current civilization, and struggle to understand them. Sky struggles to understand just about everything, right down to how to use a toilet (or "Bathroom Tree" as she calls it). For example, one of the first people Sky sees is apparently wearing sunglasses. She says:
"His eyes are hidden by small black shells, and I don't like that I can't see them, that I don't know what color they are." (Page 26)
Sometimes her reactions are humorous:
""Now, come on into the kitchen," she's saying. I follow her into a large open space with a lot of square wood boxes everywhere. "Have a seat at the table." She points to a large, round wood, and I begin to climb up on it. "No, no. On a chair," she says, pulling on another, smaller wood and showing me how she wants me to sit on it." (Page 92)
Sometimes they are profound:
"I think it disappoints her that I refuse to watch the television box with her after dinner. But the few times I've sat there with her, all I've seen are pretend faraway people talking to each other about things that have nothing to do with me. I don't understand why she's interested in them if they're not even here, if they're not even real." (Page 119)
Sky is a strong character, even though her lack of basic knowledge makes her feel foolish and vulnerable at times. I think that teen readers will find her as compelling as I did. Despite the female narrator, I have every reason to believe that teen boys would find this book intriguing, too. In fact, I'm going to put it on the small stack of books that I recommend to my husband. (The previous book I gave him was Matt de la Pena's The Living). I highly recommend Searching for Sky for teens and adults.
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books (@BWkids)
Publication Date: May 13, 2014
Source of Book: Review copy from the publisher
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© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook.
You’d think it would be easy to pick favourite children’s books. Indeed, that’s what Mark thought.
As it turns out, there are far too many amazing children’s books, authors and illustrators to limit ourselves to just ten choices. Even so, Mark suggested we try compiling our Desert Island 10 — books we’d need to have with us if we were stranded on a desert island.
The list that follows captures the names of books, book series and authors mentioned.
Are you brave or crazy enough to create your own Desert Island 10? Share your list as a comment on this post, send your MP3 recorded or type-written list via email to [email protected], or phone it in to our listener feedback line (206-350-6487).
* Congratulations to Andrea Beaty. Her book, Iggy Peck, Architect, is one of Time Magazine’s top ten children’s books of 2007!
Tags:
childrens books,
Desert Islandchildrens books,
Desert Island
By: Teaching Tips Contributing Editor, Renee Kirchner
It is important for elementary aged children to understand the concept of compare and contrast. This concept can be applied to many areas of the curriculum including math, science, and literature. When a child is asked to compare and contrast two different things, they are supposed to tell how they are alike and different. Comparing shows the similarities between two objects and contrasting shows the differences. Children will use words such as both, like, also, and similar when comparing. Words such as unlike, however, and but might be used when contrasting two objects.
Children’s books, both fiction and nonfiction, can be useful tools for teaching the concept of compare and contrast. Select one book with two different characters or choose two books with similarities and differences in character or plot. Nonfiction books will also work well. For example, you could choose a book on reptiles and compare and contrast two different types
of reptiles.
There are two useful tools that teachers use as prewriting activities when teaching compare and contrast: the Venn diagram and the T-chart. The Venn diagram is made up of two or more overlapping circles depending how many objects you are comparing. Each circle contains different information about the objects and the overlapping portion in the middle contains the
similarities.
For example if I was comparing a rabbit with a wolf, the rabbit circle might have herbivore and the wolf circle would have carnivore. The overlapping portion in the middle might contain the word mammal, since both animals are mammals. Of course your student would put more than one descriptive word in each circle. The more detail they use, the better. The T-chart is organized differently than the Venn diagram. If we use the example of the rabbit and the wolf the chart would look like this:
Characteristic Rabbit Wolf
Diet Grass Meat
Animal group Mammal Mammal
Here are some examples of picture books that would work well for studying the concept of compare and contrast:
One Picture Book with Two Characters
Bubba and Beau: Best Friends by Kathi Appelt
Bubba is a Texas baby and Beau is a Texas puppy and they are best friends. They have adventures together and both of them become very upset when their pink blanket gets washed.
Similarities between Bubba and Beau:
Both of them are keen on chewing, neither one is housetrained, and they both disdain soap.
Differences between Bubba and Beau:
Bubba loves the pinky pinky blankie because it smells like Beau and Beau likes the pinky pinky blankie because it smells like Bubba.
Two Picture Books with a Similar Main Character
Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella by Susan Lowell
Chickarella by Mary Jane Auch
Similarities between Cindy Ellen and Chickarella:
Both of them have an evil stepmother or step-chicken, a fairy godmother or fairy fowl mother, and both have a prince or a princely rooster.
Differences between Cindy Ellen and Chickarella:
Cindy Ella can wrangle, rope and gallop. Chickarella starts a high fashion business that grows out of making clothes for the ball.
Children can use the examples above to create a Venn diagram or a T-chart and then write a compare-contrast paper about the different characters.
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Note: Although school is out for summer vacation in most places across the country, parents can still read with their children this summer and use activities like this one to have fund with their children as they help them become better readers.
A Wild Western Cinderella Bubba and Beau: Best Friends Chickarella Kathi Appelt Mary Jane Auch Picture Books Renee Kirchner Susan Lowell t chart teaching compare and contrast teaching tips Tip For Teachers tips for parents Venn diagramA Wild Western Cinderella Bubba and Beau: Best Friends Chickarella Kathi Appelt Mary Jane Auch Picture Books Renee Kirchner Susan Lowell t chart teaching compare and contrast teaching tips Tip For Teachers tips for parents Venn diagramA Wild Western Cinderella,
Bubba and Beau: Best Friends,
Chickarella,
Kathi Appelt,
Mary Jane Auch,
Picture Books,
Renee Kirchner,
Susan Lowell,
t chart,
teaching compare and contrast,
teaching tips,
Tip For Teachers,
tips for parents,
Venn diagram
and there’s my Christmas reading list! Thanks! Happy Holidays!
Hey Andrea and Mark!
It warms my heart to hear that you’ll be taking IGGY PECK and DOCTOR TED if you get stuck on a desert island. I once got stuck on a desert island. Well, actually, it was more of a dessert island. Well, actually, I just spent a long time in a bakery once. But they didn’t have books. Just these wonderful, wonderful cream puffs . . . mmmmmm . . . cream puffs . . . . (insert Homer Simpson drooling sounds here) . . .
But I digress. Your podcast has put me to thinking of my own list of favorite kids’ books to carry in my luggage any time I fly over the ocean. Just in case. Here they are (in no particular order).
- Miss Spider’s Tea Party by David Kirk. I could read this book 1 million times and never tire of it.
- Stinky Cheese Man by John Scieszka & Lane Smith
- Click, Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin
- Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
- Sailor Moo by Lisa Wheeler – I LOVE this book for every possible reason.
- Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi
- Cha Cha Chimps by Julia Durango. (Confession. I would actually bring along all of Carolyn and Julia’s books because they would be almost as much fun as bringing along those funny wonderful Chicks! Then, I’d kidnap Julia and Carolyn, too. They’d make any desert island more fun.)
- 17 Things I’m Not Allowed to Do Anymore by Jenny Offill and Nancy Carpenter. (This book gets my vote for Caldecott. It’s simply brilliant. Best picture book of the year.)
- Go Dog Go by P.D. Eastman. (Because I can spend weeks looking at the tree party at the end.)
- Dr. Seuss – can’t choose just one.
- A Child’s Anthology of Poetry published by Ecco Press in 1995 and edited by Elizabeth Sword. It has everything from Shel Silverstein to Yeats.
Okay. It’s really 11ish. But that’s pretty close. All I’ll need now is a submarine (a large one) so I can sneak off the island and bring along some novels!
Thanks again for all your kind words about Iggy!
Here’s to a great New Year with Just One More Book!!
All my best,
Andrea Beaty
Hi Andrea and Mark:
I was so intrigued by your “feeble attempt” that I made the attempt myself on my own podcast. The Desert Island Ten segment begins at about the 24:00 mark. My list begins with an early favorite, A Wrinkle in Time, and ends with a brand-new favorite, Criss Cross.
Thanks for the inspiration, and keep up the excellent work. I’m a big fan!
10) Ziggy and the Plugfish, by Jonathan Harlen
9) Fire Thief, by Terry Deary
8) Scaredy Squirrel, by Melonie Watts
7) The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, by Niel Gaiman
6) Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
5) The Sight, by David Clement-Davies
4) Bone, by Jeff Smith (Come on, even horror writers like to laugh!)
3) Tiger, Tiger, by Lynne Reid Banks
2) Companions of the Night, by Vivien Vande Velde
1) Demonata, by Darren Shan
Hope all is well with you this holiday season!
James McCann