Hello Book Bums families!
There are so many ways to describe books and what they mean in our lives. We say books are like friends, like flowers, like libraries. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury describes a book as a loaded gun.
One way teachers and librarians think of books is as mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Books are mirrors when readers see themselves reflected in the pages. Books are windows when the reader can view stories different from their own; but they become sliding glass doors when the reader is transported into another life and can develop empathy.
We need all three kinds of books in our reading life, and today in the newsletter we're sharing recommendations that can get you started.
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Word of the Week
myriad (meer-e-id) noun/person, place, or thing - a great number; or adjective/describing word - numerous and diverse
Faced with the myriad options in the cereal aisle, the shopper was paralyzed. Who knew there were so many choices?
Literary Calendar
• September 22 is Hobbit Day.
• First proclaimed in 1978, the day marks the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
• Hobbits are described as a gentle group who live in comfy houses underground and like socializing and eating up to six meals a day.
From our Bookshelves
A Work in Progress, by Jarrett Lerner, was written for middle school readers. As is often the case with books for this level, I thoroughly enjoyed it. This story of a young boy’s struggles with body image is shared through prose, verse, and illustration.
The dedication reads . . .
For anyone
who has ever felt
less than
Many kids, today, are hiding. They don’t feel they measure up, so they do their best to become invisible. Maybe the issue is not body image—there are myriad ways kids can feel “less than,” and this book just might help teens recognize their hiding for what it is and take a step into self-acceptance.
In A Work in Progress, Nick tapped Will to get his attention and spat, “You’re
F A T.” That was fourth grade.
Now, in seventh grade, Will still hears those words in his head. He replays them again and again and, as a result, he has become his own worst bully. Will decides to change his eating habits and exercise more—and he struggles like so many of us do. His determined effort results in slow-coming, miniscule changes and his shame blooms into self-loathing.
Eventually, Will meets someone and he just knew—
in his body
in his bones
—that this was someone he wanted in his life.
Little by little, with the help of this unexpected friend, Will begins to accept that he’s a work in progress—that we’re all a work in progress—and that we should be much kinder to ourselves.
Tips for Families
Have you heard of a Blind Date with a Book? You choose a book for someone, find some trinkets and snacks that complement the book in some way, package it in an appealing manner, and gift it to someone you love. The idea is that you encourage someone to set aside some time to fully engage with a book you’ve chosen for them. These can even be used books. It makes it even better if they know you’ve read the book, so they can look forward to talking with you about it.
My sister-in-law passed along to me her copy of All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore. I devoured the book, but I especially loved seeing the tiny notations Jan had added to the margins. It made me love both the book and my sister . . . more. You can do that too, for readers of all ages. You might even consider this idea for Christmas gifts. It’ll help you to justify buying some new books!
Me to my husband:
What?
I didn’t get carried away at the bookstore. I bought all these books for Christmas gifts.
Yes, I’m reading them.
No, I’m not giving them used books. They’re Blind Date with a Book gifts and everyone will love them even more if I read them first and make tiny notations in the margins.
Yes, it’s a real thing.
I read about it in a very sophisticated newsletter.
Take our advice and this will no longer be you:
Tips for Readers and Writers
English is a morphophonemic system. Its word spellings are morphological (word meanings are represented by letters), and phonetic (word sounds are represented by letters).
I’ve shared a lot about phonics and the need for clear, concise instruction regarding the sounds letters and letter combinations represent. I’ve also shared that kids should learn to spell those sounds in a logical progression, moving from the most foundational lessons to the more obscure, with each lesson building upon the previous instruction.
Today, I’m adding some information about morphology because, unfortunately, it hasn’t been a strong feature in literacy education. Morphology is the study of word parts that represent meaning. Morphemes (the letters in words that convey meaning) can be roots or affixes. Affixes include both prefixes (appearing before the root) and suffixes (appearing after the root).
Roots can be words on their own, but they can also be letter combinations representing meaning that cannot stand alone.
root meaning
can stand alone read to observe and comprehend by interpreting
characters/symbols
cannot stand alone biblio book
Note that both read and biblio can have affixes. In fact, biblio needs an affix to become a word. It is for this reason that I rarely say root words. Roots are rarely words (though they are word parts), so I simply refer to them as roots.
Affixes cannot be words on their own; they are affixed to roots to morph the word into a new meaning.
affix meaning
prefix re- again (reread)
mis- wrong (misread)
affix meaning
suffix -s/-es more than one* (books)
-est most (wisest)
Some words have a prefix, a root, and a suffix like misbehaving. Mis- is the prefix meaning wrong. Behave is the root meaning to conduct oneself in a particular manner. -ing is the suffix showing the action of the verb. Misbehaving is acting wrongly.
Some words have lots of affixes. Consider the word antidisestablishmentarianism. Anti- is a prefix meaning "against," -dis- is a prefix meaning "opposite of," -ment is a suffix used to create nouns, -arian is a suffix used to create nouns meaning "supporter of," and -ism is a suffix used to create nouns meaning "a doctrine or belief."
Whew!
It’s a bit like playing with Lego blocks. We can add bricks to modify meaning and then take away bricks to get back to the foundational essence of a word.
*We use the morpheme -es to make words plural when the singular from of the word ends with s, sh, ch, x, or z. If we added the morpheme -s (the shortest morpheme of all) to the end of a word like fox (for more than one fox), it would be difficult to pronounce it in a way that adequately conveys the meaning.
Practical Grammar
Which is correct? Do we home in on something or do we hone in on something?
Home in means to locate and move toward something, while hone in means to focus on something.
So they're both correct, depending on what you mean to say!
Wordology Workshop
• Remember how Greek roots often show up in English in more technical language?
• Morph is a Greek root that means shape or form.
• So in morphology and morpheme the root is indicating the form of letters and letter combinations.
Just for Fun
Hone means to focus while honed can mean highly developed as a result of that focus.
Example: His body is honed and trim because he’s diligent about his diet and exercise.
Long ago, as a Wellness representative, I did a fitness challenge in my building. I called it I’ll be honed for Christmas (you can count on me). We now have 94 days until Christmas. Anyone up for an I’ll be honed for Christmas fitness challenge?
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