I finally had the chance to finish Joyce Moyer Hostetter's AIM, which I'd begun last summer when I received the ARC (thank you, lovely people at Calkins Creek). I'm embarrassed to say the book got misplaced as we traveled from friend to friend this summer. As soon as my local library ordered it, I was first in line.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters, the setting, the time, and the humor- not laugh-out-loud all the time, but sweet and smile-out-loud for sure. This is part of a trilogy of linked books, a prequel to BLUE and COMFORT.
As I read, I thought about historical fiction and who's reading it these days.
For more on this topic, check out the thoughtful post by Kirby Larson, HERE.
Although the cover with that great blue pickup truck caught my eye, AIM could be the kind of book that might take a teacher's or a librarian's prodding, or rather encouragement, to pick up. It would be a great book club discussion.
At NCTE, I learned about Literature Lunches, though for the life of me I can't remember who said it or what the real name is. Susannah Richards, was that you? The idea is to put a placard on a table with a book title on it. The students who've read that book gather at lunch to chat about it. Can you imagine anything better?
One thing I love about AIM is that the characters really feel things in a way that young readers will get. For example, Junior Bledsoe says of his slightly-poor-influence friend Dudley, "Dudley wanted to get away from his old man and I just wanted mine back."
A simple sentence that expresses so much of what the book is about, even if it took a while for Junior to realize what he really wanted.
6 comments:
Historical fiction is my favorite genre as well and I loved Aim. I think the idea of Literature Lunches is fantastic. Sure wish I'd thought of that when I was teaching! Thanks for the thoughtful post. Happy New Year to you, Augusta.
Obviously I'm an historical fan myself. Loved AIM and glad you had a chance to read it. You picked a fantastic line from an amazing book!
I am a historical fiction junky. :) Aim looks great!
I've heard of Literature Lunches from a few folks, but I've never tried them. I am going to try them this semester! Another good one--set up four groups of desks. Put a different type of food on each one and ask students to discuss a book that connects with the food. So you might put grapes on one table and kids can interpret that as a fancy book or a refreshing book. Whatever they want! I did it once with my students and got in trouble with administration for bringing in food. Spoiler alert, I did it the next year and didn't care. HA!
I'm also a fan of historical fiction. Thanks for sharing Aim!
I love the idea of literature lunches! I host a book club right now during lunch but our focus is Mock Newbery, but I will definitely see how I could maybe make this work for my book club.
I LOVE historical fiction! It is my favorite way to learn about history.
Happy new year, and happy reading this week!
Thanks for stopping by, everybody! We need our own little Historical Fiction Fan Club. Maybe it wouldn't be so little.
:)
Have a lovely rest of your week.
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