Jerry Spinelli, The Library Card

Jerry Spinelli, The Library Card The Library Card by critically acclaimed children's author, Jerry Spinelli, is a book consisting of four different short stories with various characters. The main connection between all of the stories is the apperance of a "magical" blue library card. Each main character in the stories finds the card and discovers its power to give them access to the wonderful world of the library. Some of the characters must deal with growing a part from friends and other relavent adolecent issues while they explore the world of books and self-education. One of the main themes within the story is the thrill of learning new things outside of a traditional school setting. Spinelli explores the idea of children wanting to learn for learning sake and not for a reward or the avoidance of punishment. All of the characters are around twelve or thirteen years old and are amazed at some of the things that they can learn about within the shelves of the library. They begin the story with never having experienced what a library has to offer and once they find the mysterious card, they learn all that they have to offer. This book is very teachable and has a great message. I learned about the book as part of the "One Book, One School" program at a middle school that I was observing. A majority of the students, boys and girls loved the book and read through it quickly. The only issue that I have for a middle school curriculum is the fact that it is a pretty low reading level(4th grade). It is a great book to get kids excited about reading but probably will not produce very much growth in reading skills for most students above grade six.

Maus I

Written by Art Spiegleman. Published by Pantheon Books in 1991.

This graphic novel is a story within a story: the plot revolves around a writer and cartoonist (Spiegleman himself in his younger years) questioning his father about his experiences as a Jew during Jewish persecution both before and during World War II (the next Maus novel  picks up while he is at Auschwitz). The lion's share of the book revolves around Art's father Vladek, and the ingenious ways in which he evaded the Nazis while in Poland. There is an abundance of close calls, great action sequences, and sincerity in Spiegleman's writing. It makes the horrors of the Holocaust seem more real than any ordinary textbook could, and does so in a much more engaging way.


Maus is not only fantastic for English teachers, but also for social studies teachers who are interested in teaching students about the Holocaust in a creative way. There is not a lot of required background knowledge, so students can easily pick it up and go. It is riveting all throughout; I had trouble putting it down. I can't wait for the summer so I can read the rest of them. Good for 8th graders and throughout high school