Found: A Great Read Aloud!

Talk about exciting!
We just finished reading this book together and can now take some very deep yoga breaths. Breathe in. Breathe out. Move into the downward dog. Kidding! From the very first page, Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix had us reading on the edge of our seats and the suspense didn't stop until we turned the very last page. 

Here's the premise: 

On her first day at work at an airline company, an employee witnesses something that will change her life forever: a plane appears out of nowhere and the only passengers are 36 wide-eyed babies. It disappears just as quickly with no proof of ever having existed.

Fast forward thirteen years. Jonah is a typical thirteen-year-old who worries about making the basketball team and tries to avoid his annoying younger sister. He was adopted as a baby by his straitlaced parents and has read every book on his parent's shelves regarding adoption procedures However, everything he ever knew about his adoption is questioned once he begins to receive some creepy letters in the mail. The first one says, YOU ARE ONE OF THE MISSING. The second one says, BEWARE! THEY ARE COMING BACK TO GET YOU. Creepy, huh? 

So...the big question is...How is the mysterious plane connected to Jonah's letters? Obviously Jonah was one of the babies on the plane, but the mystery that unfolds is much greater (and enormously more complicated) than you can EVER imagine. 

Recipe to Read By: Mountain Dew Cake

This recipe is for Jonah, who once drank two 2-liters of Mountain Dew at a party and then threw up. Hopefully eating this cake won't elicit the same outcome.

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix 1 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs, beaten 10 ounces Mountain Dew™. (You can drink the rest--but not too fast--it will come out of your nose and burn like nobody's business.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam.

2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, oil, eggs, and Mt. Dew. Mix until all ingredients are moistened. While you're vigorously stirring (but not too vigorously--for Pete's sake keep the batter in the bowl!) fantasize about what time travel would actually be like.

3. Lick the spoon. Good stuff.

4. Pour batter into pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely.

5. To decorate, dust with powdered sugar, or frost with your favorite frosting. 

 6. Serve this to your friends while reading FOUND and see if they can guess what's in it :)

 Behold: Our historical fiction time machine! (Complete with glow-in-the-dark stars, a time warp curtain, and a lever allowing you to choose past, present, or future.)

If you entered a time machine and could choose your destination, where (or when?) would you go?

*The time machine idea came from one of my favorite books, How to Get Your Child to Love Reading by Esme Raji Codell.

Open up, it's the Population Police!

Attention all third children! I'm sorry to break it to you, but in the future, families are only allowed two children. Yes, that means that you would not exist. And if your parents decided to have you illegally, you would have to go into hiding forever. No school. No baseball. No TV. No friends. No life.

Luke is a third child, or Shadow child, who has lived in his family's attic for all of his eleven years. He yearns for a chance to go to school with his brothers, to ride a bike, to take a trip in the car, to even sit with his family at the dinner table, but as long as the government continues to strongly enforce the Population Law, he will never set foot outdoors. He and his family live in constant fear of the Population Police knocking on the door and finding out about him. And you thought being grounded was bad...

One lonely day when his family is gone, Luke stares out of the vent in the attic, watching the other families in the neighborhood leave for work or school. To his utter amazement, he catches a glimpse of another person behind the window--another third child! After many weeks of waiting and planning, he finally works up the nerve to dash across the backyard and into the house of Jen Talbot, a fellow Shadow Child. Luke is amazed to find out that Jen uses the computer, takes trips in the car, and even eats potato chips and all kinds of other junk food (which was outlawed by the government years ago)!

Here's the weird part: Jen's dad works for the government! He works for the same people who offer rewards for turning in people with third children and kill them when they are found. And his very own daughter is a third child! Craziness, I know!

Through Jen, Luke learns about the Population Law and why the government enacted it. You see, years back there were too many mouths to feed and not enough food. People went hungry and did terrible things for food. (I can understand that. You DO NOT want to be around me when I'm hungry!) The government decided that families could only have two children, so there would be plenty of food to go around. Jen thinks the Population Law is a bunch of baloney and organizes a rally of hundreds of Shadow Children to protest in front of the president's house and she wants Luke to join her. This is incredibly dangerous and risky, but it could also be their only chance at living a normal life of freedom. What will Luke choose? What would you choose?

My students LOVED this book because it's suspenseful and it makes you THINK! I haven't read the rest of the series, but Among the Imposters is at the top of my library list.

Recipe to Read By: Potato Chip Cookies

These salty-sweet bites are in memory of Luke's first junk food experience.

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup more for coating
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup potato chips, crushed (Hint: A ziploc bag and a rolling pin work well for all crushing purposes.)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Directions
1. Heat oven to 375°F.
2. Cream the butter and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. (Be careful of flying sugar!)
3. Lower to medium speed and add the vanilla, then add the flour and cinnamon and keep on going until it's all mixed up nicely.
4. Fold in the potato chips and pecans.
5. Form into golf-ball size balls.
6. Roll them around in the sugar that's left over to get them all nice and sugary.
7. Place on parchment- or foil-lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
8. Bake until golden brown around the edges, about 13 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks (or your mouth).

Sweet. Salty. Yum.

Recipe courtesy of Real Simple Magazine.