Toms River

Don Fagin's Pulitzer prize winning work on Toms River is eye-opening for the reader. This book caught my eye recently when a new order of non-fiction was delivered to the library. The reason it was so alluring? First, the name of the town (and title) stand out on the cover and spine in a prominent white font. Secondly, my parents lived in Toms River during the 1970s and 1980s, where one of my older brothers was born. An award-winning book with a personal connection made Toms River a must read for me.

The modern day story begins in the 1950s, when a chemical plant is constructed in Toms River, New Jersey. The journey continues through to the present, where there is no clear conclusion, as the story continues in other locations (mainly China). Interspersed with the current happenings of Toms River is a detailed history of chemical manufacturing, environmental regulation, and the development of epidemiology. The chemical plant is not the only cause for concern, as other illegal dumps and shady deals happen in this normally sleepy coastal town.

Toms River was an excellently crafted story clearly deserving of the Pulitzer Prize. Fagin was masterful at weaving the history and modern events together to create one unified story. The cast of characters was dizzying, and the details throughout the years were numerous, yet Fagin's writing spurred me to keep reading. A bit technical at times, this was not a quick read. I would recommend Toms River to readers interested in non-fiction, especially history or science.

If you want a second opinion on the book, Abigail Zuger, M.D., of the New York Times wrote a review of Toms River entitled "On the Trail of Cancer".

Read Newbery Challenge

In the Design Den this week, an Upper School English class is creating symbols from their reading of Siddhartha. This picture shows some brainstorm sketches on the IdeaPaint whiteboard walls. It is great to have entire walls dedicated to brainstorming, sketching, and creating! I may write a dedicated post later on this project with more details, but wanted to include a brief update for now.

Later on in the week Middle School Geometry will be creating cardboard shapes using the laser cutter and Microsoft Publisher. It will be interesting to see what students create.

In addition to the Design Den projects going on, this week I had the pleasure of giving a brief presentation to the 6th grade reading classes at my school on the Read Newbery Challenge. The students are participating in a class-wide Newbery challenge, where each student must read at least three books from the Newbery winner or Newbery honor lists. I talked with them about my Read Newbery challenge, where I read all 93 (at the time) winners, in order, then blogged about each one. I also made a settings map. The blog and map are linked on my Google Slides presentation.