It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Visit the It's Monday! What Are You Reading link up at Teach Mentor Texts!

We kicked off Mother Reader's 48 Hour Read with a Central Ohio Blogger Breakfast and shopping trip to Cover to Cover.  It is a fun tradition we have in Central Ohio.  We do a lot of visiting, laughing and talking books.  Even though the traditional Granola was not up to our usual expectations, the morning was great fun!

Here are some of my favorite photos from this year's 48 Hour Read Kick-Off.

Bill gives his opinion on a book.

Mary Lee and Maria determine who is best suited to drive  to an upcoming event.

Katie gets confused and thinks she is a Cover to Cover employee:-)

The fabulous books I purchased at our get-together!

Now onto my reading! I didn't get in 48 hours of reading. That never really seems possible. But Mother Reader's Event invited me to spend more time than usual reading over the weekend. Here are some of the highlights!

Middle Grade Novels

Both of the middle grade novels I read came highly recommended. They are incredible reads and definitely books for our classrooms.   These are two of the best middle grade novels I've read in a long time. Great characters, lots to talk about, and perfect for 3-5th graders.

Absolutely Almost

Circa Now 

Picture Books

Hooray for Hat! Hooray for Hat!

Gaston

Tuesday Tucks Me In: The Loyal Bond between a Soldier and His Service Dog

Tea with Grandpa

Plant a Pocket of Prairie

Welcome to a New Blog!

Rethinking Media Centers

Our Central Ohio bloggers' group continues to grow! Welcome Jamie and Cheryl, and congratulations on taking that big scary step to bring your thinking out into the world -- WRITE ON!!

New Blog on the Block!

Welcome to Shelly and Lisa and their new blog Two Learning Journeys!

Your contributions to the conversation about teaching and learning will be welcome and valuable!

While You Were Shopping and Reading...

The first ever (first annual?) Ohio Casting For Recovery Fish-a-Thon took place Saturday, June 6 at the VOA Park near Cincinnati.

Melissa (pictured here) and I were the Past Participants team. She attended the 2008 retreat, and I attended in 2005.



Each of the 9 teams had balloons on a stake so they could be spotted around the lake, and a clipboard and a measuring tape to record catches.

Our clipboard didn't get much use, but we had a blast working on our casting, watching the ducks and ducklings,  and pretending we could land the 24" monster fish we could see but who could not be interested in our flies no matter how well we placed them. 

Here we are, measuring one of our five catches for the day. Yeah, I know. You're saying, "What fish?" 

That's why we took this picture so you could see the cute little bluegill that was silly enough to think my fly was real food!

So, we only caught 5 fish between the two of us in three hours of fishing, but if you divide our pledges by our fish, each of those fish was worth more than $200. 

That's right, together Melissa and I raised over $1000 in pledges for Ohio's Casting for Recovery program. The folks who supported us paid for one breast cancer survivor of "any age, any stage" to experience a Casting for Recovery weekend. One more survivor will come to Indian Bear Lodge alone and leave with a new group of friends who are fellow survivors. One more lady will experience the unique blend of a weekend of pampering, connecting with others, and learning fly fishing.

We were both diagnosed with breast cancer when we were relatively young, so we certainly appreciate all of the money that is raised for breast cancer research and education about early detection. But we are also both survivors, and we understand the need for programs like CFR that address the needs of those who have already had breast cancer.

Thank you to everyone who sponsored us, and an extra big shout-out to the Central Ohio Kidlitosphere Bloggers who supported us with their unique "bucks for books bought" pledges.

EDITED TO ADD...if I'm totaling correctly, you all raised $234 for CFR!!!!

Shopping For a Good Cause and the 48 Hour Read

In Central Ohio, we might have to rename Mother Reader's 48 Hour Read as the 48 Hour Shop. We have definitely made it a tradition to shop for books a lot on this reading weekend! Today, the Central Ohio Bloggers met at our favorite breakfast spot, Northstar Cafe. We ate and chatted. Then we headed over to our favorite children's bookstore, Cover to Cover. Since Mary Lee couldn't join us, due to her Fish-A-Thon, we made some donations based on books we left the store with. We missed Mary Lee today--it wasn't the same without her. But we are pretty sure that our books outnumbered her fish.

Sally, the owner, was nice enough to share several ARCs---they were set up on a table in the back. We tried to be kind but there was definitely some stress over some of the more anticipated titles. We all left with great ARCs and promise to share them with each other as we finish. We also each purchased several books. It was definitely a great way to start the 28 hour read.

Megan of Read, Read, Read was not able to join us today. Instead, she decided to pledge $1 for EVERY book that we walked out of the store with. Together. All of us. Now, Megan has shopped with us before, so I think she knew it would be a pretty hefty pledge. I took photos as we left and we tallied our books (both arcs and purchased books counted.) Cover to Cover was having a 20% off sale which made it even more worthwhile to buy lots.

Bill of Literate Lives left with 14 books.

Julie of Raising Readers and Writers left with 28 books.

I left with 16 books.

Karen S. of Talkworthy left with 15 books.

Katie of Creative Literacy left with 16 books.

Karen of Literate Lives left with 21 books.

Mandy of Enjoy and Embrace Learning left with 30 books.

So, the Central Ohio Bloggers have added 140 books to our collections and lots of money to Mary Lee's Fish-a-thon for Casting for Recovery.

We will be reviewing as we read.

A great way to start summer vacation!

Okay, Okay, Franki Won

Franki read the Newbery before it was announced today, so technically, she wins the friendly little non-competition (HA!) upon which this blog was originally based.

Here she is with Beth and Sally, the two other people in our world who read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman before today's announcement.


I am going to claim a win of sorts this year too, because my prediction of the winner came true. I predicted that "the Newbery will be a book that hasn't darkened my door: Jimmy's Stars, Highway Cats, The Graveyard Book, The Porcupine Year, After Tupac and D Foster, Seer of Shadows, or The Trouble Begins at 8." There it is, the third one on my list. As a bonus, I have never seen the Caldecott winner, either! SCORE! (On a side note, I own a copy of the Caldecott Honor book, A River of Words, which is signed by both the author and the illustrator because I've had that one on my short list since last summer!)

But just to show that there are no hard feelings here we all are at Cover to Cover right before we left to go out to dinner:


Bestbookihavenotread, Literate Lives (minus Bill -- did your kid's team win the basketball game?), Cover to Cover, Creative Literacy, A Year of Reading, Authentic Learner x2, local author Amjed Qamar, and A Year of Reading.

Yes, blogging is fun, but it can't beat meeting at the best independent children's bookstore in our state on Newbery announcement day and then filling a huge booth at NorthStar and talking books!

Central Ohio Bloggers Gathering

First of all, we're going to have to find a new name, because Central Ohio Bloggers doesn't quite cover it anymore. It occurred to us that the Kidlitosphere is more than just bloggers -- it is authors and illustrators and poets, too. In keeping, we expanded our invitations this time. I'm thinking: Our Local Kidlitosphere. Any other suggestions?

Our next gathering is January 26 -- Newbery Announcement Day. We will meet at 5:00 at Cover to Cover to dish with Sally and Beth and Karen (the CTC crew) about the winners and the honor books and the how-could-they-not-have-picked-that-ones, and then at about 6:00, we will head over to the NorthStar Cafe on High near Henderson for a yummy dinner.

Here's our rsvp list so far:

The Usual Suspects
A Year of Reading
Literate Lives
Creative Literacy
Talkworthy
bestbookihavenotread

Authentic Learner

Local Authors
Amjed Qamar
Linda Staneck
Julia DeVillers (unless she has to go to D.C. to do some research for her next book)

Trying to Finagle Her Work Schedule
Caterwaulling (CML Librarian)

Waiting to Hear
Tim Bowers

Can't Come This Time, But We'll Keep Them on the List For Next Time
Read,Read,Read
My World-Mi Mundo
Pat Lewis
Margaret P. Haddix
Nancy Pimm

People Who Are Wondering Why They Weren't Invited
You? (If so, you are now officially invited, and we apologize for our goof. You may leave your rsvp and contact information in the comments, or you can contact us off blog -- our email is in the sidebar.)

Great Interview!

Author James Preller interviews Karen and Bill of Literate Lives. Very fun. Lots of illustrations.

Portland and Columbus Kidlit Conference Updates

Here's the easy way to find out how much fun lots of bloggers had in Portland.

Our posts about our mini-conference in Columbus are rounded up here.

When Bloggers Get Together

Jone and Jama, I forgot to take pictures of my Cloud Nine pancakes for you, but be assured, I did have them for breakfast. With a side of bacon!

Then we were off to Cover to Cover. We read, recommended, shared, chatted, and took over the Saturday Story Time area. Sorry kids! Hope you didn't mind having story time up front with Clifford the Big Red Dog!





I don't have any official figures, but I'm pretty sure none of us left with less than $50 worth of books!  My picks were Judy Moody Goes to College, the newest Magic Tree House (Eve of the Emperor Penguins), There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Fly Guy (for my collection of variants), Cynthia Rylant's retelling of Cinderella (all of Franki's raving finally convinced me), The Scrambled States of America (the new one is SO fun that I had to have the first one, too), and since Eid is coming up next week, Night of the Moon.

Partly because I wasn't feeling well (thank you, class, for this KICKIN' cold) and partly because I was whining about not having any time to do my own reading (due to the recent avalanche of Notables nominees that are sitting around my house in boxes and teetering stacks), I went right home and read both Judy Moody and Eve of the Emperor Penguins.  Now I can really talk these two books up with my kids next week when I add them to my classroom library.  It's not like I'm caught up or anything, but that tiny piece of peace of mind is going to fuel the rest of the weekend as I attempt to work without the ability to breathe.  (I did just learn that I can drink whisky with an impaired/nonexistent sense of smell/taste, and the warmth in my chest feels dang good.  I may not get much of anything done after all...)

Kidlit Conference Weekend

PORTLAND KIDLIT CONFERENCE BLOGS TO WATCH

Jone MacCulloch -- Check it Out

Laini Taylor -- Grow Wings

Anastasia Suen -- Picture Book of the Day

Jen Robinson -- Jen Robinson's Book Page

Mark -- Just One More Book

Jim Di Bartolo -- Jimbo Jabber

Jackie Parker -- Interactive Reader

Anne Levy -- Book Buds

Colleen Mondor -- Chasing Ray

Maureen -- Confessions of a Bibliovore

Lynn Hazen -- Imaginary Blog

Alma Alexander

Betsy Bird -- Fuse #8

Kate Schafer -- Ask Daphne!

Elaine Magliaro -- Wild Rose Reader

Sarah Stevenson (aka A. Fortis) -- Finding Wonderland

Kelly Wilson -- Wilson Writes

Farida Dowler (aka Alkelda the Gleeful) -- Saints and Spinners

Pam Coughlin -- MotherReader

Camille -- BookMoot

Gregory K. -- GottaBook

Elise Murphy -- elise murphy books

Nancy Arruda -- Bees Knees Reads

Diane -- Biblio Addict

Nancy -- Booktalks Quick and Simple Blog

April Henry -- So Many Books, So Little Time

Cassie Richoux -- Bookwyrm Chrysalis

Kirby Larson

Kim Baker -- Wagging Tales

Katie -- Pixie Palace

Maureen McQuerry

Christine Fletcher

edited to add:  Non-clickable complete list of conference participants is here

CENTRAL OHIO MINI-CONFERENCE BLOGS TO WATCH

(our "logo" is supposed to say "Ohio: The Blogger State")

Karen and Bill -- Literate Lives

Stella -- My World-Mi Mundo

Kristine -- Best Book I Have Not Read

Megan -- Read, Read, Read

Franki and Mary Lee -- right here at A Year of Reading

(Did I miss anyone?  If so, don't be offended, just let me know and I'll make it right!)