Sunshine Awards!

Winter Sunshine by Mary Lee Hahn

SUNSHINE AWARDS

The rules:

Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
 Share 11 random facts about yourself.
 Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
 List 11 bloggers. They should be bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love!
 Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. (You cannot nominate the blogger who nominated you.)

My first nominating blogger was Vicki Vinton! Three cheers for Vicki: one for her book (with Dorothy Barnhouse) What Readers Really Do: Teaching the Process of Meaning Making, one for her blog, To Make a Prairie, and one for her boundless enthusiasm for learning and wondering.

Next, I was nominated by Julianne Harmatz (To Read, To Write, To Be) a new "friend in my head" who I can't wait to meet at NCTE 14.

Then, this whole Sunshine thing went viral under a new name on Twitter--PLN Blog Challenge--and I was nominated by @KirstenFoti (My Life as a Middle School English Teacher).

Thank you all! 

Here are my 11 random facts:

1. I have swum in three one-mile open water swims.

2. Lynne Cox and Diana Nyad are my swimming heroines.

3. I wanted to be an architect when I was in high school. Or a classical guitarist.

4. When I was in middle school one of my hobbies was re-reading sad books on Sunday afternoons.

5. Once when I was a kid I got trapped in the middle of a goathead patch with no shoes on.

6. I love to listen to audio books on the way to work and back.

7. My favorite constellation is Orion. 

8. I have dressed as Orion for Halloween many times. (People think I'm the Big Dipper...sigh.)

9. I love caramel more than chocolate.

10. I'm a pretty amazing baker.

11. I don't love the beach or hot weather.

Here are my answers to a few of Vicki's 11 questions:

What did you learn from your mother?

I learned to love trying new foods, to eat lots of vegetables, to be creative, and to be an avid reader.
Where do you write?

At the kitchen table, at my desk, in the park, on the porch, at the library, with my students, in voice memos on my phone, in a journal, on my computer, on scraps of paper...
Where do you find joy in your classroom or work?

I find joy when the classroom routines are well enough established that my students begin to function independently and I can follow as much (or more than) I lead.

What do you do to recharge?

Swim, walk, garden, bake, travel, fly fish.

Here are my answers to a few of Julianne's 11 questions:

What is your next challenge?

Getting more of my poems published!
What technology has made your life better?

Air conditioning. I lived in Ohio without it for about 10 years, and I hope I never have to go back. I don't deal well with heat. (And, of course, pencils, computers, smartphones, the Internet, etc...)
Why teaching?

It's what I'm really good at. I realized this when I taught swimming lessons in high school and college.
How have you grown in the last year? How do you know?

I am a better teacher. I have a new principal who challenges me (in a good way) and a great team who has supported each other through a whole boatload of changes this year. I have tweaked my best practices to make them better and added new tools to my toolbox. I jumped into Bring Your Own Device with both feet and continue to learn new ways to integrate technology into my classrom.

And here are my answers to a few of Kirsten's 11 questions:

Barnes & Noble or Amazon?

Barnes & Noble occasionally, Amazon compulsively, and our local independent children's book store as often as possible.
Paper books or ebooks?

Paper books AND ebooks AND audio books.
On a scale of 1(weak) -10 (hardcore), how intense is your addiction to Twitter?

Before #nerdlution, I would have said 1 on an ordinary day and 8 at conferences. Now I'm probably 4 and 8.

How many hours of sleep do you average a night? Do you wake up thinking educational thoughts in the wee hours of the morn?

I need my 8 hours. I pretty much sleep from 9p-5a every night. And yes, I often wake up thinking about teaching, think about it during my morning walk, and think about it in the shower. One of the reasons I like listening to audio books between home and school is that is shuts work out of my brain for 40 minutes a day!

Here are the bloggers I'll nominate to carry the sunshine to new corners of the blogosphere:

@AnnieWhitlock A Year of Writing
@JenSchwanke Going Big
@TonyKeefer Atychiphobia 2.0
Deb Tyo @ChocolateAir  Chocolate Air
@Katsok Read, Write, Reflect
Ann Hagedorn Read...Write...Talk
@ColbySharp SharpRead
PatrickAllen @ColoReader All-en-A-Day's Work

Ann Marie Corgill @acorgill AM Literacy Learning Log
Kara Newhouse @Rogueanthro Rogue Anthropologist

Donalyn Miller @donalynbooks Donalyn Miller

And here are my 11 questions:

1. What's one thing you're going to make this year?
2. iOS or Android?
3. What's your favorite new organizational trick?
4. Where were did you grow up and how has that place made you who you are?
5. What is your favorite junk food?
6. Who is your hero?
7. What superpower would you pick?
8. Where would you travel next if you could?
9. What frustrates you most?
10. What's one favorite memory of childhood?
11. What's your favorite instrument in the orchestra?

CYBILS and NERDIES!

Cybils finalists are here:

Poetry -- I was on the panel that helped pick these seven fabulous books of poetry! Also serving: Anastasia/BookTalking, Trisha/The Miss Rumphius Effect, Misti/Kidlitgeek, Carol/Carol's Corner, Irene/Live Your Poem, and Jone/Check it Out

Picture Books
Nonfiction Picture Books
Easy Readers/Early Chapter Books
Book Apps
Graphic Novels
Middle Grade Fiction
Middle Grade and YA Nonfiction
YA Fiction
Middle Grade Fantasy/SciFi
YA Fantasy/SciFi


Nerdies winners are here:

Picture Books
Early Reader/Early Chapter Books
Nonfiction Picture Books
Graphic Novels
Poetry
Nonfiction
Middle Grade Fiction
YA Fiction

How My Reading Matched Up With This Year's Awards

Main idea:  Both of the "biggies" (Newbery/Caldecott) were COMPLETELY off my radar: never saw them, never heard about them. However, I did pretty well with honor books and the smaller awards.

Disclaimer:  To slightly shorten this gargantuan post, I left out the awards that didn't contain any books I read this year. No offense intended by omission.  All the awards are listed here.


Details:


John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature

“Moon over Manifest,” written by Clare Vanderpool (not read)

Four Newbery Honor Books also were named: 

“Turtle in Paradise,” by Jennifer L. Holm (not read)

“Heart of a Samurai,” written by Margi Preus (next up on my TBR pile)

“Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night,” written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen (LOVED)
“One Crazy Summer,” by Rita Williams-Garcia (LOVED)

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children
“A Sick Day for Amos McGee,” illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Philip C. Stead (not read)

Two Caldecott Honor Books also were named: 

“Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave,” illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Laban Carrick Hill (LOVED -- heard him speak at the CLA Workshop at NCTE)

“Interrupting Chicken,” written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein (read)

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author of outstanding books for children and young adults 
“One Crazy Summer,” written by Rita Williams-Garcia (LOVED)

Three King Author Honor Books were selected: 

“Lockdown,” by Walter Dean Myers  (read)
“Ninth Ward,” by Jewell Parker Rhodes (LOVED) 

“Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty,” written by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke (read)

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award recognizing an African American illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults
“Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave,” illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Laban Carrick Hill (LOVED)

One King Illustrator Honor Book was selected:

“Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix,” illustrated by Javaka Steptoe, written by Gary Golio (LOVED)

Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience
“The Pirate of Kindergarten,” written by George Ella Lyon, illustrated by Lynne Avril (LOVED)
“After Ever After,” written by Jordan Sonnenblick (LOVED)

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. 

The 2011 winner is Tomie dePaola, author and illustrator of over 200 books. (Totally deserving.)

Odyssey Award for best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults

“The True Meaning of Smekday,” written by Adam Rex and narrated by Bahni Turpin.

Four Odyssey Honor Recordings also were selected: 

“Alchemy and Meggy Swann,” written by Karen Cushman and narrated by Katherine Kellgren (I actually listened to this!!  LOVED IT! Loved it so much, I will likely listen to all the Odyssey winners!)

“The Knife of Never Letting Go,”written by Patrick Ness and narrated by Nick Podehl
“Revolution,” written by Jennifer Donnelly and narrated by Emily Janice Card and Emma Bering 

“will grayson, will grayson,” written by John Green and David Levithan, and narrated by MacLeod Andrews and Nick Podehl

Pura Belpré (Author) Award honoring a Latino writer whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience
“The Dreamer,” written by Pam Muñoz Ryan, illustrated by Peter Sís (LOVED)

Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award honoring a Latino illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience
“Grandma’s Gift,” illustrated and written by Eric Velasquez

Three Belpré Illustrator Honor Books for illustration were selected:
“Fiesta Babies,” illustrated by Amy Córdova, written by Carmen Tafolla

“Me, Frida,” illustrated by David Diaz, written by Amy Novesky (LOVED. Heard him at the CLA Workshop at NCTE)

“Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin,” illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh (LOVED)

Robert F. Sibert Medal for most distinguished informational book for children
“Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot,” written by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop (read)

Two Sibert Honor Books were named: 

“Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring,” written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Brian Floca (read)
“Lafayette and the American Revolution,” written by Russell Freedman (read)

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book
“Bink and Gollie,” written by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee and illustrated by Tony Fucile (read)

Two Geisel Honor Books were named: 

“Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same!” written and illustrated by Grace Lin (LOVED)

“We Are in a Book!” written and illustrated by Mo Willems (LOVELOVELOVED)

William C. Morris Award for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens
“The Freak Observer,” written by Blythe Woolston (I haven't read her book, but we sat at the same table at the KidLitCon dinner, and she's become a Poetry Friday Regular. Congrats, Blythe!)

We've Been Honored!

Thank you, Stacey and Ruth, at Two Writing Teachers, for honoring us with an "Arte y Pico Award"!

From the Arte y Pico blog: "What is the meaning of the expression: Arte y Pico? Basically, ironically, it translates into a wonderful phrase in Mexico, “lo maximo.” LOL! It will never find its counterpart in English, but if it HAD to, it would be something like, Wow. The Best Art. Over the top."

To pay this honor forward, we will follow the rules and:

1) Select 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award, based on creativity, design, interesting material, and contribution to the blogger community. The blogs can be in any language.
2) Post a link to each blog so that others can visit.
3) Each award-winner has to show the award and link to the blogger that awarded it.
4) The award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show a link to Arte y Pico.

Here are our five picks. These folks are fairly new to the Blogosphere/Kidlitosphere, and we'd like to use this award to give them a boost.

On the Learn -- Her identity is Teach People Not Books, which we love. Here's what she says about herself: "First year educator; social-justice minded; sworn enemy of teacher shoes everywhere. My mama does dance and, as fate would have it, my daddy does rock and roll."

Carol's Corner -- Carol is a literacy coach from Denver who reads lots and thinks critically.

The Boy Reader -- He had a summer Guys Read Book Club in the Park. Cool stuff.

The Graphic Classroom -- They're "promoting the use of high quality comic literature in the...classroom"!

My World-Mi Mundo -- Stella does a great job keeping our eye on the literacy needs (and abilities) of ELLs.

"To the Ends of the Earth" Awards

I've been thinking a lot about the school librarian who wore a plastic tiara to school on Monday. She won a huge award for writing some short vignettes for her 5th graders to read aloud. She wanted to help to bring medieval England alive for them. She went To the Ends of the Earth for her kids, and she won a big award for it.

I'd like the para pros at my school to win a To the Ends of the Earth Award. They work with the trickiest kids (behavioral and learning challenges) every day and they are always cheerful, always patient, and always trying to find one more little thing that we can do to nudge these kids along.

A plastic tiara to the school nurse, who works tirelessly on behalf of the needy families in her district, tracking down beds, and washers and dryers, and warm clothes.

An interview on the Today Show for the ELL teacher who advocated to keep a second language learner out of special education. She knows that in the next five years, his English will develop at a faster and faster rate, if we just give him time. She also knows that if he ever goes back to his native country (a real possibility) with a special education label, it is likely that he would get NO education. (Now, if only we could only convince the NCLB'ers that he should be able to take a test that shows what he CAN do, not a test in a language he hasn't yet mastered.)

A special To the Ends of the Earth Award for the primary teacher who kept a school chess club alive even though she herself does not play chess, and another to all the teachers and librarians who support students in after school activities (or lunchtime poetry clubs) that develop them as thinkers and learners.

Please join me in handing out To the Ends of the Earth awards. Who are the people in your schools, who work with your children or with the children of others, who deserve a plastic tiara for the day?

E.B. White Read Aloud Award

Don't know how this one passed me by: The E.B. White Read Aloud Award.

The Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC), founded in 1984, is a national organization made up of independent children's booksellers and other individuals that support independent bookselling. The E. B. White Read Aloud Award, established in 2004, honors a book that reflects the universal read aloud standards that were established by the work of the beloved author E. B. White in his classic books for children: Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan. Each year members nominate a list of new books that they believe most embody this ideal, and a committee of booksellers determines the winner. The award is announced annually on the first Monday in April. In 2006, in recognition of the fact that reading aloud is a pleasure to be enjoyed by readers of all ages, the award was expanded to include two categories, The E. B. White Read Aloud Award for Picture Books, and the E. B. White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers. ABC members chose books for distinction based on their universal appeal as a "terrific" book to read aloud.

I found this year's winners here.

Picture Book: Houndsley and Catina by James Howe

Older Readers: Alabama Moon by Watt Key