December Mosaic and Cybils Finalists!

Row 1: Impromptu wine and cheese party, just the two of us, on a Saturday afternoon after errands; CFR did charity gift wrap at the Worthington Orvis store three weekends this month; sunset, Worthington Mall after my wrapping shift; toenail surgery.

Row 2: Birthday scarf; birthday cake (featuring buttercream layers and ganache coating--yum!!); there's always one, isn't there?; winter view from the window of Room 228.

Row 3: More Orvis wrappers; ginger at North Market; December flooding in our easement; more Orvis wrappers.

Row 4: Pre-flight tradition at the airport--headed to Mom's for Christmas; sunrise from our back windows in Burlington; the Italian Panettone my brother made (with just a LITTLE butter--yum!!); playing Sequence with Mom.

Row 5: We took Mom's cats to the vet and the 3-legged clinic cat, Tres, supervised the ear cleaning and fur mat removal.

Row 6: One more of Tres; we picked out new glasses frames for Mom; view of Columbus from the plane window; illustrated notes from Diana Nyad TED talk (more on that in another post.


We've been blogging 8 years, and I've been doing these monthly mosaics for 5 of those years. I make a Flickr photoset (this one is here), then go over to the Mosaic Maker at bighugelabs.com and make the mosaic.

We've been blogging 8 years, and I'm pretty sure one or the other or both of us have been involved in the Cybils every year since their inception in 2006. Franki was a first-round judge in nonfiction this year. The Cybils finalsits have been announced!

CYBILS: Picture Book Biographies

I love being part of the CYBILS! It is always so wonderful to learn about and read so many books in a single category.  This year, I am part of the Elementary and Middle Grade Nonfiction Committee. I have loved discovering new books and am excited to share some on the blog.  Today, I want to share two new-to-me picture book biographies.

The thing I love about recent picture book biographies is that so many of them tell the stories of people whose impact has been lost or forgotten somehow. Or their impact has certainly not been written in a way that is accessible to children. These two are new picture book biographies that will give readers info as well as maybe spark some new interest connected with the difference each person made in the world.

When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill is the story of DJ Kool Herc and how he became a DJ.  The story begins with his childhood and how his love of music impacted all that he did.  DJ Kool Herc was responsible for extending breaks so listeners had more time to dance  (break-dancers).  His DJ-ing was quite the party and made people everywhere happy.  The author's note and timeline in the back add more interesting info to the story and the author's journey toward writing this story.

There are so many great books about the ways in which women in history changed the ideas around what was expected of them. Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America's Heart by Julie Cummins is one of those books.  This is the story of Ruth Elder, a woman who was determined to become the "female Lindbergh" and to fly across the Atlantic.  She spent much of her life showing that women could be pilots and we learn about things like the 1929 all women's cross-country air race in which Ruth participated.  I love these stories that show determined people showing what is possible and changing perceptions throughout history. 

CYBILS: Nonfiction Picture Books

I love being part of the CYBILS! It is always so wonderful to learn about and read so many books in a single category.  This year, I am part of the Elementary and Middle Grade Nonfiction Committee. I have loved discovering new books and am excited to share some on the blog.

It's Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden by George Ancona is one I am so glad to have discovered.  A few years ago, I created a list of books to go along with the idea of community garden and I have only found a few more since then.  This new book is one that kids will love because they will see themselves in the book.  The book is told in narrative and follows the chronology of one New Mexico elementary school's community garden.  The book begins with one person's dream of a garden and takes us through lots of ideas, stages, learning and work.  It is clear that George Ancona spent lots of time in this school, learning about how the community garden is integrated into the school community.  The gorgeous photos not only capture the content of the information, but they also capture the joy and energy of the project.

Pedal It!: How Bicycles are Changing the World (Footprints) by Michelle Mulder is another book I'm happy to have recently discovered.  The book is a short chapter book (46 pages) about the history and impact of bicycles in our world.  The beginning of the book shares some important history in the invention timeline of the bicycles. The photos and artifacts bring these events to life for kids.  (The short news article about a woman wearing bloomers on a bicycle being warned of arrest was quite telling:-)  The rest of the book goes on to tell how and why bicycles are so important today and how they are used for different purposes in different places. Again, photos are an important way that this book shares information with readers. This book is packed with interesting information about bicycles and there are many possibilities for it in the classroom.

And what kid wouldn't like Toilet: How It Works (My Readers. Level 4)?   (I didn't realize that David

Macaulay has a series of these including one on castles, jet plane, and eyes.) This is a simple explanation of the way a toilet works.  The book helps readers make sense of how the toilet work through the use of words, illustrations and diagrams.  The book takes us from the meal we eat to the end of the cycle when the water is cleaned in a large tank.  An interesting read and a complex idea told in a way that young readers can grasp!