Welcome, Liesl Shurtliff!

Liesl Shurtliff is a favorite author here at A Year of Reading. Franki has reviewed Rump, Jack, and Grump. Liesl has a new series, Time Castaways, and the second book has its book birthday on Tuesday!

Time Castaways: The Mona Lisa Key

by Liesl Shurtliff

Katherine Tegen Books, September 17, 2019

Time Castaways: The Obsidian Compass

by Liesl Shurtliff

Katherine Tegen Books, October 15, 2019

Liesl has graciously shared her thoughts on The Importance of Reading Wisely. We couldn't agree more!

The Importance of Reading Widely

By Liesl Shurtliff

“You are what you read.” It’s a sentiment many people have tossed around over the years, right along with “You are what you eat.” And if both of these things are true then I challenge anyone to define who I am. I read too widely, and I eat absolutely everything. I’m a person with many tastes and interests. I think we all should be.

I see many initiatives to get people to read more, and I like them, but what I’d liked to see a little more of is encouragement for people to read more widely, move outside their comfort zones, pick up a book you wouldn’t normally choose. Here are my suggestions:

Read both fiction and non-fiction

Statistics show that women tend to read more fiction, and men gravitate toward non-fiction. This is fascinating to me, and I could delve into all kind of psychoanalytic theories about why this is and what it means, but that would be (mostly) beside the point of the post. Suffice it to say, I think we should tip the scales in both cases. Men should read more fiction. Women should read more non-fiction. Both are good for you.

I personally used to think non-fiction was code for BORING. I’ve since learned that non-fiction can be some of the most engrossing books out there. It’s one thing to get lost in a good story. It’s another to get lost in a good story that is completely REAL. Malcolm Gladwell, Erik Larson, and Elizabeth Gilbert have been a few of my favorites.

Read outside your usual genre.

Whenever someone asks what genre is my favorite I say “Good writing.” Perhaps the definition of what makes a good book is subjective, but I’ve found my own tastes have become more refined the more widely I read. Yes, I read a lot of fantasy as that is what I write, but I’ve read plenty of poorly written fantasy, and I’ve found that it helps my own writing to read a wide variety of genres and styles. I feel like I’m in a rut when I read too much of one genre. It can start to feel stale and boring, sort of like eating only one kind of food. No matter how good those tacos are, eventually I’m going to want some salad. Mix up your reading diet with a mixture of genres.

Read books and authors outside your own race, culture, religion, country, experience and world view.

Reading has been touted as an activity that develops empathy, but for whom are we developing empathy? People like us? People whose experience and world view is not so different from our own? That will not develop empathy, only self-assurance. Challenge yourself and your world view. Pick up a book that makes you a little uncomfortable. Or a lot. And please, read books written by authors who are intimately acquainted with the experience being written about (aka #OwnVoices.) It matters.

Read children’s books!

Okay, I am slightly biased here, seeing as I’m a children’s book author, but please believe me when I say there is some incredibly good literature being produced in the children’s book world. Don’t stick your nose up at it. Pick up a picture book, a middle-grade or young adult novel, or a graphic novel, and remember what it was like to be a kid. Or pick up a book you remember reading and loving as a kid and see what you think of it now. I’ve done this and usually find I love it just as much, even though I’m reading it with a completely different perspective. It’s a nostalgic experience.

Reading is good. Reading a lot is better. Reading widely is best, just like eating a varied diet. Take stock of your reading choices. See if you can mix things up every now and then.   Get recommendations for friends or co-workers. If there’s one thing I know it’s that people love to talk about what they’re reading. And if they don’t read, well then, we should all be ready to share our own reading recommendations and feed the famished. Best to have a variety on hand.

Liesl Shurtliff is the New York Times bestselling author of the (Fairly) True Tales series and the Time Castaways trilogy. The second book is available October 15th! Her books have been named to over two dozen state award lists and have won many awards including a Children’s Book Award from the International Literacy Association. Liesl lives in Chicago with her husband and four children. Lieslshurtliff.com @lieslshurtliff

Thanks for visiting, Liesl! We can't wait to read your new series!

The Kindness of Author Friends

Back in October, before I had to cut and run for home, my students benefitted from the kindness of a couple of my author friends.

My first read aloud this year in my fifth grade classroom was The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary by Laura Shovan. The story of a class of fifth graders who are fighting to save their school was the perfect way to start the year. My students read along on Kindle as we listened to the full cast audio via Audible. We had great conversations about the poetry forms, the characters, and the inferences that a reader must make when reading a verse novel.

I crossed my fingers that Laura would be available for a quick Skype visit after we finished the book, but lo and behold, she was driving from Cleveland to Cincinnati and was willing to stop in Dublin for an hour to visit with my students. She brought her big binder of the book and talked about her planning and revision process. The students were wowed by the length of time it took for the book to grow from the idea stage to a published book.



The day after Laura visited, I presented my students with their very own complimentary copies of Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong's new Poetry Friday project, You Just Wait. Some immediately wanted to dive in and try out the Power Play activities and Power2You poetry prompts, while others read through the story in the poems first.

After I got back from Colorado, I met with a small group who had written poems from some of the mentor poems in the books. It was an unfortunate series of events that resulted in not being able to do more with this magnificent gift from Janet and Sylvia, but my students and I remain thankful for their generosity.

Little Tree by Loren Long

I was able to see an advanced copy of this book over the summer and fell in love with it. And when the real book arrived last week, I fell in love with it all over again.  Loren Long is a favorite author of mine. He is an author who is able to write about complex issues and ideas that are accessible for young children. His Otis books have started some of the best conversations in our classroom over the years.

I love Little Tree as much as I love the Otis books.  Loren Long's words and illustrations are brilliant and I can't wait to share this book with my students.  The book tells the story of a little tree who decides he does not want to let his leaves go when all of the other trees do.  He holds onto them year after year. The story is a simple one with a big message about changing and letting go. It is told in a soft, non-threatening way as we see the difficult decision Little Tree has to eventually make.

This story is one that is good for all ages. Just like the Otis books, children of all ages will have an entry point, come to love Little Tree and understand the author's message.  This would also make a fabulous gift book as it is one that I am sure will be one of those books that children beg to have  read  to them over and over!

You can hear Loren Long talk more about his new book here:

Puppy Pirates by Erin Soderberg

At Nerd Camp, we were able to go into a room filled with books and choose 2 books--what a fun time!  You can imagine the scene with teachers browsing to choose the two perfect books.  Decisions! Decisions!

I had no trouble deciding. I grabbed Erin Soderberg's new series Puppy Pirates (that was released the day of Nerdcamp) and I grabbed Crenshaw. (I had read and loved Crenshaw and wanted a copy for my Newbery Club students.)  The new Puppy Pirates book was the first thing I read when I got home form Nerdcamp.

I am a HUGE Erin Soderbergh fan so I have been anticipating this series since our last Skype visit with her. She showed us the covers and talked a bit about the series.   My 3rd graders LOVE The Quirks series and having another series for 3rd graders by this author is very exciting!

Stowaway is the first book in the new Puppy Pirates series. And how adorable is the cover!?  There were two books in the series released last week--Stowaway and X Marks the Spot. I read Stowaway and am anxiously awaiting the other.  The book is about a soft little puppy named Wally who meets a ship full of pirates and wants to join them. He has always longed for a home and for adventure.  In this first book, Wally has to prove himself to the pirates-to show that he is brave enough to be a Puppy Pirate. The book is perfect for 2nd and 3rd graders. The humor is exactly what they love--one character always says the wrong thing, there is lots of pirate language and there is a bit of word play throughout.  The combination of cute sweet puppies and pirates is a brilliant one and one I know my 8 year olds will love!  The length is perfect for readers newish to chapter books and the plot is easy to follow without being too simple or boring. The language is fun and engaging.  I can't wait to share this new series with my students in the fall!

I was able to volunteer at Nerd Camp Junior and hear Erin Soderberg talk to a group of kids during this even She was incredible and so fun! I learned that the 4th book in The Quirks series is due out in the fall! Woooohoooo!  I think Erin Soderberg is an author who understands perfectly this age group that she is writing for so the more she writes, the better!

Lunch with Cece Bell and Tom Angleberger at NCTE's Books for Children Lunch

I always love the Books for Children Luncheon at NCTE. Not only do we get o hear the Orbis Pictus Award winners and hear amazing authors speak, we also get to sit at a table with an author or two. This year I was lucky enough to sit at a table with Tom Angleberger and Cece Bell. I was very starstruck the entire time and thrilled to have a few minutes to talk to these two amazing people.

As part of the lunch, you get books written by the authors at your table. So I was thrilled to see El Deafo by Cece Bell.

I've always loved Cece Bell's picture books. I loved El Deafo from the very first page when I read it this summer.  This graphic novel/memoir by Cece Bell is based on Cece's own story of going to school with a hearing aid. Her humor and honesty make this book one that stays with you for a very long time. You can hear Cece talk about her book here and if you haven't read the book yet, it's one you'll want to run out and get today.  I plan to read this book aloud to my class using a Kindle version on the smart board. I have been wanting to read a graphic novel aloud that would spark lots of great conversation and this one seems perfect.

I was also thrilled to see the upcoming (2nd) book in the Qwikpick Papers series by Tom Angleberger.  I was talking to Tom before lunch about how much some of my 3rd graders are loving his Origami Yoda series and how many folded Origami Yodas I find laying around the room at the end of the day (most especially on indoor recess days)!  Having another series to hand to Angleberger's  fans will be fun.  Even more fun is the fact that Mary Lee and I were able to read the first book in this series almost 8 years ago when it was first released. Early in our life as bloggers, before we totally understood what a blog was, Tom Angleberger (Sam Riddleburger) was one of the first authors who reached out to us and sent us a review copy of his book. We both loved the book then are were thrilled to see it being rereleased with a 2nd coming out in April.

Loved this year's luncheon and having a bit of time with these two amazing authors!

Everything is a Poem

Everything is a Poem: The Best of J. Patrick Lewis

by J. Patrick Lewis

illustrated by Maria Cristina Pritelli

Creative Editions, 2014

What is more fun than a whole shelf full of J. Patrick Lewis poetry books? An anthology with all of his best poems collected between its covers!

Knowing that Pat has published a shelf-full of poetry books, one wonders how on earth he picked these "bests" that can be found in such wide-ranging topics in the table of contents as Animals, People, Reading, Sports, Riddles and Epitaphs, Mother Nature, Places, and A Mix?

Inspired by his title, I have prepared a series of posts that will spotlight 2014 poetry books that feature poetry in science, nature, history, biography, and the imagination. Stay tuned!

Over at No Water River, Renee reviewed Everything is a Poem last summer. For a peek at the illustrations and some of the poems, head on over there now.

Jessica Day George

We were lucky to have Jessica Day George visit our school last week. It was very exciting for everyone and the kids are still talking and writing about the day. Thank you to Cover to Cover Bookstore for this opportunity!

Not sure when I discovered Jessica Day George but I have loved her books for years. I love fairy tales and I especially love to see new versions of tales I love.  I think I stared  reading Jessica Day George with her book, Dragon Slippers. A few years ago, my younger daughter and I were hooked on her middle school princess series (Princess of the Midnight Ball, Princess of Glass). And of course, I loved Tuesdays at the Castle when I read it a few years ago.  I love every book she's written.

Jessica Day George doesn't know it, but she is one of my favorite people to follow on Goodreads. We seem to have the exact same taste in books. And why wouldn't we--she writes the books I love to read. She is my go-to person when it comes to adult fiction. If Jessica gives a novel a 5 star rating, it is one I definitely check out.

Jessica is touring because her new book, Thursdays With the Crown has just been published. This is the 3rd book in the Tuesdays at the Castle series).  Tuesdays at the Castle was the well loved by students in grades 3, 4, and 5. Most classrooms shared the book as a read aloud. I worried early on that it would be too hard for my 3rd graders but I was wrong. We had to do a lot of thinking and talking early in the book. Before we began, we thought about fairy tales we knew and created a chart listing Things We Could Expect, knowing it was a fairy tale.  We listened to the audio version of the book as I wanted my kids to have the experience of an audiobook. The audio is fabulous and the kids really enjoyed the book.  They talk about Celie sometimes like she is a member of our classroom.

There is nothing like having an author that kids connect with visit a school. After the excitement of getting books autographed wore off (it is still not quite worn off), I listened in on what it was that Jessica Day George told them that stuck. What would stay with them about her visit? First of all, they loved her--there was lots of laughing and humor in her talk and I think kids liked knowing that this author they loved was a real person, someone they liked a lot.  She shared the book that changed her and that inspired her to be a writer. She was also very honest about her rejections and let kids know that she didn't get her books published until she wrote what she loved to write. She talked to kids about the process of revision.     The story of her writing life is a powerful one and she shared it in a way that made sense to young children.

Jessica Day George is definitely a rock star at Indian Run Elementary.  Her visit was a day that I think most kids will remember for a very long time. A definite highlight of the year for the kids. And for me, what a great day to be able to meet one of my favorite authors with my students!              

Nuts to You

"Nuts to you" might have been what I was saying on Saturday when the class cold hit me so hard there was nothing I could do but lie in bed and create a mountain of soggy kleenex on the floor beside me. When I felt better enough to sit up for some soup and hot tea with honey and lemon (and more than a small splash of Old Charter), I picked up this recent library reserve and within 20 pages was laughing out loud and thanking my class for sharing the germs that stopped me from doing anything more than sitting up in bed reading:

Nuts to You 
by Lynne Rae Perkins
Greenwillow Books, 2014

This story was ostensibly told by a squirrel to the author. That may or may not be the factual truth, but since it's a rollicking good story, let's just go with that. Like another favorite Perkins title, As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth (my gushing review here), there are interruptions by the (human) author, footnotes, and illustrations that clearly demonstrate that Perkins has done her fair share of squirrel-watching.

The story begins when the grey squirrel Jed is carried away by a hawk, manages to trick the hawk into dropping him, and lands fairly softly on a dog and then in a pile of leaves. (Journey #1) Luckily, his friend TsTs sees where he lands and sets off with another squirrel friend, Chai, to find him. (Journey #2) Along the way, they discover that the rumblings they've been hearing are a crew of humans who are clearing the trees from the "buzzpath" (power lines). And the crew is headed right to their home grove. After they find Jed, they have to get back and warn their friends and family. (Journey #3) Convincing squirrels to do anything as organized as run away from a danger they cannot yet see is as easy as herding cats (apparently). But Jed and friends manage. (Journey #4)

Fun stuff. Perfect middle grade (grades 3-5) novel. Will be a fabulous read aloud.

You're welcome.

Picture Book Surprises, part 1

The Great Big Green
by Peggy Gifford
illustrated by Lisa Disimini
Boyds Mills Press, 2014
review copy provided by the publisher

Readers who know and love Peggy Gifford's Moxy Maxwell series of chapter books will be surprised to read this rhyming riddle book. In years to come, readers who know The Great Big Green will be delighted to discover Moxy Maxwell!

The Great Big Green describes every possible shade of green and many green things, both living and non-living. You might guess what The Great Big Green is...if I tell you that where it's not green, it's blue!

The detailed multi-media collage illustrations are worthy of child-in-lap explorations to find and name as many green things as possible.

2 New Favorite Nonfiction Authors

This summer, I did a Choice Literacy workshop for teachers around Nonfiction. I spoke in the morning and Andrea Smith spoke in the afternoon.  It was a great day of learning as I always learn so much from Andrea. But the big surprise was the books.  I have been on the lookout for better nonfiction for years and I love my collection lately.  I brought crates and crates of books for my part of the presentation.  Andrea also brought crates and crates for her part of the presentation.  The room was filled with amazing nonfiction for children.  And here's the thing, there was almost NO overlap in the books I brought and the books Andrea brought.  We each had a great collection of DIFFERENT books!  Needless to say, it was an expensive afternoon of amazon ordering but I discovered some great new books.

Now, well into the school year, I've realized I have 2 new nonfiction authors thanks to this workshop.

Suzi Eszterhas is an author I discovered while I was getting ready for the workshop months earlier. I don't know where I read about or saw her newish series EYE ON THE WILD (Eye on the Wild: Lion)  but I fell in love immediately.  This series currently has about 6 books--each about a different animal in the wild. Each book begins when the animal is a baby and takes it through adulthood.  The text is narrative and very well written. There is enough on the page for my 3rd graders, but not so much to make it overwhelming. And Eszterhas's photos are amazing. I checked out her website as I am a new fan and loved learning about her other work. The part of her website that was most fascinating was the section on tours and workshops. I would NEVER want to go on any adventure that observes animals in the wild, but I love that she does and that we get to learn from her brilliance!  Two more books in this series are due out in 2014 and I am very happy about that!  And I definitely want to go back and check out her past work in Ranger Rick and Time Magazine! Love finding a new favorite author.

The other author was one I discovered from Andrea at the workshop.  I knew Markle from The Case of Sandra Markle was an author I didn't know as an author--I had a few of her books but had never really looked at them together to see what Sandra Markle was about. Well, what a happy discovery!  Sandra writes great nonfiction books for kids around a variety of science topics. The thing is, all of her books have different illustrators/photographers, so it is hard to notice that they are all by this wonderful author. Go through your classroom or school library and I bet you have lots by this author.  I love her work because she really makes things more interesting and very accessible to children. Her take and focus on big topics narrows things down so kids can really understand.  Her language is beautiful and can be used in any minilesson on craft.  I currently love her Animal Predators series.  Owls in this series is one a few of my students have loved.
the Vanishing Tree Frog but hadn't paid attention to how many other books she wrote that I loved! 

Kindred Souls

Kindred Souls
by Patricia MacLachlan
Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins), 2012

My eyes welled up on page two of this book, and when I put it down I gulped back a sob.

Patricia MacLachlan dedicated this book to the memory of her father. "...born in a sod house on the prairie he loved."

My father would have been 85 this year. He was born in a sod house.

How I wish he were here, watching the birds -- no hummingbirds, but definitely redtailed hawks. How I wish a good dog -- a farm dog -- an angel dog -- named Lucy could find him. How I wish I could build him a sod house.


This book is a poem that you read with your heart. It refuses to be condensed into a plot summary. Go read it. Keep a hankie close by.

Junonia by Kevin Henkes

Junonia
by Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow Books, on shelves May 24, 2011
ARC received at NCTE

I have just the reader to hand this book to -- she's a 10 year-old girl, a strong reader who recently came to me asking for help finding her next book. She's been devouring series books, and now she's ready to tackle a stand-alone novel.

Every year, Alice Rice and her family go to Sanibel Island in Florida for their week-long vacation from the Wisconsin winters, and every year, Alice's birthday is during their vacation. This year, she'll turn 10. Double digits. A really important birthday. But instead of everything being the way it's always been so that her birthday can be perfect, Alice has to deal with changes. A favorite cabin neighbor can't come, her mother's best college friend comes with a boyfriend and his 6 year-old daughter.

Henkes perfectly captures the in-between-ness of being 10. Alice is sometimes quite mature and other times pouty. She is starting to understand the grownups, and the little girl who is without her mother, and her own self. She is more aware of the world around her (which Henkes describes with aching beauty).

Alice is hoping to find a rare junonia shell for her collection on this trip, but even though she doesn't, she carries home a box full and a heart full of memories.

Suddenly she felt as if she were the center of everything, like the sun. She was thinking: Here I am. I have my parents. We're alone together. I will never be old. I will never die. It's right now. I'm ten.

Poetry Wednesday: Two New Gems

Yesterday I set Florian's Dinothesaurus and Lewis' The Underwear Salesman out on the chalk tray in my fourth grade classroom at the beginning of the day to shouts of, "YAY!" and "Can I read that during reading workshop?" Neither book made it back to the chalk tray during reading time -- both were read by individuals or with partners and passed from hand to hand to hand the entire time.

Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings
by Douglas Florian
Athenium Books for Young Readers, 2009

Surely you've seen the sneak peaks of poetry and art from Dinothesaurus at Douglas Florian's blog? If not, get over there right now and take a look! 18 dinosaurs are described with wit, wordplay, and creative multimedia illustrations.

There is a pronunciation guide for each dinosaur name (thank you, thank you, Mr. Florian!) along with the meaning of the name. These name meanings are rich for conversations during word study around root words. Seismosaurus (earthshaking lizard) and seismograph; Tyrannosaurus rex (king of tyrant lizards) and tyrant and rex; Troodon (wounding tooth) and Iguanodon (iguana tooth) and orthoDONtist.

The collection also includes a Glossarysaurus, a list of dinosaur museums and fossil sites, and a bibliography with suggestions for further reading.

Every illustration adds an additional layer of meaning to its poem and makes this a book that will bring readers back again and again.


The Underwear Salesman: And Other Jobs for Better or Verse
by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Serge Bloch
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2009

More wit, wordplay and multimedia illustrations to be had in this volume as well!

This book is packed with short poems (a couplet for the job of exterminator), brief poems (for the job of underwear salesman -- ha ha!!), vertical poems (for the job of elevator operator), poems that take to the streets (for the job of marathon runner), poems in two voices (for the jobs of talk show hosts and ventriloquists), poems that flop (for the job of gymnast), and poems that soar ( for the job of bridge painter and skyscraper window washer).

At the risk of being repetitive: Every illustration adds an additional layer of meaning to its poem and makes this a book that will bring readers back again and again.

Stories With Echoes

The Castle Corona
by Sharon Creech
illuminated by David Diaz
HarperCollins, 2007

I'm pretty sure Sharon Creech has already written this book once before. Maybe twice. Plucky brother and sister orphans who are mistreated but wind up in the care of interesting grandparent-ly people. Wasn't that Ruby Holler? Merge the brother and sister into one girl character, throw in storytelling and a search for identity. Wasn't that Walk Two Moons?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. Obviously these story bones have great resonance for Sharon Creech, and I think any child who reads by author will be delighted to discover this. Any child who reads by book has at least a one in three chance of reading some version of this story if they dip into Sharon Creech's works and promptly dip out again.

I loved the 56 short-short chapters (also a hallmark of Ruby Holler) and the illuminations by David Diaz. I loved the mood she set with the language and the mirroring of the peasant and noble worlds. I loved the hermits. I want one. I also want a tunnel of hornbeam trees. No need to wish for a wordsmith. I've got Sharon Creech and a thousand thousand others who will keep me entertained for years to come!

The John Hancock Club by Louise Borden

What a lucky day we had today--Louise Borden came in to our class and read her new book to us--THE JOHN HANCOCK CLUB. This is a great story of Sean, a third grader, who is not so excited to learn cursive handwriting. But with the help of his teacher, Mrs. Tovani, he learns to have excellent penmanship and to join the classroom's John Hancock Club. Louise Borden weaves in facts about John Hancock as the students learn about him and his signature on the Declaration of Independence. Louise Borden has once again captured life in a great classroom. If you don't know her other school books, you'll want to check them out. THE DAY EDDIE MET THE AUTHOR is a story of a boy who gets to meet an author during an author visit at school. GOOD LUCK, MRS. K! is the story of a classroom of children and their support of their amazing teacher who is diagnosed with cancer. THE A+ CUSTODIAN is a great tribute to the important people who do the job of taking care of the school and the kids. (A favorite of mine because the teacher's name is Mrs. Sibberson :-) THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL captures the feeling of kids and teachers on that last day of school--the excitement of summer but the sadness of a good year finished. A great one for this time of year!