Blog Birthday: Giveback-Giveaway #7

Hard to believe that we've been blogging for SEVEN years!

This year we'd like to celebrate by giving back to our readers with a Giveback-Giveaway every day for seven days.

We'll choose a random winner from the comments each day and send them the featured book of the day. The books we've chosen are all new(ish) books that celebrate books and reading. (As we were choosing books, we realize that we need to update our Books About Books and Reading list in the sidebar. Are any of your favorites missing from our list?)

Thanks for stopping by to help us celebrate 7 years!

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Blog Birthday Giveback-Giveaway #7 -- HOW READING CHANGED MY LIFE

We decided to end our series with one of our favorite adult books about reading-How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen.  Anna Quindlen is a reader and she writes about how reading changed her life in this little book written for adults.  Anna Quindlen shares stories from her life as a reader and how important books have been throughout her life. I have read the book cover to cover many times and have used many excerpts with my students. We thought that Quindlen's celebration of reading was one of the best ways to give back to our readers. If you don't have a copy of this book, we highly recommend it. Comment below and you have a chance to win a copy! (But if you don't win, we still HIGHLY recommend this book to all readers out there!)

Blog Birthday: Giveback-Giveaway #6

Hard to believe that we've been blogging for SEVEN years!

This year we'd like to celebrate by giving back to our readers with a Giveback-Giveaway every day for seven days.

We'll choose a random winner from the comments each day and send them the featured book of the day. The books we've chosen are all new(ish) books that celebrate books and reading. (As we were choosing books, we realized that we need to update our Books About Books and Reading list in the sidebar. Are any of your favorites missing from our list?)

Thanks for stopping by to help us celebrate 7 years!

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Blog Birthday Giveback-Giveaway #6 -- BOOKSPEAK by Laura Purdie Salas

A 2011 Nerdy Poetry Winner

A 2012 NCTE Notable Books in the Language Arts title

A 2012 CYBILS Poetry Finalist

AND

A must-have for every classroom library

As we wind down our 7 days of Blog Birthday Giveback-Giveaways, it is with great delight that we will give this fabulous book of poems about books to one lucky commenter today!!

Blog Birthday: Giveback-Giveaway #5

Hard to believe that we've been blogging for SEVEN years!

This year we'd like to celebrate by giving back to our readers with a Giveback-Giveaway every day for seven days.

We'll choose a random winner from the comments each day and send them the featured book of the day. The books we've chosen are all new(ish) books that celebrate books and reading. (As we were choosing books, we realize that we need to update our Books About Books and Reading list in the sidebar. Are any of your favorites missing from our list?)

Thanks for stopping by to help us celebrate 7 years!

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Blog Birthday Giveback-Giveaway #5 -- THE BOOK WHISPERER

Although this is not a brand new book, how could we not include it in our celebration of books and reading? The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller is a book that for so many of us, helped us remember the important work we do with children. Awakening kids to reading is the work we do and Donalyn shares her own story here. Donalyn Miller is a master at matching kids with books and creating a reading community in her classroom.  Donalyn shares her vision as well as the nuts and bolts of how she accomplishes this each and every year. We know that many of our readers already own this book, but we feel like this is a good one to put in the hands of a colleague.  We are all about paying it forward this year, so if you already own this book (or a few copies of it as I do:-), please comment so that you have a chance to win and pass it along to a new teacher or someone you know who will love it too!

Poetry Friday and Blog Birthday: Giveback-Giveaway #4

Hard to believe that we've been blogging for SEVEN years!

This year we'd like to celebrate by giving back to our readers with a Giveback-Giveaway every day for seven days.

We'll choose a random winner from the comments each day and send them the featured book of the day. The books we've chosen are all new(ish) books that celebrate books and reading. (As we were choosing books, we realized that we need to update our Books About Books and Reading list in the sidebar. Are any of your favorites missing from our list?)

Thanks for stopping by to help us celebrate 7 years!

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Blog Birthday Giveback-Giveaway #4 -- FORGIVE ME, I MEANT TO DO IT

This is one of the books that suffered the fate of compromise as the first-round poetry judges for the CYBILS honed our list of finalists. I was THRILLED, then, to see that it was chosen as a Nerdy Poetry Book for 2012.

Our fifth graders ended 2012 by writing business letters. (Side note -- I'm thinking that this genre of letter-writing is headed the way of the dinosaurs. It's not that our students didn't have a lot they wanted to say to companies about their business or their product(s), but the kids really couldn't comprehend why they couldn't just email the company. And when it comes to finding mailing addresses online...it would seem that companies would rather communicate by email as well.)

So. Business letter follow-up. I'm thinking that before we fully immerse ourselves in our next writing project, it will be fun to write some false apologies...and this book will be our mentor text!

Have you seen it? The table of contents is hysterical. Every poem has the same title, after all...

The introduction is about 20 pages in -- one of the many fun surprises in this book.

There are kid-sized literary allusions in many of the poems -- Mother Goose rhymes, fairy tales, etc.

So much to love about this book. Franki reviewed it last March, and now we'd like for one lucky commenter to have a copy of this book for their home library, their classroom library, or to give to a friend who doesn't have it yet. Happy Poetry Friday!

Matt has the roundup today at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme. The shiny new roundup calendar is posted in our sidebar and in the Kidlitosphere Yahoo group calendar. The html code for your very own sidebar calendar is located in the files of the Kidlitosphere Yahoo group. If you'd like me to send you the code by email, drop me a note at mlhahn at earthlink dot net. (Sorry I ran us so close to the wire this time. December almost got away from me. Thanks to all of the roundup volunteers!!)

Blog Birthday: Giveback-Giveaway #3

Hard to believe that we've been blogging for SEVEN years!

This year we'd like to celebrate by giving back to our readers with a Giveback-Giveaway every day for seven days.

We'll choose a random winner from the comments each day and send them the featured book of the day. The books we've chosen are all new(ish) books that celebrate books and reading. (As we were choosing books, we realize that we need to update our Books About Books and Reading list in the sidebar. Are any of your favorites missing from our list?)

Thanks for stopping by to help us celebrate 7 years!

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Blog Birthday Giveback-Giveaway #3 -- BOOK LOVE by Penny Kittle

If you are looking for a great new professional book to ground you in good teaching that leads to helping students become lifelong readers, we highly recommend Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers by Penny Kittle.  This book is an incredible celebration of books and reading and how important it is that we, as teachers, commit to helping every child become a reader.  Although this book is written with adolescent readers in mind, Penny's stories have messages for teachers at all levels.  She spends time telling us stories of reluctant readers who found the right book, she shares routines and strategies that work for her as a teacher. She shares great books. But she also shares the challenges that come with this commitment as a teacher. She knows the struggles we face when grading. She knows that it takes time and energy to build a classroom library that our kids deserve. And she knows that the work of committing to all readers is not always easy work.  The book is centered on being passionate about our readers and our classrooms. It is a powerful read and one that I believe all teachers should read.  Penny has the right message for us in these testing times and she is the perfect person to share it.  Definitely a book that must be added to your professional bookshelf.  This is a book I'll revisit over and over again and one that we are excited to give away!  Comment below for a chance to win this amazing professional read!

Blog Birthday: Giveback-Giveaway #2

Hard to believe that we've been blogging for SEVEN years!

This year we'd like to celebrate by giving back to our readers with a Giveback-Giveaway every day for seven days.

We'll choose a random winner from the comments each day and send them the featured book of the day. The books we've chosen are all new(ish) books that celebrate books and reading. (As we were choosing books, we realize that we need to update our Books About Books and Reading list in the sidebar. Are any of your favorites missing from our list?)

Thanks for stopping by to help us celebrate 7 years!

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Blog Birthday Giveback-Giveaway #2 

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce. Franki first discovered the book as an amazing interactive ebook on her iPad. She reviewed it on the blog then.  Today, we will be giving away the hard copy of book.

This is an amazing story of the power of books and we are happy to share it today -- comment for a chance to win!

Blog Birthday: Giveback-Giveaway #1

Hard to believe that we've been blogging for SEVEN years!

This year we'd like to celebrate by giving back to our readers with a Giveback-Giveaway every day for seven days.

We'll choose a random winner from the comments each day and send them the featured book of the day. The books we've chosen are all new(ish) books that celebrate books and reading. (As we were choosing books, we realize that we need to update our Books About Books and Reading list in the sidebar. Are any of your favorites missing from our list?)

Thanks for stopping by to help us celebrate 7 years!

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Blog Birthday Giveback-Giveaway #1 -- OPEN THIS LITTLE BOOK

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of Open This Little Book from Chronicle last week.  I was immediately drawn to it and noticed that it was illustrated by one of my favorite illustrators, Suzy Lee.  The author is Jesse Klausmeier and this is her first picture book.  What a treat it is!

This is a book that reminds me of so many books I love, but one that is unique on its own. It reminds me a little bit of Press Here because I can see kids having the same gleeful reaction to this one as they do to Press Here.  And it is a great one to add to my collection of books about books and reading.

When you open this book, you see that the inside pages are smaller than the cover. They are smaller because they are actually a book inside the book. The surprises every time you turn a page, continue. I can't even explain the design but I recommend you open it up because, as I said, it will make you gleeful :-)

Somehow Jessie Klausmeier and Suzy Lee have told a story about the power of reading and books in the simplest, most joyful way I've seen.  It is a simple, yet powerful message. But the details are far from simple. Even the end pages share a message.  It is a colorful book and the design is as important as any other part of the book.   Every time I open the book to reread it, I notice something I missed before. Like I said, a real treat.

Young children are going to love this one. It is definitely a great gift book because it is one parents and children can enjoy together over and over.  And it is perfect for EVERY the classroom and library. I can't wait to share it with my 4th graders.

There aren't many books that meet the needs of so many readers. The flap inside the book says of this author/illustrator team, "Together they have created a book of startling imagination that is not only an entertaining and interactive read for the very youngest reader, but also a stunning showcase of design that will delight even the most sophisticated book enthusiast." They certainly got that right in my opinion. It is not often that a book can do so many things in such a perfect way.

I love when I read a great book early in the new year. This is already one of my favorite books of 2013 and I am sure it will remain on my list of favorites forever.

Comment below for a chance to win this great new picture book!