#PoemPairs

 

Birds: Explore their Extraordinary World

by Miranda Krestovnikoff 

illustrated by Angela Harding

Bloomsbury, 2020

review copy provided by the publisher (thanks!)

FIRST THE PICTURE BOOK

This is a gorgeous oversized nonfiction picture book. Illustrated with fine art linocuts, the information is grouped by types of birds, by notable characteristics (feathers, beaks and eyes), then by nests, migration, songs, and extremes (cold and urban living). Within each category there are big subcategories, and then each subcategory has short example sections. For example, in the category SEABIRDS are the two subcategories Seabirds of warmer waters and Seabirds of colder waters. In Seabirds of colder waters the reader learns about Gulls, Great black-backed gulls, Kittiwakes, and Gannets. This is a great book for browsing. You'll definitely be drawn in by the illustrations and then you'll find yourself perusing the bite-sized text chunks. The only thing that would make it better would be an index.

AND NOW THE POEMPAIR

Is it cheating to pair an entire book of poems? Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds, edited by Billy Collins and illustrated by David Allen Sibley is the most obvious pairing. Lots of fun poems plus gorgeous illustrations. 

If it's cheating to pair a whole book, I'll choose the poem Bird-Understander by Craig Arnold. This poem about someone who notices a bird trapped in the terminal of the airport; someone who notices the wrong in the world and who is desperate to help, to right the wrong. Birding requires close observation. There's much to learn about the natural history of birds if you bother to look closely, but just like in life, the closer you look, the more you are likely to see all kinds of problems that need work.

One of the problems connected to birding is racism. If you want to dig in more deeply, here is the story of Christian Cooper and a link to the (free) comic he wrote about what happened to him in Central Park when he was birding last spring.

A video to share with students features Corina Newsome, who broke stereotypes associated with becoming an environmentalist. She is a woman of color who grew up in an urban environment but became a zookeeper who has worked with turkey vultures as an Ambassador Animal Keeper at the Nashville Zoo.

Text Sets: Professional Books for Summer Learning

Texts for this Text Set have been posted daily on Instagram. 

Follow @TextSets there to get daily updates!  

 This week, I'll be sharing some professional books I am excited to dig into this summer. It's been such a great year for professional books and I am looking forward to time in the summer to really spend time with some of the newest professional books I've discovered. Summer is such a great time to relax, refresh and renew our teaching energy.  Professional books always help me with that and summer is my favorite time to dig into these. 

I read En Comuninidad this year and was able to hear the authors speak.  This is an area that I haven't learned enough about and these brilliant authors invited me into this learning.  My next read in Translanguaging will be Rooted in Strength which is brand new.  Such an important topic for all of us to learn about. Thanks to these authors for putting these incredible books out in the world.  

I was able to hear Dr. Detra Price-Dennis and Dr. Yolanda Sealy-Ruiz talk about their new book, Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education last month. It is definitely an area that I need to learn more about. And I've learned so much from Dr. Detra Price-Dennis about Black Girls' Literacies that I am looking to the upcoming book on the topic by Dr. Price-Dennis and Dr. Muhammad. (Black Girls' Literacies is due out in early to mid June). 

I loved Steph Harvey and Annie Ward's book From Striving to Thriving and am glad to see these two have written another book on a similar topic (with two other coauthors). Intervention Reinvention comes out in June and I know I'll learn so much about supporting all readers. And I just received my copy of Trusting Readers this morning.  I worry we have come so far away from trusting our learners and the focus on independent reading and trust got me excited about this book right away. I think we all need this one in order to talk against deficit language narratives in literacy teaching. 

I preordered Start Here Start Now: A Guide to Antibias and Antiracist Work in Your School Community long ago and can't wait to dig in. I have learned so much from Liz Kleinrock on social media that I am so glad to see a book by this author!  

And one I am very excited that we are now able to preorder Reading and Teaching with Diverse Nonfiction Children's Books (The preorder link just went live this week--woohooo!)  I have been hearing about it on social media for months and it is a topic I need. These editors are incredible experts and the list of authors (listed on the preorder page) is just WOW! This book is a summer must-read for sure! 

Happy Reading!

Follow @TextSets on Instagram for next week's Text Set!

Text Set: Research-Books that Invite Readers to Learn More

 Texts for this Text Set have been posted daily on Instagram. Follow @TextSets there to get daily updates!

If we want our students to understand that research can be about so much more than Googling an answer to a single question we have, we have to help them recognize their own curiosities. We also want them to know that often, the more you learn about a topic, the more you want to learn. There are several books that give readers just enough information to want to know more. This week's list features books that invite readers to learn more.

Go Show the World introduces readers to several Indigenous people who have impacted our world.  This is a picture book format so each person is introduced with an illustration and several Ines of text. At the end of the book, the author shares a short biography about each person introduced.  Using this book as a springboard for discussion about which people you are interested in learning more about, now that you know a little bit, could be powerful.

Many readers have people they love to read about. For me, I love to read about Jane Goodall. I tend to buy almost any book that comes out about her.  Books like yesterday's and the updated version of Enough! introduce readers to people they may be interested in learning more about.  The people featured in this book are featured because they changed America by protesting in some way.  So, readers learn a bit about people (who they may want to learn more about) as well as the issues they stood up for (which they may want to learn more about.) in this book.

Picture books are a powerful and effective tools for introducing young readers to times in history that demand more study and understanding.  Unspeakable shares the horrific events of The Tulsa Massacre and readers may want to learn more about this time in history.   Readers will leave with an understanding of this tragedy along with questions that would require more learning.

This book, by the author of We Are Grateful introduces readers to several Native American Truths in We Are Still Here. Traci Sorrell teaches readers about times in history that is often left out of history classes.  This book covers so much and each truth is a big topic on its own. Readers will definitely want to dig deeper to understand and act.

Poetry naturally invites engagement and curiosity. These three poetry books (Bravo, Shaking Things Up and Voices of Justice) introduce us to people who have shaped our world.  The poems and illustrations are powerful and give us just enough to want to know more. These poems can be used independently or as part of the entire anthology.

Follow @TextSets on Instagram for next week's Text Set!

This week's books were linked at Cover to Cover Children's Bookstore. If you are looking for a fabulous children's bookstore to support, this is an amazing one. We are lucky to have them in Central Ohio!

 

Text Set: The Power of Studying One Idea Across Multiple Texts

 Texts for this Text Set have been posted daily on Instagram. Follow @TextSets there to get daily updates!

Studying one idea across multiple texts is something we do so often as readers.  We can show our students the power of doing this when building understanding/learning something new. When we read across several texts about a single topic, we build knowledge, examine perspectives, build on first understanding, change thinking as we learn more, and ask more questions. When we think of standards, when we read across texts, we practice synthesizing, we are learning true research and we learn to support our thinking with evidence. This week's text set explores books to use to study the idea of protest marches across several pieces of short text.

Both of these books are fabulous for starting the learning about Marches. They both have basic information. Sometimes People March share many reasons for marching with good information at the end of the book. In We March, we better understand the experience of being part of a march though simple text and illustrations. Both will be good to set the stage for more learning about marches.

Marching for Change takes a close look at 3 different marches. These marches are 3 that students may know about and the book gives detailed information about each one.  There are photographs that will help readers connect to a visual. This book can be included in the research by reading about one march or all three. 

These two books take a close look at two different marches that may not be as well known to students.  Starting with the basics of marches and then getting to the specifics of different marches with these books will help children build understanding. Readers of All the Way to the Top may go on to read more about activist, Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins current work. These books provide two ways to learn more--learning more about a specific march (The Teachers March) and learning more about a single person's role as an activist. Both ways of learning about marches and protestors are important to bigger understandings. 
 

Together We March can provide weeks of mini lesson work. The book explores 25 different protest marches. The introduction is one that will add to the study of marches in this text set. Then readers can read more about marches they may know about and discover less known marches to build initial understandings.  Each short piece provides a great deal of new information that will help readers build on, grow, and change their thinking. 

Children's participation in marches will most likely be of interest to young readers and these two books that look at the children's march of 1963. Let the Children March looks at the whole of the march while The Youngest Marcher focuses on the youngest child who was arrested for protesting. These books focus on two stories about a single historical march and the important role of children. 

This week's books were linked at Cover to Cover Children's Bookstore. If you are looking for a fabulous independent children's bookstore to support, this is an amazing one. We are lucky to have them in Central Ohio!

The Moon

The 50th anniversary of the first moon landing has come and gone, but these books need a belated spotlight.

Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11
by Brian Floca
Review copy compliments of Richard Jackson Books, 2019

The Kirkus review for this revised 2019 edition:

“A fresh, expanded edition of Floca’s top-drawer tribute to the first moon landing, which won a Sibert honor in 2010. New here is an early nod to the “thousands of people” who worked behind the scenes to make the mission a success... and a much-enlarged account of Apollo 11’s return flight to Earth. Both include new art: For the first, a set of vignettes clearly depicts women and people of color playing prominent roles (including a recognizable Katherine Johnson), and for the second, the 2009 original’s two pages grow to eight, climaxed by a close-up of the command module Columbia’s furious, fiery re-entry. The narrative... remains as stately and dramatic as ever.... Minor changes in other illustrations and added or clarified details in the text add further life and luster to a soaring commemoration of our space program’s most spectacular achievement. This is the rare revised edition that adds enough new material to demand purchase. Still essential reading, more so than ever for being broader in scope and more balanced of presentation than the original.”

I can't wait to share the story of how Brian Floca revised this book to be more inclusive!

Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon
by Suzanne Slade
illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez
Peachtree Publishing Company, 2018

This gorgeously illustrated nonfiction long-form picture-book-in-verse begins with the dream of space travel and the loss of President John F. Kennedy. Then comes Apollo 1 and the loss of the first three Apollo astronauts. Apollo 2 is grounded and plans for Apollo 3 cancelled. Apollos 4-6 are unmanned and have mixed successes. Apollo 7 takes men into space successfully. Apollo 8 flies around to the far side of the moon and back. Apollo 9 astronauts are the first to walk in space. Apollo 10 scouts a landing spot on the moon. Finally, Apollo 11 achieves the dream of men on the moon.

At the end of each chapter is more information about each of the astronauts and photographs from the mission.

This would make a fabulous read aloud (text in verse AND nonfiction) and pairs nicely with Moonshot.

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo: A MUST-READ!

The book So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo was recommended to me by a few friends early last spring. I bought it, put it on my shelf and didn't get time to read it until another friend strongly recommended it to me again this summer.  I decided on the audiobook version which I highly recommend. The narrator is fabulous and listening to it in the car gave me chunks of reading at a time with time between to think and reflect. This book took me a bit of time to read--about 6 weeks. And I am so glad I didn't rush it.

This book is one I'd like to buy for everyone I know.  For my husband, my children, my friends and anyone I know who has been thinking about our role in changing things in. our world.  It is packed with information and stories that have helped me better understand issues of race and oppression. The author is incredible at sharing her understanding and she is very aware of the misconceptions and arguments people have about several of the subtopics. I so appreciated her honesty and directness. She is very clear and firm throughout the book and she gave me, as a reader,  knowledge and understanding that changed who I am and helped me realize what I could do differently on a day-to-day basis.  The Table of Contents helps to show some of the things she addresses and some questions that she answers:

This book is written for people who want to do a better job at understanding and acting when it comes to oppression--I don't think you'd pick this book up if you weren't committed to new learning.  I expected to learn from this book, but I really didn't expect for it to include as much as it did or to explain things with such depth. I felt like every 15 minute spurt required that I really stop, dig into my own biases, understandings, and actions, and figure out what each segment meant for me personally.  I liked the combination of information, stories from the author's life and the clear ways that she showed how things that may seem like "small things" are really very big things. This book really helped me better understand the systematic part of systematic racism and oppression.  It also put the few things that I did understand in a context that helped me see it differently I guess.

Ijeoma Oluo also focuses on action and helps us to see what we can and should do in our every day lives to make a difference---to act instead of merely work to understand.  I have read several other articles by the author since finishing this book and I'd buy anything she writes from now on.  She is one of those people that I'd love to hear speak sometime so I will definitely keep an eye on the events page of her website.

This is a must read for sure. So much to think and talk about. I am anxious for others I know to read it so that we can talk through some of the ideas.

Making Time and Place for Nonfiction: Bat Citizens by Rob Laidlaw

I love discovering great new nonfiction books, especially when a great new book leads me to an author who is new-to-me. Last week I picked up Bat Citizens: Defending the Ninjas of the Night.

First of all, when I think about topics that might engage kids who don't typically read nonfiction, bats seems like a great topic.  And not only is this book about bats but the focus is on the importance of bats in our ecosystems. It is packed with information but it is also packed with information that is connected to a bigger topic which I think is important.

The layout of the pages are inviting. Lots of text on each page along with great photos and supporting facts.  Although there is a lot of text on the page, the font makes it accessible.  There are many supports for readers--a Table of Contents, Headings and Subheadings, captions, a glossary, an index and more. The book is about 48 pages long which seems a perfect length for readers who are moving to longer nonfiction.

My favorite feature of the book is the "Bat Citizen" feature.  Author Rob Laidlaw highlights 10+ bat activists--young people who are doing something to protect and help bats in some way. This is a great feature as it not only highlights kids who are making a difference, it will also help us expand our definition of the word "citizen".

Many of the Bat Citizens are part of the "Bat Squad" and the many resources for kids/by kids on the Bat Conservation International website. Lots of great resources that I'll need to explore more and so much of this connects to our life science unit of study.

As I mentioned early in the post, I immediately checked out the author--Rob Laidlaw-- after I fell in love with this book and he has so many other books that I think my students would enjoy.  He is passionate about protecting animals and shares his knowledge in a way that is perfect for middle grade students. Each book focuses on a topic such as Animal Captivity or Animal Parades. I am considering reading one of these as a read aloud and I am definitely going to check all of his other books out soon. I imagine many will be added to our classroom library and these may be the books that hook some of my students on nonfiction reading.

Making Time and Space for Nonfiction: Being the Change by Sara Ahmed

Now, consider what kinds of beliefs can take root if we don't provide opportunities for kids to become better informed, if we leave them to ponder these questions with only their assumptions as their guide, and offer no time to mitigate their fears with knowledge. (p. 76)

I just finished reading Sara Ahmed's new book Being the Change:  Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension by Sara Ahmed.  This book is about far more than nonfiction but I do think Sara takes us on a journey and helps us think about ways to support our readers in making sense of their world.  Within this context, there is so much to think about when we think about the nonfiction readers in our classroom. 

Social comprehension, as Sara defines it in the introduction, is, "like academic comprehension, is how we make meaning from and mediate our relationship with the world We understand that the meaning making, or socialization, is learned, not inherited."  

Following the introduction, Sara takes us through her thinking and planning for social comprehension work in the classroom.  The first half of the book focuses on knowing ourselves, thinking about our identities and biases and the learning about others. The second half or the book focuses on being informed, understanding how our identities impact us, and  understanding others' perspectives.

There is much to learn from Sara in this new book and I am anxious to see where some of these strategies take us in our classroom next year. Sara shares her thinking as well as words she might use to model and share with her students.  She shares resources and strategies for troubleshooting.  This book has changed the way I am thinking bout the beginning of the school year.

Sara teaches us many things about social comprehension and nonfiction reading is a part of that. But the gift of this book is in the big picture of her message--the powerful ways to help our students in making sense of the world we live in.  Her message of student empowerment is a strong one and the ways that we can help our students respond to their worlds by understanding themselves and others and by understanding the power of being informed is critical for our classrooms today.

If you have not checked out the #cyberpd chat around this book, it is happening now!

Making Time and Space for Nonfiction: Mock Orbis Pictus Award

One of my goals this year is to make sure that nonfiction is more valued in the classroom. I want students to find nonfiction they enjoy reading--books they read because it's interesting--not because it's for school, a project, etc. I just want them to think about nonfiction in ways that invite joy and wonder.

One thing I noticed last year was that I didn't focus on nonfiction enough early in the year.  I didn't read enough nonfiction as part of #classroombookaday.  I didn't booktalk enough nonfiction. So this year, I hope to do better.

I think participating in NCTE's Mock Orbis Pictus Award will help us start the year thinking about nonfiction in new ways.  I spent some time this week looking closely at the Orbis Pictus Award criteria and I think talking around these things will open up great conversations around nonfiction--it will give us all a new way to think about and analyze nonfiction, which in turn will probably make us better readers of nonfiction. It will also help us think about credible sources, the ways visuals and text work together and more.

The Orbis Pictus Award criteria (taken directly from the NCTE site) includes the following:

• Accuracy—current and complete facts, balance of fact and theory, varying points of view, avoidance of stereotypes, author’s qualifications adequate, appropriate scope, authenticity of detail
• Organization—logical development, clear sequence, interrelationships indicated, patterns provided (general-to-specific, simple-to-complex, etc.)
• Design—attractive, readable; illustrations that complement text, placement of illustrative material appropriate and complementary; appropriate media, format, type
• Style—writing is interesting and stimulating, reveals author’s enthusiasm for subject; curiosity and wonder encouraged; appropriate terminology, rich language

So far, I've added several nonfiction titles to the classroom library. Some that I think will be interesting to think about as we participate in Mock Orbis are:

Otis and Will Discover the Deep,  Write to Me, Ski Soldier, The Brilliant Deep and Curiosity.

I will continue to keep up with nonfiction and am excited about approaching nonfiction in this way this fall with my students.

If you know of any great 2018 nonfiction books we should read and discuss as part of our #NCTEMockOrbis work, let me know in the comments! Hoping to see lots of people talking about this on Twitter and Instagram as we share great new nonfiction titles. Check out the link and join us!

Making Time and Space for Nonfiction: Books for Writers

This year, I am committed to reading and thinking more about nonfiction in the classroom. That means I will make more time to read more nonfiction so that I know more nonfiction. That way, I can book talk it, share in conferences, read aloud and more. So this year, I plan to do a weekly series, "Making Time and Space for Nonfiction". Every (hopefully) Wednesday on the blog, I'll share some nonfiction thinking--a book I've read, something that happened in the classroom, some learning I did, etc. This will help me stick to my goal throughout the year and help me reflect on my learning and thinking about nonfiction
We have a basket of books in the classroom library that is rarely used. This is a basket of books for writers--books to help writers in some way. The books are fantastic and I've never thought about them as nonfiction but I realize most of them do fall under the category of nonfiction. Most of the books in the basket serve to help writers try something different.

I tend to buy lots of these because I find short texts are perfect for minilesson and small group work. I often use excerpts from these books in mini lessons or with small groups. But it is very seldom that a child chooses to go to one of these books on his/her own.

I realize I haven't done enough to teach students how and when to use these books. There are so many ways people enter books like this and I think a few mini lessons book talking these books, sharing ways to dip into the books, reading some parts aloud, etc. may make these more accessible for students. I also hadn't thought about helping kids see how online resources from some authors do similar things and that writing workshop might be the time you read/view this type of text. Creating a multimedia text set for writers seems important for the coming year.

One thing that I am learning already is that there are so many kinds of nonfiction--far more than any one list can cover.  I had never really thought about these as specifically nonfiction but I think the definitely fall into that category (or at least parts of each one do) and my role is to help make them more accessible to writers in the classroom.

At last week's Scholastic Reading Summit in Denver, Stephanie Harvey reminded us to "Look across the curriculum and make sure reading is embedded in every part of the day."  We definitely read during writing workshop but I am not sure we read the kind of nonfiction that would help us as writers during that time.  I am thinking I need a shelf of books for writers-something a little separate--even though all books can serve as mentors to writers, those books written specifically for writers may need their own more accessible space this year as I think about inviting more nonfiction reading.

Books in this basket currently include:

Writing Radar: Using Your Journal to Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories by Jack Gantos

Our Story Begins:  Your Favorite Authors and Illustrators Share Fun, Inspiring and Occasional Ridiculous Things They Wrote as Kids

The Creativity Project: An Awesometastic Story Collection by Colby Sharp

A Writer's Notebook, How Writers Work, Live Writing,  and Poetry Matters by Ralph Fletcher

Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook by Ellen Potter and Anne Mazer

Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly by Gail Carson Levine

Comics Confidential: Thirteen Graphic Novelists Talk Story, Craft and Life Outside the Box by Leonard S. Marcus

Online Resources to be Included in This Text Set

Melissa Stewart's Site-Revision Timelines as well as her Behind the Books posts on her blog

Write with Jess Keating: Write with Jess Keating Series--10 videos

Making Time and Space for Nonfiction: Otis and Will Discover the Deep

This year, I am committed to reading and thinking more about nonfiction in the classroom. That means I will make more time to read more nonfiction so that I know more nonfiction. That way, I can book talk it, share in conferences, read aloud and more.  So this year, I plan to do a weekly series, "Making Time and Space for Nonfiction". Every (hopefully) Wednesday on the blog, I'll share some nonfiction thinking--a book I've read, something that happened in the classroom, some learning I did, etc.  This will help me stick to my goal throughout the year and help me reflect on my learning and thinking about nonfiction.

As part of my summer reading, I am trying to read more nonfiction. One book I read this week was Otis and Will Discover the Deep by Barb Rosenstock. I was expecting a picture book biography and I guess this book would fit into that category but it is a bit more.  This is the story of Otis Barton and Will Beebe who were the first people to discover the deep of the ocean.  Their Bathysphere was a device that they created to do just that. I loved the story of how these two men collaborated over time.   There is a lot to this story in terms of problem solving, collaboration, and adventure. This is a good example of a book that got me interested in an idea I didn't even know I was interested in before reading. 

The Author's and Illustrator's note at the end of the book give more interesting information and include some authentic photos. There is also a note from Constance Carter, Former Head of Science Reference at the Library of Congress who worked with Will Beebee.

The other interesting thing about this book is that it is illustrated by Katherine Roy. You may know her from her fabulous books How to Be and Elephant and Neighborhood Sharks. I am getting better at knowing authors and illustrators of nonfiction. Roy's illustrations are perfect for this story.

I'm looking forward to sharing this book with kids this fall.

Two New Seymour Simon Books

Horses (Updated Edition)
by Seymour Simon
HarperCollins, 2017

Water
by Seymour Simon
HarperCollins, 2017


"Simon may have done more than any other living author to help us understand and appreciate the beauty of our planet and our universe." -- Kirkus Reviews

Not only that, but he can teach our students to write with clarity and organization. Look no further than one of Seymour Simon's books and you'll find great introductions and conclusions, and paragraphs that contain ideas all on one topic.

Dream Big Dreams

Dream Big Dreams: Photographs from Barack Obama's Inspiring and Historic Presidency

by Pete Souza

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2017

Inspirational is the best word for this book.

The introduction explains the job of Official White House Photographer. The table of contents say as much as the photos and their captions about our 44th President:

Be Kind and Respectful
Work Hard
Make Time for Family
Show Compassion
Have Fun
Dream Big Dreams

Would that we all lived lives that could be outlined with those topics.

You WILL Like These Two Books!

I (Don't) Like Snakes
by Nicola Davies
Illustrated by Luciano Lozano
Candlewick Press, 2015

The little girl doesn't like snakes, and her family tries valiantly to convince her otherwise.

Give Bees a Chance
by Bethany Barton
Viking Books for Young Readers, 2017

The narrator and his (?) friend Edgar like all the same things...except for bees. The narrator convinces Edgar (and readers) of the importance of bees.

New Books from Weekend with The Literacy Connection Part 2

Of course Beth from Selections Books had SOOOO many books that were new-to-me. I try to keep up with new books and I count on Beth to share the best new that there is when I see her. She had some great new nonfiction that I know my kids will love.  Here is what I bought:

Trickiest: 19 Sneaky Animals by Steve Jenkins (There is a partner book to this called Deadliest!)

Penguins vs. Puffins, by Julie Beer, a National Geographic Kids title--For kids who love The Who Would Win series, this is a great ladder for them.

Song of the Wild: A First Book of Animals by Nicola Davies--The writing in this book is incredible and will be part of many mini lessons I imagine.

50 Cities of the U.S.A. by Gabrielle Balkin and Sol Linero--so much on every page and not all capital cities--a different way to look at US cities I think!

These all seem perfect for 5th graders!

Learning from Debbie Reese

I love the Educator Collaborative and look forward to their Fall Gathering each year. This year I was thrilled to see that Debbie Reese would be the opening keynote for this event.  I have followed Debbie's blog and tweets for years but have never heard her speak so I thank The Educator Collaborative for giving me that opportunity.  If you don't know her blog, it is American Indians in Children's Literature. And you can follow her on Twitter at @debreese. If you did not get a chance to see her talk, you can watch the recording at the Educator Collaborative site. (You can watch ALL of the recorded sessions on the site!)

During the session, Debbie recommended a few books. I've been able to read a few and highly recommend the following from Debbie's list. I am hoping to read the others she recommends in the near future but these 3 seem like must-haves.

I Am Not a Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer is the story of a girl who was taken from her family to live in a residential school.  This is not an easy read as it highlights awful treatment of children.  The story is an important on. Debbie Reese's review is here on her blog.

When We Were Alone by David Robertson would make a good companion to I Am Not a Number. A grandmother is talking to her granddaughter about important things that she holds dear--things that were taken away during her time in a residential school. Debbie Reese's review is here on her blog.

Mission to Space by John Herrington is one I've already shared with my students and it invited good conversations. This is the story of astronaut John Herrington. This book includes information about being an astronaut as well as information about the Chickasaw Nation, Debbie's review is here on her blog. (The 4 descriptors at the top of this post are important for all of us as we read new books.)

Rhino in the House

 

What? Doesn't everyone have a rhino in their living room?

You mean there are people out there who don't have a rhino who competes with the cat for a spot on their lap?

You're telling me that your pet rhino doesn't have a favorite read aloud?

Rhino in the House: The True Story of Saving Samia
by Danial Kirk
Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2017
review copy...well, I had to have it, didn't I?

Rhinos are my spirit animal, so when Cover to Cover Children's Books started their inventory reduction sale before their move, the rhino who'd been living there for a few years came home with us.

At our other favorite local independent bookstore, Gramercy Books, I found this book and now I have an easy answer when anyone asks me who I would be if I could go back to any time in history. I would be Anna Merz so I could start a rhino sanctuary, find an abandoned baby rhino, and raise it in my own home. I would name her Samia, and I'd put her to sleep by letting her curl up on my lap while I sat in bed reading aloud to her to calm her down. I would learn what her grunts, squeaks, snorts, and toots meant. And I would help her transition to being an independent wild rhino. Oh, the adventures we would have together!

The story of Anna Merz's dedication to the conservation of endangered species, especially rhinos, is touching and funny, but most of all, inspirational. We need to raise up a new generation with her passion for doing the right thing and making the world right again.