The Importance of Names

My Name is Sangoel

by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed

Illustrated by Catherine Stock

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2009

review copy provided by the publisher

This is the story of a Sudanese boy who is leaving the refugee camp for America. When he leaves, the Wise One says, "Don't worry. You carry a Dinka name. It is the name of your father and of your ancestors before him....You will always be a Dinka. You will be Sangoel. Even in America."

Everyone Sangoel meets in America mispronounces his name -- the lady who meets them at the airport and takes them to their new apartment, the doctor who checks him, his teacher, the soccer coach. Sangoel corrects them too quietly to be heard and winds up feeling like he has lost his name. Then he has the idea of making a shirt that shows his name in pictures. He draws a sun and a soccer goal, and when he gets to school, he gets his name back: it is pronounced Sun-goal, not San-go-el as an English speaker might parse it.

Names are intensely important. They are the core of our identity. In the real world, I hope every teacher and coach ASKS a child to pronounce an unusual name so that they get it right from the beginning and the child does not have to fight for his or her identity. I'm a little extra sensitive to this issue since I teach in a school where just this year I have learned names from Africa, China, Japan, Korea, India, Iran, Iraq, and Russia.

Related books: Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate is a novel in verse about a refugee from Africa.

My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits is about a Korean girl who struggles to accept her given name.

21st Dublin Literacy Conference--February 2010

If you've been reading our blog over the years, then you know we are both involved in the planning of the Dublin Literacy Conference. This is a one-day (Saturday) conference run by teachers in our district. Each year, we invite 4 professional authors and 4 children's authors to speak at the conference. Along with the featured authors, there are 40 concurrent sessions that participants can attend. We get between 400-800 teachers from Ohio and beyond each year.

The conference will be celebrating its 21st year in February and we have a great line-up of speakers and sessions planned. Since it is the 21st year of the conference, we thought it would be appropriate to go with a 21st Century theme. This year, our featured professional speakers are Dr. Tim Tyson, Kevin Hodgson, Katie Van Sluys and Ann Marie Corgill. Our featured children's authors are Melissa Sweet, Patrick Carman, David J. Smith and Denise Fleming.

Visit the Dublin Literacy Conference Page of the district website if you'd like to learn more. We hope you can join us this year. It is always a great day!!

And the New National Ambassador for Young People's Literature is...

Yesterday, here at A Year of Reading, we celebrated the amazing work of Jon Scieszka as our very first National Ambassador of Children's Lit. If you haven't had time, take the time to read each and every one of the great posts that were part of our virtual party for Jon. A true reminder of his great work. Everyone was saying such amazing things about Jon Scieszka and his work that we were glad he got word about it and stopped by. We didn't want him to miss his own party. And if you missed Jon Scieszka's comment about the party and his thanks to the Kidlitosphere, here it is:

Jon Scieszka said...
Are you kidding me?
I'm laughing. I'm crying. I'm crossing swords.

I'm in my hotel room in DC, getting ready to hand over the Ambassador Orb to the ever-amazing Katherine Paterson tomorrow morning . . . when a friend clues me in to this Scieszka-Palooza going on at A Year of Reading.

I am stunned with gratitude. This is exactly why I love our world of kids' books – the amazing bunch of people in it.

You all made my job easy. Thanks for your support, your thanks, and your craziness.

We are pretty sure that Jon Scieszka's work has changed the world of children's books forever.

And not only that but we just found out that, once again, we luck out in the world of children's books because today, at 10 am, another of our VERY FAVORITE PEOPLE, Katherine Paterson, will be named as the 2nd Ambassador of Young People's Literature. We couldn't be happier.

2 New Picture Books About Making a Difference in the World

I never pass up a book that is about ways people can make a difference in the world. I am building up quite a collection. I picked up two new ones this week at Cover to Cover.

WEEZER CHANGES THE WORLD by David McPhail is one that I fell in love with right away. The story is simple--Weezer is a regular dog and does all of the things that regular dogs do. Then one day something changes and Weezer changes. He starts helping out around the house, helping kids with their homework and more. As the days go on, his helping gets bigger and bigger. He helps the world avoid natural disasters and discovers ways to keep the air clean. But just as quickly as Weezer changed early in the book, he changes again and goes back to being a regular dog. The ending of the book is my favorite (I am going to give it away right here...) "Weezer had become a plain old dog again--an ordinary, fun loving, much-loved dog. But the people of the world? Because of Weezer, they were changed forever."

The other book is PAULIE PASTRAMI ACHIEVES WORLD PEACE by James Proimos. First of all, how could I not buy a book about a boy named Paulie Pastrami? What a great name! Paulie was a regular eight year old. Regular except that he achieved world peace. The book tells the story of how Paulie, a regular eight year old boy, did this. He did this by being kind and by doing things for others. This is a fun book--the illustrations make it a fun read and the message is a great one.

THANK YOU, JON SCIESZKA!

On January 3, 2008, the Library of Congress named Jon Scieszka "Inaugural National Ambassador for Young People's Literature". The world of children's literature could not have been happier! Jon Scieszka took his role seriously from the first minute and made a huge impact on children's reading. Jon Scieszka (See here for the official pronunciation of his name) had already been an unofficial ambassador. His work has been influential and important for as long as I can remember. (If you have not had a chance to read his latest article reflecting on his term, it sums up so much of what he believes and so much of why he was the perfect inaugural Ambassador!) As the Library of Congress gets ready to announce the next Ambassador, The Kidlitosphere wants to take this opportunity to thank Jon Scieszka for all that he has done over the last two years.

We have always been fans of Jon Scieszka and his work. We met Jon Scieszka years and years ago when he spoke at one of our first Dublin Literacy Conferences. You can see in the photo that I am much younger. This was probably 18 years ago as that is my 19 year old daughter that I am holding. Jon Scieszka was a featured author after the publication of his great book, The True Story of the Three Pigs. We have been huge fans every since. From GuysRead to Knucklehead to Trucktown, Jon Scieszka continues to make an impact on children and reading in all that he does. Join us in celebrating Jon Scieszka's work! Thank you Jon Scieszka!

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THE KIDLITOSPHERE SAYS, THANK YOU, JON SCIESZKA!!

Sara at Read Write Believe says There Should Be Laughter.

Mary at Writing a Book takes time out from all things Maasai to say Thank You!

Wendie at Wendie's Wanderings appreciates Scieszka's representation of all children's book writers.

Corinne at Paper Tigers shares Scieszka's reflections on his term along with her words of appreciation.

Kristine at bestbookihavenotread declares Scieszka to be Ambassador Extraordinaire!

Mary Ann at Great Kid Books proposes a toast to Jon Scieszka...with Fresca, of course!

Monica at educating alice thanks Scieszka with a whole LIST of great qualities.

Candace at BookBookerBookest teaches us (with lessons and a poem) to spell Scieszka.

Stacy at Welcome to My Tweendom thanks Scieszka for writing for ALL ages.

Kevin at Kevin's Meandering Mind thanks Scieszka for making reading and writing FUN!

Stella at My World-Mi Mundo says GRACIAS to Scieszka and takes us down the "path" of his life as a teacher and writer.

Travis at 100 Scope Notes shares his Scieszka tribute, not surprisingly, as a comic.

Greg at GottaBook cheers for the first ambassador with a reissue of Scieszka's poem for GottaBook's 30 Poets/30 Days project last April.

Laura at laurasalas: Writing the World for Kids has a surprising (but appropriate) thank you for Scieszka!

Tanya at books4yourkids.com shares a round of applause for Scieszka from the parent perspective.

Reading Tub at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub is one of Scieszka's most recent and enthusiastic fans.

Jeanne at Teaching Authors offers Scieszka multiple blessings.

Betsy at A Fuse #8 Production celebrates Scieszka, not surprisingly, with videos!

At Booklights, Jen Robinson reminds us of so many of Jon Scieszka's great books and accomplishments!

Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect highlights two key Scieszka books in her tribute.

Boni at Life On the Bookshelf attributes her desire to write children's books to one of Jon Scieszka's books!

Abby at Abby (the) Librarian can't imagine a better choice for First Ambassador than Jon Scieszka.

Jules at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast has a fabulous caricature of Sciezka and great memories from his 2007 interview at 7-Imp.

Tasha at Kids Lit keeps Scieszka books in her "never fail" pile.

Jarrett at the JJK Blog has a fabulous story about how Jon Scieszka came to be on his Book by Book video.

Patrick at All-en-A-Day's Work elaborates on the word AMBASSADOR and finds that Scieszka is "all that" and more.

MotherReader feels like she KNOWS Jon Scieszka.

Marge at Tiny Tips for Library Fun sends her PROPSZ to Jon Scieszka.

Brimful Curiosities shares family stories of love for Scieszka's books.

Kathy at forwordsbooks finds Jewish values in Scieszka's very secular books. There is even a fabulous connection to the Torah today!

Elizabeth at Elizabeth O. Dulemba shares her favorite Scieszka book.

Teaching Heart Mom puts The True Story of the Three Little Pigs at the top of her list of 10 Favorite Children's Books.

Madigan at Madigan Reads remembers hearing Scieszka speak at the 2009 L.A. Festival of Books.

a. fortis at Finding Wonderland speculates about Jon Scieszka's shoe size...since they'll be big ones to fill!

Carl at Boys Rule! Boys Read! chooses Knucklehead as his favorite JS book.

Karen at Literate Lives thanks Jon Scieszka for writing stories that boys can SO relate to (I agree with her about the "sword fight" chapter in Knucklehead!)

Kelly at Writing and Ruminating has a great thank you to the" all-around good guy" that he is. Liz at Liz in Ink thanks Jon for bringing both humor and seriousness to the role of National Ambassador.

Sarah at The Reading Zone can relate to Scieszka's experiences growing up since she was the oldest of 6!

4IQRead adds her thanks to the list.

GreenBeanTeenQueen remembers meeting Scieszka at ALA last June.

kristydempsey once shared the stage with Jon Scieszka.

Matthew Holm says Thanks!

Shelly at Two Learning Journeys is thankful for the Guys Read website.

Brianna at The Paper Wait is inspired by Scieszka's writing.

Carol at Carol's Corner has an AMAZING poetic tribute to Ambassador Scieszka.

December Mosaic

Well, I made it! 365 pictures for the year! (here are all the mosaics and here is my Flickr photostream)

December was probably the hardest month to stay with this. I know, I know. So close and I couldn't hold it together at the end? There were a couple of factors: it is a WAY busy month and it is the beginning of The Darkness. I remember now how hard it was to get photos back in January and February when I drove to school in the dark and drove home from school in the dark.

Will I do this again in 2010? Absolutely.

Will I do anything differently? Yes. Rather than numbering the photos in the comment area of Flickr, I am going to write about the photo or the day I took it or whatever else occurs to me -- I want to use my photos as prompts in a sort of visual or digital writer's notebook.

We'll see how that goes. I always feel like I have too much that MUST be done and here I've gone and added something to the pile. But taking photos all year helped me to see and interact with the world in new ways, and that made my life richer. It seems fair to add things to the to-do list that make me a better person, doesn't it?

It's that urge to improve myself that started me reading 52+ children's novels a year starting back in 1987, kept me going to tai chi this year, and got my swim back up to a mile this month. It's why I'm going to try to bake bread once a month and send more postal mail this year.

Happy 2010. Let's work to make that less of a wish and more of a promise to ourselves and those around us.

The Best Book About a Girl Who Wants a Dog!

I love the new book A SMALL BROWN DOG WITH A WET PINK NOSE by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen and illustrated by Linzie Hunter. Kids love dog books so I am always happy when I find another great one. You can tell this one will be fun and unique from the front cover. At first, I thought it was going to be just another girl-wants-a-dog book but this one is much more fun than many I've read before.

"Amelia wanted a dog. But not just any dog. Every day she asked her parents, 'May I have a small brown dog with a wet pink nose?"

And every day her parents said no. They just weren't ready for a dog.

But, Amelia kept asking and asking and asking.

Amelia changes her tactics early in the book and it is fun to see the clever ways Amelia continues the conversation about getting that dog she's always wanted.

And I can't give away the ending--you'll have to read it to find out.

I think this one will definitely be a read aloud in the library. I think kids will love it!

BLOG BIRTHDAY!

Four years ago today we started this blog! Hard to believe we've been at it that long, but we are still having LOADS of fun!

Here are some of our blog features that have been going strong all four years:

100 Cool Teachers of Children's Literature

Poetry Friday

Elf Yourself

Newbery Predictions (Clearly, a goal for the next 4 years could be More Consistent Tagging. Here are some posts tagged "Potential Newbery" and here are a few more tagged "Newbery," but I know there are more hiding in the archives...)

New features this year:

Our 21st Century Literacies posts

Franki's "Books I Could Read A Million Times"

Our most commented on (non-Poetry Friday) posts this year:

Franki's Scaredy Squirrel Halloween Costume

Mary Lee's stop-action video of setting up her desk at school

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Dublin bloggers

National Day on Writing KitLitCon09 Video

Our most commented on Poetry Friday posts this year:

January 16 -- Part for the Whole

February 27 -- No Words to Describe

March 27 -- New Car

November 12 -- Veteran's Day Coincidence

THANK YOU, READERS AND FOLLOWERS, COMMENTERS AND LURKERS, FOR A GREAT 4 YEARS AND LOTS MORE TO COME!!! --MARY LEE AND FRANKI

Poetry Friday -- Round Up is Here!

Ah Poverties, Wincings, and Sulky Retreats

by Walt Whitman

Ah poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats,
Ah you foes that in conflict have overcome me,
(For what is my life or any man's life but a conflict with foes,
the old, the incessant war?)
You degredations, you tussle with passions and appetites,
You smarts from dissatisfied friendships, (ah wounds the
sharpest of all!)
You toil of painful and choked articulations, you meannesses,
You shallow tongue-talks at tables, (my tongue the shallowest of
any;)
You broken resolutions, you racking angers, you smother'd
ennuis!
Ah think not you finally triumph, my real self has yet to come
forth,
It shall yet march forth o'ermastering, till all lies beneath me,
It shall yet stand up the soldier of ultimate victory.

Mr. Whitman seems to have our number on this last day of a wrinkled, dog-eared, tea-stained old year. (Speaking of numbers, what will we call this year: twenty-ten or two thousand ten?)

On the last day of the year, we teeter-totter between looking back at the disappointments and failures of 2009 and looking forward to the shiny possibilities of 2010. (Come on "real self," I'm cheering for some "ultimate victory" this year!!)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Happy New Year and welcome, all, to the first Poetry Friday of the year! Leave your link in the comments; I'll update throughout the day, with a couple of hours off at some point to eat pork roast and sauerkraut.

Christine at The Simple and the Ordinary is first in! Her daughter wrote an original poem for the New Year, in which she ponders the perpetual end of the world.

Jama at jama rattigan's alphabet soup has a beautiful and haunting version of Auld Lange Syne.

Charles Ghigna at Father Goose is celebrating a new grandson at the end of an old year.

Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect starts the year with a poem about the push and pull of life. The poetry stretch results for this week are all poems about beginnings and endings.

Julie at The Drift Record greets us with Auld Lange Syne on glassharp, and then shares a sweet tribute to winter reading by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Diane at Random Noodling has a New Year haiku for the Year of the Tiger.

Greg at GottaBook shares an original about resolutions.

Tanita at Tanita S. Davis chose two quiet, thoughtful poems by Rainer Maria Rilke to start our new year. (Here's the "faux cousin" reference in case you're curious. The story can be found in the comments. Still makes me smile!)

Sarah at Reading, Writing, Musing... has some Rumi for us today.

Linda at Write Time has an original "beginnings" poem from Tricia's poetry stretch.

Sally at The Write Sisters shares inspiration for making it through the dark days of late winter.

Andromeda at a wrung sponge wrote an endings and beginnings poem for Tricia's poetry stretch. As always, the images in her poem are as evocative as her photograph.

Irene at Live. Love. Explore! has a special treat for us -- a video of her father reading Shel Silverstein and a promise/goal of a video a week in 2010!

Liz at Liz in Ink wrote a poem for the new year this morning while her family was still asleep.

Lisa at Lisa in Little Rock starts off with haiku by Issa and ends with "To Mother" by Louisa May Alcott.

Carol at Carol's Corner found a January poem that seems to have been written just for her...and for the rest of us for whom images of house cleaning, new office supplies and a dissatisfaction with grading resonate!

TAKE A BREAK FROM POETRY AND CHECK OUT THE CYBILS SHORT LISTS.

Becky at Becky's Book Reviews reminds us that there's lots to celebrate in the new year: Be Glad Your Nose is On Your Face (which is actually a collection of poetry by Jack Prelutsky)!!

Lori at On Point has a tail-wagging haiku for the new year.

April at Teaching Authors has six word resolutions and goals! a book give-away! and a poem for the new year!

Erin at Miss Erin shares an original -- a strong statement with which to begin the new year.

What I Learned While Weeding Books at Home

When we got married, my husband told me he would never complain about me buying books. He believed (as I did) that you could never have too many books. He has been very good about it for 22+ years. He still doesn't say much but we both really had no idea how many books a person could accumulate in a lifetime. So, it was time to weed. I knew this but avoided it until I found this article via Twitter. It helped me get some motivation. I do not enjoy weeding books at all, but they seem to be taking over our house. Where will I put the new purchases of 2010 if there is no room?

One of the biggest issues for me is that all of the books from my classroom now live at home. In my current job as K-5 librarian, I had to bring my classroom library home. After teaching a variety of grades from K-5 over the last 20+ years, I could pretty much run a school in my basement. So many great books and they all serve some different purpose. Some are great for beginning readers. Some are perfect as mentor texts for writing. Others work when trying to explain complex math concepts to kids. It is hard to find even one book that I feel okay about weeding but I went book by book and am ready to take several huge boxes to the resale shop.

-Weeding at home is much more difficult than weeding in the school library. I can see the books more objectively in the library at school. There are not as many stories and histories tied to those. Home weeding is a little more difficult since each book has a little story or memory to go with it.

-Children's books will be given to school--we have a book swap at our school run by a parent in the building. Every few weeks, there is a table set up in the cafeteria where kids can swap book. Many times, we have so many donations that each child in the school can take a book. It is fun for the kids and a great way to pass children's books along. It is great fun to watch them choosing books at the table too. So thoughtful about their choices!

-much of the nonfiction is obsolete--easier to get rid of

-I went through phases of book purchasing and it shows on my bookshelves. When art in the classroom was a big push in elementaries, I purchased several biographies about artists. When kids in a class got hooked on an author, I picked up several books by that author.

-I have a great poetry collection and I LOVE IT!

-I need to organize the books so I can find them.....

-I tried to get rid of duplicates but for some books, I couldn't bear to part with one--you can never have too many copies of Silly Sally, can you?

-Some of the books that could easily be weeded were books that were "the book" for some student--the book that turned them into a reader. It is funny how a book can sit on a shelf in a classroom for years and then one child finds it and it changes them. So many of the books on my shelves have stories like that. That seems to be the problem with weeding as a teacher--you never know which book will hook a child in the future or which book will help a child through a hard time. Every book has potential for some child in the future.

-There are books I hope my own children will love as much as I did. I have shelves of books that are too much part of who I am to get rid of. They are my favorite shelves. Just looking at the spines makes me happy! (Walk Two Moons, Crossing to Safety, Living Out Loud...)

-My next-read stack has turned into a next-read room. I was feeling pretty confident that if there was a flu epidemic and we were stuck in the house for days, I would have enough reading. But there are just too many books I'll never get to. I figure someone else should enjoy them so I hesitantly weeded out several books that have made it too far down the next-read pile.

-I got rid of several self-help books. I seem to have quite the collection (I came across 3 copies of THIN THIGHS in 30 DAYS from the early 90s. I haven't used the book since the early 90s but I cannot bring myself to weed any of the 3 copies...) The potential is always there with a copy of the book in every room, right?

-Professional books were harder to weed than I thought. So much thinking comes from the learning I've done from professional reading. Every book has changed my thinking in some way. And I go back to them, even the older ones, often. So I didn't get rid of much there.

-Nonfiction for children has gotten so much better in the last decade. So many of the books that I kept from my classrooms just aren't the quality of the books that are being published now. So much more like an encyclopedia and far less engaging/reader friendly.

-I can't part with any books by Charlotte Zolotow, Anna Quindlen, Lois Lowy and others who are on my list of favorites.

We all weeded some books--piled them up and held a family contest. How many books were we weeding? Everyone got one guess and the winner won $5. My youngest daughter won. Her guess was 213. In reality, we weeded close to 300 books. About 200 are going to the resale store and the 100 children's books are going to the Book Swap.

It was a hard process but you should see all the shelf space we have! So, the good news is that we have lots of space to put the new books we'll buy in 2010!