Thursday, January 04, 2007

More Great 2006 Picture Books

Reading the 111 books for the CYBILS was quite fun! I loved talking about which we would shortlist. But, I also loved finding some surprises in the boxes. I found several GREAT picture books that I hadn't seen before. Emily at Whimsy Books reviewed one of them this week. I thought I'd highlight two others that I fell in love with.


A PLACE WHERE SUNFLOWERS GROW by Amy Lee-Tai—
This story is told in English and in Japanese. It is the story of a little girl living in the Japanese Internment camps, homesick for the beauty of her old life. This story is based on a true story of the author’s grandmother and is a a great story of hope.

A COACH'S LETTER TO HIS SON by Mel Allen is an essay in picture book form. I am always looking for great essays to share with my students, either for booktalking or for samples of good writing in the genre. A father speaks to his son about the way baseball has changed and hopes to regain the joy of the game in this time of competitive, organized sports.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Donald Murray's Influence

Those of us in literacy education have all been impacted by the work of Donald Murray. His work with teachers and writers has taught us all so much. He passed away last week and his final column for the Boston Globe was published this week. I never knew him personally, but his work has been a huge influence on my own work and my own writing. The literacy community will definitely feel his loss.

PlanetEsme Picks

Esme of PlanetEsme picks her top 2006 books. She has some great categories and some great book titles. She has great categories ("Favorites for Sharing in a Classroom", "Mad me laugh the hardest"...)If you have any bookstore gift certificates left, there are some great books listed. (Ha! I know, it has been DAYS since you received those gift certificates. I know mine are all gone:-(

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

What a Great Year to be a Blogger!

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Happy Birthday to A Year of Reading! We are one year old today! What a great year it's been! We feel very lucky to be part of an amazing group of kid lit bloggers! We have so many people to thank--people who have made the kidlitosphere such fun!

We can use the term "kidlitosphere" thanks to Melissa's post at Here in the Bonny Glen when she invented it in June. It hit big and fast and was picked up by Wands and Worlds and made official by Liz at A Chair, A Fireplace, and A Tea Cozy. As of today's post, the word gets 538 Google hits when searched! Thanks Melissa!

Here are some other highlights from 2006!

In JANUARY, we had no idea what we were doing. So, there was probably a lot of great stuff going on but we totally missed it all!

In FEBRUARY, Betsy at Fuse#8 revealed her first Hot Men in Children's Literature which has become quite the tradition! Aside from her great book reviews and her knowledge of what is going on in the children's book world, the Hot Men are another fun thing to look forward to regularly from Fuse #8.

Also in FEBRUARY, Kelly at Big A, Little a published the first issue of The Edge of the Forest! This has been a great monthly online journal that we all look forward to!

In MARCH, Gregory K at GottaBook started to share his ODDAPTATAIONS which have been quite fun to read and try!

Poetry Friday was also instituted in MARCH! So many of us participate in that each Friday. Thanks, Kelly!

In APRIL, Gregory shared his first Fib which have also become something we all look forward to on his blog.

In MAY, Mother Reader issued the 48-Hour Book Challenge. We did not notice this until it was well under way. (We had just discovered Mother Reader and became quickly addicted!). We were VERY disappointed about not participating but we are anxiously awaiting the 2007 Book Challenge as well as any other contests that Mother Reader devises!

Read Roger was the first kid-lit blog that we discovered! He hooked us into the blogging world and connected us to so many of our other favorites! In JUNE, Read Roger let us know that Nina, of Nina's Newbery would be the 2008 Chair of the Newbery Committee. Since our blog started out as a way to think about the Newbery, we were very excited to start reading Nina's blog!

In JUNE, Jen Robinson had the great idea to compile a list of Cool Girls in Children's Literature and Cool Boys in Children's Literature. What great lists! She inspired many of us to start our own lists. In JULY, we started collecting our list of 100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature. The Bookdragon compiled a list of Librarians in Children's Literature. Jen started a great trend and the kidlitosphere created some popular lists!


In AUGUST, we celebrated Blogday when we got tagged by A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozywith a blogday meme . We participated along with many other bloggers everywhere!

In August, Rick Riordan posted about summer reading and got many of us thinking and writing about that topic.


In SEPTEMBER, Educating Alice became one of our new beloved blogs and shared with us her thoughts about naming a blog .

In OCTOBER, BookBuds and Big A little a unveiled the CYBILS and Children's Literature Book Club created the logo. So many of us have had such a great time talking about the great books published in 2006 and the publishers have been very supportive. Thanks to Anne and Kelly.

In NOVEMBER, Amy at the SLJ Blog interviewed us for her blog!

We also attempted our first author interview in NOVEMBER with Ralph Fletcher.

DECEMBER was an exciting month!
3 Silly Chicks revealed the winner of their caption contest. We are still laughing and are amazed at how many clever entries there were! We had fun following the contest. More exciting news when author Mo Willems started a blog!!

Thanks, everyone! We've had a fun time blogging with all of you! Looking forward to our 2nd year:-)
Franki and Mary Lee

Monday, January 01, 2007

Happy New Year!

Lots going on in the Kidlitosphere today!
CYBILS are posted on several sites.
Many bloggers have posted favorites from 2006.
Liz at A Chair, A Fireplace, and A Tea Cozy has already started her list of Best Books of 2007!!

The very fun and creative Golden Fuse Awards have been unveiled.

Gregory at Gotta Book has a new Fib contest!

SLJ Blog has favorite posts of 2006 listed.

And one of my favorite January 1 posts, a great guest post by PunditMom on Mitch McDad's blog. A must read for all of us writing New Year's Resolutions.

Cybils Top 5s Are In!


THE ULTIMATE DAY OF TOP 5s!










Top 5 Poetry

Top 5 Nonfiction Picture Books

Top 5 Fiction Picture Books (Franki's committee)

Top 5 YA Fiction

Top 5 Nonfiction (Middle Grade and YA)

Top 5 Middle Grade Fiction

Top 5 Graphic Novels age 8-12 and
Top 5 Graphic Novels age 13+
(Mary Lee's committee)

Top 5 Fantasy and Science Fiction

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Year in Review Meme

I found this meme at A Wrung Sponge a few weeks ago. It seemed like another fun way to sum up our first year at A Year of Reading.

The game is to list the first sentence of the first post of each month.

January: Franki and I have taught in the same school district (but never in the same building) for about 20 years.
February: I feel like I never have enough time to read, but I spend all day reading.
March: The folks who give the ACT are recommending that we continue to teach reading all the way through 12th grade.
April: No, it's not a LITTLE WOMEN kick, so much as it is my compulsion to read books "in order."
May: My 5th grade Indian cultural informant and I agree, BINDI BABES was fun, but nearly as good as BLUE JASMINE (out in paperback, I saw, in a recent trip to Cover to Cover).
June: This reviewer (Dave Barry) obviously doesn't know what it's like to be a teacher.
July: My best book of 2006 dates clear back to April: THE BOOK OF STORY BEGINNINGS by Kristin Kladstrup. Nothing else has come close since then.
August: OK, Shannon, here is my case study.
September: From the Don Marquis website: "Archy is a cockroach with the soul of a poet, and Mehitabel is an alley cat with a celebrated past -- she claims she was Cleopatra in a previous life.
October: A previously unpublished poem by Robert Frost has been found! The poem, entitled "War Thoughts At Home" was found handwritten in the cover of a book, and will be published in Virginia Quarterly Review this week.
November: Nikki Grimes is this year's winner of NCTE's Award for Excellence in Poetry.
December: I am loving the new book called THE BUMP ON SANTA'S NOGGIN by Jeffrey Schatzer!

Top 5-o-rama, Day 5

For today's FINAL Top 5 we feature:

Top 5 Book-Related Audio Experiences for 2006

Mary Lee:
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (audio book)
I listened to this during my "time travel phase" this year, and it was more satisfying, creepy, eerie, and possible...maybe than the others. First audio book I've listened to that has sound effects.

March by Geraldine Brooks (audio book)
This was from my "Little Women phase" this year. It was fascinating to get this rich back history on one of the most invisible characters in Little Women.

The Writer's Almanac, Garrison Keillor (podcast)
My daily dose of poetry and literary history.

PoetryFoundation.org (podcast)
My weekly dose of indepth poetry. This is how I found Kay Ryan, one of my new favorite poets!

The Princeton Review Vocab Minute (podcast)
These are brilliant nuggets that teach vocabulary in a funfunfun way!


Franki:

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (audiobook)
A fascinating look at decision making and thinking.


Author Conversation: Peter Johnston
A great interview with the author of CHOICE WORDS about teachers and decision-making.

The First Annual CYBILS by Kelly and Anne
So exciting to be part of this!


Every Day: The Guatemala Song by Anna Huckabee Tull
A great song about a child born in Guatemala and adopted by parents far away. I've shared this one with many of our friends in the adoption community.

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
(Okay so I listened to this one in 2005, but the audiobook was sooo good that I had to include it!)

100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature

On July 23, 2006, the idea to try to list 100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature was born. Franki wrote,
"We're looking for thoughtful teachers who understand kids and learning and are active, intelligent people who love their work."

Here they are, in alphabetical order by author's last name. Most all of them were nominated by our readers, which you should take as a disclaimer that we haven't read all of these books, and we acknowledge that there may be (a very few, unintentional) errors in this list. If you see something that doesn't look quite right, be sure to let us know!

And by all means, as you encounter a teacher we don't have on our list, nominate him/her -- we'd love to collect MORE than 100 Cool Teachers!!!

1. Jo March in Little Men, Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott
Professor Bhaer in Little Men, by Louisa May Alcott
John Brooke in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Mr. P in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Miss Nelson in Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard
Ms. Bixby in Ms. Bixby's Last Day by John David Anderson
Ida Bidson in The Secret School by Avi
Ms. Isabel Hussey in Chasing Vermeer and The Wright Three by Blue Balliett
Mrs. Thurston in the thing about jellyfish by Ali Benjamin
Mrs. Kempezinski in Good Luck, Mrs. K by Louise Borden
Mrs. Morrow in The Day Eddie Met the Author by Louise Borden
the teacher in The A+ Custodian by Louise Borden
Mrs. Mallory in The Last Day of School by Louise Borden
Ms. Shepherd in Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande
Miss Hawthorn in Willow by Denise Brennan-Nelson and Rosemarie Brennan
Miss Parker in Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
Miss Perry in I Remember Miss Perry by Pat Brissom
Miss Temple in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Mr. Ratburn in the Arthur books by Marc Brown
Mr. Carter in the Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge
Mr. Terupt in Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea
Mr. Magro in The SOS File by Betsy Byars, Laurie Myers, and Betsy Duffey
the P.E. teacher in The Tequila Worm by Viola Canales
Mr. Champion in Did You Carry the Flag Today, Charley? by Rebecca Caudill

25. Miss Binney in Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
Mr. Maxwell in A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements
Mrs. Granger in Frindle by Andrew Clements
Ms. Clayton in School Story by Andrew Clements
Ted's teacher in Room One by Andrew Clements
Miss Pointy in Sahara Special by Esme Codell
Miss Frizzle in the Magic School Bus books by Joanna Cole
Miss Rumphius in Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
Miss Stretchberry in Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
Mr. Birkway in Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Miss Hendrickson in I Know Here by Laurel Croza
Iqbal in Iqbal by Francesco D'Admo
Miss Honey in Matilda by Roald Dahl
Mrs. Hartwell in the First Day and First Year books by Julie Danneberg
Ms. Finey in The Cat Ate My Gym Suit by Paula Danziger
the teacher of "Law for Children and Young People" in Can You Sue Your Parents For Malpractice? by Paula Danziger
Mr. Foster in Kat & Mouse by Alex deCampi
Mrs. Bowers in The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola
Nicholas Nickleby in Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
Mrs. McBloom in Mrs. McBloom, Clean Up Your Classroom by Kelly DiPucchio
Mrs. Howdy Doody in Dessert First by Hallie Durand
Madge Bettany in the Chalet School series (UK) by Elinor Brent Dyer
Miss Annersley in the Chalet School series (UK) by Elinor Brent Dyer
Ms. Sarah Melton in Mail Order Ninja by Joshua Elder
Mrs. Brook in Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

50. Miss Malarkey in Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind by Judy Finchler
Mr. Fabiano in Flying Solo by Ralph Fletcher
Juniper in Juniper and Wise Child by Monica Furlong
Rosalyn in The Wonder of Charlie Anne by Kimberly Newton Fusco
Miss Lupescu in The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Miss Smith in Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland
Mr. Kowsz in Happy Kid by Gail Gauthier
Mr. Felix in Thursday's Children by Rumer Godden
Mrs. Jones in Ban This Book by Alan Gratz
Miss Tizzy from Miss Tizzy by Libba Moore Gray
Mrs. Coleman-Levin in the Zack Files series by Dan Greenburg
Mrs. Dunphrey in Don't You Dare Read This Mrs. Dunphrey by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Olana in Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Miri in Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Ms. Washington in Ida B. by Katherine Hannigan
Miss Grey in the Betsy Brooks books by Carolyn Haywood
Mrs. Delphinium Twinkle in Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
Mr. Slinger in Lily's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
Mr. Carey in Naked Bunyip Dancing by Steven Herrick
Miss Meadows and Mrs. Rossi in Remembering Mrs. Rossi by Amy Hest
Miss Agnes in The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill
Mr. Beggs in Mountain Whippoorwill by Suellen Holland
Miss Loupe in Operation YES by Sara Lewis Holmes
Ms. Snickle in The Secrets of Ms. Snickle's Class by Laurie Miller Hornik
Great Aunt Arizona in My Great Aunt Arizona by Gloria Houston

75. Madame Lucille in Brontorina by James Howe
Mr. Blueberry in Dear Mr. Blueberry by Simon James
Mr. Lema in The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez
Anna in Amber on the Mountain by Tony Johnston
Mr. Meyer in Greetings from Planet Earth by Barbara Kerley
Ms. G in Me and Marvin Gardins by Amy Sarig King
Erica's teacher in Hating Alison Ashley by Robin Klein
Guy Francis in the "Regarding the..." series by Kate and Sarah Klise
Mr. Sam in the "Regarding the..." series by Kate and Sarah Klise
Mrs. Olinski in The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
Mr. Theotocopolous in The Young Unicorns by Madeline L'Engle
Mr. Thompson in Trevor's Wiggly-Wobbly Tooth by Lester Laminack
Miss Fowler in the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace
Mrs. Pidgeon in the Gooney Bird books by Lois Lowry
Mr. Franka in Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar
Mr. Rover and Mrs. Katz in Mr. Rover Takes Over by Grace Maccarone
Ms. Crowley in The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
Ms. Minifred in Baby by Patricia MacLachlan
Ms. Mirabel in Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan
Sister Mary Louise in Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Mr. Todd in the Judy Moody books by Megan McDonald
Miss Farley in Caddy Ever After by Hilary McKay
Mr. Gee in Once Upon an Ordinary School Day by Colin McNaughton
Miss O'Grady in Busing Brewster by Richard Michelson
Mr. Ali in My Name is Bilal by Asma Mobin-Uddin

100. Miss Stacey in the Anne books by L.M. Montgomery
Anne Shirley in Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Mr. Carpenter in the Emily books by L.M. Montgomery
Monsieur Noel in A Book of Coupons by Susie Mogenstern
Mrs. Willis in Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls
Mr. Boldova in the Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo
Mr. Scary in the Junie B. Jones books by Barbara Park
"Mrs." in the Junie B. Jones books by Barbara Park
Master Min in The Royal Bee by Francis and Ginger Park
Miss Edmunds in Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Mr. Clayton in Flip Flop Girl by Katherine Paterson
Miss Barbara Harris in The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Miss Dove in Good Morning, Miss Dove by Frances Gray Patton
Mrs. Spitzer in Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou
Mr. Collins in All of the Above by Shelley Pearsall
Miss Tansy Culver in A Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck
Mr. D'Matz in the Clementine books by Sara Pennypacker
Ms. Raymond in Dotty by Erica S. Perl
Mr. Faulker in Thank You Mr. Faulker by Patricia Polacco
Mrs. Peterson in The Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco
Mr. Tripp in Justin Fisher Declares War by James Preller
Ms. Lilly in Noonie's Masterpiece by Lisa Railsback
the teacher in My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits
the art teacher in The Dot by Peter Reynolds
Mr. Brunner/Chiron in The Lightning Thief by Rick Riorden

125. Miss Plumberry in Totally Wonderful Miss Plumberry by Michael Rosen
Dumbledore in the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling
Professor Lupin in The Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling
Mr. Hon in Tofu Quilt by Ching Yeung Russell
Mr. Lee in Tofu Quilt by Ching Yeung Russell
Miss Jewls in the Sideways books by Louis Sachar
Mrs. Baker in The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt
Ms. Hill in 4 Kids in 5E and 1 Crazy Year by Virginia Frances Schwartz
Mrs. Fibonnaci in Math Curse by Jon Scieszka
Mr. Newton in Science Curse by Jon Scieszka
Miss Bonkers in Hooray for Diffendoofer Day by Dr. Seuss
Miss Bindergarten in Miss Bindergarten Goes to Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
Miss Palma in After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
Kit Tyler and Mercy Wood in The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Mr. Duncan in White in the Moon by Gretchen Sprague
Mrs. Appletree in Mr. President Goes to School by Rick Walton
Miss Cribbage in My Kindergarten by Rosemary Wells
Stuart Little in Stuart Little by E.B. White
Merlin in The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
Laura Ingalls in the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Eliza Jane Wilder in the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Oliver's teacher in My Teacher for President by Kay Winters
Miss Lesley in Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop
(Miss) Alina in Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

150. Mr. Isobe in Crow Boy by Taro Yashima

Saturday, December 30, 2006

CYBILS ANNOUNCED IN 2 DAYS!

I know we are all anxiously awaiting the announcements of the CYBILS finalists! On January 1st, the lists will be posted in all 8 categories on the CYBILS website! I can't wait:-)

I had a great time participating on the picture book committee. What a great group of people to work with. We had great conversations and I made new blogger friends! It was definitely a great experience! Thanks to
Jules,
Andrea,
Emily, and
Anne H.! I had a great time working with all of you talking about the great picture books of 2006!

And, of course, thanks to Kelly Herold and Anne Levy for pulling it all together!
Looking forward to seeing the lists on Monday!