Caldecott Hopes

I have read quite a few picture books this year. Lots of the CYBILS shortlisted books are not eligible for the Caldecott. But, I did see lots of great picture books during my reading for the CYBILS and throughout the year. Here are the ones I hope win the Caldecott. I don't know if they are all eligible, but I love them all. (And, I am not good at predicting these either...)

The Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child
In My Heart by Molly Bang
Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor
Hippo! No, Rhino by Jeff Newman
Adele and Simon by Barbara McClintock
Walk On!: A Guide For Babies of All Ages by Marla Frazee
The Place Where Sunflowers Grow by Amy Lee-Tai

Reading for TWEEN Girls

So, I have a friend who is looking for some good books for her 12 year old daughter. She is dying to read Chick Lit stuff but so much of it includes so much dealing with sex. I am trying to find books that are appropriate for 11-12 year olds but that feel like Chick Lit. Bindi Babes? Help!

I have no idea what we read at this age. I must have gone straight from Betsy and the Boys to Flowers in the Attic!?

If you have any suggestions, I am going to buy her a stack of good, appropriate-for-a- 5th-grade-girl books for her birthday.

Blog Addiction Justified

So, how can you not be addicted to blogging with contests like this? Thanks to Fuse #8 for alerting us to this hysterical new contest on Lisa Yee's blog. The contest has only been up for a day and the submissions are already quite amusing. There are even good prizes! Enjoy!

Warped History

Time Warp Trio Graphic Novels v. 1, 2
NIGHTMARE ON JOE'S STREET and
THE SEVEN BLUNDERS OF THE WORLD
created by Jon Scieszka
adapted by Zachary Rau
adapted from the teleplay by Peter K. Hirsch
review copies: personal purchase for my 4/5 classroom because I'm a sucker for anything that says "graphic novel" right now.


Time Warp Trio website


Does it count as a graphic novel if it's just screen captures of the animated TV show with speech bubbles added? I'm thinking is more like TV with page turns.

That said, the graphic novel series has remained true to what the real TIME WARP TRIO books do best: give kids a fun peek at a moment in history.

In NIGHTMARE ON JOE'S STREET, Frankenstein appears in Joe's house and the trio plus Frankenstein warp back to the mid-1800's to link up with Mary Shelley and get the monster she created back to her. In the course of the story, they also run into Mary's husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron.

In THE SEVEN BLUNDERS OF THE WORLD, the trio travels to ancient Babylon, visiting the Hanging Gardens of Babylon while they're there trying to find the evil time-warping thief who stole The Book (the magical book that allows/causes the trio to time travel). In this volume, they meet King Nebuchadnezzar and Queen Amyitis.

Yes, these are definitely "book candy," but at least they have been "vitamin fortified" with a small dose of history.

Newbery Picks and Round-Up Invitation

A Message from Franki:

For those of you that don't know the history of our blog, we have been friends for a long time--throughout our teaching careers. A few years ago, we decided to meet more regularly to talk about books and then added a bit of fun to the meetings. We decided to try to predict the Newbery Winner each year. Since we were not very good at this, we changed our goal to have READ the Newbery winner before it is announced, so we started focusing on reading and talking about new chapter books for kids each year. This didn't go so well either. (Last year I won because I had CRISS CROSS in my Amazon shopping cart--had never read or seen it, but I had heard of it!). This is when Mary Lee had the idea to blog about our reading. We have come to terms with the fact that we don't have any idea what will win and we are never right. But it is still fun to play! So, each year, we still give it a shot. Below are our top 5 hopes/predictions along with other chapter books of the year that we've loved. Since we started our blog with this Newbery goal, we'd love to do a round-up of everyone's Newbery predictions/hopes. If you post your Newbery predictions, let us know in the comments and we'll do a round-up in about a week so we have it up and ready before the Newbery is announced on January 22.

Franki's Picks:

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass
Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
The Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman
Gossamer by Lois Lowry
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

Others I loved:


Part of Me by Kimberly Willis Holt
Penny From Heaven by Jennifer Holm
Fairies of Nutfolk Wood by Barb Bentler Ullman
Babymouse by Jennifer Holm
The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin
to dance by Siena Cherson Siegel


Mary Lee's Picks:

Gossamer by Lois Lowry
Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
A True and Faithful Narrative by Katherine Sturtevant

Others I loved:

Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
The Book of Story Beginnings by Kristin Kladstrup
Blood on the River: Jamestown 1607 by Elisa Carbone
American Born Chinese by Gene Yang
Castle Waiting by Linda Medley

...and although this is an unlikely pick for the Newbery, I want to highlight it here because the deepest and most topical messages are sometimes found in the most unlikely places:

How to Speak Dragonese (Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III) by Cressida Cowell

"However small we are, we should always fight for what we believe to be right. And I don't mean fight with the power of our fists or the power of our swords...I mean the power of our brains and our thoughts and our dreams.

And as small and quiet and unimportant as our fighting may look, perhaps we might all work together like the numberless armies of Ziggernastica, and break out of the prisons of our own making. Perhaps we might be able to keep this fierce and beautiful world of ours free for all of us..."

Soooo, Happy Newbery Season! Send us your posts for the round-up!

Mail Order Mayhem

MAIL ORDER NINJA, v. 1 and 2
story by Joshua Elder
illustrations by Erich Owen
Tokyopop Manga Readers, 2006
Review copies compliments of the author

Timmy has a problem with bullies...both the thuggy kind, like Brock Breckenridge, and the stuck-up rich girl kind, like Felicity Dominique Huntington. He thinks he'll solve his problem by ordering his very own ninja from the Jacques Co. toy catalog, but wouldn't you know it, having your own ninja and winning the election for student body president causes almost as many problems as it solves. In volume 2, Felicity ups the ante by ordering her very own mail order ninja army which wreaks havoc at the school dance and turns the whole town of Cherry Creek, Indiana into an Orwellian nightmare with Felicity herself as Big Sister.

These books are a whole lot of fun! They are chockful of sight gags and puns, the situations are preposterous, and the characters are exaggerated stereotypes (all except for Timmy's 5th grade teacher, Ms. Sarah Melton, who received a "100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature" nomination for disco dancing with Timmy's ninja in the second book). Kids will love these books. They are part of Tokyopop's Manga Readers series, and are perfect for the targeted age group: 8-12. An 8 year-old will love the action and adventure, and a 12 year-old will be able to get more of the puns and jokes. With the promise of six books in the series, they will all be anxiously waiting for the next volume. I know I will!

Poetry Friday!

If you haven't seen the book READ AND RISE by Sandra Pinkney, this is the introductory poem by Maya Angelou. I collect books about books and reading that I use to start conversations with my students about their own reading. I just added to this one to my collection. Reading is the pathway From the dungeon To the door Freedom Reading is the highway from The shadow to the sun Freedom Reading is the river To your liberty For all your life to come Let the river run Learn Learn to Read Maya Angelou

Thank You, Tricia!

You supplied the last three teachers we needed to get to 100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature!

The last three added were Miri, in Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale, a great teacher when she returned to the village; and Mrs. Fibonnaci and Mr. Newton in Math Curse and Science Curse by Jon Scieszka, who must be great teachers based on the mathematical and scientific thinking they inspire their (and our) students to do!

Scaredy Squirrel Sequel

My good friend Larry (who knows more about children's books than anyone I know) told me that a sequel to SCAREDY SQUIRREL by Melanie Watt was coming. I checked it out and found that SCAREDY SQUIRREL MAKES A FRIEND is due out in the spring! I am not a big fan of sequels but I am a HUGE FAN of Scaredy Squirrel. I am VERY excited about this book. Has anyone seen it yet? Can't wait!

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.