Racing to Beat the Movie Release

I wasn't sure what I wanted to read aloud next to my class. Last week we finished RUBY HOLLER by Sharon Creech, one of my all-time favorite read-alouds. Creech's pacing and descriptions make it easy to listen to and visualize, and the characters (and the situations they get into) are just enough over the top to be crowd pleasers for the 9-11 crowd.

I wasn't ready to plunge into the more serious BLOOD ON THE RIVER: JAMESTOWN, 1607 by Elisa Carbone no matter how well it would integrate with our upcoming social studies unit on Colonial America.

Then I saw the TV commercial/movie trailer for BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA (book by Katherine Paterson). My heart sank. I Googled the movie release date -- February 16. Is there enough time to get this book into kids' heads before the movie version kills personal imagination and visualization? It's worth the try. In years past, I've managed to "save" TUCK EVERLASTING for one class, and BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE for another. I'll be proud to add this book to my list of "saves."

(What am I going to do about reading aloud the ending of this multiple-hankie book, you ask? I'll deal with that when I get there. I managed to read aloud EACH LITTLE BIRD THAT SINGS without a tear by thinking, "Ice cream, sunshine, puppies, pizza!" the whole time I was reading the words that caused tears to stream down my face with no sign of stopping the first time I read the book.)

Graphic Novels' Awards Debut

The Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

AMERICAN BORN CHINESE by Gene Yang

The perfect choice: universal YA story of the desire to be accepted, to be one of the many instead of one of the few (or worse, one of the "others") told in a format (graphic novel) that is still a bit of an outsider wanting to be accepted.

If you are new to graphic novels, this is a great place to start. But don't sit down expecting to read this the way you read straight text. And don't kid yourself thinking it will be easy. First of all, reading graphics works different brain muscles than reading text, so you might find that you need to read more slowly. And you might also need to read more slowly because this is a richly complicated story -- actually it is three stories that start as separate strands which come together in a very satisfying ending.

Read an excerpt here. (Thank you Children's Illustration for the link.)




The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Honor Book

TO DANCE by Siena Siegel

Here's the proof that "graphic novel" is not a genre, it's a publishing format. In fact, it would probably be best to drop the word novel, and insert the genre name one would use if the story were not told in sequential art. This book, then, would be known as a work of graphic memoir.

Again, a great story with the universal message that some of the passions of our youth might be lost to the practicalities of adulthood...but not necessarily lost forever.

More on the Awards...

This is kind of like the day after my birthday (when I was much younger, of course). The anticipation was over and I started to look forward to my next birthday. I started to feel like that about the awards yesterday. That the fun was over and it was time to look forward to next year's award day. But, I am discovering that the fun continues! Hearing what others are saying about the winners is almost as much fun as waiting for the winners to be announced! I have been busy reading others' thoughts and reflections on this year's awards. So, if you don't want the award fun to end, check out these great posts!

If you have not read much on the winner THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY, Kelly of Big A, little a, has a great review posted as part of THE EDGE OF THE FOREST.

Betsy at FUSE #8 is back from her work on the Newbery Committee. She has posted about the experience on her blog.

Thanks to Jen Robinson, I read this great post by Cynthia Lord, author of Newbery Honor book RULES.

Thanks to Julie at Children's Illustration for the link to this excerpt from the Printz winner, AMERICAN BORN CHINESE
and a link to an interview with the illustrator of TO DANCE--another amazing graphic novel that won a Siebert Informational Book award.

Roger Sutton at Read Roger has a post reflecting on his work with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Committee selection of James Marshall.

Erin at Miss Erin shares her thoughts on the awards.

On a controversial note, Anne at Librarianne has a post concerning the "rumor" about ALA award committee members being banned from blogging. Certainly an interesting debate.

And, last but not least, Lisa Yee has announced the long awaited winner of the Lisa Yee's Bodacious Book Title Contest

Reflections on the 2007 Awards

Here's how close I came this year: I bought Hattie Big Sky on Saturday.

At least the winner isn't another two-word title.

I don't know what else to say. We read like fiends. Because of blogging, we were so much more in tune to what the rest of "the world" was talking about and liking. We thought that between the two of us, we'd have it this year. Sigh.

Oh, well, let's get on with A(nother) Year of Reading!

ML

I am pretty happy with the winners. I am totally bummed about JEREMY FINK and YELLOW STAR but these feel like good picks. Here is how I did this year:
I read and loved PENNY FROM HEAVEN.
I read and loved RULES.
I asked for THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY on Saturday at Cover to Cover but they were all out. So, I have to wait with the rest of the world.
I haven't read HATTIE BIG SKY.

I do think we were better informed this year. Because of the blogging world, I feel like I read really good books. I didn't waste time reading anything that wasn't worthwhile.

I am surprised that the books were all books with girl characters. The two I read had strong girl characters. You can never have enough strong girl characters, but I do think it is interesting that there are no books with a male protagonist.

(If you want to find more books with strong girl characters, check out HipWriterMama's list here.)

So, I guess this is when A(nother) Year of Reading begins. Our goal of reading the Newbery turned out as usual. Neither of us had read the Newbery. Nothing new. So, we'll try again in 2008! The fun is always in the reading and the guessing!

Franki

Awards

Newbery Medal

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, illustrated by Matt Phelan (Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson)

Newbery Honor Books

Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm (Random House)
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (Delacorte Press)
Rules by Cynthia Lord (Scholastic)

Caldecott Medal

Flotsam by David Wiesner (Clarion)

Caldecott Honor Books

Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet by David McLimans (Walker)
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Carole Boston Weatherford (Hyperion/Jump at the Sun)

2008 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecturer

David Macaulay

Batchelder Award

Delacorte Press, publisher of The Pull of the Ocean, by Jean-Claude Mourlevat, translated from the French by Y. Maudet

Batchelder Honor Books

Delacorte Press, publisher of The Killer's Tears, by Anne-Laure Bondoux, translated from the French by Y. Maudet
Hyperion/Miramax, publisher of The Last Dragon, by Silvana De Mari, translated from the Italian by Shaun Whiteside

Carnegie Medal

Mo Willems, author/illustrator, and Weston Woods Studios, producers of Knuffle Bunny

Geisel Medal

Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways, by Laura McGee Kvasnosky (Candlewick)

Geisel Honor Books

Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride, written by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick)
Move Over, Rover!, written by Karen Beaumont and illustrated by Jane Dyer (Harcourt)
Not a Box, by Antoinette Portis (HarperCollins)

Sibert Medal

Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh (Houghton)

Sibert Honor Book

Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement by Ann Bausum (National Geographic)
Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea, written by Sy Montgomery, photos by Nic Bishop (Houghton)
To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel, written by Siena Cherson Siegel, illustrated by Mark Siegel (Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson and Simon & Schuster/Aladdin)

Wilder Medal

James Marshall

Something Fun While You Wait...

While you wait for the book awards to be announced tomorrow, you might pass the time by checking out this amusing post about the Golden Globe Awards at Suburban Turmoil called THE GOLDEN GLOBES: A RECAP.

CYBILS ARTICLE

I wrote an article for CHOICE LITERACY, sharing some of my thoughts on the CYBILS picture book short list and the CYBILS experience. It is here if you 'd like to read it.

Runaway (Thrownaway?) Mock Newbery Winner

MotherReader is famous for her loathing of "that bunny book." Now she's put that abhorrence to good work in Tulane Readers Theater. She has taken the idea of Mock Newbery Awards to a new level. In fact, we may have to name the new award the "Raspberry Awards: Pbbbbbbbbtt!"

I used to kinda like the story of Ed's heart warming up over the course of +/- 20 years of hardship. It's sort of the slow-motion version of the Grinch's heart growing two sizes. But now...well, when you look at it that way...

Newbery Hope #1--A TRUE AND FAITHFUL NARRATIVE

Well, the more I see what everyone else is picking for the Newbery, the more my top pick seems a bit selfish, and definitely very "yesterday." I admit, I haven't kept up with my Newbery reading in the last month or so, first because of my immersion in graphic novels for the Cybils nominations, and now because I am trapped in Kars, Turkey in a nonstop snowstorm and social, political, and religious upheaval (SNOW by Orhan Pamuk, for book club).

Why do I love A TRUE AND FAITHFUL NARRATIVE?

••strong female character who is a reader and writer, and who does not compromise her talents and her hopes for her future even when it means giving up her dream of owning a bookstore
•detailed sense of time and place in history that doesn't overwhelm the storyline
••reader gets to watch over Meg's shoulder as she struggles with her writing
••timeless message about overcoming cultural prejudices by learning about other cultures

POETRY FRIDAY!

Poetry Friday! Poetry Books That Are Fun to Read Aloud Early in my career, I taught at a school that had doughnuts and coffee for teachers each Friday in the teachers' lounge. It was a great way to start our Fridays--chatting with colleagues in a relaxed setting. I learned how important these traditions are when setting the stage for positive interactions. I thought that something like this would be great to do with children. Didn't they deserve a relaxing, talk-filled Friday morning too? When I realized that my students were reading very little poetry, I thought the combination of poetry reading and doughnuts might help them to see the fun in poetry. For the past few years, Poetry Friday has been a tradition in our classroom. Parents sign up to bring in a morning snack (usually donuts and juice boxes) once or twice during the school year. They are able to send them in with their child, drop them off on their way to work, or come in to enjoy poetry and donuts with us. (This is the beginning of an article that was just posted on Choice Literacy’s website. You can get to the rest of the article and the list of poetry books that are fun to read aloud here.)