Jennifer Holm Interview

What a great day for interviews! Miss Erin has a great interview with Jennifer Holm talking about Newbery Honor book PENNY FROM HEAVEN!

China In My Heart

I have been trying to get my hands on this book for a while and my good friend just sent a copy from me. CHINA IN MY HEART is a story written by a six-year old girl about her adoption. It is a great story--one that I am excited to add to our collection of books about adoption. As a mom of an adopted daughter, I keep my eye out for books that are true to the experience of adoption. This one is right from the heart. I applaud the publisher for publishing these books by kids. I am excited to share it with my daughter. I can also see sharing it with my students as a model for writing. It seems hard to find in the US. I think it is published in Canada.

Marla Frazee

Since Marla Frazee is one of my favorite authors of the week (TOTALLY loved WALK ON! and am sooooo excited about CLEMENTINE!), I am happy to tell you that you can hear a great interview with her at Just One More Book. What a treat!

(And the quote on the home page of her website is so brilliant!)

Cool Babymouse Stuff!

You may have already seen this site but I just discovered it. Lots of fun Babymouse stuff! Mugs, shirts, bumper stickers.

More Strong Girls in Children's Literature

I am loving my Sunday visits to HipWriterMama. Each Sunday, she highlights strong females in children's literature. She is the mother of 3 daughter and created the lists because:

"I want my children to read about strong girls who can take on whatever life gives them and still find hope, heroism and strength without losing a sense of themselves. I want them to have strong girl role models so they have something to aspire to, to dream about, to think about."

Another reason to look forward to Sundays!

(And don't forget about Jen Robinson's list of 200 Cool Girls in Children's Literature)

Books About Books and Reading

A while back, I mentioned my collection of books about books and reading. I think it's really important to talk to kids about their identities as readers--experiences, tastes, behaviors, etc. I find that books are often a great jumpstart for kids--a way to help them begin to think about themselves as readers. So, over the years, I've collected mostly picture books to help me start these conversations in the classroom. I've also found poetry, excerpts from other books, etc. I also have some novels that are about literacy but I find that short text works best to start lots of great conversations. Below is a list of my current favorites. If you have any to add, let us know in the comments and we'll try to compile the list. We could try for "100 GREAT CHILDREN'S BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS AND READING"! (I also have books that start conversations with kids about writing, but I don't have that list as organized! I'll try to share that sometime soon too!) 

One of my favorites to use with kids is excerpts from Anna Quindlen's book HOW READING CHANGED MY LIFE. So many great experiences around books and reading! Here are others: Picture Books SOUPER CHICKEN by Mary Jane and Herm Auch WOLF by Becky Bloom BOOK by George Ella Lyon TOMAS AND THE LIBRARY LADY by Pat Mora THE GIRL WHO HATED BOOKS by Manjusha Pawagi AUNT CHIP AND THE GREAT TRIPLE CREEK DAM AFFAIR by Patricia Polacco THANK YOU, MR. FALKER by Patricia Polacco READING GROWS by Ellen Senisi LIBRARY LIL by Suzanne Williams THE LIBRARY by Sarah Stewart THE DAY EDDIE MET THE AUTHOR by Louise Borden THE LIBRARIAN OF BASRA by Jeanette Winter THE OLD WOMAN WHO LOVED TO READ by John Winch JAKE'S 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL by Lester Laminack Poetry GOOD BOOKS, GOOD TIMES by Lee Bennett Hopkins THE BOOKWORM'S FEAST by J. Patrick Lewis PLEASE BURY ME IN THE LIBRARY by J. Patrick Lewis Books From Which I Use Excerpts HOW READING CHANGED MY LIFE by Anna Quindlen LIFE IS SO GOOD by George Dawson LOOKING BACK: A BOOK OF MEMORIES by Lois Lowry AMELIA HITS THE ROAD by Marissa Moss QUOTATIONS FOR KIDS by J.A. Senns * * * * * * Here's a link too good to keep in the comments: A Notes from the Windowsill annotated bibliography of book-books by Wendy E. Betts. THANKS!

Poetry Friday--Newbery Award Edition

The Book Not Taken
(apologies to Robert Frost)

Two aisles diverged in my favorite bookstore,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one reader, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where the bookshelves ended;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it contained all the books my fellow bloggers were reading;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
The carpet equally stained with salt (brought in on boots from the icy walk).
Oh, I kept the first for another day
Because I believed the Newbery pick would be found
In the aisle I chose
Yet knowing how my record stands on picking picks,
I was pretty sure I'd be back, and pretty quick.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
A week after the Newbery was announced:
Two aisles diverged in my favorite bookstore, and I --
I took the one that didn't contain the winning book,
And that has made no real difference at all
Because it has STILL been a fun year filled with great books
And lively bloggerly conversations!

Orbis Pictus Awards Announced

NCTE (The National Council of Teachers of English) announced its Orbis Pictus Awards this week. The winner was Quest for the Tree Kangaroo by Sy Montgomery. This award is given for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children. Five Honorable Mentions as well as other recommended nonfiction from 2006 are listed. It is a great list of new nonfiction titles.

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.