Curious George

An interesting article about the racial issues in the Curious George books that I'd never heard (thanks to Fuse #8 for the link). For those of you that don't know the story behind Curious George, Louise Borden's great book, THE JOURNEY THAT SAVED CURIOUS GEORGE, is worth reading. It is a fascinating story and gives great insights into the authors of the book as well as the time period. One of my favorite nonfiction books. Not only is it a great story, but the illustrations are amazing. They mix some of the H.A. Rey type art with artifacts from the story (photos, passports, etc.). A fabulous nonfiction book for kids and adults!

The Poetry of Friday

First two days of the week too cold for school.
Really. And then we had late starts for the next two.
I'm feeling ahead of the game now? Hardly.
Do I regret all the reading I got done,
And the clean bathroom curtains?
You're kidding, right? Would graded papers give me the same pleasure?

Celebrate Mother Reader Week

Since we know that so many of our readers are Mother Reader fans, we thought you would want to know that this week seems to be officially (or unofficially) "Mother Reader Week". If you are a fan of Mother Reader, there is a great interview on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Mother Reader is also profiled on the CYBILS site. Mother Reader was mentioned in the School Library Article as a must-read blog written by Liz at A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy.

As our part in the celebration of "Mother Reader Week", we'd like to link you to one of our favorite Mother Reader posts.

So, if you are a fan of Mother Reader, join in the fun by visiting the sites.
If you are not yet a fan, visit her site and you will be hooked.
We promise.

(While you are out visiting blogs, Kelly at Big A, little a has a great new template--check it out!)

Required Reading/Viewing

Teachers serve at the pleasure of their school boards. Required reading for teachers who are bloggers from Doug, at the Blue Skunk Blog can be found here. (Link courtesy of SLJ blog.)

Many (most?) elementary school teachers who teach history are not history majors. If you teach your students that escaped slaves navigated the Underground Railroad by using code hidden in quilts, then your required reading can be found here at Farm School. More on this topic at Chicken Spaghetti.

Anyone who is not a digital native might need yet another way to get his/her head around the whole Web 2.0 concept. Required viewing below. (Link courtesy of Making it Interesting.)

Professional Books that Build Readers

I attended a daylong workshop by Kathy Collins today. The day was great. Kathy is the author of Growing Readers, published by Stenhouse. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book because it talks about teaching reading in the primary classrooms--she talks about the importance of not only teaching students how to make sense of text but to help them develop habits and behaviors as readers as well. Very clear that there is more to reading than level. 

I just picked up another book today. It is called Comprehension Through Conversation: The Power of Purposeful Talk in the Reading Workshop by Maria Nichols. I've only read the first two chapters so far but I spent an hour or so skimming and previewing the rest of the book. It is not a huge book--only about 115 pages. The author does a great job of pulling together research about the importance of talk and really showing classrooms where talk is meaningful. She talks about purposeful talk and shares several classroom examples and insights about them. Nichols raises questions for teachers and makes the case for more talk that builds new meaning. It is in line with lots of work by Allington, Johnston and others who have studied exemplary classrooms. The fact that there is a book on this makes me happy. I think it is a huge piece of education that lots of teachers are not allowed to make time for lately because of the standards, etc.

Kidlitosphere Is Her Cup of Tea

Liz of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy has a great article about the kidlitosphere in School Library Journal.

Great article, Liz!

Saturday Playtime

Here are two sites that are great for the visual learner/thinker part of your brain:

Try out the search engine Quintera. Type in a search term and you get a cloud of related terms. Click on words in the cloud to narrow your search. You can search images the same way. Very cool.

Also cool is 10X10. This site collects the 100 most prevalent images and words appearing in online news outlets every hour—then arranges them into a collage. Click on the collage to enlarge it, and then roll your mouse over the list of terms to the right. Click on one of the terms and get the picture enlarged and links to the news stories.

Master List: Books about Books and Reading

Picture Books

How a Book is Made by Aliki
Read Anything Good Lately? by Susan Allen and Jane Lindaman
What Are You Doing? by Elisa Amado
Souper Chicken by Mary Jane and Herm Auch
The Lonely Book by Kate Bernheimer
The Best Place to Read by Debbie Bertram and Susan Bloom
The Best Time to Read by Debbie Bertram and Susan Bloom
Wolf by Becky Bloom
Miss Brooks Loves Books (And I Don't) by Barbara Bottner
The Day Eddie Met the Author by Louise Borden
Across a Dark and Wild Sea by Don Brown
Arthur and the Race to Read by Marc Brown
The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng
But Excuse Me That is my Book by Lauren Child
Otto the Book Bear by Kate Cleminson
Henry & the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi
Petunia by Robert Duvoisin
A Bedtime Story by Mem Fox
Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland
Book! by Kristine O'Connell George
Check it Out! The Book About Libraries by Gail Gibbons
A Story for Bear by Dennis Haseley
The Gentleman Bug by Julian Hector
That Book Woman by Heather Henson
The Reader by Amy Hest

Mr. George Baker by Amy Hest
How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills
The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce
Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier
Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen
Jake's 100th Day of School by Lester Laminack
The Red Book by Barbara Lehman
Book by George Ella Lyon
Santa's Book of Names by David McPhail
Edward and the Pirates by David McPhail
Edward in the Jungle by David McPhail
Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora
Amelia Hits the Road by Marissa Moss
Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr
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
Read Me A Book by Barbara Reid
Reading Grows by Ellen Senisi
Wild About Books by Judy Sierra
It's a Book by Lane Smith
The Hard Times Jar by Ethel Footman Smothers
Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
From Pictures to Words: A Book About Making a Book by Janet Stevens
The Library by Sarah Stewart
Take Care, Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas
Free Fall by David Wiesner
We Are in a Book! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) by Mo Willems
Library Lil by Suzanne Williams
The Old Woman Who Loved to Read by John Winch
The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates
Baby Bear's Books by Jane Yolen



Chapter Books

Magic by the Book by Nina Berenstein
The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst
Seven Day Magic by Edward Eager
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford
Ban This Book by Alan Gratz
The Big Green Book by Robert Graves
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Fly By Night by Francis Hardinge
The Book of Story Beginnings by Kristin Kladstrup
Looking Back: A Book of Memories by Lois Lowry
Summer Reading is Killing Me by Jon Scieszka
At the Sign of the Star by Katherine Sturtevant
The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Poetry

Wonderful Words: Poems about Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening
selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Good Books, Good Times by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine
The Bookworm's Feast by J. Patrick Lewis
Please Bury Me in the Library by J. Patrick Lewis
BookSpeak!: Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas
Read! Read! Read! by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater


Professional

Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers by Penny Kittle
The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller

Quotations

Quotations for Kids by J.A. Senns

Books For Adults That Could Be Used For Exerpts

Life is So Good by George Dawson
Grand Conversations by Ralph Peterson and Maryann Eeds
The Polysyllabic Spree and Housekeeping vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby
Better Than Life by Daniel Pennac
How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen
The Child That Books Built: A Life in Reading by Francis Spufford


* * * * * *

Check this out, too: A Notes from the Windowsill annotated bibliography of book-books by Wendy E. Betts.

POETRY FRIDAY!

I picked up a book at a workshop last week called CALL ME MARIANNE by Jen Bryant. It is a book about poetry and writing, a story about boy who meets poet, Marianne Moore. The boy, Jonathan, asks her what a poet does and much of the book is her explanation to him: "Jonathan," she says at last, "Your question about poets is not a simple one. For me being a poet begins with watching. I watch animals. I watch people. I read books and look at photographs. I notice details---little things that other people miss. I think it will be a great book to share with children about ways to pay attention to the world as writers. It is a great tribute to poets and poetry.

CYBILS Discussion

There have been some great discussions on the CYBILS site. As we all wait anxiously for the winners to be announced on Valentine's Day, stop over and share your thinking.

Today's conversation is about whether the CYBILS judges should have more clear qualifications. Are bloggers really qualified to give an award like this?

Here is my thinking on the topic, in case anyone was wondering.

The thing I LOVE about the CYBILS judges is that they come from a variety of groups. We are not reading from a single perspective. I love all of the awards out there and I feel like they all have a different take on books based on the judges/group giving the awards. Some are given by librarians (ALA). Others by NCTE or IRA (teachers). Some are given by editors and reviewers. The thing I think that makes the CYBILS process greatly unique is the fact that so many perspectives come together to judge books. Because people who blog about books come from various fields, it seems to cover a span of children's book lovers in a way that other award committees can't.