New Graphic Novels for My Classroom

Akiko Pocket Size, volumes 1-5, by Mark Crilley. In the first book, 4th grader Akiko goes to the Planet Smoo and helps King Froptoppit rescue his son, the prince. She is joined in her adventures by Poog, a floating alien, Mr. Beeba, a bookish sort, Spuckler Boach, an Indiana Jones type, and Spuckler's robot, Gax. Although these are done in black and white, Crilley is very creative in his use of panels, points of view, and cliffhangers.

Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures, volumes 1-2, by J. Torres and J. Bone. Alison Dare's mother is an archaeologist (female Indiana Jones), her father is the masked hero the Blue Scarab, and her uncle is an international super spy. No surprise, then, that even though she goes to a Catholic boarding school, she drags her friends Wendy and Dot into all kind of adventures.

Hikaru No Go, by Yumi Hotta. 6th grader Hikaru is possessed by the ghost of an ancient Go master. Even though Hikaru has never played Go, he is drawn into the game by Sai, the ghost. She plays through him at first, but it is clear that Hikaru has talents of his own. This book reads right to left in the Native Manga style, which is probably more of a challenge for adults than kids. The reader doesn't need to know how to play Go to enjoy this book, but it seems likely that anyone who gets into the series will wind up giving Go a go.

Bone: Rock Jaw, Master of the Eastern Border, volume 5, by Jeff Smith. This is potentially the hottest book in my classroom right now. A student in my classroom beat me to owning Volume 5. I haven't read it yet. I plan to hold it, and all these other new graphic novels, hostage until some of the other newish GNs come back home to the classroom. It's been weeks since I've seen any of the three volumes of Amelia, or The 12 Labors of Hercules. I love it that graphic novels are popular and responsible for turning some of my students on to reading, but that will all fall apart if every GN that enters my classroom winds up being nicked!

WRINGER Stands the Test of Time

I just finished re-reading WRINGER for the umpteenth time to be ready for the student literature circle discussion this week.

It continues to amaze me how Jerry Spinelli caught so perfectly the pain of peer pressure in this book.

It is not a pleasant story. I almost always have to convince students that it is worth reading about a kid who doesn't want to wring half-dead pigeons' necks at the town's annual pigeon shoot. Being a wringer is a right of passage for 10 year-old boys in Palmer LaRue's town. Palmer LaRue does NOT want to be a wringer. WRINGER is the story of Palmer's ultimate year of dread: from the day he turns 9 until he turns 10.

During the year of dread, Palmer is finally accepted into The Gang and given his very own nickname, Snots. He joins the gang in bullying his former friend Dorothy. And then he is "adopted" by a pigeon. Because of Nipper, Palmer is able to salvage his friendship with Dorothy, and because of Nipper, Palmer must extricate himself from the very gang to which he so wanted to belong. Because of Nipper, Palmer learns to think for himself and do what he knows is right.

There's no certain happy ending in this book. I already know (from reading response homework) that one of the students is a bit peeved about that. But there is hope. Maybe that's more important than a happy ending after all.

Online Novel by Wendelin Van Draanen

I am probably way late discovering this, but I just found out (from my IRA newsletter) that Wendelin Van Draanen is writing an online novel for kids called THE GECKO AND STICKY. Each week a new chapter is posted. They have posted 4 chapters so far. It will end in mid-May. The author, Wendelin Van Draanen wrote one of my favorite series--SHREDDERMAN. This is a cool idea from the Maricopa County Library district. I guess they've had other online novels in the past. I am going to share it with my class this week. There are several SHREDDERMAN fans that may love to read it weekly. A pretty cool idea.

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.