A New Mercy Watson Book

Mercy Watson: Princess in Disguise by Kate DiCamillo is the latest book in this series. I thought it was a little early for a Halloween story but I loved it anyway! I have to admit that it took me a few books to fall totally in love with Mercy Watson. But, I am totally hooked now! It is clear that DiCamillo is a different kind of brilliant in these books.

My youngest daughter is seven and was THRILLED to see a new Mercy Watson book. The humor and the illustrations are perfect for her age. And the plot and characters are wonderful for students new to chapter books. This one may be my favorite--I thought I liked the image of Mercy driving a car, but Mercy dressed in a princess costume (that is a terribly snug) is my new favorite!

The story is simple--Mercy dresses up for Halloween and gets into trouble. Readers can count on many predictable things throughout the story. The neighbors' reactions to Mercy, Mr. and Mrs. Watson's unconditional love for Mercy, and a happy ending. A perfect series for children new to chapter books as well as readers who want a fun story!

Poetry Friday -- Fame

Famous
by Naomi Shihab Nye

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.

The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.

The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.

For what do you hope to be famous? Compare your answer to the poet's.

The Poetry Friday roundup is at Mentor Texts this week.

It's Not Because We Don't Care...

...it's because everyone else is doing such a fine job staying on top of all the breaking news.

We're not the biggest fans, but we're not grumpy nay-sayers, either.

I'll be at Cover To Cover's party tomorrow night, I'll get my copy at 12:01, and I'll go home and read it as fast as I can while still savoring the moment in history.

Then we'll resume sitting back to see what y'all have to say about it!

Girls Like Spaghetti

A new picture book by Lynne Truss is out. If you liked the original EATS, SHOOTS, AND LEAVES as well as the children's version with the same title about why commas matter, you'll love THE GIRL'S LIKE SPAGHETTI: WHY YOU CAN'T MANAGE WITHOUT APOSTROPHES. As with her book about commas, Truss uses each two page spread to show the huge difference an apostrophe can make. With fun illustrations, children can see the difference in meaning between sentences like "The girls like spaghetti." and "The girl's like spaghetti.". The humor in the illustrations help make the point.

Another fun book and I am glad to see she is continuing with these punctuation books for children. Hopefully, more are on the way.

The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech

I LOVE a good fairy tale so I was thrilled to see Sharon Creech's new book CASTLE CORONA. It is due out this fall and it is a must-have.

The story is one of a royal family and some peasants. The characters all fit into the mold of great fairy tale characters--the strong female peasant, the beautiful princess, etc.

This is the story of all of these characters--characters who want more from life and from who they are. The beautiful princess finds that she wants to be more than beautiful. Pia and Enzio, the peasants, want to live in royalty. The king wishes to be more wise. These aren't formal wishes--just the every day thinking of people wanting something different or more in a real-life kind of way.

It is a fun fairy tale--felt a bit like TALE OF DESPEREAUX and a bit like something by Gail Carson Levine--a great combination for a great fairy tale.

The thing I liked best is the message Creech seems to give us about story. In the book, there is a wordsmith who often tells stories to the royal family. It is through these stories that the royal family and the peasants begin to imagine the possibilities in their lives, see themselves in stories, and become more content.

The back of the book says that this is for ages 8-12. I can definitely see reading it aloud to 3rd graders. And I think it will also appeal to much older readers too. It is a great fairy tale. With so many fairy tales and fantasies coming out, I am so happy to see that Sharon Creech has added to the genre. I loved the story, the characters, the writing, and the message.

A New Back to School Book

It is time for Back to School books. A friend of mine who is a Kindergarten teacher shared this new one with me today---CORNELIUS P. MUD, ARE YOU READY FOR SCHOOL? by Barney Saltzberg. It is definitely a great one for young children getting ready to go off to school.

Cornelius is getting ready for school and the text follows a semi-predictable pattern asking Cornelius whether he has done what he needs to do get ready for school. "Did you eat breakfast?" "Yes!" and so on. But there is something very important that they forget which makes for quite a cute ending.

The illustrations are colorful and happy--the colors remind me a bit of NO, DAVID! by David Shannon. Cornelius is an adorable pig character who is quite lovable. The font of the text is big and basic for new readers and yet fun to give a happy tone to the book. A great choice to read aloud to help with the transition for school and a perfect read for beginning readers.

Author Fired by Former Fan

"...yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith." --Samuel Taylor Coleridge his autobiography, Biographia Literaria.

How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse
as told to Cressida Cowell
the fourth book in the Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III series

I was willing to believe in the Vikings, the dragons, the sea creatures, the unlikely ways that Hiccup gets into and out of trouble, the crazy names, the language Dragonese, the holiday of Freya'sday Fete. I was a little irritated that she named a character "Big-Boobied Bertha." She really didn't need to stoop that low in the potty-mouth humor department, but I could handle it. I've read the ROTTEN SCHOOL series, after all.

Cressida Cowell completely lost me as a reader and a fan and a future book purchaser when, at the very end of the book, she writes this about an arrow that had been stuck in a potato:

"...I buried the arrow which saved my life in some muddy ground behind my house, and, miracle of miracles! A single seed must have been sticking to the metal!

For some time later, in the springtime, I noticed a strange green plant in that particular spot, and I dug the arrow up again. A new potato, larger than the one I lost, had grown right around the arrow's point."

POTATOES DO NOT GROW FROM LITTLE TINY SINGLE SEEDS THAT STICK TO ARROW TIPS! THEY GROW FROM CHUNKS OF SEED POTATOES!

I am completely willing to suspend my disbelief for all kinds of fantastic inventions an author creates in a story. I will not, however, suspend my knowledge of the way the real world works. Ms. Cowell, you're fired, and I suggest you get a new editor.

Continuing Education -- Graphic Novels

A brief timeline of my graphic novels education to date:

• In November of 2005, I read the first volume of the Scholastic color re-issue of BONE. In my reading log, I noted this historic event: "My first graphic novel." In January of 2006, BABYMOUSE hit the bookstores.
• Last October (2006), I volunteered to be on the Graphic Novels panel for the Cybils . (Press Release here for more information on the Cybils.) I did this to jump-start my graphic novel education, and it did the job.
  
• Last November (2006) at NCTE, I heard Scott McCloud speak. Scott McCloud is "an American cartoonist and a leading popular scholar of comics as a distinct literary and artistic medium," according to his Wikipedia entry. I read his book MAKING COMICS as the "textbook" for my education in graphic novels, and then over the course of the next couple of months, I read about 40 graphic novels, most of which were Cybils nominations.

Maybe I shouldn't have just revealed how much of a newbie I am to the world of graphic novels, but you know, in some circles (over 30, never read graphic novels), I'm a virtual expert.

This morning I finished the three volumes of the SCOTT PILGRIM series by Brian Lee O'Malley. Scott McCloud said (I have this in my notes) that O'Malley's work, and others like his, will "bridge the gap between Japanese manga and American comics. This generation of artists will speak directly to our kids." That's why I read these three books. And while they might speak directly to kids, they don't speak so directly to me.

The series is summarized in Wikipedia thus:

The series is about 23-year-old Canadian Scott Pilgrim, a slacker, hero, wannabe-rockstar, who is living in Toronto and playing bass in the band "Sex Bob-Omb." He falls in love with American delivery girl Ramona V. Flowers, but must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to date her.

That much I got, although I almost didn't finish the first book because the set-up of the plot was just too weird for me. Once O'Malley got to Ramona V. Flowers and defeating the seven evil ex-boyfriends, I understood what to expect from the rest of the books. Some version of one evil boyfriend per book.

Did I know that all the names of the bands mentioned in the books are references to video games? No, because I have a reading history, not a gaming history. But did it matter that I didn't get all the video game references? (Or, for that matter, most of the rock music references?) Nope. Because I got the story. Most of it. And thanks to Scott McCloud, I could probably even point out some of the American comic influences and some of the Japanese manga influences.

What does all this mean and why am I writing about it here? If we ask kids to read outside their comfort zones and try new genres, we should, too. If we want to be able to tell kids first hand what it's like to stick with a book and be glad we did, we should have been there/done that.

What kinds of books/genres have you read that are outside your comfort zone, and what did you learn from that experience that you can share with your students?

Global Babies

I am always looking for new board books for baby gifts. I often put together a bag or basket of board books as a new baby or baby shower gift. I always buy some of the classics but love to include new books in the mix.

GLOBAL BABIES by the Global Fund for Children and published by Charlesbridge Publishing is a great new addition to the board book collection. It is an adorable small board book highlighting a baby from somewhere in the world on each page. The photographs are colorful and many babies are dressed in traditional clothing. The text that goes along with each page is simple. The draw is definitely in the adorable faces on each page.

I didn't know about the Global Fund for Children but I read that they develop titles "to support appreciation of the multicultural world in which they live". Some of the profit from these books go to the fund to support children around the world. I'll keep my eyes out for other books by the Global Fun for Children.

Since most babies love to look at other babies, I think parents and new babies alike would love this book.

Tell An Author You Care Day--E.L. Konigsburg

Emily at Whimsy Books designated today as "Tell An Author You Care Day". Love the idea and wanted to make sure to participate. I read her ideas of how to participate and decided on this idea from Emily--Idea #4:

Profile an author in your blog. I'm not talking just another review. Tell us a little about the author and mention at least one of his/her books that you love.

I have been thinking about E.L. Konigsburg all week since I finished an advanced copy of her upcoming book THE MYSTERIOUS EDGE OF THE HEROIC WORLD.

I am fascinated by E.L. Konigsburg. FROM THE MIXED UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER was one of my favorite books of childhood. Claudia's trip to the museum has stayed with me throughout my life. The book was also a favorite of my husband's who doesn't remember many great books from childhood. It is a classic and one that, as adults, we can all still talk about.

So, I had to read THE MYSTERIOUS EDGE OF THE HEROIC WORLD that will be out this fall by Konigsburg. Again, she is brilliant. This book actually has a feel that is similar to FROM THE MIXED UP FILES in that there is art, and a mystery, and the process of making sense of things that are not quite organized. Amedeo and William work together to help sort through the items in Mrs. Zender's house as she prepares to move. They uncover great stories as they get to know Mrs. Zender and each other. And of course there is a little mystery to uncover. There was a bit more history in this book--art that was confiscated during the Holocaust is a backdrop. The history is part of the fun of the discovery. And the learning about this part of the Holocaust is shocking--a part of history that many of us don't know much about.

One thing that was an extra in this book was the fact that Konigsburg pulled in characters and places from THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY and THE OUTCASTS OF SCHUYLER PLACE. Even though they weren't a focus in the other books, I always think it is fun to revisit places and people I know as a reader.

I am amazed by Konigsburg which is why I chose her to thank today. She has been writing amazing books for over 30 years! She must have written FROM THE MIXED UP FILES at a pretty young age. And so many of her books since then are just as fabulous as that one. THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY and THE OUTCASTS OF SCHUYLER PLACE are two of my more recent favorites. An author who I can enjoy as an adult as much as I did as a child--one of the first authors who hooked me on reading and made me get to know characters that have stayed with me forever. I can't explain the fun of having read her books over the last 35 years. I love that she continues to surprise us with every book and that I can have that same feeling now as I did when I first met Claudia. I don't know of any other authors who have been writing such amazing novels consistently--she somehow tells amazing stories and makes them very timely for today's readers. I have read several of her more recent ones aloud to my intermediate students and they are always a hit--well loved and the anchor for lots of great talk. Her respect for kids and their ability to change the world is clear in every one of her books.

So, hooray for E.L. Konigsburg--an author I have enjoyed almost since my love of books began. A new book by Konisburg is such a treat. She continues to amaze me as a reader.