Little Hoot

Little Hoot
by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Jen Corace
Chronicle Books, 2008
review copy compliments of the publisher

Little Hoot is by the same pair who brought us Little Pea a few years ago. Little Pea was the poor vegetable who was forced to choke down candy for dinner so that he could get to the part of dinner he really wanted -- the big bowl of spinach for dessert.

Now we have Little Hoot, the owlet who is forced to stay up late and play, when all he wants is to go to bed at a reasonable hour like his friends. At one point he grumps to himself, "When I grow up, I'm going to let my kids go to bed as early as they want."

Maybe reverse psychology works, maybe it doesn't. There are no guarantees that this book will get your kid to bed. What it might do, however, is defuse a tense situation with its humor and all of the owl puns scattered throughout. Give it a try. Let us know how it works!

My Pup by Margaret O'Hair

I just returned from a trip to Portland, Oregon (more on that later). While I was gone, I received a box of review books from Marshall Cavendish Publishers. What a nice thing to come home too! I will be reviewing several of the books in the box over the next few weeks but one of them caught my eye right away so I thought I'd share it now!

MY PUP is written by Margaret O'Hair and illustrated by Tammie Lyon. It is an adorable book that I am sure kids will love. The fun of getting a new puppy is shared in this great new picture book. And the author does it in a fun, rhyming chant.

Each spread features an adorable little girl (the puppy's new owner) watches as her puppy engages in a typical new puppy activity--things from eating, taking a bath, playing with the garden hose and more. Each spread has a great illustration that shows the fun that both the puppy and the little girl are having getting to know each other. Smiles are pretty common!

The text is very chanty--only 4 lines per page with every other page rhyming. An example of this is illustrated in the first two pages:

New puppy,
young puppy,
soft puppy,
small.

Grow, puppy,
run, puppy,
chase, puppy,
ball.

Such a fun book! I shared the book immediately with my eight year old daughter. She loved it and told me that I "should blog about this one for sure!". Her favorite thing were the illustrations-she loved the expressions shown by both the puppy and the little girl in each picture.

Choice Literacy-Portland, Oregon

I just returned from Portland, Oregon where I did a Choice Literacy Workshop. It was a great few days and I met so many great people. I love being part of these workshops since they are so professional and always in great locations! I did a bit of shopping at the little shops around the hotel. Portland is such a great shopping city! And, of course I visited Powell's bookstore. (I'll be reviewing a few of the new books I picked up there later this week. I also had time to catch up with some of the other speakers. Joan and Gail (The 2 Sisters), Aimee Buckner, Jen Allen, Ruth Shagory and Andie Cunningham, Karen Szymusiak, and the Queen of Choice Literacy, Brenda Power. It was great to catch up with all of them too! I'll be doing a few more of these workshops next month too and am looking forward to them. (Joan, Aimee, and Gail are in the photo above.)

ALPHABET ANIMALS

ALPHABET ANIMALS by Suse MacDonald is a "slide and peek" book. This is a great new find for new readers--preschool and primary kids who love to have fun with the alphabet.

I have been adding to my collection of alphabet books and I so love the variety that is out there. This was a definite must-have.

Each page is a great, colorful animal--then "slide and peek" and along comes a large letter that tells the first letter of the animal followed by the name of the animal. The animals are, of course, in alphabetical order so kids who are just working on beginning sound will have the support to think about what the name of the animal might be and whether that guess matches the letter that comes next in the alphabet. For older kids who already know their alphabet, the illustrations and the fun of the slide and peek will keep them happy.

This book would make a great baby gift or a great birthday gift for 3, 4, and 5 year-olds. It would also be great in preschool and primary classrooms as well as school libraries. It is pretty sturdy, so even though it is a slide and peek, it should stay together pretty well.

POETRY FRIDAY: Potato Joe

Potato Joe
by Keith Baker
Harcourt, 2008
review copy compliments of the publisher

Shelve this book near Chicka Chicka Boom Boom -- it's a rhyming chant that counts up to ten and back down again using potatoes...and with guest appearances by a crow, some snow, Tomato Flo, and Watermelon Moe.

Here's a sample of the text: "One potato, two potato, hello, Joe! Three potato, four potato, tic-tac-toe!" Perfect for the three year-old in your life who has Chicka Chicka Boom Boom memorized. I'm thinking you might even want to get some potatoes out of the pantry and act it out -- easy props that can take some rough handling and still mash up for dinner!

A Birthday for Cow

A Birthday for Cow
by Jan Thomas
Harcourt, 2008
review copy compliments of the publisher

Your good friends work hard to do something nice for you for your birthday, but it's your TRUE friend who knows just what will make you happy. Pig and Mouse are making a birthday cake for Cow. Duck tries to get them to mix a turnip in, stir the batter with a turnip, or decorate the cake with a turnip. Pig and Mouse want nothing to do with the turnip. Can you guess what Cow's excited to see when she comes to the party? You guessed it, the turnip!

This is a bright, bold picture book with expressive characters and not much text. Young readers will love it, and it will make a fun read aloud if you don't mind your audience shouting, "TURNIP" along with Duck!

OTTOLINE and the YELLOW CAT

OTTOLINE AND THE YELLOW CAT is a GREAT find! At our blogger's breakfast a few weeks ago, I had already checked out when Beth brought over a stack of new books she thought we'd like. I was shopped out and didn't pay much attention, even when Karen from Literate Lives mentioned that it seemed like a great book. I finally took a look at it and had to go to the check out desk one more time. So, Karen gets full credit for this find.

I had forgotten about it until Katie from Creative Literacy mentioned that she and her son were reading it and loving it. So, she gets full credit for me actually reading it!

As I am trying to catch up on reading this week (the story of my life), I spent lots of the day Saturday, reading this book. There are supposed to be 3 in the series, but I am hoping for many, many more.

Ottoline is a fun character--a bit like Pippi Longstocking in that she seems to live alone-her traveling parents seem to love her. She is well-cared for by Mr. Monroe--a funny, hairy character--and a team of people who take care of things at the house. Ottoline is an interesting girl--strong and curious with lots of interesting traits. And she loves disguises! Ottoline has two interesting collections which you will learn about if you read the book. And she loves to solve puzzles.

The book is not quite a graphic novel but the illustrations tell quite a bit of the story. The text combine with illustrations on every page. The illustrations are black and white with a bit of red. The illustrations really bring the characters to life.

I am not usually a big fan of mysteries for young readers. It is a hard genre for kids--figuring out clues that add up to solving a mystery. But this is a PERFECT mystery for elementary kids. The clues are there but they can easily be missed or picked up by 8 and 9 year olds. And it makes sense at the end. I so hate those mysteries that never quite fit together. This one is perfect.

I can see a variety of kids liking this book. I think it will appeal to both boys and girls. It is a fun book with great picture support for kids new to chapter books. It is also interesting enough for older kids. I can see kids reading this from 2nd through 5th grade.

There seem to be 2 more books about Ottoline coming soon. Can't wait!

HOWTOONS: THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS

I have been trying to find and read more graphic novels that are appropriate for elementary age readers. My two main sources for books are Mary Lee and Beth at Cover to Cover. I am running a workshop on Content Reading in a few weeks and was looking for nonfiction graphic novels to share with teachers--nonfiction graphic novels that might help struggling readers make sense of concepts.

What a great surprise when Beth called with this new title--HOWTOONS! This is a How-To Graphic Book--I guess not a novel. It is filled with fun things for kids to make and the instructions to make them. Some are simple and some are complicated.

When I opened the book, I was thrilled to find that even the Table of Contents was in graphic form. Illustrations, titles and page numbers all on a two-page spread. Through the Table of Contents, I found that readers can learn how to do and make a variety of things--from counting with binary numbers to making an "Infamous Marshmallow Shooter". Clearly the possibilities for fun are endless!

The authors put a little disclaimer at the beginning--adult supervision is needed for many of these projects.

I like the idea that there is a book out here like this. I am not sure that I would just put the book on the shelf--it is a bit overwhelming. But, I can see using it bit-by-bit to try some of the activities described. Even though it is in graphic/cartoon form, it is full of lots of the usuals that you see in nonfiction text--labels, diagrams, etc. So, there are possibilities for teaching nonfiction text strategies with this book too.

A fun find! And, even more good news--I just found a great website that goes along with the book--lots of fun How-To Comics along with some games and more. And there is a blog that is written in a more graphic form! Who knew? The site seems very addicting.

Looks like the book has come from the people at MIT!
Fuse #8 reviewed the book in November if you'd like to read that one!

You can even see a video demonstration of the Marshmallow Shooter on the Howtoons website blog.

A New Series That Makes Me Laugh!

I noticed 3 books in a new series at Cover to Cover yesterday. ROSCOE RILEY RULES by Katherine Applegate. I was happy to see that there are 3 books in the series out right away--it is hard to wait for new books in a series after you read the first and love it.

This looked like the typical series book--nothing struck me about the cover except that it had a boy character and I was happy about that. I am loving all of the new series with strong girls but I have had a harder time finding these early chapter book series that highlight boy characters lately.

Well, this book was such a nice surprise. I loved it quickly. The first book is called ROSCOE RILEY RULES #1: NEVER GLUE YOUR FRIENDS TO CHAIRS. Right away, I could tell kids would like the whole idea of the book. The main character, Roscoe, tells each book in the series from his Official Time-Out Corner. Seems that each book will start out with Riley calling you over to his Time-Out Corner and then telling the story of why he is there. Pretty clever, I thought. (Roscoe seems to enjoy his corner well enough and his parents and teachers seem to love and understand him well!)

Chapter 2 in this first book is called "SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE WE GET STARTED". It says, "Here's the thing about Super-Mega-Gonzo Glue. When the label says permanent, they mean permanent. As in FOREVER AND EVER." This may be my favorite chapter in the book.

There are lots of reasons why I like this book. Roscoe tells the story and I like his voice. He is a first grader with a first grader voice. He is very clever, insightful and honest. The book is short--about 80 pages. A perfect length. Chapters are fairly short and there are lots of illustrations throughout. The thing that I think is best is that it is totally appropriate for kids in grades 1 and 2. The humor and the situations seem to be a perfect match. I can see readers of STINK by Megan MacDonald really enjoying this series too.

Looks like there are 3 available now (NEVER GLUE YOUR FRIENDS TO CHAIRS, NEVER SWIPE A BULLY'S BEAR and DON'T SWAP YOUR SWEATER FOR A DOG). #4 is due out in August and it is called NEVER SWIM IN APPLESAUCE.

I am anxious to share this book with my daughter and some of her friends. I think it will make for fun summer reading.

READING FOR REAL by Kathy Collins

I spent Thursday and Friday at the Lakota Literacy View Institute. The teachers there have been running this institute for several years and it is a great, intense four days. A great group of people running amazing staff development for teachers. That seems to be happening in lots of places and teachers left feeling energized and ready to think ahead to September.

As an added bonus, I was thrilled to see that they had copies of Kathy Collins' new book called READING FOR REAL. It wasn't due out for another week so I was thrilled to see copies there! Kathy Collins wrote another one of my favorite professional books called GROWING READERS. In both books, she is able to help us think through what is important to our youngest readers. This book is written for primary teachers and addresses primary literacy, especially with the use of "Reading Clubs". In her simple, "bare-bone" definition of reading clubs, Kathy says, " A reading club is a couple of kids reading and talking about a small collection of books that go together in some way." She goes on to describe what these might look like, how they might go, how the year might go, etc. There are many really thoughtful ways to use these types of reading clubs with primary kids.

A big thing I like about Kathy's writing (besides how funny she can be!) is the thoughtfulness behind her planning. It is obvious that she has layers of thinking when she teaches. For example, one of my favorite is one called "Getting to Know Our Characters Well to Better Understand Our Books and Ourselves". Kathy wants students to learn about characters and character development but she also talks about reading habits as goals--those things that bring joy to our reading lives. One of the things her students learn in this character study is that "Readers think about their character even when they aren't reading their books." What a huge thing for our young readers to learn and to value as readers.

With all of the leveled craze, Kathy is able to give us a way to bring talk and joy to our primary classrooms. The vignettes that she share remind us that young children are capable of very deep reading and very deep thinking. Kathy gives us a framework to make that happen. Even though this book is written for teachers of primary students, there are huge implications for teachers of all ages.

I will be a media specialist in one of our elementary schools next year. I decided it would be a fun challenge to really think about whole school literacy and reader identity from that role in the school. READING FOR REAL has helped me think through ways in which I might bring inquiry and book clubs into the library setting for my primary students. I am thinking about ways that I can collect books in baskets--books that "go together in some way" as Kathy tells us. I am hoping for a library filled with lots of talk around great books and having baskets of books with the same character, books on a topic, etc. may be just the invitation kids need to talk with each other in the library.Above is a photo from the Lakota Literacy VIEW Institute. Ralph Fletcher, one of the speakers, with Paulette, Susan, and Lin--members of the VIEW Planning Team!