New Booklist for Phonics Instruction

A great article and booklist came in today's issue of THE BIG FRESH, Choice Literacy's free weekly newsletter. It is an article by Shari Frost who is a regular contributor to the site. She shares a list of great books that can be used to teach phonics skills--books that are so much better than some of the nonsense books that kids are reading in schools these days.

ELEVEN by Patricia Reilly Giff

eleven
by Patricia Reilly Giff
Wendy Lamb Books (Random House), 2008
review copy compliments of the publisher

What could possibly motivate an eleven year-old, who doesn't yet read, to want to become a reader?

Sam puts his time in every day in the resource room (when he hasn't sneaked outside instead). Anima reads aloud to him every night, "If he can't read yet, one thing we can do while we try to help him is to give him the world of books." Mack teaches him that the ability to "read" wood, to repair wood and to build with wood, is a rare and valuable talent. Still he doesn't read.

It's Sam's eleventh birthday. He's looked everywhere for hidden presents. Everywhere except the attic. He doesn't find any presents in the attic. Instead, he finds a mystery -- a newspaper clipping that shows a picture of him as a three year-old. The only word he can decipher from the headline is "missing." What does this mean? Does he not belong with his grandfather? Who is his family? What do the dreams and memories that have begun to haunt him mean? Who can he befriend at school who will help him solve this mystery?

Patricia Reilly Giff has woven a beautiful story of family, friendship, dreams, and longing. We have all had a Sam in our class. With this book, Giff reminds us to be patient, to try every approach, to encourage every talent, and to realize that it may, in the end, be nothing that we, as teachers, do that will lead our Sams to reading.

Reviewed by Jen Robinson as part of MotherReader's 48 Hour Read in June and at Charlotte's Library.

I dare you...

...not to get a silly grin on your face and say, "AWWWwwwww!)

Baby Animal Alphabet

(link from BB-Blog)

Poetry Friday -- Round Up Is Here!

Thought for the day: don't judge a book by its cover; don't assume you understand stone.







Stone
by Charles Simic

Go inside a stone
That would be my way.
Let somebody else become a dove
Or gnash with a tiger's tooth.
I am happy to be a stone.

From the outside the stone is a riddle:
No one knows how to answer it.
Yet within, it must be cool and quiet
Even though a cow steps on it full weight,
Even though a child throws it in a river;
The stone sinks, slow, unperturbed
To the river bottom
Where the fishes come to knock on it
And listen.

(the rest of the poem is here)

Leave your Poetry Friday link in the comments. We'll round up at various times throughout the day. Happy Friday! Happy Poetry Friday!

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The early birds are in!

Andrea and Mark, at Just One More Book, have a review of a "snazzily illustrated" rhyming book that was an instant hit in their house. It's the kind of book that will inspire you to start rhyming!

cloudscome, at a wrung sponge, has a poem for her boys, accompanied, as always, by her fabulous photography.

Jamie, at AdLit.org, is joining us for the first time with a review of a book of poems by a Canadian author.

Tiel Aisha Ansari, at Knocking from Inside, has a haunting original poem based on a short story by Ursula LeGuin.

Eisha, at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, has again received inspiration from The Poets Upstairs (who apparently are also cooks). She's introducing us to a poet who needs more attention, and sharing a poem that is not for the queasy.

Sara, at Read, Write, Believe, shares one of her favorite poems this week. It's a poem that makes you vow to stand up a little taller.

writer2b has her head in the stars today. She shares a whole constellation of poetry and images.

Mme T, at Destined to Become a Classic, has been critter-watching in her jungle-garden. She found a kindred spirit (and a new favorite poet) in Roethke.

jama, of jama rattigan's alphabet soup, has her head not in the stars, but in her refrigerator today. I dare you not to open your fridge after you read her post!

(Excuse me for an editorial aside here. Did I ever mention how much I love Poetry Friday? When I describe it to non-bloggers, I tell them it is like a party. You get to go and "hang out" with your "friends" (who could be the bloggers or the poets/poems that are shared that week), but you are always guaranteed to meet some "new friends" every week as well. As the hostesses of this "party," we have the added fun of watching patterns and connections emerge in the poems everyone chooses. It's a little like time-lapse photography.

Okay. That's all. Back to the poems.)

At Wild Rose Reader, Elaine has a review of J. Patrick Lewis' World's Greatest: Poems, along with some insider information about how this book came to be (and a sad-but-true connection to one of the poems in the book.)

At Blue Rose Girls, Elaine shares a poem that will make you reflect back on all your summer jobs, and perhaps also on all of your mentors.

Laura Salas has a great picture from camp and this week's 15 Words or Less Poems.

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It's been a busy and productive morning! How about some more poetry now?!?!

Sylvia, at Poetry for Children, has a book review for us today.

Linda, at Write Time, shares her contribution to Lee Bennett Hopkins' new collection HAMSTERS, SHELLS, AND SPELLING BEES.

(The quote of the day on my iGoogle page: "There is no reciprocity. Men love women, women love children, children love hamsters." - Alice Thomas Ellis)

alotalot, at A Little of This, A Little of That, has pioneers on her mind today.

Sherry, at Semicolon, has a poem by Spencer and a question for you.

Little Willow, at Bildungsroman, features upbeat lyrics to an ABBA song.

Tabatha has links to some poetry games and shares an original poem, too!

Charlotte, at Charlotte's Library, writes about a time when a book she liked led her to a poem she liked and inspired her to go read more. She, too, has a question for you.

Kelly, at Writing and Ruminating, shares a tribute to Randy Pausch, of THE LAST LECTURE fame.

Becky, at Becky's Book Reviews, reviews BECOMING BILLIE HOLIDAY. Mark your calendar for its October appearance in bookstores.

Michele, at Scholar's Blog, is taking comfort in Shakespeare when all else seems to be going wrong.

Susan, at Chicken Spaghetti, shares some Ralph Covert song lyrics, and she's doing a GIVEAWAY OF THE RALPH'S WORLD CD FOR CHILDREN. Get over there by 8:00 tonight and get your name in the drawing!

Lisa, at Under the Covers, reviews a book of treasure hunt poems.

TadMack, at Finding Wonderland, shares a poem that ponders mental health.

Sarah, at Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering, today is pondering the power of the right poem at the right time.

Diane, at The Write Sisters, is another Poetry Friday newcomer. Welcome ladies! Thanks for sharing the link to one of your favorite sources for pictorial inspiration for writing poetry!

Laurel, at Laurel Snyder, has mythology on her mind today, thanks (or no thanks) to Percy Jackson.

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Almost time for bed. Let's finish this round up (until tomorrow morning, when I'm sure I'll wake up and find a few more).

Jim, at Haunts of a Children's Writer, has a famous 15 minute sonnet, and his own 15 minute poem.

::Suzanne::, at Adventures in Daily Living, has a poem by Seamus Heaney, her literary hero.

Ruth, at There Is No Such Thing As A God-forsaken Town, has been patiently waiting since 7:45 this morning to be rounded up. Please accept my apology, Ruth, for inadvertently skipping you! Everybody, make sure you check out her review of a Kristine O'Connell George book I've never seen -- one that folds together poetry and origami. Very fun!

Kimberly, at Lectitans, has a poem that could be a lullaby. Perfect timing!

Stacey, at Two Writing Teachers, pays homage to her home state, Indiana, with the state's poem. Does your state have a state poem? Does mine?

MNOSAL is our third Poetry Friday first-timer this week, with a poem about thunderstorms and a picture of a very fine looking cat who is not always brave during thunderstorms.

Erin, at Miss Erin, has one of my very favorite Shel Silverstein poems.

Cuileann, at The Holly and the Ivy, has the last word (at least for now) with a cat poem that is also very final.

Okay, one more. MotherReader wrote a rhyme to help us remember not to judge her first attempts at virtual booktalks (check YouTube in the near future) too harshly.

COMING SOON: A NEW BOOK FOR TEACHERS BY DEBBIE MILLER!

Well, I totally lucked out. I received an advanced copy of Debbie Miller’s upcoming professional book TEACHING WITH INTENTION: DEFINING BELIEFS, ALIGNING PRACTICE TAKING ACTION. (I know that you are all very jealous and I do feel a bit guilty that I have had a chance to read this book before it is released. So, I thought I’d at least share some highlights with you and let you know that this is another amazing read from Debbie Miller.)

You can also get a Sneak Peek at the book at the Stenhouse site. Looks like the sneak peek includes an excerpt as well as some of the gorgeous color insert.

Debbie Miler’s book READING WITH MEANING changed classrooms everywhere. Debbie invited us into her classroom to see her own work and her children’s thinking. In this new book, Debbie does the same. Since she retired as a classroom teacher five years ago, she has been working in classrooms across the country. In this new book, she again invites us to be part of her teaching—to see the thinking behind all that she does and to hear the brilliant thinking of the students she works with.

Debbie starts the book off, with a conversation about defining our beliefs as teachers. She says, “I’m convinced that success in the classroom depends less on which beliefs we hold and more on simply having a set of beliefs that guides us in our day to day work with children. Once we know who we are and what we’re about in the classroom, we become intentional in our teaching; we do what we do on purpose, with good reason.”

The book follows this line of thinking. Instead of believing in test scores to tell us all we know and following scripted lessons and pacing guides to meet the needs of our students, Debbie helps us thinking about think through the ways that our practices line up with the beliefs we hold about teaching and learning.

The first chapter in the book is called “Picture Perfect: How Does Your Ideal Classroom Look, Sound, and Feel”. In this chapter, she shares with us that by having a vision of what we want for our kids in March, April, and May, helps us set up a classroom that allows that to happen. She knows the right environment is critical to student learning.

Debbie continues on, sharing with readers her thinking on aligning practice, teaching for engagement, designing lessons based on your beliefs, assessment and the best use of time.

The honesty with which Debbie Miller writes and her willingness to share her own challenges in creating beliefs and aligning those to practice are helpful. She is honest about things she let go of in her teaching when she realized they didn’t match her beliefs. It is a glimpse into Debbie’s brilliant teaching and the steps she has taken to get there. She shares her own beliefs as well as honest reflections of her own growth as a teacher---times when her practice did not always align with her beliefs. She shares stories from her own teaching and stories from teachers she has worked with.

With all that she packs in, you would think that this would be a 500-page book. But the book is a short, thoughtful and reflective look at teaching and learning. This would be the PERFECT book for staff book talks, helping us as teams and schools define what it is we believe and beginning to align those beliefs to our practices.

This book is due out in late August. I would schedule time on your calendar now so that you have time to read it right away. It is thoughtful and very hopeful. It is an energizing read—reminding us why it is that we became teachers in the first place. As always, Debbie writes in a way that celebrates the joy of teaching. Just as she creates classrooms for children. 

Debbie believes in classrooms in which a “can-do” spirit permeates the room. “Children seem to breathe in, ‘I/We can do this,’’ and breathe out, ‘Here’s how.’ These children sense that they have the capacity to roll up their sleeves, take action, and get things done.” In her newest book, Debbie Miller again does the same for teachers. She gives us the words we need to roll up our own sleeves with a can-do attitude.

The Ways We Read

Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self. “We are not only what we read,” says Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. “We are how we read.” Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace. When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Reading, explains Wolf, is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It’s not etched into our genes the way speech is. We have to teach our minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the language we understand. And the media or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains. Experiments demonstrate that readers of ideograms, such as the Chinese, develop a mental circuitry for reading that is very different from the circuitry found in those of us whose written language employs an alphabet. The variations extend across many regions of the brain, including those that govern such essential cognitive functions as memory and the interpretation of visual and auditory stimuli. We can expect as well that the circuits woven by our use of the Net will be different from those woven by our reading of books and other printed works.

From Nicholas Carr's "Is Google Making Us Stupid?", The Atlantic.com. Thank you Monica, at Educating Alice, for the link. She chose this excerpt. Go read the whole article. What do you think? Which part resonates in your brain?

A Visit to Hodge-Podge Books

I was doing some work in Albany, New York last week and was able to fit in a visit to Hodge-Podge Books. Frank Hodge, the owner is quite well known. Most likely, if you love children's books, you have read about Frank and his store. So I was very excited when our friends Val and Amy set up a visit for us!

What a fun and cozy place it is! And what a wonderful man Frank is. He gathered us around to share with us some of his new favorite books. In the photo, you'll see some of us who were part of the visit--me (on the floor) Cris Tovani, Debbie MIller, Philippa Stratton, and Rachel Billmeyer. (Val and Amy were kindly taking photos from the visit!)

Mr. Hodge shared some of his favorite new titles. I purchased a few that he mentioned--my favorite being MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMP. Crack me up--who thinks of these things? We also got a sneak peek at Mem Fox's upcoming picture book TEN LITTLE FINGERS AND TEN LITTLE TOES! It seems to be due out in November and I just can't wait! It is a great book--as is always the case with Mem and will make for the best baby gift ever!



I picked up two new books that I hadn't seen before. One is a great one for the beginning of the school year. It is called
HAPPY SCHOOL YEAR by Susan Milord. This book is connected to The First Day Campaign that I don't know much about but seems to be a way to involve families by making the first day of school a celebration for families. The picture book is a great one that captures the way so many of us feel on that first day of school and how the day always ends on a happy note.


I also picked up M IS FOR MISCHIEF: AN A TO Z OF NAUGHTY CHILDREN by Linda Ashman. I was drawn to it because the illustrations were done by Nancy Carpenter who illustrated 17 THINGS I'M NOT ALLOWED TO DO ANYMORE (which cracked me up!). This book is a kind of poetry/alphabet book. The author describes 26 "naughty" children. These are poems that kids will definitely like more than the adults, but I found many of them quite amusing. My favorite child in the book was 'Doodling Daphne', although there were several that I loved. A fun book about naughty kids with lots of fun surprises (and of course, great illustrations!)



It was a great trip. If you EVER have a chance to meet Frank Hodge and to visit his wonderful store, I would highly recommend it. It is quite a treat!

Out of the Wild...again

Perhaps it's getting a little tedious when Franki and I both post on the same book. At least this time it's not back to back like our reviews of The Underneath (mine, hers).

Franki was lucky enough to snag an ARC of Out of the Wild (her review here); I bought mine at Cover to Cover.

OUT OF THE WILD
by Sarah Beth Durst
June, 2008
review copy purchased at my favorite independent children's bookstore: Cover to Cover

I laughed out loud -- literally shouted a "HAH!" -- at the end of the first book, Into the Wild, when the identity of the "villain" (the one who caused The Wild to grow) is revealed. Durst hid her villain in plain sight.

In the second book, Out of the Wild, I started laughing out loud from the very beginning. Reading this book is like being on the magic carpet with Julie -- a roller coaster ride of twists and turns and near-misses and surprises. With lots of laughs all the way. The story begins when The Wild eats one of the Three Blind Mice and then, when Julie demands, "Give him back!" The Wild instead delivers her father, the 500 year-old prince of Rapunzel, Julie's mother. Chaos begins immediately, when Prince (Julie's father) takes off to rescue a princess and The Wild begins to grow with a vengeance. And the laughs come one right after another.

On creating an identity for her father, who has appeared out of nowhere: "Who knew that miracles came with paperwork problems?"

On the experience of flying cross-country on a bath mat turned magic carpet: "This, she thought, is like some bizarre dream. She shouldn't be flying past DC on a bath mat."

When Julie comes up with a plan, her impulsive, charge-in-and-save-the-world father says, "It is a good plan. You are your mother's daughter." This causes Julie to think, "Well, it wasn't a save-the-world sort of plan, and it had the potential to be mind-bogglingly humiliating, but it was (moderately) better than charging in, sword raised."

When Julie climbs the beanstalk out of the Grand Canyon: "She told herself that she shouldn't be surprised. After all, if Grandma's broomstick could fly in the real world, if Bobbi's wand could change people into pumpkins, and if the wishing well could grant wishes, then why shouldn't magic beans work too? And no matter where they were, magic beans always grew into beanstalks that reached the giant's castle in the clouds. But still, a castle over Arizona...wow."

Pondering how her new friend Henry is coping: "She thought about Henry, finding out for the first time that his father was a fairy-tale character one moment and then being carried away by a dragon the next. He was, she thought, having a much worse day than she was."

On the nature of evil: "Linda still looked like the [description withheld because it's a total spoiler] that Julie had grown up knowing. She had plain brown hair and an ordinary round face with chipmunk cheeks. She wore a preppy brown sweater set and charcoal gray pants. What kind of villain wore a sweater set?"


Great tri-review at 7-Imp (with Tadmack of Finding Wonderland fame).

Other reviews at
Becky's Book Reviews
Dare to Be Stupid (Tamora Pierce's blog)

And here's Sarah Beth Durst's blog, where she tells about her upcoming visit to the Northboro, Massachusets Library -- the real one where she grew up as a reader and "learned to love books" -- the one that is, along with the town, the setting of both of her books. How fun would that be?!?!

Poetry Friday -- Full Moon

Moon over Long Island Sound, as seen from Abbotts' Lobster in the Rough in Noank, CT.

Full Moon
by Robert Hayden

No longer throne of a goddess to whom we pray,
no longer the bubble house of childhood's
tumbling Mother Goose man,

The emphatic moon ascends


(the rest of the poem is here)

The round up this week is at Writing and Ruminating. Next week it will be HERE!

Children's Literature at the Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Germany

We didn't go out of our way to visit the Autostadt. Wolfsburg and the Autostadt are very near Ribbesbüttel, the village where our hosts live. (Ribbesbüttel is about an hour away from Hannover, Germany).

The Autostadt is a mash up of theme park and science museum, all on the subject of The Glorification of Volkswagen and All of the Car Brands Owned By VW. You might not believe me if I told you how much fun it is. Go to YouTube and watch some of the videos. You'll find out what those towers are in the photo to the left, and how the Ritz Carlton figures in.

Here's the children's literature connection. We walked into the Skoda pavilion. It was quite whimsical.



The biggest surprise came when I picked up a brochure on the way out.  It was this cute little accordion-fold booklet, and LO AND BEHOLD, it was illustrated by Peter Sis.  Skoda is a Czech company; Sis is a Czech.

Here is a close up of the cover and another to give you the scale.

Keep your eyes open.  There are children's literature connections in the most surprising places!