Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears

Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears
by Emily Gravett
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
On shelves September 9, 2008
Winner of the 2007 Nestlé Children's Book Prize Bronze Award and
the 2008 Kate Greenaway Medal
review copy provided by the publisher


What's it with book characters taking the pencil (or the red marker) and revising the author's work?!? Chester messes with Mélanie Watt's writing, and now Little Mouse is messing with Emily Gravett's -- writing and drawing on the pages, chewing on the pages, and more.

Ms. Gravett has created a perfectly good self-help book for those who have fears and phobias. It is intended to be a sort of workbook for the phobic to face his/her fears with writing, drawing and collage. And Little Mouse takes her up on this.

I know we shouldn't laugh at others' fears, but this is a really funny book. Little Mouse's fears have literary references (Three Blind Mice and Hickory Dickory Dock), have real (Acrophobia) and imaginary (Whereamiophobia) names, and are so problematic to Little Mouse that his red pencil is a mere stump by the end of the book.

There are flaps, die-cuts, "chewed" edges of pages, "folded" page corners, and a VERY funny fold-out map of The Isle of Fright to keep the reader poring over the pages of this book. Every time you read it, you'll find a detail you had missed before.

I'm not sure this would be a therapeutic book for anyone with bonafide phobias, but the rest of us who have our share of fears and worries will completely empathize with Little Mouse, and in the end, with Emily Gravett.


Shelf Elf reviewed Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears last October. She must have gotten ahold of a British copy.
Visit Emily Gravett's website, where there's an activity for making your own collage of your fears, and a couple of page shots to give you a feel for the unique illustrations.

New Series Book Character-AMY HODGEPODGE

I like to keep up on new series books that are available for transitional readers. I just finished AMY HODGEPODGE ALL MIXED UP. It is the first in this series. Amy Hodge has been home schooled up until now. But now she wants to go to school and be part of all the things that school brings. But the first few days are a little tough for Amy until she makes a great group of friends. Lots is tackled in this book--feeling new at school, the "mean girls", fitting in,etc.

One of the things that I really like about this series is that Amy's family is multiracial. Amy is part Asian, part Caucasian and part African-American. I am finding that it is often hard for kids to find themselves and their families in the books they read. Especially children who are mixed race. Amy Hodgepodge and the friends that she makes at her new school help to fill this gap in children's books--especially those for transitional readers.

I was stunned to see some statistics in a blog post titled "Why Are Children's Books Still So White" about books that featured African American, Latino, and American Indian characters. The numbers are unsettling.

I liked reading about Amy and her troubles at her new school. She is a likable character and the series is perfect for the age group that it is intended for. I am excited to add this series to our shelves and look forward to more books about Amy Hodge.

Chester's Back!

Chester's Back!
by Mélanie Watt
Kids Can Press
September, 2008
review copy provided by the publisher

Mélanie Watt does her best to give us a new book starring Chester, the gigantic tortoiseshell cat with the equally gigantic attitude. But he's got his red marker in high gear and he hardly lets her get a word in edgewise. In the end, he lets down his guard and Mélanie gives him exactly what he asked for. Exactly. To his great dismay.

Both Chester and Chester's Back would make a great books for reader's theater for two voices. I get to be Chester, okay?

AMELIA MAKES A MOVIE by David Milgrim

As a kid who put on plays for my parents almost daily (painful for them, I am quite sure), AMELIA MAKES A MOVIE is quite fun! This new picture book is all about Amelia and her process of making a movie. She goes through the whole thing--script, lights, building a set, etc. It is quite exciting to watch the movie unfold with surprises along the way.

I love that this book takes into account the fact that kids have the capabilities of producing a movie on their own. The video camera and computer for editing are all a part of the illustrations and these kids are quite confident with all of the things needed to pull together a movie.

I also love the illustrations. Lots of talking bubbles, good colors, a graphic type look. The characters are quite likable--as are the pets who help out quite a bit:-)

A great book for all ages. I can see kids reading this one for fun, as a model for how-to nonfiction writing, and I can see teachers adding it to collections of books that help kids see a variety of purposes for writing.

Thinking about everything out there on 21st Century Literacies, this is a great book to show how the tools of the 21st Century just add to the same great thinking process of those who create!

New KELLY GALLAGHER website

For those of you who are Kelly Gallagher fans, he has a new website that is up and running this week. Included on this site is a list of books that Kelly's staff is reading as part of their book club as well as an "Article of the Week" feature that Kelly uses. The site just became live so checking back often for new stuff will probably be worth it.

For those of you who are not familiar with Kelly Gallagher and his work, his expertise is mostly middle school/high school literacy. As an upper elementary teacher, I have always learned so much from his books and workshops. He has written professional books such as READING REASONS, DEEPER READING, and TEACHING ADOLESCENT WRITERS.

On a related note, Kelly Gallagher will be doing a workshop in Columbus as part of the professional development provided by The Literacy Connection. He will be here for that workshop on Saturday, October 11.

Imaginary Menagerie

Imaginary Menagerie: A Book of Curious Creatures
by Julie Larios
illustrated by Julie Paschkis
Harcourt, 2008
review copy provided by the publisher



You've seen this book around the Kidlitosphere:

7-Imp kicked off poetry month last April with it; at Big A little a, Kelly reviewed it for Poetry Friday, as did Charlotte, at Charlotte's Library, although her focus was a little more on the art; and Harcourt has a teaching guide that includes a coloring/activity sheet. (There may be more. If my blog search missed you, let me know!)

I'm sharing it again because I want to make sure it didn't slip off your radar.

Fourteen mythological creatures each get their own poem and a gorgeous, luminous illustration: dragon, mermaid, firebird, centaur, troll, cockatrice, hobgoblin, sea serpent, thunderbird, sphinx, will o' the wisp, gargoyle, naga, and phoenix. (Go to 7-Imp and Charlotte's Library -- links above -- to get a feel for these amazing illustrations.)

The book includes a table of contents, a little more information about each creature (including culture of origin, where possible), and some of the most gorgeous endpapers ever.

Are your students reading fantasy? They need this book! Are you studying mythology? Include this book! Poetry Friday, poetry unit, poetry month: gotta have this book!

Poetry Friday -- Bees

Substitute oregano for morning glories and this could be a poem about my garden. I let the oregano in my raised beds go wild this summer and it has bloomed nonstop. It has not spent a minute of the summer without a swarm of these "pirates" in "pantaloons heavy with gold and sunlight."


Bees and Morning Glories
by John Ciardi

Morning glories, pale as a mist drying,
fade from the heat of the day, but already
hunchback bees in pirate pants and with peg-leg
hooks have found and are boarding them.

This could do for the sack of the imaginary
fleet. The raiders loot the galleons even as they
one by one vanish and leave still real
only what has been snatched out of the spell.

I’ve never seen bees more purposeful except
when the hive is threatened. They know
the good of it must be grabbed and hauled
before the whole feast wisps off.

They swarm in light and, fast, dive in,
then drone out, slow, their pantaloons heavy
with gold and sunlight.


(the rest is here)

Today's round up is at Read. Imagine. Talk.

The Start of School

It's getting a little crazy here in Back-to-School Land. Times like this, the best we can do is point you to the writing of others. Bud Hunt, at Bud the Teacher, has a great post that every teacher needs to read, whether this is your first year or your 25th year (*finger pointing at self*): An Open Letter To Teachers, by Bud the Teacher. Here are a couple of my favorite parts:

Be humble, but fight like crazy for your students. (Did this today. Proud of self.)

You’ll have nervous days and scared days and failure days. But you’ll also have “yes” days. Write about, reflect upon, and learn from all of them, but build a special place to keep a record of the “yes” ones. Return to it when you need a boost on some of the not-so-good days.

I wish you well. I ask you to be brave and humble and kind and tenacious and wise and caring and gentle and fierce. We so need you to do well. And there are lots of folks out there who want to help. Do good stuff.

JBlack at Transitioning to Web 2.0 made a Wordle poster of Bud's main points. Very cool. Words to live and teach by.

PAPER TOWNS by John Green

As most people who read the blog know, I don't read or review many Young Adult novels. (Actually, I am not going to actually review this book. Just tell you all that I think everyone should read it. As soon as it comes out.) I love YA but really don't have time to read many. With reading the K-6 stuff for work and the professional things I read and the adult books I read, YA comes as a last priority. Unfortunate, but true. Not because I don't love YA, but because there are so many books and so little time. So, I have to be very, very picky about the ones I do read. I read the classics. The books that you feel like you can't live without.

So, I can't tell you how happy I am that I made time to read PAPER TOWNS by John Green. As a non-YA reader, I would recommend it to everyone--whether you are a YA reader or not. It definitely deserves to be at the top of your next read stack. Like I said, I read the classic YA stuff. Love Chris Crutcher, Sherman Alexie, etc.

PAPER TOWNS is a great story and I won't go into the plot. Other reviewers have done that here, and here and here. I do have to say, for me, reading is all about the characters. And, these characters, Margo Roth Spiegelman, Quentin Jacobsen, Ben, Radar, Lacey. These characters will stay with me for a very, very long time. After reading the book, I feel like we've spent a lot of time together. Green is a master at creating believable characters that you come to know and love.

The cover is pretty amazing. Actually, the TWO covers are pretty amazing. John Green talks about the two covers here. Or you may prefer to hear him talk about the covers in Video Blog form. You can also hear John Green read an excerpt from his book here. And again here.

To remind yourself exactly how many days, hours and minutes you have before you can actually go out and BUY this new amazing book, you can visit the Paper Towns Countdown Widget. That John Green makes things fun and easy for his fans, don't you think?

And here is the even better news! John Green will be visiting COVER TO COVER Bookstore in Columbus!!! He will be there on October 20th at 5ish. So, you will have plenty of time between the day it comes out (October 16) and the day he visits to read the book because it will only take you a day or two because you won't be able to put it down.

GOODNIGHT GOON: A PETRIFYING PARODY

I was quite happy when I saw GOODNIGHT GOON: A PETRIFYING PARODY by Michael Rex at Cover to Cover today. GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret Wise Brown is a classic. A must have. And I do appreciate a good creative version of a favorite book. This one is perfect!

GOODNIGHT GOON is filled with monsters and Martians and mummies and more. I love how perfectly the author imitated each page of the original book in this version. As in the classic version, this makes for a great read aloud.

The illustrations are quite fun. Quite monster-like but not too scary for young readers. The colors make it a bit eerie but the smiling faces help to keep it more amusing than scary.

My favorite part is the Martians. It starts out
In a cold gray tomb
There was a gravestone
And a black lagoon
And a picture of---

Martians taking over the moon


How smart is that! Too fun!
I can see this book in all classrooms K-5. Younger students will just love a new version of this familiar classic. I can see older kids attempting to play with their own versions. And, of course, this is out in plenty of time for the Halloween season.