PRINCESS PEEPERS by Pam Calvert

At least twice a week, one of the Kindergarten or first grade girls at school asks for a "princess book". That is what they look for and they are not easy to please. They want the new pink and purple princess of today. And these young girls seem to decide immediately by the cover, whether this is a princess that they want to read about.

So, I was very excited to find PRINCESS PEEPERS by Pam Calvert. The cover is perfect--pink and purple. And Princess Peepers is pretty fun. She wears glasses and loves to wear many different kinds of glasses. Quite the fashion statement. But then the other princesses make fun of her so she goes without her glasses. Well, as predicted it is a disaster and she can't see. All kinds of trouble occurs until she realizes that she does need her glasses. The ending is a good one and everyone, of course, lives happily ever after.

A cute book that will definitely make a good addition to the library!

(Thanks to Marshall Cavendish Children's Books for the review copy!)

Poetry Friday -- The Dog Wish

Man
is troubled
by what might be called
the Dog Wish,
a strange and involved compulsion
to be as happy and carefree
as a dog.

James Thurber

The round up this week is at Adventures in Daily Living.

2 New Picture Books

I didn't even have to read THE ODD EGG by Emily Gravett or THE GREAT PAPER CAPER by Oliver Jeffers when Beth showed them to me at Cover to Cover this week. I love both authors so much that I knew that I would want the books. So I bought them and read them when I got home. And I was not disappointed!

THE ODD EGG by Emily Gravett is a cute story of about lots of birds who have eggs. And Duck, who does not. But he finds an egg and waits anxiously for it to hatch. Gravett's illustrations are fun and the expressions on the animals' faces are worth a close look. There are some partial size pages that adds to the fun of the book. And of course there is a fun surprise at the end. A simple story with text that young children can tackle on their own. And of course, lots of Gravett's humor that makes this a book adults won't tire of. So glad I picked it up!

THE GREAT PAPER CAPER by Oliver Jeffers is the second book that I picked up. This book is a mystery of sorts. Tree branches are disappearing in the forest and the animals investigate. The language of a mystery (alibi, culprit, suspects) are used throughout which add to the fun. The clues come together for a happy ending. Jeffers great story, humor and unique art style combine to make this a great book to add to the library. Fun for all ages, I think!

Amelia Rules!: When the Past is a Present

Amelia Rules! Volume #4: When the Past is a Present
by Jimmy Gownley
Renaissance Press, 2008

This was my snow day gift to myself: curl up on the couch and read a book I want to read for me.

In this volume, Amelia's life is rocketing forward (her mom has a date, she's going to her first dance) and she's trying to make sense of how all that fits into her past.

Gownley's goal with the Amelia books "was to create a comic book with comic strip sensibilities that both traditional and nontraditional comic book fans could enjoy. He also wanted to provide good, solid entertainment for kids that didn't talk down to them." And he totally succeeds. He even made me cry.

In Part 3, "The Things I Cannot Change," Amelia learns why her friend Joan has been so sad and withdrawn even though she shares the news that she doesn't have to move. At the dance, it is announced that Joan's father is being deployed, and not to someplace fun like Germany. We feel Joan's pain, we see how Amelia and Joan's friend Hannigan cheer Joan up and get her back to the dance floor, and then in three pages of stark panels that march 3 by 3 across pages with empty, white backgrounds, we watch Joan say goodbye to her father.

This book is not a serious downer, just because there's a serious part. There's also a nod to comic strip history in the part where Amelia's mother and Aunt Tanner tell her their family's story. There's a hysterical babysitter-gone-bad part. There's a game called "Thank Goodness You're Open," and a definition of "Hangin' Out." What makes this book so hard to describe, and what makes it (and the rest of the Amelia books) so brilliant, is that all the random funny, weird, serious, thoughtful, historic, artsy, comic-y parts are woven and interconnected in ways that...well, suffice it to say: read it for yourself. Read them all.

My Favorite Words from Governor Strickland's State of the State Address Today

Governor Ted Strickland's State of the State Address was today. So many favorite lines to choose from but these are the things that make me most excited as a teacher and as a mom. Great goals for education in Ohio:-) And check out the Wordle from his speech- love the big messages. My favorite lines from today --in no particular order...

     "Under my plan, the Ohio Department of Education will set standards for Ohio schools requiring innovative teaching formats. Interdisciplinary methods, project-based learning, real world lessons, and service learning will be the norm."

     "Ohio’s current graduation test does not measure creativity, problem solving, and other key skills. We will make our assessments both relevant and rigorous by replacing the Ohio Graduation Test with the ACT and three additional measures.
     All students will take the ACT college entrance examination, not only to measure their high school achievement, but to help raise students’ aspirations for higher education. Students will also take statewide ‘end of course’ exams, complete a service learning project, and submit a senior project.
    These four measures will give our graduating high school seniors the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge, creativity, and problem solving skills, in short, to demonstrate precisely the skills that will help them succeed in life."

"Together we’ll make Ohio among the first states to place 21st century skills like creativity, problem solving, communication and leadership at the center of its curriculum."

"The learning experience will be built around the individual student. Lessons will not end when a fact is memorized. Students will be given a chance to interact with information, to follow up on the subjects that fascinate, to think critically and creatively and to use what they’ve learned to draw conclusions."

"Our schools are not assembly lines and our students are not widgets. We will teach to each individual student’s need because we recognize that it is the surest path to seeing our young people reach their full potential."

ORBIS PICTUS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING NONFICTION FOR CHILDREN

NCTE has announced the 2009 Orbis Pictus winners. I tend to look forward to this list each year for a variety of reasons. As a reader of children's books, I gravitate to picture books and fiction novels.

At our Cover to Cover visit on Monday, Bill from Literate Lives pointed out a few books that I purchased. Bill is a history guy so he notices books that I don't. He pointed out several nonfiction books that I hadn't paid attention to before. Once I took a few minutes to look at them, I realized that I needed them for the library.

The Orbis Pictus Award was one of the first ways I started to pay attention to nonfiction. And I have ALWAYS been impressed by the selections. At the NCTE Annual Convention where some of the Orbis Pictus winners are awarded and highlighted each year, I am always struck by how many more great nonfiction books are being published for kids.

I am struck by the difference in "nonfiction" and nonfiction children's literature. So many books in classrooms, libraries, and bookstores are so encyclopedia-like. So many "sets" of books that are such poor quality in terms of interest, layout and readability. So many that have the feel of textbooks. I think in elementary schools, if we can begin to replace those types of books with good, quality nonfiction for children, it would be a huge service to kids. Imagine how many biography readers we'd have if they had access to great picture book biographies all the time. The Orbis Pictus has always helped me to think through the kinds of nonfiction kids choose to read outside of school. That, to me, is a clue as to the kinds of nonfiction we should have in school!

I don't know many books on this year's Orbis Pictus list. I haven't even heard of the actual winner, AMELIA EARHART, THE LEGEND OF THE LOST AVIATOR but I do love some of the other books that received honors or recommendations--WE ARE THE SHIP,A RIVER OF WORDS, SISTERS AND BROTHERS. GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER.

I love ALA's award day. It is so fun to predict winners, to listen to others thoughts, to try to read the year's winner, etc. But there are so many other awards that are given that really help me select good books for kids. The Orbis Pictus Award is one that over the years, has really helped me add nonfiction children's literature to my reading life.

Okay, Okay, Franki Won

Franki read the Newbery before it was announced today, so technically, she wins the friendly little non-competition (HA!) upon which this blog was originally based.

Here she is with Beth and Sally, the two other people in our world who read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman before today's announcement.


I am going to claim a win of sorts this year too, because my prediction of the winner came true. I predicted that "the Newbery will be a book that hasn't darkened my door: Jimmy's Stars, Highway Cats, The Graveyard Book, The Porcupine Year, After Tupac and D Foster, Seer of Shadows, or The Trouble Begins at 8." There it is, the third one on my list. As a bonus, I have never seen the Caldecott winner, either! SCORE! (On a side note, I own a copy of the Caldecott Honor book, A River of Words, which is signed by both the author and the illustrator because I've had that one on my short list since last summer!)

But just to show that there are no hard feelings here we all are at Cover to Cover right before we left to go out to dinner:


Bestbookihavenotread, Literate Lives (minus Bill -- did your kid's team win the basketball game?), Cover to Cover, Creative Literacy, A Year of Reading, Authentic Learner x2, local author Amjed Qamar, and A Year of Reading.

Yes, blogging is fun, but it can't beat meeting at the best independent children's bookstore in our state on Newbery announcement day and then filling a huge booth at NorthStar and talking books!

Newbery Predictions from Friends

We asked some of our smart, book expert friends, to send us their recommendations for this year's Newbery award. We love hearing everyone's thoughts on the award. Some great thoughts on books in general:-) The conversation is always such fun! Here is what they said:

From Ray Barrett, one of the great children's librarians at the Dublin Library says:

"I've had a chance to finish "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins and I enjoyed it more than anything else that I've read recently (Juvenile or Adult!). The themes that form the basis of the book are serious, but are handled in such a way that I don't believe it would be too much for an excellent Middle School reader to handle. After all, they are constantly surrounded and inundated by similar situations in the world in which they live today. The main characters are very well developed with individual personalities, beliefs, and observations on the state of their lives as they compete in the games. The main character, Katniss Everdeen, definitely evolves and grows throughout the course of the book, and she is the personification of self-sacrifice as she makes the difficult decisions with which she is faced. I found the book extremely difficult to put down and continued to think about it in the time between my reading opportunities. When I had finished it, and after re-reading the last few pages several times, I actually felt a sense of loss that my visit to this world was over! The good news is that it's the first book in a trilogy, although the reader is unaware of this until the last page. It was such a powerful reading experience, and it was written so effectively, that I believe it will appeal to both an older Teen audience as well as to younger Middle School readers who are interested in a book that stresses the values of personal identity, self-sacrifice, and resistence to the status quo. "The Hunger Games" is the type of book that could win the Newbery or the Printz (or both?), and it's my pick for this year!"

From Jen Allen, Literacy Coach in Maine and author of Becoming a Literacy Leader

"When Franki asked me my pick for this year's Newbery award I have to admit
that I took a deep breath. It seems like I am always in left field with
my selections. But with that said, I have to say that The Life and Crimes
of Bernetta Wallflower by Lisa Graff is one of my favorite reads of the
year. This story is all about the choices that we make and the
consequences for our actions. I especially like the story because it is a
real kid grabber and truly appeals to students in the intermediate grades.
I think too often I pick books that appeal to me as an adult and at
times lose sight of what kids want in a book. As my son often tells me,
he is not always looking for books with deep meaning. He just wants to
lose himself in the book with the characters. He helps me to remember the
beauty of being eleven and the power an adventurous and sometimes
outrageous storyline can have on the desire for kids to engage with books."

From Larry Swartz, our good friend from Toronto and author of GOOD BOOKS MATTER (review to come soon), LITERACY TECHNIQUES, and THE NOVEL EXPERIENCE has some predictions as well as some titles that can't win the award but are worth the read!

OK... once again I will give some thoughts to the Newbery.. but they never listen to me.. i'm still grieving over HOME OF THE BRAVE by Applegate not getting recognition last year.. it was the best, so there!...

I'd certainly give recognition to THE UNDERNEATH.. a beautifullly written book.. but a bit strange.. and somewhat schizophrenic... it's about many things.. and the illustratioins don't work.. and get rid of that cover.. the book, I think, is for a narrow audience (strong readers (girls) in grade 5 or 6)... but i enjoyed the read and it's layers.

Probably the award should go to SUNRISE AT FALLUJAH by Walter Dean Myers.. He really is a hero of young adolescent literature... this book is an encyclopedic... historic overview of the IRAQ war and for it's importance, I give it a vote.. will 'they' give it to a YA novel? assumption: a different intended audience for the newbery ...

I wouldn't mind if BROOKLYN BRIDGE by Karen Hesse or THE WILLOUGHBYS by Lois Lowry were recognized.. does the committee care if these were previous winners? do they care if they are authorspeople have heard of?

colleagues at the book store love THE HUNGER GAME by Suzanne Collins.. but I ain't a sci fantasy fan so it doesn't get a big rah rah from me....the books I particularly enjoyed this year don't qualify.. cuz they ain't american.. i really liked the Canadian book WORD NERD by Susin Nielsen... and the australian book NAKED BUNYIP DANCING by Steven Herrick... and Michael Morpurgo's (british)..BORN TO RUN
there's some monday morning thoughts from north of the 49th parallel...just

21st Century Thinking-My Blog Visits

I continue to stretch my thinking on 21st Century Learning thanks to so many great people who are writing about their own learning and thinking.  As I figured, many of these issues are not specific to technology or 21st Century.  Instead, they are about teaching and learning.  Not really different issues, but I think 21st Century tools give us a great opportunity to really rethink all that we are doing in education--what is our purpose? how do we best support kids? etc.
One of my favorite posts of the week comes from Generation YES Blog "Technology Literacy and Sustained Tinkering Time."  The article looks at the research about SSR and what that might tell us about the time kids (and all learners) need to play with tools.  I have been thinking a lot about this lately--the fact that we need time to "play" and learn these tools in a way that is fun and no-stress.  Definitely an article worth reading and thinking about. The title alone made me think!
There is a Guest Post on Learn Me Good from Kevin of Kevin's Meandering Mind called "Who's the Expert Anyway?", Kevin reflects on the fact that many of our students are much farther ahead than we are in their technology skills and understanding.  So, what does that mean for us?  How do we take what we know about teaching and learning and help kids grow who have experiences with 21st Century skills that we don't?

Wesley Fryer writes about Self-Directed Learning in his post "Professional School sand Self-Directed Learning".  My favorite line from this post is "Dependent learners remain limited learners."  So true and I think that our most struggling kids become the most dependent and then the most limited.  I worry about this often.  
I love David Warlick's post titled, "What is the Purpose of Education?" in which he reflects on his own answer to the question. He reflects on the recent post by Karl Fisch and says "What struck me in hindsight was that these students were earning respect." I think this is so much of everything about schools--are kids owning their own learning or jumping through some hoops that someone creates for them?  This is another reminder that 21st Century Literacy is so much more than technology.

Tim Tyson asks readers two great questions this week in his recent post. Do you sincerely believe that our students in today's schools can make the world a better place because of their school work? AND What percentage of students in your school actually sincerely made the world a better place because of their school work this year? Stop over and add your answers to the post. Definitely something to think about especially when added to David Warlick's post.

Why Do Some Kill Student Blogging? is a great post by Ryan Bretag. He writes about an issue that I have been concerned about for a while--how schools kill blogging when we ask kids to keep a blog. We often do this by making it formulaic--not the kind that we want to read. For me, this is one of the big issues of 21st Century Learning.  What good is using tools if the thinking and communication is taken away and students just follow our templates?  How do we help students use these tools in authentic ways?  I remember this early when kids were creating websites. I would go to classrooms where kids were "creating" websites, only to see that they all looked the same because the teacher created the template and told kids what to put where. As a writing workshop teacher, this issue that Ryan Bretag brings up is a writing issue--how do we take these new genres and formats-that are coming out because the ways we communicate are expanding-and keep them authentic for the kids. So that they actually think, write, create?

Love this post by Angela at The Cornerstone Blog called "The Internet vs. 'Real' Reading" because I think that many of us are feeling the same way.  We love books but are finding that more and more of our reading time is spent online.  How do we come to peace with that--get over some of the guilt?

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills released a report, asking us to reevaluate learning environments. A big task when small changes seem so hard. But a very important thing to think about--are we stuck in very old models for learning?

And one new tool I found this week that I am definitely checking out--hoping to buy one for home to play with this week--is Animationish.  I found it thanks to Tim Lauer. The kids at his school seem to be doing so many amazing things.  A fun thing about Animationish is that it was created by Peter H. Reynolds--you know, the author/illustrator of THE DOT, ISH and SOMEDAY. He is also the illustrator of JUDY MOODY.  Imagine what kids could do with this program.  One more possibility for kids as they create.

So, no answers. Just lots more to think about:-)

Poetry Friday -- Irony

There is some argument about what qualifies as ironic, but all senses of irony revolve around the perceived notion of an incongruity between what is said and what is meant; or between an understanding of reality, or an expectation of a reality, and what actually happens. --Wickipedia

TREES
by Joyce Kilmer

(For Mrs. Henry Mills Alden)

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Laura Salas has the round up this week.