Laurie Keller Author Visit

I am a little late posting this. Okay, so I am a lot late. With the end of the school year, things got crazy as they do. And then I traveled a bit and didn't have the time to give this post the energy it deserved. So, now I finally have the time to reflect on the great author visit that we had in late May. Author and illustrator, Laurie Keller visited our school in May. She also visited the Dublin Branch Library. It was a great day!

If you haven't read each and every one of Laurie Keller's books, every one is great. The fact that she is author AND illustrator is key because so much of the story goes on in the illustrations--and even in the lettering. Her characters are great and her humor is brilliant. Each one of Keller's books is one that can grow with kids. My daughter's personal favorite book is ARNIE THE DOUGHNUT. And, it was the favorite among the whole K-5 school who read and enjoyed all of her books. The story is a fun one--Arnie is purchased by a nice man, only to discover that the man intends to eat him! Arnie is shocked and the story goes from there. I can see why this has been my daughter's favorite for years. The story is fun--the whole concept is pretty fun. And the side comments probably make more sense as her sense of humor has developed. So she can enjoy it on different levels as she grows. All of Keller's books do this.

Laurie Keller was a great author to have visit our school. I was lucky enough to be part of all of the sessions and the students had such a great time with her. One of the things that was so nice was the tie-in to art. She not only talked about her books and her writing process but she spent lots of each session teaching kids to draw those characters that they love. Kids came with pencil, paper and clipboard and they left with quite a sense of pride and accomplishment. Laurie taught us how to draw several things--I was amazed at how simple she made it look. After her visit, many kids in the school created their own stories about the characters she had taught them to draw! (And at the Dublin Library, even children's library, Loren Scully was learned to draw some of Keller's characters!)

Keller's books are all great books for home, classrooms and school libraries. She has a unique format and a unique sense of humor that kids an adults enjoy. Even though I read all of her books to all of our classes, I never tired of them. I laughed every time and during every read, I noticed something that I had missed before.

DO UNTO OTTERS is a book that we have in every classroom of our school. It is a great book about manners and Keller writes it in a way that makes the topic amusing and engaging for kids. It is a great way to start conversations with kids about manners and the ways we treat each other.

OPEN WIDE: TOOTH SCHOOL INSIDE does a great job of teaching kids about teeth and dental health.


SCRAMBLED STATES OF AMERICA and SCRAMBLED STATES OF AMERICA TALENT SHOW are two of Keller's most popular books. She brings each state to life in fun stories so that kids learn about the states. Not only are these books great but the game, Scrambled States of America was quite a hit in the library. 4th and 5th graders had a fun time learning about the states and US geography with the books and the game.

Laurie also shared her upcoming book ME AND MY ANIMAL FRIENDS. This one is written by Ralph Covert of Ralph's World. Laurie Keller's illustrations make the book quite fun and I can't wait to add this new book to our library.

I do not often like video versions of children's books but Weston Woods has done an amazing job with Keller's books. Because there is so much going on in the illustrations, and because the side comments are too good to skip when reading aloud, I loved sharing the videos with the kids at school. The characters really come to life in each of the videos.

I would highly recommend Laurie Keller as an author visit if you are looking for someone. Her books are great fun for students from K-5. And she is great with kids--building a confidence and inviting them to do more with her characters. Plus, she is great fun to be around. She is genuinely excited about the kids and their learning and that shows in the way she talks to them and the excitement she shows about their work. And if you aren't looking for an author to visit your school, I would definitely add Laurie's books to your collection. Her graphics and the humor that she uses are great ways to teach kids about lots of things.

THE ONE AND ONLY MARIGOLD by Florence Parry Heide

I have just discovered a new character that I love--Marigold who stars in the new book THE ONE AND ONLY MARIGOLD by Florence Parry Heide. Marigold is a monkey and she is quite strong-willed. In this book, Marigold stars in 4 stories. I love that there are 4 separate stories about Marigold in this one picture book. Such a fun way to think about and get to know a new character. In the first story, Marigold goes shopping for a new coat, but she loves the one she has. In the second story, Marigold is looking for a new hobby. In the third story, Marigold sets up an alternative to the boring lemonade stand. And in the last story, Marigold wants a fancy new outfit for the first day of school.

All of these stories are quite short but the author humor and voice into each.

I just can't get enough of Marigold. Hopefully there will be more books starring this fun new monkey coming soon. Marigold is quite clever and I think kids will love her too.

New Blog on the Block!

Welcome to Shelly and Lisa and their new blog Two Learning Journeys!

Your contributions to the conversation about teaching and learning will be welcome and valuable!

Poetry Friday -- Against Travel

Last Friday, we drove 19 hours nonstop (except for dinner in Lawrence, KS and various restroom and gasoline breaks) between Eastern Colorado and Central Ohio.

We saw the sun set in the rear view mirror...

...and we saw the sun rise through the windshield.

It feels good to be home and NOT be traveling. That's why this week's poem spoke so clearly to me.


AGAINST TRAVEL
by Charles Tomlinson

These days are best when one goes nowhere,
The house a reservoir of quiet change,
The creak of furniture, the window panes
Brushed by the half-rhymes of activities
That do not quite declare what thing it was
Gave rise to them outside.

(the rest of the poem is here)


Are you delighted to be traveling or NOT traveling this week?
What are you against?
What are you for?

The round up this week is at Becky's Book Reviews. (Next Friday it will be here!)

ALL THE BROKEN PIECES by ann e. burg

all the broken pieces

by ann e. burg

Scholastic Press, 2009

review copy provided by the publisher

We don't review YA books here very often, but this is one you won't want to miss.

This novel in verse shows the reader the ways that war breaks people, and the ways that they work to put the broken pieces back together.

Told in first person from the point of view of Matt Pin, a twelve year-old Vietnamese American boy who was airlifted out of Vietnam and adopted by an American family, the story weaves the threads of Matt learning to play the piano and joining the baseball team with his memories of his younger brother in Vietnam having his feet and hands blown off by a land mine. A variety of perspectives on war can be found in the course of the story: Matt's father feels guilty because he went to medical school instead of Vietnam. Matt suffers from the racism of a teammate whose brother was killed in Vietnam and from Vietnam Veterans who resent the reminders of the war in Matt's Vietnamese features. Matt and his piano teacher (a vet who takes him to a veterans' support group) help with the healing of a vet who becomes Matt's baseball coach, and this new coach helps to heal the rift between Matt and his teammate.

The parallels between the Vietnam War and all of the current global conflicts would make this an excellent read aloud or shared reading for a middle school or high school literature or social studies classroom. For those of us who grew up during the Vietnam War and lived in it without really learning about it, this book is an important education.

LUCKY BREAKS by Susan Patron

lucky breaks

by Susan Patron

illustrated by Matt Phelan

Simon and Schuster, 2009

review copy was purchased with my own money

I can't wait to hand this book to my student who read The Higher Power of Lucky at the end of the year last year. She'll love it! Lucky is the kind of character, and Hard Pan (population 43) is the kind of place that stay with you.

Maybe every girl on the brink of turning eleven needs to read this book. Not since Sandra Cisneros' story eleven have I seen this age described so eloquently. (I'm not going to link to any of the online copies of Cisneros' story--they are all violating copyright, so I'll let you find them for yourself if you don't already know the story. It's from Cisneros' book Woman Hollering Creek.) Here are the lead paragraphs of lucky breaks:

"Eleven. Lucky thought from her seat at the back of the school bus, eleven, eleven, eleven, and the idea of it the sound of it threw off sparks in her head. You start with one, two, three: those clunky one-syllable beginner-ages like wooden blocks that toddlers play with. Keep going and you get to eight, nine, ten: the plodding steps you have to climb until, at last, you arrive. Finally, finally, you reach the best age, the one that, when you say it out loud, sounds like a little tap dance or a drumroll.

...She pictured 11 as a swinging double door, a saloon door in an old Western; you push the sides open, bam, with both hands and stride through before they flap shut again, your childhood behind you." (p.1-2)

This is a book that will satisfy readers who read for plot. In the first chapter, we learn (from Miles, who is about to turn six) the story of two miners from about a hundred years ago who loved the same woman who was tragically killed in their fight for her. A piece of her brooch is supposedly at the bottom of an abandoned (or condemned?) well. The story captures Lucky's imagination, and any reader worth their salt is going to know that sooner or later, Lucky will be down that well looking for the missing piece of the brooch and it's a good thing that the book is titled lucky breaks. It would be interesting to use this book in a literature circle or grand discussion and have readers focus on all of the things that break (literally and figuratively) in the book.

This is also a book that will satisfy readers who read for characters. Lucky's friend Lincoln is fully developed in this book. He is still complicated and quirky and constantly tying knots, but he is also mature and stable, which are both lucky breaks for Lucky. A new character is also introduced -- Paloma, who becomes Lucky's first best friend who is a girl.

And finally, this is a book that will satisfy readers who read for setting. Hard Pan, the desert around it, and the sky above it are beautifully described. Matt Phelan's small sketches help readers visualize the vastness and the emptiness of the desert landscape. In this interview, Susan Patron shares that the setting of a fictional former mining town in California's Eastern Sierras was the initial inspiration for Lucky's stories.

The third book in the series is promised for 2010. YAY!

DRAGONBREATH by Ursula Vernon

Dragonbreath

by Ursula Vernon

Dial Books, June 2009

Grades 3 and up

Review copy provided by the publisher

What do you read after you've read all the BABYMOUSE books? DRAGONBREATH!

You'll notice some similarities -- the dream sequences in color (green for this book), the imaginative but bumbling main character (Danny Dragonbreath cannot yet breathe fire), the school bully (in this case, a Komodo dragon named Big Eddy) and the intelligent sidekick (Wendell, the green iguana).

And there are also differences -- DRAGONBREATH is a hybrid graphic novel/novel, there is no conversation between the main character and the narrator, and at 146 pages, DRAGONBREATH will take a bit more stamina from the reader.

Danny Dragonbreath is the only mythical creature at the Herpitax-Phibbias School for Reptiles and Amphibians. He is also an incredible procrastinator, turning in a science paper which he writes in less than 15 minutes and which he's hoping his teacher will grade on length and not content, seeing as he completely made up the sea creature featured in his paper -- the Snorklebat. Danny is not so lucky. He gets an F on his paper and must rewrite it by the next day. Luckily, Danny's cousin is a sea serpent who takes Danny and Wendell on a deep sea tour to gather facts for the rewrite. Adventures with a shark and a giant squid ensue, but Danny gets enough good material for an A on his paper.

The next DRAGONBREATH adventure will be ATTACK OF THE NINJA FROGS, but what I really want to know is what happens to the predatory potato salad that Danny uses to get back at Big Eddy in the cafeteria.

A ferocious predator, what the common potato salad lacks in bone structure, it more than makes up for in viciousness. A school of potato salad can skeletonize a cow in under two weeks, assuming that the cow doesn't get bored and move.

The last we see of the potato salad, it is oozing down into a storm drain. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of it!

NANA CRACKS THE CASE! by Kathleen Lane

Okay, I have been totally amused by the new book NANA CRACKS THE CASE! by Kathleen Lane. The story begins with Nana looking through the local newspaper for a job. She quickly finds one that sounds perfect for her:

It did seem that Nana had all of the qualifications necessary to be a detective. Not only did she own the various wigs mentioned in the ad, "but, " Nana said, "I must admit that I can also, when necessary, be a bit sneaky."

Nana is quite an amusing character--full of spunk and humor. Along with her grandchildren Eufala and Bog, she goes off to find a thief.

This is a short book--about 100 pages. It has a plot that will be easy for middle readers to follow. And the writing made me laugh throughout the book. From finding her orange and black spotted wig to going into a Lavatory instead of the Laboratory, Nana is full of fun surprises.

I have been looking for new mysteries and I like this one. A fun, beginning kind of mystery/detective story in which Nana has to find a thief. I was thinking that this would be a series because it certainly lends itself to a great one--a fun character that you want to read more about and a great concept--Nana looking for new jobs or Nana as detective. So, I am hoping that more stories about Nana are on their way.

2 New Series for Transitional Readers

I am excited about two new series that are just out. Both will appeal to transitional readers and I think both will appeal to boys as well as girls.

MAX DISASTER is by Marissa Moss. I think that this book was released a few years ago but seems to have been redone this year. The format is a bit different but it is going to be a great series. I picked up MAX DISASTER #1-ALIEN ERASER TO THE RESCUE yesterday and read it today. I am a big fan of Marissa Moss and love the Amela Books. This series is a similar set up but with a different twist. Max begins the book by saying, "This is a book I found that's perfect for writing scientific stuff in. There's a girl in my class who keeps a notebook of stuff about EVERYTHING in her life. SUPER BORING! I would never, I mean, NEVER do that, but suddenly, I have so many great ideas, I need a place to record them." So this book becomes a science journal and much more for Max. He shares inventions, comics that he writes, and experiments that he tries. The color graphics as well as the humor will make it a hit with kids. As much as Max doesn't want to write about all that is going on, he does write throughout this first book about the tension he is feeling between his parents. Dealing with that while doing all of the other things he does in a day, makes this a pretty realistic book. I think kids will enjoy it and I am anxious to pick up the next book in the series. (2 more come out this fall too.)

HORRID HENRY is the other series that I am excited about. I have 4 of the books but I think that there are 8 available right now. Horrid Henry is quite horrid. He is the oldest of 2 boys. His brother is "Perfect Peter" but Horrid Henry is always gettting into trouble. These books are each less than 100 pages long. There are some illustrations throughout but not necessarily on each page. Each book consists of 4 chapters or stories about Henry. Each chapter stands pretty much alone as a short story which makes this a great choice for kids new to chapter books. The books are funny and cause kids to laugh out loud. Horrid Henry is horrid but not really. He is a pretty likable character and his behaviors are usually pretty typical of kids his age. Thee books were originally published in the UK and are also a TV show there. They were so popular there that they recently began publishing the series in the US. This is a fun new series.

4 Professional Books on Nonfiction/Inquiry

It is funny how fast my pile of to-read professional books is getting lately. I am just finishing TEACHING THE NEW WRITING and will review it soon. I have also just added BLOGS, WIKIS, PODCASTS, AND OTHER POWERFUL TOOLS FOR CLASSROOMS by Will Richardson to my shopping cart. I am on a huge learning curve when it comes to technology and what that means for our elementary classrooms. So I have added a huge new topic to my professional reading life. But I do have a few books that I have ordered and spent some time with that I want to read over the next several weeks. These are the books that I am hoping will help grow my own thinking. I find that much of my professional reading comes from online sources lately. I get lost finding articles and blog posts so I haven't committed the the professional "book" reading that I've done in the past. Thank goodness it is summer so I can catch up on a few. These are the 4 on top of my stack right now. I am looking for ways to create a great library environment next year-one that invites inquiry, collaboration, and student ownership of learning. So my focus for the next few weeks is connected to that specific goal.

I am also excited to read COMPREHENSION AND COLLABORATION: INQUIRY CIRCLES IN ACTION by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels. I am excited to see how the thinking of these two experts have come together when thinking about small-group projects around inquiry. I worry that we have gotten so far away from students' own questions in school. I love that this book is for all levels. Early in the book, the authors say, "This book is for everyone who teaches because the big ideas and processes of education, the really big ones, truly do apply to all learners. From Pre-K to college, we are in the business of teaching thinking. And that's something we are never done with: we don't start children off thinking in the primary grades and then assume we're finished. Nor do we hold off on thinking until middle school, give them a couple good years of instruction, and then shut down, figuring they're now ready for anything." We teach thinking all year, every year: we teach students how to listen, view, read, gather, and engage with information; we make sure students acquire cognitive strategies, weigh ideas, develop judgement, and build knowledge; and just as important, we help them to remember, care choose, and take action." Can't wait to read more!

Another book that is connected a bit to the one above is SCIENCE AS THINKING: THE CONSTANTS AND VARIABLES OF INQUIRY THINKING by Wendy Ward Offer. I was excited to receive this book when I did a workshop with the PEBC in Colorado last week. I learn from every single piece that any of the teachers associated with them write. The work is amazing and has influenced so much of what I do with kids. In the library position, I am thinking hard about kids taking charge of their own learning and creating a place in the library where this is possible. From what I can tell after a pretty lengthy preview, the author uses a workshop model for her science teaching. The blurb on the back hooked me immediately. It says, "Inquiry is how we learn about the world. Every day we ask questions, gather evidence, make observations, and draw conclusions. SCIENCE AS THINKING shows how powerful instruction can connect the natural curiosity students bring to class to the science curriculum. No matter what my content, I have always learned a great deal from science teachers--inquiry is their content and I am excited to learn more from this book.

Finally, I would like to spend more time with NONFICTION MENTOR TEXTS by Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli. I loved the authors' first book, MENTOR TEXTS and was even more excited about this one--focusing on nonfiction. So much of our students' world is filled with information. Nonfiction is such a key to the ways they gather and communicate information. This book focuses on the writing of good nonfiction with the use of good mentor texts. I am thinking that this will help me in several ways. The tie in to 21st Century Skills is key. If we want our kids to be able to synthesize and communicate information, having great models for this type of communication is key. This book is packed--with not only lessons and booklists, but also so much to think about when it comes to communicating information. I can't wait to dig in.

I love the new Lucy Calkins Series "WORKSHOP HELP DESK". I love the size and focus of these little books. I picked up the first four and am amazed at how much they have packed into each one. The one that I am most anxious to read is "A QUICK GUIDE TO BOOSTING ENGLISH ACQUISITION IN CHOICE TIME" by Alison Porcelli and Cheryl Tyler. I have always believed in Choice Time and have seen how much students learn when given time to explore, inquire and discover. I love the idea of this book--the fact that it focus on this time as a way to boost English acquisition. Like I said, I love the focus of these books. A way to look deeply at a very small topic. The photos throughout the book were the first things to draw me to this book. The play factor is huge and I am hoping to build more time for this into the library next year.