Counting on Nature

Count Down to Fall
by Fran Hawk

illustrated by Sherry Neidigh

Sylvan Dell, 2009

review copy provided by the publisher

This is a GORGEOUS book. You can go on a fall nature walk without leaving the comfort of your home or classroom when you read this book.

It's also a counting book that counts backward from ten to one. It's a poetry book with a rhyming verse on each double page spread. It's a celebration of autumn in the woods. Most of all, it's a tree identification book. Each double page spread is framed around the edge with a different tree's bark, and in the four outer corners is the leaf in summer, the leaf in fall, the shape of the tree and either the seed or the flower of the tree. Here's an example:

Eight beech tree leaves,

like yellow cat's eyes

float gently down

through autumn skies.

Along with the trees, each picture contains animals, birds, and insects that live in the Eastern Woodlands. In the back matter of the book is more information about the trees and the ways that people and animals use them.

Check out this link on the Sylvan Dell website for teaching activities, a book trailer, and an interview with the author.

One Wolf Howls

by Scotti Cohn

illustrated by Susan Detweiler

Sylvan Dell, 2009

review copy provided by the publisher

This book is a counting, rhyming, month-by-month wolf book. In January there is a lone wolf howling at the moon. After pups are born, there are six wolves in June, and by December, there are twelve wolves singing together in the winter night.

The back matter of this book gives readers more information and activities that will extend their learning about wolves, and again, the Sylvan Dell website has still more goodies to go with the book.

Both books invite readers to both browse and read with the fun mix of genres and the beautiful illustrations.

Back to School -- Missing Mama

Llama Llama Misses Mama

by Anna Dewdney

Penguin Young Readers Group, 2009

review copy provided by the publisher

"Llama Llama, warm in bed,

Wakey wakey, sleepyhead!

Llama school begins today!

Time to learn and time to play!"

When Mama Llama leaves Llama Llama on his very first day of school, he is suddenly very shy and doesn't want to play, or read, or even eat a snack. The promise by the teacher that Mama WILL come back, and the invitations of the other Llama children to come play are all it takes to break him out of his shell. Mama does indeed come back and Llama Llama realizes he loves Mama AND school.

This is a great book for any reader who might be feeling a little anxious about the first day of school!

Two Great (But Very Different) Animal ABC Books

Beth at Cover to Cover had CREATURE ABC by Andrew Zuckerman waiting for me when I visited last week. And I am so glad that she did. This is a gorgeous animal alphabet book done in photos. It is very simple in concept--a letter, an animal and the animal word for each letter of the alphabet.

This book is a chunky square book. The photography is stunning and is placed against a white background. Kids are going to love it! Each letter is introduced with a photo of an animal. Then upon turning the page, the animal name is revealed (although not really as a surprise), with another picture of the animal/letter word. Most of the letters are represented by animals but some like N is represented with the word "Nocturnal" with a few examples of those.

A simple concept that I think kids will spend hours with. Really unbelievable pictures. (In case you are wondering, the rooster is my favorite.) It is a great book for young children or children just learning animal names. I am pretty sure that it will also be popular with older kids in the library.


I also picked up THE ZOO I DREW by Todd Doodler last week. It is a great book that I am excited about. The cover is unique--red and corrugated. Very bright and engaging. This is an alphabet book of animals. On each page, there is an animal-the drawing takes up most of the page. And the pattern is predictable "E is for Elephant". Following each animal name, there are 4 lines about the animal. The lines are mostly in rhyme and they give some basic information about the animal. For example, we learn that the panda eats bamboo and the rhino has a horn on its nose.

The illustrations are unique--Each spread uses only a few colors or different shades of one color. But the book as a whole uses a huge variety of colors, as each spread uses different colors. If that makes any sense at all....

I love this book--can see lots of possibilities--a great one to use as an ABC book with kids just learning letters/sounds, etc. It is also a great model for writing for older kids who are beginning to write nonfiction. I can see it used in lots of ways.

Library Intro

I have been thinking hard about what I am hoping that the school library becomes for the students at our school. I want the library to be a place where students are in charge of their own learning and where they can learn about the things they love in ways that make sense to them. I know that this will be a yearlong conversation, but I put together a slide show that I'll show several of the classes during the first week. I am hoping that the questions on this slide show begin conversations and invite students to think about their own learning and ways that the library can support them as learners. I know that I am missing lots of questions but I am hoping it gets us all talking about what the library can be for each individual. ( I converted the slide show to a Quicktime movie in order to put it on the blog so it didn't export quite as clearly as the original. But you get the idea.)

FLAGS OF THE WORLD by Sylvie Bednar

Kids love flags and maps and all things related. That is why I think they will love this new book by Sylvie Bednar--FLAGS OF THE WORLD. The introduction to the book says, "A flag can tell you a lot about it country. Flags represent the history, legends and beliefs, and sometimes even the geographic location of a country!" The flags are displayed and organized by continent. Each is against a white background. For each flat, there is some information about the flag--what it tells you about the country. This book is just packed with visuals of flags and information about each. Not lots of information--just enough that kids can read the entire blurb about a flag. I think it will be hugely popular in the library.

Poetry Friday -- A Lifetime of Reading

I Met a Dragon Face to Face

by Jack Prelutsky

I met a dragon face to face

the year when I was ten,

I took a trip to outer space,

I braved a pirate's den,

I wrestled with a wicked troll,

and fought a great white shark,

I trailed a rabbit down a hole,

I hunted for a snark.

I stowed aboard a submarine,

I opened magic doors,

I traveled in a time machine,

and searched for dinosaurs,

I climbed atop a giant's head,

I found a pot of gold,

I did all this in books I read

when I was ten years old.

Members of the Kidlitosphere,

SHARE YOUR READING STORY ON OUR GALLERY!

Franki and I have started a Gallery for NCTE's National Day on Writing. Here is a description of our gallery:

A LIFETIME OF READING

Members of the Kidlitosphere are invited to submit stories from their reading lives. Your submission can be an anecdote from childhood, a recent experience around books or reading, a memory from school (good or bad), a vignette about learning to read, the impact of a particular book--anything about your life as a reader.

We are looking for a variety of short pieces (think blog post length) from anyone in the Kidlitosphere, including bloggers, authors, illustrators, readers of blogs, etc.

Our gallery is open to everyone who is a blogger, blog reader, author, illustrator, blog reader, blog commenter, etc.

Here is our gallery.

Here's information about submitting your piece of writing.

The Poetry Friday Round Up is at The Boy Reader this week.

Submit a Piece about Your Reading Life to our Local Gallery

We are excited to be hosting a Local Gallery as part of NCTE's NATIONAL DAY ON WRITING CELEBRATION! On October 20, the National Galleries will be open to the public. There are lots of great galleries that highlight the writing that we all do in our daily lives. Mary Lee and I will be curating a local gallery as part of the submission and we are inviting you to join us by writing a piece for the gallery.

Here is the description of our Gallery:

A LIFETIME OF READING

Members of the Kidlitosphere are invited to submit stories from their reading lives. Your submission can be an anecdote from childhood, a recent experience around books or reading, a memory from school (good or bad), a vignette about learning to read, the impact of a particular book--anything about your life as a reader.

We are looking for a variety of short pieces (think blog post length) from anyone in the Kidlitosphere, including bloggers, authors, illustrators, readers of blogs, etc.

We wanted the Kidlitosphere to be part of the National Day on Writing so we started a gallery that went along with the thing we do best--write about our reading lives. Everyone who is a blogger, blog reader, author, illustrator, blog reader, blog commenter, etc. is invited to submit a piece of writing. We hope you'll join us! You can visit our local gallery, "A Lifetime of Reading" to submit a piece and read about guidelines for submission.

Right now, it is empty, but we are excited about the possibilities--a place to share stories of our reading lives! We think the Kidlitosphere can pull together to create a pretty amazing gallery that celebrates the lives of readers!

Setting Up My Desk Area

This is stop-action animation, NOT a video project. We shot about 100 still photos to make this movie!

A big thanks to A.J., my photographer for this project. (He's channeling Ray Harryhausen, whose stop-action animation for Jason and the Argonauts is "still the best.")

The next time I do a stop-action video, I will make sure we shoot at least twice as many photos. I can't wait to show this to my students and to give them a chance to try it, too -- it's quite fun!!

YUMMY: EIGHT FAVORITE FAIRY TALES by Lucy Cousins

I love Lucy Cousins and was thrilled to see her new fairy tale collection, YUMMY: EIGHT FAVORITE FAIRY TALES. Cousins has retold 8 fairy tales in this collection--Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Enormous Turnip, Henny Penny, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The LIttle Red Hen, The Three Little Pigs, and The Musicians of Bremen.

There is soooo much to love about this book.

*This is a slightly oversized book--quite a fun size that kids will love to carry around.

*Cousins' brightly-colored illustrations make for very fun versions of the fairy tales. The size and colors make this an inviting book for read aloud. Somehow Cousins' illustrations make the stories a little less scary. The characters have smiles and rosey cheeks. They are quite lovable. Even when the wolf eats Granny, the illustrations make it a bit less scary.

*The text is supportive. I am thinking of those readers who are dying to read chapter books. (As you know i think society pushes them to chapter books far too soon...)This book "feels" like a chapter book--but is far more appropriate for younger readers. The text is spaced well with great line breaks. The text is not overwhelming on the page--it is a good amount for kids ready for a longer-type picture book.

*Cousins has fun with font for sound effects, titles and more.

This is a great find This is a great book for K-5, easily. ! I am very excited about it:-)

SPOT THE PLOT by J. Patrick Lewis

SPOT THE PLOT: A RIDDLE BOOK OF BOOK RIDDLES is (in my opinion) a must have for all classrooms and libraries. It is brilliant and fun. I have a huge collection of books about books and books about reading so I was thrilled to see this new book by J. Patrick Lewis. But this one is now one of my very favorite books of 2009! It is quite the treat of a read.

J. Patrick Lewis has written riddle poems about 13 great children's books. The books are a great variety--some classics, some recent, but all well-loved books. On each page, two detectives (children in quite adorable detective clothing) are there to figure out the book in the riddle. The poems are written in ways that give us clues. And the poems are all a bit different--some are rhyming, some are not. The illustrations by Lynn Munsinger also help a bit with the detective work. There are some clues in the illustration but they are quite cleverly done--just enough to think about but not too much information...

Really, this book is too fun. I smiled every time I solved one of the riddles. It was a fun read, figuring out the books in the riddles. But I see this book as one you can visit again and again. My first job as a reader was to solve the riddles, but now that I've done that, I can read it again to see the brilliance in the writing, the thoughtfulness in the word choice. What a fun model for our students! I can see kids going back to this again and again and again.