San Antonio Choice Literacy Workshop

I had a great few days in San Antonio with Choice Literacy. What a great group of teachers. I always learn so much when I work with teachers. It was a great kickoff to summer. I also had a chance to see a show at the Majestic Theatre. What a gorgeous theatre. If you ever have a chance to see a show there, you should! I also had some time to spend with friends--Brenda Power, the 2 Sisters, and my new friend, Trish.

My new friend Trish, an amazing teacher in Texas, made these VERY FUN centerpieces for the" Delight in Words" workshop. She set these up the night before and they brought a great energy to the room. They were quite fun and the base as well as the dots placed around the table made for a happy day.


I am thinking about using something like this in the library. I have to figure out exactly how to do it, but wouldn't they be great for advertising new books, sharing books that kids might like if they liked other books, one with all of the books in a series, etc. I can see them placed on tables, shelves, etc. I know these took Trish hours and hours and hours to make but they made such a difference in the room. As I continue to think about the environment I am creating, it is these little touches that make all of the difference. I find it a bit more difficult to do this in the library because it is a K-5/whole school space, but these centerpieces definitely got me thinking about little touches that make a big differences.

Poetry Friday -- Te Deum

Te Deum

by Charles Reznikoff

Not because of victories

I sing,

having none,

but for the common sunshine,

the breeze,

the largess of the spring.

(the rest of the poem is here at Poets.org)

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What is te deum?

n.
A hymn of praise to God sung as part of a liturgy.

[From Late Latin Tē Deum (laudāmus), You, God, (we praise), the opening words of the hymn : Latin tē, you + Latin deum, accusative of deus, god.]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Today, Kelly Polark has the Poetry Friday roundup.

(I'm noticing how much "te deum" sounds like "today"... today -- te deum, today -- te deum ... take away from that whatever deep and meaningful message you would like...)

Speaking of roundups, we're getting close to the end of our schedule. So close, in fact, that a couple of people have already stepped up for August (which, as teachers know, will be here before we blink so we need to live for today/te deum/carpe diem). If you'd like to host one of the remaining 2010 round ups, let me know in the comments which week works for you (or by email at mlhahn AT earthlink DOT net). Once the schedule is set, all you have to do is ask for the html code so that you, too, can post the schedule in your sidebar.

AUGUST
6 Laura Shovan at Author Amok
13 Zsofia McMullin at Stenhouse
20 Laura Evans at Teach Poetry K-12
27 Kate Coombs at Book Aunt

SEPTEMBER
3 Susan Taylor Brown at Susan Writes
10 Anastasia Suen at Picture Book of the Day
17 Elaine Magliaro at Wild Rose Reader
24 Karen Edmisten at The Blog With the Shockingly Clever Title

OCTOBER
1 Jennie Rothschild at Biblio File
8 Carol at Carol's Corner
15 Terry Doherty at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub
22 Mary Ann Scheuer at Great Kid Books
29 Toby Speed at The Writer's Armchair

NOVEMBER
5 Carmela Martino at TeachingAuthors
12 Liz Garton Scanlon at Liz in Ink
19 Diane Mayr at Random Noodling
26 Jone MacCulloch at Check It Out

DECEMBER
3 Tricia Stohr-Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
10 Jama Rattigan at jama rattigan's alphabet soup
17 Amy VanDerwater at The Poem Farm
24 Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading
31 Linda Kulp at Write Time

Dragonbreath: Ninja Frogs and Were-Wieners

Dragonbreath #02: Attack of the Ninja Frogs

by Ursula Vernon

Dial Books, 2010

copy purchased for my classroom library

The father of one of my math students was amused by the fact that my last name is same as the evil crime boss guy in the Bruce Lee classic kung fu movie "Enter the Dragon." He was so amused that he sent the movie in with his son for me to bring home and watch. Which I did, but mostly because I live with someone who is, if not a kung fu movie expert, at least someone who has watched enough of them to walk me through the hallmarks of the genre.

All of that by way of saying that if you've watched just ONE kung fu movie (or probably just one episode of any Saturday morning ninja cartoons) this book will be so funny you will start quoting out loud from it after only a few pages.

"Danny sighed. Pepperoni pizza was a good thing--possibly a great thing--but not as awesome as kung fu movies. Hardly anything was.

Still, he couldn't be too upset. Seven Fists of Carnage was going to be on tonight. He hoped it was as good as his all-time favorite, Vengeance of the Thirteen Masters, in which a blind salamander samurai fights off thirteen ninja clans, using only a pair of chopsticks.

Danny passed the time until the pizza arrived by drawing ninjas. Drawing ninjas was difficult because you couldn't really see a ninja. So the drawings mostly consisted of places where ninjas might be hiding."

Suki, the Japanese exchange student who complicates things by being a girl, is being attacked by ninja frogs. She doesn't even believe in ninjas, but since they're "practically mythological," they're right up Danny's alley, seeing as he's a dragon.

Danny, his friend Wendell, and Suki set out to get to the bottom of why the ninjas are so interested in Suki. They take the bus (the same one that took them to the Sargasso Sea in the first book) to mythological Japan where Danny's great-grandfather lives, and where they learn that Suki must choose between becoming a veterinarian and the leader of an underground ninja clan.

Dragonbreath #03: Curse of the Were-Wiener

by Ursula Vernon

Dial Books, on shelves September 16, 2010

arc from Cover to Cover Children's Books

Wendell: "Do you ever worry that your childhood is warping you in some fashion?"

Danny: "Are you kidding? I'm counting on it."

YAY! The potato salad that slunk into the storm sewer in the first book comes back to save the day in this one!

Wendell is bit by his school cafeteria hot dog and starts growing hair on his back. A quick trip into the cafeteria's freezer reveals that some of the hot dogs served were Were-Wieners, a product of Transylvania. Unfortunately, Danny doesn't have any relatives there, so they can't take the bus this time. Even though "Calling the company did not hold the same appeal as storming a factory in the vampire-ridden Carpathians," Wendell calls the number listed on the package where "It says 'In case of missing product, damage or lycanthropy, call 1-800-WURST-R-US' " and learns that they must kill the alpha wurst so that the rest of were-wieners lose their power and Wendell can be restored to normal.

Either I'm channeling my inner fourth grader, or I'm simply relaxed enough after only a couple of days of vacation to get my sense of humor back (or both) but this series is turning out to be one of my all-time favorites.

Other Dragonbreath fans:

Charlotte's Library

TheHappyNappyBookseller

FRANKLY, FRANNIE by A.J. Stern

I read the first book in this new series, FRANKLY, FRANNIE, last night and laughed out loud. Frannie is a funny new character who wants to be a grown-up. She carries a briefcase and a resume, loves offices and for Christmas last year, she asked for "an assistant". She is a hoot.

But everyone doesn't agree that Frannie is so amusing. She seems to get in trouble quite a bit and seems to need extra supervision. But her heart is always in the right place.

In this first book, Frannie's class goes to visit the radio station. But when the phone rings and no one is at the radio desk, Frannie comes to the rescue--or at least that's how she sees it. In trying to help out and trying to be a grown-up, Frannie causes lots of problems.

Frannie was a mix between Clementine, Roscoe Riley, Junie B. and all of the other spunky characters who seem to get in trouble when they are really just trying to help out. I liked the ending of this one--Frannie apologizes to the people who were impacted and they see the good in Frannie. She also knows that she did the right thing.

I think kids will really like this series. I always love to see new series for transitional readers and this is a fun one--looks like there are 2 out now and one more coming in September. I think this is a great book for kids newer to chapter books but the humor also makes it a good choice for older kids who are looking for a fun read.

One-A-Day

This summer,

Donalyn's going to read a book a day.

Amy's going to write a poem a day. (KEEP writing, actually -- she has been writing a poem a day, since April 1)

I'm thinking about writing a thank you note a day.

(Some of my other favorite one-a-days are Hugh McCloud's daily Gaping Void cartoons, Harry Bliss' daily cartoons, and Garrison Keillor's A Writer's Almanac.)

What will you do once a day all summer long?

Skywriting: Poems to Fly by J. Patrick Lewis

Skywriting: Poems to Fly

by J. Patrick Lewis

illustrated by Laszlo Kubinyi

Creative Editions, September 2010

review copy provided by the publisher

A history of flight, told in poems! Brilliant!

Lewis begins with Icarus, then treats us to three versions of the hot air balloon. He includes ideas that didn't work so well (Ornithopter and Multiplane) and others whose time was brief but brilliant (Zeppelin and Bell Rocket Belt). He ends with the Nighthawk and the Space Shuttle, but a canny reader will realize that with a history like this, it's likely that humans haven't run out of ideas for new ways to take to the sky.

Endnotes give a little more information about each of the airplanes/modes of flight, and a final timeline gives a tidbit of non-flight history for each of the years in which flight history was featured in a poem.

The poems are clever and snappy -- the Ornithopter got a double limerick and the Concorde's poem is shaped like the plane -- and this book is another great example of multi-genre writing, with its blend of history and poetry.

In My Bag From Cover to Cover

I so love the first days of summer vacation as a reader. I love looking ahead to some extra reading time. For the last few years, Mother Reader's 48 Hour Challenge has been at the very beginning of summer vacation for many of us. Although it has not been timed right for me to participate fully in the challenge, I love the 48 Hour Read and participate in other ways as a reader. Today, the Central Ohio Bloggers celebrated the 48 Hour Read by getting together for breakfast and a bit of book shopping. I took this trip as an opportunity to set up my next few weeks of reading. Sally, at Cover to Cover, is always so wonderful about sharing ARCs with us and we are all pretty good about sharing the ARCs with each other. We all leave the store with great piles. I find shopping for books to be as fun as reading them. I have several plane trips coming up so I am hoping to get lots of these read in the next few weeks. Here is what I left the store with.

I was excited to pick up a copy of AMELIA EARHART: THIS BROAD OCEAN by Sarah Stewart Taylor and Ben Towle. This book was actually released in February but I hadn't seen it. A graphic novel biography of Amelia Earhart. If you read the Satchel Paige graphic novel/biography, this one is very similar.

I also received a copy of WHAT HAPPENED ON FOX STREET by Tricia Springstubb. This book is due out in August and it looks amazing. I hadn't heard about it and am so happy that Sally pointed it out to me. From the back cover, it looks like this is a book about grief and growing up. I read the first paragraph and loved it immediately. And the author is from Ohio. I am very excited to have discovered this one today.

CANDY FAIRIES by Helen Perelman looks like a series that will appeal to all of my Rainbow Fairies fans at school. Love the idea of candy fairies, especially Cocoa, the chocolate fairy. This looks like a fun series. Each book is a little longer than the Rainbow Fairy books so it might be good as those readers once they move beyond those books.

Then I bought a stack:


I was very excited to see the FRANKLY, FRANNIE series. I am always on the lookout for new series books. And, I must say, there are very few characters in children's books with a name like Franki, Frannie, Frances, etc. The cover is definitely engaging and I was happy to see two books already available in this series. From what I can tell, this is another series about a spunky, independent girl. You can never have too many of those.

Two books that I am VERY excited about are AS EASY AS FALLING OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH by Lynne Rae Perkins and KEEPER by Kathi Appelt. Mary Lee says it is her favorite novel of the year and Monica Edinger reviewed it for the NY Times this week.

Sally suggested WORD AFTER WORD AFTER WORD by Patricia MacLachlan to me and Mary Lee agreed that it is a great one. I wasn't even aware that MacLachlan had a new book out and she is one of my all-time favorites. I am sure I will love it.

I also picked up Andrew Clements' new series BENJAMIN PRATT AND THE KEEPERS OF THE SCHOOL: WE THE CHILDREN. Kids seem to love everything by Andrew Clements and this looks like something a bit different for him. Still a school story and with a great premise.

I was happy to see a new Loud Boy book. DANIEL BOOM AKA LOUD BOY: GROW UP by D. J. Steinberg looks like another that kids will love. I am happy that so many graphic novels are becoming series. This will be a great support for readers--having characters they can read about again and again. Daniel Boom is definitely a character that kids enjoy.

THE SECRET LIVES OF PRINCESSES by Philippe Lechermeir is one I've read about on several blogs. I thought it would be a great one to add to those princess books that I can't keep in the library but after buying it, I think the humor is definitely for an older crowd. I think some upper elementary kids will crack up at this one.

Now if I can just find the time to read all of these before I add to the stack.

48 Hour Book Challenge

I did not officially take part in Mother Reader's 48 Hour Book Challenge. But I've participated in spirit.

Today I spent 4 solid hours reading. As I promised myself, I re-read AS EASY AS FALLING OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. I loved it just as much the second time around.

I spent 3 hours with book/blogger people at NorthStar and Cover to Cover. I have 5 arcs and 2 new books to read and blog about. (Still ignoring the giant piles of Notables for the time being...)

I just spent the last 2 hours reading (or at least skimming) the 522 blog posts that have piled up in my reader the past couple of weeks. (On a happy note, check out Barbara O'Conner's new book trailer. On a more sobering note, see what the BP oil disaster would look like in your backyard.)

In the past 48 hours, I've celebrated the end of the school year with our staff and with close friends. I've napped (twice...hands down the most restorative thing I've done in the past 48 hours). I've weeded a bit, though the tomatoes still need to be staked. I've done a half-hearted job of cleaning the house and I've done a couple of loads of laundry. It feels so good to be released from the to-do lists that have been monopolizing my every waking moment for the past few weeks.

Congratulations to those who have read, and blogged, and challenged themselves, and set and met goals. After sprinting and hurdling (hurtling?) over the finish line of the school year, what I needed most was to slow down and wander through a couple of days with no agenda. Mission accomplished.

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm

I was so excited to see a new novel by Jennifer Holm. I picked up TURTLE IN PARADISE and was so happy for the time this weekend to read it. I love Jennifer Holm and have loved all of her work so far. Who doesn't love Babymouse? And PENNY FROM HEAVEN made its way around my entire Italian family--mother, grandmother, aunts, etc. Jennifer Holm captures people and life in a way that is humorous, hopeful and real.

TURTLE IN PARADISE is about a little girl named Turtle, who is sent by her mother to live with her aunt. This story takes place during the depression and Holm gives us more information at the end of the book about this era and that it was common for children to go live with relatives. Turtle is sent to Key West and gets to know her cousins and the neighborhood where her mother grew up.

The characters in the book are quite fun. Bill Prosser at Literate Lives described them well--they have a bit of a Little Rascals feel to them. A group of lovable kids who seem to run the town and get in a bit of trouble here and there. Turtle fits right in, although that isn't clear to her at the beginning. And she grows up as she comes to know herself and her family.

It is amazing to me how Jennifer Holm strings together a story of ordinary days to create something bigger. There is a calm rhythm to the story but you realize that in these ordinary days, Turtle is growing up.

From the cover (which I LOVE!), my first thought was that this was a beach book that would appeal mostly to girls. But this is a book that will appeal to a huge variety of readers. I can see it as a GREAT read aloud in 3, 4th or 5th grades. Much to talk and think about but in a way that is very accessible to kids. Such a variety of characters that everyone will find someone to cheer for.

Love the book-so happy it was my first read of the summer! Again, totally amazed at the variety of writing that Jennifer Holm is able to do well.

Poetry Friday -- She's Singing Today!

To My Class

You were a beautiful garden,
And I was the gardener.
I nourished your beauty and helped you grow.
I valued you even when others thought you were wild weeds.
I trimmed you back when you got a little out of control
so that you can grow to be
tall and
straight
and proud
and confident
and true.

My garden is beautiful.
Every plant is different
and lovely in its uniqueness.
If I had more time,
I could straighten the rows,
add more nourishment of knowledge,
help the sharp-edged hearts to soften into the beauty of kindness,
encourage the small and quiet ones to shine with brightness.

Someone else will be your gardener now and forever more.
I can only hope my year of nourishment and valuing
will remain with you as you
grow well,
remember all you’ve learned
(in your heart and your mind), and
stand
tall and
straight
and proud
and confident
and true.

Ms. Hahn
4th Grade
2009-2010

The roundup today is at The Cazzy Files.