by Todd Davis
(shared in its entirety with the permission of the author)
The last three days snow has fallen.
No thaw this year, no day even above
twenty since the end of December.
Climbing the hill, my two boys slip, fall,
stand again. They complain, but there's nothing
to be done except to make it to the top
where above the trees we will look down
upon the river. Near the peak a barred owl
releases from the limb of a burr oak, sweeps
over our heads and out above the tree line.
Our eyes follow its flight to the river ice,
current moving beneath its blue surface.
Like the owl, our breath rises, drifts
toward something warmer, something better.
(shared in its entirety with the permission of the author)
The last three days snow has fallen.
No thaw this year, no day even above
twenty since the end of December.
Climbing the hill, my two boys slip, fall,
stand again. They complain, but there's nothing
to be done except to make it to the top
where above the trees we will look down
upon the river. Near the peak a barred owl
releases from the limb of a burr oak, sweeps
over our heads and out above the tree line.
Our eyes follow its flight to the river ice,
current moving beneath its blue surface.
Like the owl, our breath rises, drifts
toward something warmer, something better.
This is a hard time of year for people who are sick of winter and for teachers, and this year seems harder than usual. These lines speak to me right now: "...there's nothing/to be done except to make it to the top..." and "Like the owl, our breath rises, drifts/towards something warmer, something better."
Liz has the Poetry Friday roundup today at Liz in Ink.
by Francoize Boucher. I am always looking for ways to help kids get excited about words and word learning so I was thrilled to take a look at this book.
. I had fallen in love with 
by Jeff Wilhelm and Michael Smith. I have learned so much from secondary educators about literary elements and am anxious to read this new one.
by Michelle Harrison looks like a fun fantasy read. It looks engaging--love books about fairies and this one got great reviews. I am not sure how I missed this one when it came out but am glad I found it.
is the first in a new series by by Dan Gutman looks like a fun adventure. I like to read the first books in new series that look like they might become popular so this is one I hope to read soon. It looks like a fun read.
by Lara Berger. This was part of a series of three books at the fair. These look like great early chapter books. They are short and several of our more transitional readers picked them up and looked interested. I think it is definitely a series worth checking out.
are two chapter book biographies written by Sid Fleischman. The Charlie Chaplin biography is the newer one and I thought it might be a fun one to read since we are doing so much with film-making in the library. But these look like great biographies--the kind of bios that our older kids can't get enough of. Great photos throughout as well as an accessible font for kids. I am very excited to have discovered these biographies for middle grade readers. Another biography I picked up was 
by Michael Tunnell. I think kids are fascinated by stories like this one and this is another that looks pretty accessible to middle grade readers. I see so many kids going to the same people year after year after year--not because they are so interested in them when it comes time to read biographies (which is another post) but because they don't really know about that many people. I think a good biography can open up kids' minds to all the ways people have contributed in the world. Kids are fascinated by great stories of people. My issue has been that the quality of the writing doesn't always match the person's story. I look for quality writing about amazing people. 
by Jordan Brown draws readers in as it tells about lots of little things that are all around us. The book takes a "close look" at things like bacteria and bedbugs. There is lots of text in this book and I am a little nervous about reading all of it. There is good info on Bacteria in the Bathroom and "the 5 Second Rule" among other things. The book is divided into chapter so it is definitely one that can be read cover to cover for readers who are interested. Packed with a little too much info for me, I think....
by S. D. Nelson mentioned on a few lists and was happy to see that the book was written by a Native American. I am looking for more reviews on the book. I am trying to add much better literature to this section of our library and thought this one was worth checking out. It was on a few notables lists if I remember correctly.
by Eric Kimmel. I feel like a lot of our mythology is either outdated or newly published to meet the needs of fans of the Lightning Thief series. I was thrilled to see this newer version of stories with great illustrations. Kids couldn't get enough of this book--even those who are not Lightning Thief fans. This is the perfect size book for readers of mythology. Stories with illustrations in a larger picture book format.
by Jim Arnosky looks like a great collection of one page pieces about reptiles. Each two-page spread focuses on one subtopic such as "Turtles" or "Where Do Reptiles Go In Winter". The organization of the book, the accompanying illustrations and the amount of text on each page make it one that I think will be interesting and accessible to kids.
to my fourth graders. I almost told this English Language Learner to put her paper away during read aloud, but, not knowing for sure how much she can even understand as she listens, I let her keep doodling while I read, as a "consolation prize" for all the "incomprehensible English that was washing over her."
