Favorite Series: Columbus Zoo Books For Young Readers

Colo's Story: The Life of One Grand Gorilla
by Nancy Roe Pimm
forward by Jack Hanna
School Street Media, 2011
review copy purchased for my classroom

Isn't there always one student in your class who wants to be a zoologist when they grow up? If you're lucky enough to live in a city with a fabulous zoo, like the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, that child can fuel his passion with visits to the zoo, zoo camps, and best of all, the possibility of volunteer work when he gets older.

In between trips to the zoo, there are now three books in the Columbus Zoo Books For Young Readers series (see my review of Frenemies for Life and Beco's Big Year). In the newest book of this trio, local author Nancy Roe Pimm has written a fabulous biography of the Columbus Zoo's gorilla matriarch Colo. But it's more than just a biography of one special animal, it is a history of the impact of one gorilla on the growth of the Columbus Zoo into a world-class zoo, research facility and conservation partner. In fact, Colo and her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have influenced zoos, gorilla research and gorilla conservation world-wide. Pretty impressive, when you consider her birth -- the first zoo-born gorilla in the world:

"When Warren Dean Thomas found a newborn gorilla barely alive on the floor of her mother's habitat at the Columbus Zoo more than five decades ago, no one really understood the profound influence this tiny baby would have."

Why I love this series:
1. It's about animals at our local zoo.
2. They are written by local authors.
3. They are filled with fabulous photos.

Poem #27 -- I Want To Be

I want to be a goose.
I want to stand on the roof with my neck stuck out, honking and honking.

I want to be a redwing blackbird.
I want to hold onto the cattail with both feet and sing ko-ka-reeeeee out across the ditch.

I want to be a hawk.
I want to drop like a rock from the wire and land sharp-taloned on a field mouse.

I want to be a nuthatch.
I want to run upside down on the trunk of the big oak searching for insects with my bead eyes.

I want to be a bird.
I want to launch myself into the wind and understand aerodynamics instinctively.

You Can Never Have Enough Books That Invite Readers to Make Car Noises, Can You?

I found two great books this week that somehow belong together.  Both are for those readers who just love cars, trucks, and vehicles.

 
MITCHELL'S LICENSE by Hallie Durand is great fun. Definitely one of my favorite reads lately--one I can't wait to share with kids. The story is about Mitchell, an almost four year-old.  Here is how the story begins:  "Mitchell never ever EVER wanted to go to bed.  Until his dad finally said he could drive there". This is one of those books where the words and the illustrations are both necessary in the story. Both play equal parts in the fun.
Through the text, we learn that each night, Mitchell inspects his car's tires, checks the engine, cleans off the windshield and drives.  The illustrations let us in on the fun. Mitchell's dad is the car and they both have a ball with this new bedtime routine.  This book is great fun.  The illustrations by Tony Fucile (of LET'S DO NOTHING and BINK AND GOLLIE) are perfect. They capture the spirit and the love in this relationship. Every page makes me smile.

Along with this book, I found another fun book-CARS GALORE by Peter Stein- that could go in a basket on cars, trucks and vehicles. This would also make for a fun read aloud but for totally different reasons.  This is a rhyming book filled with cars of every kind.   For example:

Black car, green car,
nice car, mean car.
Near car, far car.
Whoa! Bizarre car!

This book is fun to read aloud.  It will also make for a fun "I-Spy" type of reading where readers look for the cars described in the text.

Poem #26 -- Slow Down and Focus

Take off your shoes

And leave behind the stress of the day.

Imitate the instructor's moves; lose yourself with

Careful choreography of movement.

Here is the place, now is the time.

I am one.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2011

Poem # 25 -- Life, With Poetry Strewn

The poetry of an impromptu

Easter brunch.

The poetry of chickadees toodling.

The poetry of a completed to-do

list.

The poetry of trees in bloom.

The poetry of the world through

a camera lens.

The poetry of Sunday afternoon

at the coffee shop.

Life, with poetry strewn.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2011

Poem # 24 -- Rain

sog

slog

sprinkles, drips and drops

umbrella, boots and slops

puddling

draining

fog

sog

sloshing

splashing

grey skies threaten

lightening frightens

slog 

sog

fog

rising rivers

chilly shivers

rain

rain

rain

rain

rain

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2011

Poem #23 -- A Pair of Spring Haikus

All of a sudden

dandelions shout with joy.

Yardies...not so much.

Inner city nest

Tricky place to raise your chicks

 But it can be done

Poem #22 and Poetry Friday -- Controversy

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Stephen Downes

Poetry is an interruption of silence.

Prose is the continuation of noise.

Poetry is a bird.

Prose is a potato.

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by PaKKiTo 

No copyright again today. We'll call this a "found poem." These are Billy Collins' words, spoken at the poetry reading I went to on Wednesday. Since his words/my found poem yesterday sparked some lively discussion, I thought I'd go ahead with another "found poem" that seems to have controversy (pun intended) at its heart.

What pair of metaphors would you propose for poetry and prose? (Obviously, Billy Collins is a leeetle biased towards poetry!!)

The roundup today is at Book Aunt. Happy Friday! Happy Poetry Month! Happy Spring! Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Happy Happy!!!

LIKE PICKLE JUICE ON A COOKIE by Julie Sternberg

I always love when I pick up a great, new short chapter book. This week I picked up LIKE PICKLE JUICE ON A COOKIE by Julie Sternberg.  This is the story of Eleanor. Eleanor is eight years old and learns that he lifelong babysitter, Bibi, is moving away. It is a hard time for Eleanor as she deals with the transition.

The book is told in verse. It is a good length--119 pages and there are illustrations throughout.  That is what I love about this book. It is a great book for readers of early chapter books because it has some depth--a real issue that young children can relate to.  I also think older kids would like it because of this.  If I taught older elementary grades, this would go in the "Novels in Verse" basket.  I think readers of those books would love the addition of this one. For younger readers, this book provides a great option for advanced readers who are looking for a chapter book that is appropriate and meaningful for them.

Poem #21 -- Overheard

WHAT BILLY COLLINS SAID AFTER THE POETRY READING LAST NIGHT

The reason there is so much bad poetry written

is that the tools of poetry are so accessible --

with pencil and paper anyone can write a poem,

unlike, say, playing the saxophone,

which requires the instrument and some lessons.

And who could just go out and start hacking

at a block of marble and make a sculpture on the first try?

The training for writing poetry is in the library.

Reading.

Reading poetry.

Reading deeply.

And you find your voice by 

being jealous of other poets.

By reading other poets.

You write poetry because of 

an urge to emulate,

to imitate.

No copyright on these words, folks, because Billy Collins said them -- I just wrote them down. What he said about bad poetry...ouch. I feel like a poser with this "tra-la-la, I'll write a poem a day" project. And yet, what he said about reading poetry, and the urge to emulate...I do that! I have nearly every book of poetry he's published, plus one long and two short shelves of other poetry books (not to mention Amy LV's The Poem Farm, the weekly impromptu anthology known as Poetry Friday, and The Writer's Almanac). 

Billy Collins has a new book of poetry, published just this month:

Horoscopes for the Dead

And now I have a whole new slew of favorite Collins poems, such as the five-liner that made the crowd burst into laughter, the one that riffs off a comment overheard in a restaurant ("I was like give me a break"), the one about having a hangover and listening to kids playing Marco Polo, the poem about memorizing a poem.