48 Hour Book Challenge

This year, I was able to participate a bit in Mother Reader's Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge. Although I can never fully participate by the rules of the challenge, I love the weekend because it gives me an excuse to commit a larger amount of time to reading than usual. This year, I spread my time over 3 days: Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  I read in between family events, graduation parties, and other things.  But over the three days I read some great books. I love this binge reading--really reading lots in a few days. Although my To-Be-Read pile is still huge, it always feels less overwhelming when I spend lots of time reading.  I am excited about the books that I read.  I would recommend every single one of them. It was a great reading weekend!  These are the books I read:

BREADCRUMBS by Anne Ursu is due out in September. This is a favorite of mine for 2011 so far. It is a modern day fairy tale. A version of The Snow Queen. Ursu does an amazing job of weaving in issues that today's children may be dealing with into this fantasy story.  The underlying themes are friendship and loss among other things.  Divorce, boy-girl friendships, international adoption, and other things are explored in this book. The author does a great job at pulling in other stories we know such as the Chronicles of Narnia and the Little Match Girl.  This is a book I may want to reread and definitely a great addition to any intermediate or middle school classroom. I loved it.  It is so good that I would preorder it now so that you don't forget about it in September.

WE ARE AMERICA is a poetry book by Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers that I have been meaning to read.  The book is a powerful one, reminding us about what it means to be American. The book is both a celebration of our country and a realistic look at some issues we deal with as a nation. This is a gorgeous book that older students could read with depth.


I am a huge fan of Michael J. Fox.  As a matter of fact, I found myself purchasing the new issue of Good Housekeeping because Michael J. Fox was on the cover. Honestly, I felt like I was 13 and buying an issue of Teen Beat when I saw his photo on the cover.  I picked up A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON MY WAY TO THE FUTURE by Michael J. Fox and read it as part of my 48 Hour Read. This is a great little essay--one of those books aimed at graduating students. But so much of what Michael J. Fox says in this book resonated for me.  A good, quick, life message.  (By the way, a little Franki Trivia for you--I have a credit in a Michael J. Fox movie. I was the tutor on the set for a child in LIGHT OF DAY for one day of filming in Ohio.  I didn't have to do much tutoring but I did get to ride in a van with Joan Jett and see Michael J. Fox in person from afar many times during the day:-)

I picked up OLIVIA'S BIRDS: SAVING THE GULF by Olivia Bouler a few weeks ago. I had heard the story about Olivia raising money to help birds during the oil spill and was intrigued by the book. This book is full of information and drawings about birds by Olivia. We learn about the fascination of birds and also learn about the dangers to birds, about the oil spill and about Olivia's work to help them.m This is a great piece by an 11 year-old working to make a positive difference in the world.

LOST AND FOUND by Shaun Tan was another that had been on my stack for a while. This is a collection of 3 short pieces around the theme of loss. Each story is different and each leaves the read with lots to think about. The illustrations are incredible and add to the text.  I can see using this with older elementary and middle school students to really dig into the meaning of these stories, both separately and together.

THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND IN A SHIP OF HER OWN MAKING by Catherynne Valente was the first book that I read. I actually started it a week or two ago but didn't have much time to read during the last weeks of school.  The book is a fairy tale and the main character is one that will stay with me for a long time.  But this is not an easy read. It seems more middle school than middle grade to me.  It is a great, unique fairy tale. I did not fall in love with it until the last 1/3 but by the time I was finished, I loved it. I think had I not spread it out over a busy time of year, I would have loved it immediately.  I definitely recommend this one to readers of more complex fantasy/fairy tales.

I loved QUEEN OF THE FALLS by Chris Van Allsburg and wasn't really expecting to. Honestly, when I ordered it, I had no idea what it was about.  I just ordered it because it was by Van Allsburg and I love most everything by him. The Polar Express was one of the first children's book I owned when I began student- teaching and I have loved his work ever since. But this book is different for this author/illustrator. It is a picture book biography about the first woman to go over Niagra Falls in a barrel.  I am addicted to finding great picture book biographies so finding this one was a real treat. Van Allsburg's illustrations make this a biography I think kids will love--the story is a great one and Van Allsburg's illustrations bring it to life. I am happy to add it to my biographies and to my Chris Van Allsburgh collection.

THE FRIENDSHIP DOLL by Kirby Larson was the last book that I read during the 48 Hour Read and it was a a great ending to a great reading weekend!  I love dolls so I especially liked the idea of this book.  It is a historical booked based on the 57 dolls sent to the United States from Japan in 1927 as "Ambassadors of Friendship". This is the story of one doll and the people she meets in her travels.  The book consists of 5 stories and we see the way that the doll was "brought to life" by each new girl she met.  We also see how each of the girls was changed because of the doll. Each story is powerful by itself.  The book reminded me a bit of The Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo in its premise. This is definitely a new favorite for me.  I have always loved dolls so I am anxious to see how this book does with others who are not so interested in dolls.  My gut says that it is a great story regardless of how you come to it.  Together these create a story of hope, change, loss, friendship and more. At the end of the book, author Kirby Larson gives us a little more background about the Japanese dolls.

So, thanks again to Mother Reader for a great kick-off to my Summer Reading. I am already looking forward to the 7th Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge!

48 Hour Book Challenge Begins

How do you start a 48 Hour Book Challenge? First a good breakfast of fortifying GRANOLA (right, Bill? GRANOLA) at NorthStar Cafe, then a trip to Cover to Cover Bookstore with a dozen blogger friends.

In the back, L to R:

Maria of Teaching in the 21st Century

Mary Lee of A Year of Reading

Bill of Literate Lives

Mandy of Enjoy and Embrace Learning

Next row, L to R:

Franki of A Year of Reading

Karen of Literate Lives

Tony of atychiphobia

Stella of My World-Mi Mundo

Christine of Best Book I Have Not Read

Deb of Primary Perspective

Floor, L to R:

Katie of Creative Literacy

Cathy of Reflect and Refine

Both Franki and I will have 48 Hour Book Challenge summary posts later today or tomorrow, detailing what happened AFTER breakfast and the bookstore!

Poetry Friday: Dictionaries

(Click on the image to enlarge it.) This is an original dictionary created by one of my fourth graders. You have to admit, it's pretty amazing! It's an ongoing project, and it inspired many of the other students in my class to create original words. 

If the speaker in the following poem had done his book report on the Korindictionary, he would have been way more entertained:

BOOK REPORT ON THE DICTIONARY

by

Gregory K.

I found the plot missing,

The dialog weak.

I kept waiting and waiting for someone to speak.

The characters bored me.

In fact, there weren’t any!

The jokes were not funny, and there weren’t too many.

(the rest of the poem is here)

Toby is hosting the Poetry Friday round up at The Writer's Armchair. Let's go check out the words and poems everyone has chosen to share this week!

CAKE POPS: Can You Believe I Made These?

This post is dedicated to my friend Lori Sabo (Lori's Lessons) who inspires me to make things!

Can you believe I made these????

One of my summer goals is to learn to bake some new things.  This week, my daughter and I tried a new lemon cupcake recipe (which was delicious) and we made our first batch of Cake Pops.  My daughter made them at a baking camp last year and we loved them. I later discovered the Bakerella blog which I visit often as well as the accompanying book, Cake Pops:  Tips, Tricks and Recipes for More Than 40 Irresistible Mini Treats, both by Angie Dudley.

I absolutely love this book--these fun cake pops have so many possibilities and the author makes it so easy to learn to do them. I figured that it would take a few batches before mine were presentable, but they worked the first time.  We definitely made the basic cake pops for our first try but with the presentation tips that Bakerealla includes in the book, we created a very fun treat to give away or to serve. This time, we used chocolate cake with basic sprinkles. We tried a few kinds of sprinkles--some worked better than others.  But we have a plan for our next batch and I feel confident that I could make these for a future event.

If you are looking for fun things to try this summer, I would definitely recommend this book. The product is a fun one (although they do take a bit of time) and it was a fun project to do together.  Hopefully, I'll attempt one of the more complex cake pops later this summer, but for now, I am happy to have this new fun treat on my list of things to bake!

#bookaday -- Two (more) For My Classroom Library

Cinderella Smith
by Stephanie Barden
illustrated by Diane Goode
Harper, 2010
review copy purchased for my classroom library

I'm really good at keeping my readers going in series books. I love them (you might have noticed that if you were paying attention on Wednesdays in April and May), and most of my 4th graders love them. But when a student is ready for a stand-alone novel, or when I'm ready for a student to break into stand-alone novels, I sometimes have a hard time suggesting books. Cinderella Smith will be at the top of my pile of recommendations next year.

Cinderella got her nickname NOT because she has a wicked stepmother or awful stepsisters, and NOT because she sleeps on the floor by the fireplace, and NOT because she had to do lots of horrible chores. She got her nickname because she loses her shoes. In this book, Cinderella has more problems than just lost shoe problems -- she has new teacher problems, sitting at the smart boys' table problems, and friendship problems. But she's got lots going for her, too. For one thing, she understands how to use a PROCESS to solve a problem, so she sets out to help the new girl, Erin, figure out if the two step-sisters she has not yet met will be wicked.

Cinderella Smith is a great new character, perfect for 8-10 year-old girls.



Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie
by Julie Sternberg
illustrated by Matthew Cordell
Amulet Books, 2011
review copy purchased for my classroom library

This novel in verse is another great book to have on hand for readers transitioning to stand-alone books. Eleanor has lots of adjusting to do in an August that's "As bad as pickle juice on a cookie. / As bad as a spiderweb on your leg. / As bad as the black parts of a banana." She manages to have a good end to her summer, giving readers hope that their own pickle-juicey problems will get better.

Franki reviewed this book earlier this month.

May Mosaic

Fun month -- nut butter tasting, Orlando, a retirement, line drawings and nets in math, Race For the Cure, Time With Teacher, the requisite peonies and iris, retirement party, never-ending rain, camp, a baby opossum in our back yard, the best scallops I've ever eaten (Barcelona -- birthday celebration), Mulch-o-Rama in the land lab at school, a bridal shower, a wedding (unrelated to the earlier bridal shower), a towering TBR pile, and school out before the calendar page turned to June!

#bookaday -- Mal and Chad

Mal and Chad: The Biggest, Bestest Time Ever
by Stephen McCranie
Philomel, May 2011
review copy purchased for my classroom library

One of the last things I heard as I walked my students to the bus last Friday was, "Can I come back and visit you next year and check books out of your classroom library?" It was a rhetorical question; my students have seen 5th graders coming back to browse my shelves all year long. I have the best books, that's all there is to it. It's my goal: something to tempt every reader and if I don't have it, I'll scour the library and bookstores to get it.

My graphic novel readers are going to LOVE Mal and Chad. A reviewer on Amazon puts it this way, "Imagine "Dexter's Laboratory," "Jimmy Neutron," and a dash of "Calvin & Hobbes" and you've got a pretty good idea of what "Mal and Chad" is like." Mal is the super-brilliant inventor boy, and Chad is his talking side-kick dog. Their adventures include a time machine and dinosaurs, underwater exploration in the kitchen sink thanks to a mini-mega-morpher and some magic lollipops, and a little bit of a crush on a girl who can throw a flaming dodge bomb in dodgeball.

At the beginning of the book, Mal's teacher is trying to get him to write a short essay on what he wants to be when he grows up. What Mal finally comes up with is this: 

"I spent the whole week trying out different jobs, but I couldn't figure out what I wanted to be when I grow up. Then I realized that finding a job wouldn't answer the question of what I want to be...it would only answer the question of what I want to do. In the end, I found out that being the person you want to be is more important than getting the job you want to get. And if that's the case, why wait until I'm an adult? I'm going to try to be the person I want to be right now." 

Yes, I'll be using this book in our study of theme. (It's stated, not implied, but it's a good one, isn't it?!?)

#bookaday -- ML's TBR Pile

Yes, it's a towering stack, but I've already read the three thinnest, I've thrown one out because it's the second in a series, and I'm more than halfway through The Wednesday Wars. (Clever and practical of me to have borrowed the middle of the pile from the library, eh? I have to read some books I missed -- Jennifer Holm, Gary Schmidt -- so that I can read the next in the series...because you know how I am about reading series in order!) And did you notice the ADULT reads  there at the bottom of stack -- Geraldine Brooks' new one, Caleb's Crossing (I LOVED People of the Book and March) and an anthology of poems by the Poets Laureate. I'll have to add to the pile in order to have enough to make it through Mother Reader's 48 Hour Book Challenge next weekend, and to last me for two weeks when I go home to visit Mom.

Then again, life might conspire to prevent me from finishing a book a day EVERY day of summer break. Hanging over my head are the two journal articles I still need to complete, and the ppt presentation that needs polishing. I have a bit more paperwork and classroom put-to-bed work that needs to be done at school, and the other 1/3 of the land lab needs to be mulched. The 2/3 I mulched last week with the help of 10 of my students looks great, doesn't it?

My own flower beds need attention (I did get the herbs planted today before it got too hot), there are piles to excavate in my home office, and (YAY!) a birthday cake to bake for a weekend celebration.

Hooray for summer break!

Goodbye, Badbye

P.S.S. I love Kidblog! 

FINALLY!!!