December Mosaic

Hmm...every single row of this month's mosaic features food.
No wonder I'll be back to the health club with a renewed dedication beginning...tomorrow.

A Year of Reading x 6

Tomorrow is our blogiversary.

We've been at this for six years.

In the past, we've done some pretty amazing blogiversary posts: 2007, 2008 2008 2008 2008, 2009 2009 2009, 2010, 2011.

This year, we almost forgot to celebrate.

Franki's getting ready for the Mentor Texts in the Digital Writing Workshop series (with Bill Bass, Katie DiCesare, Troy Hicks, Kevin Hodgson, and Tony Keefer), Mary Lee's getting ready to start round two Cybils Poetry judging (with Julie Larios, Diane Mayr, Laura Purdie Salas, and Andi Sibley), and both Franki and Mary Lee have had recent guest posts at the Nerdy Book Club blog.

Read that last sentence one more time.

There you have it, in a nutshell, in a single Polaroid of words, where we are in the evolution of this perpetual Year of Reading: we have branched out in different directions, and yet we both remain united in our passion for children's books and reading and teaching.

The Nerdy Book Club: New Year's Resolutions

 This post is cross-posted on The Nerdy Book Club's site. If you have not visited this wonderful community of readers, it is a must follow site! 

Flickr by Sean Lloyd  http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanlloyd/33762237/

(New Year’s Eve seems a perfect time to think about the goals we have for the year ahead. To think about where we want to grow and what we need to do to get there.  In my usual tradition, my main goals each year have to do with fitness and exercise…)

So, I am not a runner. This is not a surprise to anyone who knows me. But the thing is, I have been fascinated for years by runners, and I have toyed with becoming one. I actually have all of the knowledge necessary to become a runner. I have read many, many books about running. I subscribed to the print version of Runner's World for years, and I currently get their daily emails.  I subscribe to several blogs on running and follow some of the running news. I buy shoes at running stores and sometimes just hang out there. I listen closely when my running friends are talking about training for races, running injuries, etc. I have just never gotten around to actually…running. 

A few weeks ago, I was with a group of friends. One was getting ready to run his first half-marathon. He was talking about the gel packets he would have with him to keep up his energy.  I knew all about these and was able to explain them to our non-runner friends. They were amazed that I (a non-runner) understood about race food.

A week later, I was in a conversation with a different group of friends who had run the Chicago Marathon. They were talking about women in running skirts and I had remembered reading all about those on ANOTHER MOTHER RUNNER blog, a blog I read regularly since reading their book, RUN LIKE A MOTHER. On their blog, I learned that running skirts are all the rage.  Women runners either hate them or love them. No happy medium. In the midst of this conversation with my runner friends, I wanted to jump in with some thoughts I had about running skirts. But then I remembered that I was not a runner and I did not have the credibility to talk about running skirts with real runners.

I have been in several conversations lately that have reminded me how very much I know about running. I sometimes actually “know” more about running than my running friends. These are conversations that I am not quite comfortable participating in because I am not a runner.  I am not part of the club.  I just watch from the sidelines.

No matter how much knowledge I have, I cannot call myself a runner. Running is not part of my life.  I could probably not even run to the mailbox and back (and my driveway is not very long.) But here is the thing that I can't stop thinking about:  I am certain I could pass a test on running. I am certain that I could probably pass a test at a higher level than most of my runner friends could. I have a lot of knowledge and understanding about running and feel confident about doing well on a test about running.

I keep thinking about this and acknowledging the fact that knowing a lot about running is not the same as running. This knowledge might end up becoming important if I ever become a runner and it does help me in some conversations. But what good does that do me, really?  When I don’t actually run? When I am not part of the club?

How different this is compared to my life as a reader. Even though I attained a nearly perfect score on Tony Keefer’s quiz, “You Might be a Nerdy Book Clubber if…” ,  I don’t need anyone to tell me I am a part of the Nerdy Book Club. I don’t worry that some members read more than I do or that some members read faster than I do. I don’t worry about joining conversations that I have no business participating in. Even weeks when I can’t fit in a book, I know I am a reader. Reading is a huge part of my life and I don’t feel the need to prove that to anyone.

One of my favorite things about my job as a school librarian is that kids stop me in the hall constantly, mentioning a book they finished or one they want to read. They tell me the page number they are on or an author they’ve discovered. Sometimes I wonder if reading is the only thing they think they can talk to me about. Then I realize that it is at those times that they see me as a fellow club member; that they know I will understand their need to share their reading lives.

But I also see kids trying to get into the club.  Standing on the edges of these conversations. Checking books back into the library with a bookmark about 1/3 of the way through, never having been finished. These kids seem to get excited when someone mentions an author they know. But they don’t feel confident joining the conversations. They don’t see themselves as readers.

This year, I’ve bumped into lots of past students – students I taught in 4^th and 5^th grades who have recently graduated.  It is so fun to see what they ended up doing, which passions they discovered.  They tend to tell me all of that, and then often mention what/if they are reading.  They know I’ll wonder and that no matter which career path they’ve chosen to follow, that I still hope they are lifelong members of the Nerdy Book Club.  I like to believe that I was one of the people who first invited them to be part of this club.

Each of us was invited into the club by someone who wanted us to be part of the fun. We saw something that we wanted to be a part of and there were lots of people in our lives who made joining the Nerdy Book Club possible.  As a teacher, I know this takes commitment and hard work. I know it means giving kids great books, time to read, a reading community to be a part of, and instruction that moves them forward as readers.

So in 2012 I have two goals.  I am going to be very deliberate in helping every child become part of the Nerdy Book Club.   I am going to watch carefully to see which students feel confidently part of this club and which are standing along the sidelines wishing to be part of it all. I’m going to try to give them the support they need to become lifelong members.

And, of course, in 2012….I am going to actually run.

Poetry Friday -- Presidential Edition

The President's Stuck in the Bathtub: Poems about the Presidents
by Susan Katz
illustrated by Robert Neubecker
Clarion Books, on shelves February 8, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

Since 2012 will be a presidential election year, it seems appropriate to start brushing up on our presidential facts and trivia sooner, rather than later.

In this book, every president gets a poem based on sometimes a little-known and sometimes a well-known fact about his presidency. The fact is elaborated briefly at the bottom of the page. There is more information about each president in the back of the book, but it is as bite-sized and kid-friendly as each president's page -- you get dates of the term(s) served, birth/death dates, a quote, the president's nickname, and that president's "first."

I love the poems in this book. Here's an example that highlights one of the most infamous of the eight Ohio Presidents:

The Long and Short of It
(William Henry Harrison, 1841)

Without a hat or gloves or overcoat,
William Henry Harrison stood in driving rain
on the Capitol's east steps to declaim to a crowd
the longest, most meandering inaugural address
of any president in history, 3800 words or so,
that took almost two hours to deliver. That was long.

Harrison
was only
president
one month.

That
was
short.


William Henry Harrison's election campaign was longer than his presidency. He caught a cold at his inauguration and a month later died of pneumonia.

© Susan Katz, 2012



So, yes, I love the poems, but I also love how the facts at the bottom of each page elaborate or illuminate the poem in some way.

And if there isn't already enough to love about this book, I can't wait to read through the presidential notes and quotes with my students to give them an interesting snapshot history of the United States. Here are a few examples that stopped me in my tracks and made me think:

• We were 8 presidents in before we had the first president born an American citizen. (Martin Van Buren)
• Jimmy Carter, president number 39, was the first president born in a hospital. (how could that BE?)
• It took 16 presidents before we had one who had been born outside the original thirteen colonies. (Abe Lincoln)
• And president #34, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was the first president of all fifty states.

Julie Larios has the Poetry Friday roundup today at The Drift Record. Seems she has politics on her mind, too!

Alphabet Fun

Remember how much my students and I loved E-Mergency! by Tom Lichtenheld and Ezra Fields-Meyer? (my review is here)

Well, I've got another pair of alphabet book that I'm betting stay off the shelf more than on, just like E-Mergency!.

A Call for a New Alphabet
by Jef Czekaj (Jef's website)
Charlesbridge, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

First sentence on the front flap: "X is tired of being at the back of every alphabet book." There's the "major conflict" in the story.

First sentence on the back flap: "Jef Czekaj has a BA in linguistics." That explains just about everything else.

Because X is tired of being at the back of the alphabet, and because he thinks more words should begin with him, X starts a campaign to change both the order of the letters in the alphabet, and their roles there.

The night before the big vote, X has some strange dreams that make clear to him the hard work of the other consonants in the alphabet. He turns to the vowels for an easier job, but find that they, of all the letters, best understand that the letters of the alphabet have to work together, rather than in competition. Each has an important job to do.

The illustrations are filled with all kinds of alphabetic sight-gags that will keep readers busy thinking about letters and words and the crazy English language.

Al Pha's Bet
by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (Amy's website)
illustrated by Delphine Durand (Delphine's blog)
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

Al, the guy who lived back in history "when all sorts of things were being invented. Like fire. The wheel. Shadows." decides that he wants to invent the order for the newly invented set of twenty-six letters. He bets himself that he can win the King's contest to organize the letters with the most beautiful arrangement.

Al has quite amusing (and incredibly LOGICAL) reasons for the order of the letters. When he presents his order to the king, "The king said it out loud. The king tried singing it. The king wanted to sing it again. He said to Al, 'This time, won't you sing with me?' " (Groan.)

You can guess by the title -- Al won the bet he made with himself. And that's how the twenty-six letters have come to be known as the Al Pha Bet. (Groan.)

It Happens All the Time in Books

I love kids' books that incorporate kid-sized literary references! Here are two fairy tales that require the reader to remember other stories they've read in order to get the most out of the story at hand:

The Princess and the Pig
by Jonathan Emmett
illustrated by Poly Bernatene
Walker & Company, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

A poor farmer's tiny pig and a baby princess switch places (if by "switch places" you mean one gets dropped from a balcony into a cart of hay and the other gets sproinged from the cart of hay into the cradle on the balcony). "The king thought he knew what had happened. 'A bad fairy has done this,' he explained. 'The fairy wasn't invited to the princess's christening, so she's turned the baby into a piglet to get her revenge. It's the sort of thing that happens all the time in books.' " (He's holding a copy of Sleeping Beauty in the illustration just in case you don't get it...)

That refrain, "It's the sort of thing that happens all the time in books," occurs throughout the story as the pig grows up a princess and the princess grows up a farmer's daughter. There's a funny twist in the end that I won't spoil for you here!

Other reviews: Jen Robinson's Book Page, Fuse #8

Dog in Boots
by Greg Gormley
illustrated by Roberta Angaramo
Holiday House, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

Dog gets the idea that he'd like some boots from the storybook in his lap, "...a brilliant book, all about a cat who wore a pair of truly magnificent boots." You know the book, but in case you forgot, there it is in his lap.

Dog tries boots like Puss's, but they're not quite the right thing for digging in mud, so he takes them back to the shoe store. The accommodating shopkeeper trades the muddy boots for a pair of rain boots, and although those work fine for digging, they don't work too well when Dog goes for a swim. Over and over, Dog tries different footwear, only to discover in the end that his built-in footwear (his PAWS) are the best in every situation.

Tired and happy, Dog plops down in his big chair with another brilliant book. "This time it was about a girl who didn't wear any silly boots, but did wear... (text deliberately excluded...can you guess what she wore!?!?) 'Hmmm...,' thought Dog."

Other reviews: BooksForKidsBlog, A Random Hodgepodge of Bookishness

Pets

Prudence Wants a Pet
by Cathleen Daly
illustrations by Stephen Michael King
Roaring Brook Press, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

Prudence really really wants a pet, but her parents (seen only from the waste down in the illustrations) tell her they cost too much and make noise. So Prudence gets a pet branch. Branch is an outdoor pet who lives on the front porch and who has tripped Prudence's father eight times. "Dad broke Branch into little bits and put them on the woodpile." But Prudence is not daunted. She has a new pet. Its name is Twig. But Twig lives in her pocket and one day Twig runs away in the rinse cycle. Prudence tries one unique, inanimate pet after another. Her persistence finally gets her parents' attention -- just in time for her birthday.

Another review at Colby Sharp's blog sharpread.

Jane and Mizmow
by Matthew S. Armstrong
Harper, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

This is a different kind of pet book. Jane has a pet -- a monster she finds in a red cap at the base of a tree (what is it with red caps this year???). Jane and Mizmow are best friends until the day they argue over the red hat, warm from the dryer, and pull it into two parts. Then, just like the hat, the two friends are pulled apart. Luckily, they find a way to repair their friendship in the end.

If you've read any of the FLIGHT graphic novel short story anthologies edited by Kazu Kibuishi, that's where you've met these characters before. This book has a graphic novel feel to it, and would have worked perfectly well as a wordless picture book -- the captions seem like an afterthought.

Another review at Lori Calabrese Writes!

The Gift of Imagination

Are there still children who love to play with the box as much as they love to play with the item that came in it? I hope so!

I know for sure that there are still children who will create a dollhouse and dolls from scraps of paper, because there's one in my fourth grade class.

Here are a few books for those who have the gift of imagination, or for those who would blow the dust off theirs and bring it out to play.

Sea of Dreams
by Dennis Nolan
Roaring Brook Press, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

In this gorgeous wordless picture book, a light comes on in the sandcastle the little girl leaves to the tides on the beach. As the waters swirl around the castle, a family escapes in a boat, survives a wild ride in a storm, and eventually washes up again to settle with a family of gulls. The girl comes back to the beach and makes another sandcastle, watched over by a gull. And as the sun sets and the tides wash around the castle, a light comes on in the tower window...

A Few Blocks
by Cybèle Young
Groundwood Books, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

Ferdie doesn't want to go to school. "Not now," he said. "Maybe never..." But Ferdie's sister Viola knows how to get him moving. She holds out his coat and says, "Ferdie, look! I found your superfast cape! Quick -- put on your rocket-blaster books and we'll take off!" At this point, the black and white pencil sketch illustrations turn into full color 3-D paper sculptures...for as long as Ferdie's imagination stays engaged. Then Viola must come up with another imaginative scenario. In the end, Viola gets tired of having to be the one that provides the impetus to get Ferdie to school...but he comes through, and the two find the strength to walk the final block to school.

Inkblot: Drip, Splat, and Squish Your Way to Creativity
by Margaret Peot
Boyds Mills Press, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

With a very few supplies (don't forget the apron -- India ink is permanent) and the easy-to-follow directions in this book, you could be the first inkblot artist on your block!

Not only are the directions clear, but the chapters progress nicely from the most basic to the most complicated designs/techniques. Spattered throughout the text (yes, pun intended) are short bios of "Inkblot Heroes," including (you guessed it) Hermann Rorschach, and others such as Victor Hugo, Justinus Kerner and Stefan G. Bucher.

The chapter on the Inkblot Sketchbook journal is the one that tugs at my imagination most strongly. Surely I've got a spare blank book somewhere on my shelves...I've got the ink, and I've got an apron...

Poetry Friday -- Addendums

As I was working on my Poetry Friday post, the Gapingvoid daily cartoon from Hugh MacLeod pinged into my inbox. It seems to talk nicely to today's poem, but I didn't want to clutter up my post with any chatter.

Poetry Friday -- Less Can Be More

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by EmreAyar

Crane

by David Yezzi

Paper creased is
with a touch
made less by half,
reduced as much

again by a second
fold—so the wish
to press our designs
can diminish

what we hold.
But by your hand’s
careful work,
I understand

how this unleaving
makes of what’s before
something finer
and finally more.

Any thoughts I might add here would subtract from the simple beauty of the poem. I'll leave you in the quiet to bring to and take away from this poem what you will. (This poem is posted in its entirety with the permission of the author, David Yezzi -- his website is here.)

The Poetry Friday round up today is at Dori Reads.