It's Monday! What Are You Reading? On the Road to Mr. Mineos

Thanks to Jen and Kellee at TEACH MENTOR TEXTS for hosting IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

On the Road to Mr. Mineo's
by Barbara O'Connor
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

on shelves October 2, 2012

This week, we decided to share a book that we've both read recently, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's by Barbara O'Connor.  On the Road to Mr. Mineo's is the story of a one-legged pigeon. It is also the story of summer in a small town in the South. We both LOVED the book and have passed it along to other friends who have loved it too.  Because the plot defies simple summarization, we'll try to give you a feel for the story by interviewing each other about it.

FRANKI'S QUESTIONS FOR MARY LEE:

If you were going to sum up this book in one word, what would it be? And why?
My word is CONVERGE. Each strand of this story is like one of those thin strips of plastic that we wove together into keychains once upon a time at summer camp. Every character's separate story converges with the others at the end. Each character's life becomes woven with the lives of the others at the end. Plus, converge sort of rhymes with Sherman, who is the one who brings everyone together. It also sort of rhymes with journey, which (although I was only supposed to pick one word) is my second pick for the one word that sums up this story.

What do you think Sherman was up to? Why wouldn't he go home and why did he finally decide to go home?
Great question! Sherman is a homing pigeon. He is hardwired (supposedly) to fly away, and then fly home again. Maybe this is a story about all the amazing things that might happen when we act unpredictably, when we break out of our molds. Or maybe it's just a story about a pigeon who doesn't go home, and who unintentionally weaves a story out of all the lives he touches. Why did he go home? That's easy. Why do we all go home in the end? The ones who love us most are there.

MARY LEE'S QUESTIONS FOR FRANKI:

Who was your favorite character, and why?
Favorite character is hard in this one because I felt like I knew and loved every character by the end.  But I think I loved Stella first. So I'll go with that as my answer if I have to pick a favorite.  I liked Stella immediately. I liked that she was kind but tough. I liked that she so committed to that pigeon, no matter what that involved. I loved that she had the spunk to stand up to her brother and to take charge of almost everything. She is a tough girl with a soft heart.

And I want to pick another favorite. I loved Mr. Mineo. I loved how much he cared about the pigeons. I loved the way he talked to his dog. I loved the patience he had and how well he seemed to understand Sherman.  

Compare (or contrast) this book to another of Barbara O'Connor's books.
Greetings from Nowhere is one of my very favorite Barbara O'Connor books. I loved it immediately and read it aloud to my class the month it came out. I am a character-baesd reader and this book was character based. It was about many different people--every one of which I loved--who were on their own journey. But people who somehow connected when they needed each other most. I loved everything about this book and I see Mr. Mineo as being similar.  There are differences--Greetings is a bit quieter of a book. But both books are about individual people trying to find their way, individual people who are on different journeys. But in both books, something connects these people in a way that changes each of them. And I love that. This idea probably is the idea in every one of Barbara O'Connor's books ( a reason I love her work:-) but these two stand out for me.

July Mosaic

Remember a couple of days ago, when my computer's brain was about to explode? After the memory upgrade, there is now PLENTY of space for downloading the rest of July's pictures from my camera!

Time for the July Mosaic!

If you want to see each picture more clearly, check out the set on Flickr.

Poetry Friday -- This Has Gone Too Far

THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR

Goldilocks, I know it was you.

I recognize your handwriting.

What do you have against me?

I'm not the one who tipped off the bears.

And, no, I didn't eat your friends'

breadcrumb trail.

Check with Cinderella's mice

about that one.

You can't be working with the wolf.

I heard that Red's grandma paid him to leave town.

This has gone too far. Quit slandering me

or I'll have to call in the seven dwarves.

Sincerely,

Bambi

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012

Rena has the Poetry Friday roundup AND a Poetic Caption Contest this week at On the Way to Somewhere.

What's in my short story tub?

In the comments of yesterday's review of the short story collection, BECAUSE OF SHOE, there was interest in what's in my short story tub. Here's what I've collected over the years. Any other great ones that I'm missing?


GRAPHIC NOVEL SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

Lost and Found: Three by Shaun Tan (Lost and Found Omnibus) by Shaun Tan

Flight Explorer Volume 1 edited by Kazu Kibuishi

Explorer: The Mystery Boxes edited by Kazu Kibuishi

Big Fat Little Lit (Picture Puffin Books) edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly

Goosebumps Graphix, volumes 1-3:  Goosebumps Graphix #1: Creepy Creatures , Terror Trips (Goosebumps Graphix, No. 2) , Scary Summer (Goosebumps Graphix, No. 3)

MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE 

The Big Book for Peace by Ann Durell and Marilyn Sachs

The Big Book for Our Planet edited by Anne Durell, Jean Craighead George, Katherine Paterson

I Can Make a Difference: A Treasury to Inspire Our Children by Marian Wright Edelman


CONNECT TO THE AUTHORS

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales / With an Introduction by Lemony Snicket
Speak!: Children's Book Illustrators Brag About Their Dogs by Michael J. Rosen

Purr. . . : Children's Book Illustrators Brag About Their Cats by Michael J. Rosen


ANIMALS

The Tarantula in My Purse and 172 Other Wild Pets by Jean Craighead George

Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant

Animals Who Have Won Our Hearts by Jean Craighead George


STORIES FOR GUYS

How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gary Paulsen

Guys write for Guys read By Jon Scieszka edited by Jon Scieszka


CLASSICS

The stories Julian tells (Paperback) by Ann Cameron (plus More Stories Julian Tells, The Stories Huey Tells)


STORIES WITH FUNNY MORALS

Tales for Very Picky Eaters by Josh Schneider

"Always Wear Clean Underwear!": And Other Ways Parents Say "I Love You" by Marc Gellman

Good Dog!

Because of Shoe and Other Dog Stories
edited by Ann M. Martin
Henry Holt, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

Where should I put this book in my classroom library -- on the shelf with the dog books, or in the tub with the collections of short stories?

Actually, it might be fun to create a display with this book and the books of the nine authors who contributed stories to the book! Wouldn't it be fun to compare Jon Muth's Zen picture books with his story of the sculptor Brancusi and one of his white dogs?

There's a real mix of stories in this collection. One of my favorites is the story (by Pam Muñoz Ryan) that gives the collection its title. Lily is telling this story, and she is a TALKER, which makes her a great story teller. I can imagine studying this story in writing workshop to think about voice in writing. (Also, it begs to be compared to Because of Winn Dixie!!)


If I gathered multiple copies of this book from the library, the whole class could read the book jigsaw style -- one story per group -- and then have cross-group discussions, and finally a whole class discussion. It would be interesting to see how many kids would go back to read stories from other groups, based on the discussions.


As you can see, this is a book with lots of potential!

GANESHA'S SWEET TOOTH by Sanjay Patel and Emily Haynes

I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of Ganesha's Sweet Tooth  by Sanjay Patel and Emily Haynes from Chronicle Books last week. I had not heard of the book but was immediately drawn to the colorful and happy cover art.  I read the letter from the publisher and learned a bit about the illustrator, Sanjay Patel. Sanjay is an Indian-American animator at Pixar Animation Studios. The letter says that "Sanjay is passionate about using modern graphics to illuminate the ancient stories of his culture."

I was intrigued so I went on to read the book. This is a fun story derived from an popular legend in Hindu. This story is about an elephant-headed animal who rides around on a mouse (who is also his best friend).  He loves candy and sweets, especially the traditional laddoo.  But he accidentally breaks his tusk when he tries a "super jumbo jawbreaker laddoo".  He is not upset for long because Vyasa asks him to write an important story and his broken tusk becomes quite handy.

From reading the Author's Note, I learned that this isn't actually a retelling of the Hindu legend. Rather it is a bit different--the plot and scenes and details are different. But there is enough of a connection to lead readers back to the original story. This author/illustrator team did an amazing job creating this book together.

I am always looking for stories from various cultures and I love this one. There are very few Hindu stories available for children and I am glad to have this one. I think the illustrations are really what makes this book stand out for me . Although it is an ancient tale, the illustrations will grab young readers today-they are colorful, engaging and smart.  The illustrations invite today's readers into this story from the past--I think that is so critical if we want to hold onto important stories.

Again, I am thrilled to have received this book and am excited to know more about this ancient Hindu legend as well as this illustrator!

(You can read an interview with the illustrator here.)

"There's an article in that!"

My laptop's brain is on the brink of being so full it explodes.

I won't be able to download the pictures that are on my camera and make my monthly mosaic until I get a new hard drive with about a hundred spare acres so my creativity can once again roam freely.

Until then, I'm catching up on my reading, doodling with my colored pencils in my sketchbook, and taking mini field trips to the front and back gardens to visit the two plants I bought at the Clintonville Farmers' Market yesterday -- a female Jack-in-the-Pulpit that is "with seeds," and a Butterfly Milkweed that is purported to be "crack cocaine for butterflies."

Poetry Friday -- Hawku

LOST AND FOUND

ACT 1

The hawks are whistling.
Every morning I listen,
wonder, imagine.

The nest, constructed
in a pignut hickory,
is hidden and safe.


ACT 2

Hawks in the city
remind us we are not far
from the wild. Ever.

Are they as aware
of me as I am of them?
I capture moments:

Whistling and screeing,
piercing dives through tree branches,
perching on our fence.


ACT 3

Every hope broken --
hickory falls in the storm.
Hawk home is destroyed.

Morning after. Sun.
Mournful hawks call tree to tree,
"Our babies...lost...gone."

I hear, on day two...
three hawks! Three means one survived!
Next day I see four!


ACT 4

Listen -- can you hear
hawks in your neighborhood trees?
Listen with your heart.

Wonder -- they survive:
paramount in the food chain,
tree top predators.

Imagine -- next year

another nest, another success...

perhaps in your oak.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012

The Coopers Hawks in this story have been a source of fascination and wonder since last spring, when they courted noisily in the sky above our neighborhood, and then began building their nest in our neighbor's tree. They broke twigs from our oak tree for that nest. 

Late last June, as we drove home through the lashing winds and torrential rains of a severe thunderstorm, my thoughts were focused on our oak. "Please spare our oak, please spare our oak," was my mantra.

At the end of our street, we saw flashing red lights. When we got closer, I breathed a sigh of relief -- it was not our oak -- then gasped. It was not our oak; it was our neighbor's huge hickory, torn out of the ground and split lengthwise. Two homes were destroyed -- our neighbor's house, and the hawks' nest.

I have pages of notes and several drafts of poems about the hawks, but I wanted to try to tell the whole story in one poem. I was inspired by Violet Nesdoly's extended haiku about the storm, and wanted to try that form. Violet explains, "I call this an extended haiku but perhaps it isn’t one by an official definition (which I couldn’t find). Anyway, what’s happening here is that each word in the original haiku becomes the beginning word in successive haiku. It’s a fun challenge."

At the Choice Literacy writer's retreat this week, we had a minilesson on using a B-C-B-A narrative structure in our article writing. (A = near future, B = present, C = past.) When I looked back at my first draft of this poem, I realized that I had intuitively used at least a version of this structure, shifting back and forth in time. I added the four Acts to help the reader transition between the different "chapters" of the story.

One of the hardest things about this form is that first haiku. You need rich words with which to start each of the successive haikus, and which allow you to tell your story. As with all writing, the last hard thing is a strong ending. I struggled with the ending, but Violet was gracious enough to read my draft and give me some writerly nudges. Thank you, Violet!

Bibliophile has the roundup this week at Life is Better With Books.

It's the First Day of Schol...FOREVER!

It's the First Day of School...Forever!
by R.L. Stine
Square Fish (MacMillan), 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

I haven't started having my "back to school" nightmares yet, but it's only a matter of time, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to find out what kind of nightmarish first day R.L. Stine would create.

It's a doozie. Fall out of bed, wardrobe problems, bad hair, crazy little brother, bullies (including the principal), scorpions, boiler rooms in the basement of the school...and then on page 79, it starts all over again -- same basic story with a few minor revisions because there are some things that Artie just doesn't want to repeat. And then on page 148 it starts all over again, and this is getting too weird. And THEN, on page 158 is starts all over AGAIN!!!

R.L. Stine saves the punchline explanation for the very last chapter of the book...and it's a good one.

I can't wait to book talk this book! Kids are going to love it!!

MATH EXCHANGES: GUIDING YOUNG MATHEMATICIANS IN SMALL-GROUP MEETINGS

I also read Math Exchanges: Guiding Young Mathematicians in Small Group Meetings by Kassia Omohundro Wedekind and published by Stenhouse.  I'm not getting as much professional reading in as I had hoped but I am really committed to reading the math stuff on my list. NUMBER TALKS was an amazing read earlier this summer and I took MATH EXCHANGES with me on my flights this week.  I had read bits and pieces of this one when it was released and I had the chance to talk to Kassia for a Choice Literacy podcast. But this time, I read it cover to cover, knowing that I will be teaching math this year.  It is a funny thing--people know me as a literacy teacher but I am really a math person--math is far easier for me as a "subject". I think in numbers and logic.  I love problem solving  And I love to teach math. One of the reasons I love a self-contained classroom is because of the conversations that are similar across subject areas. I've been lucky in my career to teach with a few brilliant math teachers who taught me early on how to make math meaningful for kids.  So, I am excited to get back to math teaching and excited to read the newest thinking out there as I plan my year with a new group of 4th graders.

MATH EXCHANGES is written about young children. The examples are from K-3 classrooms and the focus is really on very young (K-1) children.  But the implications for all teachers is huge.  Kassia's understanding of not only mathematics, but of how children develop, how she looks at student work, the strategic ways in which she builds problems and scaffolds for children, taught me a great deal.

One thing I love about Kassia's message is her message of "joyful rigor". She says, "Community, rigor, and joy are at the heart of the workshop approach to teaching and learning."  She connects much of her workshop to what she has learned from Peter Johnston in Choice Words as she talks about the importance of identity and agency in mathematics.

Kassia is honest in admitting that math workshop is hard work. She says, "Math workshop is not the easiest path to take. We have plenty of outside resources willing to tell us exactly what, when and how to teach our students. And yet, none of these resources has the intimate knowledge of our community of mathematicians that you have.  Math workshop communities create empowered learners-both students and teachers-who question, wonder, explore and make conjectures.  Rigorous joy in math is within the realm of the possible-it is, in fact, what makes math workshop worth it!"

Kassia shares her knowledge about math, types of problems, intentional planning and how she learns about a child's understanding. Kassia includes story after story to help us see what this looks and sounds like in a real classroom. The student samples help us begin to see the ways that she learns from student work.  And she includes tools and forms that will help us as we try to implement some of her ideas.

Some of my favorite lines from this book include:

We will work to become experts on the development of each of our young mathematicians.


Regardless of the math program or curriculum you are using, working to understand each individual child's math development and how to responsively guide children to deeper understanding through small-group work remains the strongest way in which we, as teachers, can promote a strong mathematical foundation for our learners. p. 22


Math exchanges emphasize change. This may sound simple, but the purpose of meeting with small groups of mathematicians is to produce change and growth in their thinking....Math exchanges put the focus on planned, purposeful exchanges between mathematicians of different abilities. . 33


In Teaching Essentials, Regie Routman writes about "teaching with a sense of urgency". Before reading her words, I had always associated urgency with a feeling of anxiety. However, after reading and thinking further I found that "the expectation that there is not a minute to lose, that every moment must be used for purposeful instruction" rings true not just within the context of teaching literacy, which Routman writes about, but throughout the entire day as teachers. p. 36


Purposeful and effective planning does not begin by focusing on what a student does not know. p.63


Problem solving, with carefully chosen problem types and numbers, is one of the best ways to help children build strong understandings of the number system. p. 137


I strive to achieve balance between two kinds of reflections during math workshop: content reflection....and process reflection.  Content reflection focuses on a specific math concept or strategy that you and your class have been discussing and working on...Process reflection on the other hand, focuses on developing practices and behaviors of strong mathematicians.  p. 177


I cannot possibly include all that I loved about this book. I cannot possibly share all that I learned or all that I came away thinking with. What I do know is that this book will impact my teaching of math to better match what I believe about students and learning.

(If you are interested in hearing more from Kassia about math teaching, you can access her Choice Literacy podcast here.)