It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

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

I finally feel like I am back in the habit of consistent reading.

H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden was my #bookgapchallenge book that was assigned by Tony Keefer.  I enjoyed the book although I did learn that I am not a fan of "assigned books" so being a little bitter as I read did not help.  I don't often read plot based adventures so Tony thought this would be  a good one for both Katherine and I.  I enjoyed it and shared it with my 4th graders right away. It is a good adventure for kids looking for a new series.

Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson is a gorgeous new picture book biography. I love anything by Kadir Nelson and was thrilled to see this new one.

Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed was a huge surprise to me. I LOVED it and wasn't really planning too. I had heard so much about it that I wanted to read it but couldn't figure out what all of the hype was. The book is gorgeous.  It is about ice but also about family and tradition and home. The writing is gorgeous. I am not sure this is one kids will pick up on their own but it is definitely one I hope to share--so many possibilities with this as it is a pretty amazing book.

Endangered by Eliot Schrefer is a YA book that has been on my TBR stack for a while. I enjoyed it. It is a great story about a teenage girl and a bonobo that she befriends in the Congo.

Babymouse #17: Extreme Babymouse by Jennifer Holm and Matt Holm. I am happy every time a new Babymouse book is published. I ordered two copies of this for my classroom and I am so glad I did. It is busy making its rounds!  (And there is a fun little surprise in the book that kids are discovering as they read:-)

Chu's Day by Neil Gaiman is a new picture book that younger kids will enjoy.

A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet is another picture book biography that I am happy to have in my collection.

Black Dog by Levi Pinfold is becoming a new favorite. Every time I read it, I love it a little bit more. This is definitely one I'll share with kids in the next few weeks as we talk about theme. Such a sweet story with a big message.

Currently Reading

I am currently reading Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. I am trying to take my time so I can take it in. If I speed through it, I am afraid I will miss some of the brilliant things the authors say. This is definitely a must-read for teachers in grades 4-12. Lots of important thinking here.

My friend, Larry Swartz recommended the adult novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel. I ordered it immediately because Larry knows books and I started it yesterday. Love it so far but a little worried about having started it. I don't have much reading time this week and this is not one I want to drag out!  I'd love to sit all day and read it cover to cover but I know I can't.

Wow. How did I not know about this?

It pays to read to the end of the Poetry Friday roundup.

The last link this week (at least as of this writing) is to PaperTigers Blog. Great review of a new-to-me book of poetry by Francisco X. Alarcón: Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems.

And then I am blown out of the water by a link to The International Children's Digital Library.

How did I not know about this site?

You can read books in Swahili there. Or in Farsi. Or Hindi. Or Spanish. Or Arabic. Oh, yeah, and in English, too.

Spread the news -- this is an AMAZING site!

Poetry Friday -- Careerhymes

Flickr Creative Commons photo by  /Sizemore/

TRAFFIC COP

Drivers think the traffic cop
is totally about the, "STOP!"
Standing hours in twelve below
what I need to do is GO!

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Good think I spent a few minutes browsing my Google Reader feeds yesterday. Blog after blog featured Careerhymes, a new form invented by (who else?) J. Patrick Lewis.

I started reading the HUNDREDS of comments on the original post at David Harrison't blog, and they were all so dang CLEVER that I almost gave up before I even tried. However, this one practically wrote itself on the way to school (seed idea captured with voice memo on my phone), and now I'm hooked! You should try one, too! Here's the form:

"...light verse, in which the name of an occupation appears somewhere in the first line."

Couldn't be easier, could it? So what's holding you back? Write one!!



Renee has today's roundup at No Water River.

#holidaybookaday update

My goal was 16 books and I only read 12, but considering everything else on my to-do list that I accomplished over break I'm pretty pleased.

Yes, a quarter of the books were graphic novels. Thank you, Nerdies Nominations for getting me caught up on the best GNs for 2012! How have I missed the work of Doug TenNapel? I enjoyed Bad Island, but wow -- Ghostopolis and Cardboard. Wow.

May B. took me right back home to the dry flatlands of Eastern Colorado/Western Kansas! I have this thing for sod houses...seeing as my dad was born in one! And my uncle has a pasture that is unbroken prairie, and there are still ruts from the wagonwheels of the covered wagons of the westward movement carved into the land!

My Santa Brother sent two new (old) books of poetry for my Signatures of the Poets Laureate collection -- Maxine Kumin (which I read) and Charles Simic (still on the TBR pile). Other posts here and here and here about this collection.

And finally, not appearing yet in Goodreads, Santa brought me the entire Series of Unfortunate Events. It seems appropriate in a year ending with 13, that one of my reading goals for the year is to re-read the entire series!

Nonfiction: An Update

I posted in early December about my plans to make December a month of nonfiction reading.  I had big goals for my students and met many of them.  The process took a little longer than I planned and much of the month was spent finding great books, building stamina for nonfiction, etc.  I was getting a bit discouraged but then I started noticing things. I noticed a child hand off a nonfiction book to another child as they were lining up for lunch. I noticed a few books begin to circulate and become popular in the classroom. I noticed some readers stick with a topic. I noticed kids finding series or authors that they wanted to read more of. I thought I'd share the books that have been popular in the last few weeks in our 4th grade classroom.  Lots of books are books I predicted would be well loved but others are surprised.

I have a group of kids reading lots about baseball history. These books seem to be circulating between 5-6 kids in the classroom. The books they are currently reading include:
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth Teammates
Henry Aaron's Dream
Heroes of Baseball: The Men Who Made It America's Favorite Game

Two authors students seem to like are Nic Bishop and Irene Kelly:
Nic Bishop: Butterflies and Moths
Frogs
It's a Butterfly's Life

There is also a group interested in reading anything and everything about dogs. Some current favorites include:
Why Do Dogs Bark? (Penguin Young Readers, L3)
National Geographic Kids Everything Dogs: All the Canine Facts, Photos, and Fun You Can Get Your Paws On!

Several books that are popular based on (I imagine) topic are:
Venom (Junior Library Guild Selection)
Micro Mania: A Really Close-Up Look at Bacteria, Bedbugs, & the Zillions of Other Gross Little Creatures That Live In, On & All Around You!
Life-Size Sharks and Other Underwater Creatures (Life-Size Series)

A few students have become interested in some nonfiction series books such as:
Face to Face with Lions (Face to Face with Animals)
Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot (Scientists in the Field Series)





Overall, it's been a great month of nonfiction reading. I have seen more voluntary nonfiction reading with this group than I ever have. The time to dig in and find books they love was necessary. Now, I think we are ready for some work on becoming better nonfiction readers, writing in response to nonfiction, stretching ourselves as nonfiction readers etc.  

Winner of HOW READING CHANGED MY LIFE

The winner of How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen is:  Katherine Sokolowski

Congratulations Katherine--Contact us so that we can send you your book!

Books About Books and Reading

Cupcakes for everyone!!

Thank you, kind readers, thank you.

You made our 7-day Blogiversary a week to remember! So. Much. Fun.

Not only that, you helped us refresh and reinvigorate our sidebar list of Books About Books and Reading.

Here are the new titles we added:

The Lonely Book by Kate Bernheimer
Miss Brooks Loves Books (And I Don't) by Barbara Bottner
The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng
Otto the Book Bear by Kate Cleminson
Henry & the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi
A Bedtime Story by Mem Fox
Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland
A Story for Bear by Dennis Haseley
The Gentleman Bug by Julian Hector
The Reader by Amy Hest
How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce
Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier
It's a Book by Lane Smith
Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
We Are in a Book! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) by Mo Willems
Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates


POETRY
Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine
BookSpeak!: Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas


NOVELS
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak


PROFESSIONAL
Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers by Penny Kittle
The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller