A Year of Reading

Monday, February 03, 2014

New Books in February

February looks to be another great month for books! Here are some of the books I am looking forward to being released this month!

My kids have become HUGE fans of The Quirks since I brought it into the classroom. And they ask me daily if I have the new one yet! They are going to be thrilled when The Quirks in Circus Quirkus makes it to the classroom. The Quirks is one of my favorite new series for 3rd graders. The perfect kind of story for this age. I am anxiously awaiting lots more!

There is also a new Stink book coming out. My kids will be thrilled to see Stink and the Shark Sleepover (Book #9)

And I am very excited about Lord and Lady Bunny--Almost Royalty! I so love Polly Horvath and I loved Mr. and Mrs. Bunny-Detectives Extraordinare! It was so quirky and fun. I'm excited to see a new one!

And who could not be excited about a new version of Goldilocks called Goldi Rocks & the Three Bears?

Another series I'm anxious to take a look at is the upcoming one by Henry Winkler. This is Hank from Hank Zipzer series but a younger version. Bookmarks Are People Too! #1 (Here's Hank) looks similar to the text that my 3rd graders enjoy and it looks to be funny which is a huge plus for many of my readers. I'm anxious to check this new series out.

I'm not sure how I heard about Extraordinary Warren: A Super Chicken but it looks like great fun!

I recently read Winger and it was fabulous. I definitely want to read more by this author. His book Grasshopper Jungle comes out in February. Not sure how fast I'll get to it but it is definitely on my TBR list!

Baseball Is . . . is one I have been waiting for for a long time. Louise Borden is amazing and I love the whole idea behind this book. I can't wait to get a copy (or copies). It will be great for all ages, I think.

A Snicker of Magic and Half a Chance are two middle grade novels I have been looking forward to for a while. Both sound amazing and I am a huge Cynthia Lord fan!

Feathers: Not Just for Flying is a nonfiction book that looks fabulous. We have been reading a lot about birds and this book looks like a great addition to our basket of bird nonfiction.

We are huge Arnie the Doughnut fans here so we are all very excited about the newest...Invasion of the Ufonuts (Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut)!

Sunday, February 02, 2014

January Mosaics

I thought it would be fun to take a look at five Januaries, instead of just one.

January seems to be a time for food and snow. I was amused to see the dragonfly yard art make a snow-covered appearance in both 2010 and 2014.

Welcome to a New Blog!

Rethinking Media Centers

Our Central Ohio bloggers' group continues to grow! Welcome Jamie and Cheryl, and congratulations on taking that big scary step to bring your thinking out into the world -- WRITE ON!!

Saturday, February 01, 2014

CELEBRATE TODAY!

On our 8th Birthday, we decided to celebrate 2014 by celebrating others who inspire us every day. Each month, on the 1st (or so) of the month, we will celebrate a fellow blogger whose work has inspired us recently. We feel so lucky to be part of the blog world that we want to celebrate all that everyone gives us each day.

This month, we are celebrating Ruth Ayres and her blog. Ruth Ayres Writes is a blog that grounds us on a daily basis. Ruth's honesty and joy about all things teaching, parenting, and beyond is one reason we love her blog. But the thing we've loved best lately is the gift she has given all of us with her Saturday CELEBRATE TODAY Meme We love reading everyone's posts in her roundup but so many of us who participate regularly realize the gift that this roundup offers. Ruth has invited all of us to look at our weeks with new eyes--and to find the things to celebrate each day. It is a mindset change when our weeks aren't as we hoped they'd be, and we love Ruth for giving us this gift.

We are honoring Ruth by making a donation to BOOK LOVE in her name. If you don't know the BOOK LOVE FOUNDATION, it is a non-profit started by Penny Kittle. The mission on their website says this:

"TO PROMOTE THE LOVE OF READING AMONG ADOLESCENTS BY PROVIDING CLASSROOM LIBRARIES OF HIGHLY ENGAGING BOOKS TO MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHERS."

Brilliance indeed! If you don't know of this amazing new foundation, we encourage you to check it out!

So our CELEBRATE post this week is a celebration of Ruth and all she does for the Blog Community! BOOK LOVE to RUTH AYRES this month as we celebrate those people who inspire us on a daily basis!

Friday, January 31, 2014

Poetry Friday -- Sweet Little Kitty

Photo by Mary Lee Hahn

Sweet Little Kitty

Cat curls up tight,

closes eyes, purrs.

Disguised by sleep,

sinks down deep where

cat dreams are found

and stalks, soundless,

huge now, lethal.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

This is the poem I wrote for this week's Poetry Stretch at The Miss Rumphius Effect. The form is called "Climbing Rhyme." Each line can either have four words or four syllables. I went for syllables. The rhyme is internal. For more details, read this post. Here's a nice visual Tricia gave us to track the rhymes:

xxxa

xxax

xaxb

xxbx

xbxc

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Besides hosting the weekly Poetry Stretch challenge (c'mon, folks, jump in and give them a try!), Tricia has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at The Miss Rumphius Effect. Go check out the week's offerings!