Kimberly Willis Holt

Kimberly Willis Holt was at our favorite children's bookstore--Cover to Cover--last Saturday. I have heard her speak before and I always love what she has to say. She was there talking about her new book PART OF ME: STORIES OF A LOUISIANA FAMILY which I just finished and loved! I am a huge fan of Holt's so I would be happy to see this one win the Newbery too. It is pretty new so we'll see if it makes any of the Mock Newbery lists. The book is another one of her stories with characters who stay with you. Actually, it is about 4 generations of a family. The fun thing for all of you teachers and librarians out there is the thread of books and reading throughout the book. The main character was a bookmobile driver which brought back great memories of my childhood bookmobile days. This book is really a tribute to books, reading, readers and family. I loved it!

Poetry Friday for the Changing Seasons

I found this poem for Jody Scott once, long ago. Her sticky note of thanks is still in the book by the poem. I love rediscovering that note and being flooded with memories of her.

The poem is RELUCTANCE, by Robert Frost.

My favorite stanza:

The leaves are all dead on the ground,
Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
When others are sleeping.


The last stanza:

Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or a season?


The whole poem

NEW BABYMOUSE BOOK!

I just picked up a copy of BABYMOUSE: ROCK STAR today. I am very excited that this new addition to the series is out. I plan to read it tonight. Since so many people put BABYMOUSE: BEACH BABE on their Top 5 List for Mother Reader, I am anxious to check it out. It looks like it is going to be another good one:-)

Banned Books Week

Franki sent me a link from Outside of a Cat about Banned Books week...

...there it was, number 98 on the list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000: THE HEADLESS CUPID by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. The memories came flooding back...new teacher, just out of OSU with an MA in Children's Literature; parents loud and threatening and defiant; questioning myself, my judgement, my professionalism; feeling of support when my principal read the book and defended it and me when we met with the parents...and my astonishment when I learned, at that meeting with the parents, that THEY HADN'T EVEN READ THE BOOK! We cooked up some activities for the kid to do in another book out in the hall while the class (or the group...that part's fuzzy) worked on THE HEADLESS CUPID, but his parents wound up reading the book (finally) and realized it wasn't so bad, and they let the kid finish the book on his own because he wanted to find out how the story ended.

Gigantic nothing-burger with a side of ignorance. Left me with a mild case of professional indigestion, but no permanent aversion to books that fringe cases might not approve of.

Reading First News

I don't know if any of you have seen the report done on Reading First. But here is the link to the New York Times article about it this weekend. I think scripted programs for teachers are getting out of control and that we need to work to make REAL books the anchor for reading instruction. Hopefully, more money will be given to book based reading instruction in the near future.
An interesting read.

Poetry Saturday

School has taken over my life, so this poem has particular resonance:

ONCE AGAIN I FAIL TO READ AN IMPORTANT NOVEL
by George Bilgere

Instead we sit together by the fountain,
the important novel and I.

We are having coffee together
in that quiet first hour of the morning,
respecting each other's silences
in the shadow of an important old building
in this small but significant European city.

All the characters can relax.
I'm giving them the day off.

(click here for the rest of the poem)



And here are a few haiku my 5th graders wrote about favorite read-alouds from last year:

THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX by Kate DiCamillo

Despereaux is small
A mouse the size of a bug
A hero to all


Despereaux is a
mouse that gets his tail cut off
by a falling knife.


Shining warrior
he goes to save a princess
Name is Despereaux.



THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE by Kate DiCamillo

Edward Tulane lost
his beloved pocket watch,
a cherished item.


Edward Tulane was
a rich rabbit without love.
People, though, found it.

Poetry Friday!

I found a fun, new poetry book that I thought I'd share. It is called DON'T FORGET YOUR ETIQUETTE! THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO MISBEHAVIOR. ("With advice from Miss Information"--get it?!) So, this is a cute book of poems for kids that talks all about ways to misbehave. It is illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott so if you know her other books, you know that her illustrations always add fun to the text.

Here is a stanza from a poem called "The Etiquette of Dress"

Tuck your tie into your belt
And wear it as a tail.
Put your undies on your head
And wear them as a veil.

I think my favorite part of the book is the placement of a quote above each poem. These are serious quotes about manners from manners books and experts. (Miss Manners, Emily Post, etc.). The quote above "The Etiquette of Dress" says, "You never get a second chance at a first impression, and a first impression is often based on how you look." Emily Post's Teen Etiquette. The brilliance in the choice of quotes is quite amusing:-)

I think kids will LOVE this book. I think MOST parents will too, but after reading the link from Read Roger, who knows how some parents will react to the humor.

The New Yorker in Haiku

Every New Yorker article turned into haiku.

Amazing.

Excessive, in a minimalist sort of way.

My Top 5 Books

Top 5 2006 Series Books For Struggling Readers in Upper Elementary

NIGHT OF THE NEW MAGICIANS by Mary Pope Osborne (Magic Tree House Series)
LOSE, TEAM, LOSE by R.L. Stine (Rotten School Series)
BABYMOUSE: BEACH BABE by Jennifer and Matthew Holm (Babymouse Series)
CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS AND THE PREPOSTEROUS PLIGHT OF THE PURPLE POTTY PEOPLE by Dav Pilkey (Captain Underpants Series)
THE DRAGONSLAYER by Jeff Smith (Bone Series -- graphic novel)

None of these books will win the Newbery. But they're what my struggling 4th/5th graders can pick up and read independently.

Three Cool Connections

A group of my students are reading COUNTING ON GRACE by Elizabeth Winthrop. I am reading GOSSAMER by Lois Lowry for our read aloud.

The group thinks Grace, who has just started working at the mill, is like Littlest, who has just started bestowing dreams. Grace and Littlest both are playful and curious and have a hard time concentrating on their work.

Pepe is like Grandpa in CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, they think. I'm pretty sure they won't think that at the end of the book.

One of my avid BONE readers thinks the bad dreams that Thorn is having come from the Sinsteeds in GOSSAMER.