The Year of the Rat by Grace Lin

I LOVED THE YEAR OF THE DOG when it came out last year so I was THRILLED to see this sequel at the bookstore last week!
The Year of the Rat by Grace Lin is another story about Pacy and her friend Melody. In THE YEAR OF THE RAT, Pacy knows that this year means lots of change. Her best friend, Melody, has to move away and so many things are changing.


I love the way Grace Lin ties in so many great issues--change not being so bad, stereotypes, traditions, and more. Just as in the first book, stories from the parents' past are woven into the story to teach Pacy (and readers) about something important.

Ever since the kids in my class discovered THE YEAR OF THE DOG, I haven't seen it again. It is making its rounds. I know that when I show them this book next week, I may not see it again until June. It is a great book to fall in love with.


I love these characters and the writing is amazing. I am sooo hoping that the series continues. I am hoping to hear lots more about this family! WRITE FAST, GRACE LIN.

Poetry Friday -- Google Reader Chant

Inspired by April Pulley Sayre's three chant books Trout, Trout, Trout, Ant, Ant, Ant, and Bird, Bird, Bird, I set out to create a chant of all the blogs in my Google Reader. As you might imagine, I wound up with an even more profound appreciation for April's books. She works magic with animal names. I think I missed magic by quite a long shot.

I do okay with the chant rhythms (mostly), but my rhymes fall by the wayside fairly early. Every now and then, the chant seems to say something, but that is most likely by accident. And the ending...well, if you were jumping rope to this, you wouldn't mind so much that it.just.ends. (But it ends with a Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy so that you can snuggle up with your favorite book or computer and read! The roundup today is at hipwritermama.)

So I give you...

Blog, Blog, Blog

a Google Reader Chant

TechSpace

Fuse 8

Lisa Yee

Book Moot

Farm School

Read, Read, Read

Squeetus

BookBuds

Bartography

Cybils

Indexed

Planet Esme

Big A little a

Escape Adulthood

My Breakfast Platter

Jen Robinson

Literate Lives

Miss Rumphius

Educating Alice

Finding Wonderland

Sam Riddleburger

Excelsior File

Shady Glade, Bonny Glen

Learning on the Edge

Read Roger

7-Imp

Read Write Believe

Gotta Book

Random Thoughts

Check It Out, please!

Open Wide, Look Inside

Blue Rose Girls

Candy Blog

Scholar's Blog

Wizards Wireless

Children's Illustration

Today I Like

Two Writing Teachers

Liz in Ink

Chicken Spaghetti

BB-Blog

Hipwritermama

Creative Literacy

Mother Reader

Lowry Updates

laurasalas

a wrung sponge

Wild Rose Reader

I.N.K.

Robin Brande

Borderland

Greetings From Nowhere

Reading Zone

Mentor Texts

Tea Cozy

CYBILS WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!

The 2007 CYBILS Winners were announced today. You can see the whole write-up on the CYBILS website. I was very excited about the list. I am especially excited that BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS by Shannon Hale is on the list--what an amazing read!

I was part of the Poetry judging. What a fun time we had! Thanks to Gregory K (Gotta Book), Jone (Check It Out), Sara (Read Write Believe), and Cloudscome (A Wrung Sponge) for some great discussions! Such great poetry this year. If you have not read the winner, THIS IS JUST TO SAY by Joyce Sidman, I would recommend reading. I'll try to do a review soon but for now, check out the CYBILS site!

By the way, Sara Lewis Holmes has my favorite CYBILS announcement of the day!

Stories With Echoes

The Castle Corona
by Sharon Creech
illuminated by David Diaz
HarperCollins, 2007

I'm pretty sure Sharon Creech has already written this book once before. Maybe twice. Plucky brother and sister orphans who are mistreated but wind up in the care of interesting grandparent-ly people. Wasn't that Ruby Holler? Merge the brother and sister into one girl character, throw in storytelling and a search for identity. Wasn't that Walk Two Moons?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. Obviously these story bones have great resonance for Sharon Creech, and I think any child who reads by author will be delighted to discover this. Any child who reads by book has at least a one in three chance of reading some version of this story if they dip into Sharon Creech's works and promptly dip out again.

I loved the 56 short-short chapters (also a hallmark of Ruby Holler) and the illuminations by David Diaz. I loved the mood she set with the language and the mirroring of the peasant and noble worlds. I loved the hermits. I want one. I also want a tunnel of hornbeam trees. No need to wish for a wordsmith. I've got Sharon Creech and a thousand thousand others who will keep me entertained for years to come!

Welcome to the Kidlitosphere!

Join us in welcoming our friends and colleagues Karen and Bill in the launch of their co-blog, Literate Lives. Because Karen, Bill, Franki and I have all taught in the same district for lots of years, our paths have crissed and crossed many times depending on what buildings we were at, what grades we taught, what committees we were on, and what teacher (or now, librarian) hats we were wearing at the time. And now we're sharing this blogging path. Very exciting!

2 Great New Picture Books

I am partial to sheep books. Every since I read Wool Gathering: A Sheep Family Reunion, I keep my eye out for amusing sheep characters. Woolbur by Leslie Helakoski may be my new favorite. First of all, he is adorable. The cover illustration lets you know that this is a character you'll come to love. The inside flap calls him a free spirit. He is a leader in his own sense--making his own rules and having fun with life in general. He doesn't like to play by the rules--he likes to do his own thing. And his parents worry and worry. The lesson hits you over the head in this book but that is okay because Woolbur is such a great character, you feel his joy in living in the moment. Love this book!

And the new Fancy Nancy book came out this week! I think it might be my favorite of the three. Fancy Nancy Bonjour Butterfly I like the yellows in the illustrations and I love that Nancy is dressed in butterfly apparel. This story is more than about being fancy--it is about having to miss a friend's birthday party to attend a family event. Even though Nancy is initially disappointed, she has a great time at her grandparents' anniversary party. I am excited about all of the upcoming easy readers, etc. that will be coming out soon. I am not usually a big fan of these types of books but kids LOVE this character so giving them some books that they can read on their own makes sense tome. Can't wait to see what Fancy Nancy will do next!

Landmark Birthday

Have a good one, Mo!

Nonfiction Monday -- Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

I'm going to cheat a bit today. The nonfiction part of my post is not a book. Instead, I give you some links for nonfiction reading you might do before or after you finish Margaret Peterson Haddix's book Uprising: Three Young Women Caught in the Fire That Changed America.

Cornell University's Online Exhibit on The Triangle Factory Fire

Wikipedia entry on The Triangle Factory Fire

History of the Union Movement in America

Library of Congress Immigration Site

Scholastic Site on Women's Suffrage

Wikipedia -- What else happened in 1911?

Uprising: Three Young Women Caught in the Fire That Changed America
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Simon and Schuster, 2007

This book should be required reading for all women and girls -- to remind us or teach us how far we've come in the struggle for equal rights.

This book should be required reading for anyone whose ancestors were immigrants in America -- to remind us or teach us about the sacrifices that were made to make our cities and our country what it is today.

This book should be required reading for anyone whose association or union is currently involved in negotiations -- to remind us or to teach us the importance of the rights of the worker.

Haddix has written a story that is very accessible. Framed in the beginning and the end by young women who are questioning a survivor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the story is told from three points of view -- Yetta, a Jewish girl who is a Russian immigrant, Bella, an Italian immigrant, and Jane, a high society girl. These three stories become entwined in very believable ways, and the ending, while tragic, provides hope, both for the future in the story and for our modern day future.


Anastasia Suen at Picture Book of the Day is hosting the Nonfiction Monday round up.

Timing

I'm Late

I was going to feature Oh, Brother (Nikki Grimes) for Poetry Friday last week. Luckily, I did a blog search and remembered that the book made it to my "To Buy Soon" list because of what I read here.

I read Jellaby (Vol. 1, by Kean Soon) yesterday and loved it. Fuse #8 reviewed it yesterday and loved it even more.

There's a new nonfiction blog in town. I.N.K. made its debut a week ago.

John Edwards had been out of the race for two days before I got the news.

I'm not even going to admit to the size of the piles of need-to-be-graded papers...

I'm Early

Cybils winners will be announced this coming week. Go take the surveys at the Cybils site while you wait.

That's all I've got for early. I don't do early so much...

Poetry Friday -- Macbeth

Macbeth
Act 3, Scene 2
spoken by Lady Macbeth

Hand-lettered on chipboard when I was between 16-18 years old, this was within sight of my desk for lots of years. Maybe as much as a decade. I think it reminded me to love my work. I think it said to me, "If you're going to go down, go down in the flames of your own fire. Don't go over to the other side just to survive."

I found it the other day in the two-drawer file cabinet in my closet in a file labeled "Food For Thought."

Maybe it's time to hang it over my desk again.


The Poetry Friday Roundup is at AmoXcalli this week.

Support for teachers of autistic children

Even though I declared it "Required Reading," maybe you're not up for a 500+ page graphic novel about a Japanese family's experience when their first child is diagnosed with autism. Maybe you just need some helpful strategies for the child who is in your classroom. Things you can do tomorrow.

In my experience, the best resources are the people who know the child well. Our school is lucky. We have experienced paraprofessionals who work with our special needs kids, with our special education teachers, and with regular education teachers throughout the elementary school career of the children. They are invaluable.

I asked our special ed teachers what professional books they would recommend for teachers of autistic children. Rather than books, they recommended Autism.com. The site is searchable -- try "teachers" or "teacher resources" for starters.

For further anecdotal reading, I would recommend Rules by Cynthia Lord, and Temple Grandin's work. (I found Temple Grandin by reading Oliver Sacks' fascinating books.)

Are there any other great (practical) resources you would recommend?

Nonfiction Monday

Bird, Bird, Bird! (A Chirping Chant)

by April Pulley Sayre

illustrated by Gary Locke

Northword Press, 2007

I didn't think April Pulley Sayre could top Trout, Trout, Trout and Ant, Ant, Ant, her first two chant books. But she has!

63 names of American birds, arranged in a rhyming chant and illustrated with caricatures, invite the reader to experience the diversity of bird life in America.

This is not a serious birding book. This is a book for sparking interest based on the sometimes descriptive, sometimes wacky names of the birds. In the back of the book, each bird gets 1-2 sentences of factual information.

This is also a book for word lovers and poets. April must do some serious tinkering, fiddling, and reading out loud before she has a final rhyme. And then, how fun to see it come to life in a whole new way once the illustrations are added!

How's this for a poetry stretch -- could you take the names of a group of, say, 10-20 rodents, or mammals (or even poets, authors or bloggers) and make them into a rhyming chant? I'm heading over to Miss Rumphius right now to suggest it!

******
Our interview with April last year is here.
Charlotte's Library got an advanced copy of April's next book, Trees Are Made of Trout (I'm so jealous!), which she reviews here.
April's website is here.
The Nonfiction Monday roundup is here.

Process

I so needed this reminder that all of life is a process, including life in the public schools.

It's about the kids, not the tests.

Poetry Friday -- Keeping My Eye On The Big Picture

It's been a long week, what with parent conferences on Tuesday night. I'm feeling a bit like Sisyphus, and not always as sure as the poet that there is a benevolent Big Plan.** Still, I do celebrate, like Countee Cullen, our quirky human experience on this amazing planet.

Yet Do I Marvel
By Countee Cullen

I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind,
And did He stoop to quibble could tell why
The little buried mole continues blind,
Why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die,
Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus
Is baited by the fickle fruit, declare
If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus
To struggle up a never-ending stair.


(The rest of the poem is here. Round up is at Karen Edmisten.)


**Almost at the exact moment I hit the "publish post" button, the phone rang. Two hour delay because of the icy rain last night. That's as close to a lightning bolt as I want to get, so I now stand IN TOTAL AGREEMENT with Countee Cullen!!!!

Required Reading

WITH THE LIGHT (Vol. 1): RAISING AN AUTISTIC CHILD
By Keiko Tobe
Hachette Book Group, September 2007
(Vol. 2 to be published March 2008)
Review copy received at NCTE


This is an amazing book.

520+ pages of native manga (a graphic novel read right to left), originally published in Japan, this is the story of a young fictional Japanese couple whose first child is autistic.

Masato, the father, is a workaholic whose hope for his new son, Hikaru, is that he will “move up the corporate ladder like the shining sun.” Sachiko, the mother, tries hard to be the perfect wife and mother, but increasingly, she realizes that Hikaru is not like other babies.

Sachiko deals with in-laws and friends who assume she is not a good mother, doctors who misdiagnose Hikaru with deafness, anger at a child who will not respond to her, and frustration and despair when it seems her marriage will fall apart because of Hikaru.

As Sachiko learns about autism and about how to care for and find appropriate schooling for Hikaru, she also finds supportive professionals and true friends. She and Masato rescue their marriage and learn to work together to help Hikaru grow in his own way toward the goal that he will grow up to become a “cheerful, working adult.”

The book is full of information about autism, accurate portrayals of positive and negative reactions toward autistic children and their parents, and examples of the kinds of accommodations that often help autistic children to succeed in a mainstream classroom. Because it is in the format of a graphic novel, the story feels very immediate and real. You identify with Sachiko and understand the range of emotions she goes through as she grows as a parent through her stuggles to love and care for Hikaru.

30-Day Challenge Update

So, I made it to WEEK 4 of Boot Camp! I can hardly believe that I have made it through 15 days.The name (Adventure Boot Camp for Women) certainly fits. It has certainly been an adventure. Today (a Sunday remember), I automatically woke up at 4:30 AM. Lucky for me, I have no trouble falling back to sleep but my body must be kind of getting used to getting up early. This week will be full last-week things at boot camp. Picture day, Weighing and Measuring too. My before and after picture would look exactly the same but I am thinking it will take months of working out to see big results. I don't know how much success I had with weight and inch loss but I do know I feel better and I actually started a habit that I like enough to stick with for a while. I guess I am okay with it taking longer than I thought since I like it enough to keep it up. I certainly had a few bad days--days I didn't want to wake up, days I thought I would die before the workout was over. But my goal was to get through it. And I knew it wouldn't be easy. For me, things have to be social and I have to like the people I am with. And this is social and fun and I like the people. I have always been willing to work hard if the environment is right. And I must say, we laugh a lot every morning. (How could you not laugh when you are told that you will be having wheelbarrow races next....)

So, I signed up for Round 2 of Boot Camp. (We will have a week in between camps.) To celebrate the fun, I bought a new pair of running shoes. I like them. They will wake me up in the morning. And the shoes now match my exercise mat--nothing like a little 80s aerobics feel. I wore the new shoes on Friday--they are quite lite and comfy. I bought them at a running store right down the street. I am always afraid to go into those stores because I think that only thin running people go there. But, I found out that a lot of people buy running shoes for their jobs so lots of nurses, etc. buy their shoes there. Not just runners. They had some pretty cool exercise clothes. I may have to revisit the store when camp moves outdoors in the spring. I will need some of those serious runner clothes that keep you warm when it is cold outside.

So, this week, we do the mile run, etc. I imagine I will still be almost last and I am okay with that. My goal was to get through it, to make it a habit--one that I could stick with for a long time. (And with losing only 1/2 pound a week, I am going to need to stick with this for a long time.)

So, this week was Week 3 of Success on my 30-Day Challenge. So glad HipWriterMama knows that we need 30 days to make things habit. It was easy for me to decide to commit January to this project. Now, I have done it long enough to make it part of next month too!

Support for Teachers

Lois Lowry appreciates all the work teachers do.

Thanks.

Orbis Pictus Awards Announced

The Orbis Pictus Awards were announced by NCTE on Friday. Such a great list of nonfiction!

Themes, Morals, Lessons

The moral of this story is, "Let them talk during read aloud."

In reading workshop, we've been working on finding the themes/morals/lessons that an author may or may not intend for us to extract or infer from his/her story.

In read aloud the other day, we had a bunch of fun finding silly themes/morals/lessons in 3 picture books.

How could we not read parts of Squids Will Be Squids by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith? Besides remembering or learning what a fable is, we also had a great discussion about why Scieszka can get away with writing a run-on sentence a whole paragraph long (in the Serious Historical Foreword), and fourth graders can't. Or should I say...and fourth graders are required to chop it into sentences, because some of my students CAN (and do) write whole paragraphs and pages without punctuation!

I read "Grasshopper Logic," and the conversation turned to the other things that are not good to say to a "hopping mad Grasshopper Mom."

Next, I read "He who..." because I knew they would be able to fill in the moral on their own. They could. ("He who smelt it...")

The last one I read, my own personal favorite of the entire collection, was "Straw and Matches." They started getting the double entendres and puns from the very beginning: "It was the end of summer vacation. Straw had done everything he could think of. He was bored. So he went over to play with someone he had been warned to stay away from." They groaned with laughter when they heard the moral and knew it was both about choosing one's friends and about playing with fire.

I didn't read any more from "Squids Will Be Squids," because my goal was for them to want to read more on their own. (It worked.)

Next came Jane Wattenberg's version of Henny-Penny. (How did it happen that this book got so old so fast! It's from seems-like-yesterday, but in-reality 2000!)

I read the whole book, because how often you get to shout, "CHICKABUNGA!" during a regular school day?

I swear, this class found more in Wattenberg's illustrations than any class ever! Not only that, but they could identify nearly every world landmark the flock of fowl visits in the course of the story. (Only the Coliseum and Stone Henge stumped them.) And one student knew what a cave would be like it it was "dank." WOW!

A few morals of this story? "Don't leave home until you lay your egg." "Stranger Danger -- Don't follow someone you don't know into a dark, dank cave." "Check to see what hit you in the head before you run off to tell the king the sky is falling." And here's mine: "Sometimes it's best to be the last one in the cave, because you might be the only one who makes it out!"
We ended with The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman. They knew the moral before I ever started reading, so this one, too, was more about the puns and word play. (Lamburgers, Sloppy Does, Chocolate Moose, Boy Chops, Three-Pig Salad, Baked Boy-tato, Boys-n-Berry Pie...it goes on and on.)

After read aloud was over, one of my students asked if I had The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Sadly, I only have the variant. I will have to correct that soon. A day later, the same student came back from the book fair with The Dog Who Cried Wolf.

I love it when I get them started and they keep going on their own!

Poetry Friday--Note to self

Remember to think twice when you are frustrated. Perhaps you should think of him as a poet rather than a problem.

The Poet
by Tom Wayman

Loses his position on worksheet or page in textbook
May speak much but makes little sense
Cannot give clear verbal instructions
Does not understand what he reads
Does not understand what he hears
Cannot handle “yes-no” questions


(The rest is here. Round up is at Mentor Texts.)

Humor, Memory, Imagination

Great read aloud today! I love it when the sense of humor part of 4th graders' brains starts to develop in earnest. Or in hilarity, as it were.

That's all I'm going to write for today because I left the books I read aloud today at school, and without them in front of me, all the specifics are gone. Poof.

So instead, let's ponder this article about what happens to an adult's brain when the memory starts to go.

Sigh.

Stay tuned for more about today's great read aloud.

Mr. Pine's Mixed-Up Signs

I visited Joseph-Beth Bookstore in Cincinnati over the weekend. I was thrilled to see a republished edition of one of my favorite books from childhood-Mr. Pine's Mixed-Up Signs! My husband was in the store with me and I recited the first page before opening the book! (Scary how you can still do that 40 years later...). So, of course I bought the book. I read it to my eight year old who loved it too. How could you not love Mr. Pine?

I did a little research on the publisher--Purple House Press. It seems their mission is to bring back those great children's books that have gone out of print. They have republished all of the Mr. Pine books! (I believe the company is names after their first project--Mr. Pine's Purple House.) And the site has a bit of info about the author, Leonard Kessler.

So, I found a great book from childhood and a great company with a mission that I love! I am looking forward to adding all of the Mr. Pine books to my collection once again!

Trucktown Debut!

It was a big week for us in Columbus. Jon Scieszka and Loren Long stopped by Columbus on their book tour for their new, amazing series for young readers--TRUCKTOWN!


They visited our school on Thursday, thanks to Cover to Cover Bookstore and Simon and Schuster. To get ready for the visit, I read the new book SMASH! CRASH! to lots of K-2 classrooms. I got the same feeling when I read this book as I did when I read Mo Willem's DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS to young children when it first came out. SMASH! CRASH! begs for child participation--yelling Smash! Crash! is part of the fun. But there is more to this first book than that.--great fun characters that are predictable in their actions, some great humor, fun fonts , and amazing illustrations. How three illustrators can come together to create one illustration is fascinating to me. And the result is amazing. If you know the work of Loren Long, David Shannon, and David Gordon, you can see in each illustration, what each person brings to the art. The colors, the characters, even the lettering is quite engaging.

The visit was great fun! Loren Long spoke to our K-2 students at Chapman. He drew a truck--showing them how he did that, read the book (asking them to join in when it was time to yell CRASH!), and spent time answering questions. Loren came dressed in his Trucktown Mechanic Suit which added to the fun.

Both Jon and Loren spoke at Cover to Cover and it was standing room only. The audience's reaction to the book was extremely positive as the kids joined in and laughed throughout the book. If either of them come anywhere near your city, go see them!

Jon, our new National Ambassador for Children's Literature, talked a bit about what we can expect from Trucktown in the next few years. I think he said that there will be 50 TRUCKTOWN books over the next few years. More picture books likes SMASH! CRASH!, some easy chapter books that young children can read on their own, board books, and more.

I am a huge fan of kids reading books where they know and love the characters. These Trucktown characters are certainly characters that we will all find ourselves falling in love with--my current favorite is IZZY the Ice Cream Truck. (After seeing Loren Long act out Izzy'a part, Izzy may be my lifetime favorite character!)

You can tell that Jon Scieszka did a great deal of research before embarking on such a project. These book are very inviting for the kids he wrote them for. In a Columbus Dispatch article announcing his visit to Columbus, Jon spoke a bit about his platform: The article said that his message is that: Adults should back off from making kids read the "right" books, expand the definition of reading to include all mediums and technologies, stop demonizing television and, above all, read themselves.

Perfect timing for a series like this and a perfect team to create the series. I can't wait to see the rest of the series!

Another Teacher to Add to the Cool Teachers List

Mrs. Baker from The Wednesday Wars definitely deserves a place on our list of 100+ Cool Teachers in Children's Literature. What a great teacher--someone who helps students find out who it is that they are. I LOVED her! She may be one of my favorite teachers of all time.

And I LOVED the book--definitely deserving of the Newbery Honor that it received last week.

With all of the new books that have come out recently, let us know if you know of any more recent teacher characters that belong on our list!

Congratulations, Mary Lee!

Woooohooooo! We just found out that Mary Lee Hahn has just been selected to serve on the Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts Committee sponsored by the Children's Literature Assembly of NCTE. This list is always one I look forward to each year.

I can't think of a better person to serve on this committee! They are lucky to have her join them.

January Carnival of Children's Literature -- Book Awards Edition

It's up at Wizards Wireless!

30-Day Challenge: Boot Camp and Struggling Readers

In late December, I decided I would join a one-month Women's Boot Camp to start exercising again. The bootcamp starts at 5:30 am each day so I figured that not much would interfere with that time! I was inspired by HipWriterMama's Fall 30 Day Challenge. Then, lucky for me, HipWriterMama announced her 2008 New Year's 30-Day Challenge so I immediately joined. My theory is that the more public I make this venture, the better chance I have of sticking with it.

HipWriterMama wants an update check-in each Monday. Friday marked the halfway mark of the first month of bootcamp. Getting up at 4:45 has been an interesting thing. But Bootcamp is a pretty fun time--even though I am totally and completely out of shape. I plan to sign up and pay for the February session this week.

Funny thing is that I have learned lots about teaching. As adults, we don't often put ourselves in positions where we struggle. Most of us have found work that we love and that we are pretty good at. Same thing with hobbies. So, participating in the class as a "struggling exerciser" has been a challenge. But I have learned a lot about what my struggling kids in school must go through each day.
I wrote an article about my first week at bootcamp that was posted on Choice Literacy's website on Saturday. It compares my experience with bootcamp to that of my struggling readers in reading workshop.

I haven't lost as much weight as I was hoping but since I am trying to make this a new habit, I am okay with that, I guess. I feel better, have a bit more energy and am hopefully healthier.

Graphic

This is our blog.
Want to see what yours looks like? Give it a go. Have patience. Watch the design emerge.
Thanks, Megan. Thanks, Tricia.

Poetry Friday -- Work

For my grade level, after a release day of intense work:

To Be of Use
by Marge Piercy

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

(the rest of the poem is here...roundup is at Farm School.)

"To the Ends of the Earth" Awards

I've been thinking a lot about the school librarian who wore a plastic tiara to school on Monday. She won a huge award for writing some short vignettes for her 5th graders to read aloud. She wanted to help to bring medieval England alive for them. She went To the Ends of the Earth for her kids, and she won a big award for it.

I'd like the para pros at my school to win a To the Ends of the Earth Award. They work with the trickiest kids (behavioral and learning challenges) every day and they are always cheerful, always patient, and always trying to find one more little thing that we can do to nudge these kids along.

A plastic tiara to the school nurse, who works tirelessly on behalf of the needy families in her district, tracking down beds, and washers and dryers, and warm clothes.

An interview on the Today Show for the ELL teacher who advocated to keep a second language learner out of special education. She knows that in the next five years, his English will develop at a faster and faster rate, if we just give him time. She also knows that if he ever goes back to his native country (a real possibility) with a special education label, it is likely that he would get NO education. (Now, if only we could only convince the NCLB'ers that he should be able to take a test that shows what he CAN do, not a test in a language he hasn't yet mastered.)

A special To the Ends of the Earth Award for the primary teacher who kept a school chess club alive even though she herself does not play chess, and another to all the teachers and librarians who support students in after school activities (or lunchtime poetry clubs) that develop them as thinkers and learners.

Please join me in handing out To the Ends of the Earth awards. Who are the people in your schools, who work with your children or with the children of others, who deserve a plastic tiara for the day?

Hmmm....

So, how did I do over here in "attempting to have read the Newbery" land?

Newbery:
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz
Haven't read it, but it was one of the four last-ditch-effort books I TRIED to get at Cover to Cover on Saturday. They were sold out. I have one on hold.

Newbery Honors:
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis Also on my last-ditch-effort list.
The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt
Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson Again, on my last-ditch-effort list.

Caledcott:
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick YAY! Not only have I read it, but my students have all read along in a shared read aloud.

The Caldecott Honors are a moot point for me. I don't follow picture books so much.

The Cybils had some canny nominating committees:

The Newbery winner Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! is a Poetry finalist
Newbery Honor title Wednesday Wars is a YA finalist
Sibert Winner/Caldecott Honor title The Wall is a MG/YA Nonfiction finalist
Caldecott Honor Knuffle Bunny is a Fiction Picture Book finalist
Odyssey Honor audiobook Skulduggery Pleasant is a Fantasy/Science Fiction finalist
Printz Honor title Your Own Sylvia is a Poetry finalist
Printz Honor title Repossessed is a Fantasy/Science Fiction finalist
Sibert Honor book Lightship is a Nonfiction Picture Book finalist
Geisel Honor book Vulture View is a Nonfiction Picture Book finalist
(thank you Jen and Tricia for cross-referencing all of these)

**Edited to add: The above info was also at the Cybils site. Shame on me for not looking there first!**

If you want to know the truth, the best part of the day was getting the results by text message as I sat at my desk working before school. Whoever it was at ALA who thought that one up deserves a prize all her/his own!

Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop

Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop: Making Informed Instructional Decisions in Grades 3-6

by Franki Sibberson and Karen Szymusiak
Forward by Nancie Atwell
Scholastic, 2008

Review copy compliments of the authors.

This is the right book at the right time for teachers of middle grade readers. The authors have set out to do nothing less than start a revolution in this crazy world of politics-driven standards, accountability, and testing, testing, testing.

Instead of looking at what our students can do and scaffolding them as they move forward, standards, tests, and measures are forcing us to use a deficit model of assessment -- and we wind up focusing on what kids can't do.

We've written this text to turn the tide. (p. 7-8)

Sibberson and Szymusiak begin by reminding us of the particular instructional needs of readers in grades 3-6, as they did in their 2003 Stenhouse book, Still Learning to Read. The shift from reading predictable primary texts to reading complex intermediate texts requires readers to acquire more sophisticated reading strategies.

We cannot prepare students in grades 3-6 for every challenge they will encounter in the books they read. Our goal shifts from preparing them for a text to preparing them for any text. (p.11)

As the authors lead us through in-depth discussions of the various routines and structures of the middle-grade reading workshop, the emphasis is continually on the kind of data and information we can gather about our students at that particular time. They never depart from their message that our stance when assessing readers should be what students can do, whether we are listening to conversations, observing, having an individual conference, looking over the students' reading interviews or logs, taking a status of the class before independent reading time, or any of the countless other times that we assess our students as a natural part of living in the same classroom with them throughout the day. And they never stray from the stance that the purpose of any and all of this assessment should be to inform our instruction of individual children, small groups of children with the same needs in a particular area, or our whole class.

This is a very user-friendly book. There are lots of samples of student work (not all pretty, and at a variety of levels -- just like you would find in your classroom), an abundance of text boxes with bulleted points for easy reference, and short lists of books throughout that support the facet of reading workshop being discussed in the text.

With the myriad of opportunities for day-to-day assessment in the reading workshop comes the challenge of record-keeping -- finding or creating the right forms, and remembering that

For our record-keeping system to inform our instruction, it should be ever changing...I have to remind myself often that there is a difference between record keeping and assessment. Just because I haven't written it down doesn't mean I haven't assessed a child. (p.51)

A generous 18-page appendix gives reproducible examples of the forms Franki has developed over time for her classroom. (But don't forget that notes-to-self jotted on stickie notes are sometimes the only form you need!)

New middle grade teachers, this is a book that will help you to implement your reading workshop. Not only will you understand each of the components of the workshop format, you will know why they are important to student learning, and how you can use assessment within each component to plan for your instruction in a meaningful way. Experienced middle grade teachers, this book is a breath of fresh air -- a reminder of the value in all we do, and chock full of new ideas for tweaking and polishing our workshops to make them more effective than ever before.

Newbery Round Up And Other Award Stuff

Well, this is the last weekend of wondering which books will win the big awards on Monday! We are anxiously awaiting all of the award announcements, especially the Newbery Award. We've done several things to think about this year's winner. We had several children's book friends share their Newbery Hopefuls lists with us. We heard from Don, Larry, Bill, Karen, Karen, Sally, Beth, Karen, and Jen. And, we shared our own lists of favorites of 2007. Lots of people in the Kidliotsphere are talking about awards. It's a great weekend to read books you missed, reflect on the 2007 books you've read and think about which books may win this year. As you wait, you can read lots of others' predictions and thoughts on this year's awards.

Felicity at Look Books has her Newbery picks posted as well as some thoughts on kids' thoughts on the award winners.

Monica at Educating Alice has list of all of her Newbery Thoughts posts gathered from throughout the year. Since she is on the committee, she has been very careful about her posts about books (so no top ten list from her!) but the thinking about being part of the Newbery is fun to read.

Allen County has posted its winners here.

BCCLS Mock Winners are here.

The Nassau Library results are here.

Sharon's Newbery

Betsy at Fuse #8 posts her Newbery and Caldecott 2008 "Predict-o-rama".

Chicken Spaghetti's shares some info on lots of awards.

Read Roger shares info about this year's Scott O'Dell Award Winner.

There is a great post about the Sydney Taylor award at Blog From the Windowsill.

Mother Reader is not making any Newbery Predictions but does share thoughts on the Newbery and other awards in her post.

Miss Rumphius Effect shares the 2008 Charlotte Zolotow Award winners.

Poetry Friday -- Found Poem

A poem is a group of words, arranged just so, that moves our hearts, right? Here is a poem, then, that I found in an email this week:

Sophie,
sitting at the table with us,
said "Mary Lee gave me Today I Will Fly."
(Phil looked at me with shock.)
Yes, I replied, she certainly did.

We went on to list
the other books
you have sent to her
and decided
you were really good to send
such great books to read.

So lest you think you are an unknown quantity
(horrors!)
or just mommy's friend,
I can assure you otherwise.



Round up this week is at The Book Mine Set.

Better Late Than Never?

You know by now that the Cybils Nominees have all been posted. My work on the Graphic Novels nominating committee is done. Franki is busy judging Poetry.

The Class of 2K8 is 28 authors strong. Check out their website and get psyched for the new publishing year!

The conversation about reading is hopping over at PBS Parents, where Jen Robinson is wearing the Expert Q&A hat. She has compiled an incredible resource of suggestions about helping struggling and/or reluctant readers.

Christopher Paul Curtis' Elijah of Buxton has won the 2008 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.

The Bedtime Sh'ma: A Good Night Book by Sarah Gershman and Kristina Swarner, The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman, and Strange Relations by Sonia Levitin have won the 2008 Sydney Taylor Book Awards.

Susan, at Chicken Spaghetti, has more news on recent book awards.

On Monday, I went to the bookstore with Sara Lewis Holmes, and when I checked back at her blog today, she was creating the bookstore of the future (boys' version). Go give her input.

Enough. Dinner is ready and my couch awaits me.

Movie Thursday

Let's curl up on my new couch and watch some movies, okay?

I rented a couch once, when I lived in Dallas.

There have been no other couches in my life since then.

All the thousands of great books I've read in the past half-a-lifetime, and none of them read curled up on the end of a couch.

Well, that's all changing now. The first thing I did yesterday after it was delivered was grab the next book on my to-read list, The Garden of Eve, Beth's recommendation, cover up with a throw, make room for the cat, and read!

Now, the videos. First, coming from The Reading Zone, a thoughtful piece from a Kansas State University Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class about student learning in the 21st Century. The focus is college students, but there is lots of truth here about ALL of our students...and the disconnect between the ways we teach, the materials we use, and their lives outside of school.



Next, from Megan Germano, arguably the world's greatest Barbara O'Connor fan, and also from Barbara's blog, the book trailer for Barbara's spring release, Greetings from Nowhere.

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George was my first read of 2008 and it was a great one! I read it after Librarian, Bill Prosser recommended it on his Newbery Hopefuls post in December. I love a good fairy tale and this was no let-down. I can't wait to share it with some of my students who love fairy tales and dragon books. So many others have reviewed it that I'll link you to those rather than repeat all of the wonderful things they've said. I would HIGHLY recommend it. It was a good fantasy. I have trouble finding fantasies that are good for 9,10,11 year olds. Sometimes they are too sophisticated or complex for kids new to the genre. This one is a perfect fit. Lots to think about but one kids would enjoy! And it seems that a sequel is due out this spring! Here are a few reviews:

Miss Erin's Review

Pixie Stix Kids Pix Review

Bookish 37 Review

You can also go to Shannon Hale's blog for an interview with Jessica Day George!

So, I may need to add this to my Top 10 Newbery Picks and make a Top 11 list!

Jon Scieszka and Loren Long at Cover to Cover!

For anyone who lives local, Cover to Cover:

On January 17th, Jon Scieszka (recently named the First Ambassador for Young People's Literature!) and Loren Long will visit Cover to Cover to launch their new Trucktown series with the book SMASH! CRASH! They will speak at 4:30 and autograph until 6:00 that night.

Thank You, Tina Nichols Coury...

...for interviewing us at your wonderful blog, Tales from the Rushmore Kid!

We're in pretty amazing company at Tina's blog. She has interviewed Cynthia Lord, Ralph Nader, and Gennifer Choldenko recently, too!

HipWriterMama's 30 Day Challenge--I'm In!

So, I joined HipWriterMama's 30 Day Challenge. I figured since I already made my Boot Camp registration public, I would make an even stronger commitment by reporting to HipWriterMama. My goal--to go to all 20 sessions (4 weeks, 5 days a week) of Boot Camp.
I'll keep you posted!

I have to send a comment to HipWriterMama every Monday during the challenge so I figured I'd post it here too.


And I am trying to eat healthy. A friend told me about the EAT CLEAN diet by Tosca Reno so I picked up a copy of the cookbook. It is quite good. Today, we had the vegetable lasagna. Quite healthy, lots of protein and veggies. Very filling. I like the cookbook because there is a color photo of every recipe in the book so I know what I am working on. I need those photos. The woman who wrote it lost weight and got in shape AFTER she was 40. So that is one of the reasons I picked it up.








I also boiled a dozen eggs so that I can grab some protein when needed:-)

So I made it through the first day of Boot Camp. It was pretty good. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't pleasant but I think once I get into a routine, it could be fun. And it seems like a really good workout---he was able to meet everyone's levels which was pretty impressive.
So, one day down.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I just finished THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN. What an amazing book! Wow! So worthy of the National Book Award that it just won. I would highly recommend it to anyone who reads books.

But, I guess I am surprised to see it on so many Newbery Lists. It seems so young adult to me. I don't remember a book that is this YA ever winning the award. The Prinz Award seems like a better match. It is definitely written for high-school kids. And most Newbery winners are for a much younger audience. I assume that every elementary school in America has copies of most Newbery winners and this one doesn't seem like a good fit for older elementary kids. Don't get me wrong, I think it is worthy of any award it can get, I just think it is meant for much older readers than the Newbery Award has gone to in the past.

But, even if you only read children's/YA books that are appropriate for the students in your class, I would make an exception and read this one for yourself. It is amazing. One of those books you'll remember for a long time. One of the best I've ever read.

New Book by Annie Barrows

I was THRILLED to see a new book by Annie Barrows, author of the popular Ivy and Bean series, at one of my recent visits to Cover to Cover. I grabbed it without even previewing it. It was Annie Barrows so I had confidence that I would love it. And I did.

THE MAGIC HALF is a fantasy book--a great beginning Time Travel book. Miri and Molly are the two main characters. Miri is the middle child--between two sets of twins. A magical piece of glass transports Miri to Molly's world--nearly 70 years ago. The two become instant friends and the adventure begins.

I liked a lot about this books and I am pretty sure that my 3rd and 4th graders will love it too. It follows that same idea of two great friends just like Ivy and Bean. And it is a great first time-travel book for readers new to this genre. Simple enough to understand, yet with enough time travel questions--can you change history--to pull new readers into the genre of time travel books.

I am very excited to see that Annie Barrows will continue to write Ivy and Bean and ALSO write some other things. As a teacher, having favorite authors write a variety of books helps me to encourage kids to stretch their reading tastes a bit. I think this new book by Annie Barrows will encourage lots of kids who are already fans to read this genre that might be new for them.

Best Books of 2007 and A Newbery Roundup

Last year, we posted our Top 5 lists and did a Newbery Roundup--everyone's predictions for the Newbery. This year, the Newbery Award will be announced earlier than usual--on Monday, January 14. And our very own, Monica, has been busy serving on the committee!

There are many Mock Newbery Awards going on around the country. Many groups are getting ready to vote on their winners. In the meantime, you can see their final lists. Allen County, Anderson's Bookshop, Rhode Island Libraries, BCCLS, and Sharon's Newbery are some of the groups we follow.

Lots of people have been posting their own "Best of 2007" lists over the last few weeks including Miss Erin, Kids Reads, and Fuse #8 (who has some very fun categories!).


Franki's Top Books of 2007
I've read some GREAT children's books this year. I think that it was a great year for books and I couldn't seem to get my list down to my top five so I went with 10 that seem Newberyish to me! (There were lots more I loved too and it was so hard to decide!)

Castle Corona by Sharon Creech
Aurora County All Stars by Deborah Wiles
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis
Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell
Moxy Maxwell by Peggy Gifford
Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst
Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate
Violet Bing and the Grand House by Jennifer Paros

By the way, I am currently about 1/2 way through Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George and AM LOVING IT so it could change my list a bit before Newbery day.

Mary Lee's Lists
Like Franki, I'm not done reading 2007 books, so my thinking may change in the next two weeks. For now, here are my short lists of 5 favorite books in each of these categories:

Kids books (younger)
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
Moxy Maxwell by Peggy Gifford
How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor
Just Grace by Charise Mericle Harper
Simply Sarah: Patches and Scratches by P.R. Naylor

Kids' books (older)
Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst
Edward's Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Letters from Rapunzel by Sara Lewis Holmes
Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis

Graphic Novels
(Stay tuned for the Cybils Graphic Novels short lists -- I'm on the nominating committee so it wouldn't be proper for me to list personal favorites here!)

Neither Fish nor Fowl
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik
Faradawn (Fogmound II) by Susan Schade and Jon Buller
Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel by Ruth McNally Barshaw
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules by Jeff Kinney

Adult books (read in 2007)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Why I'm Like This by Cynthia Kaplan
Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue

Audiobooks (listened to in 2007)
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
Magyk by Angie Sage
Mayflower by Nathanial Philbrick
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini

Since we started our blog as a way to chat about our reading leading up to the Newbery Award, we thought we'd round up your Newbery picks. A few weeks ago, we had several kids' lit friends predict the Newbery on our blog. So many possibilities! So, if you post your picks on your blog, put the link in the comments and we'll add them to our list. We'll post the round up next Friday or Saturday so send us your posts before then.