MEM FOX and JAN THOMAS: WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

I LOVE Mem Fox. And I LOVE Jan Thomas.  Two of my very favorite authors for young children. and it is the best thing ever that Mem Fox and Jan Thomas created LET'S COUNT GOATS! together!  Really, it is like a match made in heaven!  Whoever thought of this idea is truly brilliant.

If you love WHERE IS THE GREEN SHEEP (and, really, who doesn't) and if you love WHAT WILL FAT CAT SIT ON (again, who doesn't?), you will double-love LET'S COUNT GOATS! I promise.

The pattern is similar to the one in WHERE IS THE GREEN SHEEP. The book begins, "Here we see a mountain goat frisking in the sun."  and is followed by a rhyme on the next page.  Each page gives us new goats.  There are goats terrified by thunder and goats huddled in the snow.

I like so much about this book. First of all, the rhyme and rhythm is quite fun. You want to read it again and again. Kids will love to count these goats which is fun. The illustrations are brilliant, as is always the case with Thomas.  Just as Mo Willems draws characters that his readers can draw, so does Jan Thomas. The simple line and colorful pages make for a perfect match to Mem Fox's words.

I am not a big fan of goats. But these goats, I love. From the cover illustration, I loved them.  Kids will want to be part of their fun too. They are fun goats.

A must have book for everyone.  I am sure once I put this in the library, I will never see it again. (And I am pretty sure Bill will want to add this to his "Picks for the PIT". I am sure of it.

Poetry Friday: My Fly Fishing Me

A Blessing

by Ken Hada


After three days of hard fishing
we lean against the truck
untying boots, removing waders.

We change in silence still feeling
the rhythm of cold water lapping
thankful for that last shoal of rainbows
to sooth the disappointment
of missing a trophy brown.

We'll take with us the communion
of rod and line and bead-head nymphs
sore shoulders and wrinkled feet.

(the rest of the poem is at A Writer's Almanac)

I'm not the kind of fly fisher who fishes hard for three days, and I don't fish in the winter, but there's still something in this poem that captures what I love about being on the river (or even a pond) and trying to trick the fish into believing that my lure is the kind of insect they want to eat.

I wrote in my KidLitCon recap about the strangeness of my non-overlapping selves. This fly fishing self is completely separate from my teaching self and my blogging self. (Those two do overlap somewhat.) The day I wrote my recap, Garrison Keillor had this poem on A Writer's Almanac. There was no meandering search for a poem for today; this one came to me.

I can't wait to check out the roundup -- hopefully, some of our new friends from KidLitCon will join us this week! We're gathering today at The Writer's Armchair, with Toby (well, actually her cat Kashi) rounding us up. 

100 Things About Me As A Reader

Photo from Flickr by brianjmatis http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianjmatis/3431100962/

About two weeks ago, Franki posted the beginning of her list of 100 Things about her as a reader. That post has inspired individuals to make their own lists, and it has inspired teachers to have their students start a list. The results are always surprising and revealing. Here's my list so far:

1.   I read a lot.
2.   There's always someone who reads more than I do, and I aspire to be more like them.
3.   I don't read electronic books (yet).
4.   I love audio books.
5.   I once had to drive to Burlington and back in one day (+/- 6 hours) and David Sedaris read to me all the way there and back.
6.   My current audio book is CUTTING FOR STONE.
7.   I grew up in a house full of books.
8.   We had an enormous collection of comic books, too.
9.   Everyone in my home was a reader.
10. I went to the library every week when I was a kid.
11. I now have an educator library card that allows me to check out 50 books at a time. I often do.
12. My mom tried to get me to be a mystery reader like she is.
13. I used to think that I don't like to read any mysteries.
14. I'm finding out that there is a kind of mystery that I do enjoy.
15. I found these mysteries through my adult book club.
16. I've belonged to my book club for more than 20 years.
17. My book club stretches me as a reader.
18. Being on/chairing the NCTE Notables has stretched me as a reader.
19. The Notables has taken over my reading life the past few years.
20. I'm looking forward to reading what I want again.
21. When I was in middle school, I would often spend Sunday afternoons lying on my bed re-reading sad books and letting the tears slide down my cheeks into my ears.
22. I chose to be an English major largely because it seemed like heaven to be able to do all that reading.
23. In spite of my English major, I have read woefully few classics.
24. Teaching kids to read deeply is one of the best gifts I can think of to give to the future of humanity.

KidLitCon -- Real or Imagined?

It's not like the people in my everyday world don't know I'm a blogger. It's just that the ones who don't blog (ie: most of them) don't understand what it's like to belong to an online community. Oh, they have their FaceBook, but that's where they keep track of people they mostly know or have known in person. The whole idea of being friends online with people you've never met in real life still seems a little creepy to most of them -- their Stranger Danger shields go up.

So, lots of the people in my real live everyday world have no idea I went to KidLitCon. They weren't aware that when I first emailed a big group of Poetry Friday regulars, back in June, to see if they would be interested in presenting about Poetry Friday at KidLitCon, a DOZEN bloggers said yes. (The final panel wound up being myself, along with Laura Purdie Salas, Mary Ann Scheuer, Toby Speed, and Amy Van Derwater.)

They weren't aware that for the two weeks prior to KidLitCon, I was tucking collaborative work on a GoogleDocs presentation between grading papers, designing lessons and digging through data.

And how do I explain the giddy joy of meeting a good friend in person for the first time? How do I explain what it's like in that instant when a good friend goes from being two-dimensional, to three-dimensional? (...and then four-dimensional -- the fourth dimension being the POETRY dimension!!) How do I explain the joy and ease of meeting someone who looks like a stranger, but who comes front-loaded with glimpses of personality through blog posts and comments, and hours of conversation and collaborative work around a common project?

On the other side of the coin, my new/old friends at KidLitCon (some of whom I've "known" since we started blogging in 2006 -- Jen Robinson, Pam Coughlan, Melissa Wiley, Kelly Herold, Liz Burns, Sarah Stevenson) don't know what an island of calm the weekend provided from the raging river that is my teaching life right now.

Said raging river is what has delayed this recap/reflection, and made it linkless and photoless. It's all I can manage right now.

But...

This is just to say

I have traveled
to Minneapolis
and met blogger friends
new and old

and who
you were probably
unaware even
existed.

Forgive me
for keeping these
sweet friendships to
myself.




Okay, two links: Our Poetry Friday presentation is here: http://tinyurl.com/27qzgf5, and a recap of recaps is here.

SLJ Leadership Summit 2010

Beth and Bill on the train on our way to
SLJ Summit

On Friday and Saturday, I attended SLJ's Leadership Summit in Chicago with colleagues Bill and Beth. The theme of the conference was "The Future of Reading" and I came back with lots of new thinking.

The conference was packed with speakers who each had a different area of expertise when it comes to the future of reading.  I wasn't able to stay until the very end (I had to get to KSRA which was another fun day!) but I did hear several thought-provoking speakers while I was there.  Some of the highlights from the conference:

-I enjoyed Stephen Abrams opening talk setting up the conference.  I read his blog and follow him on Twitter and have learned so much from him. It was nice to hear him as the opening speaker. He shared the slides from his keynote on his blog which I am anxious to revisit soon.

-Donald Leu discussed some research surrounding new literacies. I would like to go back to his work and dig a bit deeper as there was quite a bit to digest. One of my favorite quotes from Leu was, "The Internet is this generation's defining technology for reading."  A summary of his talk can be found on SLJ's website. His slides can be found on Slideshare.

-Francey Harris brought a group of 4 high school students who were part of a panel discussing teens as readers and what they want/need from libraries. They were amazing students and their thoughtfulness and honestly will help us all think through our own work.

-Joyce Valenza shared her own questions about ereaders and ebooks and what they mean for libraries today.  She is so skilled at sharing so much great thinking in such a short time. I was able to hear her for the first time this summer at November Learning and was thrilled to be able to hear her speak again this week.

-Peter Gutierrez, a member of NCTE's Commission on Media, spoke on the role of pop culture and fan behaviors.  This is the first time I was able to hear him but I am hoping to attend his sessions next month at NCTE in Orlando.

-Chuck Follet shared ways in which several libraries are changing and growing.

-Catherine Snow shared great insights on why our students are not ready to deal with the sophistication of the text presented to them.

-The information that was shared by the Carnegie Corporation was incredible and I need to go back to their thinking sometime soon also.

Although Bill was not invited to the Red Carpet
at the Trailee Awards, he did enjoy his chocolate milk
and warm cookie!

One of the highlights of the conference was the evening event announcing SLJ's Trailee Awards.  If you have not had a chance to look at the 24 nominees in various categories, they are worth your time.  24 amazing book trailers created by students, adults and publishers.  I was very impressed with the student-created book trailers. Honestly, there was very little difference in the student-created book trailers and the publisher created book trailers. Just a reminder at how technology is allowing our students to create amazing projects.

It was great to meet Joanne and Jennifer
face-to-face at the Summit!

Talking to colleagues and networking was also a nice part of the conference. Having time to think through some things with local colleagues was nice.  We never get that kind of time at home and we need to figure out how to find more time to meet and talk.  I met and chatted with Mary Burkey of Audiobooker blog.  I learned so much about audiobooks in the short time I talked to her. I have never been much of an audiobook reader but am ready to give them another try now that I have her blog as a resource.  I was also able to meet two of the professors from my University of Alberta Teacher-Librarianship program-Dr. Jennifer Branch and Dr. Joanne de Groot. We had time to chat after the conference and it was so nice to visit face-to-face after having spent so much time in online classes, etc.  I also met a student who has been  in both of my classes and who I am anxious to learn from in terms of books for older readers.

I feel like I was introduced to many people's work at this event. I am hoping to take time in the next few weeks to look for more work by several of the speakers and to really dig into the ideas they shared.  It was definitely a worthwhile event for me and I am anxious to sort through my new learning.

I love how the conference was archived in so many places.  Revisiting the hashtag on Twitter (#sljsummit10) will help remind me of some of the learning I am forgetting. SLJ is doing a wonderful job of compiling things on their site and the SLJ Summit 2010 Flickr group is a fun way to revisit the conference. I think this is one of those conferences I'll be revisiting often over the next few months.

Thank you to SLJ for an amazing oppotrunity!

A MILLION SHADES OF GRAY by Cynthia Kadohata

I finished A MILLION SHADES OF GRAY today on the plane. This book has been talked about a lot since its publication and I've seen it on several Mock Newbery lists. I can so see why. It is a great read. Y'Tin lives in a village in Vietnam and is in the midst of the Vietnam War.  Y'Tin is an elephant trainer--one of the best at such a young age.  He has a special relationship with his elephant, Lady.  But war comes to their village and Y'Tin's life is changed instantly. Y'Tin and many other villagers have to go into the jungle and Y'Tin also must save his elephant and make important decisions about what is best for them.

This is a sad story. A bit hopeful at times, but an honest look at what war does to communities.  It was not one that I could read from cover to cover.  It was definitely a story of war with the horrors being made clear--not the blood and battles, but the emotions that go with war. Y'Tin is a great character, one that you love almost immediately.  Y'Tin is a character who has courage in different ways throughout the story. No decision is easy in a time of war and Y'Tin must make many decisions.

Because of the setting and the sophistication of the book, I think this would be a great book for grades 5 and up. I can think of one class I had years ago who would have loved it as a read aloud. For readers who want a deeper read, It is a great animal story, a great war story, and a great coming of age story all in one.

Poetry Friday: The Fabric of Life

The Fabric of Life
by Kay Ryan

It is very stretchy.
We know that, even if
many details remain
sketchy. It is complexly
woven. That much too
has pretty well been
proven.

(the rest of the poem is at The Writer's Almanac)

My head-shaking admiration of the fabric of life is not (today at least) about the shock waves of hurt caused by life's roughly taught lessons, but rather the complex and stretchy connections that hold us all together. Or bring us together, in Minneapolis, stretched and pulled from across the country to talk about blogging and Poetry Friday. 

Thank you, Andi, for doing the Poetry Friday roundup today at a wrung sponge!

THERE'S A PRINCESS IN THE PALACE by Zoe B. Alley

In January, we reviewed THERE'S A WOLF AT THE DOOR--a great, over sized book of fairy tales told in graphic novel form.  I have loved this book and it is quite popular in the library. Even though I am sure it doesn't fit in any child's bookbag, they figure out a way to get it home!

So, I was thrilled to see another book that follows this same idea by Zoe Alley. THERE'S A PRINCESS IN THE PALACE: FIVE CLASSIC TALES does for princesses what THERE'S A WOLF AT THE DOOR did for wolves. This very fun, pink, over sized book  (really, what more could you want!) is the retelling of 5 classic princess tales including Cinderella and The Princess and the Pea.  The humor in the dialogue and the personalities of the princesses are quite fun. My 11 year old laughed aloud as she read the ending to Cinderella.

A fun book and a great addition to any fairy tale study.  I loved the first book but love this one even more as some of these stories are my favorites.  This author knows how to bring classic tales to life in a very unique way.

Poetry + Music = Fun

Camille Saint-Saëns’s The Carnival of the Animals
new verses by Jack Prelutsky
illustrated by Mary GrandPré
includes CD of music and verses
Alfred A. Knopf, 2010
review copy provided by the publisher

This music, long used to introduce children to classical music, does not need poems to suggest the animals each piece describes with sound.

These poems, written by the first U.S. Children's Poet Laureate, do not need musical accompaniment to help their rhythms and rhymes suggest the animals they describe -- the lumbering elephants, the flitting birds, the obnoxious donkeys, the slow and ancient tortoises.

But this music and these poems together, make the music more fun to listen to and the poems more fun to hear and say. What a great way to introduce children to the sounds of language along with the sounds of the orchestra.

Google books preview is here.

The Odious Ogre

The Odious Ogre
by Norton Juster
illustrated by Jules Pfeiffer
Scholastic, 2010
review copy provided by the publisher

This is the story of an ogre so awful that the villagers cower in terror underneath tables when the ogre is afoot. This ogre is confident that he's "Absolutely invincible!"

Then he meets a sweet girl who, even though she recognizes his flaws, insists that he's not so terrible. "Overbearing perhaps, arrogant for sure, somewhat self-important, a little too mean and violent, I'm afraid, and a bit messy. Your shoes could certainly use a polishing, but I'll bet if you brushed your teeth combed your hair, found some new clothes, and totally changed your attitude you'd be quite nice."

You might be able to guess that the sweet girl overcomes the odious ogre. The way she does it is a good reminder that huge and unmanageable problems can be brought to their knees without anything more than continuing on the path one knows to be the right one. (Self, are you listening?)

This is a great book for your word study stack. The ogre has a fabulous vocabulary, due to swallowing a dictionary on one pillage or another.


The Odious Ogre by Norton Juster, Illustrated by Jules Feiffer from Expanded Books on Vimeo.