Sunday, December 26, 2010

#bookaday -- Mary Lee's Pile #2, #3

Half Upon a Time
by James Riley
Aladdin, 2010
review copy provided by the publisher

This is my new favorite fractured fairy tale novel/series. Jack's (of the beanstalk) son meets a "princess" from the "real world" when she falls through a blue circle of fire that appears in midair. After that, it is nonstop Huntsmen, magic items, fairy tale characters (and even a Fairy who makes a nest in May's hair, and who does not have a tail, as Jack keeps pointing out to May).

I found this quiet moment in the middle of the book:

"These are challenges," Jack told her. "That's it. We are going to win. You know why? Because it doesn't matter if you're in a fairy tale or here in real life, doing the right thing still counts for something. We're going to win because we're good, decent people trying to accomplish something noble."

(Is it okay if I make a big poster of that quote for the teachers' lounge wall?)

But mostly the book is a quick-moving, adventure-filled page-turner with some pretty funny dialogue:

"Uh-oh," May said, backing away from the Mirror.
"That pretty much covers it, Jack agreed, yanking her back more quickly.

Sugar Changed the World
by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos
Clarion Books, 2010
review copy provided by the publisher

This is a fascinating story that spans the globe, the entire spectrum of humanity (slavery --> freedom), and several Ages of Man (The Age of Honey --> The Age of Science). It is a story that connects the families of the co-authors, a husband and wife team with ancestors that come from Russia and beet sugar on the one side, and the Caribbean and cane sugar and cheap labor for the cane plantations from India on the other side. India, where the first written record of sugar (from 1000 or so years BC) is found:

"The word for 'a piece of sugar' in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit is khanda, which, as it passed through Persian to Arabic to Europe, became candy."

This book encourages teachers to trust the ability of middle and high school students to grapple with the big ideas of slavery and freedom that are presented in this book. If you're going to think about the history of sugar and the labor that produced it, you'll also wind up thinking about the current overseas sweatshops that produce the cheap clothing we buy in our U.S. stores, and the U.S. government's immigration and citizenship laws that keep Mexican families who provide cheap labor from becoming U.S. citizens. And sugar consumption. And current trends towards obesity.

The book has multiple timelines in the back matter: A Master Timeline of Sugar in World History, plus timelines for England and Sugar; France, Sugar, Slavery; Haiti; British North America -- United States; and the Age of Science. There is a page of links to the more than 70 images in the book, as well as slave music and videos of slave dances at Sugar Changed the World. Aronson encourages teachers with SmartBoards to use these images, and also students looking for images for their own reports. "A book is one product of a research journey, but there is not reason why it should be the only one."

It seemed a little ironic to read this book on Christmas Day while I ate cinnamon rolls and lounged on the couch with my stocking full of candy...


...but I can't think too hard about that because I need to grab a plate of Christmas cookies to nibble for breakfast while I get started on #bookaday #4: KEEPER by Kathi Appelt.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas Eve Poetry Friday Is Here!

A CHRISTMAS EVE WISH FOR YOU

May the lights be twinkley and bright,
cheerful and wish-upon-able.


May the treats be made,
given,
ample,
(and sampled).


May the day be filled with
all that you love,
all whom you love,
all kinds of wonder and joy,

and an abundance of poetry!


Schedule change reminder: Next week we'll be celebrating New Year's Eve with Carol at Carol's Corner.


Diane is in first with her trifecta of offerings: "Shoplifting Poetry" at Random Noodling, a Poetry Friday quote at Kurious K's Kwotes, and "The Donkey's Song" from Jane Yolen's HARK! A CHRISTMAS SAMPLER at Kurious Kitty's Kurio Kabinet.

Sally considers the bittersweet side of Christmas memories with a Victorian poem at The Write Sisters.

Amy (nice hat!) has poem #30 in her Friday series of poems about poems at The Poem Farm. (It's #269 in her poem-a-day challenge that she's kept since last April!)

Tabatha has a poetic tribute to Atlas at The Opposite of Indifference. And you thought the weight of the world was heavy on your shoulders...

Laura Shovan found the picture book that tells the family story behind Clement Moore's "A Night Before Christmas."  Perfect timing! Check it out at Author Amok.

Laura Salas sends us a holiday greeting in haiku at Writing the World for Kids, and also the week's 15 Words or Less Poems, inspired by "metal mountains."

Madigan reviews UBIQUITOUS at Madigan Reads.

Sally shares a Christmas carol at Castle in the Sea.

Elaine has a Christmas memoir poem at Wild Rose Reader and more Christmas memories at Wild Rose Reader.

Andromeda blesses us with some Rumi, a question to ponder, and a beautiful photo at a wrung sponge.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Carol for sharing two FABULOUS versions of the Hallelujah Chorus with us today. They both bring tears to my eyes -- the Holy brought down to Earth in the most unlikely but most Human of all places. The message of the day is at Carol's Corner (and follow the link to Cynthia Lord's place).

An e.e. cummings Christmas Eve greeting comes to us from Jules at 7-Imp.

We've got another carol of the season from Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town -- the original words to Hark the Herald, Angels Sing. Within this poem is Ruth's wish for Haiti this season.

Blythe has a star, a tree, a moon, the Solstice and a wish for the season at her place.

Jone shares an original shadorma at Check it Out.

Shari at Shari Doyle reviews Jane Yolen's Snow, Snow, and a great montage of holiday pictures, complete with cookies and cats!

Head over to Live. Love. Explore! where Irene has a vlog of a Christmas poem from her new book.

Jennie at Biblio File has got the birth of every blessed child on her mind in this season of birth and new beginnings. Sounds like there will be a new baby in her house come summer solstice! Congrats, Jennie!

Shelley's ongoing tale of "poems about the old days" -- the Dust Bowl days -- can be found at Rain: A Dust Bowl Story.

#bookaday -- Mary Lee's Pile #1

It's already a good first day of break -- I've finished my first #bookaday and I haven't even had a plate of Christmas cookies for breakfast yet!

I have to warn you that this review is going to be a little weird. First of all, because the book was (more than a little) weird, but also because this is one of those books where you can't help yourself, it's like being around people with a Texan or Swedish accent and all of a sudden you start talking with that accent yourself. This is all to say that my writing has been infected by M.T. Anderson's in

Agent Q, or the Smell of Danger (Pals in Peril series)
by M.T. Anderson
illustrated by Kurt Cyrus
Simon and Schuster (Beach Lane Books), 2010
review copy provided by the publisher (and an extra bit of thanks for WHALES ON STILTS -- I fell head over heels in love after reading two chapters, took it to school and read those two chapters to my fourth graders, and wound up sending home 6 books from the series (checked out from the well-stocked public library branch near my home [YAY, LIBRARY!] with readers who appreciate irony and humor to enjoy during the winter break))


Don't you think? (seriously infected writing style, in case you lost my original train of thought)

So, since it would be impossible to explain the plot of this book, which, I think, is part of the point of these books, let it suffice to say that the cover illustration gives a pretty good idea of the pace of the plot and some of its details. One thing you can't tell from the picture is that those are sentient lobsters. Yes, this is the kind of book that has sentient lobsters in it. And monks from a time in the history of Delaware (not the Delaware with which you're familiar) when there has been an embargo on vowels. And rivers in Delaware that conceal giant amoebas (which allows for a diagram of an Amoeba proteus supergiganticus labeled helpfully with front, back, inside, outside, and pie hole). And chase scenes through the sewers of Wilmington. (It's a spy thriller, you see.)

As I go through all the pages I have tabbed down, places where I laughed out loud (the restaurant named the Friar Tuck-In; the monks who don't mind endless songs like "The Song That Never Ends" because it's kind of like their chanting, anyway; the defense of librarians on page 150 [you might need to look that one up and read it yourself]; the spy-based reality television show at the end...) I realize there's nothing for it except to say,

READ IT YOURSELF!
and
WHAT IS IT WITH M.T. ANDERSON AND THE STATE OF DELAWARE???? (partial answers might or might not be found at this amazing website)

Happy #bookaday! I'm off to eat that plate of Christmas cookies for breakfast!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Lulu and the Brontosaurus

Lulu and the Brontosaurus
by Judith Viorst
illustrated by Lane Smith
Simon and Schuster/Atheneum Books, 2010
review copy provided by the publisher


Publishers Weekly didn't like this book too much, but I'd venture to say that they didn't read it aloud to a roomful of living, breathing children! If they didn't read it aloud, they have no idea how infectious Lulu's song is, or how much fun the chatty narrator is.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The audience at hand (4th graders) was hooked on the first paragraph of chapter one: "There once was a girl named Lulu and she was a pain. She wasn't a pain in the elbow. She wasn't a pain in the knee. She was a pain -- a very big pain -- in the b u t t ." And she is -- Lulu gets whatever she wants by screeching until the lightbulbs break. However, when she wishes for a brontosaurus for a pet, her parents refuse.  For 12 days they refuse, until finally Lulu packs her suitcase and goes to get a brontosaurus for herself, singing,

"I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna gonna get
A bronto-bronto-bronto
brontosaurus for a pet."

Lulu bullies her way through the forest, dispatching a snake, a tiger, and a bear, until she finds her brontosaurus. But lo and behold, Mr. B refuses to be her pet. He wants Lulu for HIS pet! Mr. B is so kind and nice and polite and patient in his refusal to let Lulu go and his insistence that she will be his pet, that Lulu stops screeching and starts asking nicely. She even uses the "P" word. (please) 

But has she really changed? You decide -- think about how she runs away from Mr. B at her first opportunity.  But think about how she mends her relationship with the snake, the tiger and the bear. And think about each of the three alternative endings -- which one is too sour, which one is too sweet, and which one is just about the way life really works, give or take the part about the brontosaurus?

This is a very fun read aloud. Very fun. To the reader of our blog who recently asked for chapter books to read aloud to Kindergarten -- this one receives my endorsement! And I heartily recommend that it be read aloud to first, second, third, fourth and fifth graders, too!   


other reviews:  Creative Literacy, Kids Lit, Brimful Curiosities

the public library says its subjects are: Behavior -- Juvenile fiction., Apatosaurus -- Juvenile fiction., Pets -- Juvenile fiction., Birthdays -- Juvenile fiction.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Happy Holidays!

Here's our traditional holiday greeting. Regular readers of A Year of Reading are waiting on the edge of their seats for this (or so we're told)...

Enjoy!

Monday, December 20, 2010

#bookaday -- Mary Lee's Pile

























Half Upon a Time by James Riley
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
Keeper by Kathi Appelt
Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson
Pals in Peril: Agent Q or The Smell of Danger by M.T. Anderson
Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes
Noonie's Masterpiece by Lisa Railsback
Trash by Andy Mulligan
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
They Called Themselves the KKK by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Sugar Changed the World by Marc Aronson
The War to End All Wars by Russell Freedman

12 days of vacation...12 books to read...beginning Thursday. (Who voted for this calendar, anyway?)
Stay tuned for daily updates....beginning Thursday.
Fluff the pillows on the couch, bring over the fuzzy throw, get my mug ready for tea...ready for Thursday.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Blow, blow thou winter wind


























Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind

Act II, Scene 7 from As You Like It by William Shakespeare (1600)


Blow, blow, thou winter wind.
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
That dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember’d not.
Heigh-ho! sing, &c. 




I have just one word for the weather we've had for the past few weeks: BRRRRRR.


I'll stop complaining and put on my boots, hat, mittens, snow pants and down coat so I can head over to Amy's place in upstate New York. I have a feeling that we don't really know what cold is compared to the cold they have there!  The Poetry Friday roundup is at the Poem Farm this week!

The schedule of roundup hosts for the first six months of 2011 is almost completely filled. Hosts are still needed on

  • December 31, 2010  TAKEN!!  Thanks, Carol!
  • January 21, 2011    TAKEN!!  Thanks, Tara!
  • February 25, 2011  TAKEN!!  Thanks, Sara!

If you'd like to host the roundup on one of those dates, comment on this post, please.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

#bookaday


This summer, Donalyn Miller (@donalynbooks on Twitter)  shared her Book-A-Day Challenge with us on her blog. Her goal was to finish a book a day all summer. She shared her reading via blog and Twitter (#bookaday).  As her pile grew this fall, Donalyn suggested the book-a-day challenge again over holiday break. Lots of people jumped on board to join.  Because my pile of books has grown and grown with no end in sight, I thought I'd try to participate this year.  It seemed like a good time for me to catch up on some great books I've been dying to read.  If you want to join us in meeting a reading goal, just tweet using the hashtag #bookaday.

I decided to try to catch up on Middle Grade novels for the #bookaday challenge. I am trying to fit in a few YA novels before break begins but have a stack of 12+ middle grade/early YA novels that I am hoping to read during #bookaday.  Many of these were in my ALAN box but I am choosing the ones that lend themselves more toward younger YA readers.  With a K-5 building, I am exciting to catch up with new books our older kids may love.

Here is what is on my stack so far.  This list could change, but this is how it stands right now.

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Okay, so one true YA book:-)
Warp Speed by Lisa Yee
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (can't believe I haven't read this one yet.)
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
Penny Dreadful by Laura Snyder
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood
Zora and Me (highly recommended by Paul Hankins)
Bystander by James Preller (can't believe I haven't read this one yet)
The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter
Big Nate by Lincoln Pierce
The Defense of Thaddeus A. Ledbetter by Gosselink
Lulu and the Brontosaurus by Judith Viorst
How I Nicky Flynn Finally Get a Life (And a Dog) by Art Corriveau

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Zooborns: Book and Website

Who doesn't love cute baby animals?  In my quest for great nonfiction for elementary kids, I came across ZOOBORNS (the book and the blog) from 2 different sources.  During my last visit to Cover to Cover, Bill at Literate Lives had ZOOBORNS: ZOO BABIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD by Andrew Bleiman and Chris Eastland on his pile of books.  I immediately ordered a copy.  That same weekend, I learned about the blog ZOOBORNS from Larry Ferlazzo on Twitter.

The book, ZOOBORNS, is a great picture book for children. Each page in the book focuses on one specific baby animal born in a zoo somewhere in the world. 4-6 lines of text accompany each animal photo.  The end of the book gives more information about each animal, their home zoo, and their conservation status.  I imagine this book will be checked out at all times in the library. This is a great nonfiction book for young children.  It is all that I look for when looking for nonfiction for young kids--great photos, interesting information and accessible text. It would also make a great nonfiction read aloud.

The blog ZOOBORNS is quite fun and I shared it with several 3rd and 4th grade classes this week as we are trying to expand their nonfiction reading lives. Our kids are very honest about preferring fiction over nonfiction but my theory is that they haven't yet found interesting, accessible nonfiction text.  So many of the kids were excited about ZOOBORNS. This site highlights different baby animals from zoos around the world. It is updated often so there is always something new to read and learn. The side tags help readers who want specific information.  Readers can follow a certain kind of animal or a specific zoo.  This site is packed and seems accessible to middle grade readers.  It is tempting to just can the blog and enjoy the adorable photos but I am hoping that this site encourages children to read the text that accompanies the photos.

If you are looking for any last minute gifts, this would be a great gift book.  And I just noticed that there is another in this ZOOBORNS series. How exciting! I'll have to order it right now..

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

TALES2GO Offer for Schools

Tales2Go is a great app for kids. It is full of hundreds of stories told by various artists and organized in a way to be accessible to kids. This month, Tales2Go is offering a school promotion in which schools can get a FREE subscription (for up to 5 mobile devices). This offer is good through January 15, 2011.  I am excited that I'll be able to offer this on 5 of our mobile devices in the library!  Kids are going to be thrilled! So will teachers.  The regular price for a subscription is $24.99 per year.  Still a good deal but I so appreciate Tales2Go's effort to reach out to schools with their promotion.  If you have not seen the original demo of the Tales2Go app, you can watch it below.



I have been looking at this app as a great way for kids to experience stories using mobile devices. But I now see that there are also huge implications for classroom teachers.  The ways in which the stories are organized make it a great tool for teachers looking for the perfect book, a book to go with a genre study, etc.

I had previously only thought about this as a way for individuals to enjoy stories. But I now see the possibilities of sharing this with a whole class using a speaker system. I can also see the power of this as a great listening type of activity for several kids using my new favorite tool, the Belkin Rock-Star 5 Way Headphones.

Tales2Go has won several awards and has gained in popularity quickly because of its quality. (You can read the info from Parents' Choice Awards here.)   The promotion they are running for schools is a great treat for everyone. Thank you Tales2Go!