2 More Alphabet Books

I love the variety of ABC books being published these days.  One of my new favorites is AN ANNOYING ABC by Barbara Bottner.  This abc book tells a sequential story about the children in one classroom--they look to be young children.  On the end and title pages, the children are walking to school in lots of different moods. Some look happy. Some look tired. Others look a bit grumpy but we meet the children first before the story begins.  The story begins like this, "It was a quiet morning until....Adelaide annoyed Bailey. The first letters of each child's name are highlighted throughout and the alliteration used on each page reminds us that this is an abc book. But the story is about a class who is just getting on each other's nerves. It is a reminder of how out of hand things can get when we let the cycle of crankiness continue!  Anyone who has ever spent anytime in a classroom will know exactly how this can happen. But with the help of an understanding teacher, all is turned around for a much better afternoon. This is a fun story and the illustrations are worth spending lots of time with.  I am not sure this is one kids will read on their own--the names and verbs are tricky. But it is definitely one kids of all ages will enjoy and one I can see some classrooms creating their own version of this abc book with their own names.

The other alphabet book I purchased was AN EDIBLE ALPHABET:  26 REASONS TO LOVE THE FARM by Carol Watterson. I have not had the chance to read this one from cover to cover--it is packed with information. But this is one that would make a great read aloud for young children. Each page is packed with information connected to one letter of the alphabet.  From how often asparagus needs to be planted to root vegetables, to the role of hummingbirds, this book gives students a very detailed look at a farm. There seem to be several opportunities for children to enter the book. Some may look for the illustration that matches the letter. Others may dig in deeper to read more about the farm.  If a teacher were to read this aloud, it would probably take several days to do so. At first glance, it looks like a quick read but each page is filled with information and readers will want to take it all in. This one would also serve as a great mentor text for students writing literary nonfiction.

September Mosaic

September...

It starts with the Arts Festival, jumps into school with both feet, and ends with the Casting for Recovery retreat.

Beehive Books, a very nice independent bookstore in Delaware, OH was bonus this month.

However, the rain with which the month ended has not yet gone away...

It's October, and that means...

It's CYBILS time!!

This is the SIXTH year for the CYBILS, and they keep getting better. There are new eligibility rules, and a new category for nominations: book apps.

When CYBILS were born, I was a first-round judge in the Graphic Novels category. This year, I'm a second-round judge in Poetry.

Here's the nomination form (make sure you read those eligibility rules). More than fifteen poetry books have already been nominated! Is your favorite on the list yet? How about your favorites in all of the other categories?!?

Looking Forward to These Books

I have been having lots of conversations with students about thinking ahead as readers.  My stack of to-be-read titles never ends. And that is a good thing.  As I think head to my fall reading, I am going to try to make some more time for my personal and professional reading.  These are the books I am anxious to read.

I always learn so much from Kelly Gallagher.  His teaching and writing have had a huge impact o my teaching life. I am excited about his upcoming book Write Like This.  I have done a pretty good preview of the book on Stenhouse's site but I want to wait until I have a "real" copy to read it cover to cover.



I did a podcast interview with Kelly for Choice Literacy a while ago where he talks a bit more about mentor texts.

I came across the book Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield and ordered it right away. I am pretty sure my oldest daughter will "borrow" it from me when I finish.



I feel like I haven't taught math in a long time. For the last 4 years of my professional life, I have been in the library and for the two years prior to that, I taught Literacy 1/2 day and coached literacy 1/2 day. So I was excited to see this book--Math Exchanges by Kassia Omohundro Wedekind one that will help me see the possibilities for math classrooms.  Love the connections she makes to workshop.


Another professional book I am anxious to read is The Ten Things Every Writer Needs to Know by Jeff Anderson.  I heard Jeff speak about this book at the All Write Summer institute and I have been waiting to pick this one up since then!


I had the opportunity to hear Rae Carson at Cover to Cover last week. She is the author of the brand new YA novel, Girl of Fire and Thorns.  My 12 year old insisted on reading the book first and devoured it (said she maybe liked it better than The Hunger Games and Gone!). It is now my turn to read the book and I can't wait.


Another book that caught my eye is The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka. I'm not sure where I first heard about the book but it looks like one I'd enjoy so I've added it to my list.  A review in the New York Times was posted about a month ago.

Pumpkin; Autumn.

Autumn
by Linda Pastan

I want to mention
summer ending
without meaning the death
of somebody loved

or even the death
of the trees.
Today in the market
I heard a mother say

Look at the pumpkins,
it's finally autumn!
And the child didn't think
of the death of her mother

which is due before her own
but tasted the sound
of the words on her clumsy tongue:
pumpkin; autumn.

Let the eye enlarge
with all it beholds.
I want to celebrate
color, how one red leaf

flickers like a match
held to a dry branch,
and the whole world goes up
in orange and gold.

Sara Lewis Holmes has the Poetry Friday round up today.

The Wisdom of Aldo Zelnick

Dumbstruck
by Karla Oceanak
illustrated by Kendra Spanjer
Bailiwick Press, 2011
Review copy provided by the publisher









There's wisdom to be found in children's books. Here's a segment from the new Aldo Zelnick book:

Goosy (Aldo's artsy grandma) walked me (Aldo) over to a window in her studio. She flung it open, and we peered over the sill, onto the ground below. There, behind a big bush, lay a mashed-up pile of paper, canvas, pottery, and other atrsy stuff. 

"I listen to my gut," she said. "If it tells me, 'This piece doesn't make you happy,' I just throw it away and start over." 

"But why throw it out the window?" 

"Because it fels good to throw something out a window once in a while, don't you think?" 

"But you put so much work into your art!" 

"Of course. Except I don't think of it as work. Life is mostly in the doing, anyway, not in the having. Besides, not everything we do in life deserves to be on display, Aldo."

The Aldo Zelnick books keep getting better and better. In this volume, Aldo has to deal with starting fifth grade, having a crush on his new art teacher, figuring out what to create for the art contest, learning to communicate with a new friend who is deaf, and being Nick Bottom (wearing a donkey head) in his class' performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

FRUIT CAKE--A FRUIT-FILLED PLAY ON WORDS by Roger Priddy

I bought far too many books at Cover to Cover last week. One of my favorite new finds was FRUIT CAKE. Sally showed it to me and I knew I had to add it to my collection of books on words and word play.

This book is a lift-the-flap type book. Each page gives the reader some new thing to do--lift the flap, pull the tab, etc.  And each page gives the reader a new way to think about words.

Each page consists of one word-usually a fruit. Then, the reader manipulates both the picture and the word to discover a fun word surprise.  For example, when you pull the BANANA tab, it splits the banana, turning it into a Banana Split.  There are so many great word surprises in this one--each page is fun to discover.  The book introduces some popular nicknames (The Big Apple) as well as meanings of more unique words like "limelight".  The large colorful photos and great fonts add to the wonderful-ness of this book.

The last page of the book lists the words and their meanings.

A truly fun celebration of words!

A Great Time of Year for New Book Releases!!!

Several great new books are being released this week and next. This year, I have been getting some review copies and ARCs or I've heard about books long in advance of when they are being released. To keep track of when must-have books are available for purchase, I started a calendar of book release dates. I must say, it is the best idea I've had in years! September/October are great months of the year for book releases. An expensive time of year for readers, but well worth it!  Below are a few of the books I am excited about that are available in the next few week or two.  Some of the books I had the opportunity to read in advance--others are those I just can't wait to see! A great time for book shopping!

I am so excited that there are going to be a total of 15 books about Babymouse.  I am a huge Babymouse fan and so are many of my students. No matter how many copies I have in the library, it never seems like quite enough. I have so many readers who cannot get enough of this great character. So many who are anticipating this new book.  BABYMOUSE #15: A VERY BABYMOUSE CHRISTMAS is due out Tuesday. Can't wait!

On the same day, SQUISH #2 will also be released. If you have not met Squish--another character by Jennifer and Matthew Holm, you'll want to do that as soon as possible. A great new series by this great team.

I have the same feelings about the upcoming book HAPPY PIG DAY! I mean, who can ever have enough books about Elephant and Piggie?  I am sure this new one by Mo Willems will be a huge hit with everyone.  Can't wait to read it!

I was able to read several middle grade novels earlier than their release date. Many of my very favorites are coming out this week and next. I can't wait to share them with students.

I absolutely love fairy tale novels. I love retellings of traditional tales and I love new stories. Jessica Day George is one of my favorite fairy tale authors and I read PRINCESS OF THE MIDNIGHT BALL this summer. and I was excited to get an advanced copy of TUESDAYS AT THE CASTLE. The main character, Celie, is great independent girl. And the castle is great fun--every Tuesday, it seems to change just a bit. It grows rooms, changes hallways, etc.  I love the whole concept of this castle. And the story inside the castle is one that kept me hooked. A great story!

BREADCRUMBS by Anne Ursu is an amazing re-envisioning of the traditional story, The Snow Queen. Whether you know this story or not, Breadcrumbs will be a great read. It is a great fairy tale. I loved this story--the characters, the story, everything about it.  We featured an excerpt from this book a few weeks ago on our blog.  A great review from Jen Robinson is up today on her blog.

BIGGER THAN A BREADBOX by Laurel Snyder is one I had the opportunity to read early.  It is one of my 2011 favorites. In this story, there is a magical breadbox. But the breadbox is not the whole story. This is a great middle grade novel about loss and change and one that really understands the age group it was written for. A great deal of depth and so much to talk about around this book.  The following book trailer was done by a student--it is brilliant! (And Next Best Book reviewed this one today!)


I was able to hear Lauren Oliver at Cover to Cover after reading DELIRIUM. I loved the book and was thrilled to hear that she was writing a middle grade novel. I was able to borrow an ARC of  LIESL AND PO and loved it. Below is a trailer of the book as well as a conversation with Lauren Oliver about the book.





And a new picture book I am excited about is I WANT MY HAT BACK by Jon Klassen. I don't know much about it but keep hearing good things. Looking forward to seeing it!

To Fish is to Hope

“Hope” is the thing with feathers

BY EMILY DICKINSON

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

*   *   *   *   

And "Hope" is the lady with a flyrod

BY MARY LEE HAHN

And "Hope" is the lady with a flyrod -

Learning something new -

Just for the weekend she can drop her facade -

She can forget all that she's been through -

Or she can remember - without fear -

Supported by new friends -

She'll find a way to steer -

Through all life's twists and bends -

I've seen Hope by the pond -

Heard Hope in the happy shouts -

I've remembered those who've gone to the Beyond -

All this is what hope's about.

This is the weekend of our Ohio Casting for Recovery Retreat.  Here's a post I wrote about it a couple of years ago and a PSA:

Casting For Recovery (CFR) is an international non-profit support and education program for breast cancer survivors.

The program involves a free weekend wellness program where, in addition to support and education relating to breast cancer, women learn fly fishing, "A sport for life."

CFR weekend programs incorporate counseling, educational services, and the sport of fly fishing to promote mental and physical healing. Founded in 1996, CFR offers free programs across the United States and in several countries worldwide.

Today alone, over 500 women will be newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Tomorrow, it will be the same. This number does include those already living with the disease or those who do not know they have it.

The Poetry Friday round up is at Picture Book of the Day.

Knowing Your Readers

For the first month of school, I have struggled to recommend books to my new students. I've done a much better job reaching forward to the 5th graders who were in my class last year. I knew just who would want to read the new Worst-Case Scenario book:

Worst-Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure: Everest: You Decide How to Survive!
by Bill Doyle and David Borgenicht, with David Morton, climbing consultant
Chronicle Books, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher







I knew just who would want to read the newest Just Grace book:

Just Grace and the Double Surprise
by Charise Mericle Harper
Houghton Mifflin, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher










And I knew who would want to read the newest book in the Amulet series:

My review here.














But I haven't been able to do a satisfying job of matching my new readers to books.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday, I handed The Friendship Doll by Kirby Larson (Franki's mini-review here--last one in the list) to the reader whose first book pick of the year was Cinderella Smith by Stephanie Barden (my review here).

You know that feeling when the puzzle piece you picked fits perfectly in the spot you chose for it? That's how I felt when she came up to me at the end of reading workshop and said, "I LOVE The Friendship Doll!"