It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 3.17.14

This weekly post comes from Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers.  It's a great source to find new books to use with your students.

It's the St. Patrick Version!
The countdown to Spring Break is on!  Can't wait for some more reading time.  I had a good week even with lots of work time!

Picture Books


The Adventures of Beekle:  The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat
5/5 stars
I received an early copy of this book from John Schumacher, after winning it in a giveaway on his blog.  This book is AMAZING!  I am such a huge fan of Dan Santat's illustrations, but he is a fantastic storyteller as well!  Beekle is going to go straight into your heart and stay there!  The illustrations are out of this world good - it's a feast on the eyes!  Wait until you see the gorgeous sea dragon!  The story of Beekle, who just wants to have a friend, will resonate with everyone.  I loved seeing Beekle go after his dream because he wanted it bad enough.  I can't wait to see kids have conversations about this book!  I will be sharing it with several classrooms at school and then it is going into my school library.  After all, Mr. Schu asked us to pay it forward, what better way then to share this gorgeous book with a school?


Urgency Emergency:  The Big Bad Wolf by Dosh Archer
4/5 stars
Cute version of Little Red Riding Hood.  Kids are going to be laughing out loud when they see Granny down the Wolf's throat!  Pair it with Chris Duffy's Fairy Tale Comics, the "Little Red Riding Hood" version.

Chapter Books for 2nd/3rd graders


The Life of Ty:  Penguin Problems by Lauren Myracle
3/5 stars
Good beginning chapter book.  Ty has no-longer-the-baby syndrome.  He's craving a little bit of momma's attention.  But it's probably not a good idea to wander away from the group when on a school field trip or worse yet, steal a penguin from the aquarium!


Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie by Julie Sternberg
4/5 stars
My Goodreads review:  Julie Sternberg has started a great series for early chapter book readers. Second graders and third graders will enjoy this series, as well as be introduced to reading in verse.
Eleanor is a spunky kid who youngsters will relate to because of her adventures and challenges. 
You have to enjoy a character who says things are "as bad as the black parts of a banana." I get that. I also appreciated when she said, "I closed by eyes and decided to move to Florida." I'm with you...
Young kids will appreciate the illustrations of Matthew Cordell - they add to the story without it taking over. Just what those young chapter book readers want.
Graphic Novels:


Squish #1 by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
3/5 stars
The creators of Babymouse are behind the Squish series.  I can see boys really enjoying this series.  Some of the science brought me back to some old school days... Lots of sarcasm in this book.

Middle Grade:


Handbook for Dragon Slayers by Merrie Haskell
3/5 stars
I read this one with my daughter for our book club.  I was interested in seeing her thoughts in this book, since like the heroine, my daughter also has a foot (and leg) disability.  Her final reaction was she (my daughter) thought the main character, Tilda, learned a great lesson that she could do anything she wanted if she put her mind to it.  That lead to a great discussion :)  She also related the book to the movie "Frozen", she said they were the same because it wasn't the boy and "true love's kiss" that solved the problem, it was the love between family, or in this case, almost-family, that won!


Seven Stories Up by Laurel Snyder
4/5 stars
My Goodreads review:  I loved this book. I loved the thought of being able to change something in history that leads to a positive change in the future. It's a great concept and one I'm glad Laurel Snyder explored. 
I remember reading when the book came out a post on Nerdy Book Club that the author had written giving some backstory to this novel. It was interesting to hold that in my head while reading.
I loved her notes at the end of the book. She challenges readers to think of a question about their own past or something that hold their interest, their passion, and to go find out more information about it. Wow, she just explained Genius Hour!
I have two big huge problems, and this is what lead me to rate the book from 5 stars to 4. 1. I didn't like that she used the word "sucks" several times in the story. I don't like when young students use that word and I make them change their choice in words. I don't allow my child to say that word. I really really wish she had not included it. I think another word would have worked just as well - it wasn't the word that described what was going on in the scene, so another one could have been used. 2. She outs the Tooth Fairy - Annie complains that her mom is the worst tooth fairy! I was planning on handing this book off to my 3rd grader. Never mind. Not sure when I'll give this book to her now! I was planning on book talking this book with the 4th graders but now I won't. I don't want to be held responsible for any un-believing! Ugh! Bummer!!!
Amazing book. Just want to change those two things!
Adult Books:
I read my first real adult book this week!


Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen
4/5 stars

Currently (and Still) Reading:


Kingdom Keepers:  Unforseen, a novella by Ridley Pearson
This novella gives us more information about Jess and Amanda, the fairlies that help out in the Kingdom Keeper series.


Dangerous by Shannon Hale


Unstoppable by Tim Green
I know, I've been reading this one for awhile.  So many library books have come in in the meantime, so some of the books I own (this one and the one below) have been put on the hold shelf.


Ava and Pip by Carol Weston

Celebrate This Week 3.15.14

It's always good to end the week on a positive note.  Sometimes we concentrate on the negatives.  We have a choice.  Choose positive.  Choose to celebrate.  I will be joining Ruth Ayres and her weekly link-up, Celebrate This Week.  Check out all the other celebrations HERE

This was a long week!  The time change really threw me for a loop!  I'm glad it's Saturday!

Celebration #1 - Sleeping in!!!  I only get to sleep in once per week.  I wake up very early the other days to get exercising in.  If I don't work out in the mornings, it just doesn't get done.  Sadly enough, my body is in such a rhythm, I start stirring by 5am most mornings.  I {somehow} manage to stay in bed a little longer on those sleep in mornings, but I'm still usually wide awake by 7:15am.  Remember when sleeping in was until 10am, at least??

Celebration #2 - Springing forward!  Although this time change has been rough on my awake hours, I know I'll get used to it soon enough. But time to celebrate what it means - that much closer to spring which means that much closer to summer!  I'm a summer girl.  Love sun.  Love heat.  Love being in the water.  Love shorts.  Love flip flops.  I sooo live in the wrong part of the United States!  We even hit the 40s a couple of times in the past two weeks.  Never mind it was in the 80s two years ago at this time!!!  Stupid Chicago weather... Oh, wait, I'm supposed to be celebrating...

Celebration #3 - Birthday cake!  Every year on my birthday, my mom makes me my favorite cake - angel food cake with real lemon flavored icing.  Delicious!  That cake did not last the week in my house!

Celebration #4 - my friends!  It was my birthday last weekend and my friends (and sister) took great care of me.  They took me out for a "Michele" day.  We went to my favorite places (including a bookstore!), out to lunch in Chicago and capped off our day by seeing "Million Dollar Quartet".  It's a great show and I loved the music.  I'm lucky to be surrounded by people who know and care about me.

Celebration #5 - Once Upon a Time is back on ABC!!!  I am addicted to that show!  It went on a long winter hiatus, but it's back!  I love the villains.  I love the main character, Emma - she has just the right amount of spunk to her, but I really really really like Captain Hook.  Woot woot :)

Celebration #6 - Twitter.  I really wish I could be at all of the great reading conferences that are going on right now.  But since I can't, I'll stick to my live feed of Twitter and read the great tweets everyone is posting!

Celebration #7 - Dan Santat's Beekle.  What an amazing book.  I won a free advanced copy from Mr. Schu and it arrived in the mail yesterday.  My daughter and I poured over the book today.  We could not get enough of the beautiful illustrations and the heartfelt story.  It is awesome.  I'm going to need another read through of that book soon... I think it comes out April 8th.  It is a must-read!!

Here's to everyone having a great week.  Happy Spring!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday 3.12.14

We know that a big part of the CCSS is to include more informational texts into our students' reading.  I quickly discovered I had a "gap" in my reading diet - the genre of informational texts!  To help me fill the gap this year, I am going to participate in Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesdays!  This is a great link-up hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy.  Please visit this website to see other educator's link-ups.  My goal is to read at least one informational text each week and post information on the blog.  The more books and subjects I read, the more I can encourage (my #OLW for 2014) other teachers to use in their classroom! 

"Explore" or "Discover" are themes that can be applied to so many different concept ideas.  I've come across several books that lend itself to that theme.  Try pairing some of these together:


The World is Waiting for You by Barbara Kerley
I love the verbs this book uses in its simple sentences and the photographs are breathtaking.  This book would be perfect to use when getting ready to explore - whether a new school year or new concept in school.  What verbs will students use in their discoveries?


Step Gently Out by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder
I love using this book paired with the one above because both have similar sentence structures and photography, yet still have a totally different feel from each other.  Use this book to talk about explorations and looking closely at learning.


Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
I would share this book last to talk about the need to look closely at discoveries in order to see the patterns or even the contrasts these new explorations are showing.

Everyone needs a snicker of magic!

A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

(written in early Feb., 2014)  Whether in the Twitter world or from the blogs I follow, many people had received an ARC of this book at the end of last year.  All of them raved about this book.  I pre-ordered it in December 2013.  Then I saw it advertised in the January Scholastic 4th and 5th grade brochure, and in paperback.  I was excited to finally get it and started it as soon as I could.  And you know how I know it's an amazing book??  I didn't cancel my pre-order.  The books I love, I like to own in hardcover.  Well, the hardcover is still coming my way on its release date in late February and the kids can have my well-loved paperback copy!  I can't wait to get this book into more hands!

(written in March 2014)  My original intent was to post this review on the book's Book Birthday, February 25.  Well, that didn't happen, but putting it out there better late than never is also good!

Here's the summary from Goodreads (if you already know it, skip down to the next part):

Midnight Gulch used to be a magical place, a town where people could sing up thunderstorms and dance up sunflowers. But that was long ago, before a curse drove the magic away. Twelve-year-old Felicity knows all about things like that; her nomadic mother is cursed with a wandering heart.

But when she arrives in Midnight Gulch, Felicity thinks her luck's about to change. A "word collector," Felicity sees words everywhere---shining above strangers, tucked into church eves, and tangled up her dog's floppy ears---but Midnight Gulch is the first place she's ever seen the word "home." And then there's Jonah, a mysterious, spiky-haired do-gooder who shimmers with words Felicity's never seen before, words that make Felicity's heart beat a little faster.

Felicity wants to stay in Midnight Gulch more than anything, but first, she'll need to figure out how to bring back the magic, breaking the spell that's been cast over the town . . . and her mother's broken heart.


Here's what the summary can't tell you.  Have you ever had a book grab hold of your heart and not let go?  Have you ever had the words seep into your brain and not leave for days, or weeks, or months?  That's how this book was for me.  It has stayed with me for so long, I can't let go of it!  I still want to talk about it with anyone!  There are lines, phrases, passages and pages that need to be discussed.

Now, I didn't think the book would start out that way for me.  It has a slow start as it takes awhile to set up the characters and the background story.  But once you get into the flow of the language and the characters start to mean something to you, it becomes a book that you not only can't put down, but you feel this intense need to talk about it to everyone around you!  It's not an action packed book.  There is not a huge rising action that drives the plot in this book.  Not only does the character, Felicity, drive this book forward, it's your need to see that she makes it out ok.  It's your need to hear her talk so eloquently.  To give meaning to words and phrases that you didn't know you needed a word for.

For example, factalactus.  I bet you didn't know that you needed that word.  But, as soon as you find out the definition, you'll nod your head and think, yup, I do know what that is.  "A factalactus is a truth that hurts a little bit, that prickles and stings, like you tried to shake hands with a cactus flower.  But just because it hurts doesn't make it less true."  Wow.  

There are other lines that just hit you right in the heart.  Like "Hope doesn't fizzle or flicker or burn out.  Hope isn't the same as other words.  Hope holds steady."  I want that on a quote board somewhere.

Or how about those lines that just make you crack up.  "He looked a lot younger than Cleo, but maybe age doesn't matter as long as you're already old."  Hits home after my birthday this past weekend... I have a feeling some of my students would agree with that line!

I'm so happy to have read this book.  I've already book talked it with many students and teachers.  Everyone I work with knows how much I love this book.  I've told my reading friends all about it.  My 8 year old has read it and I have plans to read it with her this summer as a mother/daughter book club book.  I want to read it slowly with her and see what discussions we can have.

In the meantime, share with me in the comments - what were your favorite lines?  I'd love to hear from you!  After all, I have an intense need to talk about this book!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 3.10.14

This weekly post comes from Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers.  It's a great source to find new books to use with your students.

I always love getting new books.  There is something about the thrill of seeing that new title and holding it in your hands.  Because of a lucky birthday present for me, I got to purchase a bunch of new ones.  And some others are pre-ordered and I know I'll be excited to finally lay my hands on those! 
As I look back on my reading week, it's always interesting to note that so many of these titles come from reading these weekly memes that talk about what we're reading.  I'm lucky to have come across some great reading ideas every week!

Here are some of the books I read this week:

Picture Books

Here Comes the Easter Cat by Deborah Underwood
4/5 stars
I actually read this book a few weeks back, but it somehow never made it into my blog or Goodreads account.  Now it is :)  Kids will love the humor in this book.  Told in short sentences and very telling illustrations, we discover that Cat would really like to be the Easter Bunny.  Kids will have to do some inferring by looking at the illustrations - the words don't always tell the whole story!

Informational Texts

Light Is All Around Us by Wendy Pfeffer
4/5 stars
This book will be great to use next year with 1st grade NGSS!


Don't Touch That Toad & Other Strange Things Adults Tell You by Catherine Rondina
4/5 stars
Kids will love this story.  The author talks about something that all kids have heard - don't swim for 30 min after eating, if you swallow your gum it will be in your stomach for 7 years, the 5-second rule.  Some history of the saying is presented and some basic facts, and then the reader gets to decide, is the saying true or false?  Turn the page and the author tells you and describes the science behind the phrase.

Memoir

Earlier this year I read Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka (wow, I spelled that correctly without looking at anything!) and I loved what he did for boys and reading short stories.  I thought Ralph Fletcher did the same in Marshfield Dreams, maybe without quite the same punch.  I flagged a few stories to use as writing and reading mentor texts.

Poetry

The President's Stuck in the Bathtub by Susan Katz
5/5 stars
Cute poems about each president.  I liked how the author concentrated on one story/idiosyncrasy of each president instead of putting a lot of history into one small poem.  I think kids will really like hearing these unusual poems and learning more interesting facts than they typically find.  The author also put at the back of the book a list of the president, a quote they are known for, their nickname and something they were "first" doing.  Did you know Jimmy Carter was the first president born in a hospital???  No source notes from the author, however!

Early Chapter books

The Miniature World of Marvin and James by Elise Broach
3/5 stars
This series will be great for mature 1st gr and 2nd grade readers

Graphic Novels
I read some more Lunch Lady's!  Did you hear it's going to be a movie starring Amy Poehler?  I believe she may do Lunch Lady justice!
     


Young Adult

Burn by Julianna Baggott
3/5 stars (maybe a little lower if I'm honest with myself)
This was a hard one.  I did not love the first book in this trilogy.  The second one was fantastic.  This third one had moments of being good, and a lot of moments of being so so.  I found a lot of the time thinking it was dragging along and I skimmed.  Other parts I was drawn into the story, but not many.  I was very disappointed with the conclusion.  I felt the character "Partridge" was rushed into his conclusion, and never really dealt with his demons.  They all were wrapped up so quickly with no good explanation.  The big dramatic moment was done and over so quickly, it seemed like the author just needed to meet her deadline and didn't give the ending the time it deserved.  Even though this was a trilogy, I feel like there could be another book written about what happens next, or even a prequel to the series.  This trilogy ended up being a good library-borrowed series.

Still going to read

Our mother-daughter book club book.  We're over 1/2 way done!

Celebrate This Week! 3.08.14

It's always good to end the week on a positive note.  Sometimes we concentrate on the negatives.  We have a choice.  Choose positive.  Choose to celebrate.  I will be joining Ruth Ayres and her weekly link-up, Celebrate This Week.  Check out all the other celebrations HERE

Oops.  It's been a little while since I've posted to this meme.  I've had a few very very busy weeks, and I had to make a decision.  Sometimes blogging doesn't win.  But I'll recap the past few weeks and celebrate the good busy-ness!

Celebration #1:  The week of Feb. 10:  The week flew by since we were so busy with parent/teacher conferences.  But it ended with a great celebration on Sat., Feb. 15.  I went to my first Anderson's Children's Literature Breakfast.  Anderson's is a fabulous indie bookseller.  Unfortunately, it's about an hour and 15 min. drive from my house.  I often see Anderson's at the various reading functions I've attended - Illinois Reading Conference and the International Reading Conference when it was in Chicago.  I visit their web page because they always are so on top of what's current in children's literature.  So I was excited to go to my first Children's Lit Breakfast.  It did not disappoint!  I was a little nervous because I was going by myself - I couldn't convince anyone else to make the morning trip with me (silly friends!).  But I quickly met up with some Twitter peeps!  I had a great morning meeting @dylanteut, @MrSchuReads, @daydreamreader and @100scopenotes.  I missed @librarygrl2 but it was fun seeing her Tweets and perspective of the day.  I loved meeting the authors (Laurie Keller, Aaron Reynolds, Jon J Muth, Maggie Stiefvater, Lin Oliver and... The Fonze himself, Henry Winkler.  It was awesome listening to them talk and hearing how they put their personalities into their writing.  I got autographs and pictures with many of them.  We met several Illinois authors that rotated through our tables.  I picked up several pre-publication books and lots of others that were signed by the authors throughout the morning.  I loved being able to share some of my stories with the authors - I gushed to Aaron Reynolds how much I love his stories - have you read Creepy Carrots or Carnivores???  Brilliant!  I shared with Laurie Keller how I brought a well loved library copy of her picture book, Arnie the Doughnut, to my daughter's classroom when I was Mystery Reader to find out that 8 pages were missing!  And guess what?  She's sending us a new copy!  And to sit with people who were all there for the same reason I was - because they love children's literature... well, that was an honor.  To have conversations with all new faces, some were classroom teachers, some tutors, some librarian/media specialists.  It was quite an exciting morning.  One that I hope to repeat annually.  Thanks Anderson's for hosting a fantastic morning.  And thanks to everyone I talked to that day who shared their love of reading with me.

Celebration #2:  Weeks of Feb. 17 and 24:  The week of Feb. 17 was spent teaching, running my daughter around and packing!  Because we left that weekend for our first ever cruise on Disney's Fantasy!  It was AMAZING!!!  We are a huge Disney family but had never cruised.  I didn't know what to expect.  We love Disney so much, would this be a let down?  Ummm, no!!  The plan to do this started back in the fall/winter of 2012.  My daughter has CFD and fibular hemimelia.  Basically, this means her right leg is shorter than her left.  Her femur and tibia are shorter, she's missing her fibula and has issues with all 3 joints in that leg.  But we have an amazing doctor in West Palm Beach, FL (hence the Disney trips) and he's given her a great future.  Every 4 years she has to have her leg lengthened.  She's had 2 lengthenings and will need 2 more.  But, she'll walk on her own 2 feet with even legs one day.  Amazing.  During her last lengthening, she decided she wanted to celebrate being done with that lengthening on a Disney cruise.  Fast forward from this:

To this:

My favorite place to read, deck 4:

It was a well earned celebration!  We had a fantastic time and loved everything about the Disney cruise.  I will say this, Disney has done an excellent job of branding themselves - they are known for their customer service and impeccable entertainment.  We certainly need to think about how we can take that logic to our schools, our classrooms, and show our students how to brand themselves as readers.

Celebration #3:  This week:  Well, first I had to recover from vacation let-down.  I'm still not over it!  Helping me "recover" is my birthday.  My parents got me a gift card.  Lots of books were purchased... And then earlier this week I won a copy of Dan Santat's new book The Adventures of Beekle.  I was beyond excited to get that news.  Being a huge Dan Santat fan, this simply made my day!  I love that my daughter and I are fighting over who is going to read it first when it arrives.  And have you seen the trailer for this book?  If not, check it out HERE.

Hopefully I'm back to a regular schedule and regular postings.  Hope everyone else found something to celebrate this week!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday 2.19.14

We know that a big part of the CCSS is to include more informational texts into our students' reading.  I quickly discovered I had a "gap" in my reading diet - the genre of informational texts!  To help me fill the gap this year, I am going to participate in Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesdays!  This is a great link-up hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy.  Please visit this website to see other educator's link-ups.  My goal is to read at least one informational text each week and post information on the blog.  The more books and subjects I read, the more I can encourage (my #OLW for 2014) other teachers to use in their classroom! 

A few weeks ago I cam across a post that paired mentor texts together.  It was a wonderful post, that I did not save, but wrote down some of the books it suggested.  One was perfect for winter.  And seeing as winter is not going anywhere soon, I figured it's still an appropriate time to put these books in classrooms!


Under the Snow by Melissa Stewart


Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner

These books pair together so well, as the gist of both are about what animals you find in the snow.  Messner's text talks about finding the animals both above and below ground where Stewart's only covers below the snow.  Messner's text lacks some of the details that Stewart's text does, but the illustrations in Over and Under the Snow by Christopher Silas Neal make up for it!  
When using these texts in the classroom, I would suggest using Under the Snow first to gather loads of information from - where the animals live, how they eat/find food, what type of home they have for themselves.  Then go to the Over and Under the Snow text to compare and contrast details.  
These books lend themselves well to 1st/2nd grades.  Could also be used in kindergarten.

Standards to cover:
RI.2 - main topic/key details
RI.3 - connection between 2 ideas in a text (habitat - how the animal lives/feeds)
RI.6 - gaining information from text and illustrations
RI.7 - key details
RI.9 - compare 2 texts