It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 10.21.19

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.

Last Week's Adventures

I took a week off to get ready for next month's NCTE presentation.  It will be here before you know it.  Will I see you there?

I thought about some nonfiction truths and biases in this post.

Celebrating some new Capstone Publishing chapter book series here.


Picture Books


Nya's Long Walk
written by Linda Sue Park
illustrated by Brian Pinkney
A companion picture book to Park's acclaimed novel A Long Walk to Water.  This would be a great book to use to introduce the novel and get a discussion started with readers.


Just Because
written by Mac Barnett
illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
I'll be honest, Mac Barnett's books are hit or miss for me.  Sometimes I am just not the intended audience, and it misses me.  This one, I adored.  A little girl is going to bed and has lots of questions for her dad (male figure in the book).  Her dad gives some very imaginative answers, the inspiration for them is seen later in the story.  


The End of Something Wonderful: a practical guide to a backyard funeral
written by Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic
illustrated by George Ermos
This one was not my cup of tea.  I didn't like how it made light of death and funerals.  However, there are readers who will enjoy this for its lightheartedness.  One I'll keep in the back of my mind.


The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh
written by Supriya Kelkar
illustrated by Alea Marley
Lots of books written about hijabs lately, this one celebrates the patkas.  Love how this book celebrates colors and feelings while using this traditional headpiece as its focus.  Good afterward at the end of the story for further explanation.


Puma Dreams
written by Tony Johnston
illustrated by Jim LaMarche
When this author and illustrator get together, you know you're going to have a wonderful story to read and amazing illustrations.
A story about a young girl who learns to value patience while she waits for her long-term goal to come true.  This is a wonderful book to use in a discussion about goals and how to work towards them... and the celebration you can have once you meet a goal!


Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao
written by Kat Zhang
illustrated by Charlene Chua
Actually this book compliments Puma Dreams perfectly!  Amy is trying to make the perfect bao.  And even though she has the right attitude, it's not coming together the way she hoped which leaves her frustrated!  Until, Amy uses some growth mindset thinking and comes up with a new solution!


Kevin the Unicorn: It's Not All Rainbows
by Jessika von Innerebner
I. Love. This. Book.
I love the message.  I love the illustrations.  I love the way everything comes together.
Kevin is a unicorn and unicorns are known for being smiley, glittery, and genuinely happy.  And that's fine... until Kevin has a bad day.  A really bad day.
What is surprising is that maybe not all things are smiley and glittery and happy with everyone....
We need to talk about that sometimes things aren't perfect and that's ok.
Love. This. Book.


Come Next Season
written by Kim Norman
illustrated by Daniel Miyares
Another beautifully illustrated story by Miyares.
I would put this with mentor texts for narrative writing in the primary grades to show how stories move through time.

Middle Grade


Stolen Girl
by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
I had read Making Bombs for Hitler a few years ago when it was at our Scholastic Book Fair.  This is a companion novel, focusing on the other sister in the family.  
I always enjoy Skrypuch's historical fiction novels because they come from actual stories, that tell about a piece of history that kids may have just a little bit of background knowledge about, in a novel that is quick and fast and one they will stick with.


A Place to Belong
by Cynthia Kadohata
I can see why this book has been placed on Mock Newbery lists and it was longlisted for the National Book Award.  
While we are starting to get more novels about the Japanese Internment in the USA during WWII, this gives us even more perspective of the time afterward.  Once they released many of the people from these internment camps, they were "given" the right to renounce their American citizenship and return to Japan.  Since many of these people were righteously so angered by what the American government had done to them, they thought this was the best thing to do.  However, upon arriving in Japan, the realization of what the atomic bomb did and how the government/empire was treating the Japanese people made people rethink decisions.  
This story gives us another perspective of what happened during that time period.

Adult reads


Red at the Bone
by Jacqueline Woodson
This is the second adult novel I've read of Woodson's and they definitely read differently than her MG or YA writing.  This one has a different voice for each chapter.  Voices only repeat a few times, so there are a few to keep track of!  However, because Woodson crafts these people so well, it's easy to figure out.
The pages are trim with plenty of white space.  It's a quick read, but one that will leave you thinking about the characters for awhile.

Currently Reading


Bounders: The Heroes Return
by Monica Tesler
This is a series I would love to see more people reading and getting into the hands of readers.  It is so fun - I love the characters and the suspense and adventure keeps me turning those pages!


As always, happy reading!

#road2reading Challenge - new chapter book series from Capstone 10.10.19

All journeys have a starting place.

This is a weekly place to find books and tools

that you may use with readers 

at the start of their independent reading journey.

Join in the conversation at #road2reading.

Capstone Publishing has been publishing some great chapter book series!  Last year we got the Yasmin series from them (and there are more on the way, yippee!) and this year we have two more series.  Check them out!

         
My Furry Foster Family series
written by Debbi Michiko Florence
illustrated by Melanie Demmer

Titles in the series:
Apple and Annie, the Hamster Duo
Truman the Dog
Betty the Bearded Dragon
Buttons the Kitten

Readers will love meeting the Takano family, particularly eight-year-old Kaita.  Kaita and her family are foster families for pets who are looking for their forever home.  Along with their mini dachshund, Ollie, they keep pets at their home while Joss from Happy Tails Rescue actively finds a family who want to adopt the pets.  Each book features a new animal, or animals, the Takano family is fostering.  Woven into the story is information about the animals, including what they like to eat and how to take care of them.  The ups and downs of fostering animals are explored in each story.  At the end of the book are activities to do with the book, a glossary, and information about the real Kaita who also fosters animals.

I like that this series has been leveled with the Fountas and Pinnell leveling system, but it is not blatantly written on the cover.  The back cover refers you to the Capstone website for information.  After I visited the website, I learned that it is a level L.  As a teacher, this makes me excited because it is often hard to find books around this level.  For me, I know these books are going to be longer than a Frog and Toad book, the characters may learn a lesson, but there probably won't be a big change in them for readers to follow, the plot will be still be pretty straightforward without additional storylines, and the vocabulary will be familiar.  This level is perfect for readers who are looking to jump into chapter books that are no longer episodic, but still have some supports.  Coming in at under 65 pages, it's a great length for readers - encourages some reading stamina, but isn't very long.



         
Sadiq series
written by Siman Nuurali
illustrated by Anjan Sarkar

Titles in the series:
Sadiq and the Desert Star
Sadiq and the Fun Run
Sadiq and the Pet Problem
Sadiq and the Green Thumbs

Meet Sadiq, a Somali American, who is in the third grade.  Sadiq and his friends enjoy creating clubs for all to join.  Whether it's a club for looking at the stars and planets or a sports club, Sadiq always has fun, even if he is learning a lesson or two along the way.  This realistic fiction series will introduce readers to Somali vocabulary and some traditions.  All readers will enjoy meeting Sadiq and friends and going along on their adventures that will feel familiar to them.  

I like that the beginning of each book has a pronunciation guide for some of the words and there is also a glossary at the end of the book.  Also included at the end are additional activities that go along with the topic of that book.

This series, while coming in at less pages than the My Furry Foster Family series, is just a bit more sophisticated.  The vocabulary is a little longer and there are often multiple problems that interconnect in the story.  According to the Capstone website, this series is a level M.


I hope you check out both of these series.  They make a great fit in 1st - 4th grade for many different readers.  Happy chapter book reading!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday - truths in nonfiction libraries, read alouds, and independent reading 10.09.19

Wednesdays I join Alyson Beecher from kidlitfrenzy and other

#kidlit bloggers to share wonderful nonfiction picture books.

The intention of today's blog post is to give professionals that work in the
education field new nonfiction reading material and ideas to use 

with students to promote a love of reading nonfiction materials.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but it's still something I know as truth.  We need to ensure that young readers have access to current, expository literature that is at appropriate grade reading levels and span a variety of interests.

Here's what I know to be true

• Kids have to take tests.  Whether they are state tests or tests in classrooms, kids take tests.
• Kids have to read the material presented in those tests.
• This doesn't change as kids grow older.  They read and are tested on material in middle school, in high school, and in college.
• The material and understanding and their demonstration of their understanding continues to grow more rigorous as they grow older.

And here's what I'm guessing to be true:

• Kids don't independently read enough nonfiction.
• Because of the lack of exposure, kids don't have the same reading stamina for nonfiction as they do for fiction.
• The nonfiction we have in libraries may have current and outdated content.
• We may often have biases in our own nonfiction and end up purchasing and choosing a certain type of nonfiction to read out loud and book talk most often - biographies or books that present nonfiction information but may have a narrator telling the story (please read Melissa Stewart's post here) or other narrative nonfiction texts (nonfiction that because of their narrative structure read more like stories).
• Just like in their fiction counterparts, educators also need to be aware of what goes into nonfiction text levels and make sure readers have access to nonfiction leveled readers to practice their reading skills, especially at the primary and elementary level when developing reading skills.

I'm guessing with those statements there are some defenses that have been put up.  Before I go farther, I will make a few more statements.

• I don't believe in leveled classroom libraries.
• I believe levels are a teacher's tool.
• I believe teachers of primary and elementary readers should have an understanding of levels and texts (please reference Jen Serravallo's book for this topic)
• While I do not believe in teaching to the test, I do believe I need to make sure I am getting students ready for higher education and life.

Take a look at the books you are choosing for read alouds.

• how many of them are expository?  How many of them are narrative?  How many of them are biographies?
• Look inside the books.  Are there text features?  How do you read them and talk about them with your students?  How are you sharing headings?  If most of the texts you share read like a story and don't have text features, how will students know what to do when they encounter them?
• If you are a primary or elementary teacher/librarian, do you know what a grade level text looks like?  It is sometimes surprising to see what readers are expected to be able to read.  If you don't know, find out the appropriate levels for your grade level and take a look through some of the books at that level.  Familiarize yourself with what they look like and what skills readers need to read these texts.
• Understand expository nonfiction.  Take a look at this article by Melissa Stewart.

Take a look at what your students are reading during independent reading time.  While there should be choice during this time of day, encouraging students to also make nonfiction texts part of their choice will help increase nonfiction stamina and help them practice the reading skills they need to read nonfiction literature.  As students move into middle school, high school, and beyond they will need to know how to not only read nonfiction texts but be able to analyze and think critically about them.  Things you can do now:

• Take a look at what they are reading - think about how you can encourage nonfiction reading during this time.
• How are students responding to their nonfiction reading?  How are they using the skills you teach when they are independently reading?
• Make sure you have a range of nonfiction books that encompass all the reading levels in your room.

Let's take a look at some books.  

A very popular read last year was:

Fur, Feather, Fin - All of Us Are Kin

written by Diane Lang

illustrated by Stephanie Laberis

This rhyming text taught us to look at the similarities that are found within the animal kingdom.  With its lyrical prose, this book reads like a story, even though all of the readers will walk away with a new understanding.  The text is engaging and the brightly colored illustrations pop in contrast to the stark white pages.  

   

Another book that uses rhyming text to look at animals and their coverings:

Feathers and Hair, What Animals Wear

written by Jennifer Ward

illustrated by Jing Jing Tsong

You can see the text is very controlled but is full of vocabulary and information.

 

   

Compare these texts to a book that was published this year about the same subject:

Hair! Animal Fur, Wool, and More

written by Marilyn Singer

illustrated by Julie Colombet

This text looks at just the fur part of the animal - and mammal - kingdom!  The descriptive text, that often uses a question/answer format, has more information per page and requires readers to hold on to more information.  This book also uses captions told in talking bubbles by the two illustrated animals.  These captions add information to the main text.  Without practice reading and hearing texts like these read aloud, students will have difficulties managing these texts independently.

All of these texts should be used in read alouds.  All of these texts should be offered in libraries for students to choose to read independently.  

Take a look at your own classroom library and the books you are using for read alouds.  Examine your own nonfiction biases and think about the books you have and use in your library/classroom.  Any changes to make?  

I'm always growing in my understanding of readers and all genres.  I am grateful for the many educators and authors whom I learn from on a daily basis.  Our thinking can always grow!