Literacy Now

How would my childhood self have reacted, if you’d told me that someday I’d be blogging about Children’s Book Week for the International Reading Association?

I would have wondered what blogging is. Then I might have said:

I’m very, very, very, very, very, very proud!
Proud as a blue sky without a cloud
Proud as a brass band playing very loud
I’m very, very proud (and my mom will be wowed!)

That sounds about right. I liked similes, and I have been known to use “very” the way Starbucks uses ice cubes to make a small iced coffee fit a Grande-sized cup.

I am proud. And I feel lucky, too, because this is my first Children’s Book Week as a published author-illustrator. It’s not because I’m young (as you can see from my author photo). I came to children’s books late. I’ve loved writing and drawing my whole life, but unlike many of my colleagues, I didn’t make it my work until I was almost forty.

In Brooklyn, where I live, you can’t throw a rock without hitting an award-winning author or illustrator, many with impressive educational and professional pedigrees, and none deserving to be hit with rocks. I don’t deserve to be hit with a rock, either, even though I have little formal training to make picture books—no writing MFA, no illustration degree.

My lack of preparation gave me a lot of agita when Michael Green of Philomel Books offered me my first picture book contract. Not enough to make me say no, but enough to make me worry the entire time I was creating the book. I still remember delivering the final art for BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE! to Penguin Young Readers Group HQ, and feeling like I was going to throw up as Michael and my art director, Semadar Megged, walked around the conference room inspecting it.



I shouldn't have worried nearly as much. BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE! turned out well. Philomel offered me a contract for two more books. A piece of my book art was featured at the Society of Illustrators last December. Walking around that show felt very different than walking around the conference room had, 11 months earlier. I could finally begin to see what I offer to the world of children’s books.

I’m not the most proficient artist. I wish I could paint and draw as well as some of my illustrator friends. I might be more skilled had I studied art for years, but I didn’t. Still, my work has things going for it. One art director told me it’s “fresh.” I’m not sure what that means but I think she was saying, I like the way you do what you don’t quite know how to do.

I hope that’s what she meant, because I do like being a beginner. I welcome the uncertainty that comes with doing something new, whether it’s sleeping in the wilderness or playing drums or making a book about penguins. That’s part of my personality, which I have strengthened by the experience of trying lots of things.



I can also thank my many great teachers for this trait. That list of teachers includes my scientist parents, who valued curiosity as well as achievement, and shared with me their love of books and experiments. My sister and I were always encouraged to ask questions, and my parents were mostly patient as we figured things out. (At times, questions like “How long do you think it will be until the policeman finishes writing the ticket?” or “Why doesn't the door unlock from this side?” weren't appreciated.)

Given what I can offer, I’ve decided to use this wonderful platform from IRA to make the following suggestion about Children’s Book Week:

Don’t just enjoy the wonderful children’s books that are out there—MAKE ONE YOURSELF.

Yes, as the official 2013 standard-bearer of Not Knowing Exactly What You’re Doing, I propose you make a book this week, even if you’re positive you’d be bad at it (and I suspect you’d be good at it). I’m a picture book person, so of course I’m talking about a picture book.

If you’re hesitating, consider this: children spend years at the intersection of low ability and high enthusiasm. You can spend a few days there. If you don’t want to try it alone, invite a collaborator (child or adult) to join you. And if you’re unsure about how to dive in, just follow my step-by-step instructions!

1. Pick a character (e.g. child, fish, blade of grass). Pick another character (e.g. bird, another blade of grass, crackpot). Give them something to do together. Something short. If you can’t think of an ending, just close with “It was fun,” or “It was a terrible idea and they never did it again.”
2. (Everyone forgets this part) Write down what you thought of before you forget it!
3. Make pictures! Draw new ones. Cut up old ones and put them back together in a new way. Don’t worry about whether you’re a good artist or a bad artist.
4. Put the story and the pictures together in order. Glue them, tape them, collage them like a ransom note.
5. Celebrate, because you just made a picture book! Share what you made with other people. Show them your original work. Hand out copies. Or just keep it to yourself.

You may be saying, “Those aren’t real instructions.” I know, and there’s a good reason for that. There are almost no absolute rules for making a picture book. The elasticity of the form is what makes picture books so wonderful to create and enjoy.

As further incentive for the intrepid, I will share any creation you’re proud to send me on my blog. Just email it to me by the end of May, at melissaguion@me.com.

While you do this, I’ll be right there next to you making notes for my third book. I’ll be reading with my daughter, and going around town in my new penguin costume. And I’ll be joining fellow authors and artists at free literacy events throughout the country. Find out what’s going on near you at http://www.bookweekonline.com!

However you choose to celebrate, find a way to make Children’s Book Week lots of fun for yourself and the people you love.

Melissa Guion is the author-illustrator of BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE! and the upcoming BABY PENGUINS LOVE THEIR MAMA! She is proud to be part of an upcoming children’s book art auction raising money for anti-censorship efforts: the auction launches online on Saturday, May 18th, and concludes at Book Expo America on Wednesday, May 29. Visit www.melissaguion.com or http://abffesilentauction.wordpress.com/preview-art/ for more information.



5 Questions With... Salina Yoon (PENGUIN AND PINECONE)

Book Reviews to Celebrate Children's Book Week

by Judith Hayn

Farrant, N. (2013). After Iris. New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers.

Bluebell Gadsby’s twin Iris died three years ago, and Blue feels responsible because she let her extrovert, daredevil sister leave the house without her; Iris never returned. Blue is withdrawn and creative, yet determined to record the family’s quirky day-to-day activities on her video camera. Dad escapes by teaching at a faraway university while Mom globetrots as a high-powered businesswoman leaving the children alone. Blue tries to understand her older sister, the drama queen Flora, along with the younger Babes, Jasmine, and Twig. Zoran, a Bosnian refugee, is hired as the nanny to ride herd on this neglected bunch. Charismatic Joss moves in next door and pays attention to Blue who is immediately smitten; unfortunately, he and Flora fall in love leaving Blue to her camcorder and diary. Grief is complicated, and no one in this family is coping with the loss of Iris, especially Blue who succeeds in being invisible at school and at home. Middlers will root for this sensitive heroine, who tells in first person narrative the story of  her chaotic, dysfunctional family as she struggles to find her way from the shadow where she is hiding to a place where healing can begin.

Natasha Farrant is a literary agent for children’s and young adult literature authors in the U.K.; this is her first foray into the genre. If you are interested in reviews of books like this for tweens and teens and also in articles that will help you use them in the classroom, consider joining SIGNAL, the Special Interest Network—Adolescent Literature by clicking on the link below.

Dr. Judith A. Hayn is an associate professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

This article is part of a series from the Special Interest Group Network on Adolescent Literature (SIGNAL).

 

 

by Denise H. Stuart

Teachers today are revisiting instructional approaches and materials as they map and plan curriculum in response to the Common Core State Standards (2012) sweeping districts. Among areas of increased emphasis with these new standards are a focus on non-fiction text, higher level comprehension, and writing development (Calkins, Ehrenworth & Lehman, 2012). Blogs and resources are abundant online, and it is useful to have a guide to engage us in finding our way. Such is Tricia Stohr-Hunt, a blogger since 2006, inspired by young Alice in Barbara Cooney’s (1985) Miss Rumphius who travels the world and wants to make the world a more beautiful place. Stohr-Hunt offers background to this advertising-free blog and information about her own diverse life experiences from being a boat hand to middle school teacher. At her accessible, attractive, and well organized blog site, The Miss Rumphius Effect, this teacher educator discusses issues and ideas for teaching poetry, non-fiction and other literature for early to middle readers (Stohr-Hunt, 2013). She blogs on the value of writing to learn and offers engaging prompts to integrate writing throughout the curriculum. Engaging Educators, a professional development site that emphasizes “21st century students need 21st century teaching” notes The Miss Rumphius Effect as one of the “great literacy blogs to follow.”

This blog is easy to navigate and focused in content and discussion. The home page features timely issues and ideas. For example, as the school year ends and Dr. Stohr-Hunt reflects on its wind down with grading and tests, she shares poems that recall the year’s schooling experiences—humorous, serious, and divers—in review of collections of poetry and in excerpts of individual poems. As part of her “Poetry A:Z” section she blogs about baseball and poetry, and before that birds and biography. She includes links to downloadable writing activities and audio files of authors reading poems. From her home page one can “Browse by Content” using popular tags related to teaching content areas, books and reviews, poetry and a trip she took to China with an extensive photo gallery to give a feel of time, place and culture. Featured in this list are “Non-fiction Monday” with topics like the science of snow and bugs by the numbers and “Poetry Friday” that links poems to teaching ideas, reviews, and more. She offers an extensive set of interviews with children’s poets in “Poetry Makers” giving background information and insight into their poetry process and product. Another major heading, “Thematic Book List,” offers a variety of topics in Math, Science and Social Studies. A section in “Teaching” features ways to encourage reluctant mathematicians at home and one on thinking about graphic novels, among others. The topics are endless and thoughtfully developed. Stohr-Hunt annotates and commentates on individual and collections of thematic texts as she takes us along on her adventure, for example, finding herself on the floor of her office pulling books she is “CRAZY” about related to measurement. 

 

Not only does the visitor to her blog get an opportunity to read and discuss ideas presented but can travel with Stohr-Hunt as she purposefully links to other current sources of information. She shares “Blogs I Read” organized to focus on non-fiction, poetry, reading inclusively, on writing and publishing, “for and from the classroom” and more and she includes most recent posts. I.N.K. is one such link to a blog of “Interesting Non-fiction for Kids” and leads with a feature article on how to empower girls “with non-fiction, not t-shirts” (Salzman, 2013). The Non-Fiction Detectives is written by “two intrepid librarians [who] review the best nonfiction for children” (Potter & Capizzo, 2013). A list of popular labels helps to find relevant topics among the extensive reviews. The Miss Rumphius Effect blog proves to be a great place to start thinking and exploring to find additional ideas and materials as we continue to develop curriculum and bring high quality children’s literature into the lives of learners.

    

 

References:

Calkins, L, Ehrenworth, M, & Lehman, C. (2012). Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement. Heinemann.

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards. Washington D.C.: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/

Potter, C. & Capizzo, L. (2013). The Nonfiction Detectives. Retrieved from http://www.nonfictiondetectives.com/

Stohr-Hunt, P. (2013). The Miss Rumphius Effect. Retrieved from http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com

Salzman, L. (2013). I.N.K. Interesting Non-fiction for Kids. Retrieved from http://inkrethink.blogspot.com/

 

Denise Stuart is from The University of Akron, Ohio. 

This article is part of a series from the Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG)

 

 

I was raised in a financially poor household in the late ’50s to early ’70s. I know now that we were rich in the things that matter, but no one could have convinced me of that when I was a lonely child looking for toys to occupy my long days while my two older sisters went off to that glorious place called school. Not having much stuff and having too much time on my hands afforded me the blessing of a vivid imagination. I loved to play “school.” I loved books and the power they held. I loved to write important information on every scrap piece of paper I could find. No envelope or piece of mail was safe from my “school work.”

In the weeks leading up to my first day of school, I spent a considerable amount of time wondering what my first teacher would be like. Would she have a nice smile? Would she be young and pretty, or would it be the same teacher my sister had three years earlier? I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get her. There were pros and cons. A pro was that she liked my sister, so surely she would like me. There were, however, more cons. She was old, and only smiled half-smiles. She wore high-top nanny shoes like Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins was stern but fun, though—this woman was just stern.

Well, I ended up getting my sister’s old, un-fun teacher, but the important thing was that I finally made it to school. I had finally entered the fantasy land of books and papers and pencils.

For five long years I had watched my sisters wait at the end of the driveway for that elusive school bus. Their arms would be piled high with books and notebooks. They looked so important. I fantasized about the day I could join them on that bus. I envisioned my arms over-loaded with books stacked to my chin. When the first day of school finally arrived, I could hardly contain my enthusiasm.

So you can imagine my disappointment to learn that first graders weren’t allowed to take their own paper and pencils to school, and we had to leave our books there too. Getting on that bus empty-handed was just about more than I could bear. I had to take action.

One afternoon, I collected every old workbook I could find that my sisters had from their earlier school days. When that bus rolled up the road the next morning, I was ready, my arms loaded, just like the big kids. Upon my arrival at school, I dutifully placed that stack of books underneath my desk. And then I promptly forgot about them, until the student next to me raised her hand and said, “Sandy has two workbooks!”

I didn’t know what she was talking about. But the teacher rushed over to my desk, grabbed my sister’s previously used workbook from under my desk, angrily thumbed to the page we were working on, and proceeded to tell the class what a low-life cheater I was.

“You even missed the same problem!” she snapped. She seemed very proud of herself, as if she had busted an evil cheating ring with her tremendous sleuthing skills. She was going to make an example of me if it was the last thing she did in her teaching career. In one brief encounter on that fall morning, this teacher single-handedly transformed a little six-year-old girl from a child who could barely contain her enthusiasm for books and learning, to a child who absolutely dreaded each subsequent school day. I no longer jumped out of bed in the mornings excited to go to school. Books no longer held that magical place in my life. And I was not about to be caught dead with a book in my hands at school!

Without that needed practice, my reading skills reached a plateau. My comprehension was terrible. My mind wandered as I read, and I would often find myself reading page after page, never knowing a thing they said.

That is not to say I didn’t sound like a good reader. I never missed a spelling word, and my vocabulary was that of a third grader. My high school sister was so proud of my skills, she asked me to showcase my talent for her boyfriend by reading the back of the Crest toothpaste tube for him. (This highly intellectualized sales claim is still etched in the useless information lobe of my brain.) But in the recesses of my mind, I was at recess!

I’m sure my first-grade teacher never picked up on my lost zeal for reading, and she certainly never troubled herself to discover my comprehension problem. In fact, she never really engaged with me the rest of the year. I stayed under her radar, and I was just fine with that.

Near the end of that school year, she called each child to her desk to read individually. No problem. I was the best out-loud reader in the whole class. When it came my turn, I approached the desk and read this paragraph about candy. Only, that day I had a problem confusing my lower case d with my b. So every time I came across the word “candy,” I pronounced it can-BUY.

My teacher allowed me to read through an entire story about can-BUY. When I finished, she said, “Well done, but that word is candy.”

Shouldn’t that have been a clue to her that I didn’t comprehend a thing I was reading? Who goes to the store to buy canby? What is canby? Again, this woman squandered a teachable moment.

I received exemplary grades that year, and my reading problem was never discovered. I managed to make good grades through high school as well. (Perhaps that’s an indictment of Georgia schools in the ’60s and ’70s.)

As an adult, I have learned to employ some strategies to help me stay focused. I still read aloud. I try to visualize everything I read, and apply it to my own life when possible. And when all my strategies fail, I read a passage two or three times until it sinks in.

Now What?

p: Old Shoe Woman via photopin cc

We learn from everyone we encounter, the good and the bad. From my first grade teacher, I learned the damage that can be done to an impressionable young mind and spirit. She broke my spirit, and caused me to be turned off by books and pleasure reading. It took many years of introspection to discern the real damage. If my teacher had spoken to me in private about my little book fetish, without resorting to public humiliation, I suspect I would have had an entirely different attitude about school and reading. If she had only employed some teaching strategies to help me with my obvious comprehension problem, it may have prevented me from being a college dropout.

As much as I would like to blame all my failures in life on my first grade teacher, I can’t do it. To be honest, I was just a tad lazy in college the first time around. But I do believe if I had been a strong reader, it would have made a world of difference. (So, no, I’m not going to let her off the hook completely.)

I was a student who was left behind before “left behind” became a political buzz phrase. In elementary school, I was quiet and caused no trouble. I did as I was told. Aren’t those the people in most of life’s situations who seem to get left behind? The non-complainers, the non-tattle-tales, the rule-followers—they’re the squeak-free wheels that don’t get greased.

I contend it’s that middle-of-the-road student who has the greatest untapped potential to grow and expand his horizons. That’s also the student who will absolutely thrill any teacher who is willing to look at him or her as a human being rather than a task or statistic.

My first-grade experiences have made me acutely aware of the power teachers hold. I hope that I will always use it to be an encourager. I hope I will be keenly tuned to the student who is struggling quietly. I hope that I will be able to ask the right questions to get to the heart of his or her struggles.

After a career in retail management and consulting, Sandy McClure returned to college to pursue a degree in secondary English education. She is currently teaching and writing. In 2011, her first children’s book, THINGS I PONDER, was published. It was a finalist in the children’s division for the 2012 Georgia Author of the Year Awards. Sandy and her sisters also published a children’s epic, THE CHIPMUNK FAMILY ODYSSEY. For more information about these books, visit www.threeheartcreations.com.



Reflections of a Former Alliterate Reader

The 94th annual celebration of Children's Book Week is May 13-19, 2013. Established in 1919, Children's Book Week is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Children's Book Week is administered by Every Child A Reader. The International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) celebrates Children's Book Week with this list of lovely new books.

 

GRADES K-2

 

Delacre, Lulu. (2013). How far do you love me? Text translated from Spanish by Veronica Betancourt. New York: Lee & Low Books.

Using soft pastels and free style poetic language, the author/illustrator has depicted the love of parent/adult and child using examples from all seven continents. Beginning with the question of “How far do you love me?” (p.1) and answering with “I love you to the top of the peaks/lit by the morning sun…” (p.2) from the Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA, and continuing with “To the depths of the cave/where a spring seeps sweet water …” from Cenote Dzitnup, Yucatán, México. Other geographic comparisons representing the depth of parental love include Machu Picchu, Peru; the Antarctic Peninsula; the Serengeti Plain, Tanzania; the Siani Peninsula, Egypt; Provence, France; the Alps in Switzerland; Ladakh in the Himalaya Mountains in India; the Mekong River, Vietnam; Kangaroo Island, Australia; the Great Barrier Reef in Australia; and Vieques, Puerto Rico. The book concludes with a map of the world with each location mentioned pinpointed and an invitation from the author to play this game with a favorite child.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

Duval, Kathy. (2013). Take me to your BBQ. Illus. by Adam McCauley. New York: Disney/Hyperion Books.

“Some colored lights from outer space/ Are lightin’ up the whole dang place!” (p. 5) says Willy from his Texas-style ranch while he watches little green men emerge from their space ship once they finish landing on his place. The aliens run around the ranch and get a feel for the garden and tractors and the food. Willy gets out his fiddle, and the aliens enjoy square dancing and the Texas two-step, and then the fun really begins. He fires up the grill, and the aliens commence to pour BBQ sauce on everything – beans, taters, greens, even Willy’s hat and shoes. McCauley’s watercolors and pastels add to the hilarity of the story in the depiction of the aliens and the havoc they create. A surprising twist at the end occurs when Willy and a few farm pets leave in the space vehicle UFO to fly to worlds beyond and open Willy’s BBQ, seen on an appropriate pull-out double page spread in the homeland of the aliens. Several wordless pictures end the book as readers see that a few green men have stayed behind and are taking care (or are they?) of the ranch. There is even a yummy BBQ sauce recipe included on the final pages. Enjoy McCauley’s website where he provides examples that trace how these final pictures evolved. The author has created a detailed teacher’s guide at her website.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

Houran, Lori Haskins. (2013). I will keep you safe and sound. Illus. by Petra Brown. New York: Scholastic Press.

This beautifully illustrated and endearing rhymed story arrives just in time for Mother’s Day. The title comes from the three sections of the book that speak to parental love and keeping children safe and sound, beginning with “Brown bears in the den/ While the first buds peep/” (p.3), continuing with “Rabbits in the field/While the crickets cheep/” (p.5), and concluding with “Robins in the nest/ While the rain pours down/ I will keep you safe and sound.” (p.7). The spare rhyming pattern continues with examples of alligators and the sun, squirrels and hawks, dolphins and wild waves, beavers and strong winds, ponies and the setting sun, and a kitten lost in the moonlight. Pencil, watercolor and gouache artwork give the illustrations a soft and warm invitation to very young readers for a lap story safe within the arms of a loving adult. Listen to the illustrator read the book at her website with her delightful British accent.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

Kleven, Elisa. (2013). Cozy light, cozy night. Berkeley, CA: Creston Books.

Filled with luminously colored and vividly detailed illustrations, this picture book in rhyming text celebrates that feeling of coziness so often associated with family and home. As the seasons change over the course of the year, all sorts of objects, including dreams, cocoa, birds, sweaters, and apples are described as being cozy. Although it’s wonderful to feel secure and cozy at any time of the year, youngsters experiencing tough times may find solace in this lovely, heartfelt book. There is little doubt that anyone reading this book won't relate to some of the different objects and relationships that spell coziness for the narrator.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

 

Levine, Arthur A. (2013). The very beary tooth fairy. Illus. by Sarah S. Brannen. New York: Scholastic Press.

Every child worries about losing his/her first tooth and wondering about the tooth fairy, and Zach the bear is no different. As he struggles with his loose tooth, it is finally when his sister Leah shares a bag of candy that the tooth comes out. Zach has been trying to figure out if the tooth fairy is a bear or if the fairy is human and whether he should be afraid or not. His mother assures him that all will be just fine because “A bear can be anyone/ And anyone can be a bear” (p.14). That night when Zach hides his tooth, two interesting events occur. Dressed in fairy clothing (it’s sister Leah, really) when Zach is mostly asleep, she slips into his room and leaves an apple for his prize. After Leah leaves and Zach nods off and falls asleep, the “real” tooth fairy complete with wings and wand and fairy dust arrives to find the real tooth and leave a dollar, spritz Zach’s human doll into a teddy bear, and his picture of baseball great Sandy Koufax into a bear baseball player. The magic of the tooth fairy remains a mystery!

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

Reid, Barbara. (2013). Picture a tree. Park Ridge, IL: Albert Whitman & Company.

Filled with powerful language, this appealing picture book encourages readers to look at trees from many different perspectives. Once they have done so, the author writes, "You may see the end of one thing, or the start of something new" (unpaged). Young readers will appreciate the author's consideration of trees in so many creative, even playful ways while older readers may be reminded of A Tree Is Nice (1956) by Janice May Udry, which covers similar territory. Both books are filled with splashes of green that soothe the senses and make readers pause for a moment. Certainly visually attractive, the Plasticine illustrations are filled with colors and plenty of movement. The images and text in this book also gladden the heart and may prompt meandering journeys through the trees during which hikers may store up sensory images so that they can truly picture a tree when they return home.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

 

Moore, Eva. (2013). Lucky ducklings. Illus. by Nancy Carpenter. New York: Orchard Books.

Of course this true story of the stranded ducklings in Montauk, New York, in 2000, begs to be used with Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings. Carpenter’s wonderful illustrations give several perspectives from the ducklings’ point of view to add to the suspense. Mama Duck has decided to take her new little ducklings for a walk and as she quacks out orders to follow her, Pippin, Bippin, Tippin, Dippin, and Little Joe, do just that. They leave the park and nibble on things to eat while on their walk. As Mama Duck continues their walk she marches right over the storm drain, and all of the little ducklings fall through the grate! The little ducklings create quite a ruckus. Fortunately, someone sees what is happening, and although firemen are called to the rescue, they can’t get the grate off. “That could have been the end of the story. But it wasn’t, because ….” (p.16) a man named Perry attaches a cable from his truck and is able to pull the grate off. A wonderful perspective of the fireman crawling down into the storm drain as the little ducks are looking up from the dark is the centerpiece of this story. The ducks are rescued and placed in a bucket to be taken to the pond. But Mama Duck is not happy about that! “Fireman Dennis knows just was to do” (p.21). He removes the ducklings from the bucket and lets them line up with Mama, stops traffic, and allows the ducks to travel on their way. For more background on this author and this true story, read this Q&A interview from Publisher’s Weekly.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

Scillian, Devin. (2013). Johnny Kaw: A tall tale. Illus. by Brad Sneed. Ann Arbor, MI: Sleeping Bear Press.

The author has written a tall tale reminiscent of Paul Bunyan although this tale centers around life on the plains of Kansas. Told in rhyming lines, the story begins when Johnny is born, and as he turns five minutes old, he is already six foot two and gains a pound every hour. Very soon, his parents have to find a bigger place to live. As they leave their home, Johnny literally helps them carve out a new place to live by throwing the stones from the field, and in true tall tale fashion the stones become the Rocky Mountains. He spits out a seed of grass and fields of wheat grow. When a cyclone twister whips up, Johnny goes after that storm with his newly created scythe made from a cottonwood trunk and a windmill blade. Life is going well until Johnny’s mother passes away. To deal with his grief, “he cleared every tree and left Kansas bare/ So she could see the sunset from anywhere” (p.27) because watching the sunset was his mother’s favorite time of day. This is a tenderly told story that will add humor and perspective to any tall tale collection of stories. 

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

Scillian, Devin. (2013). Memoirs of a hamster. Illus. by Tim Bowers. Ann Arbor, MI: Sleeping Bear Press.

From the author of Memoirs of a Goldfish (2010) comes the “Question: Who’s the luckiest hamster in the world? Answer: ME!” (p.1). And so begins the writing pattern of this delightful story that must be read aloud for full enjoyment. Each page tells the story of Seymour’s arrival to his new home with Little Girl. Even though she likes to kiss him (Yuck!), he does enjoy his new water bottle, and his Fuzzy Boy 360 exercise wheel, and he really likes the yogurt drops that Little Girl feeds him. However, Pearl the cat questions Seymour’s enjoyment of his wheel since it doesn’t go anywhere, and tells him that the freedom of the sun room and the stairway made of sunflower seeds are a much more enjoyable way of living. As Seymour thinks Pearl might be right, he devises a plan to escape from his cage.  Pearl is anxiously waiting to attack on the night of Seymour’s escape, and as Seymour realizes what could be first but fatal mistake, he asks: “Question: Who’s in big trouble? Answer: ME!” For any child who has had or wanted a hamster, this very funny story with a bit of suspense is just right for sharing with others. Read more about the author in "5 Questions With...Devin Scillian" on the Engage blog.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

Sheth, Kashmira. (2013). Tiger in my soup. Illus. by Jeffrey Ebbeler. Atlanta: Peachtree Press.

Perfect for Children’s Book Week, Right to Read Week, El Dia, or any day to commemorate literacy, this book celebrates reading. An older sister left in charge of her younger brother must get his lunch ready to eat. Busily occupied with her own book, she distractedly warms up soup for her brother’s lunch and ignores his pleas to read to him. When the soup is plopped on the table, steamy and too hot to start slurping it down, the young boy is startled as a tiger lunges out of the soup. At every turn, the boy is faced with the ferocious tiger, while his sister sees and hears nothing. The illustrations exaggerate the tiger’s size and fierceness as well as the fear on the young boy’s face, and prompt chuckles from readers. Much of the unspoken fun is in the pictures.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

Van Lieshout, Maria. (2013). Flight 1-2-3. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Young readers are always fascinated with transportation. “When taking a flight, what do you see?” is the author’s introductory statement when readers open the book and begin a journey to the airport. Designed as a counting book, the book’s text encourages readers to begin with the number 1 and a sign for an airplane.  The bold illustrations depict a young family getting out of their taxi as they arrive at the airport. Number 2 designates the sign for luggage carts, and the family uses two of them to move within the airport. Number 3 depicts the Check-In desks as the three passengers get their tickets. Number 4 shows the signs for elevators and escalators, number 5 depicts trash cans, Number 6 shows the security officers, Number 7 is for food and drinks, Number 8 and 9 show the restrooms, Number 10 represents the Gates. Large numbers are included at the end for seat belts signs, numbers representing miles and kilometers, feet and meters. This is a perfect travel companion to the author’s earlier book, Backseat A-B-See. Read more about her writing ideas for this book at the author’s blog.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

Wyeth, Sharon Dennis. (2013). The granddaughter necklace. Illus. by Bagram Ibatoulline. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic Press.

A perfect story for Mother’s Day, Sharon Dennis Wyeth shares a piece of her own family history. “Once there was a girl named Frances, who took a boat across the sea. Her mother gave her a glittering necklace that would belong to me someday. Handed down through the generations, it’s a necklace worn by the women and girls in my family” (p.1). Thus begins the mother to daughter story and tradition of handing down the granddaughter necklace to each female descendant. In writing the story Wyeth explored her own family history, tracing her roots back to Ireland, to her surprise. Each separate story is told with nostalgic warmth and describes the passing of the necklace given at special moments during the lives of each young girl along with the story of the necklace. The author has included extensive notes at the end explaining the search of her ancestry. On her website she writes, “My cherished family remembrances shine like jewels!”

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

GRADES 3-5

 

George, Jessica Day. (2013). Wednesdays in the tower. New York: Bloomsbury.

The sequel to Tuesdays at the Castle (2011), in which Princess Celie and her brother Rolf learned in the first book that Castle Glower has a mind of its own, this title shows that even a castle can change its mind. Before, The Castle only added or removed rooms on Tuesdays but now Wednesdays seem to have been added to The Castle’s agenda. In this new adventure, The Castle has created a new and hidden room that contains a bright orange egg. Rolf challenges Celie to find the new room, and when she does, she also discovers the egg. Celie cares for the egg and waits to see what will happen. One day, it hatches out a griffin that she names Rufus. With the exception of Bran the Wizard and Pogue the blacksmith, Celie manages to keep the existence of Rufus a secret. Celie tries to learn about griffins and their history within the castle and enjoys the fun of riding on Rufus’s back while pursuing her investigation. The ending leaves the story “hanging” (literally) and wide open for the next installment.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

Rylant, Cynthia. (2013). The steadfast tin soldier. Illus. by Jen Corace. New York: Abrams Books for Children.

It's terrific for a modern audience to have another version of the classic Hans Christian Andersen story of love between a tin soldier with one leg and a beautiful ballerina who perches on one leg. In this version of the story, a jealous goblin pushes the soldier from the window sill where his owner has perched him. From there, he goes on quite an adventure, sailing into a stream, meeting a rat who demands his passport, and then swept along further until being swallowed by a fish. When he somehow survives his perilous journey, his ballerina love is thrilled, but the goblin has one more trick up his sleeve, a fiery ending planned for the would-be lovers. Nevertheless, despite his treachery, true love triumphs over its many obstacles in this version of the tale. The watercolor, gouache, acrylic and pen and ink illustrations complement perfectly this timeless story of an unlikely romance. Although there is quite a lot of text, the story and the illustrations will hold readers' attention.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

 

GRADES 6-8

 

Setterington, Ken. (2013). Branded by the pink triangle. Toronto, ON: Second Story Press.

Much has been written about the atrocities of the Nazis during the Holocaust, but little has been written about the treatment of gay men during that time period. This book does an excellent job of describing the initial harassment of gay men by the Nazis as they tried to enforce Paragraph 175, a heretofore mostly ignored law passed in 1871 forbidding sexual contact between men. Eventually, anyone suspected as being homosexual was taken to a concentration camp and identified with a pink triangle worn on his clothing. The author describes the stories of some of the men who survived the horrible conditions in the death camps. Some young readers familiar with the play and movie Bent may be familiar with this aspect of the Holocaust, but most will have no idea of this form of discrimination. Young readers will now know this important piece of Holocaust history and understand the significance of the pink triangle, now the symbol of gay rights, once a mark of shame.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

 

GRADES 9-12

 

Lynch, Chris. (2013). Pieces. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Returning to the characters created in Iceman (HarperCollins, 1994) the author returns readers to younger brother Eric, now 17, as he grieves the accidental death of his older brother, Duane, the previous year in a diving accident. Eric is lost without Duane who was not only his brother, but also his best friend. He mentally revisits that night in the hospital when Duane’s organs were harvested for other people in need. Now, a year later, as Eric contemplates his next steps in life including joining the Navy, he debates whether he wants to meet the recipients of Duane’s organs. He decides to attend a meeting where the recipients will be and is introduced to Phil, who is so grateful to have hearing now due to Duane’s inner-ear bones, to Barry who received the liver that he now seems driven to destroy through alcohol, and to Melinda who got a kidney that saved her life and allowed her to raise her child. Enter Martha, Duane’s former girlfriend and object of Eric’s teen crush, and these individuals become a sort of new family group for Eric. Complicated coming of age emotions make this a complex novel and study in characterization.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

Lynch, Janet Nichols. (2013). My beautiful hippie. New York: Holiday House.

It's 1967, the Summer of Love in San Francisco, and sixteen-year-old Joanne Donnelly lives right on the edge of the action in Haight-Ashbury. Her middle class upbringing leaves Joanne (Joni) feeling constrained and longing for more. She is drawn to Martin, a hippie panhandling on the street, and his particular lifestyle, even while fearing that he will be unfaithful to her and leave her. It’s clear almost from the start that this is a match not meant to be—despite the strong attraction between the two teens. Even as Martin introduces Joni to the counterculture, her older sister Denise has her own consciousness raised as the result of a disappointing early marriage. While capturing the sounds, sights, and feelings of this turbulent period in the nation's history, the author creates interesting characters that change over the course of the novel. Readers will be drawn to Joni and her determinately rebellious nature while noting that her searching didn't take her very far away from home. In many respects this is a quiet book, but it’s also the story of important life choices being made. Readers are certain to wonder what sort of adult Joni will become.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

 

McMann, Lisa. (2013).  Crash. New York: Simon Pulse/Simon and Schuster.

From the author of the popular Wake trilogy, Crash is the first title in her new Visions series. This first volume introduces readers to Jules and the DeMarco family. They own an Italian restaurant, and Jules is resigned to the fact that if she wants to drive to school, she must take the double-meatball-shaped food truck. Jules is starting to have visions, and everywhere she turns she pictures a terrible crash with a snowplow hurtling toward a building and an explosion resulting in nine body bags. Finally, after one vision she recognizes the face on one of the bodies, Sawyer Angotti, someone she knows and cares about deeply. With a history of mental illness in her family, Jules is reluctant to tell anyone about her visions. Although the visions are appearing everywhere, billboards, road signs, and television, she has to figure out a way to prevent this horrible accident from happening. McMann adds a bit of levity throughout this suspense-filled action novel as Jules is always creating her lists of 5 things she needs to think about and maybe act upon. This supernatural thriller is a great way to begin a new series from this popular author.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

 

Winters, Cat. (2013). In the shadow of blackbirds. New York: Abrams/Amulet Books.

The cover of this book set in 1918 promises an enticing, independent, free-thinking protagonist with a plot revolving around spiritualism. Other black and white photographs, intriguing shots of mediums and possible visitors from the spirit world, soldiers in trenches during WWI, and images of citizens wearing masks to protect themselves from contagion, have been strategically placed within the narrative. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black has fled her Portland home for San Diego where her aunt lives. While her father is on trial for following his conscience, her aunt works hard to forget her own losses. Even as news of the war swirls around them, it is the flu that frightens everyone into staying home so they can avoid the contagion. Perhaps because there is so much death around them, many citizens are fascinated by the possibility of making connections with the spirits of their dearly departed. Mary Shelley scoffs at their gullibility, but when she feels the presence of Stephen, her childhood friend turned potential suitor, after his death, she decides she must figure out why his spirit refuses to rest. The original storyline and fascinating characters will keep even the choosiest reader engaged, and there are enough twists, turns, and bumps along the way to hold the attention of most readers. Effectively and hauntingly capturing the place and time in a surreal fashion, the author prompts reflection about the things we do to save face and whether the events described in the book could have happened. Readers will be unlikely to stop thinking about all those deaths as the result of the flu.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

 

 

These reviews are submitted by members of the International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) and are published weekly on Reading Today Online.