1. Wear a watch and use it to tell time.
2. Write Thank you notes (well, some success there).
3. Write postcards from our upcoming trips to Maine and Florida.
4. Become organized by using a vertical filing system for their school work. Question-must every card created by my kindergartner be filed away?
5. Use a stapler, 3 hole punch, and learn to knit.
6. Understand and use a dictionary. Not spell check. Not mom check. A real dictionary.
That will show them.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
90 minute delays
It's sleeting out and the schools have a 90 minute delayed opening. Our local elementary was sure to call us three times and email us twice to ensure our kids didn't darken their doors until 10:30am. Today is my first day at said school doing field work in the school library/media center/whatever it's being called this semester. It will be interesting to finally experience how being a school librarian differs from being a public librarian. Either way I'm glad to be out of the house spending time in a place I love.
So what are we reading?
Mr Elephanter by Lark Pien
Picture book. A book probably described as 'quirky,' Mr Elephanter is a small man who takes care of three tiny orphan "elephanties" each day. We follow him as he takes care of the crew by playing with them, putting them down for naps, visiting the local pool and park, and then going home for the day.It's silly, it's fun and the illustrations in a gentle watercolor are full of action and expression. The author also illustrated the graphic novel American Born Chinese, a YA graphic novel in three parts examining life for a Chinese-American teen. Yes the two books are far apart in age appropriateness, but ABC is so awesome in detail and story that I had to get the title in here. Read it even if you aren't a teen.
Ernest the Moose Who Doesn't Fit by Catherine Raynet
Picture book. This is another title where the author is also the illustrator. A simple story: Ernest the Moose just wants to have his full picture shown in his book- a seemingly impossible task as various body sections are crammed into the limited view. I love how the illustations look to be drawn on graphic paper. Many books these days show illustrations involving mixed media or drawn on household paper to look like graph paper or wallpaper. Did this begin with Lauren Child? I like it when used to help express the story. I've read titles where it's been done to lesser success, distracting from an already over baked text.
Mitch and Amy by Beverly Clearly
Chapter book, grades 2 and up ymmv. I read this ages ago, and am reading from my own childhood copy to my girls. While parts of the book reveal it's age (walking to a class trip downtown? Girl Scout badges in housekeeping?) the story lines are still relevant--especially with the bully Alan Hibbler. Alan destroys property, spits in Amy's hair, steals cupcakes and throws dirt bombs...and even then both Mitch and Amy know that having their Mom call his Mom would equal disaster. It's nice to read a book where brother and sister genuinely work not only to get on each other's nerves, but to defend each other against a common enemy.
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
Chapter book--3rd grade and up.
I'll be reading this to 3rd graders this semester. I'm not reading it to my girls because I don't think they are ready for it--my older daughter is so sensitive that Edward's seemingly constant journey from heartbreak to heartbreak (and no, he isn't sent to the thrift store) would distract her from hearing the meaning of hope and keeping your heart ready for love in the story, and just upset her. Honestly, how many times can a poor china rabbit have its heart broken? As a teen how many times did my own heart get busted apart? Never mind Edward. As usual for DiCamillo, a tender, astute novel of feeling and energy. Just have some tissues close by. But if you read any of her other titles you already know that.
So what are we reading?
Mr Elephanter by Lark Pien
Picture book. A book probably described as 'quirky,' Mr Elephanter is a small man who takes care of three tiny orphan "elephanties" each day. We follow him as he takes care of the crew by playing with them, putting them down for naps, visiting the local pool and park, and then going home for the day.It's silly, it's fun and the illustrations in a gentle watercolor are full of action and expression. The author also illustrated the graphic novel American Born Chinese, a YA graphic novel in three parts examining life for a Chinese-American teen. Yes the two books are far apart in age appropriateness, but ABC is so awesome in detail and story that I had to get the title in here. Read it even if you aren't a teen.
Ernest the Moose Who Doesn't Fit by Catherine Raynet
Picture book. This is another title where the author is also the illustrator. A simple story: Ernest the Moose just wants to have his full picture shown in his book- a seemingly impossible task as various body sections are crammed into the limited view. I love how the illustations look to be drawn on graphic paper. Many books these days show illustrations involving mixed media or drawn on household paper to look like graph paper or wallpaper. Did this begin with Lauren Child? I like it when used to help express the story. I've read titles where it's been done to lesser success, distracting from an already over baked text.
Mitch and Amy by Beverly Clearly
Chapter book, grades 2 and up ymmv. I read this ages ago, and am reading from my own childhood copy to my girls. While parts of the book reveal it's age (walking to a class trip downtown? Girl Scout badges in housekeeping?) the story lines are still relevant--especially with the bully Alan Hibbler. Alan destroys property, spits in Amy's hair, steals cupcakes and throws dirt bombs...and even then both Mitch and Amy know that having their Mom call his Mom would equal disaster. It's nice to read a book where brother and sister genuinely work not only to get on each other's nerves, but to defend each other against a common enemy.
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
Chapter book--3rd grade and up.
I'll be reading this to 3rd graders this semester. I'm not reading it to my girls because I don't think they are ready for it--my older daughter is so sensitive that Edward's seemingly constant journey from heartbreak to heartbreak (and no, he isn't sent to the thrift store) would distract her from hearing the meaning of hope and keeping your heart ready for love in the story, and just upset her. Honestly, how many times can a poor china rabbit have its heart broken? As a teen how many times did my own heart get busted apart? Never mind Edward. As usual for DiCamillo, a tender, astute novel of feeling and energy. Just have some tissues close by. But if you read any of her other titles you already know that.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Finding Non Series Books
We love books. As a family of readers our weekly trips to the public library are adventures. The lights, the feel and sense of place, the large cushions of dragon and ladybug that have been landing sites for thousands of small and not-so-small children all shape our storyhouse home away from home. I was a reference librarian for some time before taking a break to begin a family, and now I enter the library as a patron, a new experience that quickly became comfortable again. I still corner a librarian here or there to discuss books, but my passion has turned from tracking down obsolete stock certificates, obscure painters, and business complaint numbers (toll free, of course) to discussing the merits of J series books, controversial YA novels, and picture books getting a bad rep as baby books. I love it. I even love being in the library during lunch hour when inevitably someones lunch is warmed up and makes the library smell like soup. Gross. But there it is.
I titled this entry non series books. For kids, they are difficult to come by as publishers seem to want to have a sure thing for their titles. Yes we enjoy the Magic Treehouse, Ivy & Bean, and Geronimo books. However, sometimes a reader wants something new, fresh, and bold and the series are, well...series. They have a form and follow it and that's what you want when you want it. And if they get your child/student reading, well Hooray! But, still...finding a stand alone kid's book. It's not so simple these days, but here are two we loved:
Roxy and the Hooligans
Emily's Fortune
Both by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Two stand alone books by the author of Shiloh, both titles feature young girls who must overcome dangerous times (bullies, deranged uncles) to determine their fate. Each book is exciting, and honestly would be appealing to boys and girls. Roxy is a small kid picked on by a nasty bunch of bullies. And these kids are bullies, complete with innovative name calling and attempts at forcing Roxy to wear the underwear of an older brother. During a showdown in the school lot they all fall into a dumpster that is emptied onto a garbage boat and dumped at sea. They swim to an island where two bank robbers are hiding out and Roxy, with her knowledge of survival tactics gleaned from Lord Thistlebottom's Book of Pitfalls and how to Survive Them, manages to outwit the robbers, save the bullies, and lead them back to safety. Timid Emily, orphaned when her Mother and wealthy boss die in a carriage accident, must take a stagecoach clear across the country to meet up with her beloved Aunt Hilda. Along the way she must dodge the Catchum Child-Catching Services who want the reward for handing her over to her greedy villainous Uncle Victor. Throw an inheritance that she must keep secret, a possible new friend and fellow orphan Jackson, and a pet turtle into the mix and this book truly takes you off of a well-beaten path of westerns. It's fun, exciting, and just long enough for younger readers.
I titled this entry non series books. For kids, they are difficult to come by as publishers seem to want to have a sure thing for their titles. Yes we enjoy the Magic Treehouse, Ivy & Bean, and Geronimo books. However, sometimes a reader wants something new, fresh, and bold and the series are, well...series. They have a form and follow it and that's what you want when you want it. And if they get your child/student reading, well Hooray! But, still...finding a stand alone kid's book. It's not so simple these days, but here are two we loved:
Roxy and the Hooligans
Emily's Fortune
Both by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Two stand alone books by the author of Shiloh, both titles feature young girls who must overcome dangerous times (bullies, deranged uncles) to determine their fate. Each book is exciting, and honestly would be appealing to boys and girls. Roxy is a small kid picked on by a nasty bunch of bullies. And these kids are bullies, complete with innovative name calling and attempts at forcing Roxy to wear the underwear of an older brother. During a showdown in the school lot they all fall into a dumpster that is emptied onto a garbage boat and dumped at sea. They swim to an island where two bank robbers are hiding out and Roxy, with her knowledge of survival tactics gleaned from Lord Thistlebottom's Book of Pitfalls and how to Survive Them, manages to outwit the robbers, save the bullies, and lead them back to safety. Timid Emily, orphaned when her Mother and wealthy boss die in a carriage accident, must take a stagecoach clear across the country to meet up with her beloved Aunt Hilda. Along the way she must dodge the Catchum Child-Catching Services who want the reward for handing her over to her greedy villainous Uncle Victor. Throw an inheritance that she must keep secret, a possible new friend and fellow orphan Jackson, and a pet turtle into the mix and this book truly takes you off of a well-beaten path of westerns. It's fun, exciting, and just long enough for younger readers.
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