IT'S A BOOK- LANE SMITH

So do you remember that I really am trying to be a totally hip and with it kind of gal? In case you forgot, I am. I totally am trying to be hip and with it. I blog. I have a facebook account. I tweet. A little bit. Although I have not quite got the hang of that tiny url thing, at least not yet. This summer, I went to the ISTE conference where I did not win an ipad, despite the fact that I wrote my name on many, many win a free ipad raffle tickets. I am, I think, becoming slightly more techno savvy.

But when it all boils down to it, there is nothing I like better than holding a good old fashioned book. I like looking at the pictures. I like turning the pages. Ijust like books.

I laughed out loud, then, today when I read Lane Smith's newest creation, IT'S A BOOK. In this book, three friends- a monkey, a mouse, and a jackass- are friends. The monkey loves to read. The jackass, a totally hip and with-it techno kind of guy has never seen a book until he encounters Monkey reading. He has lots of questions-- Can you blog? How do you scroll down? Can you make the characters fight? Monkey answers the questions for a while, but that becomes impatient and hands Jackass his copy of TREASURE ISLAND. And you can guess what happens next…

This is definitely a picture book for older kids. I'd love to use it to introduce independent reading in a middle or high school classroom. So funny!!!!

POETRY FRIDAY

A week when kids' stories, the I'm living with my auntie, My dad is in jail, My mom is mad because sister (age 15) is pregnant, I can't pay $10 for a football jersey because DCY doesn't give us money have been too much and too many for my heart to hold…

MARCUS MILLSAP: SCHOOL DAY AFTERNOON
I climb the steps of the yellow school bus,
move to a seat in back, and we're off,
bouncing along the bumpy blacktop.
What am I going to do when I get home?
I'm going to make myself a sugar sandwich
and go outdoors and look at the birds
and the gigantic blue silo
they put up across the road at Motts'.

Read the rest of the poem here.

Poetry Friday is at BOOK AUNT (and by the way, I LOVE her blog's subtitle, "because other people can give you clothes and video games for your birthday"). My sentiments exactly!

TOUCH BLUE- CYNTHIA LORD

Cynthia Lord gets it. She totally gets it.

And that could pretty much be my review for TOUCH BLUE.

But you might want a little more.

OK, here it is.

TOUCH BLUE is the story of Tess Brooks, an eleven-year-old girl who lives on Bethsaida Island in Maine. When the book opens, the Brooks family, along with several other families on Bethsaida Island, are waiting for the ferry, which is bringing five foster children to the island. The islanders are taking the foster children in a last-ditch effort to save their school, which is in danger of closing because there are not enough children.

Tess has big plans for Aaron, the thirteen-year-old boy who comes to live with them. She hopes he will like reading, building things, fishing, and riding bikes, just like she does. Aaron, however, turns out to be a musician-- a gifted trumpet and piano player, who carries a suitcase of sadness, a deep longing for his own mother and home, an emptiness and desire to belong. And that, I would say, has pretty much been my experience with the foster children I have known. No matter how loving their foster/adoptive family, or how rich their lives, or how long they have been separated, there is always a dull ache, a longing for their biological family and home…

It's not like the book is all sad. There is a lot of richness and humor and wisdom too. Tess' father (a way cool dad/foster dad), is a lobster fisherman, and there is lots of interesting information about that occupation/culture throughout the book (I worried before I read TOUCH BLUE) that my urban students might not be able to connect or understand, but Cynthia Lord explains things so beautifully, that won't be a problem at all, in fact I think they will love learning about a way of life so different from their own). Tess' father is a wise, wise man. At one point, for instance, he tells Tess that the Brooks family will have to be "stubborn" in loving Aaron, that they cannot give up on him. And in my mind, that's a perfect way to describe the love I have had to learn for my boys. Stubborn. It's a good thing I was pretty stubborn before I ever had them. And there's also the theme of superstition throughout the book. Tess is a highly superstitious young lady and each chapter opens with a superstition, which then is somehow connected to the events in the chapter, e.g. the title of the book comes from "Touch blue and your wish will come true."

I loved, loved, loved RULES. And I have had a lot of fun reading HOT ROD HAMSTER to younger kids. But TOUCH BLUE is definitely my favorite of Cynthia Lord's books. Cynthia Lord is an author who gets it.

POETRY FRIDAY

We had kids yesterday,
but my sons' first day of high school is today.
And I'm praying that somehow my two fellas
who had the perseverance
to get out of bed
four mornings a week,
all summer long,
for six a.m. football conditioning,
and studied
and took notes
and researched football film
endlessly,
and wrote
and revised
and performed songs on Garage Band
two or three hours a day
all summer long
will have somehow acquired
the school gene.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
Judith Viorst
Will they let me go when I need to go to the bathroom?
And what if I get lost on the way back to class?
And what if all of the other kids are a hundred, a thousand, a million times smarter than I am?
And what if we have a spelling test or a reading test or an anything test, and I'm the only person who doesn't pass?

Read the rest of the poem here.

Poetry Friday is at Teaching Poetry K-12.

INTERRUPTING CHICKEN- DAVID EZRA STEIN

OK, while we are on the subject of chickens and literacy, INTERRUPTING CHICKEN is another really fun new book Laura and I found last week at Tattered Cover. A little red chicken wants her father to read her a bedtime story. He is a little reluctant, claiming that she always interrupts. Little Red Chicken promises that she won't interrupt this time and off they go.

First, Father reads Hansel and Gretel. When he gets to the part where Hansel and Gretel are about to get themselves into deep trouble, Little Red Chicken can't help herself, and she interrupts. Next, Father Chicken reads Little Red Riding Hood. Again, Little Red Chicken feels the need to warn the main character about a dangerous situation. Father moves onto Chicken Little. And once again…well, you know what's going to happen. Tired and exasperated, Father tells Little Red Chicken she should write her own book. By the time she's done, Father is fast asleep.

Besides simply being a story that kids are going to love, I could see using this book in lots of different ways. I might use it to introduce what I call the "Rule of Three," how writers have things happen three times. It would be a great book to talk about what it means to be an active reader. Little Red Chicken is constantly thinking about the stories and carrying on a dialogue with the characters. And it would be a perfect book for those early weeks of school, when you are working on getting writing workshop up and running (I'd put it in a string with BUNNYCAKES and PATCHES LOST AND FOUND).

Our students come back to school today. I can't wait to share this book with a group of primary kids.

CHICKEN BUTT- ERIKA PERL

I want every single kid in my class to become a card-carrying member of the literacy club that first week of school. That sweet six- year-old that has read every single MAGIC TREE HOUSE and is reading HARRY POTTER at home with his dad? He's easy. The little punkin that sits in the front row at group time, hair ribbon neatly tied, hands folded, eyes glued to the book? No problem. But my favorite, my very favorite, is that little guy who sits in the back row, making armpit noises and pitching pebbles at his buddies. Have I got a book for you, buddy!

In CHICKEN BUTT, a cute little guy, possibly related to the fellas sitting in back of my reading circle, pesters his newspaper reading dad. Guess what? Chicken butt! The next page features a different question, and a different body part. Guess Why? Chicken thigh! Every two page spread features a different question and a different body part. Eventually, the little boy's dad becomes annoyed and he is sent to the corner…but even then, the fun is not over!

I know this will be a favorite of first and second graders from day one! And it would make a perfect readers' theater!

NEW BLOG IN KIDLITOSPHERE

I'm always glad to hear that a new friend has joined the world of kidlitosphere. Got an email today from Amy, a kindergarten teacher from Ohio. She's just jumped into the world of blogging at literacyandlaughter.blogspot.com. Today's entry is a Smilebox clip introducing kindergartners to their new classroom. If I was the mom of a five year old, I would love to sit with my child and help him/her prepare for school by viewing this clip and talking about all of the fun things that were going to be happening at school. Check out Amy's video and welcome her to the world of blogging!