ROOM FOR ONE MORE- MATTHEW PRICE AND IAN P. BENFOLD HAYWOOD

Publisher: Mathew Price Limited

Copyright: 2008

Review copy provided by publisher

I know some people are done with their Christmas shopping. A few of us, however, are still working on it. Here's a really fun story for the youngest readers on your list. 

"One lucky day," a family goes on an outing. At the sweet shop (Mathew Price is a British publisher, who recently relocated to Denton,  Texas), the family sees a little green frog. They don't want him to get stepped on, so Daddy puts the frog in a jar. At the park, they see a lost kitten, and Daddy puts him in a shopping basket. At the pet shop, the family discovers a lonely canary, and Daddy puts him in a cage. When the family finds an elephant, Daddy finally puts his foot down…

This is a fun cumulative tale with  a repeating refrain. Perhaps the most fun, however, is the fact that ROOM FOR ONE MORE is a lift-the-flap book. Each time the family adds a new animal, there's a new flap. By the end of the book, the child gets to open five separate flaps. 

I know this is a book my youngest reading friends will absolutely love and will want to hear/read again and again.

AMELIA EARHART: THE LEGEND OF THE LOST AVIATOR by Shelley Tanaka

This week, my CYBILS reading has taken me from swords to pilots. While SWORDS and AMELIA EARHART: THE LEGEND OF THE LOST AVIATOR might not, at first, seem very similar, both books have a common thread. They're both really engaging because they are both about people brave enough to throw themselves wholeheartedly into their passions. In my mind, that always makes for interesting reading.

Amelia Earhart saw her first airplane in 1908 at the Iowa State Fair.  THE LOST LEGEND traces Earhart's life from childhood until she and her airplane vanished on a round-the-world flight in 1937. An epilogue explores possible outcomes of the Earhart mystery. Several themes, e.g. girls can do anything, follow your dreams, and don't be afraid to take risks, resonate throughout the book.

AMELIA EARHART is a really readable biography- simple enough for an average fourth or fifth grader, but also interesting enough to hold a middle schooler's attention. The body of the text is supplemented with occasional sidebar information on related topics, e.g. the history of flying, other women pilots, Earhart's fan mail. Visuals in AMELIA EARHART are also worth noting. The book contains a number of captioned photographs from Earhart's life. It includes an equal number of beautiful paintings by David Craig. 

A great book for a biography unit, or a unit on women pioneers (or actually any pioneers), or a kid who is interested in flying, or just because…

SWORDS: AN ARTIST'S DEVOTION- BEN BOOS

I am not, in any way, an advocate of  violence. If I'm being honest, I have to tell you I cringed a little bit when I saw SWORDS: AN ARTIST'S DEVOTION on the CYBILS list. This book, though, is not in any way, shape, or form violent. or bloody, or gory, nor would it present any problems in a school library or classroom. It even got a review in PARENTS' magazine.

Ben Boos is a lifelong sword afficionado. In this book, he traces the history of swords through swordsmen  all over the world- raiders, knights, kings, ninjas, samurai, and others. Each chapter is about a different sword-bearing group. The chapter begins with a brief introduction (generally no more than two or three paragraphs) and is followed by three or four pages of some of the most incredibly detailed artwork I have ever seen in a children's book. The intro pages for each chapter are usually in color, then later pages in the chapter are a series of captioned diagrams which give tons and tons more information about this particular group's swords.

I could see using this book in a unit on medieval times.  I could see using this book in a lesson on how different nonfiction texts are structured. I could see using Boos' diagrams to teach students about creating diagrams.  I could see using the incredibly detailed drawing in art classes. Maybe most importantly, I could see using this book to engage kids in books- it sure caught my boys' attention last night!

POETRY FRIDAY: EVERY HUMAN HAS RIGHTS

EVERY HUMAN HAS RIGHTS: 

A PHOTOGRAPHIC DECLARATION FOR KIDS

Based on the United Nations Declaration for Kids

Foreword by Mary Robinson, Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

National Geographic Society, (c) 2009

Review copy provided by the publisher

In 1948, just after World War II, members of the United Nations gathered to write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration identifies approximately 30 basic human rights, including dignity, safety, food, shelter, privacy, and freedom of expression, that should be the birthright of every human being. The declaration "isn't a law, and it isn't a treaty…it's a document, translated into over 330 languages, that calls on all of us to work as hard as we can to guarantee a world of freedom and peace."

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In honor of that anniversary, the Elders, a group of senior statesman from around the world, collaborated with National Geographic to create a beautiful new book. The starting point of the book was a writing contest, sponsored by the ePals community. Each participating teacher shared the Universal Declaration, written in kid friendly language, with his/her students. Students were then invited to write their responses. National Geographic, along with the Elders, selected sixteen of those responses to include in this beautiful new book. Here is a sample:

"Mother Earth to Her Children"

Listen, my children, listen to me

Each of you was born, crafted from earth

Bound to the land, sea, and sky

And from the moment you drew your first breath

You were free

Never to kneel before your brother

And call him master

For you were both crafted of the same earth.

Lauren Auer, age 18

Student responses were paired with one or two beautiful full-color photographs from around the world. Each two-page spread includes at least one of the basic human rights rights, e.g. "You have the right to a free and safe life," a corresponding student poem or response, and one or two photos. Each photograph is accompanied by a caption that provides information about human rights in that country. 

Several added bonuses: a foreword written by Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the full text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a list of websites and other resources for additional information. The first website readers will want to visit is www.EveryHumanHasRights.org, where they can sign the Declaration. 

This is a powerful and remarkable book. It is a book every child, and every adult who cares about kids, should own…

POETRY FRIDAY is at WILD ROSE READER.

OUR WHITE HOUSE: LOOKING IN, LOOKING OUT

OUR WHITE HOUSE: LOOKING IN, LOOKING OUT

An anthology created by 108 authors and illustrators 

and the National Children's Book Alliance, 

with an introduction by David McCullough

Imagine a list of some of the premier authors and illustrators from the world of children's literature- people like Eric Carle,Kate DiCamillo, Jean Craighead George, Steven Kellogg,Linda Sue Park,  Katherine Paterson, Jerry Pinkney, Jon Scieszka, David Small, Jerry Spinelli, Sara Stewart, Mark Teague, Jane Yolen, and Ed Young, to mention a few.  Now imagine that all of those people are invited to contribute a piece to an anthology. Then imagine that all of these contributions are centered around a building that has fascinated Americans for a little more than two hundred years. 

That description pretty much sums up OUR WHITE HOUSE: LOOKING IN, LOOKING OUT. It's a collection of short stories, articles, presidential letters and speeches, plays, poems, timelines, illustrations, and just about anything else you can conjure up. There's fact, there's fiction, there's silly, there's serious, there's beautiful art, and bawdy humor. And it's all centered around the White House. 

I especially enjoyed the illustrated timeline by Bob Kolar (do you know what president brought indoor plumbing, or the internet to the White House? Or which one got locked out while walking his dog one evening?) The "Four Freedoms" illustrations by Calef Brown, Peter Sis, Ed Young, and Steven Alcorn are unforgettable (and would make a terrific art project for kids studying American History). I laughed through Polly Horvath's short story, "White House Souvenir" and cried as I read Kate Di Camillo's "In Early April." I thought the mock Secret Service interview was fascinating (why would anyone ever apply for THAT job!?) and I can't wait to try out the readers' theater on suffrage. And I could certainly identify with Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Prayer for Peace."

This book has an interesting website. I'm planning on using the article on the National Christmas Tree next week. 

A QUICK APOLOGY

This has been a crazy couple of weeks in my little corner of the world. I'm trying to balance the demands of a crazy-busy time at work, being a single mom to two very busy teenage boys, and an aging mom, who is experiencing some pretty significant health issues right now. I apologize, then, to anyone who reads my blog, and has been disappointed over the last couple of weeks--  I'm still reading through the enormous stack of middle grade and YA nonfiction, and will try to post a little more regularly as soon as I can!

IN DEFIANCE OF HITLER: THE SECRET MISSION OF VARIAN FRY- Carla Killough McClaffery

I want my sons and the kids I teach to understand that heroes aren't necessarily people who ride in limousines, or  make lots of money, or have been gifted with athletic ability. Instead, I want them to understand that heroes are ordinary people who show extraordinary courage and character in the face of difficult situations. I've definitely found a new favorite today!

Varian Fry was an American journalist who travelled to Germany in 1935. While he was there, he witnessed a horrific riot, where Germans dragged Jews out of their workplaces and cars and beat them mercilessly, simply because they were Jews. 

In 1940, Fry became a member of the newly formed Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC), a group formed to help rescue trapped artists and intellectuals, including artists (e.g. Marc Chagall), writers (novelist Heinrich Mann) and scientists, from the throes of the Nazi invasion in Europe. The organization asked for a volunteer to travel to Europe to do what they could to help rescue some of these people.  Fry left behind his career and his wife, and flew to Marseilles, France, with a list of names, and $3000 taped to his leg. He planned to stay approximately one month.

The mission proved much larger and more difficult (and dangerous) than people expected, and Varian Fry ended up staying a year, not leaving until he was forcibly removed. Fry and his committee, fed and cared for refuges, gathered needed paperwork, forged documents, hiked with people over the Pyrenees from France into Spain, arranged transportation to the United States or other countries. When it was over, Fry, and a small group he had assembled, had rescued approximately 2000 people from the hands of the Nazis. 

Varian Fry truly was an ordinary man who demonstrated extraordinary character and courage in the face of very difficult circumstances. I'd add this book to any middle or high school unit on the Holocaust or on heroes. It's an exceptional story!