TWO CRAZY CHICKENS

LOUISE, THE ADVENTURES OF A CHICKEN is one of Kate DiCamillo's newest picture books. Louise is a chicken who gets bored at home, and regularly sets out to see the world. In her first adventure, Louise boards a ship, which is captured by pirates. As the pirates debate whether to friccase her, stew her, or serve her with dumplings, Louise jumps overboard, battles her way through a terrible storm, and eventually makes her way home to her safe, warm chicken coop. Next, Louise joins the circus, where she is very happy walking across a tightrope with a pink umbrella. A new adventure unfolds the day a lion escapes from his cage. In her third adventure, Louise travels to a bazaar in a faraway land, where she must rescue herself, and several other chicken friends, from a locked cage. This is a delightful story, with a kooky but oh so loveable main character, and a very sweet message about home and friendship. 

CORIANDER, THE CONTRARY CHICKEN- Dori Chaconas

Coriander is a very contrary chicken. While the other chickens are content to sit on their ruffled bottoms in their soft nests in the henhouse, Coriander sets out to see the world. She builds a nest right smack in the middle of a road, and settles in for a nice long rest. This, of course, causes a horrible traffic jam. Farmer Bucket, then Mrs. Bucket, attempt to convince Coriander to move out of the road, to no avail. Finally, little Fanny  Bucket is able to use a little reverse psychology to get Coriander to move. This is a really fun read, a kind of cumulative tale. I could also see myself spending some time talking about the interesting vocabulary- words like flippant and contrary. 

You could just enjoy these two terrific chiekn stories. You could also use them, however, to talk about character development, because both books have really strong, interesting, main characters. You could do great comparisons of Coriander and Louise (I'd probably start with Coriander, because I usually move from silly to more serious). If you wanted to add a third book to the mix, you could use the MINERVA LOUISE series by Janet Morgan Stoeke.

MOONPIE AND IVY

As some of you know, this year, I got hooked on Barbara O'Connor. I started with HOW TO STEAL A DOG, which I think is still my favorite. Over this year, I've read through five others- GREETINGS FROM NOWHERE, FAME AND GLORY IN FREEDOM, GEORGIA, TAKING CARE OF MOSES, and most recently, BEETHOVEN IN PARADISE. 

On Friday, while I was working through the twelve-hour-waiting-for-teenage-sons in a variety of different places challenge, I read MOONPIE AND IVY. The book opens with Pearl, a tweenish kind of kid, sitting on the front porch at her Aunt Ivy's house. Pearl's mom, Ruby, has dropped her off at Ivy's house in the middle of the night, then disappeared with no explanation. Pearl is left, for almost an entire summer, in a little tiny town, in the middle of nowhere, with her Aunt Ivy, who she had never met before. Ivy's closest friend is Moonpie, a neighbor boy who lives in a shack, just over the hill, with his elderly, and very ill grandmother. 

I love Barbara O'Connor's novels. Her main characters are the kids I know- kids whose families don't have money, kids who don't have new clothes and dance lessons and dads that come home every night. They are kids who do the best they can in these tough situations. Sometimes they make poor choices, then have to deal with the consequences. Usually, they are kids who find friends in unlikely places and end up surviving in spite of all of the hard stuff in their lives. 

I have to tell you, I didn't love MOONPIE AND IVY. It's not because it doesn't have great characters or a terrific story, because it does. It's a typical Barbara O'Connor- beautifully crafted, quirky and likeable characters, terrific dialogue, a book you don't want to put down until you get to the last page. It's a great read, and one that I will definitely share with kids when we go back to school in the fall.

I didn't love this book because it made me really, really sad. Pearl has a really hard life. The dropoff at her mom's house appears to be only the latest in a series of maternal missteps. Ivy is kind and caring, but she is very invested in taking care of Moonpie and his grandmother, not to mention a boyfriend that becomes a fiance over the course of the book. She sees the situation with Pearl as very temporary. At the end of the book, Pearl is with her mom and they are supposedly headed to a new life in Arizona, but it's not clear that that life will be any better than their previous situations. Ivy has given Pearl sunflower seeds to plant wherever she ends up (and also her phone number). Pearl bites into one of the sunflower seeds, deciding that her best hope is within herself.

That's what makes me so sad. All week I have been thinking of the kids I know and teach. For many of them, the best place in their lives, their happiest moments, the times when they feel safest and most secure, are at school. I wonder who is feeding them this summer, who is taking care of them, who is reading them stories. I don't want kids to have to be their only source of strength or hope…

POETRY FRIDAY (OK, almost Saturday!)

Lucky gal that I am, I won Ann Whitford Paul's ALL BY HERSELF in a Miss Rumphius Effect book give away (thanks so much!) about six weeks ago. It's been sitting on the top of the pile, and today I finally got to give it a good read. 

ALL BY HERSELF consists of fourteen biographical poems about women. Some are women you know well- Amelia Earhart, Rachel Carson, Sacajawea, Wilma Rudolph, Pocahontas, author Wanda Gag, and politician Golda Meirs. Others, however, are much less familiar- Harriet Hanson, who worked in the fabric mills of Lowell, Massachusetts; Maria Mitchell, a professor of astronomy at Vassar College; and Violet Sheehy, Ida Lewis,  Kate Shelley, and Frances Ward, who all helped lead families, neighbors, and friends, out of dangerous situations. Each poem is presented on the left side of a two page spread, while the righthand side is devoted to a beautiful oil color painting by illustrator Michael Steirnagle.

I could see using this book in several different ways. First, I'd love to use the poems as mentor texts for kids during a multi-genre biography unit. Some of the poems rhyme, and those would probably be hard for kids to emulate, but lots of the poems would be really approachable for kids. Second, I'd love to use these poems as examples of character traits like curiosity, leadership, perseverance, and courage.  I'm always looking for real life heroes for kids to follow.

This is not a new book (it's actually about ten years old), but it is definitely worth checking out.

POETRY FRIDAY is at READ WRITE BELIEVE by Sara Lewis Holmes. Go check out her amazing original poem! 

MY BABIES

I have been a horrible blogger this month. End of school, three graduations, football camp, football camp injuries, two basketball teams… YIKES! I'll be done with school on Friday, then I will be back to blogging more faithfully. In the meantime, here are my two handsome guys on the night of Son #2's eighth grade continuation.

SUMMER READING LIST

One more week of school, and I'm starting to think about summer reading. Typically, I use the summer to catch up on all of the reading I have not done all school year- professional books and adult novels included. I also try to add a bunch of new kids' books to my repertoire, so I will be ready to recommend books to kids in the fall (when people ask me about my secrets to helping kids grow as readers I usually give say, "Recommending great books, providing lots of time for kids to read, and no bathroom passes during independent reading time!" Ok, that and a little strategy instruction, but it's mostly just knowing lots of great books that will pull kids in). 

Here is my summer reading list so far:

• EDGAR SAWTELLE- I got this adult novel for Christmas, but have not even cracked the cover. It's at the top of the pile.
• FINDING THE GROOVE: COMPOSING A JAZZ-SHAPED FAITH by Robert Gelinas. Robert is the teaching pastor at the church we attend. He is an amazing man (ok, I would say that about anyone who had adopted eight children). I've learned so much from him over the past three years and can't wait to read his book. 
• READICIDE  by Kelly Gallagher- The English Companion Ning will be doing a book club on this starting on June 1. I have never done an online book club and thought it would be fun to give it a try.
• Tom Newkirk's new book, HOLDING ONTO GOOD IDEAS IN A TIME OF BAD ONES. Tom was my dissertation chair. He's the biggest, most forward-looking thinker I know. If he wrote a book about tiddlywinks, I'd read it, because I know I would learn something.
• THE WORKSHOP BOOK- another one that everyone is talking about.  
• THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman. I always try to read the Newbery. I don't like scary/horror genre (I don't know that this one is that, but it sounds that way, a little anyway), but I'm going to give it a try.
• Susan Patron's new LUCKY book. 

This is just a start on the list. I'd love to hear what everyone else is reading, so I can add to my list. 

POETRY FRIDAY

Yesterday, my niece was born. I held that sweet, dark-haired baby in my arms and wished her a world of joy, faith, and great friendships. Today my niece is graduating from high school. I wish her more of the same.

Congratulations sweet Meg!

God Says Yes To Me

Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I'm telling you is
Yes Yes Yes

Kaylin Haught

This is actually the end of this poem, but it's my favorite part. Read the beginning here.

Poetry Friday is at Susan Writes.

BEETHOVEN IN PARADISE- Barbara O'Connor

Last summer, someone pointed me toward HOW TO STEAL A DOG. The book jumped right onto my list of all time favorite super great reads, and I've devoted this year to reading all of Barbara O'Connor's novels. She is the woman! Aside from the fact that she has pictures of the world's cutest puppies on her blog, she writes such good stuff.  Her characters are the kids I teach and love- most of them don't have "perfect" parents, they aren't straight A students, lots of them don't even have best friends. Barbara O'Connor's chararacters are kids who have tough lives, find help and support in unlikely places, and are somehow managing to make it through. They give my kids hope. 

Marvin is one of those kids. He loves, loves, loves music and wants to learn to play the piano. Marvin's dad thinks music is for sissies, and wants his son to play baseball instead. Marvin finds support for his passion from a neighbor, Wylene, a reclusive neighbor who works in a handkerchief factory and loves music as much as Marvin, from Sybil, another kid who has a less than traditional life and is somehow remarkably sane and grounded, and from his grandmother, Hazeline.

This is a novel about following your passions. It's a novel about self-acceptance. It's a novel about surviving with less-than perfect parents, in a less-than-perfect world. And it's a darn good read!