SLICE OF LIFE

I am a literacy coach.

I love my job, but once in a while I wish I had my own class.

Take yesterday for example.

A perfect, perfect, perfect fall day.

Warm sun.

Blue, blue, blue sky.

Goldredorange trees. 

I am on the kindergarten playground,  refereeing the lunch recess "football game."

Mostly that means I count to ten and yell "first down" at random moments.

First down means it's someone else's turn to hold the ball while the rest of team runs from one end of the field to the other to make a touch down.

We are mid-game, when L runs screaming from the swings.

"Teacher, you have to come. You have to come come."

I follow her, wondering what I will see. These requests come often and can refer to anything from a bloody nose to a ball stuck in a tree or a child who needs to be talked down from the top of the jungle gym.

Today it is a bug.

A bright green bug.

A bright green leaf-shaped bug.

"Look teacher," says L. "Look. That leaf has legs."

I squat down next to her. Soon we are joined by four or five more kindergarten friends.

F wants to squash the bug. I tell him that we are scientists watching, and scientists don't squash bugs.

We count the legs.

F counts two.  L says, "No, there are four."

I point out the long back legs. Two pairs of shorter legs. We count again.

The group grows to ten.

K suggests we should bury the bug in wood chips.

I tell her that scientists don't bury bugs. She flicks one or two chips questioningly but stops when I give her my best teacher stink eye.

The creature jumps. Half of the kindergarten scientists run away screaming, then come back.

The group grows to 15 scientists. I wonder how the poor bug, minding its own business until a few minutes ago,  feels about being surrounded by a group of scientists.

We notice the bulging eyes. The antennae. Talk about how the bug's color and shape help it hide from predators.

I wish we had clipboards, so the scientists could make note of their observations. 

Our specimen jumps again and again, half of the scientists scream and run away.

This time our buggy friend lands on D's shoe, then proceeds to crawl up his pant leg.

D looks a little nervous, but stands perfectly still as I gently brush the creature to the ground.

The group grows to twenty.

We squat in the dirt.

Watching.

Noticing.

Wondering.

And then the bell rings.

If I had had my own class, we would have gone inside,

gotten out science journals

and written.

Because a bright green

leaf with legs,

found on the kindergarten playground

on a gloriously golden-treed,

blue sky,

autumn day

is too perfect

not to save

forever.

DOLL BONES by Holly Black

 OK, so not a whole lot of blogging going on recently. And if I'm really honest, there has not really been a whole lot of reading going on either.  I apologize-- there has been a whole lot of work going on. And a whole lot of traveling on weekends, when I might catch up on blogging, away from home.

Finally, a weekend at home, and a little time to read, after three consecutive weekends away. DOLL BONES has been in my stack for several weeks. It moved to the top of the stack this week, when one of my seventh grade friends asked me for a scary book.

Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends for a long, long time. For years, the trio has used dolls and  action figures to create an elaborate fantasy world, which involves queens and mermaids and pirates and all sorts of mythical creatures. The ruler of this world is the Great Queen, a bone china doll locked in a curio cabinet in Poppy's house.

It turns out that the Great Queen has a story all her own. And it's creepy, really creepy. The Great Queen was created by an Ohio china maker when his young daughter tragically died. He couldn't bear to put her ashes into the ground, so he crafted a doll, then put the little girl's ashes inside of her. And now the doll is coming to life, and wanting to be buried in her rightful place with her family. It's up to Poppy, Zach and Alice to get her there.

I expected this to be a scary book. And there definitely is that element. DOLL BONES has just enough creep factor that kids are going to love it. What I didn't expect, however, was that DOLL BONES is also a coming of age novel.  It's a novel about putting aside childhood and moving into adolescence. It's a novel about friendships between boys and girls. And it's a novel about accepting change.

DOLL BONES is a novel that I needed when I entered junior high and discovered that everyone but me was wearing makeup. And it's a novel that our seventh graders, who used to play an elaborate game of tag every single recess, but now spend their recesses leaning against the chain link fence pretending to have fun doing nothing, really need right now.

Mostly, I think it's a book that my sixth and seventh graders are absolutely going to love.

SLICE OF LIFE

So last week I wrote about driving to Arizona.

My son needed his car. His car with the manual transmission, to be more exact. I probably hadn't driven a manual transmission for almost 20 years. I wasn't all that excited about trying to re-acquire that skill.

I had checked into transporting the car, but the cost was prohibitive. I had considered other alternatives- paying my nephew or some other poor starving college student, waiting until Thanksgiving, flying my son home and taking a couple of days off of work to drive the car back with him. And pretty much what my decision boiled down to was the fact that I'm a single mom, with two kids in college, and not a lot of left over funds at the end of the month.

So I was contemplating taking a quick weekend road trip. 12.5 hours down on Saturday, then flying back sometime on Sunday.  And I was terrified. Not really of the road trip- I've done lots of those by myself and I kind of like those hours of thinking and prayer; but rather of driving the darn stick shift. I hadn't driven a stick for years, maybe even 15 or 20. I wasn't sure I could get the car out of my neighborhood, let alone all the way to Arizona.

Last week I sliced about the drive. I also told about a million people that I was considering it. Most people responded pretty much the way I probably would. That's a long drive! Are you sure? Can't he wait until the next break?

Most people.  Penny, my roommate from college, saw the situation a little differently. Penny's husband works for an international engineering/construction company and she's an adventurer, a world traveler who's lived many different places-- Arizona, West Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Washington State. Her three kids are pretty much grown and Penny has spent the last two years teaching in Turkey, then recently moved to Malaysia. On the blog, Penny commented:

 "You can do it! I learned to drive a motorcycle at 53 years old. Go by sound..if the engine is revving, change gears. Use the parking brake if you have to start on a hill. If you're not sure about anything, push in the clutch..it's a safe bet. Good luck!

 And those are the words I thought about when I got in the car on Saturday morning.

I was still terrified, still dreading the trip, but I kept thinking about Penny driving a motorcycle at age 53. As I started the car, I thought, "If Penny can drive a motorcycle in Malaysia, you can drive this dumb stick shift car to Thatcher, Arizona."

And as I lurched out of the neighborhood, I thought "If Penny can drive a motorcycle in Malaysia, you can drive this dumb stick shift car to Thatcher, Arizona."

As I drove the 700 miles down I-25 (and especially after I realized I had miscalculated and had to go one hundred miles farther south than I had planned) I thought, "If Penny can drive a motorcycle in Malaysia, you can drive this dumb stick shift car to Thatcher, Arizona."

And as I drove the last 180 miles over scary, narrow, one lane, curvy mountain roads in the dark, I thought, "If Penny can drive a motorcycle in Malaysia, you can drive this dumb stick shift car to Arizona."

And when I pulled up in front of the dorms, after 13.5 hours of driving, I thought about Penny. 

I'm so thankful for the spirit of risk taking and adventure that she has brought to my life for the past 35 years.

I'm so thankful for her friendship.

SLICE OF LIFE

I'm considering a quick trip to Arizona this weekend.

I need to get a car to Son #2.

It's a 12 hour drive.

I could leave early Saturday morning and be in Arizona by Saturday night.

Then fly back on Sunday, in time to work on Monday.

There's this one teeny problem, however.

My son's car is a manual.

I haven't driven a manual for ummm, about twenty years.

I'm not sure I still remember how.

So I'm working up to this trip.

On Sunday, I went out and inspected the car.

Called my son.

"What pedals do you have to push to start the car?"

I could almost feel his eyes rolling from 900 miles away.

"The clutch. Just the clutch."

I went back out and started the car.

I moved it ten feet forward. Felt pretty accomplished. Decided to call it a night.

Last night I had to walk the dog and watch the Broncos. I didn't have time to practice driving. 

Tonight I went out again. I needed to move the car because tomorrow is street sweeping day and I don't need a ticket.

I pushed in the clutch and started the car. I waited until there were no cars coming. I played around with the gear shift. It doesn't have the positions for the different gears.

I called my son. He gave an impromptu lesson on gear positions. Cautioned me not to put the car into reverse accidentally.

He then suggested that I might want to call his friend, Nick, to see if he is available to drive with me this weekend.

That would be nice, but it would mean two plane tickets, instead of one. So it's not a possibility.

I hung up and drove around the block. In first gear.

I'm going to google gearshift positions tonight. 

I'm thinking it might take too long  to get to Arizona if I drive ten miles an hour all the way.

SUPER SCHNOZ BLOG TOUR AND BOOK GIVEAWAY

My "To Be Read" pile is a leaning tower of Pisa, ok, actually it's usually two or three or ten leaning towers. I'm always thinking several books ahead. I want kids to develop that same readerly habit, so in my teaching life,  I constantly ask kids, "What are you planning to read next?"  

After a while, my students, or at least most of them, get pretty good at answering me. The kids who generally have the hardest time are my "tentative readers," those kids who are just beginning to launch their  reading lives. And to be honest, sometimes I have a hard time thinking of books I know will be sure winners for them.

l  delighted then, to participate in the blog tour for SUPER SCHNOZ AND THE GATES OF SMELL,  the first book in a series I am pretty sure that readers of STINK, CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS and DIARY OF A WIMPY KID are going to love. Just listen to the first couple of paragraphs:

I'm Andy Whiffler and I was born with a humongous honker.

I'm talking a nose so big it should have come with a warning label, a schnoz so enormous little people could use it as a sledding hill, a pie sniffer so enormous that if someone was walking beside me and I turned my head suddenly, I'd knock them out cold…

There's a reason why I have a huge beak. When my mom was pregnant with me, the pharmacist mixed her pre-nasal vitamins with a steroid for nasal congestion. The effect was disastrous. The steroid overstimulated a gland in my brain that made my nose grow and keep growing. And I can never have a nose job because there's a major artery that connects from my nasal septum to my brain.

 If I snip off my snout, I'm a goner…"

When Andy moves to Denmark, New Hampshire, he is first subjected to the usual teasing, but then his classmates at James Durante Elementary School decide that Andy's remarkable nose, along with his incredible sense of smell, might have some benefits for them. Andy, along with several of his classmates (the Not-Right brothers), are faced with the charge of unraveling the mystery of a terrible smell that is permeating their school.

Sounds like fun, right? Well, keep reading, because there's more.  Today, as part of the blog tour, author Gary Urey is interviewing illustrator Ethan Long (I'd really like their pictures to be right next to each other, but the blogspot gods have different plans).

Gary Urey

Ethan Long

AUTHOR GARY UREY INTERVIEWS ILLUSTRATOR ETHAN LONG

I see from your bio that you grew up in Pennsylvania. I’m a PA native too. When did you first get an inkling that you wanted to be a professional artist?

When I was a kid I used to get up early in the morning before everyone else, much like I do now, and get to work drawing. My parents kept telling me I was going to be a famous artist one day. Now look at me! I get up when I feel like it and I am only semi-famous. So much for big dreams!



How did you gravitate toward children’s book illustration?

I enjoyed children’s books as a child. But lost interest in them as a grew older. When I got to college, I stumbled into a children’s book illustrating class and I caught the children’s book bug. Then when I got married and had children, it resurfaced even more into sort of a children’s book rash. Now I can’t get rid of it.


I am a big fan of your animation. Dead Stunt Man is hilarious!

Thank you.


What are the differences between book illustration and animation?

Many things. But overall, animation is much more complex and needs a team of people on a daily basis to do it well. Children’s books is mainly a solitary existence with phone calls to editors and art directors now and again.


Also, what was a bigger thrill, winning the Theodor Geisel Award for Up, Tall and High or your Daytime Emmy nomination for Tasty Time With ZeFronk?

Honestly, the bigger adrenaline rush was the Emmy nomination, but looking back, winning the Geisel Award was more of a long-term slow-cooked satisfaction for 4 reasons  1. because I won  2. Because I work so hard at children’s books 3.  because my wife Heather and my Mother were there in Chicago to share in the festivities of it all.


The illustrations for Super Schnoz and the Gates of Smell are hysterical. Every character is so funny and distinct. When illustrating a book written by someone else, how do you balance the author’s description and your own vision of what the characters should look like?

I just trust my creative process. I close my eyes and wait for a vision of what I think that character would look like, then I draw it. If it’s not quite right, I close my eyes again and wait.


From your list of books, you are an incredibly busy illustrator. What is your schedule like?

I don’t talk about my schedule. It is fast and efficient, with tears, blood and spit playing a big part in it. That’s all I can say.


How do you juggle multiple projects?

I cut out all hesitation and just get things done. But now I am talking about my schedule . . .


In your imagination, what smells does the Gates of Smell give off?

Scents of rancor and burnt back hair.


As a kid, did you ever keep a scent dictionary?

No never. But it would be fun to have one now so I could smell the wonderful memories of my brother’s booger breath and my Dad’s burnt chicken recipe.


What are favorite and least favorite smells?

Favorite Smells: Lemons, freshly cut wood, Spaghetti Sauce   Least Favorite: Wet Dog, Cheerio breath, tub drains



For more information about Gary and Ethan, check out their websites.   

If you'd like to win a signed copy of SUPER SCHNOZ AND THE GATES OF SMELL, leave a comment below. Please be sure to leave your email address also. If you don't win today, the book will be on tour all week.

Super Schnoz Blog Tour-  September 21-27, 2013

Saturday, September 21, 2013

http://mommasbacon.com/

Review Only

Sunday, September 22, 2013

http://goodreadswithronna.com/

Q&A with Gary Urey and Signed Book Giveaway

Monday, September 23, 2013

http://www.carolwscorner.blogspot.com/

Gary Urey Interviews Ethan Long and Signed Book Giveaway

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

http://lostinthelibrary.com/

Review and Signed Book Giveaway

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

http://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/

Gary Urey Guest Post and Signed Book Giveaway

Thursday, September 26, 2013

http://bringonthebooks.blogspot.com/

Gary Urey Guest Post and Signed Book Giveaway

Friday, September 27, 2013

http://ncteacherstuff.blogspot.com/

Q&A with Gary Urey and Signed Book Giveaway

Thanks to publisher Albert Whitman for providing the review copy and a signed book for the giveaway. Ebooks are available from Open Road Media (www.openroadmedia.com)

Poetry Friday

Photo by Jean-Pol Grandmont. Found on Wikimedia Commons.

Parker J. Palmer posted this on Facebook earlier this week. It's one I don't think I quite fully understand, not yet anyway, but it's been kind of rolling around in my brain all week; the questions seem very important and I want to understand them.  It's anonymous, so I think that it's ok for me to post the whole thing here.

"Love Wants to Know How"

Autumn comes with its riot of death,
It's clarion bell of color,
drives the living green to ground
even as it thins the veil between worlds.
The visible and invisible walk now together
with arms outstretched over fields
where workers hasten to the harvest
none may divide against itself.

So; where are you in this?
How long do you loiter
between the said and unsaid,
the done and undone,
between the half and true rhyme
of a life answering a life?

Geese mark the sky with dark wedges
call with harsh tongues,
to what thrives at the margins
of all we so reluctantly receive.
Go now,
quickly and with great force,
toward what burns in your dreams
at the dying of the year.

Who can say?
Perhaps you reap the whirlwind,
perhaps the harvest--
but is it ever enough to not know
the bonds and bounds of what will one day
forsake you for the grave?

- Anonymous

Tabatha is hosting Poetry Friday and three giveaways at THE OPPOSITE OF INDIFFERENCE.

CYBILS CELEBRATION

Yippee! Super excited to announce that I will be serving as a CYBILS first round judge for the Elementary and Middle Grade Nonfiction. I've done poetry for the last couple of years, but actually started my CYBILS "career" as a nonfiction judge, and am excited to be returning to that category!

Category Description

Nonfiction is the perfect way to introduce elementary and middle grade kids to the amazing world around them from history and biography to art and nature. Science? Math? Animals? Sports? It's all here and more besides! We have expanded from the previous nonfiction picture books category and are now accepting titles suitable for reading aloud or independently, including picture books, easy readers, and early chapters. We're looking for text, illustrations or photographs that will wow kids and adults alike and topics so fascinating that kids will want to go digging for more, more, more nonfiction!

 

Nonfiction Elementary/Middle Grade includes titles with factual content and informational titles. Roughly 50% or more of the book should be narrative nonfiction (as opposed to experiments or activities) and books should be directed generally at ages 3-12. We are currently accepting nominations only in print (no ebooks) for this category.
  
And here are the other judges- lots of new to me blogs, which is also fun!

Round 1

Franki Sibberson, Reading Year
http://readingyear.blogspot.com/
@frankisibberson

Ellen Zschunke, On the Shelf 4 Kids
http://ontheshelf4kids.blogspot.com
@ontheshelf4kids

Amy Broadmoore, Delightful Children's Books
http://delightfulchildrensbooks.
@delightchildbks

Alysa Stewart, Everead
http://www.evereadbooks.com
@everead

Mike Lewis, Blog 142
http://mrlewis5.blogspot.com/
@145lewis

Alice Mar, Supratentorial
http://www.supratentorial.wordpress.com

Round 2

Laura Wadley, Provo Library Children's Book Reviews
http://pclkidsbooks.blogspot.com

Roberta Gibson, Wrapped in Foil
http://blog.wrappedinfoil.com/
@RobertaGibson

Jen Fukuyama, Perogies and Gyoza
http://www.perogiesandgyoza.com
@perogies_gyoza

Reshama Deshmukh, Stacking Books
http://www.stackingbooks.com
@StackingBks

Catherine Nichols, The Cath in the Hat
http://thecathinthehat.blogspot.com/
@TheCathInTheHat

I'm looking forward to sharing lots of great nonfiction with you! 

NOMINATIONS OPEN OCTOBER 1ST. HEAD OVER TO THE CYBILS WEBSITE TO CHECK OUT ALL OF THE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES!