Quick Suggestions

I was a little surprised when the Parent Organization (ESPO) took me up on my offer to briefly speak about some good books at their meeting this past week. Time was of the essence, both for me to gather books and for the meeting to end at a reasonable time. Life was wild last week, but I had several good new books that I had just finished reading, so I grabbed them along with a couple of other favorites. Then I edited my growing pile. (Word to the wise: Never ask a librarian to talk about a few good books. Librarians have trouble picking out just a few favorites. We love to talk about good books almost as much as we love to read them.)

Here are the books that I showed at the ESPO meeting. All are well worth your time.

PICTURE BOOKS

The Chicken Thief by Beatrice Rodriguez--I can not say enough good thinks about this wordless and wonderful book. The pictures are detailed and the surprise ending is just exactly what I would have wanted to have happen if I had thought about it clearly.

Olive Goes to Venice by Ian Falconer--The amazing pig's latest adventure takes her to Venice where she learns to love gelato. This is not my favorite Olivia book but that is simply because the others are so good.

Art and Max by David Wiesner--Two friendly lizards share an appreciation of art which leads to a demonstration of many art media. There is a solid mix here of humor and art.

LOWER SCHOOL READING: Grades 1-3

Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee--These two girls seem like opposites but that does not stop them from being great friends. The firendly and engaging illustrations show the girls' visible differences--one is quite tall and the other is short--and the differences in what interests them. This is a wonderful example of how best friends come in all sizes.

ELEMENTARY--Grades 2-5

Tumtum and Nutmeg: The Rose Cottage Tales by Emily Bearn--More beautifully told tales of two mice with just the right about of adventure. and a hefty dose of charm. If you loved the first book, you will love this one, too, but you don't need to read them in order.

UPPER ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL--Grades 5-8

Scumble by Ingrid Law--This is the sequel to Savvy. Both books are about a family which gains unexpected magical powers on their 13th birthday. Magic is not always easy for those who get to handle or understand.

Toby and the Secrets of the Tree by Timothee de Fombelle--This sequel to Toby Alone continues Toby's quest to save the tree that is his entire world, people with good people and those who would rather destroy the tree than lose their power. The environmental moral is strong and the story is even stronger.

NON-FICTION

Bibiloburro: A True Story from Colombia by Jeanette Winter--This simple picture book tells a powerful story of a man who takes books by burro to children in the mountains of Colombia. Google "biblioburro" to see videos and read some inspiring articles.

Marsupials by Nic Bishop--Bishop takes the most astounding wildlife photos I have ever seen. Check out all of his other books as well--Frogs, Butterflies, Spiders, and Lizards. One of my favorite parts of each book is the end piece where Bishop explains how he gets his photos. Many take hours and hours of waiting and hoping.

I will soon be putting up more lists as we prepare for our annual book fair. Keep checking back for those suggestions.

The Story of Reading

It has been nearly a year since I attended a conference on the brain in Boston. When I returned from the conference my own brain was filled with myriad new concepts and exciting ideas while being blurred from the exhaustion of travel and long days full of lectures, some stimulating and some not so much. I pushed the ideas to the back burner with promises to get back to them.

Now I have been asked to join others who went to the conference and others like it to present to the staff about what we learned. Yikes! What did I learn? What is worth sharing? Why didn't I take better notes?

One statement has stayed with me all these months. Let me paraphrase. "Human beings took about 2,000 years to develop a practical alphabet which allowed humans to read. We expect children to learn how to read in about 2,000 days." This idea was presented by Tufts University professor of child development Maryanne Wolf. To remind myself of what she said at the conference and to understand and expand on those thoughts, I just finished reading her book, Proust and the Squid: The Story and the Science of the Reading Brain. This book proved to be a readable treatise that provides just what the title promises.

Since I can not do justice here to all that it has to say nor give you the time and space you deserve to really ponder the many ideas and concepts, I will just encourage you to read it. You will soon be thinking of what reading means to you, what really determines fluency, who is an expert reader, and what is the cause of dyslexia. Here are a couple of my favorite ideas and some thoughts about them.

Dyslexia, she states, is often accompanied by enhanced creativity. The book explains in some detail why this seems to be the case. The conclusion should be obvious but that is often not the case at all. Dyslexic people are often taunted for this complicated way that their brain functions. It is not unusual for peers and even teachers to call them stupid or lazy. The important thing for all of us is to remind dyslexic people of all ages of their special talents--help them find those talents and then put them to use while helping them learn strategies to acquire learning. As a society we run the risk of missing the next great thinkers, inventors, artists, and other potential world changers if we do not take the time to foster the growth of these people and utilize their amazing gifts.

Reading changes the way we utilize language and thus the way we understand our world. It is nearly impossible to read something without images, memories, and connections springing unbidden into your thinking. Wolf wonders what the impact of new formats for reading and writing will have on reading. Will digital reading with the ease of jumping from one thing to another, clicking to learn definitions, that "back" button waiting to lead us back to where we were, and the way information is organized radically change our idea of knowledge? Socrates worried that the alphabet would negatively impact our memories (perhaps it has) and that it would make us believe we had knowledge when all we had was information (again, perhaps it has). What will our newest technologies do to these same things? Will we assume that we have knowledge because we have done a Google search and copied and pasted ideas from someone else?

Can you tell that I have delved into many new thoughts after reading this book? That is what reading is all about.

Ending Summer with a Bang

If you read my last entry, you know that I ended it by feeling a little disappointed that I had not read enough books that I truly loved this past summer. Thank goodness that I finished the summer with a great read--so great that I can't wait to talk about it.

Many people have enjoyed Silverwing, others in that series about bats, and various other titles by Kenneth Oppel. Now Oppel has a very different new book. Half Brother takes place in the 1970s when interest in human relationships with other species was growing. (Think of Koko and her kitten or the chimps that went into space.) At that same time of protest about many things there were the beginnings of animal activism, protesting testing on animals. Ben Tomlin, the narrator of this book, is thrown into the middle of all of this at age 13 when his family brings home a baby chimpanzee which they hope to teach to use sign language. If that is not unsettling enough, Ben has had to move across the country from Toronto to Vancouver where his father, a psychologist, will now be working. He is put in a private middle school and works to makes friends, especially with the very cute daughter of his dad's new boss. So there is some good old fashioned love interest and teen angst in this book. It offers a nice balance to the odd life that Ben lives with a chimp for a baby brother. He and his dad soon disagree about what role Zan, the chimp, has in the world. Is Zan a little brother or science experiment?

There is much here to enjoy. The writing is good and will tug at the heartstrings of all but the most jaded amongst us while offering up difficult questions to ponder about the importance of scientific investigation as well as the importance of keeping humans humane. I highly recommend this book to middle school readers and their older siblings and parents, too.

What I Read All Summer

It is that time of year that people in education--whether students or teachers--think back to the summer that is rapidly disappearing and take assessment of what they did. I remember the annual "What I Did Last Summer" essay from my youth. (Every fall, my junior high English teacher titled his "Painting Lines on Idaho Highways", a title that reassures me every year that my summer was pretty darn good.) In most ways this is one of those essays, but looks not so much at what I did, although it suggests that I spent a significant amount of time with my nose in a book, but what I read.

This summer I tried to pace myself by alternating my reading assignments. I would read an adult book for pleasure, then a children's or young adult novel, then a professional development book, and then another work of juvenile fiction. I mixed it up with picture books and simple non-fiction whenever the mood hit or I made a purchase for the library. As I look back at all that I read, I realized that this was not a summer of many truly great reads. For your sake, I will only include those that I am willing to suggest that others might enjoy reading.

PICTURE BOOKS

City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems, illustrated by Jon Muth is a perfect read for the beginning or the end of summer. It talks of the passing of the seasons and of friendships that grow and change. There is no need to mention that the illustrations are perfect, but it is there is no way I omit a reference to the smile on the face of a happy dog and a joyful frog.

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin E Stead is the work of a couple who spent a part of their year in Ann Arbor, which makes the book more special to those of us who live here. However, this book has merit no matter where one lives. The story is of a zookeeper who tends to the needs and concerns of his animals above and beyond the usual call of duty. The animals are beside themselves when Amos McGee is so sick that he can not come to work. They respond just the way that true and trusted friends should.

The Church Mouse by Graham Oakley is not a new book. In fact, finding it in the bookstore took me right back to when I read and re-read it with my children. At first take this tale of mice who befriend the old cat in a church seems a bit verbose, but then the charm of each character--from the mice to the cat to the old English vicar--takes over. The humor is perfect, as is the exciting climax. The illustrations by the author are rich with color and detail.

FICTION--Grades 5 and up
My Life with the Lincolns by Gayle Brandeis was not exactly what I expected and much better than I had anticipated. The narrator, Mina Edelman, is a 12 year old girl living in the Chicago area in 1966. She is convinced that her family is the reincarnation of the Abraham Lincoln family. She has figured out how their names and interests reflect those of the Lincoln's. The connection should be clear to everyone since her father whose initials are A. B. E. advertises his furniture as "Honest Abe's" and even puts on a stovepipe hat and beard for his television advertisements. Mina sets three goals for herself--not to die at age 12 like Willie Lincoln did, keep her mother from going crazy, and keep her father from being shot. The difficulty of these goals becomes more intense when her father gets increasingly involved with the Civil Rights movement and takes Mina along with him to meetings and protests. The story rapidly shifts from hilarious to serious and back again. I admire and respect Mina Edelman for all she thought and did and I admire the author for capturing the time and the feelings of a young girl so perfectly.

Whales on Stilts by M. T. Anderson is one of those books I have been meaning to read for years. It is one strange book. A team of middle schoolers with an eye for adventure--Lily who has yearns for adventure and keeps an eye out for the unusual, Katie the heroine of a popular series of horror stories who actually lives the stories, and Jasper who is known as the Boy Technonaut--spend their summer investigating the employer of Lily's father. Lily becomes suspicious because her dad's boss wears a paperback over his head and seems to be designing stilts for whales, whales that plan to take over the world. The story is full of high tech adventure, crazy ideas careening out of control, science gone mad, and friendship.

Smile by Raina Telgemeier is a biographical novel in graphic format. Entering middle school is challenging in the best of times, but looking decidedly different just makes it worse. Raina fell hard on her front teeth just weeks before beginning sixth grade. This led to months in complicated orthodontia gear while undergoing various surgeries to correct the problem. The story does not dwell on the medical aspects of this ordeal but on the additional burden it places on her struggles to be liked in school. The resulting story is well suited to the graphic format which helps move the story along, giving evidence of how truly out of place she looks without having to describe the look.

The Cardturner by Louis Sachar caused more than one head to turn when it was published earlier this year. Sachar is well-liked for his many successful books like Holes and Wayside School is Falling Down, but who can pull off a young adult novel about playing bridge? Sachar can. There is a strong story with adventure and magical reality here that will keep the reader ready to go to the next bridge tournament. The author teaches bridge, too, while thoughtfully marking those parts that are detailed strategy both so they can be skipped when reading for the story and re-read when the interest is on the game. Our school's resident bridge expert gave it his stamp of approval.

London Calling by Edward Bloor takes the protagonist through an old Philco radio back to the time of the London Blitz to experience war first hand. There is a lot of history here and a lot of heart. This a tough book because it takes a close-up look at life for the average working family in London in 1940. Equally important is its consideration of the accuracy of history and what makes someone a hero.

FICTION--Grades 3-5

I have to confess that I did not find much that really excited me in this section. Here are some titles that I am confident will be enjoyed by many, even if they did inspire me enough that I want to write about them.
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger
Justin Case: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters by Rachel Vail
Whittington by Alan Armstrong
Amelia Rules by Jimmy Gownley (a graphic work)
The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen of the Future by Dav Pilkey (a graphic work)
The Secret Zoo by Bryan Chick

YOUTH NON-FICTION

Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot by Sy Montgomery with photos by Nic Bishop is worth looking at just for the pictures taken on an island of the coast of New Zealand where scientists are struggling to keep this strange, beautiful, and friendly bird from extinction. Once you see the pictures, however, you will want to read the text to find out more about this amazing bird and the scientists who work with it. As is always the case, Sy Montgomery tells her story well.

Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum by Meghan McCarthy greets you with a bright cover that, yes, truly pops. Who could resist the life story of bubble gum with any cover but the cartoonish illustrations in this simple, picture book style history capture the joy of the subject from the very first bite.

Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia by Jeanette Winter is another picture book style non-fiction that will capture readers of all ages. Deep in the wilds of Colombia lives a teacher named Luis who has more books than his small home can hold. In an act of good will that warms the hearts of librarians everywhere, he loads his books on the back of his burro and sets out to share them with the children of neighboring villages. The illustrations capture the feel of South America and the story will captivate young readers and listeners. The author includes more information about Luis and his work to share the joys of a good book.

ADULT PLEASURE READING

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen appealed to me on many levels. First, the format of the book is wider than the usual novel, allowing for copious footnotes and illustrations in the sidebar. These are the notes of the young narrator who has an eye for detail. Secondly, the narrator is a young man coming of age in an unusual age. Who wouldn't like that?
Thirdly, he lives in a small town in my home state and is fairly eager to leave. Finally, it is primarily a long (rail)road trip. It is almost impossible to describe the story so I will leave it to you to discover it for yourself just as T. S. Spivet discovers his world.


The Horse Boy: A Memoir of Healing by Rupert Isaacson is part travelogue with beautiful descriptions of the trip between Ulaan Baatar and the forest of Siberia on the edge of Mongolia where the reindeer people live, part spiritual journey as the author's family learns about the beliefs of the area and explores their own thoughts, and part a study of autism. Somehow this books melds those diverse aspects into a usually cohesive story. If treating an autistic child with shamans in remote corners of the world works for them, who am I to argue? I saw the movie of this book earlier in the year and would recommend it along with the book.

Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato is yet another book written in the voice of a twelve year old. (This must have been my summer of remembering adolescence.) Here is a girl trying to understand the death of her older sister and why her parents have totally shut down. That is pretty heavy stuff but throw in the concerns about terrorism that are everywhere around her and you will be doubly surprised by the humor that abounds throughout the book.

PROFESSIONAL READING

Unless you ask I will spare you the details of the books I read that were supposed to make me a better teacher, librarian, and person. I will put only the title information so you can decide if you want to pursue them further.
Crossing Over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms by Gloria Ladson-Billings
The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test: Lessons from an Innovative Urban School by Linda F. Nathan
Brain Rules by John Medina
Race Matters by Cornel West

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink



I read over 70 books this summer from picture books to the heavy stuff and these are the only ones that really spoke to me. Go figure.

Mockingjay

Yes, I have now successfully completed the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It didn't take long because this is a "can't put it down" novel. I am not going to give you a review of these books other than to tell you that I enjoyed them and can easily understand why millions of people aged 12 to 80 have devoured these dystopian, young adult novels.

What has fascinated me is the discussions that I have been having with my young (as in middle school and high school) friends. Many spent the early part of August counting down the days to the Mockingjay release that marked the conclusion of the trilogy. They wondered if the author would adequately tie up all the loose ends. They worried that it would not be as exciting as the first two in the series (The Hunger Games and Catching Fire). They were stressed that someone would tell them how it ends before they had a chance to read it. (Note to all readers: Don't spoil the ending for others, no matter how much you want to gloat about reading the book first or how excited/upset/disappointed you are by it. Plain and simple, that is unfair to other readers.)

Now these young adults are debating the fine points of the plot and the writing. What is the message? Why did the people who survived live while others who we loved died? Was there too much violence or not enough? Was the writing equal to the plot or the plot equal to the writing?

The protagonist and narrator of the series is a young woman but most of the discussions I have seen and heard from my group have been between young men. That, to me, is the sign of a good young adult novel. Both boys and girls are reading and discussing the book. And they are proud to have read some fine literature and not in the least upset that the book focuses first on a woman. I am very lucky to have gotten a chance to be a part of these discussions, especially when I can merely eavesdrop. Thank you, Facebook.

Adults, some time to read these books and discuss them with the young adults in your life. Or just read them because they are good stories. Here is an essay from the New York Times Book Review about the joys of reading young adult books. Start reading or you will never know what you have been missing.

Chickens to the Rescue!

As I searched for books to share with campers this summer and as I put them away, I kept seeing picture books featuring chickens. Two of my recent acquisitions are also picture books that talk about chickens. I do not know how poultry flew to the top of interesting picture books, but they seem to be everywhere. Here are some of the best of the flock.

Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman is a joy to read aloud. Make sure everyone can see the illustrations showing the chickens in swimsuits as they rescue things down the well or showing amazing strength as they stop the pick-up and save a cow stuck in the tree because they are half the story. Listeners are soon chanting along "Chickens to the rescue!" whenever the humans or other farm animals have another problem. They won't be prepared for the twist at the end.

The Chicken of the Family by Mary Amato will likely strike a chord with anyone who has an older sibling who was not immune to some heavy duty teasing. I can easily imagine my older brother convincing his rather gullible little sister that she is, in fact, a chicken. The older sisters in this charming story go to the extent of putting eggs and some feathers in their sister's bed. She gets the last laugh and they get in trouble with Mom and Dad.

The Plot Chickens by Mary Jane Auch features a book loving chicken who decides that she should write a book. She solicits the aid of three quirky hens and sets to work. Alas, publishers are less than excited about books by chickens. The entire story is filled with puns and plays on words that add fun to the working plot. That alone would make this a book worth reading, but there is the added bonus that it works as an good introduction to the writing process from start finish. Use it as a reference when writing a story of your own.

Speaking of chickens who like books, Book! Book! Book! by Deboarh Bruss turns an old joke about a chicken in the library into a full story with plenty of conflict. There is plenty of humor, too, as the farm animals head to the library--they are lonely and bored when all the kids go off to school--and try to ask for a book. The librarian can't interpret "Neigh, neigh" or "Bow Wow" but she knows just what to do when the chicken says, "Book! Book! Book!" (or "Bawk! Bawk! Bawk!). This is a story made for telling and dramatization.

The Featherless Chicken Chih-Yuan Chen offers a moral of acceptance of all, even those who look very different and have no sense of style. It is the wonderful, amusing illustrations that make the book soar above its moral to include humor and interesting discussion possibilities. It is never preachy and always fun.

Stuck int he Mud by Jane Clarke also plays with a familiar theme. We all know the story of a giant vegetable that requires everyone in the neighborhood to pull it out of the ground. In this telling of the tale, it is a little chick who is appears to be stuck in the mud. Its worried mother summons everyone to help save her baby. The twist at the end will bring smiles all around, except, perhaps, for the mother hen.

The Minerva Louise series by Janet Morgan Stoeke also plays with the unexpected. In this case it is the confusion that Minerva Louise, a chicken, has with the items that her farm family has around. Start the school year with Minerva Louise at School and then follow her escapades as she finds a hat, a friend, or decorations for Christmas and Easter.

If you have a high tolerance for puns and almost painfully bad jokes, you will enjoy two books by Kevin O'Malley. I find that fourth and fifth graders are the best audiences for Gimme Cracked Corn and I Will Share and Animal Crackers Fly the Coop. Both books are retelling of familiar folk tales with a twist that will keep readers laughing and groaning at the steady flow of jokes as they gradually realized what tale is really being told. They shout out, "Hey, isn't this that story about, you know, those animals who scare the crooks?" Yes, they are right, of course.

The most serious book on this is Ruler of the Courtyard by Rukhsana Khan which takes place in Pakistan. A little girl is afraid of the chickens in her courtyard so she scurries to get to the bath house. She tells herself that she must be brave but it is difficult. While working up the courage to recross the courtyard she spies what she is sure is a snake just a few feet from her feet. When she gets the courage to deal with the snake, she realizes that chickens are not as scary as she thought they were. The illustrations are bright and bold, capturing both the tensions and the relief that this charming girl feels.

My two newest additions are among the most appealing books I have encountered recently.

Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein will ring true to anyone who knows someone who interrupts. The young chicken wants a bedtime story but every time his father starts a familiar story, the chicken interrupts with a quick finish for the story. When father suggests that the interrupting young one tell the story, there is a flurry of activity as the story gets scribbled into a notebook. I especially like the colorful illustrations of the story itself juxtaposed with drab pictures in the storybook. The interruptions jump right into the storybook itself.

The Chicken Thief by Beatrice Rodriguez has no words at all but tells an adventurous tale of a chicken taken from its friends by a fox. The detailed illustrations follow the fox as her runs off with his catch with her friends, a bear, a rabbit, and a rooster, in hot pursuit. The surprise ending is just what I wanted to happen and should thrill young readers who are sure to pour over this book again and again, creating their own explanations of what is happening between the chicken and her friends and then when she is with the fox.

Enjoy a chicken book or two. They will have you clucking for more.

Singapore Connections

Soon after school got out in June, I was treated to a visit from the librarian at the Canadian International School in Singapore. She is also Aunt Sarah to some of my favorite Emerson students. One of the wonders of the world is the connections that are made this way.

Sarah and I had a nice time speaking "librarian" together, comparing what we do and why we do it. I have high hopes that together we will find a way to connect our two schools on opposite sides of the world, sharing those things that make our schools special as well as the myriad things we have in common.

One of the interesting things done by the International Schools in Singapore--there are several--is to all vote on favorite books. The librarians of the schools nominate books to be short listed for the Red Dot Awards each year. Students in each of the schools vote to have the final say in choosing four titles to be anointed with the coveted Red Dot. Go to the Red Dot website to see the winners and the nominees for 2010. One of the most interesting things to me is the variety of choices at each of the four reading levels. They strive to have titles and authors that represent the world. This means that some of the books are very familiar to me while others have never crossed my path. Sadly, many of those in the latter category are not readily available in the USA, having been published in Singapore or Australia or some other interesting, but far away, place.

Wouldn't it be fun to get a group of loosely tied schools together here for something similar? I have my eyes and ears open for schools near and far that might want to develop a similar program.

Thank you, Sarah, for introducing me to this program. I will keep watching your suggestions. Who knows where this will lead us.