Build It - They'll Come

Apologies for the blogging hiatus (understatement), but now that we're in to the depths of summer, it is impossible not to be blissfully swept away into the world of children's literature yet again.  With the lists from The Storyteller's Summer Reading Club in the house, we are all surrounded by new and wonderful finds and I am reminded again that yes, there is a limit to the number of books that public libraries let you check out.

When it comes to summer reading and book borrowing, more is always better and the maxim "Everything in moderation" goes out the window for a solid three months around here.  Following the advice of children's literature aficionado Donalyn Miller (aka, The Book Whisperer), books are literally everywhere in our house and we are back to consistently listening to Books on CD in the car as well.  We've adopted one of Miller's suggestions for teachers and created a spot in the house to showcase new books for the week, and much to my surprise, even my somewhat-reluctant-to-be-second-grader-who-only-likes-sports-books has been spotted plucking a book or two from the window ledge to give them a read.

I believe Miller, if you build a culture of books, the reading will come.

Here's our current crop:

Family read aloud:  The Candymakers by Wendy Mass
Recent favorite book on CD: The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Picture Ogler/Pre-Reader's current selection: Pete's Party by Jon Scieszka, David Shannon, David Gordon, and Loren Long
Reluctant-to-be-Second-Grader's current selection: The Journey that Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey by Louise Borden
Avid-Upper-Elementary's current selection:  No Such Thing as Dragons by Philip Reeve

Other summer dabblings that we've enjoyed:
Weird But True by National Geographic
Willoughby & the Lion by Greg E. Foley
Extra Credit by Andrew Clements

So what are you reading and loving this summer?

March Madness for Books

This one is for the parent readers out there!   This morning I learned about a fun event to follow that is run by The Morning News.  The event is called The Tournament of Books and it begins tomorrow.  Over the next month, 16 of this year's best books will be pitted against one another March Madness style.  Literary reviewers will read the contending books and write up their take on who should advance to the next round.  While you may not be up for the gauntlet of reading that such an endeavor might entail, this is at least a good list of books to peruse if you're looking for your next good read.  Check it out!

LP's All Ears Favorite Honors Girl Scouts with a New Book

Be sure not to miss seeing Ginger Wadsworth (who some of you may know from your child reading to her beautiful dog Willa at the LP Library) this coming Saturday, March 10th at 1pm at Orinda Books.  She'll be introducing her new book, "First Girl Scout: The Life of Juliette Gordon Low."   This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts, so her book is well-timed.

According to Orinda Books,

Ginger Wadsworth is the author of many nonfiction titles for young readers, including, for Clarion, Words West: Voices of Young Pioneers, which was named a nonfiction Honor Book by VOYA and received the Western Writers of America Spur Award. She lives in Orinda, California. You can learn more about her at: www.gingerwadsworth.com

 If you miss seeing her at Orinda Books, please contact Dustie Robeson at dustie @ spiffychicks.com to schedule a time to read with her and Willa in April or May during the All Ears program at the LP Library.

Literature and Global Citizenship

You often hear adults talk about literature in a way that makes it clear that they are connecting what they read to their lives in meaningful ways.

This past week, I had an opportunity to see how second graders can also make very profound text-to-world connections.  While attending a Technology Symposium for the San Ramon Valley Unified School District, I joined a break out session hosted by the district's literacy coaches.  They shared about their work with teachers across the district to both teach and inspire young readers.

One of the ideas they touched on was using "text sets" to help children create real world connections through literature. Poking around a bit, I discovered that a "text set" (a collection of books based on the same theme - fiction and/or non-fiction) can be an inspiring way to launch a myriad of associated learning opportunities.

In the video shared below, these second grade teachers and coaches created a moving, long-term project with the following books:

• The Librarian of Basra
• Beatrice's Goat
• Listen to the Wind
• Ruby's Wish
• Nasreen's Secret School
• Four Feet, Two Sandals
• Fly Away Home

To round out the set, they also included a video ("Story of Ruby Bridges") and a song ("We Shall Overcome").

The below video summarizing their work speaks volumes and for the few friends who have previewed it, some tissues have been required.

Leave it to literature to touch so deeply -- and leave it to skilled professionals (teachers) to make that connection happen for children.  Thank you authors and thank you teachers!

Books and Math!

Looking for ways to boost your child's exposure to mathematical concepts without whipping out the worksheets?  Head on over to the Living Math Book List Blog and you'll find a host of books about topics like multiplication, measurement, symmetry, proportions, ordinal numbers, fractions, probability ... and the list goes on.   Just another great resource that was shared by a middle school math teacher on Twitter today!

Soon to Be Classics

Isn't it fantastic that book reviews can come from so many places? Publishers, avid readers, friends, father-in-laws, librarian bloggers, and a few months back Real Simple Family magazine even threw their hat in the ring.  In a piece called, "Soon to Be Classic Kids' Books," Christopher Healy called out a handful of new books that he thinks "are destined to be read out loud, or under the covers with a flashlight, for years to come."  Given LP Reads' familiarity with a few of the titles, we'd have to agree that he has compiled a list worth checking out.  Top of our list, is Art and Max by David Weisner.

When books include a dash of meta-anything, the result is so often thought provoking, and in this case, just plain fun.  This simple book will leave you pondering the creation of art while your children will be lost in the playful and fantastically rendered pictures.  Healy summarizes,

When Art the iguana asks Max the lizard to paint him, Max takes the request literally, covering his friend in artistic styles from Seurat-like pointillism to the line drawing.  It's fast-paced slapstick but also a celebration of art itself.

Another book Healy recommends is The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood (and we'd add in the sequel The Loud Book).

One family we know who read the book months back is still entertaining themselves thinking of their own kinds of quiet.

Additional titles from the article include Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce; City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems (illustrated by John Muth -- an amazing combination); Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Scott Magoon; Supposing... by Alastair Reid; The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz; and The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger.

We hope that one of these titles will be a resounding hit in at least one Moraga home this holiday season.

Gift Ideas from Orinda Books

Wondering what books would be the best for the young (or old) ones on your list this year?  Be sure to stop in to Orinda Books to hear from some experts!  On December 1st at 2 p.m., they will host a book sharing talk with Dandy Conway from Random House Children's Books, Wendy Pearl of Penguin Books, and Ron Shoop of Random House. There will be refreshments, a raffle, and lots of great book finds.  See you there!

The Phantom is 50 and the Back-Seat Book Club

LP Reads is very excited to host our first guest blogger.  Thank you Kana Ryan for your contribution. 

When looking for a new book to read, I often look to some of my favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Lamott, Anna Quindlen and Jane Hamilton, just to name a few. As parents, we can help our kids make connections to authors as yet another way to encourage and excite them about reading. A couple of years ago I took my son to see Rick Riordan speak. He was on tour to launch the first book in his new series The Lost Hero – Heroes of Olympus. It was a pleasure to hear him talk about how he got the ideas for his books and to watch my son’s excitement at getting the author’s autograph on his well-loved book, The Lightning Thief. Most authors these days have websites and if they are touring their schedule will be posted there.

As another way to connect young readers to books by great authors, NPR just started the Back-Seat Book Club, a book club for kids. Each month they pick a new book, encourage kid readers to send in questions and then host a discussion with the author. 

For November, NPR picked The Phantom Tollbooth by author Norton Juster and illustrator Jules Feiffer. The timing is perfect because this year The Phantom Tollbooth is celebrating its 50 year anniversary! 

If you like The Phantom Tollbooth, perhaps you and your child will find yourselves interested in more books by Norton Juster – hint, hint “The Odious Ogre” or more books illustrated by Jules Feiffer. Who knows where your curiosity will take you -- as Milo learns -- enjoy the journey!

Who Knew? Loan Your Kindle Books

A while back, I learned from a tech-savvy friend that you can lend books that you have downloaded to your Kindle.  "Wow, who would have known?" was my first thought.  My second thought was, "Maybe everyone but me."

In the event that you too fall into the "didn't know" category about this novel little lending tidbit, here's how you do it:

• Click on the "Manage Your Kindle" tab in the Kindle Store.
• A list of the titles you have purchased will come up.
• Click on the "action" button to see if the title you have selected is lending approved.
• Lend away by entering the recipient's email address.

The publishers decide on the terms of the loan.  For example, our 39 Clues books appear to be loanable once for 14 days.

Perhaps we could all be sharing our Kindle books as well as our title suggestions.  If you'd like to borrow 39 Clues Book number 2, 4, 5, 8, or 9, send an email to lpreads @ gmail.com and we'll get it right over to you.  If you'd like to loan any of your books, please leave the title and your email address in the comments.

With the holidays coming, this could be a good time to give a Kindle a try.  Prices have just gone down to $79 for the entry level model.  Be sure to click through to Amazon using the link to the right!

Worlds Collide: DC and Healthy Choices

This week worlds are colliding and not surprisingly, there is a perfect book (or four) to recommend as a result!*

On Saturday morning, our middle child (or center son as we affectionately call him) headed for Washington D.C. to attend the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.  An exceptionally exciting adventure for him and his dad ... to say the least.  According to Logan, the trip has been a success. He had a big comfy bed, heard Obama speak, met Stevie Wonder and Rabbi Israel Dresner, and learned that a bidet is not a drinking fountain.  The value of such trips can never be underestimated!

                          

On the home front, he has missed a few things involving various sports balls as well as the kick off of Healthy Choices Week at school.  As the "Choose My Plate" information came home tonight, I grimaced thinking that had he been home we would have had at least one child in our house to eat something green tonight.  One opportunity lost, but one blog theme gained: Washington DC and healthy food.  What a perfect opportunity to recommend the 2009 book The First Garden: The White House Garden and How It Grew by Robbin Gourley.

The book is intended for children ages 4 - 8 and it is a nice retrospective about Michelle Obama's effort to bring attention to healthy eating habits as well as the life of the garden from its inception in 1800.  If Healthy Choices is a theme your children are interested in, you can head on over to LP Reads on Goodreads and check out the bookshelf we have there called "Books about Healthy Choices."  

Finally, if the Martin Luther King Jr. dedication caught your attention or interest, Logan's favorite book in preschool was 10 Amazing People and How They Changed the World by Maura D. Shaw and before he left on this trip, we read As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel's Amazing March Toward Freedom by Richard Michelson and March On: The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World by Christine King Farris.

To bring things full circle, did I mention that Stevie Wonder has a song called The First Garden? Strange how the world works, isn't it?  Some days, I'm glad there is a book for that ... and not just an app.

Mock Caldecott: See What's Hot for 2012

Over on Goodreads Listopia, I stumbled across a great list today: 2012 Mock Caldecott.  It is a fun little list where all of the children's literature aficionados cast their votes for the books that they think will run away with the Caldecott Award this coming year.  While it is ambitious to think that I could read all of the books listed and cast my vote, I think it could be a good place to start looking for the books that are causing a buzz this year.  You can check it out too!

The top vote getter so far is "Me ... Jane" by Patrick McDonnell.
 Second place is "Perfect Square" by Michael Hall.

Sign up to be friends with LP Reads on Goodreads by opening your own account and you will have access to Listopia (a huge collection of lists for book lovers) as well as the LP Reads bookshelves (which have more than 2,500 books sorted into easy to use categories).

Book Bags ... Not Just for Kinders

This past week the LP Reads team has been busy assembling new book bags for the Kindergarten classes.  The book bag project was inspired by an established set that Mrs. Miller uses to create additional touch points for children with books outside of the classroom.  Each book bag comes complete with a fiction and a non-fiction book, a recommended reading list, and activities related to the bag's theme that parents can enjoy with their children.  While Mrs. Miller's collection includes many bags that she has come up with on her own, the majority of the Kinder collection has come from Reading Rockets.  The bags are created for Pre-K to 2nd grade children and the themed guides are all free and downloadable from the Reading Rockets site.  So if you are a Kinder parent who can't wait to get started with the book bags or the parent of an older child hoping to get in on the fun, head over to Reading Rockets and check out their selection of themes.

The Reading Rockets website is also a fantastic resource for all things reading, so even if the book bags and activities don't strike your fancy, you might be interested in their themed booklists, videotaped author interviews, or research about reading.

Harry Potter Fans Don't Despair

When the Harry Potter book series comes to a close, it is a sad, very sad day.  Some kids wonder, "How could something so fun, so interesting, so engaging ever come between two book covers again???"

Fear not Potter fans!

In her book, Raising Bookworms, Emma Walton Hamilton (Julie Andrews daughter no less) gives her recommendations* for Harry Potter read alikes, and here they are:

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Books of Ember Series by Janne DuPrau
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Redwall by Brian Jacques
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
Septimus Heap Series by Angie Sage
Warriors by Erin Hunter
The Wednesday Tales by Jon Berkeley
The Wolves Chronicles by Joan Aiken
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

If your family has already morned the loss of the Potter series, what books did your children pick up next?  Let us know in the comments.

*Note:  The LP Reads team has not read all of these books and suggests that you be certain you are comfortable with the content before your child reads them.   Some of the above are for ages 12 and up.  A GREAT resource for tween/teen book reviews written by parents and for parents is STORYSNOOPS.  LP Reads loves STORYSNOOPS and suggests you take a hop on over to check them out even if Potter isn't your child's thing!! You will most like find the perfect new book for your young reader.

Fresh Start, New Books

Over at Choice Literacy last week, they featured an article by LiteracyHead about books that could be used  to kick off the new school year called "Books with Overlooked Potential for Launching the School Year (And Ideas for Using Them with Students)."  As with so much of what LP Reads comes across, what can happen in the classroom around reading can also very easily happen in our homes.  Be sure to check out the article for the full description of each title, but here's a quick glimpse at a few of our favorites:


Giant Steps to Change the World by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee


The Three Questions by John Muth


and I Know Here by Laurel Croza


As noted in the article, this triumvirate is a rich grouping for talking with your kids about what they love about their life now and what they want to be doing in the future.  Muth's book (a retelling of a Tolstoy short story) asks how do we make sure that we are being a good person and that the life we are leading is a good one?  How do we know we are making the right decisions?  Couple these question with some amazing illustrations (art really) and you've got a a powerhouse way to start the new year ala children's literature.   I never cease to be amazed at how children's authors and illustrators so gracefully tackle some of life's great questions in a simple 32 pages.

Be sure to head over to Choice Literacy to see their additional recommendations and if you aren't able to find these titles in our local libraries (I know Here and Giant Steps to Change the World are not there), I am certain that The Storyteller in Lafayette has or can get them for you.

Welcome to the new school year -- enjoy this fresh start!

Eureka! Trelease's Read Aloud Treasury

Summer has me in the perpetual hunt for book recommendations and I was very excited to learn about Jim Trelease's book, "The Read Aloud Handbook."*  Originally published in 1979 and in its sixth edition as of 2006, "The Read Aloud Handbook" has chapters dedicated to:

• Why reading aloud is important
• When to begin reading aloud
• The stages of reading aloud
• The do's and don'ts of reading aloud
• Sustained silent reading
• Libraries
• Television, and 
• What Oprah, Harry, and the Internet have gotten right

As you might imagine, Trelease is a passionate advocate for reading to your children early, often, and forever!

Following his informational chapters about the importance of reading aloud, he includes a "Read Aloud Treasury," which lists 113 pages of book recommendations (with short reviews) broken down by genre and age group.  This list of more than 1,000 books is complemented by his website, which showcases his more current recommendations for books that have been published since the handbook's 2006 printing.  Eureka!

In addition to his own treasury, Trelease also recommends these resources (among others) for finding out about quality new children's books:

• "Worth a Thousand Words: An Annotated Guide to Picture Books for Older Readers" by Bette D. Ammon
• The American Library Association parent resource pages as well as their book lists for award winning books like the Caldecott, Newbery, and many others
• Children's Choices and Teacher's Choices from the International Reading Association

This book is a tremendous resource and serves as a perfect starting place for anyone trying to find that next great read.

*I read the 5th edition, so there is likely new material in the 6th edition that isn't covered in this post.