Tag: Reading

It's June, It's June! {jumping up and down}

Summer has started. School has ended. Teachers and students need to rejuvenate. That said we are all still working.  Students, hopefully, are still reading something (books, cereal boxes, road signs, etc.) and teachers are truly resting but in the back of their minds they are planning. Next year always looms ahead like a beacon. What can I do differently? How can I implement that into my classroom next year?

We all do it.  Well I don’t know that for sure; I just know that I think that way and I’ve heard tell from other teacher friends that they plan that way as well. As a librarian I have the whole upkeep of the library to take care of and summer is a major cleanser for me. I’m working on inventory and have just started nonfiction. I finished fiction chapter books yesterday. They are all in the right order now, inventoried and reorganized. I’m taking out old copies, weeding, as I move through the shelves. It’s thrilling stuff.

I’ve also started working out with someone named Jillian Michaels who has kind of a fast mouth and likes to push it. Working out is something that gets pushed to the back burner during school and my mission is to get some strength back and to combat all the lounge treats I ate of the year.

I have lots of other plans for the summer and the first thing up on my travel agenda is coming up this week. We are heading to the Blue Ox festival in Eau Claire, WI with some friends. Camping, music, festival food, fun cocktails, sun dresses, and possibly some rain…all sounds like the perfect way to begin summer.

I’ve been lucky to have a few moments to spend in my parachute hammock reading. I’m in the middle of three great books; The Doctor’s Wife by Elizabeth Brundage, Left Neglected by Lisa Genova, and The Marvels by Brian Selznick.
What are you reading?

Happy June!

Peaceful Reading…

Scholastic Book Fair's in town.

And I made muffins for the teacher all-day preview.  It’s my way of luring the teacher’s in to the fair to make a wish list so parent’s will buy books for their classroom.  I wanted them to be yummy and enticing (and unfortunately my idea of yummy is healthy than what the rest of the world is interested in) so I scrolled through a few cookbooks to find something that spoke to me.  I found it in my King Arthur Flour cookbook; Chocolate Breakfast Muffins.  I made a double batch.  Groovy Girl thought they were delicious.

Chocolate Breakfast Muffins (makes 12 large)

2/3 cup cocoa, Dutch-processed or natural
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp vinegar
8 T butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 425*
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt ,and chocolate chips.  Set aside.
In a large measuring cup or medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and vinegar.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry, along with the melted butter, to the dry ingredients, stirring to blend.  There’s no need to beat these muffins; just make sure everything is well combined.
Scoop the batter into 12 lightly greased muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Don’t let them burn-they do cook quickly and my oven cooks high.  Remove them from the oven, and after 5 minutes remove them from the pan, allowing them to cool on a wire rack before serving. 
I love baked goods warm.  I ate a few of the mini muffins just after they’d cool a bit and they were delicious.  The chocolate chunks (which is all I had) and the toffee bits (I added for fun) were perfectly melty.  
When I served them on Monday I heated them up also so the first few smart teachers had warmed up muffins-melt-in-your-mouth chocolate breakfast muffins.  
Check out King Arthur’s amazing website.
Enjoy!
Peaceful Reading…

29 days of book love…

Inkheart 
Cornelia Funke
(2003)
originally published in German
This book is a thrilling ride crafted for fantasy lovers and book readers of every kind.  Imagine how it would change your reading style if your reading abilities could change the story as it does for Meggie and her dad Mo.  Mo loves books and is good at fixing them. He was also a very good storyteller at one time.  Soon after her mother’s disappearance though Mo won’t read to Meggie and she doesn’t understand why. Mo has such incredible reading abilities that even a few bad guys are interested in his talents.
What if, I as a librarian, read in such a way that my library patrons one-by-one began disappearing as I was reading?  Would you want to send your child to the library anymore? Meggie and Mo’s journey and the unique cast of characters smattered along the way make this an incredible story worth sharing.  I once read it aloud to a class of 5th grade students in Little Rock. Their teacher and I were friends and she struggled with readalouds so I agreed to help her by modeling.  This is the book I chose, I went every afternoon to read to them, and they were mesmerized by the story. It was one of the best experiences I had of transporting children (and their teacher) to another land far, far away…
The movie is not worth it and even the second book not so much. This book is a stand alone for me.  It’s so good it doesn’t need anything more. 

Peaceful Reading…

29 days of book love…

This is the perfect book to be snowed in with, the kind of book you could curl up on the sofa and read for the whole day. In front of a roaring fire. I love talking students into reading it-they always come back happy.  It’s mysterious, adventurous, and built on friendship.  A trifecta.

Totally loving my snow day today even though the amount of snow we got is not record breaking. I’m soon to head out to take some snow photos of Groovy Girl and her BF, BF’s brother and little sister building snow people.

Peaceful Reading…

My top ten books of 2015

I love GoodReads.  I don’t know how any true reader lives without it. Even though I keep a paper journal of what I’ve read it is such a convenience to click into my GR’s app to look up a book while conversing; while others rack their brains for a title I can easily go back and look the title up for reference.

Here are my statistics for 2015.  I read 55 books and 18,541 pages. The shortest book was Honey by Sarah Weeks-a sweet little tale and my longest title was written by the indomitable George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones which is also the “most popular title”.  If given the choice I’d rather read my least popular title, Summer Cocktails, as it was a lot more entertaining!

Here are my top ten titles in no particular order:

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith; Most memorable and quirky tale of an future world transformed by oversized people-eating grasshoppers.Two main characters were hysterical.  Young adult and not for everyone. Read my official review here.

A hundred pieces of me by Lucy Dillon: A telling tale of life and what we really want out of-a bunch of stuff or true experiences with those we love. Pairs well with The Life-changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo. Read about this book here, A hundred pieces of me, where I share my reading retreat.

Girl at War by Sara Novic;  Excellent look at the Serbian conflict from a young person’s viewpoint.  This book is eloquent and took my breath away.  Read my review here-Girl at War

All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr;  Brilliant look at WWII from many angles showing even in the ugliest of wars that survival is part of our human spirit.  Beautiful writing and I never wrote a review for it. Shame on me.  If you haven’t had a chance to read it order it now using your xmas gift cards.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie;  I loved this book-it opened a can of worms about race in a detailed and interesting story. I thought I knew a lot about race, my friends are a variety pack of colors, yet this showed me my thought process was often skewed in trying to be “color-blind”.  I realize that my view is not the major problem with race in this country, I know, and yet I want to be standing on the far right of good. Give this book a try-don’t be afraid of the length-it reads fast.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson; This eloquent book made me cry and read many parts aloud to my husband/Groovy Girl as we drove cross country this summer.  I’m a fan of Woodson’s and hearing her story in all its truths was a learning experience.

Paper Things by Jennifer Richard Jacobson; Homelessness is the problem in this excellent YA novel. A brother and sister strike out on their own because the older sibling can’t get along with their guardian.  He feels obligated to take care of his sister and works to keep them together. Everyday is a struggle as they seek shelter and food but for the young girl it is difficult to make it to school in clean clothes with homework finished. Just thinking about these characters makes me think I might reread this story again.  Sexual overtones keep me from reading it with my 6th grade book club.  Read my review here of Paper Things.

Loot by Jude Watson;  This book is a unique mystery with great characters. They work to solve problems on their own not trusting the adults around them. I recommend this one to students and each one is surprised by how good the story is.

The Storyteller by Jodi Piccoult; Amazing modern tale about Sage Singer, a baker with a messy personal life, that twists and turns telling us through flashbacks about another story during WWII. Holocaust stories often make me ill as you read about concentration camp horrors and this one made me angry, sad, yet often joyful.  The story is well-told and I thought very different than the good but frequently formulaic Picoult tales.  I mention it in this summer post.

Honorable mentions (all perfect elementary reads)

If you find this by Matthew Baker
El Deafo by Cece Bell
Switch by Ingrid Law
Rain, Reign by Ann M. Martin
The False Prince by Jennifer E. Nielsen

and 3 young adult books with one common thread, e. lockhart.  It was my year to connect with her books. I enjoyed We were liars, Dramarama, and The Disreputable history of Frankie Landau Banks. All good solid stories.

(you didn’t really think I was just going to talk about ten books, did you?)

Peaceful Reading…

Let it snow, Let it snow (so we can build a snowman)

{young groovy girl with two snowpeople creations}

We don’t have any snow here. A relative has shared gorgeous snow photos of Colorado but no snow here in the Midwest or at least in our corner of Iowa.

This is unacceptable for Groovy Girl.  She believes snow is part of what makes Christmas magic.  She loves pulling on her tall furry boots and heading out into the snow to play still.  But the snow has to come for her to do that. She is the only one of my kids who loves winter weather.

In order to help her out I’ve read books about snow and snowmen at school to kindergarten classes. Here is a list of my favorites:

1. Alice Schertle’s All you need for a snowman (2007): softly illustrated by Barbara Lavallee with flowing text that moves you forward from one page to the next.  The pictures make you want to linger though.  I love everything that Alice writes.  The cover art above makes you want to flip inside.

2. Alison McGhee’s Making a friend (2011): Illustrated by Marc Rosenthal with soft wispy pictures and text that tells the reader the simple water cycle as the boy builds the snowman and watches it melt only to come back to life the next winter.  Great for seasonal conversations as well.

3. Lois Ehlert’s Snowballs (2001): My classic go to story of a snow family taking on new life with a variety of crazy fabrics and household items. Kids love the end pages that shares all the items Lois’ used to create her snow family of kids, dog, cat,mom, and dad. Will inspire you to grab your craft bag and head out into the freezing cold to create the perfect Ehlert snowman.

4. Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick’s Stranger in the woods (2000): With exquisite photographs we see woodland animals all trying to discover who has come through the woods.  The lyrical text is filled with kid-catchy sounds making the pictures come alive.  I love reading this aloud with the chick-a-dee-dee-dee and the stuttering porcupine.  The mystery is bigger than just the snowman though so keep turning the pages.  I love ending with a few suggestions on how students could help feed local animals through winter.

5. Daniel J. Mahoney’s A really good snowman (2005):  I like this book because it’s more than just a snowman story. It’s about family and sticking together.  Jack wants to build a snowman with his friends for the annual snowman competition held at the town park.  His little sister wants to help but they send her off to do her own thing. When Jack realizes she needs his help he leaves his friends behind to stick with his sister.  It’s a lovely story, cute illustrations, and a good lesson in teamwork.

6. No snowman post of mine would be complete with out mentioning my favorite snowman movie…Jack Frost with Michael Keaton as the aging rocker who is killed in an accident after playing a gig on Christmas Eve. Sounds tragic and their are tearful moments but the story is a light-hearted look at a young boy dealing with grief and a father-turned snowman dealing with leaving his family behind.  Love to watch it every year.

Most links for books lead you to Red Balloon Books in St. Paul, MN when available.  Buy independent this holiday season. Buy everyone on your list at least one book.  And send us some snow…

Peaceful Reading…

Half a dozen books worth giving…

{source}

In the midst of holiday shopping I came upon this thoughtful image that snapped my attention away from shiny baubles and to what really matters.  I’ve always leaned this way yet this year it made a bigger impact on me. Do you shop with this in mind?

We all have so much we should be grateful for; roof over our heads, plentiful food at our table, games in the cupboard, and books spilling off the bookcase.  Keeping that fun mental image in my head I am almost finished with my holiday shopping.  I have four books to pick out and then I will be done. If you are still looking for a few yourself I have a few pictures books I’d love to recommend.

1. Last Stop on Market Street (2015) by Matt de la Pena: I love this beautifully illustrated (by Christian Robinson) and well-thought out book about the world around us.  We go on a journey with C.J. and his nana as they leave church. He questions her with the whys and what ifs that occur naturally to small children.  Why don’t we have a car? Why is it raining? Peppering his grandmother with curiosities she answers back kindly each time, sharing empathy along the way until C.J. feels the warmth of Nana’s words.  I love the diverse and unique people Robinson depicts on each and every page.  This book is 10 stars and deserves to be wrapped up for any holiday.

2. Is Mommy? (2015) by Victoria Chang and Marla Frazee: Mothers get the short end of the stick often and their book illustrates this perfectly. In the course of a day we often appear mean, messy, boring, and little ones see us as short, ugly, and funny.  No matter what, mothers are loved as the young ones in the book shout at us gleefully.  I love books like this because it can be a call and response reading with children.  Might there be a new title in the wings “Daddy Is”?  I would love that as well.

3. Mixed Me (2015) by Taye Diggs and Shane W. Evans: I was lucky to receive a free copy of this lovely book but if I hadn’t I would happily buy it. The message is a cheerful look at acceptance by Mike who loves his blended color and who he is.  We don’t need to match to get along and I wish Mike could teach that to quite a few adults in today’s world.  Mike’s crazy hair bounces through the pictures just as Joe Cepeda’s illustrations for Nappy Hair.  Love it.

4. Once upon a memory (2013) by Nina Laden and Renata Liwska: This is simple a beautiful book for all ages.  A little boy playing in his room spots a feather as it floats in through the window and it makes him wonder if the feather remembers the bird, does a book remember it was once a word…playing the sequence out several more times until we are reminded to remember that we were once children.  Such a lovely way to be reminded.  Every time I flip through this book I am filled with a sense of peace.

5. Plant a Pocket of Prairie (2014) by Phyllis Root and Betsy Bowen: For nonfiction lovers this one illustrates beautifully the reason for prairies and why it is important to refurbish prairies around us.  Betsy Bowen’s Antler, Bear, Canoe; a Northwoods alphabet is a family favorite and this book is just as unique. Both Root and Bowen hail from Minnesota which is a land I love.

6. 28 Days; Moments in black history that changed the world (2015) by Charles R. Smith and Shane W. Evans:  I discovered this gem inside one of the Scholastic boxes for my recent book fair.  Combing through the glossy pages I discovered a great deal of cool history; surpassing what we already know about Rosa Parks and Dr. King.  I learned that Daniel Hale Williams successfully performed open heart surgery on a stab wound patient on July 9, 1893 in Chicago and that he opened his own hospital to welcome patients and doctors of all colors. Each page focuses on a person or event with a poem and facts.  On the inside flap the books says it is perfect for Black History Month (February) and every month. I hope the book is picked up often. Buy this one and share it with someone you love.

All titles are linked to The Red Balloon, one of my favorite bookstores in the Midwest.  Have a holly jolly whatever you celebrate and buy a book for everyone on your list.
Peaceful Reading…

ThinkIn15 with Mr Schu

On Saturday I participated in a ThinkIn at an elementary school about 45 minutes away. Even though it was gorgeous weather on Saturday and I live to be outside when it is so lovely out, I went.  I could have rolled over at 7:30 am and gone right back to sleep as the other peeps at my house did but I didn’t. I had a strong conviction to go because Mr. Schu (John Schumacher) was the guest speaker and I love to follow his lovely blog posts and tweets.  He’s created quite a community of readers, authors, bloggers, librarians, and teachers.  I gave up my Saturday morning for him and it was well worth it.

He had a plethora of slides about connecting students with books to start the day off and we didn’t even get to half of his slides. He says he has OCD when it comes to making slide shows.  That OCD is exactly what makes him entertaining to see in person.  He flits from story to story, sharing funny anecdotes about authors he’s met, and his own quirkiness. He has a smell test for all new books. Yes, I said smell test as in “doesn’t this book smell a-m-a-z-i-n-g!”

I had many things I wanted to say to him but I’m nervous and weird and can never get the right sentence out at the right time so I nodded my head a lot in the two conversations we had.  One of the things I wanted to say was that I loved Matthew Baker’s book, If you find this, which when Mr Schu shared about this book everyone else looked at it like they’d never heard of it and he said he couldn’t find a copy of it in the book stores he stopped in on his way through Iowa.  Hmmm.  I loved the book and we need to start a buzz about If you find this. 


His second presentation shared lots of new books with us and he gave away lots of books.  He talked about authors he loves like Kate DiCamillo, Ame Dykeman, and Katherine Applegate and he likes funny books which made me wonder if he likes Emily Gravett books.  Her books are unusual and kids like her sense of humor.

I was the lucky winner of TWO books from Mr. Schu (thank you, thank you!); A passion for elephants; the real life adventure of field scientist Cynthia Moss by Toni Buzzeo and Holly Berry and Ivan; the remarkable true story of the shopping mall gorilla by Katherine Applegate and G. Brian Karas.  I loved The one and only Ivan also by Applegate and many teachers use it for a read aloud so this book will make a great addition to our library.  And did I mention that it’s signed by K. Applegate!

I think it is interesting that I got two books with super long titles and both about animals.  I had to sit on my hands for the rest of his giveaways and it was very difficult; he had so many great books to give away.  My friend Nancy was the lucky winner of Brian Selznick’s new book The Marvels.

You can find Mr Schu’s wonderful blog posts at Watch. Connect. Read. I love reading his posts, his book recommendations make my lists long on Titlewave, and he entertains using Vine and lots of book trailers.

Peaceful Reading…

Reading Retreat 2015

In about a week’s time I will be enjoying warmer weather in a Southern city with two friends.  Our plan is to have a reading retreat-24 hours of reading bliss where we will talk books, have a glass of wine, maybe knit a little as we talk, revel in each other’s company. I can’t wait and I hope this week school flies by! I’m excited to be in the presence of fareaway friends.

Months ago we each picked a book to share:

A Place at the table by Susan Rebecca White (2013): 
Alice Stone is famous for the homemade southern cuisine she serves at Café Andres and her groundbreaking cookbook, but her past is a mystery to all who know her. Upon Alice’s retirement, Bobby Banks, a young gay man ostracized by his family in Georgia, sets out to revive the aging café with his new brand of southern cooking while he struggles with heartbreak like he’s never known. Seeking respite from the breakup of her marriage, wealthy divorcée Amelia Brighton finds solace in the company and food at Café Andres, until a family secret comes to light in the pages of Alice’s cookbook and threatens to upend her life. (amazon)


Dramarama by E. Lockhart (2007):  
Two theater-mad, self-invented fabulositon Ohio teenagers.

One boy, one girl.
One gay, one straight.
One black, one white.
And SUMMER DRAMA CAMP.
It’s a season of hormones,
gold lame,
hissy fits,
jazz hands. (amazon)

A hundred pieces of me by Lucy Dillon (2014): 
Reeling from her recent divorce, Gina Bellamy suddenly finds herself figuring out how to live on her own. Determined to make a fresh start—with her beloved rescue greyhound by her side—Gina knows drastic measures are in order.  First up: throwing away all her possessions except for the one hundred things that mean the most to her. But what items are worth saving? Letters from the only man she’s ever loved? A keepsake of the father she never knew? Or a blue glass vase that perfectly captures the light?  As she lets go of the past, Gina begins to come to terms with what has happened in her life and discovers that seizing the day is sometimes the only thing to do. And when one decides to do just that…magic happens. (amazon)


All three sound excellent!  I finished A place at the table, am 1/2 way through Dramarama, and will read A hundred pieces of me this week.  I’ll let ya’ll know how magnificent the retreat is?  

Peaceful Reading…