This meme was started by Sheila at Book Journey. The kid's version was started by the lovely ladies at Teach Mentor Text.
There was not a lot of reading happening in my house this week. My taxes came first. I had to get them done, because I was meeting with my tax person.
I finally finished The Notorious Benedict Arnold by Steve Sheinkin. I loved this book. I'm all about learning new things and really learned a lot as I was reading this book. I've now read two books by Sheinkin, with each book my appreciation of his attention to detail grows. He really throws himself into fully researching each topic. I'm so impressed with his ability to turn a nonfiction book into one that reads like a fiction story. Now just waiting for my public library to get his newest, Lincoln's Grave Robbers.
I also got a chance to read I'm Looking for a Monster! by Timothy Young. I just loved this book. It is a pop-up book. Click here for a summary on Goodreads. It has some great examples of monsters. This book fits perfectly with the mini monster unit with first grade. I read a monster book and then have them create, using PIXIE, a monster. Then they have to write a sentence or more, depending on their level, describing their monster. I've been looking for a different monster book because the one that I usually use, damaged beyond repair this year. I was so excited that I have another book to takes it place. Now I need to get his newest book I Hate Picture Books! Click here for a summary on Goodreads. If you are on Twitter, so is Timothy Young (@TimSYoung), check him out.
Up next for me is catching up on a few graphic novels that I have missed. Matthew Winner (@MatthewWinner) and some other teacher librarians in Maryland have created a graphic novel category for the Black-Eyed Susan Awards, our state book awards. Click here for a link to his blog post about the new category. Matthew gives a lot of great resources for the books. Also if you haven't seen his blog, it is a really great resource! I think this is wonderful because graphic novels have become an important genre. There are five graphic novels on the list that I haven't read yet. First up for me is Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: One Ded Spy by Nathan Hale. Click here for a summary on Goodreads.
I'm also reading In A Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz. I'm not sure yet what I think about this book so far. I enjoyed his first one, A Tale Dark & Grimm, but I found my mind wandering as I was reading. I'm putting it aside for now, and I pick it back up in a little while.
Happy Reading!!
Stacey (@libraryjo92)
The wonderful ladies at Teach Mentor Text, came up with a great idea to brighten up February with a book and bookmark swap. I was so excited to participate because little did I know that I would need a big pick-me-up at the end February and beginning of March.
It was so exciting to be buying a book and bookmark for someone else. I found that figuring out what book to buy was the easiest part. I didn't realize how hard picking a book mark would be! I saw that my person was a Reading and Social Studies teacher. One of the genres she liked was nonfiction. Since I had been reading Henry Cole books, an easy pick was his newest book, Unspoken. It is a wordless picture book about the Underground Railroad. Due to the death of a close family friend, I got my dates mixed up a bit. But because of that mix up, I was able to get the book autographed by Henry Cole. I hope my person really enjoys the book!
It was so exciting to come at the beginning of March, to find a package Crystal B. (@librarygrl2). I couldn't wait to open it. I was so lucky to find not one, but two books. Crystal had sent me Almost Home by Joan Bauer and a nonfiction book One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley. I was thrilled to see Almost Home in the book because it has been on my to-read list since September 2012. I started to read it that night. The book didn't disappoint me at all. It was worth waiting for. Crystal included One World, One Day because I indicated my book gap was nonfiction. I was so surprised that I had never read this book before. I had heard of it, but just never read it. I liked it so much, I'm buying a copy for my school library. I just loved the bookmarks that she included. I fell in love with the notecards that she included as well. Crystal took photos that she had taken, and use them as the pictures on the blank notecards. I LOVE this idea!!! I'm going to make some of my own notecards using pictures from my vacations to the National Parks.
Thanks again to the ladies at Teach Mentor Text for putting together this first book and bookmark swap. I'm really looking forward to the next one! A huge thank you to Crystal for the books, bookmarks, and wonderful notecards.
Happy Reading!!
Stacey (@libraryjo92)
Back in September I was beyond thrilled when another Media Specialist in my county sent an email out telling us that she was hosting Henry Cole on March 1st and wanted to know if anyone else was interested in joining on to his visit. After talking to my principal and the school PTA, I let her know that we wanted him to come to my school.
Little did I know than, how much work went into a school visit by an author/illustrator! I've seen many authors/illustrators speak at conference and even at school, but I was always a observer, not the person in charge. It is a WHOLE different ballgame when you are in charge of the visit!!
It doesn't help that I'm a Type-A personality, but I had to have everything spelled out and organized. I made sure it was so organized that if I had to be gone, the visit would run smoothly. (Little did I know, I would have to miss part of his visit.)
I sold his books ahead of time. I think ordering the books was the hardest part of the whole visit. In order to order the books, we had to jump through many hoops. If I had known how many hoops we would have to jump through, I would have started the whole process a little bit earlier than I did. The other lesson I learned about ordering books, make sure to order extra books. Many of my teachers who didn't order when we did the pre-sale, wanted books after hearing him speak.
If you have not had the opportunity to see Henry Cole speak, you are missing out! He is a dynamic speaker who engages children of all ages and adults as well. His stories will make you laugh out loud, no matter what your age. Henry Cole also inspires the children to be readers, writers, and illustrators. I really loved two things that he told all the children. The first was he always carries paper and pencils with him, that way he can work wherever his is. The other thing that I loved was when he was explaining to the students how many times he had to draw an illustration or rewrite a book before he got it correct. It really made an impression that even a great author/illustrator had to do things over and over and over again before he was satisfied.
Henry Cole's visit was an huge success! The kids had a wonderful time. The teachers/staff enjoyed his stories. They all are still talking about his visit. He got the highest compliment from one of my Second Grade classes, they said that his visit was worth missing PE!
On a personal note, I was so thankful how understanding Henry Cole was because I had to leave in the middle of his visit. I had to attend a funeral of a dear family friend. She was like a second mother to me. I felt I needed to be there for her family. That is why I'm wearing red in this picture; it was her signature color.
Happy Reading!!
Stacey (@libraryjo92)
