I’m so glad you’re reading PROJECT SEAHORSE! I wanted to write about seahorses because I’ve been a scuba diver for many years. I love animals and the special thing about diving and snorkeling is that most underwater wildlife can’t figure out what you are, so they aren’t afraid of you. I’ve been in the water with all sorts of big animals like sharks and whales and dolphins, but sometimes the coolest animals are the small, hard-to-find ones.
Seahorses are just so weird. A fish with a crocodile skin, kangaroo pouch, monkey tail, horse head…and the males get pregnant and have babies. I really love fantasy books, but some true things are just off the charts.
I traveled to the Philippines to research and write PROJECT SEAHORSE. The night I arrived we went out snorkeling to find seahorses. The seahorses on that reef only come out at night, so we swam out and searched the reef with underwater flashlights. I never would’ve found the seahorses if I hadn’t been with experts—they look just like the coral they cling to. You have to spot their little black-button eyes.
The seahorses were good sports about us shining our beams in their faces. When we came up we looked out across the water and saw a lightning storm in the distance. Every few seconds we saw silent flashes of white that lit up distant clouds. There was no rain or thunder, at least in our part of the ocean. It was just black water and white pulses. So very eerie and beautiful.
Never pass up an opportunity to get outside. Get wet, get dirty! See the world, or just your corner of it. Nature will reward you with moments full of surprise and wonder. Guaranteed!
Sometimes accepting one another’s “differentness” begins at the exact intersection of our sameness. This month’s final BOOK ROOM post includes books thatare about those children who know the uncomfortable feeling of being “different” yet find a way to turn negative perceptions into positives.
MOCKINGBIRD is a beautifully written story about a ten-year-old girl with Asperger’s who must learn to deal with the confusing gray that has descended over her home and life after the death of her brother in a tragic school shooting. Caitlyn doesn’t know what to do and her father, lost in his own grief, isn’t much help. But Caitlyn is persistent. She tries to Get It.
Eventually, Caitlin does find her way, not only to a measure of Closure for herself, but also for the community in which she lives.
Hà has lived in Saigon all her life. Just before her first birthday, Hà’s father left to become a soldier, and though they’ve haven’t heard from or seen him in years, they continue to believe he’ll return to them one day.
Now Father’s best friend, Uncle Son, says they must leave before the war comes any closer to home and escape is impossible.
The journey is long and treacherous, and the many cultural differences and adjustments make life in the United States difficult. In her new home, Hà is misunderstood and mistreated. She eventually begins to settle in and starts to understand and appreciate the differences that make her who she is as a unique person with the power to write her own future.
Michael couldn’t wait to make the trip to town with his grandma. But things are different for them. They aren’t allowed to share the bench with the white people waiting at the bus stop, even when Michael and his grandma get there first.
When he finally arrives in town, Michael and another boy from the bus run to the fountain for a long cool drink to ease their thirst. The “warm, rusty water tasted OK. But only for a few sips.” Then, “it tasted like nasty, muddy, gritty yuck.” Standing there, side-by-side with the white boy who kept drinking and drinking what looked to be icy cold mountain water, made Michael determined to know what “white water” tasted like.
Maddie and Mama have moved again and Maddie has a plan to make it through the awkward first days and weeks at another new school. She’ll become Uncle Potluck’s custodial apprentice and avoid facing the difficult task of making new friends and overcoming her uncomfortable shyness.
It isn’t easy for Maddie to let Mama know how she really feels, or to share her deep down, secret hopes. But she does and, in the process, also finds a friend who is “hound dog true.”
HOUND DOG TRUE is the kind of book that won’t speak to every child, but will reach into the soul of any child who, like Maddie, knows and lives with the pain of shyness. It’s the kind of book that a librarian, teacher, or parent could share with that one particular child who needs exactly what this book offers. The child who will hold this book close to her heart and treasure it as the one book that changed everything and let her know she was not alone.
FOLLOWING MY PAINT BRUSHis the true story of Dulari Devi, a domestic worker who became an artist in the Mithila style of folk painting from Bihar, in eastern India. Her childhood was doomed to be a life of unchanging hard work and no education – not one day of school. But Dulari refused to be discouraged. In simple words and captivating paintings, Dulari Devi tells the story of the power of persistence. Of one small girl who, with one big passion, never gives up.
To earn more money, we worked in people’s houses, washing their dishes…. I had never gone to school…Everyday was the same, as it had been from the time I was a small girl.
Then one day, when I was passing the village pond, a strange thing happened. As I stood and looked, the scene turned into a picture in my mind. It came alive, bright and lively, telling stories. I was happy the whole day, thinking of my picture.
Teaching and sharing of reading is not the sole territory of teachers and librarians. In fact, home reading is integral to the process of becoming a stronger, lifelong reader.
When parents hear the term “home reading”, many picture the daily reading logs sent home each week. The only requirements to most of these logs are title, author, pages, and date. And the sole purpose of such logs is to prove to teachers that … read more
Paquette’s Nowhere Girl compliments this month’s ReaderKidZ theme of accepting differences perfectly – for in her differences, the protagonist discovers her strength. This is a story about a young girl’s tenacious, heart-wrenching journey across the globe to find a place of belonging for herself and exoneration of her deceased mother’s integrity.
Protagonist Luchi Ann is born in Thailand’s Khon Mueang Women’s Prison. Her culturally diverse childhood was remarkably full of love, nurturing, and happiness. For thirteen years, she and her American mother shared a cell with two other women – Taiwanese Bibi and Jeanne of French descent. Sadly, after her mother’s tragic death, Luchi Ann is forced to leave the only family she’s known to embark upon a incredible quest to find her unknown grandmother in the United States. Luchi’s perilous journey, from Bangkok to Boston, is laced with heartache, deception, and the revelation of dark family secrets.
Then I know I have cried enough. I don’t want my tears to block my view of what’s ahead. I am terrified, but I am determined…I must go forward.
Just about everybody has called John Coogan by the name Crash since he put on his first football helmet, charged into his cousin, and knocked her clear back out the open doorway. Everyone, that is, but Penn Ward.
Penn and Crash are as different as they come. Penn’s a vegetarian whose mother buys his clothes in a second-hand store. He’s an only child, a Quaker, and a misfit who lives with his aging parents in a house that’s really a garage. He’s everything that Crash despises, or so Crash thinks.
Over time, Penn’s openhearted and guileless approach unnerves and, ultimately, inspires Crash’s transformation from bully to decent young hero.
Mean Jean the Recess Queen growls and howls and always gets her way. Until one day, a new kid, Katie Sue arrives at school. Not knowing a thing about Mean Jean’s bullying ways, Katie Sue goes about her business, playing the games she wants to play. “Bouncity Bouncity Bounce. Kickity Kickity Kick. Swingity Swingity Swing.”
Mean Jean may think she owns the playground, but Katie Sue stands her ground and turns things around when she invites Mean Jean to play: “I like ice cream, I like tea, I want Jean to jump with me!”
The girls end up jumping rope and Katie Sue’s invitation is the key that turns things around on the playground.
While in real life, bullies may not change their ways as quickly and easily as Mean Jean, Katie Sue’s positive attitude reminds kids that small kindnesses go a long way and a grouchy or even mean child is sometimes that way because he or she hasn’t learned how to be any different. A warm smile and an invitation to join the group can often go a long way towards making a new friend.
Sometimes the person you thought you’d never like, the person you wanted to be rid of, the first and only person ever to make it to your own personal Enemy List turns out to be not as bad as you’d thought.
That’s exactly what happens to Jeremy Ross and the boy down the street. But it doesn’t begin with a happy ending. It begins when Jeremy moves into the neighborhood, has a trampoline party in his backyard, and invites his neighbor, without inviting his neighbor’s best friend, who happens be the narrator. At that moment, Jeremy Ross earns the dubious label, Enemy Number One.
Luckily for the young narrator, Dad knows about enemies and the best way to get rid of them. He pulls out the recipe for Enemy Pie and tells his son, “In order for it to work, you need to spend a day with your enemy. Even worse, you have to be nice to him…”
Accepting differences is not the same thing as letting others boss you around. When Bootsie Barker and her mom come to visit the young narrator’s home, shel knows right away she’s in for trouble. Bootsie Barker doesn’t take “No” for an answer. She gets her way in whatever way she can!
When the narrator tries to interest Bootsie in a book about turtles, Bootsie replies, “You’re a turtle!… And I’m a TURTLE-EATING DINOSAUR!”
While her mom continues to encourage her to “learn to get along with all kinds of people,” the narrator’s thoughts are getting away from her – she’s dreaming of Bootise, falling off the edge of the world. “I try to save her, but it’s too late.”
Fortunately, our heroine doesn’t have to suffer indefinitely. She manages to turn the tables on Bootsie, and have the last word. After all, sometimes accepting others means understanding yourself well enough to know what you don’t have to accept.
In regards to THE RECESS QUEEN, the Canadian Teacher Magazine states, “Meeting new people, establishing friendships, and settling into new routines is a big part of the first few weeks in an elementary school. Classes traditionally spend time developing social skills, building relationships and a spirit of co-operation amongst the children. Establishing expectations for playground behaviour and discussing bullying behaviour is one of the first items for classroom discussions. Our staff thought that THE RECESS QUEEN by Alexis O’Neill and Laura Huliska-Beith would be an ideal book for a school-wide literacy project for our school start-up in September.”
We at ReaderKidZ couldn’t agree more! The magazine delights in this wonderful book so much that they have created a School-Wide Literacy Event featuring Mean Jean and the rest of the crew. Click HERE to read all about it.
To further compliment the reading of The Recess Queen experience click HERE to access a Reading Guide created by Jennifer Elsebaie of Chicago’s Hawthorne Scholastic Academy, HERE for a word scramble activity and HERE to access a RECESS QUEEN book trailer. With this great book and all of these supplemental lessons, bullying on the school grounds may become a thing of the past. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Mission Statement
To provide teachers, librarians, and parents with the resources and inspiration to foster a love of reading in kids, K-5.
for many years. I love animals and the special thing about diving and snorkeling is that most underwater wildlife can’t figure out what you are, so they aren’t afraid of you. I’ve been in the water with all sorts of big animals like sharks and whales and dolphins, but sometimes the coolest animals are the small, hard-to-find ones.
The seahorses were good sports about us shining our beams in their faces. When we came up we looked out across the water and saw a lightning storm in the distance. Every few seconds we saw silent flashes of white that lit up distant clouds. There was no rain or thunder, at least in our part of the ocean. It was just black water and white pulses. So very eerie and beautiful.
