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?
Bake a pie especially for an enemy? Think of the most ridiculously gruesome ingredients and then throw them in a pan? Oh, how deviously delicious!
Derek Munson’s masterful ENEMY PIE serves as a tasty tease to lure kids into the joy of reading. On his website is a lengthy list of lesson plans devised for Friends and Enemies, Writing Lessons, directions to make his delectable Enemy Pie, lesson plans for young authors, and creativity resources. Click HERE to discover and to enjoy.
In addition Kieth Schoch’s Teach With Picture Books site is brimming over with language arts, math extensions, science, social studies, and interactive teaching tools activities designed to enhance the ENEMY PIE reading experience.
And lastly, to plan for an ENEMY PIE School Event, download a .pdf spelling out all the necessary details necessary to pull it off HERE. Learn how to create character, develop plot, and understand various literary elements by focusing on the child’s interest first and then help them to build finger-licking gross stories from there.
We hope you enjoy reading Author-In-Residence, Katherine Hannigan’s newest book: True . . . Sort Of.
Greenwillow Books is giving away ten copies! Please email GWBooks@harpercollins.comfor a chance to win! Include “True (sort of) GIVEAWAY.READERKIDZ” in the subject line.
Read more about TRUE (…sort of) HERE. For more about author, Katherine Hannigan, read “What’s Your Story?” HERE. Enjoy a letter from Katherine to her readers HERE.
Mission Statement
To provide teachers, librarians, and parents with the resources and inspiration to foster a love of reading in kids, K-5.
