I WALK WITH VANESSA by Kerascoët

Posted on 09/28/2020

Schwartz & Wade (2018) | ISBN: 978-1524769567

Today begins a series I’m calling “TOGETHER. APART. REGRET. NEW START?”

Each Monday for the next 3 weeks, I’ll share a brief lesson to accompany a picture book that invites students into a conversation about empathy, friendship, and the path from conflict to resolution.

This week’s book is I Walk With Vanessa: A Story about A Simple Act of Kindness by Kerascoët. Inspired by real events, this beautiful, wordless picture book invites student to study each ink and watercolor illustration and tell the story in their own words.

BEFORE READING

Before leading students in a modified PICTURE WALK, use a post-it note or something similar to conceal the title on both the cover and title page, leaving the illustration visible. Ask: What’s going on in the picture? What will this story be about? What do you see that makes you say that?

Continue the picture walk to the title page, and the double-page spread that follows. Allow time for students to study the illustrations but ask them to keep their predictions to themselves for the moment.

Now, flip back to the cover and remove the post-it notes. Read the title and subtitle. Does knowing the title change their predictions?

 

DURING

Guided by the open-ended questions (What’s going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can we find?) continue to encourage students to “read” the story by sharing their interpretations and thoughts about the developing art and narrative.

As Megan Dowd Lambert suggests in her book, READING PICTURE BOOKS WITH CHILDREN, “use these questions to help children dig deeper into insights that surprise or intrigue. The idea is to engage the group in ways that guide, as opposed to direct, the group’s reading.”

 

AFTER

Share this brief quote from the backmatter with students:

“Kindness multiplies. One small act of kindness can inspire more kind acts.”

 

Questions to consider …

  • What do think the quote means? Do you believe it’s true? Can kindness multiply? In what ways? Can you share examples?
  • Have you ever experienced a small act of kindness? How did it make you feel? Did it inspire you to “pass it on?”
  • What act of kindness might you try today?

 

EXTENTIONS

  • Make a Kindness Poster for your home or classroom
  • Paint rocks with positive messages to leave around the school or neighborhood
  • Decorate the playground with kindness-themed chalk art.

 

IF YOU COME TO EARTH by Sophie Blackall

Posted on 09/20/2020

If you come to Earth, there are a few things you need to know…

Things like:

Our planet is the “greeny-blue one.”

It has “green and brown bits.” Land.

And blue stuff. Water.

There are big cities, small towns, tiny villages.

Homes. Families.  Even identical twins are different.

In fact, many others things are different, too.

Weather and clothing. Vehicles and schools. Work and play.

Animals and music. Colors and sounds.

The world is a beautiful and a mysterious place.

“There are lots of things we don’t know… But right this minute,

we are here together on this beautiful planet.”

This gorgeous book by Two-Time Caldecott Medalist, Sophie Blackall was many years in the making, and believe me, it was worth the wait.

If You Come to Earth is a glorious guide to our home planet, and a call for us to take care of both Earth and each other.

This stunning book is inspired by the thousands of children Sophie Blackall has met during her travels around the world in support of UNICEF and Save the Children.

If You Come to Earth by Sophie Blackall

Chronicle Books | 978-1452137797

To learn more, check out this video:

 

School’s Out for Summer!

Posted on 05/31/2017

Clipart by Cliparts.co

It’s been a busy year for the ReaderKidZ and an even busier seven years since we first began blogging with the purpose of providing teachers, librarians, and parents with the resources and inspiration to foster a love of reading in kids, K-5. Along with the times, our schedules are changing and it’s become harder for us to maintain weekly posts. We’ve enjoyed sharing our love of books with readers and plan to jump back in from time to time, but for now, we’re taking a break.

Over the years, we’ve read many amazing books and, we hope, introduced you to many books and authors you might not have, otherwise, known about. We leave you with lists of many more good books, suggestions provided by the American Library Association, Indie Booksellers, and the Horn Book:

Another great summer reading option, courtesy of Arbordale Publishing:

Happy Reading!

The ReaderKidZ

Dianne White, Nancy Bo Flood, Stephanie Greene, Ann Jacobus, & Debbie Gonzales

“Princess Cora, are you being a good girl?”

Posted on 04/25/2017

 

Who says being a princess is so great? Not Cora, the heroine of the silly, delightful book PRINCESS CORA AND THE CROCODILE (Candlewick Press), written by Laura Amy Schlitz and illustrated by Brian Floca. Cora’s tired of being good. Her nanny makes her take three baths a day and her mother makes her read dull, dull, dull books about how to run a kingdom. As for her father, the King, he times Cora with his gold watch every day as she runs in circles and skips rope up to five hundred. “A future queen must be strong!” he says. Cora’s sick of it all.

If she only had a dog to play with … but no. Her parents don’t want the mess and fuss and dirt. It isn’t until Cora writes to her Godmother asking for help that her life begins to change. And what a change! It’s sheer silliness and anarchy after Cora wakes up to find a box at the foot of her bed with a crocodile inside. Her own crocodile! While it dresses up in Cora’s clothes and holds her parents at bay for the day, Cora is free! She climbs trees, makes a fort in the woods, wades barefoot in a stream … and no one tells her not to. The thrill of freedom and doing what she wants is so wonderful, Cora doesn’t even mind when she steps in a cow pie in her bare feet.

Every child will delight in this funny book about going against the rules and not being good … even if only for a day. Schlitz, a 2008 Newbery winner (Good Masters, Sweet Ladies!) and author of the historical fiction novel The Hired Girl, has created a silly book that’s perfect either for reading aloud or for readers who have conquered early chapter books. Teamed with  Floca’s bright and hilarious illustrations (who can resist a crocodile masquerading as a princess with a brown mop for hair and his green tail sticking out the back of her pink dress?), this book will make children laugh and adults, too.

Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets

Posted on 04/17/2017

ReaderKidZ welcomes Karen Jameson with today’s guest post:

“Poems come out of wonder, not out of knowing.”

This quote, by children’s author and poet Lucille Clifton, inspired the title of Kwame Alexander’s latest poetry offering, Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets (Candlewick, March 2017). Published just in time to welcome Poetry Month, this gorgeous picture book introduces the 8 and older crowd to 20 timeless poets and their wondrous words.

In this labor of love, Alexander (with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth) presents original poems created in the styles of selected works from long ago poets (Basho, Rumi, Dickinson), twentieth century favorites (Neruda, Frost, Hughes) and contemporary artists (Angelou, Myers, Giovanni, Oliver).   Arranged in three sections, Got Style, In Your Shoes, and Thank You, each poem is accompanied by a glorious mixed media image from Caldecott Honor illustrator, Ekua Holmes.

Truly a feast for the eyes and ears, Out of Wonder goes a step further by providing a short bio for each celebrated poet. These engaging bios tell just enough to spark future exploration by young poetry lovers. As a teacher, I could see using this collection to introduce one poet a day for the month of April. What a lovely tribute!

I leave you with the first twos stanzas from this gem by Chris Colderley celebrating a poem by Chief Dan George:

FOR OUR CHILDREN’S CHILDREN

Greet the new day

like a stranger

entering it

for the first time.

Listen to the rivers,

the raven’s son,

the woodpecker’s knock,

and your beating heart…

Karen Jameson is a children’s author, newly retired teacher and active member of SCBWI. She holds a master’s degree in Language and Literacy.  Karen has published a number of nonfiction science articles in AppleSeeds and Ask magazines.  Recently awarded the 2016 Sue Alexander Grant for the Working Writers Retreat (SCBWI LA), she is now living her dream of writing full time.

CREEK FINDING: A TRUE STORY (about buried treasure)

Posted on 04/09/2017

 

Who doesn’t want to read a good book about buried treasure? This marvelous picture book, CREEK FINDING: A TRUE STORY, written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Claudia McGehee is about a different kind of treasure. Not gold. Not jewels. This treasure is a disappeared creek.

How can a creek disappear? Even more mysterious, how can a buried creek be found and then re-appear?

CREEKFINDING is a true tale about the restoration of an entire ecosystem that had, at one time, been  bulldozed under. A man named Mike saw a piece of land for sale and said, “I’ll buy it. I’ll grow a prairie in this old corn field.” And Mike did. While he was working in his field, an old farmer came by and told Mike that “long ago he had caught a book trout in this very spot.” A brook trout in a cornfield? “No way!”

Mike began thinking. “He wanted to find the creek, make a place for brook trout, birds, bugs, and frogs. He said he would call it Brook Creek. Others laughed, said Mike’s plan was foolishness. Lost is lost.” But that didn’t stop Mike. He asked friends who had big earth-moving machines – excavators – to come over and help him. They did. Soon Mike found the treasure he was seeking. He brought in rocks so water “could remember” and more rocks so bugs would have a home. Soon dragonflies, stoneflies, and caddesflies were fluttering. Frogs were chorupping. What a treasure Mike had restored. What an ecosystem to enjoy and explore!

Share this book with young readers and then go out for a hike in the woods, follow a creek or a stream. Celebrate Earth Day (April 22, 2017) by giving this book to a child or to a library. What a treasure to share!

FEATHERS FOR PEACOCK, a tale of caring and generosity

Posted on 04/02/2017

FEATHERS FOR PEACOCK

Friendship and caring is the heart of this picture book, FEATHERS FOR PEACOCK. Jacqueline Jules has created a pourquois tale in the engaging folklore style of “ long ago, when the world was new, Peacock did not have the beautiful feathers he has now. Peacock was naked.” All the birds were naked! All the grumbly and embarrassed birds decided to have a meeting to see what they might do to cover themselves with fur or scales or shells. Everyone came except Peacock. “He was buried under a pile of leaves, sound asleep.”

A young reader will find the birds’ solution quite creative and colorful. But sadly no one had noticed that Peacock was missing. All the birds were pleased as they preened their lovely new feathers. All the birds, that is, except Peacock who stood as naked as ever. With her big heart of kindness, tiny hummingbird thought of a possible solution, if all the other birds were willing to share a few of their fine new feathers.

The colorful illustrations by Helen Cann provide unusual images that fill each page with color and energy. The story is not didactic but the power of compassion and kindness is clear. FEATHERS FOR PEACOCK is a delightful book to share with a young listener. Fun facts about peacocks are included in the back matter of the book. FEATHERS FOR PEACOCK, written by Jacqueline Jules and illustrated by Helen Cann, is a Wisdom Tales publication, available this April, 2017.