There has been much controversy and conversation recently about the history of slavery and how to present that to children so they get a true, un-romanticized picture of the cruelty it imposed on generations of Black Americans. There are few stories about our country’s history that are more important to set straight. Elizabeth Bird, Collections Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library, former Youth Materials Specialist at the New York Public Library, and a much-respected children’s book reviewer, posted a list of some of the most recent books here.To read Bird’s daily book reviews in the School Library Journal, look HERE.
And here for three powerful and beautiful picture books about school segregation, slavery, and Black women in sports from the NYT Book Review.
What’s your favorite activity, trivia, and JOKE in the book?
Oooh, that’s a tough one. But I’ll give it a go:
Activity: My favorite is an outdoor activity that’s described on one of the Junior Ranger pages. It explains how to make a bird feeder using cardboard, peanut butter, and popcorn. How could that not be fun, right? But among the games in the book, I also like the “What in the World?” feature. For those, we’d come up with a theme, such as “The Park After Dark,” and generate a list of items, in this case, things you might see in national parks after dark. The photo folks compiled zoomed-in photographs of some of these features, and the reader has to guess what they are. It can be very hard to recognize objects from these magnified photos.
Trivia: In doing research for the book, I learned about all the public lands we’ve got out there. Did you know there are national park units in the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa, or that there’s a Pony Express National Historic Trail, or that Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is home to fifteen species of endangered trees, or that there are national park system sites honoring inventors, artists, and civil rights leaders? There’s just so much to explore.
But that wasn’t what you asked . . . Here’s a little trivia sampling for you:
A bristlecone pine tree in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, lived nearly 5,000 years before it was cut down.
Female park rangers weren’t allowed to wear the “Smokey Bear” hats that male park rangers wore, until 1978.
President Gerald Ford once worked as a Yellowstone park ranger.
A grizzly bear can sniff out food 18 miles away.
Joke: We compiled jokes (rather than writing them from scratch, thank goodness!) and wanted them to be nature-themed or park-themed, so sometimes that was a challenge. Here’s an example:
Jeff: Did you enjoy your camping trip even though it was raining?
Mary: It was in-tents. 🙂
How did you and this project meet? How long did it take to complete?
The short answer is that I started work in April, and the entire book went off to NGK for their final editing in September. So five months of work. Of course, that’s never the whole story, right?
I’d been writing children’s nonfiction, and had published articles and other short pieces. I wanted to write books. I knew that one way to get a book published was by working with a book packager (a company that hires writers to create books for a publisher). For Junior Ranger Activity Book, I worked with the very fine packager Bender Richardson White, which is located in England. I met Lionel Bender (BRW founder) at a Highlights Foundation workshop in July 2013. I sent him my resume in May 2014 and told him I’d be interested in writing for BRW if he had an appropriate assignment.
In February 2015, I sent an updated resume and in March, Lionel emailed asking if I might be interested in a project about the national parks. Of course, I said YES.
We signed the contract in April and started work immediately based on NGK’s concept. In June, we had a first draft. In July and August we revised, sending questions and answers back and forth across the Atlantic. Lionel and BRW were in communication with the NGK editors, photography staff, and so forth. It was a real team effort. A second draft of the book was done in August, and the third in September (with filled-in answer pages for all those games and quizzes!)
What other projects are you working on? Anything we should watch for?
I have a rhyming (nonfiction) picture book scheduled for release next spring that will actually have my name on it! I also have a story in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book (“My Very Good, Very Bad Dog”) that’s coincidentally released on February 9, the same day as Junior Ranger.
I’ve been writing a great deal on assignment for an educational company, which is so much fun, and keeps me in the writing groove. I also have a pile of picture book and middle-grade manuscripts that need revision. So, it’s never boring.
Author Christy Mihaly
Thank you, Christy!
Christy Mihaly has published children’s stories, poems, and articles about nature, technology, and history. Her first picture book is scheduled for a spring 2017 release from Holiday House. She has degrees in law and environmental studies and lives with her family in Vermont, where she has been a volunteer reading mentor, an environmental educator, and plays the cello.
Did you know that 2016 is the 100th Anniversary of the U.S. National Park Service? Me, either. To help celebrate, National Geographic Kids is releasing a Junior Ranger Activity Book, by author Christy Mihaly.
It’s a 160-page paperback book, in large format, filled with colorful photos of the National Parks, maps, games, quizzes, cartoons, jokes, fun facts and trivia. There’s information about the animals and ecosystems of the parks, the history of the parks and the historical events that the parks commemorate. Most of the book focuses on the 59 national parks, but there’s also information about the 400 or so other units in the national park system: national historic sites and trails, parkways, memorials, historic trails, battlefields, on and on.
As with many of the National Geographic Kids books, there’s no author credit given. But it was a very exciting project to work on, and I’m really excited to see the book in print.
It would be great for any family or group planning a trip to a national park with kids. Teachers and parents could use it for other purposes, too. It’s intended to be engaging while conveying plenty of information about nature, science, history, and the wonders of the parks.
As you mentioned, 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the US National Park Service. (Some of the parks were created before the Park Service.) The United States basically invented the idea of a national park to preserve pristine places for all people’s enjoyment. Yellowstone wasn’t just this country’s first national park—it was the first national park in the world.
Cool! I had no idea. What is the Junior Ranger Program?
It’s a National Park Service program primarily for children ages 5 to 13, although people of all ages can participate. At most national parks, children can pick up a packet of activities to complete in the park. Every kid who finishes the activities can receive a Junior Ranger patch and certificate. There’s more information about the Junior Ranger program and other kid-friendly information on the National Park Service website, here: http://www.nps.gov/kids/index.cfm.
And by the way, part of the national parks’ celebration for 2016 is that every fourth grader in the country is eligible to receive a FREE “Every Kid in a Park” pass for free admission into all the parks for a year – with their families. Because getting outside is good for everyone.
Christy, as a Vermont resident and an outdoor enthusiast, what kind of research did you do?
I’m sad to say that my contract did not include a travel budget. I researched with old-fashioned books and extensive online resources. For many details, though, my memories and recollections of visits to favorite national parks colored my writing.
Author Christy Mihaly and family at the Bandolier National Monument in New Mexico.
Do you have a favorite US Park? Which one and why?
I can’t answer that, Ann! It’s like asking which is your favorite child – or one favorite book. Each park is special, and for each there’s some compelling reason to preserve and protect it. Working on the book did make me want to visit Alaska to see some of the gorgeous wild lands up there. Wrangell St. Elias, the largest, has wilderness the size of Connecticut and Massachusetts combined.
How do you feel about long car trips with small children in the back?
Hah. Is this a trick question?
Yes.
Actually, I found car trips could be great family time. We sang songs – the sillier the better. We also played guessing games. When I was the driver, I usually lost because I had trouble keeping my mind on the game while driving . . . . But seriously, a book like Junior Ranger Activity Book could be a godsend with kids on a long car ride—especially if the trip involves a stop or two at a national park.
What was it like creating the games and activities?
Fun! It might sound like a big job, but I didn’t do it from scratch. I collected facts, questions, and interesting tidbits about the parks, and wove the best of what I discovered into NGK games and activities templates. For example, “Stump Your Parents” is a quiz they’ve used in prior books. And “Bet You Didn’t Know” is a regular NGK feature providing amazing facts. Our team also invented new themes, created Junior Ranger pages, and wrote lots of new content tying some of these elements together. I enjoyed coming up with intriguing items to pique kids’ interest. And I enjoyed inventing wrong answers for the multiple-choice questions. The most laborious part was keeping all the answers straight for listing in the back of the book.
I had targets for how many times to mention the various park units, making sure we covered a good diversity of parks. Similarly, I had to maintain a balance of information about science and history. Some pages feature park animals or types of plants or habitats. There are spreads about women’s history, arts in the parks, historic trails, battlefields, rocks, volcanoes, dinosaurs, seashells, movies filmed in the national parks—the list goes on. Fortunately, my job didn’t include photo research, though I made suggestions (e.g., species, park feature, President) for photographs to locate. And NGK provided maps, Funny Fill-In’s, mazes, and other art-based games.
Next: Jokes and trivia from the book, and more questions for Christy.
Christy Mihaly has published children’s stories, poems, and articles about nature, technology, and history. Her first picture book (rhyming nonfiction) is scheduled for a spring 2017 release from Holiday House. She has degrees in law and environmental studies and lives with her family in Vermont, where she has been a volunteer reading mentor and an environmental educator.
Any time of year is the right time to be a friend and love the people in our lives. With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, why not seek out these new picture books to share with the kids in your lives?
“DENNIS was an ordinary boy… who expressed himself in EXTRAORDINARY ways” – quiet ways that weren’t always understood by the other children. Sometimes, “Dennis felt INVISIBLE.”
Then, Joy came along. Dennis and Joy “saw the world the SAME way.”
A gentle, uplifting story about the joy of finding a friend who “gets” you.
Poor Cat! He’s not a fan of Valentine’s Day. In fact, he’s declared his turf a “No Valentines Zone.” He’s in a grouchy mood and that pesky new Dog next door isn’t helping Cat feel any more welcoming. He keeps tossing bones over the fence and Cat is prepared to send him just what he deserves – a “worst neighbor” Valentine! He’s even got plans to ship Dog off to outer space in the rocket he’s building, just for that purpose.
Then Dog sends Cat a Valentine, and, of course, everything changes. This fourth in the series of Here Comes… Cat books by Underwood and Rueda is a charming addition to a very delightful collection.
Click HERE to download free Cat valentines to color and send!
The creators of Goodnight, Already! are back again with another humorous sequel. Duck, Bear’s well-meaning, but energetic neighbor, is knocking on the front door. He’s ready to tell his life’s story, get some exercise, and spend the day sharing quality time with none other than his best buddy, Bear. But Bear has other plans. He’s just settled in with a good book and a cup of tea, and can’t wait to spend a pleasant day being lazy – all by himself.
From Linda Ludke’s School Library Journal review:
On their walk, the hyper Duck volleys a steady stream of questions at taciturn Bear, whose one-word replies make Duck fret that he doesn’t like him. Bear’s repeated reassurances of “I LIKE YOU ALREADY!” fall on deaf ears, until Duck falls out of a tree and his pal shows concern. Each character has a distinct voice that is enhanced by the use of different typefaces. Davies’s cartoon illustrations also playfully capture this introvert and extrovert dichotomy, with frenetic Duck’s feathers in a perpetual flap and lumbering Bear seeking quiet respite beside a tree. VERDICT The comedic timing in this exploration of personality types and friendship is spot-on, and the wry patter is great fun to read aloud.
What are your favorite FRIENDSHIP or VALENTINE’S DAY books? Please share them in the comments!
This past Fall at the 2015 NCTE conference, I heard Linda Urban (and several other authors) speak with teacher, Melissa Guerrette about writing. It was fascinating! They also talked about MILO SPECK, and an interesting collaboration that developed between Linda and Melissa’s class.Today we share Part 3 of a 3-part post about Milo and that collaboration. (Part 1 can be found HERE, Part 2 is HERE.)
DIANNE: I’ve no doubt that your class’s collaboration with Linda will be one of the highlights of their elementary school years. But, as wonderful as it was, I’m sure there were logistical issues – district curriculum and other requirements – to deal with. Were there roadblocks you had to work around? Do you have any tips for other teachers who might be interested in doing a similar type of project with a children’s author in their own city or town?
MELISSA: I was really fortunate to have the professional trust of a supportive administrator who knew this connection was important to authentic learning for my students. But, I think your question shines a light on how critical it was that there was so much flexibility in our collaboration. It was advantageous that my goals for our partnership were broad and overarching rather than rigid and agenda-driven. I felt comfortable sharing what I perceived the student needs to be on the go and asking Linda to bring our needs–for example, moving writing from “telling” to “showing”–into the conversation with examples from her work. Our entire interaction was flexible and Linda easily adapted to or responded to what was relevant for the students. Of course, schedules often necessitated flexibility, too, with Linda’s writing deadlines and our school vacations and standardized testing schedules.
The connections between Linda’s work and the students’ writing were more obvious while we were focused on a narrative writing unit (than say, informational research writing–though, they did want to know how much dryer research was involved in writing Milo), but really, the emphasis of our correspondence was not specific to types/structures or standards for writing. Because Linda and I took our lead from the students’ needs and interests, we often shared and discussed practices, like revision, feedback, inspiration, and resilience. And really, those parts of a writer’s life are transferable across all types and genres of writing, aren’t they?
I hope the example of our partnership does inspire other teachers (and authors!) to consider how we can work together to make our writing process more transparent for developing writers. And I know that we were especially lucky to benefit from Linda’s generosity and commitment. I guess these would be my three tips:
Be resourceful. There are more and more professional writers who are sharing the “behind the scenes” of their writing on their blogs, in interviews, and in podcasts. These are ways the examples of a writerly life are more and more accessible.
Be respectful. Be mindful that time spent connecting and corresponding with you and your students is time away from writing, even if interacting with the readership is informative to the process.
Be open in your definition of who is a mentor writer. Kids marvel at the opportunity to connect with someone whose name is published on a book, but they can be equally engaged with the process of any writer. Even–and especially–YOU, the teacher. We are our students’ first and most accessible mentors.
DIANNE: Can you suggest one or two of your favorite books on writing/teaching writing?
MELISSA: Keeping this to two is tough, but here are two that help shape my thinking.
A book that was influential in prompting my reflection about writing instruction is Children Want to Write: Donald Graves and the Revolution in Children’s Writing, edited by Tom Newkirk and Penny Kittle. This professional resource is a compilation of writings from the great Don Graves, with additional commentary from Penny Kittle and Tom Newkirk, both of whom are writing instruction gurus themselves. We used this text as the basis of a book study at my school, and it anchored many thoughtful conversations about shifts we could make to a more student-centered writing classroom.
And, because we are more effective when we teach what we know, another resource I recommend widely is 59 Reasons to Write, by Kate Messner. The pages are filled with practical advice and writing prompts for teacher-writers who are getting started or looking to stretch as a writer. Kate draws on her own writing experience and that of other writers from the Teachers Write community to share quick writes, anecdotes, and question and answer examples from professional writers. I cannot emphasize enough the benefit of dabbling in writing as a teacher. My writing instruction has been influenced as much by my own writing practice as it has by interactions with other writers. A teacher who writes becomes an insightful teacher of writing.
DIANNE: Thanks so much, Melissa. It’s been extremely informative. I’ve added both of your book recommendations to my “wish list!” Like you, I found that “dabbling in writing as a teacher” was one of the most important ways to influence the way I understood the writing process and taught it to kids. I hope teachers will take advantage of all the wisdom you’ve shared here. Thanks, again!
This past Fall at the 2015 NCTE conference, I heard Linda Urban (and several other authors) speak with teacher, Melissa Guerrette about writing. It was fascinating! They also talked about MILO SPECK, and an interesting collaboration that developed between Linda and Melissa’s class. I’m excited to share Part 2 of a 3-part post about Milo and that collaboration. (Part 1 can be found here.)
DIANNE: Your presentation at NCTE this past November inspired meon so many levels. As a former teacher, I loved the way your collaboration with authors helped make the writing process both visible and REAL for your students. For those who didn’t have the benefit of seeing your presentation, can you give a brief overview?
MELISSA: I’m so glad to hear that our presentation has left you thinking. Thank you for saying so! Collaborating with authors has been important for students…and also for me. This work has prompted me to look more closely at the authenticity of my writing instruction, and I think it pays dividends for students.
The opportunity to connect with authors has helped students recognize the person–the author–who has worked tirelessly at this creation. You know, we fill our classrooms with impressive books and devote a lot of energy to sharing and showcasing mentor texts that we hope will serve as models and inspiration for the students’ writing, yet–as beautiful as they are–these finished products with their shiny covers and important print are just that: products. The students have so many questions and curiosities about how their much-loved favorites came to be and what writing is really like for professional writers. When we can engage with authors who are willing to share about their writing lives, writing does become more visible and real. The transparency helps students to see the ways in which their writing lives are more similar to the authors they admire than they are different.
At NCTE, I was joined by authors, Erin Dionne, Cynthia Lord, and Linda Urban. These ladies graciously shared from their own writerly lives about some writing practices that can be sticky for student writers, including: keeping notebooks, mining ideas, seeking feedback, and reflecting on progress. Together we also offered participants practical ideas for supporting student writers to develop these practices in the writing classroom.
DIANNE: At NCTE, you spoke about your class’s collaboration with Linda Urban on her newest book, MILO SPECK, Accidental Agent. Your class had won a Skype visit as part of a promotion for Linda’s book, THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING, and, out of that, an author/classroom learning partnership was born. Can you talk about how that worked and the benefits you feel it brought to your students?
MELISSA: Our partnership with Linda Urban has been one of the highlights of my career thus far, really. I could write a book about the benefits it brought to my students!
While Linda was working with the manuscript for Milo Speck, she corresponded with my students pen-pal style. A lot of our correspondence was through email exchanges that we would compose as a class with my computer connected to the projector. Sometimes I would vary our responses to the writing Linda shared and incorporated other forms of writing: letters, postcards (which were great for visualization because the students were responsible for the image side of the card as well as the message), reading response notebook entries. We also used Skype for virtual visits, especially as Milo Speck neared completion. It was great to witness the exchange between Linda and my writers, especially on the day that she read the last chapters of the book to them. Linda surprised the students by coming to Maine to spend the day with us in June, and the students were able to share their writing with her, writer-to-writer.
By revealing her process, Linda gifted me a brilliant instructional resource. The relationship between Linda and my students was almost instantaneous. While they respected Linda as an accomplished writer, they weren’t intimidated or guarded about sharing. I learned so much about my students and their self-perceptions as writers as a third-party to their exchanges with Linda. Linda became an extended member of our writing community and was referenced in reading and writing conversations regularly. The students were highly engaged and motivated to try “what Linda Urban does.” By sharing her own writing and writing life with the students, Linda encouraged risk and vulnerability from the students. I saw the most obvious shift in their attitudes about revision. My students were characteristically “one-and-done” writers who expected their writing to be publication-ready on their first attempt. Linda’s transparent example has not only made students more accepting of imperfection, but motivated my writers to celebrate “mess” as evidence that their writing is improving. The more my writers realized how much they had in common with a professional writer’s effort, challenge, celebration…the more the students perceived themselves as capable. In a sense, student writers gained a sense of permission that it’s ok to identify themselves as a writer, too.
Not surprisingly–the partnership has also impacted my students as readers. Linda validated the students by seeking their feedback and giving their opinions value. As we learned more about the writing decisions Linda was making with Milo Speck, the students began to generalize their questions to other books and other authors, more often questioning what kinds of revision and/or craft choices authors may have made to arrive at their published version of the book.
My teaching situation is unique this year because changing grade levels has allowed me to have some of those students from each of our partnership classes again this year as 5th and 6th graders. On a daily basis I see and hear evidence of the shifts in my writers that I attribute to our collaboration and Linda’s revealed writing process behind Milo Speck.
DIANNE: Thanks for these valuable insights, Melissa!
There’s lots more good stuff to come! Please check back at the end of the week for more on Melissa and Linda’s book/writing collaboration.
Milo knows all about magic. He’s read about it in books and understands that magic can be as near as a secret door, or as wonderful as a silver coin. But Milo never expected magic would come to him. And when it did… it came in the form of a sock!
So begins Milo’s wild adventures in Ogregon – a world of hungry ogres, giant turkeys, and kidnapped kids. In fact, Milo’s family may very well be mixed up in some crazy Ogregonian plot. What’s a small boy in a very big world to do?
This past Fall at the 2015 NCTE conference, I heard Linda (and several other authors) speak with teacher, Melissa Guerrette about writing. It was fascinating! They also talked about MILO SPECK, and an interesting collaboration that developed between Linda and Melissa’s class. I’m excited to share Part 1 of a 3-part post about Milo and that collaboration.
DIANNE: Welcome, Linda! MILO SPECK, Accidental Agent is a departure from your past novels, which have tended to be “quieter,” more reflective, character-driven novels. You’ve said that MILO came about because of a promise you made to your son to write the kind of book he likes to read – a HAM book – a story with Humor, Action, and Mystery.
Take us back to that decision to write outside your comfort zone. What were your first steps?
LINDA:The very first chapter of Milo happened years ago when I was having a hard time with another work-in-progress. I gave myself a weekend to just write for fun with no expectation of publication and this odd little character and voice emerged. It was a great exercise and it loosened me up to continue what I had been writing. I put it away, though every once in awhile I would take it out and add a little here or there.
DIANNE: While writing MILO, you did some collaboration with Melissa Guerrette’s class of 4th graders. Your presentation at NCTE was very exciting, as it was clear that the process of working together had meaningful benefits for both you and Melissa’s students. Can you talk about the genesis of this project? In what ways did the process of sharing back and forth with Melissa’s class shape and or change your process and approach to writing MILO?
LINDA:I loved sharing Milo with Melissa’s students — they were so encouraging! They were eager to know what happened next and to tell me all the parts they felt were funny or exciting or perplexing. It helped me to know when I was on track. Plus, I had to keep writing. Fourth graders were waiting!
DIANNE: What are you working on next? Can readers look forward to a second MILO SPECK adventure?
LINDA: I’m working on a companion book to WEEKENDS WITH MAX AND HIS DAD which comes out in April. Max’s parents split up about six months before WEEKENDS takes place and that book is about the first three weekends that Max and Dad spend in Dad’s new apartment. In the second book, Max gets to spend time with Mom. I can’t tell you more than that except that there will be roller coasters.
DIANNE: Thanks, Linda!
Be sure to check back later this week for more about the collaboration between teacher Melissa Guerrette’s class and Linda.
Mission Statement
To provide teachers, librarians, and parents with the resources and inspiration to foster a love of reading in kids, K-5.
MELISSA: Keeping this to two is tough, but here are two that help shape my thinking.
