The ReaderKidZ love poetry and we always look forward to the annual Cybils awards announcements. Round 1 is now completed! (One finalist will be chosen from each book and the winner in each category will be announced on February 14th.)
A few days ago we took a look at one of the 2015 CYBILS POETRY award finalists – WINTER BEES & OTHER POEMS OF THE COLD by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen. Another fun poetry collection on the Cybils list this year is Flutter and Hum: Animal Poems / Aleteo y Zumbido: Poemas de Animales.Julie Paschkis has created her poems in both Spanish and English – first written in Spanish which is a learned “second language.” The poems are accompanied by Paschkis’ vibrant folk art, with words from the poem/palabras de los poemas embedded in the illustrations. Truly a book to read again and again, and with each time, discover new visual and language surprises. Julie Paschkis comments: “Somehow my unfamiliarity with Spanish freed me to write poetry. I felt like a visitor wandering through a forest of Spanish words, marveling at the beauty of sound, meaning, and syntax.” This is a book that will also encourage readers who are themselves learning a second language.
Then pop into a “delicious stew” of poetry in POPCORN ASTRONAUTS AND OTHER BITEABLE RHYMES by Deborah Ruddell, illustrated by Joan Rankin. Yes, delicious. Ridiculous. Funny. Engaging. Popcorn Astronauts offers a variety of “edible” poems that are as strange and crazy as the book’s title. For example, try a shake ordered to poetic specifications: “A frosty cup of moonlight, please … As mushy as a mittenful of slightly melted snow ….” If that’s a little on the chilly side, then try “Dracula’s Late-Night Bite,” especially after he “flosses his fangs and he slides out the door for dessert.” Great poems to cause both laughter and interest in young readers and examples for writing one’s own delicious verse.
The ReaderKidZ are back, sending best wishes for the New Year and time to enjoy many of your favorite books! Today we’re spotlighting “winter-themed” picture books. Do you have favorites of your own? Share them in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!
Each page is a magical snapshot of a piece of winter’s landscape – a rascally moose “with a tough, shaggy hide” that kicks and prances, mama moose by his side; the “tiny chickadee, weighing less than a handful of paperclips” that fluffs and preens each downy feather, is “quick and bold and brave and clever”; and even the odd skunk cabbage, which “peeks up through the snow… rears its speckled hood… the first flower in the wood.”
This beautiful book would be a lovely addition to a home or library collection, but makes an especially nice offering for teachers looking for ways to integrate writing into the classroom. The pairing of poetry and nonfiction informational text could easily springboard into a writing lesson. An Educator’s Guide created by Sylvia Vardell, a professor at Texas Woman’s University and the author of Poetry Aloud Here! offers suggestions for using WINTER BEES in the classroom.
Publisher’s Weekly describes this book as “A reverent ode to the magic and wonder of an icy winter night.” A lyrical winter lullaby – “…one tiny flake, perfect and beautiful and special, just like you…” this book will take your breath away. Watch the trailer for a sneak peek and you’ll see what I mean.
Christmas. It’s a time of miracles. A time when winter storms rage outside, while indoors, families gather together to enjoy one another’s company in noisy reunions or quiet moments of reflection. It’s a time of peace, hope, love. And… not surprisingly… books, which have long been at the top of my own gift-giving and receiving lists.
Today the ReaderKidZ look back 5 years to a post with some of our favorite books in 2010.
I fell in love with Audrey Couloumbis’s first book, the Newbery Honor Getting Near to Baby, years ago, and her latest, JAKE, released just in time for the holidays, is a new favorite.
When his mother lands in the hospital with an injury days before Christmas, Jake finds himself in the care of a neighbor and the grandfather he knows only by way of the obligatory twice-yearly phone call.
An uplifting, “feel-good” story of family, friendship, and characters that grow to care for and understand – truly understand – one another, JAKE is about real relationships and the way a family pulls together in unexpected ways. Isn’t that part of what this season is all about?
For years, every time I shared a book by Cynthia Rylant, I would remind my class that she was my all-time favorite author. Few write as beautifully as Rylant.
Of course, these days, I have many favorite authors, but Rylant still amazes me. SILVER PACKAGES certainly ranks high on my list of holiday favorites. It’s also a book I can’t seem to read without choking up at the end.
This story is sure to remind us all of the ways a simple kindness can grow in unexpected and powerful directions.
I’m not sure how many readers have discovered this gem of a book, but CHRISTMAS AT STONY CREEK is like a timeless classic, a book to be enjoyed year after year, and passed down through the family. It’s the perfect read-aloud for one or many children snuggled up in a parent’s or grandparent’s cozy lap.
Pip, small and quiet, doesn’t feel very brave. The world outside her family’s mouse home seems large and scary. But Papa has always believed in Pip, and when the time comes that she must face her fears and the wintery dangers outside the cozy mouse hole in order to search out food for her hungry brothers and sisters, Pip remembers Papa’s words and finds the strength to do the extraordinary.
Filled with holiday activities, CHRISTMAS WITH THE MOUSEKINS is a mini make -‘n- take for the wee and not so small ones in your life. There are crafts, like “Mittens-in-a-Row” and “Momo’s Christmas Tree Hat,” recipes, such as “Cinnamon Snails” and “Gingerbread Mice,” sock puppet how-to’s, poems, stories, and more.
Celebrate the season with the Mousekin family and work you way through a lovely collection of holiday fun. I’ve already given this delightful book to several young children I know.
I think it was my grandmother who gave me THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL one long-ago Christmas. As a child, my takeaway was not the somber ending, but instead, the joyful memories the little girl saw in the light of her matches.
In some ways, GREAT JOY reminds me of The Little Match Girl. Maybe it’s the stunning illustrations by Ibatoulline and the image of the homeless man on the street corner tipping his hat towards the lighted window on a snowy night.
In this story, it’s an organ grinder who’s alone on the street late at night and a young girl who invites the man in from the cold. At the last minute, the man and his monkey do come and, at his appearance, young Frances, in her role as the angel in the church pageant, announces her “Great Joy.”
I first heard Marion read THE LONGEST NIGHT when I was a grad student at Vermont College. She shared several versions of the story with us along with this final, published version.
Though Marion has said she doesn’t consider herself a poet, this book is poetic prose at its finest. This beautiful story about the night, long and long, and sun, gone and gone, and the little chickadee who can’t climb or scoop, sniff or dig, but who sings – dee-dee-dee, and dee and dee, again – and wakes the sun so it begins its journey towards spring is one you’ll want to read over and over and over.
As Christmas draws near and 2015 comes to a close, may you and yours enjoy the sweetness of one another’s company, the joy of the season and – above all – peace in the New Year.
Our focus at ReaderKidZ is primarily books for children K-5, buttoday I’m going to mention three delightful series of board books by Child’s Play, the house also responsible for publishing two classic picture books by Audrey and Don Wood – The Little Mouse, The Red, Ripe Strawberry, and The Hungry Bear and Quick as a Cricket. (Both of these books are also now available as board books!)
Great books have a reach that often exceeds their stated age range and I definitely feel this way about using board books in the primary classroom. Original board books are especially notable because they distill concepts and content into easy to manage bites. For example, take the “All Year Round” series, by Ailie Busby (Child’s Play, 2015). In a primary classroom, this collection of 4 board books, one for each season, would serve as an excellent intro to the sights, sounds, and moments unique to each season of the year. The illustrations are adorable and the text can easily be used to springboard into writing.
WINTER begins, “I know it’s winter when… my toes are cold in the morning… and the sun gets up late.” Students will enjoy creating their own winter books using this same sentence frame or coming up with sentence patterns of their own.
Carol Thompson, has written and illustrated 4 board books in the “Whatever the Weather” series (Child’s Play, 2014). This series uses a handful of words to describe Sun, Snow, Rain, and Wind. In the pages of Snow, a young child scoots outside – slips and slides, whooshes and… Whump! falls in the white, bright snow. The illustrations will easily inspire descriptive storytelling and writing opportunities.
The third board book series, “What’s That Noise” by Cocoretto uses a riddle format with flaps. Noisy, onomatopoetic clues are given on the left side of the page; on the right, the illustration gives a modest hint. Then… lift-the-flapped page to see the full picture/answer.
Of course, these are great books for babies and toddlers, but I can imagine upper grade reading buddies helping their younger kdgn. or first grade friends design pages for a classroom book.
Have you used board books in your primary classroom? Share titles or tips in the comments below!
“Older readers will appreciate the allegory, and younger ones the simplicity of this spare immigration tale.”Booklist
“Two White Rabbits belongs on bookshelves everywhere: it’s an extraordinary, compelling first step to understanding and empathy, and a persuasive teaching tool to inspire effective doing.”BookDragon
This three-star reviewed picture book will cause you to smile, to cry, and to reflect for many days, the courage and desperation that compels parents to risk everything, put their children on The Beast, and ride the rails to America, a country that might offer survival.
TWO WHITE RABBITS, written by Jairo Buitrago, illustrated by Rafael Yockteng, and translated by Elisa Amado, is the story told through the perspective of a little girl as she travels with her father, day and night, day and night, with hundreds of other children on top of the infamous trains, “The Beast,” to escape persecution and possible death to escape to America. She describes her journey with simplicity and innocence and the author weaves in layers of allegory.
For adult and older readers ENRIQUE’S JOURNEY, The True Story of a Boy Determined to Reunite with His Mother, is a powerful nonfiction written by Pulitzer Prize author, Sonia Nazario. She rode The Beast twice to research information for this book. Her journalistic description helps us understand why a parent or child would forsake everything – home, family, and country – to seek safety and survival.
Once you care about these children, the ones who do make it across the border, what can you do? Reforma is one organization, a collaboration between American Library Association (ALA) and U.S. Board on Books (USBBY) that is working, “hands on,” to help these refugee children, many of them orphans, with food and with books.
It’s a perfect day for a yeti hunt, and off the boys go! What does he look like? How will he sound? Does he live in a cave?
As the boys romp in the snow, young readers are invited into a compelling, original story, reminiscent of “Going on a Bear Hunt.” Fun word play and an engaging structure in which author/illustrator Mary Ann Fraser breaks the “fourth wall,” invite readers into the story. Kids will discover the Yeti long before the protagonists do. It’s so much fun!
Today, it’s a pleasure to welcome Mary Ann to ReaderKidZ to talk about her latest book, NO YETI YET.
Dianne: Can you talk about the genesis of this story? Did you know from the beginning that the book would use a sort of Yeti hide-and-seek structure?
Mary Ann: NO YETI YET began as the repurposing of an earlier book that sold but never made it to the printing press. In the original version, a boy who keeps many pets becomes a pet for a bigfoot. I tried to resell the book but with no success. My agent, Abigail Samoun with Red Fox Literary, suggested I write a story based on the bigfoot character. But “yeti” is so much more fun to say, and so I made the switch. Although a yeti is a cryptid, a word derived from the Greek word Krypto meaning “hide,” the idea for the hide-and-seek structure evolved out of the question, “Do you see a yeti?” and the repeated response, “No yeti yet.” So in this case the language led to the visual concept.
Dianne: The title, NO YETI YET, has such a wonderful “ring” to it. And the choice to use short dialogue, alliteration, rhyme, and repeated phrases like “Nope. No yeti yet.” guarantees a wonderful read-aloud. Student writers often don’t realize that careful attention to word choice doesn’t just happen. Can you talk about writing NO YETI YET, and in particular, your revision process? Did you tackle the words first, the pictures first, or go back-and-forth between the two?
Mary Ann: My usual way of working is to first put on my author hat and tackle the words. They have to be jiving or there is no point in moving onto the art. The use of literary devices along with rhythm is intended to make the story engaging and fun to read aloud. The plot and story structure cement it all together. After I’m comfortable with the manuscript, but usually before it’s completely to my satisfaction, I begin developing a storyboard, tweak the words a bit more, and then change into my illustrator hat. Once I have a sketch completed for each page, I’ll spread them all out so I can see the book as a whole. This is often when the real back and forth between words and images takes place. Everything needs to be working in harmony. No lazy words. No pictures that don’t move the book forward or expand upon the text.
Dianne: Your work includes fiction and nonfiction, both books you’ve written and illustrated, as well as books you’ve illustrated for others. Are there differences in your process between illustrating nonfiction vs. fiction and illustrating your own words vs. the words of another author?
Mary Ann: The major difference between illustrating fiction and non-fiction is the depth of research required. I use visual references for both but must be more thorough for the non-fiction plus there is usually the added bonus of back matter. When illustrating my own words, the process is much more fluid. There are the few occasions when I have requested a text change from another author, but only when I felt it would make a drastic improvement in the book as a whole. Always I want to respect the author’s vision while enriching it with my own ideas for the visuals. No matter how a book is born, it should be the result of a happy marriage between the text and images.
Dianne: What can readers look forward to next?
Mary Ann: I currently have several projects in the works, all at different stages. I am particularly excited right now about a picture book on Alexander Graham Bell, in part because I will be creating the art using an entirely new technique, something which can be both scary and exhilarating all at the same time.
Dianne: Sounds exciting, Mary Ann. Thanks for stopping by ReaderKidZ!
To learn more about Mary Ann and ALL her books, visit her website HERE.
Mission Statement
To provide teachers, librarians, and parents with the resources and inspiration to foster a love of reading in kids, K-5.
