Chapter book of the week: Everything on a Waffle

I love waffles.  Who doesn't?  Waffles with blueberries, waffles with whipped cream, waffles dripping with butter and syrup.  Obviously I would love The Girl on the Red Swing, which is the restaurant in Polly Horvath's Everything on a Waffle.  Everything you order in that restaurant come on a waffle.  Spaghetti on a waffle.  Fish on a waffle.  Definitely for the adventurous eater.

Primrose Squarp spends a lot of time at The Girl with the Red Swing.  Her parents were both lost at sea (or perhaps not...), so she now lives with her uncle Jack in Canada.  He doesn't have much time to entertain her, so Primrose passes her time at the restaurant, learning to cook and observing the locals.  Recipes are even included at the end of every chapter (and  serving the meals on  waffles is optional).

This would be a great read-aloud--the descriptions are wonderful but not too Tolkien-ish, the book is both sad and funny, and all of the characters are memorable.  And if you need more convincing, this was a Newbery Honor Book in 2002.

Picture book of the week: Martin's Big Words

We are discussing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his amazing accomplishments.  My favorite read-aloud biography about is life is Doreen Rappaport's Martin's Big Words.  Is it accessible to young children and it has also won many awards, including the Coretta Scott King Award and a Caldecott Honor Award.  The illustrator, Bryan Collier, uses a variety of media, including collage, watercolors, and photographs; the result is stunning.  Students enjoy identifying examples of each on every page. This book has led to many wonderful discussions, including a first grader who told me that if he had one wish, it would be for a time machine to travel back in time to save Dr. King's life.  Another first grade student proposed that we add him to Mount Rushmore.  Reading this book, and the discussions that followed, has been one of the highlights of my year.  Happy birthday, Dr. King!

Book of the Week: The Higher Power of Lucky

Around Halloween, I reviewed the most recent Newbery Award winner, The Graveyard Book.  I thought that the holiday season would be a great time to review another Newbery winner, in case people are looking for last-minute gift ideas.  I'm not going to mention the 2008 Newbery winner, except to say that it was absolutely awful (which you will very rarely hear me say) and I firmly believe that the only reason why it won was because it was written by a librarian and the people on the Newbery committee were showing their solidarity.  So we'll go back another year to the 2007 winner, The Higher Power of Lucky.

Granted, Susan Patron, the author of The Higher Power of Lucky, was also a childrens' librarian (for 35 years, no less), but I don't feel that played a part in this novel being chosen for the Newbery.  This is a novel that has something for everyone.  There has been a lot of controversy over this book, and I can see both sides of the issue.  Yes, the word "scrotum" is in the book.  Yes, scrotum is 100% gratuitous.  Yes, Lucky's dog could have been bitten anywhere...on the foot, on the leg....it didn't have to be the scrotum.  But  someone smart once said that there is no such thing as bad publicity.  People were talking about this book.  "Scrotum" is apparently scandalous!  It created an uproar in the library community.  At the time this was happening, I had to wonder why all of these outraged people didn't have better things to do with their time.  I'm sure that if I headed over to my 612's, I would find the word "scrotum" in plenty of books, along with some even more colorful words.  But people were up in arms.

Despite the shock value, the book won the Newbery, and it deserved it.  Lucky is like a modern-day Ramona Quimby: spunky, inquisitive, and full of life.  After losing her mother in a tragic accident, her father's estranged wife, Brigitte, leaves France to care for Lucky.   Lucky is sure that her "higher power" will make her life less difficult.  In the meantime, she decides to always be prepared and carry around a survival kit, just in case.  This will come in handy when Lucky thinks that Brigitte is planning on returning to France, which prompts Lucky to run away, along with an unexpected travel companion.  Students will relate to Lucky and her unfortunate experiences--if they are like me, they will both laugh and cry.

Personally, I would not shy away from doing this as a read-aloud.  I have a feeling that if you read the infamous scrotum sentence and just kept going, students wouldn't even notice.  I highly doubt there would be any gasps of shock in the room.  And if anyone did ask, it could be easily defined as part of a dog's body. Don't let one word ruin the chance for a great read-aloud.

If you can't beat it...appreciate it

I am blogging in my PJs on a weekday afternoon because we had a snow day today.  While I was out shoveling at 6 am, cursing the snow (out loud, I might add), I remembered that I wanted to post the website that I am using with third grade this week, snowflakebentley.com.  While most of us grumble and complain about snow, Wilson Bentley devoted his whole life to documenting the beauty of snowflakes.

A third grade teacher requested a non-fiction book for their lesson this week, so we disucssed nonfiction and biographies.  We read Jacqueline Briggs Martin's Snowflake Bentley, which is not only a gorgeous example of a biography, but it is also a Caldecott medal winner.  We then looked at photographs of his snowflakes online.  His life's work turns something that most of us hate and dread into a mystical work of art. Check out the site, read the book, and think about him the next time you are achy from shoveling and asking yourself why you don't live in sunny California.

Chapter book of the week: Savvy

Have you ever wished that you had magical powers?  In the Newbery honor book, Savvy, written by Ingrid Law, everyone in Mibs Beaumont's family has a savvy, or magical power, that appears on their thirteenth birthday.  Mibs's grandmother can move mountains.  Her brother Rocket can make electricity.  On the night before her birthday, Mibs is worried.  What will her power be? When her father is injured in a car accident, Mibs decides to sneak into the hospital and use her unknown savvy to save him.  When she realizes that the bus that she snuck into is headed in the wrong direction, her troubles begin.  Mibs's journey is one that you'll never forget!

Picture book of the week: The House in the Night

Susan Marie Swanson's lastest book, The House in the Night, is the 2009 Caldecott Award winner.  This lovely picture book uses just three colors: black, white, and yellow to depict what light looks like as it fills a house at night.

Chaper book of the week: The Graveyard Book

Neil Gaiman’s lastest book, The Graveyard Book, is the 2009 Newbery Award winner. Not for the faint of heart, this book takes place in a graveyard. Nobody Owens is a regular boy being raised by ghosts after the death of his parents. This book is a mix of mystery, fantasy, and humor. Will Nobody solve the mysterious death of his family? Read and find out!