Unleashing Readers

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 10/7/19

October 7, 2019 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journeys and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It’s also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…you just might discover the next “must-read” book!

Kellee and Jen, of Teach Mentor Texts, decided to give It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit – join us! We love this meme and think you will, too.

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Wednesday: Terrible Times Tables by Michelle Markel

Friday: Educators’ Guide for Prairie Boy: Frank Lloyd Wright Turns the Heartland into a Home by Barb Rosenstock

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

Kellee

Trent is devouring books! Not only are we requesting books from our local library, but he also visits his school library a few times a week! We’ve also recently set the goal to finish all of the SSYRA Jr. books, and at first we had trouble because the ones we didn’t own had a very long hold list, but then I figured out that his school library has ebooks of them! So while we wait for the hardcovers, we’re reading the ebooks.

As you can tell, he already has favorites: Fly Guy, Mo Willems, Dav Pilkey, and colorful books. He was also so excited for a new Nibbles book by Emma Yarlett and to read Please Say Please which he won because he went to our local library’s Angel Paws Story time (where he reads to service dogs) 5 times!

Ricki

This week, I read the adult graphic novel Drawing the Line: Indian Women Fight Back! The anthology features 14 Indian women and details their experiences as women. I liked the variety—both in the subject matter and in the styles, and it was a great read.

My 3-year-old loves Tractor Mac: Autumn is Here by Billy Steers. I like autumn a lot, so I enjoyed reading it and appreciating all of the fall colors.

Kellee

Listening: Let’s Go Swimming on Doomsday by Natalie C. Anderson
Reading: The Weight of our Sky by Hanna Alkaf
With Trent: Making our way through the SSYRA Jr. list and the huge pile of library books

Ricki

I am listening to Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. Typically, I read YAL, but much of this book is set during the young adult time period of Tara’s life, so I am really loving it.

I am reading Reckoning: The Epic Battle Against Sexual Abuse and Harassment by Linda Hirshman. We are at the #metoo segment of my social movements course, and my colleague (a history professor) assigned this text. I am learning a lot! This one is an adult nonfiction.

Wednesday: Monument Maker: Daniel Chester French and the Lincoln Memorial by Linda Booth Sweeney

Friday: Weird Little Robots by Carolyn Crimi

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Why We Need International Books in the Classrooms” by J. Kasper Kramer, Author of The Story That Cannot Be Told

Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!

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Educators’ Guide for Prairie Boy: Frank Lloyd Wright Turns the Heartland Into a Home by Barb Rosenstock

January 12, 2020October 4, 2019 by Kellee

Prairie Boy: Frank Lloyd Wright Turns the Heartland Into a Home
Author: Barb Rosenstock
Illustrator: Christopher Silas Neal
Published: September 10th, 2019 by Calkins Creek

Summary: The early life and creative genius of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, as a maker of American buildings—highlighting his passion, imagination and creativity.

Frank Lloyd Wright loved the Wisconsin prairie where he was born, with its wide-open sky and waves of tall grass. As his family moved across the United States, young Frank found his own home in shapes: rectangles, triangles, half-moons, and circles. So, Frank pursued a career in architecture. Unlike everyone else, he didn’t think the Victorian homes fit the beauty of the land. Using his love of shapes, Frank redesigned the American home inside and out, developing a unique architecture, the Prairie House.

Author Barb Rosenstock and artist Christopher Silas Neal explore the early life and creative genius of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, highlighting his passion, imagination, and ingenuity.

Backmatter includes historical photos, author’s note, quotations, sources, source notes, architectural plans and a photo gallery of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings across America.

About the Creators:

Author Barb Rosenstock is the author of many picture book biographies, including Otis and Will Discover the Deep, Secret Kingdom, Dorothea’s Eyes, Ben Franklin’s Big Splash, and The Streak: How Joe DiMaggio Became America’s Hero. Her picture book about Kandinsky, The Noisy Paint Box, won the 2015 Caldecott Medal.

Illustrator Christopher Silas Neal is the author and illustrator of multiple picture books, including I Won’t Eat That and Everyone. He is also the illustrator of Kate Messner’s Over and Under the Pond, Over and Under the Snow, and Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt.

Book Trailer:

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation and Discussion Questions:

Please view and enjoy the teachers’ and discussion guide I created for Prairie Boy:

You can also access the teaching guide here.

You can learn more about the book on Barb Rosenstock’s Prairie Boy page.

Recommended For:

Terrible Times Tables by Michelle Markel

October 2, 2019 by Ricki

Terrible Times Tables
Author: Michelle Markel
Illustrator: Merrilee Liddiard
Published August 6, 2019 by Cameron Kids

Goodreads Summary: Inspired by a Victorian math primer, Terrible Times Tables is a modern take on learning one’s multiplication tables, from numbers 2 to 10, featuring elementary school themes of homeroom, field trips, cafeteria food, holidays, and recitals. Featuring a reluctant narrator and a few unwitting critters, learning math has never been so much fun or amusing.

My Review: Ah! This book is so charming. The art and the words feel simultaneously old-fashioned and contemporary! It feels just like an older Victorian math primer, but yet the words make it relevant to children today! I read this with my son (who is in kindergarten and too young for multiplication), and we were giggling away at the rhymes and illustration. I’d love to see this book in classrooms. It makes math genuinely fun!

Teacher’s Tools For Navigation: Elementary school math teachers will find great joy in this book. Students might write and illustrate their own math primer with a theme. In this book, each number has a different theme, and I think students would love to create their own! This text is very inspiring for me as an adult, and I wanted to play with words, too! 🙂 I can’t wait for my sons to be old enough to use this book.

I’d also love to compare this with an older, Victorian math primer. Kids would get a kick out of that!

Discussion Questions: Which theme was your favorite, and why?; How do the words and art work together to make this book so successful?; How does the author integrate clever rhymes to make readers enjoy math?

We Flagged: “4 x 1 is 4

Sam pukes. Same pukes some more.”

Read This If You Love: I’m Trying to Love Math by Bethany Barton; On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne; Math

Recommended For:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 9/30/19

October 6, 2019September 30, 2019 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Wednesday: Growing to Greatness: Just Like Beverly: A Biography of Beverly Cleary by Vicki Conrad

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

Kellee

The Bad Seed and The Good Egg by Jory John: Funny yet with an awesome theme!
Whose Mouse Are You? by Robert Kraus, Sophie Scott Goes South by Alison Lester, Mr. Wuffles! by David Weisner, In One Ear Out the Other by Michael Dahl, and We Love Our School by Judy Sierra: Trent’s class has started going to the library a couple of times a week, and Trent is loving picking out books to bring home to read. He also has Book Buddies on Friday, so he gets to read with a 3rd grader named Nathaniel. It is amazing how Trent’s teacher is instilling the love of reading in her students! Out of these, Mr. Wuffles is definitely Trent’s favorite!
Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey: Jim and Trent finished the first Captain Underpants, and they had a great time reading it together!
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett: “After an awkward first encounter, Birdie and Daniel are forced to work together in a Seattle hotel where a famous author leads a mysterious and secluded life in this romantic contemporary novel.”
Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez: “How did a raw chicken get inside Yasmany’s locker? When Sal Vidon meets Gabi Real for the first time, it isn’t under the best of circumstances. Sal is in the principal’s office for the third time in three days, and it’s still the first week of school. Gabi, student council president and editor of the school paper, is there to support her friend Yasmany, who just picked a fight with Sal. She is determined to prove that somehow, Sal planted a raw chicken in Yasmany’s locker, even though nobody saw him do it and the bloody poultry has since mysteriously disappeared. Sal prides himself on being an excellent magician, but for this sleight of hand, he relied on a talent no one would guess . . . except maybe Gabi, whose sharp eyes never miss a trick.”

Ricki

This week, I read the YA book manuscript of my dear friend, Bryan Gillis. Many of the readers of this blog know how active Bryan is in YAL world, and I felt very honored to be one of his first readers. I can’t say anything about the book, but I know it will be published!

Kellee

Starting: Weird Little Robots by Carolyn Crimi
Resuming: Let’s Go Swimming on Doomsday by Natalie C. Anderson
With Trent: We’re reading a bunch of picture books right now 🙂

Ricki

I saw Bettina Love speak at CU-Boulder a couple of weeks ago, and I knew I had to get her book We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom. So far, I’ve quoted/shown three passages from this book to my students. It’s that good.

Wednesday: Terrible Times Tables by Michelle Markel

Friday: Educators’ Guide for Prairie Boy: Frank Lloyd Wright Turns the Heartland into a Home by Barb Rosenstock

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Growing to Greatness Series: Just Like Beverly: A Biography of Beverly Cleary by Vicki Conrad

September 29, 2019September 25, 2019 by Kellee

Just Like Beverly: A Biography of Beverly Cleary (Growing to Greatness)
Author: Vicki Conrad
Illustrator: David Hohn
Published August 13th, 2019

Summary: Just Like Beverly follows the life of beloved children’s author Beverly Cleary from her early years in Oregon to her career as a successful writer who wrote stories, including the wildly popular Ramona and Henry Huggins series, for kids just like her.

As a young girl, Beverly Cleary struggled to learn to read and found most children’s books dull and uninteresting. She often wondered if there were any books about kids just like her. With hard work, and the encouragement of her parents and a special teacher, she learned to read and at a young age discovered she had a knack for writing.

Beverly Cleary’s story comes to life in this narrative nonfiction picture book as she grows to follow her dreams of writing the books she longed for as a child, becoming an award-winning writer and one of the most famous children’s authors of all time.

Beautiful illustrations capture Cleary’s sense of humor, struggles, and triumphs, and are filled with Easter eggs throughout for fans to discover.

Praise:

“Hohn captures her lively spirit through illustrations, reminiscent of those by Alan Tiegreen for Cleary’s own books, that will keep young readers entertained. A loving and informative tribute worthy of celebrating Cleary’s 103rd year of life.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred

“Conrad writes with clarity and features significant details that bring Cleary’s experiences and personality to life for kids today. Hohn makes good use of color, light, and pattern in his imaginative illustrations, which interpret the text sensitively. The artwork looks fresh and appealing while suggesting the period, the emotional resonance, and the upbeat spirit of Cleary’s books.”–Booklist, starred

“A celebration of Cleary, literacy, and the pursuit of ambitious dreams, this charming picture book will enhance any biography collection.”–School Library Journal

“Debut author Conrad’s storytelling is straightforward, ably conveying—in tandem with Hohn’s homespun, vintage-style illustrations—the various eras of Cleary’s life and her passion for writing and for nurturing readers.”–Publishers Weekly

About the Author: VICKI CONRAD is a teacher with a passion for literacy development and inspiring students to love reading just as much as she did as a child. Growing up, she was always found with a book in her hand, and she has stayed that way ever since. When she is not writing or teaching, she is traveling the world, growing a garden, or searching for stories. She has called Seattle her home for many years. She doesn’t mind the rain, as long as she has coffee, friends, and good books for company. Just Like Beverly is her first book.

About the Illustrator: DAVID HOHN is an illustrator based in Portland, Oregon. His days are spent in the studio imagining what it would be like to be someone else, doing something else–and then he paints it.

Review: It was so wonderful reading about Beverly Cleary’s childhood! It truly showed how supportive teachers and parents plus some access to books truly can result in brilliance! It just took some guidance, praise, and confidence to make her bloom as a writer.

From a parent and teacher point of view, I loved that Beverly saw a issue in the children lit world and used a talent to work to try to solve that issue–what a great role model!

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: There are three ways I picture this book being an asset in the classroom.

First, it is a wonderful addition to any picture book biography text set/mentor text set.

Second, it is a beautiful book to read aloud! And truly would lead to wonderful discussions.

Third, I could see it being used in conjunction with Cleary’s novels. How does her childhood story connect to the novels that she wrote?

Discussion Questions:

When looking for stories about kids like you and your friends, what type of characters are you looking for?
- [Writing prompt] Write a fictionalized story that you can relate to.
What character traits did Beverly have to be as successful a writer as she was?
What does Beverly’s pride in winning a contest that she was the only entry say about you?
What do you believe is the author’s purpose for writing this title?
How does Beverly’s story fit the theme of “Growing to Greatness”?
How is children literature different now than it was during Beverly’s childhood?

Flagged Passages:

Read This If You Love: Beverly Cleary!; Picture book biographies about writers such as Some Writer! by Melissa Sweet; A Boy, A Mouse, and a Spider by Barbara Herkert; A River of Words by Jennifer Bryant; Papa is a Poet by Natalie S. Bober

Recommended For:

Don’t miss out on other nonfiction picture books! Check out Kid Lit Frenzy’s Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 9/23/19

September 23, 2019September 23, 2019 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by commenting below then visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Obstacle or Opportunity or Both” by Ocelot Emerson, Author of Bertie’s Book of Spooky Wonders

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

Kellee

More Mr. Putter and Tabby from Cynthia Rylant! I just love these books and so does Trent.
I mentioned to Josh Funk that Albie Newton was the one of his books we didn’t have, and VIOLA it ends up at our house. I just love Josh’s books. They’re so fun but also have good messages. This one is no different.
I cannot wait to read the second book in Hope Larson’s Compass South series. This story of two twins on a crazy sea and land adventure.
Oscar the Octopus by Matthew Van Fleet takes us through the months and fun sea creatures. Trent and I had a great conversation about where these creatures’ habitats are and where we think the Oscar lives.
Lenny’s Book of Everything by Karen Foxlee is about Lenny Spink. “Her little brother, Davey, suffers from a rare form of gigantism and is taunted by other kids and turned away from school because of his size.”

Ricki

I am with extended family this weekend, so I am unable to post, but I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Kellee

Reading: Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett
Listening: Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez
Reading with Trent: More Mr. Putter and Tabby books
Jim reading with Trent: The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
Was listening to, but paused to listen to the library audiobook: Let’s Go Swimming on Doomsday by Natalie C. Anderson

Wednesday: Growing to Greatness: Just Like Beverly: A Biography of Beverly Cleary by Vicki Conrad

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Author Guest Post: “Obstacle or Opportunity or Both” by Ocelot Emerson, Author of Bertie’s Book of Spooky Wonders

September 22, 2019September 22, 2019 by Kellee

“Obstacle or Opportunity or Both”

“No pressure, no diamonds” – Thomas Carlyle

It’s simple: every single person you will meet today is facing at least one major obstacle. Especially the ridiculously beautiful person staring back at you in the mirror. Take a look — so many big old obstacles smack in front of us. Daring us. Mocking us. Blocking us from achieving great stuff. Stupid obstacles!

Though we know they’re there, most of us pretend they’re not.

We do our best to avoid facing them. We procrastinate. We rationalize. We think maybe if we don’t look at our obstacles, they might just go away on their own.

Guess what? They don’t go away. Never. And, deep inside, we already know they won’t go away.

The far more likely scenario is they’ll get bigger, noisier, fiercer, and freakier.

Here’s the good news in all this. Every obstacle or problem we face holds a secret. Hidden deep within the dread is an opportunity for greatness.

The big idea is to never let a good obstacle go to waste. Use it or lose it. Now if you believe amateur internet linguists (hint: do NOT believe them) the Chinese symbol for obstacle can also mean opportunity (100% refuted by actual professional linguists, but you get the idea — sounds really Zen, doesn’t it?).

Once again, my friends, it’s really simple. The obstacles that stand in our way can either hold us down or elevate us to greater heights. You get to choose which one to go for. You probably don’t think you get to choose, but you do.

No joke. You really-really do get to choose.

Bertie Blount, the twelve-year-old protagonist of BERTIE’S BOOK OF SPOOKY WONDERS, with help from a terrifying ghost and a pair of hexed sunglasses that allow her to see a better version of herself, eventually chooses greatness. Bertie rose above her tragic circumstances, and her own terrible choices. And, in doing so, she becomes the better version of herself. How cool is that?

It’s funny, but when kids and adults read BERTIE’S BOOK OF SPOOKY WONDERS, they compare themselves to Bertie. Could I do what Bertie did in that situation? Could I persevere how she did? Could I achieve what Bertie did despite all the crazy dangers, and endless ridicule from everyone around me?

The answer is yes. And no. The applicable answer for you depends upon your willingness to face whatever obstacles stand in your way. Whether it’s a problem with your family, or your school, or your sports team. Or a problem with a friend or enemy. Or perhaps it’s an adult struggling with an addiction, or divorce, or health. Or wanting to be a better parent, wife, or husband.

Or perhaps it’s someone who feels like they have a hole in their soul because they know there’s got to be a better way to get through the day. So many people are wearing these cruel shoes, and those shoes hurt worse with every step. We’re talking life blisters, folks. They are living in conflict with their better natures.

Through Bertie’s commitment to thinking differently, her sense of compassion, and her hunger to make things right no matter what, she shows us there is a better way to get through even the absolute most horrific days.

Bertie Blount is fantastically flawed. She’s a girl who is beyond lost. Nothing in her life makes sense to her anymore. But being lost is universal. We all lose our way. And not just with the big picture stuff either. Most of us get lost on a daily or even an hourly basis. That’s what makes Bertie’s story so captivating, and so enriching to the soul, even if it’s partly on a subconscious level. We understand Bertie’s struggles, because on many levels they’re our struggles as well.

As much as Bertie gets lost, she carries on and somehow finds her way out of the dark and scary woods, again and again. Her obstacles didn’t hold her down, they elevated her. And that helps us readers know that we can do the same.

The pragmatic side of the novel is that we don’t find our way by avoiding our obstacles. We have face them, the same way Bertie faces them (usually kicking and screaming). The same way anyone who ever achieved anything great faced their problems. And, as history shows us in countless examples, the obstacles we overcome make us better people than we were before. It’s simple, but not easy. It’s a choice. And it will be the best choice you could ever make.

That’s the hidden diamond in all this. If you choose to make better choices, you go through the day in a happier and more engaged way. If you repeatedly make the best possible choices you don’t need a pair of supernatural sunglasses to become the better version of yourself.

But, hey, if you happen to come across a pair — why not put them on, right?

Bertie’s Book of Spooky Wonders
Author: Ocelot Emerson
Publication Date: October 15th, 2019 by Tantrum Books

About the Book: Twelve-year-old Bertie Blount is great at causing trouble. When she’s forced to leave behind her dad and friends in North Carolina so her mom can marry the most boring optometrist in the world, Bertie has a chance at a fresh start.

But when Bertie arrives in Pennsylvania, she doesn’t just bring trouble; she brings disaster. In a moment of anger, Bertie unwittingly triggers an accident that puts her future stepbrother in a coma.

Broken and desperate to make things right, Bertie prays for a miracle. Instead, the universe gives her a pair of supernatural sunglasses, a wise-cracking doppleganger, and a terrifying ghost that sends Bertie on a dangerous mission to find the one thing that just might save her stepbrother’s life.

About the Author: Ocelot Emerson is the freakish result of a mad scientist’s experiment gone horribly wrong. Born half magnificent cat, half malicious human, Ocie escaped from the secret International Prison For Wayward Creatures, and into a deep dark woods, only to be captured by a pack of ravenous ghost wolves. In a stroke of good fortune, the Great Spirit Wolves set aside their natural disdain for all things feline and accepted the cat person into their pack, where they taught Ocie how to hunt and tell bizarre yet heartwarming tales. Bertie’s Book of Spooky Wonders is Ocelot’s first novel aimed at feral and phenomenally gifted children.

Thank you so much for this guest post about the beauty in time and patience and focus!