Booktalk: Some buildings look so strange that it’s hard to believe that they were actually meant for people.
Snippet: (For the building on the book cover, it says:) “It looks more like a cave than a building, but Crazy House in Dalat, Vietnam, is actually a hotel.”
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STEM Friday
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
This week’s STEM Friday Round-up is hosted by Wrapped in Foil.
Booktalk: Even in the future, the story begins with Once Upon a Time…. Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.
Snippet: Tossing the screwdriver onto the table, Cinder gripped her heel and yanked the foot from its socket. A spark singed her fingertips and she jerked away, leaving the foot to dangle from a tangle of red and yellow wires.
BOOK GIVEAWAY! Do you want to read this debut novel? The publisher will send a copy to ONE of my blog readers (U.S. or Canada only). Add your name to the comments and I will select one name for today’s book giveaway.
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Booktalk: A bilingual story of how the farm maiden and all the farm animals worked together to make the rice pudding that they serve at the fiesta (with a “house that Jack built” pattern).
Snippet:
This is the goat
that churned the cream
to make the MANTEQUILLA
that went into the CAZUELA that the farm maiden stirred.
Soldier Bear
by Bibi Dumon Tak (Author), Laura Watkinson (Translator) and Phiip Hopman (Illustrator)
144 pages
Booktalk: A group of Polish solders stationed in Iran during World War II trade a pen knife and some canned beef for an orphaned bear cub, and Voytek, as they name the bear, travels with them from Iran to Italy and then on to Scotland. See how they train a bear to help them in the war. (Photographs of the real Voytek are in the back of the book.)
Snippet: The air rippled with heat. At that time of day, the army camp was like a ghost town. If you ventured out into the sun, it felt like you were about to burst into flames.
But even so, one creature still came out into the blazing heat, bumbling along the path between the parked trucks and stopping to sniff at every vehicle.
*This book (shared in October) won the Batchelder Award (given to books translated into English).
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The (Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award
Winners and honor books for the (Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award for beginning readers were announced this week.
2012 Medal winner
Tales for Very Picky Eaters
by Josh Schneider (Author, Illustrator)
A father tells his son outrageous stories to try and get him to eat. Chapter book
2012 Honor Books
I Broke My Trunk!
by Mo Willems (Author, Illustrator)
Uh-oh! Elephant broke his trunk, and now he has a CRAZY story to tell Piggie. Easy reader
I Want My Hat Back
by Jon Klassen (Author, Illustrator)
Bear’s hat is gone, and he wants it back, so he asks everyone he sees about it. Picture book
See Me Run
by Paul Meisel (Author, Illustrator)
Dogs play in the park and find buried bones in this easy-to-read picture book.
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I will send you a new lesson each Wednesday. You have 2 weeks to complete each lesson, so the workshop lasts 8 weeks.
Easy-to-read books have many names. These books with simple words and short sentences for children who are learning to read are also called beginning readers, leveled readers and easy readers. While picture books are read to a child by an adult, easy readers are meant to be read by the child himself. (You’ll know you’ve found an easy reader when you see the words “read,” “reader,” or “reading” on the cover.)
Learning to read takes place on a continuum, and the books reflect that. Easy readers range from 8 page books with a single word or a simple phrase on each page to 64 page books divided into chapters.
As you study 5 easy readers per lesson you will explore 3 of the 5 literacy development phases that children experience as they learn to read. You will also learn three literacy strategies that writers use in books for beginning readers.
The first session of this NEW online workshop begins on Wednesday, February 1st.
The February workshop dates are February 1-March 14, 2012.
Booktalk: See and hear the story of Diego as a young, mischievous boy who demonstrated a clear passion for art and then went on to become one of the most famous painters in the world.
Snippet: Diego Rivera was born in Mexico in a city called Guanajuato, which means the “land of frogs.” As a boy, Diego enjoyed playing with his trains, but more than anything, he liked to draw.
Booktalk: With careful attention to history, Larry Dane Brimner relies on oral histories, FBI files, court records, archived newpapers, and other primary source documents to capture the clash between conviction and courage, on one hand, and tradition and hate on the other in this unforgettable story of Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and his stand against Eugene “Bull” Connor.
Snippet: The first time the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) tried to kill Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth was Christmas 1956. The KKK was a group that believed white people were superior to Negroes. Its members intimidated blacks–and whites who supoorted the Negro quest for equality and justice–through threats and violence.
Publishers Show Less Enthusiasm About eReaders Increasing Reading (via eBookNewser)
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Today is the big day! The eyes of the publishing world will turn to Dallas at 7:45 a.m. CT on Jan. 23, 2012, when the American Library Association (ALA) announces the top awards in children’s and young adult literature as part of the ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 20 – 24.
ALA will host a live Webcast from the Dallas Convention Center begining at 7:30 a.m. CT, Jan. 23. (Virtual seating will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.) You can also follow the announcements live via twitter at @ALAyma.
Crouching Tiger
by Ying Chang Compestine (Author) and Yan Nascimbene (Illustrator)
Booktalk: Vinson is very excited when his grandfather comes from China for a visit.
Snippet: The next morning, Grandpa was dancing slowly in the garden with his eyes closed. His hands moved like gliding birds. He crouched like a tiger; he drew an invisible bow; he lifted a foot like a rooster and stood still.
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Poetry Friday
This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Wild Rose Reader
Booktalk: All bones tell a story–you just have to know how to read them. See how forensic anthropologists do it.
Snippet: Forensic anthropology uses the scientific study of humans to answer legal questions. “Forensic” comes from a Latin word referring to the forum. The Roman forum was a place where legal issues and politics were discussed and debated. Today, the practice of public speaking and debating is often called forensics. The term forensic science has come to mean science used in a court of law or the justice system.
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STEM Friday
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
This week’s STEM Friday Round-up is hosted by Laurie Thompson.
Booktalk: From the author of The Book Thief, three books in one volume about the Wolfe brothers: The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe and Getting the Girl. The first book in this omnibus is also Zusak’s very first book, now published for the first time in the United States.
Snippet:
We were watching the telly when we decided to rob the dentist.
“The dentist?” I asked my brother.
“Sure, why not?” was his reply. “Do you know how much money goes through a dental surgery in a day? It’s obscene. If the prime minister was a dentist, the country wouldn’t be in the state it’s in right now, I tell you. There’d be no unemployment, no racism, no sexism. Just money.”
Tyrannosaurus Dad
by Liz Rosenberg (Author) and Matthew Myers (Illustrator)
Booktalk: What’s forty feet long, fifteen feet high and wears a necktie? (Tobias’ Dad! He is, after all, a Tyrannosaurus.)
Snippet: With Tyrannosaurus Dad around, he never felt afraid of spiders or strange noises at night, Still he couldn’t help wishing his father would be — well, a little more part of things. His dad was always, always working.
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Booktalk: On Buddy’s first day at school. someone sets off the fire alarm. Who could have set it? A kid? A ghost? Buddy is on the case!
Snippet: “There was a fire at our school a long time ago, and part of the school burned down. This girl–her name was Agatha Curry–she got burned up in the fire and now her ghost haunts the old part of the school.”
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5 Great Books About Valentines
Arthur’s Great Big Valentine
by Lillian Hoban
Arthur argues with his friend on Valentine’s Day. Level 2 easy reader
Clifford’s Valentines
by Norman Bridwell (Author, Illustrator)
Clifford makes his own Valentine. Level 1 easy reader
It’s Valentine’s Day!
by Jack Prelutsky (Author) and Marylin Hafner (Illustrator)
This classic poetry collection is back in print with new illustrations. Level 3 easy reader
Let’s Get Ready for Valentine’s Day
by Lloyd G. Douglas (Author)
A young girl gets ready for Valentine’s Day in this photo-illustrated easy reader.
Scooby-doo Reader #10: Valentine’s Day Dognapping
by Gail Herman (Author) and Duendes Del Sur (Illustrator)
Scooby-doo finds pizza and witches in this Valentine mystery! Level 2 easy reader
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Babies Don’t Just Listen, They Try Lip-Reading While Turning Babble into Words (via @washingtonpost)
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Booktalk: Little Maomao s father works in faraway places and comes home just once a year, for Chinese New Year. At first Maomao barely recognizes him…
Snippet: Papa bries a coin in one of the balls and says, “Whoever finds the ball with the coin will have good luck.”
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Booktalk: The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps– it’s just harmless fun.
That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future. Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.
But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.
Snippet:
The first time I jumped was about eight months ago, during my first semester of college. I was sitting in the middle of a French poetry class. I nodded off for a few minutes and woke up to a cold breeze and a door slamming me in the face. I was standing in front of my dorm. Before I even had a chance to panic, I was right back in class again.
Booktalk: On February 1, 1960, four black college students sat down at the whites-only lunch counter in a Woolworth’s department store in Greensboro, North Carolina. The young men knew the waitress couldn’t take their order because of the store’s segregationist policies. But the young men hadn’t come to eat–they had come to make a peaceful stand for equality.
Snippet: On August 28, 1963, more than more than two hundred fifty thousand protestors joined the March on Washington. They met at the Lincoln Memorial, a landmark symbol of freedom. John Lewis, the chairman of SNCC, was one of the many civil rights leaders who addressed the crowd. That day Dr. King gave the most famous speech of his life, “I have a dream.”
