Booktalk: Investigating the common contraptions that make so much possible—from zippers and rolling pins to catapults and the pyramids—this book encourages kids to look differently at the numerous objects in everyday life. Each chapter is dedicated to one of the six straightforward implements that are at the core of daily activity: levers, inclined planes, pulleys, screws, wedges, and wheels and axles. Using only discarded items from the recycling bin, this guide harnesses kid-power by inviting young readers to build gadgets of their own design, including a working crane, a drawbridge, a car made of fruit peels, and an actual whirligig.
Snippet: Simple machines are all around you. They are in your home, your school, and your park. They are used in sports. They are used in games you play, even in board games. Simple machines can even be found in your body!
Booktalk: In this (graphic novel) comic book , Zita and Joseph discover a crater left by a meteroid, and inside the crater is a strange device…
Snippet: ZITA: It’s probably an old remote or something. SOUND AS ZITA PUSHES THE BUTTON: TEK TEK TEK TEK JOSEPH: I still don’t think… SOUND: CRAKKA KRAKA SOUND: THOOOM!
(Light comes out of the crater and then a creature grabs Joseph…)
I’ve reopened the STEM Friday blog for my “early birds.” If you need to add your link before the host is ready, add it to comments for the announcement for that day on the STEM Friday blog. Thanks!
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Literary Link
My January Quick Tips column: Hot Topics: Winter Weather with STEM is at Booklist Online.
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The story in art, however, changes on each page, so young children will memorize the story and “read” along.
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Booktalk: Skilley, an alley cat with an embarrassing secret, longs to escape his street-cat life. Tired of dodging fishwives’ brooms and carriage wheels, he hopes to trade London’s damp alleyways for the warmth of ye olde Cheshire Cheese Inn. He strikes a bargain with Pip, an erudite mouse: Skilley will protect the mice who live at the inn, and in turn, the mice will provide Skilley with the thing he desires most.
But when Skilley and Pip are drawn into a crisis of monumental proportions involving a tyrannical cook, an unethical barmaid, and a malevolent tomcat, their new friendship is pushed to its limits. The escalating crisis threatens the peace not only of the Cheshire Cheese Inn but also the British Monarchy!
Unbeknownst to Skilley and Pip, however, they have a secret ally: a famous author who scribbles away many an afternoon in ye olde Cheshire Cheese Inn…
Snippet: He was the best of toms. He was the worst of toms.
Fleet of foot, sleek and solitary, Skilley was a cat among cats. Or he would have been, but for a secret had carried since his early youth. A secret that caused him to live in hidden shame, avoiding even casual friendship lest anyone discover–
Toco Toucans by Anastasia Suen
A National Science Teacher’s Association Recommended book
Toco toucans have a surprising way of protecting themselves from predators. These birds have multicolored feathers and big, reddish-orange beaks that should make them easy to spot—or so you would think. The brilliant colors actually provide the perfect camouflage among the bright foliage of the tropical rain forest. The toucans can stay safe by hiding in plain sight!
Copyright: 2010
Dewey: 598
Guided Reading level: I
ATOS Level: 4
Lexile level: 900
Recovery Reading Level: 16
Hardcover and hosted e-book: 24 pages
Publisher: Bearport
Book Activities:
Print this simple crossword puzzle – or solve it online.
Booktalk: This retelling of the classic Grimm’s tale, paired with lush, detailed illustrations, reminds us of the power of music, the importance of belonging, and the transformative effect of love.
Snippet:
The couple so longed for a child
that one day the man cried,
“I want a son even if he’s half a hedgehog!”
Th next spring the farmer’s wife gave birth
to a child who was exactly that–
a boy from the waist down
and a hedgehog from the waist up.
For the final stop on the Hans blog tour, Kate Coomb answers just 3 questions…
Q. When did you start writing?
A. I wrote plays and stories and poems as a child. I remember writing a Nancy Drew knockoff in about 4th grade for school (a long short story), and I recall being very proud of myself for writing a sonnet in middle school. In my grade school plays, I would cast myself as the Glorious Queen and my little sister as the Quiet Servant Girl. As a teen and in college, I mostly wrote poetry.
Q. Describe your writing process.
A. I brainstorm until I come up with an idea that appeals to me. If it’s for a picture book, I just start writing. This usually tells me whether the idea will work out. If it continues to seem promising, I revisit the story every day or so for weeks, playing with the manuscript and its possibilities. If the story works, I fine-tune it over and over. At times I step away for a week or two and come back to the story with fresh eyes.
For a middle grade novel, I brainstorm, as well, and pick an idea. Then I write several pages of story development notes, often questions and answers, e.g., “If they don’t catch the dragon, why not?” I also write random scenes that pop into my head–especially a scene that will come near the end of the book and show the direction I’ll be heading throughout. After a few days or weeks of this, I simply start writing with chapter one and go in order (unless a later scene makes itself known along the way, which does happen).
My best writing time is early in the morning, but I have been known to write on scraps of paper while in line at the post office. Sometimes I get an idea while I’m driving and pull over to write it down.
Q. Tell us about your latest book.
A. Retelling Hans My Hedgehog was actually illustrator John Nickle’s idea. It’s a less well-known Grimms’ fairy tale for a reason: the original is darker than some of the other tales and has a few narrative troubles. My goal, of course, was to keep the spirit and overall plot of the original while brightening the tale and smoothing out those bumps. Basically, Hans My Hedgehog is the story of a boy who is born a human from the waist down and a hedgehog from the waist up. He learns to play the fiddle and herd pigs, but the village boys and girls shun him. Riding on a rooster, Hans takes his pigs and goes off to live in the woods. There his music and magic grow, and Hans helps two kings in exchange for two promises. The question is, will a princess marry a youth who is half hedgehog?
Plus I have another book coming out in March, a collection of ocean poems called Water Sings Blue. This spring is a pretty happy time for me!
Thanks for stopping by, Kate! I look forward to seeing the new book in March…
Booktalk: Seventeen-year-old Hope Long’s life revolves around her brother Jeremy. So when Jeremy is accused of killing the town’s beloved baseball coach, Hope’s world begins to unravel. Everyone is convinced Jeremy did it, and since he hasn’t spoken a word in 9 years, he’s unable to defend himself. Their lawyer instructs Hope to convince the jury that Jeremy is insane, but all her life Hope has known that Jeremy’s just different than other people—better, even. As she works to prove his innocence—joined by her best friend T.J. and the sheriff’s son, Chase—Hope uncovers secrets about the murder, the townspeople, her family, and herself. She knows her brother isn’t the murderer. But as she comes closer to the truth, she’s terrified to find out who is.
Snippet: The first time Jeremy heard God sing, we were in the old Ford, rocking back and forth with the wind. Snow pounded at the window to get inside, where it wasn’t much better than out there. I guess he was nine. I was seven, but I’ve always felt like the older sister, even though Jeremy was bigger.
I snuggled closer under his arm while we waited for Rita. She made us call her ‘Rita’ and not ‘Mom’ or ‘Mommy’ or ‘Mother,’ and that was fine with Jeremy and me. Pretty much anything that was fine with Jeremy was fine with me.
We’d been in the backseat long enough for frost to make a curtain on the car windshield and for Rita’s half-drunk paper cup of coffee to ice some in its holder up front.
Jeremy had grown so still that I thought he might be asleep, or half frozen, either one being better than the teeth-chattering bone-chilling I had going on.
Then came the sound.
*This book is a Young Adult Edgar Nominee!
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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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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.
Booktalk: Tiger Rose has lived a long cat’s life, so she says goodbye to one and all before she dies. (A gentle look at death from the pet’s point of view.)
Snippet:
“It is time,” Tiger Rose said to the jay,
to the butterflies,
to Rowf, deep in his doggy dream.
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Booktalk: In this third volume of the Tiger’s Curse, eighteen-year-old Kelsey must embark on a third voyage. She must find the goddess Durga’s sacred pearl necklace and free her beloved Ren from both the tiger’s curse and his sudden amnesia.
Snippet: It had been more than a month since we had rescued Ren from Lokesh’s Baiga camp and three weeks since my terrible birthday party–and life was purgatory.Even though I gave him my journal and used up all the flour baking double-chocolate peanut-butter cookies, Ren still had no memory of me. We were reunited, but we weren’t together.
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Clementine and the Family Meeting
by Sara Pennypacker (Author) and Marla Frazee (Illustrator)
What will Clementine do about the new baby? Early chapter book (176 pages)
Have Fun, Anna Hibiscus!
by Atinuke (Author) and Lauren Tobia (Illustrator)
Anna Hibiscus leaves her home in Africa to to visit her grandmother in Canada for Christmas. Early chapter book (109 pages)
Just Grace and the Double Surprise
by Charise Mericle Harper (Author, Illustrator)
Grace and her best friend in the whole world, Mimi, have two big surprises. Early chapter book (176 pages)
Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie
by Julie Sternberg (Author) and Matthew Cordell (Illustrator)
Eleanor’s beloved babysitter, Bibi, has to move away and things just aren’t the same without her. Early chapter book (128 pages)
The Trouble with Chickens: A J.J. Tully Mystery
by Doreen Cronin (Author) and Kevin Cornell (Illustrator)
Can J.J. Tully, a a former search-and rescue dog, find the missing chickens? Early chapter book (128 pages)
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Literary Links
Another Makeover for B&N: Spinoff of Nook, sale of Sterling would return company to its roots (via @publisherswkly)
Tips from @ReadingRockets: Building Your Child’s Vocabulary (via @jensbookpage)
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Lilly and the Pirates
by Phyllis Root (Author) and Rob Shepperson (Illustrator)
116 pages
Booktalk: A sighting of the rare frangipani fruit fly sends Lilly’s scientist parents off in search of the fabled Shipwreck Islands. Lilly awaits their return at the home of her great-uncle Ernest, the chief librarian of Mundelaine, a town that seems to have more than its share of piratical-looking characters lurking about. When news comes that her parents’ ship has wrecked, she must overcome her fear of the sea, find the hidden island, and outsmart a bunch of treasure-hungry pirates to save the day.
Snippet:Lilly reached for her worry book, always at her side, ready for her to scribble down any worries she might think of. If Lilly worried enough about all of the things that could go wrong, if she wrote her worries down in her worry book, the bad things she worried about might not happen.
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CYBILS Easy Reader Finalists
The new CYBILS Easy Reader Finalists were just announced!
Aggie Gets Lost
by Lori Ries (Author) and Frank W. Dormer (Illustrator)
Ben throws the ball too far and his dog Aggie gets lost! Easy reader with 3 chapters
Dodsworth in Rome
by Tim Egan (Author, Illustrator)
Dodsworth and his misbehaving duck visit Rome. Easy reader with 4 chapters
Frog and Friends
by Eve Bunting (Author) and Josee Masse (Illustrator)
Frog likes things to stay the same, but that’s not how it goes in these 3 short stories. Easy reader with 3 chapters
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
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Literary Links
Walter Dean Myers named third National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature!
Reading is like oxygen (via The Globe and Mail)
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Booktalk: Grandpa loved to tell stories when he sat in his “remembering rocker.” One was about Captain Santa and the Christmas Tree Ship (disaster) of 1912.
Snippet:“Every year Captain Santa would load up his little schooner Rouse Simmons with thousands of beautiful Christmas trees from our northern Michigan forests.
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Booktalk: Luke knows his Iñupiaq name is full of sounds white people can’t say. So he leaves it behind when he and his brothers are sent to boarding school hundreds of miles away from their Arctic village.
Snippet:
I hand the gun back to Joe, the gun that’s gonna be mine when I’m old enough to take the kick. Next spring maybe.
“Boys?” Mom says. “You hear? Get your stuff. Plane’s come.”
I’m twelve years old, all right, and Bunna, he’s ten. But Isaac, he’s only six, and all I can think of is those Catholics and what they say about kids. Why can’t we wait until Isaac turns seven?
When I climb up into that plane, the wind’s blowing hard, same as always.
“Take care of your brothers,” Mom calls, and I turn around quick. One last time.
BONUS! Hear the author read an excerpt at the 2011 National Book Award Finalists Reading!
Digital Platform ePals Acquires Carus ( via FolioMag.com)
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Blog Countdown #4
Dear Readers,
Due to technical difficulties (see below) I am moving ALL of my blogs here to Booktalking.
Q. Why are you moving your blogs during the busy holidays?
A. Two reasons:
1. I’m being innundated by foreign language spam.
2. The Feedburner subscription service has locked me out.
This means that while others have found me (in a BIG way!) I can no longer find you. I can’t access my subscriber lists. I’ve had the same login since 2006, but Feedburner was sold to Google and now my passwords no longer work!
I have to START OVER.
1. I will consolidate ALL 8 blogs into 1 at Booktalking.
2. I will count down for two weeks (from 10-1)…and then close the other 7 blogs.
If you read this blog via a Google subscription, please click here and sign up for email with WordPress. (It’s the widget on the right that says “Send me this blog via email.”) Then I can see you – and help you – if you need assistance with your subscription.
Booktalk: From 1908 until 1954, Donald Baxter MacMillan spent nearly 50 years exploring the Arctic – longer than anyone else. Growing up near the ocean, and orphaned by 12, MacMillan forged an adventurous life.
Snippet:Most of the earth was well mapped, but no one knew what lay at the top. Many believed the North Pole was surrounded by water, while others thought there was a continent up there. Danny listened to tales of daring men who explored the Arctic. Some starved, froze to death, or perished when their ships were wrecked by ice or lost in storms.
(Ask someone to buy you a workshop for the holidays!)
It took most of the day on Friday but I finally figured out how offer gift certificates for my online workshops! Yay! With a Paypal Gift Certificate someone can pay for YOUR online workshop – and when you’re ready, you can choose both the workshop you want to take and the dates that fit in your schedule.
Due to technical difficulties (see below) I am moving ALL of my blogs here to Booktalking.
Q. Why are you moving your blogs during the busy holidays?
A. Two reasons:
1. I’m being innundated by foreign language spam.
2. The Feedburner subscription service has locked me out.
This means that while others have found me (in a BIG way!) I can no longer find you. I can’t access my subscriber lists. I’ve had the same login since 2006, but Feedburner was sold to Google and now my passwords no longer work!
I have to START OVER.
1. I will consolidate ALL 8 blogs into 1 at Booktalking.
2. I will count down for two weeks (from 10-1)…and then close the other 7 blogs.
If you read this blog via a Google subscription, please click here and sign up for email with WordPress. (It’s the widget on the right that says “Send me this blog via email.”) Then I can see you – and help you – if you need assistance with your subscription.
