Katherine Applegate Visits Once Upon A Time

Last Wednesday, I had the chance to hang out with a few middle grade readers and Katherine Applegate. We talked about what it was like to win the Newbery Award for her book, The One and Only Ivan. 

We got to hold her Newbery Award.

And she shared about her research and writing the nonfiction picture book about the real Ivan.

We had an amazing time.

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday - The Pilot and the Little Prince

by Peter Sís
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux (May 27, 2014)
Nonfiction * Biographical * Aviation 

Description from GoodReads:
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born in France in 1900, when airplanes were just being invented. Antoine dreamed of flying and grew up to be a pilot—and that was when his adventures began. He found a job delivering mail by plane, which had never been done before. He and his fellow pilots traveled to faraway places and discovered new ways of getting from one place to the next. Antoine flew over mountains and deserts. He battled winds and storms. He tried to break aviation records, and sometimes he even crashed. From his plane, Antoine looked down on the earth and was inspired to write about his life and his pilot-hero friends in memoirs and in fiction. Peter Sís’s remarkable biography celebrates the author of The Little Prince, one of the most beloved books in the world.

Image from The Pilot and the Little Prince

Reviews: Kirkus | Publisher's Weekly | Hornbook |

Links to interesting pages: NPR Interview of Peter Sís |  

About the Author: Peter Sís is the internationally renowned author and/or illustrator of many books for children. He is the recipient of the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration and has also been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. He has lived in and around New York City since 1984.

Where to find Peter Sís: website | facebook

My thoughts on the book:
A couple of weeks ago, I picked up The Pilot and the Little Prince.  I have been a fan of Peter Sís for awhile and when I saw that this was coming out I knew I had to have it.  Finally, I had a chance to sit down and spend some time pouring over this beautifully illustrated book.  And when I say pouring over this book, I do mean spend time with it.  This is not a book that you read once.  Though the narrative story text is fairly simple, there is much more to process.


Image from The Pilot and the Little Prince

The story is laid out in multiple ways - readers can simply begin with the straight narrative text that tells the life of Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  Additionally, the illustrations provide readers with another level of visual literacy that can and should be read.  Finally, there are illustrations with scripted text, which provides another layer.  Though I do have to say that the small font was a bit difficult for me to read with ease. If I were to ask for one addition to the book, it would be for back matter (author's note, additional reading, links, or other things) to be included at the end of the book.

Overall, this is a beautiful picture book biography for children in Kindergarten to Third grade.  It would make a lovely addition to a classroom or school library. 


Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews:

Celebrate This Week - June 14, 2014


This year, I am trying to increase my awareness of the many good things that happen, which are frequently overlooked by me.  To help me, I am joining Ruth Ayres' Celebrate This Week.

As I write this post, it is still Saturday on the west coast.  I find it a challenge to get this post up every week.  Partially due to the fact that I hate working on a blog post on Friday nights.  Too often I am out and by the time I get home it is a bit too late.  And Saturdays are often packed.  Since, I missed the past few weeks, I felt that I had to get something up for today.

So, this might be late but here it is.

Here's what I am thankful for this week... 

1.  Summer Break - I am thankful for some much needed time off to reflect and be creative.

2.  Authors - Have you ever said or heard someone say "authors are rockstars".  It is definitely true, and this week, I had a chance to interact with some wonderful writers and illustrators.



Arree Chung Recently, I participated in a blog tour for Arree Chung's new book NINJA. I truly think this is a wonderfully delightful book.  Thank you Arree for this beautiful signed print. I can't wait to frame it and hang it in my office. 



Tracy Holczer I love living in Southern California where so many wonderful Children's and YA authors live.  One of those wonderful folks is Tracy Holczer, The Secret Hum of a Daisy.  This past week, Alethea and I had dinner with Tracy.  We had a wonderful evening talking books and writing and more.  As a thank you, Tracy brought us "answer jars".  Read her wonderful debut novel to find out about "answer jars". 




Jillian Cantor - Thank you Bloomsbury Press for inviting us to meet Jillian Cantor prior to her signing at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego. There were 4 of us who had a chance to chat with Jillian and ask her questions about her new YA novel, Searching for Sky. Jillian was wonderful to hang out with, and I am looking forward to reading this book.


Walden Pond Press & Christopher Healy - Though I have never met Christopher Healy, I recommend his books all the time.  Today, I received from Walden Pond Press a copy of The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw with a signed bookplate as a thank you for participating in the recent blog tour.

3.  My friends is home from the hospital. - Yes, after two more surgical procedures, my friend is home.  It is still going to be a long recovery period but we are thankful for how he has pulled through this most recent round of surgeries.



4.  Collaborating with friends - At the end of this month, I will be presenting at the American Library Association Annual Conference.  I am honored to be able to present with Mary Ann Scheuer, Cathy Potter, and Louise Cappizo.  I was also super thrilled when I discovered that SLJ recommended our presentation Common Core IRL: In Real Libraries as one of their staff picks.


5.  Great Tweets & Facebook posts - On Friday, I received some tweets from John Scovill.  He made my day when he shared that teachers that he works with cited me in their presentation on informational text.  It really goes to show that we are connected in so many ways to other teachers and educators and we have no idea about how our work influences others.  I am very thankful for my Nerdy Book Club friends because it is through them that I have come to know so may excellent educators.

Hope you are having a wonderful week and weekend and a Happy Father's Day.