Top Ten Picture Books for the First Half of 2012

I was inspired by Hannah of My 100 Adventures Blog to come up with my current top 10 picture books for 2012.  We have just moved beyond the half-way mark in the year and here are my favorite picture books so far.


Squid and Octopus Friends for Always by Tao Nyeu (Penguin)


No Bears by Meg McKinlay; Illustrated by Leila Rudge (Candlewick)


Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Roaring Brook Press)


Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett; Illustrated by Adam Rex (Hyperion)


Scribbles & Ink by Ethan Long (Blue Apple Books)


Little Bird by Germano Zullo; Illustrated by Albertine (Enchanted Lion Books)


The Cloud Spinner by Michael Catchpool; Illustrated by Alison Jay (Random House)


Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett; Illustrated by Jon Klassen (Balzer & Bray)


And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano; Illustrated by Erin Stead (Roaring Brook Press)


When Blue Met Egg by Lindsay Ward (Penguin)

So what is in your top 10 picture books for the first half of 2012?



Book Review: One Day I Went Rambling

Author: Kelly Bennett
Illustrator: Terri Murphy
Publisher: Bright Sky Press (April 28, 2012)
Audience: Ages 4 to 7
Source: Copy for Review
Fiction * Picture Book * Imagination * Creativity

Description from GoodReads:
When Zane goes rambling, his friends call him crazy and refuse to play along. When he finds a shining star, it doesn't bother him when his friends try to tell him it's just a hubcap. Undaunted, Zane uses his finds to create a secret project that piques his friends' curiosity. After watching him ramble around the neighborhood, finding magic in the ordinary, his friends are eventually drawn into his imaginative game. Through the book's art, attentive readers will see that Zane is using his finds to create a pirate ship, and once his friends realize what he's up to, even the most skeptical realists join the fun and sail the afternoon away. Zane's imagination sees the cowpoke's lasso in a piece of vine, the pirate's golden ring in an old pop top, and many other treasures that have been stolen from today's children by electronic entertainment. Rambling enforces the joy of imaginative play.

My thoughts on the book:
In many ways, I envy the Zanes of the world.  They are able to see beyond the surface to what something can become rather than what it is/was.  In Kelly Bennett's newest picture book Zane is "rambling" through the neighborhood picking up things that he can find.  In his mind these items are not just pop tops or hubcabs but the making for so much more.  His friends are skeptical and already have begun to lose some of the natural inquisitiveness and imagination that children naturally have.  However, over time, and thanks to Zane's influence, his friends re-discover their own treasures and their imaginations ignite with adventure.  In the end, the children under Zane's direction have created a pirate's ship with their findings and set off to explore the world of creativity.


One Day I Went Rambling is a good reminder of the importance of play and exploration to learning.  When young children continue to be curious, their ability to understand the world and how things work together grows.  Additionally, their ability to apply what they are learning also grows.  As teachers, parents, caregivers, or librarians, we need to continue to foster play and curiosity and to celebrate the Zanes we have in our classrooms and our lives and allow them to influence those around them.  

Terri Murphy's colorful illustrations capture the emotions, and curiosity of Bennett's characters.  I enjoyed her use of grayscale and black & white for portions of the pages as Zane's friends counter his declarations of what items can be rather than what they are.  This fades out and pages become full color as the others join in on the fun.

One Day I Went Rambling would make a fun read aloud to spark children's imagination or to use to prime children for an activity that requires them to go beyond seeing things for just how they are.     


For more information about Kelly Bennett: website | blog

 

It's Monday! What are you reading? From Picture Books to YA (30)

It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Jen & Kellee from Teach Mentor Texts have adapted this to focus on Picture Books to Young Adult Books.

I had one of those weeks where despite reading quite a few books very few seriously jumped out at me.  As a result, I am only sharing two things.  I am looking forward to a better reading week.  

Here are my favorites from my the past week's reading adventures:


Amulet Vol. 5: Prince of the Elves by Kazu Kibuishi - The fifth installment in Kibuishi's popular (and I mean popular) graphic novel series comes out on September 1st.  I can't wait to hold the final copy in my hands.  It was great to read an Advance Readers Copy but I love the color illustrations in the final version.  Readers of the series will love the new volume. 



BabyLit Board Books by Jennifer Adams; Illustrated by Alison Oliver - Classic literature gets a make over in the form of baby board books and early concepts such as counting and colors.  Fun series to read and share.

So, what are you reading this week?

I think I might actually have to organize my books for reading.  It is easy to get lost in the piles of books.  How are you doing with your summer reading?

Book Review: No Bears

Author: Meg McKinlay
Illustrator: Leila Rudge
Format: Hardcover, 32 pages
Publisher: Candlewick (March 27, 2012)
Audience: Ages 4 and up
Source: Personal Copy
Fiction * Fairy Tale * Writing

Description from Publisher's Page:
Ella wants to tell you a story - a story with absolutely no bears. You don't need bears for a book. You need pretty things like fairies and princesses and castles and maybe funny things and exciting things. In Ella's kind of story, there are no bears in the village or the castle or the deep dark forest or faraway lands. But there might be . . . a monster! Riffing on well-known fairy-tale themes, this fun, offbeat story is perfectly matched by playful illustrations with a running visual joke that will keep even bear lovers smiling. 

Ella is in charge of this book, and she will tell you something right now. There are NO BEARS in it. Not even one.


My thoughts on this book:
I read a lot of picture books.  It is easy to forget books when you are reading that many.  And then, there are some that just keep coming to mind.  No Bears was that book for me.  I read it and really liked it.  Then I wanted to go back and read it again and again.  Of course, at that point the bookstore didn't have it and it was on back order with the publisher. Finally, I was able to lay my hands on my own copy of the book and have probably read it another 7 or 8 times. Enjoying it each and every time I read it.

Bear Book Recycling Bin - love it!
Part of what I love about No Bears is that with every reading, I come away with some new thoughts and ideas about the story.  No Bears is a brilliant concept that is very well executed.  The text stands as strong as the illustrations to provide readers with truly a wonderful book.

Ella wants to write a story and she knows that the story should start with things like "Once upon a time.." and end with things like "Happily ever after" and "The End".  On the one hand, as a teacher, I can use this story as a read aloud for younger students but on the other hand, I can utilize the story as a way to discuss metafiction and writing with older students.  Ella's interjections into the story throughout the book provide a level of narration for students that allow them to consider the various aspects to be considered in writing a story.    


In the illustration below, Ella lists all of the things that her story should have. Rudge takes McKinlay's words to a new level though by also incorporating various references to other fairy tales with her images.  Rudge does this successfully throughout the whole book.  Of course, as Ella talks about all the things her book should have and what it shouldn't have - bears - Bear is lurking on the sidelines watching the story unfold.


Just as in any good story, there has to be trouble...unfolding on the page is a deep, dark forest -


because you must have a deep, dark forest in your story and not to forget - you must also have a MONSTER.  However, I love that our bear friend is silently helping out in the background.


 Bear is helping out so much that when the princess (as represented by Ella) is in trouble he is there with the fairy godmother's magic wand to help save the day.   Even though Ella credits the fairy godmother and "her fantastical magic powers" for the rescue the reader knows better.


In the end, Ella is proud of her "bear free" book and Bear is left to explain to all of the other characters in the book how he indeed saved the day. 


In addition, to all of the wonderful aspects already talked about, the illustrations provide a fun challenge for students to see if they can identify all of the references to fairy tales that are embedded onto the pages of the story. 

McKinlay and Rudge certainly have a hit on their hands with No Bears. This is definitely one book that I would recommend for storytime, classroom instruction or just as a fun gift for a favorite young person in your life.

Find the author & illustrator on the internet:
Meg McKinlay: Website | Blog
Leila Rudge: Website | Blog

Credit & Disclaimer: All illustrations in this post are ©Leilarudge - The illustrations were so fabulous I had to share.     

Literacy Café: The Harlem Renaissance

Back in January, Angie (parent volunteer extraordinaire) and I were talking about possible themes/topics for Literacy Cafés.  Our conversation went a little like this:


Me: What about doing a Café for 4th and 5th graders on the Harlem Renaissance?

Angie: *Pause of silence*

Me: Really, we can pull this off.

Angie is a former high school social studies teacher.  Even after nearly two years of running Cafés with me, we surprise each other.  She amazes me with how she inspires children to engage in learning, and write amazing poetry.  She also has mad decorating skills that would put Martha Stewart to shame.  My job - to find the books, brainstorm, and help make the magic happen when the kids come in even when the topic might be a bit of a stretch.

(If you want more information on the hows of our Literacy Cafés, check out my article for Scholastic Book Fair's Newsletter - Bringing Books to Life with Literacy Cafés or my post today over at the Nerdy Book Club. )

Once I convinced her that we didn't need to teach them everything there is to know about the Harlem Renaissance - just give them an introduction - we were off and planning.  Our Literacy Café for the Harlem Renaissance was probably one of our biggest endeavors.  There was probably 80 hours of planning time for about 9 hours of instructional time. (Don't worry - most of our cafés do not take this much time to plan.)

First, we decided that instead of using a novel, we would use a variety of picture books to start discussion about this time period.  Second, we realized that the students needed a pre-teach session prior to the actual Literacy Café.  This was something we had never done before but we felt very strongly that they needed some background information on the basics of the Harlem Renaissance and who were some of the key players during that time.  Finally, we decided that for the actual Café, we would focus primarily on the poetry of Langston Hughes, and some of the art and music of the time period.

The Pre-Teach Café:
When I did the pre-teach café, I had a few things I wanted all of the students to walk away with.  What was the Harlem Renaissance?  When did it take place? Why was it important to history? and Who were some of the key individuals of the time period?


Thanks to technology, I was able to bring in audio and video clips that allowed children to hear Langston Hughes or Zora Neale Hurston read and speak about pieces of their work or to listen to the music of some of the greatest jazz musicians or to watch as dancers perform the Lindy Hop.


The Café:
When we did the actual cafe, we decided that we would split the class into two groups.  One group would begin inside with Angie.  They would look at Langston Hughes' poem - Harlem and then do their own writing response to what they could see or feel from the words of the poem.  The other half began outside with me (yes, in Southern California, we can do outdoor teaching in February).  I loaded up my iPod with different songs from Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Bassie, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and more.  We had looked at various pieces of art from painters such as Douglas Aaron and Jacob Lawerence and Archibald Motley and Palmer Hayden.  They were to create their own Harlem Renaissance paintings inspired by the music of the time period.  After a designated amount of time, we switched groups.  At the end, we gathered together for a de-brief while we ate red beans and rice, corn bread and lemonade.  (Our school custodian was so excited about what we were doing that he actually made red beans and rice for the kids.)

Aaron Douglas - Jazz Roots

What did we learn:
Angie and I are never content to rest on the success of one lesson.  We did 3 pre-teach sessions that were all different in order to meet the needs of each group of students that came into the café.  This was the same with the actual Cafés.  As teachers, if we pay attention to our students, they will show us what we need to learn to better help them learn.  For example, we realized after the first session that the students needed assistance in focusing on what they were learning in the pre-teach and so Angie created a note-taking sheet to help all the students.  I learned that when children do not have a strong grasp of number lines they often don't have a good understanding of time lines.  Along with that, we have done such a good job of teaching about Slavery and Civil Rights that many of the students think it all flows together without seeing that there were years between one thing and the other. 


We were also struck by how this Café deeply impacted many of our students who were able to celebrate their own culture and history in a way they had never done before. We also learned that it was worth every hour we had invested into the prep time to make this Café a reality. 

I hope that you will consider the possibility of doing your own Café with your students.  For more posts on Literacy Cafés, and some of the books we used, type in Literacy Café into the search bar on this blog.