Hero's Guide Blog Tour

The Hero's Guide returns with The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle.  Christopher Healy has brought back your favorite Prince Charmings for more hilarity and adventure.  Walden Pond Press is celebrating with a blog tour and character profiles.  Today, Kid Lit Frenzy is celebrating Prince Frederic.

Prince Frederic
Occupation: Prince, dancer, gentleman
Affiliation: Founding member, League of Princes
Kingdom of Origin: Harmonia
Current Residence: Royal Palace of Harmonia
Parents: King Wilberforce & Queen Anabeth (deceased)
Longtime Foe: El Stripo (a circus tiger)
Likes: Proper manners, witty wordplay, picnics
Dislikes: Rudeness, poor grammar, dirt in all of its many forms
Signature Move: The Run-and-Hide
Quote: “It looks like she lost one of her glass slippers. Would you be so kind as to have it sanitized?” Little Known Fact: Owns three copies of every Sir Bertram the Dainty book (one set organized alphabetically, one chronologically, and one according to the color spectrum)

If you would like to know more about The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy, check out the official book trailer.



Don't forget to enter to win:
All readers of this blog have exclusive access to a special giveaway for THE HERO’S GUIDE TO STORMING THE CASTLE. You will need this SECRET CODE to enter: PRINCE CHARMING.
Click here to enter.

WHAT YOU WIN: If you are one of the first three people to enter the giveaway TODAY (5/10/13), you will receive a signed copy of The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle. EVERYONE who enters the giveaway from 5/6 to 5/26 is eligible to win a $200 gift card to the bookstore of his or her choice.

Don't forget to check out the Twitter Chat on Fractured Fairy Tales with Christopher Healy (The Hero's Guide) and Marissa Meyer (Cinder/Scarlet) on Monday, June 3rd at 9 p.m. ET.  To join in follow the hashtag #talesretold.  There will be giveaways!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday - On a Beam of Light

Author: Jennifer Berne
Illustrator: Vladimir Radunsky
Publisher: Chronicle Books (April 23, 2013)
Audience: 2nd to 5th grade
Source: Purchased
biographical *nonfiction * scientists

Description from GoodReads:
A boy rides a bicycle down a dusty road. But in his mind, he envisions himself traveling at a speed beyond imagining, on a beam of light. This brilliant mind will one day offer up some of the most revolutionary ideas ever conceived. From a boy endlessly fascinated by the wonders around him, Albert Einstein ultimately grows into a man of genius recognized the world over for profoundly illuminating our understanding of the universe. Jennifer Berne and Vladimir Radunsky invite the reader to travel along with Einstein on a journey full of curiosity, laughter, and scientific discovery. Parents and children alike will appreciate this moving story of the powerful difference imagination can make in any life.

My thoughts on this book:
I have read a few children's biographies on Albert Einstein.  Many were well done.  However, Berne's On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein seems to have captured my attention on a different level.  Maybe it has to do with Radunsky's quirky illustrations that seem to spotlight Einstein's unique personality. Or maybe it just is the Berne's ability to write about Einstein in a personal way for young readers.  There is enough description of Einstein's early years and schooling to give readers a sense about Einstein.  Adults who know more of Einstein's background should feel that just the right balance of highlights from Einstein's life is mixed with some of the things that made Einstein such a great physicist. 

"He was racing through space on a beam of light"...doesn't the image above perfectly capture Berne's text?!

There is something about this picture of Einstein walking without shoes and licking an ice cream cone that made this a favorite image of mine.  I guess it felt like it captured Einstein's unique personality which always seemed to hint at his inner child.

Berne includes some great notes on the end page which can be used to encourage further learning and research.  Can I just say this is a wonderful book and you should go out and buy it?  Seriously, add it to your classroom or school library.  Read it aloud to kids.  However, no matter what you do, don't miss this book.

For more information about Jennifer Berne: website | publisher page

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews:

Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop - May 7 - 13, 2013

Thanks to Kathy from I am a Reader, Not a Writer for hosting this hop! Don't forget to check out all of the links below for blogs participating in the Giveaway Hop.

What is a Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop - A chance to clear out bookshelves and give books away to other book lovers.

My Giveaway - A Young Adult ARC pack of 5 books

Enter this giveaway by completing the Rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the other blogs participating:

It's Monday! What are you reading? From Picture Books to YA - 5/6/13

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.

Here's what jumped out at me this past week...

 

Vader's Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown (Chronicle Books,  April 23, 2013) - This is a follow-up to Darth Vader and Son.  Definitely a fun read.  

Lunch Lady and the Video Game Villain by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Random House, April 23, 2013) - Yay! Another Lunch Lady book. 

Frindle by Andrew Clements; Illustrated by Brian Selznick (Atheneum Books for Young Readers; 1996) - I missed this years ago, but was thinking about using this for a 3rd grade book club.  Definitely a great read and yes, I will be using it for that book club.

Miss Maple's Seeds by Eliza Wheeler (Nancy Paulsen Books, April 4, 2013) - Beautiful story with lovely illustrations.  I would pair this with Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. 

So, what are you reading?

Comic Strip Writing - 5th Grade Project

This year, I have been working out of our District's Central Office.  It has been a big change and though I have learned a lot I miss seeing my students on a regular basis.  So, when I had a chance to work on a writing project for part of the year with a class of 5th graders, I jumped at the opportunity.  Since the class is made up of 90% English Language Learners, writing tends not to be their favorite activity.  It has been fun to find ways to support critical thinking, language, and writing with this great group of students.

Recently, we spent a lot of time looking at and discussing comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels.  None of the students knew anything about Babymouse, or Squish, or The Lunch Lady or any of the other wonderful graphic novels out there today.  They devoured the books I brought in.

The next step was to try a writing activity where students would write their own comic strip.  Here is a peek at what they created.
  

One of the requirements of this project is that students would work in teams of 2 on their comic strips.  For many of the students, English is a second language and I wanted to provide a setting in which students would need to discuss with another person the story that they would be communicating in their comic strip.  Initially, it was difficult.  Some of the teams were less than thrilled to work together.  However, I was extremely excited to see how the teams came together during the week they worked together.

Students had to include 3 basic elements of a story - characters, setting, and plot (or what problem needs to be resolved) in their comic strip.  They were given a couple of different blank templates to use for their comic strips.  Some of the stories were fairly simple.  In the above story, two diamonds steal money from a bank, get caught, and go to jail.

This story had a princess stuck in a tower and wanting a cupcake before a tornado set in.  Prince Charming had to rescue not only the princess but the cupcake.

One student gave me a glimpse of his artwork even though his team's comic strip wasn't completed.

Some students moved beyond just one page to create a story.  The two students who created the above story about a penguin egg and an adoption by a bear went on to a second page.  

My favorite comic strip bordered on becoming a comic book or graphic novel.  It was a story about bullying with super mom as the super hero.  The two students who worked on the pages above went onto multiple pages (only 3 of the pages are shown above), even labeling some of the pages as chapters.  What was more impressive is that both were resistant to working with each other at first.  By the end, they not only had worked out an impressive start to a story but also when they presented it, they worked out who would do each character voice.

The classroom teacher has expressed to me numerous times that thanks to the writing projects that we have been working on students seem less hesitant to write.  Writing is still a challenge for many of the students but it has been wonderful to watch them grow as writers and for them to feel successful with the various projects.

Now onto our next project...