It's Monday! What are you reading? From Picture Books to YA - 1/12/15

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

Here is what jumped out of the pile this week...

Take Away the A by Michael Escoffier; Illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo (Enchanted Lion Books, September 2014) - What a creative Alphabet book. Glad to finally find this one.

The Bear Ate Your Sandwich by Julia Sarcone-Roach (Knopf Books for Young Readers, January 2015) - I love bears and I love humorous bear stories. This would be a fun read aloud.

You and Me by Susan Verde; Illustrated by Peter Reynolds (Abrams, January 2015)- A lovely friendship story.

Gaijin: American Prisoner of War by Matt Faulkner (Disney-Hyperion, April 2014) - A graphic novel that explores the American internment camps for Japanese Americans during WWII. 

Nonfiction Titles that popped out from the pile:

Leontyne Price: Voice of a Century by Carole Boston Weatherford; Illustrated by Raúl Colón (Knopf Books for Young Readers, December 2014) - Picture book biography on Leontyne Price beautifully illustrated by Raúl Colón. 

Raindrops Roll by April Pulley Sayre (Beach Lane Books, January 2015) - So far, a favorite nonfiction picture book of 2015. 

Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (Readers to Eaters, August 2014) - An interesting picture book biography on Alice Waters. 

The Story of Buildings: From the Pyramids to the Sydney Opera House and Beyond by Patrick Dillon; Illustrated by Stephen Biesty (Candlewick, March 2014) - For those who love architecture, then this book is for you. 

Stand There! She Shouted: The Invincible Photographer Julia Margaret Cameron by Susan Goldman Rubin; Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (Candlewick Press, 2014) - A more in-depth biography on the life and art of Julia Margaret Cameron. 

Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted a Million Trees by Franck Praevot (Charlesbridge, 2015) - The 5th picture book biography on this topic and probably my favorite. 

Stop by on Wednesday for #NFPB2015 - the Nonfiction Picture Challenge of 2015:

Stop by on Friday to find out more about the Mock Sibert Award that Carrie Gelson and Kellee Moye and I will be hosting. 

So, what are you reading?

Into The Woods - Movie Review

So I (Carolyn) absolutely adore Into the Woods, and the movie adaptation is excellent. Here's some of my thoughts on the movie. First, what I enjoyed:

James Cordon as the Baker, Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, Emily Blunt as the baker's wife, Billy Magnussen as Rapunzel's Prince, and Chris Pine as Cinderella's Prince are all outstanding. Superb casting and performance. (Magnussen and Pine are particularly perfect and hilarious).

Daniel Huttlestone and Lilla Crawford (as Jack and Little Red Riding Hood, respectively) both gave good performances.

The music is just as excellent as the original. 'Agony', 'It Takes Two', 'On the Steps of the Palace', 'Your Fault', and 'No One is Alone' were particularly excellent. 

The set and the costumes are all far better than the original.

*minor spoilers from this point onward*

I was glad that they didn't back down on the...er, metaphorical implications of the Little Red Riding Hood storyline (which I totally though Disney would cut out). They also didn't remove the more unsavory bits from the original: the blinding of Rapunzel's Prince and the Stepsisters, the, er, foot mutilation of the Stepsisters, the infidelity of both Cinderella's Prince and the Baker's Wife, the death of some characters, and the (relatively) unhappy endings for others.

Similarly, they didn't back down on the other great thematic ideas present in the original: the difference between good and nice and right, the idea of only falling in love with the concept of a person (destroying the idea of love at first sight), the idea that people can become enslaved to their desires, the idea that all of the characters' problems (at least initially) are all because of their parents (one generation screwing over the next).

(Also, THEY KEPT MY FAVORITE SCENE IN THE ENTIRE PLAY, aka the scene where Cinderella confronts her prince, which is so thematically important and poignant). 

What wasn't my favorite (aka all the things that I think were better in the original):

Meryl Streep as the witch was interesting, but she didn't have the same...presence that Bernadette Peters did (although, really, no one does). I did think that her performance got better over the course of the film, though.

I was a bit sad that they cut out the character of the narrator, which also meant that there wasn't a connection between the Mystery Man (later revealed to be the Baker's father) and the narrator. Additionally, the separation of the casting for Cinderella's Prince/The Big Bad Wolf, as well as the separate casting for The Witch/Cinderella's mother was a bit disappointing (I liked the thematic implications created by tying those characters together).

The over-the-top hilarity and humorous tone of the original was lost, which led to some of the more tongue-in-cheek lines falling a little flat.

They did remove the reprise of 'Agony', which was a bit...disappointing, for fairly obvious reasons.

Rapunzel neither died nor went mad (as she did in the original), which did detract from the witch's character arc. In the original, Rapunzel doesn't simply reject the witch and cut her out of her life (as she does in the movie); instead, after her prince is blinded, she is banished to wander in the desert (where she gave birth to twins - also something that was cut). This leads her to go mad, which in turn leads to her being accidentally stepped on by the giant in front of the witch. Rapunzel's story is never fully resolved - she simply tells the witch to get out of her life and then she's not seen for the rest of the movie. The witch's death was also new, and I didn't mind that too much except for the fact that it meant that she wasn't actually present when she sings 'Children Will Listen' (an incredibly thematically impacting song, the sort of end message that is left for the audience); instead, it is relegated to a softer background song and the focus is on the baker as he talks to his son (in the original, the baker is talking to his son at the beginning of the song but the focus is mostly on the witch as she sings). Thus the change from "children won't listen" to "children WILL listen", which communicates the key thematic idea that while children may not obey their parents, they will absorb their parents' words and the twisted messages sent with, is almost lost.

Watch the Official Movie Trailer:

Using Blendspace to Support Learning and Instruction

I really do appreciate my on-line professional learning network. Without them, I would be unaware of so many apps, web-based programs, and more that can be used to support instruction and learning. Recently, I searching for something on John Schu's blog, Watch.Connect.Read, and was reminded of a program that he used called Blendspace to make a lesson on Kate DiCamillo.

Since I was working on setting up a Haiku Learning site for the teachers and librarians that I work with, I decided to try making my own author lesson using Blendspace. In looking through some youtube videos, I noticed a series of videos for how Melissa Stewart created her book No Monkeys, No Chocolate. This gave me the idea of doing the Blendspace lesson on this very thing.

Since I wanted to see how the teachers I work with might be able to use it, I specifically chose to use it as they might use it. I was pleased to see that Blendspace was super easy to learn and use, and I was able to log in with my District google account.  It took me a very short time to create the lesson below, and to embedded it in my Haiku Learning site.

If you haven't had a chance to play with Blendspace, I hope this encourages you to give it a try. You can also check out their blog for more ideas.

What apps and programs have you found most helpful in creating lessons?

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: January New Releases

Welcome to the first Nonfiction Picture Book New Releases post of 2015, and thank you for supporting the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge for the 4th year. If you are just finding out about the challenge, it is not too late to join in. Actually, everyone is welcome to join in at any point in the year. This is a wonderful community of teachers, librarians, and other book related folks that love to celebrate nonfiction books for kids. So, if you are finding this for the first time, welcome and if you are returning, so glad you are a friend.

At the beginning of each month, I do my best to round-up as many new quality nonfiction books for children and share them with readers of this blog.  I know that this is an extremely useful resource for me and hope that it is to you as well. ~ Happy Reading!

Here are the new releases that are coming out this month:

December 23, 2014

Leontyne Price: Voice of a Century by Carole Boston Weatherford; Illustrated by Raúl Colón (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

January 1, 2015

Birdology: 30 Activities and Observations for Exploring the World of Birds by Monica Russo; Photographs by Kevin Byron (Chicago Review Press)

January 6, 2015

Big Red Kangaroo by Claire Saxby; Illustrated by Graham Byrne (Candlewick Press)

Bilby: Secrets of an Australian Marsupial by Edel Wignell; Illustrated by Mark Jackson (Candlewick Press)

Chasing Freedom: The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony, Inspired by Historical Facts by Nikki Grimes; Illustrated by Michele Wood (Orchard Books)

Draw What You See: The Life and Art of Benny Andrews by Kathleen Benson Haskins; Illustrated by Benny Andrews (Clarion Books)

Earmuffs for Everyone: How Chester Greenwood Became Known as the Inventor of Earmuffs by Meghan McCarthy (Simon & Schuster)

Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson; Illustrated by Sean Qualls (Schwartz & Wade)

The Founding Fathers: Those Horse-Ridin', Fiddle-Playin', Book-Readin', Gun-Totin' Gentlemen Who Started America by Jonah Winter; Illustrated by Barry Blitt (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)

Raindrops Roll by April Pulley Sayer (Beach Lane Books)

Sand Swimmers: The Secret Life of Australia's Desert Wilderness by Narelle Oliver (Candlewick)

Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted a Million Trees by Franck Praevot; Illustrated by Aurelia Fronty (Charlesbridge)

January 20, 2015

Winnie: The Remarkable Tale of a Real Bear by Sally M. Walker; Illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss (Henry Holt & Co.)

January 27, 2015

The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage by Selina Alko; Illustrated by Sean Qualls (Arthur A. Levine)

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews:

It's Monday! What are you Reading? From Picture Books to YA - 1/5/15

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

Here is what jumped out of the pile this week...

Zombie in Love 2+1 by Kelly DiPucchio; Illustrated by Scott Campbell (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, December 30, 2014) - I loved Zombie in Love and was hoping that this one lived up to the first one. It did! Yay! It was wonderful. It made me laugh aloud. I want to share it with everyone.

Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons by Sara Levine; Illustrated by T. S. Spookytooth (Millbrook Press) - A book kids will really enjoy. I love the first two lines: "Have you ever wondered what we would look like if we didn't have any bones? It wouldn't be pretty."

Bugs and Bugsicles: Insects in the Winter by Amy S. Hansen; Illustrated by Robert C. Cray (Boyds Mills Press) - Another book that children will find entertaining and fascinating. Favorite line: "She isn't dead. She isn't really asleep. She's a bugsicle. "
 

The Promise by Nicola Davies; Illustrated by Laura Carlin (Candlewick) - "...and I understood the promise I had made. I held a forest in my arms, and my heart changed." - This line really touched me as I read this book.

And, here is the book stack that I am working on, and Holmes just had to come check it out when I was taking a picture...

So, what are you reading?