Check It Out

48 Hour Reading Challenge

I signed up to participate in the “48 Hour Reading Challenge” from 7 PM Friday to 7 PM Sunday. My goal to read six of the 2010 Sasquatch Reader Award  and 2010 YRCA nominees. I forgot (until packing)that I would be out of town with friends all weekend.

Happy to say that yesterday was spent in the car for almost nine hours and I read.  I read four of the six (bolded and starred are ones read) books:

**The Return of the Killer Cat. Fine, Anne

Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It. Frazier, Sundee

**Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little. Gifford, Peggy

**Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear. Mazer, Norma Fox

**No Talking. Clements, Andrew

 Elijah of Buxton. Curtis, Christopher Paul

I could have started Elijah of Buxton and had planned to but then I saw my copy of Silksinger by Laini Taylor, started already and pleading to be read. So I rewarded myself by sticking my nose into its pages. Soon I was taken away with Whisper to find the city of Nazneen.  It total I read 559 pages which will pale in comparison to those who cleared their calendar to read.  But I tried and after two years of not participating due to conflict, I am happy that I could try once more.

Now rereading the rules, I did not check in. I did not blog. I read on Sunday.  Well, there is next year!!

Summer Revision Smackdown

Last weekend I was invited to join the Summer Revision Smackdown at Holly Cupala.  So last week did I state my goals?  No. Did I do any revising?  Only in my head.  Doubt that counts for anything. So thank goodness for a new week! 

My revision goals this week:

To make the changes based on our May writer’s critique group meeting.

To revise at least two haiku to submit for publication.

Bridget Zinn Fund Update

We raised $16,000 with the two auctions (one local and the on-line). Checks are arriving in the mail daily. The Paypal is operational (and taking a fee, bleh!) 

If you have not heard from me, please contact me at macrush53 at yahoo dot com.  I was gone for the weekend. Tonight’s plan?  To go into the “spinning room” to email folks and catch up on all things auction.

We are into the state assessment period and the halls are quiet except for the scritchy-scratch of pencils.  I recently read two books to classes that were sent to me by publishers.

The first is a follow-up to Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk.  In Library Mouse A Friend’s Tale, Sam the library mouse gets to secretly pair up with Tom, left over student.  All the kids have partner’s to write a story and illustrate it except Tom.  Mrs. Forrester, the librarian, suggests to Tom that they work together but them a mystery unfolds.  Sam accidentally leaves his notebook on the librarian’s desk and when he goes back to get it, he leaves tracks to his little home in the reference section.  What happens when Tom follows the track? Will he reveal the library mouse secret?  What kind of story does Mrs. Forrester and Sam write or do they?  You will have to read and find out your self. 

Kids love these two book by Daniel Kirk.  Library Mouse came in second in the Washington state Children’s Picture Book Award.  The perspectives that Kirk uses in the illustrations engage students.  It will not be on the shelf long.

The second book, Hee-Haw-Dini and the Great Zambini by Kim Kennedy has kids laughing out loud.  This is a new author for me.  It is a fun tale about the power of practice, practice, practice.  Hee-Haw the donkey and Chester the mouse practice their magic tricks all day long.  But none of the other farm animals want to see the tricks because after all, they are just farm animals.

When the Circus train comes through and a mysterious trunk belonging to the Great Zambini is left along the countryside, Chester and Hee-Haw decide its time to pull the ultimate trick. The ending has a fun trick of its own. I did not expect the ending. Students were quite engaged in this book, too. Doug Kennedy’s acrylic paintings match the vivid text.

This brother-sister team rely on family stories about magic to tell a magical story about the power of believing in your self.

I am listening to Savvy by Ingrid Law. Wow what a great story. The Beaumont family each get their special “savvy” on their 13th birthday. Mibs’s 13th birthday is no exception and the events of that day lead her, her family, and a colorful cast of characters on a wild chase.

I keep thinking about how the characters of Savvy might like the characters Spinelli’s Star Girl.  There have been a couple times where I pull into the driveway at home and have to wait until the chapter is finished. On her blog, Law invites readers to share their savvy, their special know-how.  I think my savvy just might be the my diplomaticway with people.

Overheard, Alyssa D., 5th grader, “May 1, do you know what that date means?”  That’s when the seventh book of the Sisters Grim series by Michael Buckley comes out.

What are you reading?

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Just arrived home from teaching two sessions, “Incorporating Poetry in the Writer’s Workshop” to teachers at our first ever Summer Literacy Institute in my district.  Both went well, I have to tell you though, I had butterflies in my stomach this morning as I drove to my destination. 

It has been so long since I worked with adults in this capacity. Would they understand my intuitive apporach to teaching poetry?  Would they understand my thoughts that you do not teach poetry units, that poetry is a format?  To me it makes sense that a child might bring you a piece of writing, which would be a lousy story and a great poem.  You, the teacher, have the task to facilitate and guide. I did not realize until preparing for this course, how much this might be a pet peeve of mine.

The day turned out well.  People participated. No one sat there chatting with their neighbor out of sheer boredom.  Everyone shared a poem draft they had written.  The time flew and of course, we  ran out of time.

My greatest frustration was when attempting to share some of the blogs I frequent and ran up against the “Websense” blocking of certain sites. Drat!  Blogspot.com is one such site that is unilaterally blocked. Grrrr!

Oh, and this idea was raised: “a core collection of poetry books that should be in every school library.”  Now there is a project!  So I am thinking about creating a list of “The 100 Poetry Books Every School Library Should Have in the Collection”.  This gave me pause as I have been intentionally developing my poetry section.  Would I have any of the books on a given list?

  What would you like to see in every school library for poetry?  Leave in the comment space and I will add to the list.

I have begun listening to Gossamer by Lois Lowery. Wowee! I am hook and am realizing how much listening to stories is teaching me about writing stories.

What are you reading? What would you expect in the 100 list?

Happy Reading.

MsMac

It is August and that means that I am unofficially back to work. Officially not until the end of August.  But I get that itch and start thinking about what the year will bring for me.

I am beginning my 35th year of teaching and my 30th in Evergreen. Wow!

I loved, loved, loved, listening to Esme Raji Codell’s The Diary of Fairy Godmother earlier this summer. It is sooo much fun.  I will be promoting it heavily this year and hope to have a book study in the library with it.

I went through a reading drought.  I could not believe that during my road trip in July, I did not read at all!.  I have since made up for it, having read Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, a Jance mystery, Web of Evil, and A Clearing in the Wild by author, Jane Kirkpatrick.  This Sunday my book club meets to decide the books for the year. Three Cups of Tea is on my nightstand and will also be suggested.

Next Tuesday, this time, I will be teaching a workshop on using poetry in a writer’s workshop.  I get to teach it twice.  I haven’t taught adults in awhile so I am a tad bit nervous about doing so.

It is 53 days until the Second Annual Kidlit Blogging Conference which I am co-chairing with Laini.  I am excited to see the registrations coming in!  Have you mailed yours yet?

Gotta get back to reading.  What are you reading?

Happy reading.

MsMac

I am around. I just have not been posting on my blogs much. I think it is fallout from participating in the national boards for teaching. Which, by the way, I now get to wait until around November to hear the results.

 I had plans, oh big plans, to blog from the road trip I just returned from last week. Nevertheless, I did not. I did not read anything of merit on the road trip.  I have started reading about the behavior of dogs for a project I am working on.

I just returned from the public library.  This has become a renewed love affair because I can be more “green” through purchasing less. I went to the library as a child and through my teen years.  It was a time when big corporate books stores did not exist and very few independent ones as well.

I participated in the summer reading programs and worked to get my chart filled up faster than “Jack Snap”, whoever he might be.  I returned to a library habit this spring because I needed to listen to books on tape or cd in preparation for the national board’s exam.

Today, I cruised by the “Twice Sold Tales”, a perpetual used book sale that the library has.  A five-dollar bill provided me with The Friday Night Knitting Club, The Art of French Kissing, and a J.A. Jance: Web of Evil.  Nothing like Jance to interrupt a reading vacation.

We leave for the coast tomorrow the week. I am hoping (again) to blog from our location.  It will be because of J.A. Jance if I do not.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

School gets out next Wednesday. I am dreaming for that day.  It has been a long, wonderful year but I am ready for summer.  So in honor of dreams, I am sharing fro a discovery I made this year over at 7-Imp; Janet Wong’s Night Garden: Poems from the World of Dreams.  The illustrations are by Julie Paschkis, a favorite illustrator.

I dream almost every night. Sometimes as a result I wake up feeling like I had a good chat with my parents.  This is why I loved the line for “The Ones They Loved the Most”:

…”When you are chosen
remember to pull
at the air around you
when you wake
pull and gulp it down,
swallow hard,
and those sweet memories
will stick
like cotton candy.”

And that’s what I do on the nights when my parents visit in my dreams.

And I laughed throughout the “Talking in Her Sleep”.  It reminded me of my college days.  I would retire earlier than my roommate.  Many nights, I would sit up and begin a gibberish sort of conversation and she would recount it the following day. One night, she invited out friends to watch this weird event in our room.  I woke and was not happy.

“Night Garden”, the first poem, is my favorite.  I just love the idea of our mind being a garden rich:

“…dreams grow wild
like dandelion weeds,
feathery heads
alive
with seeds__”

I am looking forward to school being done, my national boards test completed (this Saturday), and time to cultivate the seeds waiting to sprout in my head.

Happy dreaming. Happy Reading.  Poetry Friday reound-up is at A Wrung Sponge today.

MsMac

Fifth graders interview with Katie Davis
The Curse of Addy McMahon author

Something I love about having a blog is discovering new authors (or new to me at least) via visiting the “Kidlitosphere”: home of authors, illustrators, and children/YA book reviewers.
A recent discovery was Katie Davis, author/illustrator of several picture books including Who Hops, Mabel the Tooth Fairy and How She Got Her Job, and Kindergarten Rocks. Katie has just published her first novel for middle graders titled, The Curse of Addy McMahon.
I went to her website to watch her book trailer (a very clever idea) about the book. Well, the whole scene in which Addy’s mother takes Addy on a shopping trip for a specific undergarment that a 6th grade girl might need took me back to that place, that 6th grade place when I received a very embarrassing birthday present from my parents.
I had to read Katie’s book,then pass it onto some fifth graders that I knew would enjoy the book.
This was perfect opportunity to use the new digital recorder received from the OASL Hull Grant in December. An opportunity to produce for the first ever “Check It Out” pod cast.
So…
Special speakerphone from the district. CHECK
Students who read the book. CHECK
Time and place to call. CHECK
Thursday, May 29, 2008, 9:00 AM -9:50 AM Katie Davis Interview. CHECK

Were we cursed? No, due to my inexperience and technical difficulties during the interview, the first pod cast is delayed. But here are five fabulous fifth graders interviewing Katie Davis:

Ahbre, Austin,
Brent, Melissa,
and Tasha: Good morning

KD: Good morning.

Austin: What sparked your ideas for this book?

KD: The article was about a storyteller in Latoon, Ireland who was trying to warn local officials about the potential danger revolving around the destruction of a white-blossomed hawthorn bush. The bush, it turned out, was rumored to be a fairy lair. Apparently, it stood in the way of a planned highway bypass, and if bulldozed, the fairies would curse the road and all who used it, causing crashes, death, and general mayhem.
I immediately imagined a girl here in the U.S. whose great-great-grandad chopped down a fairy lair back in Ireland generations ago. And even though the story was a long-standing family joke, what if she actually believed it just a little? She might blame the curse for all the crummy stuff in her life, even things that were her fault.

Ahbre: What were you thinking when you wrote the story?

KD: OMG, am I ever going to finish this book? But I was also thinking about the story and that I wanted to write a really awesome one.

Ahbre: Well, it was great.

Melissa: Was the book based off any personal experience?

KD: That is a good question. Actually have you ever been asked to “write what you know?”

Kids: Kind of, yeah.

KD: You will hear that a lot more as you grow up. It is not exactly what you know but you take elements that you know because you lived them and you put them in a story. For example, my father died of lung cancer and Addy’s father died of lung cancer but I was in my 20’s when my father died…the feelings like sadness that Addy felt, I definitely experienced that.

Boys: Ahhh..

Tasha: How long did it take you to write the book?

KD: It took 9 years to write the book.

MsMac: Wow, why so long?

KD: Tons of rewriting and the first 4 years there was a lot happening in the book. During that time, I also had seven picture books come out. I had never written a novel before and it was a real learning experience. In the beginning, there was a fairy and it was way too much.
One editor finally asked, “What about taking all the fantasy out?” “Oh man!” I thought, but I took it all out and made the story about the relationships.

Melissa: Was the best friend in the book like a best friend you had?

KD: Yes and we had a big fight. It was my fault and I had to say “I am sorry”.

Ahbre: If you had to write another book like Addy, what would it be?

KD: If Addy were in it? Like a sequel? I would want Addy and all her friends together. Then a fairy does show up and what would they do about it? I don’t think anyone has ever done a sequel in a different genre before. The first book is realistic fiction, and the second would be fantasy. Could be pretty cool!

Melissa: You might win awards because it would be totally new idea.

Brent: Wondering how long did you wait from the last draft to publishing.

KD: It felt like forever. I am curious how the boys liked it. Would they tell another boy they were reading this book?

Austin: I would.

Brent: I actually really liked it. I like how Addy and her friends went through different challenges and how they started a newspaper.

Austin: Yeah, I liked the newspaper, too.

KD: I am glad you like that part. Did you like the comics?

Kids: Yeah

Ahbre: It was a really good part because it showed what she was thinking.

Melissa: It is great for starting the chapters.

Brent: Actually gives you a picture of what the chapter is going to be.

KD: It was not always that way. First, Addy kept a journal, then a diary, and I was then going to have collage art and it was not until the very end that I realized I would do the comic strips.

KD: In June there will be a new website called autobiograstrip.com that you can go to and create your own.

Kids: Cool

Ahbre: If you had to write more autobiogra-strips, what would you have put in?

KD: Did you notice that all but the last one are about difficulties? By putting the tragic parts into the strip, it made them easier to take, and also allowed the comedy to shine, and stand on its own.

Austin: What was your favorite part of the book?

KD: I loved the “AddyWaddie” part. I was driving on my way to a school visit, and laughed out loud when I figured out that scene.

Kids: That is funny with the friends and the French tied in.

Ahbre: Did you have to take anything out?

KD: OMG, definitely. Do you know what authors call that? It is called “killing your babies.” It is hard to take out stuff. To make the whole thing better, you have to sacrifice.

Melissa: Did you have a certain purpose, did you want to send a message in this book?

KD: No, I never write a book to send a message. It is a deadly, deadly mistake that beginning authors make. But if kids get anything helpful out of it, I do hope they see that everyone has problems.

Brent: Wondering what your dream job was as a child.

KD: Well, I loved to draw and write but then I read about the first female police officer and I thought I wanted to become a cop. Then I figured I might get shot.

Austin: What did you like to read as a child? Did you read chapter books or comic books?

KD: I read comic books all the time. I had weird tastes. I read these romance comics but I also read many very scary horror books. Now I read lots of YA and MG books. My mother-in-law teases me because I read children’s books. But really, they are better written than many adult books. Kids are not going to put up with bad writing whereas adults feel obliged to finish the book.

MsMac: Katie, I have kindergarten coming in so you need to say good-bye. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today.

KD: Thank you. It was a pleasure. I am anxious to read this interview on your blog! Did I tell you that Addy is being considered for something? I cannot say but it involves a major television thing.

Kids: WOW!

So if you are from the television network and you are reading this, please, please, please
select The Curse of Addy McMahon. You can not go wrong.  You do not want to be cursed, do you? It gives reading a novel a completely new perspective with the original “autobiogra-strips. A book enjoyed by boys and girls, and parents will have fun reading as well.

It is on my list to nominate for the CYBILS in October.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Note to self: Sometimes giving away one signed book is difficult.  Have at least three to give away if possible.

Trevor, Levi, and Kara

Last year, the week that Laini Taylor’s Blackbringercame out, I purchased a copy and both Jim Di Bartolo (husband and illustrator) and Laini signed the book.  I always knew that it would be given away to a Silver Star student. 

Just two weeks ago, Laini came to our school and did an amazing two hours with fourth and fifth grade.  Students wrote why they deserved to have the book.  Well, I just could not put them all in a hat an draw.  So I had a few of the staff read them to help me decide.

Three emerged as winners. I only had one book.  What to do?  Buy two more books! (Thank you Marybeth) Have Laini sign them! (thanks, Laini)

So the winners are:

Trevor, 4th grade: “I think fairies hunting down devils is very different…a main feature that struck me was that the main character Magpie isn’t as gentle or delicate as the other fairies you would read about and I think that is better in my opinion.”

Levi, 4thgrade: “I love fairy tales, they fill me up with dreams and everyone loves to have dreams…I like goblins because they are mischievous little creatures, unicorns are mythological creatures that bring joy to the world, fairies are magical creatures that help out…I hope you agree with me.”

By the way, Levi did this as a homework assignment.

Kara, 5th grade: “It sounds like a thriller to me.  Also I have never read this author…I plan on becoming an author that writes adventure stories, fantasy fighting good and bad…there are no good books I can relate to, I mean she’s a fairy that’s not a major girly girl and she’s going to prove herself to the other fairies.”

Other entries got books from the book fair.  This always makes me happy.

I am currently reading Emily of New Moon by non other than L.M. Montgomery of Anne of Green Gables.  what a great escape.

What are you reading?

Happy reading.

MsMac

Quick! Who illustrated Rotten Ralph?   (Answer: Nicole Rubel)

Quick! Who wrote and illustrated Hot and Cold in Miami, No More Vegetables, Grody’s Not So Golden Rules, A Cowboy Named Ernestine, Twice as Nice: What It Is Like to Be a Twin, and Ham and Pickles: First Day of School?  (Answer: Nicole Rubel)

So I am embarrassed. Really embarrassed.  For more years than I know, I have associated Nicole Rubel with the Rotten Ralph books which I dearly love.  He is such a naughty cat!  And only in having Nicole Rubel come to our school did I learn about her other books.  They are a lot of fun. Quirky, colorful and engaging. 

Her presentation to the kindergarten through third grade classes was delightful.  What I really loved was how she really emphasized using the library for research.  She talked about growing up as an identical twin, her love of patterns, tiles, and collage.  The classes were engaged.  Especially when she took input for the students to create two original sketches with Rotten Ralph.

Rotten Ralph and Sara, day at the beach.

And perhaps a most original idea: Rotten Ralph swallowing all the ocean water! This is from the K-1 students.

If you live in the northwest, I highly recommend having Nicole Rubel visit your school.  She was truly a fun presenter. 

Happy Reading.

MsMac

In my mailbox was this delightful book, Baby Animals: Little Ones at Play in 20 Works of Art.  Its arrival provided a much needed break from typing on my protfolio entries for the national boards. (Due to be sent next week!)

What a delight! The illustrations are excerpt from larger works of art and depict baby animals from dogs to elephants, crayfish to boars.  Artist include Leonardo da Vinci, John James Audubon, Rosa Bonheur, Mary Cassatt as well as illustrations from quilts and clothing.  Did you know that a baby porcupine is called a porcupette and that baby bats are called pups?

There is an appendix giving the full background of the artwork.  This book can be used on so many levels. What a perfect timing to receive this book just as spring begins this week. 

Have a great week.  Head over to Picture Book of the Day for more fabulous non-fiction.

Happy Reading,

MsMac