The Boy and The Airplane by Mark Pett

The American Library Association will announce their Youth Media Awards on Monday, January 27, 2014 @ 8am at their annual meeting in Philadelphia. We will be watching it live at  http://live.webcastinc.com/ala/2014/live/

One of the possible Caldecott books is The Boy and The Airplane.

We follow the journey in this wordless picture book of a young boy and his airplane. The illustrations are beautiful and obviously help tell the story since there are no words. If you have ever thrown an airplane and enjoyed watching it soar you will enjoy the journey of The Boy and The Airplane.

The Leaving Morning by Angela Johnson

Book Buzz by Mrs. Tulley's class

Sami M.

What's the Buzz About?

My buzz today will be about the story The Leaving Morning. This story is about two kids leaving their house as you can infer. In the story there are two girls who are feeling upset to leave. This story really captures how someone would feel if they were leaving. So if you are leaving somewhere I would recommend this book to you, and even if you are not leaving .... I feel you will still at least like this book. I love this story and think it is meaningful because I left my house during the summer. Don't wait! The adventure is coming.

Why Picture Books are Important

November is Picture Book Month. We celebrate every day in our school library.

Illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi shares why picture books are important....enjoy!

Why Picture Books are Important by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

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Picture Book Month website
Check it out!

The Dark by Lemony Snicket; illustrated by Jon Klassen

What is The Dark? Why are we all afraid of The Dark? Lemony Snicket explores the world of The Dark through the eyes of a young boy. Laszlo knows The Dark is out there. He is afraid of The Dark just like most of us. The Dark can hide in closets, it is sometimes behind shower curtains but it spends most of its time in the basement. The Dark even spreads out at night and it is all over the place. Laszlo sleeps with a night light on, and a flashlight under his pillow. On night The Dark comes to visit Laszlo. It talks to Laszlo, it tells him to come visit. Laszlo goes to all the usual places, but The Dark is not there, so Laszlo goes in the basement. Is he scared? What does he find? 

And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss' birthday is right around the corner. March 2nd. As we celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday we began a mini research lesson. After finding out that Dr. Seuss wrote 44 books in his lifetime I asked the students what they thought his first book was. The majority answered The Cat in the Hat. But they soon discovered through their research that it was And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street. Marco leaves for school and is instructed by his dad to pay attention to things around him, but "Stop telling such outlandish tales. Stop turning minnows into whales." Marco enjoyed making things up. As he was walking home from school all he saw was a "horse pulling a man on a broken-down wagon on Mulberry Street". Marco then goes on through the rest of the story to describe what his imagination sees on Mulberry Street. This a great book to have children share their own images in their imagination. Dr. Seuss' was rejected 27 times by publishers before one of them finally published his first book. Where would we be without Dr. Seuss?

Well we were kind of on the right track ...

This morning the ALA winners for Youth were announced. Out of our top 5 we picked two of the five honor books!

We had the winner in our top 25!

The Caldecott winner for 2013 is Jon Klassen for ...

The five honor books are:

We are down to 5 titles

The students at Hilton Elementary recently narrowed the Caldecott possibilities down to 5 titles. Below is the stack of our 5 winners. Are we on the right track? The Caldecott and other awards will be announced on January 28, 2013

The 2013 announcements will take place at 8 a.m. PT on Jan. 28, from the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. from ALA.org

I'm Bored 

Good News Bad News

Extra Yarn

Oh, No!

Green

Caldecott possibilities

It is that time of year. At the end of January the American Library Association will host the results of the Caldecott, Newbery and more. Here are some of the books our students will be reviewing and voting on during our Mock Caldecott awards. Check back at the end of January to see if we pick the winner. We have a lot of reading to do. Exciting!!

hello, hello; Kali's Song; Bear Has a Story to Tell; Extra Yarn; Mossy

Book Speak!; Rock is Lively; Dog Loves Drawing; green; A Home for Bird; 

Another Brother; Nighttime Ninja; Step Gently Out

This is Not My Hat; One Cool Friend; Good News/Bad News; 

Boy + Bot; Boot & Shoe; Oh, No!; I'm Bored

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

Vashti sits in Art class with a blank sheet of paper. When her Art teacher notices her blank paper, she says "oh, a polar bear in a snowstorm". Vashti does not think that is funny and tells her teacher that she just cannot draw. The teacher asks her to make a mark. Vashti makes a dot with her pen. The teacher tells her to "sign it". Vashti signs her name and leaves. The next time she comes to Art class her Dot is framed and hanging behind the teacher's desk. Vashti looks at her Dot and decides she can do better. As she creates we begin to realize that we all can be creative if we try.

Peter Reynolds invited everyone to be part of International Dot Day, September 15ish (ish is another book by Peter H. Reynolds). We were pleased to be part of International Dot Day during the week of September 17th.

Pete the Cat books by Eric Litwin; illustrated by James Dean

I cannot believe we did not post Pete the Cat or his sequels. So here they all are.

Pete the Cat: I Love my White Shoes

Pete the Cat: Rockin' in My School Shoes 

Pete the Cat: And His Four Groovy Buttons

We invite you to join the fans (our staff and students) of Pete the Cat - you will love his adventures and songs. You can get the audio of his stories learn all about Pete as well as the author and the illustrator at http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat/ See the YouTube video reading of I Love my White Shoes with Eric Litwin below. It's ALL good!!

Listen to My Trumpet by Mo Willems

Another hit by Mo Willems. Piggy has a trumpet. She is so excited, she can't wait to share her new trumpet with Gerald (Elephant). As Piggy plays her notes Elephant makes faces and thinks to himself that what Piggy is playing is not music. When she is done Piggy wants to hear what Elephant thinks. Gerald does not want to hurt Piggy's feelings so he starts by telling her that her trumpet is "loud" and that it is "shiny". When Piggy wants to hear more will Elephant hurt her feelings and tell her what he really thinks? Read Listen to My Trumpet and you will be surprised! Check out Mo Willems website for more fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SEUSS!

In honor of Dr. Seuss's 108th birthday pick up a book and read to your children.

Press Here by Herve Tullet

The front cover beckons you to "Press Here" and by doing just that you embark on a magical adventure inside of a book!

Readers are prompted to press different colored dots, shake the book, tilt the pages, and all sorts of other fun stuff. Be amazed as the dots multiply, change shape, and move around the pages.

This interactive book is fun for all ages!

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

Bear lost his hat. He politely goes up to other animals and asks if they have seen his hat. When they tell him no, he says "thank you anyway" and he goes on to the next animal.

When he gets to the rabbit he asks:

Have you seen my hat?

No. Why are you asking me?
I haven't seen it.
I haven't seen any hats anywhere.
I would not steal a hat.
Don't ask me any more questions.

OK. Thank you anyway.

The reader finds it curious that the rabbit seems so nervous, and as the bear continues his search he realizes he actually has seen his hat. What an enjoyable story with a surprise ending.

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka

In this wordless picture book we follow Daisy the dog as she plays with her red ball. One day while out at the playground with her owner, Daisy loses her ball to another dog who pops the ball. Daisy is very sad, she tries to make her ball come back, but it won't. Her owner takes her back to the playground where the other dog has a surprise for Daisy.

The illustrations in this book are amazing. Tonight at our PJ Library Night my Hilton JK/K, 1st and 2nd grade students voted in our Mock Caldecott event and picked this book to win the medal. Yesterday the ALA announced the winners at their annual conference and A Ball for Daisy won the gold Caldecott medal. So exciting that we picked the same book as the professionals.

Click here for the complete list of medal winners.

Snowballs by Lois Ehlhert

Where is the snow? January 11, 2012 and Brighton, Michigan does not have snow on the ground, what is up with that? Today I shared a wonderful snow story with my Kindergarten students. Snowballs by Lois Ehlert. The story starts out very similar to Brighton, no snow. The children in the book have been collecting "stuff", waiting for the snow. When it finally snows the children take their "stuff" and build a snow family. They build a snow dad, a snow mom, a snow boy, a snow girl, a snow baby, a snow cat, and Spot-their snow dog (the spots are all buttons). What will happen to the snow family when the sun comes out?

Ms. Ehlert's beautiful collage illustrations are intriguing. It was fun going on a treasure hunt looking for all the "stuff" - strawberries, raisins, buttons, popcorn, bolts, screws, hats, scarfs, forks and other items that Ms. Ehlert used to decorate her snow people and snow animals. What can you find in your house to put on your snowman? Maybe this weekend you will be able to build a real snowman. If you make your own collage snowperson at home, remember to bring it to school so we can hang it in the school library.

Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillian

Day One I swam around my bowl.
Day Two I swam around my bowl. Twice.

...and so Memoirs of a Goldfish begins. A goldfish tells us about his day to day life in his fishbowl. At first it is just him, swimming alone. Soon there is Mr. Bubbles; Mervin, a snail; Cha-Cha, an angel fish; Fred, a crabby crab; and others. Will his life change? Do they all get along? Can they all fit in his fish bowl?

Memoirs of a Goldfish is the Michigan Reads book for the 2011. Michigan Reads is our "One State, One Children's Book" Program. The program highlights the importance of reading and sharing books with children, especially toddlers through early elementary, and to recognize the vital role libraries play in providing access to the quality books, programs and services that lay the foundation for reading and school success. (http://www.michigan.gov/mde/)

Ask your child if they heard the story during their visit to our school library.

One by Kathryn Otoshi

Red is a bully. He picks on Blue and makes Blue feel sad. The other colors tell Blue that he is a good color, but they never say it in front of Red. Because no one stands up to Red he gets bigger and more powerful, and then comes One. One is shaped different than all the colors, he makes the colors laugh. They are all having fun until Red shows up and tells them to stop laughing. The colors all stop, but what will One do? Read One and find out what the colors and One will do.

Curous Garden by Peter Brown

Liam was out exploring one day when he saw a secret passageway in the old abandoned railroad station. Liam went through the entrance, up some stairs and found the old railroad tracks. Right in the middle of the tracks, he discoverd some random plants growing. The plants were dying and Liam decided he would bring them back to life. He spent many days tending to the garden, which grew and spread. The illustrations in this book bring the story to life. Liam helps bring beauty back to his city and shows us that even in the darkest areas, we can grow something beautiful.

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead; Illustrated by Erin E. Stead

And the winner is...A Sick Day for Amos McGee. On January 10, 2011 the American Library Association announced their youth media awards which included the Caldecott medal for the illustrations in a picture book. This year's winner is a new illustrator from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Erin Stead.

Amos McGee goes to work every day following the same routine. He fixes his breakfast, drinks his tea, takes the bus to his job at the zoo, does his job and then spends time with his animal friends. He plays chess with the elephant, races a tortoise, keeps a penguin company, and reads stories to an owl who is afraid of the dark. So what happens when Amos gets a cold and does not go to work? Read A Sick Day for Amos McGee and see how the animals return the kindness that Amos always shows them.