Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

It is a pleasure to see this seven title series have a rebirth in our school library every year as the 3rd and 4th graders discover Harry Potter. All it takes is one student's recommendation and the books fly off the shelf. Harry Potter is a series I have read multiple times and listened to on audio CD on many family trips. J. K. Rowling is such a talented writer, she pulls you into Harry's world with every word.  Last week we were doing author studies and one of the groups selected J. K. Rowling. The comment that came from their table still makes me chuckle, "Mrs. Adams, did you know J. K. Rowling is a woman?!"

The main characters of all 7 books are Harry and his two best friends Ron and Hermione. We follow the friends from their first year at Hogwarts (the wizarding school they attend) through their final year. If you have not been introduced to the fantasy world of Harry Potter through the brillant writing of J. K. Rowling please pick up a copy and enjoy. When my students tell me they have seen the movies, I do not have to say "the book is better" ... the students who have read the books beat me to it!

Dr. Seuss quotes

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

Sandy Hook

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.

Soccer Longshot by C.J. Renner

Sports Illustrated KIDS Graphic Novels, is a set of sports related stories. What is a graphic novel? It is a novel in comic-book format. It is not a comic strip. In Soccer Longshot we follow Matty Drake, a 14 year old forward on the Strikers. When the Strikers come up short in a game that they should have won, Matty seeks help. He finds the help he is looking for when he discovers a group of streetball kids. Matty tells them his name is "Sam". Lola, who the other streetball players consider to be their captain, calls him "Sammy". After picking up some pretty amazing moves from Lola, "Sammy" asks her where she learned her moves. Lola explains she learned her moves from watching Pele videos. "Sammy" has no idea who Pele is, but is blown away when he sees the famous soccer player and all his moves on the video tapes. "Sammy" borrows one of videos to help improve his skills. He continues playing on both teams and the Strikers notice his intensity and improvement. Then one day the Strikers have a run in with the streetballer players. What will happen when Matty's two teams face off against each other? Will the streetball players realize that their "Sammy" is really one of the key players for the Strikers? This graphic novel starts with stats about the main characters and concludes with facts about the game.

When Life Gives You O.J. by Erica S. Perl

What would you do if your family moved from New York to Vermont to help out your grandfather after your grandmother died? Zelly (Zelda) faces this issue in When Life Gives You O.J. Zelly, her parents, and her little brother Sam, pack up and leave New York for a town in Vermont to "help" her grandpa - Ace. Ace lived on a farm in Vermont where they often vacationed when Zelly's grandma, Bubbles, was alive. But when Bubbles died, Ace was all alone so her parents decided they would all move to Vermont and Ace would move in with them. Life changed quickly for Zelly - who went from feeling "normal" in her neighborhood in New York to feeling like the "odd" girl with the frizzy hair in Vermont. Zelly knows the one thing that can make her feel "normal" is a dog! Her parents say no, but Ace comes up with a plan. He gives Zelly an empty orange juice jug with a "leash" and tells her that if she can prove to her parents that she is responsible - by taking care of her "practice dog" - they will get her a real dog. Zelly humors Ace and takes her orange juice jug out for walks, feeds it pretend meals, and even has to have the jug dump out pretend messes on their walks that Zelly scoops up with a plastic bag. As the summer goes on Zelly continues the routine. Then she meets a new boy in town, Jeremy, who tells her she has to "up the ante". If she wants a real dog, she needs to show her parents she can take care of her "practice dog" - who she names O.J. for "old jug" - plus start her own dog care business - The Zelly Treatment. Will Zelly get her wish, will Ace's crazy plan work, does "upping the ante" pay off? Read this delightful book and find out for yourself.

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!!

Days With Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel

This is a classic for our beginning readers. I Can Read! Level 2. Once our students start reading they want to immediately jump into Chapter books, just like the big kids! With Frog and Toad books (and others, like Henry and Mudge) they are there ... they are reading chapter books!! All short stories organized into chapters for our youngest readers.

In Days With Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel we join the friends as they experience Tomorrow, The Kite, Shivers, The Hat, and Alone. All stories the reader can relate to. In Tomorrow, Toad wakes up and isn't very motivated to do a thing. Frog looks around Toad's house and sees a lot of things that need to be done. Toad's house is a mess. The only thing Toad wanted to do all day, was relax ... but then he realizes that tomorrow will be a very busy day, because of all the things that need to be done, see what he decides to do. And enjoy all of their other adventures. Be sure to pick up you Frog and Toad books today!

Enjoy a short Frog and Toad readers theater video created by a group of 1st graders (not from our school)

One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street by Joanne Rocklin

All the residents on Orange Street love the old orange tree on the vacant lot. If the tree could talk you would hear many wonderful stories about the residents, past and present. Bunny, Ali and Leandra are friends and members of the "Long Hair Club". They meet under the orange tree. The girls all have secrets they share, and some secrets that they only share with the orange tree. The same is true about others in their neighborhood. One gorgeous morning the neighbors wake up to find on orange cone in front of the vacant lot. No one knows where the cone came from and their imaginations run wild trying to figure out what is happening. We get a glimpse into each neighbor's personal world as they reminisce about the vacant lot and how much the orange tree means to them. Check out the author's website and hear her own words about how she created the characters and why she wrote the story. Click on her name to enter the website Joanne Rocklin .

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.

Who Was Dr. Seuss? by Janet Pascal

In 1937 Dr. Seuss wrote his first children's book - And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street. 20 years later he wrote a book for beginning readers. His editor gave him a list of 300 words and told him he could only use those words. He wrote The Cat in the Hat. He only used 225 words to write the story. Theodore Seuss Geisel was his real name. Ted enjoyed doodling, making up his own characters and nonsense words. He soon went off to college. Ted did not do well in college - he was more interested in writing and doodling - he wrote for the college paper, but did not do well in his classes. He went to England to attend Oxford University, but found the students too serious and the classes too boring. He met another student, Helen Palmer, who changed his life when she looked at his doodling and told him he should be an illustrator. She graduated from Oxford and starting her teaching career back in the United States. Ted dropped out of school and moved back to the states too, where he continued to draw. He sent his illustrations to many magazines and finally a famous magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, accepted his work. Soon Ted and Helen married. Ted began signing his work using his middle name - Seuss. He soon added Dr. to it because that is what his parents wanted him to be - a doctor. Pick up a copy of Who Was Dr. Seuss? and find out many other fascinating facts about the beloved children's author, Dr. Seuss.

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.