Monday, August 11, 2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


It's Monday! What are you reading? was started by Sheila at Book Journey and was adapted for children's books from pictures books through YA by Jen of Teacher Mentor Texts and Kellee of Unleashing Readers. You can visit either site for a round up of blogs sharing their weekly readings and thoughts or search Twitter for #IMWAYR.

Picture Books


Picture Book 10 for 10 went live yesterday, August 10th. Participants were challenged to pick their Top 10 picture books. Ever. (Tough stuff!) I focused my selection down to my Top 10 Must Haves for reading aloud with my third graders. I didn't want to give them all away by showcasing the pin-able image here, so you'll have to click over to read the full post: Picture Book 10 for 10: Top Must Haves.


Two Speckled Eggs by Jennifer K. Mann. This book covers the age-old elementary school birthday dilemma: having to invite your whole class to your birthday party. But, during the course of the party, Ginger realizes that maybe she was wrong about Lyla and that maybe friends are not who they might seem at first.

I think this story will make for a great discussion about friends and friendship with my students - not just for how Ginger discovers positive things about Lyla but also for how Ginger's "friends" are exclusive and self-involved during the party. Will definitely be adding this one to the read aloud list. (H/T There's a Book for That.)

 
 

Last week I published a review of Picture Books about the Japanese Internment. These four stories provide valuable perspectives and information about this important moment in US history. Click here to read the full review, including summaries of each book.

Poetry

 

Part two in my three-part series on haiku features Picture Books for Teaching about Haiku. These two books are valuable resources for learning about the history of famous Japanese haiku poets (Issa in Cool Melons) and about the Japanese concept of wabi sabi told with modern and ancient haiku (Wabi Sabi). Click here to read more about these two books, or start with part one, Do You Haiku?

Graphic Novels



Comics Squad: Recess! edited by Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm, and Jarrett J. Krosoczka. Took me the summer but finally got off the library's wait list for this one. This is a very cute compilation of eight different stories featuring favorite graphic novel characters. I was hoping for more cross-comic interactions, but regardless, this one will be a big hit with kids and perhaps introduce them to some new characters and authors.

Happy Reading!

14 comments:

  1. Great post and choices. I love the idea of 10 for 10 and will be looking for the books on Japanese internment, also the poetry books, which are always so good from using with kids. Thanks for sharing all these goods books today.

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    1. Thanks, Alex! 10 for 10 was a really fun challenge - and now I've found SO many more books to check out too. Glad you found some here!

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  2. Thanks, glad to learn about Two Speckled Eggs, on my TBR list now. Have you read Hi, Koo by Jon J. Muth yet? Also I love Won Ton by Lee Wardlaw... you've probably read both but if not, you might enjoy... (haiku books) Woo hoo to Comics Squad: Recess! :) Happy reading week to you, loved all the books shared!

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    1. Thanks so much for the encouragement! Both Hi, Koo and Won Ton (and more) are on next week's haiku post - books in haiku. Two great ones!

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  3. Two Speckled Eggs was a surprise find for me this spring. So much to talk about in that book - and yes, very appropriate for 3rd graders! Loved Comic Squad. I know that is going to be a hit this year.

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    1. Thanks, Michele. I'm especially looking forward to sharing Two Speckled Eggs with kids. I think we will find a lot of important lessons.

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  4. I need to purchase Comics Squad for sure. Two Speckled Eggs is now on my TBR list. Must second the recommendation for Won Ton--really liked that one. I think I need to read Wabi Sabi again.

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    1. Thanks, Elisabeth. I love Won Ton too (and Dogku) which will both be on part 3 of my haiku series for books in haiku. Lots of fun there. I'm sure your college students could get a lot out of Wabi Sabi too.

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  5. I really enjoyed your posts this week, Katie-lots of good books in them.

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    1. Thank you so much for the encouragement, Linda! I am really enjoying sharing about books and teaching.

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    2. Katie, I was interested to check out your reviews on the Japanese internment. But when I clicked both links, it said the pages don't exist.

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    3. D'oh! Thank you for letting me know, Emily. It is here: http://www.thelogonauts.com/2014/08/internment_64.html , and I have fixed the links. (The page got accidentally deleted and when I re-uploaded it, I couldn't keep the same URL. Forgot that I had already put the old link in this post.) Thank you!

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  6. Hi there Katie, I loved A Place Where Sunflowers Grow and So Far from the Sea. You might also want to check out Allen Say's Home for the Brave - that one is particularly haunting and surreal too. I will soon be posting graphic novels about the Japanese internment - I featured Faulkner's Gaijin and Howard Pyle's Take What You Can Carry - that might interest you too.

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    1. Thanks so much, Myra, I will definitely check those out, and I look forward to seeing your upcoming post! I just read Barbed Wire Baseball this week and am looking forward to the upcoming publication of Dash too.

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