Monday, January 12, 2015

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 1/12/15


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 Teach 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.


Last Week's Posts

  • Top 10 Favorite Books of Third Graders - survey results are in, as my third graders share their favorite books, authors, and series. Previous surveys include first grade, second grade, and overall.

Picture Books


Bad Bye, Good Bye (2014) by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Jonathan Bean. This charming and wrenching picture book has jumped to the top of my Caldecott list. With sparse language and incredibly detailed illustrations, this book draws out the pain, process, and eventual acceptance that comes with moving. I think children and adults will be drawn to this book and its powerful message.


Rain! (2014) by Linda Ashman and illustrated by Christian Robinson. This one is a close runner-up for the Caldecott discussion as well. I loved this heartwarming little story that contrasts the perspectives of a child and his/her elderly neighbor on a rainy day. For me, the interaction between these two far outstrips the similar scenes in The Farmer and the Clown. I also celebrate the fact that this is a story featuring a diverse cast of characters, including the child and many background neighbors too.


Emily's Blue Period (2014) by Cathleen Daly and illustrated by Lisa Brown. I really liked how this picture book uses art and art history to talk about the impacts of divorce on children, both through the eyes of Emily and her little brother. I also liked the connection to writing, as many teachers I know use "heart maps" ala Georgia Heard for helping students brainstorm ideas for stories and personal narratives. This would be a great mentor text for discussion big topics and what might be in your own heart too.


Gaston (2014) by Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Christian Robinson. Our librarian read this book aloud to my students on Friday, and they really enjoyed the story and the artwork. Several took it upon themselves the give the book a closer inspection afterwards as well. I really appreciated the message of this book - accepting that who you are depends on who you are on the inside and not on the outside. Though this strong message of self-acceptance and self-actualization is cloaked in dog form, I think it is an important one for students to internalize.


The Iridescence of Birds a book about Henri Matisse (2014) by Patricia MacLachlan and illustrated by Hadley Hooper. I really liked the writing and organization of this story, focusing on the influences and environment of the young Henri Matisse. The artwork did not impress me in particular, but I think this book would be a great resource for art teachers to introduce Matisse to their students and to encourage kids to think about their own lives and how to turn them into art.


The Change Your Name Store (2014) by Leanne Shirtliffe and illustrated by Tina Kugler. This Seuss-inspired rhyming story follows the journey of young Wilma Lee Wu as she contemplates changing her name. I appreciate how the story draws connections to names and cultures and that it includes a wide variety of diverse names in the illustrations, but I wish there had been a little bit more to this story. A brief end note about names, meanings, and countries of origin would really have made this a more useful resource for a class discussion instead of just a cute idea.

Award-Winning Books Reading Challenge update: 0 so far (maybe some after the Caldecott announcement is made!)

Dive into Diversity Challenge update: 2


Multicultural Children's Book Day is coming soon - January 27th! I hope you'll join me and many others in sharing and celebrating books that honor multicultural characters, themes, and ideas. Check out their blog for more information, including daily author interviews for the month of January!

Happy Reading!

8 comments:

  1. Wow, you have read some quality books this week, they all sound fabulous! I must read Bad Bye, Good Bye, my family and I are moving interstate at the end of the month, this sounds like a book my kids will really connect with.

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    1. Yes, Christine, you absolutely should! It is an impressively powerful book, and I think it would be neat for you to talk about it with your kids both before and a while after your move to see how their perspectives change too.

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  2. I've read a few of those picture books, and have put a hold on Bad Bye, Good Bye thanks to your review here. I loved Gaston. I'm thinking it would be an interesting part of a collection of books that deal with expectations of behaviour based on outside appearances. Today I read Jacob's New Dress to a group of K/1/2's, and I think if we had read Gaston either a day or a week before, they might have gotten more out of it.

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    1. Sounds like the great beginning of a text set, Cheriee! We talked about the idea of behavior/appearance with my kids, but I'm not sure they would make the connection to themselves, so taking it another step with a more direct book like that one or Morris Mickelwhite and the Tangerine Dress would be a great idea.

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  3. Thank you for alerting me about Multicultural Children's Book Day. I am currently teaching a higher-degree course on Use of Multicultural Children Books to Promote Socio-Emotional Learning - will definitely alert my teacher-students about this date. :) I have a copy of Gaston and Bad Bye Good Bye in my 'library-shelf' waiting to be read. I enjoyed Emily's Blue Period and will be featuring it soonest. Looking forward to seeing your titles for the AWBRead2015 challenge! :)

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    1. Thanks, Myra! I need to do a little research to start growing my AWBRead2015 must read list. Definitely looking forward to it! I hope your teacher-students will join in for Multicultural Children's Book Day, as there are quite a lot of good posts/authors/publishers coming together!

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  4. Bad Bye Good Bye is, for me, one of the most distinguished PBs of the year. I was so impressed by the art. I love Christian Robinson and wish Josephine would have some shiny stickers on it after the ALA announcements!

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    1. Sounds good to me! Bad Bye Good Bye was definitely the book of this year that struck me. Many of the others I liked, but this one just hit me immediately. I read it aloud to my students on Friday, and it was so wonderful watching and listening to their reactions and many of the amazing details they noticed. A big favorite.

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