The Book Search

My students seem to love non-fiction so I'm always surprised when teachers and librarians say they can't talk their kids into non-fiction.  Maybe it's part of the Montessori mindset-the Montessorians tends to be reality and research based.  I do love some good fantasy fiction, but the non fiction always flies out the door of my library.  Here are some my kids are going to love. The first one is called "Orphan Trains" by Rebecca Langston-George.  I loved her last book about Malala Yousfazi called "For the Right to Learn" (so did my students!).  So I was excited to read this new one, which comes out in September.  It's profiles of kids who rode on the Orphan trains that took orphan kids from the big eastern cities like NY to rural places where people who farmed needed help and could feed the kids.  Most of the kids had suffered big traumatic losses, some in child birth but some of them in terrible accidents or from illness.  The ones who still had...

Don't you just love a good picture book?  They have a power all their own.  Even the biggest kids can be held captive by a good picture book and often a good picture book can make a point more quickly and effectively than a chapter book or even a short passage.  Here are a few that might help you make a point. The first one is called "The Storybook Knight".  It's by Helen Docherty and if there was ever a cuter knight, it's hard to picture.  Leo is a prince who's parents really want him to be a knight.  Leo would really prefer to read.  The day comes when his parents hand him a sword and a shield and say "Get going" so Leo gets on his faithful horse Ned (who appears to always be hungry) and goes out to hunt the dragon.  When Leo starts to find some of the dangerous creatures he's been reading about, he has a different plan for fighting them than maybe his parents had in mind.  It has a great message about being true to yourself and the power...

I've been rooting around in the Netgalley closet looking for something new to read.  I had to kick a few to the curb (nothing more disappointing than opening a new book and finding ZERO magic on the pages), but I'm back on a roll again.  Here are some of the good ones I've been reading. The first one is called "The Distance to Home" by Jenn Bishop.  It's about a girl named Quinnen who really loves to play baseball.  She has imposed a baseball moratorium on herself because her sister was killed in a car accident the year before and Quinnen feels she bears some responsibility for her death.  Frankly, I'm a little tired of stories about kids who are dealing with the death of someone they care about, however, my students just lap this stuff up so while I'm a bit over it, they seem to want more, so ok.  Here we go.  The people helping Quinn through this are her parents (who Quinn worries liked her sister better), some semi-pro baseball players that liv...

Today we had an author visit from Henry Cole.  Henry Cole is an amazing illustrator as well as a terrific author-he's written and illustrated over 100 books!  We got ready for his visit by reading some of his picture books like these. This one is a  wordless picture book about the Underground Railroad.  This is one of my favorites to show kids that picture books are awesome.  Even for really big kids.   Or this one about Caroline who moves to a new neighborhood and is inspired to create a wildlife sanctuary in her yard.  My students loved this one! This one made us think about Henry as a researcher and writer, just like us!   My little kids loved this one that was really about point of view.  We did a little project where we traced our hands-their little ones and my big one.  They thought that was hilarious! My bigger kids can't wait to start reading this brand new one by Henry! And the bigger...

I've been wallowing in so much middle grade fiction that I forgot that I can read picture books!  And they go fast!  What a treat!  And wow, were there some great ones in the Netgalley list this week. This first one really knocked me out.  It's called "Saved by the Boats" by Julie Gassman and illustrated by Steve Moore.  It's a short picture book about September 11 in NY.  It's not about the terrorists or even about the people who were killed, it's about a group of people who wanted to help (and if you can remember that day as clearly as I do, just about everybody wanted to help, but there just wasn't much to do from a distance).  This group of people were boat captains.  It turns out that when the planes crashed into the buildings, the debris falling completely closed car traffic in the area and the public transportation was also closed.  So how would all the people in the area get home safely?  It turns out that since NY is an island...

I don't usually read YA books.  I've gotten onto kind of a jag with middle grade fiction, so it felt good this week to break into the YA realm.  Some of it is very similar to the middle grade fiction (SO MUCH DEATH) and a lot of it is much, much bigger than the middle grade fiction.  Hence, the YA categorization. The first one is called "The Monster on the Road is Me" by J. P. Romney.  It's about a 15 year old boy named Koda.  He lived in a small town in Japan with his elderly parents who are shiitake mushroom farmers.  Koda can not imagine a fate worse than being a mushroom farmer, but it looks like that's where he's headed.  He loves video games, doesn't like school and he doesn't have many friends, mostly the kids at school pity him.  Koda was diagnosed with narcolepsy awhile back and so his parents insist that he wear a helmet so when he rides his bike, if he falls asleep, at least his head will be protected.  One day, a girl at Koda's ...

It's spring break at my school so my husband and I went on a little trip to Las Vegas.  We'd never been before so we had a good time trying to figure out where things were, the best way to get there, and where the best places were to get something to eat.  The eating part is actually one of our favorites-my husband is a pastry chef and now teaches culinary at a local high school.  We had a great time and due to some flight delays, I had time to read!  Here are a few of the high spots. The first one is called "A Bandit's Tale" by Deborah Hopkinson.  It's about a boy named Rocco who lives in a small village in Italy with his big family.  Rocco makes a bit of a mistake involving a donkey and some money and his parents decide that the best way to "help" Rocco would be to send him to America with a local man who promises that he will take care of Rocco and help him get work.  It turns out this "padrone" has a group of boys that he expects to e...