The Book Search

 In digging into the children's literature buffet, I found two very different, but equally wonderful stories!  Check these out! The first is called "To the Front" written by Claudia Fridell and illustrated by Christopher Cyr.  It's a picture book biography about Clara Barton at the Battle of Antietam.  I thought I was pretty well versed in Clara Barton, having read dozens of books about her in my youth, but this book was such an interesting take on her life.  The story is told in two ways-one is poetic text  and the other is quotes from Clara Barton's papers, so you have this amazing juxtaposition of information about Clara right next to her own words.  For elementary students.  Genius!  The information is immediate and so clearly written, you almost feel like you're right next to her.  And then there's the art work.  Luminous, clearly rendered art work with the most amazing light sources.  It gives you the feeling that you're ...

We had our Scholastic book fair this week and there was a grand assortment of books.  There were two new ones I'd been hearing about but hadn't read, so I got to read this them this week! The first one is a picture book.  It's called "All Are Welcome" by Alexandra Penfold.  It's a story told in rhyming verse about how school is a welcoming place.  The illustrations are warm and inviting and show a range of people who look different, sound different, and worship different from me.  This is going to be a terrific book for talking about classroom and school community.  I think it would be appropriate for little kids, but I think big kids, even middle or high schoolers, could appreciate it too.  Unfortunately, Scholastic only sent me three and when I tried to reorder, they were out of stock.  I think this shows that a LOT of people are enjoying and appreciating what a good book this is.  So you need to look for it too! The second one was...