The Book Search

So I totally HAVE been reading this summer, but we've been traveling, visiting family and far flung places.  It's been a blast, but I'm glad to get home to regroup and READ. So now that I'm home, I've had a chance to catch up on some of the Sunshine State Young Readers that I hadn't read before.  Let me tell you, the committee did a GREAT job of choosing books!  These are titles that hadn't been on my radar but they are terrific! The first one is called "The Great Treehouse War" by Lisa Graff.  I love her work-she has the most amazing ideas and characters in her stories and this one did not disappoint.  It's about a girl named Winnie who's parents have decided to separate in the most non-amicable fashion you can imagine.  Eventually they decide to buy adjoining houses with a treehouse in the middle so Winnie will spend three days with each parent and one day in the treehouse so each parent has equal time.  Unsurprisingly, Winnie ...

I was so lucky last weekend. I got to volunteer at the April is for Authors event in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Here 's a link to their website. This amazing group invites nationally known authors to come and speak to our kids. The great part is, it's a free event. This year, the event got a giant boost from a local guy who is a pretty well known author-James Patterson, who was the keynote speaker. One of the things he said that really got me thinking was that parents aren't taking enough responsibility in making sure their kids are good readers. He said he thought if you could get your kid to the dinner table or get them to take a bath, that you should also be able to get them to read. I thought that was awesome and I also thought I really needed to do more to get my students reading! I was also lucky enough to get to meet Chris Grabenstein, who is my newest hero.  Here's a link to his website.  His book "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" is SO...