The Book Search

 I'm pretty excited about some big changes here at my house.  My husband and I both decided to retire at the end of the school year and we've spent most of the summer traveling (not quite finished with THAT but since we're retired, it gets to be an ongoing thing, YAY!).  Also, being 'she of the short attention span', I had some ideas about things I wanted to be able to do once I retired, so here's the latest new thing-in addition to doing book reviews, I'm also writing lesson plans!  I started with the Sunshine State Young Reader Award Jr. books (because I'm pretty familiar with them and they are some amazing new books!) and they are now available on Teachers Pay Teachers !  I've created packets with librarians and classroom teachers in Florida in mind, so they're vetted by a certified school librarian (that's me!), they are tied to the Florida state curriculum (BEST standards, but handily, this also links them to other curricula), there are ...

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...