The Book Search

I got two great new picture book biographies last week. I hadn't read either one of them, instead relying on reviews from the School Library Journal and the Non-Fiction Detectives . It turns out, having someone give you a good recommendation can save you a lot of time and money. Here are three that I really loved.  The first one is called "Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table" by Jacqueline Briggs.  It's a beautiful and vibrantly illustrated story about Will Allen, an urban farmer who is trying to make sure that everyone gets fresh, healthy food.  Here's a short interview with him. The second biography is actually less of a biography (it doesn't tell her whole life story) but tells the story of a pivotal event.  It's called "Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist makers' Strike of 1909" by Michelle Markel and illustrated by Melissa Sweet.  It's the story of Clara Lemlich, who was an immigrant to NY in the early 1900s.  She was th...

I've been thinking a lot about how to help kids fall in love with books. I've read books like the Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller (complete genius) and read blogs Colby Sharp and Mr. Schu. All of these people are passionate about books and their passion leaks out and can't help getting lapped up by everyone around them. I hope I'm able to share some of that passion! One of the things most often talked about when thinking about kids and books is matching up with right book with the right kid (or adult for that matter). It's really a lot less about reading levels and a lot more about what you connect with as you're reading. So less about data and more about feeling and empathy and connection. So NOT what school ends up being about these days. Unless we stand up. Unless we stand up and put books in people's hands and say 'You are going to LOVE this." So here I am, standing up! I got some new books at school today and COULD NOT WAIT to put t...

Many people like to look back at the year and categorize things from the year... ok, well, I read a lot, so here are a few of my favorite fairy tale books. My favorite picture book fairy tale is called "Elephant Joe, Brave Knight!" by David Wojtowycz.  This is a very funny little fairy tale where the brave knights (a very cartoony elephant and his side kick, the pig) are called upon to rescue a princess from a dragon, BUT things are NOT what they seem.  This would be a great book to talk about elements of fairy tales (after you've read some of the more familiar ones) and then use this as a springboard to writing your own fairy tales.  It's so much fun.  Here's Mrs. Frenzel reading it!  I just read one I really liked. As a disclaimer, I really like fairy tales. This fairy tale was well written, has great characters and some very interesting plot twists. It's called Jinx by Sage Blackwood. The main character is Jinx who lives with his stepmother and st...

The Booksearch app is an awesome little app that allows you to search for books based title or author, just like a card catalog, but what makes it different is that it also allows you to search by the skill you are teaching.  I know what you are thinking... "Big deal, you can use ANY book, to teach ANY skill". Well, yeah, you can, but this is sort of like pushing an easy button.  It gives you a list of books (most of them are books you probably already own or are in your school or public library) and skills you could teach from them.  It also has connections to other books with similar skills or themes.  It's meant to save you time. So here's a little video to show you how it works.