Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
JMHO - Newbery, Caldecott, and other award
My uncensored thoughts and ...
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Dr. Seuss Days - cookie jar
Anyone want a fun cookie jar to celebrate Read Across America day -- or reading any day/month. Selling on Amazon for $69 plus. I'll sell for considerably less - make an offer. New - in the box.
Also makes a fun center piece for a celebration dinner/banquet -
Contact
Also makes a fun center piece for a celebration dinner/banquet -
Contact
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Why Girls Read More Than Boys
Those who Love Fire Trucks May want to READ Too!
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Why girls read more than boys! Inspired idea for a 3-year-old party until they get to the "party favors"?
http://www.chickabug.com/blog/
I'm thinking the assumption is boys like to eat (girls don't because they will get too big) and play with toy cars (girls obviously would not like that) and girls only like to read and wear cute bows.
I suspect there are several boys who would have liked a great book about fire engines and several girls who would have liked the toy truck. -- The preference should not be based on sex and preconceived stereotypical ideas about gender roles.
Here are a few "fire engine" books that could have been part of a child's experience - loving the action and excitement of what goes on at fire stations. The titles range from a great new early reading chapter book (Butler) to a board book (DK publishing) to a classic title that still resonates in a quiet way (Lenski, Rey).
The Buddy Files: The Case of the Fire Alarm by Dori Hillestad Butler.
The Fire Engine Book (Little Golden Book) by Tibor Gergely
Touch and Feel Fire Engine (Touch & Feel) [Board book] by DK Publishing
Fire Engines by Anne Rockwell
Richard Scarry's A Day at the Fire Station (Pictureback(R)) by Richard ScarryCurious George and the Firefighters by H. A. Rey and Margret Rey
The Firefighters' Thanksgiving by Maribeth Boelt
A Fire Engine for Ruthie by Lesléa Newman
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Isn't 97 years long enough to do something?
"An educational system which contents itself with teaching to read, and then fails to see that the best reading is provided, is as inconsistent and absurd as to teach children the expert use of the knife, fork and spoon and then provide them with no food." -- "Library Day" Putnam County
Herald (Cookeville, TN) dated Thursday, September 16, 1915.
And we still haven't seen the light! smc
Friday, January 13, 2012
Henry Box Brown - backlist
One of the books that are on MY backlist of favorite books is:
Levine, Ellen. Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson. Scholastic, 2006. Caldecott Honor Award Book, 2007.
I love this story and hope it forever stays in print. It is one of those picture books that begs to be used with older intermediate/middle school readers so that they can delve into research about his life and other escapes during the days of slavery. Recently Suzette Spencer updated the entry about Henry Box Brown on the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities website. If a story is "based" on a true story, I want to know what the TRUE story really is. Brown's story is told here.
Spencer, Suzette and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "Henry Box Brown (1815 or 1816–after February 26, 1889)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Ed. Brendan Wolfe. READ_DATE. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. 23 Mar. 2011 <http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Brown_Henry_Box_ca_1815>.
Levine, Ellen. Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson. Scholastic, 2006. Caldecott Honor Award Book, 2007.
I love this story and hope it forever stays in print. It is one of those picture books that begs to be used with older intermediate/middle school readers so that they can delve into research about his life and other escapes during the days of slavery. Recently Suzette Spencer updated the entry about Henry Box Brown on the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities website. If a story is "based" on a true story, I want to know what the TRUE story really is. Brown's story is told here.
Spencer, Suzette and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "Henry Box Brown (1815 or 1816–after February 26, 1889)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Ed. Brendan Wolfe. READ_DATE. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. 23 Mar. 2011 <http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Brown_Henry_Box_ca_1815>.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Brown Bear, Brown Bear
This quilt was made for two BEARS -- not for bear lovers
(they actually love their three cats) but for BEARS.
If any of you think imagination is just
for the very young, think again.
See this quilt and more at McBookwords - Quilts.
The step was creating a pattern for the center image. Good thing a "drawer" was available in the house. Since the literary allusion was to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. and Illustrated by Eric Carle we choose many browns to make our fabric collage.
Then we picked out blues and greens -- one of the "bears" favorite colors. We cut and sewed and cut some more. Soon we had a stitched together topsy turvy quilt.
We found some bear paw material for the back of the quilt - so the front would be wacky patterns with a brown bear center piece and the back would be paw prints from the bears. Suzanne was not the "drawer" but she was a "planner" and strategic organizer. I was the "sewer."
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | So here we are with the finished quilt. It is plenty big for a king sized bed and for the two bears who will hibernate with Brown Bear, Brown Bear this winter. The "Bears" also have these wonderful bear paw slippers.
|
And for those of you who want to figure out what Brown Bear really did see read this New York Times Article which scientifically examines some of the unanswered mysteries in children's books. All in fun -- and in the imagination.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)


























