Seymour Simon, Liz Nealon, and John Briggs

In addition to the wonderful speakers, the International Reading Association's conference was a great place to meet and greet "old" friends.  On the convention floor near the Holiday House booth, I was delighted to be able to say hello to my very favorite science writer - Seymour Simon and his lovely wife Liz Nealon.  On the right is Holiday House's John Briggs, publisher extraordinaire.  Seymour is the author of dozens of wonderful books that do much to introduce young readers to scientific concepts.  See his website at http://www.seymoursimon.com for more information about his books.  Liz is managing director of "Seymour Science."  Seymour's website has information about his books, a science blog, downloadable Teacher Guides, videos and previews, as well as video trailers.  I was most delighted to find out that his very popular book Animal Fact / Animal Fable (with illustrations by Diane DeGroat), is available as an Android phone app which has a "read to me" narration.  It will soon be in the iTunes store so those with an iPod Touch or an iPad will be able to enjoy it anew.   This book, Animal Fact / Animal Fable, has always been one of my favorites and I find out from Seymour's website that it has been one of his own favorites as well. I'm excited to share this information with my youngest grandchildren (4-6-8); although it's a thought provoking book for all ages.  I still love the book and it remains one that sits on my "favorites" shelf.

Greg Tang - Math, Science, Puzzles and of course, BOOKS

Greg Tang, author of The Grapes of Math and
many other math stretching books.
© 2011, Sharron McElmeel

On the convention floor (International Reading Association, 2011) I came across one of my favorite authors.  He has probably done more to integrated math (and science) with literature than any other author.  His first book,
Grapes of Math: Mind Stretching Math Riddles / by Greg Tang ; illustrated by Harry Briggs, is still very popular and has led to interest in his many other titles related to mathematics and science.

Other titles include Math Fables Too: Making Science Count / by Greg Tang ; illustrated by Taia Morley.

Locate more information about him and his books at Tang's website.

Tang has also developed a math challenging math puzzle form -- Kakooma™.  If you can add two numbers together you will be hooked once you try these puzzles for all ages.  Amazing fun if you enjoy a challenge - -and puzzles.  Check out Kakooma™ and download a sample puzzle page.

You'll also want to  read Katherine Pierpont's interview with Tang, first published in Teaching K-8 (no date provided).

E.B. Lewis and Mark Teague - IRA 2011 in Orlando

Mark Teague and E.B. Lewis
© 2011 Sharron McElmeel

Mark Teague (l) and E.B. Lewis (r) presented in a session focusing on the interplay of text and illustration in books.  Lewis's presentation showed his use of models to provide poses and lighting.  After staging the models in positions he will need to paint he photographs them, sometimes using 2-3 photographs to construct one illustration.  His medium of choice is watercolor and he uses that medium magnificently.
Earl Bradley Lewis is a Philadelphia native and still lives in the area.  He has illustrated over fifty books for children, including Jacqueline Woodson's The Other Side (mentioned early in this blog) and books by Jane Kurtz (who will be mentioned in a future post). 
Lewis has won many awards and is an active member of the illustration community.  Original art work from his first 23 books are held by the Kerlan Collection in Minneapolis, MN.  Learn more about E.B. Lewis at his website www.eblewis.com.

Fire on the Mountain by Jane Kurtz	Only a Pigeon by Jane Kurtz and Chris Kurtz
The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson	Faraway Home by Jane Kurtz

Mark Teague is the illustrator (and sometimes author) of  over 40 children's books including the Poppleton series, the First Graders from Mars series, The Great Gracie Chase, and most recently the series about LaRue.  The first book in the series: Dear Mrs. LaRue is story of a homesick child writing home from summer camp — except it is a clever dog writing home from obedience school! Teague has always been a doodler, a scribbler, and a sketcher. Some of his earliest memories are of dictating stories to his mother.  She would type up the stories and he would draw illustrations to accompany the tales.  Teague grew up in San Diego where he still lives. Learn more about Teague on the Scholastic site at: http://teacher.scholastic.com/authorsandbooks/events/teague/

Newbery/Caldecott tickets

Due to a change in business schedule -- I have TWO tickets for the ALA  Newbery Caldecott Banquet June 26th - reserved table -- http://bit.ly/awardsbanquet2011   $94.00 each

 The 2011 Caldecott Medal winner is  A Sick Day for Amos McGee , illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Philip C. Stead. A Neal Porter Book, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing.

The 2011 Newbery Medal winner is Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool, published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Jacqueline Woodson - Seminar at IRA May 8, 2011

Jacqueline Woodson
Author
picture © 2011, Sharron McElmeel

Jacqueline Woodson spoke at the all day seminar focusing on great discussions and reading globally.

Issues dealt with, in books for young readers, aren't necessarily "tough issues" -- it's all how the issue is framed in our thoughts. 
Jacqueline Woodson is the author of many novels and picture books, including the 2008 Newbery Honor book, Feathers; and the 2009 Newbery Honor book, After Tupac and D Foster.
Feathers is a book of hope and written for middle grade readers.  The story takes place in 1970, and begins when one boy walks into a classroom and realizes he is very different from the other students there.  More about Woodson's middle grade novels are on her middle grade page on her website.

After Tupac and D Foster is a book for young adult readers and focuses on what others might describe as "tough issues."  But Woodson is writing a story about young people moving from age 11 to 13 -- and the issues may be tough but it is their life.  Read about this book and her other YA novels on her website's YA page.

But without doubt, my favorite book by Woodson is her picture book, The Other Side.  Not only is the narrative exceptional but the illustrations by E.B. Lewis make a perfect complement  to her words.  Two girls, Clover and Annie, are instructed by their parent not to go on the other side of the fence—the girls don't but they manage to come together, ON the fence.  A perfect tribute to the creativity of children in combating segregation.   In my art gallery I have a framed print of the "fence" illustration from this book.  That print will no doubt keep the book as a favorite for a very long time.

It was a pleasure to meet Jacqueline Woodson, hear her speak, and to talk to her — such a writer.
Read more about Jacqueline Woodson on her website.

Discussions that Matter - Literacy and Learning

Attended a great International Reading Association seminar with several great speakers.  Discussions that Matter: fostering Critical Reading, Critical Thinking, and Critical Literacy Across the Grades.
All had some great things to say about facilitating authentic discussions with readers about great books.  Each of these speakers had much to say -- and have published books that provide additional insight about their work.

Ian A.G. Wilkinson

Ian A.G. Wilkinson contributed to the 1985 report - a Nation of Readers and is now actively involved in a project, "Group Discussions as a Mechanism for Promoting High-Level Comprehension of Text."  His work appears many scholarly publications, and currently serves as co-editor of Reading Research Quarterly.

Kathy Ganske presented a break-out session "Initiating Critical Literacy Discussions" and share many great ideas to stimulate real discussions about books.  Her most recent titles is Comprehension Across the Curriculum: Perspectives and Practices K-12 (Guilford)

Kathy Short presented information relating to global literacy, literature circles, curriculum as inquiry, and collaborative learning.  She has many books in publication and is director of World of Words <www.wowlit.org>.

Barbara A. Lehman has co-authored a book, Reading Globally, K-8: Connecting Students to the World through Literature (Corwin, 2010).  In addition to helping to facilitate, her break-out session utilizing paired reading titles for reading globally was fantastic.  If her book is 1/2 as good as the session, it's well worth the price.         

We will be posting more about this seminar in future posts -- a very interesting topic, overall and one that has great implications for practices in the clasroom.