books
Children’s Book Week
StandardI love Children’s Book Week, but I also feel as though it’s somewhat redundant, especially for schools and libraries. Don’t get me wrong – there is no such thing as too many books, but I also sometimes feel that there isn’t a need for a special week to introduce books to your children and encourage them to read. We do this without thinking from the time they’re born; before they’re born.
Think of all the reading your family already does with your children: street signs, storefronts, grocery and Christmas lists, comic books, magazines, and of course all the books that line our shelves.
The huge varieties of available children’s books today meet the needs of all kids including those who are kids at heart. I still recall my favorite children’s books from childhood – The Magic Tunnel by Caroline Emerson, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder – timeless treasures that can be read again and again. They continue to reside on my bookshelves.
I truly believe that almost all books can be used in all grade levels. Picture books have moved well beyond simple stories and large illustrations. I would read higher end picture books to toddlers when I was teaching in the early childhood field, and I’d read picture books to elementary level kids. Everyone loves to be read to.
Here’s a sampling of what I mean. They can all be read with and without the words, and they can be used as supplements to other subjects. I would bring in A Medieval Feast by Aliki yearly on Halloween to explain how my medieval costume was similar to a princess, but I wasn’t a princess. I was sometimes surprised at how much young children will accept when talked to on their level, with respect and honesty. I used the same book with a sixth grade class as part of their unit on The Middle Ages. It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw is beautiful on its surface, and is a jumping off point to exploring our imaginations and simply lying out in the grass surveying the clouds above us.
Good places to start for selecting books are with the Caldecott Medal and Newberry Medal winners.
These are five of my favorites that are appropriate across all ages, but they don’t begin to scratch the surface of good books for children:
The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery by Graeme Base
St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
At the start of this I said that I didn’t feel there was a need for Children’s Book Week, but you know what? Why shouldn’t there be a week to celebrate children’s books? Children’s books are wonderful and we should promote them everywhere, so I’ll admit it – I guess I was wrong. And it perfectly lined up falling right after Free Comic Book Day!
Enjoy the rest of this week, the 2015 Children’s Book Week!
Books – Corrected Version
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My apologies. This was a pin that I wore for many years before it was lost. I remembered the phrasing backwards. This is the correct version, although either is appropriate. kb
Nellie Bly, 5 May 1864
StandardToday, in 1864, Nellie Bly was born. Visit A Mighty Girl on their Facebook for some reading suggestions about Nellie and travel. Recently I’ve read and recommend Ninety Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World by Matthew Goodman.
Children’s Books
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Prompt – Children’s Book Week
StandardIn this, Children’s Book Week, what is your favorite children’s book?
Free Comic Book Day Recs
Aftershock Comics – new start-up with former Marvel editor Mike Marts as Editor-in-Chief. Article here and Mike’s Twitter to find more information about this new venture.
Green Lantern Corps Webpage Tumblr
Please add your own recs in the comments and I can add them into the post!
Quotation – Dale from The Walking Dead
Standard“If I’d known the world was ending, I would have brought better books.”
–Dale, The Walking Dead on AMC
Reading is….
StandardReading is fundamental. When I was growing up in the 70s this was more than a sentiment, it was a movement with suggestions and ideas and a non-profit. After food and a warm place to sleep this was what babies enjoyed most: the soothing sounds of their parents’ voices reading them stories. Our entire lives are made up of stories from fairy tales to our own origin stories. From princesses to cowboys, planes to trains and everything in between we have our stories.
The very first class I took for my Master’s degree was Children’s Literature. Not only seeing what was out there, but how to use it in the classroom. This was coupled with a new concept in the 80s which I adopted for the rest of my life: whole language. Whole language was the teaching of reading through actual reading rather than a focus on phonics. Phonics have their place for some learners, but what better way than using context and the whole language to learn how to read. From the moment I heard it, it made sense and it has never left me.
Three of the other things that I learned in reading classes for my teaching degree:
- Children’s literature encompasses much more than See Dick Run.
- Children’s brains and eyes are not ready to read proficiently on their own until they are seven years old, so stop forcing kindergarteners to pick up books and read them to you. Age-appropriate always.
- If you can read, you can do anything.
I can remember getting lost in the worlds of Winnie-the-Pooh and Cranberry Thanksgiving, one of my favorite books as a child. It is probably one of the main reasons I love Thanksgiving and it is my favorite holiday. I still have it somewhere. I put myself on the subway with Sarah and John in The Magic Tunnel, a book which still sits on my bookshelf. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys were also favorites of mine. For my son it’s the Wimpy Kid books and the Zombie Chasers. For my daughter it’s Monsters High.
Whatever the favorites are, the reading is pure joy.
Here are a few of my favorites from these genres:
Sci-fi/Fantasy
Sci-fi/Fantasy is wonderful because it can be set anywhere from back in time and time travel to the future and spaceships. You can be in outer space on another planet or on a spaceship traveling the stars. You can be with the dinosaurs while also using ray guns and modern to us equipment or you can be in a magic land of Harry Potter-esque wizardry or Hunger Games dystopia. You can play what if Lincoln had lived or what if Jefferson hadn’t written the Declaration of Independence. The possibilities are endless.
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. You can also find Adams’ perfect cup of tea
- Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
- Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Bellwether by Connie Willis (and most of her books. After this I read To Say Nothing of the Dog.)
- Neil Gaiman
- Stephen Donaldson
Biography/Autobiography/Memoir
I’ve been on a biography/memoir kick lately. My top five of recent reads are:
- Life’s That Way by Jim Beaver
- I Am What I Am by John Barrowman with Carole Barrowman (memoir)
- http://nphbook.com/Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography
- My Beloved by Sonia Sotomayor
- As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes with Joe Layden
Religious and Spiritual
This is a genre that I have found more recently. As a child attending Workman Circle Schools I knew all of the Bible stories and loved to read and re-read from our set of four Jewish History books, three of which I still have. It was a wonderful time in my life and fostered and encouraged both a love of my religion and of history.
More recently as I have journeyed on my conversion to Catholicism, I have read numerous books and booklets, periodicals and devotionals, some better than others, some outstanding. Here are my top four:
- Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan
- Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James Martin, SJ (I also highly recommend this e-book retreat, Together on Retreat (Enhanced Edition): Meeting Jesus in Prayer.)
- Under the Tamarind Tree: A Secret Journey into Our Souls: Inspirational Quotes About Life, A reminder of the Inner Magic by John Harricharan
- The Little Books Series. I’ve read The Little White Book for Easter, The Little Blue Book for Advent and I am currently reading The Little Black Book for Lent.
A few others to enjoy:
- A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage (history)
- On Writing by Stephen King (writing)
- Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawning of a New America by Gilbert King (history, won the Pulitzer)
- A Writer’s House in Wales by Jan Morris (travel, Wales)
- The Truth and Legend of Lily Martindale by Mary Sanders Shartle (historical fiction, North Country, NY)
- Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich (memoir)
- How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman (history)
- Untied: A Memoir of Family, Fame, and Floundering by Meredith Baxter
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned by Michael J. Foxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Fox.
Also, Lucky Man, also by Michael J. Fox
- Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World by Matthew Goodman (history)
Welsh Poets & Authors | Welsh Artists | Visit Wales
StandardIn the UK and Ireland, it is World Book Day. A perfect start to this day in a week dedicated to reading. I would add Jan Morris to this list of Welsh writers.
Griffins and Ginger Snaps 