Half-Pint Pete the Pirate by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

Come check out the half-adventures of Pete the Pirate. What could complete Pete's halves? Read this swashbuckling story to see.

~ Deb, Stocking School

Aberdeen Loves Funny Poems!

I love to read funny poems to our Aberdeen students.  The title alone caught my attention for this week's pick.  Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and Other Stories You're Sure to Like Because They're All About Monsters, and Some of Them are Also About Food.  You Like Food, Don't You? Well, All Right Then (yep!  That's the whole title!), by Adam Rex is full of hilarious poems.

The vocabulary and rhyming are very engaging.  The illustrations are full of detail and refer to other monsters, creatures from Greek mythology, and folktales.  These details kept my fifth grade audience engaged.  My favorite poem from the collection is The Invisible Man Gets a Haircut. Students spotted Medusa and the Headless Horseman in the same barber shop.

I read selected poems to our fourth and fifth grade students, and now they are fighting for the chance to check this book out themselves!

Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth/ Sibley

  A little girl who lives in a run down building notices the trashy courtyard and  ugly writing on the walls. When she walks to school, she notices other unattractive sights. She learns the word"beautiful" in school, which is "something that when you have it, your heart is happy."  When she encounters others on her way home, she asks them if they have something beautiful.  The little girl hears all kind of things that are beautiful: tasting fried fish sandwiches, a jump rope, beads, a smooth stone. When she arrives at her building she decides to do what she can to make her surroundings beautiful.  
    This is a great story, a fast read, with a meaningful message.~Mary Jo

Campus Elementary - Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters

At Campus Elementary we recently read the book "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" by John Steptoe in library. The subtitle is "An African Tale", and the notes inside the book indicate that the author's inspiration for the story was a folktale from the book "Kaffir Folktales", a collection of folk-lore stories compiled by G.M. Theal. The text in question was first published in 1895, and it is now in the public domain. This means anyone can read it for free. The entire text can be read on the web at this link:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/xft/

It appears that the specific folktale that was the primary inspiration for "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" was "The Story of Five Heads". It is interesting to compare the Steptoe version to the original folktale: many elements are retained, but overall the story's tone and plot has been altered, probably to make it more appealing to a modern Western audience and to the sensibilities of young children.

Cultural note: "Kaffir" is an old and pejorative term for the ethnic group most commonly known today as the Xhosa people, the ethnic group to which both Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu belong.

I like this book because it is a very enjoyable moralistic fairy tale that is accessible to elementary school kids of all levels. The illustrations are also wonderful, and make the story come to life. I also appreciate the fact that this book's text and illustrations create a very positive and affirmative portrayal of a part of the world that is too often portrayed in mostly negative and non-affirming ways.

- Dennis De Boer

Students at Congress Elementary are reading Poetry this week for a March Is Reading Month genre challenge!



For March Is Reading Month (MIRM), Congress Elementary library is having students read from four different genres, a different one for each week of March. One week they can read a non-fiction book, the next a biography, then poetry and, finally, a book of fiction, such as historical, realistic, a fable or folktale.  If they read from all four genres and write a little about each, they can choose four different toppings for a sundae celebration at the end of March Is Reading Month.

To celebrate MIRM this week during library story time, we read from the genre of poetry.
We read the magical and majestic Sequoia, a picture book poem, by Tony Johnston, with paintings by Wendell Minor.  This is a must see and read book because the words and images are stunning with colorful images of nature and animals at dawn, day, sunset and eve.  Images are full of detail in closeups and landscapes; the rich language captures the amazing juxtapositions of natural moments between trees, animals and the elements.  A very beautiful book!

  

~Georgine Bello

SWCC is Reading.....Library Lion by: Knudsen, Michelle

Michelle Knudsen and Kevin Hawkes offer an affectionate ode not just to rules and when to followed them, but also to that wonderful place...the library.

     

Miss Merriweather, the head librarian, is very particular about rules in the library. No running allowed. And you must be quiet. But when a lion comes to the library one day, no one is sure what to do. There aren't any rules about lions in the library. It turns out, though, that the lion seems very well suited for the library. His big feet are quiet on the library floor. He makes a comfy backrest for the children at story hour. And he never roars in the library....at least not anymore.

                           

            What a great fun way to review the library rules!!!!!!

It's Raining Pigs & Noodles at Stocking School

       Jack Prelutsky has put together quite the collection of humorous poems in the Children's Poet Laureate collection It's Raining Pigs & Noodles. Poems range from It's Raining Pigs & Noodles to The World's Fastest Turtle. And, let's not forget Smedley Smye or Nina Tina Fleener. Be sure to bring along your imagination as you enjoy the quirky, yet silly play on words as you read It's Raining Pigs & Noodles.

~Deb

GRPS STUDENTS READ: Hi, I am reading the Greatest Skating Race to our ...

GRPS STUDENTS READ: Hi, I am reading the Greatest Skating Race to our ...: Hi, I am reading the Greatest Skating Race to our GR Montessori students grades 1 to 3 over a few weeks. History and adventure is mixed to ...




The Great Skating Race continues and is now being read during March is Reading Month by Ms. Wooden from the School of Hope. The students enjoy the mix of history and adventure and the novel will be finished by the time the snow melts.  

Aberdeen Reads... How I Became a Pirate

How I Became a Pirate, by Melinda Long and illustrated by David Shannon, is a fun book to read aloud!  Jeremy Jacob was playing at the beach with his family one day, when a pirate crew discovers that he is an expert digger.  They recruit him to join their crew to dig a hole for their treasure.  After discovering that pirates don't read bedtime stories or get tucked into bed, he decides the pirate life isn't for him.  He returns home just in time for soccer practice.

This story was a favorite this week for our Kindergarten through Third grade students.  The tale is funny and the artwork from David Shannon (of "No, David!" fame) is fantastic.

SHAWMUT HILLS~The Sneetches and Other Stories

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

DR. SEUSS!! 

In honor of the birthday boy, I am reading the students my ALL TIME FAVORITE Dr. Seuss story! 

I love reading this book to kids for several reasons:

1. Voices. Reading the voices of the snooty sneetches with "stars on thars", and the sly Sylvester McMonkey McBean... Yeah, that's fun.

2. The silly rhymes like "And it klonked. And it bonked. And it jerked. And it berked. And it bopped them about. But the thing really worked!"  Awesome.

3. It's not just a fun story to read, it's a great lesson in diversity and acceptance. Yesterday, when I finished the story, a 2nd grader raised his hand to let me know that the story was like Martin Luther King Jr. How cool is that!? An 8 year old made that connection!! LOVE IT!

Anyway, there are so many great Dr. Seuss titles in the world, (even in this very book!) The Sneetches just happens to be the one I love most. 

What's your favorite?

~Katie