What about worms????

I don’t think I ever read elephant and piggie to my kids. I’ve started enjoying them since I’ve started working with kids. Kids were very sad about the series ending but I however am very excited about the Elephant and Piggie Like Reading. This newest one is by one of my absolutely favorite picture book authors, @RyanT_Higgins author of the fabulous Bruce books. Tiger does not like worms but everywhere he goes, he runs into worm potential. He breaks his flower pot, throws his apple and throws a book. Little does he know that the worms think he is nice and brave. Another great addition to this spin off series, all written by some very fabulous authors.books.disney.com/book-author/ryan-t-higgins

What a weird time

So it’s the beginning of April and the whole world is in turmoil. I can’t physically work at either of my jobs so I haven’t been able to connect with kids at all. I am however working in an Emergency Operations Center for my county. It isn’t working with kids, but I’m trying to contribute.
With publishers and authors relaxing the rules for reading their books on video, my goal is to start reading out loud hopefully this week. As it looks like we could possible not to return to school this year, my focus is on the OBOB titles for 20-21 (are you sick of hearing about OBOB yet?). I’ve read a few and so far I don’t hate anything.
I think I’ve written about Front Desk by Kelly Yang previously.  Well it is an OBOB selection for the coming year and I’m super happy about that.  I’m also amazed by Kelly Yang.  She has offered free writing classes on her website (scroll down after you land on the home page) and I hope I can watch the videos soon.

Almost 19 years ago (as of my writing this post), our country, our lives, our view of the world was sent into chaos.  We are all in different spaces as far as how much we know about that event, how it affected us and how we pulled through.  

Nora Raleigh Baskin has ventured into a very hard day in the past.  Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story takes place before and during 9/11.  It is told by 4 different middle schoolers who all have a different story about that time.  Told with language that kids will understand but without the gore and true violence, it was an impactful read.  It does talk about the planes and the crashes but thats about the extent.  I say read it with your kids because they may have questions.  If you aren’t old enough to have been alive for that day, ask your momma or your daddy or your auntie or uncle or any adult who was alive…..I promise they will know exactly where they were and what they were doing.

Oregon Battle of the Books, or OBOB in our neck of the woods

I’m sure that I have written about OBOB before.  A state wide voluntary reading competition that students in grades 3-12 can compete in.  I am a coach for both 3-5th grades and 6-8th grades.  It seems that I won’t have a 6-8 team so I have stopped reading those titles but I didn’t get through a few:

           

These are the three titles I read from the 6-8 list and I enjoyed them all.  I’ll write about Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus and it’s follow up Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus.

The elementary (3-5) list this year is very engaging and also very different from one another.

 

   

 

These are just three of the books for the 3-5th grade list.  There is something for everyone.  If you have kids in school, I sure hope that your state/city/county has some version of Battle of the Books.

Ali Cross by James Patterson

   I am so happy to read another suck me in until the end Patterson book.  As I have never read an adult novel by him, I was not sure if this story is a continuation of an Alex Cross book.  Ali is the youngest child of Alex Cross and he tends to go all in when something needs his attention.  His father is going to trial, his friend is missing and he has to deal with bullies at school.  Ali thinks that the police aren’t doing enough to find his friend Gabe, so he starts his own investigation.   It’s Christmastime so houses are full of gifts.  Break-ins start to happen, even at the Cross home.  Ali wonders if his friend Gabe has anything to do with it.

A book about not giving up, being true to your friends and standing up for what’s right.  I hope this is a series.

You Get What You Get by Julie Gassman

Melvin has difficulty when things don’t go his way.  Fits are kind of his thing.  It doesn’t matter what happened, if it wasn’t what Melvin wanted, watch out!

Something that upset Melvin even more was his teacher’s favorite saying, “You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit”.  The only good thing that came of that was it was only for school, not for home.  What happens when Melvin still throws fits at home???

This will make a good read aloud for my storytime.  Some kids will be able to relate to the pictures of Melvin throwing a fit.  The illustrations are lovely and it is the right amount of text.

 

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

This book makes me so mad…I mean REALLY mad…..at myself. Let’s be honest…I’m a white woman of privilege and it has absolutely nothing to do with money.  I read this (actually I listened to it which was probably more intense for me) and I realized how truly naive I have been all my life.
This is the story of Mia and her parents who are all immigrants. They have not been in the states for long and mom and dad both try to keep employment but through no fault of their own, they end up getting fired. However Mia’s mom applies for a job at a motel, thinking she would never get it, and guess what??? She gets the job but her husband has to work there too. “Two for the price of one” says the owner. Mia runs the front office…she’s 10….and does her best to make things good for the customers and the weeklies, and safer for her family.
At the end of the audio book, the author notes that the events are based on true life events in her life. Then I was sad because how humans can treat other humans so poorly is beyond what I can understand.
So many more things happen in this book…it would take a very long time to explain it all. Pick the book up or download the audio version. Read it as a family, read it yourself, read it to your class….just read it.

The Happy Book by Andy Rash

The Happy Book and other feelings is a great book to talk to kids about feelings.  Happy camper and his BFF Clam struggle with some emotions, especially when they aren’t feeling the same way.  Colors and emotions are matched up in this wonderfully illustrated picture book….red is angry, happy is yellow etc.  I read this at story time and what I loved was that one little person said all the colors were happy. If only adults could have an attitude like that.

 

When Sadness is at Your Door by Eva Eland

Things are so much different now than when I was a kid.  We didn’t talk about our feelings, or things like diversity, trauma, hardship.  Along comes Eve Eland who brings sadness to the front lines.  What is sadness?  Do you see it?  Feel it?  Does it want to sit quietly?  Or does it wish to draw something fantastic?  This new picture book is beautifully illustrated with crayons (or something else that looks like crayon) is a book that kids may relate to without actually being called sad.  A great read aloud or a book to sit quietly with a little and talk about what is happening.

 

Goodbye, Friend! Hello, Friend!

Lovely illustrations go along with the story about saying goodbye. Do goodbyes always have to be sad? Does it always mean something bad? In this picture book, you and your littles will discover that when a goodbye happens, a hello will soon follow.

 

Peak by Roland Smith…why haven’t I written about it?!?!

I am appalled at myself for not having written about this series.  Now, I know I have written about Roland Smith before but somehow I have missed talking about this series.  In Peak, the adventure starts with Peak, yes that’s his name.  A 14 year old who is a little bored, a little mischievous and a lot in trouble.  Peak likes to climb, but, he lives in NYC.  There are no mountains to climb in Manhattan so what does Peak do?  He climbs a skyscraper and gets caught.  He has a choice now. Spend time in juvie, or go live with the father he really doesn’t know, Joshua Wood.  Joshua owns a climbing company and he himself loves to climb.  Part of his job is to help other summit mountains all over the world.  But could Joshua have something else in mind for his son?  Will their relationship grow through this adventure?

    I forever thought this would be a stand alone  but much to my surprise, The Edge shows up about 8 years later.  Peak has returned home and has become a non-skyscraper climbing 15 year old, who loves spending time with his younger twin sisters.  He hasn’t climbed since Everest (ooops, could be a small spoiler:-) but when he is approached by some old climbing friends with a chance to become part of documentary he contemplates his choice of climbing again or staying with all feet on the ground.

    Just when I couldn’t be any happier about a sequel, there’s a threequel (yes it’s a word, look it up:-)  In Ascent, Peak visits a girl he has met.  A girl he kind of likes.  A girl who just happens to be the daughter of a French Ambassador.  She also loves to climb.  Sounds like a recipe for happiness.  Peak has been invited to climb Hkakabo Razi, one of the most isolated mountains in the world, to determine the true elevation of this illusive mountain.  Once again, filled with action, friendship and climbing this was the perfect ending to this series.

   Ahhh, just kidding.  Descent will be the final book of the series.  But it doesn’t come out until the beginning of 2020!!!  Well, it isn’t an 8 year wait!