Matt Faulkner is one of my favorite illustrators. He has written/illustrated the book A Taste of Colored Water and illustrated Thank You, Sarah, among several others. His illustrations strike me with a brilliant personification and invitation into the reading. Click to read a little about Matt Faulkner’s illustrations and to see a picture of him and his wife, Kristen Remenar. (I learned something new today.)
Together they created a fun read, Groundhog’s Dilemma, that highlights a predicament kids can relate with. Half of the animals want winter to last longer and half of the animals want spring now. Each animal tries to persuade Groundhog to predicate what they desire. Groundhog agrees with everyone, because he wants them all to be his friend. In the end, Groundhog explains he just reports what he sees; he can’t change the weather. This book provides you the opportunity to talk with kids about being truthful. It touches on persuasion, pressure, and contemplation. I think you will find the book will spark some interesting conversations.
View the book here (8 min. video). It’s currently a Scholastic Book Club book.
Savorings for reading and writing for Groundhog’s Dilemma:
Persuasion – shares thoughts on both sides; art of buttering-up someone
Pay it forward. Smile. Say “Hello”. Draw a picture.
Make a change.
Be brave. Ask others to join you adding sunshine to the world.
Holly M. McGhee and Pascal Lemaitre bring hope through the example of one family, one child. Learning begins in the home, but in our classrooms, we have opportunities to model and show how to bring happiness in this world. Listen to the story told through children’s voices
Colby Sharp gives a book talk about Come With Me and the discussion he had with his students.
View an interview of author Holly M. McGhee. She shares about writing her middle grade novel, Matylda, Bright and Tender. I think it’s important for kids to see the author in “real life”, to hear how she works through hard parts. I also pushing kids to see that they can write anything – a picture book or a novel. The ending question is powerful.
Jessica Olien (@jessicaolien) created a hybrid text in The Blobfish Book. Students are introduced to the creatures of each ocean zone. Facts are shared with real photos of the animal creatures. Blobfish adds his first-person commentary on each page with speech bubbles. The humorous style will hook your kids into learning more about the ocean.
When the text shares that the Blobfish was named the ugliest animal in the universe, Blobfish has a melt down. The other creatures, his friends, rally around him to uplift his spirits.
This book trailer includes an explanation of the different ocean zones.
Fox is ready to build a tree house with her friends: Skunk, Bear, Frog, and Porcupine. All of a sudden, Moose arrives on the scene and he begins to shout orders. Teamwork seems to go by the wayside as Moose disrupts the groups’ plans.
“But what about you, Moose?” Fox asked with a glare. “You’re tromping about but not doing your share.”
View the book trailer with the class and predict what may happen. As a class talk about how this story compares with group work in class. You could possibly create guidelines for teamwork on projects.
Stories embedded into my heart are my favorites like Pricilla and the Hollyhocks by Anne Broyles. Although I came across this book in 2009, I still recall the richness of the words and the endurance of the character.
Across the Alley by Richard Michelson, illustrated by E.B. Lewis, is a new books to add to this favorite list of powerful stories. I have read it five times trying to comb the craft and I just sit in the story. Richard Michelson brings to life the friendship of two boys, one Jewish, one black, both separated by many cultural differences, but blend through nightly conversations through their bedroom windows. Not allowed to be friends during the day and in the open, the persist for the good.
Abe plays violin. Willis plays baseball. Through their nightly, across-the-alley window talks they teach each other their skill. Ironically, the switched activity becomes a natural talent for the other. Read how the boys rise above the grown-up expectations and bridge a friendship between their families. My guess is you’ll be cheering at the end like I did. Share this sense of hope with your students.
Willie’s real quiet now and I wonder if I said something wrong. Maybe he doesn’t know about the Nazis.
“My great-granddaddy was a slave too,” Willie finally says. “I never knew any white folk that were.”
Pay it forward. In a time when turmoil and fear encircle us, we can choose to break the mold by helping others. Cara’s Kindness is a story of one character putting aside her problem to help another. In turn, the pay it forward then goes from one friend to another character. View a snippet of the book on this link. Kids of all ages can begin to think of ways to help others around them. Start in your classroom. Encourage it at home. How can they help the community?
The story also features a growth mindset.
“Well of course! That’s part of skating {or any part of life}. So the first think you need to learn is how to get back up.”
Kids connect with history through story. Historical narrative invites the reader into the time period, the setting, the dialect. Our students can relate to characters and feel the emotions of the events. Picture books give readers a weighted historical highlight to peak their interest. For a moment, we can be transported back in time and watch the movie unfold before our eyes.
The Quickest Kid in Clarksville ,by Pat Zietlow Miller, begins as an ordinary happening – a girl playing outside with her friends, racing to see who is the fastest. More than anything, the character emulates her hero, Wilma Rudolph, the fastest woman in 1960 and the first woman to win 3 gold medals in the same Olympic Games. Along comes Charmaine, with her “brand-new, only-been-worn-by-her shoes” challenging Alta’s stand as the fastest kid in Clarksville, TN. They race. She trips. Words fly.
In story, the girls have a conflict. Because of their hero’s example and forgiveness, their differences are put aside and a friendship begins. Not only did they want to imitate Wilma’s running abilities, they also wanted to imitate the peace she was inviting.
The author’s note highlights Wilma Rudolph, from a family of twenty-two children , ill as a child and wore a leg brace, and had the first major integrated event in her home town of Clarksville, TN.
Laurie Keller (author/illustrator) invites readers to remember the importance of manners. Based on the Golden Rule, the characters dialogue about what manners mean in Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners.Mr. Rabbit wants his new neighbors, the Otters, to be Friendly, Polite with please and thank you, and excuse me. Of course, everyone should be Honest too. Kind, Considerate, Play Fair, Cooperate, Share all make their appearances as well.
The reader gets swooped into an auditorium of play. Laurie Keller’s illustrations are whimsically rich setting the stage for deeper understanding. Words are embedded in the background to enhance the meaning of each manner. Off-side scenes are an additional reference to each manner shared.
Savorings for reading and writing for Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners:
Great text to use for Voice Inflection and Reader’s Theater
Models character mental conflict – reader views the thinking bubbles
Use of the Colon
Ellipses – slows down character thinking – “How would I … … like otters … … to treat me?”
Asides – (hmmm… maybe not the treats)
Example of a Thank You Note
Magic of 3 – Series of examples for each manner is listed in 3 groups
Just hearing the title of the book, Yes We Can!, gives me a boost of energy. Sam McBratney , author of Guess How Much I Love You?, chose to focus on the positive, something kids often forget to do (or adults for that matter). Life is full of possibilities and this book triumphs in teamwork over put-downs.
Three friends, Little Roo, Country Mouse, and Quacker Duck, decide to make the biggest mountain of leaves ever – together (seem familiar during this fall season). Upon resting, one character challenges another by saying, “You can’t ….” Each character tries to no avail, only to have their feelings hurt from laughter from the others. A wise mother intervenes and changes the point of view from ‘can’t’ to “What can you do?” Charles Fuge’s illustration depicts the emotions from frustration to success.
I love how they accomplish a task and the friends applaud each other. I have been sharing this book with my first grade interactive writing group and they are connected to the story. Positive and encouraging comments have been the goal for this week (and hopefully throughout the school year.)
Savorings for reading and in writing for Yes We Can!:
Community building
Dialogue with all three types of sentences for a punctuation lesson
Every day happening
Repeating structure
Kid voice – “Don’t you dare laugh at me!” cried Roo.
It’s January and I have been thinking about goals, a New Year’s resolution of sorts. I know Ruth has shared her goals with us. Any others? Me – I’m going to set a time limit for myself to write daily instead of just being arbitrary about it. So I find it fitting that the book Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution by Pat Miller happened to catch my eye. It’s super cute and Tammy, I think your first graders would like it. Tam, your gran kids would enjoy it too.
Squirrel wants to know what a resolution is, so he goes to the best place ever to research it – the LIBRARY. Of course, my favorite place! The definition he finds is as follows:
A resolution is a promise you make to yourself to be better or to help yourself.
As squirrel thinks of resolutions for herself, she helps others along the way. In the end, her friends remind her of how she helped them in their time of need.
Isn’t this a great book to share with a class and talk about community building and how each person in the class can help support the goals for the class? I also thought of you with the encouragement to keep writing. So hooray for writing!
Resolved to create,
MHG
Savorings for reading and in writing for Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution:
Bucket Filling -“I resolve to help someone every day!“
others. His illustrations strike me with a brilliant personification and invitation into the reading. Click to read a little about Matt Faulkner’s illustrations and to see a picture of him and his wife, Kristen Remenar. (I learned something new today.)
Posted by MaryHelen 
Three friends, Little Roo, Country Mouse, and Quacker Duck, decide to make the biggest mountain of leaves ever – together (seem familiar during this fall season). Upon resting, one character challenges another by saying, “You can’t ….” Each character tries to no avail, only to have their feelings hurt from laughter from the others. A wise mother intervenes and changes the point of view from ‘can’t’ to “What can you do?” Charles Fuge’s illustration depicts the emotions from frustration to success.
It’s January and I have been thinking about goals, a New Year’s resolution of sorts. I know Ruth has shared her goals with us. Any others? Me – I’m going to set a time limit for myself to write daily instead of just being arbitrary about it. So I find it fitting that the book 
Book Savors 