More Summer Reading from Ms. Moore

Running out of time to get that summer reading in ... here are my latest recommendations for Stadium students. All book covers and plot summaries are from Goodreads:

Picture books

Which sea creature is the greatest? Is it the one with the most venom, the greatest diver, the one with blue blood, or the best rotating eyes? Or is it the master of disguise, the one with the best light, the most slime, or the most eggs? Fascinating facts and spectacular illustrations will inspire young readers to choose their own favorite sea creatures!

With a little help from her fairy godrobot, Cinderella is going to the ball--but when the prince's ship has mechanical trouble, someone will have to zoom to the rescue! Readers will thank their lucky stars for this irrepressible fairy tale retelling, its independent heroine, and its stellar happy ending.

Middle grades

In the early 1900s, Robert Miller, a.k.a. “Count Victor Lustig,” moved to Paris hoping to be an artist. A con artist, that is. He used his ingenious scams on unsuspecting marks all over the world, from the Czech Republic, to Atlantic ocean liners, and across America. Tricky Vic pulled off his most daring con in 1925, when he managed to "sell" the Eiffel Tower to one of the city’s most successful scrap metal dealers! Six weeks later, he tried to sell the Eiffel Tower all over again. Vic was never caught. For that particular scam, anyway. . .

In all the ways that matter, Mark is a normal kid. He's got a dog named Beau and a best friend, Jessie. He likes to take photos and write haiku poems in his notebook. He dreams of climbing a mountain one day. But in one important way, Mark is not like other kids at all. Mark is sick. The kind of sick that means hospitals. And treatments. The kind of sick some people never get better from.

So Mark runs away. He leaves home with his camera, his notebook, his dog, and a plan to reach the top of Mount Rainier--even if it's the last thing he ever does. The Honest Truth is a rare and extraordinary novel about big questions, small moments, and the incredible journey of the human spirit.

6th graders

She’s been six different people in six different places: Madeline in Ohio, Isabelle in Missouri, Olivia in Kentucky . . . But now that she’s been transplanted to rural Louisiana, she has decided that this fake identity will be her last.

Witness Protection has taken nearly everything from her. But for now, they’ve given her a new name, Megan Rose Jones, and a horrible hair color. For the past eight months, Meg has begged her father to answer one question: What on earth did he do – or see – that landed them in this god-awful mess? Meg has just about had it with all the Suits’ rules — and her dad’s silence. If he won’t help, it’s time she got some answers for herself.

But Meg isn’t counting on Ethan Landry, an adorable Louisiana farm boy who’s too smart for his own good. He knows Meg is hiding something big. And it just might get both of them killed. As they embark on a perilous journey to free her family once and for all, Meg discovers that there’s only one rule that really matters — survival.

What Ms. Moore Read Last Week

Picture books, novels, and nonfiction, oh my! Here are my latest favorites. All book covers and plot summaries are from Goodreads:

Picture books

Hoot Owl is no ordinary owl. He is a master of disguise! In the blackness of night, he’s preparing to swoop on his prey before it can realize his dastardly tricks. Look there—a tasty rabbit for him to eat! Hoot Owl readies his costume, disguising himself as . . . a carrot! Then he waits. The rabbit runs off. Never mind! Surely his next juicy target will cower against such a clever and dangerous creature as he! Kids will hoot at Sean Taylor’s deliciously tongue-in-beak narration, belied by the brilliantly comical illustrations of Jean Jullien.

You can call her Ally-SAURUS! When Ally roars off to her first day at school, she hopes she'll meet lots of other dinosaur-mad kids in class. Instead, she's the only one chomping her food with fierce dino teeth and drawing dinosaurs on her nameplate. Even worse, a group of would-be "princesses" snubs her! Will Ally ever make new friends? With its humorous art, appealing heroine, and surprise ending, this fun picture book celebrates children's boundless imagination.

Middle grades

Ruth Mudd-O’Flaherty has been a lone wolf at Frontenac Consolidated Middle School ever since her best friend, Charlotte, ditched her for “cooler” friends. Who needs friends when you have fantasy novels? Roaming the stacks of her town’s library is enough for Ruth. Until she finds a note in an old book . . . and in that note is a riddle, one that Ruth can’t solve alone.

With an epic quest before her, Ruth admits she needs help, the kind that usually comes from friends. Lena and Coco, two kids in her class could be an option, but allowing them in will require courage. Ruth must decide: Is solving this riddle worth opening herself up again?

Note from Ms. Moore: Look for one of the riddles to be a checkout day challenge.

In this eye-opening look at our Founding Fathers that is full of fun facts and lively artwork, it seems that Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and their cohorts sometimes agreed on NOTHING - except the thing that mattered most: creating the finest constitution in world history, for the brand-new United States of America.

Tall! Short! A scientist! A dancer! A farmer! A soldier!

The founding fathers had no idea they would ever be called the "founding Fathers," and furthermore they could not even agree exactly on what they were founding! ... Slave owners, abolitionists, soldiers, doctors, philosophers, bankers, angry letter-writers - the men we now call America's Founding Fathers were a motley bunch of characters who fought a lot and made mistakes and just happened to invent a whole new kind of nation.

6th graders

As the youngest marcher in the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Albama, Lynda Blackmon Lowery proved that young adults can be heroes. Jailed eleven times before her fifteenth birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. for the rights of African-Americans. In this memoir, she shows today's young readers what it means to fight nonviolently (even when the police are using violence, as in the Bloody Sunday protest) and how it felt to be part of changing American history.

Note from Ms. Moore: This is one of the most gutwrenching books I've ever read - and it's only 100 pages long.

What Ms. Moore is Reading This Week

July 29 was #readwhereyouare day ... I've been doing most of my reading on my front porch. Here are some more new books I've read that I think students would enjoy. All book covers and plot summaries are from Goodreads:

Picture books

As a boy and his mother move quickly through the city, they're drawn to different things. The boy sees a dog, a butterfly, and a hungry duck while his mother rushes them toward the departing train. It's push and pull, but in the end, they both find something to stop for. Acclaimed author/illustrator Antoinette Portis' signature style conveys feelings of warmth, curiosity, humor and tenderness in this simple, evocative story.

A moth with a sixth sense. A wasp that hunts beetles nearly twice its size. The lives of fascinating creatures such as these were unknown until one man introduced them to the world. Meet Jean-Henri Fabre, one of the most important naturalists of all time. As a boy in the French countryside, Henri spent hours watching insects. He dreamed of observing them in a new way: in their own habitats. What he discovered in pursuing that dream was shocking; these small, seemingly insignificant creatures led secret lives—lives of great drama!

With its lively, lyrical text and richly detailed illustrations, this intriguing picture-book biography introduces the man who would forever change the way we look at insects, bringing to life the fascinating world of dazzling beetles, ferocious wasps, and other amazing small wonders that exist all around us

Middle grades

A hidden book. A found cipher. A game begins . . . . Twelve-year-old Emily is on the move again. Her family is relocating to San Francisco, home of her literary idol: Garrison Griswold, creator of the online sensation Book Scavenger, a game where books are hidden all over the country and clues to find them are revealed through puzzles. But Emily soon learns that Griswold has been attacked and is in a coma, and no one knows anything about the epic new game he had been poised to launch.

Then Emily and her new friend James discover an odd book, which they come to believe is from Griswold and leads to a valuable prize. But there are others on the hunt for this book, and Emily and James must race to solve the puzzles Griswold left behind before Griswold's attackers make them their next target.

Tabitha Crum is a girl with a big imagination and a love for mystery novels, though her parents think her only talent is being a nuisance. She doesn't have a friend in the world, except her pet mouse, Pemberley, with whom she shares her dingy attic bedroom.

Then, on the heels of a rather devastating announcement made by her mother and father, Tabitha receives a mysterious invitation to the country estate of the wealthy but reclusive Countess of Windermere, whose mansion is rumored to be haunted. There, she finds herself among five other children, none of them sure why they've been summoned. But soon, a very big secret will be revealed— a secret that will change their lives forever and put Tabitha’s investigative skills to the test

6th graders

When Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry, her sister seems scared of her, and her parents whisper behind closed doors. She looks through her diary to try to remember, but the pages have been ripped out. Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange and terrible than she could ever have imagined, and that she is quite literally not herself. In a quest to find the truth she must travel into the terrifying underbelly of the city to meet a twisted architect who has dark designs on her family-before it's too late . . .

Set in England after World War I, this is a brilliantly creepy but ultimately loving story of the relationship between two sisters who have to band together against a world where nothing is as it seems.

What Ms. Moore is Reading

I hope everyone is having a fun summer ... and that you are finding fun things to read! Here are some books I've read over the past month that I think students would enjoy. All book covers and plot summaries are from Goodreads:

Picture books

Who knew that cakes were so rude?! In this deliciously entertaining book, a not-so-sweet cake—who never says please or thank you or listens to its parents—gets its just desserts. Mixing hilarious text and pictures, Rowboat Watkins, a former Sendak fellow, has cooked up a laugh-out- loud story that can also be served up as a delectable discussion starter about manners or bullying, as it sweetly reminds us all that even the rudest cake can learn to change its ways.

Younger readers

Lights! Camera! Action! Jules is back to take center stage! Jules is a third grader at last! But so far, the reviews aren't good. Her new teacher makes her feel totally tongue-tied. Charlotte shows up on the first day wearing the one thing Jules really wants but will never get. And she already has homework-researching a famous person to become for the class wax museum project. But how will she decide who to be?

Even worse, her after-school sitcom rehearsals are harder than ever-especially since the TV show is about to air for all the world to see. Jules needs to find her inner superstar if third grade is ever going to be a smash hit.

Middle grades

It's the summer of 1969, and Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are off to Alabama to visit Big Ma and her eighty-two-year-old mother, Ma Charles. Pa can't remind them enough that the South's not like Brooklyn, and that you can't get more southern than Alabama.

Across the field, through the pines, and over the creek is the Trotter home, where Ma Charles's half sister, Miss Trotter, lives. The two half sisters haven't spoken in years, each determined to hold on to her version of the truth. Dramatic Vonetta plays middleman to the two warring, elderly sisters, while Delphine struggles against her to bring the family together. ... When a tragedy comes to the farm in Alabama, Delphine discovers that the bonds of family run deeper than she ever knew possible.

Do you believe in magic? Micah Tuttle does. Even though his awful Great-Aunt Gertrudis doesn’t approve, Micah believes in the stories his dying Grandpa Ephraim tells him of the magical Circus Mirandus: the invisible tiger guarding the gates, the beautiful flying birdwoman, and the magician more powerful than any other—the Man Who Bends Light. Finally, Grandpa Ephraim offers proof. The Circus is real. And the Lightbender owes Ephraim a miracle.

With his friend Jenny Mendoza in tow, Micah sets out to find the Circus and the man he believes will save his grandfather. The only problem is, the Lightbender doesn't want to keep his promise. And now it's up to Micah to get the miracle he came for.

6th graders

Once upon a time, two best friends created a princess together. Libby drew the pictures, May wrote the tales, and their heroine, Princess X, slayed all the dragons and scaled all the mountains their imaginations could conjure. Once upon a few years later, Libby was in the car with her mom, driving across the Ballard Bridge on a rainy night. When the car went over the side, Libby passed away, and Princess X died with her.

Once upon a now: May is sixteen and lonely, wandering the streets of Seattle, when she sees a sticker slapped in a corner window. Princess X? When May looks around, she sees the Princess everywhere: Stickers. Patches. Graffiti. There's an entire underground culture, focused around a webcomic at IAmPrincessX.com. The more May explores the webcomic, the more she sees disturbing similarities between Libby's story and Princess X online.

Book Recommendation: The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing

Listen up, everyone who read Three Times Lucky ... there's a sequel! And it's pretty good! If you pick it up, let me know what you think in the comments.

Summary from penguin.com:

When Miss Lana makes an Accidental Bid at the Tupelo auction and winds up the mortified owner of an old inn, she doesn't realize there's a ghost in the fine print. Naturally, Desperado Detective Agency (aka Mo and Dale) opens a paranormal division to solve the mystery of the ghost's identity. They've got to figure out who the ghost is so they can interview it for their history assignment (extra credit).

But Mo and Dale start to realize that the Inn isn't the only haunted place in Tupelo Landing. People can also be haunted by their own past.

A laugh out loud, ghostly, Southern mystery.

Access extras at the official site.

Book Recommendations from Molli

Do you have favorite books that you think other students should read too? You can be in charge of the recommendation shelf for a week! Just give Ms. Moore a list of 4-8 books that you love (and that we have at the Stadium library).

Here are some of Molli's picks:

Book Recommendations from Susanna

Do you have favorite books that you think other students should read too? You can be in charge of the recommendation shelf for a week! Just give Ms. Moore a list of 4-8 books that you love (and that we have at the Stadium library).

Here are some of Susanna's picks ... a few have already been checked out. Stadium students love dogs and puppies!

Book Recommendations from Maliyah

Do you have favorite books that you think other students should read too? You can be in charge of the recommendation shelf for a week! Just give Ms. Moore a list of 4-8 books that you love (and that we have at the Stadium library).

Here are some of Maliyah's picks ... I loved that she included The View from Saturday, one of my favorites:

Mock Caldecott: Round 3 Results

Three more books made it to our "short" list:

source: childrensbooksalmanac.com

Lucky Ducklings
Author: Eva Moore
Illustrator: Nancy Carpenter

Based on a true story, this will remind many readers of Make Way for Ducklings.

Evidently, ducklings fall down grates a lot. I was trying to find a video of the Montauk even to show, but will have to settle for this one for now:

Source: hachettebookgroup.com

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild
Peter Brown

Sometimes I slightly regret sharing absurd books with my kids, because they can get a little cuckoobananas when inspired by such characters as Mr. Tiger, who takes off his clothes and jumps in a fountain! 

However, I like the message of the book, which L.S. in Room 1 summed up very nicely: he just wanted to be himself.

The author/illustrator can tell you a little more:

And there's even an activity kit!


Oliver and His Alligator

Source: barnesandnoble.com

Paul Schmid

When you hear kids gasp and then giggle, you know you have a good readloud on your hands. This one just may unseat "Wemberly Worried" as my go-to first-class-meeting book for K.

In Other Words ... Test Yourself

How good is your synonym knowledge? Can you identify the following fairy tales and Christmas songs? Post your answers to the comments section.

Fairy Tales 

1. The Trio of Diminutive Porkers 
2. Tiny Scarlet Hooded Female 
3. Boy and the Rampantly Growing Vegetable Vine 
4. The Small Half Fish Female 
5. The Royal Damsel and the Puny Pod Vegetable 
6. Snoozing Gorgeous One 
7. The Lad Who Yelled Canus Lupus 

Christmas Songs 

1. Bleached Yule 
2. Small Young Male Percussionist 
3. Embellish the Interior Passageways 
4. Allow the Frozen Precipitation to Commence 
5. The Arctic Quadruped with the Vermillion Proboscis 
6. Nocturnal Time Span of Unbroken Quietness 
7. Singular Yearning for the Twin Anterior Incisors

Mock Caldecott: Round 2 Results

We have two more books approved as finalists in our Mock Caldecott:

source: goodreads.com

Exclamation Mark
Author: Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld

As a grammar and punctuation nerd, I am excited to have the kids see that such things can be FUN.

What's My Mark? game - easiest
Rags to Riches game - easier
Rags to Riches game - harder

source: peachtreepub.
blogspot.com

Tiger in My Soup 
Author: Kashmira Sheth
Illustrator: Jeffrey Ebbeler

Super bold artwork shows how a boy's imagination works overtime as he begs his older sister to read him a story. Cool perspectives and visual treats (like the T I G E R cascading into his bowl of alphabet treats as she serves him lunch) make for a striking book.

pbkids.org has an alphabet soup riddle game you can play. I wonder if you'll get "R O A R"?

Mock Caldecott: Round 1 Results

Each January, the American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." Who will win in 2014? Well, first- and second-graders are going to make their pick in library, and we'll see how our choice lines up with the national award.

After round one, the following were cleared to move on with near unanimity:

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great
Bob Shea

Despite a few concerns over the use of the word "stupid" and the "girly"-ness of unicorns, most students were highly entertained by this account of Goat realizing that Unicorn isn't all that bad to hang out with ... in fact, Unicorn is actually jealous of Goat in a few areas! The kids greatly enjoyed the spread where the protagonists imagine being superheroes: "Taste my cloven justice! You've been unicorned!"



That Is Not a Good Idea
Mo Willems

Can Mo Willems do no wrong? From the silent movie design to the Greek chorus of baby geese to the twist ending, this is another instant classic. A lot of students recognized his name from the Pigeon and Elephant & Piggie books. And they loved this one just as much as they love those.

I am a huge Buster Keaton fan and plan to introduce him next week before checkout ... see 1:04 and 2:48 for dialogue cards and 2:18 for an amazing stunt.

Book Recommendations from Emelia

Do you have favorite books that you think other students should read too? You can be in charge of the recommendation shelf for a week! Just give Ms. Moore a list of 4-8 books that you love (and that we have at the Stadium library).

Here are Emelia's picks:

• Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantos
• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
• Strider by Beverly Cleary
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
• The Wright Three by Blue Balliett

Mock Caldecott 2014 Preview

Each January, the American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." The 2013 winner was Jon Klassen for This Is Not My Hat. Last year's second graders loved it (and so do I). Here is the book trailer:

I've started making my way through some of the best reviewed picture books from the past 8 months. So far, I've winnowed the list down to 12 potential Stadium Mock Caldecott nominees to share with the second graders (and am looking forward to several being published in the fall). As we read them during the second quarter, I'll post titles and related activities. For now, here are the ones with book trailers. They are all available at the public library.

The Dark
Author: Lemony Snicket
Illustrator: Jon Klassen

Exclamation Mark
Author: Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld

That Is Not a Good Idea
Mo Willems

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great
Bob Shea

Reading Recommendation: P.S. Be Eleven

source: ritawg.com

If you read (and liked) One Crazy Summer, which won the Newbery a couple of years ago, you may want to know that a sequel is now out. Called P.S. Be Eleven, it picks up right where the first one ended - like minutes later, on the plane ride home.

Even though it takes place more than 40 years ago, you'll be able to relate to Delphine, who is mortified by the dorky clothes her grandmother makes her wear and screams in delight when she sees pictures of the Jackson Five (kind of like the reaction of certain girls I know when they think about One Direction) and struggles with some of the changes happening in her family.

Book Recommendation: Timmy Failure #1 - Mistakes Were Made

Oh, kids. Get ready for a new series that you will love. If you like Wimpy Kid and Big Nate, you need to check this one out of the public library NOW. I give you ...

Timmy Failure #1: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis

source: publishersweekly.com

“My name is Failure. Timmy Failure. I am the founder, President and CEO of the best detective agency in town, probably in the world. Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made is a historical record of my life as a detective. It has been rigorously fact-checked. All the drawings in here are by me. I tried to get my business partner to do the illustrations, but they were not good.”

Read the first four chapters online

Do all kinds of activities on the Timmy Failure web site.

If you read the book, please add a comment below ... I've already submitted my order for the year, but if enough of you clamor for Timmy Failure, I am willing to go buy it myself for the collection.

Book Recommendation: A Tangle of Knots

As (most of) you know, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate won the 2013 Newbery Award. I sit on the Rhode Island Mock Newbery committee, and am using summer vacation as a chance to start reading the books that lots of other librarians are recommending as possible 2014 winners. When I read a good one, I'll let you all know to look for it at the public library (because I won't be able to buy new books for school until next June!).

So, here is my first recommendation:

source: lisagraff.com

A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff. NOTE: She wrote Umbrella Summer, which circulated a lot this year, and Double Dog Dare, which is on the current RICBA list.

Here is the jacket copy:

"In a remarkable world where many people are blessed with a special Talent, 11-year-old Cady is an orphan with a phenomenal ability for cake baking ... and now idea of the journey that Fate set in place for her the moment she was born. But when Cady moves into an upstairs room in the town's Lost Luggage Emporium, she meets a curious cast of characters whose lives are tangled with her own in ways she never could have imagined. There's the ragtag group of siblings struggling to grow beyond their Talents, the woman without any words, and the devious thief on a single-minded mission. And the one thing that ties them all together just might lie inside a single powder-blue suitcase. In a story that falls into place like a magnificent puzzle, these encounters hold the key to unraveling the mystery of Cady's past."

I'm not big on "fate," but I love an intricate plot. See if YOU can figure out all of the connections before the ending!