It's Monday! What are you reading?

I’m joining Jen & Kellee (and many other bloggers) in discussing what we are reading this week. Join us! Go to their site and link up your own blog.

Better reading week than last week. I am frustrated, though. In trying to read the Newbery winners I have been reading them in order. I have the 1932 and 1933 winners waiting on my shelf but the 1931 winner still hasn’t come in from the library. If it isn’t in this week I will move ahead. I cannot wait to get a little farther in the winners list so that some of the books are actually at my library.

Many of the books I read this week came from my trip to Anderson’s Bookshop this weekend. A fabulous independent bookstore, if you are in the Naperville area. Also, please check out my blog from yesterday – at the end you are welcome to enter the giveaway for Wonder!

And this past week’s reading (with an * next to awesome titles and *** next to favorites of the week.)

·      Dash and Dart by Mary Buff

·      Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman ***

·      Vote for Me! By Ben Clanton

·      How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills *

·      Leo Geo and His Miraculous Journey Through the Center of the Earth by Jon Chad *

·      Bawk & Roll by Tammi Sauer *

·      Hades: Lord of the Dead by George O’Connor *

·      Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett *

·      Baby Bear Sees Blue by Ashley Wolff *

·      The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth by Anita Silvey ***

As for this week – I’d like to finish The One and Only Ivan which I am rereading as a read aloud to my boys. Also, I want to get moving on some more #nerdbery books. Hoping 1931 comes in soon! 

The Wonder of Wonder

The amazing author of WONDER, R.J. Palacio and me

 Three weeks ago I saw a tweet from John Schu saying that the amazing writer R.J. Palacio was coming to Anderson’s Bookshop to promote Wonder. I immediately told John I was interested in coming and he kindly got me a ticket. I thought it would be a fun day but it was so much more.

I arrived in Naperville early. My iPhone has been having major issues and we aren’t lucky enough to have an Apple Store in Central IL, but Naperville does. I arrived at my appointment, had my phone taken, was given a new one, and was on my way. I walked out of Apple and glanced across to see this:

Anderson's Bookshop - Naperville

We talk – or tweet- so much about Anderson’s on Twitter and it is just a bookstore. But, as I told my husband when I got home, it is so much more than that. It’s an independent bookstore - I love to support those whenever possible. It obviously celebrates children; there are children books in about half of the store. It brings authors in to be celebrated. In doing so, it allows kids to meet these people who have often become their heroes. At its heart, Anderson’s celebrates books and their readers.

I wandered in and began looking for the books on my list. My top three weren’t there ( I would find out later that John had bought all the copies of two of them and one wasn’t out yet.) :) I quickly found several others that I wanted and continued to meander through the aisles. After about an hour I checked out.

Then I moved on to other stores in town before meeting my friend Jen for lunch. Jen’s student Michelle had come with her, and Michelle’s family. Michelle has some similarities to Auggie in Wonder. It was an honor to meet her, her sister, her mom, and her nurse. A wonderful family, the hour passed quickly.

When we returned to Anderson’s it was just about time for the event. I found Donna and John, met some new friends as well. We caught up quickly and then R.J. Palacio came out. She was just wonderful. This is, amazingly, her first book. She spoke about the inspiration for writing Wonder, when she found time to write, her family, the future for Auggie, and more.

After she was done we got a chance to get our books signed. John had bought our tickets pretty early so we were towards the front. I loved getting to pass on the message from my son, Luke, who has read Wonder that he thinks it is a simply amazing book. It was a pleasure to watch RJ Palacio interact with people in line. She was simply warm, genuine, and kind to everyone.

After leaving Anderson’s some of us wandered down a few doors to catch up some more. We laughed at how many books we had between the five of us. The conversation moved from discussing the book, Twitter, school libraries, #nerdbery, and what books we love. All too soon it was time to go home. I went back to John’s car where he gave me three amazing gifts – the two books I was trying to purchase and a #wonderofwonder CD. (Songs that are mentioned in the book)

On the first hour of my three hour drive home I listened to the CD over and over, reflecting on how you can enjoy the company of these people that you know mainly through a social network. I also thought about how a book as amazing as Wonder can change you. John said when he talks about Wonder he holds it close to his heart as he talks about it. I do too. This book is so important to me.

In that vein, I was trying to think about how to thank John for all of the books he gives me. How to thank R.J. Palacio for writing this book. And I can’t think of a better way than to give away one copy of this book. So, please add your email below if you want a free copy of Wonder. 

Giveaway Rules

1. The giveaway will run from April 15 to 11:59 PM on April 20.

2. This contest is open to people living in the continental United States.

3. You must be at least 13 to enter.

4. If you can, please pay it forward. Thanks!


J

Nurtured Heart

The Inner Wealth Initiative: 

The Nurtured Heart Approach for Educators

By: Tom Grove and Howard Glasser

One of my grad classes this fall was an ED PSY class on Social Emotional Learning, or SEL. I’ve heard those three letters thrown around a lot but I don’t think I had a clear understanding what they meant. After a semester in the class my own novice description was that SEL was, in my opinion, parenting in the classroom. And by parenting, I mean teaching your children to handle their emotions and make better choices.

To be fair, I don’t know that I am always the best parent. I know I try hard but I fail as much as I succeed. One thing I have always tried to do with my boys is talk. A lot. Everything has the potential to be a life lesson. Someone hurt their feelings at school – we discuss how they felt, how they handled it. They made a bad choice, same discussion. I hear that a former student is in trouble for whatever reason – we talk about it. So discussions are part of our everyday life. But the discussions are usually layered with a lesson and trying to name what they did well and, sometimes, what they could improve upon. It works for us.

Now, do I think every child I have ever taught has parents who have these discussions – or even the time to have them? No. And that’s where this book comes in. I first heard of The Nurtured Heart Approach from Susan Zola. Her husband was my professor in that ED PSY class. She is also a principal of a local middle school. She uses this approach. She came to a class to tell us about it. Essentially it boils down to using positive discussions with students to build their “inner wealth”. To me, this seems to boil down to their self-confidence. I think that is interesting.

I often hear people lament that “Susie” has a low self-confidence. If only their self-confidence was higher they would be better off, etc. But there isn’t much talk given to how to build that confidence. Is this a problem I see? Yes, I do see some kids lacking in inner wealth in my classrooms. Why has this happened? I think many kids don’t know what they are good at. Many parents are swamped and it is easier to do for our children than to teach them to do for themselves. Also, I wonder if the message that everyone is a winner (I’m looking at t-ball right now) and no one loses – might have something to do with this. I think kids today often don’t know what it is like to work hard at something. To be frustrated and have to keep working to find their answers. Will this program fix this? I don’t know, but am anxious to find out.

And I don’t want this program to give off the feeling that parents aren’t doing what they are “supposed to” or that kids are all bad. I think the majority of parents today are trying very hard, want the best for their kids, and are completely overwhelmed. I know I am. I would love for my school to use this program and work with parents so that we could be a team. But that is the future. Right now I am just planning on reading the book for the third time over the summer, hopefully with some educator friends, and see what we think. How about you? Have you heard of this program? If so, please share!  

Slice of Life - The One and Only Ivan

 Slice of Life is sponsored every Tuesday by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers. 

I meant to get a picture of my bed at 7:30 tonight but failed so you’ll have to imagine. At that time I called the boys up, it was time to read our family read aloud, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. Liam groaned the whole way up, he wanted to continue playing. Luke was ready to read. Interestingly once they reached my bed Liam grabbed my laptop and asked if he could “see” Ivan. We’ve discussed that the story is based on the real story of Ivan the gorilla that is currently at the Atlanta Zoo. We found a few videos of Ivan. Liam wanted him to turn around so we could see his silverback.

Then Luke asked how old Ivan was, we looked up some information on the lifespan of a gorilla. We learned that they can live to about fifty years in captivity. Ivan was born in 1964 and is forty-eight. Both boys immediately began worrying about Ivan. How much longer will he live? We hope awhile. There conversation then turned to the lifespan of our dog, Bally, who, I fear, is in the winter of her life. To get them off the topic we planned out our summer vacation, when we’d visit Ivan on the way back from a trip to South Carolina, where else we’d travel to in Atlanta, and so on. 

Finally, we curled up in the bed. I get positioned in the middle, Liam on the left, Luke on the right. Blankets piled high we summarized what we read last time. We had just finished a very sad part and had to rehash why that was necessary in the book. Reading tonight we marveled at how the young elephant, Ruby, has a magical effect on Ivan, she’s able to get him to remember. We made predictions about what would happen next. And after thirty minutes, I told them we needed to stop. Both boys begged for a few more pages but it was Liam’s bedtime. (And it’s always good to keep them wanting more.)

This has been an incredible reading year for me. I’ve read four of my favorite books in the last few years, and interestingly they are at a variety of levels. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach was an incredible book for adults (a 2011 release). The other three books are all from 2012 and if they are any indication of the books to come this year, I count my blessings. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is for Young Adults. Wonder by RJ Palacio and The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate are both for middle grades. These three books are seriously up in the top best books I have EVER read. If you have missed any, please go read them now. 


I am grateful to be reread IVAN with my sons and having wonderful discussions with them about it. I cannot wait to buy them their own stuffed animal IVAN and take them to the Atlanta Zoo this summer. I think this is a reading experience they will not soon forget. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I’m joining Jen & Kellee (and many other bloggers) in discussing what we are reading this week. Join us! Go to their site and link up your own blog.

Honestly, I haven't read much this week. I've been getting caught up on grad school work and rushing to finish everything in time. But reading? I've started five books - they are all wonderful – but I haven’t finished any of them, yet. I hate reading multiple books at a time for this reason. One book I did read and wanted to talk about today was this one, An Awesome Book by Dallas Clayton.

I first learned of this book from a Tweet or Facebook post from John Schu. I watched this video:

And then I realized you could read the entire book for free online here:

AN AWESOME BOOK

I did and I loved it. The illustrations are amazing and the message is wonderful.

So on our weekly trip to the bookstore on Friday I picked the book up. I told Luke and Liam about it while we waited to check out. And then as we stopped at a red light right outside the bookstore I glanced back and saw this:

I love that my boys love to read. That they hear me talk about a book and HAVE to pull it out because they can’t wait to get home to read it. That’s awesome too. 

Slice of Life - Make me smile

Slice of Life is sponsored every Tuesday by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers. For the month of March we are challenging ourself to write a Slice A Day. Here we go!


If you read my slices in March you’ll know that I’m 38 and while I still think I’m young I am often proven otherwise. This became crystal clear when I saw the following YouTube video. While I was watching the first 2 minutes of it I thought it was a group of high school students hanging out, lip syncing some song. 


My thoughts ran from...

Wow, these are adorable kids. They can dance. I love how fun seems to exude from this. Wait, is that the kids from Big Time Rush? And why do I know that? 

Finally,  around 2:30 I realized it was Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. Good grief. But maybe that would be a mistake any adult would make. Until I showed the video to my niece (8 yrs) and sons (9 and 6 yrs). They all recognized many of the kids in it, quickly. A few laughs were had at my expense. I still argue it’s a fun video, even if you don’t know who’s in it.

With that thought in mind, I saw the following tweets tonight on Twitter.

These absolutely made my day. Number one – I now am thinking of a bunch of ten-year-old Mr. Schu (and Mr. Sharp) groupies across the country. And two, I absolutely think they need their own lip sync video – gentlemen, see the above example. I’m sure we could find some song that has to do with books or reading. I feel like Tom Angleberger’s Fake Mustache should have been held up in the above video. (Although I was pleased that a book made it, period. Way to go, teen stars. Promote reading!)

All in all, it was a great way to start my week. A video that made me laugh and feel my age, but in a good way. Tweets that made me smile. And the vision for an awesome, crazy, fun video staring Twitter friends. Colby and John, I think this is an idea you need to get behind. I promise I’d recognize you both. J

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

I’m joining Jen & Kellee (and many other bloggers) in discussing what we are reading this week. Join us! Go to their site and link up your own blog.

Well, to start, not as much as the previous week. Then again, I wasn’t on spring break this week so I think I did ok. Made it through the following books this week:

·      Amazing Faces by Lee Bennett Hopkins *

·      Small Rain by Jessie Orton Jones

·      Marshmallow by Clare Turlay Newberry

·      The Little House Board Book by Virginia Lee Burton *

·      Mighty Hunter by Berta Hader

·      The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie *

·      Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric Kelley

·      Hitty Her First Hundred Years  by Rachel Field

I’m so glad to get through some more #nerdbery and #nerdcott challenge books, I can’t even describe it. And although I did not love Krakow or Hitty, I thought they were light years better than any of the last few. Blah! J Few more to read this week so I can catch up and then back to books I really want to read. So many to read, so little time. Next up is The Cat that Went to Heaven but it hasn’t come in from my library yet. What to do, what to do.

Have a great reading week!

Katherine