Interrupting Chicken

  

Today I read 'Interrupting Chicken' by David Ezra Stein to the grade 1/2 classes.  They LOVED it! The depth of colour in the illustrations of the little red chicken's bedroom contrasted with pages of less colourful, more traditional looking fairy tale pages,  the endearing little chicken, the use of speech bubbles, and (of course) the interrupting, won them over immediately. Stein's little red chicken captures the impulsive young interrupter perfectly.  The group of 6 and 7 year olds were grinning right away when the father asked his little one not to interrupt the story right on the cover of the book. Asked what they thought might happen, the children immediately said "He is going to interrupt" with broad smiles. They could all relate. This is a fun read aloud for both the audience and the reader. Jumping in with the excited interruptions made my day. It would be a fun book to practice and read together as a reader's theater with your child reading the little red chicken's part. I have some writing ideas too: perhaps a little red chicken's "I will not interrupt" pledge - could be hilarious, or a version with spoilers for different fairy tales (what are your favourites), a book review or a trailer. When I 'Googled' for a cover photo, I found David Ezra Stein's webpage including this video of him talking about the book...

 

and this great book trailer (with a real chicken)...

 

 I was also reminded of one of Stein's other books that is a wonderful lesson about what a smile can do:

You can borrow both of these books from our school library.  Drop in and visit for more recommendations any Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday after school. 

A New Pete the Cat - Fabulous!!

 

I have long been a fan of Pete the Cat.  I read Pete the Cat : I Love My White Shoes every year to the incoming kindergarten class than then place my Pete doll prominently on the classroom shelf to remind students that "it's all groovy" and there is no need to cry over little (or not so little) surprises. We read Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons as we begin to learn about subtraction (and remember that even if we lose something - "it's all cool"). The simple, brightly coloured illustrations combined with a handwritten style font appeal to readers young and old bringing the unassuming, cheerful, Pete the Cat to life.

Now Pete has returned to remind us that we have control over how we perceive the world and how our preceptions colour our day. Rather than rose coloured glasses, Pete gets a set of cool blue glasses from his friend Grumpy Toad.  Pete finds himself experiencing the cat 'blues' for the first time in his life and doesn't know what to do until he bumps into Grumpy Toad - who is NOT grumpy. The magic sunglasses are the key, helping each animal Pete meets along the way to "see things in a whole new way" - until the glasses break. Pete discovers that he doesn't need the glasses after all and that he has control over his own outlook. I can't wait to share this one with the class on one of our 'grumpy' days. Pete reminded me that sometimes I need to cross over to the sunny side of the street too!

Steve Jenkins - Author/illustrator/scientist

Two big boxes of non-fiction books purchased with the Raise-a-Reader grant funds from the Times Colonist arrived this month.  The students were so excited to see the new books on the shelves - and I had a great time doing book talks!

One of the highlights was a large set of Steve Jenkins books. Jenkins builds on the curiosity of children to create books like "What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?",  "Never Smile at a Monkey" and collections of the "est" of everything - "Biggest, Strongest, Fastest" and "Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest".  The books sold themselves at multi-age book talks.  In fact, one class sat with me so long asking for the next and then the next page in "Actual Size" that they almost missed their book exchange time. The bright, bold colours, layers and textures of Jenkins' incredible collages bring the images to life and pull your eye from one side of the page to the other. The texts are based on questions asked by his children over the years as well as Jenkins' own wonderings and capture the reader's interest immediately. The questions the books pose, and answer, are perfect examples of inquiry in action.  This slide show from Jenkins' website gives and overview of his book making process. Jenkins narrates his illlustrating process on this video - fascinating!  His site includes a gallery of artwork created by students inspired by his books - hmmmm, art project in the future? Check out our whole Steve Jenkins collection on the school library catalog (just type in 'jenkins, steve' and press enter).

I am I

Fitzpatrick, Marie-Louise.(2006). I am I.  New Milford, Connecticut: Roaring Brook Press.

I showed this incredibly beautiful book to Susan, Louisa and Jennah's classes before Remembrance Day using the document camera.  The story of two boys living on opposite sides of a river in an imaginary landscape and declaring themselves king of all they see spirals into a sad tale of war and destruction. Their proud, defiant and hateful words turn to barbed wire and eventually a fire-breathing dragon that leaves their world scorched and barren. The boys' remorse is genuine.  Their tears become a rain storm and germinate new life.  In the final illustration the boys face each other in a cobbled front yard bringing the story back to reality. The amazing, double page spread illustrations tell the story with very few words. The wonderful imagery in this book inspired thoughtful and insightful discussions in every class.

Primary, Intermediate picture book, Teacher resource

Bink and Gollie

DiCamilllo, K. & McGhee, A. (2010). Bink and Gollie.

Bink and Gollie won the Theodore Seuss Geisel Award in 2011. This lovely picture book is divided into chapters and illustrated in a graphic novel style with full page, mostly black and white illustrations with the colourful Bink and Gollie really 'popping' and short captions or speech bubbles. The endearing, mismatched friends get up to all sorts of adventures from shopping trips to mountain climbing.  Gollie's intellect and imagination make a perfect foil for Bink's irrepressible fun-loving style. DiCamillo's understated humour coupled with McGhee's expressive illustrations bring the two lovable and engaging characters to life. Despite Bink and Gollie's differences, they discover that compromise, and pancakes, are the key to lasting friendship.

Primary, Late Primary, (Intermediate students enjoy the illustration style and Gollie's dry humour too)

Visit Bink and Gollie's Website at http://www.binkandgollie.com/

Mo Willems Biography

Llanas, S. (2012). Mo Willems. Minneapolis, Minn.: ABDO Publishing Co.

I couldn't resist the chance to purchase this biography of one of my favourite children's authors and illustrators. When I introduced it to each class (from grade 1 to 4) they were thrilled to see the little girl Knuffle Bunny's Trixie is based on and the pidgeon mascot outside a bookstore. This bearutifully laid out book with large colour photos and short, information packed chapters follows Mo from childhood doodles to a love of cartooning (he wrote Charles Schulz to ask "Can I have your job when you're dead?"), a career in stand-up comedy, an Emmy Award winning writing gig with Seasame Street and becoming a multiple award winning author.  The book ends saying that Willems hopes children will be inspired to "draw the characters, write new scenes and act out skits".  As each page turned I grew more and more impressed with this clever, funny artist. 

Check out Mo Willems blog at http://mowillemsdoodles.blogspot.ca/  - especially the 'dinner doodles'.

Late primary, Intermediate, Teacher resource