A Color Game for Chester Raccoon

A Color Game for Chester Raccoon by Audrey Penn takes our friend Chester once again down to the board book level with this title focusing on colors found in a forest. Most board books that focus on color are simplified with one large colored item or several same colored items for each page. Not so here. In A Color Game for Chester Raccoon, the reader must use observation skills to identify colors within the forest. There are not too many colors on the page to make this difficult, but to those children just guessing by pointing at objects, this will be more challenging. I can see this helping parents prepare preschoolers.

The first page has Chester Raccoon gleefully pointing out a bird with white feathers. Astute children may notice that the background of this and all following pages is white. Since some of the bird’s feathers are other colors, there are opportunities for calling forth more vocabulary. The bird has black feathers with white spots and striped brown and tan feathers, also. While the author focuses on white, blue, yellow, orange, brown, black, and red, sharp parents will point out a color present on each page that isn’t identified – a pale forest GREEN.

I like this title because it encourages observation and suggests parents help children make color identification a game. Learning to play with a child is not always instinctive so this is an excellent choice for new parents. I can’t wait to take this north to Michigan for my new step-daughters’ baby shower. Since she’s having a boy, I am having a wonderful time choosing board book titles that I can’t wait to share with you. I think I could get the hand on being a grandma. I’m not even worried about them calling me anything other than grandma. I like it!

There is a moment of the kissing hand being given to both Chester and Ronny Raccoon. I love The Kissing Hand, and others in this series: A Pocketful of Kisses, A Kiss Goodbye, Chester Raccoon and the Big Bad Bully, Chester Raccoon and the Acorn Full of Memories, and the board book A Bedtime Kiss for Chester Raccoon. I am still waiting for an adapted version of The Kissing Hand for babies in board book format. I have used the stickers from The Kissing Hand and created my own stickers for kindergarten class’ storytime early in the year. For some of my students, simple affection like a heart-shaped sticker in their hand or a quick-politically-correct-one-arm-hug may be the most they receive in a day.

I was thinking about this recently while kissing wounded elbows and toes of my other new grandchildren. Just how many body parts do parents kiss while they are teaching? Fingers, chin, eyes, nose, cheeks, knees, elbows and toes? Perhaps we could produce the new parents guide to boo-boo’s and owies? Next, I’d like to buy the Chester Raccoon puppet to help in storytime. I hope that Audrey Penn continues to help Chester Raccoon face life as he grows.

My Book Fairs do not earn much over $1000 cash profit. The PTO candy sales can earn $5000 easily. So why do I still bother with a book fair?

I believe the value of our bookfair is not just in the cash profit we earn, but in the entire experience of the bookfair. We try to make it an event with decorations, contests, family participation, food, and with building excitement about reading. We integrate standards into booktalks and mini-lessons. We read aloud from some of the titles and watch students eagerly purchase that title for their own collection. We talk books. We talk authors. We talk series. We talk about matching our personal interests with reading.

You cannot do those things with a candy bar or lollipop. So even though we don’t make much profit, we will continue to want to hold the event.

I am wondering though if schools will open their eyes in the future though and decide that our profit is too small to justify giving up a slot to the bookfair.

How does your state handle fundraisers?

At the same time the program is geared towards cleaning up collections to weed out older materials and create gaps or opportunities for the public library to help the school library. One of the first steps involves the public library using Karen Lowe’s weeding formulas to create lists of materials to either keep, evaluate, or discard. These are simply quick guidelines and it is still up to the school librarian to make the final decisions. They are formula based on the copyright age only.

I received my lists last week. When I came to my school this year, I realized the reference collection needed serious weeding. I took out the worst offenders, but left some series since the principal was concerned that I not take all without replacing. To comply with the weeding lists, my principal is going to be shocked at how little is left.

I purchased the Britannica Student Encyclopedia this year and have been teaching all my encyclopedia skills through it and my online sets of Britannica and World Book. That expense took a major portion of my budget and I couldn’t afford any other reference sources.

When I received the weeding list for reference, only five titles are listed in the keep section. All the others are listed as to be evaluated or discarded. I can discard the 167 other titles and I will be left with these five titles.

• The World Book dictionary from 2007
• 2006 World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia
• 2008 World Book Encyclopedia
• Britannica student encyclopedia 2012
• Titanic by Jenkins, Martin. 2008 (although I think it’s only in reference because it’s oversized).

All the science encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, atlases, dictionaries, thesaurus, picture dictionaries, and even the only Tennessee biographical dictionary are slated for removal. Do I take a leap of faith and just get rid of all of those?

I had left the endangered species encyclopedia set from 1995 since next year the entire school will have a theme of dinosaurs and endangered/extinct animals as their PBL (project based learning project) for nine weeks. My thoughts were those sets would at least provide names of animals for my students to research whether they continue to be on the endangered and extinct list or whether their status had improved. If I simply go with the weeding lists, I will have nothing.

My school is a STEM school – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I need access to up-to-date reference materials and nonfiction. Will the public library budget be able to replace titles to meet our needs? I will keep you informed as we progress.

I don’t even want to mention how ridiculous the list is for easy books. According to a computer formula, all old picture books would go including Newbery and Caldecott winners, early Berenstain bear titles, Miss Nelson is Missing and more. I’m glad that I will be able to use my own judgement on these lists because a computer will never be able to replace the brain of a librarian.

Imagine a 55 minute test that has 95% of the students finished in 20. What will they do after testing? Nothing. They cannot read a book. They cannot turn their tests in early. They cannot write. They cannot draw. They must simply sit there. If they put their head down on the desk, fall asleep and drool – the teacher is in trouble for ruining the answer sheet.

Even during their ten minute break between parts 1 & 2 (AKA Parts A & B), they are not allowed to read. The inhumanity! Today was our fourth and final day of testing for third and fourth graders. Before the test started several had shown me their books they were currently reading. Many of the children were pleading to use their downtime to read. Some had checked their tests over 2 and 3 times and weren’t going to do any better with the extra time.

As soon as the test ended, they cheered with one arm and drug out books with the other. They couldn’t wait to get back to reading and learning something. They were fidgeting because they wanted out of those chairs and to be allowed back in the library to get new books. I watched as they stacked 4-5 titles each instead of the district’s suggested 2 titles. They had reading to catch up on and had been deprived by four days of testing.

So what did I do? I reminded them that when they grew up, they could become politicians and remember that testing was never as important as reading. They could vote to provide access to more reading materials and waste less time on testing materials if they believed reading was more important.

Shoutout! Hey, Michael Dahl, the students in Ms T’s third grade class want you to know that they think the Library of Doom serious is awesome, incredible, and very exciting. One even called it spine-tingling scary but not the kind that kept you up at night. I found homemade bookmarks and notes they sent each other describing where the books “lived” in the library and how to request a book be reserved.

Fortunately, I am good at pretending to never hear the naysayer’s so I can continue on to do what I think will help promote reading. Here are some examples:

our bookfair. My school hadn’t had one in over ten years. With over 99% poverty rates, “everyone” told me not to be disappointed if it flopped and was a waste of my time. Instead we sold over $4000 worth of books at reduced costs. We added in a RIF event and every student received a free book. We held Read Me Week and demonstrated why reading was important. We read in the hallways and watched the second grade team teachers suddenly grab Dr. Seuss books and start reading aloud to children.  We had 100 people show up for a breakfast event of donuts(I provided), coffee, and juice. They bought books and TALKED to their children about reading.

our cookies and books night. The PTO provided cookies. I provided plates, napkins, cups, etc. We used the Scholastic Book Fair Klutz-Build-a-Book kits and provided space. We had 75 students and family members participating. It was standing room only at one point. We had lines waiting for table and chair space to create. The event was supposed to end at 7:30 and at 8p.m. I was still shooing little ones home with their kits in the plastic bags I provided.

our trip to the Nashville Sounds and the Ozzie Reading program. Oh, wait, we haven’t gone there yet. Our students have been reading to get to the different bases to earn a ticket to the Nashville Sounds game this month. I just turned in our order for over 400 student tickets. The P.E. teachers extraordinaire have worked with me to help track reading and to arrange for busses. The PTO is paying for the busses for the school to attend. I am tracking and filling out paperwork so I don’t miss anyone.

The day of the game we will leave in time to get to the stadium, have to eat our sack lunches outside on the sidewalk since we cannot take food in to the stadium, march these 400 students from our school around the outfield in celebration of reading, and find our seats amongst the other elementary schools attending. I’m trying to keep concerns to a minimum, yet there are naysayer’s that keep saying this is going to be a disaster.

Pray for me in what ever manner you choose so this event will be a success. I feel it is already a success because we have students setting goals and reading to meet them. As one little boy told me, the ticket is nice, but the best part is being one of the kids that read ten books a base. He told me he would never have tried some of those Stone Arch chapter books if I hadn’t urged (okay, he said nagged) him to keep reading to move to another base.

How do you handle the naysayer’s?

Here are a trio of titles for spring board books:

In the Garden by Elizabeth Spurr illustrated by Manelle Oliphant – a board book. Peachtree Publishers, 2012. ISBN: 978-1-56145-581-2 $6.95

The Fuzzy Duckling (a Golden baby book) – a board book. Jane Werner Watson; illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen. Random House Golden Books, 2012. ISBN 978-0-307-92966-2. $ 6.99.

Duck & Goose Here Comes the Easter Bunny! by Tad Hills – a board book. Schwartz & Wade, 2012. ISBN 978-0-375-7280-8. $6.99.

In the Garden takes the concept of a young boy planting a garden and waiting for his plants to grow. It takes great cleverness to be able to write only two words on a page, yet create a rhyming book that can be read over and over. To read In the Garden, a parent might race through each page quickly to hear the rhyme, then return to read and savor each pastel-colored illustration. Words like shade and earth may take more parent vocabulary to describe, but as I read, I found myself adding many words the second and third time through to point out parts. I would pause to count the sprouts, compare whether something was in the shade or the sun, ask questions like “Why did the boy shout?” and basically take the time to strengthen observation when reading.

Parents who are nature-conscious will love this title, as will budding scientist families. I’d place it in the basket of any of my STEM teacher colleagues. Hmmm. I hope Cara Wade isn’t reading this so she’ll be surprised to open her baby basket with In the Garden, seeds to plant, and fake safe plants.

Here is the publisher’s description of In the Garden:

Have you experienced that moment when you are reading a new book and suddenly wished you had a class of students in front of you so you could read aloud and share the rush of fun? Mr. and Mrs. Bunny – Detectives Extraordinaire! is such a book, simply hysterically fun and meant to be shared.

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny book is deceptive! It is surprising! It is quick reading with lively banter and vocabulary that tickles your tongue. The cover is quite misleading. I was expecting a simple third or fourth grade chapter book featuring animals. Instead, I find plucky, practical fifth grader Madeline who possesses the skills to fend for herself and care for her hippie parents. This is an adventure story that happens to be divided not-so-neatly between human and animal characters.

Who could resist picking up a book with a letter on the back from “The Enemy” using the phrase “Mwa-haha?” I cannot resist reading aloud Mwa-haha. In fact, while I write now, my four dogs are staring at me wondering why I keep saying Mwa-haha yet aren’t causing any visible trouble.

Madeline and her parents live in Canada near Vancouver and Hornby Island. Of course, as all practical and plucky characters must be, Madeline is SMART and looks forward to Prince Charles’ presenting her three graduation awards. While she is diligently working to earn money to buy the shoes she needs for graduation, sinister forces – err… sinister foxes are at work. How do we find out? We read “Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Madeline, back at her house, sinister forces were at work.” Now that’s the kind of sentence we can inspire dreamers with.

Who are these sinister beings? Why, foxes, of course! When Madeline’s father Flo expresses his surprise that foxes are so commercial, the Grand Poobah replies, “Foxes are titans of industry! Have you never heard of Fox Studios? Fox Television? You didn’t think it was owned by hoomans, did you?”

Aha! This explains much of the evil doings of our world. The foxes are behind them. Of course, if I had been a bunny like Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, I would have known to beware foxes long ago. Mr. and Mrs. Bunny have recently moved from a mountain hutch to a new home in  Rabbitville in Cowichan Valley. Mrs. Bunny believes foxes “regard the houses in Rabbitville as a strip of fast-food joints.” and doesn’t “want to be someone’s Big Mac.”

When Madeline’s parents are kidnapped, Madeline needs a combination of animal and human helpers to survive. Since Mrs. Bunny is easily bored and they both look so dashing in fedoras, Mr and Mrs. Bunny have decided to become detectives. Soon Madeline and the Bunny’s join forces in this mystery adventure filled with slapstick moments and joyful banter.

You’ll have to pick up a copy of this wacky wonderful tale and share your joy with others. Be sure to read every bit of the last chapter. You won’t want to miss a moment of this extraordinary adventure.

While I was searching I started reading other website ideas like:

eHow’s Ideas for Library Display Cases which suggested things like a Local Author or Creature Showcase.

This post on Squidoo had some excellent photographs and links to other blogs with ideas.

This led me to the Creative Library Display blog with posts like this one on I’d rather be travelling the world.   I’d like to try that, but we keep receiving the memo not to hang anything from the ceiling since it sets off the security alarm.  There is an amazing display for Summer love by Anita, with books that I would need an entire crew to help create.

I especially appreciated the page of Display tips from including  3 ways to attract attention:

1. colour
2. hologram card or shiny materials like gold, silver, metal, curling ribbons etc.
3. movement

Marketing the Library Display suggests “With book displays and bulletin boards you an draw attention to new books, special collections, under-circulated titles and services that are offered within the library that often go unnoticed.”

I hadn’t though about marketing the services we provide. I wonder if anyone has done that in a school library. One of my concerns has been when I books in a glass case display, they are less accessible for checkout. Some teachers will ask for books in the display, but seldom to students. They see closed glass shelves meaning “Don’t touch!”

Despite those links, I was still frustrated. I need more visual ideas including photographs. Fortunately, I found Informania and Three For: Awesome Ideas for Library Displays. They included links to Flickr images of displays and Pinterest. Exactly what I needed!

Elaine Pearson writes the blog Library Displays: Creative Ideas to Promote Books from your Library Collection. Her ideas are frequently cross-posted and she has some useful links.

Do you have other sites to share?

Publisher’s Description: Isabella Swan’s move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Isabella’s life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Isabella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knife-between desire and danger.

Quotes from Readers: “Romance for teens that is thrilling and safe.”

“The most popular title for teens since 2005″

“This title caused busy teenage girls to stop and read.”

Online reviews: Goodreads, LibraryThing, Shelfari, TeenReads, TeensReadToo.

Awards: Georgia Peach Book Award (2007), Kentucky Bluegrass Award for 9-12 (2007), An ALA/YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2006), Prijs van de Kinder- en Jeugdjury Vlaanderen (2008), Books I Loved Best Yearly (BILBY) Awards for Older Readers (2009); West Australian Young Readers’ Book Award (WAYRBA) for Older Reader Award (2008), South Carolina Book Award for Young Adult Book Award (2008), Grand Canyon Reader Award for Teen Book (2008), Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award for High School (2007), Gateway Awards (2007), Golden Sower Award for Young Adult (2009), Nevada Young Readers’ Award for Young Adult Category (2007), The Flume: New Hampshire Teen Reader’s Choice Award (2007), Garden State Teen Book Award for Fiction (Grades 9-12) (2008), Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award for Young Adult (2008), Rhode Island Teen Book Award (2007), Evergreen Young Adult Book Award (2008), ALA Teens’ Top Ten (2006), Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award Nominee (2006), Teen Read Award Nominee for Best All-Time-Fave (2010), Iowa High School Book Award (2008), ALA’s Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2006), Abraham Lincoln Award (2008)

Diane’s note: Romance lives on and takes the #1 slot for Top Teen Titles. This makes sense when you consider the factors that make a Top Teen list as opposed to a children’s book list. Look at the complete list to see the themes of growing up, realistic fiction, drama, and fantasy as a higher level.

Twilight continues to woo new readers every year. Romance became popular again when Twilight was released. Would you believe the http://thetwilightsaga.com/ page has 503,149 members?  I can recall trying to find romance as a teen and giving up. I read Harlequin Romances, Silhouettes, and more from seventh grade on. My grandmother received hers in the mail so I knew I could always borrow 20-30 a week to read and get me through study hall. I can recall blushing a few times and giggling out loud.

As an adult, there are many titles of paranormal romance available not suitable for early teens. I’ve just recently finished reading 23 books in one series by Christine Feehan and I am a big fan of Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan series. But when teens would ask me for romance books, I’d struggle to find something that didn’t focus on the sexuality as much as the romance. Twilight was an answer to prayers for romance reader’s guidance. Since Twilight, publishers embraced romance again with a twist for teens like the Harlequin Teen series.

When Twilight was released, I read and enjoyed Bella’s story because Bella was not a perfect heroine. She may even be clumsier than I am (those of you who suffered playing volleyball, basketball, and softball with me at Willow High School may disagree), but Bella has a maturity that I admired.

Twilight has been criticized by some people who feel Bella is helpless and passive, needing someone to save her. “Perhaps it was because I was a novelty here, where novelties were few and far between. Possibly my crushing clumsiness was seen as endearing rather than pathetic, casting me as a damsel in distress.”

Since I was able to put Twilight on my lovely Kindle for only $0.99 one day, I have enjoyed searching for words like damsel (occurs once), helpless (four times), and saved (8 times). I knew eventually I’d get to the phrase I remembered.

While in the hospital Bella is telling Edward that a man and woman have to be somewhat equal in a relationship without one of them always “swooping in and saving the other one. They have to save each other equally.” Bella insists she doesn’t want to always be Lois Lane, but wants to be Superman, too.

So for those of you who claim Bella is too passive, just wait because she has her own superpowers still to be released. Much like our teenagers have so much more to reveal in the future.

The detractors from Twilight just don’t get that this is an unusual vampire story and a romance without too much smut or mushiness. Boys and girls have enjoyed reading Twilight. My male middle school students wrote as many positive reviews as the girls did.

The Wrap-up Two years ago I surveyed teachers, librarians, students, and many others asking them to submit their top 3 choices of titles that should be in a teen collection. Little did I know that after I compiled the list and began writing about them, that I would have to go back and re-read all 100 of the top teen titles (plus many of their sequels) and some of them more than one time. It was exhausting, exhilarating, and exasperating to try to write just a little bit about each title, and to hopefully convince others of the merit of these titles.

Did I like every book? No, thank you very much, but then a perfect collection will have something for everyone to like and to dislike. If the survey was taken now, I wonder how drastically it would change. Would the Twilight and Harry Potter series still rank as high? Would Hunger Games score higher now that the movie has been released? How about the new titles that have been released in the past two years? I’m thinking of the YALSA Notable lists, the CYBILS, the Printz award winners, and new series that have captured the attention of our teens. While some of the titles are bound to change rankings, it has been fascinating the chart the interest in the Top Teen Titles.

The Complete List:

#2

Publisher’s Description: First published by Viking in 1967, The Outsiders immediately resonated with young adults. This groundbreaking novel was like nothing else out there—it was honest and gritty, and was a deeply sympathetic portrayal of Ponyboy, a young man who finds himself on the outside of regular society. Forty years later, with over thirteen million copies sold, the story is as fresh and powerful to teenagers today as it ever was.

Quotes from Readers: “Timeless”

“A list like this needs something classic, and I feel like The Outsiders captures a certain vocabulary of past teens even better than The Catcher in the Rye.”

Online reviews: Goodreads, LibraryThing, Shelfari, TeenReads.

Awards: Books I Loved Best Yearly (BILBY) Awards for Secondary (1991), ALA Best Books for Young Adults (1975); ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (2006.03|Criminal Elements, 2006); ALA 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000; ALA 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-1999 ; 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up

Susan Eloise Hinton was the first recipient of the YASD/ SLJ Author Achievement Award created to honor an author whose work has been taken to heart by young adults over a period of years, providing an “authentic voice that continues to illuminate their experiences and emotions, giving insight into their lives.” When you visit the ALA YALSA website for the now named 1988 Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner, you can read “S.E. Hinton’s books have shown, over the past twenty-one years, the “lasting ability to speak to the young adult experience, to help reader to become more aware of themselves and of the world around them.” In presenting this award to S.E. Hinton for The Outsiders; That Was Then This Is Now; Rumble Fish and Tex, the Young Adult Services Division recognizes that these books provide a window through which young adults can view their world. In them a young adult may explore the need for independence and simultaneously the need for loyalty and belonging, the need to care for others, and the need to be cared for by them.”

Diane’s note: In the 1960’s fifteen year-old Susan Eloise Hinton was frustrated with the only books for teens revolving around prom and dating. When a friend of hers was beaten while walking home for being a greaser, she took her anger and wrote a novel about the cruelty of teenage life and social cliques. This changed juvenile literature in American and  began Young Adult Literature and realistic teenage fiction as we know it. When it was released, reluctant readers – especially boys- related to the story and her portrayal of conflict, brotherly love, and coming of age. Of course gangs and violence were part of the story which reflected the realism and respect for the audience.

The Outsiders remains  popular today and is often included in middle and high school curriculums. When S.E. Hinton was asked why the book has remained popular through the years, she replied:

“Every teenager feels that adults have no idea what’s going on. That’s exactly the way I felt when I wrote The Outsiders. Even today, the concept of the in-group and the out-group remains the same. The kids say, “Okay, this is like the Preppies and the Punks” or whatever they call themselves. The uniforms change and the names of groups change, but kids really grasp how similar their situations are to Ponyboy’s.”

Some schools and libraries have banned The Outsiders for the portrayal of gang violence, underage smoking and drinking, as well as strong language/ slang and family dysfunction. When I was able to convince a teacher to use The Outsiders with a group of Middle School students, it was an instant hit. Many of the students sought other realistic fiction titles afterwards, particularly those dealing with gangs and the type of daily violence to which they are exposed. I had one teacher hesitate to use The Outsiders because she thought it would be dated and students wouldn’t relate. Yet the beauty of S.E. Hinton’s writing and her impact is just as strong today. Stay gold, Ponyboy.