Nonfiction Monday: Flags of the World

Why are kids fascinated with flags?  They just seem to love looking at books with flags, my flag display in the corner of the library, and the flag pages of the almanac.

They will be happy to see this new book, Flags of the World by Sylvie Bednar.  Bold and colorful, Bednar has divided the book into sections throughout the globe: Europe, The Americas, Oceania, Africa, and Asia.

Each section has a two page spread with all the flags for that region and a globe to show where in the world.  Some pages include a “fast facts” about the country.  Bednar has researched the meaning and symbolic nature of each flag.  Did you know that the white in the United States flag signifies honesty while the red is for courage and fervor?  The blue of our flag is for loyalty, friendship and justice.

Canada’s flag uses white to symbolize the snow-covered regions of that country, and the red stripes to honor the soldiers who died in WWI.  The stars on the Brazilian flag was one of my favorite facts: they are the exact configuration of the stars in 1899, the year Brazil proclaimed itself a republic.

Colorful and attractive, readers of all ages will be reading about the flags of their favorite countries.  They may develop a little wanderlust along the way.  The book includes and index and table of contents.

Title: Flags of the World
Author: Sylvie Bednar
Published: 2009
Pages: 187
Reading Level: All
Publisher: Abrams  Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978-0-8109-8010-5
Source of Book: Send by publisher

Great Kid Books is hosting Nonfiction Monday this week.  Enjoy!

Poetry Friday: Responding to Prompts

Poetry Stretch at The Miss Rumphius Effect: snow
Haiku Bones: uncanny
HaikuVery Much: honey
One Single Impression: blowing the curve

city snow ballet
uncanny semblance between
desert sand tangos

dances end, silence lingers
weather blowing the curve

++++++++++++++++++++++++

snow begs us to play
followed by tea with honey
forget daily grind

Can’t help myself this week.  Great Kid Books is hosting Poetry Friday.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Non-Fiction Monday: Minty by Alan Schroeder

I just placed many of the African-American collection out for displays throughout the library in honor of Black History Month.  One of my favorite books is Minty a Story of Young Harriet Tubman by Alan Schroeder and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. 

I like this book because it tells about Harriet Tubman as a little girl, when she went by her childhood name, Minty.  Harriet Tubman was stubborn. In fact her daddy said, “If you head is in the lion’s mouth, it’s best to pat him a little. Your head’s in his mouth, Minty, but you sure ain’t doin’ any pattin’. Youre’ just fixin’ to get your head bit off.”

She was known as a “problem slave”.  In Minty, we get a bird’s eye view of what her childhood was like.  We learn about the stories she told to her rag doll, how she learn to skin a squirrel and read a tree.   While being  stubborn and sometimes bold, these character traits helped her lead the Underground Railroad and rescue hundreds of slaves.

This biography reads like a story.  Schroeder states in the beginning that there is some ficitionalize scenes but he wanted to give an account of her early childhood, something that there is not much written about.  He uses researched facts to tell a story about one of the most important women of this Civil War era.

The book includes an author’s note and Pinkney’s  watercolor and colored pencil illustrations complement the text wondrously.

Title: Minty a Story of Young Harriet Tubman
Author: Alan Schroeder
Published: 1996
Pages: unpaged
Reading Level: All
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0-8037-1888-8
Source of Book: Library collection

Wild About Nature has the nonfiction round up this week.  Here over and check it out.

Happy Reading. 

MsMac

Poetry Friday: January Snow

Well it is the end of January and the PNW has not really seen any snow.  In a way, great. No snow days. I have to leave as soon as school gets out for California. But I really have missed anticipating that snow day, that day that says, “Stop. Breathe.”  So here is a poem “January Snow by John Cambell.

The heavy flakes descend

like strewn confetti,

tossed from

the Great Grey Sky,

this January afternoon.

 

They parachute safely

through a coarse wind,

dust themselves off

and embrace

the already arrived.

Read the rest here.

 

BTW,  Your Daily Poem will send you one each day. Love it. 

I participated in the Poetry Stretch at Deowriter.

 Picture Book of the Day is hosting Poetry Friday. Thank you, Anastasia.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Non-Fiction Monday: Award Winners

This has been a fun month. Fun because many of the nominations for the CYBILS NFPB category have ended up on other award lists.

Five made the Orbis  Pictus Award from NCTE:

The Secret World of Walter Anderson by Hester Bass won the Orbis Pictus.  I loved that book and reviewed it here.  Alice B. Mc Ginty’s Darwin book garnered an honor from the Orbis Pictus committee, reviewed here. And three more were on the NCTE recommended list:

Eleanor, Quiet No More by Doreen Rappaport
Life in the Boreal Forest by Brenda Z. Guiberson
One Giant Leap by Robert Burleigh

It once again affirms just how strong this category was for the CYBILS this year.

Another book, Bad News for Outlaws, the Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshall, which due to the publication date (past the October 15 deadline) did not qualify for the CYBILS received  the Coretta Scott King Award by the American Library Association.

Bad News for Outlaws is written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie.  I sat down to read it on this rainy Sunday afternoon.  It’s an informative read about the life of Bass Reeves.  I love learning these little known stories about people who have made an impact on history.  Something that really impressed me was that Reeves was a U.S. Marshall for 32 years.   Born a slave, Reeves escape by running away and living among Native American tribes (I wonder which one).  What an act of bravery.  His methods were fair and sometimes unconventional as he disguised himself to bring in criminals.

Nelson says that Reeves life almost reads as a tall tale.  She’s right but what a life.  She also mentions how the TV westerns such as The Lone Ranger, Bonzana, Hopilong Cassidy (some of my faves), etc. informed her childhood and what would life been like had we been introduced to someone like Reeves as a TV program. She’s right there.

There is a great timeline, lots of further reading lists, and a glossary of western words.  Christie’s illustrations are rich and complement the text fabulously.

Title: Bad News for Outlaws: the Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, U.S. Deputy Marshall
Author: Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Published: 2009
Pages: unpaged
Reading Level: All
Publisher: Learner Books
ISBN: 978-0-8225-6764-6
Source of Book: Sent by publisher

Playing by the Book is hosting Nonfiction Monday this week. Stop in to see what others are reading.

Poetry Friday: Dwell in Possibility

 I discovered this Emily Dickinson poem this week.  Our school levy election is upon us for early February.  Without it over our district budget cuts will add up to 38 million dollars.   Last spring my library media  budget shrunk by half.

I hope the voters will “dwell in possibility” and get the levy passed the first ballot.

I dwell in Possibility–
A fairer House than Prose–
More numerous of Windows–
Superior–for Doors–

Of Chambers as the Cedars–
Impregnable of Eye–
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky–

Of Visitors–the fairest–
For Occupation–This–
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise–

-Emily Dickinson

The award-winning Liz Garton Scanlon is hosting Poetry Friday here.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Non-Fiction Monday: Sibert Medal Honors Two of the CYBILS NFPB Finalists

Two of the “Spectacular Seven” finalists for the CYBILS NFPB Award were in the spotlight this morning at the ALA Mid-Winter Conference (Someday I am going to go).  

The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors
written by Chris Barton and illustrated by Tony Persiani and Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11
written and illustrated by Brian Floca were named as Sibert Medal Honor books.

The Sibert Medal went to Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream! by Tanya Lee Stone.

I am so happy for them.  Meanwhile the Round Two judges are hard at work in their own secret discussion and reading the “spectacular seven”.  So I will leave them alone to work.

So something I want to do for next year, is to chat with local area bloggers, predict, and meet for breakfast like my friends in Ohio did this morning.  You can read about it here.

Wendie is rounding all the non-fiction up today at Wendie’s Wanderings.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Poetry Friday: William Stafford’s The Trouble with Reading

Sunday, January 17,  is William Stafford’s birthday. Throughout the Portland area readings are taking place:

+Saturday, January 16th, 3-5 pm, Holy Names Heritage Center, 17425 Holy Names Drive, Lake Oswego.
+Sunday, January 17th, 7-9 pm, Writers’ Dojo, 7518 N. Chicago Avenue, Portland
+Monday, January 18th, 10 pm, KBOO Radio, 90.7 FM.
+Wednesday, January 20th, 7:30 pm, Annie Bloom’s Books, 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland.
+Wednesday, January 20th, 7 pm, 100th Monkey Studio and Gallery, 110 SE 16th Avenue, Portland
+Thursday, January 21st, 7 pm, Lake Oswego Library, 706 4th St., Lake Oswego. “The Intersection of Poetry and Popular Culture, in the Spirit of William Stafford.”
+Thursday, January 21st, 7-8:30 pm. The Terrace Room (beneath the Commons), University of Portland, 5000 N. Willamette Blvd., Portland.
+Friday, January 22nd, 7-9 p.m., Eliot Chapel, First Unitarian Church, 1011 SW 12th Avenue (corner of 12th and Salmon), Portland.
+Saturday, January 23rd, 2 pm, Vancouver Community Library, 1007 East Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver, WA. Hosted by Elizabeth Barton.
+Thursday, January 28th, 7 pm, Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, Portland.
+Thursday, January 28th, 7 pm, Branford P. Millar Library, Portland State University, 1875 Park Avenue (Park & Hall), Portland.
+Saturday, January 30th, 4-6 pm, Looking Glass Book Store, 7983 SE 13th Ave., Portland (new Sellwood location). Hosted by Robin Bagai and Willa Schneberg.
+Saturday, January 30th, 2 pm, Oregon City Library, 362 Warner Milne Road, Oregon City. This event will be part of the Oregon City Library’s 100th year celebration.
+Sunday, January 31st, 2 pm, Multnomah Central Library, US Bank Room, 801 SW 10th Ave.,
+Sunday, January 31st, 2 pm, Hillsboro Main Library, 2850 NE Brookwood Parkway, Hillsboro.

 Today I bring you one of my favorite poems of his:

The Trouble with Reading

When a goat likes a book, the whole book is gone,
And the meaning has to go find an author again.
But when we read, its just print – deciphering,
Like frost on a window: we learn the meaning
But lose what the frost is, and all that the world
Pressed so desperately behind

So some time let’s discover how the ink
Feels, to be clutching all that eternity onto
Page after page. But maybe it is better not
To know; ignorance, that wide country,
Rewards you just to accept it. You plunge;
It holds you. And you have to become a rich darkness.

- William Stafford

Thank you, Mr. Stafford, for all the poems you left the world to read.  Poetry Friday is rounded up at Great Kid Books.  Thank you, Mary Ann.

Thoughtful Thursday

The second annual comment challenge is happening throughout the kidlit blogosphere.  It’s hosted by none other than Mother Reader and Lee Wind. Besides encouraging the practice of leaving comments, it leads a reader to discover new things in our wonderful community.

Yesterday, at Miz B’s Reading Challenges, I discovered the “TBR” (to be read)Challenge for 2010. Of course, I am late to enter but I have my challenge list ready:

Adult List:

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Run by Ann Pachett

Kid List
Peak by Roland Smith
Love, Aubrey by Suzanne M. LaFleur
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull
Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Lucky Breaks by Susan Patron
Where Mountain Meets Moon by Grace Lin
Glass by Ellen Hopkins
Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

Extras( in case something doesn’t grab me):

Mare’s War by Tanita S Davis
Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graf

BTW, did you notice that if you click on the titles, you will go to World Cat? It’s a world-wide library catalog. What’s so neat is that your can see if the book is at your local library. I tend to use my local library a lot. Especially for audio books for my drive to school.

Recap of the challenge week: I am on target.  I left 37 comments for the week. It’s fun to discover new blogs.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Who’s Reading What Wednesday

I lost my voice yesterday reading a variety of gingerbread stories for Family Library Night.  It was on its way out and by 7 PM it left me.

I just finished reading All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg. It’s a CYBILS finalist for MG fiction.  A very moving story about a refugee Vietnamese boy, born a bui doi, the dust of life, the son of an American GI and Vietnamese mother during the Vietnam War.

The book written in free verse; a format that interests me.  It’s a powerful book. As I read it I was also thinking of the book, Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy which some of my fifth graders are reading for their book club.  A different war and circumstances but the possibilities for text connections are strong.

Which leads me to a new venture. I am working with the second round of books for fifth graders who are strong readers.  These are the ones that have passed the state test and need a challenged. 

We are currently reading some of the reader’s choice nominees.  And hopefully, I am going to get them blogging about books. We will start with comments today but I am hoping to have them be guest bloggers. 

Our district recently set up a site that should allow for commenting in the safety net of  a more closed network community. Not sure how it will work but their site is Fifth Grade Book Club.

I am trying to get a bunch of the CYBILS MG fiction finalists read, the book club books: Skullduggery Pleasant, The Candy Shop War, and The Thief Lord read.  It’s gonna be a busy weekend.

Happy Reading.

MsMac