Go, Shapes, Go!
One of my favorite ways to hook readers during March is Reading Month is to do an author study, and one of my all-time favorite author/illustrators for the elementary crowd is Denise Fleming.
I’ve had a book crush on Fleming since 1991 when I first read In the Tall, Tall Grass. The richness of the colors, the text that is so precise and still so simple – it draws in young readers who ask for it over and over. Fleming’s latest book, Go, Shapes, Go! again takes simple but descriptive words and art, and asks kids to play along. It’s brilliant.
A mouse tells recognizable shapes (square, rectangle, triangle, oval, arc) to move to combine into a character. Verbs like bounce, slither, and twirl along with the shapes that are labeled on each page make for the perfect opportunity to build vocabulary while supporting early readers. (Go, Craft & Structure, Go!) The plot of how the shapes combine and recombine to the delight (or dismay) of the mouse makes this book more than just a “name the shape” book.
Denise Fleming’s website is packed with fun stuff for kids to go along with her books. You can print off the shapes she used in Go, Shapes, Go! for kids to move and make their own characters, and there’s a Shapes Match-Up page so kids can match the labeled shape with the word describing how it moved in the book
The process of pulp painting that Fleming uses to make her picture book art is fascinating. Click through denisefleming.com or go to YouTube to see videos of how Fleming colors the cotton rag fiber, makes the stencils, and pours the slurry through a screen. She even has in-depth directions to make paper yourself, and a much easier version using toilet paper – a guaranteed hit for kids!
This March, share Go, Shapes, Go! and compare it with Fleming’s 20+ other wonderful picture books for preschoolers and early elementary students. After you’ve all fallen in love with her work, email Denise through her website. She is an exceptional person as well as an amazing author/illustrator, and your kids will have a whole new appreciation for books after getting to know her.
Read MoreThe winner is: You Are (Not) Small!
Happy Book Award Season! Many of us look forward to the annual announcement of the Caldecott and Newbery Medal Awards from the American Library Association, but the one that made me hoot and holler loudest this year was the announcement of the winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book: You Are (Not) Small written by Anna Kang and illustrated by Christopher Weyent.
Fantastic “easy” reader? Check.
Great for Readers’ Theater? Check.
Funny ending? Check.
Works for a ton of tie-in lessons? Check.
Story and art that kids will want to return to again and again? Big ol’ check!
Finding mentor texts on expressing opinion, giving reasons, persuasion, etc. isn’t easy for the younger crowd, so if you teach kindergarten – third grade, grab You Are (Not) Small. (It’s also fantastic for a print concepts lesson on italics, ellipses, underlining, for a lesson on reading with expression, for a math/science tie-in for comparing items by size, but I digress.)
The two main characters in this book express clear, opposite opinions. The orange fuzzy creature tells the purple fuzzy creature, “You are small.” The purple fuzzy disagrees, “I am not small. You are big.” Back and forth they go, giving reasons for their opinion by comparing themselves to other fuzzy creatures. It’s so simple it’s brilliant, and the ending will get everyone giggling.
After reading this to a first grade class, I told them, “You are small.” Uproar ensued. “No, we aren’t!”
“Yes, my opinion is that you are small, and my reason is that you are all smaller than this bookshelf.”
“But we’re bigger than the chair!” “Yes, and we’re taller than the desk!”
This led to an easy quick-write session: choose an opinion statement of “I am big” or “I am small” and write three reasons to support your opinion. Go!
So grab You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant, and check out other winners of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award. The Caldecott and Newbery Medals are wonderful, but they aren’t the only awards given by ALA, so explore lists like the Coretta Scott King Awards and treat yourself to award-winning books.
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The Cybils 2014 Finalists for Fiction Picture Books
I was honored to be a first round judge for the 2014 Cybils Awards in the fiction picture book category. I was one of seven people who volunteered to read more than 229 picture books and to argue for the books we thought were outstanding. The reading part was easy. Debating the merits of books I love with other well-read, highly intelligent, articulate bloggers – way tougher than I thought. Some books that I adored didn’t click with other readers, and some of their favorites I didn’t like. The process again reminded me of how personal our connection with books is, and why we need such a wide variety in our libraries.
In the end, we were able to choose seven fiction picture books to move on to Round 2. Good luck to those judges on choosing just one of these worthy contenders! See the list of all the Cybils finalists here.
Here’s one of the books that made me want to hug the author, the illustrator, the editor, and everyone involved in making it: Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me written by Daniel Beaty and illustrated by Bryan Collier.
Every morning, a dad knock-knock’s on his son’s bedroom door to tell him “I love you”. One morning the dad doesn’t knock, and the boy writes a letter asking why his father isn’t around any more. The letter the dad writes back about the hopes he has for his son’s bright, beautiful future is full of hope and inspiration. Any child dealing with the absence of a parent, due to incarceration or other circumstances, will find strength in this beautifully illustrated book. This is one of those books that may make a powerful difference in a child’s life.
Some of your kids need to hear this book because it will act as a mirror of their experience. Other kids need this book as a window into the experience of others. All kids need to know that a bright future lives within them no matter their circumstances.
Because this story can touch on strong, possibly painful emotions, it might be one you simply read aloud to your class and skip a follow-up lesson. Go ahead and let your kids see you get choked up, which you undoubtedly will, because powerful books do that to readers. Consider encouraging students to write letters – to someone they miss, to their future selves, even to you. If you let kids know they can write letters to you that will be absolutely private, and that you’ll write back to them, you may open incredible doors of communication with kids who need it.
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Ling & Ting & Grace & Me!
If you heard a loud, squeeing sound on November 11, that was me. I’m thrilled because the newest book in an early chapter book series I adore was just released: Ling & Ting: Twice as Silly by Grace Lin. I’m twice as excited about this book, because I wrote the Ling & Ting story starters that you can download and use with your students for FREE and it’s on Grace Lin’s website! My work on gracelin.com! I’m swooning to be linked with such a rock star!
Grace Lin also has an exceptionally cool contest going on. Kiddos who are inspired to make up a silly story the way Ling and Ting do can receive a free Ling & Ting print and be entered to win a Pocket Pacy! The details are all available on Grace Lin’s blog.
Early chapter books like the Ling & Ting books are wonderful for building fluency. Each chapter is only a few pages long, so it’s easy to turn a chapter into a Readers’ Theater script. Also, you can work on comprehension skills (go, Key Ideas & Details and even Integrating Knowledge & Ideas if you compare two or more of the books) by making a Ling & Ting Venn diagram. Ling and Ting are twins, but we find out in their first book Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same that identical twins don’t have identical personalities. If you have twins in your classroom, they will be especially delighted to help point out the way the girls are different as well as the ways they are the same!
This month I’m presenting seminars in Oklahoma City, Dallas, Houston, Anaheim, and Pasadena. All in one week. I’ll be very thankful this Thanksgiving to be done traveling for 2014. As I count my blessings, I’ll also give thanks for you, for letting me share my passion for kids’ books with you.
P.S. Thanks Curious City for connecting me with Grace Lin. I’m still grinning!
Read MoreGuess Who Is Out of the Den?
