Janes

The name of the cookbook captured my curiosity...One Girl Cookies. Written by Dawn Casale and David Crofton (whose romance is explained in the introduction), it is more than a book of cookie recipes. I tried to get it via interlibrary loan, but it must have been in high demand at the other libraries. Impatient, I bought it instead. Reading cookbooks everyday keeps me imagining the end products and making mental notes about what I need to buy. With this one, I keep thinking of people I love. Many of the recipes bear the name of someone the authors/bakers love(d). I tried Janes first, in honor of a beloved friend. "Jane it is, plain it's not." A Jane is really a cream cheese shortbread with walnuts. Chocolate Chip Cookies are named Mary. Lemon Shortbread with Rosemary is named Lena (after Dawn's mom). I still want to meet Lucia (Espresso Caramel Squares), Lana (Bittersweet Chocolate Sandwiches), and Mariella (Double Chocolate & Pistachio Biscotti) before I try some of the cake recipes.

Thoughtful Read Aloud

We're reading Pictures From Our Vacation by Lynne Ray Perkins this week. The children are quieted by this story of a family vacation that does not turn out quite as the participants expected. The journey seems a bit too far. The motel pool has no water. The family farm is old and dusty (with potato-chip-shaped badminton racquets). It rained for days! They cannot even watch television during the rain.

"The television got three channels: the striped channel, the channel that showed what you could watch if you had a better TV, and the French channel.

'Where's the English channel?' my brother asked.

'Between England and France,' said our grandfather.

Our mother explained how this was a joke." (for some classes, we also have to explain why this is funny)
When the rain finally stops, the family plans to go swimming. But the route to the lake provided some challenges.

"The secret path was even more secret than our dad remembered." (love the overhead view of the family through the leaves as they trudge in pursuit of the lake)
Memories and images form of playtime, conversations, and togetherness, as well as of things observed, like the electric towers that appear to walk down the road, passing power along in their hands. "It's probably hard to take a picture that shows that, even with a really good camera. And it's hard to take a picture of a story someone tells, or what it feels like when you're rolling down a hill or falling asleep in a house full of cousins and uncles and aunts. There are lots of things like that."

Z is for Moose

A new alphabet book finally arrived at the library: Kelly Bingham's Z is for Moose, illustrated by Paul Zelinsky. Having seen the cover and glimpsed a few inside pieces via Paul's website, I was anxious to discover just how Z could represent a moose. It begins as Moose lifts the curtain, revealing a line of creatures and objects, obviously ready to star in a pageant of letters. From there, it seems to be an ordinary alphabet book. Zebra is the director and checks off each item on his clipboard. A is for Apple. B is for Ball. C is for Cat. But D is not for duck (who clearly is upset about being upstaged by Moose). At this point, the text is interrupted with hand-lettered speech bubbles. Moose continues to invade the stage space, appearing in the ice cream, on a jar of jam, and even as a joey in the kangaroo's pouch. Things get quite interesting around letter O. Moose and Zebra need to make things right, and they do, right at the end. Young readers will love this as much as I did!

Note: I haven't seen a moose since 2003 in Grand Teton, but I see deer every morning when I'm walking/running.

Who Are You?

For the upcoming high school all-night party, parents were asked to make a body of their child. Though I balked at all the work involved, it has caused me to ponder who this young man is. He is a collection of the experiences and encounters that shaped his decisions and his dreams, many of those shaped by books. We read about Richard Scarry's Busytown firefighters (hence the firefighter costume), Misty and the Godolphin Arabian made famous by Marguerite Henry, birthday stories, castle stories, Make Way for Ducklings (and visited the Public Garden), and of Enos Mills when we went to Rocky Mountain National Park. We read everywhere...driving through South Dakota and Wyoming, in the quietude of Zion Canyon, in the clinic waiting room, and in the treehouse. He goes to the next chapter of his story with excellent role models and visions of possibility.

Not a Popular Choice

My teaching partner and I have been working with a third grade class this week to discover things about inventors and inventions using an inquiry learning model. We began with a book pass (each person skims each book for about a minute), talked abou interesting things, and shared our own inquiries with them. I talked about Frank Zamboni, and she talked about Eratosthenes. The children really had not been intrigued with Kathryn Lasky's THE LIBRARIAN WHO MEASURED THE EARTH, but as she explained all the factors that attracted her to the book and shared her wonderings, it became one of the most popular choices on the cart!  The experience proved once again how talking about a book generates interest in it! The votes have been cast for their choices, and they will begin investigating on Monday.

Not Just Ducks

Since I was a child, I have loved ducks. Near my childhood home is a place we called "Duck Island." Mallards congregated there in all seasons, and we visited frequently to feed them. Now I see ducks in our yards, on the lake, flying overhead, and walking on the edge of the park. I always greet them. "Good morning, Mrs. Mallard." or "Hello, Mr. Mallard."

Reading a new book by Nicola Davies, entitled Just Ducks, I learned so much more about these common creature found in Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia. The book is narrated by a young girl who awakens to the quacking outside her curtains. Each of her daily activities is likened to something the ducks are doing, and appropriate facts are displayed to explain actions or terminology. The mixed media illustrations are subtle in tone and often whimsical in content (like when the ducklings climb a wall by using terra cotta pots as steps). The most interesting fact, I believe is that drakes quack quietly while females quack loudly to attract other ducks.

Map Reading

Third graders have been exploring our state via old maps from the Department of Transportation. The first lesson is about how to unfold and and fold a map! They understand conceptually what mountain and valley folds, but when it comes time to actually do the unfolding and folding, things do not seem to go smoothly. One usually quiet girl finished and proudly flipped her perfectly folded map into my hands and said, "Piece of cake!" Another told me in a whisper after others had departed, "I'm really glad you showed us how to do it!"