Fourth Grade

This morning I sat with a fourth grade class and talked about Newbery books. Most were Newbery Honor books and older Newbery Medal winners. All were ones I have read or had read to me.

When I was in fourth grade, my devoted teacher read aloud Misty of Chincoteague (and years later shared his adventure of going to Pony Penning Day), From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, The Headless Cupid, and King of the Wind. He encouraged me to read Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (which led to me reading her other books), The Twenty-One Balloons, and The Summer of the Swans. If I were to write my reading autobiography, I would devote a chapter to him.

Talking about these (and many more titles) today, I was transported back to Lincoln Elementary School. The students in front of me listened as I remember listening. They nodded as I must have nodded in agreement about good books and great scenes. They chimed in with comments like "I read that one."

When I finished sharing bits about 40+ books, eager hands reached for titles and moved to comfy chairs to enter new worlds.

From the Past

Eleven years ago I met a new friend. Our sons were in the same first grade class, and somehow we discovered a common love of books. For a teacher librarian like me, loving books is expected. In her profession, it is not so common. With her book knowledge, people assume she is a librarian or a teacher!

We have spent hours walking hundreds of miles around the lakes and trails in our community, and inevitably, the talk turns to books. Sometimes we visit The Red Balloon Bookshop and spend an hour browsing, bringing titles for the other to see, and purchasing lovely books (or too many books, according to our husbands). Often on these visits, she brings a list of names, all of whom will get a book recommended by me.

Last night as we lamented how our sons sometimes do not complete their assignments on time, she told me about a history paper that was submitted late this week. Her son enjoyed learning about the topic, Japanese-American internment camps, and he especially liked a book I had recommended to her long ago. Dear Miss Breed, we said simultaneously! Written by Joanne Oppenheim, it is a compilation of letters written to Clara Breed, a San Diego children's librarian who encouraged her young patrons to write letters to her during their incarceration. After reading the 250 or so letters, the author then contacted some of the surviving correspondents and some of Clara Breed's relatives. It is a fascinating book about a courageous woman and the ways she eased some of the horrors of camp life for the young writers. And it brought a picture of that life to the history paper.

Have You Read? #7

What is a wondernose? I wondered. Two times in the past few days the book Yonie Wondernose by Marguerite de Angeli has come to my attention. The first was during my search for something about the Pennsylvania Dutch hex. A library catalog search listed the title. Rightly so...as it is about a seven-year-old Pennsylvania Dutch boy named Jonathan (and nicknamed Yonie). The second happened yesterday when I was searching the fiction section for Newbery books for a book talk. By The Door in the Wall (her 1950 Newbery Medal winner) I found Yonie Wondernose, which won the 1945 Caldecott Honor medal (and should be in our everybody book section, not in fiction).

Naturally, I was curious about it. And that is what Yonie is - curious. His father calls him a wondernose because he is always poking his nose into something. When Pop and Mom go visiting, Yonie promises to act as the man of the house, taking care of the barn animals while home with Granny and his sister. Despite all sorts of curious detours and a bit of trouble (including accidentally closing Granny in the hen house), Yonie does his duty, even in the event of a barn fire. Pop rewards his fortitude and thoughtfulness with a piglet!

Finding a treasure in an unexpected way is always pleasant. This one will get shared with the children studying the hex and those reading Newbery books next week.

One of this week's I Love to Read month clues for kindergarten, first, and second grade students was this: “The wolf was overjoyed and fetched the basket and the rope, then threw one end of the rope to the top of the tree.”

A kindergarten class proudly turned in their correct guess early, noting that a student had the book checked out and recognized the words! He brought the book for the teacher to read to the whole class.

A second grade class shared their confusion about the book during library time. They thought it was a Chinese version of a tale with the big, bad wolf in it. Which story includes the big, bad wolf? I asked. The Three Little Pigs, of course, they told me. Are there pigs mentioned in the clues? Their thought processes were almost palpable. A quiet voice in the back row asked, "What about Little Red?" They eagerly went off to search the catalog for a connection...and brought me the correct answer in minutes.

The book, of course, is Ed Young's Caldecott Medal winner Lon Po Po. Two students in the same classroom told their teacher about the correct Chinese pronunciation, brought their Chinese dictionaries to school, and wrote what they agreed to be the characters representing those words. Monday morning's announcements of the correct answers will include their voices telling us the title in Chinese.

Quest for Hex

A colleague asked me today for a book that would help her explain the Pennsylvania Dutch hex to her students. That has proved to be a difficult task. No picture book on that specific topic exists. Some adult books look helpful (none of which are in our library collection, of course). I read through books about Pennsylvania, looked at art books, quilt books, history books. Nothing had what I needed.

Never have I had this happen! Somehow one book leads to another thought and takes me to a resource that will help the teacher. This time I might have to give her Katherine Milhous's Caldecott Medal book The Egg Tree to show a similar kind of artwork. I will suggest Jane Yolen's Raising Yoder's Barn and Sarah Stewart's The Journey to provide glimpses into the culture.

Backwards Lesson

From inside the kindergarten room, these snowpeople display character! From the parking lot, they are mere outlines of their showy selves.

A young reader today needed guidance to see those two perspectives from inside and outside a flower shop. She brought Joyce Kessler's book Valentine's Day to me and asked me what the words said in Karen Ritz's illustration above the blooms and greenery and people. I brought her to the library work room where a mirror hangs over the sink. "Hold up your book," I told her. Immediately she exclaimed, "Flower Shop!" We looked a few times at the magically transformed letters and enjoyed a backwards lesson.

Wham, Bang, Thump!

When the boys were little, we read aloud Helen Cooper's book The Bear Under the Stairs (yet another out-of-print book I would like to have) to the point of memorization. It is about a little boy named William who believes there is a bear under the stairs in his home, and to pacify that bear, he tosses food (always alliteratively listed) in the door and quickly closes it with a "wham, bang, thump!" They always joined in on those onomatopoeic words.

Moo. Woof. Bam. Splat. Pow. Oww. Onomatopoeia flowed freely after an explanation of its meaning and today's read-aloud of Candace Fleming's book Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! In the story, Mr. McGreely plants a garden and looks forward to harvesting lettuce, carrots, peas, and tomatoes...but does not plan on the gnawing interference of three rabbits. They approach his garden after the sun goes down and the moon comes up with "tippy-tippy-tippy-pat" sounds. As his fortress grows, their sounds become "spring" and "dash" and more. The listeners loved it and hands raised repeatedly to share onomatopoeia they now recognized as part of daily language.