The Most Wonderful Storyteller in the World

The most wonderful storyteller in the world, my sweet friend and talented librarian Kim, shared the most amazing stories with children and parents at Family Reading Night. She began with Helme Heine's The Most Wonderful Egg in the World, in which three chickens vie for the prize of being a princess and living in the palace with the queen. Her incredible props and the bawk-bawking of each chicken enchanted the listeners, and they were eager to hear Bark, George by Jules Feiffer. She finished the night with her version of Debra Frasier's fabulously crafted book A Birthday Cake is No Ordinary Cake, complete with a large cake (baked in the sun!) that children wanted to cut and serve. Having Debra there to introduce it was the icing!

The thought process involved in transforming a picture book into an oral story is so detailed, and Kim has the added gift of being able to create and form all her own props. The children were intrigued by that as well and asked how things were made. One girl in front of me was swinging her legs, saying, "I just love stories!"

Generally shy person that I am, I stretched myself to join in as the queen and George. It was a wonderful night

Reading the End First

Many times, I need to read the end of a book first. I generally am not scared of what will happen. I do not feel anxious about the potential outcome. Actually, I read a few chapters of a book before flipping to the last pages. My reason for reading the end instead of going from start to finish stems from my desire to see the entire plot ahead of me. If it is a heart-warming book, I see that what is coming supports what I was thinking. If the book is troubling, I am able to reconcile some of the events into my mind. If there are historical notes or an extensive author's note, I learn the context of the content or plot before working through it.

I found myself reading only the author's notes today in Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden. After the author found letters written by her grandmother, she learned of the extraordinary excursion the elder Dorothy and her childhood friend Rosamund made across the country to the wilds of Colorado in 1916. The two friends agreed to teach the children in the tiny settlement of Elkhead at the request of a local attorney named Farrington Carpenter. Intrepid though they were, the ladies certainly could not have been prepared for the circumstances they met. This time, I am going to wait till the end of the book to learn the end of their story.

A Visitor for Bear

One thing I love about my favorite bookshop is meeting authors and illustrators there. This morning my mom and I (and extended family members) listened to Bonny Becker read her latest book, The Sniffles for Bear, and her first bear and mouse book, A Visitor for Bear, to guests at the Red Balloon. I love these books! Two unlikely creatures come together despite their very different personalities and preferences, slowly learning to know each other.

We bought copies for her to sign, of course, and asked questions about her writing and experiences. The books are delightfully illustrated by Kady McDonald Denton, and Bonny's favorite image in the Sniffles book was mine as well: a very sick and tired bear leaning over the banister as the tiny, bright-eyed mouse attempts to pull him up to bed.

We spent the rest of the morning there recommending books to our cousins and left with my alphabet bag heavier than it was last weekend!

Miracle on Main Street

Today I read what I find to be the saddest story in The SOS File: Miracle on Main Street, told by a fictional girl named Joy. The beginning is so tragic that I dreaded having the children hear it. Their eyes widened in horror as I read Joy's words about her first day of life, spent in a dumpster outside a motel. I could feel them holding their collective breaths as I read about the delivery driver who thought he heard a kitten mewing in that dumpster - and got out of his truck to rescue it, only to find the baby. I cried, of course, as I read it aloud.

The story is uplifting after that. Joy keeps a scrapbook of her life history, and she has the newspaper clipping of the man standing by the dumpster. When her curiosity leads her to the newspaper office to see if the embroidery on his jumpsuit reveals his name, she begins a quest to find him, the man who saved her life. Her parents support her, holding her hand when she needs it, letting her ask the questions when they come to company owners. Ultimately, they pull up to his house (he's now retired), and the two embrace as if they had known each other all their lives - which for Joy, at least, is true.

The children offered all sorts of reasons why they thought someone would leave a baby in a dumpster. Before we moved on to "Shark Attack", one sweet girl offered this: "I cried, too."

Wonderstruck

So many things today caused me to wonder. Every time I walk by my neighbor's pear tree, I marvel that there is one in my neighborhood. The children listening to Lady Lollipop (by Dick King-Smith) had fabulous insights about how Johnny Skinner not only trained the pig but also trained the princess - and made her think differently. One boy perfectly explained the phrase "between a rock and a hard place." The children listening to The SOS File knew so much about Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address. The first graders listening to Three by the Sea (by Mini Grey) noticed how the three friends cooperated to fly their kite, all their differences behind them, on the story's last page.

It was the fourth graders' fascination with Wonderstruck (by Brian Selznick) that warmed my literary heart most. One had heard about it because he attended Books & Blondies with his mom this morning. His teacher was the lucky first person to check it out, and I brought it with me to the classroom for inquiry learning. She enthusiastically shared the content with the students, held up The Invention of Hugo Cabret for them to see, and fielded questions. One person asked if she would read it aloud. She looked to me for guidance. "I'm not sure it would work well as a read-aloud selection," I told the students. So much of the story is told through the artwork, and it just would not be the same to see those images through the document camera. They begged to see just a bit. As the image of wolves became clear, the room became silent - and remained that way while I showed those few pages. I could not resist telling them more about Ben Fisher's story and then shared how the other character's story was told through illustrations only (until the end of the book). They were mesmerized by the images. Wonderstruck, even. They want this book.

Waking Up is Hard to Do

On a foggy morning (like today), it is hard to be enthusiastic about waking up to go running, especially since it is also quite dark at 5:30! Neil Sedaka echoes that sentiment in his picture book Waking Up is Hard to Do. My memories of his smooth voice go back to my childhood. My mom had his album, and I had all the songs memorized! I can still sing every word of "Laughter in the Rain" without a memory lapse.

Though the book struck a personal chord with me and my past (despite the switch from breaking up to waking up), it will be loved by teachers and readers for its cheery illustrations (with an alligator attempting to get going in the morning) and the amusing text. Tomorrow morning at Books & Blondies, my teaching partner and I will sing it first thing to our colleagues before introducing other new books. The tune will be in their minds all day!

Fall Mixed Up

Autumn leaves adorn many of the lawns and trails in our neighborhood already, and the air holds the brisk chill of the season. Teachers are checking out books that feature autumn, and we have been looking for new titles to support their needs. Even the cover of Bob Raczka's book Fall Mixed Up intrigued me at the bookstore! I am a huge fan of his work, was privileged to work with him in a workshop at an International Reading Association convention, and am always eager to read/see his releases. Readers will love this book!

The creative cover illustration uses autumn images for the title construction (a rake is the A in Fall). The rhyming text challenges readers to "think outside the box" from the first line:

"Every Septober, Every Octember, Fall fills my senses with things to remember.
Bears gather nuts. Geese hibernate. Squirrels fly south in big figure eights."

It is the kind of book to read twice. Children will catch the initial mix-ups and then want to look and listen again to find more. I am eager to share it!