Tag Archives: BLG Reads

The Sniffles for Bear

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Bill, our BLG reader this week read us the very funny The Sniffles for Bear written by Bonny Becker and illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton.

Oh, poor, poor Bear! He has a terrible, terrible cold – quite possibly the worst in existence of the world he is convinced! (Bear is quite the “Drama King” we quickly realized). When Mouse arrives at the door ready to help, Bear is suspicious of his cheerful demeanour. Mouse starts to read aloud and Bear insists he stop, “I fear you do not appreciate the gravity of my situation.” Mouse changes tactics and decides to serenade Bear with a soothing version of “She’ll be coming around the Mountain.” Bear complains. No, no, no! He needs mournful songs. Mouse pulls out his banjo. “This is impossible, intolerable!” Bear exclaims.

And on it goes. Mouse tries his best to comfort poor Bear. He drags him up the stairs, tucks him into bed and serves him nettle soup (which Bear thinks tastes like spinach and straw). But Bear is still dreadfully and dramatically ill! There is will dictation (“I leave my red roller skates to . . .”), some dramatic shouting and finally . . . sleep.

When Bear awakes, it is his turn to play nurse. : ) This is a giggle inducing book! We have been learning about different genres and one student pointed out that it should go into the humour basket. “No right to the giggles section!” called out someone else.

Our student reviewers report:

Raymond: It was funny when the mouse sang. “Ooooooh she’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes She’ll be coming around the mountain when she comes.” And I liked when the mouse pulled the bear up the stairs.

Truman: I like the part when bear asked mouse (shaking his trembling hand) to get him to bed.

Carmen: I liked the part when mouse went into bear’s house because he was sick. then mouse took out a yellow book and sang, “Ooooh she’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes. She’ll be coming . . ” “Disgraceful!” said Bear.

Catriona: It was REALLY funny when Bill sang the part of the song that the mouse was trying to sing to bear. There was SOOO many giggles that they should have called this book, “The Giggle Book” instead of “Sniffles for Bear.”

Splish, Splash, Splat!

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Maria, our BLG reader this week, brought in a new Splat book by beloved author/illustrator Rob Scotton. As soon as she revealed the cover there was a collective cry, “Splat!” We were excited! Splish, Splash, Splat! did not disappoint.

Do you have a fear of water? Does swimming seem more horrible than fun filled? Remember learning to swim and the fear around it? Well then this is a book for you! Many of us shared connections as Maria read the story.

Scotton explores the fear of learning to swim and makes it completely normal, all the while making us giggle as Splat gets up to his usual silly escapades. I found the picture of Splat perched gingerly above a full tub of bath water particularly amusing. That has happened in my house!

When Splat finally leaps into the water after the equally scared Spike, we celebrate the two water phobic cats facing their fears and discovering that water is not horrible and wet but that it tickles and is full of fun. And wow, those are some pretty cool swimshorts Splat acquires on the last page! 🙂

Our student reviewers report:

Khai: This was a funny book. Splat was so scared of water!

Truman: Splat and Spike were both scared of water and hid behind each other. I liked the book.

The Really Awful Musicians

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We were delighted to have Deborah from BLG come to read to us today. She brought The really Awful Musicians written and illustrated by John Manders.

Before Deborah began reading, she asked if anyone in the class played an instrument. I think she was suspecting a few children to say they played the piano or maybe the guitar. But no! Hands shot up. “I play the trumpet and I’m really good,” explained Sergio. “We play the cello and Ms. Gelson gets freaked out by the large cases in the cloakroom! They are BIG!” “I can play violin!” Thanks to Saint James Music Academy‘s amazing  partnership with Seymour School, we have many children who get to play an instrument and have weekly lessons! Deborah looked down at the book in her hand rereading the title. “So this book is certainly not about you guys!”

Manders’ book is delightful. On his blog he has jacket art sketches to check out and a link to a fabulous post on the 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog about his book and illustations.

The book begins telling us about a kingdom from long ago where the musicians were so terrible that the king ordered that no musicians were allowed to play in the kingdom! If they did, they would be thrown to the crocodiles. “Those royal crocodiles look a little full,” observed Catriona. Mimes replaced the musicians and musicians didn’t dare make a peep in hearing distance of the King or his guards.

No music? How would musicians endure? Piffaro played a tune on his pipe and was chased by the royal men-at-arms! He escaped on an old dray horse pulling a wagon. Piffaro and his horse soon encountered other musicians on the run. As musicians were added to their troupe, the wagon became much noisier. And our classroom got very loud as we helped Deborah make the sounds of the music:

poot poot poot poot poot

plinky-plinky plink plinky-plinky plink

deedlediddledoodlediddledeedledeedle

Drums! Harps! Mandolins! Off Manders’ pages and into our classroom! We soon got worried about the poor horse Charlemagne carrying all of these musicians on his back or pulling them in the carriage. “That horse looks pretty tired!” Not just tired. He was annoyed. “Enough!” he exclaimed listening to the musicians play, “You guys sound terrible! Why don’t you all play together?” He drew 5 lines in the dirt. We were a little confused about what this horse was up to.

“He could talk?” “He could draw?”

But then we caught on. “That’s a staph!” “He’s a conductor horse!” Most certainly. Charlemagne coaxed beautiful music out of these musicians. At this time the king came down the road in his coach. Listening to the music, the King urged the musicians to come play at the castle. If they played so wonderfully he wouldn’t dream of throwing them to the crocodiles! The last page shows us the musicians up on stage playing to a captive audience including Charlemagne and some pouting crocodiles.

Our student reviewers report:

Khai: I liked it because it was funny when the crocodiles got mad because they couldn’t eat the mimes!

Raymond: I like the part when the King threw the mime out the window. I like when they played together at the end.

Truman: I like the book! The crocodiles were so mad at the end because they couldn’t eat the mimes.

It was so wonderful to see the students so animated while Deborah read this book to us. That so many of them are beginning musicians themselves helped us connect and jump right into the story!

A House in the Woods

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Our BLG reader this week was Dan. He brought in A House in the Woods by Inga Moore to share with us! I was delighted as this book was on my “must have” list and now we have a copy for our library! Thank you BLG!

This is such a soothing, beautiful book to fall into. The lush woods. Industrious animals. A calm lake. A warm fire. A simple kitchen where you prepare and enjoy meals together. So lovely. The illustrations force you to read extra slowly to savour all the details. This is a book that should not be rushed. After reading this book to the class, Dan observed (talking about Inga Moore) “I think she wrote the book just so she could draw these pictures.” Indeed!

The story is one that initially surprises. It starts with two little pigs, one who had made a den and the other a hut. Clever readers expect to turn the page and discover a third little pig, another type of house and a wicked wolf lurking behind a tree. But, the next few pages instead reveal that a bear and a moose, both friendly instead of frightening, have attempted to move in and share the pigs’ homes. Unfortunately the sheer size of these creatures does irreparable damage to the den and the hut. The animals share a bench and some thinking time. This was a pickle. It really was.

Moose then has a brilliant idea! Why not build a large house for all of them to live in together? Yes! But they would need help with such an ambitious project. So, they enlist the assistance of the Beaver Builders! They fell timbers, erect walls, put on the roof, help the animals shop for furniture and curtains, etc. And all they want in return? Peanut butter sandwiches. The house gets finished and the animals rush to the store to shop for the needed bread and peanut butter.

After delivering the stacks of sandwiches to the beaver lodge on the lake, the friends settle into their first night in their new home. They enjoy a meal, tidy up, tell some stories around the fire and then climb the stairs to bed. A deep sleep in their new beds surrounded by a quiet night and occasional snores from Bear.

My students adored this book and pored over the pictures. Quite a few funny comments were made as Dan read aloud.

“Pigs don’t live in the woods!”

“Yes, some do.”

“Hey this could be the three little pigs in the woods!”

Much talk also about eating.

“I ate a moose.”

“Sorry but that’s kind of gross to me.”

“How come those beavers are eating the trees? They are going to get sandwiches!”

We were also a little suspicious that animals would actually build a house, shop in a store and sleep in beds.

“There are no grocery stores in the woods! And definitely not ones that are managed by donkeys!”

“Well, it is make believe,” Dan gently reminded.

Our student reviewer reports:

Khai: I liked the book because the illustrations were so nice. The book was funny too. One of the funny parts was the moose – it even made a sandwich!

Charlie the Ranch Dog

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We had a new BLG reader this week. Welcome Azzah and thanks for bringing such an enjoyable book to share with us! Charlie the Ranch Dog is written by Ree Drummond and illustrated by Diane deGroat.

We were quite intrigued by Charlie, the ranch dog. He’s a pretty handsome guy who lives on a beautiful ranch and he seems very determined to tour the readers around the ranch, all the while explaining all of the hard work he does. We meet his best friend Suzie, another dog who lives on the ranch. We see Daisy, the cow with the bad habit of wandering into the yard when she isn’t supposed to. Daisy was particularly interesting to us. Looking at the picture, one student exclaimed, “Hey that cow doesn’t have an udder!”

“It’s a male,” someone else suggested.

“Males have udders. Hold on, do they?”

As Azzah wasn’t prepared to give a cow anatomy lesson, we moved on. Now everybody was paying particularly close attention. We began to notice something about Charlie.

“That dog doesn’t really do anything.”

“Nope. He’s just not very good at this.”

“Huh?! He’s asleep again!”

When we had seen Charlie nap in the flower garden, nap after lunch and nap beside the broken fence, we began to realize that Charlie was an expert napper but not much of a help around the ranch. However, late in the story Charlie does chase Daisy the cow out of the garden, giving a big howl that many of us joined in for, “RRRRRooowwww- ooohhh!”

“That dog does nothing but sleep!”

“Well,  he did howl.”

“It even sounded like a real dog.”

“Yeah, like a dog dieing!”

Still, Charlie is a charmer and we were all big fans by the book’s end. A sweet little story told from Charlie, the ranch dog’s perspective.

Our student reviewers report:

Truman: I liked it because Charlie said he did the work but Suzie did all of the work!

Khai: I liked the book because it was funny. The funniest part was when he said I finished my work when Charlie actually did nothing but sleeping.



Mustache

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Dan, our BLG reader this week brought in a fabulous book – Mustache and prompted a discussion about men’s fashion through the ages and the price of vanity. Mustache is witten by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Kevin Cornell.

This book reminded us that when you take a picture book, add a bunch of students and a read aloud environment,  you just never know what you are going to get! In our classroom this week, the book Mustache got us talking (well Dan talking . . . ) about how men used to wear tights and high heels. Very intriguing for the children who just shook their heads in disbelief or broke out in contagious giggles. Our main character,  King Duncan,  was always gazing at himself in the mirror examining his style and so we looked at it a little more closely and spied tights! What was with the King’s outfit? For a few pages, we couldn’t move past that. Neither could King Duncan evidently as he had a royal “mirror carrier” follow him everywhere so he could continuously check out his reflection.

Oh King Duncan, so busy being vain, he never gets to the kingly duties of caring for his kingdom. When his subjects storm the castle and ask for improvements, King Duncan takes a week to have a banner made for the side of the castle: a picture of himself with “I’m Great” written underneath. Getting nowhere with their direct requests, the King’s subjects revert to other means to communicate their frustration with the King: drawing moustaches on his banners. And then . . .  painting moustaches on the wanted posters he prints to try and uncover the moustache banner culprit. A lot of posters. A lot of moustaches. A lot of giggles in our classroom!

Finally all of the villains (can you be a villain for merely vandalizing? Apparently, yes!)  end up imprisoned. It turns out everyone is guilty and the whole kingdom becomes “jail” – fixed up by default as more “jail” is erected. What is a poor lone King to do with just his own reflection to keep him company? Hmm . . . perhaps paint a moustache?

Our student reviewers report:

Deandra: I liked this book because the King painted his face!

Truman: I liked it when everyone drew moustaches on him!

Khai: I liked the book because it was very funny. People kept drawing mustaches on the King’s posters!

I was already a fan of Mac Barnett who wrote the fantastic Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem. Check out Barnett’s website here. Kevin Cornell is a new illustrator for me – but one I will be keeping an eye out for. His illustrations in Mustache were absolutely delightful!  His website can be found here.

Calvin Can’t Fly

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Our BLG reader this week was Maria. She read the charming Calvin Can’t Fly: The Story of a Bookworm Birdie – written by Jennifer Berne and illustrated by Keith Bendis.

Calvin is a little black starling who is born with a passion for . . . books! He immerses himself into the world of adventures, legends, space, and drama. Places that he could never travel to in flight. And, there was one other small problem when it came to flying: having spent so much time with his “beak in a book,” Calvin actually had never learned to fly! When the group of little starlings were working on swooping and hovering and flying, Calvin was at the library! His starling cousins were not very understanding – he was called a “nerdy birdie,” a “geeky beaky” and a “bookworm.” Being a bird, Calvin took special offence at being called a worm!

When it was time to head south, Calvin was grounded. His flock was not about to abandon him however and he was carried along literally (by strings around his middle) on the starlings’ journey south. On route, Calvin saved the flock with his knowledge about hurricanes derived from a book about weather. In his excitement while celebrating his life saving heroics, Calvin begins to jump and hop and flap. And . . . yep, you guessed it! Calvin began to fly!

We love how reading and literacy are celebrated and that knowledge turns out to be the hero!

Three by the Sea

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Our BLG reader this week was Bill. He brought us a quirky little book by author/illustrator Mini Grey called Three by the Sea.

We were intrigued by this book but it left us a little puzzled. The consensus was that it needed further exploring, maybe even another read out loud session but that we definitely like this story. But perhaps like Mouse’s fancy cheeses, this book gets better with age (or read agains!). I took this book home and shared it with my own children and same phenomenon. We read it, discussed it and then my daughter took it off to her room to read it again and examine the pictures in more detail. This book definitely needs to be given time and we are excited that it has come into our classroom! Thanks BLG!

Three friends, Cat, Mouse and Dog live in a beach hut by the sea. Happily residing together? Perhaps not.  When a stranger arrives bringing mystery and gifts from the Winds of Change Trading Company, everything begins to change. The stranger plants little seeds of doubt with each friend. He asks Mouse if he approves of Dog’s gardening style. Only planting bones? What about flowers, vegetables, herbs? He questions Cat’s dedication to cleaning and Mouse’s ability to cook with variety. Soon the animals are all miserable with each other – full of criticism, accusations, doubt . . . A desperate event pulls the friends back together and when they return home, the Stranger is gone leaving behind a note and packets of seeds. Life is changed in the beach hut by the sea. The animals continue their duties: gardening, cleaning, cooking but now they share these tasks and more happiness and a faint scent of herbs fill the air.

So did this stranger bring peace or turmoil? Was he an agent of change or were his intentions less than positive? Read this book a time or two and decide for yourself.

If you become an instant fan of Mini Grey, as I did, read more about her books here.

I also found this lovely tour of the Mini Grey Universe in The Guardian’s Children’s Books.

Christmas Delicious

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The holiday season often means a lot of tasty treats! Gingerbread, chocolate, madarin oranges . . . Everyone has their favourites. Maria, our BLG reader brought in Christmas Delicious to share with us. This sweet little rhyming story is written by Lyn Loates and illustrated by Mark Jones.

This book features two lucky little mice Raisin and Rice who live in the storeroom of Zanzibar’s Deli. As Christmas approaches, the little (although nicely plump!) mice decide to plan a holiday feast and get lost in their tantalizing list of foods that should be included. Students were intrigued to read their ever growing list as some of the items were things they had never heard of before: fresh lox, turkish delight, macaroons . . . The mice bake, plan and prepare and everything seems perfect until they realize that they have forgotten the most important thing: to invite their friends! They race about the neighbourhood inviting all of their friends to the Zanzibar Delicatessen. Now everything truly is perfect! The last lines of the book:

They both learned anew what has always been true:

Christmas is best when it’s shared!

Happy Holidays!

Where Would I Be in an Evergreen Tree?

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Our BLG reader this week was Bill. He read us Where Would I Be in an Evergreen Tree? written by Jennifer Blomgren and illustrated by Andrea Gabriel.

evergreen tree

There was lots to learn from the text of this book: all about nurse logs, the life cycle of trees, the amazing creatures that inhabit the forest and the wonder of every layer. The book ends with an invitation to come into the forest and discover more for yourself. But it is the illustrations that pull you deeper – the lush vibrant greens, the dripping rain, the spotted wingspan of the owl . . . Wow!

Such a gorgeously illustrated book. Students also kept referring to the pictures and how beautiful they were.

Would love to use this before a forest walk. Or after and connect our learning . . . .

Our student reviewers report:

Catriona: Its illustrations were very very interesting because they were probably painted and they looked real. I could easily connect to it.

Truman: I like the drawings and the rhymes and the details. I like the page that has the pine martin on it because of the snow and how the pine martin is jumping.

Khai: The illustrations are great because they were nice and colourful. They reminded me of another book about a forest.

Deandra: It was really cool. I saw a squirrel gliding to a big tree. I liked it so much I loved it.