Albert

Posted on April 1, 2011 by carriegelson

Last night I read a really wonderful picture book to my children: Albert, written by Donna Jo Napoli (her first picture book after many award winning novels including one of my favourites The Prince of the Pond and illustrated by Jim La Marche.

Albert is an interesting man. Everyday, he eats his breakfast, reads the comics, gets dressed and thinks about going outside. Everyday, something convinces him it is not the day to venture out. It might be the damp weather. It might be the noises – the not good noises like arguing or rumbling garbage trucks. If we really want to call it, I think Albert experiences some quite serious anxiety about the outside world. Not an easy place to be.

The lovely thing about this book is that Napoli arranges the outside world to come to Albert. In the form of a twig, that becomes a nest, that hosts little eggs and a perching cardinal all on his outstretched hand. For Albert, who finds the outside world too overwhelming, he is gently (but insistently) forced to get one foot firmly planted on the ground – in the form of a hand carefully suspended in the air. Albert keeps his hand with a bird’s nest on it stretched outside his window because . . . how can he not? For days and days. Really! Of course my adult brain wonders how does he go to the bathroom? How does he not drop the nest when sleeping? How does he survive without food or drink? (This is addressed actually when father bird starts dropping berries in his mouth) My children though just got caught up in the magic of it. “He’s so kind!” my son exclaims. My daughter is a little worried. “Mama, Albert doesn’t have a job. How can he get money?”

In the end, the birds fly away and Albert who has been interacting (through the birds) with the outside world realizes that the world is a wonderful place – full of all kinds of noises and experiences. He puts on his hat and goes for a walk.

I asked: “What do you think the birds taught him?”

My daughter had lots to say: “Helping others helps you. You should go outside and fly your heart away!”

Yes, indeed.

Greetings from Nowhere

Posted on March 29, 2011 by carriegelson

I love novels by Barbara O’Connor. How to Steal a Dog made my Top 10 Read Alouds list. And I am longing to read her newest: The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester Now, that I’ve discovered her blog, I adore her all the more!

I picked up Greetings from Nowhere at the library the other day and read it in one luxurious sit down and read session.

This book is about many things. Struggling parent/child relationships (Kirby and his Mom & Willow and her Dad) Moving on and letting go (Willow, Aggie, Clyde) Yearning for loved ones away or never really known (Willow’s Mom, Loretta’s Other Mother) Change (new homes, new schools, new lives) Memories. Love. So many things in such a well told story.

For me, what this book was about was something more – something related to the spilling your secrets to a stranger on the plane syndrome and then feeling in a tiny cramped space above the clouds like you have found a new friend. This book is all about how we are always collecting friendships. That a shared history is not necessary when things in common will do. Things like hard times, pinned hope, worry . . . The sharing of stories and the working towards one goal (fixing up the motel) forms new bonds and a connectedness that forms quick and solid.

I love the significance of the Great Smoky Mountains in this story. Many things can be lost and found, packed and revisited but these mountains are a constant. I also love Willow’s thinking on page 189 – how she gets to the place of knowing how to ask her Dad if Aggie can stay. So much love in the last bit of her plea “And Harold is in the tomato garden!”

Yes, this book is a work of fiction for children. And yes, I can’t wait to read this to a class of students but this book can have such a wide audience. My Mom would love this book. Because the friendships span generations, it is widely appealing.

Friends are where you find them and family is how you make it. Thank you Barbara O’Connor for delivering us this message in such a lovely book.

Last Night’s Story

Posted on March 27, 2011 by carriegelson

You know a book is an ideal read aloud when the reactions to it are as amusing as the story itself. Last night I read my children (8 years old x 2) Lulu and the Brontosaurus written by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Lane Smith. They easily could have read this book themselves but this book shines as a shared read aloud experience.

Judith Viorst writes books where characters have a very appealing voice – connectable, frank, amusing. In this book, it is not the main character Lulu that has the powerful voice (although her screeches are pretty loud) but rather the narrator, Viorst herself. As author of the book, she has taken certain liberties – yes, she knows that Lulu, a human girl couldn’t possibly go out into the forest to find a dinosaur (especially a brontosaurus that technically didn’t even ever exist as it has been renamed the apatosarus) but this is her story, so that’s just how it is going to be. Lulu decides that she wants a brontosaurus and when her parents refuse to give in (a rarity in and of itself) to her tantrums and pleas, she marches into the forest, with her small suitcase to find one herself.

Accompanying her are her Don’t mess with me attitude and her theme song:

I’m gonna, I’m gonna, I’m gonna, gonna get A bronto-bronto-bronto Brontosaurua for a pet. I’m gonna, I’m gonna, I’m gonna, gonna get A bronto-bronto-bronto Brontosaurua for a pet.

I got it! A brontosaurus!

Lulu faces down huge snakes, ferocious tigers and grumpy bears. She is a girl on a mission. She is going to find a brontosaurus. She trudges on, frequently singing her song until sleep overtakes her. After hearing this song about three times, my children leaped out of bed, grabbed board games off the shelf as make shift suitcases and marched around the room chanting “I’m gonna, I’m gonna, I’m gonna, gonna get A bronto-bronto-bronto Brontosaurua for a pet. . . ” Maybe not the best book to be reading before bed? More inspiring than calming!

When Lulu awakes, it is to a tree trunk with toes. A brontosaurus! The answer to her dreams. But it turns out, actually not! This brontosaurus is not going to take no for an answer to his dream – He wants Lulu for his pet! Pages and pages pass. He is not changing his mind. Lulu has no choice – she runs away! She makes her way back through the forest, encountering those very same creatures she challenged along the way. Something in Lulu seems to have changed. She has new strategies. Gift giving. Complimenting. Saying please! Lulu?! I won’t give any more of the story away. It’s hard to tell it to its end anyway because there are actually three endings to choose from. Depending on your style and your story ending needs. (We were unanimous – ending three got our vote) Very considerate of Ms. Viorst!

Lulu encountered a snake

Lane Smith, is the author/illustrator or illustrator of many books. His art is unique. Quirky. Odd. Eerie. Hilarious. In this book, the drawings are done in pencil on pastel paper. Amazing shading. So much mood conveyed without a hint of colour. We loved Lulu in her stripy dress, her persnickety pout, her sleek little bob. . . This book is a visual treat, strangely shaped – long and narrow and polka dotted new chapter pages. Never too much text on a page. A book you want to own. And treasure.

When the book ended (at 113 pages, we were able to finish it in one sitting) My children were completely energized! “Awesome,” cried my daughter. “That book was all about friendship, good manners and how you don’t always get what you want.” “And Foo on you! ” squealed my son. (You will have to read the book to find out why this is absolutely hilarious to an eight year old!)

Love this book! Reading books by Judith Viorst is always a delightful experience.

Five Fantastic Fictional (mostly) Frogs

Posted on March 26, 2011 by carriegelson

Lately I’ve had quite the thing for fictional frogs – not the frogs who turn into princes or have just been princes, although those guys are pretty great too. But no, a thing for the hoppy, happy, stretchy, leapy unpredictable green frogs that make the books they jump into particularly delightful.

My top 5: Books about frogs

1. Stick by Steve Breen

I just found this book at my local library. Stick is Steve Breen’s first picture book (but his talent for words and visual images has not been missed – he won the Pulitzer Prize for his editorial cartoons twice!) How far can one little frog travel? And how? Find out what happens when little Stick happens to get his long tongue stuck to a dragonfly. Up, up and away . . . Silly, delightfully preposterous and gorgeous bird’s (in this case frog!) eye view of town, city and swamp.

2. City Dog, Country Frog written by Mo Willems and illustrated by Jon J Muth

I kept eyeing this book at the library, noticing names Mo Willems and John J Muth and thinking to myself, “I have got to read this book.” Something about the cover picture spoke dog to me and I kept missing the frog, even when I eyed the title I saw dog instead of frog. Finally, I looked a little closer and spotted the frog so perfectly plopped on the dog’s head and I pulled the book off the shelf. How could I have missed this? I was missing so much! Inside illustrations are mellow, gentle and ahh, what greens. Together with Willems’ simple text, pictures and words tell the tender story of friendship, the passage of time, young curiousity and calm wisdom. To make up for the months I haven’t been reading this book, I need to read it over and over and over again.

3. Growing Frogs written by Vivian French and illustrated by Alison Bartlett

Such an amazing book to teach about how frogs grow from tadpoles and how exciting this change can be to watch. I call a book like this an “information storybook” – a definite fictional story yet so much factual information it bridges into the non-fiction category. A little girl and her Mom collect frog spawn from the pond and carefully tend to the tadpoles, then frogs who grow. This book took me right back to my eight year old self and my ice cream bucket full of pond water and tadpoles. How I loved it and how sad I was to return my little frogs to their pond again. I love that French points out how carefully you must care for your growing frogs – always using pond water, changing it regularly etc. Allowing children to have important nature experiences respectfully.

4. A Frog Thing written by Eric Drachman and illustrated by James Muscarello

I have a real soft spot for Frankie the frog in this story. Told by his parents that he can do anything, he sets his mind to flying. Ahem, darling, “that’s a bird thing” explain his parents. He does try very hard to soar through the air but to no avail. One day he sees a baby bird fall helplessly into the pond and swims to its rescue. The grateful mother demands – “How can I repay you?” Well . . . We soon see Freddy flying through the air clutching a twig held by two birds. Finally flying! Exciting, yes. But Freddy realizes that doing the frog thing will suffice for him after all. Beautifully illustrated. A wonderful read aloud to share.

5. Fine As We Are by Algy Craig Hall

Wow, is it great to be a little frog. Having Mama frog all to yourself. Sigh. . . happiness. So what are all of these black spotted blogs in the water? Why do they have tails? Now legs? Oh my! Little frogs. All belonging to Mama. Life with many new siblings is quite the adjustment for our little frog. Annoying at first – how much leaping and tumbling about can these little frogs do? But then, oddly “just right.” The perfect book to explore how life changes when a new sibling (or siblings) arrives.

Jealousy is just a stage, right?

Hop through some frog books this Spring!

Why do you think you should never smile at a monkey?

Posted on March 23, 2011 by carriegelson

Wow, did we enjoy interacting with Never Smile at a Monkey (*and 17 other Important Things to Remember) by Steve Jenkins.

We used this book to practice questioning, predicting and inferring – when you encounter some of these creatures, what should you not do? And why exactly?

Jenkins explains that certain large creatures are “well known threats” – of course we aren’t going to get too close to tigers or crocodiles. Sharp teeth. No thanks! We also know to avoid “rattle snakes, black widow spiders, and piranhas” Their danger is well known. But what about the creatures we don’t know so much about. Creatures with “teeth, claws, spines and venom that can be deadly” That’s what this book is all about. A very clever idea brought to us with a combination of Jenkins’ gorgeous torn paper collage animals and just enough text to teach us new information related to this theme.

Jenkins organizes this book with a picture of a creature on each page or 2 page spread, Accompanying this is a Never . . . . warning in larger text and then an explanation of why. At the back of the book, more information is provided about each creature as well as a list of books for further reading. In the example here, we are warned to never collect a cone shell. Why not? Yikes. Well, a cone shell has poisoned barbs that it uses when hunting. They can be launched like harpoons. Potentially deadly if they stab you. Makes one think twice about collecting shells!

How did we use this book in the classroom?

Students brought notepads and pencils to the carpet to listen to the story. I would show them a picture and read the Never . . . warning without showing them the rest of the text. Students then wrote their prediction/inference about why we should never . . . We shared a few out loud and then I read the explanation provided in the book.

Some very funny conversation happened. Amazing predictions. Lots of arguing! “Not everything has venom you know!” “How could it bite you, it doesn’t even have teeth?” “What are you talking about? Be more specific!” My favourite line: “Ms Gelson I’m using my schema!”

So . . . want to learn something new?

Why should you never smile at a monkey?

Our predictions:

it might scratch you when it gets excited
it will get really mad
it will yell at you and bite you with its sharp teeth
it will get loud, jump up and bite you

And the real reason. . .

“If you smile at a rhesus monkey it may interpret your show of teeth as an aggressive gesture and respond violently.”

Why should you never jostle a jellyfish?

Our predictions:

it can release venom that can kill you
it might shock you
it might pop
it will start to vibrate and kill you

And the real reason. . .

“A box jelly fish is in a class by itself . . . even the smallest contact with its stinging tentacles causes intense pain . . . you can die very quickly.”

Later, students chose one creature, wrote their prediction and the real explanation and included a picture. Sometimes our thinking was very close – other times, not a bit. Which was great – real learning happened! We also liked celebrating when we did have background knowledge about a particular creature and could make an inference that made a lot of sense. At one point, as I was reading a little voice piped up. “This is so fun!“

Love, love, love Steve Jenkins’ books! His website includes an interesting explanation of how he makes his books.

Emily’s Art

Posted on March 20, 2011 by carriegelson

What a powerful book to read to children! I first read Emily’s Art written and illustrated by Peter Catalanotto with my daughter and she burst into tears part way through. We talked for a long time about the story events and how different characters acted and felt. I knew this was an important book to share in the classroom and the resulting discussion confirmed this and then some.

This book begins with a sneak peak into Emily’s classroom. Ms. Fair is explaining to the students about an upcoming art contest where a judge will decide the winner. Catalanotto does a fantastic job of portraying the open, honest and sometimes impulsive comments made by students in a class discussion. Students ask questions about the judge, winning and losing and how exactly things are decided. From Emily: “Does the judge know which is better?”

The story then skips ahead to the days leading up to the contest. Everyday students get painting time. We watch Emily painting and fielding questions about her pictures. Looking at her picture of her family having breakfast (where we see a mother cooking, eating, packing lunches and changing a lightbulb), Stephen asks, “Why do you have four mothers?” Emily explains that there is only one, “She’s just very busy.” Everyday Emily paints a different picture. Her best friend Kelly paints a butterfly day after day.

The night before the contest, Emily cannot settle. She has questions for her mother about which is best and all night she worries about what might be better. Winter or summer? Pink or purple? The sun or the moon? My students were reminded of other stories with characters being unable to sleep because of worries. “That’s like Wemberly Worried!” “Howard B. Wigglebottom!” “Seymour Slug Starts School!” We sure connect to those sleepless worrying nights!

At the contest, the judge is overwhelmed by Emily’s art: “What a gorgeous painting. What a beautiful rabbit!” When Ms. Fair explains that the picture is actually of a dog, everything changes. “A DOG??!!” screeched the Judge.”I was attacked by a dog once! I hate dogs.” She turns and awards the blue ribbon to Kelly’s butterfly.

“I love butterflies,” she announced.

Emily’s heart twisted. My class was irate! And deeply impacted.

Jena: “That judge is judging her painting by what she thinks about dogs.”

Alyson: “Maybe she shouldn’t be a judge! What does she know?”

Emily took her painting down and vowed to never paint again. Miami, now in Grade 3 shared a memory from kindergarten: “At my old school, my teacher was mean to me. She said “What is that?” when she looked at my picture. “You can draw better than that. I know you can.” I always felt sad when I was at home.”

Emily ends up going to the nurse’s room, needing to mend her broken heart. She falls asleep and when she wakes, Kelly is on the cot beside her.

I ask the students why Kelly might be there?

Scott: “She is so sad for Emily.”

Alyson: “She feels sad that Emily didn’t win. She would have won if the teacher hadn’t said it was a dog.”

Hajhare: “Kelly’s heart feels sad because she thinks that Emily must hate her.”

“Wow” Kelly whispered. “You’re a good artist.”

The girls begin talking and Kelly shares that she doesn’t know how to draw anything but butterflies. Because she won, everyone expects more of her. Can Emily show her how to draw a dinosaur? The girls feel better and head back to the classroom where they are having an art party to celebrate all of the wonderful work!

Kevin: “It’s a happy ending. But the middle was the sad part.”

Miami: “I’m connecting. Lots of movies have sad middles but then, happy endings.” The class agreed.

More reactions:

“She should know her own opinion of her drawing so she won’t be sad. Like positive thinking.” (Lisa)
“Don’t always agree with other opinions.” (Annie)
“It is emotional, because if you think of a time like that – like getting rejected, you connect to the sadness of it.” (Alyson)

We talked about how strong words can be.

“What the judge said was mean.” (Kevin)
“People should think before they speak” (Alyson)
“Words can be really strong- something mean said can make you feel like a punch in the stomach.” (Jena)
“Punches can hurt outside, but words hurt inside.” (Kevin)
“That’s clever Kevin.” (Hajhare)

For more ideas of how this book might be used in the classroom, check out these questions from Philosophy for Children. I just discovered this website and will certainly be revisiting it!

Fairy tales, Anthony Browne style

Posted on March 19, 2011 by carriegelson

Recently I read our class Into the Forest by award winning author/illustrator Anthony Browne.

A boy is awakened by a terrible sound and so some upsetting days begin. Dad is missing from the breakfast table, Grandma is sick and he must take a cake to her. “Don’t go into the forest,” his mother warns. But anxious not to miss his father’s return, the boy decides to take a shortcut through the forest and his strange adventures begin. We certainly connected to the anxiety and suspense along the way to Grandmother’s house. The students expressed feeling worried. Someone said that his tummy felt weird. There was a lot of gasping and held breath. Such suspense. As we came across oddly familiar fairy tale characters, students were eager to shout out their connections. “That must be Goldilocks!”, “That’s not that candy one where the witch takes them is it? It is?!” One student described the feeling the book gave her as a “tingling in your brain” because it seemed like we knew the story but we kept worrying about what might happen. Finally, all is well. Our happy ending finds Dad and a recovered Grandma and boy and father return home to Mom.

Watching the students connect, predict and infer, I was reminded about how important it is to develop rich story schema with our students. They need to know their fairy tales, fables, favourite rhymes and be exposed to literature from a variety of genres. When they bring this rich experience to “new to them” books, they are able to interact with the book on a much deeper level as they pick up on nuances, allusions and references to other stories. As parents and teachers, we must read, read read and then read some more!

A few days later, I found another (new to me) Anthony Browne book at the public library – also giving a new twist to a well known fairy tale, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Me and You does an amazing job of telling simultaneous stories, letting us into the world of Goldilocks while at the same time we revisit the familiar story about the bears.

As we flip through this book, we find two stories. On the left, sepia images of the little girl, out on an errand with Mom and then suddenly, lost.

Her story is wordless, told just through the images. Lost. Afraid. Alone. Finding a cozy home, a snack, a warm bed. Being discovered and racing away. Walking through rain, empty streets and then finally, into the arms of a searching Mom.

On the right, we follow little bear and his Mummy and Daddy as they head out for a walk and then return home to find a stranger in their home. A version of the Goldilocks story that we are very familiar with. Full of comforting colours. Lots of happy yellow, soothing blues, calm greens. I love the last line of the book. Little bear looks out of his window, thinking about the girl. “I wonder what happened to her.” This story definitely blurs the absolutes of fairy tale right and wrong and introduces a lovely element of empathy.

I am a big, big fan of Anthony Browne!

Willoughby & the Moon

Posted on March 19, 2011 by carriegelson

Greg Foley‘s Willoughby & the Moon takes us on many adventures – a trip to the moon with Willoughby and a giant snail, a space adventure on a moon buggy and a space pod and an amazing visual journey in deep black, white and silver – glowing pages full of shimmery snails, shadowy images of the craters on the moon and detailed moon maps that make us all the more curious . . .

Willoughby cannot sleep. In his dark, dark room, he assures his mother that he is not afraid of the dark – he is just wondering where the moon has gone. Later he spies a light under his closet door and discovers that inside his closet a giant snail is standing upon the moon. So begins an adventure with his new, tentative friend the snail who is in search of his lost ball. Willoughby helps in the search, as snail is afraid of many things. They search rocks, craters and mountaintops. Eventually, it is Willoughby who must face his own fear (psst it actually is the dark that scares him!) in order to help his friend. A wonderful moon experience with absolutely stunning images. We had to break out the silver crayons to illustrate our responses!

Some responses in need of sharing:

Hailey: The snail was scared of heights, rocks and craters. The boy was scared of the dark cave.

Jenny: I liked the part when Willoughby did a brave thing for his friend.

Alyson: The boy should encourage the snail that everything is not so scary. The snail encouraged the boy to go in the dark.

Ricky: I’m curious about the moon. I want to go there and when I get back, I’m going to tell all about my adventure. But, I’m not old enough to go. I’ll just visualize it. I wish I could see how big the moon and craters are.

Kiss me! (I’m a Prince!)

Posted on March 19, 2011 by carriegelson

Maria, our BLG reader this week, read us a very different kind of fairytale. Kiss me! (I’m a Prince!) written by Heather McLeod and illustrated by Brooke Kerrigan,provided many surprises. Not your typical frog turns into prince and all live happily ever after by any means!

So okay, first of all, you have got to know if you say the word kiss to a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds, it is going to get some giggles. Have that word repeated often in the story – “Kiss me! Why won’t you kiss me? Hey, hey, hey!” and you have everyone’s attention!

Our poor frog in this story is truly a prince and to get turned back – yep you guessed it- he needs to be kissed! He finds Ella and begs, “Kiss me. If you kiss me, I’ll turn into a prince.” He’s pretty persistent. Ella, though, is not so sure. “You’ll turn into a prince, but then what?” When the princely and promised princess life is described, she is definitely not impressed. Studying? Horsemanship? Suits and gowns? This life seems pretty devoid of play. She would rather have a talking frog.

So the frog gives up on getting kissed.

Maybe he’ll take a hug? suggested Miami.

Then Ella shows him the wonderful world of play time and he actually forgets about being a prince until a royal courtier arrives and takes him back to the castle. When he returns to visit Ella, he is still a frog. He needs the true kiss of a friend to be transformed back. Ella wonders if this is what he really wants? He assures her that he has convinced his parents that a prince needs some down time in his day and they have agreed. “So yes, Ella, I want you to kiss me. Please?”

How does the story end? Well . . . they played happily ever after.

Our student reviewers report:

Josiah: I thought the book was very funny. The frog kept saying it over and over – Kiss me, I’m a Prince!

Ricky: Maria, that was a really great book you read! It was funny when the girl imagined that she was going to kiss the frog but she didn’t.

Jena: At the end, I thought it was very interesting because when she told the frog about having fun and playing hopscotch and swimming and Simon Says, the frog and Ella (the girl) turned out to be really good friends.

A great choice Maria!

On Earth . . .

Posted on March 16, 2011 by carriegelson

On Earth by G. Brian Karas is a wonderful book to introduce how the Earth moves through space, why we have night and day and what causes the seasons.

I was curious about what the students already knew. We examined the front cover which folds open to reveal the image above as well as part of the earth in darkness, surrounded by space.

What do we know? Let’s access our background knowledge! And pose some questions. . .

In one place it is day and another it is night (Edwin)
The Earth spins around once in 24 hours (Ricky)
What happens if the sun and moon come together? Would the moon melt? (Jeremiah)
That’s an eclipse! (Josiah)
The sun can only shine on half at once (Edwin)
At different places on Earth, there can be different times (Jena)
Why can’t we feel the spinning? (Scott)
Space never ends! (Ricky)
Why when you face the sun, you can’t see the planets? (Alyson)

As we read, more thinking and questions happened.

How does the Earth spin? (Ricky)
If planets were more away from the sun, are years longer? (Alyson)
Does the Earth also go around the sun? (Jenny)
What happens if the sun got sick? (Scott)
If there was no gravity on Earth, we would float out into space (Josiah)

Lots of great learning happened with this book and students were able to use new vocabulary in their writing: axis, orbit, gravity, seasons, equator.