Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Fourteen favourites of 2014 (Part 2)

Posted on December 31, 2014 by carriegelson

I am thrilled to share my favourite fourteen nonfiction titles of 2014!

I love books. As in absolutely adore, frequently gush over, make piles, make lists, always reading kind of #booklove devotion. If you had asked me to talk favourites a few years ago, a nonfiction title would have made it on the list here and there. I have always appreciated the power of the nonfiction read aloud but . . . it wasn’t until I began participating in the nonfiction picture book challenges organized by Alyson Beecher (from Kid Lit Frenzy) that I have become absolutely smitten with nonfiction titles.

I have been busily tweeting about this as of late . . .

With each nonfiction picture book I read, I am more convinced of the importance of the nonfiction read aloud #nfpb2014 #nfforkids

— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) December 23, 2014

@alybee930 Always get excited buying new books but must admit, I get most excited about nonfiction as know it means years of learning ahead

— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) December 21, 2014

@Loveofxena @alybee930 Exactly – and helps to develop background knowledge, a sense of wonder, connections to other learning Rich reading

— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) December 24, 2014

I am thrilled to renew my commitment to nonfiction reading by participating in the #nfpb2015 challenge! The more nonfiction I read, the more I learn and the more my students ultimately benefit.

More about my favourites of 2014. If these titles are not on your already read and loved or must read radar, consider adding them to the list!

Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla written by Katherine Applegate and illustrated by G. Brian Karas

The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus written by Jen Bryant and illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Gravity by Jason Chin

Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes written by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Emily Sutton

Weeds Find a Way written by Cindy Jenson-Elliott and illustrated by Carolyn Fisher

Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill

Eye to Eye: How Animals See The World by Steve Jenkins

Creature Features: 25 Animals Explain Why They Look the Way They Do by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

Born in the Wild: Baby Mammals and their Parents by Lita Judge

A Boy and A Jaguar written by Alan Rabinowitz and illustrated by Cátia Chien

Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands by Katherine Roy

Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen

Star Stuff: Carl Sagan and the Mysteries of the Cosmos by Stephanie Roth Sisson

Feathers Not Just for Flying written by Melissa Stewart and illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen

I have included picture books here but must also note that Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa’s Fastest Cats written by Sy Montgomery with photographs by Nic Bishop was an absolute favourite of the year.

I am also pleased to report that I more than met my goal of reading 65 nonfiction picture books this year. Grand total: 144 titles! 🙂

What are your favourites of the year?

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Fourteen favourites (Part 1)

Posted on December 24, 2014 by carriegelson

As 2014 comes to a close, avid book lovers and book bloggers start amassing favourites. As I looked over the close to 150 nonfiction picture book titles I have read this year, I realized that there are many to highlight. So, I have decided to do two top fourteen lists (in honour of 2014). This one contains my favourite titles read in 2014 but with a publication date of 2013 or earlier. Next week I will share my favourite fourteen titles published in 2014.

Shared alphabetically by author:

Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau written by Jennifer Berne and illustrated by Éric Puybaret (published 2008)

A gorgeous introduction to Cousteau and his passion for the underwater world. I shared my students’ responses to this title here.

Look Up! Bird Watching in Your Own Backyard by Annette LeBlanc Cate (published 2013)

Written in conversational, humorous style, this title encourages us to pay a little more attention to the natural world in general and to the beauty of birds in particular.

Miss Dorothy and her Bookmobile written by Gloria Houston and illustrated by Susan Condie Lamb (published 2011)

An inspiring story about Dorothy Thomas, an absolute book hero. True testament to how books change lives and connect community.

Can We Save the Tiger? written by Martin Jenkins and illustrated by Vicky White (published in 2011)

This book introduces students to a huge variety of endangered and extinct animals. With some creatures, like the tiger, more details are provided about the animal including reasons for its vulnerable status.

How Big Were Dinosaurs? by Lita Judge (published 2013)

Lita Judge’s illustrations are so rich. They inform. They amuse. And they delight. Each dinosaur featured here is drawn next to something that children already know to allow them to imagine the exact size of the dinosaur.

One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley (published 2009)

Spectacular photographs showcasing the daily routines that many of us share – all a little different in different places but yet, so much the same.

Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia written by Sy Montgomery with photographs by Nic Bishop (published 2009)

How can a book about searching for snow leopards be so amazingly interesting when the snow leopards are never actually seen? Montgomery and Bishop tell an incredible tale about these magical and elusive creatures and their champion, scientist Tom McCarthy who has devoted his life’s work to their conservation.

Jasper’s Story: Saving Moon Bears written by Jill Robinson and Marc Bekoff; illustrated by Gijisbert van Frankenhuyzen (published 2013)

Jasper is a bear that was rescued by Jill Robinson (the author) and her Animals Asia team and brought to a sanctuary in China. Jill describes Jasper as courageous and loving; a symbol of forgiveness and hope.

Volcano Rising written by Elizabeth Rusch and illustrated by Susan Swan (published 2013)

One of the very best, if not the best nonfiction picture book I have read on volcanoes. Two layers of text (one section with more details for those who want to read more information) and incredible illustrations.

Songs of the Water Boatman written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beckie Prange (published 2005)

Come to the pond and experience it like you have never imagined through vivid images, fascinating facts and gorgeous illustrations.

Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors poems by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beckie Prange (published 2010)

Poet and artist celebrate nature’s successes. Who has been around for a long time and continues to thrive?

Under the Snow written by Melissa Stewart and illustrated by Constance R Bergum (published 2009)

Informative and beautifully illustrated. Feel like you are peeking into winter hiding places of animals and creatures that seemed to disappear.

Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell written by Tanya Lee Stone and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman (published 2013)

This title inspired some amazing discussion in my classroom. An important biography about determination, changing general opinion and beliefs and following a dream.

Parrots Over Puerto Rico by Cindy Trumbore and Susan L. Roth (published in 2013) Winner of the 2014 Sibert Meda

So often when we hear about animals on the brink of extinction, there is no happy ending story to share. Here, we have a story of hope and promise. Through much hard work the endangered parrots of Puerto Rico are once again flying through the treetops.

Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2014. Follow the link to Alyson’s blog to read about more nonfiction books you need to read!

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 142/65 complete!

Next week I will share my top nonfiction titles for 2014. 14 of them 🙂

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Nonfiction “on the go” in our room

Posted on December 17, 2014 by carriegelson

There are many ways you might know that nonfiction titles are important and well utilized in our classroom.

First of all, there are the visual clues. Some are organized by me – like our new book shelf full of titles on display that I have recently read or book talked. We add books here frequently and then switch them out and make room for more. Some live here for a while because they are very popular and students want to be able to find them easily. Some live here for just a little while – they are added when a reference comes up in a discussion for those students who want to read more. Centipedes came out when I read about a centipede in a silly poem and we talked about how many legs a centipede actually has and whether or not it was an insect. We talked about the word gnaw in word work and someone talked about how beavers and rats gnaw on things. I put a book about beavers on display. Fantastic Feet was a book by Melissa Stewart that I bought for the classroom recently. Lots of kids read it and started talking about animal feet and then animal tracks. We added books on these topics.

You can see how this shelf is well used!

We have a shelf like this for fiction titles too. 🙂

We also display book titles we have read with key words used so we can refer to them later. I keep a list of words on a sticky note on the inside cover as we read. These are great for those few minutes of waiting for announcements or when lining people up. For example,

“Think back to the book Salmon Creek, who remembers what an estuary is. Tell the person beside you and then we’ll take answers.”

Some proof of our nonfiction love is highlighted by the students who find connections in the titles they are reading and want to share. This child thought that the African landscape in the book Giraffes was similar to the dry land in San Diego when Kate Sessions (from the book The Tree Lady) arrived in this seaside town and was shocked by the lack of trees.

These boys were very excited to find blue footed boobies in two different nonfiction titles.

But you would also know that we are a class who loves nonfiction titles because we have so many nonfiction read alouds “on the go”. Walk into our room throughout the day and you might find us engaged with a nonfiction text. Currently we are reading pages from . . .

Math Appeal: Mind Stretching Riddles by Greg Tang Illustrated by Harry Briggs

My students love to try and solve a few of these riddles right after recess as we are waiting for students to get to the carpet. It’s great motivation to be on time!

If you aren’t familiar with Tang’s books, check out a sample page on his website.

$Math Appeal Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Nonfiction "on the go" in our room There's a Book for That$

Another math title we have on the go is Lifetime: The Amazing Numbers in Animals’ Lives written by Lola Schaefer and illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal

I read a page at a time and we try and come up with all of the questions we would need to ask to figure out how the statement was made. Lots of gathering of information via question asking. For example, we just learned that a kangaroo has 50 joeys in her lifetime. We came up with these questions:

How many joeys does she have at one time? Single birth? Twins? More?
How long do kangaroos live?
How old is a kangaroo when she can have babies?
How many babies does one kangaroo have in a year?

The detailed information in the back of the book gives us all of the answers and then we figure out the math!

Time to Sleep by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

We read this book every Thursday between Word Work and Reading Workshop. I read about the animal featured on the page and then ask the children to predict or infer to answer questions about the creature we are talking about. There is additional information about each animal in the back of the text. For example, we just read about how the flamingo stands on one leg to conserve energy. After we talked about how this is vastly different from the way we sleep, I then asked the children what they think flamingoes eat, where in the world we might find them and how tall they think they are. After they discussed their ideas with their turn and talk partners, I read the information in the back of the book. Listening for specific information is practiced as I share additional details.

Eye to Eye: How Animals See The World by Steve Jenkins

This is our current nonfiction read aloud that we are reading in depth. We are talking lots, learning lots of new vocabulary and writing some quick summaries of our learning. Our favourite thing? Getting out our rulers and figuring out the actual size of each creature depicted on the page! In the back there is information about the size of each animal talked about. We love predicting and comparing.

“Who thinks a garden snail is smaller than 10 cm or larger than 10 cm? Get ready to mark its length on your ruler . . . Here is its length: ______”

Nonfiction read alouds are never rushed in our classroom. They are springboards for further learning and discussion. When a book is finished, it has become part of our shared knowledge and who we are as learners.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 132/65 complete! More than double my original goal!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: My current TBR list, nonfiction style

Posted on December 3, 2014 by carriegelson

It’s that time of year where we list our favourite books for the year, make reading plans for next year and celebrate another year of reading. At this time of year, I get worried that I might forget about some titles on my TBR list as I am browsing favourites lists and making my TBR list ever longer.

So, I went through my current nonfiction TBR list and made a long list into a shorter list. Highlighting these here lets me give them a little “I will get to you soon” pledge.

Here are nine nonfiction titles I can’t wait to read. Thank you to the wonderful readers in my network who have recommended them!

Star Stuff: Carl Sagan and the Mysteries of the Cosmos by Stephanie Roth Sisson

Animalium: Welcome to the Museum Curated by Katie Scott and Jenny Broom

Beetle Busters: A Rogue Insect and the People who Track it written by Loree Griffin Burns with photographs by Ellen Harasimowicz

Elizabeth Queen of the Seas written by Lynne Cox and illustrated by Brian Floca

If: A Mind Bending Way of Looking at Big Ideas and Numbers written by David J. Smith illustrated by Steve Adams

The Case of the Vanishing HoneyBees: A Scientific Mystery by Sandra Markle

Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen

Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands by Katherine Roy

Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons written by Sara Levine with illustrations by T.S. Spookytooth

What’s on your nonfiction To Be Read List?

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 124/65 complete!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Student Voices

Posted on November 19, 2014 by carriegelson

Mingan: My village Poems by Innu Schoolchildren by Rogé

With participation of Joséphine Bacon, Rita Mestokosho and Laure Morali.

I have the feeling I could write nothing about this title and that just from the cover image, you will seek it out.

Anybody nodding?

And really, you should. Seek. Read. Share it with students. It is beautiful on every level.

After spending a few days with children in Mingan, an Innu village in northeastern Quebec, Rogé painted portraits of the children he photographed. Through writer’s workshops, the children wrote the poetry that is shared in this book. The writing could speak of so many things in these children’s experiences. These poems depict a rich connection to nature, an honouring of the natural world and an awe of the beauty that surrounds us.

Some poems are written by one author. Others are collaborations. I love much of the imagery. Here is a portion of a favourite piece:

It snows on the planets

When we walk on the sky

And these words just stopped me.

When the ravens become white

I will stop loving you

More than forty percent of the students who attend my school are Aboriginal. I have just ordered my own copy of this title so it can be a part of our classroom library. Student voice. Student expression. The magic of poetry. I want all of these things to be inspiration to my students. I want them to find their power to observe, to share and to connect through the words of these children on the other side of our country.

When I ordered this title, I also ordered another title by Rogé that has been getting a lot of recent attention for its gorgeous illustrations:

Haiti My country: Poems by Haitian Schoolchildren

Are these titles nonfiction? Yes and no. I think they can be stretched between genres. That these poems capture so much truth, that they inspire the reader to think about a place and a specific time and seek out maps and more information, this is my reason to nudge these titles, for today, into the nonfiction world.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 121/65 complete!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: The Open Ocean

Posted on November 12, 2014 by carriegelson

To celebrate Picture Book Month I am continuing to share conversations I have about particular picture books. This isn’t so much a conversation as an ooh and ahh fest I had with my own two children while exploring this nonfiction title.

The Open Ocean by Francesco Pittau and Bernadette Gervais is an oversized title that invites the reader to guess, read more, lift flaps and absorb amazing information. This title kept my two 12 year olds completely interested and engaged as we interacted with this gorgeous book. Our favourite 2 page spread was the section that showed closeups of shells, scales and other textures on various sealife. We didn’t guess any correctly! So much to interact with in this title.

Our favourite facts?

The compass jellyfish changes gender over its lifetime (“That’s just too strange,” remarked my son.)
The blue whale is one of longest living creatures.
The sea urchin is named after a hedgehog.
An octopus is super smart! It can open jars.(“But what are those scientists doing having it be in a lab to do experiments on? Terrible! Unless it is just tests? Do they release them after?” – this from my daughter.)
A sunfish can weigh over 500 pounds!
The swordfish is one of the fastest fish.
No one really knows how long lobsters live. They can live to be over 100 and they always seem to die for other reasons before perishing from old age.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 120/65 complete!

Talking spiders

Posted on November 5, 2014 by carriegelson

To celebrate Picture Book Month I am continuing to share conversations I have with students about picture books. Sometimes, I learn a lot.

Today I had a visit at recess from a Grade 1 student all dressed up for photo day.

He checked out some Lego and told me about his outfit.

Then he wandered over to where I was putting away some nonfiction titles. And we started to talk about the books

Me: “What do you notice about all of these books?”

Mr. Dressed Up: “They’re all insects and stuff. They’re good because they help you breathe and make stuff. Like honey.”

Me: “Which of these books looks the most interesting?”

Mr. Dressed Up: “Hmmm. Spiders. I like them. They have 8 legs and well, they’re creepy. I like creepy stuff.”

Me: “What do you think you might find out in this book?”

Mr. Dressed Up: “Well you’ll be knowing about spiders. How they spin. Can they help you out in a haunted house?”

Me: “Interesting. What are you noticing when you look through the book?”

Mr. Dressed Up: “Well they have one eye in this picture. And 8 legs (counts to confirm) No, 11. Hold on (counts again) Maybe 10. Some of these might not be legs?”

Me: “Do you notice anything else?”

Mr. Dressed Up: “Well this orange part here is a big round circle. Kind of like a bum that we have. But we have two big circles.”

Indeed! 🙂

Me: “So do you think you might like to read these books when you are in my classroom?”

Mr. Dressed Up: “Yep.”

Judging from the popularity of the Creepy Creatures series with my current Grade 3/4 students, I think he will!

Spiders by Valerie Bodden (published 2011) has information about a spider’s life, how webs are made and the parts of a spider’s body. Close up photographs are intriguing. There is a glossary in the back and new vocabulary is bolded throughout the book. My primary/early intermediate students can easily manage this series with independence.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 119/65 complete!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: A focus on Steve Jenkins titles

Posted on October 29, 2014 by carriegelson

Steve Jenkins is royalty in the nonfiction picture book world as far as I am concerned. A leader, an inspiration, a sure thing. Does anyone own a Steve Jenkins title that they don’t adore? Every time I hear of a new Jenkins book being released, I can instantly convince myself that it must be a part of our class collection. And then I use it often for many different reasons. So much of our science learning begins with a Steve Jenkins’ book!

The latest book soon making its way into my room is this one: Eye to Eye: How Animals See The World by Steve Jenkins (published April 2014)

I just reread this title again and am so excited to share it with my students. Each page offers a close up illustration of a particular eye and details about how it works and the book also begins and ends with additional information. As always, there are more facts about the animals featured in the book, but this title also includes:

a summary of “the first eyes” – how some animals developed sight and how vision evolved
information about the four kinds of eyes: an eyespot, pinhole eyes, compound eyes and the camera eye
a summary of the evolution of the eye with labelled diagrams and examples
a comprehensive glossary that contains terms like retina, receptor cells and ultraviolet light

I learned so many things and know it is a perfect book to read to my students as we discuss topics like light and vision related to an upcoming workshop at Science World.

How will I share this book? I plan to read it and keep a list of ongoing wonders/questions – we will make s wonder board with these questions and do some research and experiments to develop our understanding around concepts covered in this book. Who knows where our questions will lead us?

I started thinking about the myriad of ways that titles by Steve Jenkins (or Jenkins and Page) can be used in the classroom. The list is long. I have included some of my favourite Jenkins’ titles here and an idea about how to use them as part of a nonfiction read aloud experience that might extend over more than one class and into follow up activities.

Time to Sleep by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page (published March 2011)

Learn all about how different animals sleep. Lots of additional information about each animal in the back pages of the book.

An idea: This book is a fantastic title to use when developing certain oral language skills: listening critically, making a relevant comment, building on what has been said and comparing and contrasting. Each page features a picture of an animal and a sentence or two about its sleep habits. Have the children comment in a turn and talk and then share out routine about how this is connected to or vastly different from human habits.

For example, the text says:

Snug in its underground burrow, the hairy armadillo snoozes for more than twenty hours a day.

Students might share: “Humans sleep above ground not underground.” “Humans don’t need as much sleep as armadillos. Kids sleep about 9-11 hours a night.” or “We don’t sleep in burrows but we snuggle under blankets to keep warm/snug.”

The Beetle Book by Steve Jenkins (published April 2012)

Detailed information about all of the different (and sometimes absolutely creepy) kinds of beautiful beetles that exist in the world.

An idea: Of course, this book screams art to me. But, after learning about beetle parts (abdomen, thorax, mandibles, flight wings, etc) art needs to be somewhat scientific art. Have the students sketch and colour (choose your medium) real or imagined beetles and label the parts. Perhaps some future coleopterists (people who study beetles) will be inspired.

Bones by Steve Jenkins (published August 2010)

True to size or scaled down images of bones and how they work in various bodies. Incredible.

An idea: This book inspires more labelled diagrams to me. Have students sketch the skeletal system of a particular animal. A detailed labelled diagram (beyond just name) which explains how particular bones work to help the animal hunt, hide, move in its everyday life could be completed. Take this further and compare bone sizes to human bones. The human femur is _______ times as big (or cm longer than) the femur of the _________. Any kind of math could be practiced: ratios, length comparisons, fractions, etc.

How to Clean a Hippopotamus: A Look at Unusual Animal Partnerships by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page (published May 2010)

Learn about the unique symbiotic relationships between specific creatures. I once read this book over the course of almost a year – a little each week and students were completely mesmerized by what they were learning.

An idea: This book was fantastic to practice summary writing using new vocabulary. An example: after reading about how the seagull eats worms (a parasite) from the ocean sunfish, I would ask students to explain the symbiotic relationship making sure to use specific words: parasites, ocean, surface, fin. After we did a few of these summaries together, students loved writing about the relationship between each pair of animals and illustrating it with a picture or two.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 116/65 complete!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Little Fans of Disgusting Critters

Posted on October 22, 2014 by carriegelson

It has been such a pleasure to introduce my students to the Disgusting Critters series by Elise Gravel. These titles are written partly like a graphic or comic style early reader and partly as a nonfiction picture book. So far, there are four titles published including The Worm, The Fly, The Slug and The Rat. I think The Rat might be my favourite because I feel bravest when I read it. Oh how I despise rats . . .

When I first read The Fly in the summer, I knew. I knew these books would be such a hit in my classroom. I had all kinds of ideas:

pair them with a more traditional nonfiction series to allow students to continue gathering facts
have pairs of students read through and list facts discovered (go on a “fact hunt”) and also list parts of the books that are included for other purposes like humour, story line, etc.
make lists of other disgusting critters that might need to have a book devoted to them

Day one and we started with Disgusting Critters.

First read aloud of the year The Fly by @EliseGravel 🙂 @alybee930 pic.twitter.com/mRNz1QYeWP

— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) September 23, 2014

Independent reading time included a lot of reading devotion to these books.

Then I thought . . . what if we made our own “fan art” and designed a Disgusting Critter book jacket? I used some of the terms on the back covers for students to answer for the “back” of their cover:

Special Talent:

Food preference:

Distinctive Trait:

Disgusting?

We drew pencil sketches. I made a photocopy. We added colour. One for our bulletin board and one for Elise Gravel. We had lots of interesting “critters” including snails, centipedes, ladybugs, lizards, lobsters and lots of spiders. And many more 🙂

We wrote Elise letters full of questions and things we wanted her to notice. Some favourite lines from different letters:

I drew the lice because I liked it. Lots of kids have lots of lice, so be careful.
Mine is a spider. Did you notice my spider’s eyelashes?
I love your art Elise.
I hate spiders but I like your art. Can you write about lizards and crabs?
I love how you mixed humour and nonfiction.
Is writing a book hard?

We wrote thoughtfully . . .

We got some help editing for meaning and clarity:

Lots of hard work and creativity by all to complete these projects. Some art, some writing, a little research and a bit of creative license.
I shared much of this with Elise along the way via twitter.

@CarrieGelson I’m very happy. I’m used to that fan behavior in French but it’s heart warming to see that anglo kids like my work, too 🙂

— Elise Gravel (@EliseGravel) October 16, 2014

A package of “fan art” and letters is on route to her in Montreal!

So much buzz about these books. Nonfiction that is exciting and engaging? That leads to reading more nonfiction about certain creatures? More Disgusting Critters please Elise Gravel!!

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 111/65 complete!

Dear Ivan

Posted on October 15, 2014 by carriegelson

Last year I read my class Katherine Applegate‘s The One and Only Ivan. We fell in love. Ivan’s words (via Katherine) and his story had such an impact. When I heard that there was a picture book to be published in the fall written by Katherine and illustrated by G. Brian Karas, I showed my students the book trailer. Well, . . .

“You have to buy that book!”

“Will you read it to us?”

“Even if we aren’t in your class?”

“Promise?!”

This year I have been able to keep 80% of the students I had last year – looping a Grade 2/3/4 into a 3/4. When Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla written by Katherine Applegate and illustrated by G. Brian Karas was released, I made a special trip to the bookstore. I read this gorgeous picture book to my students multiple times. We have certain lines memorized.

We then watched the video of Ivan in the shopping mall that I found on Mr. Schu’s blog.

Some of us cried. We read the story again. We started writing letters to Ivan. I showed the children a video of Ivan at Zoo Atlanta. We watched it more than once. We added to our letters.

Yes, we know that Ivan passed away in 2012. But Ivan has sat with us in our room. He has made us laugh and made us pause. We have sat in silences thinking. He has been our hero and we have wanted to protect him. His story has prompted discussions of animals in captivity, of human cruelty, of just “why?” Lots of conversations. Thanks To Katherine Applegate and all of those who have loved Ivan, we love Ivan too.

Writing to him felt like the right thing to do. Reading the letters later? Well, wow. It was certainly the right thing to do.

Portions of my students’ letters:

Ava writes:

Dear Ivan: I wish I could actually see you in real life and your silver back. I’m sorry that you spent 27 years in a shopping mall all alone.

Noella writes:

Dear Ivan: Were you sad in the shopping mall? Was your cage rusty? Were you sad for your sister? Were you happy in the zoo?

From Andrew:

Ivan, what did the zoo feel like? How much did you eat? What did you feel like when you first went to the zoo? How did it feel to be trapped in a cage? How dark was your cage? How did it feel to have no one to protect? How did it feel to be lonely?

From Rebecca:

Dear Ivan: I really liked your painting Ivan. I am so sorry for your sister. You were so smart Ivan. I am impressed of the things that you do. I am happy that you are in a zoo. I am happy for your freedom.

Jorja writes:

Dear Ivan: Your cage was grey and the jungle was green. There were other gorillas and you looked happy. You looked happy in the zoo too. You looked calm and relaxed. I was sad when you died.

From Kevin:

Dear Ivan: I know you’re gone but we still have your books. I felt sad when you were in the shopping mall because it was dark and there were no friends and no love. There should have been grass and gorillas to play.

Brian writes:

Dear Ivan: I feel really sad for you and I really want to see you face to face. When I miss you, I get really emotional and I hope you were happy when you were in the zoo. When you were in your cage you felt empty inside and you need compassion and love. I’m really sorry for your sister Tag. You looked all majestic with your big black coat at the zoo. You were looking at the world instead of people looking at you. I love you Ivan

From Gracie:

Dear Ivan: I didn’t realize how empty and alone it was in your cage until I watched the real video. I love art and I wanna be an artist. You’re the most interesting and fantastic artist I’ve ever seen. I hope you had a good life Ivan. When I watched you at the zoo, I was filled with joy. Here’s what I saw: You looking around like you were impressed with the world. I know that it is hard to read a gorilla’s emotions but I bet you were very happy. Did you think you wasted your life or did you know you were gonna live happy every after?

Even though this post doesn’t talk in detail about this gorgeous nonfiction picture book by Katherine Applegate and G. Brian Karas, I hope it calls to you (if you have yet to read it) to experience Ivan’s story. Then, of course, find someone to read it to. This story is meant to be shared.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 111/65 complete!