Nicola O’Byrne | There's a Book for That

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

I have been sharing a reading photo of the week each week. This week I have two.

First, this little reader who needed some help with new shoes. But, you see, he found a book he wanted to read and couldn’t help with the shoes because he HAD to read the book! Thankfully, Miriam also puts #booklove above all else and helped him out! 🙂 She tied laces and got to listen to silly poems!

IMWAYR There's a Book for That

And in honour of all of the Caldecott titles we have been reading, I have to share this photo of 3 girls taking in the amazing illustrations of past winners. This bookshelf has been very popular.

Celebration: Mock Caldecott moments

So exciting to enter into #MockCaldecott territory for #classroombookaday Lenny & Lucy was particularly charming in my room. The children adored it.

Join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers and share all of the reading you have done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. Follow the links to read about all of the amazing books the #IMWAYR community has read. It’s the best way to discover what to read next.

On the blog:

Cover Reveal: Dario and the Whale – to be released in March 2016

Celebration: Mock Caldecott Moments

Books I loved:

Toys Meet Snow written by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

I have to confess I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book – just from the cover. But, oh how I was wrong. I loved the quiet magic of winter snow and exploration. And how incredible are the different perspectives shared by each character. I can see that this would have been a book my own children would have requested over and over when they were younger. A perfect book to gift.

Toys Meet Snow

What Floats in a Moat? written by Lynne Berry and illustrated by Matthew Cordell

Silly. Full of science and what happens if . . . ? And Matthew Cordell! Such fun. Would love to read this aloud to kids! I actually giggled just reading it myself.

What Floats in a Moat

A Pet for Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold

Fly Guy in picture book form. It works!

A Pet for Fly Guy

Use Your Imagination by Nicola O’Byrne

Children love fairy tale twists and anytime the bad guy might get outsmarted. This book was a fun read aloud!

Use Your Imagination

Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova written by Laurel Snyder and illustrated by Julie Morstad

So beautiful. The story, the illustrations, the inspiration. Wow.

swan the life and dance of anna pavlova

Green is A Chile Pepper: A Book of Colors written by Roseanne Greenfield Thing and illustrated by John Parra

This is a gorgeous book of colours. Colour, culture, family, traditions. Just wonderful.

Green is A Chile Pepper

Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate

Isn’t it interesting how books read at certain times hit us in different ways? This book came to me just as I am in the middle of worry about a student I know. A student who told me that she wishes for more food. Food insecurity is always a reality for the children that I teach but sometimes I worry more than other times about particular children. A child should not be worried about hunger, about a home, about being able to stretch out on a bed. The existence of Crenshaw makes a lot of sense and, at the same time, none at all. Beautifully written by Applegate. I found this to be quite an emotional read.

Crenshaw

I am currently reading The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall

Updates on my 2015 Reading Goals:

2015 Chapter Book Challenge: 62/80 complete

Goodreads Challenge: 412/415 books read

#MustReadin2015: 16/24 complete

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: 71/100 titles

Diverse Books in 2015: 48/50 books read

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers and share all of the reading you have done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. Follow the links to read about all of the amazing books the #IMWAYR community has read. One of the very best ways to discover what to read next!

Lots of reading this week. And some important writing:

I loved sharing the wonderful sentiments from my students shared in our weekly Gratitude Circle in my Celebration post this week.
I also wrote a post that has been brewing for a long time. Finally, I had the courage to finish it and press publish: The Part that is True. And then, I burst into tears. Sigh. Sometimes, sharing is a big risk. I have so appreciated the supportive comments and feedback.

And on to the books I have loved! My favourite picture books of the week:

Orangutan Tongs: Poems to Tangle your Tongue by Jon Agee

These tongue twister poems are hilariously ridiculous. Many are battling it out to be my favourite. I will check back soon to see which has won! Sharing the one I plan to read first to my class – just because we have been talking about the courtesy of neat writing for the sake of the reader 🙂

Rotten Writing

Reading writing

When it’s written really rotten

Can cause your eyes and intellect to strain.

When it’s written really rotten,

Writing’s really rotten reading.

Yes, reading rotten written writing really is a pain.

Scoot! by Cathryn Falwell

I adored the celebration of nature and the liveliness of the rhyming text. In the final pages, Falwell explains some of her inspiration and how she made some of the collages using found objects from nature. A sample of the text:

Hustle! Hover! Flitter! Flee! On every branch and shrub and tree!

Blue Chicken by Deborah Freedman

A picture book that invites you into its pages where much is happening after a pot of blue paint is toppled by a chicken. I love the splashing, splattering and wading through the spilled paint. And then of course, the delightfully simple problem solving at the end of the story! Would be a perfect story time book for younger students!

Open Very Carefully: A Book with Bite written by Nick Bromley and illustrated by Nicola O’Byrne

Titles that demand to be shaken, examined and rocked can’t miss! And then when there is a huge bite mark in the back cover . . . Yikes, beware! Lots of fun for an interactive story experience.

The World is Waiting for You by Barbara Kerley

Gorgeous photographs beckon you – get outside and explore something amazing! Star gaze, get your hands muddy or follow a path to anywhere. Back pages include details about some of the photographs and how the photographers managed to capture such images. Significant photos for me: Sylvia Earle swimming with dolphins, a cave of crystals (beams of selenite) in Mexico and a beautiful photograph of two children racing with a toy sailboat on the edge of a river. A National Geographic title.

I featured three amazing nonfiction books with an ocean theme on my Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday Post: Life in the Deep Blue Sea

Slugs by Valerie Bodden

I picked up this title at a recent book store sale. It is the perfect level for my primary students and has been passed from child to child ever since I book talked it on Tuesday. Wonderful photographs and interesting text. And of course slug slime, slug eggs . . . Such fun! I plan to purchase more of these Creepy Creatures titles.

The New Girl . . . and Me written by Jacqui Robbins and illustrated by Matt Phelan

This is a must have for school library and classroom collections. Themes of friendship, kindness, being new and taking social risks. When Shakeeta shows up in Mia’s classroom, Mia sets out to discover just how she might make her feel at home even though she is not entirely sure what that means. Mia certainly doesn’t want to say anything that might make Shakeeta want to punch her in the head like she threatened to do to the boy making fun of her. Mia’s gestures are sweet, genuine and “iguana friendly.” The story ends with possible new beginnings. Lovely.

Miss Dorothy and her Bookmobile written by Gloria Houston and illustrated by Susan Condie Lamb

Such an inspiring story about Dorothy Thomas, an absolute book hero. Dorothy’s dreams of a fine brick building where she could be librarian never materialized. But her role in bringing books to a community was huge. True testament to how books change lives and connect community. This title is now part of my growing picture book biography collection.

Champion written by Marie Lu

I have read the entire Legend trilogy in the last 5 weeks (around the reading of other novels) and I must admit I am sad to leave the world of June and Day. I don’t want to give anything away so I will just make two comments. One, the ending was not a disappointment. At all. Two, I might have enjoyed this third title in the trilogy most of all. Fantastic YA fiction: lots of action, drama, and intrigue.

Next up? I am currently reading Far Far Away by Tom McNeal. After this, I plan to read The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson. My children and I are almost finished Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo and we will be starting The Shadow Throne by Jennifer Nielsen next (a #MustReadin2014 title).