The May #SharpSchu Book Club Meeting

I am trying very hard to focus on all the wonderful things about last night's Sharp-Schu Book Club meeting, but we had so many technology issues that I could not archive the chat. Strike one. TweetChat was broken. Strike two. HootSuite was broken.Strike three. Regular Twitter stopped working. Colby Sharp and I did our best to keep the chat moving forward. We greatly and sincerely appreciate everyone who stayed with the chat and kept discussing Giants Beware!, hello! hello!, and Another Brother. (I understand all the people who decided to excuse themselves from the chat. Trust me, I thought about it.) Rafael Rosado, Jorge Aguirre, and Matthew Cordell did not let technology woes stop them from participating--they did their best to answer as many questions as they could see. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!  (Matthew, I hope your head did not explode.)

 

Have you watched the book trailer for Giants Beware!? 

I interviewed Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado on Giants Beware's first birthday. 

Watch Giants Beware! come to life. 

Subscribe to the Giants Beware! blog. 

Pamela Paul featured Giants Beware! in The New York Times. 

Download the Giants Beware! discussion guide. 

Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado celebrated Astronaut Academy Day. 

The official Another Brother book trailer. 

Fun fact: author-illustrator Philip C. Stead created the music for the hello! hello! book trailer.

I celebrated hello! hello!'s book birthday on October 30, 2012.

Margie is Another Brother's biggest fan.

Make sure you subscribe to Matthew's blog.

Jules Danielson chatted with Matthew Cordell about hello! hello!

Matthew's friends call him MATT. 

Read about the origins of hello! hello! 

Have you read all of Matthew Cordell's books? 

The #SharpSchu Book Club

Mr. Colby Sharp, Matthew Cordell, Jorge Aguirre, Rafael Rosado, and I hope to chat with you tomorrow at 7:00 P.M. CDT.

Video of the Week: Scholastic's Fall Preview

Earlier today, the one and only Donalyn Miller posted on the Nerdy Book Club's blog about the fifth annual Summer Book-A-Day Challenge. Her post likely inspired you to organize and prioritize your current to-read list. Which book is up first? 

Enjoy! 

While most of the books mentioned in the Scholastic 2013 Fall Preview will not be out in time for the Summer Book-A-Day Challenge, it will get you excited about the picture books, readers, graphic novels, and middle-grade novels that will join your ever-growing to-read pile. Happy watching, learning, and reading! 

The Newbery Challenge: The Midwife's Apprentice

OK, Mr. Sharp, I had to create at least one six-second video for the Newbery Challenge. 

 
Please visit Colby's blog to find out what he thinks of The Midwife's Apprentice. 

Spend twenty-four minutes with Newbery Medalist Karen Cushman. 

Karen Cushman wrote a "nerdy" essay about receiving THE CALL.

Download The Midwife's Apprentice discussion guide. 

I interviewed Karen Cushman about Will Sparrow's Road. 

Travis Jonker designed the cover on the right. Well done, Mr. Jonker! 

Author Erin Dealey

Erin Dealey is a teacher, a presenter, and an author who loves to play with words. I do not recall a time when she was not a member of my personal learning network. I'm pretty sure she was one of the first authors I followed. 

Erin dropped by Watch. Connect. Read. to finish my sentences. I wrote the words in red, and she wrote the words in black. Thank you, Erin! 

Little Bo Peep Can’t Get to Sleep and Goldie Locks Has Chicken Pox changed my life. I'm thankful every day that once upon a slush pile, editor Caitlyn Dlouhy, now VP and Editorial Director at Atheneum/Simon & Schuster,  noticed Goldie. These books have introduced me to readers (and writers) all over the world, at school visits as far south as Brazil and as far north as Tok, Alaska. 

The Writer’s Rap isn't my first rap. When I was teaching high school, I wrote "The Christmas Wrap Rap" for my theater students to perform at a winter assembly. On a whim, I submitted it to Plays Magazine and it became my first official publication.  A few years ago, a group of 5th-6th graders helped me demo it at a school visit and one boy challenged me to write another rap. The result: The Writer's Rap, currently the grand finale of my upper grades assembly about hooking the reader--wherein I channel Mr. Schu and book-talk many shared favorites. And thanks to a suggestion from the fabulous aforementioned librarian, The Writer's Rap is available on TeacherTube & Youtube, so classes can have a mini author visit any time they want. : ) 

I think creative drama and theater can be the bridge to literacy. Theater is often overlooked in the classroom--or used only as a celebration of a unit--if and when teachers have time--(Time? Who has time?) The cool thing is theater doesn't have to be a huge production. Even the simplest theater games can help build fluency for all types of learners. (For example, try Dr. Know-It-All the next time you need a class to review any topic. 

School visits combine my theater and teaching backgrounds with my love of words, in a packed multi-purpose room brimming with smiles.  What a win-win-win!   

Words have always been fun for me--puns, jokes, notes to friends, song lyrics-- but I never thought I'd grow up to write children's books. Neither did my teachers! 

    

Picture books are theater. My upcoming book, DECK THE WALLS /Sleeping Bear Press/ Sept. 2013, also began as a skit for my high school students to perform. (I'm sensing a theme here!)  Picture books need to be auditorily pleasing, hook the audience so they don't leave at intermission, and (hopefully) sustain multiple readings/performances: "Again, again!" 

Reading is power. I repeat: Reading is POWER.

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me about...skyping with Brook Forest. : ) No really-- #TaTues , Thank a Teacher (or Librarian) Tuesday, a project I started several years ago. Who inspired you? Who nurtured your dreams and interests--or gave you the skills to pursue them yourself? Each Tuesday in May (and November) send a message--via Twitter, FB, snail mail, email, telephone, carrier pigeon, owl-- to a teacher or librarian who has made a difference in YOUR life.  

And since we're on the subject, THANK YOU MR. SCHU for all you do for kids and book lovers everywhere!  You definitely make a difference in our world.  

(Thank you! :) ) 

I am giving away a copy of Little Bo Peep Can't Get to Sleep and a copy of Goldie Locks Has Chicken Pox. 

Rules for the Giveaway

1. It will run from 5/17 to 11:59 P.M. on 5/19

2. You must be at least 13. 

3. Please pay it forward. 

Video of the Week: Happy 50th Birthday, Amelia Bedelia!

Happy 50th birthday, Amelia Bedelia! Thanks for making us laugh! Here's to fifty more! 

"Well, Amelia turns fifty this year and has been given a wonderful fiftieth anniversary edition that contains a good deal of archival material. Peggy Parish drew from her experience as a third grade teacher and the ways in which her students mixed up words." -Anita Silvey 

Children's Choice Book Awards Winners Announced

The Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader announced the winners of the sixth annual Children’s Choice Book Awards (CCBAs) at a charity gala benefitting Every Child a Reader in New York City this evening.  The announcement is an annual highlight of Children’s Book Week (May 13-19, 2013)as the CCBAs is the only national book awards program where the winning titles are selected by kids and teens. Young readers across the country voted in record numbers for their favorite books, author, and illustrator at bookstores, school libraries, and at bookweekonline.com, casting more than 1,000,000 votes. (Information courtesy of The Children's Book Council.)  

Kindergarten to Second Grade Book of the Year

Nighttime Ninja by Barbara DaCosta; illustrated by Ed Young.

Third Grade to Fourth Grade Book of the Year

Bad Kitty for President by Nick Bruel 

Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year 

Dork Diaries 4: Tales from a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess by Rachel Renee Russell  

Teen Book of the Year 

 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Author of the Year
  

Jeff Kinney for Diary of a Wimpy KId 7: The Third Wheel

Illustrator of the Year

Robin Preiss Glasser for Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet