This one time, for read aloud, we read Kathi Appelt’s Kissing Tennessee. Everyone did individual projects. Then we turned the classroom into the Stardust Dance. This other time, for read aloud, we read Cynthia Rylant’s I Had Seen Castles. That was our first read aloud following 9/11. We were together 9/11. We’ll always be together […]
March
03
From Everywhere and Nowhere by Philip C. Stead
posted by CBethM
Where do your ideas come from? I hear this question more than any other. Sometimes the answer is easy. For example, take the first book I made with my wife, Erin, A Sick Day for Amos McGee. Due to an unlikely series of events I was asked to come up with a story in about […]
March
02
Taking Ownership of His Reading Life by Jaymie Dieterle
posted by CBethM
My husband and I started investing our son’s reading life early on. He had a shelf of Sandra Boynton books in his bedroom before he was born. We read multiple books during the day when I was home with him as well as at bedtime. As a toddler, I often found him “reading” to his […]
March
01
Who is Travis Nickerson from Fish in a Tree? by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
posted by CBethM
Fish in a Tree is about a sixth grader named Ally Nickerson who thinks she’s dumb. She isn’t dumb, but she does have undiagnosed dyslexia until she meets Mr. Daniels, her new teacher. Ally learns that, although dyslexia poses some challenges, it also has some special gifts wrapped up inside of it as well. She […]
February
28
Books That Make Us Cry (Part Two) Collected by Donalyn Miller
posted by donalynm
Grab a tissue. We pick up where we left off in yesterday’s post–sharing our sad book favorites. And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard I bought And We Stay last summer because it earned a starred review somewhere. Knowing that the book was a tear-jerker, I never seemed in the right mood to go into the […]
February
27
Books That Make Us Cry (Part One) Collected by Donalyn Miller
posted by donalynm
Last spring, one of my fifth-graders, Heavenly, spent all of recess sitting under a tree finishing the final chapters of Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s One for the Murphys. Strolling around the playground, I gave Heavenly a wide berth when I walked near her reading spot. I knew where Heavenly was in the story and I didn’t […]
February
26
SAD, DARK AND TWISTY MIDDLE GRADE – TWO AUTHORS’ PERSPECTIVES by Tracy Holczer and Nikki Loftin
posted by CBethM
When I was a kid, I used to dress up in my mother’s nightgowns, layers and layers of lace and silky chiffon, draped across my shoulders, sometimes veiling my face, but always trailing behind me like the train of a wedding gown. I would play “Peter and the Wolf” and “Arabian Nights” on the record […]
February
25
“I Need a Book about the Titanic” by Lucretia Brattin
posted by CBethM
One subject in history has it all: tragedy, mystery, mayhem, social classes, celebrities, science and romance. I am referring to the story of the Titanic. In our school the “official” study of the Titanic begins in the fourth grade reading anthology. Students read the short story Finding the Titanic by Robert D. Ballard. This story […]
February
24
Finding the Words by Dev Petty
posted by CBethM
Sometimes I read posts here with a bit of envy. I read about people who went to their school library at recess and curled up with a book at every opportunity. I read about people who knew from birth that words and language and books would define their life, as a writer or a librarian […]
February
23
Teacher with Tissues: Showing Students How Books Tug at Your Heart by Kathleen Sokolowski
posted by CBethM
“Are you crying?” one of my third grade students asks incredulously, as the rest of them look on, wide-eyed and silent. I sniffle, too choked up to answer. I was, indeed, crying, surprised by my emotions as the tears spilled over. Reading aloud Kate DiCamillo’s brilliant book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, I’d anticipated struggling […]
