More OTTER Award Reading

I am getting very excited about the OTTER Award for Washington State.  I hope that we can put together a great list that is both worthy of reading and kid-friendly.

Here are a few more titles that I read this week with the transitional chapter book reader in mind.



Haggis and Tank are a couple of dog buddies up for adventure.  They use their imaginations to create a pirate adventure that is a lot of fun.  The author works in a few homophones, like tale and tail, to create humor.  I thought the jokes were clever, but I worry that my students will not grasp the meaning.  Yet, at the end, the author includes questions for the reader about the homophones and explains what they are - nice teaching resource.



Mo Willems and Tony DiTerlizzi, two greats in children's literature, get together to tell the story of the unusual friendship that develops between Flea, a professional flanuer, and Diva, a professional homebody. Flea wanders the streets of Paris in search of whatever is around the corner, and Diva is afraid to even look around the corner, but when Flea happens by Diva's courtyard, they learn to appreciate each other and become friends.



Have you ever wondered where all those cryptids live, and why we never see them?  In this book we find out that they work very hard to stay hidden from humans.  We would ruin their way of life and make a spectacle of them, so Blizz (the yeti) and the other Bigfeet are working hard to stop George Vanquist from getting proof that they exist.

My students have been checking out these books like crazy.  If you want to read them, please visit your library or shop at your local bookstore.

OTTER Award Reading

Here are a few of the transitional chapter books that I have been reading for possible nominees for the 2017 OTTER Award.



The Hound Hotel is a dog grooming and day care center, and Alfie is the kid who gets to live there.  When Molly shows up, she really needs a grooming for her owners' wedding, but she is not going anywhere near a bath, a brush, or even a hose if she has anything to do with it. It becomes Alfie's job to get her clean or he will have to be the flower girl!  A romping story with just enough characters and fun to keep kids interested and reading.



Archie wakes up at midnight thinking that he is finally going to ride along the streets of his town with his father in his old broken-down taxi, a kind of "Take Your Kid to Work" night.  He is eight years, eight months, and eight days old, which is the day that he can finally ride along with his dad.  Archie has no idea what adventures he is going to have, including worm holes, aliens, talking cats, spy rings and an invitation to fight crime! The action doesn't stop in this fun ride along into space.  With a easy to follow story line and interesting characters, I think that students will want to follow Archie in to space on another adventure when they are done.



Meet Mo and Jo, two silly cave boys who just can't seem to figure out what is making some horrible smell in their cave.  Together they try to solve their problems through two to three word sentences, spoken like real cave people, while a narrator uses easy sentences to tell the reader about the action in the story.  The book is very easy to read, almost too easy for the OTTER Award, but would be perfect for those students wanting an introduction to the chapter book or graphic novel format.

Happy Reading!!

Western Washington University Children's Literature Conference

One of my favorite events of the year is coming up at the end of February - the WWU Children's Literature Conference!  Last year was a sell out, and I know quite a few teachers and librarians who were sad they did not sign up early enough to be a part of this wonderful day that celebrates books and authors.

This year will feature four outstanding authors and illustrators:



The people who work on this conference every year put a whole lot of heart and soul into getting top-notch authors and illustrators to come to our little corner of the country.  I appreciate all of their hard work, and I have been fortunate to attend for so many years.  I believe that the conference may be a little different from other author appearances because we all love books and stories so much.  The audience, made up of mainly educators, librarians, and students, is there for the knowledge, wit, and wisdom that are shared.  We come away with ideas for our classrooms, but more than that, I have always gained a greater understanding of these people who create books for us to enjoy. They tell about their personal challenges and triumphs, as well as divulge part of their personalities for me to share with students and other educators.  The conference is well worth it, and I encourage you to sign up if you have not already.

You can learn more using this link:


Hope to see you there!

Up to This Pointe by Jennifer Longo

Welcome to another stop on the blog tour for Up to this Pointe by Jennifer Longo, author of Six Feet Over It.

The book follows the sometimes heart-breaking path of Harper Scott (of the Antarctic Scotts) from insanely hard-working ballerina student in San Francisco to Antarctica for Winter Over.  Harper is in her senior year of high school still following The Plan that she and her best friend Kate created as very young ballet students - Ballet class, graduate early, ballet class, no boys, ballet class, eat almost nothing fun, more ballet class, audition for the San Francisco Ballet Company, become professional ballerinas, live together in their tiny apartment.  Harper and Kate have lived and breathed this plan for ten years, never veering off course, until, of course, the course, the plan, and all the hard work becomes meaningless.  Harper has to discover how to deal with loss and change, and maybe running away to Antarctica will be her answer.

Even though I know very little about ballet, and even less about Antarctica, I was mesmerized by the descriptions of Harper's Nutcracker and of the adelie penguins in their natural habitat. I found myself tearful as I read end of the book while sitting in the middle seat of an airplane, trying hard not to sniffle too loud for my neighbors a foot and a half away.

I heartily recommend this book for teens and older readers, yet I am an elementary librarian, so I decided to look through my own library for books about Antarctica for my students.
Here are a few of my favorites:
            
I picked a few of these up as I was reading this book because I now have great respect for those who choose to live in Antarctica for the sake of research and discovery, and I wanted to know more about those who feel the need to pursue a dream against all odds.

Thank you to Net Galley for letting me read the preview copy of Up to this Pointe. I am happy to be part of the promotion for this book!  I hope I can make it to Village Books in Bellingham on February 6 for Jen Longo's signing.

Happy reading!