A Little Thanks Goes a Long Way

We are right in the middle of creating the 3rd Quarter report cards at my school.  It's a time when everyone is busy and there never seems to be enough time in the day.  Patience is wearing thin and normally genial colleagues are becoming short with one another.

This morning when I opened my email this was the first one I read.  The subject line read, XXX's Dilemma:

Dear Fabulous Teachers of Reading:

 

It is a pure joy these days to listen to XXX's "dilemma."  He can't decide which book to vote for for the Black Eyed Susan Club.  At dinner last night and breakfast this morning, all he could talk about was how he was trying to decide between The Magic Thief and 11 Birthdays.  What was so impressive is that in this conversation, he was discussing literary elements such as genre and characterization.  He discussed humor and word style. 

 

WOW!  3 years ago XXX cried night after night while we completed his reading homework.  Now I have to check on him 15 minutes after I put him to bed to make sure that he hasn't snuck a book or a playaway into his room when he is supposed to be sleeping!

Thank you!

What a great way to start my day!

Rejuvination

I love to take time over spring break to recharge my batteries.  I like to catch up with some of my "adult" reading.  As much as I love reading children's literature, it's really nice to read some books whose main characters are out of middle school!

My spring break is almost over and it's been a great week full of reading. I listened to Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.  I also finished reading Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman and Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.

Two days left of break and one book to finish -- Tales Out of the School Library by Gail Bush. 

Spring Break and Audio Books

My school's spring break is rapidly approaching. Many of our families travel over break and I've been highlighting audio books that would be great listens.  We have both CDs and Playaways (preloaded MP3 files on little players that are iPodesque) in our collection.   They are hugely popular with the boys and are fairly indestructable.  One student returned his Playaway after it had been run over by the car.  The case was crushed, but the player itself was unharmed and continues to be checked out today.

I love the idea of the whole family listening to a book while driving in the car.  We always listened to Harry Potter audio books even when my children were well into their high school and college years.  The American Library Association publishes a list of notable children's recordings each year.  That's a great place to start when looking for audio books. Within the last 10 years my local public library has really expanded its collection of audio books and is a fabulous (and free) resource.

I've got The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (a young adult title) and Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson (the young adult version of Manhunt) ready for my travels.  Can't wait to start my engine!

Lawn Boy

I recently read Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen.  I really enjoy reading what he writes.  His prose is beautiful, his stories believable, and his characters well developed.

Lawn Boy did not disappoint me.  It's the story of a boy who receives an old riding lawn mower at the beginning of the summer and what initially appeared to be a long dull summer begins to look like a summer of opportunity.  Woven into this story are lessons about economics, investing, and running a small business -- all topics that are rarely seen in children's literature.

Now what to do with Lawn Boy??  I recommended this book to a fifth grader and he was ready to check it out and read it until he saw the book.  It's smaller than most "chapter books" in both size and length.  The fifth grader took one look at Lawn Boy and told me he needed a bigger book.  I tried to convince him that this is a book that a younger reader would be unlikely to understand.  No dice, Lawn Boy stays on the shelf.  The boys who would appreciate and understand this book the most are those least likely to read it.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

The Seuss books are a mainstay of any lower school library.  His humor and nonsensical text and illustrations hold tremendous appeal for the boys in my school.  In the spirit of celebrating his birth, here are a few fun facts about him.

Ted Geisel's Dartmouth college buddies voted him the "least likely to succeed."

The Cat in the Hat was created specifically as a book for beginning readers.  Ted Geisel was given a word list of 223 easy to read words and was told to get to work.  It took nine months to finish the book.  Lucky for us the first two words on the list were cat and hat!

Dr. Seuss' 1st children's book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was published in 1937.  It was written on a ship while returning from a trip to Europe.  He was fascinated with the cadence of the engine and wrote the book in rhyme to accompany the tempo of the engine.

During World War II, Ted Geisel worked with Frank Capra (director of "It's a Wonderful Life") and made instructional films for the soldiers.  Two of these films won Academy Awards.

Dr. Seuss began the Beginner Book imprint at Random House.  (These are easy to read books.  They bear the Beginner Book seal with the Cat from the Cat in the Hat on the cover. Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham are examples of Seuss Beginner Books.  Go Dog Go and Are You My Mother? are examples by other authors.)  Whenever Ted Geisel wrote the story, but didn't do the illustrations he signed the book Theo. Lesieg--Geisel spelled backwards!

Dr. Seuss never thought much about his artistic ability.  He once said, "My animals look the way they do cause I can't draw."  He referred to his style as "exaggerated mistakes".

In 2010 Dr. Seuss was 7th on Forbes list of the top earning dead celebrities.  His estate earned $11 million.  This income came from book sales, "Seussical" the musical, Seuss Landing (the Seuss amusement park in Orlando--a part of Universal), movies, and Seuss related clothing and toys. (For those who are interested, dead celebrities 1-6 are: Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, JRR Tolkien, Charles Schulz, John Lennon, and Steig Larsson.)

Seuss is actually Ted Geisel's mother's maiden name.  He went to college during prohibition years and was the editor of the Dartmouth College newspaper, The Jack-O-Lantern.  One night he and some buddies were caught with a pint of gin in a dorm room.  He was pulled as the editor of the paper.  He continued to submit illustrations using the name of Seuss.  The Dr. came years later when he was drawing cartoons for Judge magazine.  He added the Dr. because he thought it made him sound more professional.

Dr. Seuss wrote the screenplay for the animated cartoon "Gerald McBoing Boing".  It's the story of a boy who can only speak in weird sounds.  He declined doing the illustrations saying he didn't think he could draw well enough.  The movie won an Academy Award in 1951--Dr. Seuss' third Oscar.

Ted Geisel wrote Green Eggs and Ham after being challenged by his editor, Bennett Cerf.  He bet Dr. Seuss $50 that he couldn't write a book using only 50 simple words.  Of course, Dr. Seuss rose to the challenge and produced one of his most famous books.  He claimed he never did collect the $50 from Bennett Cerf.  He also lamented the fact that green eggs and ham were on the menu at almost every banquet he attended thereafter.

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born March 2, 1904.  He died of throat cancer on September 21, 1991.  He was 87 years old when he died.  He had written and illustrated 48 books, which sold over 200 million copies.  He won a Pulitzer in 1984.  The Grinch was his favorite character and The Lorax was his favorite book.