Drop everything and buy your movie tickets?


Today was the day we were all supposed to drop everything at noon and read a pre-selected passage of "Charlotte's Web."

I got an e-mail about this a few weeks ago from Walden Media, one of the companies involved with the new "Charlotte's Web" movie that opens in theaters this weekend.

"It is our hope that "Break a World Reading Record with Charlotte's Web" will introduce this wonderful story to a new generation and reintroduce the story to fans who haven't read it since childhood," is what my e-mail said.

But then at the bottom of the e-mail there's a picture of Dakota Fanning with this bold-faced line: "Opens in Theaters Nationwide on December 20, 2006."

What do you think? Is the real motivation behind the reading event to get children interested in the book ... or to drum up publicity for the movie?

You don't have to answer that. I decided not to get Seabury involved.

I've gotten a bunch of "Charlotte's Web" spin-off books in the mail recently. They make me sad.

As many children's books as I read and love, whenever I'm pressed to name my favorite, I'm loyal to Charlotte. My dad bought me my first copy, a discarded library version, for 10 cents, on his way home from birdwatching early one morning in Southern California. I think I read it that day and many times after. I still have that first copy, ink on some pages, its nondescript tan cover falling off. If it was in our library, I'd discard it, too. But it's got a place in honor next to three nicer copies on a bookshelf in our living room. One is in Latin and two belong to my children. My dog is named Wilbur (that's puppy Wilbur at right) and if I'd had another girl child, I was planning to press for the name Charlotte. (One of my grandmas was also a Charlotte.) I still have not seen the cartoon movie version and neither have my kids, unless they've watched it at someone else's house.

Here are two of the spin-offs:

The covers are cute and almost irresistable, but I hope parents will gather all their strength and try. If a child learns to read on watered-down "I Can Read" stories "inspired by" the real thing, will she still be able to feel the magic that I did the first time I read the book, or that my children did when I read it to them? The picture book uses E.B. White's actual words, but what's the point of amputating a chapter from a perfect book and making it into its own book? (Again, don't answer that. I know the point is money.) They did the same thing with Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books, making them into "early chapter" and picture books. Both are published by HarperCollins, but HC isn't the only publisher guilty of that stuff.

I actually don't have a big issue with movies made from books; films and books are separate art forms. This one is getting good early reviews. But even adults debate the question. Should I read the book first or see the movie?

One set of Seabury parents requires their son to read a book before he sees the movie. Last I heard he was well into "Eragon."

I did something similar when my daughter was about to turn 9. My kids' birthday parties were usually homemade affairs; we didn't go the roller skating; fun-plex route. (At least not until they were older and wore us down!)

But for this birthday, we promised we'd take her and a group of friends to see the new "Little Women" film, then come back to the house for a fancy tea party, if she'd read the book first. She did, so we did.

Okay, I think this was the worst thing I saw in my package of "Charlotte's Web" books.

I'm sure you know the original cover by the wonderful Garth Williams. (Incidentally, I also proposed Garth as a name for one of our boys.)




This is just wrong. Who, besides Dakota Fanning's family, would choose this over the book with its original charming cover? Maybe not even Dakota's family. I'm glad E.B. White and Garth Williams aren't around to see it.

Here's a link to a great essay on Charlotte's Web in the L.A. Times.

My last words on the subject. I'm not expecting that you won't take your children to see the movie. The weather is so bleak, after all, and we've got long vacation days coming. Just please promise me, you'll read them the book to them, too, or have them read it themselves.

It really is "terrific."

Talk to you soon

Not sure where my head is, but I seem to have gotten both days and dates mixed up in the posters I put around school for the Book Fair. Here are the correct days and dates. (I hope!)

Thursday, Nov. 16: 3-6 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 17: 8:30-5 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 18: 10-Noon
MONDAY!!.& Tues., Nov. 20 & 21:
8:30-5

(More interesting posts to come soon I promise. I have a major rant building about all the "other" Charlotte's Web books being published in advance of the movie.)

A change to the Book Fair hours below.
We won't be open until 3 on Thursday.
Hope to see you then!!

The Bookfair is coming!

Yup, it's time for Seabury's fall Scholastic Bookfair. It starts Thursday and goes through Tuesday of Thanksgiving (and Parent-Teacher conference) week. See the poster above for hours.

This one comes at a perfect time for holiday shopping. Look for classroom wishlists near the cash register. It's a little like Christmas-Birthday-
Hanukah-Kwanzaa rolled into one for the teachers when they get a bag full of new books a couple of days after the fair. Those purchases are tax deductible.

Our reps at Scholastic always marvel at how many books Seabury families buy for the size of our school. I'm never surprised. That's why we make good use of a library that has more that 11,000 books. Our children and their families love books of many kinds. Come on out to the Book Fair. There will be some good ones there!

(And, since you asked, yes I could still use more volunteers to work at the Book Fair, especially on Thursday from starting at 10 a.m., when I'll have classes in the library.)

Talk to you soon.

It's raining; it's pouring.

And I've got a suggestion for a family activity that will brighten your day: A visit to the most famous caterpillar in the world. (I checked; twice as many Google hits as Lewis Carroll's.)

The Tacoma Art Museum is hosting a wonderful exhibit - The Art of Eric Carle - through Jan. 21.

I went to the exhibit Tuesday, and also got to hear the creator of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" in person on Oct. 22 during the museum's "Conversation with Eric Carle." Ladybugs teacher Susan Ennaro was there, too, with her daughter, a teacher at Tacoma's Bryant Elementary School.

The exhibit is a delight and so was the 77-year-old author.

The museum has hung the work low in deference to its young visitors. Museum director Stephanie Stebich said the museum has booked about 170 school visits during the exhibit, almost twice as many as during an entire normal year.

Carle began his art career in advertising. He said during his talk that he views each of his illustrations as "a small poster." Standing in front of his work, that comes across vividly. Each picture is complete in itself. His colors are rich and the compositions are wonderful. You can also understand his tissue paper collage process even more clearly than in the books.

My favorite was a pelican illustration from "Animals, Animals," a book of poetry.

Carle's first book on his own was "1,2,3 to the Zoo." When he first submitted it to his editor, she pointed out to him that it was nice, but just a counting book, he needed to add something special. He put a small train at the bottom of each page; as pages turn, each car on the train has one more zoo animal than the one before it.

From then on, all of Carle's books have something special: the holes in "Hungry Caterpillar," the raised web in "The Very Busy Spider," the squeak of a rubber duck in his latest: "10 Little Rubber Ducks."

The rubber duck story is based on true events. At 2 p.m. on Dec. 2, the art museum hosts this event: A special presentation by Seattle oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer. In 1992, a shipment of 29,000 rubber bathtub toys, including ducks, frogs, and turtles, fell overboard from a container ship into the waters off the coast of Alaska, inspiring Eric Carle to write 10 Little Rubber Ducks. Ebbesmeyer studies ocean currents by tracking the migration of random junk and has maintained a website and recently published a paper documenting the migration of the toy ducks for over 14 years.

Incidentally, that ship was bound for Tacoma.

A few last things from Carle's talk:

He said he's been criticized (especially in his native Germany) for portraying only secure childhoods in his work. But that's intentional, he says. "I want to make children feel safe."

His favorite color is yellow, he answered, in response to a question from a child. He didn't have a favorite, but he's become most fond of yellow because it is the most difficult to work with. You can add another color to red or blue and they remain red and blue, but if you add another color to yellow, it's not yellow anymore.

All those who got to ask questions were children.

What does he like to do? Besides work on his books, he likes to garden and read. And he's too fond of honey and chocolate, he said.

Favorite of his books? "Do You Want to Be My Friend?" Because friendship is so important to children.

The question that made him pause (and got the biggest laugh from the audience)?: A very tiny child asked, "What is the very quiet cricket's name?"

He finally answered: "Why it's Quiet Cricket, I suppose."

If you go, you can also spend time in the library upstairs reading Carle's books, or in the art room next to it doing projects. There's also a cool exhibit of work by Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson. Children will enjoy this exhibit, too. Her work is full of color, sparkles and buttons. She's also illustrated some children's books. We have "Elijah's Angel" in Seabury's Library.

Let me know if you go! Talk to you soon.

(I've added a link to Eric Carle's Web site at right. There's lots of good stuff there, including videos.)

What do Seabury kids like to read?

I just ran a report of circulation statistics and it was fun to study.

Some of the most-checked-out books come as no surprise, such as "Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space," by Dav Pilkey. The pages fall out of the cheaply made Captain Underpants books like autumn leaves. I just replace them with free books I get from the Scholastic Book Fairs.

In fiction, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," by J.K. Rowling is another that has been checked out a lot, plus "Day of the Dragon King," by Mary Pope Osborne, and many others in her Magic Tree House Series. "

"Junie B. Jones has a Monster Under Her Bed" and other Junie B. books by Barbara Park, the Animal Ark books, by Ben Baglio, "Mattimeo" and the rest of the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, the Heirs of the Force (Star Wars) series are other novels our students check out frequently. "The Book of Dragons," short stories by various authors, illustrated by Michael Hague, doesn't stay on the shelf long either.

The most-circulated novel in the Seabury collection? "Let's Party," by Megan Stine, a Mary Kate and Ashley book. You've got me on that one. I do nothing to promote it. Didn't buy it. But they find it. (Don't worry, this was from when MK&A were preteen party-goers, not partiers in their present incarnation.)

Down in the picture book room, "Hop on Pop" and "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish," by Dr. Seuss, hop on off the shelves. Those are two of the very first books many children can read themselves and even after their reading has progressed, they still like to check them out.

Two other picture books circulate a lot: "If You Give a Pig a Pancake," by Laura Numeroff, and "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse," by Kevin Henkes.

It's in the non-fiction section that the circulation stats start heating up. In the non-Seabury world, the general belief is that boys are the big non-fiction readers and that girls gravitate toward fiction. In my observance, that doesn't seem to hold true at Seabury. Our boys love fiction and our girls love non-fiction (and vice versa).

It starts with the Ladybugs and Superstars. Even though they don't search the shelves on their own, I have unhappy customers if I don't put a selection of "true books" on the round yellow table along with the storybooks for them to choose from. One small brother and sister in the Ladybugs each check out a "true book" every week.

We have a contingent of girls each year that keep our dog books among the most popular in the non-fiction section. (Boys, interestingly, seem to like the cat books better.) Boys like UFO, Look-Alikes, I Spy and Tin Tin books. (I know they sound like fiction, but they're shelved in the non-fiction section. So are fairy tales and poetry.)

Girls and boys at Seabury seem to be almost equally passionate about space, dinosaurs, mammals, rocks and minerals, birds, drawing, crafts, jokes and riddles and the poetry of Shel Silverstein.

(Just to clarify, the circulation report tells me how often books get checked out. My memory tells me who checks them out – an advantage of working at a small school!)

There's a set of Audubon Field Guides for children. We have Space, Rocks and Minerals, Birds, Wildflowers and a few others. These are so popular with our children that we don't shelve them in normal subject order. They're between a couple of bookends on top of a shelf. I'm sure many of you have seen them come home.

Sometimes a class will latch onto a particular book for awhile. The Navigators have been checking out "Star Wars: Incredible Cross Sections." I'm not sure how many have it on hold right now. When individuals start asking for it a second time, I'll probably say it's time to let another class have a chance.

The Beacons and Navigators love a set of paperbacks called "The Mighty Book of Riddles/Knock-Knock Jokes" ... etc. The Beacons right now are trading around "The Mighty Book of Optical Illusions." Here's a pair of them in my read-aloud chair trying to puzzle out one of the illusions.




Even with more than 11,000 wonderful books, the library disappoints some of our students. We have no books about Hilary Duff or Green Day. And I need to get at least one Calvin and Hobbes book. I've been asked for those countless times over the years.

Lately one Navigator has been distressed at how few books about sheep we have. "You mean you don't have a single book about drawing sheep?" My daughter suggested I steer him to "The Little Prince."

And another Navigator searches the catalog in vain each week for cookbooks. (He's not the only one who's asked for those over the years.) That gap is about to be filled. Since my youngest just turned 16, I just went through my shelves at home and brought in some really cool children's cookbooks to add to our library. Now he asks every week: "Are those cookbooks ready yet?"

Ahh. If I only worked more than two days a week!

** I wrote about some new Halloweenish books in last week's column for The News Tribune. "The Brave Little Witch" is especially sweet.

Talk to you soon.

The Library Wish List link should work now!

Thanks Joy! (See comments below.)

(And I'm working on a new post this weekend about the book tastes of Seabury students.)

A favor?

I got an e-mail from a Seabury parent saying that the Wish List link at right doesn't work properly. She said she gets a list of adult books when she tries it. It works when I link on it, but I don't know if that's because of cookies I have in my computer from Amazon.

Could some of you try it and leave comments here about whether it works or not? Thanks. It should be clearly labeled Seabury School library and the first book should be "Kenya (A-Z)"

The other way to find the wish list is to go to Amazon's main page; click on the "Find Gifts" icon. There's a search option for wish lists. Just search for Seabury School Library.

***Update: My daughter just tried the Wish List link and got a list containing a Justin Timberlake CD, "Lost" the second season DVD (have there been two seasons?); and Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5. Ack! Those are not on the library's wish list. I still would like to know what happens when others try it, but I guess we'll have to use the alternate way of finding the wish list until I figure out what's going on.

****Update 2: Well a couple of more people have tried the link and it officially doesn't work. It either goes to their wish lists or to Amazon to create a blank one. (By the way, I suspect my daughter wants you all to know she doesn't have an Amazon wish list with Battlestar Galactica on it. Who knows what list the link took her to.)

So, I've removed the link and the official way to find Seabury's wish list is as described above ... preferably through the Amazon portal on this page, if you can. Thanks again for reading. My stat counter will catch up with Halley's, yet! Or not.

Talk to you soon ...

Good morning and thanks for reading!

I put a counter on the blog (on the right between links and the Amazon box) so I know some people are finding it. It allows me to exclude my own URL, so I also know it's not just me reading the blog. I do have miles to go to catch up with my daughter's Paris blog. Her counter's up to 1585. The statistics are interesting. I can go into the statcounter.com site and find out where the hits come from. So far, I've gotten two hits from Malaysia and one from Hong Kong. I suspect those come from Blogger's "Next Blog" feature on the top of the page. Don't let your kids use that one, by the way, unless you have really good filtering software. I've hit on some creepy sites messing around with that button. I'll check to see if there's a way to get rid of it on this blog.

Occasionally I plan to feature one of the links that I keep on this page. Today I was going to talk about KidsClick! But the site seems to be having problems, so I've temporarily removed the link. I've e-mailed them to see what's going on. It's a terrific place when it's working.


Instead I'll mention Yahooligans. It's a kid-sized Yahoo, a search engine and collection of interesting sites, news briefs, jokes, homework help and much more. The sites have been screened to be appropriate for young people. A little pair of sunglasses mark the sites that are judged to be especially good.

I love Google and use it many times a day, but this is a great alternative for when you want to have more control over what your children find on the Internet.

I could spend hours on Yahooligans myself.

I was poking around in the Space section because the Sharks and Beacons are studying astronomy. Check out this image I found on NASA's Picture of the Day site. It's an Oct. 2 photo of Victoria Crater, the largest crater visited by a Mars rover. This is the path I used to get there. First I clicked on Space on Yahooligans' main page, then each of the following links. Today's picture of the day is a beauty of Comet Swan. I couldn't reproduce it here because it's copyrighted, but you should take a look. ...

Space

Pictures

Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive

Today's Picture of the Day

Archive


Til next time ...

So do some of your children - if not banned at least frequently challenged. In my book that's something to celebrate, and hang onto for dear life this Banned Books Week.

Here's the list of the most Books most Frequently Challenged in 2005, as compiled by the American Library Association. You can also see the reasons for the challenges.

(A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. According to Judith F. Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, the number of challenges reflects only incidents reported, and for each reported, four or five remain unreported.)

“It's Perfectly Normal,” by Robie H. Harris, for homosexuality, nudity, sex education, religious viewpoint, abortion and being unsuited to age group;

“Forever” by Judy Blume for sexual content and offensive language;

“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger for sexual content, offensive language and being unsuited to age group;

“The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier for sexual content and offensive language;

“Whale Talk” by Chris Crutcher for racism and offensive language;

“Detour for Emmy” by Marilyn Reynolds for sexual content;

“What My Mother Doesn't Know” by Sonya Sones for sexual content and being unsuited to age group;

Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey for anti-family content, being unsuited to age group and violence;

“Crazy Lady!” by Jane Leslie Conly for offensive language;
and
“It's So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families” by Robie H. Harris for sex education and sexual content.

Off the list this year, but on for several years past, are the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain. Other books frequently challenged over the years are Newbery Medal winner "The Giver," by Lois Lowry, "To Kill a Mockingbird," by Harper Lee, the Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz (very popular here).

The most challenged books of the 21st century so far? You can probably guess: The "Harry Potter" series.

Okay, so what does it mean that your school librarian is sticking up for books that have witches, sex and four-letter words in them? It simply means that I want people always to have the choice to read them.

Well, I'm certainly not going to be checking out Judy Blume's "Forever" to any of our first-graders. We don't even have that book in our library. It's not appropriate to the ages and interests of our students.

I do check out "Captain Underpants" to them, however. In fact, I have a hard time keeping them on the shelves, or the pages attached to those rather poorly made paperbacks. As I said in my latest News Tribune column, those crazy books have been responsible for getting lots of little boys excited about reading.

Children's librarians might not believe in CENSORSHIP, but they do believe in SELECTION.

We want a good mix of materials in the library; books that will excite our children, wonderful literature, books appropriate to their ages and reading levels, books that support the curriculum. Obviously, I'm not going to select books for this library that are also in a high school library, unless they also okay for younger children to read. "Tom Sawyer" is in our library and Stadium High School's, too.

Running a library for gifted children is tricky sometimes. They often can read things they're not ready for. The part of me that doesn't believe in censorship has a hard time saying "no" to any book a child wants to check out. But if a second-grader I know is easily scared comes up to my desk with the fourth "Harry Potter," I usually can gently steer her to something else. Once or twice over the years, my persuasiveness hasn't worked and I've checked out the book, then followed up with a call home.

When parents have strong feelings about certain books or subjects, it works best if it's handled at home. I know some parents just can't abide "Captain Underpants" and have told their children they don't want them to check them out. That works a lot better than asking me to remember those preferences.

Seabury parents tend to be an open-minded bunch, but I welcome any questions about books in our library. I'd much prefer you to talk to me about concerns, rather than find out later that someone has practiced their own brand of censorship. This was a disturbing discovery I made last spring: This fine, hardback anatomy book was donated by a student whose father is a doctor. Seven pages were covered with copy paper and Scotch tape, which will pull the print right off. You can probably guess what's under the paper.

P.S. Those Robie Harris sex-Ed books on the list above are the best "birds and bees" books! She has a new one out for ages 4 and up called "It's Not the Stork!" Here's a link to her Web site: http://www.robieharris.com/ Remember if you order her books from Amazon, please do it through the link on this page and help the Seabury library. We've earned $11 so far, enough for a book!

Heading home to read "To Kill a Mockingbird" or "Huckleberry Finn."

Talk to you soon!

Welcome back to school
and Tales from Seabury Library!

I took the summer off from writing; I wasn't neccessarily intending to, but I went a little crazy pulling up carpeting and painting at home.

Plus, I had a daughter to launch off to Paris for the school year. Can you imagine the time, Ladybug and Superstar parents, that you'll be ready for that? I remember the days when saying "goodbye" at the preschool and kindergarten doors was a tearjerker.

(My daughter Halley, Seabury alum and summer school aide, is writing a fun - occasionally harrowing - blog of her own: Tacoma Girl in Paris. Check it out if you're interested.)



We're back in the swing of things at school. There are shiny new books in the library and we have a super group of kids. I love meeting new children each year and welcoming old friends back.

The Ladybugs had their first visit to the library last week. In their classroom, a big emphasis is on friendship, so we read three favorites from last year. "Gossie," "Gossie and Gertie" and "Ollie," all by Olivier Dunrea.

The trio of gosling stories are funny, sweet and deceptively simple. And the children absolutely love them. The first book is about how Gossie loses her red boots and gains a friend. The second deals in the simplest fashion with the shifting power in the friendship. And in the third, the two girls wait impatiently for "Ollie" to hatch from his brown egg. It isn't 'till they try reverse psychology that he cracks his shell.

The Seabury Library doesn't have Dunrea's fourth book about the three goslings: "Ollie the Stomper." I'll have to get it soon ... or it would be a great "Birthday Book" for a Ladybug to present to the library on his or her birthday. (If you order it, or anything else, through Amazon links on this page, we get a kickback.)


The other book I read to the Ladybugs was a new one called "Best Best Friends, " by Margaret Chodos-Irvine, which I reviewed Sept. 12 for The Tacoma News Tribune. I can't link to the review here because stories go into the TNT's paid archive system after two weeks. But the book is another that's perfect for preschoolers. Two girls go from being best, best, friends, to enemies, to "best, best, best friends" all before they're picked up at the end of a preschool day. Pretty typical if you know preschoolers.

I'm having a great time in library with the other classes, too.

The Superstars loved "I Am TOO Absolutely Small for School," by Lauren Child. I had to promise I'd read them two more books about Charlie and his little sister Lola next library.
I also read them a couple of books I was considering writing about in this week's review. They helped me with their opinions/reactions.

My reviews appear almost every Tuesday in the Soundlife section. Right now I'm scrambling to finish a novel by Ursula LeGuin that ties in to Banned Books Week next week. The book is good so far, but mature.

Last week in the Sharks, I started reading "Akimbo and the Lions," by Alexander McCall Smith. The class is studying Kenya. McCall Smith is the author of the "Ladies Detective Agency" series for adults. His series for kids has gotten pretty good reviews. Mr. H has a second of the books in his classroom.

In the two older classes we've missed a library because of the OPI trip, but we've spent time browsing for good books and remembering what it takes to be a responsible Seabury Library user.
I emphasized that checking out a book is like signing a contract and that the person who signs out the book is responsible for it, even if someone else takes it home and loses it. Translation: Don't let anyone "borrow" the books you've already "borrowed." That seems to be a trend with our generous students here.

Other book care tips we talked about: Use flat bookmarks instead of pencils or bending page corners; try to keep our books from ending up underfoot on the minivan floor; keep books away from baby sisters, puppies and raspberry jam; and carry them close to your body or in a backpack when it's sprinkling.

We don't have library fines for overdue books, so we rely on everyone's good will to get the books back here on time and in good shape so that other Seabury students can enjoy them.
That leads in to my biggest goal for the library. I want students and teachers at Seabury using the library so much that the books don't have time to gather dust on the shelves. I hate dusting and I love to see children reading.

I do my best not to be like "Mrs. Beamster in "The Librarian from the Black Lagoon," who bolted the books together so they would stay in alphabetical order.



Talk to you soon!

I know. It's been too long. We've had a bookfair and author visit at school, and at home, we've had a kitchen knife mishap, a totaled car and my bronchitis. Then all the regular things still need to get done. My blog muse has been asleep.

Today I asked the Navigators, our third to sixth graders, what their favorite books were this year. I got a nice little list that might spark some good first ideas for summer reading. I'll ask more classes tomorrow and provide ideas of my own, but here are books the Navigators loved this year:

The Warrior series, by Erin Hunter. "As good as Redwall."



Eragon and Eldest by the young Christopher Paolini.



The Halo books (based on the game). The kids warned there are a few "bad words" in these. My sons liked them, too.



The Silmarillion, by Tolkien, explains the origins of Middle Earth.



Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen. Read the book, then go see the movie.



Dragon Rider, by Cornelia Funke. Her other recent books, The Thief Lord, Inkheart and Inkspell are great, too.



A Manga book in the Rave Master series.



The Golden Compass, and the other two books in His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman.



And finally four classics!
Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder



Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. The Whole Story Series is a wonderful one, because it adds facts and details in the margins of the classics.





Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt



And absolutely not least, my favorite book of all time: Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White. It's no accident my dog is named Wilbur. Please don't think the cartoon or the upcoming movie can substitute for reading this book. This is one no child should miss. It also has one of the best last lines in literature.




They have pretty good literary taste, those Navigators.

Talk to you soon.

Okay ... here's one more quickie:

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Tales from Seabury's Library!!!!!!

Here's the link to get this as an RSS feed.

http://seaburyschoollibrary.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Those of you who know what an RSS feed is will understand (I have only the barest notion), and if you don't, I still suggest an old-fashioned bookmark, or spot in your favorites list.

Spring is an exciting season at Seabury.
Creativity is abloom in every corner.

On May 9, we have the honor of a visit from a wonderful, published author/illustrator: Laura McGee Kvasnosky. Her Zelda and Ivy books are among my favorites. And I'm not the only one who likes them. The original Zelda and Ivy won double (one for the writing, one for illustrations) Golden Kite honors from the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators.

Laura has a pile of other terrific books, too, mostly published by Candlewick Press (also publisher of The Tale of Despereaux, Where's Waldo, Maisy). She used the puffins at our own Point Defiance Zoo as models for There Once Was a Puffin. She has another great book about friendship: Frank and Izzy Set Sail, and a good chapter book, too: One Lucky Summer. Her brand new book - Zelda and Ivy and the Runaways - is coming out soon. Amazon says it will be released on the very day of her visit, so maybe we'll have some for sale the day she's here. (I have a review copy. Shhh.)

This week and next I and the teachers are working on getting the children familiar with those and her other books.

Laura will spend the whole day at Seabury working with the children, from Ladybugs to Navigators. They will learn how she writes her books and makes her art, and depending on age will create books of their own, or characters.

Then in the evening Laura will help us celebrate Grandparents/Special Friends Day with a special event at 6:30 at the Lakota Middle School Cafeteria:

Here are the details:
6:30 – 7 PM Gallery time.
Seabury students will have stories they have “published” on display along with art created under the direction of Seabury Artist-In-Residence, Mauricio Robalino.
7 – 8:30 PM Laura Kvasnosky Presentation – Drawing on Family Stories:
Each family will work as a group to recount a treasured family story. Funny, poignant, and inspiring, the results are illustrated stories that unwind on long paper strips. Refreshments and reading follow.
8:30 – 9 PM Gallery Time / Laura Kvasnosky book signing. (Books will be available for sale.)

Check out what a Portland Mom wrote about Laura's "Drawing on Family Workshop."

Here's a link to Laura's Web site: lmkbooks.com.

And here's what some reviewers have said about her books:

Zelda and Ivy: "Children everywhere will recognize and relate to these three stories that take a gentle, humorous look at sibling dynamics. ...The energetic gouache-resist artwork features bright colors, homey scenes, and priceless expressions achieved with a minimum of line." (School Library Journal)

Zelda and Ivy and the Boy Next Door: "A trio of tales about three appealing young fox chums - Zelda, Ivy, and Eugene (the boy next door) - are artfully loose-jointed and reminiscent of the late Arnold Lobel's winsome Frog and Toad vignettes. ... the little foxes' adventures are bound to please both sophisticated listeners and beginning readers The author-illustrator has a winning way with words, and her pictures, full of action and feeling, are a delight." (Parents Choice)

One Lucky Summer (A chapter book): "This tightly written, affecting tale about adjustment and friendship should find an appreciative audience among readers of both genders." (Publisher's Weekly)

Talk to you soon.

Is anyone out there?

I'm wondering if you are remembering to check the blog. Throw me a few comments if you still are reading. I've got it bookmarked on my toolbar links; that's where I put sites that I check frequently. You might do that, too, if you like reading Tales from Seabury Library.

You might notice Amazon.com links showing up. I've applied for status as an Amazon associate so that if you'd like, you can order books through the site and it will serve as a small ongoing fundraiser for the Seabury Library.

Since we're talking about book purchasing, this would be a good time to remind you that Seabury has a Birthday Books program. Children are encouraged to donate a book to the library to celebrate their birthdays. We put a bookplate in the front of the book with the child's name and year of the donation. Your children are enjoying many books that have been donated over the years by students.

I've started a Seabury Library Wish List, taking advantage of Amazon's "wish list" feature. It will stay in the links to the right. I'll add to the list, and remove books when we've received them.

Talk to you soon ... and don't forget to post a comment if you're still reading!

Lilly's back!

My taxes are finally done (don't ask how much we owe!) so I can get back to things I'd rather pay attention to.

My column in The News Tribune this week was about Kevin Henkes' new book, Lilly's Big Day. He had big shoes to follow in Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. Maybe that's why it took him 10 years.
But I like this new book just as much as the first, as you can tell in my review. I love all his mouse books. He understands children so well. My daughter's favorite was Chrysanthemum. She related because we had saddled her with a name that many people found difficult to pronounce.

I haven't read the new Lilly to Seabury children, yet. I will in the next few weeks, along with Purple Purse and another book or two in his mouse series.

I did read Kitten's First Full Moon last year after it won the Caldecott, and the Ladybugs might have heard it again this year. I've put it on the table for them to check out.

I just got the spring bookfair preparation box from Scholastic. The fair will be May 10-13. I notice they are sending hardcovers of Lilly's Big Day. That will be on the library "wish list." (Hint, Hint.)

Enjoy two Kevin Henkes links:

His own website is good. It includes activities for children.

Henkes appeared on the Today show last Friday. My guess is that Al Roker hadn't read the book, but it's fun to see Henkes draw Lilly for a group of children the show brought in. (Don't bother trying it if you have a Mac computer. MSN doesn't think we Mac owners are worthy of watching videos from Today, Dateline NBC, Meet the Press ... I had to wait till I came to school to watch it. I'm writing e-mails to MSN. We'll see how that works.)

Talk to you soon

More books for boys:

Folktales:
Mightier than the Sword: World Folktales for Strong Boys, by Jane Yolen: Collection of familiar and little-know stories telling the tales of sons, brothers, kings and trolls - where brains trump brawns every time. Grade 3 and up.
Fantasy:
Deltora Quest series, by Emily Rodda: Evil Shadow Lord, and seven stones from a magic belt. Grades 3-5. (Seabury Library has some.)
Spiderwick Chronicles, by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi: Jared, Simon, and Mallory discover a mysterious book about magical creatures. Then they discover the creatures. Grades 3-5. (We have some of these, too)
The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett: Tiffany, a young witch-to-be in the land of Discworld, teams up with the Wee Free Men, a clan of six-inch-high blue toughs, to rescue her baby brother and ward off a sinister invasion from Fairyland. Grades 5 and up. Pratchett writes many books of fantasy. (Seabury has this.)

Boys like most books by Jon Sciezka and he's started a wonderful Web site called guysread.com. It's got information and book lists. You can share your own choices, too.

There are many more great books for boys, girls, and and everybody, of course. This is just a sampling. I'll be sharing more of my own ideas in future posts.

Talk to you soon

Beyond Captain Underpants - Books for boys:

Getting boys to engaged in books is sometimes trickier than girls. We have manyf voracious boy readers at Seabury, but others are more selective. One of my sons was always reading, the other was harder to engage. A few posts ago I promised to share some suggestions from a session at my librarians' conference. These are a few of the titles they promised are tried and true successes - catagorized loosely by subject:

Horror and Gore:
Dogzilla, written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey. A scary pooch terrorizes Mouseopolis. (also Kat Kong). Grades K-3. Seabury children love these.
Cirque du Freak series, by Darren Shan. Darren's Visit to a mysterious freak show leads him on a journey into a dark world of vampires and other creeps. Grades 5-8.
Phineas Gage : A Gruesome But True Story About Brain Science, by John Fleischman. The true story of Phineas Gage, whose brain was pierced by an iron rod in 1848, and who survived and became a case study in how the brain functions. Grades 5-8.
Mystery:
The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse: A Chet Gecko Mystery, by Bruce Hale. When hired by a fellow fourth grader to find her missing brother, Chet uncovers a gila monster's plot against the football team. Grades 2-4.
Ghost Canoe, by Will Hobbs, Nathan, fishing with the Makah, holds a clue when a mysterious stranger comes to town looking for buried Spanish treasure. Grades 5-8. Seabury Library has it.
Humor:
The Class Election from the Black Lagoon, by Mike Thaler: A chapter book version of the Black Lagoon picture book series that's super-popular with Seabury students.
Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude, by Kevin O'Malley: Cooperatively writing a fairy tale for school, a girl imagines a beautiful princess whose beloved ponies are being stolen by a giant, and a boy conjures up the muscular biker who will guard the last pony in exchange for gold. Grades K-3.
Stinky Cheese Man, by Jon Sciezka: Hilarious fairy tale satire. All grades.
Time Warp Trio: Viking and Liking It, by Jon Sciezka: Sam says the word "Thursday" one too many times next to the magic book and lands himself, Joe, and Fred in 1000 A.D. Vinland, narrowly escaping a Viking blitz. Grade 2 and up. (and other Time Warp Trio books)

A few more in the next post ...

Lucky the Leprechaun makes the paper

Here are links to my last two columns in The News Tribune. (March 14 and March 7.) As you can see, I used Seabury's own Lucky to start off my review of That's What Leprechauns Do. Beginning a story is always hardest, so I was happy when I thought of Lucky and his mischief.

By the way, Mrs. G tells me the reason Lucky hasn't hit the library yet is that he's afraid of cats. To get to the library, he'd have to cross the open playground, so "lucky" for me!

I read Leprechauns and the books in the previous column on women and the right to vote to various classes at Seabury. Girls and boys were impressively interested in the latter.

Talk to you soon

See two great authors in person!

Caldecott Medal recipient Gerald McDermott will speak to families at the Tacoma's Main Library at 7 p.m. Wednesday (March 15). He's the author/illustrator of wonderful works of folklore for children. Our favorites at Seabury are his hilarious trickster tales: Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa, Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest and Coyote: A Trickster Tale from the American Southwest. Mrs. V uses them every year with the Superstars. My boys and I saw him speak at the library a few years ago and he was very good. Here's more information.

The other is a bit of a drive but your first, second and third graders will say it's worth it. Mary Pope Osborne, author of the wildly popular Magic Tree House books, will appear at Third Place Books at the north end of Lake Washington at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. She'll be there with her husband Will Osborne, who has collaborated with her on some of the Magic Tree House research guides, to introduce her new book, Night of the New Magicians.

Seabury students love the Magic Tree House books. They are perfect first "chapter books" for our children, combining real historical detail with fantasy – and starring bright youngsters. I still remember my son, Noah, walking through a parking lot, nose in a new MTH book. He couldn't even wait until we'd gotten to the car.

Here's a little bit more information on Osborne's event and directions from Seabury.

You ought to still be able to make it back in time for the auction!

It's been too long since I posted. I was sick last week with my third cold since Christmas. That's what I get for not having any colds last year.

We've also speeded up my computer in the library, so I'll be able to write from there more easily. I'd love to see some comments here. What would you like me to write about?

Talk to you soon.

Good morning

Here's a link to my book reviews in today's News Tribune. I read Eating Up Gladys to the Ladybugs and Superstars, and Oscar's Half Birthday to the Ladybugs. They liked both of them but especially Eating Up Gladys. Many times when we sit down to read, I'll hear: "Read a funny book."

I will admit that I shamelessly use your children to help me evaluate the books that I write about. And my book reviewing job provides an endless rich source of new books to share with our students.

Seabury kids are one of the reasons I wrote so enthusiastically last year about Steve Jenkins books. (Actual Size, What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?) I even mentioned Seabury in that review. Here's that passage:

"One of my jobs is librarian at Seabury School, a private school for highly capable children in Northeast Tacoma. I read "What do you do?" and "Actual Size" to our preschool class of 3- and 4-year-olds and our kindergarten class. All were captivated.

The younger children wanted to read both books again, so I let the preschool teacher check them out. The kindergartners wanted them, too, so I promised they were next in line.

The preschool teacher had to read the books every day. The day the class had to relinquish them to the kindergarten class, several children cried. There was a special circle time called to talk them through it."

I'm just finishing reading a novel to the Navigators that I wrote about at the end of last year. It's called Project Mulberry, by Linda Sue Park. I wanted to try it out on them because she uses the unusual device of having the main character and author have conversations between the chapters. I liked it, but some other reviewers didn't, so I decided to see what the kids thought. They love it. I wasn't going to read the whole book to them, but they were captivated It's about a pair of friends who raise silkworms for a 4-H-type project. It deals with all kinds of other issues: friendship, racism, writing. Last week I brought in a couple of silkworm cocoons I found at a knitting store. (Park won the Newbery for A Single Shard.)

I don't often read novels to classes because having them once a week it takes too long to finish a book. But they love it when I do. As they do when classroom teachers, or anyone else (you included) reads longer books to them – even after they can read for themselves.

Talk to you soon

Shhh! A research secret

My next post was going to be about Books for Boys, but since I left my folder from the PNAIS conference at school and I'm home now, I'll switch to another subject I've been wanting to share with you.

I will be talking to your kids (Sharks and up) about the amazing resources available on public library Web sites. All you need is a library card. I've given the Navigators the assignment of memorizing their library card numbers (or getting a card if they don't have one, then memorizing the number). A prize is involved (one Navigator has come through, so far, but I think she still had hers in her head from last year). That way they don't have to carry their cards to school and take the chance of losing them.

The bigger prize is what we can do with those numbers.

I live in Tacoma, but have cards for both Tacoma and the King County Library System. They have a reciprocal agreement, so you can get cards for both if you qualify for one. KCLS has agreements like that with many cities.

Back to the databases. Doing research on a database is very from different bouncing around on Google or other World Wide Web search engines (though we will work the the older students on how to do that more effectively, too). The libraries have paid big bucks to subscribe to databases, with the help of our taxes. Depending on the choices made by the reference librarians at each library system, they can include encyclopedias, wonderful reference works geared toward children and adults on science, art, history, biography, geography, etc., newspaper and magazine articles, and much more.

I worked with the kids last year on taking advantage of public library databases and am getting ready to start again this year. It's tricky though when I just have my library card number to use (and a little less ethical). You probably would have enjoyed watching me run from computer to computer last spring re-entering my card number. "Guys! Don't close the library page. Just minimize it if you want to go somewhere else!"

Whatever we do with the databases at school, they're also great resources at home and fun to explore. Take a look. Here's a link to an index of to a group of King County databases the librarians label homework resources: KCLS Homework Databases

And at the Tacoma Public Library: Tacoma's Homework Databases

I'd suggest bookmarking these pages. (Have you bookmarked the library blog yet?)
I like King County's databases best of the two. If you live in Tacoma, it's easy to get a King County card. You do have to physically go to one of their branches though. Federal Way Regional is closest to Seabury.

It's easy to get to the databases from the library home pages (see links at right). Other Puget Sound library systems have databases, too, including, Puyallup, Pierce County and Seattle. So do universities – and the public school districts. Maybe there are other students in your families with access. Their librarians/teachers should be teaching them how to access the databases and use them. I say "should" because I'm not sure my two Tacoma high school students have a clue that they just need a password to get into encyclopedias, newpaper articles, etc. online. I'll check with them later and happily eat my words if they do!

Two more quick things I'll mention.There's something called Washington State Newsstand in the databases. If you go into that one and do a search for Rebecca Young and News Tribune, you can read any of my children's book reviews.

You don't need a library card number for this: KCLS also has a good Homework Help page with links to Internet resources divided by subject. I'll put this on my permanent links to the right. Check out KidsClick!, too, in the links at right. It's the same type of thing done by UCBerkeley librarians. It's another resource that I show our students. Both are designed to guide kids to good Web sites that have been "vetted" by librarians. (Some do have commercial content, though.)

Next I'll ask the Beacons and Sharks to memorize their library card numbers. (The other thing we can do from school is reserve books for them online if they need something for a book report or research that we don't have at Seabury.)

Talk to you soon.

Housekeeping details

Because this is a place that's technically open to anybody on the Internet, for safety reasons, I won't use details that will identify Seabury students. I might occasionally use first names, but I'll even try to avoid that.

If you comment, I'll ask you also to be careful about identifying children. Thanks. If you have a question specific to your child, e-mail is a better idea. If I think it's of general interest, I'll answer it here, but without identifying details. Make sense? The blog is not that easy to get to if you don't know the address, so we probably don't need to be too paranoid, but better safe than sorry.

Comments would be great, though.

You can ask questions: "How many books can the Beacons check out each week?" "Do you know of any good sports novels for girls?" "Is Captain Underpants really okay for my first-grader to read?"

You can tell me about books your family has discovered. (I didn't know about the "Droon" books until two Seabury families clued me in!)

I'm sure this will be an evolving process.

Talk to you soon.

Hellooo Seabury!

This is an idea I got at a PNAIS (Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools) Librarians Workshop on Friday. One of the speakers talked about how easy it is to use Google's free blogger service.

I thought "Hmm. I've been looking for a way to better communicate with Seabury families about all kinds of things. Reading ideas ... links to Web sites ... wish lists for the library ... volunteer needs. This might be a great way to do it."

This first entry is just to test the waters. It's late at night and I've just finished my shift at my other job (Copy desk at The News Tribune). So I don't have too many profound things to say.

I'll just mention that the conference Friday was mostly good. There was a great session on Books for Boys. I'll share some of those ideas in future posts.

The picture book author Nina Laden also spoke. Her best-known book is The Night I Followed the Dog. She showed us a wonderful DVD that Weston Woods just finished based on her book Roberto, the Insect Architect. It's only available to schools and libraries through Scholastic. ($59.95 ... yikes!) I'd like to figure out how to get a copy for the school. It's that good.

Here's a link to Laden's Web site, so you can see who she is and so I can try out putting links on here. She loves terrible puns; her newest book is called Romeow and Drooliet. She was a great speaker.

ninaladen.com