Tales from the Seabury Library

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