Books on "tape"

Sometimes it seems that no matter where you live, it takes half an hour to get to Seabury. That's how long it takes me, and how long it took us when my children were students here. I've never minded the drive, though. For one thing, it's pretty. I come from North Tacoma and there's Mount Rainier, port activity, the water and the Olympics to look at.

For another, there are lots of interesting things to listen to.

When my kids were in the car with me, we always had a book on tape going. It was tapes at first; then CDs. (Now I have an iPod connection, too.)

We listened to so many wonderful stories. Books by Beverly Cleary, Roald Dahl, Lloyd Alexander, Edward Eager ("Half Magic" is a terrific, not-very-scary fantasy that works well for young primary children) and more. The last book that the two boys and I listened to together driving to Seabury was "To Kill a Mockingbird." (Halley was in high school by then.) They loved it.

I had ulterior motives besides just passing the time. Halley, my oldest, and Noah, my youngest, were voracious readers of fiction. Ben, the middle kid, was a good reader, too, but he was more interested in nonfiction. Being such a booklover myself, there are certain books that I feel that no kid should miss. This way I could sneakily slip them into Ben's childhood. He never read "A Wrinkle in Time" or "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil T. Frankweiler," but he heard them.

Books on CD are usually more expensive than books on paper, but just like traditional books, you don't have to buy them. Libraries have excellent selections. You can go online with your library card and reserve several at once. And popular titles sometimes have less of a wait than regular books.

For example: I just checked King County Library's site. The book version of "The Lightning Thief," the first title in Rick Riordan's terrific Percy Jackson series has 136 holds on 76 copies. The CD version has 13 holds on 20 copies. You could listen to it before the movie comes out on Valentine's Day weekend!

Talk to you soon,

Happy Halloween and come visit the Bookfair!!!

Wednesday through Friday, Oct. 28-30, 9-5

in the Multipurpose Room

All profits help us buy more materials for the Seabury Library

Thursday in the library

Guinness Book of World Records

Greek myths and Ricky Ricotta

Bubble Trouble

Star Wars - Clone Wars

Heard in the library this week

From a first grader:

"The only reason Batman is a superhero is because of all his gadgets, actually."

From the preschool as I was reading "Ella, Of Course," about a girl's misadventures with her umbrella:

Girl: "I have a new umbrella from Disneyland."

Me: "Is it blue with clouds, like Ella's?"

Girl: "No, it's pink ... with stuff on it."

Boy: "I don't have a Spiderman umbrella, but I have a gumball machine."

Another boy: "I have Spiderman pajamas."

Here's a link to my News Tribune review of the book I mentioned last week, "All the World," by Liz Garton Scanlon and Caldecott artist Marla Frazee. the World," by Liz Garton Scanlon and Caldecott artist Marla Frazee. It's one of the best books I've seen this year.

Talk to you soon,

Read me

Many of you know that I write reviews of children's books for The News Tribune in Tacoma. They also syndicated by McClatchy - the Tribune's parent company - so they appear in other papers around the country.

My Trib reviews appear Tuesdays on the front page of SoundLife; you can also find them at thenewstribune.com in the Entertainment/Books section.

Here's a link to this week's review.

I'm just finishing up next week's. It's about a lovely book called "All the World," by Liz Garton Scanlon and Caldecott artist Marla Frazee.

Talk to you soon,

Thursday at the library

(Somehow I missed getting the Explorers. Next week.)

Books we read

this summer!

This is a school of readers. That was proven once again as I sat the kids down and put together our annual "Books We Read This Summer."
Hardly anyone, students or staff, had any trouble coming up with a book to put on the poster. What's more, most students (not so much the staff) could name the authors of the books.

Here's a selection of student picks:

City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau
Call it Courage, by Mark Sperry
The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss
Junie B. books, by Barbara Park
Emily Winsnap and the Monsters of the Deep, by Liz Kessler
The Mysterious Benedict Society & the Perilous Journey, by Trenton Lee Stewart
Spiderman's New Suit, by N.T. Raymond
Icefire, by Chris D'lacey
Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke
Sebastian Reckless series, by Ruston Howard
Harry Potter, 1-6, by J.K. Rowling
The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo
My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George
Mercy Watson series, by Kate DiCamillo
Jake and Pete, by Alan King
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, 1-3, by Jeff Kinney
My Backyard and Game Book
Cam Jansen books, by David Adler
The Night Before Christmas, by Clement C. Moore
Lily's Big Day, by Kevin Henkes
Garfield Eats Crow, by Jim Davis
Secrets of Droon series, by Tony Abbott
Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan
Good Morning, Gorillas, by Mary Pope Osborne
Warriors: Into the Wild, by Mollie Hunter
The New York Times
Cows
The Magician's Nephew, by C.S. Lewis

Books the staff read included:

Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson
The Kid, by Dan Savage
Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Stout
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
My Life in France, by Julia Child & Alex Prud'homme
Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenberger
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
Snowflower and the Magic Fan, by Lisa See
The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield
The No-Cry Potty Training Solution, by Elizabeth Pantley

Beach Girls, by Luanne Rice
Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts
Animal, Vegetable and Mineral, by Barbara Kingsolver
Mexican High, by Liza Monroy

Library Day, #1

I love having kids back in the library, and they seem to love being there.

The new Sharks (first grade) are excited because now they get to browse the whole library! Plus check out three books! Plus take them home if they want!

The Superstars spotted the "The Teacher from the Black Lagoon" series on display on top of the shelves with the other school theme books. They spread them all out on the floor and argued over who got to check out "The Music Teacher from the Black Lagoon."

The three returning Bear Cubs (early learning center) were thrilled that I let them each check out two books to help populate the library book shelves in their classroom. Next week when the rest of the class starts it will be back to one book a week.

The new Beacons (second grade) have grown up so much. They knew just what they wanted to look for. Space! 175 Science Experiments! Whales!

The Navigators (third grade) read a lot over the summer. One told me she's reading "the classics" and asked me to help her find one to check out. She took The Gammage Cup, by Carole Kendall. It must be a classic. I read it when I was a child.

I had a pile of books ready to "book talk" to The Explorers (fourth and fifth grade). Hands shot up every time I asked "Anyone want this one?"

Look for our "What we read this Summer" poster on the outside school wall. It includes all grades, middle school, too, plus books that Seabury staff read.

In my next blog entry, I'll share some of the books that ended up on the poster.

Talk to you soon,

Reading invisible books

The Awesome Sharks

Our first graders did something, or to be more accurate didn't do something, that brought tears to my eyes the other day. Good tears. I was reading two books to them about learning to read. The subject is timely because that's what most first graders spend a lot of time doing.

It can be a process fraught with emotion and worry. Nobody learns at exactly the same pace as someone else. And as careful as we adults are to be relaxed and discreet about this, kids still compare themselves. In a school for academically talented students like Seabury, it can be especially difficult for youngsters who are a little slower at reading, or even learning at a normal pace since we have a few kids who it seems came out of the womb holding book 7 of Harry Potter.

Back to the books I read to the Sharks: I Don't Like to Read by Nancy Carlson, and Hooray for Reading Day! by Margery Cuyler.

Both main characters, one a boy, the other a girl, struggle with reading. Confidence is a big issue. By the end both youngsters have made huge strides.

The first graders loved both of these books.

In "Hooray for Reading Day!" first-grader Jessica has big problems whenever she has to read out loud. She has trouble sounding out words and sometimes makes mistakes. Her classmates laugh at her.

At one point it's her turn to read this sentence: "The pot was hot."

This is what author Margery Cuyler wrote:

"Jessica took a deep breath.

'The p-p-pot was snot,' she read.

Everyone laughed at her mistake.

Jessica wanted to sink into the floor."

There are some words that are sure-fire laugh getters when read aloud to kindergartners and first-graders. Underwear is one. Dirty diaper is a winning phrase.

Snot should have been one of those words. But unlike Jessica's classmates, not a single one of our first-graders laughed.

I read another page and then commented that "snot" is usually a word that would make them laugh. "Why do you think you didn't laugh?"

"Because isn't nice to laugh when someone makes a mistake," was the chorus in so many words.

And that's what brought tears to my eyes.

I told them they were awesome for having such compassion for a little girl who isn't even real. What's cool is that you know they are showing that compassion for each other as well.

That was a few weeks ago, but feel free to tell them they are awesome, too.

This week in library

A link

Here's a link to the News Tribune story on David Macaulay.

David Macaulay:

How He Works

Saturday, Jan. 17, is the first day of a cool exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum.

More than 250 pieces of art by the award-winning author/illustrator of the modern classic "The Way Things Work" and the spectacular new human-body book, "The Way We Work," will be on display through June 14.

TAM is partnering with Pages Ahead Children's Literacy Program to offer family activities on opening day, Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. Kids can create a cow puppet or a life-sized portrait of their body. Parents can learn more about ways to encourage literacy. Admission that day is free with donation of a new children's book.

David Macaulay has won a Caldecott Medal for the inventive picture book, "Black and White." He won Caldecott honors for "Cathedral" and "Castle," two of the books in his wonderful series about how buildings get made.

His books are excellent for Seabury students and the exhibit will be, too. It emphasizes his process of creation - hard work, playing with ideas, coming back at things until you get them exactly right.

I got the chance to interview him Monday for a News Tribune article that will appear Friday. (It's the cover of the GO section. I'll post a link.)

Lots of the things he said are great messages for kids.

We look at his books and see how intricate and beautiful they are. But Macaulay said nothing about getting to that finished product is magic. It's all hard work, research, and trying things until you find the thing that works.

Macaulay chooses each book's subject based on what he wants to find out more about. His love of learning is why he does what he does.

"It’s all about finding subject matter that you’re excited about and wanting to learn more,” he said. “That’s my career. Professional student. For the rest of my days.”

That's so important for those of us who work with children at Seabury - to kindle and nurture their love of learning, so they carry that with them into adulthood, no matter what careers they choose.

Many pieces in the exhibit were still on the floor when I talked to Macaulay. The picture above was taken after I was there. (Thanks to Alyssa Rosso from TAM.) I can't wait to see the complete show.

Let me know if you go,