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.