Our Day With Author/Illustrator Aaron Zenz

Today was an amazing day.  Our long-awaited author visit with Aaron Zenz!  We had spent the last several weeks looking at Aaron's writing and artwork, and finally the day had arrived where kids would finally have the opportunity to meet him.

So much anticipation, and Aaron did not disappoint.  

Joined by his friend, Opie, Aaron shared with K-2 students the art process for The Hiccupotomus.  

          

Third graders learned about the whole book-making process as well and Aaron's tips of observation and exaggeration for drawing facial expressions.

Fourth graders learned about rhyme scheme and wrote poetry.  Aaron then illustrated their poem on the spot.

Special time was set aside to talk with Aaron while he signed books.

And, of course, a special treat...

"Cakes of green and yellowphant!" (from The Hiccupotomus by Aaron Zenz)

Thank you, Aaron Zenz for an amazing day!

Our Mock Geisel and Mock Caldecott Awards

After much reading, discussing and evaluating we are please to announce the winners of our Mock Geisel and Mock Caldecott awards.

Kindergarten and first grade students participated in a Mock Geisel unit: Here are our winners...

OUR HONOR BOOK

OUR WINNER

Second, third and fourth graders participated in a Mock Caldecott unit. Our winners...

OUR HONOR BOOKS

OUR WINNER

We are looking forward to see how our selections compare to the real winners.  Stay tuned!

Mock Newbery Committee 2017

Yesterday marked our second annual Northview Mock Newbery Committee Meeting and Banquet!  A highly anticipated day.  Thirty-nine fourth grade readers from across our district (three elementaries), began preparing for this in early October.  My fellow teacher-librarians, Carrie Davies, Leah Pietrusza and I selected 13 books for this year's committee to read and consider...and read they did! In total the committee read 349 books!

Like last year, our committee meeting was held in the board room at our administration building. Arriving by bus, the students were greeted by our Superintendent, Director of People, and a school board member.

At each committee member's seat was a gift bag.  Inside, their official Newbery Committee notebook and water bottle, a Newbery book list, a bookmark from Victoria Coe (the author of one of our selections), and of course  a book!  Each student received his/her own copy of a previous Newbery winning book!

After some quick introductions, we were "in session".

Students met throughout the day in smaller subcommittees to discuss a particular book that they had read.  The insightful, meaningful conversations were incredible.

"When I look at this book I feel that the illustrations are what make it great.  We should really think about it for a Caldecott instead of a Newbery."

"This story really drew me in.  From the very beginning I cared...about the characters and the story."

In between subcommittee meetings we were able to hear from some of our distinguished authors! We are so grateful that they took time to share with our students.

Jenni Holm

Peter Brown

Lynn Plourde

After completing their subcommittee work, students took time to collect their thoughts and reflect upon what they had read, what they had heard and what they had discussed.

Taking their thoughts, each committee member was assigned to a group where they would have the opportunity to "champion" their book of choice.  Again, thoughtful, meaningful, insightful, amazing!

"WISH was a story that...well...I can't put it in words (touching heart)...It just grabbed me right here!"-fourth grader

"PAX was really sad at the end, but I understood why.  Pax needed to be with Runt, even though he missed Peter.  He knew Runt needed him even more.  Peter knew that, too." -fourth grader

"MAXI'S SECRETS told you the end at the beginning, and that made me want to keep reading to find out what would happen to get to the end." -fourth grader

"I think PAX was about Love.  Because sometimes when you love something, you have to let it go."

 -fourth grader

"I really like FULL OF BEANS.  I like how the author wrote about a real city...that really existed.  I liked that it was historical fiction.  -fourth grader

"WOLF HOLLOW was really all about empathy, and that's why I loved it!"-fourth grader

Finally, the time had come.  Each committee member cast his/her vote.

The committee chose four honor books!

And the winner of the 2017 Northview Mock Newbery Medal...

Congratulation Mock Newbery Committee.  You represented yourselves and our school district so very well!  

My Letter to the Secretary of Education: I Heard So Little and Didn't Hear So Much!

Betsy,

I will not deny that your selection as the Secretary of Education concerns (terrifies) me.  Those concerns have only been intensified after watching your confirmation hearing.  While I was frightened by the things you said, I was even MORE frightened by the things that you DIDN’T say. So, I’m hoping that you can help me understand some things more clearly. I have a few questions. (I did hear you say "thank you for that great question" (several times) so I will accept that response here.)

I heard you talk a great deal about parent/student choice and helping students “escape” from failing schools.  While you may feel that this will help those particular students, I didn't hear you say anything about what you would do to help those students who don’t “escape” (using your words).  How will you ensure that they are receiving the education that they, too, deserve?  

I didn’t hear you mention that.

I never heard you say anything about how you were going to support the “failing” schools (again, your words).  I know that the teachers in those schools are working every bit as hard as (if not harder than) the teachers in your elite schools.  Incredibly unsupported and often lacking necessary resources and training, I would have loved to hear your plans for how you would strengthen, support and champion for those schools.  As educators, we spend a great deal of time, thought, heartache, resources, planning and implementation on populations who aren’t meeting expectations...I guess, in your words, who are “failing”.  We don’t write them off, we don’t quit, we don’t stop.  We try, we adjust, we seek advice, we plan (re-plan, re-plan, re-plan) and do everything in our power to ensure that those students succeed.  I wonder if as Secretary of Education you would extend the same support to struggling schools?  

I didn’t hear you mention that.

You said that you would be an advocate for “all great schools”.  As Secretary of Education shouldn’t you have said:  “I will be an advocate for ALL schools...helping, supporting and doing everything in my power to ensure that they are ALL great.”?  

I didn’t hear you mention that.

Inclusion? Safety? Accountability?

I didn't hear you mention so very, very much.

Our kids deserve the best.  ALL kids.  Our schools deserve the best.  ALL schools.  I heard you mention “some kids”, “some parents”, “some schools”.  But all schools? All parents?  ALL kids?  

I didn’t hear you mention that.

SIncerely, and with Great Concern,

Me

The Power of the Picture Book: Kurt Stroh

It’s Okay to Be Different...Really, It Is!

I have spent my entire adult life advocating for what is best for children.  I’ve worked to ensure that all children are safe, that all children are valued and that all children are respected.  While my career focuses on the lives of children, the above mentioned are also things that I value for all adults. In school, we talk about the things for which we must always strive...to be respectful, to be responsible, to be accepting and to be compassionate.  We talk about how we are all different, unique, and special, and we usually find that we are more similar than different.  We talk about our rights at school, and how they should never cause anyone else to feel disrespected, hurt or unaccepted.

On Wednesday, November 9,  as kids entered my library, I was overhearing very hurtful, disrespectful conversations.  Some students were crying--some mocking. Now, I completely understand that kids this age are often only repeating what they hear at home and in the media, but nonetheless, I was saddened. I was frightened.  

I knew I had to change my plans.  I knew we needed to come together and re-establish our school understandings and beliefs.  I knew we had to make sure that everyone felt that they were important, that they were valued, that they mattered.

I pulled Todd Parr’s It’s Okay to Be Different off the shelf and decided that we would read it together. Every grade. Every class. We did, and we talked...a lot.  Students smiled as they saw themselves in the book:  glasses, wheelchairs, short, tall, moms, dads, adopted. I heard comments like:  “That’s just like me!” (and that’s okay!), “I have two moms!” (and that’s okay!), “I’m a different color than my family! (and that’s okay!)  Students rallied around each other.  When we read “It’s okay to have wheels”, one student turned and high-fived our student in a wheelchair. She beamed!  Students relaxed, students smiled, students felt accepted.  They remembered that it’s not okay to be unkind, that it’s not okay to be disrespectful, that it’s not okay to be hurtful--IT’S NOT OKAY.

While I felt a bit better,  I was still sad. I wished that I could have the opportunity to sit with adults and have the same conversations.  I wished that I could bring a group of adults together and have them high-five each other for looking different, for having different family structures, for having different beliefs.  I wished I could hear THEM say, “It’s okay that you’re a different color," “It’s okay that you’re a different religion," “It’s okay to love who you love."  I wished that we could talk about the right to believe what you want to believe and say what you want to say...unless it is hurtful, disrespectful or unkind to someone else.

I’m frightened.  People now feel that they have an open invitation to show unkindness, disrespect, and hatred. Trust me, our kids are watching this. They are seeing everything.  This is not what we want our next generation to witness. This is not how we want them to act.  This is not how we want them to treat each other. This is NOT what we want them to become!

So, I would like to extend a different invitation, a better invitation:

I invite you to value all people.
I invite you to respect all people.  
I invite you to love all people!

Please accept my invitation...It’s okay.  Really, it is!

The Power of the Picture Book: Matthew Cordell

CRY ME A PICTURE BOOK RIVER 

Man, I love picture books. Am I preaching to the choir? Maybe. But maybe not! Whether you are picture book choir or picture book congregation, allow me to proselytize here for a spell on the power of picture books.

I love picture books for their art. The visual and written synchronicity that lovingly and painstakingly goes into each page and page turn. Picture books inspire me daily as a parent, as a sometimes author, and as an illustrator. When I visit schools and at home with my own two children, I see first-hand how picture books inspire the young minds for which we primarily make them. It’s powerful stuff.

For the sake of brevity, (not always my strong suit) I’d like to single out one of the many powerful aspects of a successful picture book. Picture books that grab you by all the feels. Ones that make you cry. Ones that make you cry for something uplifting or cry for something sad. Picture books can and will do this. With their inimitable and masterful craft of weaving perfectly articulated words with perfectly cultivated images. Here are a few favorites that have done that for me.

A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz, illustrated by Catia Chen. This is wonderful right off the bat because it tackles a struggle that I feel I don’t hear enough about: stuttering. Stuttering and the shame and alienation that are bound to come with. Despite it all, a boy who stutters finds comfort in the one big thing he loves. He loves spending time and communicating with animals. As he grows up and his love for animals grow too, he pledges to be a voice for animals who cannot speak, and defend them from harm. Simultaneously, with much hard work and therapy, the boy slowly begins to speak without completely stuttering. But he is forever changed and feels most comfortable alone or in the company of animals. Time moves on and the boy becomes an adult. He becomes a zoologist and conservationist specifically interested in the study and protection of threatened jaguars in the jungles of Portugal. He vows to protect these big, beautiful cats in every way he can. As afraid as he is of public speaking, he goes before the prime minister of Belize in defense of jaguars. And ultimately a jaguar preserve is established in part because of his testimony. The book closes with a breathtaking series of spreads where the narrator comes silently face to face with a jaguar in the wild of the jungle. The final page is only words. Words that will leave you in tears.

Someday by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. I can’t be absolutely sure, because I’ve only read this book as a parent, but I think this book might work its magic best on the Moms and Dads of the world. There is a very specific type of feeling we feel when we watch our children grow up and succeed in life. It is a great big pride juxtaposed with a great big sadness, almost a breaking of the heart even. How can we not be ecstatic when our child grows and does great things? Because it’s happening too fast, and time passes by without any consideration for my feelings whatsoever. It feels awfully selfish to admit to feeling this way, but there it is. And that, my friends, is the power of Someday. As the book begins, we see a Mom welcoming her baby into the world and being witness to all of the firsts. First words, first steps, etc. And on it goes with all the wonderful things the child proceeds to learn and accomplish and some of the bad things too. Like not getting into a first-choice university. Time marches on and inevitably we must let go as parents. I dread this day. Time goes by relentlessly, giving us the most wonderful things, but also changing us from hands-on parents to observers. As the end of the book approaches, we see that that one-time baby has become an adult. One who has welcomed her own child into the world. And time marches on. It is beautiful. It is heart-wrenching. You will sob.

Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate, illustrated by G. Brian Karas. If, by chance, you are not familiar with the story of Ivan the gorilla, it goes like this. Back in 1962, two western lowland gorilla babies were poached from the jungles of Africa. They were kidnapped from their families and shipped to the United States. The gorillas were sold to a shopping mall owner in Tacoma, Washington.  Shortly after that day, one of the babies, Burma, died. Ivan was raised and kept at the family’s home for three years until he became too big to keep safely at home. At which point he was moved into captivity at the man’s shopping mall. An oddity of sorts for people to come and watch through a glass window. Ivan lived there for much of his adult life, making the best of it, watching tv, finger painting, and playing with the few things that were inside his enclosure. Fortunately, the public began to see how unfair it was to keep Ivan at the mall, and public outcry led to his release at a zoo in Atlanta, Georgia. He was given care from scientists who understood and loved him. He was given a natural environment in which to roam. And the company of other gorillas. Ivan’s release is told and illustrated spectacularly. This final few pages of words and pictures will put a serious lump in your throat. And the final spread and back matter will do you in for sure.

Great picture books treat kids and grown-ups with respect and kindness and patience. Their page turns bring the biggest and smallest hands and eyes and ears together in one magical place. They make us think. They make us laugh. They make us cry. And that’s powerful stuff.

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Matthew Cordell is the author and illustrator of many books for children. His newest written and illustrated book, Wish, has apparently made many moms and dads around the world cry. Which makes him feel a bit bad, but it’s, like, a compliment at the same time. Visit him online at matthewcordell.com. And on Facebook at facebook.com/cordellmatthew. And Twitter: @cordellmatthew.

The Power of the Picture Book: Kathy Burnette

2016 has been a difficult year, full of disappointments and depressions. When I am discouraged my answer is to look to books. Picture books can help you get through any occasion. If they are not the full solution, they are indeed the beginning. Picture books help you cope with the loss of friends; whether through promotions, graduations, or death. Picture books help you talk to students about celebrating differences and sowing seeds of kindness. Picture books help you talk about inclusion and seizing the moment with grace and gratitude. Picture books help you understand that family is who you make it. The picture book is ready for all occasions.

On the occasion of a friend being transferred or students graduating from High School try

I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld.

On the occasion of a wonderful librarian with 20+ years of sharing the joy of reading being killed in an accident try   Always Remember by Cece Ming.

On the occasion of instilling inclusion after some bullying is noted on the playground try

It’s Ok to Be Different by Todd Parr

and  If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson.

On the occasion of taking action now instead of waiting to see try

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson.

On the occasion of showing that sometimes families are chosen try Mother Bruce by Ryan T Higgins.

When we feel like the world has shifted under our feet and our spirits have been deflated but not destroyed, look to the book. The picture book...it has the power to heal.

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Kathy M Burnette knows the power of books and spreads her knowledge as a K-8 School Librarian in South Bend, Indiana. Kathy collects coffee mugs and is most proud of her World’s Okayest Mom mug which she feels proves hardly working pays off. Kathy can be found on twitter @thebrainlair and occasionally blogs at www.thebrainlair.com.  Kathy’s passion for books has landed her on several book committee’s, most recently the 2018 Printz Committee. She looks forward to discussing books and telling people why they should love the books she does!