We have rabbits in our neighborhood.  It is positively TEEMING with rabbits.  Every single morning when I leave my house, I see them in the same places.  There is one that crouches down as I pass our corner, as if trying to hide from my headlights.  I always slow down, roll down my window, and say, “I see you, bunny!” so he knows he hasn’t fooled me.  There is another that jumps out into the road well ahead of me and runs frantically up the center of the road for several yards before veering off into the bushes.  I often see smaller bunnies cavorting through the grass in a yard at the top of the hill, and I can only hope they will be safe from the neighborhood cats and dogs.

So this, of course, got me thinking about literature involving rabbits, from classics to new, and I thought I would share my favorites.  The first must be The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.  It was one of the first that my son had memorized and “read” along with me, so I have fond memories of it.  The illustrations are beautiful and worthy of close examination.

Another book that I remember from my own childhood is Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by DuBose Hayward.  I can visualize the illustrations – the brave Little Cottontail Mother, egg in hand, carefully making her way up the icy mountain only to slip and fall to the bottom, another showing her flying up the mountain in her golden shoes, and finally returning to her own house with a basket of eggs in hand.  It is a lovely story with a strong female character, unusual for 1939!

Some newer choices would have to include Knuffle Bunny: a Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems (and with a title like that, how could you not like it?)  The illustrations are expressive and clever, adding to the humor of the story.   Another is Bunny’s Lessons by Harriet Ziefert, a sweet story about how a boy teaches his favorite toy about words like LOUD and MESSY and, finally, LOVE.   Other worth perusing include Blue Rabbit and Friends by Christopher Wormell, Blossom and Boo by Dawn Apperly, and of course, any one of the Max and Ruby stories by Rosemary Wells, like Bunny Cakes.  What are your favorite books about rabbits?  I’d love to hear about them!

I have a confession to make:  I re-read books.  Yes, for someone who promotes the reading of books, you would think I would object to someone reading a book they have already read.  But here I am , confessing that I read re-read books – sometimes over and over again.  Especially when I am super busy, when I don’t have time or energy to focus and concentrate on a new book, I will pull out an old favorite or a book I don’t completely remember, and I will read.  It’s like greeting an old friend.  I almost always find something in the book that I didn’t notice the first time, or will appreciate how the author wrote a certain phrase.  Right now is one of those times – graduate school work is keeping me busy for hours and hours each day, leaving me little time to read for pleasure.  (Ironic, isn’t it?  My working toward a media specialist certificate is keeping me from reading for fun, something media specialists are supposed to support!)  Anyway, I needed something to read before going to sleep at night, so I picked up the first Harry Potter book – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (it’s the British version with the proper title, which I love!)  What a wonderful writer J. K. Rowling is!  Every time I re-read one in the series, I marvel at how clever she was – with her intricate plots, her marvelous characters, her perfect choice of words – I could go on and on.  Some would ask why I waste my time re-reading a book when I could be reading a new one.  My answer?  Well, I enjoy it and I’m not ashamed to admit it!  (However, I won’t tell how many times I’ve read the entire series….)

So, are there any more re-readers out there?  If so, I’d love to hear from you.  I hope I am not alone!

I know how much you enjoyed reading Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. He has such a wonderful way with words, making the characters and situations come alive. Have you ever wondered what happened to some of the other characters in the book? Did Bugs ever make his way out West? Did Lefty Lewis get caught with the union organizing fliers? And whatever happened to Deza Malone, the girl who gave Bud his first kiss? At least for the last question, you now have the chance to find out! The Mighty Miss Malone tells the background story of Deza, the spunky girl who swept Bud off his feet. While her time with Bud is a very brief reference in this book, her story and the story of her family will keep you on the edge of your seat! The story starts well before the events at Hooverville occur, taking Deza and her family through eviction, the disappearance of both father and brother, and an unexpected climax and outcome. As with Bud, Not Buddy, there is humor, excitement, enjoyable characters, and page-turning plot. This is a must-read!

I love the beginning of a new year – it fills me with such possibilities!  I feel as though I can start over and accomplish all the things I have wanted to accomplish.  I can set goals and make resolutions, and I am pretty good about keeping up with them.  I just like the idea of starting with a clean slate, where anything is possible.  My goals this year are focused on my family and my graduate school classes, as well as being the best I can be as a teacher.

This morning, I encouraged my students to set some goals to start the year, asking them to particularly focus on some sort of reading goal.  For some students this is a cinch!  They love to read.  For others it may be more of a challenge, but I have confidence that they can achieve any goal they set for themselves.  Some of the students set goals related to the number of books they would read over the next month, trimester, year, etc.  Others had goals to read books of a certain length.  I was delighted to see how many of them were serious about setting a goal in this area, and I look forward to watching their progress!

I love this time of year! As we head into the holiday season (which seems to come earlier and earlier) I think about special books that I love to read year after year. Many families I know have traditions that involve literature, from reading aloud A Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve to seeing movies based on books like A Miracle on 34th Street.

Our family tradition started when I was in elementary school. My father, who was at one time a radio announcer and has a lovely voice, would read How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Theodor Geisel to us each year on my birthday, which was a week before Christmas. This tradition carried on even as my brothers and I became adults. I even convinced my father to come to school and read the story to my class for a few years. He was a better Grinch than Boris Karloff, who did the voice in the cartoon version seen on television each year! I always played the part of Cindy Lou Who (who was no more than two!)  She only has one line, but I would chime in on cue.

If you don’t have traditions that center around books, consider adopting one. There are so many from which to choose! Here are some possibilities:

• A Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies is wonderful. If you have only seen the movie and not read the book, this is a must-read.
• Nine Spoons by Marci Stillerman is a lovely Chanukah story.  Based on a true story, it tells of how a group of brave individuals managed to keep their faith alive during the Holocaust.
• A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote is a beautifully written short memoir. Illustrated by Beth Peck, it is a wonderful example of descriptive writing. I use it as an example of how to “show, not tell” when writing personal narratives. If you want to start earlier, there is a companion book by Capote called The Thanksgiving Visitor, also illustrated by Peck. They are both full of humor, pathos, and wonderful images. (However, you might want to pre-read or pick excerpts as there is some language you might find inappropriate.)
• The aforementioned How the Grinch Stole Christmas is obviously a favorite of mine.  I love his use of rhythm and rhyme and appreciate hearing the words without the television cartoon’s music and animation getting in the way.
• O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi is another beautiful short story, and one to read if you appreciate Henry’s clever endings that always have an unexpected twist to them.
• By the Hanukkah Light by Sheldon Oberman is a “story within a story” that tells of the battle of the Maccabees and relates it to the narrator’s experiences as a Jew during World War II.
• In An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, Louisa May Alcott demonstrates her ability to create distinct characters and helps you to see them through well-written dialogue.
• If you are looking for something a little lighter, another favorite of mine is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson.  One in a series of books about the infamous Herdman family, it tells of a school’s Christmas pageant and the sometimes disastrous events leading up to it.  It is funny, exciting, and touching all at once.
• One last book – a beautiful picture book that would be perfect to read as a Thanksgiving blessing or reflection.  The Circle of Days by Reeve Lindbergh (daughter of Charles Lindberg) is a lovely adaptation of Saint Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun, a hymn of praise for all that is in our world.  Illustrated by Cathie Felstead, it is perfect for all ages – even young children will understand the simple text and gorgeous illustrations.  I highly recommend this simple, but uplifting text.

I hope this gives you some ideas for adding a literature-related tradition for your family this year.  If you have more suggestions to add to the list, please comment!

Happy Holidays and happy reading!

Okay, I know this blog is supposed to be about books, but I have so many other interests and passions, I just decided to “take a bird walk” in another direction.  This is a beautiful time of year – my favorite season – and I like to take time to appreciate the beauty around me, so please indulge me while I digress….

Recently, I have become obsessed with clouds.  Sometime during the summer, I started looking at them in a new way (I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now…  Is anyone old enough to catch the 60’s song reference?)  I began to take pictures of clouds whenever I could.  I started carrying my camera with me when I drove around, and when I’d stop at stop lights, I’d hang my head out of the window to capture a particularly beautiful cloud formation.  They just made me feel good – uplifted, inspired – you name it.  This is one of my favorites:

Speaking of appreciating the beauty of nature, a video was posted on the Facebook page of a former student.  (I taught Melanie in high school my first year as a teacher, so she is just a few years younger than me.  She is always posting wonderful things on Facebook!)  Anyway, the video caught my eye because it was called “Murmuration.”  From our study of collective nouns, I knew that a murmuration is a group of starlings, so I was naturally curious.  What I saw was amazing (once you get past the girls in the canoe at the beginning of the video) and I was struck by the beauty of it.  Please check out the link below (and turn up the volume when the music starts – it adds to the experience!)

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

It’s like ocean waves….  How about that for the awesome power of nature!

This week, our class began book clubs. Having finished our first whole-class novel, it was time to move on to something new. We wanted everyone to have a variety of books to read with the hopes that one book club might recommend their book to others. We have four books in the mix: Bridge to Terabithia, A Year Down Yonder, Pictures of Hollis Woods, and a new one for us, The Liberation of Gabriel King. It’s a diverse set of books – all realistic fiction, but set in different time periods and written in different styles.  Each week, the students have an assignment to read a section of the book, define some of the wonderful vocabulary found in that section, and perform a book club role.  These roles include “Discussion Director” who runs the club meeting and prepares a series of rich questions to discuss during their meeting time, “Artful Artist” who creates a visual that represents something in the section read, “Snazzy Summarizer” who sums up the important ideas in the section, “Character Correspondent” who collects information about the important characters in the story, and “Literary Luminary” who selects passages that have some special meaning or that illustrate a particular  idea.  The students run their own meeting and evaluate each other on participation and how well they performed their jobs.

Now that we have had our first meeting, I’d love to hear from my students what you think about your books so far.  I also love to hear from parents – what do you think about this process?  Has your child shared anything about their book with you?  I’ll be anxious to hear from you!

The question of the day: how do I write a blog for book lovers when I don’t have enough time to read myself?  Even during the busiest times of the school year, I have always found time to read, both children’s books and books for grownups.  With graduate school recently added to my plate, I find I don’t have the luxury of reading as much as I’d like.  I am reading, but it’s mostly for graduate school, so I am reading texbooks and journals on which I must reflect and write 500 word summaries and responses – it’s just not the same!

So, I will take a vow – I will make time to read, just as I expect my students to do.  I will make more efficient use of my time in order to have a few minutes each day to read.  I will prioritize my life to include what is important – and reading is important!

Each year when we read Bud, Not Buddy, I am always in awe of author Christopher Paul Curtis’s writing abilities. It is not a surprise that he has won so many awards for his books. He truly has a way with words! He writes with humor and creates a wonderfully distinct voice in the character of Bud. I love his use of similes and metaphors and admire his ability to create visual pictures with his words.

Now, it’s your turn! I want to hear what you like about how Christopher Paul Curtis writes. This is not a review of the book, but a discussion of what you appreciate about this author’s writing style. Are there passages you particularly like? If so, why? What makes them so good? Please be specific and use examples from the book to back up your ideas.

Many of the books I read this summer were children’s books.  I do like to keep up with books that my students read!  Some of these were recommendations from past students, others are ones I just found in my classroom library.   Below are a few of the books I enjoyed this summer.

The School Story, by Andrew Clements, is one of my favorites by this author.  Twelve-year-old Natalie has written a book and wants to get it published, but she doesn’t know how to go about doing it.  With the help of her friend, she works to find a way to get it seen by a publisher.  It is a wonderful book, particularly for anyone who likes to write and hopes to get published one day.   Clements did a nice job of establishing believable characters, and I enjoyed how he portrayed their relationships with each other.

Confetti Girl, by Diana Lopez, was a pleasant surprise.  On the surface, it didn’t seem like a book that would have any depth to it, but I was quite taken with it!  It tells the story of Lina, a seventh grader, who is learning to deal with the problems of middle school.  What I particularly liked about this book is the the Spanish words and phrases interspersed throughout the book.  Each chapter begins with dichos, proverbs or sayings in Spanish, that tie into something that happens during the chapter.  It is full of colorful cultural references that add flavor to the book.  It also appeals to my love of words, as Lina’s father encourages her to learn about Greek and Latin roots in order to understand words.  He even calls himself a bibliophile!  Sound familiar?

I hesitated before reading Change-up, by award winning author John Feinstein.  A former sports reporter and columnist, he definitely has the expertise to write a series of books, each on highlighting a different sport.  I hesitated because my husband read the book and felt the dialogue was not realistic and would not have been spoken by young teenagers.  I, however, was not bothered by this at all.  I quite enjoyed the book and will read others in his series as I come across them.  The book revolves around a pair of teenagers who have won a writing contest that allows them to get press credentials to cover various sporting events.  As in all his books, the pair encounters a mystery which they must solve, at times putting them in danger.  I found it intriguing and something both boys and girls would enjoy.

Another surprising book was Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, written by John Grisham who is best known for his courtroom thrillers for adults.  This book, written for 8 to 12 year-olds, is also a courtroom thriller, starring 8th grader Theo who is known to have great knowledge about law (not surprising as his parents are both lawyers.)  His peers often ask for legal advice, and he is thrown into the middle of a murder investigation.  It grabs you from the beginning (as all Grisham’s books do) and moves at a brisk pace until the end.  As in most of Grisham’s more recent books, the ending is quite abrupt, leaving the reader wanting another chapter or more closure.  Still, it was a fun read, and I’d read more from this series.

These are just a few that I read this summer, but I will continue to write about the books I have enjoyed in the coming months.  Do any of these sound interesting to you?  Do you have any recommendations for me?  I am always looking for good books to read, and I am always eager to help students find books that they will enjoy.  Let me know what you think!