Library Thursday Blog Hop 3/24

It's already Thursday again!  That means it's time for Library Thursday hosted by Lazy Girl Reads!  I'm slowly returning the mounds of books I have checked out recently and tapering down the number of books I have checked out simply because I seem to have bought a few books recently and I have some on my Nook that I need to read.  (I did still have to move a giant bag of books from my backseat so I could have room for Peanut to sit...)

I always need audiobooks to listen to during my commute so I have to at least get to the library to pick up some of those!

My first pick was a book that I read when I was in middle school but that I've heard people talk about again and again lately.  It's definitely time for a reread just to refresh my mind.  Any guesses?  It's Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. It seems like every young girl read this book and I even heard recently of someone who made all her sons read it to be able to relate to girls!  I'm not sure I want to force any book, least of all this book, on my sons, but I might as well reread it so I remember more clearly what it's all about.  It'll be the third book I've reread recently to just jog my memory and see what I think about it as an adult.  The other two were The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.

I'm excited to see everyone else's library finds this week!

 

Big Chick

Title: Chicken Big     
Author: Keith Graves 
Illustrator: Keith Graves
Publisher: Chronicle Books 
Publication Date: 2010 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
Summary: When a super-sized chicken is hatched, the coop residents aren't sure what to think!  Will Chicken Big find a place where he fits in? 
What I Think: Silly chickens are just funny!  I like it when characters are just silly enough that they're funny without being annoying.  The chickens in this book are just the perfect amount of silly for me.  This book would be great to use when talking about comparative and superlative adjectives.  The book uses the three characters repeatedly which lends a rhythm to the book while also making it reflect the element of three that is found so often in fairy tales and other folk literature.  
Read Together: Pre-K - 6 
Read Alone: 1 - 3 
Read With: One by Kathryn Otoshi, Unlovable by Dan Yaccarino, Horton Hears A Who! by Dr. Seuss, Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison 
Snatch of Text:  

"'It's big!' clucked the small chicken.

'It's enormous!' clucked the smaller chicken.

'It's an elephant!' peeped the smallest chicken.

(She was not the smartest beak in the flock.)"

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Inferences, Making Connections 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative 
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you didn't fit in or your felt left out.
Topics Covered: Farm, Differences, Fitting In, Friendship 
Translated to Spanish: No

 

Tim Green Knows Football and Baseball!

Today is the release for Tim Green's newest baseball book, Best of the Best: A Baseball Great Novel! 

I was thrilled to meet Tim Green at Anderson's Children's Literature Breakfast last month.  Listening to him speak about his experience playing in the NFL, his books, and his family clearly showed how passionate he is about all of them.  I was excited to interview him and now he has a new book out today in his baseball series.  The book is called Best of the Best: A Baseball Great Novel. 


I've decided to change to a more abbreviated book review when it comes to chapter books/novels that I read and review here.  Of Tim Green's books, I have read Football Genius.  My husband is a physical education teacher and an overall sports fan, which, in turn, has made me more of a sports fan than I was when I met him.  We've been watching March Madness all weekend!  I've been on the lookout for good sports-related books and have read books by Lupica, Feinstein, Gutman, and Crutcher.  I was excited to add another sporty book to my list of "read" books.


Football Genius did not let me down when it comes to football books.  I listened to it on audio and Tim Green told me his kids did voices for Troy and Tate!  As a fan, I could totally relate to Troy wanting to sneak in and see a real NFL football player's house and his excitement at meeting a football player and then getting to be on the field for a Falcons game.  I would have felt as excited as Troy did throughout the book.  I found myself wanting to get back to listening to the book to find out what would happen next.  Green does an amazing job of building the energy and excitement throughout the book.  When he talked at the Breakfast, he told how he read the book to kids and judged their eagerness to hear what would happen next in the story.  I got the impression that he was diligent about keeping his readers - kids - in mind while writing and it was especially evident in Football Genius.


I would recommend this to any reader - boy or girl - who loves football or any sport for that matter.  My husband loves to meet athletes and collect autographs as much as I love to meet authors.  He uses a website that sends him notifications of where and when athletes will be signing autographs in our area.  I'm sure you could find a website similar if you have a professional sports team near you.  You could even team up with the P.E. teacher at your school to promote these books and host Tim Green on Skype.  (I love the idea of getting everyone in the school involved in promoting reading and I know my husband's students adore him and would read a book that he recommends.)


You could easily work on personal narrative and ask students to talk about a sporting event that they attended - whether it was for a professional team or even their sister's soccer game!  To work on some expository writing, they could explain how to play a sport. how to do something sports related - like how to shoot a free-throw, or even research and write about their favorite athletes.  


Tim Green has a great website and some videos on YouTube.  He is even available for FREE Skype visits through Anderson's Bookshop!  I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the Football Genius series and then reading the Baseball Great series!  Have you read any of Tim Green's books?  A colleague told me she has read all of his adult novels.  Does anyone have a favorite Tim Green book?

 

Library Thursday Blog Hop 3/17

It's a St. Patrick's Day version of Library Thursday hosted by Lazy Girl Reads!  I vowed to keep myself from the library this week so I can actually read the books I already have checked out, the books I have bought, the books I have been given, and the books on my Nook!  I'm surrounded by books...which is a great thing...but I'm feeling like I'll never get through them!

I did have books on hold at the library that came in that I, of course, just HAD to pick up, and then a couple that were available to download onto my Nook, Henry.

I also made a trip to a library that's on my way home from home but isn't my actual library.  I love that my library is part of a district of libraries in the area.  AND I remembered to snap a picture!  This is Ela Library.  It has a self-checkout with some funky mechanism where all I had to do was lay my books down on a gray pad and it recognized the book.  I don't get how it works but it was very cool!