It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?: Week 1

This past week, we were asked to read a total of 30 books and write a post about our top 15… So that is this post!

1. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka

This was by far my favorite story I’ve read. Just listening to this story was hilarious and had it’s own unique storyline. The fact that it had a narrator that would go in and out of different stories allows readers to feel in control of the stories. This book has a major advantage because it is does not focus around one story.

 

2. Goldilocks and the Three Bears by James Marshall

My second choice is a classic. This story I can remember as far back as my memories can go. The story of Goldilocks going through the different bears items makes for a funny story. The best thing about this story is when I was reading it, I could still hear (in my head) my old librarian making the different characters have different voices.

 

 

3. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback 

Even though this is 3rd on my list, I consider it tied with #2. This book is funny but my favorite part of this book is the illustrations. The text being incorporated in the images makes the text look fun and matches the story perfectly. Another great thing is the little cut outs of the old lady so you can see the what the old lady swallowed. It gives the illustrations interactions with the pages before and that just adds to the unique design.

 

4. The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt

This book is perfect for the Halloween time. It has a scary vibe and the dark illustrations just add more and more to this vibe. The fact that this children’s book is based off of a poem just makes it more interesting to me. If you were working with older grades, this could be a great introduction to poetry. 

 

5. The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen

This story is a classic and it never gets old. The fact of bring cute little ducklings can make any reader of any age happy! Of course animals can not talk but the real life situations between animals give a sense to kids this could actually happen. The story is adorable and gives a sense of hope when reading it. 

 

6. Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett

This was one book I have never heard of before this course. This was still a great story that took an unexpected twist. Of course this twist was needed in order to make the story interesting. The fact of the little kid making a ton of sweaters for her animals warmed my heart! 

 

7. The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat

Beekle, the unimaginative friend is a very fun illustrated story! This story is something that does not take a long time to get into the plot. Once we get back the couple first pages, Beekle starts on his journey. This is great because it will keep children involved for a longer time.

 

 

8. Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens 

This children’s book seems to be more difficult of a read because it has much more words per page than some of past children’s books on this list. With that being said, the story goes more in depth than others but has a great story about learning to work together even through differences. 

 

9. A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka 

A Ball for Daisy is one of the unique books I’ve seen because the book itself does not give you a story but you have to imagine one. Since everyone’s imagination is different, I think this book can allow great classroom discussion and really let everyone speak their own opinion without worrying about being wrong!

 

 

10. Waiting by Kevin Henkes

This book is pretty heartwarming. It has a great story about waiting and never knowing what you could be waiting for or what is going to happen in the future but you enjoy your time with your friends and family. This book is a pretty simple read so you could be able to read with most classes.

 

11. First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

This book has similar illustrations to “There was an Old Lady who swallowed a Fly” because the illustrator cut out some parts of one page in order to make it incorporate with other pages. This gives the book a type of interaction that is more than just reading the story. This book is also a simple read so you could read it with almost all classes.

 

12. All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon

The illustrations in this book are a little different because they are realistic looking. The story also has a very nice rhythm to it when reading out loud. Overall, the tone is what made me like this book more than anything. 

13. Nana in the City by Lauren Castillo

Nana in the City is about a little kid going to see their very loved Nana but has to endure the troubles of the city. It is a sweet story because Nana is able to show the child why she loves the city and spend time with her grandchild. 

 

 

14. Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault

At this point in the list, I have probably said the illustrations look great in every book but this one especially! The art looks so precise, it is hard to believe it is for a children’s book! Puss is a fun character to follow and the adventure is intriguing!

 

15. Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Moss

The rhyme pattern in this makes the story flow really nicely. Rather than kids sitting down and listening, I would have them read along out loud because the way the words flow…they are just asking to be sung. The illustrations are also very fun and appealing.

 

 

These books were all awesome and had their own unique stories and illustrations. I would use all of these books in my own classroom for sure!

Until next time,

-Rachel

*All images are from Goodreads.com*

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KidLitosphere Central

Image Credit: irakli_gar

Before this class, I have never heard of KidLitosphere. According to the website (http://kidlitosphere.org/), they explain themselves as “a community of reviewers, librarians, teachers, authors, illustrators, publishers, parents, and other book enthusiasts who blog about children’s and young adult literature.” To me, this is a great resource because KidLitosphere takes important people in children/ young adult literature and bring them together to write a review about said literature. Why is this important? One main reason is KidLitosphere gives teachers a resource to determine which books to read for class and which books to avoid. This can be determined by the “reviewers, librarians, teachers, authors, illustrators, publishers, parents, and other book enthusiasts” blog posts. Are their posts about a piece of literature positive or is it negative?

Blogging at the beginning can be very intimidating because it is your opinion and you choose how you want it to be. Overall, the way you blog should be based on your personal style. However, if you are saying something that is not your opinion, you should bring in facts to help support your case. Something I consider every time I write a post is the type of language to use. Depending on who your audience is, you want to use a vocabulary that they can understand. This becomes important with KidLitosphere because anyone can be reading these articles. The audience would be someone interested in reading a review for children’s book. If you use difficult words, it doesn’t make sense to be writing an article about a children’s book. You always want to keep the reader engaged. Difficult words can hinder this and make it difficult for the reader to continue.

Overall, I think a key in blogging is to have fun with it. It is YOUR blog so make it your way!

Until next time,

-Rachel

 

Am I a Reader?

The big question of this assignment is am I a reader? Personally, I would have to say yes. However, I was not always a reader. I use to hate English class because it was one of the hardest things for me to understand what I was reading. I eventually out grew this and found that books can be a gateway to escape. It is one of my favorite things to do when I have free time. This being said, I want to talk about 5 different situations that made me enjoy reading.

1. Library Time!

   

   Image Credit: KIPP NYC

When I was in elementary school, we could have a specific time everyday when the entire class would walk to the library and pick out a book to read for the week. I was always attracted to the pretty covers and kids having fun. After about 10 minutes of looking for books, the librarian would call us to grab a book so we could go check it out. The best part was after checkout. Mrs. L would sit us in the “reading corner” and read us picture stories every week. I use to love this because she would play the characters so well! She would change her voice, move around, and even involve us in the story (if possible). It really showed me that books actually have a great story if you read them correctly!

2. Read 180.

Image Credit: Betül G

Sadly, around 6th grade I began to hate books and reading. Starting in middle school, we would have to do different reading tests to see if we were reading fast enough for our grade level. Spoiler: I was not. After a couple different tests, I was put into a program called Read 180. This program was suppose to help my reading and make me better but I would get so frustrated with myself, I eventually stopped trying. It also didn’t help that I had a rude teacher. My main English teacher (not the rude teacher) told me if I try than I could get out of Read 180 by the next semester. I wanted to get out of there so much I just put my head down and read as fast as I could and eventually escaped. This program did more harm to me than good but something I did learn is that reading is suppose to be an enjoyable thing. It isn’t like we were reading textbooks but we were reading stories that are meant for entertainment. Eventually, I learned that the hard way.

3. Edgar Allan Poe.

Image Credit: Jared Brown

When I was starting high school I was still on the verge of enjoying reading. Thankfully, my sister was still at home and showed me this amazing poet by the name of Edgar Allan Poe. I was already excited because I have never heard of someone being names Edgar. I thought it was unique and strange at the same time. Then I saw the cover of what she was reading. It was this creepy book that looked like a children’s book. I then asked “Why are you reading a kid’s book?” She then explained to me what it was, an illustration book of some famous short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. She read me a couple but one that stuck out was “The Black Cat”. To this day, it is still one of my favorite stories.

4. The Hunger Game Series.

Image Credit: Dana Chan

Reading the Hunger Games was something that I will never regret. To this day, I think it is one of the best series. This series was the first series I ever completed reading then. I soon realized that I could be a reader and I could do what was asked of me. To this day, I still hate reading series but at least I know I can.

 

5. Getting into a College English class in high school.

Image Credit: Kevin Dooley

This doesn’t sound like a huge deal because so many high school’s offer college courses but it overjoyed me that I was able to get into it. For enrollment, you needed a current ACT score to even be considered. Thankfully the teacher liked me well enough to let me join her class. That class was probably the best class I have ever taken because I felt like I knew what I was doing. Since middle school, I was always on the verge of reading and English classes but once I completed that course with an “A”, I knew I would be fine at Chadron.

These are just 5 major experiences that influences my reading/ English life dramatically.

Until next time,

-Rachel