It is Monday... September 30

Visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers to find out more about It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? and link to other participating blogs.

Fabulous spooky adventure for the upper middle grade and middle school set.

Loads of great spookiness without being full on scary

This book was so emotionally satisfying. However I read the whole thing on a plane and got publicly weepy at multiple parts. I don't recommend that. 
Unless you are a person who thinks it might be really effective to book talk what you are reading through sniffles and tears to strangers

Follow Author Holly Goldberg Sloan on Twitter: @HGoldbergSloan

I am so excited to be a round 1 Cybils Fiction Picture Book Judge again this year.
The Cybils nominations are opening tomorrow: http://www.cybils.com/
Get over there and nominate your favorite books!

It is Monday... September 23

Visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers to find out more about It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? and link to other participating blogs.

The Bud and I listened to the Emerald Atlas and the Fire Chronicle as audio books in the car driving back and forth to school. 

After finishing the second installment we both wanted to know when we would be able to know what happens next.

I didn't find anything official, but it seems we will be waiting some time before we find out what happens to Kate, Michael and Emma. ~sigh~ It's a common plight of series lovers, I know.

@nephilhimrich It'll come out next fall...I promise!
— John Stephens (@johnrstephens) September 8, 2013

Sheer storytelling genius! An adventurous cow tells this story using only one word: Moo.

I love Bluffton and Around the World, but until this week I had never read Matt Phelan's first graphic novel The Storm in the Barn. The Book trailer emphasizes a creepy element in the story, but it is a great selection for the younger end of the spectrum of middle grade readers too.

Follow Matt Phelan on twitter: @MattPhelanDraws

Also this week I listened to the latest Kid's Comic Revolution Podcast which featured Matt Phelan talking about what it is like to be part of the Artist Alley at the ALA Annual conference.

Kid's Comics Revolution is hosted by the fabulous duo Jerzy Drozd and Dave Roman, and is one of my favorite podcasts. Click the image above to give this episode a listen.

The Bud chose this as our next audio book for the car.
So much flatulent fun, it really is a gas!

It is Monday... September 16

Visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers to find out more about It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? and link to other participating blogs.

The only thing I didn't like about reading Book #2 of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series is that it doesn't come out until October 1st. And that means that it is going to be a long wait for book 3. ~sigh~

My students and I are so excited that thanks to the fabulous folks at Addendum books, Shannon Messenger will be visiting our school in October!

If you don't know the Keeper of the Lost Cities series - it is a must read for your middle grade fantasy fans.

To start off the year at my school a gingerbread man goes missing and the kindergartners go looking all over the school for him. Along the way, they get to see all the different areas of the school (the gym, the office, the library) and meet the folks (like me the librarian) associated with those areas. They come into the library with a sign they made of what he looks like, and ask if I have seen him. I get to introduce myself and say "he was here running in and out of all the shelves, but then he ran that way," and wish them good luck on their search.
They eventually find him and get to eat him. 

I met me new kindergartners on their search, and shared Gingerbread man loose in the school with them when they came back for their first official visit to the library this week.

Such a great book to start off our reading relationship.

This is the Bud's latest choice for a read-together book.

A WILD Congratulations!

It's been a WILD week of celebrating the book birthday of Mr Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown!






With the help of Random.org 3 lucky winners were chosen to win a copy of Mr Tiger Goes Wild. Thank you to Little, Brown Books for providing the books!


And the winners are...

Jillian - @Heisereads

Laura - @LeulrichABC

Karyn - @Nyrak

Congratulations!

And thank you to everyone who helped celebrate the book birthday of Mr Tiger Goes Wild!

It is Monday... September 9th

Visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers to find out more about It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? and link to other participating blogs.

This was the Bud's choice for a read-together book. Such a great series to read out loud!
Although I did get a little weepy when Arthur steps off of the griffin. ~sniff~

Cupcake got to choose the next read-together book, and she chose Captain Underpants.
It is as advertised: Tons-o-fun and Lots-o-Laffs. And who doesn't love the Flip-o-rama?
The Bud has been having a great time reading this series on his own.
We also just purchased the app this weekend, and that has kicked his Captain Underpants love into high gear.

David Adler has a new series!

Read a preview of this cute adventure comic about Mermin the merman from Mer:
http://tragic-planet.com/MerminV1Preview.html

Interview with author Cecil Castellucci:

I've also been reading & re-reading....

This amazingly beautiful and informative nonfiction book that takes you on a trip across the transcontinental railroad was released last week. I finally got a hardcover copy (not just the F&G), and it is even more lovely than I expected.

I am so excited to meet Brian Floca this Thursday when he visits my school!

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown

I am wild!

Want me to prove it?

Okay.

There was this one time when I was hiking through the forest and came across the cutest little guy... the way he squeaked just melted my heart.

So I had this WILD idea he could be my pet, and I brought him home.

My mom did not like the idea so much, she insisted that Children Make Terrible Pets.

Wait...




Um...

Yeah... no.... that wasn't me.

There was this other time though when I was really WILD...

I was exploring in the town where I live, and I found this abandoned train track.

There were these plants growing there that seemed to need some help, and I got this WILD idea that I could be a gardener.

Once I started taking care of them, the plants started taking over, spreading everywhere.

And when other people found out about it, they wanted to help me take care of my Curious Garden.

Wait...that wasn't me either, was it?




Well..

There was this WILD time I convinced everyone I was a mindreader,

and the time I designed a WILD plan to rid the world of vegetables that were terrorizing me...

Nope.

You're right. Neither of those were me either!

I guess,  the truth is... I'm really not WILD at all.

~sigh~


But I do get to go WILD in books.



That's one of the things I love about books and reading.
I get to experience life through the eyes of a character.
I get to be Lucy Bear, or Liam and see what things are like from their perspective.




In Peter Brown's new book, Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, Mr. Tiger feels trapped in a life that doesn't suit him. It is grey and stiff and formal.



So Mr. Tiger has a WILD idea... he goes WILD.

 

Mr. Tiger's WILD idea is really about deciding to be true to himself.

Although I am not very WILD in real life, like Mr. Tiger I do try to be true to myself.
Sometimes that feels pretty WILD.

And just like the townsfolk in Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, when I am more myself, folks around me end up being more true to themselves too.



I can't wait to share Mr. Tiger with students and go WILD by being ourselves.




Find out more about Peter Brown and his fabulous books by visiting his website www.peterbrownstudio.com and following him on Twitter @itspeterbrown.



G is for Giveaway!

And G is part of a scrambled secret phrase.

To celebrate the release of Peter Brown's Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, we have a blog tour scavenger hunt for you! Visit all the blogs listed below to collect 7 letters/characters. Unscramble the letters/characters to unlock the secret phrase. Each blog is giving away three copies of Mr. Tiger Goes Wild courtesy of Little, Brown Books and Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts has a Mr. Tiger Goes Wild prize pack to give away.

• Jen at Teach Mentor Texts
• Aly at Kid Lit Frenzy
• Franki at A Year of Reading
• Jen at Reederama
• Katherine at Read, Write, Reflect
• Laura at LibLaura5  <--- YOU ARE HERE!
• Colby at SharpRead 

It is Monday... September 2

Visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers to find out more about It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? and link to other participating blogs.

Goodreads link

Picture a Tree Book trailer:

 

The Making of Picture a Tree:

How does Barbara Reid make those fabulous plasticine pictures?

Part one: 

Part two:

Goodreads Link

I will certainly be sharing this fabulous biography of Albert Einstein with my students this year!

Goodreads Link

We just finished this as a read-together book.
I love this magical series by Minnesotan Lynne Jonnell.
Get started with the first book Hamster Magic.
Suggest this series to your fans of Magic Tree House.

Goodreads Link

Goofy Ugly Doll fun in this comic collection of stories.

It's cycled back to the Bud's choice for a "read-together" book. 

I'm glad he brought us back to finish the Spiderwick series.