Caldecott Challenge - 1938 to present

John Schu of Watch. Connect. Read. recently announced The Newbery Medal Challenge - 1922 to Present, that got me and a few other folks on twitter thinking about a Caldecott Medal Challenge.

Recently Travis Jonker of 100 Scope Notes attempted to read all of the Medal Books in one day (73 books)

...but what about all the Honor Books? That's over 300 picture books.

My plan starting this January is to read through all of the Caledecott Medal Winners and Honor Books by year starting with 1938 and working my way to the present blogging about my progress here, tweeting about it using the hashtag #nerdcott, and tracking the books on goodreads.

Awesome librarian and pal in real life Anna of A to Z Library has agreed to co-host this challenge with me. Thanks, Anna!

Like The Newbery Medal Challenge - 1922 to Present THIS IS A STRESS FREE CHALLENGE. It is intended to be fun! You are invited to participate in this challenge at your own pace and at your own level of "strictness" to the list of books. Some of those older honor books may be difficult to get your hands on. You may choose not to re-read titles. You may make this challenge about what works for you!

Click here to download a Caldecott Challenge badge.

#nerdbery & #nerdcott - two great reading challenges that go great together.
Just remember if you choose one or both... the theme is STRESS FREE!

If you are participating in the Caldecott Challenge, you may link to your blog or goodreads shelf using the widget below:

Picture Book Month

November was Picture Book Month.
A fabulous idea turned into a wonderful month of celebrating - find out more here: http://picturebookmonth.com/

In our library we celebrated by...

• Reading lots of picture books! (including some for the 15 Books Award)
• Sharing staff favorites:

• Skyping with friends in Illinois, Wisconsin and Hungary.
  Thank you @MrSchuReads, @PageInTraining, and @sducharme!
• and making bookmarks to exchange with other schools:

Thank you to everyone who made Picture Book Month a possibility!
Looking forward to November 2012!

Wednesday Wars

One more Book Trailer for a Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee:
Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt




Go to http://mhl2012.wikispaces.com/ for more trailers and author interviews for the nominees.

Anything But Typical

Another book trailer for a Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee:

    

Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

 

Book Trailers for Maud Hart Lovelace Nominees

With the help of Anna from http://azlibrarylady.blogspot.com/ and a few of my other colleagues, we've been making book trailers for the 2011-2012 Maud Hart Lovelace Nominees that didn't yet have one.

I've linked and embedded all of our work here: http://mhl2012.wikispaces.com/

Here are two I just finished:

Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel by Nikki Grimes




Football Genius by Tom Green

Celebrating Picture Books & Native American Heritage

November is Picture Book Month and it's Native American Heritage Month.


To celebrate both, here are three fabulous picture books I love reading out loud that celebrate Native American Heritage:


 
Muskrat Will Be Swimming
by Cheryl Savageau

What it's about: Jeannie is teased and called "Lake Rat" at school, but her grandfather helps her discover that being a lake rat - a muskrat - is really something to be proud of.

My favorite line - "I know who I am, and I know about the lake, that we're part of it, and it's part of us."


additional teacher resources





 
Jingle Dancer 
by Cynthia Leitich Smith 

What it's about: Jenna doesn't have enough jingles for her dress to dance in her first pow-wow, but if she borrows a few from different jingle dancers she knows, she may have enough.

My favorite part - each time Jenna borrows enough jingles to make a row, but doesn't take so many that the original dress loses it's voice.


 
Sky Dancers
by Connie Ann Kirk


What it's about: John Cloud is proud of his father and uncle who are working on the tallest building in the world - the Empire State Building.

My favorite line - When John is thinking about what he will do with his own life: "There was time to listen to the music of his heart. For now he was content to walk beside his father... one step at a time."
I love to pair this with Pop's Bridge by Eve Bunting. 


More about Native American Heritage Month at nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow is one of the Maud Hart Lovelace Award Nominees for 2001-2012.