A List of a few "Best Books" Lists

A list of a few "Best Books" Lists

#1-Ask a Nerdy Book Club member

#2-Do some reading and researching

Quickly Compiled List of Book Related Websites of Award Winners, Recommendation, Kids Choices, and more to prepare for tonight's Twitter #titletalk session. #titletalk is an amazing resource driven by teachers, librarians, authors, and book lovers around the whole all joining together to discuss books and book topics.

Every library's needs are as different as the patrons who utilize it. My elementary/middle school is a dual language school set on  a university campus. I have many category needs to address and a very small purchasing budget. I keep my eyes sharp as a hawk's always on the lookout for those perfect books that will address multiple needs. My books have to multi-task just as much as I do. 

Here are a few websites that I have found to be helpful in my Book Quest each year. These are in no particular order

ALA:  American Library Association

ALA Book, Print, & Media Awards (the big list of awards).

ALA Book List Online Reviews Includes reviews of the day, twitter streams, latest articles about books, anything about books that is trending. 

2012 Children's Choices Books voted on by children for children. List compiled jointly by IRA and CBC for use by librarians, teachers, caregivers, parents, grandparents, and anyone interested in what kids truly want to read. 

2012 ALSC Award Winners   Association for Library Service to Children 

Publisher's Weekly Best Books 2012

Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Books 2012

Boston Globe-Horn 2012 Book Award for Excellence in Children's Literature

CCBC Choices 2012  Children's Cooperative Book Center

CCBC Cooperative Children's Book Center: Awards and Best of the Year Lists

NCTE: Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children

NSTA: National Science Teacher Association Outstanding Science Trade Books

YASLA Book Awards

RIF: Reading Is Fundamental A very useful resource to share with families. 

RIF Guidelines for Choosing Multicultural Books

Colorin Colorado Bilingual Resources for Educators and Families

Reading Rockets   Research and book and author info for educators and families 

New York Public Library Children's Book Reviews

Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2012 for Kids  Best of the Best 2012 for Teens

American Indian Library Association:  American Indian Youth Literature Award

The children's book award was created as a way to identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians.

Children's Book Council of Australia 2012 Winners

Example of how I am using the 2012 Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee list 
I create resources for my library classes to use based on award nominees. 

Monsters We Have Loved

Picture Book Month

visit the website

Day 25 theme: MONSTERS!

Monsters We Have Loved

My students love to hear monster stories, The stories are fun as long as they are not too scary. I prefer to use the type of monster books where the children in the stories have control over the behavior of their monsters. They can direct their monsters to shape up or even to go away forever. I have not forgotten how very real imaginary monsters can be to children. My memories are full of sleepless nights watching shadows floating around my bedroom while my grumpy sister would hiss at me to "go to sleep." 

Into the Woods and Seven Scary Monsters are two of my favorite read aloud monster bedtime tales. I make the stories interactive and it gives the kids a chance to understand that they can take control of their imaginations and overcome their fears. 

What would you do if your bunny was missing? 

You would go into "the Woods" to find him?

Read my previous post and lesson for: THE WOODS

Seven Scary Monsters by Mary Beth Lundgren

Get a sneak preview of many pages.

A young boy discovers seven scary monsters hiding in his room so he goes on the attack to be rid of them using purple felines, monster blasters, vacuums, boxes, and other clever devices. He uses a fun rhyming chant to scare the monsters away "Rick Rack Wrinkleshack, don't you dare come back!"

Seven Scary Monsters is a fun math themed story-time read aloud.

Math concept: simple subtraction

Language concepts: onomatopoeia words

Monster or Halloween themed math lesson

Materials: 

Large number 7

·       Seven scary yet goofy colorful monsters-individually cut out and affixed with Velcro or strong tape on back.

·        Two-sided sign attached to a flat paint stick

      1^st sign: “Rick! Rack! Wrinkleshack! Don’t You Dare Come Back”

·          2^nd sign: “Rick! /Rack! Wrinkleshack! Monsters, please come back!”

      Onomatopoeia words: Eeeek! Boom! Rip! Thwomp! Splat! Zap! Yow! Plop! Ouch! Wow!
     
      Pre-book talk 

     One at a time hold up and sound out the onomatopoeia words. Onomatopoeia are words that sound like the objects they name or the sounds those objects make.

      Sound and acting them out each word. Read the word "rip" and then tell students to please listen for a sound you will make. Take a piece of long paper and slowly rip it. Ask "What sound did you hear?" Rip. So the word "rip" sounds just like the action of ripping a paper." Next say "boom" and follow up by dropping a book or flat object from a height. The word boom sounds like the sound made when you drop a book or heavy object from a height. Continue with other words on list.

Do you ever worry about monsters? This time of year we see commercials for monster costumes or maybe your friends are talking about dressing up as a scary monster for Halloween. Today, I will tell you how to get rid of any monsters that might be hiding in your room. First of all, monsters are just pretend. They are not real, but people have fun scaring themselves by pretending a monster is out to get them.

Question: Are monsters real or pretend? Pretend.

Question: Do monsters live in your closet or under your bed? No. They are not real.

Instructions:

Count the number of monsters on the display board. (7) Begin story.

As story is read, pause and have a student come up and select a monster to pull off the display board.

Say seven monsters take away one monster leaves how many monsters? Count the remaining monsters.

Six monsters take away one monster leaves how many monsters? Etc.-Five, four, three, two, one, zero.

Now to the part-Monsters please come back! Zero monsters plus seven monsters equals seven monsters.

Last page. Who do you think the monsters really were? His toys.

Goal!

Picture Book Month

Day 24 theme: Sports

Author/Illustrator of the Day: Don Tate

In a dusty township in South Africa, Ajani and his friends have earned a brand-new, federation-size soccer ball.  They kick. They dribble. They run. They score. These clever boys are football champions! But when a crew of bullies tries to steal their ball, will Ajani and his friends be able to beat them at their own game?

Goal is one of my favorite sports books because it captures the joy that football, or soccer as we in America call it, brings to kids around the world and incorporates multicultural literature into the classroom. Goal also captures the ingenuity of children's thinking when it comes to dealing with bullies. For American children, it offers a glimpse into a world different than their own. The illustrations are bold and action pack and the energy of the story snatches you up having you look left, then right and aiming for your own goal. A wonderful read aloud for everyone who loves the joy of a game well played and for children triumphing bad things in the world.

GOAL Resources

Hear Mina Javaherbin tell why she wrote Goal and hear an excerpt from Goal.

Bluebonnet Book Club GOAL!

Map Activity: Ajani and his friends live in South Africa. Take a look at this interactive map of Africa. Once you locate South Africa, click on it to learn more.

Book Dads interview with Mina Javaherbin

Listen to internet radio with bookdads on Blog Talk Radio

A Fine, Fine School

Picture Book Month

Day 23 theme: School 

visit the website

A Fine, Fine School

Author: Sharon Creech

Illustrator: Harry Bliss

Publisher: Harper Collins

Imagine loving school so much that you would be willing to give up your weekends, summers, and holidays just to go to school and learn more. Principal Keene is just this kind of principal. He is so proud of his hard working students that he opens the school all year but even students who love to learn need a little break from school. Sometimes, it is the things we learn when we are not in school that are just as important. Read this wonderful book to learn how Tillie helps Principal Keene learn a lesson of his own. A terrific book to read to kick off a new school year.

Want a peek inside the book. Click here.

Fine, Fine School Discussion and Activity Guides

Live Oak Media Activity Guide

Bright Hub Education lesson plan

"A Fine, Fine School" Library Read Aloud by Bronx librarian, Ms. Revalis

Cat Secrets

Picture Book Month

Day 22 theme: Cats

Cat Secrets is a cute interactive book well liked by the preschool set. During the telling of the story, kids get to pretend to be cats in order to convince the cats in the book that they are really cats. 

Cat Secrets by Jeff Czekaj

author website

Caution: Do not click this link unless you want to be overloaded with cuteness

Help Me, Mr. Mutt!

Picture Book Month

visit the website

Day 21 theme: DOGS

Help Me, Mr. Mutt!

A humorous picture book from an interesting perspective. Dogs write to Mr. Mutt hoping for some sage advice on how to handle their people problems. Mr. Mutt thoughtfully answers each letter despite the involvement of an obnoxious cat. This 2009-2012 Texas Bluebonnet Award winner is a wonderful read aloud picture book that is the cat's meow. I mean, a real treat for all dog lovers everywhere.

Help Me, Mr. Mutt!
Expert Answers For Dogs with People Problems

(description from Harper Collins)
Responding to disgruntled dogs nationwide, Mr. Mutt, Canine Counselor, has solutions to the most sticky dilemmas. But Mr. Mutt has his own problem to solve: the cat (aka The Queen), who has her own idea of who’s in charge. Now Mr. Mutt is the one who needs help—quick!
Through letters and newspaper clippings—and with plenty of their trademark humor—Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel give voice to despairing dogs everywhere.

Help Me, Mr. Mutt! Teaching Resources

Visit the author/illustrator dynamic sister duo:

www.JanetStevens.com
www.SusanStevensCrummel.com

The Monarch Awards discussion guide

Letter Writing Unit at Erica Bohrer's Frist Grade Blog

Dog jokes, games, and activities for kids 

Out and About With Your Dog

Hello Kids dog jokes

Rusty's Ridiculous Riddles and Jokes About Dogs

Fun little game: Can You Make Pavlov's dog drool on demand?


Help Me, Mr. Mutt Discussion Guide by Harcourt Books


Help Me, Mr. Mutt! Discussion Guide

What My Library Means to Me

Picture Book Month

Day 20 theme: Library

Early Childhood Development Center Library

What "MY" Library means to me.

I am thankful for being able to teach and share beautiful stories with people every day because I understand that books become part of  who we are as a person. Thus, it becomes a great responsibility of librarians to seek out and provide high quality literature for young minds to absorb and build upon. 

Home is an important word. A word that gives comfort and provides a person with a sense of belonging. This is what I want every student, teacher, parent, university student or professor, and community member to experience when they come to my library. It might sound a little selfish to call it "my library" when it most certainly belongs to everyone, yet I would wish everyone would think of it as their own too. A library is a home where a love of reading is shared and experienced. There is always someone ready to tell you about a book they find interesting, helpful, exciting, terrifying, informative or even funny. In my library, I encourage children to express themselves by creating book projects or activities. Here are a few that have recently been shared with me.

 BOOKS ARE THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF GREAT MINDS.

We support the GUYS READ book club and love it when our ECDC Train rolls in with new books. 

 

go to website

Many book projects are based on the Texas Bluebonnet Award nominees each year.

Here we are growing our own bluebonnets in the library

 I just love these student made  projects

 Just Being Audrey 

by Margaret Cardillo

Illustrated by Julia Denos 

 Just Being Audrey Resources, Activities, and Lesson Plans: 2012 Bluebonnet Book Club

Hot Diggity Dog: The History of the Hot Dog
by Adrienne Sylver
illustrated by Elwood H. Smith

 Hot Diggity Dog Resources from the TBA website

This Lion and the Mouse project was made by a first grade reluctant reader. Isn't it amazing?

I shared it with all my classes as a "How to Create a Book Project"

 

 My library brings in as much of the world as possible. November is Picture Book Month and we are having fun rabidly reading as many picture books as we can this month and keeping track. Kids who read five PBs this month will earn a Library Challenge badge.

November is also American Indian Heritage Month. Our school sits upon the settlement where the Karankawa Indians once lived. Below is a presentation piece created by our good friend Ernest Graywolf Salazar. He also made an incredible replica of the Alamo for us. Every other year, Ernest and his brother, Larry Running Turtle Salazar, visit our school to share information about their cultural heritage and demonstrate a spiritual drum circle. Our students appreciate this and the lessons really stick with them.

American Indian Heritage Month Resources

American Indian College Fund Resources

National Parks Service Resources

Karankawa Indians in Texas

Indian Nations of Texas

Non-Fiction Monday: Hereos

Become a Picture Book Ambassador

http://picturebookmonth.com/

Picture Book Month
Day 19 theme: Heroes
Non-Fiction Monday

When I was a young kid, I discovered these magnificent orange-colored jacket biographies in my public library. I learned amazing facts such as who was the first child born to English settlers in America? Who was Abraham Lincoln's mother. Why was Jane Addams an American hero? I have always loved a good hero story. Abbie Against the Storm is the type of hero story kids will appreciate. Abbie is a young girl with no super powers other than a determination to do the right thing. Her weapon against the storm is the courage she finds in herself. A lovely book. 

 

Abbie Against the Storm 

by Marcia Vaughan 

Illustrated by Bill Farnsworth

A yound girl whose early life is rooted in the care of a lighthouse is forced to use her courage, determination, and experience to keep the lighthouse light burning through the worst storm of the century.  Written in picturesque imagery and illustrated in rich oil paintings, this adventure will spark the imagination and awe of readers of all ages.

Terrific Lighthouse and Storm Resources

New England Lighthouses  

Mantinicus Rock Lighthouse 

FEMA for Kids: Hurricanes

NOAA National Weather Service

Friendship Can Grow Anywhere

Picture Book Month

Visit the website

Day 18 theme: Friendship

Friendship Can Grow Anywhere

The Other Side 

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Illustrator: E. B. Lewis

Publisher: G. E. Putman's Sons

Description from Scholastic.com http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/other-side-1

Clover has always wondered why a fence separates the black side of town from the white side. But this summer when Annie, a white girl from the other side, begins to sit on the fence, Clover grows more curious about the reason why the fence is there and about the daring girl who sits on it, rain or shine. And one day, feeling very brave, Clover approaches Annie. After all, why should a fence stand in the way of friendship? Beautifully rendered in Earl B. Lewis's striking, lifelike watercolor illustrations, Jacqueline Woodson gives us a moving, lyrical narrative told in the hopeful voice of a child confused about the fence someone else has built in her yard and the racial tension that divides her world.

There are so many wonderfully written picture books based on the theme of Friendship yet, the first one that always pops into my mind is The Other Side by the incomparable Jacqueline Woodson.  This sweet story slowly unfolds as two girls, so much alike in many ways, yet different too. The two girls, at first, unsure of each other, are drawn to each other by curiosity. They understand they are not suppose to go into each other's yards but no one told them they couldn't sit on the fence that separates them. When sharing this story with students, they quickly understand the symbolism of the fence that divides the two girl's worlds and are quick to offer their own thoughts and opinions. 

This is my favorite friendship story because we see the friendship as it is born and slowly grows affecting those around them too. Genre: Historical Fiction/Realistic Fiction set in the time of segregation in America amid changing times. 

The Other Side Teaching Resources

Discussion Guide from Suburban Mosaic

Activities from Storybookipedia

Lesson from Readers Tool Kit

Whimsey

Picture Book Month

visit the website

Day 17 theme: Royalty

The Duchess of Whimsy

written by author Randall de Sève

Illustrator: Peter de Sève

Publisher: Penguin Young Readers

Do you have a favorite book about royalty? If so, please let me know. 

I selected The Duchess of Whimsy for today's Picture Book Month theme: Royalty. It is a wonderful story about a flamboyant and vivacious Duchess who is not all interested in the boring Earl of Norm who just happens to be in love with her and does his best to impress her. Despite all his failed attempts to woo her, he finally succeeds simply by being himself and the two happily find they have a great deal in common.

(description by Penguin Young Readers)
The Duchess of Whimsy is fancy and fuss and definitely not ordinary—surrounding herself with wild friends, fabulous foods, and fancy dresses. The Earl of Norm (ho hum) is completely ordinary, but he adores the Duchess. She ignores him, until he sneaks off to an ordinary grilled cheese sandwich—and suddenly takes the Duchess's eye. Maybe there's something to simplicity after all.



**//Words of Whimsy, the Duchess' Dictionary//**

The Duchess of Whimsybook trailer from misdbluebonnet-2011-2012 Wikispaces.com

Help! I've Fractured My Fairy Tale

Picture Book Month

Day 16 theme: Fractured Tales

Help! I've Fractured my Fairy tale 

Jon Sciezka might be the King of Fractured Tales but Helen Ketteman is most certainly the Queen of Texas Twisted Tales.  She has written some of the most humorous and fun picture books around. Visit Helen Ketteman's website to SAMPLE her books. Included in this post are some additional fractured tales. I think you will enjoy these whimsical tales.

Armadilly Chili is my all time favorite fractured fairy tale or twisted fairy tale as they are sometimes called. Down here in Texas I don't let the month of March pass without celebrating Texas Public Schools Week and reading this twisted tale of The Little Red Hen to my library classes. Kids look forward to this story all year. Just remember..."no workin' with Billie, no sharing the chili!

Armadilly Chili
Author: Helen Ketteman
Illustrator: Will Terry

A blue norther's a-blowing', and Miss Billie Armadilly is hankering to make a pot of chili! Only she needs to fix it all by herself because Tex the tarantula, Mackie the bluebird, and Taffy the horned toad are too busy to lend a hand.

Waynetta and the Cornstalk

Author: Helen Ketteman

Illustrator: Diane Greenseid

“Once a whip of a girl named Waynetta lived with her Ma on a ranch in the poorest, scrubbiest part of Texas. They worked hard as eight-legged mules, but barely scraped by. One summer, a long dry spell hit. Their well bottomed out, the pond turned to dust, and the pastures dried up. Their longhorns got so thin it took three of them standing together to cast a shadow, and Waynetta and her Ma were forced to sell them off until only one longhorn was left. Finally, Waynetta’s Ma gave up all together.  “We’ve run out of money to buy feed, Waynetta. You best sell that last critter ‘fore it starves.”

Bubba The Cowboy Prince
Author: Helen Ketteman
Illustrator: James Warhola

Bubba's left at home while his wicked stepdaddy and two stepbrothers go off to court the rich ranch owner, Miz Lurleen, at her cowboy ball. Who better to raise Bubba's spirits than his very own fairy "godcow." 

Bigfoot Cinderrrrella

Author: Tony Johnston

Illustrated by James Warhola

It's time for the annual fun-fest, and this year the Bigfoot prince is ready to choose his bride. He hopes she will be just like him -- a big, hairy, odoriferous nature lover. Rrrrrella, who lives in the prince's forest, is a perfect match, but can she get past her nasty stepsisters and reach the fun-fest in time to win the prince's heart?

The Three Little Javelinas

Author: Susan Lowell

Illustrator: Jim Harris

Everyone knows the story of the three little pigs, but now you're going to meet the three little javelinas (pronounced ha-ve-LEE-nas)-loveable, wild, southwestern cousins of pigs. Living in homes built out of tumbleweeds and saguaro ribs (from the fallen giant cacti), the first two javelinas are soon running from the hungry coyote, who had hoped to eat them with red chile sauce. And where do they go for shelter? Why, to their wise sister's house, made strong with adobe bricks. This clever and humorous tale is sure to delight children of all ages, especially those familiar with the Southwest. Dressed in cowboy duds and prepared for life in the rugged desert, these characters are more than any coyote bargained for.

Fractured Fairy Tales Activities:

What is a fractured fairy tale? Student Interactive lesson at Read Think Write

Scholastic presents Jon Sciezka's Fractured  Tales

Folk Tales, Folklore, and other Folksy Stuff
A well rounded collection of fairy tales and fractured fairy tale books.

Big Foot Cinderrrrrella Reader's Theatre

Helen Ketteman Printables

The Three Little Javelinas lesson plan