Big Week for Me!

What a treat to meet John and Donna on their Adventure Out West '11 They were kind enough to meet up with me while they were here in Fort Collins. Every summer they take a "book trip" taking favorite characters from children's lit to as many libraries, book stores, and American Roadside Attractions as they can pack in. This year it was Frankie Pickle, Argyle, Owly and Wormy. And of course, MANY books.






John gave me Little Chicken's Big Day by Katie Davis with stickers and postcards. My students are going to love this fun book!

Little Chicken's Big Day book trailer. My students went NUTS over this video!

Below, look close and you'll see I'm holding Darth Paper origami that John made (instructions here) of Darth Paper Strikes Back, cover above. It's the sequel to The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger. Great read for 4th grade and up, about a group of nerdy middle schoolers who come to depend on the advice of Origami Yoda. Can't wait to read the sequel!

John lives and breathes children's books. The man is unbelievable, a hard act to follow. Of course that's why he made the cover of School Library Journal. He was chosen as one of the top movers and shakers of school librarians. Here he's signing my copy. I had him sign it to my students at Bacon. Why did I do THAT? I should have had him sign Little Chicken's Big Day to the students and the magazine to ME! What can I say, I was nervous. Who knows what I said to him during lunch. I hope I wasn't too much of a babbling idiot. Sigh.
 
John and I met on Twitter. He's @MrSchuReads and I am @BookJeannie. He is one of the first librarians I started following. I learned so much from him in a short amount of time, and I started following eveyone he followed and quickly became addicted to Twitter.

Every morning I check out Anita Silvey's Children's Book-A-Day Almanac and John's Watch. Connect. Read. They are both gobs of wonderful, wonderful information about children's books. I get so many great recommendations and titles from them!

I wish we lived closer so I could visit him and his school, and especially the book store Anderson's Book Shop in Chicago! I WILL get to Chicago some day. My daughter is actually on her way there for business. Small world.
It's a fine line for me to follow him and other amazing people on Twitter. I feel like I'm spending WAY too much time there. I must set priorities and go from there. Wish me luck!

I Want to Be Like Anita and John!

I'm dating myself here. Remember the old Nike commercial "I want to be like Mike"? Well, I want to be a combination of my two favorite people I follow on Twitter.

Anita Silvey's Book-a-Day Almanac and John Schumacher's Watch. Connect. Read. Every morning I make coffee and then get on my IPad and check both of these informative and fun sites.

Anita Silvey's credits are a mile long. Former editor of Horn book and author herself, each day she highlights a favorite book of hers. Her article is always loaded with wonderful tidbits. She also reports each day about author birthdays, and days like National Bubble Gum day. I find that my day has not started until I've read every single word.

John Schumacher was just named as one of the movers and shakers in the librarain world. If you need to know the hottest and newest books, he's your guy. His specialty is book trailers, the latest and greatest. His impressive goal for 2011 is to read 2011 books, he's nearing one thousand already. I think he's going to SMOKE that goal! A librarian, teacher, and techie, oh my! He brings authors into his school via Skype. He uses QR codes to get his students interested in new books. He hangs posters in the bathrooms of all the new books he's purchased at the wonderful Anderson's Book Store! He is what all librarians want to be. Young. Okay, I'm kidding...well, maybe only a little.

To say that they inspire me is an understatement. Their passion for kids and books are my passions. My hope is that I can glean knowledge from both of them, little by little, and share with my students, fellow teachers, and librarians. If you love kids and books, join me, and take a look at these two amazing people. You won't be disappointed. ENJOY AND KEEP READING!