The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

From Harper Collins: Katherine was inspired to write The One and Only Ivan after reading about the true story of a captive gorilla known as Ivan, the Shopping Mall Gorilla. The real Ivan lived alone in a tiny cage for twenty-seven years at a shopping mall before being moved to Zoo Atlanta after a public outcry. He is now a beloved celebrity at the zoo, which houses the nation’s largest collection of western lowland gorillas. Ivan is well known for his paintings, which he “signs” with a thumb-print.


I had heard so much about this book and just knew I'd never be able to read it. It's about animals...I can't read books about animals, no way. Then, people just kept talking about it. Words like "life changing" & "people will be talking about this book for years to come". Well...I will add my own...everyone on earth should read this book. It's gut wrenching and wonderful all at the same time. I sobbed, and sobbed, and sobbed. In a good way. Please, please, please read this book and tell other people to read it. You won't regret it.

Squirrel Fever!

The amazing Anita Silvey's Children's Book-A-Day Almanac features Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt. A young friend of mine who is a marriage and family therapist, talks about how important it is to let children know that their feelings are normal. And NOT just happy emotions but ALL emotions. Anger, jealousy, sadness, and FEAR. Anita shares with us how Melanie wrote the book because of her own fears. She's afraid of sharks. This is not only a great book to get this conversation started but it's HILARIOUS, too! I must caution though, don't read books to children to TEACH them something, read them because you want to share the love of reading. If it comes up while reading, awesome. But keep it short and sweet. Being a teacher, I tend to do my "teacher" thing and go on and on and on, just ask my students. But I think I make up for it in my enthusiasm and obvious LOVE of books. At least, I hope so.

My students howled over THOSE DARN SQUIRRELS by Adam Rubin and Illustrated by Daniel Salmieri. The quirky story and amazing illustrations make this one of the funniest books I've ever read! I discovered it by actually reading it's sequel first, which just came out. Well...I can't read the book that came after the original to the kids first, I'm just not built like that! But they are really excited to hear THOSE DARN SQUIRRELS AND THE CAT NEXT DOOR and I can't wait to read it to them! 

The cover of the book hooked me right away, what with the old man and his carrot-like nose, skinny arms, and fat neck, not to mention the squirrels. On the first page I roared when I read the character's name; "Old Man Fookwire". I thought, "Oh, this is going to be good." But I was wrong...it's GREAT! This book surprises at every turn with Rubin's word choice and the squirrels' antics. This is one of those books where the illustrations fit perfectly. Hopefully this pair will make a lot more books together!

This is the blurb I found on Amazon about Adam Rubin: "Adam Rubin grew up in New York and now lives in Chicago. During the day, he works as a creative director. At night, he writes kids books. Really late at night, he performs improv comedy. When he sleeps, he dreams about magic tricks." Finding out that he does improv comedy explains a lot!

So Adam and Daniel, give us more squirrel adventures, PLEASE!!!

Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig, Illustrated by Marc Brown

"Chicks can't sleep. Chicks can't sleep.   Chicks can't sleep
'cause they got that beat!"

So starts this cute book for the young ones in our lives.

And the beat goes on with sheep, cat, cows, Hank, (yes Hank), owl, and Farmer Sue. They finally fall asleep when Rooster sings, "Cock-a-doodle-do, I've got that beat!"

Fun, toe-tapping story with Arthur creator Marc Brown's illustrations of collage art made with hand-painted papers!

I know my students and grandson will be singing, "Again, again!"

Delightful! I give it 5 stars!

It's A Little Book by Lane Smith

Lane Smith is becoming a favorite author and illustrator of mine. His work is so varied but always exceptional. The book I chose of his is It's a Little Book. This is the baby version of It's a Book. I bought it for my grandson Henry and for the school library. The baby donkey asks the baby ape about what he is holding, which is a book. "Is it for chewing?" "No," he answers...and donkey asks question after question until baby ape says, "It's a book, silly." This is a great book for babies through 2nd grade or anyone who would enjoy it just because it's about books. My kindergarteners loved it and the second time through they practically read it by themselves. It's so adorable and so like a little one to ask so many quesitons. This is a board book and perfect for baby gifts! I ALWAYS give books for presents. ALWAYS! Enjoy!

Happy Pig Day! by Mo Willems

We are celebrating Picture Book Month in November and I had to write about my very favorite author for children, Mo Willems. He started writing children's picture books after a successful career with Sesame Street, winning 6 Emmy awards for his writing. He's been a stand up comedian, creator of shows for Cartoon Network, and commentator for the BBC. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus was his first children's book and one of his most beloved. He's going to go down in history for being known as the author who made children scream at his books...in a good way.

This past week I read aloud his new Elephant and Piggie book, Happy Pig Day! to my students. I tell my kids the story of how some librarians (not THIS librarian) and critics poo-pooed his nomination for a Caldecott Honor book with Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, saying that his drawings were too simplistic.

Oh, you should have heard the outcry! Case in point...just look at the cover of Happy Pig Day! and tell us that you don't know exactly what each one of the characters are feeling. Look at elephant, what is he feeling? Exactly, sad and left out! Have you ever felt left out? We all have! What does that feel like?

Great, great discussions come from these "simplistic" books. Every time I read one of his books, I hear a chorus of "read it again, read it again!". If you want a fun book for an emerging reader, these are it! The really cool part is when we do read it again and the children can almost read it word for word by themselves!

Then, the kids go to the drawing software on the computers and we learn how to draw the characters using shapes. When they start to draw, we've already talked about how he shows us a character is angry, or excited, or moving...they all know the answers just by looking at his amazing illustrations. They get so excited that they can draw just like the illustrator!

One of my teacher's daughter made an entire book of Pigeon all by herself. I was so excited because I don't often get to see the results of our short time together. I was delighted, to say the least. 

So, be sure to pick up a Mo Willems picture book and read it aloud, even if it's to yourself!

As my kids say at the end of each read aloud, "Yay books!".

November Has Been Proclaimed Picture Book Month!

The picture book I picked for today is YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND by Peter Brown. Lucy is a gregarious little bear who is excited to go out in the forrest and make new friends. My students LOVED this book! Brown's first Lucy book was CHILDREN MAKE TERRIBLE PETS, another favorite!

A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN by Betty Smith, 1943

Years ago, one of the teachers in the building asked me if I had read A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. When I told her no, she gasped and told me I must. I had forgotten about it but something led me to buy it on Audible so I could listen to it. (The audio was fantastic and I would highly recommend it.)

It wasn't anything like what I had expected. First, for some reason, I thought it was a book for young adults. It is not. I think every person should read this book at some point in their life but I wouldn't suggest this to students until high school.

Then every time, and I mean EVERY time, I mentioned to someone who had read it themselves, they would gasp and get that look on their face of pure love.  Many of them put their hands to their heart while talking. It's THAT kind of book.

I had no idea that it is a classic right up there with my favorite book of all time, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, by Harper Lee. TREE is now in my number two slot. 

It's the writing you notice first, it's just exquisite. I bought a paperback copy so that at some point, I can go back and read it again, highlighting my favorite passages.  A little hard to do when you're listening in the car.

The book starts in 1912, in the tenements of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. It is about the Nolan family, a poor Irish-American family just trying to survive. The young daughter, Francie Nolan, 11, is the main character. The details of everyday life are written in such great detail that you feel as if you are living this life with Francie and you root for her every step of the way.

As I started reading this book, I kept thinking, "Really? This book was written in 1943?" It is such a realistic look at how people lived their lives that I've been searching for information on whether it was ever banned. Betty Smith writes in excruciating detail how hard  life was for this family. She never omitted any of the realities. We get the truth, and sometimes truth is much harder than any fiction from someones imagination. You know in your heart that these incidents were real.

I learned a lot about our country through this book and it never felt "preachy". Horrible things that happened that eventually changed our country for the better. It is one of my favorite ways to learn history, through a great book.

I can now imagine that this had to be like how my mother lived in the coal camps of southern Colorado. Very poor, just squeaking by, but able to enjoy life despite everything. Desperate at times but because of the character of the people,  there was always hope and joy.

I was sad, and cried at times while reading this book but I truly don't think I felt depressed. And I believe that's the joy of this book. Hope.