February 2012 – Booktalking #kidlit

Great Books

Picture Book of the Day

Chicken Butt’s Back!
by Erica S. Perl (Author) and Henry Cole (Illustrator)

Booktalk: As Mom shops for groceries, she falls victim to a flurry of jokes using homonyms and homophones…

Snippet:

BOY: You know what?

MOM: What?

BOY: Chicken butt!
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Chapter Book of the Day

Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life
by James Patterson (Author), Chris Tebbetts (Contributor) and Laura Park (Illustrator)
288 pages

Booktalk: Rafe Khatchadorian has enough problems at home without throwing his first year of middle school into the mix. Luckily, he’s got an ace plan for the best year ever, if only he can pull it off: With his best friend Leonardo the Silent awarding him points, Rafe tries to break every rule in his school’s oppressive Code of Conduct.

Snippet: It feels as honest as the day is crummy that I begin this tale of total desperation and woe with me, my pukey sister, Georgia, and Leonardo the Silent sitting like rotting sardines in the back of a Hills Village Police Department cruiser.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mL2Dyh5Gck]
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5 MORE Great Books About Spring

And the Spring Grass Grew All Around
by Emily Bolam (Illustrator)
The classic children’s song is now a Level 1 easy reader.

Spring?
by Patricia Whitehouse (Author)
The sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of spring in a simple easy reader.

Spring Is Here!: A Story About Seeds
by Joan Holub (Author) and Will Terry (Illustrator)
The Ant Hill kids plant their own garden. Pre-Level 1 easy reader

Spring Showers
by Samantha Brooke (Adapter) and Mike Giles (Illustrator)
It’s spring in Gabba Land, and that means spring showers. Pre-Level 1 easy reader

The Busy Spring
by Carl Emerson (Author) and Cori Doerrfeld (Illustrator)
Emma and Owen visit Old Oak at the park in the spring. Science easy reader
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February 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature

Have you visited the February Carnival Of Children’s Literature
at the The Fourth Musketeer yet? You’re in for a treat!

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Literary Link

If you are worried about how your images are shared, you can keep your work off Pinterest (via @GalleyCat)
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My NEW chapter book is Save the Best for Last, Abby (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Road Work Ahead

My Book of the Week

Road Work Ahead by Anastasia Suen
A transportation picture book

Copyright: 2011
Ages: 3-5
Hardcover
Publisher: Viking

“Suen’s sparse rhyming verse leads readers through the busy scenes and uses simple vocabulary that suits both the youngest listeners and those just beginning to read.” ~ Kirkus Reviews

“A batch of Grandma’s homemade oatmeal cookies beckons, but for this backseat narrator, the sights and sounds along the road to her house are equally compelling.” ~ Publishers Weekly

Activities:

Play the Road Signs Matching Game.

Find out more about Cars, Trucks, and Construction Play.

Watch the construction site video.

Make a Traffic Light Necklace with yarn and stickers.
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Picture Book of the Day

Beautiful Yetta: The Yiddish Chicken
by Daniel Pinkwater (Author) and Jill Pinkwater (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Yetta, beautiful Yetta, manages to escape from the butcher’s shop. But now she is lost in Brooklyn—a strange place filled with rude rats and dangerous buses!

Snippet: Yetta, beautiful Yetta, will not be sold. She will not be soup. She will not be roasted chicken on a Friday night. She is free. She is in Brooklyn.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Nerd Camp

Nerd Camp
by Elissa Brent Weissman (Author)
272 pages

Booktalk: Ten-year-old Gabe is excited to go to the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment, but then he meets his new stepbrother, Zack, who doesn’t like nerds. Now what? Gabe makes a chart to figure it out…

Snippet:
PROBLEM: Am I a nerd who only has nerdy adventures?
HYPOTHESIS: No.

THINGS I CAN TELL ZACK
(I am not a nerd.)
1. I am going to a sleepaway
camp for six weeks!

THINGS I CAN’T TELL ZACK
(I am a nerd.)
1. It is the Summer Center
for Gifted Enrichment.

The 2011 Cybils Middle Grade Novel Winner!

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March 2012 Online Workshops

The March 2012 workshops will begin on Wednesday, March 7th.

Which workshop is best for you?

New to children’s books?
Learn about the different types of children’s books in the Children’s Book Genres Workshop.

Passionate about literacy?
Find out how you can write for children learning to read in the Children’s Literacy Workshop (for Writers).

Ready to write?
Write and edit your book in the

After you finish a writing workshop you can work through two more edits in a “work-in-progress” workshop, by rewriting your picture book or easy reader or working on the next chapter of your children’s chapter book or children’s novel.

The March workshop dates are March 7-April 25, 2012.

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February 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature

The carnival will go live today at The Fourth Musketeer.

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My NEW chapter book is Save the Best for Last, Abby (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Nonfiction Monday

Picture Book of the Day

Underground
by Shane W. Evans (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: A family silently crawls along the ground. They run barefoot through unlit woods, sleep beneath bushes, take shelter in a kind stranger’s home. Where are they heading? They are heading for Freedom by way of the Underground Railroad.

Snippet: We are quiet.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Fort Mose: And the Story of the Man Who Built the First Free Black Settlement in Colonial America
by Glennette Tilley Turner (Author)
48 pages

Booktalk: Fort Mose in St. Augustine, Florida, was the first free African settlement to legally exist in what later became the United States. It was also the most southern link of the Underground Railroad.

Snippet: For Francisco Menendez, the story started in the Senegambia region of West Africa, where he was born into the Mandingo tribe around 1700.
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Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up host is The Childrens War

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Literary Links

Tom Greve booktalks his forthcoming book on plate tectonics at Nonfiction Book Blast

When The Project Is Over Getting Organized (via @freelancesw)

Amazon removes IPG Kindle books (@ebooknewser)
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My NEW chapter book is Save the Best for Last, Abby (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Friday Reads

Picture Book of the Day

Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku
by Lee Wardlaw (Author) and Eugene Yelchin (Illustrator)

Booktalk: A cat is adopted from the shelter and taken to a new home in this clever story told in haiku….

Snippet:
The Car Ride
Letmeoutletme
outletmeoutletmeout.
Wait–let me back in!

BONUS! Download a teaching guide

Winner of the 2012 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award!
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Poetry Friday

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Check it Out

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Chapter Book of the Day

Snowmobile: Bombardier’s Dream Machine (Junior Library Guild Selection)
by Jules Older (Author)
64 pages

Booktalk: The true story of Joseph-Armand Bombardier’s journey to invent the snowmobile.

Snippet: “Ours is not the only child who cannot get to the hospital in winter. Now stop pacing and go invent something that will go on snow.”
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STEM Friday

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

The STEM Friday Round-up on February 24, 2012

is at Rourke Publishing.

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Nonfiction Monday on February 27, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on February 27, 2012

is at The Childrens War.

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My NEW chapter book is Save the Best for Last, Abby (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Young Readers

Picture Book of the Day

Counting in the Garden
by Emily Hruby (Author) and Patrick Hruby (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Celebrate the joy of growing flowers, fruits, and vegetables your garden as you count to twelve in this chunky board book.

Snippet: There are many wonderful things in my garden. I like to count them….
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Chapter Book of the Day

Zita the Spacegirl
by Ben Hatke (Author, llustrator)
192 pages

Booktalk: In this (graphic novel) comic book , Zita and Joseph discover a crater left by a meteroid, and inside the crater is a strange device…

Snippet:
ZITA: It’s probably an old remote or something.
SOUND AS ZITA PUSHES THE BUTTON: TEK TEK TEK TEK
JOSEPH: I still don’t think…
SOUND: CRAKKA KRAKA
SOUND: THOOOM!
(Light comes out of the crater and then a creature grabs Joseph…)

The 2011 Cybils Graphic Novels Winner!

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Austin SCBWI Regional Conference

Thanks for a GREAT weekend at the Austin SCBWI Regional Conference

Special thanks to RA Debbie Gonzales!
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STEM Friday on February 24, 2012

STEM Friday is coming! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

The STEM Friday Round-up on February 24, 2012

is at Rourke Publishing.

I’ve reopened the STEM Friday blog for my “early birds.” If you need to add your link before the host is ready, add it to comments for the announcement for that day on the STEM Friday blog. Thanks!
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Literary Link

My January Quick Tips column: Hot Topics: Winter Weather with STEM is at Booklist Online.
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My NEW chapter book is Save the Best for Last, Abby (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Great Books

Picture Book of the Day

Three Hens and a Peacock
by Lester L. Laminack (Author) and Henry Cole (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Nothing unusual ever happened on the Tuckers farm. Until the day that peacock showed up…

Snippet: The hens were squawking and clucking and flapping their wings. “We do all the work around here. I’d like to see that peacock lay one single egg.”
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Chapter Book of the Day

When Life Gives You O.J.
by Erica S. Perl (Author)
208 pages

Booktalk: For years, 10-year-old Zelly Fried has tried to convince her parents to let her have a dog. After all, practically everyone in Vermont owns a dog, and it sure could go a long way helping Zelly fit in since moving there from Brooklyn. But when her eccentric grandfather Ace hatches a ridiculous plan involving a “practice dog” named OJ, Zelly’s not so sure how far she’s willing to go to win a dog of her own. Is Ace’s plan so crazy it just might work . . . or is it just plain crazy?

Snippet: The whole mess started with a note:

KID,

SEE ME IMMEDIATELY WHEN YOU GET THIS.
DO NOT SPEAK OF THIS TO ANYONE, NOT
EVEN YOUR PARENTS OR YOUR BROTHER.

ACE

P.S. I HOPE YOU ARE READY FOR THIS.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dC_3625Y7c]
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5 Great Books About Spring

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Spring Babies
by Erica Silverman (Author) and Betsy Lewin (Illustrator)
New babies are born on the ranch. (See the video!) Easy reader with 5 chapters

How Do You Know It’s Spring?
by Allan Fowler
Learn the facts in this Rookie Read About Science easy reader.

Poppleton In Spring
by Cynthia Rylant (Author) and Mark Teague (Illustrator)
See how Poppleton welcomes spring. Easy reader with 3 chapters

Spring Things
by Bob Raczka (Author) and Judy Stead (Illustrator)
Celebrate spring with one new “ing” word per page in this easy to read picture book.

Wake Me In Spring!
by James Preller (Author) and Jeffrey Scherer (Illustrator)
Mouse promises to wake up Bear in the spring. Level 2 easy reader
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February 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature

Our February 2012 host is The Fourth Musketeer.
Add YOUR post to this carnival by commenting here.
The deadline for adding your post is February 26th.
The carnival will go live on February 28th.

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Literary Link

‘Reading Rainbow’ to Return as an App (via @ReadingRainbow + @sljournal)
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My NEW chapter book is Save the Best for Last, Abby (All-Star Cheerleaders)

February Carnival Of Children’s Literature

February 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature

Dear friends,

I’m sorry to say that the carnival software we have been using since 2006 has stopped working. Please go to the carnival announcement post here and add your link to the comments. Margo, our February host, is now an editor on our carnival round up blog, so she will collect all of your links there and add them to this month’s carnival.

Our February 2012 host is The Fourth Musketeer.
Add YOUR post to this carnival by commenting here.
The deadline for adding your post is February 26th.
The carnival will go live on February 28th.

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Picture Book of the Day

Peter Is Just a Baby
by Marisabina Russo (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Peter can’t do any of the things that his big sister can. She can leap, and skip, but he can only crawl.

Snippet: I can even count to three in French — un, deux, trois — and ask for apple pie a la mode.
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Chapter Book of the Day

The Way We Fall
by Megan Crewe
308 pages

Booktalk: When sixteen year old Kaelyn lets her best friend leave for school without saying goodbye, she never dreams she might not ever see him again. But then a strange virus begins to sweep through her island community. As patients start dying, the government quarantines the island: no one can leave, and no one can come back.

Snippet: Sept 2
Leo,
While the ferry was carrying you to the mainland, I was on West Beach with Mackenzie and Rachel. Mackenzie had decided we should have one last summer swim before school starts tomorrow, but the breeze was so chilly, none of us ended up wanting to go in the water. So we just walked on the sand, talking and speculating about how junior year will go.
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Literary Links

Loreen Leedy booktalks Seeing Symmetry at Nonfiction Book Blast

Sorry, Pinterest Users: Websites Can Now Block Pinning [VIDEO] (via @mashable)
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My NEW chapter book is Save the Best for Last, Abby (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Friday Reads

Picture Book of the Day

Mother Goose Picture Puzzles
by Will Hillenbrand (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Twenty Mother Goose rhymes with {pictures} taking the place of some words. (Yes, it’s a rebus book!)

Snippet:
Hickory Dickory Dock
Hickory, dickory, dock,
the {mouse} ran up the {clock}.
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Poetry Friday

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Gathering Books

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Chapter Book of the Day

A Warmer World
by Caroline Arnold (Author) and Jamie Hogan (Illustrator)
32 pages

Booktalk: Over the past several decades, our world has been warming at a faster rate than ever before.

Snippet: Polar sea ice is shrinking and growing thinner, sea levels are rising, and patterns of rainfall are changing.
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STEM Friday

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

This week’s STEM Friday Round-up is hosted by Nomad Press.

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Nonfiction Monday on February 20, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on February 20, 2012

is at Lori Calabrese Writes!.

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My NEW chapter book is Save the Best for Last, Abby (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Young Readers

Picture Book of the Day

Baby Happy Baby Sad
by Leslie Patricelli (Author, Illustrator)

Every right hand page says…

Baby HAPPY

And on the left it says…

Baby SAD

The story in art, however, changes on each page, so young children will memorize the story and “read” along.
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Chapter Book of the Day

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale
by Carmen Agra Deedy (Author), Randall Wright (Author), and Barry Moser (Illustrator)
256 pages

Booktalk: Skilley, an alley cat with an embarrassing secret, longs to escape his street-cat life. Tired of dodging fishwives’ brooms and carriage wheels, he hopes to trade London’s damp alleyways for the warmth of ye olde Cheshire Cheese Inn. He strikes a bargain with Pip, an erudite mouse: Skilley will protect the mice who live at the inn, and in turn, the mice will provide Skilley with the thing he desires most.

But when Skilley and Pip are drawn into a crisis of monumental proportions involving a tyrannical cook, an unethical barmaid, and a malevolent tomcat, their new friendship is pushed to its limits. The escalating crisis threatens the peace not only of the Cheshire Cheese Inn but also the British Monarchy!

Unbeknownst to Skilley and Pip, however, they have a secret ally: a famous author who scribbles away many an afternoon in ye olde Cheshire Cheese Inn…

Snippet: He was the best of toms. He was the worst of toms.

Fleet of foot, sleek and solitary, Skilley was a cat among cats. Or he would have been, but for a secret had carried since his early youth. A secret that caused him to live in hidden shame, avoiding even casual friendship lest anyone discover–

The 2011 Cybils Fantasy & Science Fiction Winner!

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Austin SCBWI Regional Conference

I’ll see you this weekend at the Austin SCBWI Regional Conference

February 17-19, 2012

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STEM Friday on February 17, 2012

STEM Friday is coming! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

The STEM Friday Round-up on February 17, 2012

is at Nomad Press.

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Literary Link

My February Quick Tips column: Hot Topics: Telling Time with STEM is at Booklist Online.

Science, math, geography—these titles about telling time cover the curriculum!

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My NEW chapter book is Save the Best for Last, Abby (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Great Books

Picture Book of the Day

Me . . . Jane
by Patrick McDonnell (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Here is the story of a little girl named Jane who dreamed of a life helping animals and grew up to help change the world. (Childhood drawings of Dr. Jane Goodall are included in this biography.)

Snippet: Jane had a stuffed toy chimpanzee named Jubilee.

BONUS! See the video and hear the story behind the book!

The 2011 Cybils picture book fiction winner!

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Chapter Book of the Day

Stupid Fast
by Geoff Herbach (Author)
320 pages

Booktalk: My name is Felton Reinstein, which is not a fast name. But last November, my voice finally dropped and I grew all this hair and then I got stupid fast. Fast like a donkey. Zing!

Now they want me, the guy they used to call Squirrel Nut, to try out for the football team. With the jocks. But will that fix my mom? Make my brother stop dressing like a pirate? Most important, will it get me girls–especially Aleah?

So I train. And I run. And I sneak off to Aleah’s house in the night. But deep down I know I can’t run forever. And I wonder what will happen when I finally have to stop.

Snippet:
This could be a dark tale!
It’s not.
I don’t think so.
Maybe.
I can’t sleep. It’s 1:03 a.m. Almost September. The weather is warm, even though it’s football season. There’s a huge moon in the sky, but I can’t see it from the basement, where my bedroom is. I saw plenty.
Tonight.
Dark tale? My dad did commit suicide.
Not so dark? It’s me. I hop up and down.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQWkjsjHL_I]

The 2011 Cybils young adult book fiction winner!

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5 MORE Great Books About Presidents

Abe Lincoln and the Muddy Pig
by Stephen Krensky (Author) and Greshom Griffith (Illustrator)
Abe Lincoln is on his way to give an important speech when he comes across a pig stuck in the mud. What will he do? Level 2 easy reader

Abe Lincoln’s Hat
by Martha Brenner (Author) and Donald Cook (Author)
Abe Lincoln keeps all of his papers in his hat! Level 2 easy reader

Barack Obama: Out of Many, One
by Shana Corey (Author) and James Bernardin (Illustrator)
A skinny little boy with a funny name grew up to be President. Level 3 easy reader

George Washington and the General’s Dog
by Frank Murphy (Author) and Richard Walz (Illustrator)
George Washington is fighting in the American Revolution when he sees a lost dog on the battlefield. Level 3 easy reader

Thomas Jefferson and the Ghostriders
by Howard Goldsmith (Author) and Drew Rose (Illustrator)
One night young Thomas Jefferson visits the Native American burial mound near his house and thinks he hears ghosts. Level 2 easy reader
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February 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature

February 2012 host is The Fourth Musketeer.
Please send in a link to YOUR post by February 26th.
The carnival will go live on February 28th.

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Literary Link

Inkling’s new iPad pub platform is software based instead of page based (via @ebooknewser)
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My NEW chapter book is Save the Best for Last, Abby (All-Star Cheerleaders)