Anastasia Suen – Page 37 – Booktalking #kidlit

Swimming

Swimming (Sports for Sprouts)
by Tracy N. Maurer (Author)

Booktalk: See what happens when you take swimming lessons in this simple book for beginning readers…

Snippet: We swim in a pool.

172 Hours on the Moon

172 Hours on the Moon
by Johan Harstad (Author)

Booktalk: It’s been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA’s unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space–and change their lives forever.

Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band’s ticket to fame and fortune.

Midori believes it’s her way out of her restrained life in Japan.

Antoine, from France, just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible.

It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space… no one is coming to save them.

Snippet: The room was suddenly buzzing, the tension starting to crescendo.

“You don’t want to go back to the south pole, trust me.”

“Of course not.”

“It could kill you.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“If you ask me, I say leave the whole place alone.”

BONUS! See the video!

Francis Scott Key’s Star-Spangled Banner

Francis Scott Key’s Star-Spangled Banner
by Monica Kulling (Author) and Richard Walz (Illustrator)

Booktalk: What’s the true story behind “The Star-Spangled Banner”? Find out in this Level 3 easy reader biography. (Happy Flag Day!)

Snippet:

Francis Scott Key
loved writing poems.
He wrote them
on horseback.
He wrote them
late at night.

Once Francis
even wrote a poem
after a battle.
It became
America’s national anthem.

Block Party

Block Party by Anastasia Suen
A Bebop Easy Reader

Reading level: Guided Reading™: E DRA: 6 Reading Recovery®: 7
Paperback: 16 pages
Publisher: Bebop Books

Join two friends, Tanya and Rosa, as they ride in a patriotic bike parade through their neighborhood and end up at fun-filled block party.

Fiesta de barrio

Also available in Spanish as Fiesta de barrio.

Activities:

Host your own block party.

Have a block party for kids.

Use these Block Party book lesson plans.

Stanley Cup

Stanley Cup (Sporting Championships)
by Blaine Wiseman (Author)
32 pages

Booktalk: Every year, hockey players compete for a chance to win the Stanley Cup, one of the most-recognized symbols of hockey. The Stanley Cup playoffs are the biggest annual event in hockey.

Snippet: The boards around the rink are designed to keep the puck and players inside. There is usually glass or wire mesh that sits on top of the boards. This keeps the puck from flying out and hitting people in the stands.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

The Secret Life of Money: A Kid’s Guide to Cash

The Secret Life of Money: A Kid’s Guide to Cash
by Kira Vermond (Author) and Clayton Hanmer (Illustrator)
160 pages

Booktalk: Odd anecdotes, engaging comics, and a wealth of surprising everyday connections help young readers see and understand cash from an entirely different angle.

Snippet: Cheddar. Bucks. Moolah. Funds. Bread. Bacon. Beans. Whatever you call your money, there’s a good chance you’re starting to take it a bit more seriously these days. Maybe you’re thinking about taking a babysitting class or mowing the neighbor’s lawn to turn your spare time into pure moneymaking magic. Sounds like a plan.

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

My First Baby Signs

My First Baby Signs
by Linda Acredolo (Author), Susan Goodwyn (Author) and Penny Gentieu (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Once your child begins to wave “bye-bye,” it’s time to learn baby sign. See photos of the object and a baby making the sign. (The baby on the cover of this board book is making the sign for book.)

Snippet:
book
open and close palms

When Dads Don’t Grow Up

When Dads Don’t Grow Up
by Marjorie Blain Parker (Author) and R.W. Alley (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Just in time for Father’s Day, this playful book follows four father-child pairs as they spend happy, silly times together…

Snippet:
Some dads
just never grow up.
You can tell which ones they are.

Big Bad Sheep

Big Bad Sheep
by Bettina Wegenast (Author) and Katharina Buhoff (Illustrator)
64 pages

Booktalk: The big bad wolf is dead! But no sooner do the three little pigs start celebrating than the sheep Karl decides to apply to be the wolf’s replacement. He’s barely slipped on the wolf’s skin when he starts to change before the very eyes of his friends, becoming perhaps a bit more wolf than anyone expected.

Snippet: The dwarf turned to Karl again. “So why should we appoint you to the post of Wolf?”

“Because…” Karl looked at the ground.

“Well?” the dwarf drummed impatiently on his desk.

Karl took a deep breath. “Because…because I want it. Because I’m the best. Because I’m not one of those bell-wearing types.”

Big City Otto

Big City Otto (Elephants Never Forget)
by Bill Slavin (Author, Illustrator)
80 pages

Booktalk: Otto is a lumbering, sweet-natured elephant who can’t forget his childhood chum Georgie, a smiley-faced chimpanzee who was abducted and shipped away from their forest home by the mysterious and sinister Man with the Wooden Nose. Accompanied by a wisecracking but protective parrot named Crackers, Otto decides to hop a plane and look for Georgie in America. But once they hit the wild streets of the concrete jungle, Otto and Crackers court trouble at every turn…

Snippet:
CRACKERS: They were good times, Otto, but Georgie’s gone! You’ve gotta get used to it.

OTTO: But I miss him Crackers! We were pals! And that day haunts me. I just feel I could have done more.