Anastasia Suen – Page 42 – Booktalking #kidlit

Friday Reads

Picture Book of the Day

Zero the Hero
by Joan Holub (Author) and Tom Lichtenheld (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. That’s what all the other numbers think of Zero. He doesn’t add anything in addition. He’s of no use in division. And don’t even ask what he does in multiplication. (Hint: Poof!) But Zero knows he’s worth a lot, and when the other numbers get into trouble, he swoops in to prove that his talents are innumerable.

Snippet: Unlike most numbers, Zero believed himself to be a hero. He just needed a chance to prove it.
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STEM Friday

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

The STEM Friday Round-up on March 9, 2012

is at Practically Paradise.

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Chapter Book of the Day

I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery
by Cynthia Grady (Author) and Michele Wood (Illustrator)
34 pages

Booktalk: Through imagery drawn from quilting and fiber arts each poem in this collection is spoken from a different perspective chronicling the various experiences of American slaves: a house slave, a mother losing her daughter to the auction block, a blacksmith, a slave fleeing on the Underground Railroad. Each poem is supplemented by a historical note.

Snippet:
North Star:
Age six saw me with a new master. He
was no slaver. Instead of tobacco
fields, I plowed the planes of Euclid. Instead
of flax, I spun my way through Homer’s verse.
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Poetry Friday

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

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Nonfiction Monday on March 12, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on March 12, 2012

is at Rasco From RIF.

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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Young Readers

Picture Book of the Day

Bright Baby Touch & Feel Colors
by Roger Priddy (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Each page in this board book has a new color and a new object to touch and feel.

Snippet:
yellow
banana
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Chapter Book of the Day

Mercy Lily
by Lisa Albert (Author)
240 pages

Booktalk: Lily’s mother has slowly been losing herself to multiple sclerosis. After traditional treatment fails, she uses bee sting therapy, administered by Lily, to alleviate her pain. Lily is trained as a veterinary assistant, so she can easily handle the treatments. What she can’t handle is what happens when the bee sting therapy fails and it becomes clear that her mom wants to die.

One beautiful spring day, Lily’s mother asks her for the most impossible thing of all—mercy. While navigating first love, friendship, and other normal worries faced by high school sophomores, Lily also has to choose: help her mom go, or cling to her fading life for all it’s worth.

Snippet:
I take the bees outside, unscrew the lid of the bee jar, and listen to their angry buzzing.
“I hate you,” I whisper.
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March 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature

Our March 2012 host is Just Children’s Books!.
Add YOUR post to this carnival by commenting here.
The deadline for adding your post is March 26th.
The carnival will go live on March 28th.

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STEM Friday on March 9, 2012

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

The STEM Friday Round-up on March 9, 2012

is at Practically Paradise.

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Literary Link

Create a Query that Gets a ‘Yes’ (via @CBIClubhouse)
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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Great Books

Picture Book of the Day

The Goodbye Cancer Garden
by Janna Matthies (Author) and Kristi Valiant (Illustrator)

Booktalk: After Mom and Dad tell Janie and Jeffrey that Mom has cancer, the whole family goes to the doctor to ask questions. “Is Mom better yet?” Jeffrey asked. “Not yet,” she said. “But we’re working very hard to make her better-probably by pumpkin time.” That gave Janie an idea…the family plants a vegetable garden. As the garden grows, Mom’s treatment progresses…surgery, chemo, head-shaving and other side effects, radiation…and when it’s all done, there are healthy pumpkins and a healthy Mom!

Snippet: One sunny Saturday in March, Dad and Jeffery dug the vegetable bed while Mom and I drew a map.

“Everybody choose two vegetables,” I said.

I already knew mine–cucumbers and tomatoes.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Juniper Berry
by M. P. Kozlowsky (Author) and Erwin Madrid (Illustrator)
240 pages

Booktalk: Juniper Berry’s parents are the most beloved actor and actress in the world—but Juniper can’t help but feel they haven’t been quite right lately. And she and her friend Giles are determined to find out why.

On a cold and rainy night, Juniper follows her parents as they sneak out of the house and enter the woods. What she discovers is an underworld filled with contradictions: one that is terrifying and enticing, lorded over by a creature both sinister and seductive, who can sell you all the world’s secrets bound in a balloon. For the first time, Juniper and Giles have a choice to make. And it will be up to them to confront their own fears in order to save the ones who couldn’t.

Snippet: One night, when they thought I was asleep, they left the house and walked into the woods. I followed them. I didn’t want to be caught so I kept far back. They walked for a long time, almost in a daze.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGBlysm1JCY]
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5 Great Basketball Books

It’s almost time for March madness!

Basketball’s Greatest Players
by Sydelle Kramer (Author)
Uncover basketball history in this Level 5 easy reader biography.

Cool Basketball Facts
by Abby Czeskleba (Author)
Learn cool basketball facts to share with your friends. Easy reader

Fair Game
By Trisha Speed Shaskan (Author) and Erik Christenson (Illustrator)
The new kid doesn’t play fair…what will the others do? Easy reader

Let’s Talk Basketball
by Amanda Miller (Author)
See how the game is played in this easy reader illustrated with photographs.

Michael Jordan
by Lisa Wade McCormick (Author)
Find out about one of basketball’s greats in an easy reader biography.
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Literary Links

Ready to write your children’s book? Mar 7-Apr 25 (online) writing workshops begin today!

Short Genres, Big Messages: writing workshops for 3rd-4th grades (via @ChoiceLiteracy)
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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Girl’s Guide to Volleyball

My Book of the Week

Girl’s Guide to Volleyball
by Anastasia Suen

I grew up in Florida and California, where the volleyball nets are up at the beach year round. We played volleyball in school, too. Unlike many other sports where you only play one position, in volleyball, you move around the court and play every position. Pass-set-spike!

Booktalk:
Are you a girl who loves to nail the perfect spike? Get in the game! Take your knowledge of volleyball to the next level. Learn the positions, skills, tips and tricks that will help you stay sharp on and off the field.

The ultimate guide to being the ultimate player or fan! Whether competing on the field or cheering from the stands, readers get the inside scoop on all the rules and key strategies of their favorite sports. Plus, find recipes, crafts, and activities to show your team spirit!

Save the date! June 23, 2012 Nonfiction Book Blast 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

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Picture Book of the Day

The Umbrella
by Ingrid and Dieter Schubert (Illustrators)

Booktalk: A little dog finds an umbrella in the garden on a windy day. The moment the dog picks up the umbrella, it catches the wind and pulls the dog skywards. This is the start to fantastic journey around the world. The wind carries the umbrellas and the dog all over the world, from the desert to the sea, from the jungle to the north pole. A wordless picture book that tells a thousand stories.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Missing: A Liv & Death Novel
by Madeline Smoot (Author)
176 pages

Booktalk: Just like their names, Liv and Morte have always been opposites. The two can barely be in the same room together for more than a moment before all conversations turn into fights. It’s not until Morte disappears after a typical field party that Liv even realizes that she might actually love her brother after all. Missing is the tale of Liv’s journey to find out what happened to her brother the night he disappeared — to discover if everyone at the field party had really been typical.

Snippet: My mother named my brother. Most people assumed that his name was short for Mortimer or Morton or something, but this being my mom, it was just the Latin word for death. My father pretended that he had agreed to the name so my mother could have her little joke. “My little life and death,” she called us. In reality, Dad had no say in Morte’s name. It was one thing to name me, his baby girl, his first-born, the Norwegian word for life. It was quite another to name his son Death.
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March 2012 Online Workshops

The March 2012 workshops will begin tomorrow 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 January workshop dates are March 7-April 25, 2012.

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Literary Link

Apple Won’t Sell Seth Godin’s Book With Amazon Links (via @eBookNewser)
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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Nonfiction Monday

Picture Book of the Day

Here Come the Girl Scouts! The Amazing All-True Story of Juliette ‘Daisy’ Gordon Low and Her Great Adventure
by Shana Corey (Author) and Hadley Hooper (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Juliette Gordon Low–Daisy to her friends and family–was not like most girls of the Victorian era.

Prim and proper?

BOSH!

Dainty and delicate?

HOW BORING!

Snippet: Daisy grew up in Savannah, Georgia when proper young ladies were supposed to be dainty and delicate. But Daisy came from a family of pathfinders and pioneers. She wanted adventure and excitement!
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Chapter Book of the Day

Cleopatra Rules!: The Amazing Life of the Original Teen Queen
by Vicky Alvear Shecter (Author)
128 pages

Booktalk: Cleopatra didn’t just rock the boat when she turned queen at seventeen. She rocked the world with brilliant alliances that kept her in power and in control for decades.

Snippet: She ruled all of Egypt, had Romans trembling in their togas, and made kings weak at the knees. Yet the glamour queen of the ancient world started out as…a bookish nerd.
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Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up host is 100 Scope Notes

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Women’s History Month

March is Women’s History Month. Read all about it at the Library of Congress.

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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

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

_____________________________________________________________________

My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Friday Reads

Picture Book of the Day

Down by the Station
by Jennifer Riggs Vetter (Author) and Frank Remkiewicz (Illustrator)

Booktalk: An expanded version of the classic rhyme with trucks and trains and boats and planes!

Snippet:
Down by the depot, early in the morning
See the yellow school buses all in a row
See the school bus driver warming up the engine
Vroom vroom beep beep! Off we go!
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Poetry Friday

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Dori Reads

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Chapter Book of the Day

A Black Hole Is Not a Hole (Junior Library Guild Selection)
by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano (Author) and Michael Carroll (Illustrator)
80 pages

Booktalk: If a black hole is not a hole, then what is it? Find out what black holes are, what causes them, and how scientists first discovered them.

Snippet: Nothing can out-tug a black hole. No army of tow trucks, no convoy of supersized earth haulers, no fleet of giant rocket engines. Not all of them combined.
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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 NC Teacher Stuff.

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Nonfiction Monday on March 5, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on March 5, 2012

is at 100 Scope Notes.

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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

Hooray for Hands!
by Susan Pearson (Author) and Emily Bolam (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Rhythmic text and cheerful art show busy toddlers using their hands all day long in this board book.

Snippet:
Hands are grand
for pushing swings
and bouncing balls
and holding things.
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Chapter Book of the Day

My Brother’s Shadow
by Monika Schröder (Author)
224 pages

Booktalk: As World War I draws to a close in 1918, German citizens are starving and suffering under a repressive regime. Sixteen-year-old Moritz is torn. His father died in the war, and his older brother still risks his life in the trenches, but his mother does not support the patriotic cause and attends subversive socialist meetings. Then Moritz falls in love with a Jewish girl who is also a socialist. How can he choose which side is right?

Snippet: The day Hans left to meet his battalion, he got angry with Mama for swearing at the “damn war.” Hans said it was a honor to serve the Kaiser, and when Mama saw he really meant it she cried even more.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46jLWcswcfk]
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Venus Primary School

I’m spending the afternoon at Venus Primary School

Go Bulldogs!

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STEM Friday on March 2, 2012

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

The STEM Friday Round-up on March 2, 2012

is at NC Teacher Stuff.

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Literary Link

New for 2012! A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas
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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

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

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

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

_____________________________________________________________________

February 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature

The carnival will go live today at The Fourth Musketeer.

_____________________________________________________________________

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)