Board book – Page 3 – Booktalking #kidlit

Young Readers

Picture Book of the Day

Baby Animals At the Zoo
by Editors of Kingfisher

Booktalk: With playful text, and beautiful close-up photography this board book features baby animals in their natural habitats.

Snippet:
Golden lion tamarin
I am a tiny monkey with a golden mane like a lion. My long fingers help me find yummy insects. Munch munch!
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Comic of the Week

Chick and Chickie Play All Day!
by Claude Ponti (Author, Illustrator)
32 pages

Booktalk: Chick and Chickie love to play in their very own way, whether scaring each other silly or tickling the letter A. As young readers eagerly turn the pages of the story, they’ll look forward to spotting all the witty side jokes and hilarious details.

Snippet:
Chickie, let’s make masks!
Good idea, Chick!
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Free Comic Book Day

The first Saturday in May is Free Comic Book Day!

See the video and visit the Free Comic Book Day website find out more!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/1pHAG2ClVKU]

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STEM Friday is coming!

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

If you blog about science or math books tomorrow,

come share your link!

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Children’s Book Week

Today is the LAST day to vote for the Children’s Choice Book Awards

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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

2012 Poetry Month Progressive Poem

2012 Poetry Month Progressive Poem

Day 12 of the 2012 Poetry Month Progressive Poem is here at Booktalking. Poets in the kidlitosphere are adding one line a day. Contributing so far are poets…

1 Irene at Live Your Poem
2 Doraine at Dori Reads
3 Jeannine at View from a Window Seat
4 Robyn at Read, Write, Howl
5 Susan at Susan Taylor Brown
6 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
7 Penny at A Penny and her Jots
8 Jone at Deo Writer
9 Gina at Swagger Writer’s
10 Julie at The Drift Record
11 Kate at Book Aunt

And now it’s my turn to add line #12…

If you are reading this
you must be hungry
Kick off your silver slippers
Come sit with us a spell

A hanky, here, now dry your tears
And fill your glass with wine
Now, pour. The parchment has secrets
Smells of a Morrocan market spill out.

You have come to the right place, just breathe in.
Honey, mint, cinnamon, sorrow. Now, breathe out
last week’s dreams. Take a wish from the jar.
Inside, deep inside, is the answer…

Next up are:

13 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
14 Diane at Random Noodling
15 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
16 Natalie at Wading Through Words
17 Tara at A Teaching Life
18 Amy at The Poem Farm
19 Lori at Habitual Rhymer
20 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe
21 Myra at Gathering Books
22 Pat at Writer on a Horse
23 Miranda at Miranda Paul Books
24 Linda at TeacherDance
25 Greg at Gotta Book
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Linda at Write Time
28 Caroline at Caroline by Line
29 Sheri at Sheri Doyle
30 Irene at Live Your Poem

So it ends where it began. What a great idea, Irene! I’m so glad I was able to participate.
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Picture Book of the Day

Hush Little Turtle
By Maranke Rinck (Author) and Martijn Van Der Linden (Illustrator)

Booktalk: In this board book, Turtle has a problem. He can’t go to sleep! His friends try to help him out…

Snippet:
“Ahem, I have an idea,” announces Bird.
And he picks up a stick.

TURN THE PAGE

“Hush little Turtle,” the others sing.
Very soft. And very slow.
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Comic of the Week

Patrick in A Teddy Bear’s Picnic and Other Stories
by Geoffrey Hayes (Author, llustrator)
32 pages

Booktalk: Patrick is a puddle-jumping teddy bear whose biggest challenge is avoiding naptime…until he has to contend with Big Bear.

Snippet:
PATRICK: OOOF!

PATRICK: Come back!

PATRICK: BIG BEAR!

PATRICK: May I have my balloon…please!
BIG BEAR: NO!

BIG BEAR: I want to hear it go…

SFX: POP!
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STEM Haiku

Blue Screen of Death
Blue makes you calm, so
they say, but not during a
computer crash. NO!
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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STEM Friday is coming!

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

If you blog about science or math books tomorrow,

come share your link or a STEM haiku of your own!

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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

Young Readers

Picture Book of the Day

Happy Easter, Mouse!
By Laura Numeroff (Author) and Felicia Bond (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Help Mouse find out who is leaving Easter eggs all over the house!

Snippet:
When he wakes up on Easter
morning, he finds a yellow egg
under his covers.

With each page turn of this board book, readers see Mouse finding eggs in a new color. The color words are printed in that color – a nice touch!
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Comic of the Week

Ferret Fun
by Karen Rostoker-Gruber (Author) and Paul Ratz De Tagyos (Illustrator)
32 pages

Booktalk: Fudge and Einstein are ferrets. Marvel is a cat. Two ferrets plus one cat equal trouble.

Snippet:
FUDGE: We’ve got to do something or we’re ferret fritters fur-ever!
EINSTEIN: What can we do?

FUDGE: We could ignore her.
EINSTEIN: She’ll bug us more.

FUDGE: We could run away.
EINSTEIN: Then who would feed us raisins?

FUDGE: It’s no use. We’re doomed.
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STEM Haiku

tornado
dark sky, funnel clouds
twirling, swirling, lifting high
twisting, tossing…gone…
© 2012 Anastasia Suen

The sirens went off three times Tuesday afternoon, but the 13(!) tornadoes didn’t pass directly over our house, thank goodness!

If you didn’t see the tractor trailers lifted up by the tornado, watch this video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stX1Avy4qHg]
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STEM Friday is coming!

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

If you blog about science or math books tomorrow, come share your link or a STEM haiku of your own!

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Literary Link

My April Quick Tips column: Hot Topics: STEM Poetry is at Booklist Online.

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

Young Readers

Picture Book of the Day

Princess!
by Viviana Garofoli (Illustrator)

Booktalk: The rhythmic text in this board book follows a young “princess” from morning to night.

Snippet:
Princess wakes up!
Time to start the day.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Binky Under Pressure (A Binky Adventure)
by Ashley Spires (Author, Illustrator)
64 pages

Booktalk: In Binky’s third adventure, our intrepid, sometimes accident-prone hero is shaken out of his routine when he’s forced to contend with Gracie, a dainty striped foster kitty who comes to live at Binky’s space station (aka his home at 42 Sentinel Parkway). Binky instantly resents the new arrival, whose cute face and perfect manners are downright annoying. Indeed, Gracie seems too perfect. So Binky decides to do some undercover investigating and discovers a shocking truth about the family guest. Soon Binky is thrust full-throttle into a situation that puts all his Space Cat skills to the ultimate test!

Snippet:
Why would his humans do this to him?
Another cat? Wasn’t he good enough for them?
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The March 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature is up!

Have you visited the March Carnival Of Children’s Literature
at the Just Children’s Books! yet? Hop over and say hello to Nichole!

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STEM Friday is coming!

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

If you blog about science or math books tomorrow, come share your link!

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Literary Link

My March Quick Tips column: Hot Topics: Hatching Eggs with STEM is at Booklist Online.
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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)

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)

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)

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)

Baby Born

My Book of the Week

Baby Born
by Anastasia Suen (Author) and Chih-Wei Chang (Illustrator)

Booktalk: “The soothing verse follows a year in the life of a newborn…”
~Kirkus Reviews

Snippet:
Baby born
in winter’s sleep
snowflakes fall
snuggle deep

See inside this board book!

Also available in Spanish

For toddler time:
Craft: Make a baby in a blanket (just like the book cover!)
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Picture Book of the Day

Uh-Oh!
by Mary Newell DePalma (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: The word in the title is the only word in this almost wordless book about a small dinosaur who keeps getting himself into trouble. (A perfect “I love you no matter what” book for Valentine’s Day today!)

Snippet: Uh-Oh!
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Chapter Book of the Day

Little Wings #1: Willa Bean’s Cloud Dreams
by Cecilia Galante (Author) and Kristi Valiant (Illustrator)
112 pages

Booktalk: Most cupids have soft straight hair, rosy cheeks, and silky white wings. Not Willa Bean! She has a crazy mess of hair, a million-bajillion freckles, and bright purple wings with silver tips. And lately those bright purple wings with silver tips have been giving Willa Bean an awful lot of problems. They won’t fly!

Snippet: Harper was going to help Wllla Bean in a very special way.

She was going to teach Willa Bean how to get those purple wings with the silvers tips of hers to behave.

Because there was no way, nohow, nope-ity, nope, nope, nope, that Willa Bean was going to start at the Cupid Academy tomorrow without being able to fly.
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Literary Links

Elana Roth Opens Red Tree Literary (via GalleyCat)

A bathtub made of books? (via @quirkbooks)

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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

My Little Baby
by Begin Smart Books

Booktalk: On each page spread, a proud animal mom talks about what her baby says…

Snippet:
My pup says
WOOF!

And the baby animal says it twice…

woof
woof

Each baby animal also has a texture to touch.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Ten (The Winnie Years)
by Nathan Bransford (Author)
208 pages

Booktalk: Winnie Perry is turning ten and ten is BIG: it means double digits, more responsibility, and being an almost-middle-schooler. Ten means that Winnie can handle anything, even a three-year-old baby brother and a practically teenage (and acting like it) older sister. And with her best friend, Amanda, by her side, Winnie plans on enjoying every last second of their last year in elementary school.

Snippet: The thing about birthdays is that they are shiny and sparkly and make the birthday girl feel special. And guess what? Today I was the birthday girl. As of today–oh my goodness gravy–I, Winnie Perry, was living in the Land of Double Digits.
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School Visit at John Paul II High School

Thanks for another great day, Cardinals!

Special thanks to Media Specialists Gracelyn Shea and Linda Berger!
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STEM Friday on February 10, 2012

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

The STEM Friday Round-up on February 10, 2012

is at Red Phoenix Books.

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Literary Link

Tips for connecting with reluctant and struggling readers (via @paulgreci)
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My NEW chapter book is Save the Best for Last, Abby (All-Star Cheerleaders)