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

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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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)

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)

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)

Nonfiction Monday

Picture Book of the Day

Rosa’s Bus
by Jo S. Kittinger (Author) and Steven Walker (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Like all buses in Montgomery, Alabama, in the 1950s, bus #2857 was segregated: white passengers sat in the front and black passengers sat in the back. Bus #2857 was an ordinary public bus until a woman named Rosa Parks, who had just put in a long day as a seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white passenger.

Snippet:
When Bus #2857 rolled off
the assembly line in 1948,
no one cheered,
no one paid attention
no one knew that one day
Bus #2857 would be famous.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Getting Elected: A Look at Running for Office
by Robin Nelson and Sandy Donovan (Authors)
40 pages

Booktalk: A look behind the scenes at what it means to be elected to political office…

Snippet: The United States is a democracy. In a democracy, the government is run for the people and by the people. But people don’t do all the work. They choose representatives to make decisions for them.
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Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up host is Wrapped in Foil

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Nonfiction Book Blast 2012

Larry Dane Brimner booktalks Black and White

on the Nonfiction Book Blast blog today…

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

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Literary Links

Timesavers to use right now to speed up your workflow. (via @freelancesw)
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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

Soccer Hour
by Carol Nevius (Author) and Bill Thomson (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Soccer practice begins, and the players stretch, warm up, and work on their footwork, juggling, goal shooting, and keep-away skills…

Snippet:
We practice playing as a team.
A winning season is our dream.
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Poetry Friday

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Writing the World for Kids

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Chapter Book of the Day

Path of the Pronghorn
by Cat Urbigkit (Author) and Mark Gocke (Illustrator)
32 pages

Booktalk: Pronghorns are the fastest land mammals in North America, clocked at speeds of up to sixty miles per hour. Of all the world’s land animals, only cheetahs are faster.

Snippet: Fawns start running when just a few days old, dashing around their mothers at speeds up to twenty-five miles an hour! As fawns mature, they will run even faster.
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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 Red Phoenix Books.

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Nonfiction Monday on February 13, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on February 13, 2012

is at Wrapped in Foil.

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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

Climbing Lincoln’s Steps: The African American Journey
by Suzanne Slade (Author) and Colin Bootman (Illustrator)

Booktalk: The marble steps of our capitol’s Lincoln Memorial have witnessed key moments in African American history.

Snippet: The statue was unveiled to the public in 1922 in a building called the Lincoln Memorial. Since then, many people have climbed the steps leading to Abraham’s statue–inspired to take another step for change.
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Chapter Book of the Day

We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March
by Cynthia Levinson (Author)
176 pages

Booktalk: We ve Got a Job tells the little-known story of the 4,000 black elementary-, middle-, and high school students who voluntarily went to jail in Birmingham, Alalama, between May 2 and May 11, 1963. Fulfilling Mahatma Gandhi s and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. s precept to fill the jails, they succeeded where adults had failed in desegregating one of the most racially violent cities in America. Focusing on four of the original participants who have participated in extensive interviews, We ve Got a Job recounts the astonishing events before, during, and after the Children s March.

Snippet: Segregation in Birmingham wasn’t just a way of life. It was the law. The city’s Racial Segregration Ordinances, adopted in 1951, demanded almost total separation of blacks and whites.

**Cynthia is one of my former students!**

BONUS! Download the curriculum guide (created by another former student!)
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Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up host is Capstone Connect

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Nonfiction Book Blast 2012

Deborah Hopkinson booktalks A Boy Called Dickens

on the Nonfiction Book Blast blog today…

(His 200th birthday is tomorrow!)

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

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Literary Links

Publishing’s Ecosystem on the Brink: The Backstory | The Authors Guild Blog
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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

Feeding the Sheep
by Leda Schubert (Author) and Andrea U’Ren (Illustrator)

Booktalk: As a little girl asks questions, we all learn how wool from a sheep turns into a sweater.

Snippet:
“What are you doing?” the little girl asked.
“Feeding the sheep,” her mother answered.
Snowy day, corn and hay.
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Poetry Friday

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by The Iris Chronicles

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Chapter Book of the Day

Glaciers (Eye to Eye with Endangered Habitats)
by Precious McKenzie (Author)
24 pages

Booktalk: Learn about glaciers and how can we protect this endangered habitat.

Snippet: Glaciologists identified several types of glaciers. The two main types are continental and valley glaciers.
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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 Simply Science.

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Nonfiction Monday on January 30, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on January 30, 2012

is at Capstone Connect.

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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

Polar Bears
by Mark Newman (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Explore the world of the polar bear on land and under water with wildlife photographer Mark Newman.

Snippet:
Polar bears are not really white.
Despite what they look like and what most people think, polar bears are black, not white. Under all that warm thick fur, their skin is totally dark.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Sky Sailors: True Stories of the Balloon Era
by David L. Bristow (Author)
144 pages

Booktalk: For more than a century before airplanes, people explored the sky in balloons. From 1783 to the early 1900s, aeronauts flew into storms, crossed large bodies of water, sailed over enemy armies, and soared to deadly altitudes.

Snippet: Strange creatures lurk in the dark corners of the world, and sometimes they come out to get you. Countless stories tell it that way. On August 27, 1783, the villagers of Gonesse, France, saw the stories come true.
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Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up host is Wendie’s Wanderings

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January 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature

Our January 2012 host is Delightful Children’s Books.
The carnival is now open! Come by for a visit…

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Children’s Book Genres Workshop

A children’s book isn’t just one kind of book – there are 6 very different children’s book genres. Each genre meets the needs of a different stage of childhood. How are books for the stages of childhood structured? What story layers do the books have? What promises do they make?

In the Children’s Book Genres Workshop you will begin at the beginning with a child’s everyday world (realistic fiction) as you read 3 books for each stage of childhood and look beneath the surface to see how each children’s book genre is put together.

The next Children’s Book Genres Workshop begins on February 1st. This online workshop does not have a physical meeting place or classroom hours. You will have 8 weeks to complete the 6 lessons in this online workshop. Turn your lessons in as you complete them, the next day…or on the due date two weeks later.

After you discover the genre that is right for you, take the Intensive Picture Book Workshop, the Children’s Literacy Workshop (for Writers), the Children’s Chapter Books Workshop or the Children’s Novels Workshop and begin writing your own children’s book!

The February workshop dates are February 1-March 14, 2012.

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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

Snow Wonder
by Charles Ghigna (Author) and Julia Woolf (Illustrator)

Booktalk: A rhyming easy reader about a snow day (with 2 pages of peel-off stickers!)

Snippet:
We wake and wonder
at the snow.
It puts on
such a lovely show.
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Poetry Friday

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Hey, Jim Hill!

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Chapter Book of the Day

Freaky-Strange Buildings
by Michael Sandler (Author)
24 pages

Booktalk: Some buildings look so strange that it’s hard to believe that they were actually meant for people.

Snippet: (For the building on the book cover, it says:) “It looks more like a cave than a building, but Crazy House in Dalat, Vietnam, is actually a hotel.”
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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 Wrapped in Foil.

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Nonfiction Monday on January 30, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on January 30, 2012

is at Wendie’s Wanderings.

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