Picture Book of the Day – Page 19

Young Readers

Picture Book of the Day

Fiesta Babies
by Carmen Tafolla (Author) and Amy Cordova (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Use this lively book for Cinco de Mayo next week and march to the music!

Snippet:
Fiesta Babies march on parade
wearing coronas Mama has made.
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Comic of the Week

Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers
by Dav Pilkey (Author, Illustrator)
192 pages

Booktalk: Dr. Dilbert Dinkle started his career as an ordinary, everyday evil genius/inventor/bank robber. But when he awakens one day transformed into a walking, talking puddle of pee, he vows to destroy every toilet in town. Will the devious Dr. Dinkle and his conniving cat, Petey, ruin restrooms for the rest of us? Or could this be a job for the death-defying duo of Super Diaper Baby and Diaper Dog?

Snippet:
It took 24 hours
from when he’d begun,
‘Till the Robo-Kitty
Three Thousand was done.

“All I need is a driver.
I need someone mean.
I need someone evil
to run my machine.”

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOrwAZd2XZY]

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STEM Haiku

old word, new place
cc means carbon
copy, but email doesn’t
use carbon paper
© 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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Literary Link

My interview, A Little Bit of Everything is at Sandi’s blog, The Write Stuff.

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

Great Books

Picture Book of the Day

The Ugly Duckling Dinosaur: A Prehistoric Tale
by Cheryl Bardoe (Author) and Roy D. Kennedy (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Once upon a time, seven tiny duck beaks pecked their way out of their eggs, but the eighth egg was a little bit different. What emerged wasn’t a duck at all–he was a dinosaur! (Real dino facts in the back of the book.)

Snippet:
Just then the egg trembled
Thump, thump, thump.
SMASH!
A huge claw burst out, followed by a gigantic foot. The newest duckling exploded from its shell.
The mother duck gasped. Her other ducklings froze and stared.
“That is the ugliest ducking I’ve ver seen!’ the neghbor screeched.

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

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Chapter Book of the Day

Irises
by Francisco X. Stork (Author)
304 pages

Booktalk: Kate is bound for Stanford and an M.D. — if her family will let her go. Mary wants only to stay home and paint. When their loving but repressive father dies, they must figure out how to support themselves and their mother, who is in a permanent vegetative state, and how to get along in all their uneasy sisterhood.

Snippet:
“What do you means Father’s dead?” Kate shouted into the phone.
“I went to check on Moma after you left and he had died.”
“Oh, oh my–” Kate stopped herself. “Did you call 9-1-1?”
“No.”
“Do it now. Never mind, I’ll do it. I’ll be right over.”
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5 Great Mother’s Day Books

Eloise’s Mother’s Day Surprise
by Lisa McClatchy (Author) and Tammie Lyon (Illustrator)
Eloise gets ready for Mother’s Day in this easy reader.

Fancy Nancy’s Marvelous Mother’s Day Brunch
by Jane O’Connor (Author) and Robin Preiss Glasser (Illustrator)
Nancy plans the perfect Mother’s Day. Lift-the-flap book

I Like Noisy Mom Likes Quiet: A Mother’s Day Story
by Eileen Spinelli (Author) and Lydia Halverson (Illustrator)
The title says it all! Picture book

The Mother’s Day Mice
by Eve Bunting (Author) and Jan Brett (Illustrator)
Three mouse brothers try to find the perfect gift for their mother. Picture book

The Night Before Mother’s Day
by Natasha Wing (Author) and Amy Wummer (Illustrator)
Dad and the girls get ready for Mother’s Day. Picture book
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STEM Haiku

Share your own haiku about a STEM topic during National Poetry Month.

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

stand up
sitting all day is
bad they say, so stand or walk
as you work today
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

May 2012 Online Workshops

May 2012 Online Workshops

The May 2012 workshops will begin on Wednesday, May 2nd.

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 May workshop dates are May 2-June 20, 2012.

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Picture Book of the Day

Take Your Mama to Work Today
by Amy Reichert (Author) and Alexandra Boiger (Illustrator)

Booktalk: When Violet visits her mom’s office on Take Your Child to Work Day (April 26th this year), she is very helpful.

Snippet: Sometimes the boss won’t say hello because he’ll be getting ready for a presentation–that’s like show-and-tell for grown-ups. You’re probably an expert at show-and-tell, so be sure to offer to help.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Take Your Mama to Work Today
by Valerie Hobbs (Author) and Jennifer Thermes (Illustrator)
336 pages

Booktalk: Maggie is always full of questions. But a young maid in a fine lady’s house isn’t supposed to wonder so much, so one day Maggie is thrown out into the street with only a tiny heart-shaped locket for a keepsake. Who is the lady in the locket?

A little dog named Oliver is pushing his nose along an icy sidewalk searching for his lost mistress, or at least something to eat. No matter how hard he looks he can’t find either one, but he does see a girl with round blue eyes and a golden locket around her neck. The girl calls him “Lucky.”

Snippet: For once in his short life, Oliver was happy to be an ordinary mutt, with parts of many kinds of dogs all mixed together. The part of him that was bloodhound would help find Bertie. With one last look at the cozy house where he had been raised from a pup, Oliver headed into the wide open world.
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April 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature

Our April 2012 host is A Curious Thing.
Add YOUR post to this carnival by filling out this form.
The deadline for adding your post is April 26th.
The carnival will go live on April 28th.

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STEM Haiku

Share your own haiku about a STEM topic during National Poetry Month.

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Percentages
A little of this
a little of that, bit by
bit, add up to one.
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

Nonfiction Monday

Picture Book of the Day

Seabird in the Forest
by Joan Dunning (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Until the 1970s, no one knew where the marbled murrelet laid its eggs. The little bird seemed to live entirely at sea.

Snippet: For thousands of years murrelet chicks have simply waited, all alone, high above the forest floor, waited for their paernts to return each day with a little silver fish…waited a whole month to grow up…and so will this one.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Seeing Red: The True Story of Blood
by Tanya Lloyd Kyi (Author) and Steve Rolston (Illustrator)
122 pages

Booktalk: Gory and fascinating (and if you’re a vampire, delicious) blood is at the heart of human life. Take a stab at understanding this vital fluid via a mix of science, history, pop culture, and even cookery.

Snippet: Today the average grade four student probably understands more about blood than the world’s most educated doctor did 500 years ago. Back then, blood was seen as one of many important but mysterious boldily fluids–something doctors tried to measure and regulate.
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Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up host is Books 4 Learning

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Nonfiction Book Blast 2012

Ginger Wadsworth shares activities for First Girl Scout: The Life of Juliette Gordon Low

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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STEM Haiku

In honor of National Poetry Month, we invite you to share an original STEM haiku.

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Share your original STEM haiku at the new STEM Friday blog.

Earth Day
We celebrate Earth
Day once a year, but each day
we live is Earth Day.
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

Friday Reads

Picture Book of the Day

UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings
by Douglas Florian (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Come inside the honeycomb—a busy, buzzy, bee-filled home—and learn about the unexpected wonders of these tiny insects’ lifestyles, families, and communities.

Snippet:
Bee-coming
From egg I hatch in just three days,
Bee-ginning my new larval phase.
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STEM Friday

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

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

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Chapter Book of the Day

Under the Mesquite
by Guadalupe Garcia Mccall (Author)
224 pages

Booktalk: When Lupita learns Mami has cancer, she is terrified by the possibility of losing her mother, the anchor of her close-knit family. Suddenly, being a high school student, starring in a play, and dealing with friends who don’t always understand, become less important than doing whatever she can to save Mami’s life.

Snippet:
But lately Mami’s changed.
A thorny mesquite has sprouted
in the middle of her rose garden.
Even after she has pulled it out
by its roots repeatedly,
pricking herself on its thorns each time,
it keeps growing back.
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Poetry Friday

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Random Noodling.

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STEM Haiku

sunrise, sunset
sunrise, sunset, and
the world turns around and
does it again…sunrise…
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Nonfiction Monday on April 23, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on April 23, 2012

is at Books 4 Learning.

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

See you at TLA!

See you at TLA!

The Texas Library Association is meeting in Houston this week.

I’m signing these books on Wednesday, April 18, 2012. (That’s tomorrow!)

I’m signing Road Work Ahead from 10am-12pm at Overlooked Books Booth #2629

I’m signing All-Star Cheerleaders from 10am-12pm at Overlooked Books #2629

I’m signing Read and Write Sports from 1-3pm at ABC-Clio Booth #1502

I’m signing A Girl’s Guide to Volleyball from 3-4pm at Capstone Booth #1919

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Picture Book of the Day

A Hockey Story
by Richard L. Torrey (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: A young boy joins a new hockey team…

Snippet: Every Saturday morning I wake up really, really early and go to the ice rink.
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Chapter Book of the Day

The Wood Queen
by Karen Mahoney (Author)
336 pages

Booktalk: To keep her best friend, Navin, from being killed at the hands of vicious wood elves, Donna Underwood stole the elixir of life. Now she’s facing an alchemist tribunal while her mother lies dying, succumbing to the elven curse that shattered her mind. In desperation, Donna seeks an audience with Aliette, the fierce and manipulative Wood Queen, who offers a deal: if Donna can use her strange and burgeoning powers to help the wood elves, Aliette will free her mother from the curse. Along with Navin and Xan, the half-fey guy she’s falling for, Donna struggles to unlock the secrets of her iron tattoos in time to save her mother’s life. But some secrets are better left untold.

Snippet: And the crows; so many of them. A murder of crows? Circling around and around in an indigo sky, shedding oly feather that look like black petals.

Maybe I’m just having anxiety dreams ahead of the trial. Aunt Paige gets mad when I call it that–my trial–but isn’t that what it is?
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April 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature

Our April 2012 host is A Curious Thing.
Add YOUR post to this carnival by filling out this form.
The deadline for adding your post is April 26th.
The carnival will go live on April 28th.

__________________________________________________________________

STEM Haiku

Share your own haiku about a STEM topic during National Poetry Month.

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Power
Zip, Zap! Electrons
move in a circuit, bringing
electricity.
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

Nonfiction Monday

Picture Book of the Day

Bambino and Mr. Twain
by Priscilla Maltbie (Author) and Daniel Miyares (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Grieving the death of his wife, America’s favorite author and humorist shuts himself up in his Fifth Avenue house and abandons his writing. Only his daughter’s cantankerous cat, Bambino, seems to understand Samuel Clemens and his moods. When the feisty cat disappears, Sam is determined to find him

Snippet: “Everyone wants to meet witty Mark Twain,” the man said. “But tell me, Bambino, would they want to meet sad, old Samuel Clemens?”
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Chapter Book of the Day

The Gods and Goddesses of Greek Mythology
by Don Nardo (Author)
64 pages

Booktalk: Discover the exploits of all-powerful Zeus, leader of the Olympians, the mightiest of all the gods. Relive the excitement of the Titanomachy, the colossal War of the Titans. See what motivated the gods and goddesses, and encounter the ultimate winners and losers in Greek mythology’s incredible battles.

Snippet: The ancient Greeks who lived between about 800 BC and 300 BC believed that the gods they worshipped had interacted with select humans during a period of the distant past. They called it the Age of Heroes.
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Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday

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

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Nonfiction Book Blast 2012

Susan Stockdale booktalks Bring On the Birds

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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STEM Haiku

In honor of National Poetry Month, we invite you to share an original STEM haiku.

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Share your original STEM haiku at the new STEM Friday blog.

byte-sized mail
emails fly across
cyberspace, ones and zeroes
become written words
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

Poetry Friday Reads

STEM Haiku

Kidlitosphere
Cyberspace is a
lovely place to meet with friends
and talk about books!
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Poetry Friday

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is here!

Add your post to the round-up by clicking on the link below. Please write the title of your poem or book (in parentheses) after your name so Mr. Linky makes a hotlink for it. I’ll post the links on this page as the day goes on. Thanks!

Here’s what the kidlitosphere is reading and writing this week…

1.Kate Coombs’ Mud at 30 Poets/30 Days
2. Gathering Books (A Love Poem from Marguerite Burnat- Provins)
3. Children’s Poem “The Daffodil Dance” by Deborah Diesen
4. No Water River “Hydrophobiac” by Laura Purdie Salas
5. Julie Larios (Seamus Heaney’s Birthday!)
6. Tabatha (Progressive Poem and Fictional Faves)
7.Alice@ Supratentorial (Mathematickles)
8. Mary Lee (CAKE- KU–a cake pop haiku)
9. Liz Steinglass (Chippy Chap)
10. Tara@ ATeaching Life
11. Robyn Hood Black’s “Haiku Mind” at Author Amok
12.Laura Salas (crab haiku)
13. Laura Salas (15 Words or Less poems)
14. Robyn Hood Black (- Laura Purdie Salas and BOOKSPEAK)
15. Charlotte’s Library (A Little Bitty Man)
16. Shannon @ Mountaineer Country
17. Hope Is the Word (Laura Ingalls Wilder fairy poems)
18. Linda (an inspirational poem)
19. jama (Adele Kenny’s “Chosen Ghosts”)
20. A mathematical septina and an original sestina at Write. Sketch. Repeat.
21. Diane Mayr (“Sometimes in Spring”)
22. Kids of the Homefront Army (” The Train”)
23. Kurious Kitty (Renga)
24. KK’s Kwotes (Robert Frost)
25. Linda Baie (original poem)
26. Ruth (original poem)
27. Heidi Mordhorst (Ken Slesarik’s Poetry Rocks! e-book)
28. Teaching Authors guest post by Helen Frost featuring her poem ” Friend”
29. Dori Reads (Don’t Be Flip)
30. Charles Ghigna (” Over Herd”)
31. violet (“V is for…”)
32. Sara Lewis Holmes (Book with Wings)
33. Amy LV (LBH Birthday Party!)
34. Karen Edmisten (John Updike)
35. Reader KidZ (Kate Coombs Author- In- Residence)
36. Sylvia Vardell (Hoyte & Roemer Interview)
37. Wild Rose Reader (MOLE: An Original Animal Mask Poem)
38. Jone (Renee LaTulipe poem)
39. Jone (zombie poems)
40. Jeannine Atkins (The Poetry Teacher’s Book of Lists by Syliva Vardell)
41. Books 4 Learning (Science Verse)
42. david e (twitku roundup wk 2)
43. Lynn Plourde (Reading and Writing Ear Candy)
44. Thinking in Rhyme (Spot the Superstitions)
45.Kristie Hamilton (The Adventures of Babadooga: Back to Big)
46. On Point (Twenty- Seven Years)
47. readertotz (Water Sings Blue)
48. Jennie from Biblio File (Under the Mesquite)
49. Carlie from Twinkling Along (an original spring poem)
50. Betsy (Morning Greeting)
51. Janet (Lemonade and other poems squeezed from a single word)
52. Mainely Write (L is for Leaf)
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Picture Book of the Day

T is for Titanic: A Titanic Alphabet
by Debbie & Michael Shoulders (Authors) and Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen (Illustrator)

Booktalk: At 11:40 pm on April 14, 1912, the fate of the world’s most famous ship was sealed when the lookout on the luxury liner, RMS Titanic, spotted an iceberg in the ship’s path in the North Atlantic. By 2 am, the ship had started its slide into the frigid waters, carrying close to 1,500 people to a watery grave.

Snippet: A is for the Anatomy of the Titanic

The RMS Titanic
included ten decks in all.
it was the world’s largest
moving object at 175 feet tall!

BONUS! Download the teacher’s guide!
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Chapter Book of the Day

A Funeral in the Bathroom: and Other School Bathroom Poems
by Kalli Dakos (Author) and Mark Beech (Illustrator)
48 pages

Booktalk: The school bathrooom is a place where kids meet their friends, go to think when a pet has died, or just to take a break from it all.

Snippet:
Germs
It was about germs…that TV show.
The bathroom has a zillion, you know.
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STEM Friday

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

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

_____________________________________________________________________

Nonfiction Monday on April 16, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on April 16, 2012

is at The Nonfiction Detectives.

_____________________________________________________________________

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

Great Books

Picture Book of the Day

Vote for Me!
by Ben Clanton (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: It’s election time again. The donkey wants your vote. So does the elephant. And each will do just about anything to win your support…

Snippet:
DONKEY:
Hey, you!
Yes, YOU with the great hair and that dazzling smile.
Listen, you should–

ELEPHANT:
DON’T LISTEN TO THAT DONKEY!
You’re too smart for that.
You’ll want to…

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfZikbt7uiY]
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Chapter Book of the Day

Fracture
by Megan Miranda (Author)
272 pages

Booktalk: Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine — despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she’s far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Snippet:
The first time I died, I didn’t see God.
No light at the end of the tunnel. No haloed angels. No dead grandparents.
To be fair, I probably wasn’t a shoo-in for Heaven. But honestly, I kind of assumed I’d make the cut.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd5rUSMoYdI]
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5 More Great Earth Day Books

Biscuit’s Earth Day Celebration
by Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Author)
Biscuit the little yellow puppy goes to school for Earth Day. Easy reader.

Earth Day (On My Own Holidays)
by Linda Lowery (Author) and Mary Bergherr (Illustrator)
Learn about how Earth Day started. Easy Reader.

Earth Day
by Margaret McNamara (Author) and Mike Gordon (Illustrator)Lloyd G. Douglas (Author)
What can Emma do for Earth Day? Level 1 easy reader.

Let’s Get Ready for Earth Day
by Lloyd G. Douglas (Author)
Dan and his class get ready for Earth Day. Easy reader.

Sid the Science Kid: Earth Day Fun
by Jennifer Frantz (Author)
Sid is going to plant a tree for Earth Day, but first, he wants to know…what is dirt? Level 1 easy reader.
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STEM Haiku

Share your own haiku about a STEM topic during National Poetry Month.

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Go Away, Bugs!
Oh bugs, bugs, bugs, who
said you could come in? This is
my house, not yours. Scram!
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Literary Links

How To Search Google By Reading Level (via @eBookNewser)
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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

STEM Haiku

STEM Haiku

Share your own haiku about a STEM topic during National Poetry Month.

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Sixty Seconds
A minute is a
minute, so why are some days
short and others long?
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Picture Book of the Day

Can I Bring Woolly to the Library, Ms. Reeder?
by Lois Grambling (Author) Judy Love (Illustrator)

Booktalk: A young boy asks his librarian if he can bring his friend Woolly, a mammoth, to the library. His humorous pleas are a fun way to teach children how to use a library.

Snippet:
Can I bring Woolly to the library, Ms. Reeder?
Can I?
PLEASE?!
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Chapter Book of the Day

BZRK
by Michael Grant (Author)
400 pages

Booktalk: Set in the near future, BZRK is the story of a war for control of the human mind. Charles and Benjamin Armstrong, conjoined twins and owners of the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, have a goal: to turn the world into their vision of utopia. No wars, no conflict, no hunger. And no free will. Opposing them is a guerrilla group of teens, code name BZRK, who are fighting to protect the right to be messed up, to be human. This is no ordinary war, though. Weapons are deployed on the nano-level. The battleground is the human brain. And there are no stalemates here: It’s victory . . . or madness.

Snippet: Anyone could have done it. But could they have done it as fast? Could they have wired the pilot’s brain three days? And set her up to have a switch thrown as dramatically as this?

Hell no.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Tu5tSSIcs]

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Literary Links

It’s National Library Workers Day – Name your favorite librarian as a star!

Show support for your library during National Library Week, April 8-14, by uploading this art to your Facebook page.
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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8