Dogman© Unleashed
The Lamppost
Encourage kids to be creative without worrying about being perfect. —Dav Pilkey At the start of the fall program season, I asked our youngest patrons what programs they would like the library to offer. I heard a child yell out, “DOGMAN”! I smiled and I told him that was a great idea. Dogman© is a […]
Riding Around the Block
Writing Road Trip
Safety, I am here to tell you, is the bane of good story-writing …
Beethoven in Paradise
Fresh Looklogy
Fresh Lookology features books published several years ago that are too good to languish on the shelf. Martin Pittman takes a reader’s heart and runs with it. He lives in a trailer park called Paradise, but his home life is anything but. Martin’s father is abusive, his mother completely cowed. He has no siblings. His […]
Fragmented
Page Break
Okay, I know there is a book here. I have so many images … but they’re fragmented.
The Night the Forest Came to Town
Reading Ahead
A city can be all hard surfaces, concrete, brick, pavement, and glass. Adults can be preoccupied with their devices. Billboards, street lights, every kind of distraction. There’s a distinct separation from nature, a disconnect.
Ask Me About … My Amazing Students!
Teach It Forward
New year. New grade level. Same classroom filled with same amazing kids from last year (along with several lovely new additions). Just wrapped up the seventh day of school and the same question keeps running through my mind… how did I get so lucky? “Looping” (moving up a grade level) with a class that you […]
Moving Books
Red Reading Boots
Many momentous things have gone down in our house this summer. #1 Son graduated from college in May, is gainfully employed (locally!) as a software engineer, and has recently moved to an apartment. Darling Daughter started her senior year of high school last week and is busy working on college applications. It makes me a little […]
Travel-Sized
Writing Road Trip
Something that has always stuck with me from pioneer tales is the images of the keepsakes and other non-mandatory items pioneer families often had to discard on the trail as the trip became harder and the oxen grew weary of pulling the overloaded wagons. This is just one of the reasons on the very long […]
Enchanted Points of Entry
Big Green Pocketbook
My first glimpse of Margaret Wise Brown’s house on Vinalhaven Island, Maine, was from a boat. It topped a granite slope, clapboard siding painted the same gray-blue as the sparkling Hurricane Sound. I was so excited I nearly fell overboard. We’d just passed the Little Island that Margaret had made famous in her Caldecott-winning book […]
Deb Andries and Her Off-to-School Reading Team
September 2019
Raising Star Readers
Starting kindergarten is a special time, and it’s really special when you get to read books with Grammy to get you ready! For this addition to our Raising Star Readers feature, we’re delighted to once again be showcasing Deb Andries, a National Literacy Consultant who lives in Wisconsin, and two of her grandchildren, who are […]
My Grandma and Me
Reading Ahead
My Grandma and Me Mina Javaherbin illustrated by Lindsey Yankey Candlewick Press, 2019 ISBN 978−1−4263−3304−0 If you were fortunate to have one or two or three loving grandmothers, this book will touch your heart. Grandmas can be the most loving people in our long lives, teaching us about life, passing along traditions, sharing stories, helping […]
The New Book is Filling My Head
Page Break
After the summer Bookology hiatus, Lynne Jonell is back with all sorts of images filling her head for her new book.
Back-to-School Favorites
Quirky Book Lists
This list was contributed by Deb Andries and Maurna Rome, friends, educators, and colleagues! Favorites from Deb Andries: Alma and How She Got her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal Dreamers by Yuyi Morales A Quiet Place by Doug Wood and Dan Andreasen The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael López Truman by Jean Reidi and […]