Freshwater Pearls
This column dives into four Caldecott picture books that feature freshwater resources, precious and limited assets that sustain terrestrial life.
Joyce Sidman
Connecting with Nature
While experiences in the natural world are beneficial to both children and adults, they are especially crucial for young people. This selection of Caldecott Honor books invites readers to explore and appreciate the natural world.
Welcoming Spring with Froggy Books and Wild Experiences
This much-anticipated froggy season and this week's World Frog Day mark a time of increased appreciation for our amphibian neighbors. It's the perfect time to study frogs
Books about the Night
Nighttime is a magical time for kids. It’s a time for exploring the night skies. It’s a time for dreaming cozy dreams. It’s a time of mischief when it comes with the thrill of being allowed to stay up late.
Nighttime picture books have always had an allure for me because of the topics they explore and the amazing and varied art by illustrators challenged with the task of drawing the dark.
Poetry Teatime
On Halloween morning, Pooh Bear came for a visit on our porch. There was coffee for her parents and hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles for her, as well as a round of pastries for all. A lovely morning, however distanced and masked we had to remain.
Aimée Bissonette
A few days ago, I scanned my many bookshelves in anticipation of writing this piece. My charge was to assemble a small stack of books that had significance to me. Perhaps, I thought, I’ll write about my love for mysteries. After all, I spent countless hours as a young girl devouring the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries before moving on to Agatha Christie, Tony Hillerman, and Sara Paretsky.… more
Sense of Wonder
In her book A Sense of Wonder, Rachel Carson wrote:
If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.… more
Connecting Kids to Nonfiction:
Personal Experience Matters
Personal preferences and experiences guide our life choices. They impact what we wear, eat, do, even the people we spend time with. It should come as no surprise, then, that personal preferences also affect what we read— maybe even whether we read.
Studies show that young readers who feel a personal connection to what they are reading demonstrate better comprehension and derive greater enjoyment from their reading.… more
Skinny Dip with Joyce Sidman
From the first time, many years ago, that I heard Joyce Sidman read aloud from her poetry, when Eureka! Poems about Inventors was about to be released, I knew this woman carried magic in her soul. Working magic with words, writing about science and our very human emotions … Joyce has become a favorite author for many readers.
Who was your favorite teacher in grades K-7 and why?… more
This Is Just To Say
April is National Poetry Month, which is as good an excuse as any to take some poetry books off the shelf and have a read. I’m quite methodical in April — it’s the hint of spring in the air, I suppose. I clean my office and then I build a stack of wonderful poetry books — some Billy Collins, a little Emily Dickinson, a tome of Robert Frost, Shakespeare’s sonnets, Mary Oliver, naturally…..… more
March Shorts
Oooo! Here in Minnesota, shorts in March mean chills. These books will give you chills – in a good way!
Cat Goes Fiddle-I-Fee
Adapted and illustrated by Paul Galdone
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1985
(reissued in April 2017) I recognized the title immediately as I song I know well, sung as “I Had a Rooster” by Pete Seeger on Birds, Beasts, Bugs & Little Fishes in 1968.… more
Adapted and illustrated by Paul Galdone
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1985
(reissued in April 2017) I recognized the title immediately as I song I know well, sung as “I Had a Rooster” by Pete Seeger on Birds, Beasts, Bugs & Little Fishes in 1968.… more
Bookstorm: Scaly Spotted …
In this Bookstorm™:
Scaly Spotted
Feathered Frilled:
how do we know what dinosaurs really looked like? written by Catherine Thimmesh
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2013 No human being has ever seen a triceratops or velociraptor or even the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex. They left behind only their impressive bones. So how can scientists know what color dinosaurs were? Or if their flesh was scaly or feathered?… more
Feathered Frilled:
how do we know what dinosaurs really looked like? written by Catherine Thimmesh
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2013 No human being has ever seen a triceratops or velociraptor or even the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex. They left behind only their impressive bones. So how can scientists know what color dinosaurs were? Or if their flesh was scaly or feathered?… more
Scaly Spotted Feathered Frilled Companion Booktalks
To get you started on the Bookstorm™ books …
Age of Reptiles and Age of Reptiles: the Hunt, Richard Delgado, Dark Horse Books, 2011. Ages 12 and up.
Wordless storytelling through beautiful (sometimes gory) art
What happens when you steal the T‑rex eggs? What happens when an Allosaurus takes revenge on the Ceratosaurs that killed his mother?
The author-artist has worked on movies such as Men in Black, The Incredibles, WALL‑E
Captain Raptor series, written by Kevin O’Malley, illustrated by Patrick O’Brien, Walker Books, 2005.… more
