Teach Mentor Texts: Book Awards

Showing posts with label Book Awards. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

The One With Beekle Love #sol15

Every Tuesday, I participate in the Slice of Life challenge at Two Writing Teachers. If you want to participate, you can link up at their Slice of Life Story Post on Tuesdays or you can just head on over there to check out other people's stories. For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, you can go here.

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Yesterday was a snow day so I stayed home with Peanut because he was off of school. It was the first time I got to watch the ALA Youth Media Awards announcement with him. Huddled around my computer, he asked me about the awards and we talked about the books that popped up that we knew and others we didn't. And then it was finally time for the Caldecott Award. We were thrilled to see that Dan Santat won the Caldecott for The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend. Hooray for Beekle!

I love Dan Santat's artwork but he took Beekle to the next level. It's beautiful and breathtaking and beyond compare. So deserving of the Caldecott Award.

I shared my review of Beekle last summer if you want to check it out.

There are so many other great books that won or received honors. Which are you celebrating? Any you feel deserved to be recognized that weren't?

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Let's Celebrate The CYBILS 2014!

It's time to CELEBRATE This Week with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build. Every week Ruth invites us to share our celebrations from the week and link up at her blog. What a fun way to reflect on everything there is to be thankful for.

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This week I'm celebrating CYBILS 2014!

*throws confetti*

Apparently, I never shared this post about being part of this year's Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards. I'm super excited to be part of Cybils again and have enjoyed reading all of the book apps that were nominated. We're in the heart of discussing book apps that we have read and I'm planning to share some reviews in the next few months. I'd like to share the other judges I'm working with this year.

Jill Goodman

appoLearning

https://www.appolearning.com/

@queenofappland

Emily Lloyd

Little eLit

http://littleelit.com/

@poesygalore

Cathy Potter

The Nonfiction Detectives

http://www.nonfictiondetectives.com/

@cppotter

Colby Sharp

Sharp Read

http://mrcolbysharp.com/

@colbysharp

Stacey Shubitz

Two Writing Teachers

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/

@raisealithuman

Erin Warzala

Falling Flannelboards

http://fallingflannelboards.wordpress.com/

@fallingflannel

Jen Vincent

Teach Mentor Texts

http://www.teachmentortexts.com/

@mentortexts

@u46insttech

I'm excited to be working with these dedicated judges and to be part of Cybils again!

What are you celebrating this week?

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Schneider Family Book Award 10th Anniversary Blog Celebration Tour and Giveaway!

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Schneider Family Book Award, Alyson from Kidlit Frenzy asked me to talk about my favorite of the winners. I will always have a place in my heart for my students who are deaf and hard of hearing so I'm sharing thoughts about Five Flavors of Dumb, Hurt Go Happy and Wonderstruck because they tell great stories of characters who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John stands out to me because the main character, Piper, has such a spitfire attitude and she doesn't let her disability get in her way. I love that readers can see how determined she is and that when she sets her mind to something, she can get it accomplished and learn about herself and make friends along the way. Students who are deaf and hard of hearing usually have to work on developing good communication skills and strategies for how to navigate difficult listening situations. Piper definitely shows readers how she deal with these situations and how she doesn't let her hearing loss stand in her way. As an added bonus, this book is also great for music lovers or musicians. Oh, and did I mention, it's got an absolutely amazing title that doesn't just poke fun but jabs away at the misconception that people who are deaf are unintelligent.

Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby is a book that both Kellee and I love. Kellee will be sharing more about Hurt Go Happy at her blog Unleashing Readers on the 18th so be sure to check it out! Hurt Go Happy is one of my favorite Schneider winners again because of the strong main character. Joey, like Piper from Five Flavors of Dumb, learns a lot about herself as the story goes on. Reading Joey's story gave me an even stronger sense of how isolated it might feel to not be able to participate easily in conversations. Students who are deaf and hard of hearing often need to watch facial expressions and read lips to participate in a discussion and/or they may rely on using sign language to communicate. It's not always easy for hearing family or friends to remember this even when they have the best intentions. I was constantly talking to my students about advocating for themselves. By the end of the book, we see how Joey grows and gains confidence in advocating for herself and I loved to share this with my students.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick was a book that surprised me and fascinated me at the same time. I wasn't expecting this book to be about characters with hearing loss at all so I was excited when I realized it and even more so because of all the artwork that drives so much of the story as well. While this is a super-thick book, it's definitely a book I could recommend to students to read because of the blend of text and artwork. Many students who are deaf and hard of hearing experience a delay in language development which impacts their reading skills. One of the strategies for working with students who are deaf and hard of hearing is to offer visual support. Selznick's style of including text with pictures makes Wonderstruck a great recommendation for students who are deaf and hard of hearing.

I'm so excited to be part of this celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Schneider Family Book Award! Recently the #weneeddiversebooks hashtag garnered attention on Twitter. When I saw the #weneeddiversebooks hashtag, I didn't think about books with characters with disabilities as being part of that but it makes so much sense. In reading Alyson's post about her experience with the Schneider Award, I was happy to see this: "As we think about the need for diversity in books, let us remember that children and adults with special needs should also see themselves portrayed positively among the pages of the books that we read." I know that Five Flavors of Dumb, Hurt Go Home, and Wonderstruck helped me gain a deeper understanding of what it might be like to be deaf and hard of hearing and that they also hold characters my students could identify with. It really makes a difference to see yourself reflected in the pages of a book.

And now...to really celebrate, Alyson has a giveaway! One person will win a set of all 3 Schneider Family Book Award Winners from 2014. Participants must be 13 years or older and have a US or Canadian mailing address. There will be one winner but you can enter from any of the blogs as part of this celebration.