Good Morning Yoga Review and Giveaway!

Title: Good Morning Yoga: A Pose-By-Pose Wake Up Story 
Author: Mariam Gates 
Illustrator: Sarah Jane Hinder
Publisher: Sounds True 
Publication Date: March 1st, 2016 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Yoga helps children learn how to focus, relax, and both self-monitor and self-soothe Good Morning Yoga instills these four skills and more, enabling children to jumpstart the day with energy and excitement and meet the adventures that come with mindfulness and perspective. 

Good Night Yoga tells the story of the world retiring for the evening and a new generation of readers has fallen in love with the relaxing sequences and beautiful pictures that lead them to dreamland. Good Morning Yoga weaves gentle exercises with a heartwarming narrative and wonderful illustrations to empower children to manage the energies that visit throughout the day from the fiery volcano to the mountain quiet and still. Good Morning Yoga concludes with a visualization for kids to set intentions for the day. 
What I Think: I'm such a yoga fan and really enjoy how Mariam wove yoga poses into a story of how the characters feel. You have to check out the video below of her reading the book aloud, it definitely brings it to life. It's easy for kids to follow along and get the full experience by watching the video. This reminds me of a very calm, super mellow brain break! I can see using this to center and calm kids before a sit-still activity. I can also see this used to help kids think about their emotions and feelings throughout the day and how that impacts the choices they make. It reminds me of Dr. Seuss' My Many Colored Days which talks all about how we might feel like a different color based on our emotions. Pairing these together might offer an opportunity to talk about emotions.
     As a mentor text, there are some great examples of figurative language in Good Morning Yoga! You'll find alliteration, rhyme, and especially metaphors. After reading the text, students can think of their own metaphors for how they feel in the different poses. Have students pay attention to the descriptive language in each of the metaphors. Mariam uses specific words to help the reader get a good picture in his or her heads and students can try this themselves. This is a good less in how even in a short text, we can use strong description. To add a digital spin to this, students can take a picture of themselves in a pose and write their own metaphor to describe how they feel in that pose. Then use an app like Chatterpix Kids to bring their drawing to life!
Read Together: Grades Pre-K - 2 
Read Alone: Grades Pre-K - 2 
Read With: I Am Yoga by Susan Verde, My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss, Tommy Can't Stop by Tim Federle
Snatch of Text: 

"Today I'm a fiery volcano reaching high,

a brave ski jumper ready to fly,

a lightning bolt flashing across the sky."

Writing Prompts: Write about how your brain feels when you are in each of the different poses. Do you agree with how the author describes how the characters feel in the poses? Pay attention to your body throughout the day, how do you feel when you are happy, mad, sad, scared, surprised, etc? 
Topics Covered: Integration - Physical Education, Health, Wellness, Mindfulness 
Additional Resources: Mariam Gates holds a master’s in education from Harvard University and has more than twenty years’ experience working with children. Her renowned Kid Power Yoga program combines her love of yoga with teaching to help children access their inner gifts. She is the author of Good Night Yoga (Sounds True, April 2015), and lives in Santa Cruz, CA, with her husband, yoga teacher Rolf Gates, and their two children. For more information, visit mariamgates.com. You can also follow Mariam on Twitter at @gatesmariam and on Instagram at mariam.gates. Check out this downloadable kit for how to get started with yoga. 

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Rude Cakes

Title: Rude Cakes 
Author: Rowboat Watkins 
Illustrator: Rowboat Watkins 
Publisher: Chronicle Books 
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2015 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Who knew that cakes were so rude?! In this deliciously entertaining book, a not-so-sweet cake—who never says please or thank you or listens to its parents—gets its just desserts. Mixing hilarious text and pictures, Rowboat Watkins, a former Sendak fellow, has cooked up a laugh-out-loud story that can also be served up as a delectable discussion starter about manners or bullying, as it sweetly reminds us all that even the rudest cake can learn to change its ways. 
What I Think: We usually think of cakes as sugary sweet...but not this cake! I love the choice to play with words this way. As a parent, I also love how the author uses some examples of kids being rude that we might not always take the time to talk through with kids. The illustrations are super sweet and support the text perfectly. This is a great text to use when talking to student readers about paying attention to the words and the illustrations. If you don't slow down to look at the illustrations, you miss out on all the interactions between the characters that truly bring the story to life.
     As a mentor text, this is a great book to start a discussion on manners and how we treat each other. So many of the examples of the little cake being rude could be acted out. And students could think about what the rude cake does and then what the giant cyclops does in contrast. This could even lead to a lesson on compare and contrast - looking at how the characters act similarly or differently in different situations. Students might even have ideas for what they do in similar situations that might be different from either of the characters.
     I would also use this book to look at commas in a series and to think about story arc. Throughout the story, we see how the main character changes and it is clear that a majorly significant experience causes the character to change. We want to see characters change or grow in stories but knowing how to make this happen isn't always easy. This book makes for a nice mentor text for inviting student writers to first recognize what life-or-death type moment happens in Rude Cakes and then to think about their own writing.
Read Together: Grades K - 2 
Read Alone: Grades K - 2 
Read With: My Teacher Is a Monster! (No, I Am Not.) by Peter Brown, You Will Be My Friend! by Peter Brown, Don't Play With Your Food by Bob Shea, Wolfie The Bunny by Ame Dyckman with illustrations by Zachariah Ohora
Snatch of Text:  

"Rude cakes never say please

and they never say thank you,

and they sometimes take things

that don't belong to them."

Writing Prompts: Write about a time when you remembered to use your manners and how it helped you or made a difference in your situation. 
Topics Covered: Family, Manners, Kindness, Caring 

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*Thanks to Chronicle Books for 

a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review!*

The Shadow Throne

Title: The Shadow Throne 
Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen 
Publisher: Scholastic 
Publication Date: February 25th, 2014 
Genre/Format: Fantasy/Novel 
GoodReads Summary: One war.
Too many deadly battles.
Can a king save his kingdom, when his own survival seems unlikely?

War has come to Carthya. It knocks at every door and window in the land. And when Jaron learns that King Vargan of Avenia has kidnapped Imogen in a plot to bring Carthya to its knees, Jaron knows it is up to him to embark on a daring rescue mission. But everything that can go wrong does.

His friends are flung far and wide across Carthya and its neighbouring lands. In a last-ditch effort to stave off what looks to be a devastating loss for the kingdom, Jaron undertakes what may be his last journey to save everything and everyone he loves. But even with his lightning-quick wit, Jaron cannot forestall the terrible danger that descends on him and his country. Along the way, will he lose what matters most? And in the end, who will sit on Carthya's throne?Rousing and affecting, Jaron's adventures have thrilled and moved readers in The False Prince and The Runaway King. Journey once again with the Ascendant King of Carthya, as New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen brings his story to a stunning conclusion withThe Shadow Throne. 
What I Think: I have adored this series since the first page of The False Prince. I'm completely in love and in awe of Jennifer Nielsen's writing and masterful storytelling. Every word of the entire series is brilliant. As someone who is trudging her way through revisions of a novel, I'm amazed at how Jennifer is able to put all of these pieces together. There are twists and turns all over the place. All along, we know Jaron always has something up his sleeve but it still feels like there's no way he'll get out of all the situations he finds himself in. It's such a blast to follow along and see what he tries next. 
Speaking of Jaron, the main character, he's definitely quite a character. He seems to always be the underdog but he seems to also thrive on being the underdog and working himself out of tricky situations. From The False Prince readers get a glimpse of what he is capable of but he definitely pulls out all the stops in The Shadow Throne. He's not the only unforgettable character in this series. All of the characters are so expertly crafted that I feel as though I know them. They seem real. 
Along with developing charming and memorable characters, Nielsen makes the setting come to life. She helps readers imagine what it might be like to follow Jaron along on his antics but also to realize the feelings he deals with. In this book especially, she captures what it might be like to be amidst battles. Overall, this book is wonderful and it's a perfect ending to this series. I'm sad to leave these characters and Carthya but I'm glad to know they'll always be there. I'm such a fan of this series. Completely excellent to the last line.  
Read Together: Grades 4 - 6 
Read Alone: Grades 4 - 8 
Read With: The False Prince and The Runaway King by Jennifer Nielsen, Finnikin of the Rock (series) by Melina Marchetta, Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore, Eragon (series) by Christopher Paolini, Inkheart (series) by Cornelia Funke
Snatch of Text:  
     "In my life, I'd had my share of fights, sometimes with fists, sometimes with knives, occasionally with a sword. I'd faced opponents twice my size, twice as mean, and, as a general rule, uglier than I ever hoped to be. But nothing had ever topped the ferocity of the argument now going on in the center of my great hall."(p. 1)
     "Fink was an Avenian boy who returned with me from the pirates. He asked too many questions, paid attention to nothing for more than a few minutes, and seemed intent on crowding multiple sentences into each breath he took." (p. 16)
     "As I drew closer, the clashing sounds of blades, the cries of the injured, and the odors of sweat and blood rushed at me in feral waves." (p. 34-35)
     "'Nobody gives you respect in this life. You must take it, you must earn it, and you must hold it sacred, because no matter how hard respect is to attain, it can be lost in an instant." (p. 43)
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Inferences, Making Connections, Making Predictions, Visualizing
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative, Commas (Series), Anaphora, Characterization, Repetition, Word Choice, $100 Words 
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you were loyal to a friend or a friend was loyal to you. How did that impact your relationship? 
Topics Covered: Determination, Wit, Perseverance, Loyalty, Friendship, Family, Love, Hope, Will, Trust, Belief

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The Running Dream

Title: The Running Dream 
Author: Wendelin Van Draanen 
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers 
Publication Date: January, 2011 
Genre/Format: Realistic Fiction/Novel 
GoodReads Summary: Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run?

As she struggles to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there. Which she could handle better if she weren't now keenly aware that she'd done the same thing herself to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she's missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her.With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that's not enough for her now. She doesn't just want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa with her. 
What I Think: There are lots of reasons I loved this book! To start, I'm a runner and I loved how Jessica talks about running. There are so many great descriptions of running throughout the book. Because Jessica has running taken away from her but then given back to her, this book is really inspirational. It's inspirational about running but also about friendships and relationships. There seems to be a great camaraderie amongst runners as I'm sure there are in other sports. The Running Dream truly celebrates the determination, motivation and will that runners possess but also the freedom and energy that comes with running. I instantly realized how great this would be for a PE teacher to have in his or her library. My husband, a PE teacher for grades 1-8, has a special shelf in the school library for books that he recommends. This is a book that I am definitely recommending to him for his shelf!
     What really connected with my heart is how Jessica's story connects with Rosa's story. As a teacher who worked with students with special needs for ten years, I will always have a place in my heart for them. In college, we were taught to refer to kids with hearing loss, with visual impairments, with cerebral palsy, etc. as kids first, as people first. It's really hard for me to hear people say things like, "that autistic kid," or "the Down's girl". It's just not okay because all of these kids are kids first, their disability doesn't define them and it's not fair that we judge them and refer to them in that way. I love how Wendelin brings Rosa to life. She has so much charm and spirit and readers can truly see that. I was reminded over and over again of all the students I worked with who were great kids. I wish more people could take the time to get to know them and appreciate them for all that they are. I'm so glad readers have this book and hope that it will encourage students to take time to get to know kids who they might not usually spend time with.
     As a writer, I loved the meld of fiction with non-fiction in this book. My grandfather had diabetes from the time he was 14. When he was older, they had to amputate his leg from the knee down. I remember him talking about phantom pains and wanting to itch his foot. The description of Jessica recovering from losing her leg and then learning how to walk and run with a prosthetic seemed very accurate to me. There were various parts throughout the book where the description of this seemed very detailed and I could imagine Wendelin doing research on what people experience when they have a leg amputated and how it feels to walk and run with a prosthetic. This book seemed like such a great example of how non-fiction research factors into a fiction novel. This is one of the reasons I love this book as a mentor text. Combined with great description and characters, I think this book should be in every middle and high school classroom or school library.
Read Together: Grades 6 - 12 
Read Alone: Grades 7 - 12 
Read With: Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, Wonder by RJ Palacio, Mockingbird by Katherine Erskine, Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman  
Snatch of Text:  
     "My life is over.
     Behind the morphine dreams is the nightmare of reality.
     A reality I can't face.
     I cry myself back to sleep, wishing, pleading, praying that I'll wake up from this, but the same nightmare always awaits me." (p. 1)
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Visualizing, Asking Questions
Writing Strategies to Practice: Descriptive, Expository, Commas (series) 
Writing Prompts: Write about a time when you took time to get to know someone. How did you perceptions of that person change?
Topics Covered: Family, Friendship, Will, Determination, Belief, Loss, Compassion, Empathy, Disabilities,

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Doll Bones

Title: Doll Bones 
Author: Holly Black  
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books 
Publication Date: May, 2013
Genre/Format: Paranormal Mystery/Middle Grade Novel 
GoodReads Summary: Zach, Poppy and Alice have been friends for ever. They love playing with their action figure toys, imagining a magical world of adventure and heroism. But disaster strikes when, without warning, Zach’s father throws out all his toys, declaring he’s too old for them. Zach is furious, confused and embarrassed, deciding that the only way to cope is to stop playing . . . and stop being friends with Poppy and Alice. But one night the girls pay Zach a visit, and tell him about a series of mysterious occurrences. Poppy swears that she is now being haunted by a china doll – who claims that it is made from the ground-up bones of a murdered girl. They must return the doll to where the girl lived, and bury it. Otherwise the three children will be cursed for eternity . . . 
What I Think: I've been letting this book sink in for a while now. First of all, isn't the cover just creepingly lovely? It's spooky in such a beautiful way...although a little more on the creepy side than not. What has really stuck with me after reading this book are the characters. Holly Black does a wonderful job of developing her three main characters in this book. She captures them just as they are at a pivotal moment of growing up. The story of the china doll keeps them together when life tries to grow them apart. Growing up is a part of life but managing adolescence isn't always easy.
     As a mentor text, I love this book for pulling great snatches of text for description. Whether she is describing the characters in the book or the setting, Holly does a great job of bringing it all to life in such a real way. She strikes me as being brutally honest with her description. I think this is something that students will appreciate and relate to because she is so detailed and honest about the main characters' lives. She brings the setting to life in such a way that I couldn't help but feel the creepiness in the air as well. All the description came together so well to build the tone and mood of the whole story.
Read Together: Grades 5 - 8  
Read Alone: Grades 6 - 8 
Read With: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks, Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol, The Raven Boys (series) by Maggie Stiefvater, Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama
Snatch of Text:  
"The inside of Poppy's house was always a mess. Discarded clothes, half-empty cups, and sports equipment covered most surfaces. Her parents seemed to have given up on the house around the same time they gave up on trying to enforce any rules about dinners and bedtimes and fighting - around Poppy's eighth birthday, when one of her brothers threw her cake with its still-life birthday candles at her older sister. There weren't even family meals, just boxes of macaroni and cheese, cans of ravioli, and tins of sardines in the pantry so that the kids could feed themselves long before their parents came home from work and fell, exhausted, into their bed." (p. 7)

"An eerie wind sang through the untrimmed trees in front of Mr. Thompson's old house at the end of the block." (p. 22)
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Making Inferences 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative, Descriptive, Characterization 
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when realized you were growing up or changing in some way.  
Topics Covered: Friendship, Family, Imagination, Loyalty, Determination, Trust, Growing Up 

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Brothers at Bat - #NFPB13

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and The Nonfiction Detectives. Every Wednesday, I'll review non-fiction picture book. (It may not always be a picture book. Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other non-fiction books are shared this week!

Title: Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team 
Author: Audrey Vernick 
Illustrator: Steven Salerno 
Publisher: Clarion Books 
Publication Date: April 2012 
Genre/Format: Non-Fiction Narrative/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: The Acerra family had sixteen children, including twelve ball-playing boys. It was the 1930s, and many families had lots of kids. But only one had enough to field a baseball team . . . with three on the bench! The Acerras were the longest-playing all-brother team in baseball history. They loved the game, but more important, they cared for
and supported each other and stayed together as a team. Nothing life threw their way could stop them.

Full of action, drama, and excitement, this never-before-told true story is vividly brought to life by Audrey Vernick’s expert storytelling and Steven Salerno’s stunning vintage-style art.  
What I Think: Reading this book had me simultaneously wanting to be a kid again, ready to run out and play baseball, and wishing I had oodles of brothers. The artwork does a great job of bringing the story that Audrey tells to life. One image that sticks with me is when all the brothers are running out of the houses to play baseball. It was like I was watching them rush out of the door, hearing the screen door slam behind them as they wooshed by. There are more and more non-fiction picture book biographies popping up but I like that this book isn't about just one person, it's about all the brothers and how they worked together and were all bonded by baseball. They had moments of adversity, but by supporting each other, they persevered. I find it admirable to see how loyal they were to each other but also how passionate they were about baseball.
     The girl in me desperately wants to know that their sisters were up to while the boys were playing baseball...even if they weren't playing baseball, I'm sure they were involved or at least up to something themselves. I'm so curious about that!
     I'm really excited to hopefully use this book with a group of middle schoolers this year. At the beginning of the year, they will be focusing on expository writing and I'm going to use this as a jumping off kind of mentor text as well as possibly a mentor text for looking at how we use commas. I really like how narrative non-fiction draws a reader in and this book seems to prompt so many different opportunities to branch off into research: baseball, history of baseball, brothers playing baseball, war, sports in general, etc. I think this is a great text to use to talk about how we have to do research and let research lead us. Recently, I gathered a stack of non-fiction books to start brainstorming ideas for my own non-fiction narrative picture book biography and just checking out the books and seeing what has already been written about the subject I'm interested in is a great first step. Like Chris Lehman talks about in his book on research, Energize, we have to help kids venture into seeing what research is there and making adjustments in topics based on what they discover is out there. I love the possibilities for kicking of a research project with Brothers at Bat.
Read Together: Grades K - 12 
Read Alone: Grades 2 - 12 
Read With: Here Come the Girl Scouts and Players in Pigtails by Shana Corey, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
Snatch of Text: 
     "But there was no jealousy, no rivalry, no fighting. As the younger brothers grew up, the older ones shared playing time. If someone dropped a fly ball or struck out, no one screamed or threw down his glove or stomped off the field.
     'We stuck together,' Freddie said."
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Asking Questions, Visualizing 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Expository, Informational, Personal Narrative, Commas (series), AAAWWUBBIS, Repetition 
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you felt part of a team, whether you were working with family or friends. Do research on baseball and create an informational text to share what you learned about baseball (get creative about what format you use to share your information).  
Topics Covered:  Family, Friendship, Baseball, Integration - History, Teamwork, Determination, Integration - Sports, Adversity

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Clever Jack Takes the Cake

Each week Stacia and Amanda at Collaboration Cuties host a Must-Read Mentor Texts link-up. There is a different theme focus every week throughout the month and blogs can link up on Sundays. I'll be rotating through reviews of different mentor texts for language arts, math, science, and social studies. You can check out their blog for previous link-ups to connect with other mentor texts they have shared and other bloggers have reviewed, too. 

Title: Clever Jack Takes the Cake 
Author: Candace Fleming  
Illustrator: G. Brian Karas 
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade 
Publication Date: August, 2010 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Take a bite out of this deliciously funny original fairy tale, which received four starred reviews and was named a Best Book of the Year by Booklist, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and the Bank Street College of Education. 

What would you do if you were invited to the princess’s tenth birthday party but didn’t have money for a gift? Well, clever Jack decides to bake the princess a cake.

Now he just has to get it to the castle in one piece. What could possibly go wrong?

Candace Fleming and G. Brian Karas, creators of the bestselling picture book Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!, have teamed up again to bring us a modern fairy tale starring a determined boy and a story-loving princess with a good sense of humor. While girls will fall for a story featuring a princess’s birthday party, Jack’s adventures with trolls, bears, and gypsies make this the perfect read for young boys as well—and ideal for storytime. 
What I Think: I adore this book! I wish I had been able to meet Candace Fleming while I was at ALA last weekend because I so admire her work. I had never read Clever Jack's story but it is a great modern fairy tale. I particularly love this book as a mentor text for writing in general. First of all, Clever Jack seems to stumble upon his story. Helping students realize that stories are all around us and that we just need to open our eyes to them is so important. By the end of this story we see how Jack's experiences on the way to the princess's party truly become a great story. The other message I love about this book is that weaving together a story and being able to communicate with others truly is a gift but it's also a gift that we all have. Our world seems to revolve more and more around material things, especially gadgety, technological things but I love that this book helps us slow down and realize how awesome the gift of a story can be. Hooray for writing!  
     On Monday, when I shared that I would be reviewing this book this week, one reader, Julee Murphy, shared that she uses Clever Jack as a readers' theater and I think that's a brilliant idea! It would definitely work well as a readers' theater activity as Jack encounters various characters along the way. Each of those characters has a unique voice that would encourage students to practice their fluency and reading with expression. I love readers' theater as an opportunity for students to do a self-assessment of their speaking skills. When I did readers' theater with students, I created a rubric they could use to go back and look at things like was their voice loud or soft appropriate, did they change the speed of their voice from fast to slow when appropriate, or did they change the intonation in their voice from low to high as needed. It's interesting to have students assess themselves. Taping themselves beforehand gives them an opportunity to assess themselves and then make adjustments so that when they do the final readers' theater performance they can see how they changed and if they did read it well. I also had students compare professional audiobook narrators to themselves to see how it was different and for them to have a great model of reading aloud. It's amazing how much students change in their fluency when it becomes obvious to them what great reading aloud really entails. Thanks to Julee for pointing out that this would be great for readers' theater!
Read Together: Grades K - 5 
Read Alone: Grades 2 - 5 
Read With: Goldilocks and Just One Bear by Leigh Hodgkinson, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, Phileas's Fortune by Agnes De Lestrade, A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz, It's a Book by Lane Smith, Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills, Ralph Tells a Story by Abby Hanlon
Snatch of Text:  
     "Then he set to work, curning, chopping, blending, baking.

     That same night, Jack stood back to admire his creation - two layers of golden-sweet cake covered in buttery frosting and ringed with ten tiny candles. Across the cake's top, walnuts spelled out 'Happy Birthday, Princess.' And in the very center - in the place of honor - sat the succulent strawberry.
     'What a fine, fine gift,' said Jack's mother.
     Jack grinned."
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Making Inferences, Making Predictions, Readers' Theater, Fluency, Speaking
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative, Commas (series), Word Choice, $100 Words  
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you encountered an obstacle. What did you do to overcome that obstacle and still accomplish what you set to accomplish? What did you learn from the experience? 
Topics Covered: Determination, Perseverance, Ingenuity, Creativity, Motivation 

I *heart* It:

Mitchell Goes Bowling

Title: Mitchell Goes Bowling 
Author: Hallie Durand 
Illustrator: Tony Fucile 
Publisher: Candlewick 
Publication Date: September 2013 
Genre/Format: Realistic Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Battle on! Head to the lanes for another hilarious, high-energy story as four-year-old Mitchell and his obliging dad strike a winning deal.

Mitchell liked to knock things down.
That’s just how he rolled.
One Saturday, when Mitchell almost knocks down his dad, his dad catches him and puts him in the car. And when they step into the bowling alley, Mitchell feels right at home. Pizza! Giant crashing noises! Special shoes! But as Mitchell picks up the biggest ball and quickly learns the word gutter, and when Dad does a little kick with his leg and earns a big X on the scoreboard, Mitchell starts to get peevish. How can Mitchell get a chance to do a steamin’-hot-potato-dance too? With wit, warmth, and comedic charm, Hallie Durand and Tony Fucile roll another strike with this tale of a lovably rambunctious child and his doting dad. 
What Jen Thinks: I adore this book! We're talking about books for dads on Sunday, and this book could definitely be added to the lineup. This book gets it right with a great story and wonderful illustrations. Tony Fucile's drawing makes me think of Bink and Gollie but Hallie Durand's text and Mitchell's spirit remind me so much of Bink and Gollie, too. I love that Mitchell's dad has just as much spunk as he does. I will say that there is an illustration of the mom (just once) in the very beginning and she cracked me up, too...I may identify with her a little too much, but I digress.
     This book would make a great mentor text for characterization. Writers need to truly know their characters inside and out. Getting to know their characters helps to make sure writers have well-rounded characters but it also makes it easier to write when we know who are characters are off the page. I love Mitchell and his dad, they are full of energy and fun. I think kids would have a lot of fun brainstorming what else Mitchell and/or his dad might do or like and then seeing how through one story, readers feel like they know these two and how that factors into what we need to do as writers if our own stories. We need to help bring characters to life so readers feel like they know our characters. I love finishing a book and feeling like I've made a friend in the characters, people I won't soon forget. Usually I love the great characters but there are a few literary friends whom I remember vividly because I loathe them beyond belief...and that's good, too.
     I can't recommend this book enough! It's so much fun. This would also be a great mentor text for writing personal narratives and even before going bowling. I remember going bowling for the first time with Girl Scouts with my dad. I loved it. That was before the electronic scoring system so we had to record our own scores and I loved that. This would be a great lesson in building background knowledge in bowling and in practicing math skills! Bonus!
What Kellee Thinks:  I am so glad that this book review falls on Father's Day week, because even though it is not part of our Father's Day post on Sunday, it definitely has a strong father who I loved.  Mitchell's dad is one of those goofy dads who may be embarrassed of when you are a teenager, but is always there to support you no matter what. A perfect fatherly role model for a book.
     I think Jen hit the nail on the head with all of the lessons that could be done with this book. It could definitely be a huge cross-curricular unit fitting in science (Physics of Bowling from Discover Magazine), math (Bowling Pin Math Game), history (History of bowling from The International Bowling Museum), art (the illustrations in this book are so much fun and could definitely be talked about), PE (would be great to accompany a class field trip to go bowling!), and, of course, reading and writing using the book and Jen's personal narrative activity.
Read Together: Grades Pre-K - 3 
Read Alone: Grades 1 - 4  
Read With: Bink and Gollie (series) by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, Marty McGuire (series) by Kate Messner, Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison, Lulu and the Brontosaurus by Judith Viorst, Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell  
Snatch of Text: "There were lots of brightly colored balls, a good pizza smell, and giant crashing noises." 
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Making Predictions 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative, Characterization, Commas (series), Onomatopoeia
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you did something for the first time. Was it easy for you right away or did you have to practice? Did you get frustrated at all?
Topics Covered: Family, Fathers, Bowling, Determination

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**Thank you to Candlewick for providing copies for review**

A Voice of Her Own

Title: A Voice of Her Own 
Author: Kathryn Lasky 
Illustrator: Paul Lee 
Publisher: Candlewick Press 
Publication Date: December, 2005 
Genre/Format: Non-Fiction/Novel  
GoodReads Summary: "Lasky shows not only the facts of Wheatley's life but also the pain of being an accomplished black woman in a segregated world." — BOOKLIST
     "We’ll call her Phillis." In 1761, a young African girl was sold to the Wheatley family in Boston, who named her Phillis after the slave schooner that had carried her. Kidnapped from her home in Africa and shipped to America, she’d had everything taken from her - her family, her name, and her language.
     But Phillis Wheatley was no ordinary young girl. She had a passion to learn, and the Wheatleys encouraged her, breaking with unwritten rule in New England to keep slaves illiterate. Amid the tumult of the Revolutionary War, Phillis Wheatley became a poet and ultimately had a book of verse published, establishing herself as the first African American woman poet this country had ever known. She also found what had been taken away from her and from slaves everywhere: a voice of her own. 
What I Think: I enjoyed this book as much as I did A Voice of Her Own which I reviewed earlier in the week. I like that it's a biography novel chapter book that is not lengthy. Kathryn Lasky does a good job of capturing just enough of the main character's story. I can see how this book would pair so well with Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson and Copper Sun by Sharon Draper. I have read several of Sharon Draper's book but Copper Sun is my favorite. I have heard her speak twice and when she talked about writing Copper Sun she explained that as a writer she had to know everything about the true side of the story inside and out before she felt she had any kind of right to even think of writing anything. Her advice to writers was to write what you know, and if you don't feel that you know enough about a subject you are going to write about, then you need to immerse yourself into it so you learn enough to be able to write about it. She explained that she took ten years of doing research and visiting Africa to be able to write Copper Sun. I think she did an excellent job with the story. It would be great for a reader to read Copper Sun and then to read A Voice of Her Own and then compare the girls' stories.
Read Together: Grades 3 - 5 
Read Alone: Grades 3 - 5 
Read With: Other non-fiction by Kathryn Lasky, Dear America and My America series by Kathryn Lasky and others, American Girl books by various, Chains (series) Laurie Halse Anderson, Richard Write and the Library Card by William Miller, My People by Langston Hughes, Copper Sun by Sharon Draper
Snatch of Text: 
"The girl would never see her mother again, but she would keep the picture of her mother, the sun, and the spilling water forever in her mind. She would treasure it as if it were the most precious jewel. She would also try to remember the palms, the gleaming calabashes, and the endless fields of elephant grass." p. 2
Mentor Text For: Making Connections, Making Inferences, Personal Narrative, Series, Commas
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when someone believed in you and you succeeded. Write about a time in your life when someone didn't believe in you but you succeeded in spite of their doubts.
Topics Covered: Hope, Trust, Determination, Perseverance, Hard work, Grief - Loss

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