Lenny & Lucy

At my first TLA last year, I heard Philip and Erin Stead speak on a panel. I enjoyed listening to the conversations about picture books and picture book art, and what made it all the more wonderful was the fact that Mac Barnett and Chris Van Dusen also were part of it. (This was the first time I met Mac Barnett, another one of my most favorite authors ever.) 

Here's my pic of the event. Yes, I sat in the front row. Wouldn't you? 

Listening to these authors and illustrators talk about their books was such a great experience. They think so deeply about every part of their work and appreciate each other's talents in a way that is truly inspiring. 

I knew the Steads, of course, from these books: 

I highly recommend all of them! (Not all are listed here.) 

And now, imagine my happiness at finding this in my mailbox.

Stead, Philip. Lenny & Lucy. Illus. by Erin E. Stead. New York: Macmillan,  Print. 

I was eager to open it up and take a look. To properly enjoy a book written and/or illustrated by the Steads, one needs quiet, space, and freedom to concentrate. I gave myself all of these things. 

After an evening with the book, I took note of many aspects. There are so many things to think about in this book that I don't know where to begin. 

So. . .

I'll go with the illustrations. 

You can see from the cover that the car and its riders provide the only color. The trees - imposing and creating vertical lines in gray --  surround the family. They are being completely enveloped in their surroundings. As I poured over each page, I asked myself: What does Erin Stead want me to notice? I will know it by the orange, green, blue, purple, or even red. Again: What does Erin Stead want me to notice? It will also have patterns: floral wallpaper, textured blankets, striped shirt, print clothing. The woods and their eeriness are always in gray, in the background, silent -- yet very much a presence. A lone yellow leaf hanging from a tree points down like a finger on several pages: notice Peter under the tree, looking away from house, notice the bridge that Peter and Harold walk on together, and finally, notice Lenny waiting underneath the tree and protecting Peter.  The oversize floral wallpaper is a nice effect in Peter's room - in essence, creating Peter's natural world - much more beautiful and safer than the desolate unknown  outside.

Now the story: 

Peter, his dog Harold, and his dad are moving to a new house, and from the beginning we know that Peter does not think this is a good idea. Dad is silent throughout the book, and Peter, after a snack of milk and cookies, ponders his situation and how he will handle it. His solution is Lenny, a protective figure, in the form of stuffed blankets and pillow hands -- comfortable and soft, and at the same time, imposing enough to guard the bridge's entrance. Peter goes to great lengths to create Lenny. And when he and Harold are back in their room checking on Lenny from upstairs, Peter worries about Lenny being lonely. So he builds another friend for Lenny and her name is Lucy. And they sit together at the foot of the bridge.

And I will not tell you about the ending, but I am still thinking about that, too. 

It's an engaging story -- unexpected, moving forward, unpredictable. Through a kid's eyes, everything makes sense. The bridge connects Peter -- not only to his home and to the woods, but also to his future, unknown, and a bit scary. 

I will be reading this story again. I do this with every Stead book. 


Also in my mailbox this week: a stuffed turtle plush from And Then It's Spring. Thanks, Mackids! They are available now at Kohl's as part of a program called Kohl's Cares: $5 will buy one of the Stead books and another $5 will buy a stuffed plush. Read about the program here on Erin Stead's blog. 

I will read Lenny and Lucy again and again. And I hope you will join me in getting your own copy in October 2015 when it is released. 

Earth Day, Bugs, and Poetry

It is still National Poetry Month, so I have been using every opportunity to share a poem with anyone who walks into the library. (I still plan on doing this after April, of course!)

With my kindergarten classes, the opportunity came via their curriculum. The classes had been studying insects, so I immediately thought of several bug poetry books including Bug Off! Creepy Crawly Poems (Wordsong, 2012).

In this poetry picture book, Yolen writes poems about insects and accompanies each poem with a nonfiction paragraph as well as a close-up photograph by Jason Stemple. Before reading the poem I'd selected, I did a picture walk with the book. My students called out the name of each insect or shared with a partner what they knew about it. I heard lots of "Wow" and "Eww!"

I had chosen "Grasshopper Green", a poem about yes, a grasshopper,  because I loved how it sounded as I read it aloud to myself. It consists of two stanzas with four lines each, and the last line of each stanza is "Green, green, green". 

I displayed the poem on chart paper, and read it aloud twice. On the third reading, students repeated the last line with me saying "Green, green, green". It sounded lovely! 

With my 2nd graders, I knew they'd been studying Earth Day and that they had taken a nature walk the day before. Although their library day was the day AFTER Earth Day, I chose to continue the celebration! 

I showed a picture of Earth, and then had the students tell me all about their nature walk the day before. I then read a poem aloud especially written for Earth Day by Mary Lee Hahn. The poem is entitled "Earth, You Are" and it is a short, two verse poem in which the narrator talks to the Earth. 

I found this poem in the book Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (Pomelo Books, 2015) compiled by Dr. Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. 

Following the suggested plan for the poem in the book, I read the poem twice. On the second reading, my students read aloud the first three words of each of the first lines in the stanza: "Earth, you are ...."

After, I had students share what they would do to celebrate/protect the earth that very day. The answers ranged from recycling trash, to going paperless. Others said they'd plant a seed! 

Some students chose to illustrate the poem or draw Earth afterward: 

These activities were relatively simple and still allowed for checkout time. It's no surprise that many of the books I'd pulled on recycling, Earth Day, and gardening were quickly checked out. 

What I loved about both of these "poetry breaks" was that they were quick and did not involve a lot of preparation (other than reading the poetry beforehand which was awesome).  But they did add a lot of joy to the day, and together in that library, my students and teachers and I shared a wonderful literary moment -- the kind of moment that will live in my librarian heart forever. 

TLA 2015: I Am Thankful

I'm home now from my second trip to the Texas Library Association's Annual Conference. Held in Austin, the conference drew over 7,000 attendees. I was fortunate to be able to go, and I am grateful to my awesome district and administration for supporting my learning!

An added bonus was that the conference took place during National Library Week and School Library Month. Celebrating this event with fellow librarians made it extra special.

So, because my experience was incredibly rich, it would be impossible for me to concisely recount every great thing that happened (nor would you want to read such a long post!), and, no doubt, I would omit someone's name or leave out something important.  I would never want to do that.

Instead I want to share some realizations -- and I know that some may seem incredibly simple and obvious. But this is where my learning is at this point, and after some time passes, the concepts will reveal themselves more specifically.

TLA helped me appreciate that:

• No matter how much I read children's literature or learn about it, it will never be enough!  It truly is my passion (along with libraries)! Listening to an author or illustrator talk about their book brings me a joy I cannot fully describe. This is because the more I learn about #kidlit, the better equipped I will be to help the readers in my library find the books they need. 

• Connecting with other librarians helps me improve my practice. When I ask questions, listen, and engage in conversations with other librarians, I instantly improve my own work. This is because I am doing a lot of thinking as I assess my knowledge, reconfigure for new information, and set goals. 

• I love my library, and to make it an even better place, I must keep pursuing ideas and exploring. This will require me to be forward-thinking and always-working. I will definitely need to "Be the Hero"! 

• A conference is learning-on-the-go, subject to the environment around me. Though I may have a plan, sometimes letting go of it leads you to something even better.

Note: I took a lot of notes and documented my learning via Twitter. And thanks to my fellow tweeting librarians, I was able to learn from sessions I could not attend. 

I am thankful for the Texas Library Association and their leadership and resources. 

P.S. I can't wait until next year: #txla2016. But also, I cannot wait until tomorrow, when I can use this learning in the library! 

See you in Houston! 

Dear Hank Williams - Blog Tour 2015

Today, I am the next stop in a blog tour for a new book coming from author Kimberly Willis Holt: 

Of course, if you love children's literature like I do, you know Holt from her previous works: 

Her very popular Piper Reed series,

this middle grade that I will never ever forget reading (because I devoured it)

and, of course, this one with a coveted and glorious sticker on the cover: When Zachary Beaver Came to Town (Henry Holt, 1999). The sticker reminds us it was the National Book Award Winner for Young People's Literature in 1999. (Read Kimberly Willis Holt's acceptance speech here.) 

Holt also came to my previous school for an author visit, and I will never forget that either. I also remember the lovely red shoes she wore! ;-) I was a 4th grade teacher at the time, and  her presentation was filled with very helpful writing tips for our students. 

But back to 2015: 

Holt's upcoming book is Dear Hank Williams (Henry Holt, 2015):

Read the book blurb from the publisher:

It's 1948 in Rippling Creek, Louisiana, and Tate P. Ellerbee's new teacher has just given her class an assignment: learning the art of letter-writing. Luckily, Tate has the perfect person in mind for a pen pal: Hank Williams, a country music singer-songwriter whose star has just begun to rise. Tate and her aunt and uncle listen to him on the radio every Saturday night, and Tate just knows that she and Hank are kindred spirits.

I read this ARC fairly quickly, but I thought about it for a very long time afterward. It consists completely of letters (the ones Tate writes to Hank Williams). If you've ever read a book written in this format, you know that the plot is revealed in a very different kind of way -- with bits of time left out, and not in one lump paragraph. You have to completely rely on the narrator (or letter writer) for description of the scenes, and, as a reader, it's up to you to build the structure of the story (setting, major characters, mood, etc). This is successful only if the writing is compelling and strong, and with Holt, it definitely is. 

The other strength of this work? Tate's family. Frog (Tate's little brother), Uncle Jolly, and Aunt Patty Cake reveal the Tate's character to the reader, and she (Tate) writes about them on nearly every page. But I had to remind myself that I never knew about them completely (and I shouldn't expect to) because Tate only showed us what she wanted us to know about them. Interestingly enough, though Tate is the main character, Frog (for me) is the one I will think most about in the weeks to come. (I do think about the characters in my reading for a very long time!)

Here's the other thing to remember as you read this book: the setting (1948 in Louisiana) has much to do with Tate's story, and her life -- not only the music she listened to, but the people that were around her, and the words she uses to narrate events. Tate is tenacious and writes letters to Hank Williams relentlessly-- and, when I thought about this, I realized she writes the letters (obviously) to be heard. Nothing stopped her. She had to talk to someone. She had to express herself. 

As we know, kids need a voice. 

As a result of reading this book, I did listen to some Hank Williams songs. And, Holt's author notes at the end of book are still leading me to some research treks of my own. 

In Dear Hank Williams, Tate shares her life.  It's not a fairy tale, and some parts of it are sad. But beyond the tragic parts, Tate's hope and persistence shine through so strongly. Perhaps that is why I continue to think about this book. 

Are you intrigued enough to read? (I've done my best to make this post completely spoiler-free.) 

Dear Hank Williams will celebrate its book birthday on April 14th. 

For the rest of the stops on the blog tour, check these links: 

Blog Tour: 

Tuesday, April 7
Read, Write, Reflect
http://readwriteandreflect.blogspot.com

Wednesday, April 8
Eat the Book
https://mretome.wordpress.com

Thursday, April 9
Librarian in Cute Shoes
http://librarianincuteshoes.blogspot.com/

Friday, April 10
Let’s Get Busy
http://lgbpodcast.blogspot.com/

Sunday, April 12
Watch. Connect. Read.http://mrschureads.blogspot.com

Monday, April 13
The Styling Librarianhttp://thestylinglibrarian.com

Tuesday, April 14
Nerdy Book Clubhttps://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com

Poetry in the Library

Although National Poetry Month (April) officially began last week,  we have been celebrating it all year long. I've read Face Bug (Wordsong, 2013) to 3rd graders, shared Rutherford B: Who Was He? Poems About Our Presidents (Disney-Hyperion, 2013) with 5th grade, and book talked several poetry picture books throughout the school year.

But April is our chance to do even more!

So far, I have put up a Poet-Tree highlighting names of some lovely poets I have met -- and whose books I have read and enjoyed:

Underneath the tree, I displayed poetry books written by the poets. I keep having to replace them as they are checked out! (I thank the person who came up with the first Poet-Tree and sharing it!)

I also have placed a poetry book on every table in the library for display -- and checkout. Even if learners don't check them out, they are reading them! Access is key!

Here are a few of the poetry books on display in my library!

One source I will refer to constantly as I promote poetry in the library:

The Poetry Friday Anthology (Pomelo Books, 2012) contains many wonderful poems organized by grade level. Included in the anthology are suggestions on how to share the poems with students. Dr. Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong have compiled the collection and I think it's a must-have for any elementary school librarian or classroom teacher.

The first poem I read aloud from this book (this month) was "Recipe for a Poem" by Kristy Dempsey. I shared it with 5th graders, and on the second reading, they read part of it aloud with me. I love the format and the message in the poem. When I tweeted to Kristy Dempsey, she  gave me a wonderful idea: have the students write recipe poems! I will definitely try this with the next class. I can't wait to get started tomorrow with this! (More on this in another post!)

There are so many poems I want to share! Each time I find one to read-aloud, I find another!

How are you celebrating National Poetry Month?