g's bookshelf: pete the cat saves christmas

another delightful read.  i'm hoping to sketch this cute guy in my hobonichi soon.  here's a video for your viewing pleasure:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Qiiksp4sg

p.s. i am still cheating on my 52 books this year quota.  with this one, the last one, and rereads of the great gatsby and to kill a mockingbird at school, i'm bringing my total for this year up to 26.  officially halfway there with over a month to spare.  ha!  ha!

quality literature: skippyjon jones

 

last year i set myself the goal of reading 52 books over the course of the year.  it was a little tight finishing in december.  i had to read a couple of my son's chapter books to make it, but i was quite proud of myself.  i thought to do the same thing this year.  i counted up my totals thus far yesterday and realized i was at 21.  a sad number unless it's your birthday.  what to do?  what to do?  why cheat, of course!  you all know me too well.  but is it really cheating if it's your own personal game.  i don't think so!  so anyway.  i'll be reading lots of children's picture books in the next few weeks.  i figure i can kill two birds with one stone in this particular endeavor since i've decided to take up hobonichi journaling and children's picture books make great practice material (see image below).  what is hobonichi journaling, you ask?  a new obsession.  i will be sharing more soon as i am addicted.

 

so, yes.  skippyjon jones books are all delightful reads.  you will thoroughly enjoy them as an adult.  they are about a siamese kitten who thinks he's a chihuahua.  i really love the authors command of language and how she doesn't at all dumb down the words for her chosen audience (being the kids, not us adults but we benefit from her style and wit for sure).  read them.  you will love them.  your kids will love them.  they are awesome.

 

 



this one makes 22/52.

g's bookshelf: bud, not buddy

g read this novel at school this spring, so i decided to read it as well.  it's historical fiction from the great depression.  it's a sweet story and a quick read.  a good read for upper elementary.

g's thoughts:  i thought it was an adventurous book.  it was a great story.  you kinda built tension; you wanted to know if mr. c was really his father.  you kinda get shocked at the end when you figure out what happens.  i liked how they described the hooverville in flint and the muskrat stew that they ate there.

if you're looking for greatness, check out christopher paul curtis's "the watson's go to birmingham - 1963."  it will make you belly laugh and the sob buckets.  also, if you're a school teacher or a homeschooling mom, you'll definitely want to check it out.  i use it often with my freshman esl class.  it's very well suited for 4th - 8th grade i would say.  it seriously uses every literary device known to the english language.  it's also great for teaching history and compassion.  this one's in my solid top twenty of all time reads.  it's that good.

g's bookshelf: frindle

i

i know some of you may have been wondering (from my last post) how i could possibly cheat at my own game.  well, for starters, i pulled book #50 in my quest from g's virtual bookshelf.  i downloaded "frindle" for him earlier this month as it was a novel they were reading in language arts and he needed it to complete a homework assignment.  i had read a chapter in the middle to help him with said homework assignment and was slightly confused (from starting in the middle) and very intrigued.  turns out i was right to be intrigued.  IF YOU ARE A SCHOOL TEACHER (NO MATTER THE SUBJECT OR GRADE LEVEL) READ THIS BOOK!  i LOVED it!  i loved that adorable inquisitive student on the front cover, i loved his teacher, and i loved the message.  i totally teared up at one point.  this is a great read; don't discount it because it's written on a fifth grade level.

what g had to say:

g hasn't finished it yet.  he really didn't care to tell me anything about it.  he said, "it's more we're forced to read it because we have to do that packet (my teacher gave me)."  they were given a big packet of worksheets they've been plowing through and it seems this has killed his interest in the story.  hmmm.  i think there is a lesson here as well.

p.s. for my final cheat, i have begun another trilogy.  i am positive i can finish the first book in the allotted time and as long as i've gotten the next one started, i'm calling it good.  52 books is in the bag.  ;)

g's bookshelf: farmer boy

last year our read aloud material was all about engaging g in the joy of reading.  this year i'm more into choosing books that i think will mold his character.  i surely cut my eye teeth on my sister's set of "little house on the prairie" books.  i devoured the series many, many times, so i knew "farmer boy" would be a good read for us.  i think it's important for gabriel to realize that life wasn't always so easy and affluent the way it is for so many of us today.  "farmer boy" was perfect for communicating this idea.  the family worked together from dawn to dusk to grow, harvest, and make everything they needed to survive and thrive in their time.  the ground was plowed by man and horse, wheat was planted, nature watered it, it was cut and shocked by hand, threshed by hand, the stalks fed to the cattle, the grain taken to the mill, the flour turned into bread, donuts, and pies by mother, and almanzo, the little boy in the story, could surely eat.  merino sheep were raised, bathed and sheared by the men and boys, the wool was taken to town to get carded then dyed by the girls before mother wove it into cloth on her loom then sewed it into clothing for the family.  and serendipitously, almanzo celebrates his ninth birthday in the opening chapters.  it's a charming read with lots to talk about.

here's what g had to say:

they don't get paid much, but back then everybody was poor so the prices were very low.  his dad was very good at planting crops.  it was bad when they made the candy and almanzo gave some of the candy to his pig.  when there was school, nobody had finished winter term and when the big boys tried to hurt the teacher, the teacher brought out the black snake whip.  that was scary, but it was right because those boys killed a man.  and when almanzo brought back mr. thompson's wallet, he called almanzo a thief and then he gave him a nickel, but almanzo gave the nickel back.  mr. paddock said you'd better give him $100 dollars, no you gotta give him $200 dollars!  and when almanzo went back to his dad, almanzo's dad said you can keep the money and almanzo's dad said do you want to spend the money and almanzo said he wanted to put it in the bank.  it was weird at the end because the end was that the entire story was about almanzo getting a colt.

g's bookshelf: a series of unfortunate events - the wide window

i have said it before and i will say it again.  these books are an absolute delight to read aloud.  i wish i could take a class from lemony snicket.  i want to know how he does it!  when i'm reading his books to gabriel i feel like i truly am the narrator of these tragic tales.

here, you try . . .

*******

"oh, i could never sell this house," aunt josephine said.  "i'm terrified of realtors."

the three baudelaire youngsters looked at one another surreptitiously, a word here which means, "while aunt josephine wasn't looking."  none of them had ever heard of a person who was frightened of realtors.

there are two kinds of fears: rational and irrational -- or, in simpler terms, fears that make sense and fears that don't.  for instance, the baudelaire orphans have a fear of count olaf, which makes perfect sense, because he is an evil man who wants to destroy them.  but if they were afraid of lemon meringue pie, this would be an irrational fear, because lemon meringue pie is delicious and has never hurt a soul.  being afraid of a monster under the bed is perfectly rational, because there may in fact be a monster under your bed at any time, ready to eat you all up, but a fear of realtors is an irrational fear.  realtors, as i'm sure you know, are people who assist you in the buying and selling of houses.  besides occasionally wearing an ugly yellow coat, the worst a realtor can do to you is show you a house that you find ugly, and so it is completely irrational to be terrified of them.

as violet, klaus, and sunny looked down at the dark lake and thought about their new lives with aunt josephine, they experienced a fear themselves, and even a worldwide expert on fear would have difficulty saying whether this was a rational fear or an irrational fear.  the baudelaires' fear was that misfortune would soon befall them.  on one hand, this was an irrational fear, because aunt josephine seemed like a good person, and count olaf was nowhere to be seen.  but on the other hand, the baudelaires had experienced so many terrible things that it seemed rational to think that another catastrophe was just around the corner.

*******

hear what i mean?  it just flows.

here's what g had to say (spoiler alert):

i thought it was a good book, because the house was on the side of a mountain.  i thought it was kind of weird that she would swim in that lake even though there were a kind of leeches and i thought it was pretty cool that there was a certain territory for the leeches.  it was pretty weird that sunny bit that count's leg in two and that that cave was for sale.  it was cool that she was actually writing a message in the will, but she faked her death.  instead of her jumping out the window, she threw a stool through the window and then she ran out the door and to the cave.  it was pretty cool that they were on the boat and the leeches were trying to break in and the leeches were trying to make a little hole and klaus would get the net and throw them off.  i wonder if the creature there is a he or a she.  that's it.  (to me: you remember the creature there?  wondering if it were a he or a she?  that would actually be very rude).

get it scrapped: you love books

as i've been pondering my plans and dreams for 2013, books are at the forefront of my mind.  i am a firm believer in the power of the written word.  i was a voracious reader as a child.  the books i chose back then played a tremendous role in shaping me into the person i am today.  as g's getting older, my time to mold him is shrinking.  while i still have my little captive audience of one, i want to read to him.  i started our read aloud program last year and we are both greatly pleased by it, but this year i want to move beyond the love of reading into the power of reading.  i want to read to him some books that make him think about his values and what's important in life.  i'll keep you posted . . .

this page was created for an article on symmetry at get it scrapped.  bilateral symmetry to be precise.  it's not a design that comes naturally to me, but i love a good challenge! 

g's bookshelf: a series of unfortunate events - the reptile room

we've already reported on book the first, and this one is more of the same.  top notch literature that is depressingly entertaining.  i've decided to call these books murder mysteries for children.  ha.

here's what g had to say:

the thing that was really funny was that there was an horseradish factory and the smell was killing them.  there is a big snake called the incredibly deadly snake and the snake bites the baby's chin then the baby closes her eyes and then she opens her eyes and bites the snake's nose.  when they were walking out of the room the snake was slithering right beside the baby.  the baby and the snake were friends and the snake wasn't really deadly.  i liked this book.  it was even better than the first one.

g's bookshelf: harry potter and the sorcerer's stone

harry potter is the sheer joy of a brilliant imagination and a story well told.  g loved it and i was once again caught up in the tale and enjoying a different perspective now that i know how the story ends.

here's what g had to say:

very exciting!!!  (did you expect anything less, lol).  there's fairy tale animals.  instead of calling "him" voldemort, they called him "you know who."  one of my favorite parts was when harry was staying with the dursleys and when he walked into his classroom he turned the teacher's hair blue.  the quidditch was exciting too.  somehow someone tried to steal something from gringott's but when they got there it was already gone.  they tried to get the sorcerer's stone and the first chamber there was a three-headed dog named fluffy.  the second chamber was chest (chess).  and then the third chamber was potions.  there was only two potions, one got you back out and the other potion took you forward.  the fourth chamber had flying keys and there were witch brooms and you had to find one key out of thousands of flying keys.  then the fifth chamber had a mirror; the only way.  harry went up to the mirror.  he looked in it and you can only get the sorcerer's stone if you get it but not to use it, so when he looked in all he saw was himself and he blinked and when he did a red rock flew in his pocket.

g's bookshelf: a series of unfortunate events - a bad beginning

"If you have not read anything about the Baudelaire orphans, then before you read even one more sentence, you should know this: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are kindhearted and quick-witted, but their lives are filled with bad luck and misery. All of the stories about these three children are unhappy and wretched and will most likely fill you with deep despair."  - lemony snicket

please do heed this warning.  it is entirely true.  the baudelaire children lose their parents in the first few pages of the story and then you will be reminded of their deaths in practically every chapter ever after.  i was hesitant to read this with g.  he has been known to tear up at the thought of leaving me to go to college, so i worried that reading about children who tragically lose their parents would be somewhat traumatic for him.  he seemed to handle it well though and we both thoroughly enjoyed the tale.  if i told you the plot you might think it a rather strange read for an eight year old.  i kinda do.  but it is brilliantly written.  quite perfect for a read aloud.  the words just flow.  and children are never talked down to by lemony snicket.  big words are used and explained in a most charming way.  two thumbs up and we already have book number two on hold.  it's called "the reptile room."  you can see why g is anxious to get it.  oh!  and a shout out to the illustrator as well.  delightful drawings!

here's what g has to say about it:

sad.  and happy.  it's filled with a lot of books and new words that it tells the meaning.  it's exciting.  the man's very scary looking and mean.  and it's sad when their dad and mom burn in their mansion while they're at the beach.  and the man's trying to get the money from the girl.  it was very interesting and i liked it because the kids were all smart and it was really really funny that that little baby bites.  she bites you real hard if she doesn't like you and she bites you soft if she likes you.  and she says words that are funny.  the oldest makes contraptions.  that was cool.  i want to read the next one.

g's bookshelf: warriors - into the wild

this one was painfully boring for me.  it's one looooooooong cat fight amongst a clowder of felines that take themselves way too seriously.  not seriously enough to tackle the redundancy in their word choices though.  the last 5 chapters were somewhat interesting, but after 231 pages of mewing dialogue and paw paw tongue twisters the final battle wasn't enough to redeem it.  watership down it is not.

g seemed to like it quite a bit though.  here's what he had to say, "exciting!  sad.  exciting names.  windclan went missing and shadowclan is ruled by a cruel kitty.  thunderclan has been doing the same rules for thousands and thousands of years.  tigerclaw seems nice, but he's not.  he's been trying to get rid of ravenpaw.  firepaw and greypaw took him to barley to keep him safe.  barley is a cat that doesn't live with a clan and he's not a kittypet.  firepaw defeated shadowclan's ruler, raggedstar.  when firepaw becomes a warrior, his name turns into fireheart.  i want to read the next one right away."

g's bookshelf: geronimo stilton and the magic treehouse

today was library day for g and he brought this book home.  practically already read.  at least he claimed to have finished it 60 seconds after getting in the car.  i guess i didn't really believe him and asked him to tell me what happened in it.  exactly 31 minutes later he finally said, "and that was the end of the story."  g doesn't believe in leaving out any details.  i no longer doubt that he read the book and read it well.  and i'm so very happy about that.  this one is on a 4th grade level.  quite an accomplishment for a 2nd grader who struggled with reading all through kindergarten and much of 1st grade.  i'm thankful for authors like this one who take the time to write really good books for elementary age children.  i haven't read any of this series yet, but from g's enthusiasm and the fact that we ran to the public library for three more of them just 3 hours after finishing the first i have to think that these are really good books.

now i can attest to the fact that these are really good books as i read many with g before he started reading them like crazy on his own.  they're written on 1st and 2nd grade levels depending on the book and g started reading them in the spring of last year.  i will forever be indebted to mary pope osborne to turning my baby on to real reading.  he was so very proud of reading chapter books.  i'm also indebted to her for handing so much knowledge to my child in such a manner that he would eagerly ask for more.  he has read these books voraciously and told me just today that the one above has arrived at his school's library and he would like to read it.  happy day.  i'm a mother and educator who believes in cultural diversity, environmental awareness, scientific exploration, beauty in the arts, and the idea that history repeats itself.  mary pope osborne believes in these things too.  in her books we've traveled to every continent many times over.  we've visited with darwin, leonardo da vinci, and clara barton among so many others.  we've been introduced to haiku, sirens, and the blues.  we've explored the arctic circle, traveled the seven seas on a pirate ship, and soared above the clouds on pterodactyl wings.  these are really good books.  if you have a new reader do check them out.  i believe you will find them to be really good books too.

g's bookshelf: the dragon diary

we loved this one even more than the first.  it was action packed.  i especially appreciated all the geography dugald a. steer worked into it and how creative he was in drawing from mythology, cultural traditions, and his own imagination to create such a variety of dragons.  we were very sad to not find any more in the series.  but oh my goodness!  as i was snagging an image for my blog post from barnesandnoble.com i dicovered that there IS a third!  woot!  we'll have to buy this one as our public library doesn't seem to have it anywhere in the county.  even more exciting news - there's a fourth scheduled to come out in august.  hooray!  also i have to give a shout out to the illustrator, douglas carrel.  beautiful work.

g says, "it's exciting when the secret society of dragons tells them that they're the only ones who kind find the two treasures.  and it was exciting when they fly all the way to paris.  they get attacked by a group of gargoyles.  it's exciting when they go to india and they find the nephew of the majarawal.  they find a sick nala dragon.  i really liked the hydras the most.  it has three heads and has three different types of flames."

as you can see, life is still "exciting" around here.  ha.  and as i was recounting our exciting weekend to my sister i told her how nice it is that g and i seem to be enjoying the same type of literature these days. 

g's bookshelf: the dragon's eye

this one was right on target.  i'd say interesting to a mature 6 year old through 12ish.  good for boys and girls equally, assuming they like dragons.  cute kids, a variety of dragons, and a darwin reference.  we'll be reading volume two next.

g says, "it was a little bit boring at the beginning, but then it got very exciting!  i liked it because they raised a dragon named jamal.  it was exciting when they found his pen in the woods and they said, 'we went too far.'  i also liked scorcher who was the baby dragon.  it was exciting when the big german dragon was shooting fire at the train and it was exciting when that evil person kidnapped the two kids.  he was going to give them to the dragon that was very angry because it lost its baby (scorcher).  i was surprised when that dragon could talk.  (mommy write this down...)  and then the dragon said to the evil person, 'you are not allowed to enter my cave.'  and it was exciting when they found the oldest dragon living and they saw the dragon's eye.  (spoiler alert) and it was exciting because they thought that the bad person took it, but the professor grabbed it before him.  the oldest dragon was still alive and she said the council decided that the professor was going to be the next dragon master."

i guess it's obvious that g really liked this one!  (and that i need to teach him some synonyms for exciting)!

g's bookshelf: hatching magic

delightful baby dragon illustrations at the beginning of each chapter.  i would say on average this was probably written for the 10-14 year old girl.  there were several spots i had to explain to g and toward the end i glossed over some things to get done.  for my tastes, it was a little too descriptive at times.  g enjoyed the central story line enough to want to get the sequel.  there are some definite quirky amusing scenes.

g says, "it was maybe a little bit scary in parts and exciting when the egg hatched.  i liked the book because it has imaginary creatures in it."