On the 8th Day of National Poetry Month

On the 8th Day of National Poetry Month My True Love Gave to Me

Woke

The book I am loving right now, at this exact moment, on the 8th day of National Poetry Month is  Woke: A Young Poet’s Guide to Justice. Written by Mahogany L. Browne with Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood; illustrated by Theodore Taylor III. I was asked to recommend a book for the NYSUT (our state Teacher's Union) magazine and I chose this one. I love every poem in it and you will, too.  You, a parent, a teacher, a grandparent, and students from K to college will find words, phrases, whole poems that will speak to you, spark discussions, forge conversations and more.  Anyone who reads this book will be moved to write to the publisher requesting to enlarge, print out and post every poem in the book. It doesn't hurt that the illustrations are moving, too.

Macmillan sort of knew that was coming when they made this poster downloadable but they have to know that one is not enough. Let's all let them know and when you do, be sure to tag them with #mackidspoetry. Tell them I sent you!

The Crossover + Brown Girl Dreaming=Reading Rainbows

It was so great to listen to Kwame Alexander read The Crossover  last week.  At 10:30 every day this week, Jackie Woodson is treating us to her, Brown Girl Dreaming. Ahhh....I loved (still love) both those books so much.  Don't tell Kwame, but I was pretty confident that Brown Girl Dreaming was going to win the Newbery award that year.  I can still hear the 5th grade ELA teacher at the time, Mr. Reischer saying, "Are you sure, Ms. Rattner?" 

Here's a little taste of Jackie's reading.  Maybe you can tune in on Facebook live and get this treat for the next three days.

I love how Jackie concludes each session with: 

Be kind.

Stay safe.

Don't be a racist.

Love each other up.

Not a book in verse, but I believe Jason Reynolds will be reading Look Both Ways next week live. (This will be confirmed on Friday.) Something to look forward to for sure. Until then, Jackie announced today that at 6pm on Twitter tonight Levar Burton, of "Reading Rainbow" will be reading an excerpt from Look Both Ways.  Did you know he was reading aloud every M/W/F? Not verse books but LeVar reads so soothingly and poetically, that it almost could be:

Welcome, all! I’ll be reading “Amazing Grace” by Mary Hoffman & my own children’s book. Enjoy. https://t.co/643BPVC7s6

— LeVar Burton (@levarburton) April 6, 2020

When Jason was on with Kwame last week he said something that has stuck with me, "Have a little extra. Do a little extra." I hope everyone who is able can do a little extra. I'm trying...

When You Know What I Know

I am excited to read debut author, Sonja K. Solter's novel in verse, When You Know What I Know.  From the blurb, "A sensitive, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful novel in verse about one girl's journey in the aftermath of sexual abuse." It sounds like it is another important book to be paired with Kate Messner's Chirp and Kimberly Brubaker Bradley's painful but necessary book, Fighting Words. 

Closer to Nowhere

My friend, Alicia, loves Ellen Hopkins.  To be honest, I haven't read any of her books.  But that will change now. I just received her new verse novel (pubs in October) and can't wait to read it and join the Ellen Hopkins fan club.

BenBee and the Teacher Griefer

    

I am multitasking today and have two computers going--one for school work; one for the #MiddleGradeMagic event.  In one of the early sessions, K.A. Holt was a panelist talking about her new (pubs in September, we hope!) middle grade novel in verse, BenBee and the Teacher Griefer. I love her stuff. Plus, bonus--She's from Texas! 

Fun fact: The first time I test Skyped with Kwame back in December 2014, he recommended her book, Rhyme Schemer, to me. Next day it came in the mail.  Strange coincidence?

Kari Anne described the book as a funny book that "celebrates the divergent thinkers."  She said she and her editor keep thinking about the kids in the book and asked the other day, "What is [the character] Jordan doing in quarantine?" Not sure I'm going to get this quote right, but that she hopes readers will find ourselves in these kids. I can't wait to read it!

May your true love be good to you today and every day and you always find time for some poetry. 💗

The Big Break

Time for another book review!
This one by fifth grade Reading Ambassador, Will.

The Big Break by Mark Tatulli
Due out March 2020

Last year my cousins and I went camping. We left the adults at the campsite by the fire and went exploring. First we crossed a tilted bridge. Then we took a grown in path into the woods. We saw some geckos and salamanders.  After we finished the path, we popped out into the other end of our campground. It was an adventure.

Russ and Andrew, the two main characters of The Big Break, also like adventures. In this graphic novel, they like to go monster hunting after school. They are searching for the Jersey Devil. But as the hunt goes on and they can't find it, Russ gets angry at Andrew. Russ starts to think monsters aren't real and this whole thing is stupid. Will the boys find the monster and become friends again?

I thought this was a great book because in real life it's normal to get angry at your friends. It's worth it to work through the aggravation of disagreements.  I read this book in two days and it was hard to put down. I would read it every morning and night. I would rate this book five stars!  

Short & Skinny

Today's review of Short and Skinny a new graphic novel by Mark Tatulli is brought to you by Evan, Brianna, Olivia, Sophia, Taylor and Izzy!

Evan: This is a story about a kid who is short and skinny (cough-cough like me) and is super self conscious about it. Mark tries to use all these things to make him grow bigger and stronger like "miracle muscle."

Brianna: I liked how the author changed the name from "Star Wars" to "Star Bores."

Evan:  I thought this book was hilarious, but in the end it got kind of sad.

A little revolt erupted just now because no one else thought it was sad.

Izzy:  I don't think it got sad in the end.

Olivia:  How is it sad? He shows his movie to a bunch of people and he's happy.

(The sad/happy ending debate continued for a while...)

Evan:  Remember he throws his movie everywhere because he was mad?


Brianna: Remember at the roller skate arena and Alan said, "I don't like her as much as you do."

Was that sad?

Izzy:  It wasn't sad

Olivia:  I read the book three times.  It was SO good! I just liked the Star Wars/Star Bores part. 

Izzy:  And because of Star Wars he realizes being short and skinny isn't so bad!

Sophia:  The cover made me want to read the book because it made it look like it would be a funny Star Wars book.  And it sort of was because Mark was making a funny version of Star Wars.

Izzy:  To me the cover look confusing.  He was just randomly in the hallway with the mom, the dad and some kid filming them.

Olivia:  I wanted to read the book after looking at the cover because of all the little details.  It looked so interesting.

Taylor:  I didn't like that the cover was all yellow.  I like the illustration on the cover.  I just don't like the yellow.

Olivia:  I think the beginning should change because some people might pick it up and it might turn them off with the aliens.

Evan:  I like the illustrations.  They kind of showed how Mark was short and skinny.

Izzy:  And how he was struggling.

Evan:  Hashtag The Struggle is Real  #thestruggleisreal

All:  I would recommend it!

Brianna:  I would recommend it to everyone!

Olivia:  I would recommend it to people who like graphic novels.

Evan:  I would recommend it to people who are sappy (sad/happy).

Olivia:  YES! I would definitely read another book by this author.

Evan:  I think he should make another book and call it "Tall and Strong" and they would meet and become friends.

Sophia and Izzy:  There's was just a little too much romance in the book.

Brianna:  I think the author should make more graphic novels.

All:  The third book should be "Normal and Boring."

Olivia:  This book was great!

Brianna:  No, it wasn't a great book.  It was an awesome, amazing book!

Evan:  This wasn't a great book...This was an AWESOME book!

Izzy:  This book is great for people who are short and skinny, tall and strong and normal and boring!

The book comes out in September with full color illustrations! We can't wait to see it!

Winnie's Great War

I'm starting to recruit a new batch of reviewers. 5th grade Reading Ambassador, Ayla, came in this morning eager to share her thoughts on Winnie's Great War by Lindsay Mattick & Josh Greenhut with art by Sophie Blackall which she read over the weekend.

"I cried at the end of the book because it was a really touching, good story. This book is the story of how Winnie, a bear, became 'Winnie-the-Pooh.'

"Harry is a soldier who bought Winnie for $20 in 1914. Harry had to bring Winnie to the zoo while the War was going on because he didn't want to risk Winnie's life. Winnie was really sad without Harry. The zookeeper had special guests visit her to try and make her happier. When Harry came to visit Winnie for the first time at the zoo, she jumped on him. I felt happy for Winnie. But then Harry had to leave Winnie to go back to the war.

"I would rate the book 10 out of 10 stars. I liked learning about Winnie's story throughout the book. I would recommend this book to a friend.  I would say to them if you want to read a book about a funny and outgoing bear, this is the one! And even if you don't, read it anyway!

"Winnie was my favorite character because she was funny. Before Harry had to drop her off at the zoo, they were at the campsite and Winnie always liked to roll around in the mud and play games with Harry and the other soldiers. One time the soldiers hid a sock and Winnie had to find it. It was funny because she went wandering in a cave to find it. It may not sound funny, but the way it was described in the book made me giggle and smile.

"So how did this Winnie become the most famous bear?  You'll just have to read the book to find out! It comes out in September!  Be patient! It's worth it!"

Thank you, Ayla and welcome to the world of leaping book reviews.

Evan Reviews "The Wild Robot"

Evan is BACK! This time he's is raving about one of our favorites from 2016, Peter Brown's The Wild Robot.

"The Wild Robot was really surprising and full of twists and turns. Peter Brown is a really creative author because I don't think anyone else could think of this story of a robot breaking and showing up on this island.  I don't think a lot people could think of that stuff. Like everyone thought Roz was different when she was really just trying to help them and everything. She would always try and communicate with them and they would run away because they thought she was a scary monster.  Later in the story I felt better for Roz because the animals understood her more when she started talking to her.  My favorite part was when Roz picked up Brightbill's egg and it hatched.  I like birds and ducks a lot.  This isn't part of the story, but my mom said that if I take care of our cat Dexter really well, she might get me a parakeet.  I thought the ending was really creative and smart.  I was surprised that the story felt realistic even though it was about a robot stuck on an island. Like the parts about the geese and the opossums.  I thought that was really, really cool. 

"The illustrations were simple in the beginning but I felt like they had more details towards the end.  I love Peter's art.  I don't like when authors go above and beyond with the artwork.  Peter kept it basic and so simple. I loved it.  I can seem some authors wanting to try and draw everything so detailed and he just did it basic and it turned out so well.  That was really cool.

"My favorite character is Chitchat.  I like Chitchat because she talks a lot, just like me!

"I love this book and I definitely think it should have won the Newbery award last year.  The words were way more detailed than the pictures, which is what I like.  Usually pictures tell the story, but in The Wild Robot the words tell the story."

So there you have it! We have another Wild Robot fan in our midst! AND another fan of the blog reviews.  Stay tuned for more from Evan!

BTW: This is a great blog post from Peter Brown about the making of The Wild Robot.

 

Girl Power

Love These Girls

Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake

P.S. I Miss You by Jen Petro-Roy

Evie and Ivy.  Ivy and Evie. In a perfect literary world I would have them meet, hang out and fall for each other.  But for now, Evie has June and Ivy has...June! Seriously! They both have crushes on girls named, "June" and I have a crush on all of them!

Each 12 year old protagonist experiences a tragic event in their lives:  Ivy's family's home is destroyed by a tornado; Evie, growing up in a strict Catholic family, is dealing with her teenage sister sent away due to pregnancy.  On top of that, each realizes they are crushing on the new girl.  

Letters also play a role in each novel.  When Ivy leaves her sketch book at the shelter, it is discovered by someone who returns her drawings, a snapshot into her feelings, with notes inside Ivy's locker.  Thus begins a back and forth communication and Ivy's quest to find the mysterious letter writer.  In P.S. I Miss You, Evie writes letters to her sister while she is away in search of someone to listen and understand her.

Being in seventh grade is hard enough and feeling that you might not fit in with the norm makes it even tougher.  Then mix in challenges with family, losing a home, missing your sister and life gets exponentially harder.  Even Evie says, "I wish I could go back to when worrying about what [the other girls] thought was my biggest problem. Even to when worrying about what Mom and Dad thought was my biggest problem." Yet each of these characters comes out stronger in the end.

I passed on my advanced copy of Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World to one of my fifth graders and she loved it.  Here's what she wrote on her review form:

In which I would reply, "Where can I find that book?"

Ghost Boys

I can't stop thinking about the poetic, thought provoking, new middle grade novel, Ghost Boys, by Jewell Parker Rhodes.  I guarantee it will stick with you well after you finish it, too.

This is not just the story of Jerome, our present day 12 year old protagonist from Chicago recently shot and killed by Officer Moore.  It is also 1955 Emmett Till's story who comes back as a "ghost boy" and all the other "ghost boys" who have followed.

Told from Jerome's first person point of view alive and as a ghost, this is the chilling account of the day he was murdered and what follows.  The sadness his Ma and Pa cannot shake.  The relationship "Ghost Boy" Jerome begins with Sarah, Officer Moore's 12 year old daughter. The guilt Carlos, Jerome's new friend, carries with him. Grandma and little sister, Kim, moving forward. We witness it all.

I'm struggling with who I will recommend read this.  The publisher is suggesting 10 and up.  Will I feel comfortable reading it with my fifth graders?  I think so?  It is such an important book that can serve as a precursor for readers of anything by Jason Reynolds and the newly multi-medal winning The Hate You Give. This can get a very important conversation started between teachers, librarians, students, parents, administrators.

And it will encourage anyone to dive into further research, just as I did.  I hopped onto Britannica because I was curious about how the elementary level would address Emmett Till.  I was pleased to find the entry for him was appropriate and verified much of what was included in Ghost Boys.

"Everyone needs their story heard."  Thank you, Jewell, for writing Jerome's story for young people. His words will help to bring up the past with hopes of making a difference in the future.

"Only the living can make change."  -JPR

I'm now ready to find out what these rising sixth graders (we are past the 100th day of school) think.  Stay tuned.

The Sweetest Sound

Break out your Mariah Carey albums, a comfie spot and get ready for a musical ride to Harmony, Pennsylvania.  You won't regret the time you spend with Cadence, Junior, Dad, Faith, Zara, Mei-Mei, Sophine, Sophie, Jones, the Trinity Sisters, Mr. Bassie, Aunt Fannie, Miss Stravinski, Miss Clayton and MORE while reading Sherri Winston's newest book, The Sweetest Sound!

I read this book with a great group of fifth grade girls and this is what they had to say upon finishing. Note: There might be some possible spoiler alerts.

"What surprised me was when Faith said that she was "Gospel Girl" and Cadence came out with the truth!"-Emma, 10

"My favorite character is Cadence because she knew it was wrong the way Faith was treating her.  She actually went on stage and sang with Aunt Fannie. The ending also surprised me."-Violet, 11

"My favorite part was when Faith and Cadence got into a fight because it got scary at first and then got better.  My heart was beating so fast! I recommend this book because it shows how hard it could be if your mom or dad leaves.  It was sad at some points but was full of hope."-Brynn, 10

"My favorite part was when Cadence sang in front of the church because she wasn't really used to it but she did her best.  She kind of grew out of her shell and I can sort of relate to that."-Deyanna, 11

"I liked Cadence because she was brave enough to sing on stage even though she was scared. That was my favorite part. I was suprised at the ending even though it reminded me of Raymie Nightingale."-Alyssa, 10

Stay tuned for the puppet show these girls are going write and perform about the book.  I wonder if they will sing?  Or at least play a little Mariah...

The League of Unexceptional Children Get Smart-ish

As part of the Little, Brown  Faculty Lounge I received several arcs of The League of Unexceptional Children Get Smart-ish by Gitty Daneshvari.  This is the second book in a series and from the sounds of my students, you didn't have to read the first book to understand this book.  Please blow up your balloons again--We missed the book birthday by a little over a week.  Sorry about that!  Happy belated and check out what they had to say about it--All good!

"It was interesting.  There was a lot of funny stuff.  And a lot of cool mysteries.  The funniest part was when they were talking about vampires."

-Stephen, 10

"I rated the book a 4 out of 5 because in every chapter they show the young spies in London and every chapter it has a different place in London. I would recommend this book to a friend because it's funny, awesome and shows passion."

-Alyssa, 10

"My favorite character was Jonathan Murray because he was a lot like me.  He's a hard worker."

-Cameron, 10

"Nina is my favorite character because she is caring and nice. I would recommend this book to a friend if they like spy stuff."

-Lilah, 10

The winding road to Jewell Parker Rhodes coming to CES

This is a "Where's Jewell?" picture

The most lovely, inspiring, joyous, huggable Jewell Parker Rhodes visited our school on Thursday. Her aura and magic is still lingering.  I imagine it will hang over us for a long time to come.

This post is not just a recap of our day, but a history of our relationship with Jewell...

It All Started with Sugar in 2013

Rewind three years and it all started with a Sugar book group for the 2014 Newbery project.  Look!  I even found the photos from our Skype with Jewell!  We have loved her ever since.

And now these kids are in 8th grade!  It's crazy how time flies...

Fast Forward to Late Winter/Spring 2016

We are so fortunate that we received arcs of Towers Falling through the Little Brown Faculty Lounge.  Mr. Reischer read it as a book group and both he and the students loved it.  Then I read it and loved it. Then Mrs. Warland read it and then....and then...and everyone who has read it since has loved it. Even our custodian picked up a copy on his break starting a few weeks ago.  I heard he just finished it.

A few pictures from our Skype in April with Jewell:

Here Mr. Reischer is giving feedback to Jewell

   

This Week

Jewell dazzled us this week as we welcomed and embraced her in our CES community for a few short hours this Thursday.  And she was a true sport about it, too!  Just moments after her toes felt the red carpet, I swept her into the office to have her say good morning on the announcements.  That's when she shared to our whole school community that in November she will be a grandmother to a little girl named Clara.  We are all so happy for her.

At our school wide assembly, we introduced our theme for the year, "We can be heroes" which came from Towers Falling.  We sat Jewell right in the front so she could watch it all.  To kick it off, Mrs. Golden's first graders sang an awesome song about heroes.  Next, we all loved hearing about the heroes of the students in Mrs. Kelliher's class.  We learned about the circle lesson in Towers Falling from Mr. Morse's class.  Mr. Reischer's class performed a great skit teaching us the important lesson on how we can all be heroes and all the fifth graders sang  a beautiful rendition of, "This Land is Your Land."  

Mr. Reischer's class skit*

Mr. Morse's class did the circles from Towers*

Mrs. Pryde's first graders came up and shared a timeline of her life.  Then Jewell and I did a little Q and A and that's when everyone in the room fell in love with her!  Silly me, I didn't even give her the questions in advance, but you would never know! She answered them so eloquently, you would have thought she had days to prepare.

                            

                                        Mrs. Pryde's class timeline*

Do you think this shirt was worn on purpose?

This is your life, Jewell!

Each 4th grade class researched and
created a Jewell Parker Rhodes from A-Z book*

For more pictures from that day, check it out here:  SCHODACK FLICKER for JEWELL (All pictures with an * are from this set.  Thank you Jason McCord!  I couldn't take many pictures myself!)

Jewell boarded her plane for California at noon.  She was with us for such a short time but boy did it make an impact.  People were talking about it the whole afternoon and next day.  Thank you, Jewell and Little Brown for bringing us all together!

Ms. Martin, Mrs. Hanna and Mrs. Brewer's third graders are loving Sugar.
They made this welcome sign for Jewell to hang by the red carpet!

I hope I have given the day what it deserves.  We love Jewell and were so thrilled to have her visit our school. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  We look forward to collaborating throughout the year and more! xoxo

Saying goodbye and moving forward...

It has been a long 8 days...

Saying Goodbye

A shock came to our community on July 4 when we suddenly lost, Bob Horan, the most dedicated and passionate superintendent you may ever meet. We are a small school district (less than 1000 students) and on any given day at our elementary school, you could find Bob reading to first graders, observing an author Skype, playing with bots or just walking through the hallways.  He was a big fan of STEAM so I will do my best to devote some time to STEAM in the coming years in his memory.

Here's Bob with Chris Grabenstein at our school in January.

National Tragedy

While we were mourning Bob, the events that unraveled in Baton Rouge, Minnesota and Dallas hit me hard.  I feel hopeless and wish there was something I can do to make things better.  I'm worried for my children, my family and my students.  The best I can do is advocate, read and share books and poetry that can make a difference.  I appreciate this post with a #BlackLivesMatter booklist for teens:

#BlackLivesMatter booklist

I also want to share Kwame Alexander's interview on NPR on Sunday.  He always gives me hope:

While running late last week, I listened to an old podcast on This American Life.  It was so relevant to today, I feel like I want you all to listen to it, too. W. Kamau Bell's part is Act II and about 18 minutes into the podcast.

The link is here:

Then I actually went to W. Kamau Bell's website to view his blog and the post mentioned in his story was right there.  Here it is:

Blog post from January 2015

You may or may not know, that I am a big fan of Sean Qualls and Selina Alko and the book referenced in the stories.  I just hate that it all has to come down to this. Way over a year has passed since this story was aired, I hope things have changed, although with the events of the past week, I am just not so sure...

Looking Ahead

Only days after Bob's passing, we were scheduled to share our Towers Falling project ideas with our Board of Education.  Needless to say, it has been put on hold for a little bit.  However, we still moved forward in our planning and are hopeful that we will be able to commit to an end date soon.

So on Monday, with support from our principal and Director of Curriculum, we continued to plan this project that takes a tragedy and turns it into an amazing inquiry, project based cross curricular year long study on heroes, patriotism, history, memories and resilience based on Jewell Parker Rhodes, Towers Falling. Two months to the day before the 15th anniversary of September 11, my fifth grade collaborating teacher, Mr. Reischer, and my fabulous volunteer couple, Mr. and Mrs. Warland and I drove down to NYC to visit the 9/11 Memorial and get some face time with Little Brown.  We didn't know what to expect and it turned out to be a way more incredible trip than we ever imagined.

The steps that lead many folks to freedom.

We learned that our students may be captivated by just seeing a firetruck.  We were in awe by how it was destroyed.

The saved column.

The beautiful education room.  

Mrs. Warland, Mr. Reischer and Jennifer, the amazing educator who we are thankful spent so much time with us.

On a side note, we even met up with my friend and inspiring librarian, MaryAnn Scheuer, who was visiting New York from California.  She was able to sit in and participate while we met with Jennifer and we hope to collaborate with her students, too, as part of some cross-country component. Everything just keeps getting better and better...

The footprint of the South Tower.

The Warlands in front of the Survivor Tree.  An incredible story:
http://www.911memorial.org/survivor-tree

Since it was the day before the release of Towers Falling, we only had the arc.
The book's cover now matches the color of the sky.

If all goes as planned, students will be able to experience this state of the art conference room at Little Brown...

...with views of Radio City!

I posted this collage on Instagram.
It was just so wonderful to meet and spend time with the team from Little Brown.

This project fills me with excitement and hope.  We will push ahead with the enthusiasm and passion of our late superintendent and the nearly 3000 people who were killed on September 11, 2001.  We will move forward in this life changing and unforgettable project.  Thank you Jewell Parker Rhodes and the folks at Little Brown and the educators from the 9/11 Memorial for challenging and pushing us forward to help bring this project to fruition for the students and families of Schodack. We are excited to share all the details soon with administrators and the Board.
                                                                                                                                                 xoxo

Want to read or listen to more?  Here are a few more links:

• Jewell was on NPR last week discussing Towers Falling.  Here's the link for the interview:

Jewell's NPR interview

• Here's another article about Towers Falling--even Mr. Reischer is interviewed.  Although, it says we will be visiting in September which is not the case.

ASU article about Towers Falling