#AuthorFanFaceOff 1

A few weeks ago one of my favorite nonfiction writers and friend, Steve Sheinkin, reached out to me about a new video series idea he had.  I was intrigued...An author and a young fan battle it out on questions about a favorite book written by said author. A leap worthy concept and am thrilled to be part of the team!

Check out our pilot featuring fifth grader, Ace and author, Chris Grabenstein, as they go head to head answering questions about Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library. Go. Pause game. Play along. End game. How well will you do? 

We have many more episodes in the works. Stay tuned! And please, if you've got a pair to share, we're open to all suggestions!

A Two Brush Night

I can't tell you my favorite ice cream flavor (coffee chunk?) or pizza topping (garlic?) but I can most confidently tell you my favorite candy--The traditional Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (with Reese's with Reese's Pieces and Outrageous closing out the podium). The weeks leading up to Halloween I begin my campaign of peanut butter cups from my students.  November 1 one year it actually worked and a fourth grader handed me a ziploc bag of all her Reeses. Needless to say, she got an A in library JK. 

This commercial, though.  It doesn't just nail my love for the peanut butter beautifully snuggled in chocolate, but also for the times we are living in right now.  Flexibility is the "F" word of the year. You just brushed? So what? Who says you can't brush again?  No one. Be in charge of you.  Take it from someone who has had many two brush nights.

Our classrooms and libraries will not look the same.  Our teaching will be different. Carts will be the norm.  Instead of lunch bins we will have quarantine book bins.  Canvas, Flipgrid, SeeSaw, Screencastify, Nearpod, Google Classroom, Schoology, Bitmoji, Pear Deck, Wakelet...a sea of terms we had to become familiar with nearly overnight, or at least over a spring and summer. Always did something the same way year after year? It may not work in 2020. Time for the "F" word. Remember the Reese's and make it a two brush year. We all got this! I'll see you on the flip side with a batch of orange wrapped chocolate all ready to share. 

Letters from Cuba

Happiest of book birthdays today to Ruth Behar's Letters from Cuba.

My Fountains of Silence trip to Madrid was still on the forefront of my mind when I read this book back in early, pre-Covid March. I was all set to plan my next international trip. Little did I know how much the world would change in a matter of days.

And here we are 5 1/2 months later celebrating the book birthday of the story of Esther, a Polish immigrant in Cuba.  It's 1938 and Esther joins her Papa in Cuba, leaving behind her sister, Malka, three brothers, her mother and Bubbe.  Together Esther and Papa work hard to save money to bring them all to Cuba. This is their story as Esther's letters to Malka.

I loved this book.  Thought it was even better than Ruth's Pura Belpre winner Lucky Broken Girl, which says a ton coming from another Briarwood PS 117 girl. It teachers us so much about hope, perseverance, acceptance, diversity, coping with prejudice. Read it with Emma Otheguy and Beatriz Vidal's Marti's Song for Freedom, Margarita Engle and Mike Curato's All the Way to Havana and another new middle grade novel about immigrants and food, A Place at the Table by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan. Yes, I love when food shows up prominently in my books and this one is no exception. To begin with you will be yearning for challah, sour cherry tea, latkes and bananas.

Need to take a trip without getting on a plane or even in a car? This book is perfect then. Find Letters from Cuba today, cozy up in your favorite reading spot and bon voyage.