Dear Vineyard Vines, Simon and Schuster and First Book, Last week my 6th grade Reading Ambassadors worked hard on designing these #WhalesForACause. I especially like Evan's (see above), who chose to include the titles of many of his most recent favorite books written by authors he loves. And Izzy's creation who went above and beyond to glue a horn on her whale. Her favorite author is Adam Gidwitz. Is it a coincidence that his new series is called The Unicorn Rescue Society?
Thank you for donating books to kids in need. If you ever need recommendations, now you know who you could turn to.
Sincerely,
Stacey Rattner, Leaping Librarian and her Reading Ambassadors
Castleton Elementary School
Castleton, New York
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This is Zach's. Can you tell he's a dairy farmer?
Books and authors in Evan's whale: Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King, The Vanderbeekers of 141 St by Karina Yan Glaser, Slider by Peter Haut, The Someday Birds by Sally J Pal and Booked, The Crossover and Rebound all by Kwame Alexander.
"I got a lot of scream inside," explains Castle "Ghost". And boy does he. He's still trying to let the scream out from three years ago when his father nearly killed Ghost and his mother. Now Dad is in jail and Ghost and his mom are managing on their own. Still, altercation after altercation at school, life is a challenge. But suddenly things start to matter once Ghost joins a track team and gets a new mentor and role model in his life, Coach.
Now there is no going back. Nothing like being part of a team, especially when you get to eat duck with the newbies. Of course, Ghost still has a lot of learning and it doesn't come easy. How badly does he want the silver bullet sneakers? I really hope not badly enough. What about that feeling when putting on a brand new team jersey for the first time? Ahhh...if that doesn't help get the scream out, I don't know what will.
"Don't ever let someone call your life, your dreams, little." says Mr. Charles, the corner store owner where Ghost is a regular. Such sage advice. I have big dreams for this book and although there is some mature content I know my students are not going to want to put it down. I have dreams of finding my former students who loved The Crossover and Booked and immediately putting Ghost in their hands.
Here's a debate Ghost and Coach had: Lebron or Jordan? Know who you would pick? I'm a Jordan and Magic gal myself (Ghost is Lebron and Coach, you can imagine, is Jordan) but when it comes to an author to recommend to boys and girls alike in upper elementary/middle school, hands down, I pick Jason Reynolds. So break out the sunflower seeds, your running shoes, "get on the line" and make like Usain Bolt and Ghost to the library for a copy today! Then come to me and tell me what you thought about the ending...
Yesterday I ran into a former student of mine, a 6th grader. She shared with me that she read Booked in one day. "Couldn't put it down," she said. "Unputdownable, right?" She was thrilled that Kwame included a Walking Dead reference. "I was talking to him at the Dewey Duty lunch and he asked me what I was into. I told him I loved The Walking Dead," she smiled. "Think he put that in because of me?" We'll never know but man is it nice to imagine it's true.
"What's in the box?" I asked her. I'm always wondering.
"Hmmm...I don't think there's anything in there. I think it represents something, like hope, or promise." Wow. She continued but I was in a daze at that point. So impressed.
I went to school today and found the Middle School newspaper in my mailbox. I'm not usually on their "mailing list" but when I opened it up, I saw why this issue came to me. Check it out--a whole article on our Booked party.
*The "video" was the NPR interview
*My popcorn is FAMOUS! Who else can say that?!
I wonder what Zack thinks is in the box....
ps-Yesterday I took my son and his friend bowling. It dawned on me that not only does Mr. Mac wear Converse but also bowling shoes. I had to take this shot:
The incomparable volunteer, Mrs. Warland, baked 80 red velvet cupcakes,
cut out the soccer balls and put them on each cupcake!
Then she spelled out BOOKED!
Before the party even started, I took a few #BookedAllStars and #BookedSoccer photos:
She couldn't come to the party but she dressed the part anyway!
Let's Get This Party Started!
This afternoon about 60 kids showed up for the birthday party for Kwame's new book, Booked. We had a blast celebrating the past two days at school wearing our Converse. Today we even threw some soccer shirts in the mix.
I'd call that a good crowd for a book birthday!
First we listened to Kwame's interview that was on NPR on Sunday and kids followed along in their books.
Nearly half of them purchased a book ahead of time. I even had one young man come with three crumpled five dollar bills hoping to snag one if I had extras. Lucky for him, I did! This is the same boy that worked tirelessly last year to create our documentary on the road leading to Kwame's visit to CES in May. He called it "The Kwame Project."
I also shared this video that the 2015 Newbery Committee put together. It was great because I had some of "my" 2015 Newbery Committee members come to the party! We will forever be bonded.
What's a birthday party without singing? So we sang!
Finally a picture with feet so you can check out the #BookedAllStars !
Double Messi!
While some kids were on line for the food, others came up and wrote reasons they love poetry. Imagine this--they like it! I also handed out some pages from Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library and Honey to try out Blocked Poetry but we ran out of time. I'm hoping someone worked on it tonight and brings it in to share tomorrow.
Overall, great party! Thanks to Mrs. Warland for everything. Mia from the Castleton Public Library for her help, the teachers from CES and the MS for helping out. Mrs. Hoffman from the Teacher Center for the popular M&Ms and pretzels. The only thing missing was...KWAME. But he was certainly there in spirit.
So from all of us in Schodack, we wish Booked a very happy, happy book birthday!
When I got home, I had my cupcake. But I couldn't help snap a selfie of my own converse with the book. The top one my #BookedAllStars are in focus and the bottom one has the book in focus.
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Just in case you want more, here's The Crossover video the kids did last year:
What did you do last night? I had a date that I have been putting off for a few weeks and am glad it finally happened. Kwame Alexander's Booked (release date April 2016) and I finally got together and it felt like I scored a homerun, well at least a goal or simply blackjack with a side of a red velvet cupcake.
Once I started to put sticky notes on poems that really spoke to me I realized I would run out of them quickly and had to dog ear some pages (shh! please don't tell my students!). Note to self: When Kwame writes a book, make sure you have a brand new pack of sticky notes closeby. He has done it again. Now I wonder what countries (or states or towns) I will be leaping in with a copy of the book in my hand and completely embarrassing my daughter (or son) to take pictures of me with it. (see my post about Europe and The Crossover).
Limerence. The secret special word that I now know the definition of (and how to spell) and you will, too, once you have your date. That was an "aha" "finally" moment for sure. Note to you: That page got a starred sticky note. Other favorite poems that got an extra star on their sticky note for you to hunt for: Dear Skip, Books You Find on Google and What happens to a dream destroyed?
Back to limerence, I fell for Nick immediately and so will you. Not only did I fall for Nick, but all of them: his best friend, Coby, his crush, April, Mom and Dad (sort of), his English teacher, Ms. Hartwick and of course, the super cool librarian, Mac.
Thank you, Kwame, for writing another winner filled with more favorite poems (too many to count), characters I love and ones I aspire to be more like (Even though I already wear Chuck Taylors, I have to work on my bowling game and I do need to get some more dragonfly "stuff" for my library.)
Once you get your hands on this book make a plan to kick off your cleats, escape to a Dragonfly Cafe equipped with a rappin' librarian and enjoy this next winner from Kwame.
Last week my 6th grade Reading Ambassadors worked hard on designing these #WhalesForACause. I especially like Evan's (see above), who chose to include the titles of many of his most recent favorite books written by authors he loves. And Izzy's creation who went above and beyond to glue a horn on her whale. Her favorite author is Adam Gidwitz. Is it a coincidence that his new series is called The Unicorn Rescue Society?
