Thanks to Day of Dialog, Chronicle and Edelweiss, I was able to read and share the digital F&G of Sophie's newest fabulousness, If You Come to Earth, with a few of my 5th grade Reading Ambassadors today. It was my first time looking at it as well and together we dropped our jaws, examined the beautiful masterpiece and yeah, even got a little teary. The colors. The message. The inclusivity. The details. No beat was missed. She even tipped her hat to her beloved lighthouse and sea.
But don't listen to me. This is what the kids had to say:
"This should be read to the whole school. It's beautiful. The wording is very nice. Even kindergarteners will understand what it means and what the main thing that it is all about. I think teachers will like it, too...The message is that people on Earth can do lots of things together and apart...working together is always better instead of hurting each other."-MH
"The message is that we should take care of our planet and cherish it more than we do."-SS
Here's a simple but to the point review,
"👍👍👍Great book."-NR
"Accept who you are and what you are are. People can be sick and cured and then climb mountains. Some things are hard but nothing can be impossible."-MH (She is reading All the Impossible Things right now by Lindsay Lackey. Lindsay and Sophie inspired her to say this.)
I know what I will be doing on September 15th. Getting out my birthday candle for a party with blue "Earth" cupcakes, of course. That celebration cannot come soon enough.
I know we have a lot of dancers at school. Lyrical and Jazz. Modern. Tap. Irish. And the one I live with, ballet. These kids work hard for hours and hours every week. I know from experience. I have been taking my daughter to dance since before she was 3 years old. She loves it and most likely will major in it next year when she goes to college.
Our amazing PE teacher posts a daily short video of games to do at home. Follow him (@coachbiehler) if you don't already. They are entertaining and uplifting. His kids are too cute. My daughter was never really into basketball or tossing a ball around. It was (and still is) dance. These days she is taking online classes in our dining room. What can you do with your young dancer?
#HowDoYouDance
Back in early January, I shared How Do You Dance? with Mrs. Pryde's kindergarten class and we had a lot of fun dancing around the Dewey Section. Looking at these pictures makes me miss the kids and the library so much.
Watch this video of Thyra Heder talking about her book and dancing on KidLitTV. Can you share your dancing videos with the hashtag, #HowDoYouDance ?
I love this quote from Thyra that when you are "not feeling very joyful or feeling very happy to know that you can also move your body then and you can sort of roll around on your floor, you can dance alone in your room...that's also a good idea to show moving on a sad day." How did she know that dancing could be therapeutic especially TODAY? If you do get a hold of the book, look out for this particular spread, "Good days. Rainy days. Sad days. Sometimes you just need to flop around until you feel better." Today I could use a whole lot of flopping around, if you know what I mean.
To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel
In 2015 I met Mark Siegel for the first time at ALA. I nearly toppled him over. "YOU'RE Mark Siegel?! My daughter's FAVORITE book is To Dance!" He was very kind to me and we might have chatted for about three minutes. Then I kept running into him, and that was awkward. At every ALA or TLA since then, I have seen him and continue to salute him and remind him of my admiration for the book.
I found the book on Tari's shelf last night. I know she re-reads it every once in a while. It's one of those books that always brings her back to a happy place. If you can get a hold of the graphic novel written by Mark's wife, Siena Cherson Siegel and illustrated by Mark, here are some discussion questions I found from AdLit.Org:
Do you like this book as a graphic novel? Do you think the story would work well without them?
Read Jill Krementz's A Very Young Dancer (one of my most favorite books growing up) and find similarities and differences in the way the two stories are told.
Do you have a hobby that you enjoy? Research ways you can turn that hobby into a job. (You can even think about this question without reading the book.)
Were you surprised at the choice Shana made when she turned 18? Why do you think Shana made that decision?
Ivy and Bean: Doomed to Dance
I love the Ivy and Bean series by Annie Barrows and illustrated by my friend, Sophie Blackall. Here's a book trailer for Doomed to Dance, Book #6 (The latest is Book #11!). Read the whole series! They are all good!
And to keep with the Ivy and Bean theme, here is Sophie reading from Ivy and Bean: One Big Happy Family, Book #11:
Dear Ballerina
I met author and illustrator, Monica Wellington many years ago. She was even our guest for the Read Over Sleep Over several years ago! Her daughter, Lydia Wellington, is a dancer with the NYC Ballet. When my daughter was about 10 years old we saw Lydia dance in Saratoga and she gave her a pair of her ballet shoes. I don't know who was more excited, Tari or me?
How exciting that Monica's book Dear Ballerina can be found at the NYC Ballet gift shop!
Here is a cupcake recipe from Monica's website that your family can bake together.
FYI: You know that leaping sketch of me in my Google bio? Monica drew that!
There are a lot of other books fiction and nonfiction related to dance. PLEASE email me if you want any more suggestions. First thing I will do is pirouette over to my daughter's bookshelf. Then I will check out the library catalog.
And for the TEEN dancers in your life...
I just wanted to share Sophie Flack's, Bunheads, another one I grabbed off Tari's shelf. You know how intense the world of ballet can be and woosh--the music in this interview says it all.
Two wild connections here: Aunt Ronnie (see above) is friends with Sophie's mom AND Jenna Gavigan is friends with Sophie!
Encore
I hope your very (or not so very) young dancer is still dancing in addition to doing academics, hanging with the family, and of course, playing outside. Even your non-dancer can benefit from a moving around to some music. Get that sunshine in your pocket, dance away and remember to share #HowDoYouDance ?
PS: I found this one I really like but can't get the YouTube link so check it out here to DANCE!
Third grade Everett with his teacher Mrs. DeMassio and their golden medal cookies.
HELLO 2019 YOUTH MEDIA AWARDS!
I must believe that if I put off writing about our Youth Media Experience, that it didn't actually happen and therefore, it's not technically over.
HOWEVER, it has been nearly two weeks. Lives have changed. Kids have declared "my book won" and we must now emotionally be ready to move on. I read my first 2020 contender in 2019 and am now working on my second. Wake up, Stacey (slaps face). The 2019 award season is over and it is time to. move. on.
Here's a small recap:
Merci's #1 Fan!
The WHOLE day of January 28 was dedicated to the love of literature. We celebrated, cheered, leapt, held our breath, drum rolled, screamed, smiled, bit our nails...all in anticipation of the award announcements. We wore t-shirts expressing our favorite books and authors. Our friends hugged us when our books won and theirs didn't. And we all ate golden medal cookies.
We watched performances from Newbery contending books (AND the Newbery medal book and honor book). We viewed sculptures and read reasons why books should win the Sibert medal and were thrilled when our books were announced for both the Sibert and the YALSA Nonfiction award.
SO many of the books we were championing won awards. Check out this bulletin board I made outside the library with EVERY book we read in one grade or another BEFORE the awards. Every book posted had at least one fan, most had more.
Last April we threw book birthday parties (with Skypes) for Alma and How She Got Her Name and Hello Lighthouse. I was informally observed in November while sharing one of the books that won a Caldecott Honor (A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin--gorgeous!). It was a win-win-win year all around!
January 28, 2019. It was a day to remember. I'm sure Meg, Sophie, Juana and many others will agree.
Look at Holden! "My book won! YEAH!"
Just a few of the 100+ photos from the day
Can it get much better than this--watching with ALL these kids?! I honestly don't think so!
When The Girl Who Drew Butterflies won the Sibert medal, Ari's friends attacked her!
Arianna's Sibert sculpture
Tyler was also a fan!
Another Sibert winner!
A taste of some other Sibert projects
Clearly, we had a lot of Out of Left Field love in Castleton.
HELLO! This happened in September...
And seriously, now on to 2020. Happy Reading! Happy Leaping!
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.
The alarm went off at 5:30. The day I've been waiting for for months, a whole year, actually, finally arrived.
I picked up the cake at 7 am and it had a spelling error! Anyone who was at ALA in San Francisco will chuckle since it's the same error that was on our direction signs to the Newbery/Caldecott banquet.
Can you spy the typo???
Then it was time to get the live stream on and going! It went without a hitch. I was excited for the Coretta Scott King awards! Our friend Bryan Collier won the Illustrator award for Trombone Shorty!
Jason Reynolds also racked up a couple of Coretta Scott King awards. I need to get past my "fifth grade reading level" and read his books.
You need to hear this guy speak! He is SO inspiring!
I was leaping then because I loved Trombone Shorty so much and Bryan is such a great guy!
We were so happy to hear (all puns intended! ha!) that the Odyssey honor went to Echo and the award went to The War that Saved My Life. I listened to Echo and could not press pause for anything.
My Geisel Committee was a tad disappointed. They were dressed up like pigs. They honed in their grammar skills because they loved Cece Bell's I Yam a Donkey so much and yet it was still exciting for me. Never having done a Geisel project before, I was happy that the books they chose were ones that were on my list and that we had even read aloud. I enjoyed Jonathan Fenske's book. I distinctly remember laughing out loud when reading about that tricky fox. I can also see how Don't Throw it to Mo could win especially since it has a clear beginning, middle and end. Many of our kids really did like it.
Here's the Geisel Committee holding the winning books.
I love that Sophie Blackall won the Caldecott medal. She was super cool when I met her back in November at the AASL conference. Of course, we all wanted Float to get a sticker. It can still be distinguished in our minds, especially since Daniel Miyares has a new book coming out with Kwame next month!
Needless to say, we were all surprised with the Newbery outcome. I'm really going to have to look at things differently next year when I devise my list. Mrs. Yager's third graders focused their Olympic project on Last Stop on Market Street (yay for Christian Robinson, too!) so we have all these pictures from Thursday and today. Congratulations, Matt de la Pena! We should all try and take a bus to Orlando to celebrate you in June!
How cool is this that we already have a SIGNED copy of the Newbery winning book in our library
Here's the class today after Mrs. Yager put the Newbery gold on their flag.
The inside of their book, Last Stop at CES!
Mrs. Yager explaining to Chris about their project based on Last Stop on Market Street.
It was cool when Chris told the class that Matt de la Pena was "his friend."
Our principal in front of Mrs. Yager's class flag and our copies of the Newbery winning book. I love how they wrote all the many themes of the book on the side of the flag.
We were VERY happy that The War that Saved My Life, Echo and Roller Girl all won honors! Hooray! All three of those books were book groups, too!
I'm so happy for Kimberly Brubaker Bradley! We all loved this book so much!
Hooray for Roller Girl!
And of course, Echo!
Yes! It was an exciting day! I was so glad to watch the awards with my students. The 4th graders who did the Sibert Smackdown were a little disappointed that none of their books won. But they learned a lot and that's the important thing! There are a lot of good books out there!
