This week’s Book of the Week is one that I recommend with a caveat. Bink and Gollie: Best Friends Forever is a great read aloud but a not so good easy reader. Read on to find out why.

Our before bed reading routine takes many forms these days. Sometimes, I read aloud to both girls. Sometimes Caroline will read to Katherine. And sometimes Katherine reads on her own. Tonight, I was hoping to read a bit of my book, The Snow Child, so I was silently hoping that Katherine might decide to read to herself. After she decided that she didn’t like the book she had started during the afternoon, I remembered that we had a bag of library books so I reached in and pulled out Bink and Gollie: Best Friends Forever by this year’s Newbery Award winner and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Kate DiCamillo. I suggested that she read it to herself but fortunately, she asked me to read aloud instead.

I say fortunately even though it meant that I had to wait longer to read my own book. Bink and Gollie looks like an easy reader. There are super short chapters with very little print on each page. We have read the other books in the series but somehow I had forgotten that while they make beautiful read-alouds, they are tough for younger readers to read and truly appreciate on their own. With chapter titles like ‘Empire of Enchantment’ and characters like ‘Mr. and Mrs. Eccles’, sounding out words can be nearly impossible. Throw in phrases like “I fear that it will be well-nigh impossible to reconstruct the Stretch-o-Matic” and the problems could become worse. A book like this read independently could make even a strong early reader frustrated. As a read aloud though, it is great. Bink and Gollie are such strong characters with their own personalities and the short stories create many laughs.

So on a night when you are looking for a good book to read aloud to your already independent reader, reach for Bink and Gollie. It will be worth putting your own book to the side for just a bit longer.

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I love Twitterature days. Once a month, Anne at Modern Mrs. Darcy hosts a link up of short, Twitter style book reviews. Below are my books for the month.

Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch has been all the rage lately. I’m sort of embarrassed to admit that I didn’t finish it. I LOVED the beginning but about midway through, I just couldn’t stand it any longer. And the book is so darn long that at half way, I still had about 17,000 pages to read.

Escape from Camp 14 is the kind of book that reminds me of why I am in book clubs. I would have never chosen this book on my own and quite frankly, I did not enjoy the book when I read it. The discussion during my library book club though was fascinating. There were a few people in the group who had read extensively on North Korea and had lots of information to share. When last night’s nightly news led with the tragedy that is North Korea I was relieved that the story is finally getting the attention it deserves.

Glitter and Glue was certainly my favorite book of the month. I will be reviewing this title for Great New Books next month so for now, let’s just say, it was great!!

 

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Last week I was lucky to hear Kelly Corrigan, author of The Middle Place and Glitter and Glue, speak at a luncheon in Darien. I will be reviewing Glitter and Glue at Great New Books in a few weeks so I will not write a review here yet. This is a post about doing things on your own.

I met Kelly a few years ago when she came to New Jersey to support a mutual friend’s charity work. Hearing her speak about and read from The Middle Place was a great experience. I loved Kelly’s speaking style almost as much as her writing. I was thrilled when I learned that a college friend would be hosting one of Kelly’s tour events, an hour away in Darien. I started sending e-mails and posting on Facebook to find people to make the trip on a Wednesday afternoon. I knew it would be a tough sell. I had to ask Rob to work from home in case I didn’t make it home for pick up. It turned out that I wasn’t able to find anyone to come with me so for a few weeks, I decided I wasn’t going to go.

I started reading Glitter and Glue and loved it as much as The Middle Place. In the book, Kelly travels to the far reaches of the world because as she says, “Things happen when you leave the house.” I began to find it ironic that I was not going to the event in Darien as I read a book about the importance of leaving the house. I finally decided that I would go alone. Why not, I figured?

I arrived at the event and walked in behind multiple groups of women, all friends who chatted and exchanged laughs. I lined up behind these groups of women to sign in and collect my book. Then I walked in to a room with hundreds of chairs and sat on my own as I eavesdropped on all the conversations around me. I began to wonder if coming to a ladies luncheon without my ladies was really silly. Fortunately, my friend who was hosting the event came to say hello right as I was doubting myself which was helpful. But then the woman beside me introduced herself and just couldn’t understand why I had come ‘all the way from NJ’ by myself.

Despite the doubt of the woman next to me, I ended up loving the event. I had a chance to hear and meet an amazing author. I caught up with my college friend who I haven’t seen in years. And I did something I wanted to do, even though I had to do it by myself. I don’t go out to eat by myself. I have never gone to the movies alone. I’m not quite sure what made me think that going to this luncheon alone made any sense at all but I did it. And I’m glad I did.

Thank you Kelly for the motivation to leave my house.

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“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin- real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”

-Fr. Alfred D’Souza

For more moments, visit Amanda’s Soule Mama where she describes her Friday posts this way, “A Friday ritual. A single photo- no words-capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause and remember.”

 

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Last week, I started a new series called Book of the Week. After a question I received a few days ago, I decided my book this week is actually going to be a list of early chapter books.

I received an e-mail from a friend asking for book suggestions. Her younger daughter is in Katherine’s grade and loves books and stories. Currently, though her reading level at school is keeping her in advanced early readers as opposed to chapter books. My friend and I talked about how hard it is to snuggle in and get lost in an early reader. It’s just not going to happen. My advice to her is the same that I have followed with Katherine. Read harder books at home.

Now obviously, all readers are different but I will often encourage my girls to read above their ‘level’ when they are at home. I completely support leveling at school as it is crucial for building decoding and reading comprehension skills. If children read tough books when learning these skills they are going to have a very hard time when the text gets more complex. That said, I believe that reading at home should be fun. For years, Katherine has watched us all reading chapter books, anxiously awaiting the time she can join us. A few month ago, I presented her with a few different early chapter books to see what would happen. She was thrilled and sat on the couch for ages, reading and reading and reading. The books are a bit above her level. She will occasionally ask me what a word means. I will occasionally ask her to give me a summary of what is happening just to make sure she is understanding. If reading above her level means that Katherine misses some of the more complex pieces of a book at home, I’m ok with that. It has her reading a lot and to me, at this stage, that is what matters.

What I’ve also learned is that she is often more than capable of reading a bit above her level if she is reading a series with characters and settings she knows. It was only when I encouraged her to make this leap, that she truly began reading at home. There are a few series that she is really enjoying right now. They are all similar in design which at this level can be more important than plot. Big font, lots of white space and a fair number of pictures. All of these factors are really important when making the jump to early chapter books.

Katherine’s current favorites are:

 

Happy Reading!

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I don’t know who said, “The best camera is the one that you have with you.” but it sure is true. Last year I began to really use the camera on my iPhone and it has completely changed the way I take pictures. I have a ‘real’ camera too that I love but in truth, I don’t bring it with me everywhere. My iPhone, though… Well, it is like my right hand. And this means that I have a camera with my all the time. And because of that, I find myself stopping to notice things that might otherwise pass me by.

For example, the car pictured above.

Last week, Katherine and I were leaving her orthodontist’s appointment and this car was parked next to us. I knew I couldn’t leave without taking a picture of it and I’m so glad I did. The whole front of the car was covered in this print and a painted tail wrapped behind the car. Katherine and I spent the ride home trying to guess what would make a person decorate their car in such a way.

Much like writing, taking pictures has become a way for me to journal and to remember. I find when I look back, it is the small stuff like this that I am glad I captured. The ‘big stuff’ tends to stay in my head but the small stuff may fade. With my camera, I can hold on to images and memories that might otherwise have disappeared. For that I am glad.

 

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On Friday night, I attended a lecture presented by Jan Ressenger, an expert in the field of public education. We talked about many threats to equality in public schooling from standardized testing to charter schools to severe cuts in school budgets. While each of these factors are overwhelming and significant, nothing impacts the state of education in our county like poverty does. The statistics are staggering and most are out of the realm of a short blog post but there is one that we need to talk about.

The childhood poverty rate in the United States is 22% (National Center for Children in Poverty). Twenty two percent of this country’s children are living in poverty. The federal poverty level is $23,550 for a family of four.  The NCCP goes on to say that “on average, families need an income of about twice that level to cover basic expenses. Using this standard, 45% of children live in low-income families.”

Compare this number to the childhood poverty in Finland, a country with a superb public education system. The childhood poverty rate in Finland is 4%.

In case you are visual person, take a peek.

Source: UNICEF

There are so many things I wish we did differently in our schools. The fact that even superb teachers must teach to a test is disgusting. And with the advent of the Common Core, this will get worse not better. Next year, if things remain on target, many of our children will take multiple, computerized standardized tests. And then these test results will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of our teachers.

But I digress. These problems, while incredibly troubling, are champagne problems in the world of education today.

Childhood poverty is the problem in public education today.

Policy makers looked at our testing results and compared them to Finland’s and decided we need to do something different. We needed to create more tests. There is though, in my opinion, a terrible problem in this line of reasoning. In comparing the United States to Finland, we are comparing apples to oranges. And they are very poor apples and relatively rich oranges.

Until we can ensure that our children come to school with food in the stomachs, warm clothes on their backs and safe homes to return to, no amount of testing will not improve our public schools. Let’s hope before our children are forced to spend their school years learning how to take a test that a policy maker or two will realize this.

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“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

-Roald Dahl

For more moments, visit Amanda’s Soule Mama where she describes her Friday posts this way, “A Friday ritual. A single photo- no words-capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause and remember.”

 

 

 

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One of my favorite blogs, Design Mom, has a weekly-ish feature that Gabrielle calls, “Book of the Week”. I have always loved this idea. For myself, I worry and over-think having a weekly feature but I’ve realized that I too can make it a weekly-ish feature and no one will be too upset. I plan to feature picture books, easy readers, early chapter books, middle grade books and grown up books too. Pretty much whatever seems like a good idea at the time.

So here goes…

Moo! by David LaRochelle is one of my latest favorites. Moo! is a picture book that tells a full and funny story using one word (with one other funny word added in at the very end). With one word, clever illustrations and lots of punctuation, LaRochelle tells the story of a bored cow who goes for a joy ride in his farmer’s car.

It turns out that this particular cow should have stuck to grazing as he hits a rock and lands the car smack on top of a police vehicle. What follows are excuses, excuses, excuses and lots of hoof flapping.

That’s all I’ll write for now because I wouldn’t want to spoil the clever ending…

Moo! is the perfect book for so many occasions. It is super fun as a read aloud but also perfect for emerging readers. With just one word, even the youngest reader can ‘read’ the entire book while gaining a greater concept of word and fluency. And then this book is absolutely great to bring in for a class read aloud. Last fall I was invited to read to Katherine’s second grade class. With a reminder to use quiet voices, the entire class read this book aloud with me and they had a blast.

I hope you all enjoy this book as much as we do.

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I’m taking a fun class through Big Picture Classes right now led by the amazing Ali Edwards. It is called 31 Things and each day Ali shares a writing and photo prompt. A few days ago the prompt was titled “You”. I thought it was a fun one to turn in to a blog post…

Age: 40 (for two more months!)

Favorite part of my day: I love when everyone is home from school and all their various activities. Dinner, homework and showers are done and we all snuggle in Katherine’s bed to read. If the girls still need to finish their reading for school, Katherine is currently reading her way through the Heidi Hecklebeck series and Caroline is reading anything by Sharon Creech that she can get her hands on and I am having a love-hate relationship with The Goldfinch. If all the school reading is done, we are reading the Lauren Child version of Pippi Longstocking. If you haven’t seen this book, make sure to check it out. The illustrations are so great. 

Loving: A new cookbook, Keepers. I have made a bunch of the recipes and so far, they really are ‘keepers’. 

Longing for: Spring!! Fine. The snow on the trees right now looks gorgeous but enough already. We are forecasted to have 6 to 10 more inches tomorrow followed by a coat of ice and then a storm on Sunday into Monday that may be measured in feet, not inches. Enough. 

Dreaming of: Warmth. I really can not get warm in this crazy weather. I am wearing fleece lined leggings and wool socks and I just can’t shake it. 

Needing: To get caught up with Scandal. As many of my readers know, I am obsessed. I really need to get caught up so I can return to my regularly scheduled life. 

Navigating: My relationship with social media. I am dabbling in so many different places right now and there are things I love about each site. Trying to figure out where to really put my time.  

 Knowing: That daily writing is really important for my mental health. 

 

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