Author Archives: Lana

Books to Eat 2015

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Hooray, it is almost that time of the year… the time where cake and books come together in the Elementary Library for our Annual Books to Eat competition.

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Take a look at some former Books to Eat competitions here at SAS, this is our 3rd year and we’ve had many amazing entries. You can either just go to my blog’s home page and type in Books To Eat in the search button, or check out the images in posts like this, or this.

The ‘competition’ goes something like this…students bring in an edible creation to do with a book; it could be a cake with the cover of the book frosted on to it, a character from the book made into a cake, the setting for a book… you are ONLY limited by your imagination. Many entries are cakes, however, feel free to think outside the box, some of my favorite entries include a block of ice from former SAS teacher, Mrs Toa, representing the book ‘Frozen… a plate of ham for the book ‘I smell like Ham’… and a lonely little pea on a plate to complement Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s book of the same name… What about ‘Green Eggs and Ham’? How about ‘Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs’ by another SAS family who have left us, the Rekate family.

So… start looking at books in a whole new way and get ready to create and bake.

Monday April 13th – 4th and 5th grade 

Monday April 20th – 2nd and 3rd grade

Monday April 27th – PreK, K and 1st grade

There is so much research to show that eating lots of cake in the library is beneficial for children’s brain development and helps get them into Ivy League Colleges. Nah… just kidding, we do it because it is FUN!

 

Thanks Mules… I wonder who brought in the winners…

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Over Winter break, 9 different SAS teachers and parents brought back picture and chapter books for me from America as I was trying to make sure I had the Newbery and Caldecott contenders. I am losing sleep wondering if I have THE books here… the Medal and Honor winners… fingers crossed; everything crossed!

We will find out soon enough as the announcements are February 2nd, 8 am USA central time, (so 14 hours later for us in Shanghai). I will be up late streaming and hoping for some of our SAS fav’s to win.

So I wonder which ‘mule’ may have brought back the winners…

Life Long Learning

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Speaking of life-long learning….I am learning that I am spending WAY more time reading wonderful blogs these days, than I am trying to build my own blog. When I first began blogging in 2006, I had a captive audience (of eighteen!!!) students AND their parents, (wow, we’re up to nearly 60 now) including my principal, oh and my mother of course!

While I’d love my blog to have a wider readership now that I am working with more like 1,000 people a week once you add students, parents, staff and a few of you ‘out there’; I’m starting to realise I don’t have the skills to engender a decent ‘fan-base’… My writing has not been good enough to warrant people coming back for more; I lack regularity and focus, and I don’t express my opinion as much; I deliver information, but I sit on the fence about it.

One of the places I head to first when looking for book ideas is to Mia at Pragmatic Mom as she always has so many excellent lists. There are also of course masters I’ve followed for a long time like Mr. Schu at Watch. Connect. Read and Colby Sharp and the great gang of four, Donalynn Miller, Cindy Minnich, Katherine Sokolowski and Colby Sharp over at Nerdy Book Club. I LOVE reading these blogs and many others, I spend hours a week reading reviews, learning about new books, perusing best book lists and watching great book trailers and author interviews.

So this paragraph should be about my new goals, how I am going to make my ‘Rocky-style’ comeback and start delivering, start fresh, begin again and be better and brighter than I was back in my 2008 blogging hey-day. Nahhhhhhh, just can’t get my head around it right now.

I’m totally nuts over reading the other amazing posts people have to offer, and at some point, the urge will come to become one of them. Until then…

Check out these great photos from the library this month. We’ve been having a ball promoting Newbery and Caldecott like crazy; chatting, sharing, reading and tallying our results…Voting started today and finishes Monday (American Sunday) in time to be calculated and announced after the big reveal on February 2nd.

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Hook Line and Sinker

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I have a confession to make. I am an addict, a junkie… I am a sucker. You see the problem all began when I read Bridge to Terabithia at the age of 10. That was it for me, only grade 5, and I was hooked… and ever since, well, it’s just been a slippery slope.

I tried to resist…. I taught High School Drama, Middle School English, even 5th grade for a while, but in the end, once an addict, always an addict. Two years, five months and 15 days ago, I finally succumbed to my addiction; I caved, I succumbed and I became a librarian.

Now, I am surrounded by my addiction. Everywhere I look, books, more books, picture books, poetry books, non-fiction and fiction, graphic novels and biographies, you name it, I’ve got it. I go to sleep thinking about them, I dream about them, and I wake up thinking about them, and then, the best part… I get to look at them all.day.LONG!

My favorite part of the year is the month of January, and that is saying something, because nearly every day is a wonderful day in my job, but the best, absolute, COOLEST part of being a librarian is the month before the American Library Association Awards are announced.

All year long I follow incredible blogs like this one, For Those About to Mock, and these ones, School Library Journal’s 100 Scope Notes and AFuse8Production, as well as keeping my eye on lists like this one on Goodreads and the delicious Calling Caldecott from The Horn Book.

Towards the end of the year, I salivate over lists like these from the New York Times and School Library Journal. I plow through twitter and instagram following librarians and authors and seeing what they like and why, and generally, just start seeing what is buzz buzz buzzing around everywhere…

As always, I am totally in awe of the picture books produced by incredibly talented authors and illustrators this year; wordless picture books have again played a huge part in re-defining the library read aloud. After an unprecedented three winning honors for last years Caldecott Medal, (Flora the Flamingo, Journey and Mr. Wuffles… I wondered if we’d seen the peak of their success, however with gems like Draw and The Farmer and The Clown being considered this year, I’m thrilled this genre is still riding the wave.

However as well as books with no words, we got to enjoy Novak’s gem this year, The Book with No Pictures… wasn’t that a lot of fun, and whether you believe it is a contender of not, it’s certainly earned its place in the sun along with some of my favorites this year such as The Jacket and A Perfectly Messed Up Story, which you can read about here. I also loved Gaston and of course Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by two of my ‘librarian crushes’, Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen. As for Baby Tree… LOVE IT!

So over the next few weeks, the aim is to share as many of these treasures, and all the delightful Newbery contenders I’ll write about soon, with as many students as possible, allowing them to read all they can before having their own mock Caldecott vote the week before the announcement on February 2nd.

 

‘Twas the Night Before (an Aussie) Christmas

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Reading this article on Huff Post about Getting into the Christmas Spirit got me thinking…

I’m an Aussie, I come from the ‘land down-under’… however I’ve been living in the northern hemisphere for 11 years now, and the majority of people I work with, teach and socialise with for much of the year, are from the ‘top-half’ of the world.

As an Australian, I’m used to what a Northern Christmas is like… my whole life I’ve grown up with Santa, sleighs, reindeers, snow, and many northern hemisphere Christmas traditions. The Christmas cards we buy often (read always) had winter scenes on them, as did our wrapping paper and many gift ideas. We’ve sung Christmas carols about Dashing Through Snow (even though we have no snow). Many of our Christmas lunches growing up were full of hot food; hot food on hot days in a hot kitchen did not equal a cool mother.

I’ve looked at a few websites that explain the differences between a northern Christmas and a southern Christmas… I particularly enjoy these two paragraphs from this site that discuss a bit of a backlash from Australians to make their Christmas more their own.

However, up until 30 years ago, our Christmas celebrations were heavily influenced by our original Anglo-Celtic influences. The English style of Christmas served as our model for celebrating Christmas…….right down to the traditional roast turkey and steamed pudding in over 35 degree heat. Today with the huge influx of overseas migrants our Christmas celebrations are heavily influenced by the ethnicity of families involved. Common sense is prevailing today in terms of weather. Traditional dinners have been replaced with family gatherings in back yards, picnics in parks, gardens and on the beach. For many, it is the occasion to be with friends and relatives, to share love and friendship and not to forget, the exchange of gifts in the traditional manner. For many, it is of course a time to enjoy and consume massive quantities of food. A typical Christmas menu could include seafood, glazed ham, cold chicken, duck or turkey, cold deli meats, pasta, salads galore, desserts of all types, fruit salad, pavlovas, ice-cream plus Christmas edibles of all varieties such as mince pies,fruit cake, shortbread, chocolates etc.

There has been a suggestion that “Swag Man” take over Santa’s franchise Down Under!!! There is a lot of concern about Santa Claus perhaps suffering heat stroke whilst Down Under. “Swag Man” wears a brown Akubra, a blue singlet and long baggy shorts. He spends all winter under Uluru with his merry dingoes and then at Christmas time, he gets in his huge four-wheel drive and sets off through the red dust to deliver his presents.

During December’s Library classes I had a ball sharing books, songs and stories with the students about what an Aussie Christmas is like. Singing them “Dashing Through the Bush in a Rusty Holden Ute” had me explaining away many ‘Aussie-isms’ including the word Aussie itself… and even after what I thought was a thorough session, at the end I still had kids asking me “but how come it is so hot there when it is winter?”

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Dashing Through the Bush in a Rusty Holden Ute

Dashing through the bush
In a rusty Holden Ute
Kicking up the dust
Esky in the boot
Kelpie by my side
Singing Christmas songs
It’s Summer time and I am in
My singlet, shorts and thongs

Oh! Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
Jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia
On a scorching summer’s day
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
Christmas time is beaut
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a rusty Holden Ute.

Engine’s getting hot
We dodge the kangaroos
The swaggie climbs aboard
He is welcome too
All the family’s there
Sitting by the pool
Christmas day, the Aussie way
By the barbecue!

Oh! Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
Jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia
On a scorching summer’s day
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
Christmas time is beaut
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a rusty Holden Ute.

Come the afternoon
Grandpa has a doze
The kids and uncle Bruce
Are swimming in their clothes
The time comes round to go
We take the family snap
Pack the car and all shoot through
Before the washing up

Oh! Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
Jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia
On a scorching summer’s day
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
Christmas time is beaut
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a rusty Holden Ute.

Anyone interested in the lack of references to celebrations other than Christmas at this time of year, I understand your frustration, but only because I’ve lived out of Australia for so long. As an Aussie growing up, there were NO other celebrations at this time of year, and when I speak now with one of my best friends Ruth, who happens to be Jewish, we make many jokes about how it is nearly impossible to escape Christmas at this time of year in Australia… every tv show, radio station, billboard, store front, catalog is ALL ABOUT CHRISTMAS…

So Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwaanza, Happy Holidays to you and enjoy this flow chart shared with me from here, by another great friend Amy, which I think sums up holiday protocol beautifully.

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Favourite Time of the Year

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Some people love Spring, some Summer. Others love days like Valentines Day or Halloween. I know some people who are mad about horse racing season, TV award show time or sales after Thanksgiving.

For me, the absolute, hands-down most exciting time of the school year is the 8 weeks leading up to the ALA award season. For the uninitiated, that is the American Library Association and their awards are given on February 2nd 2015 next time around.

As an Elementary Librarian, my two favorite awards are for the Newbery, and the Caldecott Medal and there is plenty of excitement being generated about them already at sites like these.

Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott is my go-to place for reading about who is on the ‘maybe’ list…
I just did a lot of book-buying on our library kindles here, after seeing this great list from Goodreads.

After viewing this lovely slideshow declaring winners of the New York Times Best Illustrated Books, I was very interested in Travis Jonker’s informative post breaking down the ratio of how books fare on New York Times Lists vs Caldecott. Below are some of Travis’ observations. You can see why I like following him so much, he is always very informative.

  • There has been only one year (2012) where none of the books on the Best Illustrated list won a Caldecott Honor or Medal. So 90% of the time at least one of the Best Illustrated books has won a Caldecott Honor or Medal.
  • On average 1.5 books on the Best Illustrated list each year go on to win a Caldecott Honor or Medal.
  • Seven times out of 10 a book on the Best Illustrated list has gone on to win the Caldecott Medal. Yes, 70% of the time a book on the Best Illustrated list has won the gold in the last decade. That’s an impressive figure.
  • The best illustrated list contains the Caldecott Medal winner almost as much as it contains Caldecott Honor winners, with a total of seven Caldecott Medal books and eight Caldecott Honor books.

I was thrilled to see The Promise written by Nicola Davies @nicolakidsbooks and illustrated by Laura Carlin on the NYT list, but don’t think it is eligible for Caldecott…happy to hear differently from anyone out there.

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Take Two Kid Lit Blog Hop

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Welcome to the 48th Kid Lit Blog Hop where we continue to develop a dynamic and engaged community of children’s books bloggers, authors, publishers, and publicists. So, you are always more than welcome to join us by popping in a post and hopping around to meet some of your fellow Kid Lit bloggers and authors!

Check out this next short paragraph… I’m mentioned, as a co-host!

“We are pleased to be welcoming two fabulous co-hosts this week: Kimbra, the blogger behind The Barefoot Librarian and Tiffiny from the blog, Spark and Pook. Big welcome to Kimbra and Tiffiny!”

Isn’t that exciting???

Happy Hopping everyone and enjoy the Hop!

Kid Lit Blog Hop
Kid Lit Blog Hop

 

Kid Lit Blog Hop Rules *Please Read*

1. We ask that you kindly follow your hosts. You can follow us any way you choose  and we’ve added our preferences below. If you could just give us a quick “follow” or “like” that would be much appreciated! Make sure to leave us a message if you are following us (i.e., on Twitter or Facebook or on our websites) and we will be sure to follow you back. Thanks! 🙂

Hostesses:

Renee @ Mother Daughter Book Reviews Facebook * Twitter

Katie @ Youth Literature Reviews Twitter * Facebook

Julie Grasso, Author/ Blogger Twitter * Facebook

Cheryl Carpinello, Author / Blogger Twitter * Facebook

Reshama @ Stacking Books Twitter * Facebook

Stacie @ BeachBoundBooks Twitter * Facebook

Mia @ Pragmatic Mom Twitter * Facebook

Maria@ Music Teaching and Parenting Twitter * Facebook

Stanley & Katrina, Pawthors Twitter * Facebook

Co-Hosts:

Kimbra @ The Barefoot Librarian Twitter * Google+

Tiffiny @ Spark and Pook Twitter * Facebook

2. Link up any Kid Lit related post. This can be a link to a children’s book review, a discussion about children’s literature/literacy, or a post on a recently-read children’s book or one that you love from your childhood.

* Don’t link directly to your blog, it must be a specific post.*

* For Authors, we prefer you to link to your blog if you have one. Please link unique posts each time ~ no repeats please. *

* Make sure you include an image relevant to the POST (e.g., book cover), not your blog button or photo of yourself.*

* Feel free to link more than one post.*

3. Please visit AT LEAST the TWO LINKS directly ahead of your own and leave them some love in the form of a comment. We are trying to build a community of bloggers, readers, parents, authors, and others who are as passionate about children’s literature as we are so please CONNECT and follow any or all of the blogs that interest you!

4. If you like, grab the button above and put it somewhere on your blog, preferably the post you’re linking up. If you’d prefer, you can just add a text link back to this Hop so that others can find it and check out all these great book links!

5. It would really help us get the word out about the Kid Lit Blog Hop if you would be so kind as to tweet, share, and spread the word about the Hop!

Interested in co-hosting the Kid Lit Blog Hop? If you’ve joined us before, you are welcome to join us again! Please email renee @ motherdaughterbookreviews (dot) com and put Co-Hosting Blog Hop in the subject line.

Happy Hopping!

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Using Instagram to Promote New Books

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Increasingly, colleagues and friends have turned to technology to promote what is going on in their classroom. I follow a variety of them on Twitter and Facebook, but my favourite way to keep track of their activities is through Instagram.

I follow several of my daughters’ classroom activities through this app, including my older daughter’s fencing group, and my younger daughter’s art class; Instagram provides a simple way to check in and see what the girls are up to, often triggering conversation for later…”I saw you doing the rock-climbing with your friends today Mimi, that looked like fun.”

As a librarian, I LOVE Instagram and get so many ideas from there. It’s all about the tagging. #library #librarybooks #librarydisplays #librarian #libraryideas #kidlit #picturebooks… you get the idea.

I add to Instagram as the Barefoot Librarian to promote the new books I get in the library, share ideas for display, and share student feedback on certain books. I like to post pictures of life in our library, the wonderful furnishings, the activities we have like Books to Eat and the Cardboard Challenge, and day to day activities. Why don’t you consider starting your own Instagram account today?

Toilet Roll winners 3ED

An Author to See-Grades 2 and 3

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Second and Third Graders had two action-packed creative sessions with Illustrator and Author Bryn Barnard last week. They weren’t quiet, they weren’t always still, but they were TOTALLY focused for 50 minutes as they drew, watched, oohed and aahed with Bryn, creating together, laughing and learning.

We are so fortunate to have a brilliant visiting author program at Shanghai American School, our children benefit greatly by witnessing a wide array of professionals from around the world, who share their expertise, passion and day to day lives with us.