Counting the Votes…Barefoot Style

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Lana

Wow… What a FUN job I have before me!

With over 130 votes coming in from our Elementary Students this week, I have my work cut out for me adding up who voted for what. I actually don’t need to do any of this… I really just need to wait until tomorrow night to see who the ALA chooses for the Newbery and Caldecott Medal books, then see which of our students chose the same, and go from there. BUT, it is so interesting seeing who the kids voted for, remembering the lesson that their teacher or I read them that book, the discussions we had, and realizing that the book resonated with them.

I started a tally on a small piece of paper for the Caldecott’s, and soon realized I needed a bigger piece of paper to write down all of the different titles. It really is a great year for picture books, and I am thrilled that so many of our students have been exposed to the LATEST and GREATEST the industry has to offer.

Caldecott Book Tally as voted by the K,1,2,3rd grade students; the number in brackets AFTER the book title, is how many votes it earned from the 4th and 5th graders.

1 vote went to Bunnies on Ice, If you want to see a whale, the Matchbox Diary, A Splash of Red, I’m the Scariest Thing in the Jungle, and Water in the Park (love this one). Of course, the cool thing is, ANY of these books could be the actual Caldecott Medal or Honor Winner.

2 votes went to On a Beam of Light, The Snatchabook(4), Nelson Mandela, The Tortoise and the Hare, and Odd Duck.

3 votes went to Papa’s Mechanical Fish, The Day the Crayons Quit(6), Steam Train Dream Train and also to Journey(3), so of course I think one of those voters must be onto something, with Aaron Becker’s Journey being such a favorite this year around the blogosphere.

4 votes went to Mr Wuffles (1)

6 votes went to Night Light (1), the children really loved guessing what will be on the next page and Mr Tiger Goes Wild, (4) another popular favorite this year.

9 votes went to Tap the Magic Tree, Building our House, Unicorn Thinks he’s Pretty Great (3), Secret Pizza Party (2), Bluebird (6) and Flora the Flamingo proving that you don’t need words to produce a brilliant story kids love.

Doug Unplugged (3) has been really popular with the second and third graders and scored high with them when it came time to vote with 15 votes.

However, it was the teaming of Lemony Snickett and Jon Klassen with The Dark (12) that scored the highest with the K-3rd graders who gave it 21 votes, proving it to be the most popular of the picture books they’ve been introduced to these past three weeks. I certainly hope it gets an honor at least, the silence and air of suspense as I read it, time and time again, was palpable.

So, points of interest between the Caldecott books the lower ES voted for compared to the upper ES…

*Patricia Polacco’s Bully didn’t get a nod from the younger ones, but 3 upper ES voted for it.
*Locomotive got 1 vote from the older kids
*All of the books listed above that only got one vote from the younger kids, were overlooked by the older ones.
*Dark was the clear favourite overall, with 33 votes…
Right…. now on to the Newbery AND Caldecott Votes from the 4th and 5th graders… It will be interesting to see how they chose their picture books compared to the younger students. To win the ‘grand prize’ kiss from me, they need to get the Newbery AND Caldecott winner correct…. tough call.

Kenn Nesbitt is coming!

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Lana

You heard it first… We are excited to be hosting our first Visiting Author of 2014 from February 24th to February 28th here in Pudong Elementary.

We are still working on the schedule, however it is certain that Kenn will have time with each grade level as well as a full school assembly on Monday February 24th (details to follow). If you’d like to read more about Kenn, and comment on some of his funny poems, check out his fantastic blog here. We have 100 copies of Kenn’s books here for sale immediately after the Chinese New Year Holiday, and I’m sure they will sell fast. Check out these titles and see if you’d like to buy any of them, they will be signed of course, and would make a great gift.

: 15 copies @100 rmb each

: 15 copies @ 40 rmb each

: 40 copies @ 60 rmb each

: 30 copies @ 40 rmb each

7 days to go, 7 days ’til we know…

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Lana

In a way, I can’t wait ’til this time next week, when I can start sharing with the students who won the 2014 Newbery and Caldecott Medals, but another part of me really enjoys the energy and enthusiasm the countdown produces.
Right now, the classes are buzzing, arguing, debating and defending their choices with vigour… once the decision is made, I suppose there will be a new kind of buzz; again, more arguments as to why they think the decision made was right or wrong… But as for now, they OWN their choices, and they are shouting them loud and proud.

As for me, I am reading through those books like crazy… but none have jumped out at me the same way Applegate’s Ivan did this time last year. I am however, loving MANY of the picture books I’m reading (so much faster!) and can’t wait to see who takes that. Some of my favourites are:

The Dark by Lemony Snickett
I’m a sucker for Klassen’s illustrations, and I think the story is really well done, so suspenseful.

Journey by Aaron Becker
Wordless books are aplenty this year with Flora the Flamingo, Mr. Wuffles (practically wordless) and the heart-wrenching Bluebird by Bob Staake, however it is Journey that gets my vote; what an amazing creation. The early pages took me back to one of last year’s favorites, Hello Hello by Matthew Cordell.

Doug Unplugged by Dan Yaccarino
Again,I’m reminded of Hello Hello; “Dan Yaccarino’s funny story of robot rebellion is a great reminder that sometimes the best way to learn about the world is to go out and be in it.”

Now, check out Ms Lau’s students reading the Caldecott’s this morning, and see what they voted for this morning…

Ethan H: Blue Bird
Maddie: Blue Bird
Lizzie: Nelson Mandela
Daniel: Blue Bird
Han Rei: Blue Bird
William: Blue Bird
Jerry: Journey
Charlotte: Blue Bird
Oliver: Night Light
Malu: Blue Bird
Yolanda: Blue Bird

Here is a great list from the Horn Book blog with many of the books listed that we are lucky enough to have been reading this week.

Who will Win Newbery and Caldecott Gold?

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Lana

Only 11 sleeps to go until the Newbery and Caldecott Medals are awarded on January 27th.
We are running a competition in the ES Library to see if anyone can correctly guess both of them, see the end of this post for details. In the meantime, take a look at just a FEW of the possible winners here…

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Win a KISS from Mrs. Power if you can correctly guess the winners of the 2014 Caldecott AND Newbery Awards…

To enter…
*You must have read part or MOST of both books you pick…

*Fill out the entry form and put it in the box

*BOTH books must be the winner of the Newbery Medal and the Caldecott Medal… not just Honor Awards.

*You can pick any books published in 2013, they don’t have to be books you see in our library.

*Entries open 8 am Mon 20th and close 3 pm Fri Jan 24th *Votes Tallied Mon Jan 27th
*Winners announced Tuesday Jan 28th

Example of Completed Entry Form

Your name: Kimbra Power
Your class: 1CN or PK4 or KPH or 4KK

Name of picture book you think will win the Caldecott gold medal:
This is not my Hat by Jon Klassen

Name of book you think will win the Newbery gold medal:
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

—————————————————————————————–

Answers to your questions

1. Can more than one person win?
Yes, that is possible, if so, I will give kisses to other winners too.

2. Can I enter more than once?
Yes, you can enter up to three times.

3. Are there prizes for the runners up?
Yes, there will be smaller prizes for students who choose correctly either the Newbery OR the Caldecott Winner.

4. Do the books I choose have to be in the ES Library?
No, the books and book posters inside and outside the ES Library are just SOME of the books that might win. The winning books could also be in the MS Library, or not in our school at all yet. Read my blog post http://sites.saschina.org/kpower/2014/01/07/and-the-winner-is/ or more recent posts to see many other lists of books that are also being considered.

5. Do I need to put the author’s name?
No, you don’t NEED to, but it will help us to be clear, so put it if you know it.

6. Will I really kiss you?
What do you think?

Many of you ask me how the Newbery is chosen, here is where you can read about it…

Essentially…

1. The Medal shall be awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published by an American publisher in the United States in English during the preceding year. There are no limitations as to the character of the book considered except that it be original work. Honor books may be named. These shall be books that are also truly distinguished.

2. The Award is restricted to authors who are citizens or residents of the United States.

Here is how the Caldecott is chosen, the main difference being that this is for a picture book…

1. The Medal shall be awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published by an American publisher in the United States in English during the preceding year. There are no limitations as to the character of the picture book except that the illustrations be original work. Honor books may be named. These shall be books that are also truly distinguished.

2. The award is restricted to artists who are citizens or residents of the United States. Books published in a U.S. territory or U.S. commonwealth are eligible.

The Hits just Keep on Coming!

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Lana

I had a GREAT day today, one of those… I love my life…I love my job, I’m so so lucky kind of days! Reflecting on its success…I got to do several of the things I love:

*Share amazing books with students

*Share amazing books with teachers

*Check out amazing books to parents, teachers and students

*Order new and wonderful books to add to our collection

It’s not EVERY day I get to do these things, and so joyfully… some times the ‘behind the scenes’ life of a librarian can get me down, but not today, today, everything rolled along beautifully.

I’d love to share with you some of the amazing books I’m sharing with kids, and some of the clever lists and sites I find them on.

This is one of the great blogs I follow, from School Library Journal, and in this post, Jonathan Hunt shares what is getting the votes and where from…

You can see from this list, how spread out the categories are; you’ve got non-fiction/picture books/chapter books all packed in to one great list, so you need to then sift through and find out which books are for you. We have nearly ALL of these books in the library, aren’t we lucky?

Today I read these books for the first time; and the second and fourth graders LOVED them.

The Boy who Loved Math, which was an amazing book to compare and contrast with the wonderful On a Beam of Light which you can read more about here in this great post by the Book Jeannie. I’d learned and taught about Albert Einstein before so it was fun for me to learn something new about Paul Erdos, (pronounced Air-Dish). I loved sharing with the kids about the author’s style and the similarities and differences between the books, and what made them such great non-fiction picture texts. The students were able to talk about the various elements, such as the detailed information at the back, giving us even more items of interest about the amazing lives of these two important men.

We then went on to read the book I think will be hard to beat in the Caldecott Stakes… The Dark, by Lemony Snicket. As illustrator Jon Klassen won Caldecott Honor AND Medal last year for authoring and illustrating This is not my Hat and illustrating Extra Yarn, it will be interesting to see if he will come up trumps again this year.

Meanwhile… Look which book was the best selling book across all print formats in 2013…. Can you guess?

Nielsen BookScan Top 20

1. Hard Luck (Wimpy Kid #8) by Jeff Kinney (Abrams/Amulet)
2. Inferno by Dan Brown (Doubleday)
3. Killing Jesus by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard (Henry Holt)
4. Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander (Simon & Schuster)
5. The House of Hades by Rick Riordan (Disney-Hyperion)
6. Divergent by Veronica Roth (HarperCollins/Tegen)
7. Jesus Calling by Sarah Young (Thomas Nelson)
8. Sycamore Row by John Grisham (Doubleday)
9. The Third Wheel (Wimpy Kid #7) by Jeff Kinney (Abrams/Amulet)
10. Happy, Happy, Happy by Phil Robertson (Howard Books)
11. Allegiant by Veronica Roth (HarperCollins/Tegen)
12. Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (Knopf)
13. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Dutton)
14. Things That Matter by Charles Krauthammer (Crown Forum)
15. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (Scribner)
16. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner)
17. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead)
18. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James (Vintage)
19. Si-Cology 1 by Si Robertson (Howard Books)
20. Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath (Gallup Press)

While I’m obsessing over lists, here is another of the New York Times Ten Best Illustrated books of 2013…. which was posted on the amazing School Library Journal… Always one to follow. This list is GORGEOUS!

EIGHT of these have arrived this week, the others are on their way!!!

My Brothers Book Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

9780062234896 0 Spread Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

My Brother’s Book by Maurice Sendak (Michael de Capua Books/HarperCollins Publishers)

Ballad Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Ballad 1 Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Ballad by Blexbolex (Enchanted Lion Books)

Jemmy Button by Jennifer Uman and Valerio Vidali (Templar Publishing/Candlewick Press)

The Dark Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

The Dark 1 Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

The Dark by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Jon Klassen (Little, Brown and Company)

Holland Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Holland 1 Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Holland by Charlotte Dematons (Lemniscaat)

Journey Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Journey 1 Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Journey by Aaron Becker (Candlewick Press)

Fog Island Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Fog Island 1 Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Fog Island written and illustrated by Tomi Ungerer (Phaidon Press)

Jane the Fox and Me Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Jane the Fox and Me 11 Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Jane, The Fox and Me by Fanny Britt, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault (Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press)

Locomotive Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Locomotive 1 Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Locomotive by Brian Floca (Richard Jackson/Atheneum)

Nelson Mandela Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Nelson Mandela 1 Gallery: The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Childrens Books of 2013

Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson (Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins Publishers)

And the winner is…

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Lana

My favourite time of the year is coming up in the Library… The ALA library awards will be announced on January 27th 2014.

Many people wonder how books are judged… if you want to learn more about that, the ALA site tells you all about the judging criteria for awards like the Newbery and the Caldecott Medal.

I’m fortunate at SAS to have a wonderful team around me who support our purchasing of the latest and greatest books. This school year, I’ve also acquired many ‘mules’ who are able to bring me back new books for January to accompany the many we have digitally on kindle and ibooks. The books I’ve been buying come from the lists below… so if YOU want to keep your eye on the prize… have a look through the following links to see how many books you have read.

I’ll be spending January’s library time discussing with students the best of the best, and what makes them so.

Check out these great sites today so that you know what’s being discussed, what’s hot, and what may win the 2014 awards. Remember, so far, these sites just share books they think might be included in the Newbery and Caldecott discussions… as for now, nobody knows for sure which books will make it all the way through, but these lists give great indications about books that have created a lot of buzz this year.

I’ll start you off with a nice small list from the School Library Journal which includes a couple of my favourites; If You Want to See a Whale and The Thing about Luck.

How many of the books above have you read? Come and check one out today… 69 new books JUST arrived!

I’m proud to say that ALL of the books on this next long list will be in our library as of January 8th… which is quite an achievement considering we live in China and many of them are newly released (thanks mules!)

If you’re a non-fiction lover, you’ll enjoy this post which ponders that not many non-fiction books have grabbed our attention this year, however, imagine the irony if a book about Randolph Caldecott won a Newbery prize…

Another list I’ve done my very best to purchase all of is this one from the ALA looking at the 2013 Notable Book Nominees. I know that 5th grade teacher Mrs Rekate LOVED Escape from Mr Lemoncello’s Library and will wonder why that isn’t noted (it came out five days later), but quite a few of the other books she’s read recently made it onto the list… so check it out if you haven’t done so yet.

We’ll have all of the actual books listed here by your first school day in 2014, and we already have them on kindle, so check out this short list and make sure you read as many as you can by January 27th… I’m sure at least one of these will make it all the way!

Goodreads has a wonderful selection of books listed here, with full information on each. Sign up for goodreads, and you can start keeping a great ‘real-life’ journal of what you’ve read, what you want to read and what you’re reading.

Wayyyyyy back in January, the amazing Jonathan Hunt from School Library Journal made some predictions about books he thought would stand out this year. Having served on the Newbery Committee in the past, his advice is always to be taken.

Finally, my list wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t check out what Horn Book had to say. I love seeing how many of the blogs I follow list the same books; when the same trusted reviewers point me towards a certain book time after time… I just know I have to read it, and better still, share it with YOU!

Finally, I can close some of the tabs I’ve had open for weeks…. which drives Mr Power crazy!

Happy New Year 2014 and get ready for the Year of the Horse beginning on January 31st.

Want to win a prize???

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Lana

Greetings thrill-seekers

Do you like winning competitions? Do you like books? Would you like to enter a competition?

How about poetry? Are you any good at writing poems, and what about poems about Christmas?

Did you enjoy Sarah Brennan’s recent visit and her wonderful poetry?

If the answer to at least half of these questions is YES, then have I got a deal for YOU!

Check out Sarah Brennan’s blog and get cracking students… the deadline for Sarah’s latest poetry competition is Friday January 17th. While you’re there, have a peek at Sarah’s recent trip to SAS and see if you spot anyone familiar…

Sarah Brennan visits SAS

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Lana

We are excited to be hosting our first author for the 2013-2014 school year, Sarah Brennan, on Monday October 28th. Sarah will be presenting to students from Pre-K-4th grade in our Elementary Library and her books will be on sale all of next week if you’d like to buy one and have it signed by her. Sarah has visited Shanghai many times and you may have been lucky enough to see her at the Shanghai Literary Festival or even here at SAS a couple of times. She has a large and joyful personality and gives 110% to all of her presentations, leaving audiences inspired. I am always impressed listening to Sarah and believe our students benefit from her real-life learning experiences and the attention to detail she puts in to explaining the writing process.

Here are many details from Sarah that outline her career in a nutshell, but I know you’ll love to look at her fantastic website where she regularly updates her blog and also offers many opportunities for YOU to write for her… competitions aplenty here. Sarah Brennan is the Hong Kong-based international author and publisher of the best-selling Chinese Calendar Tales (The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Run Run Rat, The Tale of Oswald Ox, The Tale of Temujin, The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda and her latest title The Tale of Sybil Snake) as well as the hugely popular Dirty Story series. She is also author of the humorous parenting advice manual Dummies for Mummies published by Haven Books. A featured author in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing International Literary Festivals since 2004, Sarah conducts regular reading tours, workshops and weeks in residence in schools in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Australia and the UK. Her books are now also distributed in the United States and Canada. As it is now the year of the Snake in the Chinese Calendar, we will have many Sybil Snake books on sale for 80 rmb each.

Sarah’s particular mission is to bring Chinese culture, history and landscape to young English speakers everywhere through the medium of humour, verse and funny illustrations, while at the same time giving children living in East Asia stories that relate to their own heritage. She also believes passionately in rich vocabulary and intelligent text for primary school children: “dumbing down” is her particular bête noir! As a result, her books can be read on many levels and are popular among children aged as young as 5 and as old as 12. The great Australian author Thomas Keneally (Schindler’s List) has described Sarah’s work as “a meeting between traditional Asian narratives and the universal taste of children for graphic stories. The tale-telling gifts shown in these books, along with the exuberance of the language and rhymes, make them unique in children’s literature”. All of Sarah’s books are wickedly illustrated by Hong Kong’s much-loved cartoonist from the South China Morning Post, Harry Harrison. Sarah lives in Hong Kong with her French husband, two daughters and an opinionated cocker spaniel. Visit Sarah’s funny and fabulous website at www.sarah-brennan.com and blog at www.sarahbrennanblog.wordpress.com!

Pamela Duncan Edwards is visiting SAS

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Lana

We are excited to be welcoming our final visiting author for the school year; Pamela Duncan Edwards is arriving in Shanghai on Monday night, and will be visiting with Pudong Elementary students from Wednesday the 17th-Friday the 19th of April. She will be giving two large presentations to the K-1st graders and 2nd-3rd graders, as well as a workshop in every single Pre-K-3rd grade class. Shanghai American School students are very fortunate to have published authors come in and share their experiences and stories with them. At SAS we believe ALL students have stories to tell, and by seeing people who have successfully told theirs, it gives us people to look up to, and to aspire to.

Here is what Pamela will be doing at different grade levels with the students.

Kindergarten

WHAT DOES IT MEAN IF TWO STORIES ARE ‘OPPOSITE’ FROM ONE ANOTHER?

The author will introduce and discuss the concept of opposites. She will read two books and discuss the differences in these books. She will then read a third book and discuss with the children what is the genre of the book and why.

Books: ‘ROAR: A NOISY COUNTING BOOK; WHILE THE WORLD IS SLEEPING

First Grade

CAT RHYMES WITH HAT: NOW FANCY THAT!

LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will experience, discuss and create using rhyming text

Students will listen to two short rhyming books. They will discuss the importance of rhyme and whether they think rhyme was useful in telling these stories and why. The children will divide into either groups or work individually and be given a prepared sheet of paper on which they will be asked to create four sets of simple rhyming words – ‘bat – cat’ for example. They will then write a short piece incorporating these words. They will share their ideas.

Books: MISS POLLY HAS A DOLLY; WARTHOGS IN THE KITCHEN

Second Grade

WHAT ON EARTH IS ONOMATOPOEIA?

LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will experience, discuss and create a story using onomatopoeia.

Students will listen to an onomatopoeia story. They will discuss the importance of onomatopoeia and identify the ‘sound words’ in the story. They will discuss how using these words affected the story. They will create their own four ‘sound words’ on an Outside-Inside’ book and will then create their own stories using these words. They will share and discuss their ideas and stories.

Book: SLOP GOES THE SOUP

Third Grade

STORIES ARE JUST STORIES. THEY DON’T HAVE ANY RELEVANCE TO MY LIFE. OR DO THEY?

LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will experience and discuss how a book might have extraneous connections. They will create a story using this idea.

The author will read THE OLD HOUSE. She will discuss with the students how, in their eyes, this story might connect to themselves, the world, or to the text of one of the author’s other books. They will create a piece of writing on a theme assigned by the author.

Book: THE OLD HOUSE

Additionally, a dozen of Pam’s books will be for sale, all paperbacks for 50 rmb, and hardbacks for 100 rmb, including these popular titles…

the barefoot librarian

Kimbra Power

Category Archives: Authors