And They're Off...

You'd never know it from looking out the window but yesterday, March 20, 2013 was the official first day of spring.  In the past forty-eight hours we went from a winter weather advisory to a winter storm warning to a lake effect snow advisory.  Due to the gusty breezes off Lake Michigan our wind chills have been in the single digits and the foot deep snow drifts are commonplace again.

At times like this the best thing to do is build a roaring fire in the fireplace, drink hot chocolate and read a cheerful, new book release featuring green grass, trees with leaves, yellow butterflies and forest youngsters.  With the same gift for portraying animal antics as she did in Red Sled (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, November 2011)(reviewed here) Lita Judge's new title Red Hat (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) takes us to the familiar setting in a new season.  Curiosity and opportunity converge creating another wild romp.


As soon as the front cover is opened we are greeted with the title page picturing the child clad in a red hat running across a meadow, yellow flower in hand, the small brown cottage in the background, as four rabbits watch from the lower corner.  On the next two pages we see a wash tub has been placed on the grass in front of the cottage; the child washing the hat.  Three baby rabbits and their mother scamper closer for a look.

Swish swash swish swash

On a line stretched between a pine and birch tree the now clean hat hangs, rabbits jumping beneath as a baby bear and mother bear approach.  Temptation being too great, the younger bear snags the hat from its perch galloping away in delight.  With the flash and dash other animals join the chase, a porcupine and raccoon.  Of the two with a squint and reach, the bandit grabs the tasseled end.

Now the hat has switched to another wearer only this time it's started to unravel, what with all the tugging and pulling.  With vocal glee, Yoo-ha!, a tiny mouse grabs on for the ride of his life.  His wide-eyed wonder turns to worry the run escalating, whipping him around trees, as another flop-eared friend grips on for the trip, too.

What's that?  Possession has been reclaimed by the bear as he heads over a hill.  Then...all the frivolity comes to a screeching halt.  Where once there was a hat, red yarn is strung about clothespins.  With a Tink-a-tink tink a pleasing conclusion is fashioned for more than one.


Using only a minimum of words, onomatopoeic sounds or brief exclamations, Lita Judge's illustrations tell her story.  Rendered in pencil and watercolor there is an undercurrent of barely concealed mirth evident on all the pages.  A glowing warmth shines from the abundance of green, the hues of browns, the white, the yellow and splashes of red.  You can almost feel the sun on your face.

The animation on each of the characters' faces is brimming with expression; glee, curiosity, exuberance, satisfaction, concern, guilt and nonchalance.  Judge alternates the view for her readers;  closing in to show just the paws pulling the hat from the clothesline or the mouse grabbing the yarn but then pulling back to show all of the animals running with or holding on to the hat.  The tiniest of details add to the laughter readers will not be able to contain when reading; the mouse grasping the porcupine's quill after his fall or a rabbit's ears tied in a knot.

Each of the two page spreads throughout is framed with a pencil line, then a larger white border.  To show movement characters or the yarn will break out of the frame into the white space.  My favorite illustration is when the critters crazy caper is stopped and we readers are looking at their upturned faces.

Red Hat written and illustrated by Lita Judge is pure, perfect fun from beginning to end.  It's as if she has happiness stored in a bottle sprinkling it over her pages so when readers open the book it wraps around us.  It doesn't get any better than that.

Follow the link embedded in Lita Judge's name above to view her official website.  She has many pictures from this book there for your enjoyment plus she has a red hat contest.  Select Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast to read her interview.  Enjoy this video chat with Lita Judge and book trailer for Red Hat.

Listing The Web

Previously I've posted about services such as Symbaloo, Weblist, and Bundlenut which all provide users with the ability to list websites in a single place centered around a topic.  Each of these have strengths.  Symbaloo is designed to give the user an at-a-glance visual representation through a group of tiles (looking like rows of buttons) of all the websites saved.  A simple click on a tile and a new window opens to the linked site.  Providing a no-frill list with descriptions of each site Bundlenut takes the user to the website without opening a new window.  There is the ability to scroll through the websites, left to right, and superimpose the bundle list on top of any of the open web sites.  Weblist is by far the most sophisticated of the three.  In generating a list web pages, images, text, documents, videos and files can be added.

This fall one of my preferred places to get the latest, Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... hosted a post about a new web 2.0 app which Ferlazzo claimed was his current favorite for creating lists of web pages to be used in Internet Scavenger Hunts. Three months later it appeared on his year end The Best Web 2.0 Applications for Education 2012.  Urlist as described on the home page is:

a social platform for organising, sharing and discovering links. Collect your links individually or collaboratively, make lists about topics you love and access your resources anywhere, anytime.

This free service features the option to design three kinds of lists: draft list, reference list and chart list.  The draft list is for quickly saving links you plan to organize later.  They are saved in chronological order.   Links can be divided into sections using the reference list.  Your best list on any given topic is generated using chart list.  Additional features on the home page are:  you can take links from other lists to add to your own, there is a Urlist button which can be placed on your toolbar for grabbing web pages, you can flip through your links like a slide show, and you can invite others to add links to a list.

To start click on the green Make Your List! button.   A new window appears over the current page asking you to register using Facebook, Google + or by entering in an email address and password.  Although in the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy no age is mentioned I would get permission before having those under 13 years of age use the site.  A confirmation email with a link to activate your account is sent immediately.

It's interesting to note once your account is created you can still log in using those other platforms including Twitter.  When you log in you are taken to your dashboard (home) to begin generating your first list.  At this page you can manage your account keeping track of links, lists, followers and those you are following (if you desire). There is also a search box for entering in a key word to discover links and lists within the application.

To begin a list I selected the blue New List! button.  A new window pops up asking which of the three lists, draft, reference or chart,  you would like to create.  You can make up to 6 draft lists.

I decided to make a reference list for the 2013 Newbery and Caldecott award-winning authors and illustrators.  First enter in a title of your list when prompted, followed by clicking Create.  A new window opens.

If you click on the List Settings button in the upper left-hand corner you can edit the title, add a description, invite contributors, or change the type of list.  To add a link first click on the line to open up the field before you type or paste in the URL.  Prior to including any more links I clicked on Edit Sections to name the first section and add another.


After each link is added when mousing over the field, three choices appear.  Under options you can delete or share the link on Google+, Facebook or Twitter. Edit allows you to change the name of the link and add a note. You can relist or copy the link to another list at this point.

Comments can be added to the list by going to the bottom.  A completed list can be shared via email, Twitter, Facebook or Google+.  When you click on the green Play List button on the right, a new window opens.  Each web page can be viewed in its entirety.  From this venue each site can be relisted or shared on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ as well as being deleted or edited by selecting the arrow in the upper right-hand corner.

I added links to YouTube videos which worked very well.  Links to Vimeo were also operable.  Linking to songs created in UJAM played perfectly.  While links to Google maps won't open in the play venue they will open in a new tab when clicked.


Each generated list is assigned it's own unique URL.  Here is the link to my list, 2013 Newbery and Caldecott Award Winners.  In looking for ease of use, results which users can understand and view and time needed to complete a task, this application scores well on all accounts.  There are always different points within the process when the same tasks can be done, which is a huge plus.  I agree wholeheartedly with Larry Ferlazzo about Urlist.  It's going into my virtual toolbox.

Update:  As of December 31, 2104 this application will leave the Internet.  I was informed of this via an email.

Familiar But Not So Familiar...

I can hear it as if it was yesterday; William Shatner's voice booming out from the television screen.

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.

By definition space is the final frontier.

an outer limit in a field of endeavor, especially one in which the opportunities for research and development have not been exploited (Dictionary.com)

In my way of thinking there is yet another unexplored realm whose boundaries will be out of reach for many, many years; the mysterious realm of the human imagination.

A perfect example of the every-changing landscape of creativity is poetry; to be specific the poetry of  Jack Prelutsky, Poetry Foundation's Poet Laureate from 2006 to 2008. In his 2013 title, Stardines Swim High Across The Sky and other poems (Greenwillow Books) he has recently returned from parts unknown with a collection of creatures.  His narrative about these unusual beings are cleverly illustrated by Carin Berger.

STARDINES swim high across the sky,
And brightly shine as they glide by.
In giant schools, their brilliant lights
Illuminate the darkest nights. ...

Of the twenty-four specimens accompanying Mr. Prelutsky on his return we are informed of only a portion.  A contents section lists sixteen odd names whose characteristics, habits and activities are disclosed in a collection of poems.  It appears each is an unlikely combination of two words, creating beings of the utmost quirkiness.

Within the pages of this book we find not only the result of matching stars and sardines but of bluffs with buffaloes, chores with cormorants, fountains with mountains lions and plans with pandas.  It is not unusual to read about the joyous Jollyfish, the annoying Magpipes, the brilliant Braindeer or the picky Panteater.  Who knew about the peculiar feline shedding tears all day every day?


Using two different patterns, variations on rhyming schemes, Jack Prelutsky introduces, educates and entertains.  For each poem the features of the two individually are blended and enhanced, through what can only be described as sumptuous vocabulary, to give us a very distinct picture.  When read aloud they roll off your tongue with a toe-tapping beat.


According to the verso, the miniature dioramas in this book are assemblages created using a combination of cut paper, found ephemera, vintage engravings (which were scanned, manipulated in Photoshop, and then printed out), beeswax, wire, thread, and wood.  Once each piece was made, it was then photographed digitally to prepare the full-color art.  Carin Berger begins with elements from the book to piece together the front and back jacket.  When the jacket is removed the cover is a replica of a wooden shadow box, smooth with beautiful grains, labels carefully positioned to hold the title, author and illustrator text.

The opening and closing endpapers use various types of graph or composition paper as a background for items used to make each diorama; scissors, tweezers, exacto knife, tiny paint brush, rivets, pins, tacks, glue and labels.  The two page spreads for each creature is like going through a natural history museum; no detail is left to chance.  All have a phonetic spelling of the name strategically placed on one of the pages.  Many of the animals have identifying labels as part of the design more than once.

Each picture playfully matches with equal inventiveness the corresponding poem.  For the Fountain Lion Berger pictures the lion standing in water an elaborate fountain atop its head, water cascading down.  For that added sense of fun she has one paw extended holding a pail to catch the water.  Words like intricate, artistic, painstaking come to mind when viewing each.


Stardines Swim High Across The Sky and other poems written by Jack Prelutsky with illustrations by Carin Berger is an impressive collaboration.  A collection of poems featuring creatures from an ever-changing final frontier such as these will intrigue listeners, invite fabrication and inspection and delight for their sheer absurdity.  For a peek at more of the book head to the publisher site linked here. Carin Berger was interviewed at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast several years ago but the discussion remains relevant. (link here)  Links to the author and illustrator official websites are embedded in their names above.

Finding Your Way...

It's there.  Every single time you open the cover of a book, whether it's new or you're revisiting a favorite.  You may not even be aware of it's presence.   Then again, anticipation, for a few moments may be flowing in your veins instead of blood; you can feel it so strongly.

The hope one experiences in beginning a book by a known author, a preferred genre or in a title already receiving accolades from professional reviewers, is for a lover of books like receiving the greatest of gifts.  If an author decides to heighten this sense of wonder with an enticing beginning word, sentence or paragraph, we readers know a treasure is being offered.  In her second title, Navigating Early, Clare Vanderpool, winner of the 2011 Newbery Medal for Moon Over Manifest, sets the stage for what will be an unforgettable, life-affirming and life-changing adventure with a paragraph on the first page plucked from within the book itself.

The great black bear, awesome as Ursa Major, wagged her head from side to side, and her bellow shook the nearby passage of the Appalachian Trail. ...

It's not the end of World War II that brings Jack Baker's dad, a captain in the Navy home, but his mother's sudden death.  In true shipshape fashion he removes all evidence of Jack's mom's life in their home.  He then takes Jack away from all he knows in Kansas, placing him in a boarding school in Maine along the ocean.  

What neither Jack nor his dad could have foreseen is the strange boy, living and attending Morton Hill Academy, Early Auden.  Early needs quiet so he lives in custodial quarters in the basement.  He plays specific musical records on certain days, lines up rows of colored jelly beans when he's upset, believes his brother killed in action overseas is alive, is obsessed with the mathematical constant pi (even using the numbers to create a story of a man named Pi), knows there are still timber rattlesnakes in Maine and is on a quest to track down the largest black bear on record on the Appalachian Trail... and to find the lost Pi of his story.

Both Jack and Early are left alone on the campus during a fall break (not intentionally).  Rather than allow Early to set off down the Kennebec River alone, the two having developed a tenuous friendship, Jack agrees to what he considers a crazy scheme.  Jack cannot see this journey with the same eyes as Early; numbers as story not simply as mathematics.  

"...For me, they are purple and sand and ocean and rough and smooth and loud and whispering, all at the same time." He paused for breath.

I wished I could see what he saw---color and landscape, texture and voice.

Before long the fictional story of Pi parallels the real story of Jack and Early.  Encounters with pirates, a volcano, a whale, the Ancient One and wandering in the Catacombs like separate balls of yarn are knit together to form heart-pounding suspense.  Loss and fate woven into the pattern like strong, fine golden threads deliver a conclusion, stunning and ultimately satisfying.

Clare Vanderpool's writing immediately draws the reader into the story with her characterizations.  Through dialogue and point of view we are intimately aware of the personalities of the primary and secondary characters; identifying with their wants and needs.  The technique of inserting several pages, chapters, of Early's Pi story within the narrative further invests readers in the boys' endeavors. We are also keenly conscious of the surroundings in which Vanderpool's characters are placed through her descriptions; the Appalachian Trail, the Morton Hill Academy.  Her skill, needles in hand, at fashioning all the threads into an astonishing whole at the end, is the work of a master.  Here are a couple of excerpts from the book.

My mother was like sand. The kind that warms you on a beach when you come shivering out of the cold water.  The kind that clings to your body, leaving its impression on your skin to remind you where you've been and where you've come from.  The kind you keep finding in your shoes and your pockets long after you've left the beach.

Early and I stared at this ghost of a camp, looking for any signs of life, half-dead or otherwise.

"This has to be it," said Early. "This is just the way it's described in the numbers.  They have to be here. The lost souls."

"There's nobody here, Early.  Just look at this place.  This must have been abandoned years ago.  Maybe they moved the camp farther north, where there are more trees."

But just as I was saying this, there was a noise inside one of the shacks. A soft plink, plink, plinking sound, as if some ghostly person were stirring a metal spoon in a pot. 

Words like risky and rescued, perilous and planned, death-defying leaps of faith and sure-footed paths from the past, all come to mind when thinking of Navigating Early written by Clare Vanderpool.  It's one of those books the more you read the faster you have to go; wanting and needing to know.  It's one of those books you'll finish and go back to reread those passages you've underlined or marked.  It's one of those books, memorable books, to cherish...always.

Please follow the link to Clare Vanderpool's official website embedded in her name above.  Clare Vanderpool was also a guest writer at the Nerdy Book Club this year.  Below the publisher offers fifty plus pages of the book for your enjoyment.

Twitterville Talk #92

Twitter continues to amaze all who participate in the valuable continuous connections.  Enjoy my collection of this week's tweets.  Have a restful weekend and make time for reading.  Try your luck at the giveaways.



This is one of several interviews of Katherine Applegate, author of the Newbery Award Medal winning book, The One and Only Ivan.





This book trailer for the new Mo Willems book will have you laughing plus wanting the book.



I'm pretty sure this is going to be at the top of the charts if the trailer is any indication.





For fans of the Origami Yoda books you can download an event kit at this link for the newest title, Art2-D2's Guide to Folding and Doodling: An Origami Yoda Activity Book. It's nine pages of fun!

Follow this link to a student lead interview of author Katherine Applegate.  It's priceless.

Head over to the website and read all about the film funded by fans, Dear Mr. Watterson.  Watch the trailer.

It's time for the School Library Month Video Contest.

It looks like Babymouse and Squish have a new online residence.

If you missed this month's #SharpSch book club on Twitter it is archived here.  Plus Smile by Raina Telgemeier has won the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award.


Thanks to John Schumacher, teacher librarian, 2011 Library Journal Movers & Shakers, and blogger at Watch. Connect. Read. for these tweets.





With budget cuts constantly looming on the horizon this post speaks to the need for professional collection development, Does It Matter What Books Your Library Has?


Thanks to Elizabeth Burns, librarian and blogger at A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy for this post and tweet.






Check out the winners and honorable mentions for The Ezra Jack Keats New Writer and New Illustrator Awards For Children's Books.  This site also includes a printable poster.
To the first person who can tell me the names of this year's winners (writer and illustrator) and their book titles by leaving the answers in the comment section here or via DM on Twitter I will send a copy of the new Loren Long book, Otis and the Puppy. (This book has been won.)

Thanks to Tasha Saecker, Assistant Director of the Appleton Public Library (Wisconsin) and blogger at  Waking Brain Cells for this tweet.





This is an impressive list of books, Authors and Illustrators Poised To Enter Children's Books Hall Of Fame: Shortlists For 2013 CLIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals Announced. 
To the first person who can tell me which book would be Xena's favorite on the Kate Greenaway list I will send a copy of The World's Greatest Lion by Ralph Helfer with illustrations by Ted Lewin.  Please DM the answer to me on Twitter or in the comment section below. (This book has been won.)

Thanks to Carnegie Greenaway for this post and tweet.






School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids' Books has started.  Rounds one though five are completed. Thoughtful essays by each of the judges provide insights into their decisions.

Announcing the 2013 ALSC & YALSA Book Picks: The year's best titles for children and teens.

Thanks to School Library Journal for the updates and tweets this week.




Are you turning off the lights on March 23, 2013?  Follow this link to the official website, Earth Hour.



I think this would be a good year-long project in the classroom with students as a whole or as individuals. 100 Things About Reading 

This article would be a good discussion starter---Nigeria's Cost &Energy-Efficient Floating Schools.

In support of 1000 Cranes of Hope...

Thanks to Debbie Alvarez, teacher librarian currently in Hong Kong and blogger at The Styling Librarian for these tweets.









This is an excellent interview author/illustrator Grace Lin made for the Girl Scouts.

Thanks to Grace Lin for the post and tweet.








For those who enjoy using Prezi, a web 2.0 presentation application reviewed here, this is good news.  Prezi Adds Audio To Presentation Platform And Surpasses 20 Million User Mark

Thank to teacher librarian and blogger at NeverEndingSearch, Joyce Valenza for this tweet.





This would be a good thing to post in every classroom plus promote the reading of Chu's Day by Neil Gaiman with illustrations by Adam Rex.  Chu's Guide To Sneezing...The Right Way


Thanks to HarperChildrens for this tweet.

Lynda Mullaly Hunt tweeted about a Teacher's Guide for her book, One for the Murphys.  This is a very detailed, valuable thirty-eight page document.  Thanks to Lynda for this and for the tweet.






Are you ready to start deciding who the potential winners are for the 2014 Newbery and Caldecott awards?  Betsy Bird is.  Newbery/Caldecott 2014: The Spring Prediction Edition

Thanks for the post and tweet go to Betsy Bird, New York Public Library's Youth Materials Collections Specialist and blogger at A Fuse #8 Production.




Perfect for those Star Wars fans is a free poster offered by the site, Darth Vader and Son and Vader's Little Princess.


Thanks to teacher librarian and blogger at Lib Laura 5, Laura Given for this tweet.









These are quotes and thoughts gathered from my Twitter feed this week.  Several are from people attending the Michigan Reading Association 2013 conference in Grand Rapids this past weekend.

"... Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book."-D. Eisenhowertwitter.com/michaeltcarton…
— Michael Carton (@michaeltcarton) March 10, 2013

Are we creating independent readers or dependent readers in our classrooms? @donalynbooks Love this. #MRA13
— Katherine Sokolowski (@katsok) March 10, 2013

"If you use DIBELS to figure out who you good and poor readers are, you'd be better off flipping a coin."
— Kelly Gallagher (@KellyGToGo) March 10, 2013

I enjoyed a fabulous weekend at #MRA13, one of the best conferences in the country!
— Donalyn Miller (@donalynbooks) March 10, 2013

Me: How was your weekend? 4th Grader: Great. Me. Why? 4th Grader: Because I read three books.
— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) March 11, 2013

We upgraded our library security system. twitter.com/100scopenotes/…
— Travis Jonker (@100scopenotes) March 11, 2013

"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo is running through my head." - 2nd Grader
— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) March 11, 2013

Further library security upgrades. VERY expensive, but worth it. twitter.com/100scopenotes/…
— Travis Jonker (@100scopenotes) March 11, 2013

"You can't catch a cold or a love of books from someone who has neither." --Jim Trelease
— Donalyn Miller (@donalynbooks) March 11, 2013

I love the sound of children running around and chatting before entering school #busduty
— Kristen Kilpatrick (@kkilpatrick7) March 12, 2013

Rhinoceros are a challenge to draw. They fidget a lot and refuse to stay on the posing stool.
— Gerald Kelley (@GeraldKelley) March 12, 2013

My fantastical school would look like a giant book. (Surprise!) It would float in the sky.#Sharpschu
— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) March 14, 2013

@mrschureads The proof is in the pudding. Kids who start with graphic novels usually end up huge reading fans.#Sharpschu
— Dave Roman (@yaytime) March 14, 2013

Dialogue is as unique as a person's fingerprints. - Gordon Korman #IRC13
— Donna K. (@akgal68) March 14, 2013

Paper is not dead! vimeo.com/61275290
— BarryDeutsch (@barrydeutsch) March 14, 2013

As a reader sometimes I find perfect sentences in books. They are so well crafted, they make me stop. I consider these authors' gifts to me.
— Cynthia Alaniz (@utalaniz) March 15, 2013

Ribbit Rhapsody

One of the sweetest, neatest sounds and a sure sign winter is leaving, is stepping out for a final walk before bed to hear a chorus of spring peepers; the silence of the night filled with their distinctive notes. Many a summer my gardens have been home for toads large and small, gobbling up insects.  Last year a tree toad set up residence on the box for my decorative lights right outside my front door.  Napping during the day would give him the energy to climb my siding in the evening using his gripper toes.

Dinosaurs may have vanished but frogs remained adapting to the conditions found in various parts of the world they call home.  In Frog Song (Henry Holt and Company, February, 2013), written by Brenda Z. Guiberson with illustrations by Gennady Spirin, readers visit six of the seven continents as introductions to eleven distinctive frogs (and toads) are made.  While differences and similarities are a focus all are tied together by a common thread.

A frog song 

is a celebration

of clean water, plants,

and insects to eat.

As long as the music of frogs is being made all is well in their respective habitats.  Like the instruments in an orchestra each contributes a specific sound to the overall symphonic world score.  Rain forest tree tops, spider holes, muddy swamps, beech forests, dried pond beds, deserts and waterfalls will resonate with their cheerful chatter.

From the strawberry poison dart frog in Costa Rica who carries each of her five tadpoles to a separate pool of water high in the trees to the Great Plains narrow-mouth toad found in Oklahoma who lives in a tarantula hole freeing it of insects to the Surinam toad living in Ecuador who carries one hundred eggs under her skin until they hatch or to Ethiopia where we find the shovel-nosed frog who digs a place for her eggs until the floods come, we are informed of parenthood rituals.  For some it's the male who provides the protection and care; in Spain the male midwife toad carries the eggs in a string on his back until the tadpoles start to squiggle or in Chile the Darwin's frog places about thirty tadpoles inside his vocal sacs for seven weeks until they hop from his open mouth. Whether it's a psst-psst, buzzbuzzbuzz, click-clack, bonk...bonk...bonk or tinktinktinktink, each tune signifies a particular presence to a careful listener. 

For each of the eleven frogs Brenda Z. Guiberson has penned a paragraph embedded with facts.  Use of alliteration, onomatopoeia and descriptive verbs serve to deliver the well-researched details of their songs and young; trills, belt out, rattles or bellows.  Readers are immediately taken to a geographic setting as Guiberson begins each section with In...

Upon opening the jacket the strawberry poison dart frog on the front is extended to the back to complete a stunning portrayal.  The cover, front and back, is a completely different, equally impressive illustration featuring an enormous bellied frog with others among lilies, pads and reeds.  Identical opening and closing endpapers are a gorgeous display of flora fit for the frog inhabitants.

Using tempra, watercolor, and pencil on arches watercolor paper Gennady Spirin works his magic creating masterful, intricate two-page spreads for each frog; the narrative carefully inserted into the design.  Lush, realistic settings including appropriate flora and fauna surround the close-up of the showcased amphibians.  The title page, verso, dedication, Frogs in Trouble (author's note), Bibliography and Frog Facts Online are framed with delicate plants and the same frogs seen in the endpapers.


Reading Frog Song written by Brenda Z. Guiberson with illustrations by Gennady Spirin aloud is as much a joy for one's ears as seeing the pictures is a delight for one's eyes; combining the two sends this piece of nonfiction soaring to greatness.  For more information about the author and illustrator follow the links embedded in their names leading to their official websites.  This link is to the publisher website highlighting eight pictures from the title.  Be sure to watch them full screen.  For a four page teacher's guide follow this link.

Finders Keepers?

When I'm out with Xena hiking in the woods, walking along the lake shore or strolling down the road in a state park, I'm always looking; scanning my natural surroundings for possible photographic opportunities.  It's like a continuous treasure hunt.  Maybe I'll spy a Petoskey stone, stones in the shape of a heart, leaves of unusual shape or color, a dropped bird feather, beach glass or, if fortunate, the sighting of some animal caught unaware by our presence.

Sometimes, when you least expect it, life will cast an unexpected discovery in your line of sight or along your path.  Depending on what it is, you may be content to stop and only look or the urge to make it your own will rule the day.  Kevin Henkes introduced us to a joyful mouse girl in Penny and Her Song (Greenwillow Books, February 28, 2012) (reviewed here) followed by Penny and Her Doll (Greenwillow Books, August 21, 2012).  In the newest title, Penny and Her Marble (Greenwillow Books, February 19, 2013) the happy-go-lucky, lovable character has mixed feelings about a choice she makes.


Penny was pushing her doll, Rose,
in her stroller.
They went back and forth
on the front sidewalk.

Per her Mama's request, Penny can only walk as far as Mrs. Goodwin's house.  As she goes to and fro her imagination is in full swing; they glance at the tall buildings of a city, hope they don't get lost in a deeply wooded forest and consider objects below as they float among the clouds in an airplane. Right before one of her turnarounds Penny spies something round and blue on Mrs. Goodwin's lawn.  The old-as-time should I or shouldn't I debate begins and ends.

Back home in her bedroom Penny marvels at the shape and speed of her newest treasure.  To her the color makes this marble seem like a piece of the sky.  In fact, going to her bedroom window, she sees the two are a perfect match.

Oh, oh....she also sees Mrs. Goodwin standing in her yard in the same spot Penny found the marble.  Guilt consumes her.  It takes away her joy in baking cookies, eating dinner and even falling asleep.  Before breakfast the next morning, Penny announces she and Rose would like to take a walk.

We readers know where they're going and why.  Penny and her companion, pushed in her baby-doll stroller, walk into an early morning surprise.  On the way home they're bouncing on the wavy waters of the sea in a boat; a sea the same color as the marble in her hand.


In this third early reader title, Kevin Henkes is asking us to expand our reading abilities; following Penny, watching and learning as her personality shapes and grows.  To each subsequent book Henkes has included another chapter; the first has two, the second has three and this volume has four chapters. Unlike the first two books, Penny and Her Marble extends into two days' activities; we see a change of clothing.

Henkes use of language, word choice and sentence structure, is exactly what this reading audience needs. His ability to convey precise emotional moments with spare text is gifted.  We readers feel empathy for Penny and continue to appreciate the portrayal of the family unit through the caring dialogue of Mama and Papa.


The pleasing pastel color palette used in the two previous books is continued in this title although with a shift to blues and greens on the jacket and cover.  The solid color, sky blue, on the opening and closing endpapers matches the chapter enumerations as the endpaper colors did in the others.  Beneath the title (on the title page) a small square illustration features the place, activity, where Penny's story will unfold.   In this and each of the other books the illustration on the back cover is repeated with the dedication.  There is a symmetry and attention to detail in these books which exudes warmth and comfort.

Full color illustrations are rendered in watercolor paints and black pen ranging in size throughout.  At times Henkes will provide a single black line frame around his pictures; other times a partial frame at the bottom or none at all.  His visual layouts and size contribute to the form and flow of the storyline perfectly.

Having greatly enjoyed Penny and Her Song and Penny and Her Doll, it was hard for me to believe this title could be better but Penny and Her Marble written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes is the best one yet.  This is sure to be a storytime favorite and will be popular with beginning readers.  The link embedded in Kevin Henkes name will take you to his official website.

To view all of the videos created about and by Kevin Henkes follow this link to TeachingBooks.net.  Mr. John Schumacher teacher librarian and blogger at Watch. Connect. Read. hosted an author visit with Mr. Henkes.  It is highlighted along with pictures and videos here.  Follow this link to the publisher website to browse inside Penny and Her Marble.