Oh, Little Mouse! Your Secret Is Out!

Recommended for PreK-K

There must be something about a little mouse and a big red edible object that is irresistible to young children.  In the new picture book by Éric Battut, Little Mouse’s Big Secret, kids go crazy for this book that focuses on humor, science, and sharing.  The text on one page and the cheerful illustrations on the opposite page interact wonderfully to tell the story of the adorable Little Mouse who finds a “delicious treat” (the illustration shows a cherry).  Little Mouse decides the cherry will be a secret and hides the cherry in the ground.  Lo and behold, Little Mouse is visited by multiple friends, one at a time, who wants to know his secret.  

“It’s my secret, and I’ll never tell, “ answers Mouse.  This is the repetitive refrain in the book.  The preschoolers I read to through the volunteer program Ready Readers, love to say this and wag their fingers back and forth.

With each animal visit, the reader will notice the illustrations in which Mouse’s cherry is sprouting from the ground and growing into a cherry tree with every consecutive page turn.  The funny part is (preschool verified), Mouse doesn’t notice this is happening because his back is turned.  The illustrations make it easy to identify stages of a plant’s growth—the tree sprouts, becomes a sapling, grows into a mature tree that blossoms, and when the blossoms disappear, cherries appear.  Mouse doesn’t even realize his “secret is out” until the cherries fall from the tree.  Mouse decides that his secret is then best shared with his other animal friends. 

Battut, E. (2011). Little mouse's big secret. New York, NY: Sterling.

It’s a Blogiversary!

Ce-le-brate good posts--come on!  One year ago yesterday (Blogger had tech difficulties yesterday), I started my blog.  Taking a look back to my first post…

“Even if I only reach a few teachers or parents and my blog helps them put books in the hands of their kids, it’ll be worth it. I know there are hundreds of children’s literature blogs out there, but I hope you keep coming back to mine, if only for the simple reason that your child (or even YOU!) loves the books I’m writing about. But I plan on including more in this blog than just books. If events or news related to education and the publishing world spark a passion within me, I’ll be expressing my opinion about that too.”

I still feel the same way and have these same intentions—I just have so much to say about books and this is my creative outlet in which to share.  It dawned on me that there was one entry that I never posted.  I was waiting for who knows what, but I think this is the right time to share it.

I live in St. Louis and the question that everyone asks you if you appear to be in college or older is, "So, where'd you go to high school?"  I personally think this gets you nowhere in terms of sizing a person up.  I wouldn't be able to tell you the first thing about who YOU are as a person if you told me you went to Lindbergh or McCluer.  But it's almost a guarantee that if I told a fellow St. Louisan I went to Clayton, an eyebrow would raise and something along the lines of "Oh, so you're a spoiled rich girl" would cross through ones head and maybe even issue from one's lips (no joke, this has been said to me).  I didn't start Clayton till I was a sophomore...my mom (a first grade teacher) moved my siblings and I into the district because of the well-rounded education she knew we would receive.

On to the point of my post...what if the universal question we asked others was "What was your favorite childhood book?"  So many people would be willing and delighted to answer this question.  As evidenced from the following quote,

“When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.”  -Kathleen Kelly, You've Got Mail (Nora Ephron, 1998)

The reading you accomplish when you are younger forms who you are and lets you imagine who you could be.  The magic is still there when you are younger and for some it never leaves.  Asking that simple question let's others open up and not close down because no one has the right to judge you based on your favorite childhood book.

Hiphip Hooray!  Here’s to my blog and may there be many more posts!!

Image from: phoenix.fanster.com

A Dog’s Purpose

Recommended for grades 8 and up

You know you’ve got a good book in your hands when the flight attendant has to say, “Hello?! Excuse me!” to get your attention (apparently, I missed the only rows that had seats left).  Hey, can I help that I was that engrossed in a book?!  The guilty book in question was A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron.  For those that don't know me, I’m a dog person—100%!  In my family we have two dogs, Coco, who we spoil because she’s just so darn SWEET and Niko, my dog, who is just plain spoiled--it helps that he’s cute ;)  Both dogs are big time tail waggers (my family calls it “helicopter tail”) and their smiles are contagious. :)

Anyway, now that you’ve probably figured out just how spoiled both dogs are since I just gushed all about them, I’ll move on to talking about the book.  A Dog’s Purpose is written from the dog’s view point—in fact, you get to see the protagonist reincarnated several times.  It’s really quite brilliant the way Cameron writes a dog’s take on life.  The protagonist remembers his previous lives, so he applies his prior knowledge to his new situations.  The protagonist starts his life as Toby, a feral dog.  Eventually, Toby and his mother and siblings are caught and taken to what I first assumed (or was hoping) was once a rescue shelter, but ended up turning into a hoarder’s kennel.  Toby is not long for that life and is euthanized.  When he awakes he is reborn a golden retriever.  In this life, a woman rescues him from the verge of heatstroke and brings him home for her eight-year-old son, Ethan, who names the dog Bailey.

Bailey’s story is the one that stuck with me—because to read just how happy a dog could be and how he “shivered” with delight from the love and affection that radiated off “his boy” is so heart-wrenching and joyous at the same time.  The story of Bailey with the Montgomery family plays out with some drama.  Ethan has to deal with a troubled boy named Todd.  Bailey can sense darkness from Todd and feels when his anger radiates off him.  There are several incidences throughout the book that involve Todd and students could make inferences based off what Bailey senses.  The Montgomery story also involves trips to the “Farm” to visit Grandma and Grandpa (one of Bailey’s favorite places), a first love for Ethan, Bailey playing “rescue” Ethan from the pond, and Ethan going off to college.

Soon though, it is Bailey’s time to go (yes, I cried)…especially at this thought from Bailey, “…I hoped he wouldn’t cry over my death.  My purpose, my whole life, had been to love him and be with him, to make him happy.  I didn’t want to cause him unhappiness now” (p. 177)…  Bailey soon woke up to discover he was now Ellie.  Ellie was trained to be a search and rescue dog.  Then when Ellie grew old and was put to sleep, soon the protagonist was Bear.  I wasn’t expecting the ending, but if it wasn’t for the fact that I was sitting next to two strangers on a plane, I would have cried.  A good joyful cry because there really couldn’t have been a better, more true-to-life, feel good ending to a book about a dog.

Good for teens who liked Marley and Me by John Grogan!

Cameron, W. (2010). A Dog's purpose. New York, NY: Forge.

One Pretty (well-deserved) Piece of Paper (and expensive, too)

It’s official—after two years of non-stop work, I have earned my master’s degree (I sometimes catch myself tearing up, it makes me so proud).  My degree really does fit me to a T, being Curriculum and Instruction—Children’s Literature.  I never thought a semester could touch me as much as my last semester of grad school.  I decided to take one of the newer courses offered through Penn State, Cultural Pluralism in Children’s and Young Adult Literature…in one word, wow!  The topics we covered, the scholars in the field we read, and the books were all amazing (and yes, several made me cry).  One of my favorite quotes from the class comes from Pat Mora’s “Confessions of a Latina Author”-- “Images matter.  Words Matter.  Visibility matters” (1998, p. 281). 

I never realized how much my mother prepared me to be in a class that discusses diversity, applications for the classroom, and acceptance of others until this past semester.  In fact, I was quite shocked when I found out how some of my other classmates weren’t that comfortable using multicultural literature in the classroom.  For my openness and desire, I thank my mom deeply.

I don’t even think I can really begin to explain how much this class met to me.  You see, my master’s paper is about “Engaging Readers in Identifying Culturally Authentic American Indian Picturebook Folklore.”  Even working on the paper has changed me—it has ignited a fire in me to learn more about American Indian culture and about students learning to take control of their reading through active and critical literacy skills.  There are so many ways to empower a student, a teacher just needs to make it his/her goal to find out what works.

And of course since I’m addicted to learning, I’ve decided to continue at Penn state to earn a certificate in Educational Technology Integration—unbeknownst to many, I am quite the tech geek.  I really loved the first class that I took for the certificate program.  Who knows…maybe I will even choose Penn State for my doctoral program…What?! You didn’t really think I was stopping after I earned my master’s, did you? ;)

References

Mora, P. Confessions of a Latina Author. Alternative Library Literature 1998-1999: a Biennial Anthology. Berman, S. and J. Danky. eds. New York. ORYX Press. 2000. pp. 193-204.