I saw the book A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans by Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder advertised online and my first thought was how cute! So, on a trip to the library I decided to pick up the book. It is a cute book! The story focuses on a dragon named Miss Drake and her young pet...I mean girl, Winnie. The role reversal in this book works well and the training tips that title every chapter provide a backdrop for the part of the story you are about to read. Miss Drake's last pet, Winnie's Great Aunt Amelia, has passed away and her fortune and huge house has been given to Winnie's mother. Miss Drake is not so thrilled when she first meets Winnie because of how rude she appears. Though who could blame Winnie for being skeptical of a dragon living beneath her house. The reader soon finds out that Winnie has lost her father and that her mother has made a habit of constantly moving around to avoid the chance that her own father might take Winnie away. Miss Drake soon begins to realize just how much Winnie misses her father. She soon begins to warm up to Winnie. They have several adventures including a trip to a store in the clouds for Magicals (any creatures of magic), rounding up all the mystical creatures that escaped from Winnie's magical sketchbook, which involves a scouting trip to a fair for Magicals. This book is the first in a series. To read an excerpt, click here.
They are also underrated in that realm. They are part of the 800's and can be a great way to get younger students into the Dewey Decimal. In fact, the one series I find to be popular with 1st-5th grade is Michael Dahl's Read-It! Joke Books. I have my 5th graders reading me jokes out of that book every couple of checkout days. It never seems to matter to my kids how easy a book looks if it is funny. You can get a preview of the books here.
Joke books are also a good way to teach partner work, fluency, and giving students think time. When I was teaching the 3rd grade about the 818 section, I modeled reading aloud jokes and asking for students to guess what the answer could be. This provided them with a safe environment to not have the correct answer because almost the whole class wanted to guess. I then asked them to read jokes aloud to each other and they would wait for their classmates to come up with an answer if no answer was guessed right away.
Two days worth of lessons last week had 3rd-5th grade students working in groups to create projects about checkout procedure for younger students. Their projects could be skits, songs, raps, jokes, drawings or a combination. This idea worked well but for some groups it was just too overwhelming without proper guidance. I don't mind kids taking time to think and plan out a project, but we only had 55 minutes together. That night after the 2nd days lessons, I dug a little more on the internet and found this Northern Nevada's Writing Project lesson via NYLearns.org. This required the book The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups by David Wisniewski. I think this a pretty funny book, so I was all for the revised project. The book's format introduces a "top secret rule" then the "official reason" and the real reason which is an outlandish and humorous story. Students are introduced to the same concept for their writing with this pre-writing sheet. I tweaked the rules to reflect library expectations, such as "Don't let the library shelves get messy," "Don't run inside the library," "Don't draw in the books," and so on. They could choose one rule to write with its official reason and real reason and illustrate it. Or they could choose several rules. My students had me smiling a laughing bringing up their ideas to me. Examples included the real reason you are not supposed to run in the library is that the carpet will bite you or that the real reason you don't sit on library tables is that you'll turn into one and can only be turned back when another student sits on you. Image from http://www.harpercollins.com/9780688153397/the-secret-knowledge-of-grown-ups
I had to reread Carpe Diem by Autumn Cornwell—it’s one of those books that I plan on rereading every few years. It was a book club pick at my work and I’m thrilled with just how much I enjoyed the book. I bet you’re wondering what “LIM” stands for…well, I’ll tell you later.
Here is the general gist of the book: Vassar Spore has planned life out for herself, almost as if it was a science. Some of her goals include, “Graduate valedictorian from Seattle Academy of Academic Excellence (with a minimum 5.3 GPA).”, “Publish the definitive book on (TBD) by age 37”, “Receive Pulitzer prize.” Vassar is what you would call an overachiever (and I wonder why I like the book so much). But, you come to realize she is a bit overprotected and sheltered…that is until her Grandma Gerd blackmails her parents (something to do with “The Big Secret”) into letting Vassar fly to Malaysia to trek around looking for “found art”.
The novel only gets better…Vassar’s three girlfriends won’t let her escape the summer without arranging how she can pull off being valedictorian instead of Wendy Stupacker (the resident popular girl). It is decided that Vassar will write a novel about her adventures in Southeast Asia—she has no idea just how unbelievable her novel will be!
Vassar flies half-way across the world and meets Grandma Gerd, who is aloof, a non-planner, and artsy—the opposite of Vassar. Grandma Gerd leads Vassar through several regions of Southeast Asia—Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos. If you don’t read the book for the humor (and it’s RIPE with humor), adventure, and the personal journey Vassar goes through (if I used the word “on”, I feel like it’s implied she wanted to go through it), then please, PLEASE read it for the setting—Cornwell outdoes herself, from the dirt streets with the outdoor make-shift cafes and tiny-market vendors to the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat—she definitely earns the title “travel junkie”.
Cornwell does a great job developing the main characters, as well—Vassar, who is so preposterous at points that even when her friends read about “Sarah” (the protagonist Vassar secretly pins herself as), they think she’s a “goody-goody”, which puts Vassar out a little, especially since they all LOVE Aunt Aurora (Grandma Gerd), and Wayne (Hanks)—Vassar’s guide turned love interest, who also happens to be a Chinese Malay cowboy (with chops and Godlings)! Even as I’m thinking about what else I want to write about the book, it has me smiling and chuckling…
….I suppose I can let you know what “LIM” stands for now—its Grandma Gerd’s acronym for “Live In the Moment!”
Cornwell, A. (2007). Carpe diem. New York, NY: Square Fish.
You know how you have those moments where the joke or story is so funny (or at least you think so), that you have trouble telling it because you start laughing?Yeah, well… I had that moment the other night.My mom, sister, and I were attending The Muny and before the show started I decided to read a short story from Guys Read: Funny Business, edited by Jon Scieszka. I was to a “Three Stooges” slapstick funny part and started laughing—well, of course my mom and sister wanted to know what was so funny.I did a good job of setting up the beginning of the story, but started giggling when coming up to the funny part.The short and sweet of it—the story is written by David Yoo and all I really need to say is that it contains a somersault-turning, ball kicking turkey named Travis and author’s run in with a tree.
This book is so clever!Its short humorous stories, so it’s not an intimidating read.One story a day and by the end, the reader feels accomplished because they’ve finished a novel.I'd also recommend using the illustrations at the beginning of each story to prompt a writing assignment. At the same time, if you are an educator, you will be seeing classroom applications very deceptively tucked into each short story.For example, Kate DiCamillo and Jon Scieszka co-author the story, “Your Question For Author Here”.It’s back and forth letter-writing between a boy and an author (that he only picked to annoy a girl in his class).The boy doesn’t want to write to the author, but it’s part of a school assignment and he doesn’t want to get in trouble with his teacher or parents (again).The banter between the two is humorous and so unbelievable that the boy’s teacher doesn’t even believe the exchange occurred—this little issue is remedied in the most awesome way.
One of the many things I love about short story anthologies from authors that write children’s and young adult literature, is that students get a sampler of their work and can continue on to the author’s other books.I mean, who wouldn’t want to pick up a book edited by Jon Scieszka?! With stories by David Lubar, Christopher Paul Curtis, Eoin Colfer, etc, etc, etc.(Oh and by the way, my mom stole my book after I couldn’t get through the funny scene so she could read it—don’t worry, she eventually returned it).
Scieszka, J. E. (2010). Guys read: funny business. New York, NY: Walden Pond Press.
From the author of Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
Judi Barrett combines numbers, rhyming, and animals in this colorfully illustrated story, I Knew Two Who Said Moo.Silliness takes over from the very beginning, with an elephant lying “on a toasted bun…playing the accordion…”Barrett makes sure that the rhyming words are in a different color from the rest of the text making them more readily identifiable.Sometimes she might get a little carried away with the rhyming, but at the same time it works because it adds to the humor of the book.We also have to remember that this is from the author who made it rain French toast with syrup.
The illustrations are brightly colored and mirror the text, making this a good choice for read aloud.In fact, kids can guess what the rhyming words are based on the numbers (the selected words rhyme with the featured number) and the clues in the illustrations.This book integrates language arts and math concepts very well.
Barrett, J. (2003). I knew two who said moo. New York, NY: Atheneum.
Typically, I try to post a younger book review on Mondays, but I just read that one of my favorite books was voted Irish Book of the Decade!
Recommended for grades 4 to 8
From a walking, talking skeleton to vampires and the undead, magic--mind you, extremely powerful ancient magic--abounds in Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy.The plot of the story revolves around an adolescent girl named Stephanie, who has just inherited her uncle’s estate and another unlikely treasure (or curse, depending on how you look at it).
The other main character is Skulduggery Pleasant, a frank speaking, and did I mention suavely dressed, ace detective, who just happens to be a skeleton.Skulduggery’s connection to Stephanie is through her deceased uncle.Skulduggery ends up becoming Stephanie’s mentor to the magical world of elementals and adepts, where her uncle’s death has set off a chain reaction leading to the breaking of a treaty between good and evil to attain the scepter--a supposed mythological artifact that will give whoever possesses it ultimate power.
Stephanie and Skulduggery set out on a thrilling and magical adventure to discover where the scepter is located, how to stop Serpine--the evil antagonist--from getting his hands on it, and just what lengths one will go to save a friend.
I loved the story and characters in this book so much, that half way through listening to the audio (you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t listen to this on audio; Rupert Degas reads the novel with great zest, sarcastic (sometimes dark) humor, and a gotta love Irish accent), I realized I wanted to read the story again; it was just that intriguing and funny.
The main character, Stephanie, is brilliant and humorous.I laughed out loud at her quirky, yet sometimes deadpan comments.Stephanie has supernatural powers of her own that develop through the series, but her true powers lie in her intelligence, strength in will and determination.
I’m always trying to think of what novel I hold up to par with Harry Potter and this would be the one.I really loved Skulduggery Pleasant and highly recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, mystery, and strong female protagonists.
*This is the first in the series and is now renamed Scepter Of The Ancients.
