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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Drama, Drama, Drama

My students are SO into Raina Telgemeier's graphic novels. I decided I would read at least one and see why they love them so much. So I started with Drama. So far, I like it!
It looks like she is in the process of writing another one! It's called Ghosts. It will be out in the Fall of 2016. 
Here's the link to her blog where Raina talks about her new book. 

I know some of my kiddos will be excited! 

Have you read one of Raina Telgemeier's books? What'd you think? Is there another graphic novel author you love?




Tuesday, September 22, 2015

I met a STAR!

Almost every April I go to the Texas Library Association's annual conference. There are tons of authors signing books, vendors (like book companies) giving away free stuff, and learning sessions. I particularly enjoy meeting authors and taking their books back to my students. I think it's beneficial to show the students that authors and illustrators are REAL people. I like to tell them that our writing and artistic abilities go further than school. In fact, I tell my students about how it is such a rush for me to meet authors and illustrators. They are like movie stars to me. Only...really they are book stars! All the same in my book. As I wait to meet them, my palms get sweating, I try and figure out what I am going to say to them (usually repeating it in my head over and over). By the time I reach them, after standing in line sometimes longer than a Six Flags ride, I end up just saying Hi! Thank you!, and I love your books. I'm a dork. A Starstruck dork at that.
This past April I met a few authors...one being my all time fave! You can imagine how much I DIDN'T say to him! lol (enter Starstruck Dork)

My all time favorite has to be Jon Scieszka. He's a genius when it comes to picture books and middle grade novels. A classic and my all time fave...Stinky Cheese Man and Fairly Stupid Tales. But, I also loved his Autobiography, Knucklehead. I brought my personal copy to TLA and had him sign it. When you meet an author they will also take a picture with you! You bet I did that!





This week I have been telling the younger students about my meeting with Sarah Weeks at TLA. I bought her book Glamourpuss and it was such a cute and fun experience meeting her, I of course had to share it with the kids. She brought fancy and glamourous glasses for us to wear  in our picture with her. The kids love the book of Glamourpuss and Bluebelle!





I can not wait to see which authors will be at TLA this year! Who is your favorite author? Would you be able to speak to them if you met them?

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony

We are into the 3rd week of school! I can't believe it! I started it off with a bang and had our Scholastic Book Fair on week 2! It was a whirlwind, but HALLELUJAH! it's behind me! Orientation is done too, so I can now get into the nitty gritty of library land! I read such a cute book to my kindergartners, and I have to share it with you!
Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony is great for discussing manners to students! Mr. Panda offers doughnuts (spelled the old fashioned way, I might add) and to a variety of animals. He offers and when they request what the kind they want, he ends up saying, "Never-mind, I changed my mind". Until he asks the upside-down lemur! Lemur uses his manners and gets the WHOLE box of doughnuts!
What's amazing is I even had some kindergartners figure it out! That's a success in itself! All the other animals had NO manners! We had terrific discussions! It goes along great with our campus focusing on Ron Clark's Essential 55 rules! I plan on reading it to a few other grade levels because of it's terrific message and cute illustrations! Please, Mr. Panda is great for young and beginning readers.