Friends Shape Who We Are

For kids, learning to be friends is so hard.  Little kids struggle so much with right and wrong, playing together and what friendship really is.  Luckily, there is a book out there to define friendship for children (and adults too!)

Friendshape by Amy Krouse Rosenthal uses the 4 basic shapes (circle, rectangle, square and triangle) to tell us about friendship. Rosenthal uses short simple sentences to tell us what friends are, and in a couple sentences what they are not.  Every sentence starts with friend, so there is no mistaking what we are talking about.

The book is illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld (Good Night, Good Night Construction Site Steam Train, Dream Train and I Wish You More just to name a few) and he uses simple pictures of the shapes, but the shapes are talking, giving us examples of what Rosenthal just defined a friend was.

I love the page that says, "Friends play fair..." and shows a picture of all the shapes flying a kite.  The Circle says to Rectangle, "Your turn next ok?" What a great image that so many of our really young kids need today to understand that friends share and take turns.

Get this book for your child or your best friend because the inside flap says it best, "Friends shape who we are."

Happy Reading!
Laura

Reading Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I know you are wearing green, eating green and drinking green so we should why not read green today.  To celebrate St. Patrick's check out Laura Vaccaro Seeger's book Green. 

Green has every color green imaginable khaki green, jungle green, faded green and even wacky green! I love that Seeger even uses foods like limes and peas to describe different green colors.

Kids will love turning the pages and seeing what new image the subtle die-cuts make on the next page as well as seeing all the different color greens there are! As a fun activity, divide a paper into 9-12 squares and give your child paint to see how many different shades of greens they can make today!

What St. Patrick's Day books will you be reading today!  Share in the comments!  

Happy Reading!

Wait

We all know the struggle of having young children.  Whenever we are out running errands or trying to get somewhere it is the constant struggle of hurry up and wait!

Antoinette Portis captures this familiar struggle between parents and children in her book Wait.  The book only consists of two words, hurry and wait, but the pictures tell an entirely different story.

A young boy and his mom are walking down the street, mom looking at her watch as if they are already running late.  The boy sees a dog and of course has to pet him so mom must wait.  This hurry and wait exchange continues with the boy waving to construction workers wanting to buy some ice cream and looking at fish in the pet store window.  Then it begins to rain and it is all hurry, hurry, hurry, until the boy tugs on his mother's coat to point out a rainbow.

This book is so symbolic of making sure to take time out to enjoy the little things, which our kids always help us to remember to do!

Happy Reading!
Laura

Books for Babes: What We Do and Why

Books for Babes...  Here is what we do and why we do what we do!

What we do:
Reading aloud to a child can make a world of difference in the life of that child.  That is why Books for Babes has set out to provide every baby with its first book.  We partner with hospitals to provide books to babies.  Currently we are providing books to the moms and babies in the maternity ward at University Hospital as well as the NICU at Norton Women's and Kosair Children's Hospital on Dutchman's Lane.

Why we do it:

First, babies love books! It's true.  They love to hear your voice, they love to cuddle in your lap, they love the attention.  They love everything about being read to so we should try to make it a part of our daily routine.  It is a great way to bond with baby. Plus all the attention and cuddles from reading aloud are good for mom too! 

Second, reading to your baby will help develop language skills and pre-reading skills (like how to turn a page and hold a book).  Our children often come to kindergarten not ready to learn to read.  Let's use books to start conversations with our kids and let them hear words and language they may not get otherwise.  

Lastly, reading aloud creates a love of reading.  When children hear their parent's voice reading aloud to them it is a comforting feeling.  They associate it with happiness and love.  Therefore as they become readers themselves they will find happiness in reading, just like they did when they were read aloud to.  

The Future:

We do not stop want to stop at giving books to hospitals.  We want to work with daycares also. We want to not just give the metaphorical fish but teach people how to fish.  We aim to one day provide classes to parents and daycare workers to show them how to read aloud to their baby and teach them that it is just as important as reading to your school age child.  These two aspects (the books and the classes) can help parents to read aloud, creating a special bond between parent, child and book.

How you can help:

We need books!  Last year we were able to give out over 350 books and we want to beat that this year.  We take new or gently used board books.  If you don't have the time to go shop for board books, make a donation and we can shop for you! 

Consider hosting a book drive.  If you work for a school who needs a service project or know a high schooler who needs a service project, tell them about us! We would love to have a school sponsor a book drive!

Spread the word.  Please tell your friends and family about what we are doing here at Books for Babes.  The more people that know the more moms and babies we can help!

Thanks and Happy Reading!

Warriors Can Wear Skirts

This month as we celebrate women, take time to read some books about everyday women who paved the way for women everywhere.  Help teach our girls that with determination, persistence and grit we can do anything and be anything!

Not All Princesses Dress in Pink by Jane Yolen and Heidi Y. Stemple

Jane Yolen does it yet again.  This book empowers young girls to be who they want to be, dress how they want to and do what makes them happy- all while wearing their princess crown.  It was not too long ago that girls had to fit into a certain mold.  They had to act a certain way, dress a certain way and grow up to have a certain job. It is different for our girls now- we want them to be who they are, celebrate who they are and love who they are.  This book is a great celebration for all girls!

Amelia to Zora: Twenty Six Women Who Changed the World by Cynthia Chin-Lee

If you want to celebrate a lot of women who made a difference this is the book for you. Every letter of the alphabet is represented by a different woman who fought for equal rights and paved the way for women everywhere.  Some of the women you will know and recognize like Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Theresa and Oprah.  But you have probably never heard of Grace Cooper who was the first woman to earn a doctorate degree in mathematics from Yale or Wilma Mankiller a chief for the Cherokee Nation.  Learn about many different women and their contributions to our world.

Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Maker's Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel

Clara was just a young girl who immigrated to New York.  She knew it was was wrong when young girls had to work in garment factories all day in poor working conditions and for low wages. She decided things had to change. At first she tried small strikes- but it was not enough.  When she would strike she would get fired and beaten and sometimes arrested.  Clara knew the women needed a giant strike to make a difference, so she made a speech at a union meeting. Her speech started the largest walkout of women workers in US history, some of who are only 12 years old.  All winter the girls picketed.  Rich women and college girls joined them- all women united for their rights.  Clara's strike changed working conditions in New York and encouraged women to do the same in Philadelphia and Chicago. The last line says, "Proving in America wrongs can be righted, warriors can wear skirts and blouses and the bravest hearts may beat in girls only five feet tall."  Women have come a long way, thanks to the many women like Clara who fought for what they knew was right.  Let's continue to be warriors.

Miss Moore Thought Otherwise by Jan Pinborough

Miss Annie Moore is an example of another woman who had ideas and the grit and determination to make those ideas a reality.  Annie loved to read and be read to but children were not allowed to go inside libraries, much less take a book home from the library. When Annie grew older and heard that libraries were hiring women as librarians she quickly packed her bags and headed to Brooklyn so she could go to the Pratt Institute Library school.  When she got her first job as a librarian she began making changes in how libraries served children.  She created fun spaces for the children to read, provided story times and made sure there were great books available.  Her ideas and opinions about children and books caught on.  Slowly libraries around the county and the world began copying Miss Moore and her ideas for children's libraries.  We can thank Miss Moore for the wonderful children's libraries we have today, because with out her there would be none.

Helen's Big World by Doreen Rappaport

Doreen Rappaport beautifully tells the story of Helen Keller starting when she was born to when she lost her sight and hearing at 2 years old.  Then she goes on to tell of Helen's struggles and accomplishments.  You can tell how close Annie Sullivan and Helen were.  Annie took every opportunity to teach Helen about the world and what was in it.  Because of Annie's determination Helen was able to learn and grow and see the world.  Helen was able to fight for rights of women and people who were blind.  She did not let her deaf and blindness stop her from doing anything and Helen Keller accomplished a lot more than other people in her life.  Her story is an inspiration to all.

Happy Reading!
Laura

See also:

Who Says Women Can't Be Doctors?

Coretta Scott King Book Award

Since 1970 African American authors who have excelled in writing have been awarded the Coretta Scott King book award.  Outstanding African American illustrators began being recognized in 1974.  The first author to win the award was Lillie Patterson for the book Martin Luther King: A Man of Peace.  The first illustrator was George Ford for the Book Ray Charles (written by Sharon Bell Mathis)

The Coretta Scott King Author Award for this year goes to Rita Williams-Garcia.  Williams-Garcia also won the award in 2014 for P.S. Be Eleven and in 2011 for One Crazy Summer.  Her latest book Gone Crazy in Alabama has been award with the 2016 award.

Gone Crazy in Alabama is the sequel to One Crazy Summer. In Gone Crazy in Alabama Delphine and her two younger sisters are shipped of to Alabama for the summer to live with their grandmother and great grandmother.  Rural Alabama in 1969 is much different than Brooklyn.  The girls struggle with finding their identify, getting along and learning the difference between oppression and respect.

All sisters can relate to the three sisters in the story (oldest, middle and youngest) Delphine is the big sister, in charge of looking after her younger sisters.  She takes her job a little too seriously, constantly picking on them to do right.  However, she thinks that she is above helping out around the house (especially ironing sheets) and tells her grandmother that she will not do it.  This act of disrespect does not sit well with her grandmother. Over the summer Delphine learns a lot about what it means to be a big sister and just how much her sisters mean to her.

Vonetta is the outspoken middle sister.  She is always picking on her little sister and getting bossed around by her big sister.  She doesn't take it from anyone.  Vonetta loves being the center of attention and will do anything to stay there.  Her favorite thing to do during the summer in Alabama was take stories back and forth between her great grandmother and her estranged sister Great Aunt Miss Trotter.  Vonetta is so stubborn and bull-headed she finds herself in trouble when a tornado hits the town.

Fern, the baby, does not like to eat meat.  She wants to take care of all her animals friends.  She is constantly being picked on by Vonetta and being defended by Delphine.  Fern is just a happy go lucky girl until her sister Vonetta turns up missing- or possibly worse.

All three girls learn, that even through all the fighting and bickering, they are still sisters and still love one another.

Now, in addition to the author and illustrator award, the ALA also recognizes new authors and illustrators with the Steptoe award.

This year's Coretta Scott King Steptoe award for new author goes to Ronald L. Smith for his book Hoodoo.  Hoodoo is the story of a boy growing up in the south in the 1930's.  The boy, Hoodoo, comes from a family who does hoodoo magik, although he has never been able to.  One day a stranger comes to town and Hoodoo can feel the bad juju.  The bad juju is showing up in his dreams and in real life.  Hoodoo quickly realizes that there is evil in the world that only he can conquer.  He digs as deep as he can inside himself for bravery and belief in the hoodoo magik to conquer the evil.

Hoodoo is an intense slightly scary novel.  Smith does a great job with describing the scene, everything from the look and feel right down the the smell.  He sets the scene brilliantly, the entire time you feel as though you are in 1930 Alabama from the way that the characters talk to what they are eating.  If your intermediate aged child likes magic and spells and can be scared a little this book is perfect for them!

Happy Reading!
Laura

Robert F. Sibert Award

The Robert F. Sibert Award has been award annually since 2001 to the most distinguished informational book for children.  This award will not be given to poetry, folktales or any other works of literary fiction.  The informational category for children has greatly improved.  Now you can find high quality informational books on a variety of subjects.  They are a great way to supplement or even replace textbooks.

The 2016 Sibert Award was given to Duncan Tonatiuh for his book Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras. I love, love, love this book.  It has so many possibilities to be used cross-curricularly in the classroom, plus it is just interesting.

Tonatiuh tells the story of Jose Guadalupe Posada, an artist from Mexico.  Posada's story is interesting enough but Tonatiuh adds so much to it. Posada did not start out making drawings of calaveras (skulls) in the beginning.  He slowly worked his way into that subject and actually used his calaveras to speak his opinion and thoughts (which were often political). Throughout his life Posada used many different types of styles to make his artwork.  Some of his drawings were lithographs, etchings and engravings.  I love how Tonatiuh includes a step by step process for each of the different types of printing.  Tonatiuh does a great job of using simpler language to tell the somewhat complicated story of Posada.  I also love how Tonatiuh uses some of Posada's actual prints as illustrations.  With the print a possible message that Posada was trying to get across is included.

This book is very kid friendly and could be used as a supplement to history class, cultural studies and even art class.  It would be a great addition to any teacher's library. At the end the book is begging to be turned into an art project.  The last line is, "What would Posada's calaveras look like now days?" It is practically encouraging children to create their own calaveras print with a message.

2016 Sibert Award Honors

Drowned City: Hurrican Katrina and New Orleans by Don Brown

The Boys Who Challenged Hitler by Knud Pedersonn and The Churchill Club

Turning 15 On the Road to Freedom by Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley

Voice of Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford and Ekua Holmes

Happy Reading!

Laura

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award

I honor of the great, late Dr. Seuss's birthday today we will check out the Geisel Award winner (named after the Seuss himself). The Geisel Award for outstanding authors and illustrators of beginning readers is a relatively new award.  This is only the 10th year for the award.  This year's award goes to David A. Adler (author) and Sam Ricks (illustrator)for Don't Throw It To Mo! 

Don't Throw It To Mo! is a story about little Mo Jackson and his love for football.  Mo is the smallest one on the team and he often has to sit out with the coach.  That never discourages Mo. He practices catching buttered footballs and does whatever Coach asks.  One day his team is playing a game.  The other team laughs and makes fun of Mo and how small he is.  "No one will ever throw it to him," they think, "he is too small!"  Well, they are wrong.  Mo gets in the game and after not throwing it to him two times, the third time the ball is thrown to Mo, he catches it and his teams wins the game.  Great job Mo!

Adler uses simple sentences and dialogue to tell Mo's story, two characteristics of a good beginning reader.  He even uses some receptions (don't throw it to Mo) which beginning readers appreciate because they know what to expect. Children will love hearing how Mo, even though he is small, was able to win the football game.  It will give young beginning readers hope that they too will have a shining moment, even though they are small.

Geisel Award Honors:

A Pig, A Fox and A Box by Jonathan Fenske

Waiting by Kevin Henkes

Supertruck by Steven Savage

Happy Reading!
Laura

Stonewall Book Award

The Stonewall Book Award is given out annually to a distinguished book relating to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experiences.  This award also has a non-fiction and literary category, but those are geared more towards adults.  The award has been given out since 1976, under several different names.  The award was first simply called The Gay Book Award, then the Gay and Lesbian Book Award.  The award's name continued to change as we learned more and became more accepting of people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender.

This year's Stonewall Book Award for children was awarded to Alex Gino for the book George.  This book needs to go on everyone's to read list RIGHT NOW! This book is the epitome of what I love about books and literature.  Through reading your eyes are opened and thoughts broadened.  You are able to put yourself into someone else's shoes and have empathy.  Reading diverse books creates diverse people.

George is the story of a person everyone thinks is a boy, because that is what they see, but really she is a girl.  George is in 4th grade struggling with her identity and how to tell those around her that she is a girl.   George's class has just finished reading Charlotte's Web and are now going to perform it for their school and families.  George wants to be Charlotte so bad.  She loves how strong, bold and radiant Charlotte is.  But only the girls are allowed to try out for Charlotte.  With the help and encouragement of her best friend, Kelly, George tries out for Charlotte.  Her teacher gets upset and thinks that it is a joke so George does not get the part, Kelly does.

George eventually gets the courage to first tell Kelly that she is a girl and then her mom and brother.  Kelly is the most accepting of the idea saying to George, "If you think you're a girl....Then I think you're a girl too!" To George's surprise her brother Scott also takes it well.  George's mom is having a hard time accepting it.  Then George and Kelly come up with a plan to switch places during the play so that George can be Charlotte.  Everyone is blown away by her performance and people begin to understand what George has been struggling with.

The book ends with Kelly asking George to go on a girl's trip to the zoo (wearing girl clothes and everything).  George is so excited at the idea, and even more when she finally gets to share her girl name with Kelly... Melissa.

The plot alone is enough to put this book on the must read list, but the way Gino includes George's thoughts and struggles (all the way down to hating going into the boy's bathroom), is what knocks this book out the of the park.  There are George's sitting in our classrooms and at our dinner tables across this country and we need to let them know we accept them for who they are and that there are people out there just like them.  If nothing else George gives us a glimpse into the difficult inner struggle transgender children are dealing with.  Don't miss this one!

Stonewall Book Award Honors

Wonders of the Invisible World by Christopher Bazark

Sex Is A Funny Word: A book about bodies, feelings and YOU! by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smythe

Happy Reading!
Laura