19th August Book Week Connect to Reading Part 2

I shared the shortlist for the Picture Book with my four classes of Year 2 students. I agonised over whether to buy The Rules of Summer as I thought the illustrations were quite dark and the rules worded rather negatively and that I would need to do too much scaffolding to do it justice in one or two thirty minute library lessons. I thought I would wait and see if it won and then decide. Well it did win and I am still not sure what I want to do!

The other shortlisted books were fun to share and easy to use the connection theme with. We stared with King Pig  because the students all wanted to read it. They thought it would be funny and they 'love' Nick Bland books. We book talked it in pairs where the students had to focus on what made it funny and discuss whether or not it had a message or theme. They easily recognised the theme but were surprised that a humorous story could have a serious message. This prompted revisiting other books they knew such as Click Clack Moo Cows that Type  and Farmer Duck.

It also led effortlessly to The Windy Farm which also looked as if it would be humorous. Similarly here the students worked out that this was not only funny but had a deeper message. Two of the classes were currently studying the environment and were keen to talk about energy sources and how common wind energy was. This led naturally to the book Energy Island  by Allan Drummond which tells the story of Samso, a Danish island that is powered by wind energy.

I thought Toby the character in Parachute  may have been too young for my Year 2 students to relate to, but in their Book Talk pairs they quickly began to talk about fears and make connections to themselves. The subject of 'security blankets' arose and one class and I revisited Lisa Shanahan's Gordon's Got a Snookie in order to once again look at the connection between humour and serious themes. The other three classes talked more about overcoming fears and we used Sonya Hartnett's  Come Down Cat to make connections, both literally with cats and heights, but inferentially about how to and when to be brave.

And lastly,  Silver Buttons  which was my favourite and the easiest to get the students involved in. We talked about small increments of time and what could be done in them. We timed activities with stopwatches. We looked at what is 'momentous' and what is 'mundane' and argued the story events inclusion or not.  The Book Talk final discussion was to sum up the book in one word. I was amazed by how well the students did this. There was the obvious 'minute', but others were 'time', 'life', celebration', and 'importance'. I used At the Same Moment Around the World and Just a Second as either pre or post reading.

King Pig  and  Silver Buttons were the most popular of the books we read when the students voted.

15th September Choose Your Favourite Colour Day

What a wonderful day to celebrate with very young children. (You don't need to mention Crayola.) This question elicits so much passion and fervour, everyone championing their own favourite colour and certainly not listening to what other children are saying. Last week I was reading Mozzie and Midgie to a kindergarten class and there are many colours mentioned as the two spoonbills try many disguises in a quest to make themselves 'more special', but they are not colours that children hear often. There was emerald, russet, aqua and crimson. We had fun defining them and then trying to think of other things that were that colour. Next children thought of other colours that were less common like maroon, mauve, violet and lemon.

This inspired me to put together a display of books about colour. There were so many and I was surprised how many were quick to leave the library. Of course there are old favourites like Ella Doran's Colour, Leo Lionni's Little Blue and Little Yellow and Ellen Walsh's Mouse Paint but there have been so many books more recently with a colour in their title. See:

* The Sun is Yellow by Kveta Pacovska (Amazing. Full of hidden treasures and very different)

* Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (How many shades of green did you pick?)

* Grandpa Green by Lane Smith

* Blue Chicken by Deborah Freeman (The children are fascinated by the way the colour is absorbed by the chicken)

* Baby Bear Sees Blue by Ashley Wolff

* The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle

* Red Cat, Blue Cat by Jenni Desmond

* The Red Lemon by Bob Staake

13th October Robert Ingpen (1936) Christine Nostlinger (1936) Doug MacLeod (1959)

Robert Ingpen is an Australian children's book illustrator who has won most of the book awards available to him. He won the 1986 Hans Christian Anderson Award for his contribution to children's literature. He is probably best known for his illustrations for Colin Thiele's Storm Boy, but more recently he has done illustrations for classic books when they are about to celebrate a significant anniversary. Among others he has illustrated Peter Pan and Wendy; The Secret Garden; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; The Jungle Book and The Wind in the Willows. His style is immediately recognisable as his. It is painterly, serious and often sombre and appeals to older readers probably more than to very young children. Books such as Storm Boy; Conservation; Peacetimes; Voyage of the Poppykettle and Who is the World For? which highlight environmental issues and a love of nature are perfect for younger classes and good discussions.

Christine Nostlinger is a prolific Austrian children's writer, however many of her books are not easily available in English. She writes picture books and novels and is probably best known in English-speaking countries for Conrad, the Factory-Made Boy. She won the 1984 Hans Christian Anderson Award and was the first author to win the Astrid Lindgren Award. What a coincidence that two very successful children's literature enthusiasts were born on the same day and both won the Hans Christian Anderson Award!

The third birthday boy is Australian writer Doug MacLeod. He writes very humorous books and verse as well as writing for adult television. If you haven't read any of his books search out Kevin the Troll. Children love it! Also have a look at his website. It too will make you laugh.

9th October Michael Dugan (1947 - 2006)

Michael Dugan was an Australian children's writer who also had many other writing 'hats'. He was a poet, an editor, wrote plays and radio scripts. He published many picture books and novels, among them a series about wombats illustrated by Jane Burrell, Don't Forget Granny (illustrated by Kevin Burgemeestre), a zany story where Little red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf decide to marry and invite various book characters to their engagement party.

Many other Australian writers attribute him for influencing their careers. Ian Trevaskis says, "It wasn’t until the late author; Michael Dugan was visiting my school in 1989 that I decided I too could write a story and get it published. Ha, ha, this was easier said than done! Up until then I hadn’t realised just how hard it is to be a REAL writer." Doug MacLeod says, " My first book was published because a writer and editor called Michael Dugan spent time with me and helped me understand which parts of my submitted manuscript were bad and which were okay."