On January 1, 2012 Mr. Schu and I started the Newbery Challenge. We had a lot of fun reading every Newbery medal winning book. When we finished the challenge last fall, I started looking forward to hearing which book would win the 2014 Newbery Medal.
I’m hoping that Mr. Schu and I film Newbery videos together for many years to come. Below you will find our Newbery video for the 2014 winner.
Earlier this week Brad Wilson‘s Nerd Camp video made the rounds on Twitter. I’m proud to be a part of Nerd Camp, and I hope that we can get as many people to join us in July as possible.
If you are thinking about coming to Nerd Camp, but you have some questions, please leave a comment below and I’ll try and find you an answer.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nerdcampmi-2014-tickets-10040213549?ref=eweb
A few months ago I only knew Amber McRee Turner as the author of Sway.Getting to know Ms. Turner through on social media and through the words of her beautiful book Circa Now, I now call her a friend. Amber’s one of those friends you make as an adult that you wish you’d had your whole life. She’s that awesome.
I’m excited to see what young readers think of her latest book, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for Ms. Amber McRee Turner.
I’m hoping you enjoy reading Amber’s interview as much as I enjoyed interviewing her.
Today’s interview is of the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 variety.
Here are the rules:
1. I give the interviewee 5 questions
2. They have to answer
3. They get to pick which question which question to answer with each number of sentences
4. Have fun!
1. Can you tell us a little bit about CIRCA NOW? (2)
CIRCA NOW is the story of a girl who longs to change her own story and a boy who needs to discover his, both of them seeking magic in a very special set of restored photographs. Together, the two find the true meaning of restoration, one pixel at a time.
2. What is your favorite thing about being a writer? (3)
I get to collect random bits of information, like something a stranger says in a hospital waiting room, the colors swirling in an oily puddle on the parking lot, or the way a piece of a song makes my insides get all achy. Then I get to smush those bits together into something totally new. The glue that holds them is the question, “What if…?”
3. What’s the hardest thing about being a writer? (4)
It’s the same thing that’s the hardest about being a human. Revision. Improvement. Listening to other smart peoples’ advice on making my books better is almost as hard as listening to other smart peoples’ advice on making Amber better.
4. If you could spend one day inside the world of any book which book would you pick? (1)
I’ve always wanted to be tucked into that giant moonlit bed with all those dogs in the blue middle pages of Go, Dog. Go! By P.D. Eastman.
5. What advice do you have for the young writers in my classroom? (5)
There are lots of brown-haired women and lots of cancer survivors and lots of moms and lots of people who hate guacamole in the world, but I’m fairly sure that I’m the only brown-haired, guacamole-hating, cancer-survivor mom who once slipped in a puddle of dog spit and broke her tailbone and who had a chicken named Roy that got struck by lightning. All that is to say, my story is one-of-a-kind. So is yours. Tell it. With a pencil, with your voice, with colorful shapes, or with a harmonica – make sure you tell it.
https://www.smore.com/7j6fh-july-sharpschu-book-club-meeting?embed=1
I’m giving away one copy of The Troublemaker and one copy of The Great Greene Heist.
Must be 13 to enter.
Giveaway ends June 1 at 11:59 PM ET.
If you are anything like me chances are a big part of your reading life as a child involved Judy Blume. I can remember, clear as day, my third grade teacher Ms. Frey reading my class Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing. I am so excited that these classics are going to be reissued with new updated illustrations and new covers from Debbie Ohi. Debbie has kindly agreed to answer my interview questions today.
Here are the rules:
1. I give the interviewee 5 questions
2. They have to answer
3. They get to pick which question which question to answer with each number of sentences
4. Have fun!
1. Can you tell us a little bit about the work you did for Judy Blume’s reissued books?
(5 sentences)
I provided illustrations for seven covers of Judy Blume classics being reissued as middle grade editions by Atheneum Books For Young Readers/Simon & Schuster: ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET, BLUBBER, DEENIE, IGGIE’S HOUSE, IT’S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD, STARRING SALLY J. FREEDMAN AS HERSELF, THEN AGAIN, MAYBE I WON’T.
Lauren Rille (Associate Art Director at Simon & Schuster Children’s) was responsible for the great cover design, and I loved working with her.
I also illustrated the covers of three Judy Blume classics being reissued as chapter books by Atheneum/Simon & Schuster: FRECKLE JUICE, THE PAIN AND THE GREAT ONE, and THE ONE IN THE MIDDLE IS THE GREEN KANGAROO.
In addition to providing illustrations for the covers for these chapter books, I created nearly 90 illustrations for the interior pages.
The redesigned middle grade books with my cover illustrations came out in April, and the revamped chapter books will be available in bookstores on May 27th (paperback) and June 3rd (hardcover), 2014.
2. What was the hardest thing about recovering Ms. Blume’s books?
(4 sentences)
It was stressful during the audition process because I wanted the job SO VERY VERY MUCH but had no idea if I’d be chosen.
Because I’m a longtime fangirl and have such huge respect for her work that I felt a ton of pressure while working on the new illustrations.
The deadline was very tight, so I ended up working every weekend and most evenings, with 14+ hour work days being the norm.
BUT….all the above was SO WORTH IT (see below).
3. What is your favorite thing about recovering Ms. Blume’s books?
@inkyelbows – we are having such fun with your work on the reissues of my books. Clever & charming. Thanks! xo
— Judy Blume (@judyblume) February 13, 2014
(2 sentences)
The first Harry Potter book. Who wouldn’t want to be able to fly a broomstick and cast spells?
5. What advice do you have for the young illustrators in my classroom?
(1 sentence)
Draw every day, don’t obsess about being perfect, and have fun experimenting with different media as well as subjects.
A huge thanks to Debbie for stopping by today! I cannot wait to get my hands on these books.
Be sure to visit Nerdy Book Club to read Debbie’s essay on her work on the Blume books.
Mr. Schu has put together some Blume resources for your reading and viewing pleasure.
I’m so excited to finish yet another reading challenge with Mr. Schu. Be sure to head over to his blog to hear his thoughts on the 2014 Geisel winning books.
A student news show is always something that I wanted to try with my students, but the project sort of overwhelmed me. With the help of Brad Wilson I decided to give it a whirl this past week with hope that in two weeks when we visit Mackinac Island students will be able to create a show from the island sharing their learning.
One of first thing that I had to do was see how creating news segments fit into the writing process. We use a process map created by Ruth Ayers. 
The map really helped me to focus on the informational writing that the students were going to do during the week.
I’ll try and put together a more detailed idea of what we did this summer, but for now I’ll just share a quick outline.
Day 1: Mentor “Texts”
The first day we watched TONS of student news team videos. We discussed what we liked about their favorite segments.
Day 2: Topics
The second day we generated a list of topics for possible segments.
Students self-selected groups and picked a topic.
Day 3: Outline
Students planned their segment using a storyboard.
Day 4: Notecards
Students wrote out their segment on notecards. TONS or revising done this day.
Once students finished their notecards they: practices. A ton.
Day 5: Action!
Students filmed their segment. I put all the segments togethers using iMovie.
Day 6: Watch the News!
That’s today! I’m so excited for my students to watch their show today. After we watch, we’ll reflect on what went well and what didn’t.
The hardest part of this process for me was to not focus on all the things my students didn’t do well. I kept having to remind myself that they were learning a ton, and this was their first attempt at creating a news segment.
My hope is to divide the time it takes to go through the process in half next week. That will give us one more news show before we begin planning for our show on Mackinac Island.
My hope is to teach this unit to my students early in the year next fall. I want student news teams to be a part of our writing workshop all year long.
Last Friday I was following the Tweets of Mr. Schu’s crazy 800 mile adventure to celebrate Indies First Storytime. I decided that I would look to see if I could take my kids on our own little adventure to celebrate Indies First Storytime.
On Saturday morning, I loaded the kids up in our ol’ minivan and headed to Bookbug in Kalamazoo to celebrate with them.
We arrived a few minutes before the event. The kids had on their game faces.
https://vine.co/v/MXYWA3ntDwa/embed/simpleI knew it was going to be a good day when I noticed Laurel Snyder’s new book when I walked in.
One of the featured authors for the event was Jesse Klausmeier. We loved listening to her read Open This Little Book.
Be still my heart! Jesse called Dharia up front to help her turn the pages.
https://vine.co/v/MXYbh1gTWrl/embed/simple
After Jesse’s reading we got a chance to listen to the amazing Sarah Stewart talk about her masterpiece The Gardener.
https://vine.co/v/MXYe99it3LX/embed/simple
Then it was time to head outside and plant flowers in front of Bookbug.
https://vine.co/v/MXYnIE1J9Fd/embed/simple
Indies First Storytime was AMAZING! I hope it becomes an annual event!
From the time I start typing until the time I hit publish I give myself 10 minutes to write these reviews. I do not include time finding the cover image in my 10 minutes.
How to Outrun A Crocodile While Your Shoes are Untied
By: Jess Keating
Publication date: June 3, 2014
Yesterday I finished Jess Keating’s How to Outrun a Crocodile When Your Shoes Are Untied (We’ll call it CROC to save time the rest of this review).
Over the summer I fell in love with Matt Gomez’s post about the one rule in his classroom: Be Brave. My students and I have talked a lot about what being brave looks like over the course of this school year. They have a strong understanding that brave is different for everyone. Early in the year we saw Ivan’s bravery in The One and Only Ivan, and we cheered when Snail took the plunge in Deborah Freedman’s The Story of Fish & Snail. Watching Zoe’s dad’s bravery in A Crooked Kind of Perfect tugged at our hearts.
I’m looking forward to young readers learning about what bravery means to Ana when they read CROC. Ana’s life is a hot mess when her BFF moves to another continent, her celebrity grandfather stops by for an extended visit, the Sneerers bully her at school, and her parents inform her that her family is going to live INSIDE the zoo. With all these things on Ana’s plate she is expected to give a big presentation at the zoo. With both her parents as zoologists, and her grandfather a celebrity animal adventurist, Ana is expected to shine in this situation. The problem is: she is terrified.
One thing that I learned from this book is that bravery is not something that you necessarily need to do alone. Ana’s bravery shines through because of the support she receives from the people that matter most to her. In CROC we see that bravery can be a team effort.
I hope you like CROC as much as I did.
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