Book-A-Day 28: Two Old Potatoes and Me

Two Old Potatoes and Me

Written by: John Coy

Illustrated by: Carolyn Fisher

Whew, I made it!  Twenty-eight days of reviewing books can wear a girl out!  But, it has been a great way to dive in and get to know our collection on a deeper level and share wonderful reads with our school community.  I hope others will enjoy all the books I've discussed as much I did.

The last book of the month, Two Old Potatoes and Me is a great one to wrap up the challenge.  On the surface, it is the story of a young girl and her father and the bond they share working in their garden.  But as you read, you find there is so much more to this story.  It's about growth and change in a myriad of ways.  When two old potatoes are found in a cupboard, the little girl is about to throw them out when her dad stops her declaring that he thinks they can use them to grow new potatoes.  So out to the garden they go to get the potatoes settled into the soft earth.  The story moves forward describing the process the father-daughter team take in getting the potatoes to grow strong month by month.  In the end, they are left with a bountiful harvest and a special moment together as they share in eating mashed potatoes.

This would be a perfect story to read aloud as students begin exploring living things and how to care for plants.  During the story it describes the process of caring for a garden from picking weeds, to adding compost, to waiting and watching.  After sharing the story, have students create a list of all the things they will need to do in order to care for our school garden.  What tips can they learn from this story?  There is also a note at the end that includes a recipe for mashed potatoes.  What fun it would be to grown potatoes in our Northside school garden and then make some mashed potatoes following this recipe.  Click here to watch a Reading Rainbow clip featuring this book that you may also want to check out.

John Coy, the author has numerous other books for children.  You can learn more about him here.  If you like to know more about the illustrator Carolyn Fisher you can click here.

Book-A-Day 27: H.O.R.S.E - A Game of Basketball and Imagination

H.O.R.S.E

A Game of Basketball and Imagination

Written and Illustrated by: Christopher Myers

You know that phrase, "anything you can do, I can do better?"  That is the essence of this story between two friends who meet up to play a game of HORSE on the basketball court but whose imaginations get the best of them.  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the game of HORSE it's played like this (according to the character in the book), "the game where one person shoots any kind of shot -- layup, jumper from half-court, bounce shot, whatever.  The other other player has to shoot the same shot, or else that player gets a letter. Spell HORSE and you're out."  As the two friends begin to play their game they keep attempting to out perform one another with the descriptions of the shots they are going to take.  Each new description gets more and more elaborate from around the world shots to intergalactic shots.  Reading through this story and seeing the imaginations of each of the characters in relation to a simple game of basketball is such fun!  Kids will delight in hearing this story read aloud, particularly young boys.  You might even find them on the blacktop at recess later in the day attempting to out-do one another in their own imaginative game of HORSE. 

Because this story has a distinct back and forth rhythm to the reading, it would make for a great shared read aloud.  Two people could perform this story for a class of students and the giggles and smiles will quickly ensue.  

Christopher Myers both wrote and illustrated this book.  It was published in 2012 and was awarded a Coretta Scott King honor.  Check out the video interview below to learn more about this author and illustrator.

Book-A-Day 26: Violet's Music

Violet's Music 

Written by: Angela Johnson

Illustrated by: Laura Huliska-Beith

What do you love to do more than anything else?  Do you have a passion that can't be stopped?  For Violet, that passion is music.  From the time she was a baby in a crib she was making music with a "boom, shake, beat, shake" of the rattle.  As she continues to grow her passion for music grows with her and she yearns to find someone who loves it just as much as she!  She looks for fellow music lovers when she walks down the street, plays on the beach, goes to school and meanders around town.  From museums, to zoos, the even the dentist, Violet continues her quest to find fellow musicians.  Violet's attitude is so upbeat and I love that she persists even when she continuously comes up empty-handed finding musical friends.  Does it happen?  Does she meet friends who love musical melodies and strumming instruments?  You'll have to read to find out!

A great book to introduce a passion project.  Brainstorm with students what their own passions are and how it makes them feel.  Describe how Violet's character feels about her passion based on the authors words in the story.  Ask students to think of things Violet may like about our school based on her character traits.  Or, what other book characters would Violet be friends with if they could meet? Get students to justify their answers by referencing evidence from the story.  

Author Angela Johnson has written many books for children.  To learn more about here click here. 

                                  AuthorIllustrator

Book-A-Day 25: My People

My People

Written by: Langston Hughes

Photographs by: Charles R. Smith Jr.  

I adore this Coretta Scott King Award winning book! Langston Hughes is one of my favorite poets and his poems carry such power in their simplicity.  Combining the poetic words of Langston Hughes with perfectly captured photographs taken by Charles R. Smith Jr. create a powerful book to share with students. While the poem itself is only thirty-three words in length it serves as an anthem to celebrate african-americans.  Originally written by Langston Hughes to lift-up and celebrate African-Americans during the 1920's when they were not acknowledged much in society.   Charles R Smith Jr. has captured the many faces of African-Americans so well as he worked to pair photographs with words from the poem.  He says in a note at the end of the book, "I wanted to show skin color as bright as the sun and as dark as the night; I wanted to show the newness of a newborn smile and the wisdom of wrinkled skin.  But, more than anything, I simply wanted to show that like any other group of people, black people come in all shapes, sizes, shades, and ages, and that each of us is unique."

Here are the words to Langston Hughes' poem that filled the pages of this book. 

MY PEOPLE

The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people.

Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people. 

This would be a perfect book to inspire kids to create their own artistic interpretation of a poem.  Students could choose a poem and then use iPads to capture images that could illustrate the poem when broken apart.  What do they see in their mind's eye when they read their chosen poem?  How can they convey that through photographic images? 

Langston Hughes was a famous African American poet whose work is still celebrated to this day.  To learn more about him and his writing click here.  Charles R. Smith Jr. is an author and illustrator for children's books and we have many of his titles in our school library.  You can learn more about him here.  

Book-A-Day 24: Dear Mr. Rosenwald

Dear Mr. Rosenwald

Written by: Carole Boston Weatherford

Illustrated by: R. Gregory Christie 

We had the distinct honor today of meeting Carole Boston Weatherford as she led our students and staff through some of her works for children (blog post about this visit coming soon).  One we did not touch on today, but would love to highlight is her book Dear Mr. Rosenwald which tells the story of the Rosenwald Schools (schools built for African-Americans in the 1920s).  Using poetic form, Mrs. Weatherford describes the process the African-American community underwent in order to provide educational opportunities for their children through the building of a new school.  While Julius Rosenwald (the founder of Sears Robuck) helped to provide partial funding for the schools, the African-American community had to raise their own share in order to move forward with the building of a new school.  The book is broken down into separate poems that carry over into a larger storyline about a young child named Ovella who has plans to attend the school when it is complete.  Through my own research learning about Northside as a Rosenwald School, I was able to make so many immediate connections to the storyline as I read page after page.  My favorite poem is the last one in the book.  It reads, 

Dear Mr. Rosenwald
Even before the bell rang,
we children lined up at the door. 
Me with bows in my hair
and ham biscuits in my lunch pail.
I share a desk with Lottie Mae.
Miss Shaw got busy right away.
Our first lesson -- letter writing. 

Dear Sir,
I am ten.  I like to read books.
My best subject is arithmetic.
My parents are counting on me
to learn all I can.  This school
is the first new thing I ever had 
to call my own.  I'm going to stitch me
a dress in the sewing classroom. 
One day, I'll be a teacher like Miss Shaw. 
Thank you, Mr. Rosenwald.
Yours truly,
Ovella

Many of the historic Rosenwald schools have since been torn down (including the original Northside) but many that remain have become historic trusts.  This would be a wonderful book to read prior to, or in the midst of examining the history of our own school as a Rosenwald school.  It would serve as a wonderful mentor text for students to engage in close reading and have them begin thinking critically about what these schools meant for the African-American community.  What did they symbolize?  It could also serve as a model text for how a storyline can be created in a poetic form.  Have students examine where Mrs. Weatherford chose to make certain breaks in her poems and discuss how those influence the reading of the poem.

Carole Boston Weatherford began writing in first grade and we learned today that it is something she has always loved to do.  She has written many books for children and has been honored with Coretta Scott King, Caldecott and NAACP book awards for her work.  She currently lives in Fayetteville, NC and teaching English Literature at Fayetteville State University.  We have many of her titles in our library collection.  Illustrator R. Gregory Christie has helped illustrate a number of books for children including Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth. 

Book-A-Day 23: Wind Flyers

Wind Flyers

Written by: Angela Johnson

Illustrated by: Loren Long

This book is a wonderful collaboration between children's author Angela Johnson and Illustrator Loren Long that tells the history of the Tuskegee Airmen, an all-black group of fighter pilots that was formed in 1942 and trained in Tuskegee, Alabama.   Told through the eyes on a young boy, simple yet powerful words, describe the story of his great-great-uncle and how he came to be a pilot for the United States Air Force during World War II.  Although the story is fiction it is based on historical facts and does a wonderful job of honoring the men who played an important role in our country's history through the lens of story that even young children can understand and appreciate.  The author's note at the ends provides a short history on the Tuskegee Airmen and describes how the 332nd fighter group was the only military escort group that never lost a single bomber to enemy fire.  A fascinating history that has often been overlooked but played a significant role in helping pave the way for civil rights in the 1960's. 

At the upper grades, this story could be used to spark interest around the role  of minorities in the military.  Students could brainstorm a list of questions they have about the Tuskegee Airmen and use those questions to drive their research.  Have students complete a comparison between the Tuskegee Airman and the Native American Code Talkers during World War II.  Students can dive deep into understanding the critical role both of these minority groups played in the history of our country and how they were treated upon returning from war.  What can we learn from those historical experiences? How can we inform our community about these histories to learn from them? For younger students, this would be a wonderful book to discuss the concept of "then and now".  The young boy learns his great-great-uncle's history and in doing so learns about the past.  How could our students interview their own parents or grandparents to learn from the past?  How could they use that information to create their own story that teaches others about a historical event from the past? 

Angela Johnson has written many books for children including the first one featured on the Book-A-Day blog challenge. I adore how she creates simple yet powerful stories for children that model the art of writing.  Loren Long is a celebrated illustrator who has written numerous books for children.  They should be celebrated for their work on this story!

**To learn more about the Tuskegee Airmen click here.  

Book-A-Day 22: Shades of Black

Shades of Black

A Celebration of Our Children

Written by: Sandra L. Pinkney

Photographs by: Myles C. Pinkney

This is a book that was published 14 years ago, but I love it's message and how it celebrates African American children and all the qualities that make each child unique and special.  It begins with the phrase, "I am Black.  I am Unique" opposite a photograph of a beautiful wide-eyed, smiling African-American child.  Each page thereafter uses metaphors to describe how children describe the color of their skin from, "I am the coppery brown in a pretzel" to "I am the midnight blue in a licorice stick".  Each statement is paired with a photograph of an African-American child celebrating their unique quality.  The book goes on to use metaphors to express the many ways African-American children are unique and special from one another.  The phrase, "I am Black.  I am Unique" repeats throughout the book, each time before a new characteristic.  The author specifically focuses on skin tone, hair, and eye color.   The book ends with the statement, "I come from ancient Kings and Queens.  When you look at me, what do you see? I am Black, I am proud to be me."

This book could be used as part of a social studies unit in which students examine similarities and differences in one another.  Often times with units like this we have children complete self-portraits of themselves describing their attributes.  How wonderful it would be to dive deep with this work and have students think of how truly unique they are from one another.  It would also serve as a wonderful text to illustrate the use of metaphors as a way to describe something in ourselves or in nature.  Pair this with "My Many Colored Days" by Dr. Seuss to encourage students to describe something using strong figurative language.  With phrases like, "My eyes are the shimmering glow of ebony in an Onyx" this text will help model for students how to use descriptive language to make their writing stronger.  Rather than simply describing their eyes as black or brown, they can be encouraged to use metaphors to make a stronger visual for the reader.  Students could even create their own "Shades of Us" book in which they describe themselves and pair their statements with photographs of themselves to create a class book that celebrates their unique and special qualities.  

Sandra L. Pinkney and Myles C. Pinkney are a husband and wife team that come from a large family of published authors and illustrators.  Celebrated illustrator Jerry Pinkney is the patriarch of the family. Click here for an interesting article that celebrates the Pinkney family as a literary dynasty.