Observations on reading and writing children’s books
After the rant in yesterday’s post, let’s look at something in a lighter vein today:
If you like snarky book reviews, or reviews that will make you laugh out loud, try Curious Pages blog. One of my favorites is the review of The Stupids Die by Harry Allard and James Marshall. It’s short and sweet.
Thanks to Sandra Foyt for making my day. 
Have you tried Google Alerts? I have been getting Google Alerts for a while now, all of them blog-related topics. Given my interest in “children’s nonfiction,” I chose that as an alert.
At first I thought probably it would be too broad an alert and I’d get dozens or maybe even hundreds of links. I figured I’d have to tweak it to make it manageable. As it turns out, I have gotten relatively few alerts, even though I know our community is actively blogging about children’s nonfiction. I began to wonder how are the blog posts chosen for alerts.
Today’s alert hit a new bottom. There was only one alert for “children’s nonfiction” this week, despite all the posts I know have been written. I don’t want to give this post any more traffic, but I know you’ll be curious and want to see it for yourself, so here’s the link. I am just so very, very sad that this is the only post chosen.
Do you know how Google chooses blog posts for its alerts? Do you think I’m missing the boat because most people choose to hyphenate non-fiction?
Tags: children's nonfiction, children's nonfiction and the Internet
Today’s Share a Story-Shape a Future literacy blog tour explores reading nonfiction. Here are my response to one of the writing prompts.
Do you have an image (photo, chart, illustration) from a nonfiction book that has stayed with you, even though you don’t remember many of the details about what you read?
So many of the nonfiction picture books these days have extraordinary images, it is hard to really narrow it down to a few. I asked my son to help, and here are his favorite books with memorable visuals:
Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden by George Levenson has the most amazing photographs by Shmuel Thaler. This book is sure to excite any child. Who doesn’t love pumpkins and growing things?
He also picked out A Seed is Sleepy by Diana Hutts Aston and illustrated by Sylvia Long, as well as An Egg is Quiet, by the same pair.
Finally, he said, “The beetle book!” He meant Dragonfly Beetle Butterfly Bee by Maryjo Koch. He helped me make the Amazon widget, and decided to add her other books to remind me to buy them.
(Am I the only one who thinks these carousel widgets are really cool? I don’t see many people using them.)
Any of these beautiful books is guaranteed to attract a child’s attention and encourage him or her to pick it up.
What books would you add?
Thanks to Elizabeth Dulemba for the great Share -A -Story button!
Today’s Share a Story-Shape a Future literacy blog tour explores the personal stories of reading experiences. Here are my responses to the three writing prompts.
1. What is the book from your childhood you can’t wait to share with a child and why?
The book that I can remember most vividly from childhood is The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. It was a really old book (copyright 1907) that I found in a box my mother had gotten at a garage sale. I remember it was the first time ever reading a book where the author spoke directly to the reader, or at least the imagined reader. Everything about it was magical; the tone, the story, the fancy illustrations. I have to say I was a voracious reader by the time I found this book. I would read piles of books each week. This is one of the few, however, that really stands out all these years later.
I couldn’t wait to share it with my son. I figured he would enjoy the goblins and the adventure aspect of the story. But (at least thus far) he hasn’t had the slightest interest in it at all. I realize now that I found the book at exactly the right time in my life, and it spoke to me. If I had read it earlier or later, I don’t think it would have meant as much. Also, it resonated at a personal level because the princess has a special grandmother and I had a special relationship with my grandmother. It is not surprising my son doesn’t enjoy it. He is a different person and different books hold meaning for him.
2. Who is the person who influenced you most as a reader?
Hands down it was my mother, who read to my sister and me every night for years and years. My sister and I both loved this nighttime ritual.
In addition to reading aloud, my mom carted us to the library every week, or basically any time we wanted to go. I loved the library. We also had newspapers, magazines and books lying around any time we wanted to pick up and read.
Interestingly, I have not been able to pass my love of libraries on to my son. He is perfectly happy to read whatever I bring home to him, but has no interest in visiting himself. Sigh.
3. Do you have any special reading-time rituals for reading aloud with kids?
I still read aloud to my son every night. I would say that the special part is that I always let him pick the book. That has meant sometimes reading the same book over and over and over. I always feel that if he wants to hear the same book again there is something he needs to process more, or something that he particularly enjoyed and wants to retain in his memory. In any case, I never hesitate to read a book over.
So, do you have any special reading time rituals? Do you have any suggestions to get a tween to go to the library?
Thanks to Elizabeth Dulemba for the great Share -A -Story button!
If you are looking for a rousing book for Women’s History Month, Mermaid Queen: The Spectacular True Story Of Annette Kellerman, Who Swam Her Way To Fame, Fortune & Swimsuit History! by Shana Corey and Edwin Fotheringham (illustrator) is a perfect choice. This biography of swimmer and actress Annette Kellerman highlights many of the challenges women faced around the turn of the century. It was a Cybils nonfiction picture book finalist for 2009.
Annette Kellerman was born in Australia in 1886. When she was young, she suffered from weak legs. As therapy, her father taught her to swim and swim she did. After her legs recovered and became strong, she continued to swim. Eventually she was competing and winning awards. She also is credited with inventing “water ballet,” the early form of modern synchronized swimming.
When she went to England and then United States to perform, she met with resistance, not for her performances, but with her skimpy bathing suits. Annette had learned that swimming in the proper bathing dresses of the time was too difficult, so she designed more form-fitting suits. The suits initially caused a scandal and even led to her arrest, but she soon convinced everyone that it was much healthier to swim unencumbered. From these beginnings, our modern swim suits were developed.
As Shana Corey points out, although Annette had many firsts she also had some setbacks. One setback was her failure to swim the English Channel. At that time only one man had done so successfully. People admired Annette’s effort and she went on to increased fame. Her story is a wonderful way for children to learn that they may experience disappointments, but what may look like failure can turn into adventures and triumphs.
As for the physical look of the book itself, the illustrations in Mermaid Queen are bright, colorful and frothy. You can feel the water, energy and motion on every page. The only criticism I have is the choice of font and font size. The fonts jump around and change size. Some of the fonts are quite frilly. It is fun for an adult to read, but difficult for a reader who is struggling or just learning to read.
Mermaid Queen is another great example of a book about someone who has been all but forgotten in modern times, but whose story is inspiring and deserves to be told.
As a Cybils judge, a copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review purposes.
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 48 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press (April 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0439698359
ISBN-13: 978-0439698351
Nonfiction Monday is a blogging celebration of nonfiction books for kids. For more information, stop by Picture Book of the Day. This week’s post is at Lost Between The Pages.
