Where are we going today? Our first author is from England, and our second is Australia.
Question 60. Our first author got his start almost by accident. The students in his classes loved the stories he told, so he wrote them down. His discovery has led to over 100 books. His books have won numerous awards and one is that is currently being made into a film by none other than Steven Spielberg.
In addition to being a prolific author, he is also a children’s rights advocate and started the Farms for City Children program that has been active for 30 years.
Do you know who he is?
Question 61. Our second author had a lofty goal. She wanted children to be able to read books by Australian authors. Going to the myths and legends of the local people, she then developed stories that were distinctly of the land. Perhaps you’ve heard of The Nargun and the Stars? Her fantasy novels received attention not only in Australia, but throughout the world and in 1986 she won the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing.
Do you know who this woman who helped formulate Australian children’s literature might be?
Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy is a wonderful book to use for Women’s History Month. Macy rides with the thesis that the invention and widespread use of the bicycle had a profound impact on the lives of everyday women, from the fashions they wore to their participation in sports.
As you would expect from a National Geographic book, the illustrations include amazing black-and-white photographs from the era.
Listen to author Sue Macy explain how she was inspired to write the book and read an excerpt from one of the chapters at TeachingBooks.net.
As you will hear, the book would be a good choice for reading aloud, as well as for students looking for fresh information for history reports.
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 96 pages
Publisher: National Geographic Children’s Books (January 11, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1426307616
ISBN-13: 978-1426307614
Nonfiction Monday is a blogging celebration of nonfiction books for kids. We invite you to join us. For more information and a schedule, stop by the new Nonfiction Monday blog to see who is hosting each week.
Shoes for Me! by Sue Fliess and illustrated by Mike Laughead has been released just in time to celebrate National Poetry Month in April. The story follows a colorful, bouncy romp through a shoe store with Hippo. Fliess creates a pitch perfect rhyme to keep the tempo fast-paced and exciting. You are compelled to turn the page to discover what shoes Hippo will find next.
“Feet got bigger,
heel to toe.
Time for new shoes.
Off we go!”
You get a good sense of the flavor of the book in this trailer.
Shoes For Me! is a sweet, amusing addition to your poetry shelf that is sure to appeal to the shoe shopper in all of us. It might also be useful for children who are shy about getting new shoes and need a little preparation for the big event.
Reading the book will encourage little fashion designers and poets to get creative. Satisfy their cravings with some fun “tie-in” activities.
1. Write a poem about shoes (or an article of clothing).
Shoe Acrostic (with alliteration)
What shoes should I wear today?
Sloppy slippers?
Holey high-tops?
Old oxfords?
Elegant espadrilles?
Sassy sandals?
Draw some shoes on a piece of paper and color them with marker, crayons or colored pencils. Cut out bits of colorful cloth and glue them on the shoes. Pieces of ribbon or lace might be nice to add, too. Consider sprinkling on glitter or sequins to add shine.
If you don’t want to draw your own shoes, here are a pair of shoes to color (link is for.pdf file)
3. Decorate some canvas shoes
Gather:
Clean canvas shoes
Fabric paint (older children might use acrylic)
Ribbons or lace (optional)
Sharpie marker (optional)
Stencils (optional)
Draw a design onto the shoes lightly with pencil with a stencil or freehand. You might want to color areas or apply the fabric paint only to the design. Try an Google image search with keywords “canvas shoe hand paint children” to see some great ideas.
365 Days of Crafts has an example of painted shoes.
Special thanks to Jessica and Selena for sharing their thoughts about this book.
We are going to try a few new things for our weekly Children’s Author Trivia challenges.
First we have changed our logo:
Everyone knows that cats secretly love to read books, so it seemed appropriate.
If you doubt it, check this video of a cat reading a book 🙂
Isn’t that adorable?
We are also going to try some polls and quizzes for the trivia questions. If you wouldn’t mind taking this poll, you can help verify that the polling code will actually work.
Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions, and we’ll be back with some new trivia next week. Thank you.
