Scholastic Book Fair Comes to Yulupa

This week is Yulupa's annual Scholastic Book Fair held in the Library/Media Center from 8-9 AM and 1-4 PM on Monday, March 5 thru Friday, March 9. On Wednesday it will stay open from 1-7:30 PM. This is a great opportunity to get your kids some books, both for read alouds and for reading on their own. And maybe even pick up a book for your child's classroom; teachers fill out slips of paper with the names of books they would like to add to their classrooms.  The Yulupa Book Fair home page is here. You can find the link to this year's book flyer on the bottom of the page. 

These are just a few of the books available at the book fair:

Every Elephant & Piggie book is perfect for beginning readers but this is my favorite. Two of my students read this book to me with expression this past week and loved it too. Mo Willlems structures these books with lots of white space, just a few words on a page, picture clues and plenty of humor. Piggie's speech balloons are pink, Gerald's (Elephant) are grey. The font is small for a whisper and large for exclamations, making it easy for new readers to read with expression.

 I reviewed Let's Go for a Drive! in 2013.

Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea is the first book in the Narwhal and Jelly series by Ben Clanton. Told in three short stories, this graphic novel introduces us to the adventures of Narwhal and Jelly; friends who despite their differences have much in common.

The Bad Guys in Attack of the Zittens by Australian author and illustrator, Aaron Blabey. The Bad Guys are four classic villains: Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha and Mr. Shark who want to do good deeds, mostly. There is a bit of a problem of trying not to eat each other though. This time they save the world from zombie kittens with the help of a granny alligator. 

This is book #4 of The Bad Guys graphic novel series. Check out my review of the first The Bad Guys book. I have used this series with a few second graders who love the humor and mayhem.

The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Adam Rex is another kid favorite. You can read my review here. 

Upside Down Magic: Dragon Overnight by the team of Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle and Emily Jenkins is the fourth book in the series about Nory and Andres and their wonky magic in an upside-down magic class. One of my granddaughter's loves this series because she loves magic and cats.

Sarah Mlynowski is also the author of the Whatever After series that updates classic fairy tales. My review of the first book is here.

The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors

Drew Daywalt, author of The Day The Crayons Quit and The Day The Crayons Came Home has teamed up with Adam Rex to create The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors. It is such a genius idea, I am surprised it hasn't been done before.

This is the story of three great warriors, Rock who lives in the Kingdom of the Backyard, Paper who lives in the Empire of Mom's Home Office and Scissors who lives in the tiny village of Junk Drawer. Each warrior has beaten all who have challenged them in their realms and leaves their homes to find greater challenges. Rock and Scissors meet in the great cavern of the Two-Car Garage. Scissors asks Rock if he is wearing his battle pants, Rock agrees to fight her. An epic battle ensues, Rock wins. Scissors is grateful to be beaten. Rock is less happy because there is no one to challenge him. Enter stage right is Paper. Rock challenges him to a duel. Paper wins. Rock thanks Paper for beating him. This time it is Paper who bemoans the lack of a worthy opponent. Enter Scissors. A great battle begins with Scissors victorious. The three warriors dance for joy and become great friends. Then begins round after round of  three-way battles. Battles so epic that children today still honor the warriors by playing...Rock, Paper, Scissors.

The Sonoma County Library has seven copies. Several second graders have read this book to me and had very little problem with the vocabulary. It does not have an AR level yet as it was just published on May 2. I am looking for someone to explain to me why it is inevitable that Paper beats Half Eaten Bag of Trail Mix.

The Day The Crayons Came Home

Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers have collaborated on a sequel to their #1 bestseller, The Day The Crayons Quit!: The Day The Crayons Came Home.

Sometime after showing his crayons that he could use them more creatively, Duncan receives a stack of postcards in the mail. The Maroon crayon sent a postcard from the couch. Two years ago, Duncan's dad sat on him and broke him in two. Paperclip saved him and now he is ready to return to Duncan's crayon box.

 Pea Green informed Duncan that since no one likes peas or the color of peas, he has renamed himself Esteban the Magnificent and he is running away to see the world. He sends two more postcards, one asking Duncan to open the front door so he can see the world and another to inform him that he is returning because the world is rainy.

 Neon Red was left behind at the hotel when the family came home from vacation. She is planning on walking home. She sends two more postcards, one from a place with camels and pyramids and another with snow and skis.

Tan crayon (or was he Burnt Sienna?) was eaten by the dog, then puked up on the living room rug. He is now more carpet fuzz than crayon.

 Duncan also hears from Glow in the Dark crayon, Gold crayon, Turquoise crayon, Brown crayon and Chunky Toddler crayon each asking to be rescued. Duncan gathers the neglected, forgotten and damaged crayons and builds a place where each crayon will feel at home.

Kids will love the artwork and story, it irreverent and funny.

The AR is 3.3. The Sonoma County Library has twenty-two copies.

Time Magazine’s 100 Best Children’s Books of All Time

The list includes books we have reviewed here: Extra Yarn, Journey, The Day The Crayons Quit, The Snowy Day and Press Here. Where the Wild Things Are, The Cat in The Hat and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day and Madeline are also included. Since this is a list of picture books it is a puzzle as to why Out Of My Mind, a very worthy book, was on this list.

NYPL: 100 Best Children’s Book for 2013

The New York Public Library is out with an interactive list of the best children's books of 2013. You can search by reading level, genre and theme. Click on a book that interests you and it will take you to a short description  of the story. There is something for everyone.

The Day The Crayons Quit

The Day The Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers has been getting lots of buzz. This is another great collaboration between author and illustrator. Duncan wants to color but instead of finding his box of crayons, he finds a stack of letters. Each letter is from a color  complaining about it is used. Red, Grey and Blue feel overworked, Pink complains that it is not used at all and Black wants to do something besides outlines. Purple is not happy that Duncan does not color in the lines. Beige is tired of playing second fiddle to Brown and Orange and Yellow are having a disagreement over which one of them is the color of the sun. White is unhappy that it doesn’t show up on white paper and Peach feels naked because Duncan has torn off its paper. Each colors’ letter is written in the appropriate color crayon a wide variety of papers you’d find at home or in the classroom.

 

Duncan wants to color and wants his crayons to be happy so he takes his crayons criticism to heart and colors a picture that gets him an A for coloring and an A+ for creativity. Duncan’s picture reminds me of one of my favorite Eric Carle books, The Artist Who Painted A Blue Horse which is dedicated to German expressionist painter, Franz Marc. 

The Sonoma County Library has a few copies. The AR level is 3.8.