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.

Scholastic Book Fair February 27-March 3

This week is Yulupa's annual Scholastic Book Fair held in the Library/Media Center from 8-9 AM and 1-4 PM. 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. Check out the Scholastic Book Fair Flyer. This is just a small sample of the books available.

One of the books I plan to purchase is Dog Man Unleashed by Dav Pilkey of Captain Underpants fame. This is the second book in the Dog Man series. In this short clip, Dav Pilkey talks about why graphic novels should be in every classroom. You can here more from him in this January, 2013 interview on NPR.

Another book that interests me is Pig the Pug because it is 1) a dog book and 2) it is about a pug, albeit a rather naughty one. This book is part of a picture book series.

One of my granddaughters loves the Upside Down Magic books. The flyer features Showing Off, the third book in the series.

To help you and your child find the just right book to read here is the Five Finger Rule again:

Whatever After Fairest of All

Let me just say at the onset that the second grade me would have loved Whatever After Fairest of All by Sarah Mlynowski. I lived in a very Dick and Jane world. From my point of view, very little about my life was exciting. My Grandmother introduced me to fairy tales when I was four or five. She found beautifully illustrated books with exciting stories that fueled my imagination. I firmly believed that there was a door in my house that would lead me into the land of the Grimm Brothers. Turns out I should have been looking for a mirror that hissed.

 

Abby and her brother Jonah have moved with their parents from Chicago to Smithville. Where is Smithville? Not sure, but it is somewhere where pop is called soda and tag is played in a strange way.  Abby is having a bit of a problem adjusting to her new home, so while her brother is pursuing activities like rock climbing, Abby is retreating into books. Her grandmother used to read the two of them fairy tales when they lived in Chicago, so to comfort herself she starts reading a book of fairy tales.

That night, seven year old Jonah wakes her up to tell her that the mirror in the basement is hissing. Abby tries to get her brother back to bed but winds up following him downstairs to show him that the mirror is just a mirror. Sure enough, after Jonah knocks on the mirror, it starts to hiss, then turns purple and then starts to suck the two of them, some furniture and her parents’ law books into the mirror. Very soon they land in a forest. After hearing what sounds like hungry animal noises, they start running.

Very soon they see an old woman carrying a basket. It turns out that it is the wicked queen who is trying to poison Snow White with an apple. Before Abby and Jonah figure this out, they keep Snow from taking the apple and eating it. When Jonah and then Abby figure out that they are in a fairy tale and that they prevented Snow White from eating the poisoned apple thus preventing her “happily ever after”. That would not be fair. So they decide to help Snow achieve her “happily ever after before they try to go home.

There are lots of delicious details in this story. Three of the seven dwarfs are girls. They have names like Bob, Tara, Alan, Francis, Jon, Stan and Enid. With Abby and Jonah’s help, Snow helps arrange her own happily ever after and even saves the prince, whose name is Trevor, with a kiss. Magic mirrors have a network like the paintings in Harry Potter books. The Queen’s mirror is happy to get brother and sister back home before their parents wake up. It is a delightful 21st century rendering of a very old fairy tale.

The Sonoma County Library has a few copies. The second book in the series Whatever After If the Shoe Fits will be available at the Yulupa Scholastic Book Faire March 4-8.

The AR reading level is 2.8.