The Bad Guys

Aaron Blabey, like his fellow Australian, Andy Griffiths, knows what kids like. He has picked characters that everyone knows are bad guys: Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark and Mr. Piranha, but has them form a gang to do good deeds and redeem their reputations. Of course, they aren't particularity talented at doing good deeds but the job gets done one way or an other. 

The original idea belongs to Mr. Wolf. He's a good guy at heart; maybe he has blown down a house or two and dressed up like an old lady but he is really a nice guy deep inside. We get a peek at his rap sheet. There appear to be a few more incidents than he reported. He introduces Mr. Snake whose rap sheet includes a rampage at Mr. Ho's Pet Store. We are next introduced to Mr. Piranha who has come all the way from Bolivia. His rap sheet includes one crime: eating tourists. The last to arrive is Mr. Shark, Mr. Wolf covers up his rap sheet. About all we can see is a notation "Will literally eat ANYTHING or ANYBODY".

Over cupcakes, Mr. Wolf introduces the idea of the Good Guys Club. The others are a tad skeptical. After some coaxing the guys decide to try a small project: rescuing a cat stuck in a tree. The cat gets down from the tree by being scared to death by Mr. Piranha. But they still feel pretty good about helping the cat so they plan a bigger caper. This time it is freeing 200 puppies kept prisoner in the maximum security dog pound. The scheme is elaborate, not everything goes according to plan but the puppies are freed, terrified of their rescuers. Success! To be continued...

The story and pictures each tell part of the story, every page has just a few sentences with dynamic black and white drawings and the fonts are bold and easy to read. The series is a good transition to longer chapter books. Two of my second grade students read out loud all 138 pages in less than thirty minutes laughing all the way. There are two more books in this series, with a third due out in August.                             

The Sonoma County Library has six copies. The AR is 2.4.

2017 Children's Book Week

Find out more about the 98th celebration of children's literature at http://everychildareader.net.

We're All Wonders

In 2012, R.J. Palacio wrote a book about a boy named Auggie Pullman who was born with severe facial deformities called Wonder. Auggie is finally going to a regular school in the fifth grade.He wants to be treated like everyone else but that is easier said than done. Over 5 million copies of the book have been sold. It inspired the Choose Kind movement. For years, teachers and librarians have wanted a picture book about Auggie. We're All Wonders is the result. 

Auggie narrates his story. He is an ordinary kid inside, he likes the same things kids his age like. But he doesn't look like other kids. His mom says he is a wonder but some others just see how different he looks. Kids staring, pointing and laughing at him hurt his feelings. When that happens, he and his dog Daisy put on their helmets and blast off to Pluto to see old friends. From there he looks back at the earth, it looks so small but he knows that billions of people live there. People who look different and speak other languages. The world is big enough for all kinds of people. Auggie can't change the way he looks but maybe people can change the way they see because everyone is a wonder.

The Sonoma County Library has fifteen copies. The AR is 1.5. There are thirty copies of Wonder.

The AR is 4.8 with 11 points. 

The Importance of School Libraries

Teachers: James Patterson Would Like to Help You Build Your Classroom Libraries

Two years ago James Patterson gave independent bookstores grants, last year he gave grants to libraries. This year he is giving away $1.75 million to help teachers build their classroom libraries. Scholastic will kick in 500 bonus points, too. You'll find everything you need to enter here.

Happy D.E.A.R. Day

Every year on April 12, Beverly Cleary's Birthday, we celebrate Drop Everything And Read Day. She wrote about D.E.A.R. in Ramona Quimby, Age 8. So, you know what you have to do.

Beverly Cleary is 101 years old today!

Hat tip: Reading Is Fundamental

Research Tested Way to Improve Reading Test Scores

Standardized testing begins soon. A reminder of what improves a child's test scores:

April Is School Library Month

Hat tip: Mr. Schu Reads

Sick Days

When I was three, I had a very serious illness that lasted a few weeks. My mother read to me several times a day even though I had a baby brother that kept her busy, too. She didn't remember much about that time, but I sure do. Decades later those memories are still very vivid.

Hat tip: Imagination Soup

Reading Ideas

I came across a couple of interesting articles this morning. The first is from the  October 3, 2016  The New Yorker, What Makes A Children's Book Good? by Adam Gidwitz. He is the author of The Inquisitor's Tale Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog. If you have middle-grade age readers, this is a rollicking, medieval and timely story. Gidwitz looks at the criteria that has been used to make judgments about the worth of children's books. Should the judgment be about content or results?

The Sonoma County Library has thirteen copies. The AR is 4.5 and is worth 11 points.

The second article is from Brightly by Jean Reagan, the author of How To Babysit A Grandma and How To Babysit A Grandpa: How to Make Reading Fun: 25 Ideas Kids Will Love. One idea I particularly love is to give kids Calvin and Hobbes books. Bill Watterson channeled  kid's  imagination and emotions perfectly. Another great idea that worked with my oldest grandson is to read aloud a book just to the exciting part. More often than not, even a reluctant reader will want to finish the book. Another great idea is using audiobooks. The same grandson as above just needed the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to hook him on the whole series (Jim Dale is a magnificent narrator. He had over 100 distinct voices for the many characters over the seven books. Even if your kids read the books, listening to them is a real treat).

The Sonoma County Library has seven  copies of How to Babysit a Grandma and six copies of How to Babysit a Grandpa. The AR for the Grandma book is 3.0 and the Grandpa book is 2.4.