Happy 100th Birthday Roald Dahl

Hat tip: Scholastic

Ideas for Student Folders

 While looking for bookish quotes to put in my students' end of the year folder I thought I'd share with you some that I liked. You can copy and print them by clicking on the photo and then printing them on your computer. Some of these pictures are coming up larger or smaller than you see on the screen. If that happens left click on the image and choose "save image as" and then you can increase or decrease the size and print from there. You can find more quotes on my Pinterest board.

It is never to early to learn about the Reader's Bill of Rights. 

The BFG

On July 1, The BFG movie will be released. I am excited about the movie but, really, the book is always better. What a great family read aloud, you get to say words like bumfuzzle, whizzpopper and gloriumptious. Then you'll be ready to see the movie.
The main protagonists are the BFG (Big Friendly Giant), Sophie, an orphan girl and the Queen of England. The antagonists are nine enormous giants who travel the earth every night getting their fill of "human beans". Roald Dahl tells modern fairy tales. Like the ones we read, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack in the Beanstalk, there are scary parts, but outsmarting the villain
is empowering to children.

The BFG is tied with Matilda as my favorite Roald Dahl book. You can watch the preview here.

The AR is 4.8. The Sonoma County Library has twenty-eight copies.

And a final word from Roald Dahl:

For our day, I am sure he would add phones, computers and tablets.

Time Magazine’s 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time

It is more accurate to say that this is a list of Middle Grade and Young Adult books. Charlotte's Web is probably read by more third graders than high school sophomores. Then again, The Hunger Games, would be more appropriate for an older reader. Some of my favorite books are on this list including From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Invention of Hugo Cabret , Holes, A Wrinkle in Time, When You Reach Me, The Graveyard Book, Wonder, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime , Matilda and of course, The Sorcerer’s Stone (the first Harry Potter book).

NYPL Top Children’s Books of the Last 100 Years

The New York Public Library (NYPL) presented its first ever list of the Top Children’s Books of the Last 100 Years. Many of the books are no surprise: Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle and Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. Some have been featured on this blog: Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, Holes by Louis Sacher and The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. There are books that I loved as a kid: Charlotte’s Web by E B White, Madeleine by Ludwig Bemelmans and The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien. A generation later my children loved: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume, The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. My grandchildren love: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J K Rowling .  Check out the  complete list at School Library Journal.

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

Today seems like a fine day to write about a book that has been compared by many reviewers to Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Luigi Lemoncello is a world famous board and video game maker who got his start in a now defunct library in Alexandriaville, Ohio. As a gift to his home town and to honor the memory of the librarian who befriended a twelve year old boy, he has built a state of the art library (if Disney Imagineers or George Lucas built libraries). Kyle Keeley is a twelve year old boy who comes from a family of experienced game players but does not necessarily miss the fact that his town had no library. Of course, the Keeley’s favorite games were Mr. Lemoncello’s games.

Mr. Lemoncello invites every 12 year old in town to write an essay about why they want to attend the invitation-only all night party at the new library for a night of food and games.  In the morning, the attendees are offered a  new challenge: find a secret escape from the library by solving puzzles and riddles and using clues found in the library. This time it is a competition. Can one person find the route or does teamwork pay off?  Like in the Willy Wonka story, character counts but smarts do, too. You’ll learn plenty about the Dewey Decimal System.  And there are also many of references to classic and current children’s literature. Maybe that will spark an idea for the next book to read.

The Sonoma County Library has several copies. The AR level is 4.5 with 7 points.

Happy Birthday Roald Dahl!

Each year on September 13th the book world celebrates Roald Dahl Day. His books, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach, have entertained generations of kids. Thanks for all the fun! 
“I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn't be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.” –Roald Dahl