Host a Literary Sleep Over

Why not? Get out some sleeping bags, dig around for some flashlights, create a campground at home! Gather up stacks of books. Let kids read and talk all night!

Why not?

:) Enjoy.

Observation Journals

My nephew, sister and I recently went to the science museum/aquarium in Burlington. There were wonderful fish, frogs and reptiles to observe. There was a wonderful hands on project: dissecting owl pellets. My nephew discovered lots of skulls and bones! In the resource center there were other tanks and animals, along with books and puppets and the like to really get another up close vision of wildlife.

At the tank there was a snake inside. Interesting enough, there was a journal right next to it. It was filled with comments and observations and questions from many different visitors of different ages. We looked and observed not only in the tank but we reread all the comments made across time about this snake. It was fascinating!

What a wonderful idea. You could have a notebook/sketch book set up in your home, next to a plant, a terrarium or aquarium in your home. You and your child could observe and note take. When you have guests come to your house you can urge them to "leave a note" in your observation journal. What a fun thing to keep- just like a real scientist. What a neat thing to look back over and read!

The Last Song- Movie Watching with the Girls

As you know, Auntie CC and I took all the girls to see, The Last Song, starring Miley Cyrus. We all loved it. Most of us cried. After the movie we had to discuss the events of the movie.

After I read, watch a movie, or even go on a vacation, I like to retell it and remember and linger upon the best parts. It's an important skill to be able to identify significant parts and be able to analyze why they are significant- both to the text and to our own lives.

I don't want to give away our favorite parts and significance that we found in the movie- trust me, our car load of girls came up with many. So I will just describe the conversation and how it went. It took some of us awhile to really decide which parts meant more to us than others and why. It is easy to say, "I like the part when.... happened." It is harder to then explore, "Why?" It is in this next step that leads us to a more interpretative understanding of books, characters, movies or even life.

As we turned the corner to the nieces' house, Little A said, "Wait! I have a fourth favorite part!" Before we emptied ourselves onto the sidewalk, we all pondered this next part of the film. Remembering our predictions and lingering on what actually happened in the movie. We all talked about this last part. Then we ran into the house and ate Easter supper!

After watching a film or reading a book, find out from the people in your Literary Family, what are their favorite parts and why?

Enjoy the reading!

The Joy of Inquiry: Ask Questions Close to Home

What is that? Why does it look that way? What is it doing? Is it always going to look like that is going to change?

Curiosity is wonderful and contaigious. We want children to be curious about the world and ask many questions about it! This is what scientists, writers, historians, doctors, and mechanics do. They raise questions, gather up data and observations and make guesses and research some more.

Why not take a walk and study something in your neighborhood together: a plot of earth, a construction site, a series of stars in the sky or even a tree. Look at. Observe it together. Raise questions. Try and answer them. Read about the topic. Ask other people about the topic. Visit your "something" once a week (or month) to see how it has changed.

You can do the same with a photograph or a series of

photographs. Maybe it is a photograph about the natural world or maybe one from history. You can follow the same inquiry method with these text sources as well!

Looking closely, raising questions, searching for answers, and then looking again is a great way to capture children's attention and to learn and build content knowledge about the world. It also is a great bonding experience- learning about a topic together!

"Is that tree beginning to bud. I think I see a nest in the tree. Is that a bird's nest in the tree or is it for a squirrel? Will it have big green leaves?"

Maybe you will want to study to study how plants change in spring and summer or you will want to study how effective recycling is in your town. Maybe you have questions or just interests in your immediate vicinity. Show kids how to turn their world into sets of questions that they can eventually answer and research together. Revisit the photographs or come back and visit the same pond two weeks later. What has changed and what is the same?

Whatever it is, show kids the joy of first hand research! Show them the joy and necessity that we all have as communitty members to be inquisitive and informed!

Enjoy the studying. Enjoy the reads.

Host a Literary Party: Poetry Open Mic

It's poetry month. Why not celebrate by hosting a literary party! What kind of literary party? Why not host an "Open Mic Night" at your house. Get a microphone (it could be from one of those toy karaoke machines) and gather up all your favorite poems. Invite your family and friends to your house. Ask them to bring their favorite poems. They may even want to bring one that they have written.

Invite the children and the adults, one by one, to get up on the microphone and read. Celebrate by snapping fingers. Have some paper and pens available, in case you and your friends are inspired to write. Provide some snacks and refreshments while you listen and are moved by the words you hear.

You may even decide to video tape it so that you cans end it to friends and family and everyone is able to watch and re-watch the special evening at home.

Celebrate poetry, celebrate the spoken and written word. Happy Poetry Month to You!

Poetry Smiles to You. Happy Poetry Month

Happy Poetry Month. Paul is one of my favorite poets! I love the books he writes for children.

This book, The Place My Words Are Working For, is a lovely book that talks about poets and features a couple of each of their poems. Naomi Shihab Nye and Myra Cohen Livingston, are two of my favorites featured! Read this book with kids and talk about their lives as poets and writers. Kids can reflect on their writing lives too!

This poetry book was recommended by Paul on his website. It looks beautiful.

Read Paul's website!

Find the poets that inspire your Literary Family! Read them, find out about the poets' lives, and write a little together! Enjoy poetry month! Discover a new poem, discover a new poet.

Traveling with a PreTeen: Facebook, Don't Leave Home Without It

Facebook is literacy too. So the other night, Auntie CC, her three nieces, AB and I snuggled up on the sofa. We got ready to watch a movie and eat popcorn all night! Cozy and comfy in our jamas, we all started to get settled into our evening's plan. Pre-Teenager A grabbed Auntie CC’s computer, as the rest of us were gathering up pillows to watch our film. Needless to say, in trying to orchestrate all of our needs, it took a bit of time. PTA didn’t want to waste her time- she was ready. She clicked on to Facebook in a heartbeat and narrated the rest of the evening online with 20 of her closest friends. Creating and reading status updates, IM-ing and sending emails are all part of a teenager's literacy life. Not only did PTA type the entire movie and then some, I think she was literally on FB for a four hours straight last night!

Facebook is literacy. There is a ton of literary potential inside of the social networking. Literacy is all about networking in social circles. You read and write with friends. At one point PTA asked, “What should I write about now on FB? What should we talk about?” What an opportunity not to be missed. Don't worry, I suggested a few topics for her and her friends!

Don’t be afraid of Facebook- engage with it, embrace it! Get to know it yourself so that when you talk to your pre-teens and teens you are “in” on the conversation!

Enjoy the text, enjoy the read.

Celebrate Every Family

Books help to shape how you see yourself and others in the world. To many of us, reading books about kids and people from diverse backgrounds is important. We both want to create positive self images and to understand and grow positive images of others. Reading about families that look and sound like yours, help you to see yourself in the world. Reading about families that are different then your own, helps you to understand others in your communities!

My friends, in California, who adopted twin three year olds and who have a beautiful 2 year old girl, asked me about the library I am creating for my nephew. They wanted to know mostly about his books that celebrate a diversity of ethnicities and families. They wanted some good titles of books that feature kids of color.

My sister and I have tried to find books that not only celebrate diversity within a family- but that also celebrates diversity of what "makes up" a family!

For my nephew’s library I have collected a few books that help to highlight these things about our family values. I got him, Families by Susan Kuklin. This book is a series of photo essays of kids and their families at home. The kids are from diverse backgrounds and blended families.

Another favorite of my nephew is the book, Black is Brown is Tan, a poetry book by Arnold Adoff. Arnold is poet extraordinaire. He is married to Virginia Hamilton, another famous YA novelist. This poem is a celebration of their family. My nephew can listen to this book 3 times in a row! He has loved it ever since he was little.

We also have, What a Family by Rachel Isadora. My nephew likes to read this book and then we open up our photo albums of our family. We read them side by side and talk about everyone in our family.

More More More Said the Baby, by Vera B Williams, is another favorite of my nephew. He runs the house as if he is little guy and little pumpkin! He references the book often in his play and loves to be chased!

My nephew, ever since he was a baby, has loved loved Shades of Black! It is not a story, rather a list and beautiful set of photos of kids. He loves listening to the lyrical language and reading about kids! This was one of the first books he memorized!

Who’s Toes Are Those and Who’s Knees Are These, were two books he read repeatedly in daycare. We decided he needed them at home too! Brown Angels is one of my favorite poems, (made into a picture book), by Walter Dean Meyers.

Two of my nephew’s favorite picture books, that feature illustrations of kids of color are Looking For a Moose and Subway Anatasia Suen. When our friends had their baby, we got my nephew and their son, I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother, by Selina Alko.

Look for books that reflect your family’s heritage, family structure and values! Look for books that introduce your kids to other backgrounds, family structures and values! Open your lives to celebrating families of all kinds and you will open the world to your kids!

A List of More Books to Look Up and Add to Your Library!

Traveling with a Pre-Teen #3: What Books Would You Pick Out?

Auntie CC and I took the girls out on a literary extravaganza! We headed first to the Science Center here in Seattle and then over to Elliot Bay Bookstore in Pioneer Square. A wonderful bookstore that Mama J and Little Moon took me to the last time I was here in the Northwest!

I told you already on Facebook that I got for my nephew, a little souvenir! Where Do I Sleep? A Northwest Lullaby. This afternoon we skyped- while AB and Pre-Teenager A were texting and watching New Moon. Over the computer I read him his new book.

But the pre-teens? What did they pick? Well, the vampire genre of books were certainly calling. My Middle School Teacher Friend EZ suggested the series, The Hunger Game. PTA confirmed it was a great series, so AB got the first two books! She also looked through Shiver and we got that one too!

PTA was searching hard. She was trying to decide whether or not to read the Vampire Diaries or to go with books not linked to any series. She chose two really interesting choices! Wintergirls (by Laurie Halse Anderson who wrote the amazing book, Speak) and Ash.

In the middle of New Moon it was time to meet up with Little A, Little K, Auntie CC and Papa J for pizza. We paused the movie and on the way out they door they shouted, "Can we bring our books?" I guess they forgot for a split second who they were with!

"Bien sur!" I replied. "Grab 'em and let's go!"

Traveling With a Pre-Teen:Reading and Writing in Cafes

For AB's thirteenth birthday this year, the two of us decided to fly across the country, to Seattle, to travel, site see, and read and write together! We started working on our itinerary in the airport so that we would know what we could expect to do each day- almost like a little list of hopeful accomplishments!

Each day we included looking for a new cafe so that we could read, her from her Kindle, me from my paperbacks. We also included each day sometime for AB to work on her writing and I could work on my blog.

AB loved the idea -both of sitting in cafes and reading and writing everyday. Luckily, here in Seattle, we have spectacular views, awesome natural world, fun activities, and a zillion cafes filled with other readers and writers.

We also planned a quick trip to Elliot Bay's Bookstore in Pioneer Square in Seattle. We are already running low on materials!

Happy reading and writing to you!

Sharon Creech: Dogs and Cats

Love That Dog

Hate That Cat

Two novels, written in verse, with poetry embedded, about kids enjoying the writing process. Moving stories.

Happy Poetry Month.

Traveling with a Pre-Teen: AB and I Hit the Museum in Philly

For AB's thirteenth birthday, I decided to take her to the week's vacation to Seattle and the San Juan Islands!

On our way to the west coast AB and I had a stop over in Philadelphia. We had one day to visit the city and had to make some decisions what to do! We went to the old city in Philly, down by Constitution Center, the African American Museum of

Philadelphia and the Liberty Bell. We toured around in the morning and after lunch we decided we wanted to go to the art museum as well.

Looking at art. What a great experience. We headed first to the impressionists. I had to call up all that remembered about looking at art. Ironically enough I depended mostly on my knowledge of art that I learned in the 7th grade, rather than my few art history courses I took in college. AB and looked the the technique of the artists, we looked at the art from different angles and distances, we thought about the dates and what was happening in history at the time the pieces were made, we compared pieces that were close by together and we even tried to tell the story of what was happening in some of the art. Discussing and debating the significances of the pieces and even hypothesizing about how and why the pieces were made helped the two of us engage in enjoying the art. Working on thinking about the art together helped us both spend more time observing, but also understanding that there are messages and beauty to revere in art. We walked through the exhibit, not as passive observers but as active readers.

We headed to the contemporary art to read those paintings and sculptures next. This part of art museums always present a challenge for me! We tried to engage in the same way with more abstract pieces of art and tried to think about what was this teaching us about the world. We saw a couple of Calder’s 3D sculptures and mobiles. We took pictures of some of our favorite pieces that we wanted to remember and think more about!

Then we headed to the Picasso exhibit! We got the audio tour- always a great idea- and found the commentary both interesting and enlightening. Not just about Picasso’s art but about the historical time in Paris around the period of cubism and bout other artists creating pieces of art in the same time. It gave us a ton to talk about on our way back to the airport.

Just before we left on our birthday week extravaganza- AB and my god son and I spent the a Saturday in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. We went with a particular focus- to find sculptures and artifacts about Greek mythology! You remember how my god son is obsessed with The Lightening Thief? Currently he is onto book 3. Well, he wanted to see for himself how these gods were depicted back in history. Of course there was immense curiosity planted in the book that references the museum as well. So we toured the MET with just that focus.

Whether you are experiencing a new city, visiting a particular exhibit, or following a literary text to the museum, viewing art and interacting with kids helps all of us to see more and read more in the text. Mary

Ehrenworth, a scholar and literacy expert at Teachers College Columbia University wrote a book, Looking to Write, that describes how teachers (and frankly families) can help kids see the literary potential in art.

Enjoy the arts! Enjoy the read!

Jerry Spinelli: Talks to Teachers

Jerry Spinelli will be giving the keynote address at Columbia University Teachers College Saturday 20, 2010- A day of free workshops for teachers.

What a prolific writer! He has written many of my favorite novels for children- Star Girl, Maniac McGee, and Crash.

If you have friends or families in 3rd-6th grade--- check out his books!

Car Literacy: What is it? How do I get it?

If you have a car, or an ipod device you too can have, "Car Literacy". Listening to the radio, stories, poems and music are all ways to build up your listening, literary life. When I was younger, we used to take long car trips from Michigan to the Atlantic Ocean each summer. Needless to say that is a long time for any family to spend together in a car. My parents though loaded up the tape cassette box, full of mostly music. This is how I became an aficionado of John Denver. It was also my way into loving and appreciating musicals like, Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, Cats, and a Chorus Line. When I went to visit my parents a couple of winters ago in Florida, I knew we would be spending loads of time in the car- traveling between here and there. Mom and checked out of the library a few books on tapes of David Sedaris. It was a a fun way to enjoy stories, each other, and bare the endless time in cars.

Why not for your daily drive or even a long road trip, stock up not only on songs and musicals, but why not a novel or two. Take James and Giant Peach, Alice in Wonderland, or Caps for Sale along with you to soccer practice, the farmers market or on your way to grandma' s house. Take them in a car, on a plane or the subway. You can get the CDs or download onto your ipods devices. Enrich your listening life and driving experience.

Enjoy the reads!

Women in History: A Great Time to Read Biographies

Pam Munoz Ryan is a wonderful writer. Her novels are absolutely engaging, historical and an absolute pleasure to read. She is also a prolific biographer. If you want to celebrate women this month- celebrate the author, PMR and her body of work that celebrates women and life!

Another fun set of Biographies are those that are written as anthologies. Amelia to Zora

is a favorite as well as People Who Tell The Truth. Both feature amazing people who have helped to change and shape the world.

Reading these books hopefully will lead to more questions and more books. Hopefully also they will help spark you and your loved ones to think and reflect about your own lives and community you live in!

Text Sets: Fiction and Non Fiction

What would be a great topic to pair together two different genres- to read about and enjoy?

Snow! Yes, we have had our bit of snow in the Northeast this year. But kids love snow. We love to play in it and we love learn about it. What an interesting phenomenon that happens in some parts of the world!

Lester Laminack has a fun, fiction book about snow called, Snow Day.

The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder by Mark Cassino is a wonderful non fiction book that helps engage the reader in the explanation and exploration of snow.

Pick a topic to explore- gather up your fiction and non fiction texts to explore, enjoy and engage the readers in your life in the mysteries and wonderment about the world! Kids have different entry points into reading and feeling connected to topics. Sometimes they find it through fiction and sometimes non fiction. Why not help them make the connection and read both!

Enjoy!

Read stories again and again looking for the facts!

In many of the fiction stories we read with kids, there are facts buried inside. Many writers do extensive research on their topics as they write stories to reach our hearts. Read books like, Stellaluna, Swimmy, and Henry and Mudge and The Cold Shivers. Question each other and the stories and ask, "What in this book could really be true?" Do some research on your own. Seek and find the answers.

See what in the book is fact and what is fiction.

Some books will include an epilogue or an introduction that describes the non fiction information in the text. Read all the parts of the book. Learn about the world in fiction as well as non fiction. Question the stories and see where those questions lead you.

Host a Literary Party: Start a Book Club with Friends and Family

What is a Literary Party? A LP is one that involves the written and/or spoken word. It is a gathering of friends to enjoy each other and share texts with one another. It is to be awe and fall in love with words!

One Literary Party that you can throw with your friends and family is a Book Club Party. You can get together with families and friends who have

kids who enjoy to read similar books. Choose a book, read it with your kids and then meet at some one's house. Bring a collection of snacks, pick parts of the book to read aloud and choose some ideas to share with friends.

A nice mixture of kids and adults helps everyone see the beauty and power of books. Maybe the discussion lasts 30 minutes, maybe only 10minutes. Then celebrate the read by eating and mingling.

For babies, you may decide to each bring a board book to the party! You can spend the time reading all the different books with your babies! Let them roam and crawl and explore different favorite books! This could be a way for everyone to share the wide variety of texts that are out there.

Invite your friends and their families! Snack, read, talk and enjoy!

The Ethicist

I was visiting Mommy Mentor S, Mentor Daddy R , and Little Boy J out at Grandma’s L’s house at the beach a couple of years ago. We had such a wonderful time together, sipping coffee at the beach while LBJ played in the sand and in the afternoon reading magazines and watching LBJ and Cousin M splash about in the pool. The part for me though, that was most memorable, was Sunday brunch. The the entire family gathered around the table reading and discussing the Ethicist, from the NYTimes. This was a family ritual on Sundays. MMS or MDR would read the first letter to the Ethicist in the NYT out loud. They weren’t allowed to read ahead to the response, but instead, put down the NYT magazine and asked- “What would you do? What would you say? What is the ethical thing to do?”

Everyone, including Cousin M and even sometimes LBJ (2 or 3 years old at the time) would join in and discuss what they think should be done.

You know me, I love a reading ritual. I also love the challenge of reading and reacting and discussing with others ideas that shape and form who we are. Having the adults as mentors, the kids are honored to be included and yet, get a window into how to think and react to the world.

Texting Titi

My nephew was down in Florida with Nana and Papa for the Pisces' birthdays. I was stuck in several storms up north! I got a text from Nana, thanking me for her birthday gift (chocolates- of which my nephew I think ate most). In honor of her birthday, I sent my nephew a book, Joseph Had a Little Overcoat. He wanted to thank me too. So he "texted" me as well.

" Rrrrrrsrsrsrsgsgghsjwwxtsjwy."

I think it means, Thank you Titi, I love you and miss you.

What a sweetie! My technologically savvy sweetie pie.