Spectacular Southwest

This summer I've ended up having a couple of big trips for work that took me towards the west coast. I had to get to New Mexico by the middle of August, so I took a detour to Colorado first to visit the Rocky Mountain Mama and her family! I brought the boys some gifts. Super Sweet S is going into first grade and is apparently literally reading everything! "Titi," he says, "Do you want me to read the catalog about Halloween Costumes?"

His younger brother, Younger Brother E, is also obsessed with reading books as well. I brought a whole load of books with me as my, "Thank you for having me in your house this weekend gift." Among other books, I brought the boys a new series of comic chapter books, The Dodge Ball Chronicles! Apparently they loved them!

After visiting the southwest, Colorado and New Mexico, I decided I needed to search for my souvenirs for my nephew and Little Moon (who I would be visiting for the second part of my west coast tour after New Mexico). I found some great wildlife books. I found a board book about animals in the southwest, and a beautiful photography book of baby animals from this area. I also discovered a new series of non fiction books from Farcountry- So I had to get, The Rocky Mountain Babies.

I would be remiss if I didn't also pick up a story about the Day of the Dead after being in the Southwest. Luckily I found one by Tony Johnston and Jeanette Winters.

As I made my way from Colorado to New Mexico and then on to Seattle, I both dropped books off and picked new ones up to bring with me as souvenirs of my travels!

Hope your summer has been filled with travels and books! What books have you picked up as souvenirs to help you and the ones you love remember your adventures!









The nephew- Sending Back to Canada

Reading in a Series in French

I have been building up my nephew's library at home. He now has officially taken over the complete last two shelves (three if you count the stacking of books under the shelves) of my sister's floor to ceiling bookshelf that takes up the entire living room wall. While I feel quite proud, about a third of his library is now in French. My nephew is bilingual. To support his linguistic development in his second language, I have been diligent to find books in French that hold his interest, introduce him to new and challenging vocabulary, and that span both story, poetry, and non fiction texts. I buy him books that his mother (who is fluent in French) and his babysitters can read to him with no problem. I also have bought him books that I can read to him (ones that are a bit simpler for the novice French speaker).

I found many series that he has absolutely fallen in love with that I can read too. Our two favorites are: Crocolou and the Petit Garcon series. Crocolou's books are simple stories all about a little crocodile named, Crocolou. Each book centers around another thing that he loves: Crocolou aime sa mama, Crocolou aime l'ecole etc. With a few re-readings of these books my nephew has been able to "learn" them and fill in the blanks, quickly and easily when i make dramatic pauses for him to chime in. Even as simple as these books are, they still introduce new vocabulary to us!

The Petit Garcon series are fun. Each one is about another little boy enjoying some sort of transportation: Le Train de Bastien, La Moto de Marco, L'Avion de Gaston etc. They also rhyme. This makes it fun for my nephew to listen to but also easier for me to read with the rhythm!

If your kids are bilingual, make sure you have the books in both languages in your house! Read them together! Bilingualism is a gift to be treasured! Spend time in the "not so dominate" language together.

If you are not bilingual, but enjoy languages and want the kids in your lives to enjoy languages too, buy books in foreign languages. Read them with your child. Study the pictures hard! Reading is a great way to learn a language and to develop appreciation for different languages. Be brave! Dive right in! Pick up a children's book in a language you studied in high school or college- practice reading it and then share it with a child! Have fun.

Life: Acting Real Life Out

When you ask my nephew what his favorite videos are, he now replies, "Planet Earth, Life, Galapagos (en francais) and T'choupi (en francais aussi). Life, is another version of Planet Earth, narrated by Oprah Winfrey. It is a beautiful display of wildlife across the globe.

My nephew, in true 3 year old form, enjoys acting the different scenes. He gets his animal critters out of the toy box and begins to explore, who hunts who? Hunting and Hunted is his favorite episode. Unfortunately we don't have an ostrich for the cheetah to eat nor do we have a "cheetah deer" for the tiger. Luckily he can improvise. Sometimes he enjoys acting out the videos without props and just take on the animal personalities himself. He ropes in other 'actors', like myself to play different roles.

From Galapagos, one of his favorite scenes is watching the giant predatory birds hunt for iguanas, swimming in the sea.

The videos have been amazing to develop quite a large and specific vocabulary and to introduce the concept of "interdependence". Acting out before, during or after, is a great way to have a 'conversation' with kids about what they are understanding and thinking about while watching videos!

Enjoy the stage with your kids! Enjoy Life!

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!

Kitty Landers

Check it out- a show for kids!

Interesting themes and original characters.

Online has so much to offer!

Website: http://www.kittylanders.com/

YouTube Site: http://www.youtube.com/user/kittylanders#p/f

Viva Espana

We did. We watched soccer all afternoon. We went over to our friends' giant loft, J and C, to see the match. It was perfect for us. My nephew lasted the whole game, reenacting much of the 'drama' in the game. After seeing player after player 'dive' for the ball, he too then (with me) would act out the scene of how it happened. We are glad we stayed to watched the entire game- to even see Spain finally make the winning gooooooal!

We came ready. We brought all of my nephew's soccer books, including a couple of new ones. They came in handy, especially at half time. We brought our biography of Pele. We also brought Let's Play Soccer.

His new book, Goal! is a story about young boys playing soccer in South Africa. His other new one is a simple Hello Reader, Soccer Game! about kids playing the game as well.

After the game, we drove the park, where the cars kept streaming by with the flags and a lot of honking! I hope you all enjoyed the world cup as much as we did and learned a lot about the world like we did as well! It happens once every 4 years. Next WC, my nephew will be 7!

Enjoy the read! Enjoy your summer!

The First Birthday: Some Suggestions

As I made the list of books for 2 years olds- I realized I have a bunch of friends this spring who have babies are turning one! Let me just suggest a few winners that my dear little man, my nephew loved on his first birthday.

Busy Doggies. It is actually a whole series of books, A Busy Book Series, that talks about busy animals. Busy Chickens, Busy Horsies, Busy Barnyard Animals.

Off We Go by Jane Yolen, is a beautiful, sing-song book of animals going to grandma's house. Very sweet, very fun.

Choo Choo Cickety Clack By Margaret Mayo, is a fun rhythmic text about trains. Big winner with the train obsessed nephew!

Have fun with the new reads!

Read Poetry By Children

Georgia Heard, a poet I have mentioned in the blog before, features children as poets in her book, For the Good of the Earth and Sun: Teaching Poetry. Georgia is both a poet who writes to teach teachers, to teach adults (Writing Towards Home) and to teach children. Her new book, A Place for Wonder: Reading and Writing Nonfiction in the Primary Grades byGeorgia Heard and Jen McDonough, is sure to be a wonderful one, not just for teachers but for families too.

A wonderful way to celebrate poetry month is to read poems by other children. Some of our favorite poets have published books that feature children as the poets! Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets, edited and compiled by Naomi Shihab Nye, is a beautiful poetry book with magnificent illustrations.

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As you look for poetry books to celebrate this month- consider a book that celebrates children first! Children are natural poets! Happy Poetry Month to You!

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.

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!

Reading Longer Books

The other night, I got to put Little Sister L to sleep. She picked out her latest favorite, Ladybug Girl and Lilly's special day. I have always been amazed by LSL and her stamina in being able to listen to longer storybooks- ever since she was about 18 months. She enjoys the long picture books (and a couple in a row) and then needs to be "tucked" into bed with EVERY Maisy book. Just in case she wants to "read". Seriously. I know. It is the cutest thing ever.

Baby C (who isn't such a baby anymore)- loves to read early chapter books, like Poppleton and Henry and Mudge. We spend a good 20 minutes reading Poppleton, and studying the map and reading each of the three stories in the book.

My nephew this summer, when he was just 2, started listening to longer stories before nap time. Koala Lou became a big reading ritual. And then we would call each other by name and say the in famous line. He would wake up and find his mama and say, “Mama-lou, I do love you!” Longer books hook you into literary language, give you that sense of story structure and as we know increases your exposure to vocabulary.

Read longer books to kids of all ages. Watch and be amazed at their love for story. Push the limits! See what they can handle and enjoy!

Happy reading to You!

Happy Poetry Month!

Happy Birthday Baby C. You Are 3!

Happy Birthday Baby C! We love you muchisimo!

You are the sunshine of all of our lives!

Have a great birthday!

Perfect For a Toddler

The day I left for Montreal, to go to my nephew’s birthday weekend extravaganza, I was talking with my friend- Auntie KB- about all the ways we were going to celebrate his birthday. “What an aunt you are! I need some suggestions for my 2 year old nephew!” Did I have some suggestions for her!

My nephew absolutely fell in love the Van Fleet Books. Dogs was his favorite but he had, Cats, Tails, Alphabet and The Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings! They have been a big hit with my nephew ever since he was a baby.

We also loved to capitalize on his love for the ABC's by getting many ABC books! One that we all especially love is, Creature ABC. Not only did it help to develop his letter recognition, phonemic awareness, but it also contributed to his knowledge of animal vocabulary.

There is this adorable interactive series called, Little Drivers. Both my nephew and Baby C have loved these books to death! Literally! They feature kids, of different ethnicity, driving the different kinds of vehicles. You can actually "put the driver" into the truck or airplane as you read! Different books feature different themes such as: emergency vehicles or transportation in cities.

Finally my last suggestions for toddlers is my nephew's latest favorite, Lost and Found by Olivers Jeffers. My friend, The Rocky Mountain Mama, introduced me to this series. Her two boys LOVE this author and have enjoy reading his different books. This has been my nephew's latest "go to" book to read on his own.

Hope this helps the gift giving and reading process! Happy reading to you all!

The Birthday Extravangaza

So you are wondering- how was the 3 year old's birthday? So much fun! It truly is amazing to see how my nephew has grown in just three short years. You hear all these statistics about intelligence and talking and the amount of words that some kids have by the time they enter kindergarten. Well, I can safely say, my nephew is in the 30,000,000 words category. Language is just exploding all around him!

On his birthday morning, we took him to the Imax movie at the science center in the old city of Montreal. There was film about the Space Station. My nephew sat through the whole film. Days later I could see what information stuck with him!

First of all, the count down and loud take off with the fire was the first thing he told his BFF, Toddler T, in daycare!

Then, as all the other kids were trying to put on their snowsuits (yes, it snows in March in Montreal), my nephew and Toddler T are laying in the middle of the hall on their bellies. "Don't lay down in the hall. Please sit up," called one of the teachers, en Francais. My nephew replied, "I'm not laying down. I am floating in space. I am an astronaut."

Then at home, when I got to babysit him one evening, my nephew gathered up a few things in his new "surfer's backpack" that Big Girl C and Baby E gave him for his birthday. "What are you going to do with the backpack," I asked. "It's not a backpack. It's my pack for space. I am putting on my suit to go walking and fixing our station. I need a few things." He gathered up his cell phone, so he could call his mama, he gathered up some blocks (that he said were apricots), and his little notebook I brought him with a pen. "What is your notebook for?" I inquired. "It's for you know... actually I need to make a list." He proceeded to make a list and then "called for help". "I need some equipment. Yeh and I need lots of things." He carefully made his list and then stuffed it into the pack!

What fun we had!

When it was time to go to bed, something that my nephew tries to avoid at all cost, he decided we would read! "Find a few books!" I told him. Well... he did. He brought over a stack of about 20 books. He turned to me and said, "Titi, first read all of these! Then I will do my doe-doe. (sleep in french)." I looked at the stack. I looked at nephew. I had to smile. What a clever boy! We snuggled up and read till he fell asleep. I Dream of Trains and Corduroy each got a couple of reads!

Enjoy your family! Enjoy the read.

Celebrate Our Community

WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION: Brooklyn Honors Local Artists and Literature - March 2010 Six Author-Illustrators, Three Bookstores and a Gallery. Celebrating Brooklyn's professional women who leave an historical record in the field of children's literature and the merchants who bring their books to the community.

...and Miss Brooklyn 2009, Keelie Sheridan, has recently joined the celebration. Miss Brooklyn 2009 will attend the opening reception for the art exhibition at Superfine.
http://missbrooklyn2009.blogspot.com/2010/01/looking-ahead-womens-history-month.html

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE
ALL EVENTS ARE CHILD FRIENDLY

Our upcoming events are blogged by Star Bright Books!
http://starbrightbooks.blogspot.com/2010/02/womens-history-month.html#comments

Online article by Barbara Ehrentreu
http://www.examiner.com/x-33746-NY-Literature-Examiner~y2010m2d15-Local-independent-bookstores-host-local-childrens-authors-in-March-for-Womens-History-Month?cid=email-this-article

* Mar. 21 Sun. 4-6pm P.S. BOOKSHOP Group Story Time with illustrator/authors SELINA ALKO, MIRIAM COHEN, PAT CUMMINGS, MELANIE HOPE GREENBERG, AILEEN LEIJTEN, and MEGHAN MCCARTHY.
LOCATION: 147A Front Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 INFO: 718.222.3340

Mar. 27 Sat. 10:30am GREENLIGHT BOOKS presents PAT CUMMINGS
LOCATION: 686 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217 INFO: 718.246.0200

More info:
http://mermaidsonparade.blogspot.com/2010/01/brooklyn-celebrates-its-author.html
http://pat-cummings.blogspot.com/
http://selinaalko.blogspot.com/2010/02/pencil-in-march-events.html
http://aileenleijten.blogspot.com/2010/02/womens-history-month-book-events.html

Literary Event in Brooklyn Next Week! Check it Out!

Word Bookstore Event in Brooklyn

Sat. March 27, 3:00 PM: Launch party for FLYING LESSONS, a new picture book from local author/illustrator Gilbert Ford. They’ll serve lemonade for the kids and make paper airplanes! Bring the entire family for an afternoon of fun and an event for kids of ALL ages!

Sounds like fun!

Happy Spring!

Spring is here! Little Boy J and I yesterday were walking in the village, running some last minute errands for my nephew's birthday.

As we were walking down the streets, LBJ and I were looking for signs of spring. We saw the trees. On the branches and limbs were little green buds, beginning to burst!

We searched for robins. We didn't see any.

Take a walk this weekend. Look for signs of spring!

Enjoy the day, season, and reading the world!