Blogiversary Round Up!

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September 14 marked  my 1 Year Bogiversary. I was lucky enough to have a great line up of guest bloggers help me celebrate! This is a recap of the fabulous posts for you to enjoy!

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Why Children's Books?  by The1stdaughter of There's a Book. Her site is a wonderful resource for parents who are looking for fabulous books to share with their children. Danielle knows how vital books are in the lives of kids and she is able to write about them in a way that lets parents know exactly what to be reading. Danielle has been a very loyal follower and contributor to Book Talk Tuesday. We share links and resources regularly on Twitter and Pinterest. Danielle has been an important part on my virtual learning community! Thank you for writing this post for me... I can think back to all of the pivotal times on my life and I know exactly which book I was reading. Books have shaped my life and I am a better person for all of the times spent devouring books.

Never Too Busy to Read by 11 year old Addy Smith. Of all the famous, published and well-known guest bloggers I have been lucky enough to host this week, none of them hold a candle to my next guest. Addy Smith is a sixth grader at Lemme School, but she could be a freshman in college. She is an amazing young lady. She reads like crazy, and reads all sorts of great books. We have been known to have 45 minute conversations about which faction we would choose if we were Tris. We have gotten caught up in our discussions of why we think Gale is so much better for Katniss than Peeta. And these conversations are some of the best I have ever had about books. Addy knows her stuff and can articulate her opinion better than girls 10 years her senior. But she isn't only good at reading- she is a whiz at math too and she is tech savvy. She is a caring big sister and someone I trust to look after the little tykes in the library when I need her. She is dependable and has a good head on her shoulders. She is funny and witty and I truly love spending time talking with her. You would think that a kid that has all of this and a bag of chips going for her would let it go to her head- and be smug and snooty. No. Not Addy. She is down to earth and she knows where she is going in life. I adore this girl and I know she will do big things with her life. I know she has her heart set on being a obstetrician (she told me that 6 years ago when I first met her in kindergarten), but don't be surprised if she is President of The united States one day. Don't be surprised at all. Thank you Addy for taking the time out of your very busy life to write a great blog post for this old lady. : )

The Golden Age of Children's Literature by Colby Sharp of Sharpread

My next guest blogger was nervous when he learned that he would be following Tom Angleberger & John Auxier. He shouldn't be. Colby Sharp of Sharpread has rocketed to the top of the kidlit blogosphere. I don't know how he does it- he reads everything, he tweets, he blogs, he teaches and he has a family. Does he ever sleep? Is he a droid? Is he crazy? Yes, he is crazy. I offer proof:

He is my kind of crazy. He is passionate, dedicated and knowledgeable. He is funny and kind.  It doesn't hurt that he likes the same books that I do.  We are both obsessed with Mr. Angleberger and his paper dolls to the point of stalker status. (Colby, does Tom have a restraining order out on you yet? No? Give it time.) I was thrilled when Colby said he'd post today. I agree with Colby Sharp- there is no better time to be involved in the world of children's literature. It is a scary time too- tiny budgets, closing libraries, e-books, internet, video games, crazy book banners, the dwindling test scores... When that all adds up, you should thank your lucky stars that Mr. Sharp is your child's teacher. Thanks, Colby!

What to do When You Hate a Classic by Tom Angleberger and Jonathan Auxier. I might be dreaming up this next post... I can't even believe it is real. Somebody pinch me! Today's post is a tag team piece written by Tom Angleberger and Jonathan Auxier. It's like having Captain Kirk AND Han Solo piloting the same intergalactic spacecraft. Seriously! Do you see how a blog can create new connections? 
In January, I awarded Tom's book The Strange Case of Origami Yoda with the prestigious Bizzaro Newbery Award. Tom took the time to contact me to thank me for the award. I think I actually squealed when I opened THAT email! Betsy Bird picked up my post on her amazing blog Fuse8.  I think my blog got over 500 hits in a 3 hour period! Tom and I share links and ideas (but mostly funny Star Wars pictures) on Twitter and last Spring he even Skyped with my kids! (I just counted and there are 18 posts on this blog tagged with Tom Angleberger... stalker?)  

This summer I read Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier. In 80 years, that will be hailed as a classic, I guarantee you that!  Anyway, I follow John on Twitter and he has been kind enough to follow me and visit my blog... even leaving comments! I have upped my status as a Rock Star Librarian because of these two guys- and my blog has been better for it. I write posts to leave an impression and get them to keep coming back. I am so completely blown away to have these 2 chaps blogging together today.  

Follow up to this post at Jonathan's site, The Scop.  

Ten Ways to Stick it to Your Librarian by TheReadAloudDad

Real men read... did you know that? The really-real men read to their kids. Do you know how I know that? My dad read to me- every single night until I was in fifth grade and #2, The Dad from ReadAloudDad.com says so. He is the father of twins, so he does double the reading that most dads do! He reviews books on his website- have you ever read one of his reviews? They are written with the utmost attention to detail. I can only imagine that it takes him hours to produce a single review... for example: My Father's Dragon. By the time you finished reading his review, you know that you best get up, get in the car and go to the nearest book store and buy every book he mentioned. And then, you better read them to your kids. The Dad is a fabulous advocate for getting dads involved in the lives of their children. He gives statistics, shares articles, gives tips and just encourages men to read to their children. He has been the most loyal follower of Book Talk Tuesday. His words of encouragement and support have helped me continue to put out my very best work. He is a vital part of my online learning community... thank you for your wisdom and support.

Little known fact, The Dad and I are Blogging Twins! He started his blog 1 year ago this month as well! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY READALOUD DAD!

Portrait of a Librarian as a Young Reader by by Laura Given (aka liblaura5) This post sent chills up my spine.  You don't know how many times I have heard teachers say "Comic books (graphic novels) don't count as a good fit books. Magazines can't be used for SSR. No you can't check out that Ripley's Believe it Or Not. I know you like nonfiction, but check out a chapter book."  After reading this, I think there might be a few interventions at Lemme School next week. I know how important it is for kids to get good fit books, but we need to put more value on interest and purpose in order to validate our kids as readers. They get good fit books all day... what they need a little love from Laura. Laura is a librarian, book blogger and fellow Twitter Rock Star. She participates in Book Talk Tuesday and visits this blog and shares her thoughts and ideas with me on Twitter. I had a good feeling about her... read on, I know you will agree.  Thank you, Laura for this post. It should be required reading for all teachers.  

Reading in Technicolor I have said on this blog time and again, how blogging has broadened my PLC (professional learning community). I have learned more from this circle of people in the last year than I have in 8 years of  professional development.  Angie Oliverson (MsO or @SenioritaO) at MsOReadsBooks has become part of my PLC.   She participates in Book Talk Tuesday, comments on this blog, gives me great ideas on Pinterest and shares great links and conversation on Twitter. It was only fitting that I ask her to be a part of my 1 Year Blogiversary Guest Blogger Line Up! She has helped me shape my blog and my instruction and I wanted my readers to get to know her! Thank you Angie for this great post! Angie put much thought into this post and I can tell how hard she worked because she had to find each picture, save it and attach it... little things that bloggers notice! : ) I am a very visual person myself, so this post is right up my alley! Enjoy, everyone... Reading in Technicolor! 

Books Were My Salvation by Laurel Snyder Before I entered the blog world, I had read Laurel's books and once I entered the blog world, I continued to read Laurel's books. I mentioned Any Which Wall in a post, and Laurel was nice enough to leave a comment on my post. I learned that Laurel spent part of her life in Iowa City, and actually married a boy (man now!) that graduated with my husband. The world is so small... And this summer, I was able to see Laurel at The Hamburg Inn and listen to her read Inside The Slidy Diner (which my 3 year old LOVES and now wants to go see the REAL Slidy Diner). I love that Laurel is so in tune with schools and libraries, but most of all with kids. She gets them. If you've ever read her books, you know that. If you read this post, you will know why. Thank you Laurel.

Librarians and Chocolate Cake! by Kirby Larson. Kirby won The Newbery Honor Award for Hattie Big Sky. Her newest book is The Friendship Doll. Thank you Kirby for your post, and thank you for your online friendship! I am so glad that cyber-fate brought us together!

Why Children's Books?

 It is the last night of my 1 Year Blogiversary Blowout. I am amazed and overwhelmed by the fabulous posts, comments and number of visitors. I think I should just host other bloggers all the time because I have had a blast! Thank you to all of the people who have dropped by to say hi and enjoy a great post or two. Today, my final post comes from Danielle Smith, who I first met as The1stdaughter of There's a Book. Her site is a wonderful resource for parents who are looking for fabulous books to share with their children. Danielle knows how vital books are in the lives of kids and she is able to write about them in a way that lets parents know exactly what to be reading. Danielle has been a very loyal follower and contributor to Book Talk Tuesday. We share links and resources regularly on Twitter and Pinterest. Danielle has been an important part on my virtual learning community! Thank you for writing this post for me... I can think back to all of the pivotal times on my life and I know exactly which book I was reading. Books have shaped my life and I am a better person for all of the times spent devouring books. 

 First of all, Happy 1st Blogiversary Kelly! The Lemme Library has quickly become one of my regular haunting grounds, and I say that because I'm unfortunately guilty of the crime of lurking. That being said, I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Kelly through her wonderful reviews, Book Talk Tuesday, on Twitter and absolutely on her often quirky fun pins on Pinterest. It's been a fantastic time getting to know you and I can't wait to see what comes in the next year for you!

Why Children's Books?

Truthfully, I agonized over this post. I simply could not narrow down what to talk about, but that's very typically me. I'm a bit all over the place, what with chasing after two toddlers all day and attempting to manage the schedule of a very busy new attorney (my hubby). That being said, you'd think it would be a given that I'd choose to blog about children's books seeing that both my kiddos read non-stop but it's not that simple.

See, much like Jonathan and Tom I was a bit damaged by reading and re-reading "Children's Classics" in school and subsequently stopped reading until close to the time my children were born. I know, it's a tragedy. Not that I stopped entirely, but certainly I wasn't eager to pick up The Scarlett Letter again (and probably never will).  Then, my children happened.

It began with books like Trucks Trucks Trucks by Peter Sis and Trucks by Byron Barton. Yes, there was a definite "truck" theme in our home the first two years of the Turkeybird's life. During which I suddenly felt the need to explore beyond my prejudices and his obsessions. What began as a need to discover more books for my son to devour, as he was already reading at eighteen months, quickly became a venture into the "ghost of children's books past". 

What I quickly discovered was that children's books have influenced my life from the start and I never let them go, literally. In a box my mother keeps for me there's a worn copy of Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish that is actually the one and only theft of my lifetime. Yes, I "borrowed" it from the library and never returned it. I'm sure the librarians out there are shaking their heads at this point, but I do apologize and would add that I have paid for a replacement since then. The point is though that I loved this book enough to hide it under my pillow at night, to read it during every spare moment & potentially get into "big" trouble for not returning it.

It's the love for Amelia Bedelia as well as a later reading of Socks by Beverly Cleary that still burns bright within me. Those are the books that I discovered made me the reader and lover of books that I am today. Now, the real question for me is which book will burn brightest for my sweet Turkeybird and Littlebug when they reach my age? Will it be the infamous Trucks Trucks Trucks or a later chapter book like Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo or anything else we pick up over the next few years? 

Whichever book burns brightest for my children are the books that matter. The books we read under a blanket with flashlight in tow. The characters that rescue us from a hard day at school or home. The journeys that help us to remember we are children. Those are the ones that count and will forever have a place in our hearts. And that...is why I choose children's books.

The Golden Age of Kid Lit

My next guest blogger was nervous when he learned that he would be following Tom Angleberger & John Auxier. He shouldn't be. Colby Sharp of Sharpread has rocketed to the top of the kidlit blogosphere. I don't know how he does it- he reads everything, he tweets, he blogs, he teaches and he has a family. Does he ever sleep? Is he a droid? Is he crazy? Yes, he is crazy. I offer proof:

He is my kind of crazy. He is passionate, dedicated and knowledgeable. He is funny and kind.  It doesn't hurt that he likes the same books that I do.  We are both obsessed with Mr. Angleberger and his paper dolls to the point of stalker status. (Colby, does Tom have a restraining order out on you yet? No? Give it time.) I was thrilled when Colby said he'd post today. I agree with Colby Sharp- there is no better time to be involved in the world of children's literature. It is a scary time too- tiny budgets, closing libraries, e-books, internet, video games, crazy book banners, the dwindling test scores... When that all adds up, you should thank your lucky stars that Mr. Sharp is your child's teacher. Thanks, Colby!

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The Golden Age of baseball took place from about 1945-1960. This was when baseball was at it’s best. World War II was over, and people were starving for America’s pastime. The league was littered with future hall-of-famers, and war heroes.  It is hard for me to imagine any players today going to war and being a fighter pilot.

In my opinion we are in the “Golden Age” of being a kid reader.  There has been no better time to be a young reader.  Here are my top 5 reasons why it is the best time ever to be a kid reader:

1. Book Trailers

Book trailers grab young readers, suck them in, and leave them begging to read the book.  Every morning in my class we watch one book trailer after morning announcements, and I hear kids talking about it throughout the day.  After the trailer I walk to the front of the room, and hands shoot up like crazy. We are only in the second week of school, and they already anticipate what I am going to say.  “Anyone interested in reading ___________?” I could book talk that book till the cows come home, but nothing hooks them in like a book trailer.

 

A big thank you to readers like Mr. Schu for making book trailers  accessible to young readers.

2. Kid Lit Blogs

As a kid, I wanted to learn more about what was out there to read, my options were limited to: 100 year old librarian, teacher that makes me read basal, and other kids in my class that didn’t read. Now kids have tons of amazing:  teachers, book lovers, librarians, and authors out their blogging about books.  Not only do kids have tons of opportunities out there to read book blogs from adults, but more and more kids are starting their own blogs both in and out of the classroom.  

I would include a bunch of links here to great kid lit blogs, but I figured that you could just check out the links down the left side of the Lemme blog.

3. Skyping With Authors

Skype is awesome.  Skype can be used in so many ways to promote reading, but I am going to just focus on Skyping with authors. Budgets are tight.  Schools can’t just go out and schedule a bunch of author visits, and when they do, they often have to pick authors that live close to their school to save on travel costs.  In comes Skype.  Many authors offer free Skype video chats to classrooms.  In-house author visits can’t be replaced, but author Skypes have their advantages.  Usually author visits include one author and 300 or so kids.  When Skyping with an author it can be one classroom with around 25 kids, giving the kids a chance to have a much more intimate conversation with their favorite author.  Another reason why Skyping with authors is so great is because you are not limited to the authors in your home area.  Last year we Skyped with Tom Angleberger (Virginia), Adam and Jay from The Familiars (California), Kate Messner (Lake Champlain), and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich (New York). Total cost $0. Effect on my readers: priceless (sorry, that was corny).

4. Reading Workshop

Teachers like Donalyn Miller and Nancie Atwell are spreading the gospel of reading workshop. If you have not read The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller you need to buy it RIGHT NOW.  

One of the biggest reason why reading workshop makes it a great time to be a kid reader is because it allows kids the freedom to read what they want.  Reading workshop is a shift from a teacher controlling a classroom full of reluctant readers, to a teacher managing a classroom full of engaged readers.  

At the end of the school year I interview my readers and they say again and again the reason they loved being a reader in my classroom is because they got to pick what they read.  Many kids love to watch television.  Do you think they would love it as much if we made them all watch the same shows every night. “Okay kids, time to watch CNN.” That wold totally turn them off from television.  The same way with books.  “Okay kids, everyone get out the Scarlett Letter.”

5. Graphic Novels

If you haven’t witnessed the power of the Amulet series in the hands of a middle grade student you are missing out.  If you haven’t seen Smile float around the classroom from student to student, without ever making it back to the classroom library, you are missing out.  Graphic novels are  fun to read, and the quality of a lot of them can be just as high as traditional texts.  It seems like when kids get to third grade they often get books with pictures ripped out of their hands.  This is criminal, especially for reluctant readers that need that picture support.  

It is a great time to be a reader, and also a great time to be a teacher, librarian, author, illustrator, and principal.  We get to share the gospel of kid lit! I love my job.

Librarians and Chocolate Cake

In honor of my 1 Year Blogiversary, I have a GREAT week of guest bloggers lined up! Check back every day this week to see what I have in store for you! My very first guest is author Kirby Larson. Kirby won The Newbery Honor Award for Hattie Big Sky. Her newest book is The Friendship Doll. Thank you Kirby for your post, and thank you for your online friendship! I am so glad that cyber-fate brought us together!

I am so pleased to help celebrate both the first birthday of the Lemme Library blog and a truly amazing librarian, Kelly Butcher. She has not only been an enthusiastic cheerleader for my books, she has even given me blogging lessons, especially in how to manipulate graphics. Despite all the coaching, I will never be able to create images as cute as the ones Kelly does. My particular favorite is the one she created of my famous light sword battle with fellow author, Tom Angleberger:

I love librarians, for reasons you will discover below, and am happy to honor this library blog’s first birthday even though, sadly, there is no cake.

 

People often ask me why I became a writer, a question that I can easily answer: books saved me. I grew up in a home with lots of love but little money and we moved nearly every single year as my dad searched for new ways to support our family of six. This took place in the olden days when people didn’t move around much so, at each new school, I was an oddball from the get-go. In addition to being the new kid, I was the new kid with a really bad home-permanent, cats-eye glasses and a name that would make any bully think he or she had won the lottery: Kirby Miltenberger. (My folks might as well have painted a target on my forehead!) As a kid, however, I soon learned that, no matter where I went, I could quickly find a friend in the school library, between the pages of a book.

Books allowed me to imagine myself tracking a thief, like Emil in Emil and the Detectives, or eating all the pancakes I wanted while bench-pressing horses, ala Pippi Longstocking, or even jetting to a distant planet, as did the children in Eleanor Cameron’s Mushroom Planet series. My mother saved my report cards and most of them said something like, “Kirby rushes through her lessons so she can read her library books; she needs to pay more attention to schoolwork and less to stories.” Soon, it wasn’t enough to simply read stories; I wanted to create my own (after I did my homework, of course!). And that’s what I’ve been doing since I was about eight years old.

I gave up permanents ages ago, now wear contacts instead of glasses, and thankfully married a man named Larson so I don’t read to soothe a lonely heart as much as I once did. But I still could not survive without a library. Of course, I use them to check out delicious reads--like TomAngleberger’s Origami Yoda, KarenCushman’s Alchemy and Meggy Swann, Barbara O’Connor’s How to Steal a Dog, Gary Schmidt’s Okay for Now, or LindaUrban’s Hound Dog True--as I always have. But I also use them to track down the name of a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco in 1919 or to find out when the term “waterwings” was first used or to read the New York Times from 1890. As a writer of historical fiction – as a writer, period!—I consider my library a tool of the trade, just like my keyboard, thesaurus and special assistant, Winston the Wonder Dog. 

The best part of any library is its librarians. On the outside, librarians may look like ordinary mortals, but underneath their “Too Many Books, Too Little Time” tee-shirts, they wear superhero costumes. Somehow they can do the same keyword search I have tried ten times and actually come up with what I was looking for. They know where to find old maps, how to load the microfiche machines, and what magic words are needed to request a book through interlibrary loan. And they get as excited as I do about finding just the right fact to make my stories sparkle. And, maybe most importantly, they work very hard to place the right book into the hands of a reader. Because of that, they are as ferocious as a tiger mom protecting its cubs when it comes to protecting our rights to read. Librarians are the wizards of these modern times and I wouldn’t want to live in a world without them.

Especially if there is chocolate cake.   

Party Like a Rock Star!

In honor of 365 days of this silly little blog, I have lined up some of my favorite bloggers, authors & students to guest post! Check out this schedule!

Kirby Larson    Sept 14
Laurel Snyder   Sept 16
MsO (Angie) from Ms O Reads    Sept 17
Laura Givens from LibLaura5   Sept 18
The Dad  Read Aloud Dad    Sept 19
Jonathan Auxier & Tom Angleberger  Sept 20
Colby Sharp from SharpRead   Sept 21
Addy Smith    from Lemme School 6th Grade Sept 22
Danielle Smith from There's a Book   Sept 23