Before I Die

I highly recommend a young adult novel entitled Before I Die. It is set in England and takes you on a journey with the main character as she deals will her illness. I could not put this book down. I read it in two sittings.

New York Times Sunday Nov. 9th.

The NY Times has a wonderful pull out section on children's books. The best selling picture books include Goodnight Goon, Hip Hop Speaks to Children and Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope. I read most of them this weekend and recommend that you also read what children are buying. The best selling list also includes paperback books, chapter book and series. The chapter book that I can recommend is Diary of a Whimpy Kid and The Way We Work For a longer read, I suggest you check out The Book Thief, it is about a young girl saving books from burning in Nazi Germany.

Hugo Cabret

Today in class, we will be visiting illustrators sites. I urge you to look at the work of Brain Selznick who wrote and illustrated the Caldecott award winning book The Invention of Hugo Cabret. This book is written for older children, however it won the Caldecott for its illustartions. I will share it with you today.

New York Times

The book section of the NY Times, October 12th, has a list of bestsellers including picture books, chapter books. paperback and series. Additionally, there are books that deal with the presidential election. Some interesting titles of recommended books are; Goodnight Goon, Hate that Cat, The Book Thief and a few books that tell about the presidential candidates.

Paolini

How exciting to see a large auditorium filled with children waiting to hear an author speak. The author is a young man who began his writing career when he was 14 and published by age 15. He is famous for fantasy literature. His first book is Eragon. I suggest that you check out this author and his work.

Sold

I just read a gripping young adult book about young girls from Nepal being sold for sex. It was very gripping, horribly upsetting and unfortunately real. I might use this book with older students when discussing abuse.

Fred Stays with Me

Nancy Coffelt has written a book that addresses divorce. The story revolves around a pet, Fred, the dog. It is picture book with few words to get the meaning across. It gives power to the child. This would be a good addition to your class library or for the child life specialists for those children dealing with divorce. Let me know what you think

Reluctant Readers

How do you engage the reluctant reader? First of all who is the reluctant reader. The majority of reluctant readers are males. This topic was addressed today at the MSUNER Conference at MSU. The following authors were recommended Andrew Clements, David Adler, and Dan Gutman. The Adler books are a series. Gutman also has books in a series. This is a way to 'hook" the reader and have them seeking out the familiar book. Let me know what you think.

Why Blog?

You will be immersed in reading multi-cultural children's literature. There are a plethora of books, some better than others. This is the time for you to share books with your classmates. Please post books that you recommend with the reasons for your thoughts. Remember, we are a community of learners. You posts should describe your reasons for your recommendation, not just, " I liked this book." Reflect on the content, readability, author's perspective, illustrations, diversity etc. Your posts should be written in complete sentences that thoughtfully reflect course content.