The Sharing of the Books

I have a new idea for a Battle of the Books with novels/chapter books.

Rather than hold a competition like we're doing for picture books, I think I'm going to have each of the kids pick their favorite novel of all time and a recent favorite. We'll write them up on the board and everyone will need to read (or have read to them) each others' books. At the end of the summer, we'll have a book celebration where we meet together and talk about what we liked about the books. And there will be treats. And possibly awards.

We'll be putting our lists together this week.

Summer is always a time to celebrate books—what are your ideas?

Shaemus and I have happened upon a new winner. This one is gripping me so much, I am eagerly awaiting our read aloud time, where sometimes I have to hide books I am getting bored of and we are continually starting new.

The Sasquatch Escape: (The Imaginary Veterinary Book 1) by Suzanne Selfors

This is shaping up to be a great series for boys and girls ages 7 and up. (There's a nice mix of illustration and text.)

Black Contact Paper

I learned very recently that you can buy black contact paper.

This has been a very exciting discovery, because my life is obviously very limited, but I now have a chalkboard in my house. Right on my kitchen walls.

!!!!!

I was the kind of child who wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. I made up my own bulletin boards and hung them on the walls of my bedroom. My kitchen today is a messy bulletin board full of maps and kids' artwork and random articles, this and that. It helps that my kitchen is forty years old and really hasn't been updated and looks like.... Well, I wouldn't put a panoramic view of my kitchen up on pinterest, let me put it that way. But if I had a fancy kitchen, I might not be confident enough to turn it into a classroom either.

And now my decrepit kitchen has a chalkboard! And I didn't have to buy that really expensive chalkboard paint to make it happen.

Thank you black contact paper.
This first picture shows Mary and Lucy's section of the board. It's great, because every Saturday I just write up everyone's jobs with big boxes for them to check off (it is way more fun to make a check mark on the wall with chalk than on a piece of paper, and I'm not kidding about that). During the week, Mary and Calvin use their parts of the board to record new grammar rules they're learning and favorite sentences. They get ten cents for every word they memorize in their appointed foreign language—that's what those tic marks are on Mary's side. And I use the board to remind the kids of their laundry days and the color of cup they can use that day (because my kids go through cups like they are camels, they are always assigned a cup for the day—that's why Lucy's side says Green... It totally doesn't work, but it's a nice idea.)

And this is how we are keeping track of our Battle of the Books with picture books:

Boy, super fancy, huh! But it will function and that's what's important. I have most of these books books checked out from the library now. We've started to read them. As soon as we have read all the books in a particular bracket, we put a check mark by the title. Kids love to write things in chalk on a board. Even if it's just a check.

This hysterical book is already a favorite and it may just win the whole thing:

Bananas in my Ears by Michael Rosen.

Because we are such a deep family...

Battle of the Books for Picture Books

Summer is swiftly approaching. I'm still looking into great ideas for encouraging summer reading. One of my favorites is to buy your child a flashlight they can keep by their bedside table with no particular instructions about what they can and cannot do with that flashlight.

We are doing battle of the books again. I'm still organizing our novel and chapter book and nonfiction battles, but I've figured out how we're going to do picture books. There are seven brackets here because there are seven us. We are all going to read all four books in each bracket and pick our favorite. The top book in each bracket will move forward to the next round. The books will be read again and narrowed down to four, then down to two; then we will select a winner.

I'm going to use a poster to get the kids excited—I'm envisioning the sort of bracket thing people do when they are preparing for March Madness. I'll take a picture if it looks semi-decent :).

Anyway, these books are from all over the world, they are highly recommended, and I've been able to find most of them at the library. I'm only buying three :). I'm posting them here in case you'd like to try something similar with your family. If you'd like to join us and cast a vote around the middle of June, I'll keep you updated!

Happy Reading! (sorry about the formatting inconsistencies)

BRACKET ONE

1. MRS. HARKNESS AND PANDA By Alicia Potter
2. A TRIP TO THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD WITH MOUSE By Frank Viva
3. THE CONDUCTOR by Devernay
4. DOG IN BOOTS by Greg Gormley

BRACKET TWO

1) I AM DIFFERENT! CAN YOU FIND ME? by Padmanabhan

2) PRESS HERE by Herve Tullet

3) NIGHTTIME NINJA by Dacosta

4) ODD DUCK by Sara Varon

BRACKET THREE

1) IF YOU WANT TO SEE A WHALE by Julie Fogliano

2) WHEN APPLES GREW NOSES AND WHITE HORSES FLEW: TALES OF TI-JEAN by Jan Andrews

3) COWPOKE CLYDE AND THE DIRTY DAWG by Lori Mortensen

4) WATER IN THE PARK by Emily Jenkins

BRACKET FOUR

1. THE PARADE: A STAMPEDE OF STORIES ABOUT ANANSE, THE TRICKSTER SPIDER by KP. Kojo 
2. COLD SNAP by Eileen Spellini
3. THE SANTA TRAP by Jonathan Emmett
4. THE QUIET PLACE by Sarah Stewart

BRACKET FIVE

1. ISLAND by Jason Chin
2. YOU ARE STARDUST by Elin Kelsey
3. ANIMAL MASQUERADE by Marianne Dubuc 
4. THE SEVEN TALES OF TRINKET by Shelley Moore Thomas

BRACKET SIX

1)WANT TO BE IN A BAND by Suzzy Roche 

2) NINO WRESTLES THE WORLD by Yuyi Morales

3) THE HERO OF LITTLE STREET by Gregory Rogers 

4) THE GREAT RACE by Nathan Kumar Scott 

BRACKET SEVEN

1. I SAW A PEACOCK WITH A FIERY TALE. illus. by Ramsingh Urveti. 
2. BEAR HAS A STORY TO TELL by Philip C. Stead
3. BANANAS IN MY EARS: A COLLECTION OF NONSENSE STORIES, POEMS, RIDDLES, AND RHYMES by Michael Rosen 
4. CAT TALE by Michael Hall

Getting Ready for Summer

These books have nothing to do with summer, but they make me think of summer, a time for lots of light, fun reading. 

Which reminds me, I'm working on my plan for summer reading with my kids. I'm thinking of doing a Battle of the Books thing again but more organized and under control than last year (that was a bit of a disaster).

Does anyone else have a fantastic idea to keep your kids reading for the summer? I know for some, they will just be grateful if their kids read. I will be grateful if I can get my kids to read something other than these:

So I'd love any ideas about fun, family-oriented, summer-reading programs (I hesitate to say the word "programs"—it makes reading sound like a drag!)

On to the list!

The Bugliest Bug by Carol Diggory Shields

Billy Twitters and his Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett

Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover by Cece Bell

It's Monday, Mrs. Jolly Bones by Warren Hanson

Princess in Training by Tammi Sauer

This Monster Cannot Wait! by Bethany Barton

Spike and Ike Take a Hike by S.D. Schindler

It's a Book by Lane Smith