I recently met a 93-year-old woman who’d been a chemist all her life. I asked her why she’d done that work in her life and she said, “My father bought me a chemistry set when I was eleven and I was hooked.” Books do that, too. They hook children with their magic and ideas and… Read more »
November 2011
What Sisters Do Best/What Brothers Do Best by Laura Numeroff
Want to hear about the family that inspired Laura Numeroff ‘s latest delightful flip book, What Sisters Do Best/What Brothers Do Best? Want to learn about making a jelly omelet or parents who taught folk-dancing in the basement? How about the joys of having a stamp-collecting father’s help in compiling an impressive personal collection of horse… Read more »
Clementine and the Family Meeting by Sarah Pennypacker
Click HERE to access an in-depth Teacher Guide, packed with a variety of entertaining and educational lessons and activities such as wonderful writing prompts, word games, and fascinating graphic organizers – all created to encourage the child reader to express her inner Clementine. The Quick Write topics are wonderfully child-centered. For example, the young reader is encouraged to… Read more »
Family Meetings
CLEMENTINE AND THE FAMILY MEETING by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Marla Frazee (Hyperion 2011) The FAMILY MEETING sign is up on the refrigerator and Clementine is worried. Family meetings usually mean trouble. The kind of trouble that involves Clementine having done something she shouldn’t have or, at the very least, something that her parents think… Read more »
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match by Monica Brown
Celebrate Marisol’s uniqueness by clicking HERE to download a creative activity guide, the perfect compliment to Monica Brown’s lively Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match. In it, the reader further explores Marisol’s bi-racial world of peanut butter and jelly burritos, athletics, and artistic expression. Speaking of artistic expression, enjoy dressing a Marisol McDonald paper doll in two… Read more »
Family Love, Family Traditions
In this new picture book, MARISOL MCDONALD DOESN’T MATCH, Monica Brown shares invaluable lessons about being part of a bi-racial, bi-cultural and bi-ethnic family. Illustrations by Sara Palacios are bright, energetic and wonderfully different. A bonus includes a brief interview with Monica. (Children’s Book Press, 2011) Marisol McDonald is teased about being different – sometimes… Read more »
Ghetto Cowboy by Greg Neri
Click HERE to see the teacher’s guide for GHETTO COWBOY and HERE to read “Hoofbeats” by Johnny Dwyer, the LIFE magazine article that inspired the book. Learn more about the story behind the story HERE. Watch the fascinating Ghetto Cowboy book trailer created by Steven Lovy featuring a boy nobody wants, a father nobody understands, a horse… Read more »
