Books! Books! Books!

     Our mail lady brought me a package the other day, another prize I won for just entering my name over at Donna Martin's blog donasdays.blogspot.com.   Thanks Donna-it's still on the table so I can pick it up anytime and read on of the novelists stories. Speaking of the table, it's not a book, but a freebie that my friend and I found at our "dump" one day...It's an oldie but goodie!

Back to the books-I read for the Read Around on Friday. I got paired with a first grade class and was a bit worried because I think first graders are the smartest kids around...and they were. I brought my bag of books and showed them each one. They got to choose,

    First one they wanted to hear was The Little Fisherman by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Maine's own, Dahlov Ipcar.  I love this book and the kids did too. I read over at Islandport Press
http://www.islandportpress.com/dahlov/littlefisherman.html   that it was originally published in 1945. We discussed the illustrations along the way.
    The next one they chose was this:

  10 Turkeys in the Road by Brenda Reeves Sturgis. A Maine author and my friend. It's illustrated by David Slonim. The kids were quick to find the hidden numbers on each page and to tell me the next number by counting backward.  We had fun with this one.

Then I read another friend's book-These Bees Count by Alison Formento, illustrated by Sara Snow http://www.alisonashleyformento.com/Alison_Ashley_Formento/WELCOME_TO_MY_WEBSITE%21.ht

   I told you about Alison's book last week. The kids liked this because it was like they were on the field trip with the class in the book. I mentioned Alison's other book, This Tree Counts and asked if they could guess what her next book was going to be....rhymes with Tree and Bee. I was so right about these kids being smart. They guessed Seas!

    Then they wanted to hear another friends "chapter book". Cork and Fuzz, Short and Tall by Dori Chacanos, illustrated by Lisa McCue

http://www.dorichaconas.com/EZ-To-Read%20Page.htm, 

I don't have a picture of this book to show you, I left it for the classroom library. The kids were so proud to read,"Chapter 1, Chapter 2-they wanted me to know that they know!

   Then if that wasn't enough, we discussed the Dr Seuss book on the teacher's desk, The Lorax. The teacher had read it but they asked if I'd read it to them again. I hadn't read it before (I know!!!!) so had lots of fun with it. The Dr. used a few naughty expressions, but the message is strong. 

    I think the discussions we had were much better than my reading (over an hour!). Living here in Maine, the kids have a connection to each of these books.  Their parents work on lobster boats, have bees, see turkeys in the road, and have friends that are different than they are. There are also some that harvest trees so after the Lorax we had to discuss keeping the woods replenished.

    So that's it with a book week for me. Did you have as much fun reading as I did? I hope so.