Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat

This Hanakkah story is about sadie and her brothers. When Sadie asks for help to build a fire to cook from, her brothers all come up with reasons not to. She enters the forest to gather wood and meets an older woman who is freezing. She offers her some of the branches, and in exchange the woman gives her a magic frying pan. The pan comes with specific instructions, that she be the only user and the words for starting and stopping the latkes from cooking.

Sadie returns and uses the pan without incident for much of Hannakah. She wants to invite the woman to dinner, so she goes to the forest to find her. She tells her brothers not to touch the pan, and of course they don't listen. Latkes start frying up, but the boys do not know the exact words to stop it.

Dewey: Christmas in the Library

Dewey the library cat is having his first Christmas. He likes toplay with the decorations and has a grand time with the red yarn. While alone at night, he climbs up and down the decorated christmas tree dragging the yarn with him. When the librarian arrives in the morning she discovers the rearranged tree and immediately removes it from the library. We find that she had entered it in a decorating competition and won first place.

My kinder and first graders listened to this book, then each student created a similar ornament to this in the story and we built an identical tree, complete with wandering yarn, the Dewey Loves Christmas sign, books underneath, and all. The kids enjoyed doing text-to-world comparisons between our tree and the illustration.

The City of Ember

This sci fi fantasy is set in the future. The underground city of Ember is now about 200 years old and falling apart. Food is scare, light is constantly being challenged, the pipes are breaking. The Builders, who designed the city, never planned for it to last forever, so they stored an escape plan in a box which was handed down from mayor to mayor.

Lina Mayfleet, a 7th generation grandchild of a mayor has come across the box, and its centuries old message. Her sister Poppy nibbled a bit out of it, but with the help of Doon they may be able to find a way out of Ember.

This fast moving story is book one is the series called Books of Ember. It is also out on DVD. To see a movie trailer click here.

Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse

Awesome. Clever. Challenging, Entertaining. All these words describe Mirror Mirror. Selectively chosen words are written and phrased vertically in just such a way that they tell one perspective of a story when read, and an opposite way when the text is is rewritten in reverse.

Each poem addresses a different fairy tale, from one characters perspective to another's. The illustrations are a treat since they reflect the words through the images with a "half and half" design that fits together.

Goal!

Ajani and his friends love soccer. He has earned a new "official" soccer ball and can't wait to play, but in his South African town , there are bullies who may take it. On his way to get water from the well, he stops to play with the boys. One friend stands look out in case trouble arrives, which it does.

A great kid-friendly story of Ajani's environment, its pleasures, and issues. The illustrations are beautiful and the author's note presents the evolution and importance of "football."