Dying to Meet You

Dying to Meet You by Kate Klise is one of the most creative and clever books that I have read in a long time. Klise pays so much attention to detail throughout the entire book. She makes sure there is really good character development as well as a thoughtful plot. From the moment you open this book, you will also realize how different it is than any other. Once you open the inside cover, you immediately see the blueprint of the house. The blueprint gives amazing detail. As you turn the next pages the reader is shown portraits of the characters. Some of the names include I.B. Grumply, Anita Sale, Seymour Hope, and Paige Turner. I love how Klise played on words with the characters names. One of my favorites characters name was E. Gadds. Before you even get to the story, the reader also experiences a warning page. The creativity before the story even begins is awesome.

The story just gets better from here. The story is about an old writer who is experiencing writer's block. He moves to a rental home in Ghastly, Illinois. He soon realizes he is not living alone. His roommates consist of an 11 year old boy named Seymour and a 190 year old ghost named Olive C. Spence! Olive won't stop haunting the house until one of her own books gets published.

This book is so funny and I know kids over 3rd grade would love it. The book is written almost entirely of letters going back and forth from one character to the next. Within the book there are also newspaper articles and short clips from Grumply's next book. I do believe that students would really enjoy this format. It's fun and different than a lot of other books out there.

If you like this book by Klise then continue reading the series. The next book is called Over My Dead Body. Check out the YouTube clip below. This clip was actually done by Kate Klise herself along with her sister who illustrates the book. I found out from this clip that the house on the cover of the book is actually real!

The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle

The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle is such a great non-fiction book written by Don L. Wulffson. This book has over 100 stories of inventions and how they came to be. It truly was amazing to read how some of the simplest things came into existence. For example, some of the inventions include chewing gum, the bikini, windshield wipers, Twinkies, and Sundae's. My personal favorite story happens to be after my favorite soda pop - Dr. Pepper. Here is a clue: Dr. Pepper was invented after a broken heart and a person who caused it! Read how Dr. Pepper was invented and so many other great inventions in this fantastic book.

Each story of invention is only one page long. I think this will be a great book to have in a classroom for any grades higher than 3rd grade. It is really interesting and with the very short stories, I think it has great potential to keep students attention. This book, I believe, will really draw in your boy readers. Non-fiction tends to do this more, but with the idea of inventions and short stories, they are bound to love it!

If you like this book by Wulffson then also try his other book about inventions called Toys!: Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society is the first book in a series of three by Trenton Lee Stewart. I wish I could have counted how many times I actually laughed out loud during this book. Stewart does an amazing job developing the characters and each of their own unique personalities. Throughout the book, you are constantly waiting to see what your favorite character will do next. Half way through the book, there is no question in my mind that you will have your favorite character already picked out. Mine happens to be Kate Wetherall...aka...The Great Kate Wether Machine!

This is a very unique book where the characters are all gifted and orphans. They come together throughout the book in a very interesting way. It all starts out when certain children answer a very unusual ad in a newspaper, "ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD LOOKING FOR SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES?" From here, there is a secret mission that only these children are able to complete. At times, it is very difficult to put the book down because you are constantly wanting to see what Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance will all do next. If you are looking for a book for the intermediate grades, definitely take a look at this one!

If you like this book by Trenton Lee Stewart, try completing the series with The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma.

It's A Book

It's a Book by Lane Smith is a perfect book for this day in age. The book is based around animal characters and the discussion they are having around a book. The donkey keeps asking what he is holding. Obviously, it is a book. The donkey keeps asking if he can download it, blog with it, plug it in, and so much more.

Check out the video below to get a better idea...




Considering how technologically driven we are in today's world, it is quite funny to see this conversation go on. This would be a great book to show kids just to let them know about the simplicities that a book has. It does not blog, text, nor need to be downloaded. You just pick it up and read! A simple message.

Warning: Be cautious of this book. The book refers to the donkey by its other name...if you catch my drift! It is already proving to be a bit controversial. If you use it in your classroom, be wary of your audience. If anything, just replace the name with donkey and you will be good to go!

If you like this book by Lane Smith, also try John, Paul, George & Ben. This is a great book about historical figures with fun illustrations.

The Journey: Stories of Migration

Cynthia Rylant has done it again with another great book. I have never really known Rylant to be a writer of non-fiction, but this book proves me wrong. In The Journey: Stories of Migration Rylant talks about many different animals and insects that have an incredible migration story. She talks about insects like locusts and butterflies to animals like whales and the caribou. It is amazing to think that such creatures are capable of such a huge task.

This book works perfectly for me. In science I teach life cycles and I can use this book to discuss the butterfly. The video below just adds to how amazing the monarch butterfly truly is!



If you like this book by Cynthia Rylant then here are some others to try: When I Was Young in the Mountains, The Old Woman Who Named Things,  and Scarecrow.

www.animoto.com

Even though this is not a book, you can sure use this site to do book reviews with your students. I just heard about animoto from friends in my master's class and I am obsessed. It is such a fun and new way to do book projects with kids and so much more. Animoto is a simple and easy way to create videos and they do all of the work for you. Just put in pictures from their gallery or yours, select your music, and then you are done. It takes about 5-10 minutes for them to create the video and you are good to go!

I am going to be ambitious and use this with my third graders at the start of 2011. I am so looking forward to their final products.

Bonus: IT'S FREE for educators!

Check out some of the examples I have created below.

The Book Whisperer

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller is one of the best professional books I have ever read. I have very rarely found a teacher book that I was able to read cover to cover. This book was one of the very few that I can admit I read every single word. The ultimate message that Miller wants to get across to the reader is that every child has the opportunity to love reading. As teachers, Miller shares with us what we can do in our classroom to foster the love of reading to all of our kids. Miller, a 6th grade teacher herself, shares in her book things like "The 40 Book Challenge", student reflection forms like "Reading Interest-A-Lyzer" and an End-of-Year Reading Evaluation, also many tips that teachers can do to help students love reading as much as possible. My favorite section in the book is where she gives ideas on how to improve upon "Traditional Practice" ideas. For example, instead of doing traditional book reports, she suggests book commercials or book reviews. She goes into detail about how to make that work in the classroom.

When reading this book, my mind could not stop about how I could apply it to my own teaching. Granted, I cannot take everything from this book and make it work, but I can and have taken some things. This book made me reevaluate some of the things I do during my reading block. One of the biggest things I got out of The Book Whisperer was to just make more time for independent reading. I hope this is a book you enjoy as much as I did!

If you like this book by Donalyn Miller and want to see what she is up to, follow her blog:
Donalyn Miller's Book Blog