Forget-me-nots by ThirdHandArt www.flickr.com

So, I was in the bathroom, just home from the Little Gym with my daughter and thinking about nap time, when I realized, OH MY GOD! I FORGOT TO DO MY BLOG!

I never forget to do my blog. On Sunday and Wednesday nights, I always read a book or prepare a guest post, blog tour, etc and schedule them to appear the next day. I’ve been doing this for about 14 months now. (That tells you about how old my daughter is–before her, I blogged a little more.) Yesterday, I forgot.

So in the bathroom, I thought of all these things I could do–read and do it real quick during nap–no, I had to finish my critique group critiques. Okay, I could do it tonight–no, I have critique group and then some other stuff to take care of when I get home. Okay, what can I do?

How about. . .be honest? I am tired. I am staying home with my daughter AND working from home on writing. I have editing clients, am teaching two online classes, and had to clean my house. I had bills to pay, photos to order from Walmart since October 2, and I can go on. I don’t want to bore you. IN all of this, I forgot my blog.

So I decided to do this quick, honest post and leave you with two meaningful things. One, I did manage to remember to do a blog interview for WOW! with Lori the Change Agent who is helping people just LIKE ME change their lives. She has a book, an audio series, a free video coaching series and more that she offers women to figure out what they want their lives to look like and change them to get there. It is a great interview, and she is an inspiration. You can check that interview out at this link! You can USE her book to change YOUR life!

The second thing I’ll leave you with is an activity I liked to do with my students when I was teaching. You could do it in a classroom or at home with home school. Find 5 books you like and your child knows. Read the beginning and rate it on a scale of 1 to 5. A beginning is SUPPOSED to introduce the reader to the character/problem/setting and KEEP THE READER INTERESTED, so he or she will keep reading. Some GREAT books have AWFUL beginnings. It helps your child to be a more critical reader and to write better beginnings, which is a 6 + 1 traits of writing organizational trait exercise.

Must run–nap is over. I will have a regular blog post for on Monday.

*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders
*A creative cat as the main character
*Rating: Chester is such a great illustrator and author–who needs that Melanie Watt? If you haven’t read any of the Chester the cat series of books yet (with NO HELP FROM Melanie), then you must check one out. So cute and funny!

Short, short summary: Chester the cat has hidden his owner’s, author and illustrator Melanie Watt’s, supplies and has taken over the creation of the book with his red pen. Chester is trying to write a masterpiece. First he steals from Twas the Night Before Christmas, and then he goes through a series of exercises to break his writer’s block. Once he’s ready, he writes some stories about himself and mouse–always ending unhappily with something tragic happening to mouse! In the end, Melanie finds her art supplies in a terrible hiding spot. . .Kids and adults will get a kick out of this hysterical picture book.

So what do I do with this book?

1. This is such a cute book. I love how “Melanie Watt” leaves editorial notes to Chester on “yellow Post-it notes.” Children will LOVE this book, and they will love to leave their own notes to Chester. While reading it, let them have some stickee notes and they can jot a few things down to Chester about his illustrations, his stories, etc.

2. This book has a lot of reading lessons in it. For example, Melanie tells Chester he needs a setting. They both draw a jungle. She asks what type of story he plans to write, and he goes through several genres like humor, action, and romance. They talk about endings, problems, and characters. It is full of things writers need to think about and address when writing a story. You can start a discussion with your class on these topics, using Chester and his masterpiece as a starting point.

3. For fun, let children try to guess where Chester hid Melanie’s art supplies. See if anyone is correct by the end of the book!

*Picture book, fantasy for preschool through 2nd grade
*Young ambitious dinosaur as main character
*Rating: Brontorina is a very cute book with a powerful message!

Short, short summary: Brontorina has a dream to be a ballerina even though she is a dinosaur. But she doesn’t let her size stop her. She goes to Madame Lucille’s Dance Academy for Boys and Girls and starts to take lessons even though she meets much resistance–she doesn’t have the right shoes, she bumps her head and takes out half the ceiling, etc. But nothing stops her from pursuing her dreams. And with a little help from her ballerina friends, Brontorina’s dreams come true. (Written by James Howe; illustrated by Randy Cecil)

So what do I do with this book?

1. The book begins and ends with this message: “Brontorina had a dream.” “And it all began with a dream.” So, an obvious activity would be to ask students to write/draw about their dream. What do they want to do? What do they want to be? What do they dream? You can take it a step further and ask them how they think they will achieve these dreams? Then compare themselves to Brontorina and her pursuit of a dream.

2. There’s quite a bit of ballerina speak in this book. For children who are familiar already, the illustrations will make perfect sense. For those who do not know what an arabesque is, then you can teach students some new vocabulary. You can also study the illustrations to see if Brontorina is doing the ballet moves correctly or like the others in the illustrations.

3. This book is all about problem solving which is a major life skill as well as a comprehension tool. What are the problems Brontorina has in pursuing her dream as a ballerina? How does she solve these problems?

One of my favorite 6 + 1 traits of writing activities for the elusive VOICE trait has to do with Martin Luther King, Jr and his sister’s book, My Brother Martin. I’m not sure if I’ve written about it before on here or not, but I always share it when I do 6 + 1 trait presentations or when people ask me, “How do I teach voice?” So, in honor of MLK, Jr.’s Day, I thought I would share it again today.

1. Read students My Brother, Martin.

2. Next read them ANY generic Martin Luther King, Jr. information book–you know those non-fiction ones you get in book orders that give good information but have NO voice.

3. Ask students/children which one was more engaging and why.

4. If you teach younger students or you home school young children, then just do a page or two, instead of the whole book, so they can REALLY hear the difference in voice.

5. Try to define VOICE–the personality of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sister really comes through in her book.

6. Talk to students about having their VOICE shine through in their writing and how to do that. One way is by choosing subjects you really care about like his sister did!

I hope you are enjoying your day off (if you have one) AND that you are remembering the many important things MLK, Jr. did for this country.

I had the best of intentions to do a blog post on this book: That’s My Dog before I went out of town. However, I’m still getting my stuff together and now my dear daughter is crying. So, I will do this book justice with three activities on another day, but I want to tell you that if you have never checked it out, you must do so at the link below.

It is a book that will help children understand adjectives, how to make their writing more specific, word choice, superlatives and more. Plus, my daughter as a toddler LOVES DOGS–so even she can appreciate the book because she loves the illustrations and the simple text.

Go to your library, check out this book!

*Picture book for preschoolers through third graders (Written by J. Patrick Lewis; Illustrated by Lynn Munsinger)
*A young girl and boy detective as main characters
*Rating: I L. O. V. E. this book. What a clever idea! Spot the Plot can be used in any elementary classroom, really, and actually older kids will be better at guessing the riddles. Brilliant and cute illustrations, too.

Short, short summary: I love this book–as I said above. J. Patrick Lewis has taken 13 children’s stories–some classics and some new favorites–and written riddles to go with each. When you read a page in the book, it is a poem/rhyme that leads you to guess which book he is talking about. Here’s a really simple one: “Her hair’s the stairs.” (SO CLEVER!) Others are more detailed and longer, such as the one for The Polar Express, which begins: “One special train. One little boy. One Christmas gift–not quite a toy.” On each page’s illustration, a book is covering part of the characters or setting that are trying to spill out on to the picture, and there are two kids with magnifying glasses, looking for clues to figure out the riddles. Children can read this book on their own because the answers are all at the end of the book. I can’t wait for the sequel. . .

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Besides the obvious activity of reading the poems aloud and allowing children to guess the story or character, you can also share a story that children had trouble guessing. One that might not be as well known is Ferdinand the Bull or Tacky the Penguin. Once all the riddles have been figured out, students can vote on which story they liked the best out of the ones featured in the book.

2. The next obvious lesson is allowing students to write their own riddles for a favorite book. Let them know it helps if the book or the character is well-known. Ask them to try to make it rhyme if possible, and you can actually help them with that. Talk about how the riddles in Spot the Plot focus on main characters and events that most people know about, and so their riddles should do the same thing. Students can read their work aloud when finished to see who can guess the riddle.

3. Plot–it’s such a HUGE concept and important one for children to start grasping. Talk to students about the plots in each book. What is the climax? What’s the problem? The resolution? And so on. To extend the activity, ask students to create a story map of one of the stories featured in the book. When I did story maps with my students, I would ask them to re-tell the story in illustrations, like a comic strip, if possible for an extra challenge and fun.

*Picture book, realistic fiction, for preschoolers through second graders
*Young girl as main character
*Rating: Pay Attention, Emily Brown is a picture book put out by educational publisher, Woodbine House. Its focus is for children with ADHD to let them know that they are loved just how they are. It’s a cute book with really nice illustrations by Linda Burton’s son, Carl. However, if you don’t know the purpose of the book, you may be a little confused. If you live in a house with a young child who has trouble paying attention, I recommend getting this book for him or her.

Short, short summary: In rhyme and few words, Linda Burton tells readers the story of Emily Brown with lines such as: Just think, Emmy Brown, for a moment or two…
Suppose that I told you my toes had turned blue?
Suppose that I started to fly overhead?
Or spread candy and presents all over your bed?
If I hung upside down by an arm and a knee
do you think, Emmy Brown, you would listen to me?

And that’s the question posed throughout the book, basically. Will you listen to me? Can you listen to me? Where are you when you look like you are here with me, but you are not? It’s clearly a parent/adult/teacher talking and in the end, the reader realizes it’s Emily’s mom.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. This book can also celebrate imagination–especially with the wonderful illustrations. Discuss with children what Emily is imagining in each illustration, and then have them compare and contrast that with what they like to imagine. You can also discuss if they ever “accidentally” find themselves in the same place as Emily–in a room but no idea what is actually going on because they weren’t paying attention. What do they do?

2. You can also use this book to talk to students/children about good listening skills. How can you show a speaker you are paying attention? Make a list of good listening skills and ways to ask people questions if your mind did wander, and post the list on the classroom wall.

3. Become an illustrator! Allow students to draw their own picture of Emily Brown doing something (besides listening) and write some text to go with it. You can write the text first as a shared writing activity if you teach young children or have young children at home who cannot come up with their own words.

Before I post about this beautiful picture book, Back of the Bus by Aaron Reynolds, I wanted to announce the winner of Mari L. McCarthy’s journaling giveaway contest. The winner is J. C. Nierad, and she chose Mari’s Musefull Journalling book. Congrats, J. C. To everyone else, I hope you will consider going to Mari’s website TODAY and signing up for the 27-day journaling challenge or get one of her other journaling products. Here’s the link: http://www.createwritenow.com

Back of the Bus Written by Aaron Reynolds Illustrated by Floyd Cooper

*Picture book, historical fiction (Civil Rights), preschool through 3rd graders
*Young boy as main character
*Rating: Teachers, parents, librarians, and home schoolers are always looking for a new way to share Martin Luther King, Jr.’s work and Rosa Park’s bravery with children. Back of the Bus is creative, interesting, and touching, while teaching about this turbulent time in history.

Short, short summary: Looking for a book to share around MLK day or during February, Black History Month? This is a good one. A young African-American boy is in the back of the bus, “where he belongs”, with his mama, and he is playing with a marble. He rolls the marble up front, and he sees a black hand reach down and grab it. It’s Mrs. Parks–he knows her from the tailor shop. But then the bus stops and they aren’t going anywhere. People want Mrs. Parks to get up and give her seat to a white man, but she refuses. The boy waits on the hot bus for the police to come and watches them put Mrs. Parks in handcuffs and off to jail. This is the Rosa Parks story told from a young boy’s POV, a young boy who was at the back of the bus.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. This book has a STRONG voice, so you definitely want to bring this to your students’ attention–and use this book when discussing the 6 + 1 traits of writing, Voice. You can read your students a book about Rosa Parks that is nonfiction, and then you can read this book. Do they hear the personality of the main character in the historical fiction book? Which do they like better?

2. Discuss characters’ feelings with this book. What is the boy feeling? How do children know? (Use illustrations and text to support answers). How about Rosa Parks? How about the boy’s mom?

3. If students do not have background knowledge about why black people had to sit in the back of the bus in the south in the 1950s, then give them a quick lesson before the book. You can do a KWL chart before reading. Students tell you what they know about Rosa Parks, segregation laws, the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., etc. You can also take things they want to learn and put this in the middle column. When finished reading and discussing, fill out the LEARN column with kids.

I am super excited to host journaling guru Mari L. McCarthy on her current blog tour for the book, Dark Chocolate for the Journaler’s Soul. She is hosting a giveaway contest with this blog tour, and you can win ONE of these three prizes by leaving a comment or question at the end of this post. The three choices are:

Leave your comment or question by Sunday, January 1 at 8:00 p.m. CST and I will choose one winner–if you are an international winner, I believe your only choice is the e-book (which is fantastic!). USA mailing addresses can choose from the three. In your comment, you can just say PICK ME!, comment on how much you love to journal and how it helps you, or ask Mari a question.

When I read Dark Chocolate for the Journaler’s Soul, I was so inspired by the 17 journalers’ stories in the book that I immediately e-mailed Mari and asked her for some more details about one of her other journaling products. I am not a journaler–I am a scrapbooker, which does have a component of journaling, and I always thought it would be neat to journal, but when would I have time? Yet, in the Dark Chocolate book, Mari introduces us to 17 writers who also journal, why they journal, how it helps their writing, and one of their favorite quotes that inspires them. I loved every part of this book–reading the personal stories as well as reading each writers’ answers to the same four questions Mari asked all of them. If you are a journaler already, this book will give you some ideas and some encouragement. If you are someone like me, who has been “thinking” about it, you will not be thinking anymore, you will be doing. This book truly gives nourishment to the soul, and each reader will be particularly touched by one or two of the ladies in it. I loved Mary Ruth’s entry on Mari’s 27 Days program, and I am now starting it on January 2 with other ladies around the world! Join me!

So, without further ado, here’s Mari to tell you about journaling your goals for 2012. Usually, we talk about the kiddos and their books/writing on here. But today, this is for you (and some of your teenagers could actually do this too when school starts up again).

2012: What’s Your Plan? What’s Your Dream?
by Mari L. McCarthy

Have you ever been disappointed because you failed to achieve a goal you had set for yourself? If you have, that’s a really good thing. Now you know that failure doesn’t mean annihilation: rather, it’s a learning opportunity.

But sometimes you might wish for a method that holds more promise. You might think there should be a way to ensure a greater likelihood of success. Making blind stabs at progress gets old after a while.

One cheap and easy way I know to boost your chances of success in achieving goals is to journal about it. Not that journaling will magically transport you to nirvana; but it will open to you a much wider understanding, a more calm and measured approach, and a new sense of purpose and passion. With these supports, you’re able to realize goals far more efficiently.

Take 2012, for instance. You could hurtle into it with no special awareness, letting the world deliver treasures and trash as it wills. Or you could decide to work smarter: define goals, create a plan, stay focused, and always be guided by your mission.

Mission? You know, I mean the thing that matters most to you: the thing that fills your dreams, the vision that represents heaven to you.

BUT! Notice that a vision is not a mission unless it is clearly articulated. That’s where your journal comes in. Write out your dreams for 2012 in as much detail as you can muster. What will the world be like when you realize your goals? What achievement of the past year will you be proud of at the dawn of 2013?

Next step is to write out how you will get there. Inch by inch, anything’s a cinch, right? Make a map that goes from here to the end of next year, in achievable bits building towards your goal. Don’t let that word, ‘achievable,’ stop you cold; but don’t be frivolous, either. Think about what could possibly work.

Now create a new journal, one dedicated to your daily observations as your life unfolds in the New Year. Periodically compare what’s happening currently to what you expected in your planning journal.

Having a written plan makes doing things a lot easier, and more likely to bring desired results.

If you see that what’s actually happening differs widely from what you had planned, no problem! Just write about your impressions and keep learning. Mid-year revisions of a plan are common, even recommended. Your plan is a guide, not a dictator!

At the close of 2012, you’ll have your original map to compare to your journal of what actually came to pass. You’ll enter 2013 with a deeper understanding of yourself. And you might even possess bragging rights to an achievement that’s only a glimmer in your eye today!

Mari L. McCarthy, journaling therapy specialist and author, owns Create Write Now, a website dedicated to all things journaling. The site includes hundreds of journaling prompts, personal journaling stories, interviews, a blog, and many other resources. Mari has published nine books to date. For more on ways that journaling brings self-knowledge, see Who Are You? How to Use Journaling Therapy to Know and Grow Your Life.

Buy Dark Chocolate for the Journaler’s Soul in Mari’s store NOW! AND leave a comment below for your chance to win a copy, a copy of another one of her books, or the super-cute t-shirt!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the Wise Bear William picture book giveaway last Monday. Random.org helped me pick a winner last night, and that person is. . .Beth Cato! Congratulations, Beth.

Again, I know Arthur Wooten (author of Wise Bear William) and Bud Santora (illustrator) really appreciate your support, and so do I. If you weren’t a winner, consider purchasing this beautiful picture book for a special child in your life (or even for yourself!).

If you are a writer or you know a writer in your life, consider checking out my post on WOW! yesterday–all about how to spend that holiday cash if you are a writer: “What’s Under Your Tree?”

And finally don’t forget to check back on Thursday–there’s a new blog tour starting right here for Mari L. McCarthy, and she writes a guest post about how to use journaling to make sure you reach your goals in 2012.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday yesterday. Sorry for the short post–I’m in holiday mode.