photo by Arwen Abendstern www.flickr.com
Pippi Longstocking is perhaps one of the most-loved orphans of all time (well, maybe she’s an orphan since she’s still waiting for her father to come back from being a cannibal king), along with Annie and the Baudelaire children. The style of this book reminds me very much of [...]

photo by lululemon athletica www.flickr.com
To get ready for spring and April, National Poetry Month, I thought we should start having some Wacky Wednesday posts about teaching kids poetry. Whether you teach your kids at home or you are a K-12 teacher, your students can benefit from reading and studying poetry. The next two weeks, [...]

Talk about timeless–how about this book from 1937? It’s Dr. Seuss’s first children’s book, and I thought I’d wrap up this week of celebrating his birthday with talking about one more of his classic books. And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street is, of course, a fantastical version of an actual [...]

photo by mape_s www.flickr.com
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!
*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders, fantasy
*Young boy as main character
*Rating: Dr. Seuss is at his best in If I Ran the Zoo–from made-up creatures to fantastical places to those ever-clever rhymes.
Short, short summary: Gerald McGrew says that his local zoo is a “pretty good [...]

Henry Huggins is the lesser known resident on Klickitat Street, but he’s got a lot to offer kids and their parents even sixty years later! You are probably more familiar or might remember better from your childhood Beezus and Ramona books, but these two lovable sisters show up in Henry Huggins, too! Plus who can [...]

Today, I am so happy to interview Ronica Stromberg, author of A Shadow in the Dark, which I featured in yesterday’s “Tuesday Tales.” Don’t forget you can leave a comment on this blog post or yesterday’s for a chance to win this tween (which is basically younger YA) mystery book with Christian themes. For more [...]

photo by creativedc www.flickr.com
Clifford the Big Red Dog first appeared on the scene in 1963. Now he has appeared in his own book series with more than ninety million books in print. He also has his own television series on PBS, and children around the world love him. So, this Timeless Thursday post [...]

My family in Memphis!
Top ten lists are fun–hey, look at David Letterman. If you home school or teach, you can use top ten lists every once in a while for journal writing prompts: “Top ten things I’m going to go over holiday break” or “Top ten memories of 5th grade.” TwitterMoms asked bloggers to [...]

photo by digitalART2 www.flickr.com
*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders
*A skateboarding cow and other critters as main characters
*Rating: A Crazy Day at the Critter Cafe is a fun, crazy read that will leave kids laughing and wanting more. Cute ending!
Short, short summary: In rhyme and with super illustrations, Barbara Odanaka and [...]

photo by asplosh www.flickr.com
Do you L. O. V. E. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh? I do! And it was published the year I was born, so that makes it almost 40 years old. (That makes me almost 40 years old, too. Egads!) Anyway, I remember teaching this book as part of my [...]