GreenBeanTeenQueen

Rating: 3/5 Stars Genre: Fantasy/Novel in Verse Release Date: 12/13/2012 Add to Goodreads About the Book: Bartholomew is pretty ordinary and a bit bored. So when a very big wind appears outside his window, Bartholomew takes his bedsheet and soars into the sky. Flying across the world, Bartholomew meets new friends and has many wild adventures. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says:  Told in rhyming verse, Bartholomew Biddle would make a great pick for poetry month lessons. The story is broken up into seven chapters and while they all work together, each chapter also holds a small vignette of adventure that is happening to Bartholomew. The rhyming verse would make this a great read aloud for families reading together. I really appreciated that I never felt like the rhyming lines were forced. The flow was always very well done and the rhymes worked. It also gave the book a nice cadence. Bartholomew has several fun adventures along the way and I think readers who love stories full of ...

I didn't get a chance to get this posted yesterday, so now Monday is storytime day! :) I'm doing Caldecott themed storytime for preschool storytime in January-April. Check out all my Caldecott Storytime plans here . Theme : Wordless Picture Books Skill : Tell Stories Open : Where is Thumbkin by The Wiggles I decided to use all wordless picture books in this storytime. I opened the storytime by talking about the Caldecott Award and how it is given for illustrations, like I do every week. Then I asked the kids what we would do if a book had no words-how could we tell the story? They said we could read the title and after a bit more asking them to look inside the book I was holding, I pointed out that the pictures help us tell the story. I told them to look at the pictures and see if they  could help tell the stories of our books this week. I wasn't sure how this would work out, but I thought I would try it and see how it went! Read :  The Lion and the Mouse...

Rating: 3/5 Stars Genre: Contemporary/Novel in Verse Release Date: 5/10/2011 Add to Goodreads About the Book: When Wren and Darra are eight years old, Darra's father steals a car, not knowing Wren is in the back. While police are on the lookout for a kidnapper, Darra knows that Wren has to be hiding out in her garage. Wren manages to escape and their lives are forever changed. Now, years later, they are both arriving at the same summer camp. Neither has seen each other since those fateful days and neither is sure how to approach the other and talk about what happened to them and the events that followed. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says:  Helen Frost is a master of writing beautiful poetry. Wren and Darra's stories are told in alternating points of view with alternating poetry formats. I didn't realize until I read the author's note at the end of the book that all of Wren's poems are written so that readers can also read the last word in the longest sentences to ...

Rating: 4/5 Stars Genre: Contemporary/Novel in Verse Release Date: 3/5/2013 Add to Goodreads About the Book: Sam is excited for his special fishing day with dad-that is until his annoying little sister Lucy comes along. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says : I love novels in verse and Gone Fishing is a perfect introduction to the format for young tweens. I think that while this could easily fit into the tween category, it might be the younger side of the tweens who are perfect for this one. Sam seems about eight or nine in the book. The poems have different narrators from Sam, Lucy and Dad but it's mostly Sam that we hear from throughout. He's having a rough day having his sister tag along and he's not catching any fish. The author does a great job expressing Sam's emotions throughout with his annoyance and frustration about his trip and then also his excitement and change of heart when things start to go well. What I really loved was how the author used various for...

Today I'm visiting the blog of my good friends Kelly and Kim at Stacked  to talk about my favorite YA romances. Come visit and let me know what books you would suggest for someone wanting to read a YA title with a little (or a lot) of romance in the story!

I'm doing Caldecott themed storytime for preschool storytime in January-April. Check out all my Caldecott Storytime plans here . Theme : Precocious Preschoolers  I decided this week I was going to do all songs, rhymes and books and no crafts and activities.  Open : Where Is Thumbkin and Shake My Sillies Out by The Wiggles  Skill : Tell Stories & Sing and Rhyme I introduced our books as "precocious preschoolers" and I also mentioned how this week, the books had lots of humor for adults as well as the kids, which I think helped get the parents interested in the stories and laughing along with the kids. Read :  Owen by Kevin Henkes   -Since my kids were pretty young, I talked to them a lot about Owen and his blanket and what was happening in the story. I had one older brother who had read this book before and loved talking about it and telling the kids about Owen's blanket-very fun! Song : These Are My Glasses by Laurie Berkn...

Rating : 5/5 Stars About the Book: Set in the style of a silent movie, a fox invites a goose to dinner. Add to Goodreads GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I was lucky enough to get a galley of this one at ALA Midwinter. When I sat down in my hotel room and needed a break from all my Printz meetings, I opened this picture book and it was just what I needed! The illustrations are done in the style of a silent movie, so right there I'm in love. The illustrations are hilarious with subtle hints as to what is going to happen. I also love that it gives a great talking point about silent films and what movies used to be like. Add in the little chicks repetitive refrain of "that is not a good idea" and you've got yourself a wonderfully riotous storytime read aloud. The story has a very funny plot and kids will love shouting along with warning to the goose-because we all know how these stories go-or do we? I said in January that this was my favorite picture book of the year ...