Floors by Patrick Carman

I'll be honest, I haven't read a lot of Patrick Carman's books, but I know people love his work. I was fortunate enough to hear him speak at a SLJ Leadership Conference a couple of years ago, and was extremely impressed. I've been fascinated with his blending of written stories and web based features, I just haven't gotten around to reading any of his books, until now!

At our book fair in October, I saw a new book called Floors on the shelf and the back intrigued me. I recommended it to several kids who I thought it would appeal to, and reserved my copy at the local branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Hilliard. When I picked it up I couldn't wait to start reading and once I started I couldn't put it down.

Leo Fillmore and his father Clarence work and live in the Whippet Hotel the most unusual hotel on Earth. It occupies a large piece of land in Manhattan that would bring a fortune to the owner, Merganzer Whippet. The problem is no one has seen or heard from Merganzer in a long time. Leo misses his eccentric friend but keeping the Whippet up and running is a full time job for he and his father. On one of his daily service calls he discovers a mysterious box that leads him to a room he wasn't even aware existed which leads him to another box and so on until he collects 4 boxes in all and all is revealed.

On his quest he is introduced to a new best friend, the son of another Whippet employee is serving as doorman and interacts with a colorful cast of characters including a cranky hotel manager named Ms. Sparks who sports larger than life bee hive hair do, Mr. Phipps the Gardner who shapes the shrubbery into various animals especially ducks, Mr. Whippet's favorite animal.

Leo encounters puzzles to solve, mysterious notes to decipher and the flock of ducks that live on the roof and must be walked each day. The story of loyalty, friendship and a boy solving some difficult challenges reminded me of Charlie and Chocolate Factory and the Gollywhopper Games, two of my favorites.

I can't wait to get this into the hands of my 3rd - 5th graders and hear how they like the Whippet Hotel adventure. The good news is that it is the first in a series and it has the feel of a very popular series, and as with his other books it includes a cool interactive web site here.

How Can a Potato Chip Be Puzzling?

The Potato Chip Puzzles by Eric Berlin answers that very question. This book is a fun read for students who might have enjoyed The Gollywhopper Games or The Mysterious Benedict Society books. It also brings to mind the television show, The Amazing Race.

The Potato Chip Puzzles is another book that centers around Winston Breen (a whiz at puzzles) and his friends. The first was titled The Puzzling World of Winston Breen. The great part is that you don't need to read them in order, as far as I can tell. This book was able to be read as a stand alone book. But, if you have students who end up enjoying this book, you will have a second book to which you can refer them -- always a plus!

In The Potato Chip Puzzles, Winston is recruited by his school principal to help solve a mysterious note that came in the mail. When Winston figures out how to break the code, he and his principal find out that their school has been chosen to compete in a snack food company's puzzle contest. The winning school will win $50,000.

Winston is allowed to choose his team, and he selects good friends of his who are also good puzzle and problem solvers. However, each team needs a teacher/coach, and this selection is made by the principal. From the very beginning, sparks fly between the chosen teacher and Winston.

The contestants are sent to Simon's Snack Foods that weekend, and from there, the real fun begins. Each solved puzzle sends the contestants from one location to another. None of the puzzles are easy to solve, and even when the contestants arrive at the accurate location, they still have to figure out where the next clue is.

To spice things up a little, there is an unknown person trying to sabotage all of the other contestants. All the elements make for a fun mystery -- puzzle solving, clues, and the mystery of the sabotage.

The Potato Chip Puzzles is a fun read and a quick read. Puzzle solvers will love it, and there is even additional fun at the back of the book for them to try.

Time to Blow out the Candles on our Birthday Cake!

Bill and I would like to blow out one candle for each of the last 12 months that we have been blogging. Each candle will represent a post from that month that we really liked, or with which we were pleased.

Feb. '08 -- The month it all began. First candle to blow out...

Karen - This post has to rate as a favorite since it really introduces me, and explains how much I love literacy!! Plus, it was my first post ever. There's a sort of sentimental attachment to that.

Bill - Ditto!



March '08 - time for the second candle...

Bill - A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, who knew then that it would be a Caldecott Honor book. I just re-read my post, I wish I had just made a mention of the medal so I could claim some credit.

Karen - I fell in love with this book by Kadir Nelson -- I was so happy that it received multiple awards at the ALA convention. The fact that the author/illustrator is easy on the eyes is just icing on the cake!




April '08 - 3rd candle...

Karen - My post on Greetings From Nowhere was the first time I received a comment about one of my reviews from an author. I was already a fan of Barbara O'Connor's, but that small gesture on her part just cemented my membership in her fan club for life! She'll be at the Dublin Literacy Conference this month, and I look forward to finally meeting her in person!

Bill - Cool Daddy Rat was so much fun in THE PIT, that I laughed about it when I found this post.



May '08 -- 4 months old!

Bill - My buddy Vince introduced me to a great book and reminded me why I love my job in this Slice of Life post.

Karen - I first posted about The Gollywhopper Games in March, but revisited it in May after many of my students shared how much they loved it. Jody Feldman wrote an intricate, yet incredibly fun book! Kids loved it!




June - Summer begins and we're still blogging -- 1 more candle to blow out!!

Karen - This candle is definitely for the 48 Hour Challenge weekend extravaganza. Not only did I participate in Mother Reader's challenge, but I met some wonderful Central Ohio bloggers as well. I feel very fortunate!

Bill - This post came about a week before we left for Boston for the first time and it turned into a nice email conversation with the author.




July -- Our half-birthday - 6 months old!! Another candle bites the dust...

Bill - I know it didn't win any shiny medals, but Diamond Willow is still one of my 2008 favorites.

Karen - I found the first book in a new series by Margaret Peterson Haddix that I loved! Can't believe the next book doesn't come out until this spring!




August - a new school year begins, and there's so much more to read! 7th candle is blown out...

Karen - Franki and Mary Lee at A Year of Reading hosted Trading Spaces, and I was delighted to be a part of it!

Bill - Beware of the Frog in THE PIT! Lots o' fun and I heard the kids in Ashland like it too!




September -- The eighth candle on our cake...

Bill - I like the Ellie McDoodle books a lot, and I think the second is better than the first which is a bit unusual.

Karen - I was so delighted when I got an opportunity to read an early copy of Beyond Leveled Books - Second Edition written by two friends of ours. Definitely a highlight of this month!





October -- jack 0' lanterns, Halloween costumes, lots of candy, and yet another candle to blow out!

Karen - One of our first read alouds this fall was The City of Ember, and we followed it up with a trip to the movie theater to see the movie of the same name. Loved sharing what my students had to say about the movie vs. the book.

Bill - As the day grows closer and the stress gets a little higher, my excitement for our James Preller visit increases.





November -- Time to give thanks and blow out our tenth candle...

Bill - Twelve Terrible Things makes me laugh, and a Grand Discussion reminds me once again why I love my job. I know that's two, but I couldn't decide!

Karen - I was not a very active writer this month, but this piece sort of stayed with me because I committed to going to NCTE for the first time in November 2009 in Philly! We will have a great time!




December -- Deck the halls, and then let's blow out another candle...

Karen - We came up with the best idea for trying to read the Newbery in a month -- Looking for Newbery.

Bill - Fun and games while learning to find books in the library!? That's AMAZING!





January - New Year's resolutions, and one last candle -- our 12th one...

Bill - A Newbery review of one of my favorites of the year.

Karen - One of my favorite books for 2008 made me laugh while Looking for Newbery! Great language as well!!


It has been an awesome year of blogging for both of us. It's been fun reading and writing about good books and our experiences with them in the classroom. We have really enjoyed your comments which have always made us feel what we are doing is worthwhile. It's nice to feel like people care about what you say. Keep reading, and we'll keep writing.

Friday Reflections - Karen

What a busy week! It was hard to know where exactly to start until I read Bill's reflections. It made my #1 reflection much easier!

1) Right now, I'm not very happy at how grateful Bill and Franki are about no class parties and no progress reports, as they hang out in their lovely, quiet libraries, and don't worry about grades. :)

2) I got a student teacher this week. She is a lovely person, and my students love her. Unfortunately, the Ohio Department of Education currently has a license for 4th - 9th grade teachers that forces them to specialize. My student teacher's specialty is math/science, 2 subjects I haven't taught for the last two years because of my curricular support position in language arts. This year, I am in a self-contained classroom and teach all content area subjects. It would not be a stretch for me to make an argument about why math and science teachers need to have a strong literacy base of knowledge. However, rules are rules, and guidelines are guidelines, so my student teacher will be with me for just 4 more weeks, and then will move on to a middle school for her total immersion into teaching. I am trying to impress upon her how important workshop model is, whether it's for literacy or for math and science. Students need to have lessons, and then they need lots of opportunities to do practical applications of what they have learned. The other part of workshop I'm stressing is, during this work time, the teacher needs to be meeting with individuals or small groups to help them with skills that are giving them difficulty. This is good teaching practice, no matter what the subject area.

3) Two of the reading strategy groups I met with this week are students who need to be stretched a little. I taught them how to annotate, and most of them loved it! Since they are naturally strong readers, they sometimes read quickly through texts. They shared with me that annotating forced them to slow down and pay more attention to details they might have missed. It also helped them focus on vocabulary they didn't know; words that they only guessed at before. Now, they've tried to use context clues, and actually make a habit of having a dictionary by their side as they read. Next week, we'll be chatting about theme, author's message, and inferring the motivations of characters. Cool stuff!!!

4) I started a new read aloud with my students and they are loving it -- The Gollywhopper Games (see my review). We're going to have a lot of fun with this one. It's a good contrast from our last read aloud, The City of Ember.

5) My youngest daughter, a senior in high school, had a very difficult cross country season -- she contracted mono, and for all intents and purposes, her season ended after the 2nd race of the season. After being a varsity runner for 3 prior years, this season was incredibly disappointing for her. Then, 2 lovely recognitions came her way this week:
a) Her x-c coach nominated her to be an OCC (Ohio Capital Conference) scholar athlete, and b) She was named a member of the Student Athletic Council for her high school. One senior athlete from each sport is represented.
After such a tough season, these are two very nice recognitions.

6) Finally, I'm wondering why I'm having such difficulty getting to read books and blog about them. I hope I figure it out sometime soon!

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

Thinking about Read Alouds

Someone recently asked me what I'll be reading aloud to my 5th graders this coming school year. I wasn't exactly sure, but that question got me thinking, and I have made a list of possibilities, and the reasons I might choose them. Please check out my list, and then leave your read aloud thinking for this year in the comment section. We'd love to hear from you!

Karen's list of possibilities:

1) City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau -- The movie is coming out this fall, and it would be great to read the book to children so they can experience the story as Jeanne DuPrau meant it to be, before they see it as a movie. Plus, it is also fun to get kids psyched for a movie that originated from a quality children's book.

2) No Talking by Andrew Clements -- The reason to love this book is that Clements really knows how to write books that kids can relate to -- the problems and settings are all ones with which they are familiar. I read this to my class last year, and they loved it!! They had fun trying some of the no talking activities the students in the book experience. The one downside I see to this book is that because Clements is such a commercial name, I might have a lot of students who have already read this book themselves. While I am a huge advocate of re-reads and don't shy away from books that might have been read by a few, when I'm choosing a read aloud, I want to choose a book that most children have not already read themselves.

3) Leepike Ridge by N. D. Wilson -- This book is a great action adventure / survival book. Boy trapped in an underground cave with a dog, water rising in the cave, boy encounters a dead body, boy is saved by a man who has been living underground for quite a while, secret chambers underground, treasure hunters who are bad guys -- what is not to like?!!

4) Kids in 5E & 1 Crazy Year (review) by Virginia Frances Schwartz -- A huge thank you to Bill's sister for sharing this title with him! Anytime a book can talk about the impact of a writing workshop on an entire classroom community, I'm a fan!! I'd love for my students this year to see the correlations between the kids in 5E and themselves.

5) The Gollywhopper Games (review) by Jody Feldman -- What a fun, fun book to share with children! Years ago, I used to love to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to my students. They would get lost in the enjoyment of the fantastical world of the Wonka Chocolate Factory. The Gollywhopper Games is just like that, but updated and better. What a fun, entertaining book to read with an entire class! And the challenges throughout the book would be great to try to solve together.

6) The Magic Thief (review) by Sarah Prineas -- While I can't wait to share this new fantasy with my class, I don't think it will be my first read aloud. The second book in this series should be coming out sometime in 2009, so I'd like to time this read aloud for closer to that time. I think many children will be very excited to know they could get their hands on the next book in a timely manner. The Magic Thief is such an accessible fantasy book for children. It has the big book look without all the difficulty of big book fantasy. I really like this book!

7) How to Steal a Dog OR Greetings from Nowhere (review) by Barbara O'Connor -- Here is an author that knows how to write a fabulous book with wonderful characters. I will definitely be reading one of these great books because I want to make sure my students are introduced to this author. I think my kids need to know about an author whose next book is titled The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis!!

8) Along Came Spider (review) by James Preller -- That's right, the same James Preller that wrote the Jigsaw Jones mystery series. Only this time, the mystery is how children that don't fit a "typical" child's profile manage to survive school among some of the cruel children. This book is a fabulous opportunity to talk with kids about differences, and how to celebrate them instead of taunting them.

9) Dog Gone (review) by Cynthia Chapman Willis -- Most kids love animals, and this is the perfect book for them. What do you do when the dog you love may be a dog gone bad, and is starting to kill the neighbors' livestock? What do you do when your mom died six months ago, and you can't accept that fact, and didn't even attend the funeral? The main character in this book has to work through these two problems, as well as some others. I envision great conversations about the line between right and wrong, and why that line can be blurred for some people at times.

10) Love That Dog / Hate That Cat (review) by Sharon Creech -- I've read an ARC of Hate That Cat, and loved it! Reading these two books together could lead to some great discussions about sequels. In additon, both stories are entirely written in verse, which is a new favorite genre for me. Also, the inferring skills that readers have to use to make sense of the text could make for interesting thinking and conversation.

Well, there you have it -- my thinking about possible read alouds as of August 12. I'm going to make a quick disclaimer, and say this list does not include all the many picture books I read to my students for a variety of reasons.

So, what do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Have some other suggestions? Drop us a note, and let us know what you think.

Happy read alouds to all!!

Atre y Pico Award

Atre y Pico AWARD

We received an Arte y Pico Award from 2 blogs: one is The Reading Zone, and the other is a blog called debrennersmith: writing and reading. Thanks so much to Sarah and Deb for honoring us with this award. We're flattered by their kind words!!

Essentially this award is like a Meme. There are rules for paying it forward after your blog gets recognized.

They are as follows:

1) Select 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award, based on creativity, design, interesting material, and contribution to the blogger community. The blogs can be in any language.
2) Post a link to each blog so that others can visit.
3) Each award-winner has to show the award and link to the blogger that awarded it.

4) The award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show a link to http://arteypico.blogspot.com/

So, with no further ado, here are 5 blogs we would like to recognize for this award (you'll notice we've included 3 authors we think you should check out):

1) Read, Read, Read by Megan Germano. Megan is a 5th grade teacher with a passion for teaching. We have loved watching her blog in the last year. We love her reviews and find ourselves agreeing with her opinions on books about 100% of the time. Reading someone's blog is more fun once you've met them, and we both got to meet Megan last year at the Dublin Literacy Conference. More importantly, Megan and I (Karen) are card-carrying members of the Barbara O'Connor Fan Club!

2) Creative Literacy is written by Katie D. Katie is someone else we know personally, so we know how committed she is to teaching children, and that comes out clearly in each and every one of her posts! Katie is also a mother to 3 boys, affectionately called Larry, Curly, and Mo, when she writes about them. She is a primary teacher, always on the lookout for the best and brightest picture books to serve as mentor texts for her reading and writing workshops. She is also a person, just like a lot of us, struggling to find the balance in her personal and professional lives, and her posts reflecting on finding this balance are delightful to read. Finally, she is one of our favorite people to call to make a Cover to Cover (children's bookstore) trip!!

3) Jody Feldman, the author of The Gollywhopper Games, has a post that we like to follow closely. Initially, we started reading it to get a glimpse into the mind of the author of a book we enjoyed so much. Now, we read it because we enjoy her reflections on being a writer (she's currently in the middle of a rewrite, and it's been interesting to hear about it -- both the good days and the bad days). She also has "The Friday Five" -- where she shares 5 things she's been thinking about -- they're usually very eclectic items. Each of her posts ends with a face that has an emotion written with it -- this allows us to know her mood for that day or that topic. Jody also writes about herself -- recently she's been doing some volunteer work.

4) James Preller is another author with a blog worth checking out. He is the author of the Jigsaw Jones mystery series, Six Innings, and the soon to be released, Along Came Spider (which we reviewed and loved!!). There are lots of reasons to read Preller's blog. He has Fan Mail Wednesday, where he posts a letter from someone and then responds to it. He also appears to be quite the fan of YouTube, because he's always posting a clip from there. He is an avid fan of baseball and shares that love in a variety of posts on that topic with his blog readers. It is fun hearing about his new projects. But the main reason we include him on our award list is his delight to be part of the kidlit blogosphere. He is so grateful that a place exists where people talk about books for kids.

5) Our final award goes to Sarah Prineas, author of The Magic Thief. We had the good fortune to meet her this past June as we kicked off our 48 Hour Challenge with other Columbus bloggers at Cover to Cover bookstore. She was giving a short talk about her new book, The Magic Thief, and a little about the books that will be sequels to the original. Her blog has been fun to follow as she talks about all that goes into publishing a book for the first time. The post where she quit her day job to take up writing fulltime was fun reading. We chuckle almost every time we read a post that is a conversation between her and her husband! Finally, we followed her and her family during the floods in Iowa City in June.

We hope you check out some of these blogs. They're all good reading!

The Gollywhopper Games Contest

I loved The Gollywhopper Games, and after my 1st post and my 2nd post about this book, I was delighted that Jody Feldman stopped by, and left a comment. But, I forgot about it in the end of school rush until my good friend, Franki, from A Year of Reading, reminded me about it last night (and actually, she has just posted her thoughts about the book as well). Jody Feldman is having a contest that involves solving a puzzle much like the ones in the book. Even if you don't enter the contest, the graphics on her web page are well worth the look!!

If you're going to enter the contest, click on the balloon that says, "Contest". Simple enough, right?

This website and contest are just a few more reasons to enjoy The Gollywhopper Games!!

The Gollywhopper Games revisited

After I read The Gollywhopper Games, I just had to post about it because I loved it that much! Well, it turns out I'm in good company. My students just wrote their last Mrs. T letters to me. These letters are an opportunity for my children to share what's going on in their reading lives with me every 3 weeks. In this last letter, eight of the twelve students reading The Gollywhopper Games for their Book Club right now, said this is their favorite book of all time!!! That's a pretty bold statement, and one I didn't take lightly -- I just had to pass it along. (As a side note, the Book Club conversations about this book have been amazing!)

So, you had an adult's perspective before. You now have the experts' opinions -- my students! :) Put this book on your summer to-read list or your 48 Hour Challenge to-read list. The Gollywhopper Games is a really good time!

Last Book Clubs of the Year

Yikes! How time flies! My 5th graders just signed up for their last book clubs of the year. We all shared titles on Monday that we thought would lead us to strong discussions -- 11 titles were recommended by different students in our class. In the end, five titles came out as the books groups wanted to spend their last 4 weeks reading, thinking about, and discussing.

The Book Club titles for the end of the year are:

The Gollywhopper Games (reviewed by me)
Swindle (reviewed by Bill)
The Westing Game
Bud, Not Buddy
The Two Princesses of Bamarre

Today, I gave them a calendar, they decided on a date for their meeting(s), and now we have a master calendar of when everyone will be meeting for these very rich conversations. Now, the students' job is to locate a copy from a friend, our school library, our public library, or a bookstore. Most told me today that they had already used the reserve system at our public library to reserve a copy of their book -- how cool is that?! Fifth graders accessing books on their own! Totally cool!

I love that, even in May, my students continue to delight me with the importance they put on their reading lives!! I look forward to listening in on all their wonderful conversations about their chosen books.

The Gollywhopper Games are Great!!

In my next few posts about books, I'd like to share some fun books I've read recently that would be good end of year or summer reading books to share with children.

The first one is The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman. It is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets The Mysterious Benedict Society meets Survivor meets American Idol.

The premise of the story is a competition sponsored by the Golly Toy & Game Company. The main character, Gil Goodson (don't you just love the names!), has his own personal agenda for making it into the competition, and then winning it (maybe).

American Idol similarities -- thousands of contestants wait in line just to make it into the Golly Toy and Game Company's facility where the competition will be held. Once they get in, their task is to be one of the finalists -- no, they don't have to sing, but they have to know a great deal about solving puzzles that require mega-knowledge about all of the Golly toys.

Survivor similarities -- You have to outwit and outplay the other contestants. That sometimes requires teamwork for our main character, Gil. Other times, it involves being smarter than those around you. There are many challenges in the contest, followed by the need to solve a puzzle. I must admit, the characters in this book were always a few steps ahead of me -- I never solved the puzzle before they led me in the right direction. I think kids reading this book would love to try to outwit the characters during the challenges. Another similarity, the winner cannot identify himself/herself until after the televised show -- the actual competition is taped.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory similarities -- The Golly Toy and Game Company is literally a child's dream come true! Everything is larger than life , and designed to overwhelm the eyes and the senses. Treasure chests with jewels and crowns, sleeping hippopotamuses, hot air balloons, giant bowling pins, palm trees, beaches, rainbow walls, walls that move at will -- those are just a few of the amazing things the characters encounter during the competition. And a competition would not be complete without the prerequisite badly-behaved children, as well.

The Mysterious Benedict Society similarities -- The most important lesson learned in TMBS is that it takes all of us and our unique gifts and talents to complete certain tasks in life. That again is a factor in The Gollywhopper Games as well.

I really, really enjoyed The Gollywhopper Games. It's not full of beautiful, descriptive language (though the descriptions of the inside of The Golly Toys and Games Company are quite detailed), but it's fun, and it made me think -- I really wanted to solve some of the puzzles. (Needless to say, I would have been eliminated very early in the competition with the puzzle-solving ability I displayed.) The characters are interesting -- why is it so important for Gil to win? -- plus you meet some other unique characters along the way. It's very suspenseful -- I read it in an afternoon. I just couldn't wait to see what happened in each of the next tasks and puzzles. There's even a twist at the end that ties up the loose ends.

Jody Feldman must have had fun thinking of all the puzzles, because she leaves the readers with one final puzzle AFTER the ending.

My last rationale for why you should read The Gollywhopper Games -- just saying the title makes me smile!