Book talk: Underground by Shane Evans (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

For this booktalk, I’m going to ask you close your eyes and keep them shut. I want you to pretend that you’re a young African-American slave, and you and your family are trying to escape to freedom. You’re terrified. It’s dark, and you have to be absolutely silent and creep out of the master’s house and into the woods. You don’t know which is more horrifying: the journey you’re about to take, or the prospect of getting caught. The other slaves’ eyes are full of fear, and so are your parents. You don’t know where you are going, but you do know that you’ll always travel by night and you must be absolutely silent no matter what. You have to be braver than you think you can be, because now you’re part of the slaves’ underground railroad to freedom.

Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom by Shane W. Evans. Unpaged. Roaring Book Press: 2011. Booktalk to primary grades. Virginia Readers’ Choice, 2012-2013.

Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom

Book talk: Say Hello to Zorro! by Carter Goodrich (Virginia Readers' Choice)

[Hold up cover, but cover up with your hand the part of the illustration which shows Zorro, the smaller dog].

This is Mister Bud [the larger dog on the cover]. Mister Bud has a great life for a dog. Dogs love a set schedule, and Mister Bud is no exception. He’s got his own house, his own bed, his own toys, his own dish, and a time for everything.

 Do you know how important his schedule is to Mister Bud? It is everything. He has his biscuit before his walk. When his owner comes home, it’s “greet and make a fuss time,” followed by quick backyard time, dinnertime, walk time, and then movie time. Yes, Mister Bud loves his movies. What dog doesn’t? What a perfect, happy, orderly life.

[Show cover, and take your hand off so that Zorro is now showing.] Oh my gosh, who is this? A new dog? A new dog in Mister Bud’s house? Oh dear. What is the expression on this little dog’s face? [Get a few responses.] Right, he looks angry. This is Zorro, and he’s little and fierce. Does Mister Bud look happy about this? [Absolutely not!]

To add insult to injury, this book is titled, “Say Hello to Zorro!” And that’s what Bud’s owners said to him when they brought Zorro home. Is trouble brewing?

Say Hello to Zorro! by Carter Goodrich. Unpaged. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2011. Booktalk to preschool through 1^st. Virginia Readers’ Choice, 2012-2013.

Say Hello to Zorro

Book talk: City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems (Virginia Readers' Choice)

[For this booktalk, put a sticky tab on the following pages: pages {4-5}: “City Dog spotted something…”, pages {22-23, rainy day}, pages {28-29, frog sits on dog’s nose}, and pages {30-31:dusk}.

[Show cover.] Do frogs and dogs hang out together? [Invite brief discussion.] Okay, so maybe they don’t usually hang out and befriend one another.

But City Dog is unique. [Show pages 4-5] He was out in the countryside, probably on vacation, when he spotted a frog, quietly sitting on a rock. He talked to frog, and it turned out that frog was waiting for a friend. Frogs are like that. [Turn the page.] Frog knows all sorts of country games that city dog does not know, and he’s happy to teach city dog. [Turn the page.] What could be more fun than playing in a creek? [Turn page.] I think this picture is one of my favorite picture book pictures ever: city dog is giving country frog a ride on his head in the creek.

But not everything they do is funny like that. Friendship is made of quiet activities too: enduring rainy days [show pages 22-23], talking [show pages 28-29], and just hanging out [show pages 30-31]. All friendships are special, but there is something unique about the friendship of city dog and country frog.

City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems, pictures by Jon J. Muth. Hyperion, 2010. Unpaged. Booktalk to preschool – 2^nd grade. Virginia Readers’ Choice, 2012-2013.

City Dog, Country Frog

Book talk: Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

Did you look in the mirror this morning? Mirrors are funny. They show us a reversed image of ourselves. This book, Mirror Mirror, is all about reversals in fairy tales, a really fun topic, because reversals are everywhere in fairy tales: the poor, abused girl becomes the rich, beloved princess; the ugly duckling becomes the beautiful swan; the old crone becomes the young girl. There are reversals of appearance, of reality, and of good/evil.

"In the Hood," a reverso poem

But what if you made a poem, called a reverso, about this? Reversos are deceptively simple. I’m going to read you my favorite one. [Read your favorite reverso to the kids while showing them the accompanying picture: I like “In the Hood”]

[While explaining the reverso format, turn the pages so they can see others…] A reverso poem is like a puzzle: you read it, going down, as you would normally read. If you then took them bottom lines and put them at the top, reversing the order, you’re using exactly the same words but somehow, mysteriously, the meaning changes. Look carefully or you’ll miss it.

Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Josee Masse. Dutton Children’s Books: 2010. Booktalk to elementary (I would use it for 1^st through 5^th). Virginia Readers’ Choice, 2012-2013.

Book talk: The Trouble with Chickens (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

J. J. Tully, 'retired' rescue dog

Search and rescue dogs are really cool and really smart. They use their keen sense of smell, orders from humans, and animal intuition to find missing people. It’s a noble job. J. J. Tully is a rescue dog. He has found many missing people by sniffing them out of rubble, snow, darkness, and danger. But now he’s got a mother chicken harassing him. Wait…a mother chicken? Why would a mother chicken harass a rescue dog? Oh, right…missing chicks. So, how hard can it be to find a bunch of missing chicks? Hold on, let me ask J. J. Tully. [Pause.] Okay, much harder than finding humans. Humans stink. You can smell them miles away. 

A chick trail is much harder, especially when it’s pouring rain, you’ve got a mom chicken and two other chicks right behind you and a cryptic ransom note. This was the weirdest ransom note I have ever read. I have to read it to you. It says, “I have your peeps. It behooves you to rendezvous. Twilight. Your place.” What?!?! Who talks likes this? This is going to be one crazy, weird mystery.

The Trouble with Chickens: A J. J. Tully Mystery by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Kevin Cornell. 119 pages. Balzer + Bray, 2011. Booktalk to intermediate grades. Virginia Readers’ Choice, 2012-2013.

The Trouble with Chickens: A J.J. Tully Mystery

Book talk: I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

When I was your age, I was afraid to look under my bed at night because that’s where the monsters live. Don’t laugh. I know you feel the same, but you don’t have to admit it. Ethan actually knows the monster under his bed. Yeah: they’re buddies. Isn’t that weird?

Ethan is a lot braver than I am, but he’s got a problem: his monster is going out of town for a week. Don’t ask me why, but Ethan has to have a monster under his bed. He will NOT be without one, so he starts interviewing monsters to see which one is suitable to stay under his bed at night! I know: I don’t get it, either.

How hard can it be to find the right monster? Okay, one was wearing a bow, one had an absurdly long tongue, and one was green but not scary. Agghhhhh!!!! How many monsters does a boy have to interview before he finds one appropriately terrifying to stay under his bed?

 I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll, illustrated by Howard McWilliam. Unpaged. Booktalk to K-2. Virginia Readers’ Choice, 2012-2013.

I Need My Monster

Book talk: Goal! by Mina Javaherbin (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

[For this booktalk, don't show the cover yet! Start with the following brief discussion first.]

What do you own that is nearest and dearest to your heart? Don't think of a person. Think of an object: it could be a toy, a book, a trophy, a photo, a stuffed animal, or a piece of jewelry. If your house was burning, this is the object you'd grab before you ran out. Okay, do have your item in mind? What did you pick? [Take a few brief responses.]

[Show cover.] This is Ajani. His soccer ball is his most treasured item. It means so much to him, and it's not easily replaced. But it's just a soccer ball, right? Well, yes and no.

Ajani lives in a township in South Africa where no one has much money: if you have a decent soccer ball, you guard it from the bullies who will certainly steal it. These bullies are bigger than Ajani and his friends and they ride around on bikes. Ajani's soccer ball provides endless hours of fun and friendship for him, so it's more than just a ball. In many parts of the world, children who want to play soccer have to make their own makeshift balls out of whatever they can, and that makes the game so much harder to play.

Ajani and his friends are pretty clever: they always have a guard, and they know what to expect. Soccer is their favorite game ever, and in that respect, they're just like you.

Goal! by Mina Javaherbin, illustrated by A.G. Ford. 2010: Candlewick. Unpaged. Booktalk to grades K-3. Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013. 

Goal!

Book talk: The Fox in the Dark by Alison Green (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

[For this booktalk, you will be focusing on one picture in The Fox in the Dark, which is pp. {5-6}, rabbit in his den, lantern at his feet, text starting "But...Rat-a-tat-tat!"]

[Display pp. 5-6]. Have you ever been really, really scared? Have you ever been outside in the dark and felt terrified? Have you ever had to run inside your house, slam the door, and turn on a light, shaking in fear?

Take a look at Rabbit. He is petrified with fear! He saw a fox in the dark! If you look closely at this picture, he's picturing fox's pointed teeth, fierce expression, sharp claws, and overall scariness!

Oh, hey! Look outside Rabbit's window! Is that Duck? Duck is Rabbit's good friend, and Duck wants to come inside, it seems. Would you let Duck inside if there was also a fox out there in the dark?

The Fox in the Dark by Alison Green, illustrated by Deborah Allwright. 2009: Tiger Tales/ME Media LLC. Unpaged. Booktalk to K-2. Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013 (Primary).

The Fox in the Dark

Book talk: Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett (Virginia Readers' Choice)

[Show cover]. Meet blue chameleon. Poor guy. He's blue in two different ways: can you think about that for a second? [Pause.] Obviously, he is blue, right? But he also looks as if he's feeling blue: he's feeling sad, down, discouraged. I wonder why...

[Turn to first page.] Well, no wonder! He's thinking, "I'm lonely." Well, that should be easy to solve: right?

[Turn the page.] Hey?! What just happened? Why did he turn yellow? [Wait for answer.] Yes, chameleons can change colors, but what's he mimicking? [Wait for response.] A banana! Does a banana make a good friend? No! A banana only makes a good snack! Poor chameleon...he's confused. You really cannot be happy being friends with a banana.

[Turn page.] Oh my goodness! What color is he now? He's pink! He's trying to befriend a pink bird called a cockatoo! But take a close look at the cockatoo's face: what expression is he wearing? Suspicion, distrust: that cockatoo does not want to be friends, clearly.

[Return to cover image.] Chameleon, you're off to a rocky start. No wonder you look so blue.

Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett. 2010: Simon & Schuster. Unpaged. Booktalk to pre-K through 2nd. Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013 (Primary).

Blue Chameleon

Booktalk: Immi's Gift by Karin Littlewood (Virginia Readers' Choice)

 

Immi lives up in the frozen north, a land of ice and snow. It is cold and icy – a white world as flat as the eye can see. Immi goes ice fishing for her supper in this lonely place, and instead of a fish, she catches a little wooden bird. How strange!

You can’t eat a little wooden bird, can you? [Show pages 5-6]. But it’s beautiful, and she wears it on her necklace, next to her little white wooden bear. Those two make an odd pair: don’t they, the colorful bird and the white bird. They’re very different, as if they’ve never met one another.

[Turn the page.] Color starts to seep into her world. She fishes a red flower! [Turn page.] Then an orange starfish … a green leaf ….a purple feather. Where is all this color coming from?

Look at her igloo! It’s the brightest thing in the land. Her world doesn’t seem as cold and lonely anymore. Where on earth did that little colorful wooden bird come from? What does all of this mean for Immi?

Immi’s Gift by Karin Littlewood. 2010: Peachtree. Unpaged. Booktalk to K-2. Virginia Readers’ Choice, 2012-2013 (Primary).

Immi’s Gift

Book talk: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

[Pacing, agitated.] I lost my favorite hat…actually, I think it’s my only hat, and I’m a bear, so I really need my hat back because I’m out in the cold weather all the time. I’ve spent the whole day walking around the woods looking for my hat and asking various animals if they have seen my hat. Wait…did I ask you this yet? Have you seen my hat? [Wait for reply.] No?!?

Well, let me tell you. Those other animals are no help at all. I asked a snake hanging from a branch, and you know what he said? [Mimicking snake] “I saw a hat once. It was blue and round.” Well…that’s helpful! I mean, mine is red and pointed and he’s telling me about some random hat he saw once. Thanks a lot, snake!

I asked another animal – he was kind of weird-looking, to tell you the truth, and he didn’t even know what a hat was! Useless! Absolutely useless!

Okay, I gotta dash. But if you happen to see my hat – which is RED – please just let me know! Don’t make me come back here again!

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen. 2011: Candlewick Press. Unpaged. Booktalk to pre-K through 2^nd. Virginia Readers’ Choice, 2012-2013 (Primary). 

I Want My Hat Back

Book talk: When You Reach Me (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

Raise your hand if you like to write notes. They’re fun, aren’t they? It’s also fun to get notes.

But Miranda has been getting notes from someone who doesn’t sign the notes.  Miranda doesn’t know if the note writer is male or female, young or old. She doesn’t know how the note writer even knows her. You know what’s even stranger? The notes appear in her stuff, and she doesn’t know how the notes got there. How do you get a note into a locked house?

So Miranda has a predicament. Fortunately, she’s pretty tough: she’s in sixth grade, and she walks around New York City by herself. She’s got street smarts, too. She knows how to behave around the homeless man on the corner and the boys who beat up her best friend, Sal. Oh wait, Sal doesn’t want to hang out with Miranda any more. Cross him off the best friend list.

Let’s go back to these mysterious notes. Why can’t Miranda just ignore them? It’s probably just some stupid prank, right? But what if the notes had a ring of truth to them? What if something in the notes even predicted future events using specific details?

Why are these notes so important, and who is writing them? When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. 199 p. Yearling, 2009. Newbery Medal, 2010. Virginia Readers’ Choice (middle school), 2012-2013.

When You Reach Me

Book talk: Bulu: African Wonder Dog (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

 

You think your dog is cool? Ha! He cannot possibly be cooler than Bulu, African wonder dog [show cover or other pictures in the book of Bulu]. This is the story of a real-life dog, a Jack Russell terrier mix, who lived on wildlife education center located in a remote part of Zambia, a country in Africa. I’m going to quiz you on Bulu’s life. Do your best to guess the right answer.

Question 1. Bulu warned his unsuspecting owners about the presence of

a). a deadly snake

b). a crocodile

c). an elephant

d). all of the above

If you guessed “e,” all of the above, you’re right. Bulu had a sixth sense for when other wild animals – harmful or not – were around, and he always did his best to warn his owners.

Question 2. Bulu was super nice to which animals who lived with him in his owners’ small house?

a). two baby warthogs

b). a baby bushbuck (a type of antelope)

c). baby monkeys

d). all of the above

You guessed “all of the above” again? You’re right! Bulu’s owners were setting up a wildlife education center, and they wanted to help rehabilitate injured or parentless animals, too. Bulu accepted these animal orphans as friends and would even cuddle with them.

Question 3. All dogs love treats. Which treat was Bulu’s favorite?

a). vanilla cookies from Starbucks

b). French fries from McDonalds

c). buttered bread

d). worms

You think they have a Starbucks or a McDonalds in the wilds of Zambia? There isn’t a market for miles and miles! This is the wilderness! Bulu liked buttered bread.

Last question. If you’re a dog, like Bulu, and you get attacked by a lion, what are your chances of survival?

a). slim to none

b). survive a lion attack? Hahahahahahhahhahahaah….

c). I don’t even want to think about it.

Does this one sound like a trick question? Not a trick, it’s a “teaser.” To find, read Bulu: African Wonder Dog by Dick Houston.

BULU – African Wonder Dog

Book talk: Ship Breaker (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

 

Nailer Lopez is a teen with a full-time, grueling, and potentially lethal job, a job which requires him to have facial tattoos which mark him as part of a work crew and also requires him to be fairly small and lightweight. What is he? He’s a ship breaker: he scavenges wrecked, beached ships for their metal. Nailer has to crawl through tight, mazelike ducts inside the ship, usually in utter darkness, and cut away copper wire, aluminum, nickel, and steel clips. It’s really, really scary inside those dark, airless, dead ships and tankers. Kids have gotten lost and trapped and died inside of them. You crawl through tunnels over dead rats’ bodies. You pray to the Scavenge God that you’ll get out alive, and that you’ll scavenge enough metal to stay on your work crew. In this world you’re loyal only to your closest friends. So what would Nailer do if he found a girl, barely alive yet clearly very rich, on a beached ship containing both wealth and dead bodies?

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. Little, Brown: 2010. 326 p. Virginia Reader’s Choice for high school: 2012-2013.

Ship Breaker

Book talk: Dash and Lily's Book of Dares (Virginia Reader's Choice, 2012-2013)

 

Teens mostly e-mail, text, IM, or call each other nowadays, right? Dash and Lily are completely different. They met by notebook, and it stayed that way for a while. Let me explain. Dash, short for Dashiell, is in his favorite bookstore in New York City, and on the shelves he finds a red moleskin notebook with handwritten instructions involving a challenge, and not an easy one. The challenge – if done correctly – will get the notebook back to its owner. The challenge involves writing, intelligence, willingness to make a fool out of himself, and some luck. And so the game starts. Dash and Lily don’t actually meet for a while. They couldn’t tell you what the other one even looks like: they’re both blanks to each, in that respect. They start sharing through writing: thoughts, memories, aspirations – you know, the kind of stuff it’s easier to write that to say. But both harbor a desire to meet in real life, yet the signs are there that they won’t and can’t have the type of relationship that they had through the notebook. What if meeting in real life ruins everything? Read Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. 260 p. Knopf, 2010. Virginia Reader's Choice, 2012-2013. Booktalk to high school.

Note: This I posted this book talk in November 2010, but I'm re-posting it with better tags.

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares

Booktalk: Touch Blue (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

 

Can you imagine if your school was at risk of being shut down if more kids did not attend? Yeah, I knew you’d like that.

But Tess, age 11, goes to school in a one-room schoolhouse on a small island off the coast of Maine. There’s just a handful of other kids who attend her tiny school, because Tess’s island doesn’t have that many children. Tess’s mom is the teacher. And when you live on small island, school is one of the things that keeps you busy and entertained. The school is part of Tess’s life, along with the lobster boats, the ocean, the salt breeze, the sea birds, and the ferry.

Yet the state of Maine won’t fund her school and keep it open unless more kids attend. But where will Tess’s tiny island get more kids? No new families are moving to their island, but several families have a cool idea – adopt some foster children who need a good home.

So Tess’s family decides to adopt a 13-year-old redheaded boy named Aaron. Aaron has been moved from family to family, and it’s about time he gets a solid, loving family. Tess is really, really excited. She’s always wanted an older brother.

But when Tess takes Aaron around the island, he seems unimpressed. And when he sees their little one-room school, he actually says, “I can’t believe I had to quit my jazz band to come here.” He doesn’t seem to like the other islanders, and he rarely smiles. Tess has a problem. How do you get someone to love an island if he’s determined to hate it?

Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord. 186 p. New York: Scholastic, 2010. Virginia Readers’ Choice (Elementary/Intermediate) for 2012-2013. This title would also work well for middle schoolers.

Touch Blue

Booktalk: Swim the Fly (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

 

High schooler Matt Gratton is a decent swimmer, but not when it comes to the butterfly stroke, possibly the hardest stroke out there to master. He himself admits that he looks like “a palsied whippet struggling for its life”(41) when he swims it. But Matt would do anything for a hot girl, especially a hot girl named Kelly. She’s impressed that he volunteered to swim the 100-yard butterfly (the fly) in a major meet. Matt and his friends, Sean and Coop, would do a lot to impress girls. Their major goal for the summer is to see a naked girl: a live one. They even hide in a closet at a party, but it backfires majorly, although they might have prevented a pregnancy, who knows. Intelligent strategy is not their strong point. Matt’s buddy Sean even intentionally pigged out on junk food just so he could barf in the pool, on purpose. Actually, that did get Matt out of swimming the fly, so it wasn’t totally stupid. How much of a fool is Matt going to be at the final meet? And will the girl of his dreams ever see anything in him at all? Swim the Fly by Don Calame.

Swim the Fly by Don Calame. 345 p. Candlewick Press, 2009. Virginia Readers' Choice (High School) for 2012-2013. Contains mature references.

Swim the Fly