Early Chapter Books: The Infamous Ratsos

In July I had the opportunity to spend two weeks with Donalyn Miller and Mr. Schu. Two Nerdy Sisters saw them at Nerd Camp. Then we attended the Scholastic Reading Summit the next week in Concord, NC. As usual Mr. Schu gave away books at his session. I did not win a book during the session. Mr. Schu (the Oprah of books) decided to give me a copy of The Infamous Ratsos at the end of the session. 

The Infamous Ratsos is the story of two rat brothers who are trying to be tough. Every time they make a plan to show people how tough and mean they are it back fires. They end up being nice and helping others. The Ratsos family learns an important lesson at the end. 

I really enjoyed this book. I think that kids are often pressured to be something they are not. This book tells them that it is okay to be themselves and not fit into a preconceived mold. I really appreciate authors like Kara Lareau. Authors who write early chapter books are very important to my students. One of trends at my school is a desire to read chapter books. Some of my students in1st and 2nd grade are not able to read long chapter books. I recommend short chapter books to them and they love them. Thank you Kara Lareau for writing for my younger students. I can't wait for another adventure with the Ratsos. 

Genre Avoidance

I was going to write a review of The Girl Who Drank the Moon for today, but it was reviewed wonderfully yesterday on the Nerdy Book Club blog by two of my nerdy friends. Stacey Reidmiller, who teaches 4th grade in Ohio, is the most creative and organized teacher I've ever met. I want to go back in time and be a 4th grader in her classroom. Donalyn Miller is a former teacher and author of The Book Whisper and Teaching in the Wild, as well as co-founder of the Nerdy Book Club. I take every opportunity I can to hear her speak because I learn so much.

Read their review here: https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/the-girl-who-drank-the-moon-by-kelly-barnhill-reviewed-by-stacey-riedmiller-and-donalyn-miller/

In her Scholastic Book Fairs’ #ReadingSummit session called "Dead Presidents and Whales," Donalyn discussed genre preference and  avoidance, asking us first to reflect on our own reading lives. 

One of the (sub)genres I avoid is high fantasy. As a child, I loved mostly realistic fiction and historical fiction. I read everything by Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. I LOVED The Babysitters Club. My favorite two books, Charlotte's Web and Anne of Green Gables, led to my middle child's name, Charlotte Anne.

As a teen, I read all Stephen King, all the time. Now, I read about 60% children's books, 35% YA and 5% books published for grown ups. Harry Potter is awesome, of course, but I do not like much else in the high fantasy realm. The worst experience I had in the past year was when my friend, Benji Martin and I read The High King for our Newbery Pie blog. This was the last book in a 5 books series; I was confused for the majority of the book. 

One of the most important reminders for me from Donalyn's session is that we have to read the books our students read. How else are we going to have authentic conversations about books? If you only read the genres you prefer, are you only going to discuss books with students who like the same books as you do? 

Donalyn recommended I read The Girl Who Drank the Moon when I shared that I avoid high fantasy. Fortunately, I picked up an ARC from Nerd Camp, although I had preordered it already. I may avoid some genres, but I never fail to buy buzzworthy books. Reading them is another matter! This was not a book I struggled through, and I was grateful it was summer so could stay up as late as I wanted reading. I loved the characters, became lost in the story and read it way too fast! As a mother, I weeped at parts of it. When my published copy comes next week, I need to smell the paper and read it again, taking more time to appreciate the language. I also need to read The Witch's Boy and The Mostly True Story of Jack, currently sitting neglected on my bookshelf. Thank you Kelly Barnhill for killing my genre avoidance and Donalyn Miller for (in the words of Colby Sharp) being awesome! 

Amy's genre that she avoids: science fiction. I recommend that she read the HILO series and Red's Planet. 

My favorite part of Donalyn’s presentations? Book recs! Check out:

http://www.slideshare.net/donalynm

Don't forget to look for The Girl Who Drank the Moon when it releases on next Tuesday!

New Book Tuesday 8/2

Car issues today... Thank heavens for new books! If I updated you on all the books I've bought recently, you'd be here all day, so let's focus on just today. #nErDcampMI and #ReadingSummit make you want to buy the whole world!

Coming today...

I took a picture of Return at B&N (and resisted the urge to read it there). 

I got impatient (shocking, huh?) and bought a copy of HP8 on Sunday, so I will be donating my 2nd copy.

Other books coming today:

Checked the two Julies' book out at the library and had to have it.

#titletalk, enough said.

And finally, because I really don't NEED anyone to persuade me to buy books: 

You may be thinking, in the words of Ron Weasley, "Bloody hell! That's a lot of books." At least I'm not a drug addict.  Happy Reading!

ARCs and F&Gs

Amy and I are not the type of bloggers that receive loads of ARCs, and that is not the purpose or goal of this blog. An author friend sent us an F&G of his picture book, and I received 4 ARCs at Nerd Camp. I gave 2 of those to a friend who came from NC, but could not get there early enough to get books. I'm writing a review about one of the books later this week so I wanted to share my thoughts about ARCs and F&Gs.

I much prefer my first reading experience of a book to be with a finished, published copy. If you follow this blog, you know that many Tuesdays, I post about the books that will be arriving at my house. I love the feel and the smell of a brand new book. With a F&Gs the pages literally fall apart as you read it. My youngest child bent up the cover of one of my Nerd Camp ARCs and I had to quell my rage, reminding myself I had already ordered a final copy of that book. ARCs sometimes have illustrations that are omitted altogether or other cool features not included in ARCs. Just to add, selling/buying ARCs is beyond wrong. I also don't thing they belong in libraries. #sorrynotsorry I know budgets are dreadful, but authors deserve to be compensated for their work. 

One of the funniest ARC experiences I had was when I received El Deafo from Nerd Camp in 2014. My girls (at the time aged 11, 8 and 6) read it over and over again, often fighting over it. ARCs of graphic novels do not have color. When I brought the full-color copy home on the publication date, they were mad at me because they thought I had been keeping it from them, sticking them with the black and white copy. 

F&Gs and ARCs make sense for professional reviewers and for people like Mr. Schu, whose job it was to tell me 3x this summer that Deborah Freedman's Shy (her newest picture book, out on 9/27) is amazing. And while I'll be waiting almost two more months for it, that's okay, because it'll be worth it.

If you think I'm crazy, that's okay because I think someone else does too. 

Our New Obsession: HILO

I was the kid who hated stuffed animals. I also was the kid who wouldn't touch a graphic novel (or "comic book" with a ten foot pole). I only read big books. Now I am obsessed with character plush and graphic novels.

Yesterday, after noticing that she was very crabby, I asked Charlotte if she had stayed up late reading again. She admitted that she had stayed up reading both HILO books over again. I knew she had to help me review the second book in the HILO series, Saving the Whole Wide World. Charlotte's words are in blue and mine are in red. If you haven't read the first book, beware of spoilers.

So Charlotte, do you know how I found out about HILO?

Mr. Schu. He is my idol; I want to be just like him when I grow up.

I loved books before I met him and now I love them even more. Catch us up on what is happening at the beginning of the second HILO story.

The boy that found HILO, DJ reminds us he is good at nothing. The only part of HILO that is there is his big toe. Then a portal opens, and his head gets thrown through. 

Do they still have to fight Razorwark? 

HILO trapped Razorwark in a portal, but he is sending other monsters to Earth to weaken the portal.

Who is your favorite character?

Beamer, the robot that helps HILO and his gang.

My favorite character was Pollandra Pack Wallace Brimdale Korimako, a cat from the "furback clan" that gets comes to Earth from a portal and joins HILO's band.

What is the saddest part of the book?

Blah blah blah (Charlotte's answer was a major spoiler). Comment if you want me to tell you what she said.

The book ends on a cliffhanger and the 3rd book doesn't come out until February 2017!

Charlotte is ten years old and starting fifth grade in a month. She is a Nerdy Sister in training. She is an aspiring author and dentist. She spends her nights reading and her days playing video games and swimming. She attended her first Nerd Camp this summer and had the time of her life.

Picture credit: Melanie Golding

Picture Book Wednesday: Blue Chicken

If you've read our last few posts, you'll know that Amy and I attended Nerd Camp in Parma Michigan a few weeks ago. I cannot stress enough how wonderful this PD is for educators. It is superior to anything I have ever attended.  And it's FREE!

I volunteered to be a group leader for Nerd Camp Jr. I had done this two years prior when my eldest daughter came to Nerd Camp, and assumed I would be paired with Charlotte. After seeing Charlotte be Miss Independent, I was thrilled to be paired with 2nd graders. One of our authors/illustrators? Deborah Freedman. I was extremely lucky to talk with Deborah, Lauren Castillo and John Schu earlier in the afternoon. Her book, Scribble, was a favorite among my former students and I have her book by mouse and frog. A downside (for your bank account) of attending Nerd Camp is buying/ordering books. I ordered Blue Chicken, The Story of Fish and Snail and her two forthcoming books, Shy and This House, Once.

In her session with the children, Ms. Freedman first read aloud Blue Chicken.  In this meta-fiction book, a picture is almost complete. A chicken tries to help, but she ruins the whole picture by spilling blue paint everywhere. Freedman does a great job of expressing the anger of the animals in this illustration. This book is funny upon the first read and one of those books that I know I will find new things within the illustrations as I read it again and again.

What could be more awesome than hearing a story, having the author demonstrate their process and then trying it yourself? Nothing.

Thank you to Deborah Freedman and all the other authors and illustrators who have come to NErDCamp over the years for free to work with educators and children.

Shy will be released on September 27, 2016.

This House, Once will be released on February 28, 2017.

Two Nerdy Sisters Go To Michigan Our Nerd Camp Journey Part 2

After the beginning session we went our first session of the day. We went to see Lauren Castillo, Greg Pizzoli, and Deborah Freedman. They talked about their process for writing or doing illustrations. It was very informative for those of us who may want to write a book in the future.

Then the Two nervous Nerdy Sisters headed to our own session. We entered a packed room. We had technology issues but we were able to present on some of our books and give all of our books away.

People standing out the door at our packed session. We found out later that 72 people attended. 

We decided to spend our last session of the day with Mr. Schu, Kate DiCamillo, and Kate Beasley. It was awesome. We got to read parts of books, see people smell books, and listen to both Kates talk about their writing. 

The author signing was really great. We were able to get books signed and talk briefly with some of our favorite authors. Charlotte had her picture taken with Raina and Mr. Schu. 

Day 2: 

Day two was also awesome! Sara and I spend the first session with Donalyn Miller and Teri Lesesne as they talked about books.

Charlotte spend her first session with Victoria Cole. She picked that session out and went to it alone. She loved that session and got to spend more time with Victoria at Nerd Camp Jr. 

Then we joined Pernille Ripp for a conversation about Middle Grade students and reading. 

During lunch we had to take our balloons picture. We also got to spend more time talking to authors and other educators. 

For the third session we went to see the authors talk about writing with students and helping them learn from their mistakes. The authors gave suggestions on how to help children who have difficulty writing. 

For the 4th session, Sara and I led a session on collaboration between librarians and classroom teachers. We had a great talk with some fellow librarians. Then we all went to the final session. It was great to see how inspired and happy everyone was. Charlotte made me cry when she said that Nerd Camp was her place. 

Nerd Camp is my place too. So much so that I soon found myself having difficulty leaving. Being pregnant, I was too exhausted to volunteer for Nerd Camp Jr. but I did not want to leave. I just kept sitting there until I eventually forced myself to go. To be honest I shed a few tears as I left the school. I shed tears because I knew I would have to wait another year to feel so inspired. I would also have to wait another year to see some of my friends in the literary world. 

Nerd camp is really a very special place where you feel loved, respected, and appreciated. It is one of the few places where authors, librarians, teachers, and principals come together like a huge family. It is also one of the few places where you feel inspired the entire time and the sessions actually relate to what you are trying to do for your students. Please do yourself a favor and attend Nerd Camp. It has changed my life so much over the past two years and it will change your life too. 

Two Nerdy Sisters Go to Michigan: Our Nerd Camp Journey Part 1

Sara, Charlotte, and I left NC on Saturday, July 9th to start our 2 day drive to Nerd Camp. Excitement filled our blue Hyundai  Elantra. Sara and I were excited to see all of our Nerdy friends and our friend Melanie from Canada. We were also nervous about our first ever Nerd Camp presentation.

Charlotte's two main goals for attending Nerd Camp were to meet Raina Telgemeier and Mr. Schu. We were so excited that the 10 hour drive seemed to take forever. I told Charlotte that I wish we could teleport to Nerd Camp. Of course she has never seen Star Trek so she did not understand the reference. 

Monday finally arrived. We arrived at Nerd Camp before 8 so we could get our Nerd Camp swag and hangout prior to the opening session.

After getting our swag we took some pictures with @cardboardschu. 

This is our friend Melanie who drove all the way from Alberta, Canada for her first Nerd Camp. 

At 9:00 Sara and Charly left for the Nerd Run leaving Melanie and I to hang out with awesome authors: Jess Keating, Debbie Ohi, and Ruth Spiro. 

We headed in for the opening session and Charlotte got really excited because she saw Raina sitting on the front row. I had to make her go but we went to speak with Raina.

I look super preggo in these. 

Soon it was time for the opening Nerd talks to begin.  We heard from 5 wonderful speakers. All of their talks were inspiring and made me cry.

Kathy Barnette

Teri Lesesne

Raina Telgemeier

Pernille Ripp

Donalyn Miller

Everyone was super excited to see Kate DiCamillo at Nerd Camp. It was an awesome surprise. 

Due to the high volume of pictures this is part one. Look for part 2 on Monday.