Election Learning - Kamala & Presidents!

         It's time, maybe past time, to learn about the presidential election and today, about one of the vice-presidential candidates! 

        I think I can write that Nikki Grimes is prescient. To write the story of Kamala Harris not knowing what was going to happen in this 2020 presidential race is a gift to all of us. I suppose I could have researched and discovered much of this information online, but it is much nicer to read Nikki's story about Kamala in a unique way and to enjoy the beautiful images by illustrator Laura Freeman. 
        Nikki allows a mother to tell about Kamala to her daughter, Eve, a first-grader who has arrived home from school fuming. A boy has told her that girls cannot be President! Her mother shares that he's wrong, that a girl from Oakland hopes to be that President one day. Thus, she begins with Kamala's story, with her name meaning "lotus flower" and a smile that opens wide "like petals fanning across the water's surface." The metaphor itself reveals a life as Nikki expands it, reminding through the mother's voice that you don't see the flower's roots. "They grow deep, deep, deep down."

         Kamala's story travels from her beginnings marching in her stroller with her parents for civil rights, visiting with grandparents who also fought for other's rights in other countries, riding a bus to school during the integration of schools in her elementary years. Nikki fills the story with Kamala's continuing striving for leadership and justice from her Howard University time when she ran for the class representative of the Liberal Arts Council through her time at Hastings College of the Law when she served as President of the Black Law Students Association and hosted a job fair for black law students to have a chance to be hired. 

          Don't miss the rest of her story in Nikki's book! With some setbacks and many wins, Kamala does not stop being the same kind of person we see on the news today, a fighter for truth and justice for all. Freeman's scenes fill the pages with pictures imagined from Nikki's words, groups of people in history, including Kamala there living her life of thoughtful public service. It takes her life all the way to her dropping out of the Presidential race yet Nikki writes: "Kamala Harris is still writing her American story.

           She certainly is!

a look at her Howard University Days, part of which she used to protest
apartheid in South Africa

          Little Eve decides she's going to tell that boy at school "he's a doofus", and relents when her mother says "I thought I taught you better than that." But her fingers are crossed!

          A timeline of major events in Kamala's life is added at the back. It's a beautiful book to share this fall, before the election!

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          Kate Messner has wonderfully managed to create a creative Presidential timeline of ALL the American Presidents, one to forty-five by focusing on four dates: 1789, 1841, 1879, and 1961. She begins with the question for readers. Quick! Name the current President of the United States. No matter when the book is read, there is only one right answer!

It's Monday - Loving These Books

              Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with others who post their favorites.  Your TBR lists will grow! Happy Reading!
          Share with the hashtag #IMWAYR    

        Still wishing all of you educators good days and having fun and staying safe!

I have a giveaway post HERE today!

            Thanks to Netflix, I've read this verse novel by award-winning novelist Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five that follows the tragic result of one night Amal Shahid, sixteen and an artist and a poet, but seen in a different and biased way because he is black. This night, a fight over boundaries that have appeared because of gentrification becomes Amal's tragedy. His time in a juvenile detention center even though innocent is shouted and cursed, cried and whispered by him through poignant words written by Zoboi and Salaam. 

Consider the months lived recently and then read Amal's words with empathy if you want to know his truth. In part:
"On the day of my
conviction
I forget
my school ID
number
my top three
colleges
my class schedule"

The book comes out tomorrow! Don't miss it! 

Thanks to Candlewick Press for these books!

first published in the U.K.

          Out in a week, the first book in a two-book series, young middle-schooler Jake Green finds himself in a land of the dead where he learns perhaps too much about the undone, specters and poltergeists, and other haunting people he didn't know existed. There is even an Ambassador at the Embassy of the Dead and a secretary named Maureen. The real adventure happens when Jake takes a shortcut down a dark alley and is handed a box because he said the wrong thing, well, the wrong thing because it threw him into an adventure he struggled to believe he was in! He ends up with a deadly gang, the young Cora with her hockey stick forever trapped in a trophy until Jake let her out, and the Undertaker Stiffkey who turns out to be wiser than Jake first imagined. It's a survival story that Jake manages because he's supposed to be going on a school overnight. He texts a best friend that he is absent because he's sick and his mom and dad that all is okay. 

            Jake turns out to be unusual as Stiffkey and Cora soon learn. He can see them! It's a race to put back a severed finger that is in that box. Creepy, yes, but actually an adventure that does not stop one's racing heart as crazy things happen around every corner. There is the fun part that, because jake's father has given him a few driving lessons, he manages to escape from his home by driving away in his father's camper. (Ghosts don't drive.) And the most fun is watching Jake keep going and never stop no matter how spooky things get. Will Mabbit manages to carry the action on and on. Here's an example from the end of one chapter: "And that's when things really got exciting." I enjoyed this tale thoroughly.

           

A Giveaway for Learning!

GIVEAWAY ENDS NEXT SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8TH!

Thanks to Candlewick Press for this giveaway opportunity! My granddaughters chose to do some specific studies early in the summer with me and the eleven-year-old chose to examine urban archaeology, specifically the layers of history in Denver and in Paris. It was a fascinating time for me, too, and I wish we had had this marvelous book for her to use in her research. Nevertheless, I have shared it with her and she loves it!

Cities in Layers - Six Famous Cities through time, by Philip Steele showcases those cities from their origins to today.  Rome is the oldest; New York the youngest, but each have their histories made fascinating as Steele shares three double-page spreads from the beginning, a middle time, and today. There is also an introduction to each city that includes where it is in the world, famous residents, and a summary of the time of each. For instance, Paris Today, Paris in 1793, and Paris 1380. Each has a 'cut-out' to peek through showing one thing that has stayed throughout the years. With Andrés Lozano's highly detailed illustrations and a key at the bottom of landmarks shown, I imagine poring over every page for a long time, making notes, then researching for further information.  

One example of the city pages - Paris Today

The introduction explains "What is a city?" including those beginnings and then changes made with innovations like "water and drains" and "roads and rails". Then, before the city studies, there is a timeline of all cities placed together giving the highlights of each history. Finally, the city studies themselves. so much information given in an easy-to-access way. 

To enter the giveaway, comment with a favorite landmark of the city of your choice. It can be contemporary or from long ago. I will draw from this list next Sunday and announce the winner on Monday!

Poetry Friday - Making Something

     Poetry Friday is hosted by Heidi Mordhorst here at My Juicy Little Universe!  She's taking us back a few years to another school start which I'm guessing many of us remember and with sadness. Thanks for hosting, Heidi! I hope your pre-K adventures have gone well this starting of the year!  
      And best wishes to all the rest of you starting, too, online or in school, sending someone to school, managing someone at home! Our stay-at-home summer ends as I wonder what's next?

     
        Heidi has my thanks for her inspirational #magazineticpoetry she shared on twitter. I took her idea and added some sketching, too and have enjoyed it thoroughly, trying hard to find the time to look for words and one #everyday thing while I #makesomething. She says it was my idea but all I did was send a little box of words. Isn't this the most fun piggy-backing! 

         As for the poem, this really is the cup I reach for every single Sunday. Traditions are nice, even the small ones.

It's Monday! More Great Books to Share

              Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with others who post their favorites.  Your TBR lists will grow! Happy Reading!
          Share with the hashtag #IMWAYR    

        I have been thinking of all the schools starting whether online or on-site, hoping all is going well. My granddaughters begin today.  My grandson, in his second year of college, has started with differing classes: online, hybrid, and in the classroom.

           When I share a book I've read, I often wonder how much to tell. When I love it, I want readers to experience every bit as "new", not remember what I wrote. Laura's and Saadia's collaboration on this story of two sixth-graders, Sara and Elizabeth, new to their middle school, both from families where parts of their families are immigrants is terrific. They've written alternating chapters letting the girls, who mirror similar experiences to those authors, tell the story. 

        It's complex to show the learning experience for the girls, their friends and other classmates, their families and some educators, too but it's all in this story! At the forefront are the girls and their struggles beginning school with old friends who are changing and leaving old friends from former schools. They are also part of families with older and younger brothers who are sometimes a pain to live with and with parents who are struggling with personal problems, too. Focusing on a cooking club that Sara's mother, a Pakistani immigrant who runs her own catering service, Sara and Elizabeth meet. Elizabeth's mother, a British immigrant, and a convert to her father's Judaism has lived in the US for years but still has not completed her citizenship. The moms will connect in another layer of the story. The cooking, and food shared from both cultures, weaves the story together. One recipe special to the story is given at the end!

         Family and school life feel very real to me as these two girls' stories are told.  Laura and Saadia don't hesitate in the stories to show that feelings of love can remain sturdy despite challenges within the family and that friendships take time, hard work and a willingness to listen to one another to make them work well. 

          I imagine this book can show many students a way to "be" when friendships feel so hard. Young middle school kids have a lot to ponder and learn as they grow up. This story will be a big help! It's a special book!

          Thanks to Candlewick Press for the following terrific books, all for younger readers!

             
         No, it really is NOT an alphabet book, but it is an ABC story about a bear who tries very hard to excuse something readers figure out quickly. He ate the cake! Eoin McLaughlin shares his journey from accusing the dog on the D page who whimpers "No!" that some big guy always watches what he does. That bear you see on the cover also accuses the pig, in front of the Queen (the Q page). Poor Pig is banished to page 27, Oh no! I can hear those reading this story shouting that they know who really did it, and it is laughable to watch Bear's expressions as he moves along through the neighborhood. The fun is made even more so by Marc Boutavant's bright and bold colorful illustrations. Hilarity rules in this tale.

         At this time without all children returning to school, Jancee Dunn tells a funny tale about stuffed animals escaping from children's backpacks and creating havoc in school, led by someone's sweet teddy bear. They play "Pizza Fling" in the cafeteria, blew bubbles through musical instruments in the band room, and invaded the teacher's lounge! Scott Nash shows well the Principal's consternation in bright and bold illustrations of the havoc that occurs. Readers will laugh at the antics and love the ending when the Teddy even wins over the Principal. It's a book for a nice laugh about an imagined day at school.

first published by Walker Books-Australia

            In watercolor, gouache and pencil, Gabriel Evans tells this story of two great pals. Endpapers show "snapshots" from the story of two great friends, Ollie and Augustus. Ollie, a wee boy, and Augustus, a large dog, have lots of fun together. They paint and bike ride, climb trees and collect sticks. The days are full of activities, but soon changing. Ollie is going to school! He is worried about Augustus being lonely so advertises for a dog to keep company with Augustus. With great humor, Evans shows that it doesn't work out so well. But we then get an inside look at what Augustus does all day without Ollie, a lot of fun. But, they're both happy to be together at the end of the day. I imagine lots o discussion could happy with this read-aloud, about trust that friendships last, that those going or waiting can still have a good time. Sweet story!