Where I live by Eileen Spinelli illustrated by Matt Phelan

I had a spare half hour so I picked up another verse novel today - Where I live.  This is written for a younger audience but as with all verse novels it still packs an emotional punch.

Diana lives with her mum and dad and baby sister, whom she has named Twink, in a yellow house with white shutters.  She loves all things to do with space, writing poetry and her best friend Rose and life is good.  Her other favourite family member is her grandfather who lives 6 hours away in Pittsburg.  He is a regular visitor.

The complication comes when Grandpa Joe has an accident and breaks his arm and Diana's father losses his job.  Diana talks with her teacher who offers wise advice :

"I tell Mrs Clifford
about Dad's job
and no money
and going to live
at Grandpa Joe's.
She nods.
'It's okay
to be sad, Diana.'

'And I'm mad too,'
I say.
'I'm mad at Dad's company
for letting him go.
I'm mad at Twink
because she's so happy
and already packing.
I'm mad because I don't
get a vote about moving.'

'It's okay
to be mad, Diana."

One of the really special things about this book is the wonderful illustrations.  Each picture perfectly captures the mood of the moment.  You can see some of Matt Phelan's books here.  You can see some of his work here and read an interview.  Here is another great idea.  A pinterest made with items that match this book. The author web site shows you all her books.  I will certainly recommend this book to my younger students when we return to school next week.

You might also enjoy Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie.

Spinelli employs the shortest of lines in her brief poems, Diana’s voice ingenuously describing the simple, perfect life of a middle-grader interested in astronomy and poetry, and whose family and friends provide all she needs.

Yoko's diary - The life of a young girl in Hiroshima during WWII edited by Paul Ham, translated by Debbie Edwards

Late in the year in Grade six I like to introduce books about WWII. We read books like Rose Blanche and Let the Celebrations begin and then move to the story of Hiroshima by reading My Hiroshima by Junko Morimoto.  My intention is to let students hear the voice of other young children who lived through these times rather than just the bare facts of history.

In My Hiroshima, Junko Morimoto explains how every day, prior to the dropping of the atomic bomb,  they would hear air raid sirens, how everyone has been working to clear older wooden buildings around the city to create fire breaks and there is a struggle to obtain food.  All of these things feature in Yoko's diary too but in more detail and so I am planning to share this book with my students later in the year.

The opening chapters give a background to life in Hiroshima and to Yoko herself.  The diary begins on page 61 starting on 6th April.

"The diary is a class project and bears the stamp of a conscientious little girl who is always trying to do the right thing.  She wants high marks for her work!  She comes across as extremely diligent ... a model child ... The reader might assume she was indeed such a very good girl.  But that assumption should be taken with a grain of salt, given that the diary is a school project."

Having said it is the work of a school girl this book is also very honest.  "It shows the hopes, beliefs and daily life of a young girl in wartime Japan."

Just like The Diary of Anne Frank, and the story of Sadako, Yoko's diary is an important book which does end in tragedy.  There is, however, an important message to take away from all of these books and that is the lesson of peace and hope, the lesson of humanity.

Here is a detailed review.  You might also like to read Hanna's suitcase, To Hope and Back and Sadako and the thousand paper cranes.

Books! by Murray McCain designed and illustrated by John Alcorn

This quirky little book was originally published in 1961 and it might almost be the oldest book in our library.  Sadly, our copy is slightly stained, and the tiny size makes it difficult to share with a group - but here is the good news.  I was in a special bookshop the other day and I saw this book called Books! has been republished which is terrific and even better they have changed the size to A4.

"What is a book?  A book is many, many things, at least ten thousand.  A book is for colouring for looking at for writing in and most important for reading but what is a book?  Does it make a noise?  What does it look like and what does it do?  Can it talk to you?  What does it feel like and what does it say?"

One of things that made me smile in Books! was the list of topics that you can read in books.  This list includes Swallows and Amazons (a childhood favourite of mine), the Amazon River (a prediction about the future!) and snarks (The Hunting of the Snark). There are also fun little word lists which a teacher could use and innovate on such as hard words (anemone, if, planetarium and hippopotamus), happy words (dance, Bambi, lollipops and Greensleeves), funny words (gnus, cuckoo, Pogo and porpoise) and words to think about (Shakespeare, imagine, why and idea).

I have included a page here so you can see the retro style and colours.  One final word about books - "usually they smell good."

Runaways by Sherryl Clark

I am constantly amazed at the power of verse novels.  Sherryl Clark has written some of my favourites but I think Runaways is one of her best. What do you think of the cover?  I think it gives the impression this book is aimed at High School readers but really a middle primary student could easily read this powerful story.

The voices in this book alternate between Cassie and her brother Jack.  Mum and dad have split up and mum finds Jack difficult to handle then one day dad turns up again and within days he and Jack head off to Perth.

"then Dad's suitcase
is in the hallway
what a surprise
he's bolting again

except this time
Jack's backpack
is sitting there, too.

I tell Mum
not to let Jack go
I tell her
not to say yes
I tell her
Dad can't be trusted"

Cassie right, Dad cannot be trusted and Perth is not the place for Jack so he runs away.  Cassie is frantic with worry.  She needs to find Jack and keep him safe.  There is only one place to go - Grandad's little house by the sea.

Here is an excellent review and here is a terrific idea.  Sherryl Clark has produced some postcards which incorporate parts of the text from Runaways.

Take a look at Motormouth also by Sherryl Clark if you enjoy Runaways and other verse novels by Steven Herrick in particular Tom Jones saves the world.

Bing Bang Boing poems and drawings by Douglas Florian

Each week I send the teachers at my school a poem.  This term every poem will come from this zany poetry book Bing Bang Boing.

Some of the poems I have selected include :

Robot
Trouble Bubble Gum
No Nose
Delicious Wishes
Mr Backward
What the garbage truck ate for breakfast today.

The back cover sums the contents up really well :

"This book is filled
With brilliant verse.
Some are lengthy.
Some are terse.
Some are ingenious.
Some are outrageous.
But you won't get to any
If you don't turn the pages."

We have other poetry books in our library by Douglas Florian - make sure you check them out soon.

Carmine a little more red by Melissa Sweet

Before you rush into this book make sure you stop at the end papers (both ends please).  Carmine a little more Red begins with an artists page showing all the 'reds' such as magenta, vermilion, scarlet, fuchsia, sienna, crimson and ruby.  I just noticed how many of these we use as names.  The last end paper has more colour paint samples with letters from the alphabet soup which Carmine and Granny enjoy at the end of her adventures.

Words are a key to this brilliant book.  Lately we have been talking in schools about something called Multi-modal literacy.  Carmine a little more Red certainly fits this idea.  This book is an alphabet book, the story of Red Riding Hood, an art lesson, contains dialogue presented as speech bubbles and it is a book which uses the most amazingly rich vocabulary. This is a book for all ages.  The youngest child will enjoy Red Riding Hood in a new guise while an older child might appreciate the clever storytelling structure using the alphabet.

Here are some of the special words :  (in alphabetical order!)
clutter, cardinal, dilly-dally, exquisite, knoll, lurking, nincompoop, pluck and surreal.

Melissa Sweet produces illustrations that look deceptively simple and always joyous.  Her web site is a real treat - take time to dip in.  Here is an interview with Melissa.  Here is a set of lesson notes.

Here is a terrific review where you will learn a new word abecedarian - it means using the alphabet.

Walter by Barbara Wersba illustrated by Donna Diamond

"After two hours of sitting in Miss Pomeroy's easy chair and nibbling the top of her ballpoint pen, Walter wrote his letter to Miss Pomeroy.  It was very brief.  It said,

'My name is Walter.

I live here too."

Walter is a rat who can read and he has moved in with the author Amanda Pomeroy.  As a youngster Walter had read two books by Sir Walter Scott.  He liked the name and the leather bound books tasted good too. Walter enjoys living with Miss Pomeroy because food is plentiful and he has made himself a comfortable little nest behind a storeroom but the best part of all is the library.  "Words swam through Walter's mind like bright fish, darting back and forth.  He did not always understand what he was reading, but the experience excited him!"

Browsing through Miss Pomeroy's library one day Walter makes a startling discovery.  All of the children's books are about mice and to make matters worse Miss Pomeroy herself has written a series books with a mouse as the main character.  Where are the books about heroic rats?  Walter begins his correspondence with Miss Pomeroy and eventually he gains the courage to bring up the matter of mice versus rats.

"Dear Miss Pomeroy,  I have enjoyed our correspondence so much, but I want to ask you something.  I hope it will not make you angry.  What I want to ask you is this.  Why do you write only about mice, and never rats?  Why does everyone else do this too?  Those of us who are rats feel hurt.  Please do not take this as a criticism.  Walter."

This slim sixty page novel is a joy to read.  There are so many literary references many of which I recognized but quite a few I am sure that I overlooked or did not know.  This is a book for children but I also think it is a book that would make any adult who loves to read - really smile.  Walter himself also has a high level of emotional sensitivity.  He understands so much about Miss Pomeroy - especially her loneliness.  I do think you will fall in love with this very special rat.

I have included three jacket designs.  I especially like the German one.  A huge thank you goes to my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything who told me about Walter!  Even now, days later, I am still smiling.

A small but very nearly perfect gem depicts the growing friendship between a literary-minded rat and an aging author of children’s books.