wealthy readers

What a wonderful time to be a child. There are so many books to welcome young readers into the world of words and books and pictures and magic. My colleague and friend (and often co-conspirator) Rosemary Chance designed a community outreach project for us to use in our children's lit classes. Project B.E.T.H. stands for Books Entering Texas Homes. Our grad students will identify families in their communities and send books home to start fledgling libraries in homes. All of the books I weed are going to Project B.E.T.H. for now. Since Krashen and other researchers tell us that having books in the home is key and we know that there are many kids who do not have access to books at home, we thought this was a natural fit. Some of the books I have been blogging about are already in bags set to go to B.E.T.H. soon. Books float on...



Mo Willems' continues to delight readers with his Elephant and Piggie books in LISTEN TO MY TRUMPET (Hyperion/Disney 2012). Piggie comes to elephant in a state of quivering excitement to share his new trumpet and the, um, noise it can make. Elephant searches for just the right words to tell his friend that the noises are not music. As it turns out, that is OK with Piggie. Find out why. <127>




OTTO THE BOOK BEAR by Katie Cleminson (Disney/Hyperion 2012) is the story of a bear who lives in the pages of a book. Little do his owners know that Otto can leave his book at night and explore the world around him. One day, though, Otto is left behind. How Otto solves his problem might seem a natural to adult readers, but kids will love watching Otto's efforts to find his home. <128>




Eileen Spinelli along with illustrator Megan Lloyd give readers A BIG BOY NOW (Harper 2012). A young rabbit declares he is a big boy now (should sound familiar to any parent). He can stay up later and do more now that he is older. However, taking the training wheels off his bike might be another matter. Needing comfort no matter how big we get is a lovely theme in this book. <129>