I know a Chicken...

I absolutely love Laurie Berkner's song "I Know a Chicken" but I haven't done a chicken storytime before so I usually just play it when I want to use egg shakers. I met Katie Davis in New Orleans and she was talking about her latest book, Little Chicken's Big Day, written and illustrated in collaboration with her husband Jerry Davis so I thought I would give the chicken theme a whirl. I absolutely LOVE Katie's book Who Hops? It is one of my favorites to use in storytime, so I after I fan-girled her for about 10 minutes she gave me some tips on how to read her newest work aloud.

Little Chicken is a bit sassy, so Katie recommended playing up the "I hear you..." line. She said her husband suggested having the kids call that one back to you as well. The book is great to use as an interactive story because the routines are familiar to the kids and there is also very little text. I asked my preschoolers if I could tell the author that we liked it, and they all screamed "YESS!!"

Other books I used:
Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds
The Most Wonderful Egg in the World by Helme Heine

Other good chicken books I pulled but didn't use:
Hungry Hen by Richard Waring
The Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza

I used the flannel story "Ten Fluffy Chickens" from Mel's Desk

Songs used:
"Shakin' Egg Blues" by Marylee
"I Know a Chicken" by Laurie Berkner
"Dance with Me" by Greg and Steve

Prop used:
egg shakers

I totally blanked on doing my alphabet song and adding any parent patter (early literacy tips), but  I will remember next time! For Little Chicken's Big Day skills that can be pointed out are phonological awareness (what do regular chicken's sound like?), narrative skills (what happened when the chicken looked at the butterfly?), and this is a great story to practice dialogic reading.

with Katie Davis

Chicken Little love

Ellen Hopkins

I am not one of those people that gets poetry; the abstract tends to fly over my head and I'm left wondering what it is I just read, and more importantly what it meant. Because of this, it is safe to say that in the past I avoided all novels in verse. Until I stumbled on my first novel by Ellen Hopkins. It was Identical and it stood out on my desk in the pile of new books that I needed to review and then shelve. Instead of shelving that one, I checked it out. While reading those 565 pages, I felt scared, sad, and hopeful. Above all else though, I knew that Hopkins' work needed to be put on display so that anyone who was experiencing trauma like Kaeleigh and Raeanne were going through would have some sort of comfort and voice. After returning Identical I systematically plowed my way through all of her YA books. 


I met Ellen Hopkins for the second time in New Orleans. Last year, at Annual in DC, I saw her walking through the conference center and literally SCREAMED her name. Then I ran over and made my friend Nick take a photo. I was breathless and so excited to meet her. This year I tried to tone it down a notch but as you can see I am still very excited:

And I'm not the only super fan:

Joanna got her favorite Ellen Hopkins book signed too

In addition to meeting Ellen again, I got copies of her latest books. I started Perfect while waiting for my plane and finished it when I got home, I just couldn't put it down. Perfect is about four teenagers battling inner demons and outside pressures as they try to be "perfect". And what is great about this book, is perfect looks different for each of them.

Cara's parents have set sky-high expectations for her and her twin brother Conner. Conner has been driven towards suicide (Impulse), but Cara tries to figure out if she can maintain this mold as a new and unexpected love enters her life. Kendra, Conner's ex, is a beauty pageant queen who is trying to win Miss Teen Nevada and a big-time modeling contract. Her distorted self image pushes her anorexia over the edge but she is blind to the damage. Cara's boyfriend Sean is desperate to become the next Mark McGwire, even taking the same steroid path McGwire did, in order to get to Stanford on a baseball scholarship. Andre's parents are the perfect black power couple, pushing their son to make money in order to be the success they are. But instead of wanting to carry on in their footsteps, he wants to dance. The book has no happy ending, which I think makes it that much more powerful. Readers can hope the characters will make this decision or that, but nothing is set. I think by leaving the ending open, Hopkins reinforces the idea that is central in so many of her books...it only takes one or two decisions to totally disrupt a path. And those decisions can be good ones, or terrible ones made with the best intentions (Tricks).

Perfect is a book book I wish I would have have had as a sophomore in high school, struggling with ideas of failure/success and feelings of not being good enough. It is another must-read that I will be pushing, and I hope it gets on some required reading lists for high school freshman.

So about that...

Clearly the "blogging from the conference" did not work out so well. But, have no fear there will be tons of upcoming posts about who we met/what we did/where we ate/how excited and energized we are about our profession once again. Tonight I will be blogging about Ellen Hopkins' latest, Perfect, which I finished on my way home. AMAZING as usual. I also am going to throw in some shout outs for awesome authors that I met (pictures included).

Look for Joanna talking about surviving her first conference experience, Lalitha writing reviews and giving us the inside scoop on hob-nobbing with the publishers, and Ady providing more info about REFORMA and their upcoming adventures. My sister will also be featured as a guest blogger because she has tons to say about experiencing ALA as an outsider. Sorry for the delay, but the next few weeks are going to be chock full with good content

-Kirby

Book Review Saturday

The Lying Game by Sara Shepard

I am happy to announce to all Pretty Little Liars Fans that Sara Shepard has a new series out! It has been out for a little while (December 7, 2010), but I read it this week after waiting patiently for my copy on a long hold list. I have to admit that I have been a fan of hers from way back when I got an ARC of the first Pretty Little Liars book.

The Lying Game delivers the same intrigue and deceptive characters. Emma, a foster child, learns that she has a twin sister and immediately jumps a bus (without her foster mother knowing) to meet her sister. At the designated time and spot Emma waits for her sister, Sutton, but soon discovers that her sister has been murdered and she needs to pretend to be her or she too will be killed. An interesting twist is that Sutton follows Emma around in ghost form. No one can see or hear Sutton, not even Emma, but the reader gets to read her comments and she has amnesia of a sort, knowing nothing about her life or her death. The series will continue as Emma (and Sutton) try to find out who killed Sutton. Was it her best friends? Did it have to do with the Lying Game?

The second book of the series, Never Have I Ever, is due out August 2, 2011! However, if I am lucky Kirby or Joanna will find an ARC at ALA and bring it home to me. Sending them good vibes for that one!

Posted by Anna