California Young Reader Medal

Though many book awards were announced last month, there is one more awaiting votes: The California Young Reader Medal (CYRM). This award is extra exciting because it is California young readers, like Cragmont students, who get to nominate books then submit their votes for which should win.

At Cragmont, 1st and 2nd grades are reading all of the nominated picture books for the 2010-2010 school year and will be voting in a couple weeks. The nominees in the primary category are:

• A Visitor for Bear by Bonnie Becker
• Pete and Pickles by Berkeley Breathed
• Duck by Randy Cecil
• Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale by Cameron Agra Deedy
• Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly Pie by Judy Sierra

[so far it seems that A Visitor for Bear and Martina the Beautiful Cockroach are front runners, but we still have more to read!]

We also have copies of all the middle grade books for grades 3-5 to read and cast their votes! Books nominated in the intermediate category are:

• Greetings from Planet Earth by Barbara Kerley
• Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke
• Zorgamazoo by Robert Paul Weston

Students are learning a lot about how to talk about books. For example, instead of just saying "that book was awesome," we are talking about why they thought a book was awesome. Was it the characters? Was it exciting? Were the words silly or the rhymes fun to say?

When we cast our votes at school, we will compare and contrast the books, which may be hard since they are all so different. Duck is a quiet story about friendship while Thelonius Monster is a silly poem about a pie filled with flies. Zorgamazoo is a chapter book written in rhyming couplets with monsters and mystery while Greetings from Planet Earth is a touching story about a young boy learning about his father after the Vietnam War. We will have a lot of hard decisions to make!

The Berkeley Public Library also has copies of these books so you can get them all to read together at home. When sharing them, talk about what made one or another extra special, what it reminded you of and what your favorite part was. These conversations help students articulate the joys of stories and the fun of finding a new favorite.

Happy reading!

Mrs. Dalloway's Books, School Benefit Weekend!

This weekend, November 13 and 14, Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore is hosting a school benefit for Cragmont Library!

Mrs. Dalloway's will reimburse the library for 20% of purchases made by Cragmont families! Get some holiday shopping done and bring your receipt into me, Mrs. Overlid, in the library by November 30th. We will use the funds to purchase new books and replace our favorite titles.

Books make fabulous and rewarding holiday gifts, here are some titles that Cragmont kids will no doubt love to receive wrapped up with a bow!

Chapter Books

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney: Of course, the newest installment of the Wimpy Kid series is sure to be on the top of wish lists!
• The Heroes of Olympus, The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan: This new series keeps our favourite people from Percy Jackson and introduces some Roman gods to go along with Greek mythology. Another sneakily-educational hit!
• The Popularity Papers by Amy Iganatow: Reviewed as Diary of a Wimpy Kid with more girl appeal, this brand new series is written as journal entries between two 5th grade best friends.
  

Picture Books

• Cooking with Henry and Elliebelly by Carolyn Parkhurst and Dan Yaccarino: Let's pretend we are hosting a cooking show with this sweet and funny story about a brother and sister cooking together (with recipe included)!
• Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney: One of my favorite picture book series, little Llama appears in his first holiday themed story.
  
• Knuffle Bunny Free by Mo Willems: Good news/bad news for Knuffle fans. Good news, Knuffle Bunny is back for a third adventure, this time on a plane! Bad news: This could be Trixie's last Knuffle story.
  

Non-Fiction

• The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science: 64 Daring Experiments for Young Scientists by Sean Connolly: Great for curious minds, this experiment books offers fun activities and clear explanations for the science that makes it all work.
• Pop! The Invention of Bubblegum by Meghan McCarthy: Author of lots of fun nonfiction, Megan McCarthy tells the story of how bubblegum came to be the sticky sweet treat we enjoy today!