Read Any Good Movies Lately?

Children's books are always a fabulous source of material for filmmakers. Here is some news about upcoming films and future productions made from books plus some classics that you may have forgotten started on the bookshelf! If you watch any of these movies with your student, take a moment to read the book first and then have an interesting compare/contrast review afterward!

Current Films
Mars Needs Moms by Berkeley Breathed: 1st and 2nd graders are reading all of the California Young Reader Medal nominees right now and one of them, Pete and Pickles, is also by author Berkeley Breathed, known for his long-running newspaper comic "Bloom County." The movie "Mars Needs Moms" is in theaters now so head to the Berkeley Public Library before standing in line for tickets!

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett: Published in 1978, this book has yet to go out of style and even has a lesser known sequel, Pickles To Pittsburgh. Though the movie, released in 2009, followed a different plot, the enormous food remained the star. What was your favorite oversized meal? Mine was definitely the school-sized pancakes! This is a fun movie/book pair for discussions of similarities and differences.

Where the Wild Things Are by Murice Sendak: How can a ten sentence picture book be transformed to a 104 minute live-action film? Ask acclaimed indie director Spike Jonez and quirky screenwriter Dave Eggers. Though the film, 2009, was met with mixed reviews, the original book is a staple at bedsides everywhere.


Future Films
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater: Mr. Popper's Penguins is a Newbery Honor winning book from 1939 but still flies from the library shelves on a regular basis. It is a silly story of a man who suddenly comes into ownership of several penguins and hilarity ensues. The film version is set to some out this summer starring none other than goofball Jim Carrey as Mr. Popper himself. Gear up for summer and share this book as a bedtime chapter book readaloud!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick: This Caldecott winning chapter book clearly lends itself to the screen. Pages of illustrations coupled with rich text tell the story of a young boy who lives in the walls of a Paris train station and his quest to find out the truth of his father's life. On schedule for release in winter 2011, the most interesting part of the film is that it is slated to be directed by none other than Martin Scorsese!

Adventures of Tintin, Secret of the Unicorn by Hergé: Tintin graphic novels are all the rage at Cragmont Library, I just cannot keep them on the shelf for more than a day before they are snapped back up again by eager readers. Word is that after years and years of talk, Spielberg, an avid Tintin fan, and Peter Jackson are joining forces to bring the classic comic to the screen. It may not be until winter break 2011 but I can bet that Cragmont readers will be more than excited to see one of their favorite adventure stories to be big screen.

The Story of Ferdinand by Munroe Leaf: All the 2nd graders this year listened to this classic from 1936 during one of their winter library visits. Ferdinand is a bull in Madrid who prefers smelling flowers under a cork tree to running about and butting heads. We talked about why this particular book has been around so long and what makes is so special. It was already made into a Disney short back in 1938 (one of my favorites from childhood, available on the Disney DVD "The Reluctant Dragon") but word is that Ferdinand will soon be smelling flowers as a CGI bull. Read more here: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/02/the_story_of_ferdinand.html.

Classic Books or Films
Shrek! by William Steig: Though the current Shrek franchise is only loosely based on the classic William Steig book of the same name, it is still worth making the connection. In the book version, Shrek hears a witchly predication that he will marry a princess uglier than himself. Impossible! Or is it? The film has even more literary connections with the inclusion of many more obscure fairy tale characters, like Puss n Boots and the Pied Piper.

Roald Dahl books:
So many movies and books to choose from! Bigger movies/books include The Witches, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Roald Dahl passed away at age 74 in 1990 and many of his most well known titles were published long before that but his books are still being made into feature films. The most recent film, "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," is only 62 pages in print but inspired a feature length stop-motion film with huge stars!

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!

Volunteer at the Cragmont Library!

Looking for a way to get involved in your student's school and reading? Help at the Cragmont Library!

We have about 500 books go in and out every week, and every one of those books has to be put back on the shelf so other students can try them out! If you are around school and have an extra 30 minutes, I would love help shelving, straightening, labeling and pulling books out for themes. Since students are still learning where things go, shelf reading (making sure a shelf is in the right order) is an important part of making sure our library is easy to use and a nice place to be.

In helping the library, you will be making the space more user friendly and may even come upon some new books to share with your students at home!

Please stop by the library and let me know if you can be a volunteer, I would love your help!

Award Winners for the New Year!

Happy New Year Cragmont Readers!

Every January, the American Library Association (ALA) announces its Youth Media Award for the previous year. Committees of librarians read thousands of books and decide which ones fit the bill for "best of."

Last week, the winners for 2010 were announced! Below are the ALA descriptions of each award and this year's winner:

Newbery Medal: Best novel for children 12 and under, written by an American Author. 2010 winners are...

• Medal Winner: Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

• Honor Books: Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm (author of the Babymouse graphic novel series); Heart of the Samurai by Margi Preus; One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia (takes place in Oakland in the year 1968); and finally Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman.
  

Caldecott Medal: Best illustrations for a children's book. 2010 winners are...

• Medal Winner: A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Christian Stead
• Honor Books: Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein; and Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill
  

Coretta Scott King Award: Honors African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults portraying the African American experience. 2010 winners are...

• Winner for author award: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (also an Honor Newbery book)
• Winner for illustrator award: Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill (also an Honor Caldecott book)

Pura Belpre Award: Honors honor Latino writers and illustrators whose work celebrates the Latino cultural experience in children's literature. 2010 winners are...

• Winner for author award: The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan
• Winner for illustrator award: Grandma's Gift by Eric Velasquez

Siebert Medal: Best informational book for children. 2010 winners are...

• Winner: Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot by Sy Montgomery
• Honors: Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan; and Lafayette and the American Revolution by Russell Freedman

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award: Best beginning reader book. 2010 winners are...

• Winner: Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo (of Winn-Dixie and Tale of Despereaux fame)
• Honors: We are in a Book! by Mo Willems (creator of pigeon and Knuffle bunny); and Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same by Grace Lin
  

Schneider Family Book Award: Best book that "embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences." 2010 winners are...

• Winner for ages 0-10: The Pirate of Kindergarten by George Ella Lyon

For more details about each award, lists of all honor books, plus information about all other ALA awards, click here and here. A complete list of all past winners can be found at the American Library Association website.

Uh oh! Lost or Damaged Library Books

Q: What happens when your student loses or damages a library book?

A: First of all, don't worry! If the book is lost, just keep looking around. Popular hiding places for books are:

• under the seat in the car
• in the back or side pockets of a car
  
• cubby at school
• on personal book shelves at home
• on classroom bookshelves
• in a stack going to the public library
• family member's house
• friend's house
• the afterschool lost and found closet in the auditorium

If you cannot find the book or a book is damaged beyond mending, families can either pay for a replacement book or can bring in a comparable book from home. If you choose to bring in a book from home, please make the sure book is

• hardcover
• gently used or new
• something that Cragmont students would enjoy

Missing books hinder your child's use of the library so it is important that we solve lost/damaged book issues quickly to get your student checking out new titles as soon as possible!

If you have any concerns or questions about missing or damaged books, please do not hesitate to talk to me! joverlid@berkeley.k12.ca.us or 510-644-8810.

cleaning house?

If you are cleaning out your student's bookshelf, please consider sending some of your gently used books to the Cragmont Library!

We are always looking for more of our favorite series paperbacks like Magic Tree House, Junie B. Jones, Geronimo Stilton, Goosebumps, Captain Underpants and Secrets of Droon. These are all extremely popular and loved to pieces so replacements are always welcome! If the library cannot add them, I will make sure they get into a classroom library or save them for the Read-A-Thon in February 2011.

New Books!

Cragmont Library just received its Fall/Winter book order and many of our students are discovering new authors and subjects! In addition to Spanish translations of old favorites and next-in-the-series titles, we have several brand new additions that I was very excited to share.

Here are just a few of the newest additions to our collection!

Soup Day by Melissa Iwai: [picture book] Cheerful mother and daughter prepare soup together, simple, sturdy book about food and family, recipe included!

Pierre the Penguin by Jean Marzollo: [non-fiction picture book] True story about an African penguin at the CA Academy of Sciences in San Francisco who lost all his feathers and needed a special wet suit.

The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton: [non-fiction picture book] Ever wonder how we got day-glo yellows, pinks and greens? This brightly illustrated biography tells the story the two brothers who made it happen!

Smile by Raina Telgemeier : [memoir graphic novel] Author Raina tells the story of her own experiences in elementary and middle school dealing with braces, missing teeth and growing up. (One of my favorite books of the past few years!)

Spaceheadz #1 by Jon Scieszka: [illustrated chapter book] First book of a series complete with aliens, a talking hamster and new-kid anxiety.

My Life As a Book by Janet Tashjian (and her 15 year old son Jake): [chapter book with sprinkles of illustrations] Part mystery, part Diary of a Wimpy Kid, main character Derek is dreading his summer reading list and instead, decides to spend his time trying to figure out why his mother is so secretive about an odd newspaper article he found in the attic.