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Welcome to Weekend Links! This is my chance to share what I consider some of my my ‘top finds’ that I have discovered over the course of the week. This week there was a plethora of Powerful Book Discussions, Celebrations and Initiatives that I would like to share with our readers. Enjoy!
Publishers Weekly reported that First Book, Corporate Partners Make 60,000 Books Available to Children in Need
“In our overprescribed, overstimulated, overscheduled lives, author Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford reminds us about family traditions” at the Smithsonian APA Book Dragon
Let’s celebrate Children’s Book Week with a Super Spring Sale! I have two of my most popular books on a super special sale until May18th!
The Waldorf Homeschool Handbook: The Simple Step-by-Step guide to creating a Waldorf-inspired #homeschool. And for a limited time, this best-selling book by Donna Ashton, The Waldorf #Homeschool Handbook is now only $17.95 until May18, 2015 ! http://amzn.to/1OhTfoT
Enjoy more month-by-month activities based on the classic children’s tale, The Secret Garden! A Year in the Secret Garden is a delightful children’s book with over 120 pages, with 150 original color illustrations and 48 activities for your family and friends to enjoy, learn, discover and play with together. AND, it’s on sale for a limited time! Grab your copy ASAP and “meet me in the garden!” http://amzn.to/1DTVnuX
Earlier this year I blogged about Primary Source when they hosted a Global Read of Mitali Perkins‘ book Bamboo People. On March 2nd Primary Source will be hosting a new Global Read, this time focusing on Christina Diaz Gonzalez‘ YA book The Red Umbrella. The online discussion forum will be followed by a live web-based session with Christina on March 9th from 3:00 – 4:00pm EST. Anyone interested in global issues is welcome to take part in this free event but must register online here.
The Red Umbrella follows a 14-year-old Cuban girl and her brother sent by their parents to live in the United States during the tumultuous period of 1960s Cuba. Christina says the story was ” loosely based on the experiences of my parents, mother-in-law and many of the other 14,000 children who participated in Operation Pedro Pan.”
Talking about why she wrote the book, Christina says:
“Obviously, this is a personal story and part of my family history. In fact, it’s an important part of American history and yet there wasn’t much written about it, especially from the point of view of the children who experienced it. The book showcases how the U.S. has always been a haven for those seeking refuge from injustice and oppression and how average Americans have stepped up to help those in need, even if they were foreigners in our country. I also wanted to show the pride immigrants (in this case Cubans) have for their homeland, but how, in the end, family is what matters most… home is not a physical place. It’s where you feel you belong, where you are surrounded by people who love and accept you.”
The Red Umbrella has been appearing on many YA book lists since being published in May 2010, including ALA/YALSA’s 2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults. You can read an interview with Christina here, and there is also an amazing book trailer made by Christina’s brother-in-law:
0 Comments on Primary Source Hosts a Global Read of The Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez as of 1/1/1900
Having just finished reading Bamboo People, I was excited to see this email in my inbox today from Primary Source, a non-profit organization that promotes history and humanities education by connecting educators to people and cultures throughout the world:
Global Read of Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins
You are invited to join us for a discussion of the young adult novel, Bamboo People, by Mitali Perkins — a compelling coming-of-age story about child soldiers in modern Burma. The online discussion forum will begin tomorrow – Wednesday, January 12th. Then join the author for a live chat on January 19th.
Online discussion forum: January 12th-19th, 2011 Live chat session with the author: Wednesday, January 19, 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST
Register online here (registration is free but participants are responsible for obtaining their own copy of the book). All are welcome – teachers, students, parents, and anyone interested in global issues!
I’m off to register now and hope that some of our PaperTigers readers will join me!
P.S. Don’t forget to take a look at our 1,000th post, with the chance of winning a Spirit of PaperTigers 2010 book set. The deadline for entries is midnight Pacific Standard Time, on Wednesday 19 January with the draw taking placing in San Francisco on Thursday 20 January.
0 Comments on Primary Source Hosts a Global Read of Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins~ January 12th – 19th as of 1/1/1900
Before we move on to our discussion of A Girl Named Disaster and the introduction of the next Tiger’s Choice, we want to talk about the latest comments in the discussion of how to turn children into passionate readers.
Parents who read to their children are an essential element in creating readers, and Jeannine and Marjorie both bring up new ways for parents to ensure that this happens. Marjorie, whose sons’ book reviews light up the PaperTigers blog this week, suggests a virtual book group as being a way for children with irrepressible physical energy to come together in a space that doesn’t lend itself to exuberant (and distracting) physical activity. “After all,” she points out, “they are growing up with an affinity for virtuality which we can only wonder at!” Providing a way to link the world of books with the virtual world seems to be a brilliant way to keep reading alive in the brave new world of the internet. If anybody else has ideas on blending these two disparate pastimes, please let us know.
Jeannine, who read three to four books a night with her son when he was small, says that talking about the books was as much fun as reading them. She observes that parents can encourage their children to be engaged readers who can eventually take part in intelligent book discussions by through questions (”Why do you think he did that?”) and through connecting real-life activities with books shared with children. “If you’re reading about a garden, go outside and dig in the dirt,” she urges. And she adds, in the same spirit as Corinne, “As for the TV–just say no!”
Suggestions that add to this conversation, previously posted to the CCBC-net listserv, (the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education), are reprinted here with permission. Megan Schliesman, CCBC Librarian, says, “When my husband, daughter and I gather together for a shared story (we are currently on book 3 of Suzanne Collin’s “Gregor the Overlander series), I am aware–as several have already mentioned–that we are not only experiencing a terrific story, we are also making shared memories.”
Lee Bennett Hopkins, a well-known poet and anthologist, echoes another poet, Sherman Alexie, in advocating The Snowy Day. “Read aloud The Snowy Day by [Ezra Jack] Keats; follow it up with “Cynthia in the Snow” where snow is “Still white as milk or shirts/So beautiful it hurts.” in Gwendolyn Brooks’ Bronzeville Boys and Girls….With every book you read aloud, find a poem to go with it. I believe we spend too much time TEACHING children to READ–and NOT enough time TEACHING them to LOVE to read. GET the difference.”
Let’s celebrate that difference and continue the discussion on how to make it become a vital part of the lives of children.
0 Comments on The Tiger’s Bookshelf: Carrying on the Conversation as of 1/1/1900
“Check it out! That’s a contra-bass! There’s only like ten of them in the whole world or something.”
“Where’s Goofy? She’s the saxophone expert.”
“She ran off with that ring, I don’t know where she went though.”
“I’ll go find her!”
“That thing is seriously frightening.”
“That guy can play, though. That’s the Aadams family theme from television.”
“I found Jessie!”
“Hiii everybody oooh looky a contra-bass saxophone. Super cool!”
“Okay what’s the deal with this thing?”
“Well, there’s a whole bunch of saxophones. I play soprano and alto. Those are the highest pitched ones. Soprano is B-flat a major second below concert pitch. Alto is E-flat a major sixth below concert pitch.”
“But this one is double E-flat.”
“Yeah, it’s two octaves lower than my alto. You transpose music for it up two octaves and a major sixth.”
“That’s all pedal range stuff about an octave or more below the bass clef.”
“How do you know all that?”
“It’s music! It’s easy! There’s four E-flat saxophones and three B-flat. Sopranino, Alto, Baritone and Contra-bass are the E-flat ones and soprano, tenor and bass are the B-flat ones. I played a bass sax one time at the music shop and it had an ‘A’ key so I could make it sound like a big truck horn!”
*giggle* “Jessie’s funny.”
“I wish she was that good at her other classes.”
“Well there you have it, folks. The giant saxophone attack from the land of Goofy. We out.”
“Hi everyone! Shannon here. You probably already noticed I opened a New Gift Shop, and Hayashi really went all out with a really cool new design. I’d be really happy if you would all come visit us because this is the best Gift Shop we’ve ever had, and we’re starting a new thing on our site today.”
“Teko likes to explore, so he’s going to fly through our shop to find a new item each week that will be ‘Teko’s Magical Treasure.’ We’ll announce it here along with a link.”
“This way we can announce our best Gift Shop gifts with our best designs.”
“And you know we’ve got the best designs!”
“This week’s Magical Treasure is the Warrior of the Night Tote Bag with our brand new Starlight Huntress design.”
Teko’s Magical Treasure of the Week
“Yay for Teko-chan! Don’t forget, minna! Shannon-sama donates some of what the Gift Shop makes to benefit the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls which is a super-neat camp every year that’s all about music! Have fun! Ja ne!”
“We’re really super happy today ’cause we gots a big announcement. Acey-san and Z-bot helped us a lot when those mean Halloween monsters attacked, and so we decided that Gamepowa should be part of our site all official and stuff!”
“And so I said that Acey and Z-bot should have their own character pages like us so Talitha made one for them! It’s Acey and Z-bot of the Starship Hana!“
“Welcome to the Goofy Bird show, Space girl! Good to have you guys orbiting the planet checking out all the coolest game tech, even if I can’t understand what Z-bot is talking about half the time.”
“Heh.”
“We’re honored to be a part of the best site on the web, game fans! Z-bot and I will do our best to make the Gamepowa category rock! A big salute from the crew of the Hana!”
“Check out the Gamepowa Store too. That’s where Acey and Z-bot put all of the great games they review. They’ve got over 300 games in the store now.”
“That’s affirmative.”
“Sugoi sugoi sugoi!”
“Our store has all the best games too!”
“Yay for Gamepowa! Go read all their neat articles, minna-san! All of Acey-san and Z-bot’s articles are in the Gamepowa Category that Talitha-chan set up. Have fun!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what about the most important thing?”
Ranko Yorozu sat in the corner of the band room, aimlessly tapping the wrong end of a drum stick on a practice pad. She stared blankly at the rest of the drum equipment that surrounded her. She and Jessica Hoshi were the only two people in the room.
Jessica walked around next to Ranko and sat down on the floor so she could see Ranko’s face.
“I want my treasure back,” Ranko said.
“Do you think we could have fought those Halloween monsters?” Jessica asked, implying that the surprise attack would have made their treasures useless.
“At least we could have done something,” Ranko said. “We left little bit all by herself like the whole time. She could have really gotten hurt, you know? We have to get those treasures back no matter what.”
“Cici-chan is a smart girl. She went to find help. That’s what I would have done too. I’m proud of her,” Jessica said, making a fist.
“I’m proud of her too,” Ranko said. “She’s pulled us out of tons of trouble now. Her and that little lantern and the ferocious guard cat,” Ranko grinned very slightly.
“She said her and Talitha fought together really good,” Jessica said. “I wish I could have been there.”
“We’ve got a lot of trouble coming, Goofy,” Ranko said. “We’ve got to get those treasures back. Some of the monsters we face might be too much for just little bit and the Professor.”
Jessica nodded. “We’ll find them. I’m sure of it.” Just then, Alanna and Shannon walked through the side door, with Cici, Talitha and Leila following. Jessica waved wildly.
“Konban wa minna-san!” she smiled. Shannon shook her head and smiled.
“Well, here we are once again, huh?” Shannon said. “We found Teko.” Shannon let Teko down off her hand. He hopped to the floor and began walking towards Jessica. About halfway there, something distracted him and he wandered off to look at the shiny base of a chair leg. Jessica giggled.
Cici stood behind Ranko and tugged Ranko’s shirt. Ranko swiveled around on the drumset stool she was sitting on and faced Cici.
“I found a new power that my lantern gots!” Cici announced. Ranko stifled a laugh as she saw the expression on Cici’s face. Then her eyes glistened just a little and she put her hand on Cici’s shoulder.
“I want you to know how proud we all are of you, little bit,” Ranko said. “You’re a real fighter. Never forget that.”
Cici closed her eyes, smiled and nodded, then opened her eyes again. “Me and Hikousen are ready for anything!” Cici said loudly. All of the girls laughed, even Leila. Just then, Irina and Tara ran through the front door, with a short, fierce looking woman following them. She was dressed in a parka, carrying a mobile phone and a set of car keys.
“Oh my, girls. What have they done to you? Are you hurt? Are you all okay?” the woman asked as she walked around to each of the girls in turn, putting her hands on either side of their faces and inspecting them for injuries. It took her less than 30 seconds to make sure every single one of the girls was okay. She was scarcely as tall as Jessica.
“Mom, we’re fine,” Ranko said as she fussed over the girls one at a time. “Really, we’re all okay.”
“Tara and Irina said you were all in trouble and to come quick. I got here as fast as I could.”
“You closed the diner?!” Ranko exclaimed. “What about dinner? What about all the regulars? That radio guy and the paint truck driver! They’ll end up over at that burger place and get food poisoning again!”
“Relax, I sent the deliveries early this afternoon. It’s Halloween! Everyone’s going to parties anyway. All I need is a big bowl of candies for the goblins.” the woman replied. “It’s all under control.”
“Ladies, if you haven’t met her yet, this is my mom, Darci Yorozu.”
“Hi Mrs. Yorozu! I’m Jessica Hoshi, but you can call me Jessie!”
“Well, I’ll be sure to call you Jessie, then!” Mrs. Yorozu replied with a wink. Jessica grinned. “Now, who’s up for a Halloween party with candy and cakes and caramel apples!”
“Me!” Cici shouted.
“Me!” Jessica shouted.
“Sounds like fun,” Shannon said. Alanna nodded.
“Let’s hit the diner, then,” Tara said. “Ranko’s mom makes the best pies you have ever eaten before. She has about ten recipes for real hot chocolate too.”
“Ooh, my mom can make great hot chocolate. Hey! She made candy this year! You wanna get some before we go to the diner?” Jessica asked.
“Are you kidding?” Mrs. Yorozu said. “Bring some along! Bring your mom too. We can compare recipes.”
“My mom has tons of recipes! Yay!” Jessica exclaimed.
All of the girls walked together out the front door of the band room. Jessica was so happy they were all together again.
“I can unlock it,” Alanna said, taking out her keys.
“Wow,” Cici said. “You’re just like a teacher, huh?”
Alanna smiled. “One of the perks of being in charge of the band is you get to unlock doors for them,” Alanna said as she turned the lock in the athletic building door. It was still dark inside, but they could see the hallway that led to the gymnastics training facility. Cici held up her lantern and the lobby area brightened slightly.
“Still glowing,” Talitha said, indicating Cici’s lantern. As Cici watched, it looked as if Talitha was talking in slow motion.
“What?” Cici asked as Talitha’s voice faded. Cici looked around frantically. Everyone was gone. Even Hikousen. She heard a voice whispering very close by.
“They don’t really like you,” the voice said. “Not really. They say you’re their friend, but you don’t deserve friends.”
“Who are you?” Cici shouted. “What did you do to Talitha and Alanna?!”
“They left you,” the voice said, as a shadowy shape began to emerge, moving towards Cici. She could see sharp horns on its shoulders and crooked hands. Cici held up her lantern defensively. “Didn’t they?” the voice asked. “You’re all alone, aren’t you?”
Cici hesitated.
“They left you because they don’t like you,” the voice whispered. “That’s why you have no friends.” The shape was close enough now for Cici to see what it was. Its head was the shape of a wolf’s, and it had very sharp high shoulders. Its entire essence was pitch black and a hazy indistinct grayish mist rose from its shoulders and head.
“You stay back!” Cici said. “I’ll zap you if you don’t stay away!”
“I am unarmed,” the voice said as the creature began to float slowly in a wide circle around Cici. “You know it wouldn’t be right to attack someone who hasn’t hurt you, don’t you?” it said. Cici hesitated again, watching the creature float past. Is it okay to fight? Cici thought.
“Maybe if you learned to get along with other people, you’d have friends,” the creature said. Cici’s expression slowly began to change as she listened. “Those older girls don’t really like you. They just tolerate you because they don’t want to hear you complain.” Cici sniffled.
“You’re not telling the truth. They do like me. They said so,” Cici challenged the creature.
“I’m not telling the truth? They are the ones who are lying. They all blame you for getting them trapped. They blame you because you hurt them,” the voice replied. “It’s your fault, isn’t it? Isn’t it your fault they got trapped? You could have saved them. You have an Ajan Treasure. Why did you fail?” Cici felt tears in her eyes. Maybe it is my fault.
“And now they’re going to leave you alone just like they’ve always wanted to,” the voice said as it slowly completed its circular path around where Cici was standing. “Look around. There’s nobody here. They’ve all left you. They’re going off to have their Halloween party. Even Acey. None of them like you. They don’t want you around. Nobody wants you around.”
“You be quiet!!” Cici shouted. “You don’t know! Those are my frien–” Cici’s voice broke. “They are!!” she screamed through her tears.
“No. You’ve never had friends. You know that. They are all trapped forever, and it’s your fault. Just admit it,” the voice whispered. “Admit it.” By now Cici was crying. She looked down at the lantern she was holding. Her hands were shaking and she felt an awful cold emptiness in her heart. There was nothing she feared more than being alone. And now she was alone with nothing but an evil voice for company. Even Hikousen was gone.
She could just see her own reflection in the lantern’s golden top. The Lantern. She felt its weight in her hands. It was the only source of light. It was then that she heard another voice. In her mind she heard faint words through the pain of being alone and abandoned. She could just hear the words through her fear of having no friends.
Are we the Ajan Warriors?
She stopped. The evil whispers faded away. Everything faded away. Her entire attention was on those words.
Are we the Ajan Warriors?
Something happened. What was a cold, fearful pain changed suddenly. A fire had started in Cici’s mind. Ajan Warriors. She thought of Ranko, and how many times she had encouraged Cici to do her best. She thought of Jessie and Shannon. She thought of the time they let her do an update all by herself. She remembered how they all cheered for her. She thought of Talitha, and how they had fought together. She thought of how proud Talitha was of how Cici had helped defeat the Halloween Monster.
Her mind burned. We are the Ajan Warriors, she thought. I’m an Ajan Warrior! She looked up suddenly, her eyes glaring with a warrior’s rage.
“They are my friends!” she screamed. “Because we’re all the Ajan Warriors!” Cici lifted the Chronicler’s Lantern, and it’s light glowed around her, pushing the darkness away. The creature’s eyes widened, and it snarled with white fangs.
“By the power of the Crystal Terrane! Ruby Lens of Fire!”
All eight lenses of the Chronicler’s Lantern shifted to a brillant, sparkling reddish color, and a fiery glow bathed the front of the athletic building in the seething light of a volcano’s blood. In that same instant, a cloud of yellowish-orange flames in the shape of a serpent’s head exploded from the lenses of the lantern and blasted through the dark shape as it turned to avoid the attack. A horrifying shriek echoed in all directions as the flaming remains of the shadowy fiend faded from sight.
Cici stood wide-eyed, holding her breath.
“Three cheers for the Ajan Wimps,” another voice said. Cici snapped to her right, ready to fight again. Floating in the air only a few feet away was the grinning face of a jack-o-lantern. Cici’s breathing was frantic and her heart was beating rapidly as she backed away, expecting another attack. Just then, Cici heard the doors of the athletic building slam open, and Ranko’s voice.
“There they are!”
Cici turned around with an expression of surprise and saw Ranko running towards her. Alanna was running faster, though. Just as Ranko reached the spot where Cici was standing, Alanna caught up and grabbed Ranko, who was clearly very upset.
“No, no, no..” Alanna said, pushing against Ranko and trying to hold her back. Shannon arrived to help, but Ranko was having none of it.
“You want to trap me in a cage?!” Ranko screamed. “Huh?!! Try trapping me again and we’ll see what’s left! Come on!” Ranko was jumping and pointing. Alanna and Shannon were doing everything they can to keep Ranko from rushing at the monster. Cici turned back to the grinning face.
“You’re the cause of all of this!” Cici shouted. “You leave us alone, ’cause now I know how to zap monsters!”
“We’ll meet again,” the jack-o-lantern said coldly. “You can’t defeat us. We’ll find you in Aventar. And next time we’ll have even more powerful sorcery.”
“Do I hear a bell?” Ranko snapped. “Because when I hear a bell, something’s about to get knocked out!” Ranko pointed over Alanna and Shannon’s arms. “You won’t have to look for us, rotface! Next time you find us you better bring something besides talk, and you mess with little bit again and I’ll kick you through those doors myself! You GOT THAT!?!” Ranko lunged again and again as Alanna and Shannon held her back.
“You Ajan Wimps make a brave noise,” the jack-o-lantern said calmly. “You have no idea what you face. When next we do battle, you will know the pain of defeat,” With that, the jack-o-lantern disappeared.
“Yeah!?” Ranko shouted. Then she clenched her mouth and teeth. There was nobody there. She slowly relaxed and Alanna and Shannon very slowly released her. Cici noticed Jessica, Talitha and Leila were standing a number of steps behind where Ranko had been held back. They still looked startled. Alanna turned to survey the situtation.
“Looks like they gave up,” Alanna said, trying to change the subject to help everyone recover from Ranko’s outburst. Ranko stormed past her.
“They better give up,” Ranko said angrily. “Because I’m just getting started.” Ranko walked through the side door to the Fine Arts building and slammed it behind her.
The other girls remained standing on the cement path outside the athletic building. Nobody spoke.
“Ranko-chan! Looky, it’s our first question after we got my Jessie’s Letters page fixed and it’s for you!”
“Alright, hit me.”
“It’s from Niss and they said Ranko-chan, well, they didn’t really say Ranko-chan, but I added it. Anyway, they said ‘Ranko-chan, since you’re so cool…’”
“Oh boy.”
“Hey, I can’t help it if the intelligent and sophisticated fans of LadyStar think I’m cool! They’re here reading our stories, right? They’ve got to have some pretty serious smarts going. heh heh heh”
“errrr….”
“They asked ‘what does booya mean?’”
“Booya! It means ‘that’s right!’ or ‘way to go!’ It’s kind of a cheer. Lock and me used to shout ‘booya’ at Ski’s volleyball games every time she got an ace, so it kind of turned into a habit.”
“And now you shout it every time Hayashi says something about Pluto.”
“Exactly. It’s a planet, right Goofy?”
“Booya!”
“There you go.”
sigh
“Thanks Ranko-chan! If you got a question or a comment or just wanna say ‘Hi!’ you can send me e-mail at my super-neat all new Jessie’s Letters page and maybe I can get some of my best friends to help me answer it. Ja!”
“You know how some sites have like one free chapter so you can see how the book is before you buy it?”
“Yeah. That’s pretty cool. It’s just like going to the bookstore and reading some of the book before you buy it in the store.”
“But we have all our chapters on our site. We give all the chapters away for free.”
“Because we’re the crazy LadyStar peoples! Come on, Miss Shannon. We’ve got a guard cat that’s been asleep for six years! We’ve got a blond girl somewhere around here that’s as smart as Mozart about music but wears yellow tennis shoes as a fashion statement! We have a bird that makes magic flowers appear!”
“Okay, you’ve got to tell us what’s going on here because I’m about to go ultra batty.”
“What are you now?”
“Very funny.”
“heheee…”
“Oh my goodness…”
“Everywhere we look in our server stuff like where it tells us what people are searching for we keep seeing the same question. Even Space Girl is getting this all the time. It’s got to have something to do with that High School Musical review we did.”
“Yeah, it’s not an official-like Jessie’s Letters question but it’s sorta a question cause people are always asking it.”
“What’s the question?”
“Once and for all: Are Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens engaged?”
“I don’t have the foggiest clue.”
“Well there you have it folks. GOODNIGHT EVERYBODY!”
“What?”
“Sometimes I wonder about you people. I truly do.”