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Our favorite books for April teach some important lessons!

One celebrates the human body and diversity, while others teach kindness and the keys to a true friendship. You’ll find a story that will help foster kids’ sense of empathy and understanding and an award-winning novel that tackles the topics of prejudice and police brutality.

For Pre-K –K (Ages 3-6):

Happy in Our Skin written by Fran Manushkin and illustrated by Lauren Tobia

This affirming and informative book is a charmer and a true celebration – both of diversity and of the human body! Kids will enjoy poring over the diverse faces and hidden details on these pages as they learn about the important role skin plays in their lives.

For 1^st and 2^nd Grade (Ages 6-8):

My Best Friend written by Mary Ann Rodman and illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Friendships and healthy relationships – those are two key themes of this read-aloud that will have your students’ undivided attention. Honest and relatable, it perfectly illustrates the confusion kids experience when they want to be liked but set their targets on the wrong person. This book will help them understand that a true friend treats others the way we all want to be treated – with kindness.

For 3^rd & 4^th grade (Ages 8-10):

Toys Go Out: Being the Adventures of a Knowledgeable Stingray, a Toughy Little Buffalo, and Someone Called Plastic written by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

Hilarious and heart-warming, this chapter book is a perfect pick for kids wanting a laugh-out-loud funny book to read on their own. It also makes a perfect family read-aloud!

For 5^th and 6^th Grade (Ages 10-12):

How to Steal a Dog written by by Barbara O’Connor

Empathy, understanding, and a clearer sense of right and wrong – these are just some of the lessons kids will take away from this wonderful, highly accessible book about a well-intentioned girl whose frustrations get the better of her when her family loses their apartment and is forced to live out of their car.

Grades 7 & up (Ages 13+):

All-American Boys written by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely

Teens will be both won over and bowled over by this tremendous novel about prejudice, power, and police brutality. Fantastic fuel for discussion, it’s A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book and the recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature!

The post Monthly Book List: Our Five Favorite Books for April appeared first on First Book Blog.

Before becoming a writer, Fran Manushkin had the idea that books came to life inside an author’s head fully made and that an author simply wrote them down “lickety split.” But then she started writing and discovered that notion simply wasn’t true. "Books develop according to their own time,” she says. “You cannot dictate that a book be born; neither can you dictate to a book. Listen.

Title: Happy in Our Skin Written by: Fran Manushkin Illustrated by: Lauren Tobia Published by: Candlewick Press, 2015 Themes/Topics: diversity, self-acceptance, skin Suitable for ages: 2-5 Opening: Look at you!                               … Continue reading →

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Katie Woo’s Big Idea Journal: A Place for Your Best Stories, Drawings, Doodles, and Plans

by Fran Manushkin & Tammie Lyon, illustrator

Capstone Young Readers        9/1/2014

978-1-62370-166-6

Age 5 to 7       144 pages

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“Katie Woo has lots of big ideas, and her readers do too! This journal activity book is the perfect place for young writers and artists to capture their best ideas, drawings, and stories. Katie gets in on the action by including some of her best work and inviting readers to do the same with writing and drawing prompts, checklists, and other fun activities.”

Opening

“Anyone who knows me knows that I have tons of big ideas. So I need a place to write them all down. A journal is the perfect place to do that!”

Review

Katie Woo has made a journal for her fans so they can journal like she journals. Katie writes down her big ideas, thoughts, and even some angry writing when she is mad. But it’s okay, as the angry writing always puts Katie in a better mood and she thinks it will help her fans too. In fact, she suggests you try it the next time you are upset. Before you get started, Katie gives you some great pointers on how to journal. You can write in the journal from page one and moving on page-by-page, or you can fill it out in any random order. It is your journal; now make it your own.

I like this journal over many I have seen because of the prompts given on most pages. Page 1 is simple enough. You write about you! Then, to start things out on a great high note, Katie asks you for five things that make you smile. Other pages ask about school, animals, and ideas for ways to help others. and what you would like to do when you grow up. There are also prompts for poetry, writing stories, drawing, and many more.I like this journal because the kid who have never journaled has guides in the form of prompts to help them make a book they can treasure as they grow up. Imagine reading the Katie Woo’s Big Idea Journal in your forties or fifties. Imagine reading your finished journal to your grandchildren.

Mainly, journals are like diaries. You can write your most personal thoughts, your dreams, and explain how your day went along. My journals were nothing more than a notebook. I would have loved to have something with writing and drawing prompts. When I was lost at what to write, I closed the book until the next day. The Katie’s journal helps you get past that “writer’s block” making it fun to journal. The Katie Woo’s Big Idea Journal is the journal I wish I had when I was young. This interesting and unique journal is a great gift for kids age seven and up.

KATIE WOO’S BIG IDEA JOURNAL: A PLACE FOR YOUR BEST STORIES, DRAWINGS, AND PLANS. Text copyright © 2014 by Fran Manushkin. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Tammie Lyon. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Capstone Young Readers, North Mankato, MN.

To get a cop of Katie Woo’s Big Idea Journal click Amazon—B&N—Book Depository—Capstone—or your local bookstore.

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Learn more about Katie Woo’s Big Idea Journal: A Place for Your best Stories, Drawings, and Plans HERE.

Meet the author, Fran Manushkin, at her website:   http://www.franmanushkin.com/

Meet the illustrator, Tammie Lyon, at her website:   http://picture-book.com/author/tammie-lyon/

Find more books at the Capstone Young Readers website:   http://www.capstoneyoungreaders.com/

Capstone Young Readers is an imprint of Capstone

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Also by Fran Manushkin (released in 2014)

Baby, Come Out!

Also by Tammie Lyon (released in 2014)

Psalms and Prayers for Little Ones

Channing O’Banning and the Tickled Pink Pencil Problem

My Kitten

Keepsake Storybook Classics Collection

Also:

Good Morning, God!    &   Good Night, God!

Also by Manushkin & Lyon (released in 2014)

Cowgirl Katie

Katie Woo, Every Day’s an Adventure

Fly High, Katie       

Also in 2014:   Katie and the Fancy Substitute    &    Keep Dancing, Katie

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Last week, Katie Woo author Fran Manushkin shared a heart-warming letter that was sent to her from a mother of a young reader. It served as a wonderful reminder that our books make a real difference to the children who read them, and it has inspired us as we plan for more Katie adventures. Here is what this thoughtful mother had to say:


I am sending you a heart-felt thank you for helping my soon to be first grade daughter find her love of reading and books again.  She had a horrific kindergarten experience and she lost that enthusiasm she has always had for school.  It was painful for me to watch as her mother and a Middle School Language Arts teacher.  I happened to be at the IRA annual conference in the spring where you signed a copy of Katie Woo and the Class Pet.  I brought her home the signed copy and it was truly amazing to watch her excitement and level of confidence grow instantly.  She gained back her confidence to read on her own and found that she can find success in reading at this early age, she just needs to believe in herself.  The story lines in your Katie Woo series directly relate to her own life and she anxiously anticipates Katie’s next adventure.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for providing this experience for her at a time we needed it the most.  She is now devouring all the books in the series and I often find her with covers over her head and a flashlight reading a Katie Woo book.  She carries them with her everywhere we go and frequently re-reads each book.

Come visit us at ALA this weekend! We will be at Booth #2609 and will have trailers of our new Fall product.

Shop Indie Bookstores

 

Books with a “This is the House that Jack Built” format often use the first line as the title of the book. However, the first line is just a starting point from which to build the actual story. “This is the house that Jack built,” is not about the house at all but about the community around the house. Similarly, The Matzah that Papa Brought Home, by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Ned Bittinger, is not about matzah at all but about the Passover seder.

With tight and lyrical rhyme, Manushkin captures the high points of the Passover Seder from a child’s point of view. The narrator is clearly the child of the “Papa” who brought home the matzah. The child voice is unmistakable in the fourth spread into the story, when we read, “This is me standing tall and proud/ to ask the Four Questions nice and loud/ during the Passover Seder we shared/ to eat the feast that Mama made/ with the matzah that Papa brought home.” This passage reveals that the narrator is the youngest child in this family and the illustration portrays a sweet six-year-old girl who is glowing with the responsibilities of her question-asking task. My inner-child especially connected with the line, “This is “Dayenu,” a very long song/ that we sang with our stomachs growling along…”

Bittinger’s paintings are rendered in oil paint on linen using deep shadow and glowing light to intensify emotion and lead the eye of the viewer around the painting. From the feast, to clearing the table, to the child trying to sneak a bit of matzah, the images capture the chaos and order of a Passover Seder. My favorite image is of the narrator sitting on Papa’s lap, each of them taking pinkies full of wine to diminish their pleasure while reciting the plagues. The figures are bathed in light, the background a deep brown/black but in the middle values, frogs and locusts hop, and rains fall on enslaved Hebrew workers. This dreamy sequence allows two stories, Manushkin’s and the Exodus, to be told at the same time. www.franmanushkin.com/thematzahpapabroughthome.htm

The only issue I had with the book was the line, “This is the feast that Mama made with the matzah that Papa brought home.” I stumbled over this line when reading it aloud to my boys and we all looked at each other. My son said, “The roasted chicken [in the illustration] didn’t come from the matzah.” I agreed. Obviously, the feast was made to go along with the matzah but the syntax suggested that the whole feast was made from the matzah.

Scholastic published the book in 1995, and it is well worth the interlibrary loan. If you are looking to buy the book, it was reprinted in paperback in 2001 and should be available for order through your nearest Indie-bookshop. Happy Passover to all!

When I first read author Fran Manushkin’s manuscripts for our Katie Woo series, I felt like I knew Katie. In fact, I felt like I was raising her! (Only my Katie is named Sky and doesn’t wear glasses.)

Fran has a wonderful understanding of children and how they think and react to situations. I think that is why Katie is so likeable. You feel like you know her, because she is just like the sweet, funny girl in your class, or down the street, or at your kitchen table. She loves clothes and her friends and spaghetti. Sure, she gets in trouble once in a while, but she always makes you laugh.

To celebrate Katie, we have a fabulous new poster — and we are giving four away! Be one of the first four readers to leave a comment and one will be sent your way.

Julie, senior editor at Capstone Fiction

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SHOW NOTES:

The Book of Life celebrates Israel's 60th birthday with a musical extravaganza!

> Composer Yuval Ron talks about the music he created for the Oscar-winning short film West Bank Story

> Fran Manushkin discusses her book Come, Let Us Be Joyful: The Story of Hava Nagila

> We learn about the 60@60 concert tour with music promoter Michael Dorf, who tells us about the best in new Israeli pop music, including:

• Yael Naim (you know her from the MacBook Air ad)
• Idan Raichel
• Habanot Nechama
• David Broza
• Rami Kleinstein
• Matisyahu
• Paul Shaffer
• John Zorn
• Noa