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This photo was snapped by my friend, author Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen, on a recent school visit.

Stephanie is a great talent and an even better person. As S. A. Bodeen, she’s written The Compound, The Raft, and several other “The” titles. These days the book-loving world is buzzed about her new adventure series, Shipwreck Island.

But enough about Stephanie. Today I want you feast your eyes on this lovely sign in a school somewhere. I know that many schools post signs like this, messages of intent, statements of mission, but this one in particular gets all the notes exactly right.

I like it.

Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.

Ready or not, the 2012-2013 school year is upon us!

And while parents are stocking up on pencils and notebooks (and, if the Target Music Teacher is to be trusted, potentially an inordinate amount of denim), teachers are busy planning for the first weeks of school.

Educators, for your planning pleasure, here are three titles to get students back in the right mindset for those first days back in the classroom:

Read Aloud:  Yasmin’s Hammer by Ann Malaspina and illustrated by Doug Chayka

Major topics & themes:  hard work, determination, the transformative power of education

Common Core connections:

• What does the author want us to learn from this story?  What is the central message?  How do you know?  Use details from the story to justify your answer.  (Grades 2 & 3, Literature, Key Ideas and Details, 2)
• Who is Yasmin?  How would you describe her?  What kind of person is she?  How do you know?  How do her actions affect what happens in the story? Use details from the story to justify your answer.  (Grade 3, Literature, Key Ideas & Details, 3)

Read Aloud: Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller and illustrated by Gregory Christie

Major topics & themes:  triumph over adversity, educational equality, scholarship

Common Core connection:

• Ask students to write a persuasive response to the following question:  Is access to books and information a right or a privilege?  Use details from the life of Richard Wright to support your answer.  (Grades 3 & 4, Writing Standards, Text Types and Purposes, 1 a-d)

Read Aloud: Babu’s Song by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen and illustrated by Aaron Boyd

Major topics & themes:  educational opportunity, integrity, sacrifice

Common Core connection:

• Where does the story take place?  How would you describe the setting? How is Bernardi’s neighborhood like your neighborhood?  How is it different?  How do the illustrations in the story help you picture the setting?  (Grades 1 & 2, Literature, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas, 7)

What are your favorite books to read to your students during the first weeks of school?  Drop me an email at [email protected] or share yours in the comments! 

I realise that the last update I gave of our progress in the PaperTigers Reading the World Challenge 2009 was just beyond the half-way point - however, the deadline was over a month ago now, at the end of July, so I thought I’d better round it off!

For our last three books we read together:

Toad Away by Morris Gleitzman (Puffin, 2004). All about a brave cane toad wanting to make friends with the human race and traveling with two cousins to the Amazon to find out the secret of their ancestors as to how to achieve this… My two loved this and laughed uproariously at the rather revolting antics that cane toads are wont to get up to. I have to admit that I would probably have encouraged them to read this one on their own if I’d realised at the outset what it was going to be like - but actually, it was good to be a part of something that so appealed to their typical-boy sense of humor…

Super Jack by Susanne Gervay, illustrated by Cathy Wilcox (Angus & Robertson, 2003). The sequel to I Am Jack, this story focuses on Jack’s relationship with his family, especially the newly-introduced son of Rob, his Mum’s boy-friend. A family holiday intended to help everyone get to know each other is certainly eventful before the desired outcome is achieved… This is to be recommended to older children who may be trying to make sense of complex family relationships in their own lives.

Tom Crean’s Rabbit: A True Story from Scott’s Last Voyage by Meredith Hooper, illustrated by Bert Kitchen (Frances Lincoln, 2005). A very special, true story which is a great way to introduce early Antarctic exploration to young children - you can read a review from Create Readers here. This had the added kudos for my children of being a story which their grandad, who spent a year in the Antarctic quite a long time ago now, did not know…

Older Brother rounded off his Book Challenge with The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom by Bettye Stroud and illustrated by Erin Susanne Bennet (Candlewick Press, 2005); Not so Fast Songololo by Niki Daly (Frances Lincoln, 2001); and a launch into the Asterix books by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.

Little Brother read: The Two-Hearted Numbat by Ambelin & Ezekiel Kwaymullina (Fremantle Press, 2008); The Shaman’s Apprentice by Lynne Cherry (also the illustrator) and Mark J. Plotkin (Voyager Books, Harcourt, 2001) (which Older Brother had also read…); and Babu’s Song by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen and illustrated by Aaron Boyd (Lee & Low, 2003).

If you took part in this year’s Challenge, it would be great to hear from you - whether you completed it or not.

Next year may or may not follow a similar rubric - we are open to suggestions…

The threads of a little boy’s life are drawn together and lead to a happy ending, thanks to the wisdom of his grandfather, in this beautifully written and illustrated picture-book: Babu’s Song by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen and illustrated by Aaron Boyd (Lee & Low, 2003). Set in contemporary Tanzania, Bernardi lives with his grandfather, Babu. They make a living from the toys which Babu makes and Bernardi sells at the market. Bernardi shares a love of soccer with the other boys his age and he wishes he could afford to go to school like they do…. and he longs for the new football he sees in a shop window.

One day Babu gives Bernardi a musical box he has made from an old tin: it plays a song that Babu used to sing to him, which makes it extra special as Babu lost his voice after an illness several years earlier:

Bernardi hugged Babu, and together they listened to the music. That night for the first time in many nights, Bernardi fell asleep listening to Babu’s song.

The following Saturday, Bernardi sells the music box to an insistent tourist and decides he will buy himself the football. However, he finds that he cannot buy it and, filled with guilt, he hands the money over to Babu. Babu leaves Bernardi for a while, then returns with three surprises: a school uniform, because he has paid the fees for Bernardi to go to school; a soccer ball he has made; and an old lard tin to make another music box.

Babu’s Song became an immediate hit in our household and, since it arrived a few months ago, we have read it many times. I’ve included it in my Personal View for our current music theme; and it is definitely one of the books Steve Adams of the Willesden Bookshop would have been referring to when he spoke to me about children’s books about Africa and India starting to reflect a modern urban setting. The illustrations here really help to get that across.

All in all, there’s plenty of food for thought and this is exactly the kind of story we need to get children thinking at an early age, even if subconsciously to start with, about the distribution of world wealth. For parents reading this book with their children, it is a wake-up call: a tourist paying, albeit generously, for a hand-made souvenir makes it possible for a child to attend school…

Little Brother read this as his African book in our Book Challenge so I’ll leave him with the last words:

There are some sad bits and some happy bits, which makes it a heart-moving story.

Author: Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen (on JOMB)
Illustrator: Christy Hale (on JOMB)
Published: 1998 Lee & Low Books (on JOMB)
ISBN: 1584300817

Chapters.ca Amazon.com

Earthy tones and textiles of Tanzania softly serve warm embraces and learned love in this beautiful tale of motherhood mimicry and the joy of nurturing.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on a favourite children’s book. Leave a voice message on our JOMB listener hotline, +1-206-350-6487.