Santat!

As our school year comes to a close, I'm begging my students to read this summer. I've really been selling Summer Reading to my students in a way I think I've failed to do in the past. This is the poster from the National Summer Reading ad campaign, which happens to be illustrated by Dan Santat. I've thought Santat was cool since "Dog in Charge" came out, but lately he is BLOWING UP. I have two copies of Sidekicks in the library and they never stop circulating. And now we have The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend.

At first I didn't think it was much of a read aloud. But after the third and fourth read I forgot myself and starting noticing how the children were under a spell. And then I just fell in love. I love Beekle. We all love Beekle. 

Friday update, slow reading

Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead took me a few days. I'm a little frustrated by how slow my reading has gone, but boy am I READY for summer. 

Liar and Spy was cool, not as wonderful to me as "When You Reach Me" but a neat read. 

I'm interested to see what students think of L&S. Up next...Ordinary Magic. 

Birthday Books: two years old

For my son's second birthday I added to our "baby book" collection. "Kiss,Kiss Goodnight" is a Ken Nesbitt book. He read this to my Kindergartners before it was a published book, straight off his phone. It's adorable. 

This is a wonderful gift for a baby shower.

We also got him "The Goodnight Train", illustrated by Laura Huliska-Beith. My son is really into Choo-choos. This was probably his favorite birthday gift.