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From: Sally Miller <derbymiller_at_fuse.net>
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:43:21 -0400
Now that I have a daughter and two granddaughters who are classroom teachers, I love buying books for them to have as part of their own "classroom library." Many of these books are nonfiction. One of my favorite authors of nonfiction books is April Pulley Sayre. Her Stars Beneath Your Bed. The Surprising Story of Dust with pictures by Ann Jonas truly deserves to be called a Wonder Book. Of course, books about animals are always winners. In the 60's Random House had a series about various kinds of wildlife doing the strangest things. These were called "Step Up Books," I believe. My boys loved them, especially Animals do the Strangest Things, and Fish Do the Strangest Things. I used them often when I was tutoring second and third grade boys. I still have a copy of a few on my shelf, but I'd love to be able to find them available again so I could give new copies to my granddaughters. Biography is a wonderful way to make history come alive, and Connie Wooldridge's new The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton is both ac curate and engrossing--it makes a great supplementary text for English classes. (And it may even counteract the deadening effect of introducing English classes to Wharton via the depressing Ethan Frome.) Also among my favorite nonfiction writers is the amazing Susan Bartoletti. She has written on an amazing variety of subjects, and her Black Potatoes is one of my favorites. Her books are full of photographs that give the text the feeling of immediacy and make it easier for students to connect. I could go on, but thinking about the titles I would recommend turned my attention to the subject of the role of school librarians. I am so saddened when I hear about schools who have included their librarians as part of their "cut backs." After a teacher has been in the classroom until three, attended a meeting of two after school, and spent a good part of the evening grading papers, how is he or she expected to review and choose from the many books that might be appropriate for supplementary reading? How much luckier
are the teachers who have librarians like Sully to do the reviewing for them. "So many books, so little time." When it comes to teachers, that brings a sigh rather than a smile, doesn't it?
Sally Derby Kyle's Island.
Received on Mon 11 Oct 2010 10:43:21 AM CDT
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:43:21 -0400
Now that I have a daughter and two granddaughters who are classroom teachers, I love buying books for them to have as part of their own "classroom library." Many of these books are nonfiction. One of my favorite authors of nonfiction books is April Pulley Sayre. Her Stars Beneath Your Bed. The Surprising Story of Dust with pictures by Ann Jonas truly deserves to be called a Wonder Book. Of course, books about animals are always winners. In the 60's Random House had a series about various kinds of wildlife doing the strangest things. These were called "Step Up Books," I believe. My boys loved them, especially Animals do the Strangest Things, and Fish Do the Strangest Things. I used them often when I was tutoring second and third grade boys. I still have a copy of a few on my shelf, but I'd love to be able to find them available again so I could give new copies to my granddaughters. Biography is a wonderful way to make history come alive, and Connie Wooldridge's new The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton is both ac curate and engrossing--it makes a great supplementary text for English classes. (And it may even counteract the deadening effect of introducing English classes to Wharton via the depressing Ethan Frome.) Also among my favorite nonfiction writers is the amazing Susan Bartoletti. She has written on an amazing variety of subjects, and her Black Potatoes is one of my favorites. Her books are full of photographs that give the text the feeling of immediacy and make it easier for students to connect. I could go on, but thinking about the titles I would recommend turned my attention to the subject of the role of school librarians. I am so saddened when I hear about schools who have included their librarians as part of their "cut backs." After a teacher has been in the classroom until three, attended a meeting of two after school, and spent a good part of the evening grading papers, how is he or she expected to review and choose from the many books that might be appropriate for supplementary reading? How much luckier
are the teachers who have librarians like Sully to do the reviewing for them. "So many books, so little time." When it comes to teachers, that brings a sigh rather than a smile, doesn't it?
Sally Derby Kyle's Island.
Received on Mon 11 Oct 2010 10:43:21 AM CDT
