“It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations--something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.”
- Katherine Patterson
Because of Winn-Dixie
by Kate DiCamillo
Kate DiCamillo's debut novel wins a 2001 Newbery Honor and is a NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW Bestseller!
The summer Opal and her father, the preacher, move to Naomi, Florida, Opal goes into the Winn-Dixie supermarket--and comes out with a dog. A big, ugly, suffering dog with a sterling sense of humor. A dog she dubs Winn-Dixie. Because of Winn-Dixie, the preacher tells Opal ten things about her absent mother, one for each year Opal has been alive. Winn-Dixie is better at making friends than anyone Opal has ever known, and together they meet the local librarian, Miss Franny Block, who once fought off a bear with a copy of WAR AND PEACE. They meet Gloria Dump, who is nearly blind but sees with her heart, and Otis, an ex-con who sets the animals in his pet shop loose after hours, then lulls them with his guitar.
Opal spends all that sweet summer collecting stories about her new friends and thinking about her mother. But because of Winn-Dixie or perhaps because she has grown, Opal learns to let go, just a little, and that friendship--and forgiveness--can sneak up on you like a sudden summer storm.
Recalling the fiction of Harper Lee and Carson McCullers, here is a funny, poignant, and utterly genuine first novel from a major new talent.
An unforgettable first novel about coming of age one sweet summer--and learning to love what you have.
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(Publisher's Price is $15.99)
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Tickle Monster
Josie Bissett
EAN:978-1932319675
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Compendium Publishing & Communications
Published in:
Published: September 2008
Share the treasured gift of laughter with your child and you ll create memories that will last a lifetime. This book is well on its way to becoming a celebrated children s classic. It makes a wonderful gift for parents, grandparents and children for almost any occasion baby showers, birthdays, Mother s Day or Father s Day. The best sound in the world is the glorious sound of your children laughing, says author Josie Bissett. Children love playfulness. They love silliness and they LOVE being tickled. Laughing together creates a bond between you and your children like no other. There is no greater gift than the gift of shared laughter and memories. A loveable monster with big puffy mitts has just flown in from Planet Tickle. His mission is to bring joy and laughter to Planet Earth. How? By tickling any child who happens to follow along in this book. Parents read aloud and do the tickling, while their children squirm and giggle with delight.
The RRP for this book is $23.95. You can buy it from Amazon for $11.53
Up until that point few things perplexed Darra Pace more than the large yellow envelope from the south of France addressed to her four-year old son Michael. She, much less her son who was still in nursery school, didn't know of anyone who lived in or had recently visited France.
When she opened the envelope she was even more stunned at what she found inside. A few weeks earlier, Michael had written his favorite author a short fan letter. Inside the envelope from France was a personal page-long response. The author was the legendary children's writer and illustrator Richard Scarry. Writing directly to his fans was something Scarry did often, according to his son Huck.
read more => http://huff.to/dQYDOy
Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic by most any measure—T.S. Eliot called it a masterpiece, and Ernest Hemingway pronounced it the source of "all modern American literature." Yet, for decades, it has been disappearing from grade school curricula across the country, relegated to optional reading lists, or banned outright, appearing again and again on lists of the nation's most challenged books, and all for its repeated use of a single, singularly offensive word: "nigger."
Twain himself defined a "classic" as "a book which people praise and don't read." Rather than see Twain's most important work succumb to that fate, Twain scholar Alan Gribben and NewSouth Books plan to release a version of Huckleberry Finn, in a single volume with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, that does away with the "n" word (as well as the "in" word, "Injun") by replacing it with the word "slave."
more...http://bit.ly/gwFqBG
The Wee Free men
by Terry Pratchett
A young witch-to-be named Tiffany teams up with the Wee Free Men, a clan of six-inch-high blue men, to rescue her baby brother and ward off a sinister invasion from Fairyland
A Teaching Guide to Terry Pratchett
Spark discussion about A Hat Full of Sky, The Wee Free Men, and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents with the pre-reading activities and discussion questions in this printable teaching guide to these books by Terry Pratchett.
Secrets of The Wee Free Men and Discworld: The Myths and Legends of Terry Pratchett's Multiverse
You can buy from Amazon for US$9.99
or from me for US$7.50 --- click on the button -=>
by Jackie French
He sleeps. He eats. He gets bored.
He creates havoc wherever he goes!
He?s Mothball?s baby - and he?s even cuter, naughtier and more determined than his mum.
Created by writer Jackie French and illustrator Bruce Whatley, Baby Wombat?s Week is an irresistible new picture book by the award-winning duo of the international bestseller Diary of a Wombat.
The very long awaited follow up to Diary of a Wombat - the illustrations are as beautiful as ever and the simple story will be adored by young children. Best of all, Mothball herself features in the story. Adults with an appreciation of Australian wildlife and children's literature will cherish these books as well. Weaver has the obstinate behaviour of wombats down pat but her affection for the animals is very obvious.
Teachers Notes => bit.ly/er2ur5
Buy the book => http://bit.ly/gLXAkj target="_blank"
The Polar Express
by Chris Van Alsburg
One couldn't select a more delightful and exciting premise for a children's book than the tale of a young boy lying awake on Christmas Eve only to have Santa Claus sweep by and take him on a trip with other children to the North Pole. And one couldn't ask for a more talented artist and writer to tell the story than Chris Van Allsburg. Allsburg, a sculptor who entered the genre nonchalantly when he created a children's book as a diversion from his sculpting, won the 1986 Caldecott Medal for this book, one of several award winners he's produced. The Polar Express rings with vitality and wonder.
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Hetty's day out
by Pamela Allen
Hetty the cat wakes up, yawns, washes behind her ears, and pops through her cat flap into the bright sunlight. And what does she find in the big wide world? One plate of baked beans, two pork pies, three lamb chops - and that's just the beginning! This charming counting book follows Hetty on her big day out.
Merry Christmas, Splat
Written and Illustrated by Rob Scotton
The third hilarious story about Splat the Cat, the irresistible character from Rob Scotton, bestselling creator of Russell the Sheep Splat the cat can't wait for Christmas and is SURE he's been good enough for Santa to bring him all the presents on his Christmas list. But just in case Santa needs reminding of what an exceptionally good cat he is, Splat makes himself EXTRA helpful around the house. It's tiring work being helpful, but when Splat goes to bed on Christmas Eve he's kept awake by a worrying thought...Just how good do you need to be for Santa to visit? A charming Christmas story perfect for any eager child awaiting Santa's arrival.
