Make Your Own Comic at MakeBeliefsComix

Today I discovered a great little site, MakeBeliefsComix, with a comic strip generator created by author Bill Zimmerman. I followed a fairly simple process that involved adding art work and dialogue to three frames. Tom Bloom has made some different characters for the site, with changeable emotions, and all you do is click on a frame, then click the character you want. Once you've done that, add some dialogue in speech bubbles, and perhaps a panel prompt, and you're all set to move onto the next part of your story.

This would make a simple way to show kids that a story needs to have a beginning, a middle and an end. I think it would be a nice application to use in an ESL classroom, or situations where students are practising using another language. The site supports English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portugese and Latin. I found the creative process easy, and I think kids would too. You can print or email your comic, or use a screen grab to store it digitally.

Bill has another site called Bill'z Treasure Chest which offers further opportunities for kids' writing. I liked the printable writing prompts on the Let's Make Believe page, and the Family Fun Activities page which discusses how to go about recording an oral family history.

Don't you just love these online sites that allow kids to freely create and publish their own writing, and have some fun at the same time! 

The comic above was created at MakeBeliefsComix. Go there to make your own.

Where Do You Read?

Reading is escape. Everyone has times in their life when they want to be distracted or entertained. Sometimes, the problem can be escaping to somewhere you can concentrate on reading.

When I was a child, I would read under the lamp behind our sofa. I was so quiet and hidden, I became invisible, and missed my bedtime curfew. Videogames beep, but books are silent. When my parents finally noticed me, I was sent to bed. There I huddled under the covers with my book and a torch. This was an extra source of warmth in winter, but tricky in summer, when I needed a snorkel for breathing.

Another favourite place to read was halfway up our huge jacaranda tree. Next-door’s mulberry tree too - it was a leafy cave, and very handy when hunger nudged. That no doubt explains purple stains on some of my childhood books.

When my son was a toddler, I would take my book to the littlest room in the house, and be “vewy, vewy qwiet…” Perhaps it was the closed door that gave me away? When I found him under my bed reading one day, I realized the wheel had turned full circle, and rejoiced that we shared the same reading gene.

I love that reading is so portable. Print books can be stuffed into backpacks, audio books take up very little physical room, and several e-books can fit into a pocket-sized space. I always have something to read packed in my bag, even for a short trip to the store. When I go on holiday, my packing order is books: first; clothes: if I remember. That portability has enabled me to read in planes, trains and automobiles, on the Great Wall of China, and once while resisting anaesthetic before an operation.

If you asked me today to name my favourite place to read, I would smile and say, "Anyplace." I quickly become oblivious to my surroundings and am transported to a place with a "... view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries." (A.C.Grayling) 

In short, I don't care where I read. But I'm eternally grateful that I have the glorious gift of reading.

Where do you read?

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/2967018710/

Review, Samurai Kids, Book 1: White Crane

Sometimes, what children want in a book can be diametrically opposed to what their parents want. Kids want active, exciting stories, written in a kid's voice. Parents would prefer a children's story with something worthwhile to say, and without swearing or gratuitous violence. Finding a book that gets the balance right in appealing to both kids and their parents is no easy task.

Samurai Kids, Book 1: White Crane, published by Walker Books Australia, is such a book. I loved this story. It was written by Sandy Fussell, an Australian author whose book Polar Boy was recently short-listed for a CBCA award. I'd recommend this book to kids over eight, particularly those with an interest in martial arts or who want lots of action, humour and tension in their books.

It's about a group of misfit kids who want to be Samurai warriors. They are the Little Cockroaches, under the tutelage of their sensei, Ki-Yaga. The narrator is Niya Moto, a boy with one leg. Despite their disabilities, or sometimes because of their disabilities, the Samurai kids want to prove to themselves and those who despise them that they are worthy of the title Samurai Warrior.

Despite being a novel, White Crane is illustrated beautifully by Rhian Nest James. The occasional line drawings and chapter banners add a wonderful Asian "flavour" to the book, and are reminders of authentic Japanese/Chinese art work. The book would make an excellent choice as a resource for students studying culture, or for anyone who wants to encourage tolerance and respect as key human values. There's even a Samurai Kids website, with lots of added extras and fun stuff for kids to do.

Apart from it being a rattling good adventure story, with characters you feel like you know, White Crane also impressed me because of Sandy Fussell's meticulous attention to detail. I've never lived in feudal Japan, but I feel as though I've experienced it vicariously through Niya. From the Bushido code Ki-Yaga quotes, to the Samurai kids' fascination with honey pudding, it all helps to bring the story to life, and make the reader want more.

Some books you finish with a sigh, regretting that the story which enthralled you has come to an end. Luckily for me, there are two other books in the Samurai Kids series, with a fourth coming soon. I know I won't be the only fan to turn my sigh into one of relief. Samurai Kids, Book 2, here I come!

Book Chook News Flash: Sandy has agreed to be a guest here soon at the Book Chook blog!

The Book Chook Turns It Off

This week has been Turn Off Week. This was brought home to me in a spectacular way when our neighbourhood had a power failure, just on dark on Monday evening. I ran around in a flurry of feathers, searching for candles, matches, torches - and you guessed it, fresh batteries. (I'm not sure if Turn Off discourages the use of batteries, but I discovered I can't read by candlelight.)

What I noticed first of all, was the quiet. Not even the hum of the fridge and freezer disturbed the silence. Next I noticed I had a craving for a cup of tea, or any hot drink. After I spoke sternly to myself about mind over matter, I began to relax and fetched my current book (White Crane-Samurai Kids, by Sandy Fussell - review coming soon). And that's when I really started to enjoy myself!

Turn Off Week is a wake-up call to those of us who find our lives dominated by TV, or any form of electronic entertainment. It's a time to examine how much of our time is spent glued to a screen. Instead, there are suggestions for families to have a meal together, play a board game together, or get active and go for a walk. I would also like to suggest reading aloud to each other, or creating something beautiful. How about playing word games in the dark, and saving electricity at the same time?


It's important to get our priorities right where screen time is concerned. (I loved the quote from one young man giving feedback at Screentime.org: "I really didn't like TV-Turnoff Week except that I did notice that my grades went up and I was in a good mood all week.") There's nothing inherently "bad" about our electronic age, I believe, so long as we keep a balance. I've been turning my computer off an hour early, a habit I very much needed to adopt, and catching up on some more reading.

Any minute now, my grades will go up and I'll be in a good mood all week!

Photo credit:http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterbecker/262810485/

Review, JumpStart

The Book Chook believes the very best way for a child to learn to read is to be talked to, sung to, and read aloud to from the moment she's born. I also believe there's a danger in spending too much of our time glued to some kind of screen. In the 21st century it's vitally important to find a balance for ourselves and our kids. We need to spend some time with screens, but to spend the most time interacting with other people and our environment - flying kites, sharing stories, dancing by the ocean, and hugging those we love.

However, when it is screen time, it makes good sense to find something kids will both enjoy and gain benefit from. If you think your youngster would like to visit virtual worlds like Adventureland and Storyland, play games with rhyming, follow along with stories and songs, race a buggy, go hang gliding, create works of art and more, may I suggest you check out JumpStart?

One look at the JumpStart site and you can tell it's bright, colourful and entertaining. But does it teach anything?

The Knowledge Adventure/JumpStart people seem to have decided the best way to build a successful online product is to

a) create a well-researched and planned product
b) gear it for education AND entertainment
c) give value by constantly adding new features

Yes, JumpStart teaches, in that it provides hundreds of opportunities for learning to take place. There are so many problem solving, critical thinking, creative, math and literacy activities, all bundled up in a coating of motivation and fun. One of the many things I liked about JumpStart, was the fact that it has different levels of difficulty (admittedly, I never made it off "easy"), and a huge range of activities. It seems the designers are going to keep adding to the worlds, providing more value for a child's online experience.

JumpStart also forgives. I gave it the Book Chook works. I goofed off, changed my mind, got impatient, didn't follow instructions. For the most part, JumpStart was patient with me, repeating directions, encouraging me to try again, providing navigation, help and chances to go over things. (I did manage to freeze the game once or twice, but that may have been a browser glitch.) Like all online games, JumpStart has loading times, and kids will need to be patient for several seconds while each new stage of the game loads.

Another plus in my eyes, was that the songs in JumpStart are actually ones an adult can bear to listen to over and over again. I loved the cute little Jukebox - "ABC Harmony" had my wings flapping and toes tapping immediately.

There are activities to practise letter and sound recognition, books to read along with, movies to watch and sing along with, cars to race around on, gold to grab, puzzles to solve - the list goes on and on. I entered the JumpStart virtual world four times for hours at a stretch, yet I know there was so much that I didn't get to experience.

The JumpStart blog is also a fascinating place. Artists who developed JumpStart show behind-the-scenes glimpses of their creation process. There are craft and snack suggestions, ideas for science activities, tips for making spelling fun, and many more.

I believe that JumpStart - used in conjunction with a parental philosophy of reading aloud from children's literature, talking and listening, playing, creating and pretending - makes a great choice for screen time. I'd recommend it for children as young as 3-4, with parental guidance. If your three-year-old wants to play video games, better for him to play something specifically designed with his needs in mind, than something inappropriate. I can see 8 or 9-year-olds jockeying for position at the keyboard to try out the games.

Book Chook Special Offer: If you take advantage of JumpStart's free one month trial, you'll certainly find activities to satisfy the whole family. Better still, leave a comment here AND send me an email to let me know you and your kids would be interested, and I'll enter you in the draw to win a FREE THREE month's membership, courtesy of the friendly people from Knowledge Adventure/JumpStart.

The Book Chook Turns to Art

In my last post, I talked about using Glogster as a means to encourage and motivate kids to publish text and images. Today I want to introduce another great online place to stimulate a child's creativity. It's the US National Gallery of Art Kid's Page.

If you have a child who loves to draw, or is interested in any kind of visual art, finding him books in that subject area might be just the ticket to encourage him to read. Art is also a great way in to writing. Kids can express their mood or feelings through art, and perhaps go on to use words in the form of poetry or even a word collage, to add another layer to their work.

From the NGA Kid's page, Brushster is an online painting machine. There are over 40 different brush strokes, as well as special effects. Kids can save their paintings, or print them out. There's even a slideshow of paintings to show what Brushster can do. As a follow up, find some reference books at the library and compare your efforts with other abstract artists.

Have a look around the NGA Kid's Page. There are all sorts of other visual activities like Collage Machine, and Photo Op - an introduction to digital photography and image editing. There's a lovely story to read about two kids who visit a sculpture garden, and a Dutch Dollhouse to interact with. Because I loved Rousseau's art when I was a student, my favourite was the Jungle, where you can choose from all sorts of animals and plants to create a jungle scene like mine above.

A real life visit to your local Art Gallery, or Sculpture Garden can make your kids aware of the thousands of different ways humans express themselves. Encourage them to talk about what they observe, and record their impressions through their medium of choice. And as a followup, use one of the activities at NGA Kid's Page as yet another form of self-expression, or just for fun. We're only young once!

Book Chook Update: Stop by smarthistory for some more great art information. They just won a Webby for best education site (May 09). Wonderful!

Blogging? Glogging? Screen me up, Scotty!

Those of you who read my blog on a regular basis may be starting to get the idea that I love to read. I do! And I love to share my enthusiasm for reading and promote it whenever I can. Kids' literacy is crucial to their success at school and in real life.

Literacy is not just about reading, and reading is not just about books. I am fascinated by all forms of communication, as are most of the kids I know. Recently, I've been learning about what the web can offer students and parents to encourage the development of literacy skills. Over the coming weeks, I hope to share some of these great sites with you.

Screen time can dominate our lives all too easily. I believe it's important to limit how much time we spend watching TV, or using video games and computers. However, there have been some fantastic developments on the internet which help and encourage kids with reading, writing, creating and thinking. Many are even easy enough for the Book Chook to navigate (which usually translates into a snap for a seven-year-old!)

One I encountered last week is Glogster. In some ways, it reminds me of making collages when I was a teenager, but what sophistication! A Glog is like a digital poster, where you can put text, images, sound, video. As you can see by the half a test one I made below (I will try to learn how to change the width so it fits my blog!), you can share your Glog on your blog or website, Facebook etc. I limited myself to a few quick words and pictures, but I plan to try adding video and music soon.

I think it has immense potential for the classroom, for home schoolers, or for anyone wanting to help a child respond to a stimulus like a poem or novel in his own way. Designing and creating one to send to Grandma would make a great family project on a wet weekend. It's free, it's easy, it's fun - and there are so many possibilities for creating and publishing text in a Glog.

One word of warning: I think it's best to supervise your kids on Glogster.com, or try Glogster.com/EDU. Students can't see content from the regular Glogster site when they use the EDU zone. There's a great explanation on how to set up a Glogster account, and student accounts, as well as how to make your first Glog, at Scribd.

Check out all the ways teachers are using it. There's a Glog on Pond Animals, another on Schindler, many about poetry.

It's important that our kids become visually literate. 21st Century learners are increasingly using visual images to communicate across a wide range of media and formats. Just like with phoetry, which I discussed in my recent post BookChook Ways to Start Writing Poetry, Glogster encourages kids to link the right and left sides of their brains, and come up with a published product.

It sure beats the collages I made with magazine pictures and words cut from the newspaper, all glued to shirt box cardboard with Perkins Paste! O tempora, o mores ...

Photo credit :http://www.flickr.com/photos/balamurugan/630839900/

Book Review, Roadworks

When some little boys - I think you would have to admit, it is mostly boys - discover things that GO, it can rapidly become an obsession. There was certainly a stage in my life where if I'd had to read one more Thomas the Tank Engine book, or listen to a tape, or watch a video, I would have had to wash my own mouth out with soap. My dreams were haunted by Gordon, Percy and the Fat Controller. But my son loved them. Looking back, I think that obsession was one of the important stages in Tim's pre-reading. Kids need books to love, just as much as they need soft toys or (gulp) trains called Thomas. By hearing the story over and over, they are internalizing language. The repetition enables them to learn the book by heart, and that is yet another important stage in learning to read independently.

I am predicting obsession status for this great new picture book from Walker Books Australia (2008). Roadworks was written by New Zealand author, Sally Sutton. I don't know her books, but I'll certainly be on the look-out for them. She enters into the mind of a young action fan, and gives him great active verbs and noises:

"Seal the road. Seal the road.
Make it hot and squishy.
Spread the sticky tar and stones.
Sploshy! SPLASHY!
SPLISHY!"

Sally has written each page according to a simple rhythmic, rhyming scheme, which makes the book fun to read and a wonderful model for children to base their own writing on. Another great feature is the page of Machine Facts at the back, a boon for we readers who actually don't know our Excavators from our Front-End Loaders.

Brian Lovelock's illustrations give real value to Roadworks. He depicts men and women road workers, and adds great details so that the book works even better as an informational text. Brian's earth moving equipment is realistic, but simplified slightly for young readers. All the stages of building a road are set out for children to understand, from when the engineers plan it, to when the kids' school bus drives along it.

There are so many activities you could do as a follow-up to Roadworks. Youngsters will love to paint, draw, sculpt or build their own road-working equipment. Have fun with toy excavators, carving out a road in a sand tray. If you have time, this can make an excellent start to an elementary mapping activity, where kids learn to see the link between symbols and real life. Older children might like to experiment with the rhyme. Encourage them to pull the rhyme apart and work out the beat, before deciding on a theme, and inventing their own rhyme. Many of the words used in the book are onomatopoeic - they could begin a collection of such words, or write their own poems.

I road-tested (just a little BoCho humour!) this great picture book on a young friend. He's two and a half, and mad about trucks and diggers. When we'd finished reading it, his reaction was summed up in one word: "Again?"

Stop Press! Roadworks is a picture book finalist in the New Zealand Post Book Awards. 

Book Review, A Proper Little Lady

This is the light-hearted story of Annabella Jones, who decides to be a proper little lady. She dresses in all her glory, assumes her posh lady voice, and goes for a walk. Alas, despite her precautions, various adventures take their toll on her outfit. In the end, Annabella and Mum decide jeans and t-shirt are best for a proper little lady.

Nette Hilton and Cathy Wilcox worked beautifully together to produce an illustrated story that reminds me of some of A.A.Milne's verse. Who could resist a grin when Annabella Jones pulls on her second-best navy-blue knickers? I believe kids will relish the repetition of the different noises Annabella makes as she swishes and taps around. And any child who has been handicapped by "good" clothes during play will understand the young heroine's predicament.

My copy of A Proper Little Lady is from Angus and Robertson, an imprint of HarperCollins. Judging by the number of re-prints of this picture book since its first publication in 1989, I am not the only one to find this book quite delightful. It would make a great resource for children learning to read because there is lots of repetition in the structure, and detailed picture cues.

As a follow-up activity, kids might like to dress themselves up as proper little ladies. Dolls and teddies can join the fun, and it could lead to a proper little picnic! Reading recipes, and writing invitations and menus would all add literacy value to the picnic.

Book Chook Thanks: To all my readers and followers from all over the world (especially Portugal!), thank you so much for standing by me!

Rhyme Helps Reading

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, by Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle, was one of my Kindergarten students' favourite books. It was simple, it was effective, it worked. We used it as a model for class and individual stories, tapped out its rhythm on our desks, and read it for pleasure many times.

Dr Seuss books, Mem Fox's Time for Bed and several collections of rhymes and poetry enthused my students, and encouraged them to read along. After a while, they began to predict the rhyming word, and join in any refrains, too. Luckily, the kids hadn't read the advice to writers which tells them not to bother writing a rhyming picture book.

I believe good quality, short, rhyming picture books are necessary in children's lives as an intermediate step to reading. After listening to one being read aloud several times, children unconsciously memorize it. They inevitably pick up the book and "read' it aloud from memory. They begin to notice the words on a page and relate them to what they are saying. This process is made possible because we humans are wired to remember rhyme, and have a huge capacity for it.

My students loved rhyme. They begged me to read their favourite poems, and our shared and guided reading books were often in rhyme. Whenever the opportunity arose, I celebrated the joy of language by pointing out examples of delightful humour, or words with similar sounds or shapes. I wrote many plays for performance in rhyme. After several practices, each student usually knew the whole play by heart, and could take on any role with confidence.

And what a boon that was, when chicken pox decimated the class!

What to Do Before You Drop Everything (and read)

Today, April 12, is DEAR day in the USA. DEAR stands for Drop Everything and Read.

Every day is DEAR day on the Book Chook blog. "Drop Everything" is the part I like: WHAM! drop housework, drop tidying your desk, drop cleaning out the vulture's cage (that's a King Vulture in the picture) - drop everything, and read instead. (Okay, maybe not drop your trousers or your pet rabbit!)

If you need to find something for you and your kids to read, here's what to do before you drop everything: 

Book Chook Methods for Finding a New Book

Browse at the Library or Book Store

I've found lots of great stuff to read this way. I just look along a shelf until I see something on a book spine that says "pick me up". I slide my bookmark into the row of books, so I can put the book back easily. After I've picked the book up, I read the blurb on the back, read some of the first page, maybe skim to another part of the book and read a paragraph or two. If I like what I see, I check it out. If not, I replace it on the shelf and pick up my bookmark for the next time.

The problem with this way of browsing is, it's time consuming. The shelf just has a row of books, usually in alphabetical order. The shelf doesn't know what sort of books I like to read. The good thing about browsing at a library, or a bookstore, is that it lets me hold the book in my hands so I can look at whatever I want inside it.

Browse Online

Amazon is a great site for online browsing. If you like picture books, you can enter "picture books" in the search bar, then use the Look Inside feature to get a peek inside the book. Lots of people write reviews on Amazon, or if you find a book you like the look of, you can open another browser window and search for a review by one of the great kidlitosphere reviewers.

The problem with browsing online, is that it only lets you look at certain pages, so you don't get to read where, or as much as, you want. And some of the sites are so huge, where do you start if you don't have much time?

Find Other Books You Like

There are several great sites online that suggest other books based on your child's preferences. At Charles County Public Library for instance, there are 14 other books suggested for a child who enjoyed reading Captain Underpants. The Reading Zone has some great links, or try Scholastic's Book Wizard. Googling "readalike children" will bring lots more ideas.

Read Book Reviews

We all react to books differently. Some people like Enid Blyton's books. Some people think they should be banned. A book review is one person's opinion of a book. So how can a book review guide what I read?

It takes a little while, but after you've read several pieces by the one reviewer, you start to get a "feeling" as to whether or not you agree with their opinions. Of course, it will never work all the time, but there are blog reviewers whose recommendations I take seriously, because they "match" with mine on other books we've read. I try to read several reviews about a book I'm considering, so I can make an informed choice. Kidlitosphere Central will start you on a journey to find blog reviewers you like. 

Phone a Friend

This includes friends in real life, as well as online friends. Your local librarian and book store owner will do their very best to find something you would like to read.

Book Chook Combo

This is my favourite method of finding new books. I start at one of the great children's literature blogs and find a book I like the sound of. I search for it online to get some more feedback. Sometimes the publisher's or author's own site will tell me more. Then I open my local library's database and search for it there. If it's available, I reserve it. If not, and I really want to buy it, I search for local or online places to get it and make it mine, all mine!

Now you can Drop Everything, and READ to your heart's content!

(Photo credit : http://www.flickr.com/photos/dracobotanicus/3392148880/)

Read Aloud Diary

You know how passionate I am about reading to kids. But not everyone feels confident about sharing stories. Here's the diary entry of a mother who reads aloud to her young son. If you know someone who's not sure how to set about reading aloud to a child, please pass this on to them, with compliments of the Book Chook.

Just click on the document to read full size; press escape to come back to this page. 

Open publication 

You can also link to Scribd to read my Read Aloud Tips.

Book Chook Ways to Start Writing Poetry

From when we are babies, we experience the world through our senses. I'm sure you've seen babies try to discover more about their world by shoving almost anything into their mouths! When I start teaching writing, I get back to basics - I try to provide sensual experiences that spark verbal images.

My students touch an ice cube with their tongues, they close their eyes and use their fingertips to explore peeled grapes, they lie on leaf litter and become leeches. When something dramatic happens in the classroom, we use it as fodder for our writing. My aim is to shake loose the stored language inside their heads, and have them play with it. I encourage an atmosphere that promotes the free flow of ideas.

If you've already shared poetry as an integral part of your regular read-aloud routine (ooh, alliteration!), kids will not be daunted by the idea of writing in poetic formats. I don't worry too much at this stage over whether something IS or ISN'T poetry. My aim is to have children creating with words, and delighting in the joy of language.

However, some students need structure to enable them to feel comfortable about creating. So here are some poetic forms you can try with your kids.

diamante: These poems are easy enough for younger kids to understand. They are shaped like a diamond. They start and finish with one of a pair of opposites, like day/night. They go on to tell more about the chosen opposites. As the poem progresses, it slowly changes to the second one of the pair of opposites. Mrs Murphy's Class has two examples.

limerick: Bruce Lansky explains limericks really well at Gigglepoetry. They're not easy to write, but reading lots aloud gets the limerick rhythm into your head and studying them closely makes it easier.

cinquain: These have five lines. Line 1 is the title. Line 2 has two adjectives that describe the title. Line 3 has 3 "ing" words that relate to the title. Line 4 has a phrase of four words related to the title. Line 5 is one word, a synonym for the title. Read Write Think has a lesson on composing cinquains.

acrostic: Start with a word that becomes the title. Each line of the poem relates to the title, and starts with one of its letters. Read Write Think has a lesson on composing acrostics.

phoetry: Play with this one. It describes a combination of photography and poetry. Once you've chosen your pictures, use words to describe what comes to mind when you look at them. That could be about places, people, feelings, impressions or actions suggested by the photos. Teachers encourage kids to use phoetry to illustrate the meaning or symbolism of a poem.

Why not try writing poetry with your kids? Sally Murphy has some great exercises at her Writing for Children Blog.

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Book Chook Feather of Approval 1: To Australia's Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who when asked what he would spend money on recently, replied, "What I would probably do is go down to the bookshop and buy some books I've been wanting to buy for a while." Onya Kev! It's good to see politicians getting it right.

Book Chook Feather of Approval 2: To Garrison Keillor and American Public Media, who deliver The Writer's Almanac to my inbox daily. It's a great way to get to know new poets, and to spark ideas for my own creativity.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/qole/119533453/

Recycled Reading and Writing

Are you jaundiced by junk mail, fed up with flyers, cranky about all the catalogues that litter your house?

When you share printed material with the kids in your life, and they see you showing an interest in it, they learn to do so too. My delightful young friend in the picture is lucky enough to have a grandfather who has talked to him about the newspaper, discussed pictures, and pointed out anything of interest in whatever he read. At two and a half, D. now "reads" the newspaper to his toys, and shares matters of interest with his family. Here he is reading the local Target catalogue and discussing what he sees.

One of the nice things about flyers is that they're headed for the recycle bin anyway. So it doesn't matter if they get dog-eared, or even destroyed. Toddlers will enjoy "reading" them. They can be used for cutting practice - kids might like to cut out their special favourites and paste them into a wish list. This is a great activity to do around present-giving times. You can label the pictures with your child's help, reinforcing the link between writing and reading.

If you have two identical catalogues, cut out illustrations make a great basis for matching games like concentration or snap. You can sort them into all sorts of categories: toys with wheels, animals, red things, toys mummy will never be able to afford ... Or use them to tell a story. If your child has a favourite jingle or rhyme, catalogue pictures might spark a new version:

"There was a boy,
Who had a toy,
And Johnny was his name-o!"

Fortunately, literary merit is not a goal, so much as having fun with words and pictures.

Some parents worry that kids who are allowed to scribble on flyers, or cut them up, will transfer that activity to Dad's second editions. It's important to make sure your child understands the difference between junk mail and library books, for sure. I believe kids learn that through modelling (watching adults treat books with respect, yet throw catalogues in the bin) and explicit teaching (we hold a book this way, turn the pages like this, be gentle).

As a teacher, I loved to get hold of toy and book catalogues for my students. They were intrinsically motivating! We would talk about them, share them with each other, use them as the basis for writing activities, and dream about their contents. Sometimes kids designed their own flyers, creating new descriptions for their products and trying to entice customers to buy.

Using flyers, newspapers and old magazines with kids is not only great for the environment, it's easy on the hip pocket. Best of all, it's yet another way to make reading and writing with kids a whole heap of recycled fun!

Poetry Pleasure

In the USA, it's National Poetry month. The kidlitosphere is buzzing with poetic excitement and there are some amazing blog posts.

Gregory K announced 30 Poets in 30 Days on his Gottabook blog. So far, I've read and loved previously unpublished poetry by Jack Prelutsky, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Charles Ghigna, X.J. Kennedy, and Ann Whitford Paul. This is an amazing opportunity to get to know poets you may not have encountered before, and just to celebrate with others who love poetry.

Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect has posted some wonderful interviews with poets in her series: Poetry Makers. I love Tricia's questions which lead to so many fascinating insights. The description of The Underwear Salesman: And Other Jobs for Better or Verse has me drooling. It sounds like a great book of poetry for kids who love word play.

Amy Planchak Graves hosted Poetry Friday at the start of National Poetry Month. At ayuddah.net she has gathered heaps of great links to posts related to poetry.

Do you have a budding poet in your family? Anastasia Suen has a new blog called Pencil Talk. She encourages students K-12 to send in their own original school poems and she will publish one each day. It's great to see kids creating with language like this.

Some of my own must-visit poetry pages include Michael Rosen's Poetry Friendly Classroom - advice and resources for teachers; Carol Hurst's list of nine books of poetry she'd want in a classroom; Gigglepotz - poems and learning how to write them.

Does the BookChook have a favourite children's book of poetry? Sister Madge's Book of Nuns is also a picture book, so I guess it's no wonder the pages are dog-eared. Written by Doug MacLeod (Australians might recognize his name as a script writer for Kath and Kim), and illustrated by Craig Smith, it was much loved by the Year 4-6 kids I taught. Pick of the bunch was Sister Stephanie and the Gang.

When a supermarket manager insults a nun, she returns to wreak vengeance.

"Sister Stephanie left the store
But came back with a mighty roar
The windows smashed, alarm bells rang,
The nuns had formed a bikie gang."

And

"The manager who'd been so rude
Was knocked into the frozen food
And there he lay in cold repose
With two fish-fingers up his nose."

How could a primary school  student fail to be enchanted? I own about one hundred books of children's poetry, but each time I see the spine on this one, I remember 30 grins and eyes lit with glee.

Poets rank up there with choreographers on my creativity scale. To me, poetry is a solace, an energizer and an enlightener. I am constantly grateful for an education that introduced me early to poetry, taught me reams of it by heart, and gave me the desire to discover more of it as often as I can.

Where does poetry rank in your life? Do you have a favourite book of poetry or poem?

Letter to the Book Chook

Dear Book Chook,

I bought my daughter some attractive Phonics Work Books from a stand at our local book store. I want her to get a head start on reading before she begins school, so I make her do them everyday. But it is like getting blood out of a stone! She drags her feet, whines, and shows no interest at all, even when I sit with her. What's wrong with my daughter?

Giving kids a head start on reading is a wonderful idea. I think we should begin when they are babies. The very best way to do this is read aloud to them regularly from great children's literature. If you want some suggestions of books to try, there are wonderful blogs all over the kidlitosphere that offer reviews, and list books suitable for various ages. Or check back in the Book Chook blog archives for ones I've loved.

The great thing about sharing books like this with your kids, is that it teaches them almost unconsciously. They learn to love stories. They absorb the rhythms and rhymes of language. They learn to predict, use contextual clues to find meaning, and delight in repetition and surprise. Read aloud time is an opportunity to have a beloved parent close and all to oneself, while being entertained by the magic of reading. There's little whining or dragging of feet.

Phonics is one system we can use for helping readers work out words. Once kids understand that the squiggles on a page are letters, and those letters correspond with various sounds, they are beginning to build a method of "reading" an unknown word. It helps kids with writing and spelling, too. When children are ready to start reading independently, parents and teachers help them by referring to letters and the sounds they make. If a child wants to work out a word, sometimes identifying the sound/letter combinations can help eg "Oh look, there's 'cat' at the start of that word, then 'a', then 'pult'." 

Because we want kids to love reading, and be motivated to read, I am very reluctant to advocate any explicit teaching of reading before a child shows readiness. Surround your child in print, sure. Literacy activities in the form of games are fine. Reading aloud and modelling reading yourself are just wonderful. But buying workbooks for your child who doesn't want to do them seems to me fraught with the danger of turning a child away from reading.

And that would be a tragedy.

(Photo credit :http://www.flickr.com/photos/thevoelkers/2024846537/)

Book Review, Judy Moody Predicts the Future

It's difficult to write books for younger readers. Restricted vocabulary and simple sentence structure can lead to monotonous writing. However, judging by the popularity of the Judy Moody books, author Megan McDonald excels at writing junior novels to keep kids coming back for more.

These chapter books have several features that make them perfect for younger readers. Large font and lots of white space stop the books from appearing intimidating. Each chapter is short, with most having very little narrative but plenty of dialogue and action. Peter Reynold's black and white, cartoonish illustrations really enhance the story and add humour to all the situations Judy finds herself in.

Judy is a young lady with attitude who somehow manages to get into, and out of, lots of scrapes, leading to a whole series of books about her. In Judy Moody Predicts the Future, her adventures revolve around a mood ring she discovers in her seventh bowl of cereal. Judy's interactions with other characters at home, school, or in the neighbourhood are all authentic - McDonald has a great ear and eye for children's interests and dialogue.

I think Walker Books added a nice touch to the front cover - a sparkle-arkly crystal ball that Madame M (for Moody) is peering into! Although the strong girl hero (Judy) makes this a great book for girls, I believe boys and girls aged from 6 - 10 will enjoy this book, and go on to read more in the series.

As a follow up to reading the book, children might like to explore the science of mood rings, look at predicting the weather or discuss whether any of us can really read minds (I swear my mother could!). Just for fun, see if kids can baffle Akinator, the web genius.  And if you haven't made an origami fortune teller before, now would be a great time. 

Let's Celebrate!

The Book Chook is celebrating because there are some fantastic choices in the Children's Book Council of Australia Short List. I've loved and reviewed Audrey of the Outback by Christine Harris, have three great Sandy Fussell books in my TBR pile, love Jackie French's books, Tohby Riddle, Chris McKimmie, Bob Graham, Emily Rodda, Margaret Wild, Shaun Tan, Aaron Blabey ... oh, best to go look for yourself.  

My only problem with the list, where is Mem Fox's Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes? I know it was published in 2008, but maybe the publisher didn't recommend it for an award? Sheesh people, what were you thinking! Please consult the Book Chook before omitting The Divine Ms Mem!

And lest you think the Book Chook pays far too much attention to wonderful Australian writers, let me hasten to add that April 2 is also International Children's Book Day. Just another reason to celebrate the magic of reading!

Review, New Kid's Magazine, Alphabet Soup

Reading is not always about books. For some children, a magazine is a great alternative. Children’s magazines provide variety (crossword puzzles, activity pages, contests etc) and bite-sized articles. Magazines that focus on particular areas of interest can often tempt reluctant readers.

In the depressed global media market many children’s magazines are now folding. So it was with interest and appreciation that I opened Alphabet Soup – a brand new magazine “for kids who love reading.”

Editor Rebecca Newman has pulled together a charming and intriguing second issue. There’s an interview with author Duncan Ball, there are book reviews, poetry and stories, and there’s an article about scuba diving. All of these are entertaining and provide great models for kids to follow in their own writing.

Alphabet Soup encourages kids through opportunities to publish their own work. A regular feature gives them ideas for getting started in writing. Then there are pages featuring book reviews, poetry and stories, all written by children under twelve, and all so impressive! Each issue has a writing contest with entrants eligible to win a $20 book voucher, or a special certificate. (Subscribers receive four issues of Alphabet Soup for $29.80, definitely a bargain.)

The magazines illustrations are by Greg Mitchell. I love the style he’s chosen – there’s a child-like quality to the coloured pencil drawings, but also a really cartoonish quirkiness to make kids giggle. Check out the Alphabet Soup site for a free sample issue, and see Greg's drawings for yourself.

Reading and writing are essential for children’s future success. It’s wonderful to see a magazine that encourages skills and enthusiasm for them. If you’re lucky enough to have an avid 6 - 12-year-old reader or writer in your family, consider adding Alphabet Soup to their diet!