Book Review, Always Jack

I am a great fan of Susanne Gervay's books I am Jack and Super Jack. I love them because they tackle the topic of bullying and show it from a kid's point of view. But most of all I love them because they're wonderful stories that grab the reader from the first page.


This new children's chapter book about Jack, Always Jack, is just as wonderful. It was written by Susanne Gervay, illustrated by Cathy Wilcox, and published by Angus and Robertson (Harper Collins), 2010. Jack himself is the same lovable character, even though a little older. Young readers will enjoy looking at the world through Jack's eyes. They'll cringe over Nana flashing her purple underpants, grin about Jack's corny jokes and share Jack's worries and concerns. In Always Jack, Gervay tackles the effect of cancer on a family, and does so with her trademark warmth, insight and sensitivity.


Jack′s life is pretty good - he has brilliant friends, everyone loves his funny jokes and he′s a great inventor. But things are getting complicated. Nanna′s older and wobblier, and why does his face now go red when he sees his best friend Anna? And to top it off Mum and Rob′s wedding seems to be taking over the world.

Something really scary has also happened to his mum and it′s going to take all of Jack′s courage to deal with it.


I love that Susanne Gervay has donated a percentage of her royalties to the Cancer Council NSW, and National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre. Those organizations have pledged support for Always Jack, I suspect because they can see how useful it is to have a story kids will love, but that will also encourage adults and children to discuss cancer openly.


As in I Am Jack and Super Jack, Wilcox's occasional quirky line drawings contribute a visual aspect to Gervay's word pictures. 


Because Jack's an inventor, Always Jack would be a great springboard to children's own experiments and inventions. Whether they follow Jack's own idea with the famous Ponto (half potato/half onion), investigate growing a different hybrid, or launch their own rocket in the back yard, they'll be hypothesizing, observing, recording and enquiring, just like Jack. I'm tipping they'll be inspired to read the rest of the books about Jack, one of my favourite characters in literature.

Construction Ideas

Constructing comes naturally to kids. I guess it does to adults as well. I don't mean building houses and factories, either. I mean playing with construction. We were at the beach a while back where some kids began to build a sand castle with sturdy spades and buckets. Pretty soon, the parents joined in, excavating, showing the best way to build wave-resistant walls, arguing over castle construction, and generally taking over. And I'll admit to being one of those adults who couldn't resist adding LEGO bricks after my son was asleep!


I think constructing is a great activity if our kids do manage to fend us off. They are engaging in creative and analytical thinking, exploring, working cooperatively, making connections, evaluating and learning about the natural world. Constructing with bricks like LEGO teaches them manual dexterity, problem-solving and spatial skills, and it does that effortlessly because kids are learning for themselves, with no explicit teaching from us.


Here are some Book Chook ideas to involve your kids in construction:

When my son was small, one of his toys that I loved was called Marbleworks. It was a box of sturdy plastic parts that could be put together in different ways, to make a run for a marble or small ball. You can see the actual toy being used here at Youtube.


If you're looking for a great project for your kids on a rainy weekend: have them create their own marble run. Give them the problem, something like, "how could we build a track for a marble to run along?" You might need to help out a little with questions like: What could we use to make it? or Could we put something in it that makes a noise when the marble goes past? But it's more than likely you will just need to be the go-to person for the materials they need. There is no right or wrong way to do this - most of the learning comes from trial and error. I've seen marble runs made from halved toilet rolls stuck to a wall, timber off cuts glued to particle board and including hamster wheels and gongs! Here's a wonderful clip that shows the amazing lengths some people will go to.





I also love to build or watch dominoes fall. The elaborate constructions people come up with, the patience involved in laying them out absolutely awes me. Why not challenge your kids to create their own domino layout? For some ideas to get started, try Domino Fall Down 7.


If you'd like to create your own digital version, you can do that online at Drawminos.


How long is it since your kids built a cubby? (I think in the US it's called a fort.) A cubby is a play shelter, made from whatever materials you have to hand: the cardboard box the fridge came in or a rug over the table if you're indoors, sand and driftwood at the beach, sticks and tarpaulins in the bush. Cubby building is both construction and pretend play, and will engage kids for ages. Kelly from Be a Fun Mum had a great idea recently - she gave her kids $5 to spend at an Op Shop (thrift store) to buy materials for a cubby. The kids learnt about how far a dollar goes, and boy did they have fun.


In my recent article What Can We Do with a Newspaper, I suggested kids be challenged to build structures from rolled newspapers. If they're learning about the built environment, how about they try a geodesic dome, or other structures? Indoors or out, life size or model, and whatever the environment, cubby construction is a great activity and will involve the whole family if you let it. It's also a wonderful opportunity for kinaesthetic learners to shine.


Here's how I use drama to make machines with kids. We don't use toys, sticks or newspaper, but our own bodies to construct:


Machines are great for getting kids to work as a team to produce something that communicates a message. Start with one person repeating a sound and movement. Noni raises and lowers her left arm and says "chock, chock, chock" in time with her movement. Add others slowly. Tran watches Noni, then kneels at an angle to her, waving both arms and saying "swish, swish, swish". Sam links arms with Noni and nods his head, "bibbidy-bob, bibbidy-bob". More and more kids join in, thinking about how what they will add will affect the machine.

Once kids are used to making simple machines, introduce another element. Ask them to split into groups and make a vacuum cleaner, or a car wash. Add another element. Become more abstract and ask for a punishment machine, or a politician machine, or a day at the beach machine. Link to literature and ask the kids to communicate the essence of a book as a machine. Parts of the machine may by this stage contribute sentences, song snatches, interactive movements - whatever is needed to get their message across to an audience.


So how about a Constructathon next time you have a rainy weekend or the kids are desperate for something to do? And if the construction falls down, or doesn't go according to plan, console yourself with the fact that happens in real life too, as you will see in this slide show. If you want some ideas for using LEGO to stimulate kids' learning, see my articles Lego and Literacy (1) and Lego and Literacy (2).

(Image credit, medea-material on Flickr)

{Did you grab the latest edition of Literacy Lava? It has useful articles about using simple things like buttons and stones to involves kids in literacy-related activities, as well as tips about getting the most from travel with kids, and ideas for using poetry, newspapers, father/son book clubs, and early readers to engage children in learning.}

GPS -Global Poetry System

Thanks to Sally @ Paper Tigers, I found a great way to show kids that poetry is all around them. It's a website called GPS which stands for Global Poetry System.


Global Poetry System is a Southbank Centre project to explore and map the poetry of the world. It’s based on the idea that poetry is all around us, from gravestones to graffiti, from birthday cards to blogs, in the landscape and in our memories. GPS invites you to take a fresh look at where you are and find the poetry that inspires you. Photograph it, video it, audio record it or write it down - tell the world where it is on the map.


GPS invites us to put our place and poetry on their map, and to discover poetry where we never expected to find it by exploring the site. I liked the way jerry seaman used Keep Calm and Carry On to generate a poem, appreciated that we can look inside our own countries for poems on the map, realized that poets from all over the world publish their verse on the site, (so it's created rather than found), and laughed over Bile Beans in the picture above.


Looking out for signs and words in your environment wherever you go could become the start of a family tradition for you, whether or not you choose to add your found poetry to the website. If you do see a quirky or rhythmic sign that grabs your interest, it might make a prompt for a family-created verse.


I am off to see what I can do
With DO NOT CLIMB ON KANGAROO.

Create a Comic at Comic Master

Here's a new (to me) online editor for creating comics, or what the site calls a graphic novel. It's the Comic Master Graphic Novel Creator. It has superhero-like characters which boys in particular might like. Once you've decided on your format, you pick backgrounds, characters and props, then add dialogue, captions, and special effects. You also get to save and print your novel, if you are registered/logged in.


The format can be customized by dragging and dropping frames into the rows on the right. So you can have two panels followed by three and then four if you want.
The editor worked very quickly and slickly for me, allowing simple drag and drop. There are four characters, each with a range of poses. The special effects and captions are a nice addition too.


This is another great online place that encourages kids to create with words. It's a little like The Hero Factory, which I wrote about in My Hero, but encourages story more.


If you're interested in encouraging children to write, you might like my articles: What's the Deal with Online Publishing? Sharing Stories Using Online Editors and Fast and Fun Writing with Kids.

Creative Prompt - Start with a Video

My article today is the third in a series of prompts that I hope might spark some creative expression in your kids, and maybe you too. Our first prompt was a general one, where we looked for something else to innovate on, our second took a poem as a model; today we look at using a video as a prompt. I hope you and your kids will join me again so we can all challenge ourselves to be more creative. 


Videos, or video excerpts make great prompts for creative expression. Children might write a story that finishes a video excerpt, or one that's inspired by it. They could create a poem based on a short video, or just describe what happens in their own words. They might decide to use the video as a model for a video they create themselves. Or, after watching a video, they could play it again, and listen only to its music while they draw or paint, trying to capture the feeling of the video.


Here's an example of one video I found on Youtube. It's one of an excellent series about Simon's Cat. This one is Simon's Cat in 'The Box'.





After enjoying this short video together, and discussing it, I would try some questions:

• Can your kids look at the world from the point of view of a cat?
• What sort of personality does the cat have?
• What is the cat thinking? Jot down any thoughts and see where it takes you.

Here's my version of the thoughts in the cat's head:


Cat-in-the-Box


What's this?
What's this?
Oooh, a cat house!
I'm hiding,
I'm hiding,
And you can't see me.
Clever Cat,
Secret Agent Cat!
Cat flap.
Grabba,
Grabba
Grab.


You and your kids might prefer to respond with art work, make a slideshow from your own cat pictures, create a short movie by filming your own cat and processing the tape with movie making software. If you have a cat puppet, you might create a short puppet show, or write a script for one, based on the cat character in the movie. You could choose a cat at Talking Pets, and create a short speech (under 200 characters) for it. Kids might even want to pretend to be a cat, and investigate a cardboard box of their own!


Maybe this video doesn't tickle your funny bone the way it did mine? There are plenty to choose from, and searching is lots of fun.


What video do you choose, and where will it take you?

Kidlit Quandary

What's a kidlit book blogger to do when she loves some books, but if she looks at them wearing her writer or book reviewer hat, she sees that the writing is flawed in some way? That's the case with some books from my childhood, and early teaching life.


Take Little Black Sambo. As an adult I do NOT want to promote racial disharmony or prejudice or stereotyping in any way. Yet I loved that story so much, my students loved it, we read it over and over, and when I see the cover and illustrations, I get a goofy grin on my face.


It's the same with Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree books. Even as an adult, I think back with fondness to Dame Slap and her impossible math problems, and a tree with magical lands revolving at its top. Admittedly, reading aloud about children with names like Fanny and Dick is a challenge, and the writing is not a style we emulate today, but my students loved those stories, begged for a new chapter each day, and their own writing, reading and playground games reflected that love. Now I see they have re-issued the books but made them more relevant to our day and age. Was it necessary do you think? I was fascinated by Tania McCartney's post about it, where she reveals her daughter's preference for the original versions. And lots of Amazon reviewers agree. 


Another old favourite of mine is William. Do you know the series by Richmal Crompton? William definitely wasn't a good role model. He broke windows with his slingshot, told fibs and hankered after all sorts of criminal activities. No, those books aren't great literature, but they make me giggle, and perhaps they'd still make children laugh today.


Sometimes I think we underestimate kids. Perhaps we don't understand that they're capable of recognizing prejudice or other problems in books, and making their own minds up about it. I worry that we are "dumbing down" by keeping kids away from some of the classics, yet I can see that emergent or reluctant readers in particular would be daunted by complex vocabulary and sentence structure.


Where do you stand on this issue? Do you think it's okay to share material or toys with kids that might not be ethical or worthy, so long as we discuss the problems and stereotypes with them? Do you think political correctness can be taken too far? Or are you always careful to provide your kids with literature and toys that support your family's values?

(Image of Little Black Sambo in Public Domain.)

Sometimes parents write to the Book Chook with problems they want to share. Reading-related problems are found in Letter to the Book Chook - Free Reading Material, Letter to the Book Chook - Reading Challenge or Reading Chore, Letter to the Book Chook, Letter to the Book Chook -Starting School, Letter to the Book Chook - Free Reading Material, Letter to the Book Chook - Dad Won't Read Aloud, and Letter to the Book Chook - Phonics Workbooks.

Book Review, Shirl and the Wollomby Show

Is there anything more Australian than the local show? The smell of freshly slashed grass, cow manure and donuts, the drone of blowflies and incomprehensible directions over the loudspeaker, the jewel-like colours of the jam display - and the tension between rivals vying for those coveted trophies!


Shirl and the Wollomby Show was written by Janeen Brian, illustrated by Kat Chadwick and published by Omnibus (Scholastic), 2010. It's a children's picture book that's such fun to read and share with kids! There are features that both adults and kids will love, and I predict you'll be laughing aloud just like me.


It's Wollomby Show time again, and Shirl and the other girls in the paddock want to join in the fun. Trouble is, Gertrude the goat always wins the prizes for cooking and flower arranging-and everything else. How will they even out the contest?


Brian has chosen a rollicking rhythm and rhyming text that make a perfect introduction to poetry and bush ballads for children. Younger kids will enjoy the story and hope for the smug Gertrude's downfall; older kids will appreciate the finer details of fun internal rhymes and Aussie ingenuity.


Chadwick's art work is priceless. It really captures the country show and complements Brian's humour beautifully. The sheep are individuals whose character comes through in their eyeshadow, elaborate hairstyles and personalized aprons.


Shirl and the Wollomby Show would make a great acquisition for schools with units on Australian Studies. It would also be perfect as an introduction to poetry for kids - I can just see students learning to knit, make pickles, jams and cakes, and putting on their own mini show in the playground.

The Story of 1

Somehow I got through my whole school life believing I hated Mathematics. As far as I was concerned, high school maths seemed to be based on lies like "let a = 3". Deep in my inner core, I knew that a was a and 3 was 3, and you could ever persuade me otherwise. In primary school, they wanted us to spend an inordinate amount of time poring over problems like "If five men take seven days to dig a hole 5m x 5m x 5m, how long will it take them to dig a hole twice as big?" The answer was so obvious - get a machine to do it instead and save their time! Yet my teachers thought I was being a smart mouth (moi?) so I eventually learnt to keep such opinions to myself.


I think if Mathematics had been presented to me differently, I may well have embraced it. For me, that would have meant using story to introduce and explain it. We language-oriented people are hot-wired to story, and movies like The Story of 1 would have inspired me, I believe, and motivated me to want to learn more.


The story of the number one is the story of Western civilization. Terry Jones ("Monty Python's Flying Circus") goes on a humor-filled journey to recount the amazing tale behind the world's simplest number. Using computer graphics, "One" is brought to life, in all his various guises, in STORY OF 1.


Terry Jones does a great job, adding lovely touches of humour without being patronising. I particularly like the sequence that explained Pythagoras' link between musical harmony and mathematics where Terry Jones makes music with flower pots. The animation is clever, too. Students of history will appreciate the historical sequence the movie follows.


The Story of 1 is both fascinating and educational. It's available at Google Videos to view, and is also for sale via Amazon. It takes about an hour to watch, and I think it would be worthwhile for classes and families.


(Thanks to Ryan Goble (@_mindblue_from MCPop Ning for the tip! and thanks to horizontal.integration on Flickr for the image.)

Clipping with clp.ly

Clipped from: www.thebookchook.com (share this clip)

I've found something really cool (via Larry Ferlazzo's blog). I think it will be useful to adults as well as kids, and particularly useful to bloggers.


It's called clp.ly. It's a way of sharing an image of a website, a screenshot if you like. I used clp.ly to showcase the participants in the September I Can Read Carnival. As well as linking to each blog post, I pasted a clipped screenshot of each post too. Above you can see a clip I took of one of my own posts from last week. 


So why do I like clp.ly better than other similar applications?

• It's easy to use.
• It has a toolbar you can drag to your bookmarks bar so you can clip from your browser window.
• It can be pasted into email.
• It can be pasted into a blog, website, forums, social media.
• You can add a sticky note to your clip.
• You can change the size of your clip.
• It embeds the url the clip was taken from into the clip.
• The clip links directly to the original page that you clipped.
• If you register, the site keeps a record of your clips, quotes and sites.
• As you can see below, you can clip text too and make it into what clp.ly call "eye-catching quotes."

When write o'clock rolls around, sometimes all we need is an idea for writing that won't take too long, will motivate kids, and remind them that writing is fun.

From www.thebookchook.com (share this quote)

How would it be useful to kids? If your kids are collecting information about something, this could be a cool way of keeping an annotated record of the sites they want to use. Clipping and keeping each site as an image that includes a link is a great reminder to visual learners. If you and your child are researching new bikes or dog breeds say, you could clip each site, and use the sticky note to jog your memory. If your son is into manga and you find a great review online, send him an email with the site's clip pasted in and a note to tell him why you think he'll like it.


You can find more information at the clp.ly website.


What other ways might you use clp.ly?


(Have you noticed the dots in the middle of words nowadays? And the uppercase letters? I'm thinking of changing my name to sus.aN!  Plus I've just been told I added a vowel to the word when it actually has none - it's not clip.ly, but clp.ly. Hard to pronounce; fun to use!)

Creative Prompt - a Poem, Where I'm From

My article today is the second in a series of prompts that I hope might spark some creative expression in your kids, and maybe you too. Our first prompt last Friday was a general one; today we look at a specific poem and use that as a prompt.


Because I research and write so many articles for this blog and others, I find I have to carve back time in my life for creativity and creative writing. Lately, I've been playing with poetry and other prompts as a way to not only have fun with words, but to develop my creativity muscles. When I got to this one in my folder, it occurred to me that if I, a non-poet, found it accessible, kids might too. I think it would be great to do in a writing workshop, or as a family activity. If your children are too young for it just yet, try it yourself. I found it an easy model to follow, and also a way to mine my memories for significant aspects of my life - things that made me who I am today.


What I did


I chose to respond to this prompt in writing, and to write a similar poem. You might choose to respond with art work, by creating a song, or developing a dance. I am going to share with you how I came up with my response, but this is by no means the right way, or the only way. 

First of all, here's the poem I used for my prompt: Where I'm From by George Ella Lyon. (You can hear the poet herself read the poem aloud by following that link.)

I read her poem several times. I thought about who I am, and the things that contributed to that. I sought for flavours, words, issues, people and culture that had shaped my life, and then jotted down my own list. Once it was done, I tidied it a little, but basically my poem is a list format. Oh, and I sprinkled some punctuation around too - anyone else have no idea how to punctuate this kind of blank verse?


Where I'm From
by Susan Stephenson


I am from cubbies,
dark caves of delight,
woven from bark and dreams.

I am from playground dust

and melted asphalt,

sheltered by camphor laurel tree.

I am from William Tell
and Robin Hood,
my heroes in the box.

I am from kookaburras
and kangaroos,
and tempering disaster with a cup of tea.

I am from sour milk at playlunch,

and Vegemite sandwiches,
and bananas that don't travel well.



I am from stolen children

and yellow peril

and 'ave a go yer mug.

I am my father -

spot a weed at thirty paces,

tidy tools away

and live to learn.

I am my mother -
but struggling against it.

The glass half-full
is now half-empty.

I am Australian.

Free to be me -

as soon as I discover

who that is.


That's it! I don't think it's great poetry BUT I do think it captures a little of where I'm from. As Lyon herself says,"Remember, you are the expert on you. No one else sees the world as you do; no one else has your material to draw on. You don't have to know where to begin. Just start. Let it flow. Trust the work to find its own form."


What about you? Where are you from?

***

Here's a response to the prompt from Callie, of Sit-a-While blog. Isn't it interesting to see another interpretation of the same prompt?


Where I'm From



I'm from Oak Park, Illinois
I lived on a street called Gunderson
where I could walk around the corner
and see the Sears Tower
standing tall in the distance
I knew Spring was on its way
when I could smell Gary, Indiana.
The city's distinct smell
of old French fries
gliding toward Chicago
alerted me that soon
I'd be wearing flip flops.
My friends and I would stop by
the Farrara Pan Candy factory
as soon as we could smell what candy was being made that day.
Smells of cinnamon in the air
stung my nose,
and I could almost taste the Red Hots.
The best days 
were the days
when the factory
was making jelly beans.
For a quarter
the ladies at the factory
would hand us brown lunch bags
filled
with freshly made jelly beans
the size of nickels.
I always ate the red ones first.

Thanks, Callie!

***

Here's a response to the prompt from Ruth, of Li-Bear-y Corner. Different again, but just as evocative as Callie's!



I am from Music In My Memories 
by Ruth Ferris


I am from cast iron fry pans, from Hershey’s chocolate and homemade bread.


I am from cheap apartments, cramped, and crowded, but kids allowed.


I am from prickly pear cactus, and Lodge Pole Pine


I am from Easter Baskets and hammer toes, from Elizabeth and Melvin Chandler and Grandma Boice).


I am from stubbornness and hot tempers.


From “money doesn’t grow on trees” and “when God closes a door he will always open a window”.


I am from rosaries and hard scrabble living, and memories of grandma’s Indian Boarding School days.


I'm from Idaho and Irish immigrants laying transcontinental track; bread pudding and red eyed gravy.


From Katie Mulligan Boice who bought her 1905 Indian Motorcycle right off the line at 18, the same woman my grandfather never let drive, my mother who started college in her forties and then taught in one room schools.


I am from black and white pictures most long gone, berry pickers, and from pump organs now playing music in my memories.



{If you and/or your kids respond to this prompt and you'd like me to showcase it on my blog, I would be thrilled to do that, provided you have copyright permission to do so. If you post it on your own blog, please let me know (in comments or email, via the Contact Me tab), and I'll add your link to this post. Or you're welcome just to use comments to share a little about where you're from!} 

Photocredit: BookChook