Bookends
A Booklist Blog
Middle-school librarians Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan prove that two heads are better than one when it comes to discussing YA and children's books
Archive for the 'Gr. 4-7' Category
Wed, May 8th, 2013
Cover Art Can Be a Mystery
Posted by: Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan
Cindy: Sometimes the biggest mystery about a book is the cover art! When Lynn and I worked together in the library we did tandem booktalking a lot. It was good for the students since we each had our own genre strengths and preferences (hers were science fiction and mystery and I favored horror and sad [...]
Permalink
| Posted in Cover Art, Fiction, Gr. 4-7, Mystery, Mystery Month
| Trackback
| No Comments »
Mon, April 29th, 2013
You’re the Chef Series – Lerner
Posted by: Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan
Lynn: Cooking is a hot topic these days. I remember the days when cooking was the stay-at-home-mom’s sole province but not only has American cooking changed markedly from the Campbell’s soup and casseroles days but men are often the major cooks in the family. My oldest son is a far better cook than I am [...]
Permalink
| Posted in Gr. 2-4, Gr. 4-7, Nonfiction, Twins' Thumbs Up - Age 9
| Trackback
| 2 Comments »
Mon, March 25th, 2013
Look Up! by Annette LeBlanc Cate
Posted by: Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan
Lynn: In an age of expensive entertainment, the opening sentence of Look Up!: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard (Candlewick 2013) has a refreshing simplicity: “You don’t have to go anywhere fancy to watch birds!” In fact, Cate goes on to assure young readers that all they really need to do is learn to keep quiet [...]
Permalink
| Posted in Art teachers take notice, Birds, Gr. 3-5, Gr. 4-7, Nature, Nonfiction, Twins' Thumbs Up - Age 9
| Trackback
| 1 Comment »
Fri, March 1st, 2013
A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff
Posted by: Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan
Cindy: I wonder what kind of cake Cady would bake to bring me optimum happiness? Given the mouth-watering recipes sprinkled throughout the text, I think I would be happy with any of them. And I do plan to try a few of them myself! It would be easier to bake a perfect cake than to [...]
Permalink
| Posted in Fiction, Gr. 4-7, Read-alouds
| Trackback
| 3 Comments »
Wed, February 13th, 2013
The Seven Tales of Trinket by Shelley Moore Thomas
Posted by: Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan
Cindy: Trinket has never “loved anything so much as a story.” Of course, that does not include her mother, who she loved dearly. But as the story opens, her mother is taking her last breaths and by page 11 Trinket is an orphan and I was fighting back tears. The Seven Tales of Trinket (Farrar 2012) [...]
Permalink
| Posted in Fables and Folklore, Girl Power, Gr. 4-7, Read-alouds, Storytelling
| Trackback
| No Comments »
Wed, January 2nd, 2013
Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed
Posted by: Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan
Lynn: Sometimes a book goes right to my heart and takes me right back to my childhood. Twelve Kinds of Ice (Houghton 2012) is that kind of book. This is the story of one of the great pleasures of winter and how one family makes that pleasure something truly special. The First Ice The first [...]
Permalink
| Posted in Fiction, Gr. 3-5, Gr. 4-7, Nature, Seasons, Twins' Thumbs Up - Age 9
| Trackback
| 2 Comments »
Sun, December 30th, 2012
The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Posted by: Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan
Lynn: When will I learn to listen to the book club kids? They have been raving about The False Prince (Scholastic 2012) for months now and I JUST got to it. In my defense, it was in such hot demand that it took me a long time to get it away from the kids. Still, [...]
Permalink
| Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Gr. 4-7, Gr. 5-8
| Trackback
| 2 Comments »
Wed, December 19th, 2012
The Second Life of Abigail Walker by Frances O’Roark Dowell
Posted by: Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan
Cindy: When Lynn handed over her latest public library find, (Atheneum 2012), I wasn’t quite sure where the story was going to lead me when I read the opening page: The fox had been stepping into stories since the beginning of time. Important stories, everyday stories, stories that only mattered to one or two people. [...]
Permalink
| Posted in Bullying, Characters who read, Common Core Standards, Fiction, Gr. 4-7, Read-alouds
| Trackback
| No Comments »
Mon, November 19th, 2012
The Amazing Harry Kellar by Gail Jarrow
Posted by: Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan
Lynn: Few people have heard of Harry Kellar yet he was idolized by Harry Houdini, was immensely popular and had a career that lasted for decades. In The Amazing Harry Kellar: Great American Magician (Calkin Creek 2012) author Gail Jarrow asserts that Kellar was even a more talented magician than Houdini whose fame lives on. [...]
Permalink
| Posted in Biographies, Common Core Standards, Curriculum Connections, Gr. 4-7, Nonfiction, Performing Arts
| Trackback
| 1 Comment »
Mon, October 8th, 2012
How to Raise Monarch Butterflies by Carol Pasternak
Posted by: Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan
Lynn: I SO needed this book a few years ago when the focus group and I embarked on our first monarch hatching! We muddled through and have watched many many caterpillars turn dutifully into butterflies and fly away but there’s nothing like the joy of an instructional guide. Even though we’re veterans now, we love [...]
Permalink
| Posted in Curriculum Connections, Gr. 2-4, Gr. 4-7, Nature, Nonfiction, Twins' Thumbs Up - Age 9
| Trackback
| 3 Comments »
|
© 2013 Booklist Online. Powered by
WordPress.
Quoted material should be attributed to: Bookends (Booklist Online).
|
|
|