Picking the first read-aloud is an agonizing dilemma; not too long, not too short, not too silly, not too sad… it has to be just right.  And Jerry Pinkney’s version of “The Little Red Hen” was it! 

Pinkney was a featured speaker at the Illinois Reading Conference in 2007.  I enjoyed his presentation immensely, and felt privileged that he allowed me to contact him for an interview related to his book “Sam and the Tigers:  A retelling of Little Black Sambo”.  I was working on my MS at the time, researching the story “Little Black Sambo”.  Mr. Pinkney was incredibly gracious, allowing me to call him at home since he was rushing to catch a plane after his conference presentation.  What a VERY nice man!

Jerry Pinkney, illustrator

"The Miller" Pinkney self-portrait

But back to “The Little Red Hen”…. because I had met Mr. Pinkney I recognized his self-portrait as the miller in the story. 

If the resemblance wasn’t enough, Pinkney leaves the reader a hint in the corner of the page where he appears as the character of the miller – hidden between the grindstone and a barrel are paint supplies and a little red hen painting in progress!

Before we began reading I shared with the students how I met Mr. Pinkney and subsequently recognized him in the book.  I showed them Pinkney’s photo and let them search for the clue in the illustrations.

Pinkney’s work is distinctive, so I pulled the dozen or so titles we had in our collection and began showing them to the students.  Just as family members share a resemblance and can often be recognized, so can the work of illustrators.  Pinkney’s realistic people and animals, the details of the pictures, and the muted colors are all hallmarks that the students can begin to identify.  Included in the stack of Pinkney books was an obviously non-Pinkney illustrated work.  A couple of books before this decoy surfaced I would tell the students to raise their hand if they recognized a book that didn’t look like Pinkney’s work.  They got it every time!

“The Little Red Hen” needs some explanations in the post-agricultural society.  The word harvesting is familiar, but the concept of threshing wheat is not.  I explained how the wheat is actually the seed heads at the top of the dry stalk and threshing is removing the seeds from the stalk.  (A lot of work by hand!)  Flour and milling also require some explanation.  And after the bread is baked, I always made sure the students knew the meaning of the word aroma. 

The repetition in this book makes it a favorite.  It doesn’t take long for the students to chant “not I” along with you or, with an inviting pause, they will finish the phrase “then I’ll do it myself”.  What surprised and saddened me was the student reactions to the ending of the book.  Pinkney kept the traditional “I’ll eat it myself” ending and initially the students were unhappy with it.  They expected the little red hen to share.  So as the day went along I introduced the word ‘lazy’ into their vocabularies.  The other animals were lazy and did not want to work.  No work – no food.  Do nothing – get nothing.  When did we lose sight of those values?  I’m sure we have, because this new generation thought the little red hen should share anyway.  I have two words for that – Bah humbug!

I do not know anyone who can read this book without shedding a tear, however, so if you can’t read it aloud, read it for yourself on Memorial Day.  Pass it around the teacher’s lounge.  Recommend it to older students, especially.  This book should be included in those lists of picture books for older students.

The names on the Vietnam War Memorial, as Bunting describes them, “march side by side, like rows of soldiers.” In 2001 our family visited D.C. and made the rounds of the memorials.  But it is the Vietnam memorial that I believe has the most impact.  Those names.  All those names.  And among them, my friend Margaret’s cousin William Patrick “Butch” Foran of Decatur, Illinois. 

Freedom isn’t free… and not only those who died pay the price… so do those left behind.

The joy in reading this book aloud is to allow the students to predict what polite response is required to the quirky situations:

You are picking dandelions and columbines
outside the castle. Suddenly a fierce dragon
appears and blows red smoke at you, but just
then a brave knight gallops up and cuts off
the dragon’s head.

What do you say, dear?

Of course… you say “Thank you very much!”  If the students responded with just “thank you” I encouraged them to think… The brave knight just saved your life!  Is a simple thank you, enough? 

It is important to find ways to validate each student’s response.  Students need to feel safe offering their guess of “What do you say, dear?”  If you simply tell them they are wrong or, worse, laugh at a response it becomes a negative experience.  I treat the answers more like brainstorming… saying something positive about their response, but guiding them all toward a better/best/correct response.  It is often necessary to remind them that we are searching for the polite response.  For many I told them their response would be a very direct approach, but we wanted a polite phrase.  How could they rephrase that very politely?

I shared this book just before Easter break.  Our school serves a fairly homogeneous cornfield community, so it was comfortable to encourage the kids to think about polite behavior at the upcoming Easter dinners most of them would attend with extended family.  Instead of “I want more potatoes” or even, “I want more potatoes, please” this book allowed me to encourage them to say “would you please pass the potatoes”.  And to ask “may I please be excused” when finished. 

This is the beauty of books and read-aloud.  A chance to talk about something with kids in a way that is both meaningful and fun.

A word of caution – a couple of the situations in the book no longer seem politically correct.  (The bad guy has a gun to your head and wants to shoot you.  What do you say, dear?  You say, “No, thank you.” of course.)  But while not politically correct in our overanxious era, the kids don’t mind.  They find the whole thing hilarious.  Adults over-think – kids enjoy.  I heartily recommend this classic book.

So… what do you say, dear?

I have done this for 22 years; realizing that in recent years the grandparents are often my contemporaries!  And, of course, working in a small community I see parents back as grandparents.  One set of former grandparents were there this year as Great-Grandparents!  And for 22 years, since the stage is part of the LMC, I have listened to countless practices for “The tale of the Unhoppy Bunny”.  My aide and I can quote lines and probably could could serve as understudy for most any part!

The opportunity to read to the grandparents is enjoyable.  It brought me a surprise this year, however.  As I sat in the hospital waiting room during my mother-in-law’s surgery, a gentleman sitting across from us didn’t say hello, but rather, “why are you playing hooky from school?”  I was startled.  I didn’t recognize him at all.  “Do I know you?” I asked.  “Well, you’ve read to me three times during grandparent’s day,” he grinned and proceeded to tell me who his grandkids were.

This year I read aloud Jon Agee’s The Retired Kid.  Before I started I asked the third graders in each room what it meant to be retired.  Their sincere answers provided greater entertainment than the book itself!  The Retired Kidwas a nice short read-aloud, giving me time to share with the grandparents about my job as School Library Media Specialist, and to encourage them in their job as storytellers for their grandchildren.  This year I encouraged them to not just “do” things with their grandkids, but to share their own personal narrative stories.  Those personal stories provide a foundation for children that is invaluable.

By the way… did you know that being retired means “you are too old to do it anymore so they fire you”!?!  I hope I never retire!

Buffalo Music by Tracey E. Fern

Thunder on the Plains:  The Story of the American Buffalo by Ken Robbins

Saving the Buffalo by Albert Marrin

With both Earth Day and Arbor Day, April is the month to think about nature!  Buffalo Music is an unusual, but perfect read for a conservation theme.  A fictionalized story of early and successful efforts to preserve the American Bison from extinction, this appealing picture book is somewhat poetic as it attempts to view the influence of the wild animals as music to accompany life.  The text is full of period phrasing, such as “fixin’ to turn a profit on hides and hooves” and “they took to it like flies to a keg of molasses.”  Like That Book Woman I explained a lot to the students, particularly K-1) as we read the book together.

It worked best to show illustrations from Thunder on the Plains and discuss the buffalo with the students before reading Buffalo Music.   In each class I showed a map of the U.S. and gave them a visual on where the Great Plains, home of the buffalo, are located.  I also located the pan handle of Texas for them as the setting for the story.  Using the non-fiction Thunder on the Plains to set the stage for the near extinction of the buffalo helped the students better absorb this weighty fiction title. 

I also showed the students the more text intensive Saving the Buffalo.  Better third grade readers interested in the topic could probably tackle it successfully.

Buffalo Music is a valuable title if you wish to inspire your students that individuals really can make a difference in their worlds! 

That Book Woman by Heather Henson honors the Pack-Horse Librarians of Eastern Kentucky in the 1930s.  (If you have never read about this New Deal Era project, please read the links provided at the end!)  While this book doesn’t always flow easily as a read aloud, it is still lyrical and full of the flavor of 1930s Appalachia.  Words like a-twixt, critters, a-wander, britches, greenbacks, and poke of berries.  With K-2 I stopped after every page and we explored the words or concepts I thought they would not know.  With third grade I waited until the end and then went back to discuss pages.

This book is a stretch because of the unfamiliar vocabulary, but as we explore unknown words together I am modeling reading skills.  But this book is worth reading for more than that.  Hopefully it will inspire non readers to embrace reading as Cal, the main character, does by the end of the book.  Cal has no intentions of sitting “stoney-still” with his “nose a-twixt the pages of a book” like his younger sister Lark.  But the tenacity and dedication of the pack horse librarian eventually wins his admiration and peaks his interest.  “…all at once I yearn to know what makes that Book Woman risk catching cold or worse.”

“Teach me what it says” Cal asks his sister Lark.  This is my favorite page out of all David Small’s lovely illustrations.  The pure, steady look on Lark’s face as her older brother holds out a picture book so she can teach him to read is breathtaking.  “…she does not laugh or even tease, but makes a place and quiet-like we start to read.”  Cal learns to read that winter.

When spring comes Cal’s gift to the Book Woman is to “read me something.”  My teachers get teary eyed at this part, for after all, student success is why we do what we do.  It is the greatest gift our students can give us.

How do we make our students into lifetime readers?  I readThat Book Womanhoping to inspire my non-readers.  Cal calls them “dumb old books” at first, but by the last lovely wordless page he is sitting on the porch of that mountain cabin beside his sister, each with their noses a-twixt the pages of books.

Wednesday I’ll share the personal narrative I related to each class after we finished this lovely book.

For information on the Pack Horse Librarians of Eastern Kentucky:

http://www.kdla.ky.gov/resources/KYPackhorseLib.htm

http://newdeal.feri.org/library/j_1k_bg.htm

http://www.kykinfolk.com/knott/bookwomen_easternkentucky.htm

Mo Willems is the king of simple, and “Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed” is simply hilarious.  What is it with Naked Mole rats?  I never heard of them and then suddenly…  Mary Amato’s Naked Mole-Rat Letters is on the 2010 Rebecca Caudill list in Illinois and Mo Willems writes this one.  Both books are fiction, but Amato’s book shares many facts on the animal, but Mo Willems’ picture book is nothing but fun.

Willems shares that, for his story, “you only need to know three things: 

1. They are a little bit rat.
2. They are a little bit mole.
3. They are all naked.” 

Except for Wilbur.  Wilbur hears his own drummer and likes to wear clothes.  This is definitely a book the kids are going to scream for, since you have to say the word naked on almost every page.  Subtle themes in the book are peer pressure and individuality, with a very satisfactory free-to-be-you-and-me conclusion.

The Jr. Hi. kids told me today that Ron on Disney’s Kim Possible has a naked mole rat named Rufus for a pet!  Rufus apparently is nothing like the real creature.  So, again, what is it with naked mole rats?  Obviously even Disney knows kids love the word naked.

Library Lion

Grandma Nora’s newly constructed home up on a hill becomes a refuge for people and animals alike during the flood.  One of the beautiful elements of the book is how Grandma doesn’t want this new house, considering it “just gravy” on an already blessed life.  When the waters rise, however, Grandma moves on up without complaint. 

Grandma explains the phrase “just gravy” to Wren – and by the time I was done reading the book aloud twelve times (as I do on Thursday story days at my school) I was missing MY grandma and was REALLY hungry for her fried chicken, mashed potatoes and white gravy.  Of course that exists only in my memories… 

Side note:  There is a scene in the movie “Peggy Sue Got Married” where Peggy Sue, who has gone back in time to her teen years, makes use of this time-travel experience to spend time with her grandparents.  I cry often at movies.  I even cry two minutes into “Extreme Home Makeover”!  But this scene in “Peggy Sue Got Married” makes me not cry, but weep every time I see it.  (I’m splashing on the keyboard now just thinking about it!)  If time travel were possible I would spend one more Sunday dinner as a little girl at my grandparent’s with all the aunts and uncles and cousins around.

Sigh!

As for reading aloud “Nora’s Ark”, be prepared to say a line in French.  Madeleine Lafleur is amazed at chickens in the baby carriage in the kitchen and says, “Des Poulets dans le chariot de bébé?”  (My three years of high school French paid off!) 

And if you are like me, be prepared to choke up a bit while reading.  Grandpa is missing in the midst of this awful flood.  Wren and Grandma find him, but Grandpa cries over a dying cow… and the fact that they have lost absolutely everything on the farm, save this brand new empty house.  Because this portion chokes my voice with emotion and fills my eyes with tears, those sweet soft hearted boys and girls to whom I’m reading often tear up, too.  This is the power of story – a good story well told. 

Unfortunately, if you do not preface “Nora’s Ark” with a brief overview of the iconic ancient story of Noah’s Ark, students will not understand grandpa’s line, “Nora, I thought I was building you a house, but I see it was really an ark.”  Very few of my students knew the story of Noah’s Ark.  I let those students help me with a brief telling of the story before we began reading.  I also brought in the following books from our collection and promoted them with the students for further reading:
222 Ife K.3                  
           Ife, Elaine, 1955-.  Now you can read… : Noah and the ark.
                Windermere, Fla. : Rourke Publications, c1983.  A recounting
                of the Bible story in which Noah builds a large strong ship
                to save his family and two of every kind of animal from a
                flood which covered the earth.

222 Pin K.3                  
           Pinkney, Jerry.  Noah’s ark.  New York : SeaStar Books, 2002.
                Retells the biblical story of the great flood and how Noah
                and his family faithfully responded to God’s call to save
                life on earth.

222 Spi K.3                  
           Spier, Peter.  Noah’s ark.  1st ed.  Garden City, N.Y. :
                Doubleday, c1977.  Retells in pictures how a pair of every
                manner of creature climbed on board Noah’s ark and thereby
                survived the Flood.

363.3 Vog 4.8                
           Vogel, Carole Garbuny.  The great Midwest flood.  1st ed.  Boston
                : Little, Brown and Co., c1995.  Text and photographs depict
                the cause and effects of the Midwest flood of 1993.

Fic Cal K.3                  
           Calhoun, Mary.  Flood.  New York : Morrow Junior Books, c1997.
                One fictional Midwestern family is forced to leave their
                home during the flooding of the Mississippi River in 1993.

“Nora’s Ark” on the surface is about the 1927 Vermont flood.. but the theme of this book is really about remembering what is important – “family and friends and neighbors helping neighbors.” – another timely lesson for ourselves and our students during these tough economic times.  “Everything else is just gravy.”

Vermont Flood History websites:

http://www.vermonthistory.org/freedom_and_unity/1800s/natural_disaster.html

http://vermonthistory.org/index.php?Itemid=241&id=391&option=com_content&task=view

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/fhs/flood27.html

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/btv/events/27flood.shtml

Our school celebrated by participating in the simultaneous reading of “The Gettysburg Address”.  Dubbed “The Four Score and Seven” project, this is a national attempt to establish a new Guinness Book of World Record for the most people reading aloud simultaneously.  Our second thru sixth graders all participated in the choral reading.  Hearing their voices at the end, “of the people, by the people, for the people” was moving. 

In addition to coordinating the event, today was story day for K-3.  How do you choose which of the many new Lincoln books to read aloud?  I didn’t.  I gave commercials for several of our recent purchases.   

To begin, the students and I discussed the word Bicentennial with the roots bi and cent.  I explained that because of the Lincoln Bicentennial publishers have recently released a number of wonderful new titles.  Rappaport’s “Abe’s Honest Words” is one I introduced to them, but did not read all aloud.  First grade and up know about quotation marks, so I related their knowledge to the fact that the “honest words” in the books were quotes or quotations from Lincoln.  (Information Literacy skill!) With second and third grade I read them the last quote in the book.  They quickly recognized the ending of “The Gettysburg Address”.  It was a special moment with each class for they all spontaneously joined me in the ending and I was able to again hear their voices.  “…government of the people, by the people, for the people…”. 

I allowed classes to indirectly chose which of the titles I would read aloud in its entirety by asking them to vote (with eyes closed) on whether they were in the mood for a happy story or a sad story.  The happy story was going to be Jim Aylesworth’s “Our Abe Lincoln”, but EVERY class surprised me and voted for sad.  They must like to see me cry when I read???  I sang them bits of “Our Abe Lincoln” anyway as a book commercial.  The subtitle is “an old song with new lyrics” and you indeed MUST sing (not read) it to the tune of “The old gray mare.”  

But the kids chose sad and “Abe Lincoln Comes Home” by Robert Burleigh fits the bill!  They kids all know about Lincoln’s assassination, therefore I actually begin introducing the book by telling them about Lincoln’s Farewell Address, his brief words to his friends and neighbors in Springfield as he left to assume the presidency on February 11, 1861.  Lincoln’s Farewell was final, for his only return was via his funeral train on May 2, 1865.  I showed my students the map at the back of the book and told them that what impressed me was the common man’s reaction.  Sure the big cities had the train stop for huge memorials, but it was the many who waited by remote tracks all along the route that touch my heart.  And this is the subject of Burleigh’s book.  I also took the opportunity to remind the students of a wonderful but dying custom of today; when passing a funeral procession on the highway it is courtesy to pay your respects by pulling over and stopping.  A few kids knew the custom, but I encouraged them to practice it and educate their parents if necessary.  This seemed to help them understand why folks in 1865 would drive miles and miles to simply stand by the tracks to watch a funeral train pass. 

On a lighter note, each student in my schools were given a penny pin today.  My aide and I made all 900 of them and pinned them through Lincoln Bicentennial cards I made from white cardstock.  The penny pin project was fraught with setbacks, but the genuine appreciation from students Kindergarten through 8^th grade made it worth all the trouble.

Today was the Lincoln Bicentennial.  My efforts today were “for the people” – for the young people whom I hope will remember today as a special time in their learning experience.  To quote Lincoln:  “Upon the subject of education, I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.”  Perhaps it is the fact that Mr. Lincoln (don’t call him Abe!) acquired the bulk of his education from reading books that serves to endear him to my librarian’s heart.  I celebrate his memory!

During the reading, when I was assured that the students were predicting the outcome of the mouse’s greedy balancing act, I stopped and shared with them what my mother would have said… “This is an accident waiting to happen.”  Students nodded sagely.  This is wisdom they have heard and understand!

Of course, Mouse loses everything at the end.  But wait!  The pea is still available… and his attitude is repaired.  “Give thanks!  One is a feast for me!”  Given the current economic times (at least as bemoaned by the media) I think the message of the book is timely.  We can all do with much less and still find much for which to be thankful!

“Give thanks!”