Discover great books for your young reader

I’ve just started book five of the Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan. Fortunately there are at least another 5 for me to read. The young orphan Will is taken in by Ranger Halt, and together they work to keep the kingdom of Araluen safe from evil warlords, Skandian raiders and Temujai warriors. The characters and plot layers are complex and satisfying, and each book leaves you hanging, needing to pick up the next one immediately.

If you have kids who like to watch Youtube, but you’d rather have more control over what they might be watching, check out www.smories.com. This new website posts videos of kids reading stories written for kids. It is also a writing contest. People submit stories, videos are created of the shortlisted stories, and the authors of the videos with the most views at the end of month win prizes.

Here’s what the creators of the site have to say about it

We got the idea for smories.com during an extremely long journey in a very dirty Land Rover from the Kalahari desert in Botswana to Cape Town in South Africa in February this year.

Our daughter (8) had the idea to film herself with our ipod reading Enid Blyton short stories, and then play them back to her younger sister (6). This kept them entertained for hours.

Our kids have always loved reading to each other and are transfixed when other children read them stories. They are also obsessed with the internet and will make their way to youtube any time they get their hands on a computer.

We thought a website that had a continuous flow of new stories, read aloud by kids, would make a healthier destination than so much of the stuff out there. Imagine you’re stuck in traffic and need to keep a miniature person entertained in the back. Download a playlist of smories stories on your i-phone and voila…

Once we had the idea for a site that publishes stories for kids read by kids, we also thought it would be a great unthreatening forum for showcasing unpublished stories. This allows writers to test their work in a straightforward and transparent way, hopefully giving them exposure which they might otherwise not have received.

- Lisa Swerling & Ralph Lazar, March 2010

While you’re there, be sure to watch The Sock Monster (my story!)

I’ve been trying to get my son to read the How to Train Your Dragon books by Cressida Cowell for months. I knew he’d love them. Anything funny with lots of bathroom humour is right up his alley–not to mention dragons and vikings. Anytime I tried to point the books out in the school library, he’d give me the hand and run the other way, straight to the graphic novels. Then I discovered the secret. My mother gave him a copy of the first book, and he’s been reading them for over two hours a night since. He’s now on number four, How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse, and has number five ready to go when he’s done.

So, how do you trick your child into reading a book you’re sure they’ll love? Get someone else to give it to them. Books recommended by Mom, even if she’s your teacher-librarian (maybe especially if she’s your teacher-librarian?) are suspect. I shouldn’t be surprised. I shunned The Secret Garden for years while my mother got down on her hands and knees and begged me to read it. And of course, once I finally did I loved it, and read it again, and again, and again…

Over the last few months, I’ve been reading the Chocolate Lily picture book nominees to some of the primary classes at out school. Three of the classes have now voted, and it appears that Penguin and the Cupcake, by Ashley Spires, is their favourite. It is a very funny book about a penguin who travels to the arctic in search of a cupcake.

As much as I enjoyed Penguin and the Cupcake, I cast my vote for The West is Calling by Sarah Harvey, Leslie Buffam and Dianna Bonder (and not just because Sarah is my editor, either). This book is fantastic for teaching the history of British Columbia. Each page illustrates a snapshot in BC’s history, with realistic paintings and haiku. At the end of the book, further information is given about each historical moment.

Yesterday, I spent the day in Vancouver at The Writer’s Union of Canada Professional Development Symposium. Any aspiring, emerging or established author should attend one of these yearly seminars. For seven hours, Ross Laird, Betsy Warland and Deborah Windsor talked us through “A Secure Footing in a Changing Literary Landscape.” (Hint: depending on who you talk to, the changing landscape is either dismal or full of opportunity.) The lively discussion and excellent presentation skills kept me interested throughout the long day.

At the end of the day, Betsy asked us to write down the three things we wanted to do over the next six months, based on what we’d learned. Mine are:

1) Research emacs text editing software
2) Create a YouTube video of Mountain Machines
3) Add to this blog weekly!

Another tip Ross hammered home was that any writer (or anyone who brands themselves by their personal name versus a company name) must own their own domain (www.firstnamelastname.com), and should use that as their email address.

A recent review by Connie Fletcher, Booklist, January 1 & 15, 2010.

Jake Reynolds: Chicken or Eagle?
By Sara Leach.
2009. 112p. Orca, paper, $7.95 (9781554691456).
Gr. 3–6.
The theme of confronting fear is made vivid
in this chapter book about an 11-year-old boy
who is scared of two things: encountering a
wolf in the woods and running away from it.
What would remain a fairy-tale hypothesis for
most kids is a realistic one for hero Jake Reynolds,
since at least one wolf has been spotted
on the tiny island where he and his family live.
!e book takes off midway through when he
and his best friend, Emily, take a hike through
the woods. Just as in his fearful dreams, Jake
soon finds himself held at bay by two wolves.
Jake’s selflessness in protecting Emily and his
coolheadedness in following the advice to never
run from a wolf form both a heart-pounding
climax and a very satisfying resolution to his
fears. Information about living in harmony
with the environment is seamlessly incorporated.
Introverted Jake is similar to Greg Heffley
in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, but his
struggles are developed in a much more serious
vein. —Connie Fletcher

If you have a child aged 6-9 who is just learning to read, I highly recommend the Fly Guy books by Tedd Arnold. The text is as simple as the old “Jane and Spot” readers, but the storyline and wacky illustrations appeal to today’s readers. My kids love the fact that the books are broken down into chapters (of about 30 words each), so they can say they are reading “chapter books”.

In book one, a boy named Buzz adopts a pet fly, and then has to prove to everyone around him that a fly really is a pet. In the next four books Buzz and Fly Guy embark on adventures together: saving the cafeteria lady, finding the way home when the family gets lost.

Fly High Fly Guy! by Tedd Arnold

One of the best parts of my job as a teacher-librarian is that I get to do a big book shop once or twice a year. And while I support my local bookstore, Armchair Books, as much as possible, nothing beats Kidsbooks in Vancouver for selection and knowledgeable staff. I spent a few hours there on Friday, and had two staff members helping me out.

Here were some of the top pre-school picks of the day:

Read It, Don’t Eat It by Ian Schoenherr. Greenwillow Books, 2009.
All school libraries need a copy of this book, which explains book care with simple statements and clear, fun illustrations. Would also be a great read for the preschool set who haven’t figured out the difference between library books and colouring books.

One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley. National Geographic, 2009.
Follow children around the world through one day, and discover all the similarities we share. We get up, we eat, we go to school, we work we play. Told with spare language and the stunning photography one expects from National Geographic.

One by Kathryn Otishi. KO Kids Books, 2008.
This simple book is illustrated with little more than blobs of colour on white background, and yet those colours take on personalities as Red bullies Blue and the other colours. It isn’t until One comes along that they learn to stand up to the bully and make everyone count.

Mountain Machines arrived from the printer last week. Illustrated by California artist Steven Corvelo, Mountain Machines is a colorful and playful look at the machines that manage a ski hill. Each machine has it own personality and on every page Marty Marmot observes the antics.

Although the book is aimed at two to five-year olds, I’ve shared it with several of the K-3 classes at my school and have had a great response. They love finding Marty Marmot. In fact, they laughed so hard at Steven’s illustrations, I don’t think they even heard the text!

Mountain Machines cover

Click here to order a copy of Mountain Machines.

Also available at Kidsbooks, Duthie Books and Blackberry Books (Vancouver), and Armchair Books (Whistler).

I’m please to announce that Jake Reynolds: Chicken or Eagle? has arrived!

Eleven year-old Jake Reynolds wants to save seal pups from the talons of bald eagles, protect his little sister Sierra, and brave the wolf he is sure stalks Hidalgo Island in southwestern British Columbia. But his best friend Emily calls him a chicken, comforts Sierra when she falls, and doesn’t believe the wolf exists. Even as Jake hears howling in the night, part of him hopes Emily is right, for while he dreams of being a hero, he is terrified by the thought of running into a wolf. Jake leads Emily into the woods in search of adventure, and finds more than he bargains for. Will he be able to conquer his fears and act like a true hero?

Available at www.orcabook.com, www.amazon.ca.