Another great quote from A.A. Milne

I was babysitting this summer and saw this quote hanging in the room of one of the kids I was watching. I instantly loved it!

"Promise me you'll always remember...

You're BRAVER than you believe,

and STRONGER than you seem,

and SMARTER than you think."

~ Christoper Robin to Pooh

Check out this link!

Ahhh so good to finally get back to my blogging. While my summer months have been crazy and extremely busy, and I haven't had time to do much reading outside of summer class reading material, I have been able to do some late night web searching.

Doreen Rappaport, an extremely talented children's book author, has a wonderful website. Her book Eleanor, Quiet No More is one of the books featured on my blog. I have also had the pleasure of reading some of her other masterpieces. Below is a link to her website. Check it out, and take a few minutes to read some of her amazing books! You will love them just as much as I do. I would especially recommend Martin's Big Words which now has an audio version that can most likely be found in any local library.

http://www.doreenrappaport.com/index.html

Happy reading everyone! :)

Final reflection, yes. end of blogging, NO!

Well, this blogging assignment has been one of my memorable engagements since entering the college of ed. When times were rough (and there were many of them this semester), there was one thing I always knew I could turn to...my blog! It was relaxing, fun and most of all, inspiring.

It was exceptionally refreshing to be able to write from my heart without having to worry about making silly grammatical errors. To be honest, having a blog motivated me to write better. Throughout the semester, I wrote sincere, thoughtful critiques about books while also focusing on grabbing the attention of readers. Additionally, my blog is a representation of my personality, whereas a piece of white paper with black letters is not. It forced me to truly evaluate the types of assignments we present students with. There is no point in making children do something that they won't get anything out of. Rather, we need to give them the opportunity to be creative and put their heart into something that reflects who they are as a person; it is in such an environment where their full potential will shine through.

I look forward to my continuation of blogging throughout the rest of my time in the College of Education and am excited to keep with it when I have a classroom of my own!

Madeline and the Bad Hat

Ah Madeline is fully recovered and back in action in this fun book! When the Spanish Ambassador moves in next door to the twelve little girls in two straight lines, they sat and marveled at the scene. He had a son Pepito, and all the girls are pleased except of course, Madeline. She quickly became aware of his unpleasant behavior and nicknamed him "the Bad Hat." She is fearless and not about to sit back and let Pepito get away with murder. She called him a "horrid brat" and said she was keeping an eye on him.

Lucky for us, there's 4 more Madeline books in the collection, all of which are entertaining and hilarious!

Mad About Madeline!!

There is only one thing that pops into my head when I think about being read to as a child...MADELINE! Actually, Madeline books are the only books that I remember from my childhood, besides for an occasional Dr. Seuss read-aloud here and there. My bookshelf at home in Wisconsin has become extremely boring to me after being in this class. It is full of my parents' old college textbooks and uninteresting adult novels...it's majorly lacking some great children's books! When I went home over spring break, I was on a mission to find some old picture books from my childhood tucked away in closets or in the basement. What I found was so depressing..there weren't any!! Even worse was when I discovered what happened to them. My Mother was pleased to tell me that they were sold in recent rummage sales. She thought it was great, all the "clutter" from around the house was gone, she said. My old picture books were CLUTTER?!! THEY WERE SOLD IN A RUMMAGE SALE?! AHHH! :( Well, I was still determined to find at least one straggler that got left behind.

Thankfully, after tearing apart the closet in my bedroom, I found an amazing surprise. Me and my sisters' "Mad About Madeline" anthology, complete with all 6 original Madeline stories. Words can't really describe how excited I was! It is in perfect condition, as if we just bought it yesterday! This goes to show how special it was to us. I know for a fact that my twin Ang and I did not treat our old books the best. We would scribble all over the pages, stain them with juice drippings, and probably tear out a page here or there. This has been mentioned in some of my other postings, but just as a reminder, we were DESTRUCTIVE! Anyways, my point is that we adored everything about Madeline and would have never done anything to scruff up our Madeline anthology.

I have to start with the first book in the collection, "Madeline," Ludwig Bemelman's work of art. I turned to the first page and there it was, that crooked old house that I loved so much. Then came the twelve little girls in two straight lines, along with their teacher, Miss Clavel. I used to get the biggest kick out of Miss Clavel, the way she is always running all over the place completely frantic. It goes without saying that Bemelman's poetic writing style immediately captures the attention of young and old readers alike. His short, beautiful lines keep the reader engaged and wanting more. His illustrations are bold and energetic. Madeline's character is completely brilliant; there has to be one little rascal among the twelve girls. Her mischievous personality is hilarious. If you look carefully at the pictures, you will most likely catch her doing something that would give her teacher a heart attack. Madeline coming down with appendicitis midway through the book was unexpected. It was a genius idea by Bemelman because it leaves the reader anxious for the next Madeline story in which we can see her back in action.

All in Just One Cookie By Susan Goodman

This book was included in my text set because of its creative appeal and successful incorporation of interesting information. Grandma sets out to make a delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies, with her 2 sidekicks (her pet dog and cat) assisting her along the way. She puts the ingredients in the mixing bowl one by one, with an explanation of where each ingredient came from quickly following. It reminded me of making cookies with a little kid. Kids are extremely curious about every little thing and want to know exactly what you are putting in the bowl, why it's going in and why it's called what it is. I would love to buy this book and have it laying out on the counter the next time I go to make cookies with my little cousins or the little kids I babysit. They would absolutely love it!

Did I forget to mention that the cat and dog are the ones providing the info?! Isn't that clever?!

Tony's Bread by Tomie dePaola

Although this book is known to be a classic, I had never read it before. In fact, I didn't even know it existed until I was searching for books to include in my text set. Being almost full blooded Italian, it is not surprising that I fell in love with this book. An Italian Folktale about the creation of panettone?! How could I not love it! Every aspect of the book was pleasing, starting with dePaola's "Note About The Story." He included some history about the Italian bread "panettone" and gave a brief intro of the story. What I enjoyed most about the book was his incorporation of Italian vocabulary and the humorous gossiping "zie" (aunties). His skillful illustrations depicting the Piazza del Duomo in Milan enhanced my intense desire to take a trip to Italy!