October 14, 2018

It's okay to abandon books.

Sometimes we start a book, give it a good try, and it just doesn't hold our attention. It could be that the content is over our head, the content does not interest us, there is something going on in our personal life that does not allow us to sustain attention for long chunks of time, etc. The point is that abandoning a book is a natural part of an active reading life. Sometimes it happens and we need to share that with our kiddos. The trick is to get our children into the habit of making a plan - keeping a "to be read" list - with a book waiting in the wings. It's also good to have conversations with our children about why they abandoned a book and why another one held their interest. Talking about books in this way helps students gain confidence in their reading identity. 

We are incredibly lucky to have Mark Parisi, author of the hilarious and hugely popular hybrid series Marty Pants, come to our school for an author visit on the day that his third Marty Pants book is released. Our students will be some of the first to get their hands on this title! Mark Parisi will also do a book signing after school at Barrington Books on Tuesday, October 30th. If you know of any Marty Pants fans who do not go to HMS, please tell them to stop by BB to say hello to Mark and get a book signed! The countdown is certainly on at our house!

Marty Pants 3: How to Defeat a Wizard, (2018)

by Mark Parisi

Goodreads summary link

Two years ago Mark Parisi came to Hampden Meadows to debut his original Marty Pants book. Emma, then a fourth grader,  was so inspired by his visit that she immediately went home and created a fantastic book trailer. With permission from her parents, Mark used Emma's book trailer in his author talks. I think Emma helped cement a strong relationship with Mark, and Mark still enjoys coming to HMS when a new book comes out. Our doors will always be open to this talented, funny, awesome author!

Emma's trailer

Did you know that if I created a pie chart of all the genres in our fiction section, the largest slice would be fantasy? This first book in the Ascendance Trilogy was a 2014 RI Children's Book Award nominee. 

The False Prince (The Ascendance Trilogy #1), (2013)

by Jennifer Nielsen

Goodreads summary link

Barrington Public Children's Librarian Extraordinaire Lisa Lesinski and I will be co-hosting our next "Rooster Readers" family book club on Tuesday, November 13th from 5-6pm (we had to move the day and time this month due to scheduling issues). We were so thrilled with last month's book club, and are looking forward to another evening of thoughtful discussion around this realistic fiction title. 

Stef Soto, Taco Queen, (2017)

by Jennifer Torres

Goodreads summary link

How many of you have played Monopoly during a family game night? You might be interested in reading this new title to learn how it was invented.

Pass Go and Collect $200: The Real Story of How Monopoly Was Invented, (2018)

words by Tanya Lee Stone and pictures by Steve Salerno

Goodreads summary link

There is no book trailer for this title but I did find a news piece on the history of Monopoly.

Our students devour the Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales series. He has cleverly combined his love of history and his talent for drawing to humorously teach history to our eager readers. Brilliant! This is the perfect gift for your young Hamilton fanatics!

Lafayette!: A Revolutionary War Tale (Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #8), (2018)

by Nathan Hale

 Goodreads summary link