Well, I mean, it's been two months since we've
done this. It has. Yeah. It was a much needed
break, but it was, I'm glad to be getting back
into it. I am too. I do actually really enjoy,
like, I feel like this is when I find a lot of
good books and I honestly, I build a lot of my
order list from all this stuff. Yeah. I do enjoy
it a lot. Exactly. Cause I like the books that
we talk about and then the books that those authors
and illustrators work on. I take all of those
and I'm like, yep, let's add those to the cart.
Like, did you fill out the paperwork and are
you going to TLA? Yes. Yeah. I got my confirmation
email and stuff. Okay. I need to figure out like
hotel and stuff still um what do we do for so
are i'm confused on all of that are we paying
for hotels so it depends um last year or the
last time i went was that last year i don't even
remember whatever the last time we went um that
i needed a hotel so i guess that wasn't last
year because last year was in dallas right so
it was the year before when it was in san antonio
um when I needed a hotel, basically what it was,
and I hated it, but I covered, like I put down
my credit card to cover it up front, and then
the district sent me a, like, gave me a check
for the price, basically. But I, and the reason
they gave me the check was because I was using,
like, my campus funds to pay for it. It depends
on your campus. Does your campus have any funds
to pay for it? Do you have any library funds
set aside to pay for it? Like, Or you can, or
I don't know, like when we meet, we're meeting
as a library group that week of Tuesday, right?
We need to ask some of these questions. Cause
I don't know if they have any money that'll cover
any of that either. Like I don't, it's a whole
thing. And so it's not easy. I have my literati
book fair the last week of February. Okay, and
I'm kind of hoping that I make enough money that
I can be like let's use this money to pay for
it Because I take the literati stuff as cash
anyway, so I'm kind of hoping I make enough as
in cash that I can just be like Put this in the
fund. This is the money. We're using to pay for
the hotel Because I don't I don't know it's not
it's not easy and it's very it feels very weird
because like I said I had to pay for it myself
and then they reimbursed me the check for the
hotel which was weird and I don't know that is
weird but whatever so um but there we can talk
more about how that works but I'm glad you're
going that'll be good um yeah and if we figure
out principle yeah and then we can figure out
what hotel and we'll stay at the same hotel so
that we can like Walk to and from the convention
center stuff. So did you know there's a Hobbit
cafe in Houston? I did not, but we need to check
that out. I know I was talking to somebody about
it last night and she was like telling me how
they went and it was really good actually and
they're not really fans of Lord of the Rings.
So I'm not sure why they went but they did and
She was like, but there was, I was like, oh man,
I hope we can get in. And she was like, there
wasn't a wait or anything. It'll be fine. And
I was like, yeah, but I'm going during nerd season.
Like all the librarians will descend and go to
the Shire. Yeah. Yes. Hobbit Cafe in Houston.
Okay. and I was looking at some of their menu
items and it gets like like I guess they opened
in the 70s so it's not like it's like real niche
stuff there was like a morgoth burger and I was
like nobody knows who morgoth is that's impressive
that's awesome the lonely mountain fajita nachos
yeah we could go eat that Tree Beards Guacamole
Salad. Uh -huh. This is... Let's go! Oh, yes.
I know! I'm so happy! That's the thing we have
to do. We have to do this now. We might need
to make an episode just about the amazing adventure
of the Hobbit Cafe. I would be okay with that!
know if they take reservations. I'm just nervous
since it's all the nerds are gonna be there.
Yeah, we might need to. Maybe we just go at a
weird time go like 3pm or something. Yeah, something
but that sounds awesome. I love this idea. Okay.
Hello and welcome. I'm Patrick Adams. And I am
Caroline Legere. And this is Librarians of Littles,
a podcast where we discuss books, give tips and
tricks, and just give advice for working with
the youngest learners in the library setting.
Today we have two books to discuss, both of which
are Caldecott award -winning books. And so today
we will be starting with talking about Wolf in
the Snow, written and illustrated by Matthew
Cordell. It was published by Fuel and Friends,
an imprint of Macmillan Children's Publishing
Group, in 2017. So some awards for this book
include the Caldecott Medal for 2018, the ALSC
Notable Children's Book Selection for 2018, Boston
Globe Horn Book Award Honor for 2017, CCBC Choice
Selection for 2018, the Horn Book Fanfare Selection
for 2017, Junior Library Guild Elementary Selection
for 2017, and the SLJ Best Book of the Year Selection
for 2017. And for the author history, Matthew
Cordell has illustrated many books for children,
including picture books, novels, and a world
of poetry. He has also written and illustrated
many picture books of his own. Cordell's books
have been published all around the world in multiple
languages. Some of his books have been recognized
as the best of the year selections by the New
York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston
Globe. Matthew lives in a suburb of Chicago with
his wife, Julie Halpern, and their two children.
Which is cool because as we discuss some of the
books that he has worked on, we'll find that
he has illustrated some of his wife's books,
which is cool. So first, we'll start with the
books that he has written and illustrated himself.
First being, Hello Neighbor, The Kind and Caring
World of Mr. Rogers. Cornbread and Poppy, the
series, Evergreen, To See an Owl, Wish, Another
Brother, King Alice, Trouble Gum, Explorers,
Bear Island, Hello Hello, 102, and Hope, and
books that he has illustrated include Leap Back
Home to Me by Lauren Thompson. If the S in Moose
Comes Loose by Peter Herrmann. The Knowing Book
by Rebecca Kai -Dotlik. Leaps and Bounce by Susan
Hood. First Grade Dropout and Second Grade Holdout
by Audrey Wernick. Mighty Casey by James Preller.
Toby and the Snowflakes. by Julie Halpern and
many more. And for our book summary, this is
a relatively wordless picture book that tells
the story of a young child that gets lost in
a snowstorm while at the same time, a wolf cub
gets separated from their pack. When the child
comes across the lonely wolf cub, they bring
the animal back to its pack. And when the child
cannot make it back home, the wolves howl to
bring the child's family to them, saving the
child. And I just have to say that I love this
story. It is pretty much wordless. There are
some sound words, and that's all that's in the
book. It's just different sounds that are happening.
But it's a wordless book. The pictures are amazing.
I love the art style of this book. it's really
kind of unique because we get to see two different
stories kind of happening at the same time in
some parts until the stories kind of merge and
become a way for both characters to save each
other and it's really unique and special and
I really enjoyed it. I loved that I got to read
this book with my students this past week and
wordless books in general are always fun for
me because I love having the students tell me
what's happening in the story, you know, like
let them see the picture and be like, what's
going on? What do you guys think? There's no
words to tell us. What do you think is happening?
And the fact that so many of the kids see exactly
the same thing just shows you that the imagery
is perfect. It's clearly telling the story through
the words and You know, there's a couple times
where the kids are like, uh -oh that wolf might
do this or that and to find that none of the
wolf is never really in a menacing situation
where anything was gonna happen but like Quickly
the kids are like, oh the wolf didn't do that
and they move on and they keep going it was just
so much fun to have be able to have the conversations
with the students and have them tell me what
they think is happening and why do they think
it's happening and it allows for the kids to
see that the pictures are there and they can
read those pictures. And that's like the first
step towards becoming literate and being able
to identify the words on the page is we can use
the pictures to help us with that and find the
story in the images. And it's just a really cool
experience. And then the fact that the story
is just such a heartwarming and wonderful story
that, you know, it's really cute. And I just,
I loved it a lot. I think it. definitely deserve
the Caldecott Award for the 2028. It's an amazing
story with such beautiful imagery. Definitely
a five out of five bookmarks. Yeah. Yeah, I love
this book. I usually do this book in the wintertime
with my class. I've done it every year for a
few years. I haven't gotten to read it yet. Probably
will this week actually. A really the things
you said I really enjoy doing wordless books
in particular with pre -k because it does help
a lot of the kids who Even though they're just
starting out they get they they're just so intimidated
to even begin looking at books like independently
at all and like all of them Want to read I really
feel like most kids really genuinely like 99
% are like, let's sit down with a book and read
it like they're good with it. But doing so independently
can be intimidating for them just because they
don't know their letters just yet, or they're
learning them and they don't know how to put
them together or they're like starting to figure
it out, but they don't have the confidence yet.
So reading a book like this where the pictures
tell the story so beautifully. I just I explained
to them that they're gonna read it to me. They
can look at the pictures and it does they even
so even without any letters on the page they
still kind of get a little bit nervous at first
and they're like they're gonna mess up telling
the story and I just have to reassure them like
no there's this is we can tell the story too.
It's okay. There's nothing there's no letters
to mess up. it's okay if you don't know your
letters because there's nothing there like just
to describe what you see how do you know that
the wolf is gonna go there like you know having
them explain why they're making those inferences
because a lot of the time they'll just like tell
you what they think is going to happen and they
don't have any reasoning why i'm like okay now
describe why that's gonna happen and a book like
this is really great for that and especially
one with like that's because this one you know
everybody gets separated from their families.
And that's really what kids can relate to the
best. That's like most of what they know is their
family. And so it's really easy for them to empathize
with the wolf and with the kid from the story.
So it's just, it's wonderful. It's a great book.
I love it a lot. It's great choice. Yeah. And
it worked out well because we just come back
from having you know, an ice storm of our own.
And so the kids kind of get like being out in
the cold and, you know, definitely not wanting
to, to not be able to find their way home or
something like that. And so they were able to
make those connections and it just worked really
well. And I think like so many of the kids, like
the, I don't want to say the art is simplistic,
but there's very, like a lot of the art is the
forms, the shapes are not always like, super
detailed like the girl or the character I don't
know why I always assume it's a girl but the
the child in the coat is just kind of like a
triangular shape you know and like so you can
show them like look like the art has there's
some amazing parts to the art but like some of
it's relatively simplified and the kids can can
relate to that when they're doing and they make
art too because we as long as you can tell what
it is It doesn't have to be perfect. It's like
very unique and special. So I really love this
book. I love everything about it. And I'm so
happy that I got to use it this week. That's
a good choice. Yeah. As far as for a makerspace
connection, I, because the imagery is so amazing
in this book, I would love to be able to give
the kids some crayons or some colored pencils
if you're really feeling daring maybe some paint
and have the kids draw either their like what
they would do in snow because we don't in here
in Texas we don't get opportunities to really
play in the snow even this past the Alaska experience
that we had it was all ice we did there wasn't
much snow I mean You know and so like the kids
don't always get to experience that so to have
them like Make art where they're showing what
they would like to do in snow would be really
cool because everybody could everyone's preferred
activity in the snow could be different and Yeah
Even in the book like at one point like in the
at the beginning and end of the book it starts
with the families in the home warm by like a
fire so like if you didn't want to be in the
snow you could make that part of that could be
your images staying inside where you're nice
and warm and toasty kind of thing you know like
yeah every kid could make their own yeah so every
kid could make their own choice about what they
would like to do if they were in a snow setting
and kind of let them use their art To tell their
story kind of thing. Yeah That's a great idea.
I love the Individualization of it and having
the kids really think about what they would do
in the snow It's a great time for it, too Yeah,
and now it's getting warm again, it's weird I'm
gonna pretend it's still cold for a little longer
anyway. Yeah. All right. So now we're at the
point where we give our library of littles tips
or tricks. And actually this season, since this
is the first episode of our new season, we're
also going to include a maker space spotlight.
And so a maker space spotlight is where we're
going to spotlight either a digital or physical
item that might be a good use to have available
in your makerspace area of your library and maybe
something that you can use when you're making
connections with the books that you are reading
with the students. And so this week we're going
to focus on MagnaTiles. So the original MagnaTiles
is actually a company that's been around for
a Almost 30 years. They first started in 1997.
Yeah The original creator known as the godfather
of magnet tiles was Rudy Valenta and he was a
father of four and he had this idea to have these
tiles that used magnets to connect so that children
could build and originally it was often it still
is but At first it was just the idea of this
32 -piece set that was purchased for kids to
use at home, but it quickly by about the early
2000s, 2001 -ish, they started realizing that
this would be a really great thing for educators
to use as well. And that's when they started
making bigger sets where you could buy like 100
pieces. And from there they started building
the specific sets that include the more unique
shapes because originally it started with just
like squares and a couple different size triangles.
And now they've got like princess sets and jungle
sets and Arctic sets that come with little animals
and different shapes for building jungle trees
and pieces to make cars. And they're amazing.
I will say you get your money's worth out of
it, but they can be. kind of expensive like a
normal like depending on how many pieces are
in a set it can it could get up there pretty
quick but like the average hundred piece set
generally runs for about a hundred dollars a
hundred and ten dollars something like that for
the classic hundred piece set which could break
some people's budgets you can also get like the
normal 32 piece set for around fifty dollars
and then like the specified sets that they have
the specialized ones like the Safari or the the
construction builders or the princess ones depending
on how many pieces are in the sets it kind of
ranges from anywhere from about $40 up to 70
or 80 bucks the sets are really great I love
using the magnet tiles the magnet tiles in My
maker space to have the kids build with the kids
really enjoy using them to build, to make different
shapes, to make different things. Depending on
what you have available, it definitely changes
the challenges that you can give to the students.
I have a couple pieces that are basically rectangles
with some wheels so they can build like. movable
car pieces or trains and that kind of thing.
So for certain challenges, I'll use those other
challenges. I'll take those out so that they're
not in use that kind of thing. The sets are really
cool. I really enjoy using them and the kids
really enjoy using them. They're pretty, pretty
diverse in the different things that you can
have the students build. And so it's a lot of
fun to see how the students can be creative and
not just build, they can build two dimensionally
or three dimensionally, depending on the challenge
and depending on the student. And I'm always
surprised by the way kids' brains work when you
give them a challenge, because they always come
up with ways to do the things that I didn't expect,
which is always fun for me just to see how creative
they can be with the limited. I mean, when you
consider there's like three different shapes
of triangles and then Small squares and big squares
is basically what it comes down to in the in
the generic set. The number of unique combinations
that they can make to come up with different
designs and different ideas is really really
cool. And this is one of my most popular like
when we have like a free build day and I put
these out this is one of the most popular areas
to go to because the kids love to be able to
build towers and to build cars and to build castles
and all the different things. So I really love
these. I will say that if you are a librarian
that does scholastic book fairs and if you save
any of your scholastic dollars, scholastic has
an off brand of magnet tiles. They're all right.
They're smaller and they only have squares and
equilateral triangles, which is not bad they
work with the magnet tiles but again they're
smaller than the normal magnet tiles which makes
it so sometimes if they're intermixing the small
squares from the magnet tiles with the squares
from the scholastic brand they don't like line
up as evenly and so if my suggestion is always
to spend the extra money to get the the actual
Magna tiles from the original brand because they
Seem to work just a little bit better overall
But definitely something that I enjoy using with
my students for sure. I agree with all the things
Yeah, and I think the scholastic one I don't
think they have a middle Do they? I think it's
just like the outline of a magnet. Yes. Yeah.
That's also, I don't know. I think they connect
differently than maybe their magnets just aren't
as strong. I'm not sure. Something about the
way those are made there. You're right. They're
just not quite as good. I have always had magnet
tiles. I've had them for my children forever.
And they've outgrown them, which is sad. And
I had them at my last campus and I don't have
any at my current campus, like none, which was
really talking to me and made me very sad. But
that I think is actually my number one want is
magnet tiles for my gonna need to use some of
that. You're gonna need to use some of that budget
to buy some. We have like the tiniest maker space
in the land and I've been working on building
it up. We're getting there. I don't know. It
was super duper tiny when I got there and it's
still pretty small. I haven't requested magnet
tiles in particular yet because they are so expensive.
Yeah. But I think that is actually my, I was
actually thinking about that last week. I really
need magnetiles in particular. I did look into
doing the scholastic ones, but for all the reasons
you already stated, I didn't pull the trigger
and get those. I've been looking at all the scholastic
things first because I do have scholastic money
to spend. And once I finish that, then I'll start
asking for purchases probably actually later
this week. But Yeah, I need some magnetiles in
a big way. And I do love my one of my favorite
things about them is kids a lot of the time will
like build 3d like houses and such for like if
you throw in different toys with them, they'll
like create little habitats or something for
whatever kind of toy you've got going on, which
is great. Like you can do so much with that.
Yeah, a lot. So what I'll say is I did, cause
I was, I had so much, uh, so many scholastic
dollars. I was like, all right, I'll bite the
bullet. I'll try some of these magna tile, the
off brand magna tiles and they're not bad. They,
they don't work as well. And like I said, the
squares are a little bit smaller and they do
have a hole in the center. And so like, I was
like, yeah, we'll see. And so they do work with
the. original magna tiles. But what I found was
that my students, because I just dumped them
in the bucket with the rest of them I had. And
I've got like two, I get two bucks. So I just
kind of dumped them in. And what my my students
did was they separated the the non official magna
tiles from the official. And so and what they
did, and it's fine, because what they do is they,
if they're going to build with the real magna
tiles, then they use those and they can build
if they are going to build with the other ones
they use just those because like I said the size
difference of like the squares will throw off
a build because it's a solid like quarter inch
difference so like if you're trying to build
a wall to a house and you've got the normal magnet
tiles and then you go to the other ones like
you're gonna have a gap it's not gonna work to
like to build a strong structure and stuff and
so they've kind of just separated them and it
it just limits what they can build because where
magnetiles has like three different triangle
pieces and they have the really big flat squares
and then the really small squares like you can
get a little more creative you're limited with
the scholastic ones because you've got the smaller
squares and the equilateral triangles and that's
it so depending on the goal this classic ones
aren't terrible they just aren't as versatile
and they just they don't work with the the original
magnetiles as well as i had i was i had high
hopes i was a little disappointed the magnetiles
are the way to go and i've learned my lesson
and will only be purchasing the original magnetiles
i was trying i don't know i you know but now
i've learned the lesson so that you don't make
the same mistake so good call all right well
for our next book that we're going to talk about
today it's hot dog it was published by alfred
a knob in 2022 and the author and illustrator
is doug salati this book did win quite a few
awards. It's got the Caldecott Medal from 2023,
it's an ALSC Notable Children's Book for 2023,
Ezra Jack Keats Read Aloud Award for 2023, Horn
Book Fanfare 2022, Publishers Weekly Best Books
2022, Junior Library Guild Selection 2022, California
CDE Recommended List 2023, Ohio Buckeye Children's
Book Award 2023, and Pennsylvania Best of 2022.
And so Doug Salati is the creator of Hot Dog.
The first picture book he illustrated was In
a Small Kingdom by Tommy DiPolla. Doug graduated
from the MFA illustration as visual essay program
at the School of Visual Arts in 2014. He was
a 2015 Sendak fellow and he currently lives and
works in New York City. And this is the only
book that he has both written and illustrated,
but there are a few books that he has illustrated
for, and they are Lawrence in the Fall, which
is written by Matthew Farina, In a Small Kingdom
by Tommy DiPaola, The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed
Meadow by Elaine Dimopoulos, The Perilous Performance
at Milkweed Meadow by Elaine Dimopoulos, and
Words with Wings and Magic Things by Matthew
Burgess. And the summary of this book, we went
from winter to summer real fast here. And for
the summary of this one, we've got a dog and
his owner that begin the day by running errands
all across New York City. The summer heat, however,
soon makes the city unbearable, so the owner
whisks the dog away to a nearby island where
they spend the rest of the day having the perfect
summer day, splashing in the waves and relaxing
on the beach, and that evening they complete
their errands in the now cool city and they spend
a peaceful night dreaming of the beach. This
book, I think, is amazing for pre -k. It does...
it's not... It does have a few wordless pages,
but not too many. The text that is there is written
kind of like in free verse. It's got a few sporadic
like rhyming words here and there, some sporadic
alliteration. So it's got not quite a predictable
cadence, but a really soothing kind of rhythm.
It's got really great imagery in those words
and um it has some really good vocabulary words
there too you've got words like shimmering in
there that like because there's so little text
it's really easy to just you know define those
really quick and keep moving with your story
and it doesn't really slow down slow it down
too much the illustrations are really lovely
there's definitely a reason it won the caldecott
it starts off with lots of those warmer colors
it's got all all the reds and yellows and oranges
at the beginning of the book and then as they
escape to the ocean they've got the nice cools
and greens and blues and tans and it's just you
kind of feel when you're looking at those pictures
I kind of felt oppressed a little bit like looking
at the pictures at the beginning in the city
with those brighter colors like I kind of felt
some tension like the panels on those pages or
they're all vertical and it makes you feel a
little claustrophobic almost the way it's drawn
which is perfect that's kind of the way I mean
he intended it to go was he intends you to feel
kind of oppressed by that heat and you really
do and then once they escape to this to the ocean
they've got the panel switch so they're more
vertical and they've got like full page spreads
and so it just has a much more relaxed feel it
was just really those illustrations really make
you feel like you're initially you know overheated
and stuffy and claustrophobic and then once they
get to go away you just feel much more relaxed
and just relieved to have escaped that first
part of the book. It's just, it's really beautiful
the way it's done. It makes you feel all the
things really, really well. It's just a really
good story about, you know, summertime in general.
I loved it. Five out of five bookmarks for me.
Absolutely. I had not read this book until you
suggested it, and I really enjoyed it. Everything
that you said, the colors, definitely kind of
The you could tell that they were intentionally
chosen for each page of the book to kind of additionally
add to the feel of the story and I can't wait
to share this with my students because I think
they're really going to enjoy that I also personally
as a dog owner just tried to imagine trying to
get my dog to To be able to manage through all
those people and everything like that. I was
feeling almost panic attacky at some point in
the book, because it was very claustrophobic
and very much like, oh my goodness, like all
of these things that are happening and then to
finally then get away and to, to be in more of
a relaxed setting. It was like, oh good, like,
like that, that being able to take that deep
breath and be able to slow down and relax. It
was, it was a really great book with Such powerful
imagery. I really enjoyed it a lot and I look
forward to sharing it with my students I'm looking
forward to reading it later this year. I think
that's how we all feel at the end of the school
year, too. Yeah, we're like all frantic It's
a good analogy for that. Yes, and then summer
comes and we get to relax for the makerspace
activity for this one I have two things written
down. Okay, so I think when I was on my pre -k
campus, and all I did was pre -k all the live
long day, I 100 % would have done a sensory bin
paired with this, with either like a water table
with a very small amount of water, very small,
and just a few little water toys that kids can
kind of explore, or... small amount of sand and
a little sand table again with some seashells
or like some ocean animals thrown in like some
little plastic tiny ones that you get from like
the dollar store or whatever thrown in there
so that kids can pretend like they're at the
beach and kind of explore beachy things and I
think if I was doing this doing all pre -k all
day I would still 100 % do that and I still may
do something like that but right now having pre
-k kids and kindergarten kids on my campus and
not having much time to set up for that in between
classes. I think I would be more likely realistically
to just have kids draw a picture of their ideal
beach day, kind of discuss a few things that
they could do at the beach. We are kind of landlocked
in North Texas so some of our kids may not get
to go to the beach ever or infrequently if at
all. So I think we would have like a whole class
discussion about like what we see the dog and
his owner doing at the beach what they could
do at the beach and then have the kids think
of like things that they would do at the beach
if they could go and then and that would just
be like a quicker kind of setup and it's great
for fine motor to really you're practicing drawing
and all the things and ideally you would do it
at the end of the school year because it's right
before summer when they might do something like
that. So they would probably have the motor skills
to do that independently right then as well.
I love both those ideas. I know like sensory
bins are always great. It's just the setup for
the pre -k classes to do those. And I mean, like
if you, depending on how your schedule worked,
if it, if you had like pre -k and then kinder,
you could probably keep it out for both of those,
but you know. Yeah, it just depends on the schedule.
Yeah. And it, it's definitely like making sure
that you can. clean up afterwards and all that
kind of stuff. But I, I love when we have the
opportunities to be able to do the sensory bins
because they're, they're so cool to give those
kids those experiences for sure. But like you
said, drawing a picture works and builds other
skills and especially like those, those fine
motor skills for their hands and all that good
stuff, which, so I love both those ideas. Really
good. Yeah. That's great stuff. All right. Well,
thank you all for joining us today on this episode
of Librarians of Littles, and be sure to subscribe
and connect with us on social media. We hope
you found some great ideas for inspiring our
youngest readers. Happy reading! Thank you for
listening to this episode of Librarians of Littles.
We hope that you've enjoyed it. Check back each
Wednesday for a new episode. Librarians of Littles
is a podcast produced and hosted by Patrick Adams
and Caroline Legere. Editor Patrick Adams. Our
theme song is performed by JD Adams. You can
follow us on Instagram at Librarians of Littles.
You can follow us on blue sky at littleslibrarian
.bsky .social. And you can send us your emails
at librarianoflittlespodatgmail .com. I do have
to say I do have a win though, which made me
feel good as I left today, or yesterday from
work. My campus nurse, her daughter is dyslexic
and generally doesn't read. But she's one of
my, she's also one of my bookaroos, like that
helps me get books on shelves and stuff like
that. And. With the testing this week, I was
telling everybody like, you need to make sure
you have a library book. Cause when you're done
testing, like that's basically the only thing
you're allowed to do is, is read a book or like,
and so the kids were like, well, I can nap. Okay,
fine. But like, I don't know about you, but I
find it very hard to fall asleep in public. So
a book is going to be the way I'm going to go.
But so I was really trying to be like book book.
And this in her, this daughter, the nurse's daughter
just isn't, she doesn't mind books. She just,
she struggles to read. She's dyslexic and it's
not the easiest thing for her. And she hasn't
found the right book that is just gonna grab
her attention and make her want to keep going
and stuff. And so I was like, no, I've like,
after school sent her over to me, we're gonna,
we're gonna find something for her to have to
read. The nurse was like, all right. And so she
did. And she sent her over and I was like, all
right, I'm going to pull some books. I'm going
to show you some things. We're going to make,
we're going to find something that you're going
to be into. And she's like, all right. And so
like, I first, I showed her like, um, Judd Winick's
Hilo graphic novel. Cause I was like, this is
a fun kind of just goofy story. And she was,
eh, I don't know. And then I showed her like,
um, what was it? It was the. Lotus Island chapter
books, the fantasy books. I don't think, I think
that book, one of the books was, the book one
was on our book battle list last year. And, but
I was like, we've got a bunch of these books
and it's kind of cool. And it's like kids and
animals and she's into animals and stuff. So
I was like, maybe this one. And she's like, eh,
not so much. Cause it is a chapter book. And
so it's a little bit more daunting. I tried a
couple other things and then finally I was like,
okay. let's try this one and I pulled out book
one of the amulet graphic novel and I showed
her like the first three pages and the first
three pages are like car crash and everything
like that and like the parents are like the whole
thing so she was like wait what happens to what
happens after the car crash and I was like that
that's the point you get it she's like she's
like you know and I was like well that's kind
of the thing and she's like And what about this
whole necklace that's on the front cover? And
I was like, yeah, exactly. Like, what about it?
That's why I'm showing you the book kind of thing.
She was like, I don't know, and tried to weave.
And I was like, fine. I've shown you like seven
different things and you're just not like, I'm
really trying here. Like pulling out my A list
of books, like trying to get you into it. And
she's very, very reluctant, which I get, I understand.
But she was like, I don't know. I was like, all
right, take a... Think about it for a little
bit. We'll see." And so she went back and talked
to her mom and then her mom was like, no, you
get back in there, you pick a book kind of thing.
And she was like, all right, I think I want,
I think I want to check out this amulet book.
I was like, all right, here you go. We checked
it out. She left the very next morning. She was
like, can I get book number two? I was like,
what? She's like, I finished, I finished the
thing. Can I, can I get book number two? I was
like, yeah, it's right there on the shelf. Let's
check in the other one. Get that one for you.
Go for it. So yesterday as I was leaving, she
was talking with her, one of her teachers in
the front office. And she just looked at her
teacher and was like, I'm a reader now. And pulled
out, she had book four already, like ready to
go. And my AP happened to be in there. And I
was like, that is my evaluation for the year
right there. Boom. That's the best. I love that.
I was very very happy with myself for being able
to to finally find something that was going to
get her attention. So hopefully when she's done
with that series we can bridge over to another
one to keep her going. So I'm gonna have to start
thinking I'm gonna have to start thinking about
other ones that I think she'll she'll get into.
that have a good hook at the beginning and go
from there, you know. She's a reader now. Made
me feel good, yeah. Yeah.