if you give a graduate student her academic hood, she's going to want to...

There's a series of children's books by Laura Joffe Numeroff that started coming out about the time I was an ickle firstie, and they all start with "If you give..." There's a book about a mouse another about a moose and a pig and a dog and a cat... and I can't find my book right now, but we had been gifted with the first book about a mouse [maybe it was for both of us?] and my brother loved the first book so much that we had to buy  an additional copy of the book to ensure fraternal fairness. And he still put his initials in both copies.  He was four or five, I can forgive him [actually, I see it now and it makes me laugh].

I had been on the fence about going to commencement. I vacillated between wanting to celebrate, waiting to hide, and thinking that the scheduling was pretty inconvenient. I sat through ten commencements in undergrad as part of the choir and 12 person chorale; you get over it after a while.

But unless I'm completely insane, this is the only master's I'm going to pursue [I'll probably add a reading cert, but that's not a new degree]. After the exit interviews, I wasn't even sure if I could get hands on a cap and gown for graduation. Turns out you could still get get your, ahem, "regalia" at the bookstore. [It's smurf blue. I wish I was kidding.]

The first line of exposition on this sheet made me laugh. If you give a graduate student her academic hood, she's going to want to...

it's the silly things; fun for Friday

A friend of mine brought this to my attention on Facebook, and I am completely fascinated.

Out of Print Clothing

Mostly because they have several of my favorite reads. And some I've been told I should sink teeth into. But also because when you make a purchase of a tee-shirt, e-reader jacket, phone cover, stationary, etc, a book is donated to in-need communities. [current special as of publication is Sci-Fi. So Wrinkle in Time apparel is on sale...]

an actual bound-like-a-book cover case for my kindle.
[cough-cough. also available, The Wizard of Oz, Jane Eyre or Babar. cough-cough.] 

tee shirts of some of my favorite books...

...and books I should read

Also available were titles such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Caps for Sale, Corduroy, Frog and Toad are Friends, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Harry the Dirty Dog, In the Midnight Kitchen, and Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. Which, for Read Across America Day, if you didn't know where your One Fish, Two Fish tee shirt was, and didn't feel like being a character, would be a fabulous nod.

Sometimes, it's the little things that get you through the day. Or week end. Which ever. 

Movers, shakers, bonkers and top-button kind of girls.

you know when you tell people you write a blog, but you never expect to find out that anyone you know actually reads your blog, because no one comments on it? Besides your mother? Because the blog stats tell you people from Australia are reading your blog so you think to yourself, geeze, no one I know cares?

Famous last thought.

Someone important read my blog, and mentioned that she'd better read Matilda [cough, cough, three guesses who]. You'd have thought I was defending a dissertation. So, since I'm still technically this side of my masters, I gave it a little more thought. Did some research.

My first thought, after Miss Honey is Miss Blanchard. As in Mary-Margaret, sweetest third/fourth grade teacher on the Maine coast, who is actually Snow White. : / I don't even know what Mary-Margaret is up to these days. Because I'm busy being a Ms. Blanchard [sans the relationship drama]. As Emma put it, "When I first met you, you were a top button kind of girl." I wear buttons. Miss Honey does not wear buttons. Unless it's a teacher sweater [our room is perpetually cold]. But her sweaters don't have top buttons. Mine do, so if anyone receives the ninja name of Mary Margaret Blanchard, it'd be me. So that's a nope.

A little more research later I pulled this list of teachers off another blog, deleted all the Mrs. and Mr., and highlighted in green those titles which I have read. Which aren't a lot.

Jo March in Little Men, Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott  [I forgot that Jo became a teacher. Jo is, however, a little mercurial]
Miss Nelson in Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard[Good old Miss Nelson. But Miss Honey is not a Miss Nelson]
Ida Bidson in The Secret School by Avi
Ms. Isabel Hussey in Chasing Vermeer and The Wright Three by Blue Balliett
Ms. Shepherd in Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande

Miss Hawthorn in Willow by Denise Brennan-Nelson and Rosemarie Brennan

Miss Parker in Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink [Miss Parker is not sticking out in my memory; also, I had a second grade teacher named Parker. And he was awesome in his own awesome way.]

Miss Perry in I Remember Miss Perry by Pat Brissom

Miss Temple in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte [Miss Temple was okay, but I already nixed the Bronte sisters.]

Miss Binney in Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary 

Ms. Clayton in School Story by Andrew Clements

Miss Pointy in Sahara Special by Esme Codell

Miss Stretchberry in Love That Dog by Sharon Creech[I read this one too; it's written in first person perspective as a writing journal, but you don't hear the teacher's voice or read her comments, just the student's reaction to the teacher's comments about the poetry that the student writes.]

Miss Hendrickson in I Know Here by Laurel Croza

Miss Honey in Matilda by Roald Dahl [what I'm currently working with. I picked Miss Honey because she's the only memorable El Ed teacher I can think of, and it's what my friends are starting to call me. Especially when they come to my house and see my garden.]

Ms. Finey in The Cat Ate My Gym Suit by Paula Danziger

Miss Annersley in the Chalet School series (UK) by Elinor Brent Dyer

Ms. Sarah Melton in Mail Order Ninja by Joshua Elder - this one gets points for having "Ninja" in the title. 

Miss Malarkey in Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind by Judy Finchler

Miss Lupescu in The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman  [I read this book. She's not one to be trifled with]

Miss Smith in Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland [Smith? lamesauce. ]

Miss Tizzy from Miss Tizzy by Libba Moore Gray

Miss Grey in the Betsy Brooks books by Carolyn Haywood

Miss Meadows  in Remembering Mrs. Rossi by Amy Hest

Miss Agnes in The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill

Miss Loupe in Operation YES by Sara Lewis Holmes

Ms. Snickle in The Secrets of Ms. Snickle's Class by Laurie Miller Hornik
Miss Fowler in the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace
Ms. Minifred in Baby by Patricia MacLachlan

Ms. Mirabel in Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan

Sister Mary Louise in Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Miss Farley in Caddy Ever After by Hilary McKay

Miss O'Grady in Busing Brewster by Richard Michelson

Miss Stacey in the Anne books by L.M. Montgomery [Double nope. Neither Stacey or Shirley. Anne's too dreamy]
Anne Shirley in Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery

Miss Edmunds in Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Miss Barbara Harris in The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Miss Dove in Good Morning, Miss Dove by Frances Gray Patton
Miss Tansy Culver in A Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck
Ms. Raymond in Dotty by Erica S. Perl

Ms. Lilly in Noonie's Masterpiece by Lisa Railsback

Miss Plumberry in Totally Wonderful Miss Plumberry by Michael Rosen  - we are in the plum district... and that's a great title. 

Miss Jewls in the Sideways books by Louis Sachar

Ms. Hill in 4 Kids in 5E and 1 Crazy Year by Virginia Frances Schwartz

Miss Bonkers in Hooray for Diffendoofer Day by Dr. Seuss [She loves this book. But I can't call her Miss Bonkers.  On principle. Would you take either me, or her, seriously?]

Miss Bindergarten in Miss Bindergarten Goes to Kindergarten by Joseph Slate

Miss Palma in After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

Miss Cribbage in My Kindergarten by Rosemary Wells
Miss Lesley in Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop

(Miss) Alina in Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

Read, Across America

Straight from the source itself

What if Dr. Seuss had written Star Wars?

I will be celebrating today in the classroom with my kids and Miss Honey. Pictures of our adventure to follow later, but a teaser trailer of that which would blow right over the head of the first grade.

 Yoda has to be my personal favorite. 

bookshelf, bookshelf on the wall...

What would a blog about quilting and fabric be if there weren't things like this? I saw this in the library and had to have my own copy, because, if you can't tell from the cover, the illustrations in this book are thread paintings.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 

Adapted by Joan Aiken, illustrated by Belinda Downes

DK CHILDREN; 1st edition (October 1, 2002),

ISBN: 0789487993

Anyway, I'm not sure of the legality of photographing the pages and posting pictures, so I'll refrain, but even if you don't have a small child in your life, look this book up at a library; Ms. Downes went to splendid effort breathing life into this story. 

a children's travel book

I had to create a children's book about a country for a class this summer, which I took pretty seriously. I'm not a paper writer, but I can decently collage. There were four of us in the class, and we were looking at the books available in the library for guidance for information - how do you interest a child in another country?

M. Sasak wrote a fabulous set of books called the "This is", starting with "This is Paris" in 1958, New York,  London and Rome in the 1960's, these four books being the most popular in the series, which includes Greece, Australia, Edinburgh, San Francisco, Israel and Washington, DC to name a few of the others. My favorite of his books is the copy of "This is New York" that belonged to my mother, with annotations in her young adult hand under the illustrations about "We drove by this billboard all the time" and "I used to go to this museum with Dad every Saturday". But I digress.

M. Sasak I am not, but I like the feel of his books, which include anecdotal information about a place.

 

The illustrations are a combination of hand-colored, computer print out, paper collage and stickers. Some of the headings were done with a calligraphy pen. The book itself is a 12"x12" post bound scrap book covered with a fabric sleeve. Had someone else in the class not chosen India, the scrap book would have looked appropriate for that service. I'm not sure if this style of fabric is appropriate for Kenya specifically, but it is African, as compared to say, Aboriginal Australian.  

 

To complete this book, I will add information about Kenya's landscape - that it has several different altitudes from sea level to mountain peaks, and therefore different temperatures through the year (which is also effected by the breeze coming off the Indian Ocean). I'm hesitant to add information about who Kenya is politically allied with. None of the children's books I've read have included that information.

 

Some of the pages in this book are a little cluttered with information, and some of them look a little bare in comparison. However, the professor was pleased with the final product, and suggested that this come along with me on interviews as an example of the kind of work I do. In looking at the books for children, it was difficult to find one that talked about India, Polynesia, Africa, or South America. Or Eastern Europe, former Soviet block countries, so if I were trying to round out a classroom library, I would focus my search on those places first for books already in print, and then see if my students and I could do a little research of our own, especially in light of the global market place, and rising countries such as India and China.

up on the roof

Tar Beach, Faith Ringgold
(New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1991) 

1992 Caldecott Honor Book

Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration

Reading Rainbow Feature Selection

A New York Times Best Illustrated Book

Parents' Choice Gold Award
The children's book, Tar Beach, was taken from [seen on right] Tar Beach (Part I from the Woman on a Bridge series), 1988. Acrylic on canvas, bordered with printed, painted, quilted, and pieced cloth, 74 5/8 x 68 1/2 inches (189.5 x 174 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York,Gift, Mr. and Mrs. Gus and Judith Lieber  88.3620. © Faith Ringgold 
This information came from the website of the Guggenheim's online collection, here is a link to the page about Tar Beach

Tar Beach is another favorite book. My mother, who was born in Brooklyn, New York (Bensonhurst) brought this book home to show my brother what life in 1950's New York looked like. These, she said, were her memories of that time, just in an Italian Jewish neighborhood, where the apartments were too hot for sleeping, so they'd go up on the roof. I used to envy my mother having lived in the city. And then I moved to a city, where, among other things, you have to pay for parking, there's no drive through anything, except for ATM's, there's not a tree in sight, so the temperature in the summer skyrockets, and to go anywhere to do something is a major production. Bleh. 

I see now why she says of the town I was ultimately born and raised in that she smelled the cow manure and knew she'd come home. It's a totally different world.  

Tar Beach 2 (deluxe), 1990 /2000
printed in 1990 / quilted in 2000
quilt edition, silkscreen on silk
75 x 75

Tar Beach 2, 1990
quilt edition, silkscreen on silk
The Fabric Workshop
quilter: Gail Liebig
68 x 64

I guess someone has been screen printing Ms. Ringgold's paintings onto silk and then quilting them, so instead of a poster, you have a quilt.  I'd hate to think what that costs. Not something I'd have in my classroom.