Let's Go, Hugo!

Let's Go, Hugo! by Angela Dominguez is a picture book worth sharing with your children or students.  Hugo is a bird who lives in Paris.  He is afraid of flying, so when he meets a new friend, Lulu, who invites him to fly so he can see the Eiffel Tower, he creates excuses for why they cannot leave immediately.  He procrastinates all day and when Lulu leaves at the end of the day, Hugo wonders what will happen.  Bernard, an owl, teaches and encourages Hugo.  When Lulu returns in the morning, Hugo is ready to go.  I enjoyed the story as well as the pictures.  Dominguez' work will be something I will keep a look out for when I am browsing children's books.  

Goal!

Goal! written by Sean Taylor with photographs by Caio Vilela is a book to share with young soccer fans.  Taylor writes about the game, while  Vilela has taken photographs of children playing soccer in many places around the world.  On each page, there is soccer related trivia from different countries.  My guess is this will be a popular book with my students.

I Love to Read month

This year for I Love to Read month at school, I did something a little bit different.  In the past, I selected four authors and each week read a multitude of books by one author.  Then at the end of the week, students voted on their favorite. 
Instead of looking for four prolific authors this year, I chose 44 of my favorite picture books and read those throughout the month.  My students seemed to enjoy it just as well. What are your favorite picture books for kids?

The Perfect Nest

The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend and illustrated by John Manders is a fun book.  Jack the cat wants an egg so he can make an omelet.  He decides to build a nest to attract a chicken which would result in getting the egg he wants.  What Jack didn't count on was a chicken, a duck, and a goose all wanting the nest.  Each lays an egg in the nest, but before Jack can figure out how to get the mothers off the eggs, they hatch.  Children will probably enjoy this book because of the ironic ending...Jack ends up taking care of those three babies.   

Stars Over Sunset Boulevard

I read Stars Over Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner this week.  In 1938, Audrey and Violet become roommates, then friends, while working in Hollywood.  Both are looking for something more to their lives.  As their friendship grows, they change in ways that neither of them could have guessed.  The setting of the story also includes the filming of the movie Gone With the Wind, so if you are a fan of historical Hollywood or the movie, you would enjoy this story.  I would not rank this as my favorite by Meissner, but it is worth reading and think it would be good for a book club, too. 

valentines

It is time to make valentines!  I started yesterday on the ones for my students.  It seems like there is plenty of candy around the holiday, so I give them something not edible-a mini handmade book.  I used a piece of copy paper and a four and a half by six inch piece of cardstock.  The band around the middle is a strip of cardstock folded around the book and then glued together.  It slides on and off, and I can write the to and from part on the back of it.   Once I get done with these, I can move on to valentines for my family and maybe even my coworkers.