Connecting with students: Clayton Byrd Goes Underground (ages 9-12)

As an educator committed to culturally relevant teaching, I constantly seek out a diverse range of books. Today, I'd like to share with you how Clayton Byrd Goes Underground, by Rita Williams-Garcia, connected with one of my students, Shondrick, an African-American 4th grader. Earlier this week, I shared my full review of this outstanding new novel and some videos that can help students learn about the blues.

Shondrick is a thoughtful, perceptive reader and a young man I admire. School is not always easy for him, but he works hard and is a dedicated scholar. Shondrick told me that it was "interesting that Clayton Byrd never did anything bad in his life before" he ran away from home.

He could tell that Clayton was very upset after his grandfather died. On the subway, Clayton was so worried about getting his grandfather's hat back from the older boy that he would do anything. "It was all he had left of his grandfather," Shondrick explained.

I noticed how clearly Shondrick expressed the powerful emotions that Clayton was experiencing. He could see the inner conflict Clayton felt -- should he go along with pack of boys, even though he knew they were up to no good? What was the right thing to do? Williams-Garcia skillfully develops the characters so that readers develop a sense of their nuanced emotions.

Shondrick especially liked the way Rita Williams-Garcia incorporates both blues and hip-hop music. He told me,

"Even though most rap songs have cuss words, some have life stories in them and they tell you what to do and not to do."

Rita Williams-Garcia discusses these ideas further in her author's note, and I think she would agree that both blues and hip-hop capture people's life stories, lessons and struggles. Shondrick has listened to some blues and knows about blues singers who sing about life's struggles, but he prefers rap music.

The audiobook, read by Adam Lazarre-White, effectively captured the deeper black man's voice, in Shondrick's view. "The voices added drama and emotion to the dialogue," he told me. Listen to this sample of the audiobook to hear how Lazarre-White embodies Cool Papa Byrd, with a raspy, smooth voice.

Culturally relevant teaching describes an approach to education that "that empowers students to maintain cultural integrity, while succeeding academically"(Ladson-Billings, 1995). It is grounded in understanding students' cultures and incorporating this into our teaching. As Gloria Ladson-Billings explains, we must

"develop in all students cultural competence. What I mean by that is you help kids understand assets that are part of their own culture, while simultaneously helping them become fluent in at least one more culture. So it would mean youngsters of color have to learn the mainstream culture, but at the same moment youngsters in the mainstream need to learn some other cultures. Youngsters of color also need to value the culture they have."

Clayton Byrd Goes Underground helps me do exactly this. It gives value and respect to the blues and to hip-hop, building black students' knowledge of the assets that black culture brings to our society. At the same time, it helps students of different cultural backgrounds have a greater understanding of black culture. Best of all, it does this in a compelling, dynamic, heart-felt story.

As a librarian, I love sharing books--but really, what I love most, is discovering what books connect to different readers and how different readers seek out stories that mean something to them. Each person is different; my goal as a school librarian is to help each child discover they way reading can help them find themselves and see other people.

The review copy was kindly sent by the publishers, HarperCollins, and I have already purchased several more copies. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2017 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

The music behind Clayton Byrd: developing students' background knowledge

I'm continuing my celebration of Clayton Byrd Goes Underground today, sharing videos of the music infusing this story. Yesterday I shared my full review of this outstanding new novel. Later this week I'll share students' reactions, and then I'll finish with a musical playlist that ran through Rita Williams-Garcia's mind while she wrote Clayton Byrd's story.

Whenever you start a new book, you begin by building images and a framework for the story. The author brings much of that, but as a reader you add in your own experience and knowledge. This background knowledge helps readers develop a fuller picture of the story.

Today, I started reading Clayton Byrd Goes Underground with our 4th grade classes and I began by showing the book trailer. I specifically wanted students to get a feel for the music, the characters, the tone of the book. I asked students to focus on Cool Papa and his electric blues guitar, and on Clayton with his harmonica. This was a fabulous way to plant the seeds for them, activating knowledge they brought and giving others a sense of the story before we began.

As we continue reading this story together, I will want to share a few more videos to give students a sense of the blues music that means so much to Cool Papa Byrd and Clayton. "What Is the Blues" from Music Maker Relief Foundation captures the heritage, the feelings, the history behind the Blues--and what it means to folks still today.

"The Blues is essential, man, to life." "Look where you coming from. And look ahead."

I'd also like students to develop a little more feeling for the harmonica, or blues harp as Clayton calls it. I'd like to share this video of Sam Frazier, Jr., a harmonica player and country singer from Edgewater, Alabama, a small mining camp outside of Birmingham.


As we get into the second half of the book, I want to celebrate beatboxing. In her author's note, Rita Williams-Garcia specifically mentions seeing a video of Doug E. Fresh playing the harmonica as he beatboxed. This is a great clip of him that will help students hear how Clayton used his blues harp with the boys on the train.

This is Doug E. Fresh beatboxing on harmonica at the Old School Hip Hop at Wolf Creek Amphitheater in Atlanta, GA. Rita Williams-Garcia writes in her author's note:

"Years ago I saw a video of rapper Doug E. Fresh alternately beatboxing and playing the harmonica in his live show. I was used to hearing the harmonica played in blues and in country-and-western music, but this mash-up clicked instantly for me! Of course, the blues and hip-hop!" 

I want to help students hear the blues cries when they read the book, and so it's important to share some of the music with them as we read. We can't assume that all students will bring this background knowledge to the book. Likewise, I want to celebrate hip-hop, a musical style that continues to speak so directly to younger generations.

The review copy was kindly sent by the publishers, HarperCollins, and I have already purchased several more copies. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2017 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Funny Girl: Terrific collection of stories to make you laugh (ages 9-13)

Laughter and happiness is so important to share and foster with our children. Children love reading funny books and they thrive when adults can share their joy. And yet how often do we promote truly funny books, much less read them aloud with our kids? A terrific new collection fills this need: Funny Girl, a selection of 28 short stories, personal memoirs and comics that will tickle your funny bone.

Funny Girl
edited by Betsy Bird
Viking / Penguin, 2017
Amazon / your local library
ages 9-13

Betsy Bird, an outstanding children's librarian and blogger, has collected women writers and comedians to share their humor and advice to young readers. As television comedy writers Delaney and Mackenzie Yeager explain in their opening entry, "Joke-telling is the greatest superpower a gall can posses." Being a comedian takes confidence--a combination of audacity and courage to put yourself out there.

Short personal essays are among my favorites. In "One Hot Mess," Carmen Agra Deedy shares about the time her mother set a bathtub on fire to get rid of the germs, unwittingly melting the fiberglass tub in their new apartment. One of my students loved Ursula Vernon's story "Grandma in Oil Country." She loved the outrageous, over-the-top situations and the silly illustrations. Just look at the note that Maya wrote:

"SUPER FUNNY!" writes Maya about
Ursula Vernon's "Grandma in Oil Country"

The short format is great for these funny stories because they get to the humor quickly. There are plenty of relatable situations, helping readers laugh at the crazy things in their own lives. I appreciate the diverse range of authors. In "Brown Girl Pop Quiz," Mitali Perkins draws on her experiences  and shows how "all of the above" so often applies to our multiple identities.

The collection ends with short biographical entries for each author. With this great range of stories, you're bound to find new authors you'd like to explore. I was so excited talking with Maya about this story that I grabbed some other books by Ursula Vernon. I think she'll have fun with the Hamster Princess series:

Funny Girl editor Betsy Bird blogs at Fuse 8 and is a good friend and colleague. I have purchased this review copy for our home collection, as gifts and for our school library. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2017 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Dory Fantasmagory -- terrific series for family listening (ages 4-9)

Are you looking for a chapter book to share with your family that works across a range of ages? Hook them with the humor of Dory Fantasmagory. This audiobook will have the whole family laughing along with charming six-year-old Dory and her siblings.

Dory Fantasmagory
by Abby Hanlon
narrated by Suzy Jackson
Dial Books / Penguin, 2014
Recorded Books, 2015
preview on Google Books
Amazon / your local library
ages 4-9

Dory (called Rascal by her family) wants to play with her big brother and sister, but they just complain that she's a pest. Her brother and sister tell her that a witch, Mrs. Gobble Gracker, is going to kidnap her if she isn't careful. While they want to scare her, they just end up encouraging her. She is full of playful imagination, whether it's talking with her imaginary friend or pretending to be a puppy dog.

Abby Hanlon knows just how to balance outrageous humor with empathetic characters. She taught first grade for many years and Dory's voice rings true. Whether it's when Dory declares that time-out is too much fun, or it's how she wants to stay in her nightgown all day instead of getting dressed for school--you'll find something to laugh at.

"It's Luke. 'Mom said you can come out of time-out now.'
'No thanks,' I say, and shut the door. Time-out is turning out to be way too much fun."

Narrator Suzy Jackson captures Dory's 6-year-old voice, with a full range of enthusiasm and emotions. Families will recognize themselves in Dory's attention-getting strategies, her mom's exasperation or her siblings' bickering. As the AudioFile review puts it,

"Jackson mirrors Dory's boundless energy as she pesters her older siblings with endless questions, irritates her mother to the extreme by pretending to be a dog at the pediatrician's office, and rattles off a list of terrible things Mrs. Gobble Gracker might do when she whisks Dory away."

Dory was a favorite read-aloud with our first grade classes this year--students came to the library asking for more Dory books! Listen to the full series, for a real treat:

1. Dory Fantasmagory
2. Dory and the Real True Friend
3. Dory Dory Black Sheep

I'm happy to join friends Alyson at Kid Lit Frenzy and Michele at Mrs. Knott's Bookshelf in celebrating the #Road2Reading. As they write,

"All journeys have a starting place. This is a weekly place to find books and tools that you may use with readers at the start of their reading journey."

I'd like to give special thanks to the community at Emerson for going with me on this #Road2Reading, especially showing me the power of audiobooks. I listened to the audiobook on Tales2Go. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2017 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Audiobooks on the #Road2Reading: Sharing student stories

I’ve seen first-hand how audiobooks bolster students’ confidence and reading skills. They enjoy reading, and this makes them want to read more. This volume and positive attitude is essential to their success. I don’t differentiate reading and listening to a book. They’re the same thing. One supports the other.

When he was in 3rd grade, Shondrick struggled with reading fluently and became easily frustrated. His teacher suggested that he used some of his reading time to listen to audiobooks. After listening to Horrible Harry, he proudly told me, “I just read it faster on my own!” Rereading the book he just listened to built his confidence, helping him integrate vocabulary and fluency skills.

Audiobooks can build on young readers’ feeling of success, especially if they listen on a consistent basis. Here are a few recent comments from 3rd graders:

• “They (narrators) read the book really fluently so it’s easy to understand what they are saying. They are really expressing the story, they don’t just talk.”
• “Sometimes you forget real quick about a story. When you read you have so much in your head, when you listen it’s easier.”
• “Even if you aren’t reading the book at the same time, you’ll want to go grab the book later because you have a taste of it.”
• “The sound effects help you envision what’s going on – you get a picture in your head of the story.”

These students listen during reading time in the classroom and at home using Tales2Go, a streaming audiobook service that Berkeley Unified School District provides. They listen on Chromebooks in the classroom, save a bookmark for listening later, and then listen on personal devices at home (phones, tablets, or computers).

My 3rd graders love to read series like I Survived and Goosebumps. This is because series build their reading confidence, immersing them in a predictable world with engaging stories and familiar characters. Here's a selection of my 3rd graders' favorite audiobooks:

I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, by Lauren Tarshis
Horrible Harry and the Missing Diamond, by Suzy Kline
Revenge of the Living Dummy (Goosebumps), by R.L. Stine
Toys Go Out, by Emily Jenkins
EllRay Jakes Is Not a Chicken, by Sally Warner

Some of my students actively choose to listen and read to a story (paired listening/reading), while others prefer just listening. I find that this is partially a personal preference and partially dependent on choice of book.

Children’s listening comprehension is typically two years above their reading comprehension, meaning that we can understand more complex stories than we can read. If a child wants to read a complex book and their eyes can’t keep up, trying to read and listen will just frustrate them. Just listening will allow them to focus on building a story in their mind, understanding the vocabulary, plot and character development.

I'm happy to join friends Alyson at Kid Lit Frenzy and Michele at Mrs. Knott's Bookshelf in celebrating the #Road2Reading. As they write,

"All journeys have a starting place. This is a weekly place to find books and tools that you may use with readers at the start of their reading journey."

The formal research about the impact of audiobooks on children’s reading development is important (see this post for more details), but my personal experience lets me understand this more deeply. This post comes from a webinar I gave yesterday; come listen to the whole webinar if you'd like to learn more:

Preventing the Summer Slide with Audiobooks
via EdWeb.net, sponsored by Tales2Go

I'd like to give special thanks to the community at Emerson for going with me on this #Road2Reading, especially showing me the power of audiobooks. I'd like to thank Tales2Go for helping us reach so many students and for inviting me to participate in this webinar.

©2017 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Celebrating Arab American Heritage: three favorite bilingual picture books (ages 5-9)

"Ms. Scheuer, do you have a book written in Arabic?" -- Ghalla, 4th grade

In our school district, Arabic is the third most common language spoken at home. I strive to share books with students that reflect their culture and heritage. April is National Arab American Heritage Month and we celebrate this in our library by sharing books that reflect many experiences from the Arab world. These three bilingual picture books are especially beautiful and moving.

In Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad, by James Rumford, Ali lives in modern Baghdad, loves playing soccer and dancing to loud music. Most of all, he loves the way it feels to practice calligraphy: "writing the letters of my language ... gliding and sweeping, leaping, dancing to the silent music in my head." This moving story tells of how Ali is inspired by the master calligrapher Yakut, who found solace practicing his art during times of war.

Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family's Journey, by Margriet Ruurs and Nizar Ali Badr, will amaze young readers with its artwork, constructed entirely by arranging stones but its story is what will stay in their hearts. Ruurs and Badr work seamlessly together to tell the story of a young girl whose family must flee Syria. When the bombs started falling too close to her home, Rama and her family join "the river of strangers in search of a place,/ to be free, to live and laugh, to love again." As the Kirkus Review says,

"Each illustration is masterful, with Badr's placement of stones as careful as brush strokes, creating figures positioned to tell the whole story without the benefit of facial expressions: dancing, cradling, working; burdened, in danger, at peace."

Time to Pray, by Maha Addasi, captures the experience of a young girl traveling from her suburban American home to visit her grandmother. On her first night, Yasmin is awakened by the muezzin at the nearby mosque calling the faithful to prayer. She is too tired to get up, but she watcher her grandmother prepare for prayer. This gentle story shows the bond that grows between Yasmin and her grandmother, and the special place that prayer and rituals have bringing them together.

All review copies came from our school library collection. I want to send special thanks to our PTA and my colleague Zoe Williams for help selecting and developing our collection of books that honor the experience of Arab Americans. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2017 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

STEM Trailblazer Bios & International Women's Day: Computer Engineer Ruchi Sanghvi (ages 8-11)

This week across Berkeley, we're celebrating both International Women's Day and College & Career Awareness Week. I'm excited to share the STEM Trailblazer Bios series, an excellent collection of biographies featuring accomplished, young figures in a wide variety of science careers. My students were fascinated today as they listened to the biography of Ruchi Sanghvi, the first female engineer at Facebook.

Computer Engineer: Ruchi Sanghvi
STEM Trailblazer Bios series
by Laura Hamilton Waxman
Lerner, 2015
preview on Google Books
Amazon / Your local library
ages 8-11

Ruchi Sanghvi is an accomplished computer engineer who was one of the early engineers at Facebook, joining it when it was still a small Silicon Valley startup company. This engaging, short biography describes how she decided to move from India to the United States to study computer engineering, taking risks and never letting fear stop her.

We began by watching this short video, giving students a sense of how young and relatable Ruchi is. I especially like how she talks about moving from India to the United States to pursue her education and career.

My students talked about all that Ruchi accomplished: going to college, getting a job at Facebook, and then designing features that helped Facebook reach so many people. They also talked about how brave and determined she must be. In college, she was one of only five women in the engineering department. She left home and traveled far away. She took risks, leaving a steady job to join a start-up company.

This short biography was clearly written for 3rd through 5th graders. Chapter and section headings help young readers keep focused on the main ideas, while a variety of pictures keep their attention and interest. I especially liked the many quotes from Ruchi that help us hear her own thinking and perspective.

Check out these other STEM Trailblazer books, available in both paperback and hardcover:

• Urban Biologist Danielle Lee
• Aerospace Engineer Aprille Ericsson
• Genetics Expert Joanna L. Kelley
• Mars Science Lab Engineer Diana Trujillo

The review copy came from our school library. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2017 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Excitement builds across Berkeley -- final Mock Newbery meetings

It has been so exciting to see the excitement building across Berkeley. We are having our final Mock Newbery meetings at each of our 11 schools. Every school has a group of excited, enthusiastic kids, with 30 - 65 students coming during lunchtime to talk about the best books of the year. They are having engaging, thoughtful discussions as they consider what makes an outstanding book.

Teachers and principals are noticing the book buzz. Here's what one veteran teacher wrote:

"Thanks, everyone! I am a true fan and promoter of Mock Newbery Club. The initial data is just coming in, but this model has improved student reading skills and scores." -- Becky Lum, 5th grade teacher

It's hard to convey the passion that students and teachers have been sharing. The look on their faces, the way they eagerly raise their hands to contribute, the variety of kids coming to meetings, their thoughtful comments about books' characters, themes and language. Here's a little video montage of one of our meetings, just to give you a sense:

Sharing this slideshow helped right away! It made kids interested -- we started talking about why the streets might have been full of garbage, and what it would be like if the city didn't have enough money to pay garbage collectors. We talked about rum runners and what they were, why they had to smuggle rum into Florida.

It also helped students visualize the story right from the beginning. That afternoon, Kalia came to me to tell me how she understood why the streets in Key West were full of garbage. Right on page 8 (see this passage in Google Books), it describes the houses as "weathered gray wooden houses, set close together." Holm describes them as "decrepit"--a word that might be challenging for Kalia.

Because we looked at these pictures before reading, Kalia was able to get a sense of the story right from the beginning. Isn't that terrific?! Now, difficult vocabulary isn't a stumbling block, but instead she's building her own vocabulary.

Here are two short articles all about building movies in our minds as we read:

• Edutopia: Brain Movies--When Readers Can Picture It, They Understand It
• Reading Rockets: Picture This! Using Mental Imagery While Reading

How do you help your kids make these movies in their mind? What do you find helps? I'm excited to get my students working together to make slideshows like this -- helping share the movies in our minds about the books we love.

©2016 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Reading IS Thinking: Developing our readers' skills with Judd Winick's HILO (ages 7-10)

I have been having so much fun reading aloud Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth with 3rd and 4th grade students. The kids are loving the laugh-out-loud moments, and I'm loving how much active thinking they're doing. Comic books are terrific fun, but they also engage readers as they build a sense of the story, the characters and the author's voice--just like readers do with any type of fiction.

A parent recently asked me what questions I ask while we're reading aloud, so I thought that I'd share a little here. I start before we even open the book and ask: What do you notice on the cover? I wonder what this story's going to be about? Do they notice Hilo's hands and think he might have superpowers? Do you think all three kids fell to Earth? This sort of wondering is important to start kids thinking, to start making predictions, to hook them into the story.

Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth
by Judd Winick
Random House, 2015
Google Books preview
Your local library
Amazon
ages 7-10

DJ's story starts right in the middle of a chase scene, the first day he meets Hilo. My students love Hilo's energy and his optimism--and they totally love Winick's jokes about how Hilo doesn't know anything about life on Earth, because he's just fallen from another world.

After we read the first two chapters, I pause to ask my students: What do you already know about the characters? What are you noticing? This helps them pull together some of their ideas and set some groundwork for predictions. Here's some of what they said:

• Hilo is funny! He shouts, "Ahhhh!" whenever he meets someone and loves burping!
• Hilo has superpowers in his hands -- he absorbed DJ's vocabulary.
• DJ misses his friend Gina--he said that the only thing he was good at was being her friend. I think that Hilo is going to be DJ's new best friend.
• DJ seems like a good friend, because he offers to help Hilo right away -- reaching his hand down to help him out of the hole.

"Do you need a hand?"

At a few points, we stop to talk about specific language that Winick uses. For example, Hilo says that his memory is like a "busted book" with pages ripped out. This helps readers understand why Hilo is so naive, why he doesn't remember his name or where he came from.

"My memory is a busted book."

It's important to acknowledge when kids are inferring, or reading between the lines to build meaning. When Hilo has a dream, the story quickly switches to the lab with Dr. Horizon. We pause, and I tell my students: Wait, I'm confused. Who is this new character? Why is he wearing a white coat? Why does the border look different here? What's happening?

As we build the story in our minds, it's important to retell parts of the story. Today, we looked at the first page of the chapter and then actually turned back a page to look and think. I asked: What just happened here? How is DJ feeling? Why? Empathizing with a character helps readers keep tuned into the emotional elements of a story. Sometimes we do that with our voices when we read the dialog. Sometimes we sigh when a character looks like they're sighing. Sometimes we shout, "Whoa!" when a character is surprised.

As we get into the story even more, we develop a more complex understanding of the character. We ask ourselves: Why is Hilo doing this? What is he feeling? I wonder if DJ and Hilo are changing at all? We pay attention to what the characters are trying to achieve, and what gets in their way.

When we read aloud with developing readers, we need to give specific signals that it's time to pause and think. Building meaning is even more important than figuring out what the words say.

Parents often share their worries that their children are only reading graphic novels. I want to encourage parents to read the comics their children are reading, and dig into some of the deeper, layered meanings in graphic novels. Merle Jaffe said it so well in her article, "Using Graphic Novels in Education: Hilo by Judd Winick",

What is so compelling about Hilo, aside from the bold art and humor, is that with each page and installment we learn more about DJ, Gina, and HiLo through the combination of text, art and page/panel design. We also grapple with deeper issues of facing responsibilities, facing painful truths, and determining right from wrong as HiLo wrestles with his nemesis Razorwork and the role they each play in protecting humans versus protecting their fellow robots from “evil.”

The review copies were kindly sent by the publisher, Random House, and we have bought multiple copies for our school library and classrooms. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2016 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books