Help Readers Love Reading

Cupid's Arrows Stick, Flight Paths Questionable

2012-02-14T05:04:00.000-06:00

"I pity the fool who won't be my valentine!" This column originally ran yesterday, February 13 (which explains the "tomorrow" that kicks of the first paragraph). With a title that includes Cupid and an image that includes Mr. T., what more introduction is needed? You can view the original column here. Tomorrow, elementary school classrooms across the country will be filled with children

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

2012-01-19T05:46:00.000-06:00

Sometimes - no, oftentimes - the simplest books end up being the best books. Here is a 100% complete summary of I Want My Hat Back. Eh-hem... 1. Bear cannot find his hat. 2. Bear asks various woodland creatures, “Have you seen my hat?” 3. The various woodland creatures respond to the contrary. 4. Bear realizes that he has, indeed, seen his hat. 5. Bear gets his hat back. Simple, yes, but

Parental Superpowers

2012-01-16T05:03:00.000-06:00

When my son asked me about having superpowers, he meant it as a "What if...?" question. Instead it lead my brain down a rabbit trail of thoughts, starting with the belief that I was already in possession of numerous superpowers, all parenting related, and ending with the realization that there is truly only one superhero in our household. And it lead to my latest column. (Read it on the

The Pint Man by Steve Rushin

2012-01-09T05:27:00.000-06:00

This site is generally home to children’s book recommendations, but occasionally a grown-up book comes along that deserves a mention. I have been a fan of Steve Rushin’s writing since his early days with Sports Illustrated and was curious to see if his style would translate to a novel. The answer, without a doubt, is yes. The Pint Man is funny and clever and filled with Rushin-isms. And while

New Post at the Nerdy Book Club

2012-01-02T06:36:00.003-06:00

Thank you to the Nerdy Book Club blog for giving me the opportunity to share about junior high study hall, pink eye, and other such reading topics in my post The Non-Reading Reader. It's an honor to be included. To everyone who makes their way to Help Readers Love Reading from the Nerdy Book Club post, thanks for visiting. I hope you return soon, and it would be great to hear from you. To

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg

2011-12-31T05:56:00.000-06:00

After The Mysteries of Harris Burdick poked and prodded the imaginations of countless readers over the years, now comes The Chronicles of Harris Burdick. Fourteen award winning authors were invited to create their own stories based on the original images. (Or, if you take Lemony Snicket’s introduction to heart, each author has now come forward with one of Mr. Burdick’s original stories, placed

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg

2011-12-27T15:08:00.000-06:00

The introduction to The Mysteries of Harris Burdick explains how a mysterious man - Harris Burdick - arrived at a publishing company one day many years ago and shared fourteen images, each with a caption and each from a different story. Mr. Burdick explained that there were many other pictures for each story and was curious if his work was of any interest to the publishing company. The man Mr.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

2011-12-23T11:06:00.000-06:00

When Conor awakens at 12:07, seven minutes past midnight, he should be thankful. Sort of. Waking up from a recurring nightmare brings a merciful end to the nightmare itself, but it also leaves the dreamer with new, fresh memories. Alone, and in the middle of the night, no less. Then Conor realizes why he woke up, and it’s not simply to escape the nightmare. No. Someone called his name. Conor.

A New Family Experience

2011-12-17T20:33:00.000-06:00

This column appeared in last Monday's local newspaper. The intensity has been turned up a notch or two at practices, or so the boy tells me, to prepare for the meets in the new year. We're not sure what the parents should do to prepare for the upcoming meets, however. Thanks for stopping by the site. You can view the original article on the newspaper's website here. Kids now days

Real-Life Lessons

2011-11-21T05:43:00.000-06:00

This article appeared in last Monday's newspaper. In the week since its original publication, I'm sorry to report, there are no updates to the story. Not that I expected anything different. When you boil it down, a great deal of parental instruction falls into one major category: responsibility. Children need to know that it is their responsibility to brush their teeth, finish their homework,

Guys Read: Thriller edited by Jon Scieszka

2011-11-14T05:15:00.000-06:00

Jon Scieszka, children’s book author and the nation’s first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, founded Guys Read to “to motivate boys to read by connecting them with materials they will want to read, in ways they like to read.” The Guys Read mission lists six points, the first of which is “Make some noise for boys.” Despite the fact that boys tend to need no help making noise,

Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking by Philippe Coudray

2011-11-07T16:36:00.000-06:00

The latest entry to the ever expanding and impressive Toon-Books collection is Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking from author Philip Coudray. While the format is slightly different - a series of one page comics rather than the longer stories that make graphic novels - some things remain the same. Just like his predecessors Little Mouse, Benny & Penny, Silly Lilly, Mo & Jo, and others, Benjamin

Cold Case by Julia Platt Leonard

2011-10-24T05:59:00.000-05:00

As Chapter One opens, Oz Keiller laments the blaring six o’clock Saturday morning alarm clock. By page four he’s grumbling about having to spend the day cleaning the kitchen in his family’s restaurant. On page five Oz complains to readers about his bossy older brother, Dave. Page six brings a broken light bulb outside Chez Isabelle’s door - more mess to clean up. At this point readers might be

A Random Meeting, Questions, and the Milwaukee Brewers

2011-10-17T06:53:00.000-05:00

Bedtime comes before prime time TV games end, and as I type this morning my son is still asleep. He doesn't know yet that the answer to the question at the end of this article - despite our prayer for the affirmative - is most certainly negative. For this season anyway. My deadline for this article was last Tuesday. Our Milwaukee Brewers were tied 1-1 with the Cardinals in the NLCS, and

Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angleberger

2011-09-26T06:55:00.000-05:00

By the title of the book, you can probably guess the featured Star Wars character in Tom Angleberger’s sequel to The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. If not (and because I think it’s awesome) here’s a clue. Cue the music! On the first day of seventh grade, Harvey, the one person who maintains a deep-seeded, Dark Side hatred of Dwight’s Origami Yoda, arrives at school and announces, “Sorry,

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

2011-09-18T11:38:00.000-05:00

Imagine a typical middle school. It’s morning, before classes, in the library. Sixth graders congregate to finish homework and play on computers, but mostly they gather to talk. Boys tables, girls tables. Okay, now find the tables with the kids that don’t really fit any typical middle school stereotypes. Got it? Now add an Origami Yoda, perched atop the index finger of one of the boys,

A Boy and the Bed of a Pickup

2011-09-12T07:54:00.000-05:00

Not our truck and not our dirt, but you get the picture. When I was a kid, riding in the back of a pickup truck was, if not a regular occurrence, certainly not out of the ordinary. Not so any longer. Maybe it's because there's no anchor for a car seat and no airbags back there. Not to make light of automotive safety, here's my latest newspaper column. It combines a job to be done, a boy, his

The Dragon's Tooth by N. D. Wilson

2011-08-25T21:21:00.000-05:00

I was recently given the honor of reviewing The Dragon's Tooth by N. D. Wilson for The Rabbit Room, a website started by musician and author Andrew Peterson. The Rabbit Room is described as "a place for stories. For artists who believe in the power of old tales, tales as old as the earth itself, who find hope in them and beauty in the shadows and in the light and in the source of the light."

Summer Camp Season - New Column Today

2011-08-15T06:45:00.001-05:00

Preparing for summer camp can be a stressful experience. Getting to camp, putting all that preparation to good use, and actually leaving a child in the in the Wisconsin Northwoods with 150 other kids can take the stress to another level. My latest newspaper column tells how one family dealt with it this summer. Click here to see it on the newspaper's website. The summer has nearly passed, and

Five O'Clock Friday

2011-08-12T17:00:00.000-05:00

The big out-of-town, extended-time-on-the-beach, time-to-read vacation week fell during July. Add to that some reading I needed to do for a committee I was honored to be a part of and I ended up with a fairly long list for July's Five O'Clock Friday post. Mights as well get after it ... July: The Thumb in the Box by Ken Roberts Rich: A Dyamonde Daniel Book by Nikki Grimes Star in the Forest

Five O'Clock Friday

2011-08-05T17:00:00.000-05:00

It's the end of the week and time for another Five O'Clock Friday update on books read but maybe not reviewed. Looking back, June was an odd month. You'd think that once summer starts for a teacher it would be time to get reading, but June is a little thin on titles. The end of the school year was crazy busy (no surprises there) and I didn't record my first book finished until June 17.But it's

Five O'Clock Friday

2011-07-29T17:00:00.000-05:00

Back on track with Five O'Clock Friday and the May update. May: 3:15 Episode #2 by Patrick Carman3:15 Episode #3 by Patrick Carman3:15 Episode #4 by Patrick Carman - The 3:15 app is short stories. Each one is told in 3 parts and meant to be finished in 15 minutes. There's an audio introduction, a written story, and a movie that shows the conclusion. Each episode is $0.99, and all episodes will

Five O'Clock Friday

2011-07-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

Three weeks into this grand blog experiment called Five O'Clock Friday and I've already missed a post. And I can't even remember why I missed it. I'm sure there was something of great importance.Three weeks ago when I introduced Five O'Clock Friday I wrote, "Over the next few weeks I'm going to catch everyone up on the first half of the year, month by month. Then it will become a summary of

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

2011-07-18T06:03:00.000-05:00

Readers were introduced to Doug Swieteck in the 2008 Newbery Honor winning book The Wednesday Wars. He’s mentioned by name seven times in the first two pages as Holling Hoodhood explains all the reasons why their teacher, Mrs. Baker, should hate him. This includes Doug’s list of 410 ways to get a teacher to hate you, a list containing strategies that became illegal around #167 and where #6

Five O'Clock Friday

2011-07-15T17:00:00.002-05:00

We're up to March in the look back at books I've read but might not have reviewed yet. (See more information here.) It was spring break month, so I enjoyed some extra reading time. (And on an only slightly related tangent, why do I find reading even more enjoyable when I can look up and see palm trees? Do people in Florida find reading more enjoyable if they look up and see this? What about