Minette's Feast

Minette's Feast by Susanna Reich tells the tale of Julia Child's discovery of a love of cooking and her journey to share that love with the world through the eyes of her cat, Minette.  Throughout the story, Minette turns her nose up at Julia's French cuisine, preferring mice and birds instead.

I love Minette's full name: Minette Mimosa McWilliams Child

I enjoy the illustration that accompanies the words: "They nibbled croissants in cafes where cats curled on chairs."  It is a picture of Julia and Paul leaned in close, foreheads touching lovingly sharing a meal and gazing lovingly in each other's eyes.  "You are the butter to my bread," Paul told Julia.

The alliteration is fitting and lyrical: croissants, cafes, cats, curled; baguettes, bistros, birds.

In one illustration, movement and the hustle and bustle of a kitchen is portrayed with four Julias at each task and alliteration once again accompanies a fitting picture.  "She baked and blanched, blended and boiled, drained and dried, dusted and fried.  She floured and flipped, pitted and plucked, rinsed and roasted, sizzled and skimmed.  And when she wasn't trimming, toasting, or topping, she was washing, whipping, and whisking."  LOVE IT

Minette Mimosa McWilliams Child was a very lucky cat, perhaps the luckiest cat in all of Paris."

I think Amy Bates' illustrations complement Susanna Reich's text seamlessly.  I found myself searching each picture for details to open up the story more.  And...there was always a mouse for Minette.

The Afterword was a necessary inclusion for me as the story itself is lovely, and made me want to learn more about Julia.  I haven't seen the recent movie "Julie and Julia"...or is it "Julia and Julie"?  Either way, I feel I have a lot to learn.  Especially after reading the Afterword.

Did you know:

• Julia Child was too tall to join the Women's Army Corp or the Navy WAVES?
• She worked for the Office of Strategic Service (think CIA before CIA)?
• As part of the Office of Strategic Service she was posted to Ceylong (Sri Lanka) and then China?
• Julia's husband Paul continued with the US Foreign Services and that's how they found themselves in Paris?

Suffice it to say, I did not, and the Afterword and the above information made the subject of Julia Child suddenly seem MUCH more interesting to me.  I grew up in a home without cable, so PBS got a good bit of playtime and I recall Julia Child.  No, I recall Julia Child's voice.  But I would have never guessed she was SUCH an interesting person beyond her love of cooking and food.  I'm glad that Susanna Reich and Amy Bates teamed to make such a lovely picture book and I think the idea to tell her story from Minette's point of view was both clever and unique.  Well done!  Although I am not a cat lover, I do love this book.

Minette's Feast

ISBN: 978-1-4197-0177-1
Published 2012 by Abrams Books for Young Readers
I borrowed this copy from my public library to read and review it.
I plan to add this book to our school library collection.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Is stunning, in my opinion. The writing is lyrical and the illustrations capture my interest. But let's begin at the beginning, shall we. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, written by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon, is the story of author William Kamkwamba and his family and community struggles with drought and famine in Malawi. As a result, Kwamkamba finds himself unable to attend school but instead turning to the library for answers to some burning questions like how an engine of a car works. A natural engineer, he happens upon information and pictures of windmills and sets out to harness the wind himself. The remarkable illustrated tale is followed by further information about William Kamkwambe's journey, including a TED talk in Tanzania. Included in information about the author is a link to more information about The Moving Windmills Project, something I plan to learn more about.



Full disclosure: I have traveled to Tanzania, Africa and I am a sucker for stories such as this. While I was there, we met with groups establishing schools and seeking sustainable sources of funding. We naive Americans kept suggesting grants to apply for, but the Africans knew (from experience) that grants don't last forever. This story of a young boy (William was just 14 when he successfully built a windmill that created electricity) researching and acting to create a sustainable source of energy for his family and community is something I won't soon tire of hearing about.

Reference to native words are inter-woven with the English text. My favorite new word for crazy is "misala".  I think I will use it often...probably to describe myself.

Some writing that will stay with me:
"A crowd gathered below and gazed at this strange machine that now leaned and wobbled like a clumsy giraffe."

And now, the illustrations. Oh, the illustrations. Just as I'm a sucker for a story of Africa, I am also a sucker for mixed media and collage elements. Elizabeth Zunon's art was created using oil paint and cut paper. I enjoy the textures of cut paper atop oil. In each instance of the windmill, I feel as if I can touch the blades and feel their texture. The scaffold of the windmill is layered as it would be and the birds that occasionally dot the sky are beautifully patterned. On the very first page, William is walking to hoe the fields on a crest above the village but while reflecting on the story, I see him as larger than life, having BIG ideas for the future of this small village. As the blazing sun and lack of rainwater patch the ground, the look below ground at the plants trying to reach the surface is telling and the texture of the ground looks as if it would crumble. The droplets of water in William's imagination look so cool and refreshing by contrast. Once the windmill is up, the gusts of wind reflected on the front and back cover as well make me think of the patterns of sarongs that women may wear. The way the breezes wrap around everything is instantly cooling and the final illustration makes me smile, contented.

I hope that you, like I, can find solace in reading and enjoying The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Perhaps it will inspire you to harness some wind yourself.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Young Readers Edition
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3511-8
Published 2012 by Dial
I borrowed this copy from my public library to read and review it.
I plan to add this book to our school library collection.

CYBILS

This past weekend, I attended Kidlitosphere's Kid Lit Con in New York City, organized by Betsy Bird and Monica Edinger. The weekend prior, I attended the National Book Festival in Washington, DC. And somewhere just prior to that, I found out I was selected as a first round panelist for the Nonfiction Picture Book Category for a book award called the CYBILS. So, I'd like to tell you much more about Kid Lit Con and National Book Fest, but for the time being I'm going to explain why this blog will be flooded with nonfiction picture book reviews...or booktalks. Either way you look at it, you're about to see a LOT of nonfiction picture books. Also, if you'd like to nominate a book to add to my madness, you can do so here. So, get ready for a wild reading ride!

Back to School Busy

Back to School has always been a fun time for me, both as a teacher, a student, and now as a parent.  My daughter, Cecelia, went off to her first day of preschool last week and we read, read, read to get ready.  She especially enjoyed non-fiction books that showed a step-by-step view of what might happen in school or what happens when we get ready for school.

Here at Pine Road we have been back to school busy!  We are hosting author, Matt McElligott, in October and our normal back to school lessons have been modified to introduce his books to all of our students K-5.  In Kindergarten, we started off our year reading "Book, Book, Book" ,  First Graders read "Edward and the Pirates", and Second Graders read "The Library Doors".  In grades 3-5, we had Summer Reading Restorative Circles where each student shared a book title they read this summer.  I highlighted one of the PA Young Readers Choice Nominees that I read this summer for each grade.  In third grade, we discussed "The Trouble with Chickens".  Fourth grade discussed "My Life as a Book".  Several fourth graders had read MLAB and are eagerly looking forward to (as am I) "My Life as a Stuntboy."  Fifth graders were introduced to "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea.  Throughout the fall, I'll be introducing each of the PA Young Readers Choice books to each grade level.  We created Wordles based on those and shared out with our Twitter community.

 

 

In our second week cycle (which we're wrapping up now) we did more to prepare for our author visit.  Fourth and Fifth Graders watched the book trailer for "Benjamin Franklinstein Meets the Fright Brothers" from Matt McElligott's website and we began choice projects to prepare for our visit.  Third graders and First graders both listened to Backbeard's Pirate Radio podcasts and read "Backbeard and the Birthday Suit" with a special emphasis on International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  First graders made their own treasure map with a book listed as the final destination and third graders completed an X Marks the Spot Dewey Decimal System activity by locating books on the shelves and reading their spine labels.  Kindergarten students made their very own monsters for our monster mural after reading "Even Monsters Need Haircuts" and Second Grade students determined what their "share" would be after reading "The Lion's Share".  I'll try to blog about each of these awesome books soon but wanted to take a moment to update our community on what we've been up to at Pine Road.  I hope everyone's Back to School has been smooth!

Our Author Visit in Photos

Lauren Tarshis Author Visit Interview

Teacher Tech Tip...and it does happen to be Friday

Well, school's out, but I've gotten this question on multiple occasions and since you all will be accessing email from home (or not, which is also ok in the summer :) I thought I'd make things a little easier on the eyes.  Over spring break, we switched to the Microsoft Outlook Email Web App.  Which sounds lovely.  But some of the changes were a little abrupt.  Here are the two nagging issues I've heard about most often.  If you have more, post them in the comments and I'll see if I can figure 'em out.


How do I change so that my messages are not in conversation view?

1) Click on the down arrow next to arrange by date.
2) Uncheck the box next to conversation.

That is all.

How do I make it so that deleted items are deleted and not crossed out?

1) Click on options
2) Click on See All Options
3) Click on Settings
4) Check the box next to hide deleted items
5) (Also, if you are not in conversation mode, I don’t think these will show up)

Sorry there are no fancy screen shots or step by step videos but...have a great SUMMER!!!