Iza Trapani

When I was a babysitter, in high school, one of my favorite books to read at bedtime was "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" by Iza Trapani. The additional verses coupled with whimsical illustrations make for a great picture book. Many of Trapani's books have a dust jacket overlay that adds to the cover art. The Itsy Bitsy Spider's dust jacket includes a spider web. At the time, that was Trapani's only book with which I was familiar. Fortunately, that is no longer true.

In college, I had the opportunity to go to the NAEYC conference in New York and presenting and signing was Iza Trapani. There I was able to get several more, including Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. Iza Trapani was an excellent presenter, explaining her methods and connecting to her audience.

More recently, I picked up a few more of Iza Trapani's books at the library. I can see these fitting in well to our kindergarten library curriculum. Last year, we did a unit on nursery rhymes, and many of Iza Trapani's books are extensions of familiar nursery rhymes with inventive verse added on to the original. The ones we have been reading at bedtime these days are "Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone," and "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Cecelia has enjoyed both, and I'm certain that this year's kindergarteners will too!

Back to the Business of Books

Though you may be reading this on Wednesday, I am writing it on Monday evening. Tomorrow (to me, right now, Tuesday) I officially go back to school for in-service. While I fully intend to continue faithfully blogging about books, library lesson plans, great websites, awesome authors, and more, I also know myself. And I know that my ability to write with great frequency drops off a great deal when I'm also expected to teach six classes a day, prepare for them, keep books circulating, and get the morning show going. So, no promises. I hope to carve out time each day to write and reflect, or bank a bunch of posts with advance scheduling, but...no promises. Happy end of summer!

Penny Dreadful Book References

Throughout Penny Dreadful, there are many references to different books and Penny sees similarities (and differences) between herself in the character.  She often muses how things would happen IF this were a book.

Anne of Green Gables
"She had just finished Reading the very last Anne of Green Gables book, and she was depressed at the thought of what to do next."

A Little Princess
"One day, inspired by a book called The Little Princess, Penelope asked her mother to invite Jane (or Olivia, if Jane was busy; it didn't much matter) over to spend the night.

The Penderwicks
"After standing in her room examining her bookcase for inspiration and pondering the problem at hand, Penelope struck upon a book - The Penderwicks - and a solution.  The Greyson needed a vacation!

Little Women
"She sat in her covers and inhaled deeply the dusty perfume of dried flowers, lavender maybe.  It was nice, like something out of Little Women."

Ramona
"Penny was taken aback.  She didn't know about dibs, though she was almost sure she'd read about it in a book.  Maybe it had been a Ramona book?"

Bridge to Terabithia
"But looks could be deceiving.  Maybe Duncan was like an upsetting book with an ordinary, happy cover.  Maybe he was Bridge to Terabithia."

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
"It made Penny feel very, very good, though it seemed a funny thing to be happy about - not at all like something that would happen in a book.  Unless maybe the book was Mrs. Piggle Wiggle."

Ballet Shoes
"Delia had said that they each had a job to do, but besides running a lemonade stand, or becoming a dancer in a pantomime like the three sisters from Ballet Shoes, Penny couldn't think of any way for a kid her age to make money."

The Whippoorwillows reminded me of Pippie Longstocking, which did not get a mention.

And finally, from Penny Dreadful: "A door will only open for one who turns the knob."

Dreadfully AWESOME

When I read the title, Penny Dreadful, I thought perhaps something dreadful would happen, or perhaps, that the character Penny was, in fact, dreadful. I was pleasantly surprised that nothing dreadful (at least in my opinion) happened, though there were plot twists and turns that weren't altogether happy either. And the character, Penelope Grey, or Penny, is awesome, with a great deal of growth as a character throughout the story. She finds her "inner resourcefulness" and Sheri ds a friend, or two, or three, or four. And she finds out how to be happy. Her parents, too, are well drawn characters who flip expectations on their head. I noticed in Laurel Snyder's other books that she makes reference to elements of a good story and this book isno different. Often, characters make reference to something sounding like it belonged in a book. Penny makes reference to many of the books she has read. I'm hoping to compile a post with all those books, but as I didn't have post it's with me and read ever so quickly, it was hard to mark those occurrences, so I will just have to go back through to find them again. Darn. But, for example, and this is quite early in the book, so I don't think I'm giving too much away here: "This sorry state of affairs was only made more awful by the fact that Penelope had read enough books (they were just about the only thing that Penelope did not find boring) to know that bored little girls who live in mansions are usually spoiled.". So, that's where Penny starts: bored, spoiled, lonely, and sad. But where she ends up, both mentally and physically, is very different.

In addition to the excellent writing, I enjoyed the accompanying cover art and interior illustrations created by Abigail Halpin. They reflected the life and transformation of the story and the extension of a family to include friends and neighbors.

Check out Penny Dreadful today, if not sooner, as well as Laurel Snyder's other novels and picture books. Once I receive Bigger Than a Breadbox in the mail, you can expect to hear about it shortly thereafter.

Oh, wait...I never explained the title Penny Dreadful. I love when I learn something new or something I've never heard before and this is an instance of that. "Tney're, like, the very first comic books. Cheap old action stories. Chock-full of excitement and mystery. Thrills on every page, though not exactly what you'd call great literature."

Skippyjon Jones Heads To School...Just Not Ours

I love SJ. Have since Judith Byron Schachner came to our school for an author visit. Since his debut as a wishful Siamese cat who thinks he is a chichuahua and we had the opportunity to take a peek into the author/illustrator's collection of idea (and it was a super peek!), he has reappeared in 5 other Skippyjon Jones books, 4 of which you can find in our library. The fifth and most recent I checked out of the public library and thoroughly enjoyed, but it wasn't (at least to my knowledge) published in time for my order which was placed in late May for the start of school. I'm hoping I can add it to my Scholastic bonus order. Fingers crossed. Because SJ sure is popular with the kiddos. Welcome to school, Skippyjon Jones in Class Action.

Endorsements

So far, so good. I read the back cover of Penny Dreadful and this is what it said:

"I wanted to climb inside this book and pull it over my head!".
-Rebecca Stead, Newbery Medal -winning author of When You Reach Me

"Penny Dreadful is Perfectly Delightful!"
- Jennifer L. Holm, two-time Newbery Honor-winning author of Penny From Heaven and Our Only May Amelia

Only two of my favoritest authors in the world endorsing the work of one of my new favorites. Hooked before I've cracked a page.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

I recently finished the first audiobook of The Mysterious Benedict Society books. I'm not even sure how many books have been written in the series, but I am hooked and have already started listening to the second book about their Perilous Journey. The author is very clever and I can't wait to share all about LIVE or the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened with my own enlightened library students this fall.