I know that everyone is as busy getting ready for the holidays, but Mary Pope Osborne is doing a week of Blog Interviews. Today she was at The Reading Zone, and also has stops at Big A, The Well-Read Child, Fields of Gold, and The Page Flipper. Since we all probably know a child or student who loves the Magic Tree House books, you should go check it out!
Tuesday and Wednesday Winter Blog Blast interviews November 18, 2008
Tuesday:
Ellen Dalow at Chasing Ray
Tony DiTerlizzi at Miss Erin
Melissa Walker at Hip Writer Mama
Luisa Plaja at Bildungsroman
DM Cornish at Finding Wonderland
Kathleen Duey at Bookshelves of Doom
Wednesday:
Ellen Klages at Fuse Number 8
Emily Jenkins at Wrting and Ruminating
Ally Carter at Miss Erin
Mark Peter Hughes at Hip Writer Mama
Sarah Darer Littman at Bildungsroman
MT Anderson at Finding Wonderland
Mitali Perkins at Mother Reader
nearcircle November 12, 2008
The motto of nearcirlce is it’s better to blog together. I haven’t quite figured out all their features, but I did find that they have a KidLit circle, as well as many others. If you are a blogger or just like to read blogs, check the site out.
Holy Cow-What a nice surprise! September 28, 2008
Thanks Mary Lee and Franki from A Year of Reading!
I’ve been tagged from their blog after they receiving a nod from Charlotte’s Library blog.
Here are the rules for I heart your blog:
1) Add the logo of the award to your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs!
Seven Other Blogs that I think have not been mentioned so far are:
Jen Robinson’s Book Page-She sends out a great free newsletter. Her reviews are very detailed and she also provides information about other “going-ons” in the world.
Two Writing Teachers-great lessons, great photos and documents, great advice-very inspiring! While very different, I enjoy posts by both members of the team-Stacey and Ruth
The Reading Zone-I like reading what is going on in her classroom, and like that you can be passionate about literacy and science!
A Patchwork of Books-a wonderful blog-read her reviews and click on the links to purchase them through Amazon.
My Breakfast Platter-a sixth grade teacher’s perspective
A Wrung Sponge- I like her combination of poetry, haiku, and children book reviews. I think it’s a great example of how a mentor text (in this case the Haiku form) can be used to craft your language.
The Miss Rumphius Effect- literature, teaching, poetry-it’s got it all
Now this one isn’t a blog, but if you haven’t checked it out, you are missing out on some great teaching resources! Beth Newingham’s website
Teacher Swap 2008 September 27, 2008
We made it before the deadline! As part of the swap, the participants were supposed to mail each other’s “swap items” by September 30th. Normally this would mean I’d be mailing it on that date a few minutes before the post office closed. But due to the generosity of some fellow bloggers and a sprinkle of good mojo/karma, I got to do my teacher swap in person. Megan from Read, Read, Read and I were randomly assigned each other at The Teacher Swap on The Reading Zone. Several other bloggers had decided to have a get-together for books and breakfast (since Kidlit Conference in Portland, Oregon was just too far away) and both Megan and I were fortunate enough to be invited to join them. So Megan from Dayton and me from Licking County, met up with the group this morning. I just got home from a get-together with the Central Ohio Kidlitosphere Book Bloggers.Despite going to the wrong restaurant for the breakfast part, things were great (I didn’t know there were two Northstar Cafe on High Street.
Wow-Megan is creative and crafty! 6 items plus a homemade card and bookmark! 
S-Something fun to write on during long meetings!
C-colorful tools to keep you busy…(Sharpies)
H-a Hairy Distrcation (a set of hairstyle playing cards-my favorite is the mullet!)
O-One more Professional Book-Becoming a Literacy Leader by Jennifer Allen (expect a review soon!)
O-A teacher always organizes (even her pasttimes and hobbies!)
L-Lazy Day Treats-chocolates and Hot Tamales (my favorite-I don’t know if you can tell, but the box is open since I ate a few on the way home!)
Thanks Megan, Cover to Cover, and other Ohio kidlit bloggers!
Argh! A book I actually did not like! The Life and Crime of Bernetta Wallflower- August 13, 2008
I’ve never been inspired to write a review for a book on Amazon until now, but feel I must after reading The Life and Crime of Bernetta Wallflower by Lisa Graff! I read it after reading several favorable reviews as a possibility for my intermediate classroom library or read aloud. I actually feel yucky about writing something negative, but I feel I mus.
What did I take away from the book? Crime pays! Not a message that I want my students or children to have reinforced. Bernetta is the accused of running a forgery ring for school papers and expelled. She then is happy to meet a new friend at her father’s magic club, which she is present at after sneaking out 
of the house (another bad message). The boy follows her and sneaks into her bedroom (yet another bad message) and convinces her to meet him without her parents’ knowledge. He then proposes setting up a sting/con to earn money for the summer. For unknown reasons Bernetta agrees to go along with it and proceeds to tell one lie after another: to her sister- to enlist her help so she can have an imaginary babysitting job and her parents-she goes everyday to the “babysitting” job and even takes her younger brother along with her on some of the con jobs. After conning numerous people and businesses out of a considerable amount of money, her new “friend” helps her old best friend/enemy con her out of all of the money by accusing her of “stealing” her backpack. Spoiler alert-turns out her new “friend” is friends with her old “friend” and had run a similar con job in the past. The lying and stealing continue with the help on the new friend’s uncle who helps Bernetta and friend pull one last con on to get all the money back from the “evil” best friend. The kids end up with $10,000 and a summer full of lying and it is not until the last paragraph where Bernetta decides to own up to her family as to what she has really been up to! In my opinion, the biggest betrayal is not friend to friend, but Bernetta to her family. The reader is left with Bernetta having gotten away with crimes and lies with only the hint that she might get into any trouble for it. Not a message that I think any young reader needs to have. Don’t include this book in your classroom library!
I read this book after reading several positive reviews by others, so if you’d like a different opinion, check out:
Mother Reader’s blog
http://www.motherreader.com/2008/02/life-and-crimes-of-bernetta-wallflower.html
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
