School of Fish by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mike Moran

Photo courtesy of Tanya Prax

Tanya Prax is a Youth Services Librarian with Arapahoe Libraries in Colorado and has been with the library for 2.5 years. She is from Minnesota and is a lover of the lakes, mountains, sports, and adventures. Her favorite thing about working in libraries is opening people up to the possibilities that libraries can provide. 

Image from School of Fish by Jane Yolen,
illustrated by Mike Moran

Jane Yolen and Mike Moran give us a fabulous new book in the form of an early reader with School of Fish. The rhyming text and colorful illustrations tell the story of a young fish’s first day of school. He is nervous but excited! He is dealing with all the things a child would go through on their first day of school: shiny, new school supplies, how to ride the school bus, missing his parents, and bothersome classmates. He is feeling lonely until he finds another little fish who is just as overwhelmed as he is, and he starts to feel much more confident.

Image from School of Fish by Jane Yolen, 
illustrated by Mike Moran

This book is targeted towards kids ages 4-6 and I think that is just right. Kids will be able to relate to the story as they may be starting school and are often stepping into the unknown. The illustrations are bright and eye catching. They do a great job of showing little fish’s emotions as he navigates his day. The text is bold and brief on each page, with plenty of white space. The text also rhymes throughout the entire story making for an energetic reading experience. The characters include a variety of sea creatures that kids will have fun recognizing. My one concern is that the book does introduce a few words that kids may not know yet, such as “fingerling” and “electric” but for the most part the text is simple. The “new” words could contribute to a learning experience for the reader.

Photo courtesy of Tanya Prax

I was able to read this book with a 5-year-old girl that I was babysitting for the weekend. Right when I pulled it out she saw the cover and said, “OOH, is that about a fish in school?” The cover alone made her excited for the story and gave clues to what it was going to be about. She said her favorite part was when the fish was figuring out that the scary shark was just the school bus. In her words, “Oh, the shark just wants to take him to school! How cute!”

Overall, I think that Jane Yolen and Mike Moran’s School of Fish is a great contender for the Geisel Award with its fun illustrations, relatable and intriguing story, and simple and straightforward text.

Beginning Readers, Diversity and Reading Motivation

Gigi Pagliarulo

This week's guest contributor is Gigi Pagliarulo, a librarian for the Denver Public Library. Gigi is especially interested in youth services, early literacy, and issues of diversity and multiculturalism within children's literature and programming, has served on the steering committee of Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy, and the CLEL Bell Picture Book Award Selection Committee.

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Guessing Geisel + #WeNeedDiverseBooks = #WeNeedDiverseBeginning Readers! Over the last few years, I’ve written for Guessing Geisel about a variety of issues related to diversity and beginning readers, including why we need diverse beginning readers, #EverydayDiversity and #OwnVoices.

Learning to read isn’t an easy or natural process for humans. While we evolved to talk and communicate orally, reading and writing require existing neural pathways to be repurposed in order to connect several different areas of the brain. Children need to connect how a word looks with how it sounds and what it means and then do it over and over again, stringing words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs. This is hard work and requires that children have the motivation to persist through the inevitable struggles and discomfort of the process of learning how to read. 

This reading motivation comes from several areas, including choice and personal relevance. Kids who can self-select books that reflect their interests and life experiences demonstrate more reading motivation. This is where diversity and equity in beginning readers come into play. When we review Rudine Sims Bishop’s essential piece that outlines children’s need for books to be both windows and mirrors, we can understand that seeing oneself reflected in the pages of a book (or conversely never or rarely seeing oneself reflected while reading) could strongly affect children’s reading motivation. As the International Literacy Association writes in a 2018 Literacy Leadership Brief, “For students to recognize their own communities in the books they are taught or self-select is critical to the personal engagement that drives deeper literacy.” That personal engagement is the foundational factor in reading motivation. 

The more choices available to children of diverse, self-reflective and high-quality books available, the greater the likelihood that more children will find the reading motivation they need to support their developing literacy. Unfortunately, as my prior blogs have discussed, research and experience has shown a continued paucity of children’s literature by and about people of color, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ folks. There are but a few published each year, so here are recommendations for all the diverse, high-quality beginning readers published in 2019. If you find more, please post them in the comments. And as always, I want to remind the publishing industry that #WeNeedMoreDiverseBeginningReaders by #OwnVoices authors, and I need your help! 

Here are three ways to take action to let publishers know you want more diverse and #OwnVoices titles: 

• Going to a library conference? Stop by publisher booths and ask a rep for their favorite upcoming diverse and #OwnVoices titles. 
• If you do any purchasing at your library, contact your vendor and publisher reps and ask specifically for diverse and #OwnVoices. 
• Use social media to cheer on publishers who put out diverse and #OwnVoices titles, and let them you know want more. 

Andrew & Ana series by Christine Platt, illustrated by Sharon Sordo*

Charlie & Mouse Even Better by Laurel Snyder, illustrated by Emily Hughes

Corduroy series by Don Freeman and Allison Inches, illustrated by Allan Eitzen

Garden Day! by Candace Ransom, illustrated by Erica Meza

Katie Woo series by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Tammie Lyon

Katie Woo’s Neighborhood by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Laura Zarrin

King & Kayla series by Dori Hillestad Butler, illustrated by Nancy Meyers

Sadiq series by Siman Nuurali*

Yasmin series bt Saadia Faruqi, illustrated by Hatem Aly*

*#OwnVoices author/illustrator

Topics I’d like to See Covered in Beginning Reader Books

Anna Taylor

Today's guest contributor, Anna Taylor, is the Head of Youth Services for Darien Library in CT. She currently serves on ALCT's Cataloging of Children's Materials Committee and is active in ALSC and YALSA.

Think about your top circulating beginning reader books. What do they have in common? Perhaps it’s a funny story about a fly, or an adventure with a sparkly fairy, or maybe a superhero who doesn’t like to wear pants. Young readers love these books. They check them out by the handfuls and read them over and over and over again. It’s amazing! Even the most reluctant of readers are drawn to these books. I don’t care what anyone else says, if a book makes a child love reading, then I’m a fan. Yes, even those books written by a daisy. 

I know. I know. Some of these books are seen as “formulaic” and not “quality” literature. Parents can see the cover and automatically ask the child to find something more “appropriate” and less “silly”. How do you meet them in the middle?

I would like to see beginning reader books that have the following things:

• Flashy cover (glitter, texture, metallic)
• Cartoon-like art throughout
• Relatable and diverse characters
• Everyday topics and issues
• No numbered series

Kids judge a book by its cover (you know you do, too) and they are much more likely to pick a mediocre book with a flashy cover than an amazing book with a basic cover. Can we mesh the two? The I Survived series does a pretty good job at this pairing: exciting cover, great historical story. Let’s read about bullying and divorce and kindness and other cultures in a Geronimo Stilton format with flashy text and color illustrations.

I want to give a beginning reader a book that I know they will not only want to read but, after they read it, will learn something about themselves. Going on adventures with animals and fairies is a blast but I want a 15 year old to come up to me with a beginning reader book and say “this book changed me” while clutching it to their chest in a hug.

Snail & Worm: All Day by Tina Kügler

Snail & Worm: All Day 

by Tina Kügler book cover

After taking home a Geisel honor in 2018 for Snail & Worm Again, the duo of invertebrates are at it again in their third adventure. 

As with the previous titles, Snail & Worm: All Day is comprised of three stories. In the first story, Snail is having a terrible day, but still proclaims to Worm that it’s the “Best Day Ever” because their friends have all accomplished great things. The second story begins with Snail encountering a dark and spooky cave that houses a scary dragon. Although readers, along with Worm, will quickly realize it’s a turtle shell and a turtle, not a cave and a dragon. It’s all too much for Snail, who ends the chapter with a nap. In the final story Snail asks Worm for a bedtime story, a request that turns out to be far from simple, but still heartwarming in its conclusion. 

The all-dialogue text uses mostly short, single syllable words bolstered by helpful visual context clues. Every so often a longer word will creep into, but not so often as to be off putting. Even though there aren’t any speech bubbles, it’s always clear who is speaking thanks to thoughtfully layouts and page design. The line breaks are especially clean and crisp. 

A two page spread from Snail & Worm: All Day  by Tina Kügler. On the left hand page, Caterpillar climbs over a leaf while Worm and Snail watch. On the right hand page, Snail and Worm watch Bird feed her chicks in a tree. 

The full page illustrations, created with acrylic on pastel paper, collage, and digital media, use a bright autumnal palette to bring the natural settings to life. They also provide just enough visual context clues to set the scene, a perfect match for the level of text complexity. Although background colors change throughout the book, which occasionally makes the text a little difficult to decipher, all in all the text placement is well done. 

A two page spread from Snail & Worm: All Day  by Tina Kügler. On the left hand page, Worm and Snail make a plan to tell a story together. On the right, Snail worries that the story won't be good enough. Worm tells them not to worry.

In a classic comedy set up, Worm plays the straight man (er, worm) to Snail’s comedic foil. Readers love to be smarter than the characters, and Snail gives them a reason to feel clever at least once a chapter. 

A two page spread from Snail & Worm: All Day  by Tina Kügler. On the left hand page, Snail encounters Turtle. On the right, Snail is convinced Turtle is a dragon, but all Turtle wants to do is nap. 

Personally, this is my favorite Snail & Worm title of the bunch. It’s witty, it’s silly, it’s intentionally designed to support new readers. Is the third time the charm for Snail & Worm? Tell us what you think in the comments?

Hosting a Mock Geisel with 1st and 2nd Graders

DaNae Leu is an elementary school librarian at a K-6 school in Kaysville, UT. For the past few years she has conducted a Mock Geisel for her first and second grades and is impressed with their passion for evaluating the books created just for them. 

A pile of 2019 Geisel contenders. Courtesy of DaNae Leu. 

For the past few years I’ve put committee power directly in the hands of the readers for whom Geisel books are geared for. When the Guessing Geisel Blog began, I’d been conducting a schoolwide Mock Caldecott for some years and smaller Mock Newbery even longer. I’d never considered branching out to Geisel until I began following the blog. I saw it as an opportunity to work in curriculum standards on evaluating text and critical thinking with my youngest students. I hoped to give them the understanding that certain elements make some books especially great for readers like themselves. 

Leu's students read and evaluate a book together. 

Courtesy of DaNae Leu. 

Since Amy Seto Forrester began her posts on What Kids Say, I’ve begun introducing the books to my first and second graders in the first months of school. Our first lesson usually consists of an explanation of what the Geisel Award is, followed by a reading of the most recent winner. I use the following questions to help them determine whether a book makes a good Geisel award: 

• Does the beginning make you want to get to the end? 
• Do you want to turn the page to see what happens next? 
• Are you learning new words, but not too many? 
• Are the new words repeated? 
• Are the sentences easy to understand and not too long? 
• Do the pictures give you clues to what the words are saying? 

A student reads, while their reading buddy looks on. 

Courtesy of DaNae Leu.

If time allows, I will then read one title from the current What Kids Say list and walk them through filling out the review bookmark that Guessing Geisel provides. This year I read a different book to different classes so I could provide Amy with a wider pool of responses. 

In the following months we work through Amy’s assigned titles (four each month). I try and have two or three copies of each of the four books. When a class comes in, I quickly remind them what they are looking for and then assign one title to two students to read together. They spread throughout the library, most alternate pages, or in the instance of speech bubbles they may take turns doing alternating characters. Once they have finished there are bookmarks to be filled out waiting on the tables. 

Three poker chips. One white, one blue, one red. 

Ready for voting! Courtesy of DaNae Leu

In early January I pick a week to hold our Mock Awards. I select eight likely suspects. These may or may not be titles that they evaluated for What Kids Say. I tend to rely on the books which have the biggest buzz, or the ones I haven’t let get checked out from under me. My pre-setup is to put a copy, or copies, of the different titles on each or our eight tables. I number the tables one through eight. Also, on the table is a small container of poker chips in three different colors, (explanation to come). I arrange a display along a counter with a print of each book cover taped over a container, AKA a plastic cup. 

Geisel contenders and their accompanying plastic cups 

awaiting student votes. Courtesy of DaNae Leu. 

When the class arrives, I quickly review the criteria using the above questions. I let them know that they are going to act as the judges on which books they think make the best Geisel books. I then put them into groups of two or three and assign them a table. They have about two minutes with each book. They will be familiar the titles. Once the groups have rotated through all the books I have them choose one of each of the three different colored chips from the containers on the tables. They will put the blue chip in the cup under their first choice, red for their second and white for their third. I have sixth grade assistants which come in once a who help me tally up the totals. 

There is always a lot of excitement over which title will take the gold. And each book usually has some fierce support. They then look forward to what the other committee choses. 

Have you hosted a Mock Geisel? Share your mocking stories in the comments below! 

Hi, Jack! and Jack Blasts Off! By Mac Barnett and Greg Pizzoli.

Photo credit Rafael Lopez

Stacey is the librarian at Castleton Elementary School in upstate New York. She has been running a Mock Geisel project with first graders for the past three years. Stacey also runs a Mock Caldecott and Newbery and Sibert Smackdown. One of the highlights of her year is when she watches the ALA Youth Media Awards live in the auditorium with all her students. You can find Stacey on Twitter @staceybethr @C_ESLibrary or blogging at librarianleaps.blogspot.com.

When my kids were little, my husband and I much preferred books that we wouldn’t mind reading over and over again , the ones that could make us giggle as well as our children. No surprise, my bar for repeat read alouds was slightly lower than his. That said, as soon as I finished the early reader chapter books Hi, Jack and Jack Blasts Off! by Mac Barnett and Greg Pizzoli, I had the urge to circle the teenagers and husband for a storytime we would all enjoy.

I realize this post is not about enjoyment but rather how strong a book (or books in this case) would be as a Geisel 2020 contenders. Let’s just put it this way, I wish I had a new reader around who could read these books to me multiple times in a sitting.

In book one, we meet Jack, a mischievous fellow who takes a pocketbook from the Lady, gets crazy with lipstick on Rex, the dog, and the Lady’s white walls. Then, Jack and Rex do not get off to a good start in Book Two. The Lady is so mad at them and blasts them into space. Space is not all that it’s cracked up to be. When alien Zip gets mad at Jack and Rex he sends them to the “dark side of the moon” and escapes in his ship. How will Jack and Rex ever get back to Earth? And if they do, will the Lady welcome them home?

The text is perfect for new readers. Sight words dominate throughout the book. Others are easily decodable. Struggling readers will feel confident reading these books because the illustrations seamlessly pair with the text (ie, farm, gift, bright).

Photo credit Stacey Rattner

Today a group of first graders came up to the library to read the books with me. It was unanimous that they loved Jack et al. “What did you like about them?” I asked. “They were funny,” one said. “SUPER Funny!” another exclaimed. Overall, they struggled with some words, but when I asked them how hard they thought it was to read, they confidently said, “It was easy!” Unanimously they all agreed that they wanted to read the books again AND hoped more will be written in the series. I don’t know about you, but that all sounds sticker worthy to me.

I’m thrilled to have a new series to recommend to my "Elephant and Piggie" fans. Jack and Rex, if they haven’t already, are going to win them over as they giggle, gasp, sing (someone’s gotta know the Pink Floyd reference) and cheer for our new friends in the early reader shelf. Just one question—can sibling books each win a Geisel?

The Best Seat in Kindergarten by Katharine Kenah, illustrated by Abby Carter

Author Katharine Kenah and illustrator Abby Carter are no strangers to the world of beginning readers – together and separately, they’ve produced many books that would fit the Geisel criteria.  However, neither has ever been recognized by the Geisel committee. Will The Best Seat in Kindergarten be the book that changes that?

Sam and the rest of his class are all new to kindergarten.  When the teacher takes them on a nature walk, Sam helps each of his classmates find the items they are looking for. When asked what he found on the nature walk, Sam’s reply is, “Friends!” 

This book has many things going for it, in terms of the Geisel criteria.  The most notable feature is the use of repetition, particularly in the middle of the book. The illustrations support the text admirably, providing context for potentially unfamiliar words. When, for instance, a pinecone is mentioned in the text, it also appears in the illustrations. Sentences are mostly short and straightforward. The text is large and clear. Sam presents as white, but his classmates are portrayed as a diverse group.

On the other hand, the plot, while charming, doesn’t drive the story forward. The Best Seat in Kindergarten may not encapsulate that “page-turning dynamic” that’s desirable in a Geisel contender. If you’ve read this book with beginning readers, I’d be interested to hear what they thought of it.  I suspect that this book will be useful, as books at this level are always in demand.  However, does it rise to the top of this year’s offerings?  Only time will tell.