Blog

Fun President’s Day reads

By on February 19, 2018   /   Book Lists  

Happy President’s Day! Here are some of my favorite reads that allow middle graders to learn secrets, little-known facts, and fun trivia about our presidents.

Presidential Pets: The Weird, Wacky, Little, Big, Scary, Strange Animals That Have Lived in the White House, by Julia Moberg. Inside this entertaining book, readers will find out that John Quincy Adams kept an alligator in the bathtub and Andrew Jackson had a parrot with quite the potty mouth. There are forty-three anecdotes about the pets presidents kept, and the book is written in rhyming prose, with hilarious accompanying illustrations.

Kid Presidents: True Tales of Childhood from America’s Presidents, by David Stabler. Funny, offbeat biographies and colorful illustrations show how George Washington, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and others faced problems and overcame hurdles when they were kids. John F. Kennedy, for example, didn’t like his big brother and got some pretty bad report cards. Lyndon Johnson was the class prankster. Bill Clinton was clumsy — he broke his leg while jumping rope — and Barack Obama was bothered by bullies.  The writing style is lighthearted and easy to read. “Just like history class,” says author Tim Federle, “only hilarious.”

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, by Barack Obama, is a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped our nation. From Georgia O’Keeffe to George Washington to Albert Einstein, the descriptions of their contributions to the world in comparison to a child’s budding imagination, intelligence, and creativity are tender, beautiful and inspiring.

 

 

Weird But True Know-It-All: U.S. Presidents by Brianna DuMont has wild and wacky facts about our presidents, including that Ulysses S. Grant got a speeding ticket while riding his horse — twice! Benjamin Harrison was afraid of electricity. And who knew Abraham Lincoln was a great wrestler? The book also includes easy to digest facts about government, elections, The White House, and presidential history.

 

 

1,000 Facts About The White House by Sarah Wassner Flynn takes readers behind the scenes at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. With a treasure trove of material from the White House Historical Association, this colorful, easy to read book gives a fascinating history of the building and the people who have lived in it for more than 200 years.

 

Happy presidential reading!

 

Back to Top
Back to Top

Books and Buttercream

By on February 16, 2018   /   For Librarians, For Teachers, For Writers  

I’m a fan of stretching out celebrations as long as possible. Give me a birthday present or slice of cake a day, a week, even a month late, and I’ll be as happy as if I received it on time. Happier, really, because what could be better than making surprises and buttercream last and last?

This year, I got away with stretching one of my very favorite celebrations over two full weeks. February 1 was World Read Aloud Day* and I had a very good problem: more requests for Skype visits than could fit into one school day. With the help of wonderful, flexible librarians and teachers, I was able to say yes to almost all of them.  Each morning I put on my good sweater and sparkly earrings and chatted with students in Canada, Kentucky, Texas, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, New York…When I Skyped with kids in the Bahamas, I showed them a bowl of Ohio snow!

Still, some people wonder, what’s the value of any school visit? For the writer the answer is obvious: spending time with young readers is a jolt of reality. Sitting alone at a desk all day, our audience can grow dim and abstract.  No way this can happen in a school, where the walls pulse with kids’ energy and curiosity, concerns and confusions,  happiness and vulnerability.  One one Skype visit a fifth grader asked me, “Why do you write for kids instead of grown-ups?” and I said,  “Because! Kids are the most passionate, invested readers on the planet.”  He nodded. Case closed.

What about the value for the students? We writers  hope to convince them they all have stories to tell,  that each of them has a writing voices as unique and special as his or her speaking voice. We try our best to give them tips, to encourage them by sharing how much revision a “professional writer” does, and to empower them to use their imaginations and create their own worlds.

During almost every visit, in person or by Skype, someone asks me, “Did you always want to be an author?” I used to feel bad about having to admit no, and confess how long it took me to find my way. I would wish I was one of those people who knew, from the age of three, that writing was her reason for breathing.

But as time has gone by, I’ve come to feel okay about saying that I didn’t begin to write seriously until I was three of four times their age. I tell them that, as much as I loved to read when I was young, I was certain all writers lived in castles by the sea, cottages covered in roses, or rooms at the top of crooked staircases. Maybe if I’d met a writer when I was your age, I say now–maybe if I’d sat down and eaten pizza with one, or watched one hold her plump orange cat up in front of the camera, or listened to one talk about how many times she heard no before  finally hearing that magic yes–maybe if I’d ever  realized that writers were plain old everyday people, I wouldn’t have taken so long to make the discovery that  I could be one too. And then I tell them how lucky they are, to have such a big head start on me.

*Here’s WRAD’s mission statement. You can find out more at
http://www.litworld.org/wrad/
We think everyone in the world should get to read and write. Every year, on World Read Aloud Day, people all around the globe read aloud together and share stories to advocate for literacy as a human right that belongs to all people.

*****

Tricia’s newest middle grade novel, Cody and the Heart of a Champion, will publish in April.

 

Back to Top