Nokum is my Teacher (David Bouchard)

I love David Bouchard. I have listened to him speak a few times and love his passion for books and reading. He is native and writes books in French, English and Cree. He might have some other languages too. I just have a hard time keeping track of them.

This book has a CD. I loved listening to David Bouchard read it. The voice of his Nokum (grandmother) was a little odd to me - but then again, quite a typical native style. He is talking to his grandmother about why he should go to school and learn to read since she did not and is perfectly happy. She guides him to finding his own answer.

The paintings in this book are beautiful. The words are beautiful. There is so much to  this book. 

A Witch?

Here we thought the problem was taken care of! Today, on the way to swim practice, we someone who we're sure is a witch!

Who wears black gloves in the middle of summer??! I'm thinking she didn't have her wig on either and that's why she's wearing a hat. We tried to see her nostrils but couldn't get close enough.



Be careful children!!

Prisoners in the Promised Land (Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch)

Good Reads sums the story up like this:

Anya and her family have made a difficult journey to Canada in search of a new life. But soon after they arrive in the land they hoped would welcome them, World War I is declared, and Ukrainians are considered “enemy aliens” — many of them sent away to internment camps. Anya must find a way to deal with the challenges in the land she now calls home.

This is the first of the Dear Canada series I have read. I was pleasantly surprised at how enlightening it was. It sounded like it was quite historically accurate and it was written in a way that made the story very compelling. I would definitely recommend it. I plan to read more books from this series this summer!

Oh no! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World) (Mac Barnett)

It's a terrible thing when a giant robot starts destroying your city.

The  unnamed girl in this story has created a robot that is terrorizing everyone.

I can see kids reading this book and loving it. What kid doesn't imagine that they couldn't create a robot? Everyone does! And if things went terribly wrong, they'd just fix it, of course. And this time they're saved by a frog!

There aren't a lot of words, but just enough to tell the story perfectly. These are the type of illustration that kids will sit and look for long periods of time.

I'm a little afraid this might turn into a Disney movie though. It's made by Disney Hyperion books. Never heard of that.

The World Belongs To You (Riccardo Bozzi)

This is a great book for the end of a school year. Funny thing that I picked it up and ended up reading it today on the last day of school. The message (which is well tied up with words and pictures) is very simple, yet very poignant. It could be a great starting point for some interesting discussions. It would be a great end of year gift or a gift f or someone going on to a new step in life.

Mossy (Jan Brett)

Mossy is truly a beautiful book. It is a story about a turtle that has moss and flowers growing on it's shell (does that really happen?). She is caught by a biologist and taken to a museum so everyone can see her. However, Mossy is sad and soon the people who care start to realize this. In the end they discover a win-win resolution.


I love how when children read books they soak up all the information in the pictures without saying a thing. I found myself doing that with this book. It would be an interesting book to read prior to visiting the zoo and having a discussion about zoos keeping animals, especially if you accompanied this book with one about the wonderful things that zoos do for animals.

The BFG (Roald Dahl)

We read this book in my Grade 3 class this past month. One of the worst things about school being cancelled this past week was I worrying about how were we going to finish our novel study! We had to scrap painting the huge giants on looooooong paper - but we did finally get to finish reading it today. We started our half day of school today with finishing this book.

I had never read The BFG, but my colleagues love the it and so I was looking forward to reading. My own children, who have each gone through Roald Dahl phases, were not fans of this book. The BFG talks strangely and makes up words and I wonder if those long and tricky words were what turned them off. I think it is a terrific read aloud. I will have to try to get them to read it aloud with me this summer!

This story is about a girl who is stolen by a giant. He is a friendly giant though. He spends his time bottling dreams, and blowing good dreams into sleeping children's minds. However, there are other giants who aren't quite as kind and they eat children! Sophie, an orphan, realizes something must be done and she and The BFG work together to come up with a plan. My class had a lot of good laughs over things in this story. It was a delight to read together!