When the Daffodils Bloom

I am absolutely in love with this time of year. The flowers blooming, the birds chirping...the allergies... Just kidding on the last one! Spring is the time when I like to think that the earth is rejoicing after a long rest during winter. Another great reason why I love spring? Because this is the time of year that I celebrate three of the people that I love the most in the world. My Mom, my Brother, and my Boyfriend. All three of them have birthdays in April, and today I am going to focus on one in particular. 18 years ago, God gave me the best present a girl could ask for, a little brother. I was four years old, and as the only girl in my family in over 64 years, pretty happy as the "Pickle Princess." When my Mom first let me know that my rule was about to be over, I was very nervous, but excited. I wanted to know just how long it would take for my little brother to get here. In true Elementary school teacher form, my Nanie came up with the perfect way for me to know when Hunter would be here. 

She wrote a book about it.

The book was called "After the Daffodils Bloom" and it was the perfect way for me to understand how long it would take before my Little Brother could be here. It started out with the beginning, me, finding out about Hunter, and asking the question, "BUT WHEN??"

After Thanksgiving, when all of the turkey is gone.

BUT WHEN? 

After Halloween, and all of its goodies are enjoyed. 

BUT WHEN?

After Christmas, and all of the presents are opened.

BUT WHEN?

After your Fifth birthday, it is coming soon!

But...when??

After Valentines day, once you are reminded that everyone loves you.

In March, the flowers will begin to bloom, but there is a certain flower that must bloom before your little brother gets here. 

The Daffodils! 

After the daffodils bloomed, and the spring continued on, one day I was told, Today is the day!

Hunter is here!

I am paraphrasing the book of course, because it is safely tucked away at my house. The point to this post though is that reading isn't just about statistics. It's about relationships. It's about families coming together with a love of stories, of adventures, and books. What I want to challenge all of you to do this week is to find something that pertains to your family, and read about it. Then write about it. Most importantly, share it. Just like memories, books can be beautiful moments when we remember how precious our lives and the people in them truly are.

Dedicated to my 18 year old ( sad face!) little brother, Hunter Pickle. I love you Bubba, I hope your birthday was wonderful. And, the daffodils this year were beautiful! :)

Check Up!

So far, we are in week three of our "WondLa" adventure. I am loving this book!! Along with WondLa, I am also reading two other books, so hopefully I am not too far behind all of you. I am on Chapter 10, and am wanting to reach 15 before next Wednesday. If you are reading with me, just comment below on your progress, and what you think about the book. 


Do you think Eva Nine will meet another human? 

What do you think WondLa is? 


Keep me updated on your progress! :)








Also, here is a fun game to play based on WondLa:
http://www.mofunzone.com/online_games/the_search_for_wondla.shtml


Fun quiz for when you are finished:
http://www.goodreads.com/quizzes/7298-the-search-for-wondla-quiz


Here is a great interview with the author! (From Time for Kids)

A Chat with Tony DiTerlizzi

TFK catches up with the fantasy author at Books of Wonder in New York City

BY TFK KID REPORTER SAHIL ABBI

Tony DiTerlizzi, author of the popular series The Spiderwick Chronicles, is bringing readers a new fantasy novel called The Search for WondLa. The book hit stores on September 21. In the story, 12-year-old Eva Nine lives in an underground world where she is raised by a robot named Muthr. She has never seen another living person. When an intruder destroys her underground home, she escapes to a strange new world above ground. There she begins a search to find someone like her. A single clue gives her hope—a crumbling picture of a girl, a robot, an adult and the word WondLa. TFK Kid Reporter Sahil Abbi spoke to DiTerlizzi about WondLa and the power of imagination.

ANDREW H. WALKER—GETTY IMAGES Kids gather at Books of Wonder in New York City on September 22 for the launch of Tony DiTerlizzi's latest book, The Search for WondLa.

TFK:

Where did you get the idea for The Search for WondLa?

DiTerlizzi:

WondLa was inspired by some of my favorite childhood heroines. I think back to stories that I loved as a kid and that I still love to this day, like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.I loved Wendy Darling, the character who goes with Peter Pan to Neverland. I also love Dorothy Gale from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In all these stories, a lone person enters a magical place and gains knowledge before she returns home. In the end, these characters learn to cherish the power of home. I'm glad that kids still love these stories, but I make them a little more modern with lots of cool technology.

TFK:

What do you like about fantasy?

DiTerlizzi:

I love books with imagination. Imagination is why Christopher Columbus sailed across the ocean to find America and it is why we went to the moon. I think that imagination is so important and it should be instilled in kids as early as possible.

TFK:

Did the books you read as a child influence The Search for WondLa?

DiTerlizzi:

A book that I kept thinking about while I worked on The Search for WondLa was Charlotte's Web. It highlights these unlikely friendships. There's the friendship between Wilbur the pig and Charlotte the spider. Then there's the friendship between Wilbur and a rat. That's not unlike my character Eva who is being taken care of by a robot, but is also friends with Rovender, an angry alien.

TFK:

How do you feel about The Search for WondLa being made into a movie?

DiTerlizzi:

I'm really excited. Paramount Pictures read an early version ofWondLa. They totally loved the story and decided to make it into a movie. I'll probably act as an adviser, which was what my role was for The Spiderwick Chronicles. I helped with the stories and with the visuals. I'm kind of the go-to guy for the world of the story.

TFK:

Your character Kenny, from the book Kenny and the Dragon,reminded me of myself. Did you base any of your characters on you or someone close to you?

DiTerlizzi:

That's awesome! Kenny is kind of like me, too. I was very much a kid who was living in my own world. If I wasn't reading, I was drawing or outside catching bugs. I think that all the characters I've created have little fragments or pieces of me. It's like you take your personality and throw it at the ground and it breaks into pieces. Then you have to put the pieces together to create different characters, so they've always got a little piece of you in them. My characters also have elements of friends and people I know. I'm a lot like Eva [from WondLa]. Yes, she's a 12-year-old girl, but she's not really girly. She's just a kid who is trying to find her place in the world.

ANDREW H. WALKER—GETTY IMAGES Tony Diterlizzi draws Eva Nine, the main character from The Search for WondLa.

TFK:

Are any parts of your books based on your experiences?

DiTerlizzi:

When I make my books, I tap into a younger version of myself. I go back and think, "What would the 10-year-old version of Tony want to read that the 40-year-old version of Tony can create?" So I think back to the things that I liked. Even though my generation and your generation are different, there are some things that we have in common. For example, I loved videogames when I was your age.

TFK:

Is there a message that you want to send young readers through your books?

DiTerlizzi:

Yes, never abandon imagination. It's all about imagination.

TFK:

What did you read when you were younger?

DiTerlizzi:

I read all kinds of stuff as a kid. I loved books on astronomy, paleontology and insects. I love nature. I am kind of an armchair naturalist. I have field guides on birds and I enjoy copying the drawings.

TFK:

What advice do you have for aspiring young authors?

DiTerlizzi:

Keep writing, keep imagining and keep drawing. I am a product of two parents who saw that I was an imaginative kid. They encouraged me and so did my teachers. My advice for adults? If you see a youngster who is really good at making up stories, encourage him or her. We need more of that in the world.

Extra, Extra!

Just in case my books and tips aren't enough, Check out Reading Is Fundamental's monthly reading calendars. These are a great resource to use when daily participating in your child's literacy adventure. 

Here is the link! It is a PDF file.

http://www.rif.org/documents/us/Mar11_LtR_calendar.pdf

Reading and Learning Math at the Same Time!

Some of you may know this, but I come from two generations of Elementary school teachers. Both my Mom and my Nanie are teachers. This is part of the reason why literacy and education are so special to me, because as I was growing up, I would leave school to come home to more education. I think that education shouldn't end when a child leaves school grounds. The best opportunities to learn can come at the dinner table, before bed, even during commercial breaks while watching television. My mom is constantly offering great advice on literacy techniques and books to use, and this week's books are directly from her. The great thing about these books is that they are all math-based, and classroom tested. So while your child is reading a funny story on ants, he or she also learns valuable multiplication skills. Enjoy!

One Hundred Hungry Ants 

by: Elinor J. Pinczes

Summary: A rhyming text describes the progress of one hundred ants marching toward a picnic. To travel faster, one ant suggests dividing into two lines of fifty, then four lines of twenty-five, and finally ten lines of ten. Their frantic reorganization takes so long that the picnic is gone by the time they arrive. Ages 4-8

Grandfather Tang's Story

by: Ann Tompert

Summary: Here's a folktale with a twist: Tompert uses tangrams, a traditional "visual aid" employed by Chinese storytellers, to spin a tale about two shape-changing fox fairies. Seven "tans" (standard-sized pieces of a square) are arranged and rearranged to represent various characters in the story. The fox fairies vie to outdo each other--the first one becomes a rabbit, the other a dog who chases him, and so on--but when the two chase each other right into danger, they finally have to set their competition aside and pull together. Parker's graceful, impressionistic illustrations have a gentle Oriental flavor, and the constantly changing tangram configurations add a novel touch. A traceable tangram is provided at the end for do-it-yourselfers. Ages 3-7

Here is one of the tangrams used in the book

Also, if you are still reading "The Search for Wondla" with me, let me know how it is going! I will post my thoughts on it soon!

Challenge!

This week, instead of choosing a few books to read, I am going to try something different. I recently heard about the book, "The Search for Wondla" and it intrigued me. So, tomorrow I am going to go to my local library and check it out! What I want to do is implore you to also read the book with me. I am really excited about this book because I watched an interview with the author/illustrator on the Today Show and he compared the writing style to that of the early Wizard of Oz books. (I love those books!!) Also, if your child enjoyed "The Spiderwick Chronicles" then they will more than likely enjoy this book, it is written by the same author. Here is the information about the book: Typically this book is read by ages 9-12.

The Search for WondLa

By: Tony DiTerlizzi

Summary: When a marauder destroys the underground sanctuary that Eva Nine was raised in by the robot Muthr, the twelve-year-year-old girl is forced to flee aboveground. Eva Nine is searching for anyone else like her, for she knows that other humans exist, because of an item she treasures—a scrap of cardboard on which is depicted a young girl, an adult, and a robot, with the strange word, "WondLa." Tony DiTerlizzi honors traditional children's literature in this totally original space age adventure: one that is as complex as an alien planet, but as simple as a child's wish for a place to belong. 

Also, check out the website for the book, http://wondla.com/

My Crazyy Spring Break

With the students of Wylam Elementary

Playing Literacy Basketball at Chelsea High School

These two weeks of spring send college students across the nation into a frenzy. Beaches, Bathing suits, and a break from school is the usual prescription used to relieve the stress of the school year. My Senior spring break was a little different than some of my friends. I left school to spend a week in Shelby County, and had a blast. I visited the incredible kids at Wilsonville Elementary, Wylam Elementary, Snow Rogers Elementary, the fun group of students at Chelsea High School as well as a very special little girl's birthday party. We read together, played literacy fast facts games, and even had a Bieber-fever moment. Right, Snow Rogers? I hope you all are having a great week! :)




Here are some of the pictures of my Crazy, wonderful spring break. Have I said it before that I love being Miss Shelby County??

GOAL!

Snow Roger's best students! :)

At Chelsea High School playing Literacy Basketball

With my new fourth grade friends at Wilsonville Elementary

More great kids at Wilsonville

We read the great book "One" and Wrote stories
about our own experiences being "the one"

With the Birthday Girl, Allie, and her friends at her party. I had the opportunity to teach these girls poise, the importance of self-confidence and had a blast rocking out to Hannah Montana

Read Across America Week

I had the opportunity to visit Charles Henderson Elementary were I caught them doing...guess what?? READING! Check out my news package, aired on TrojanVision this week.