Blog Discontinued

Although I have discontinued this blog, I am leaving it online largely for the book reviews. Prop suggestions are no longer available. -Kim Roberts

Tales of Winter

Owl Moon
By Jane Yolen
Illustrated by John Schoenherr
Jane Yolen chose the words carefully for Owl Moon to evoke the sensations of being in the winter woods at night.  If you read slowly and thoughtfully, you can smell the crisp winter air, feel the cold in your cheeks, hear the sounds of boots breaking through the crust of snow. The dark silhouettes of tree branches visually contrast with the bright moon and blanket of snow.The story of a young girl, finally old enough to accompany her father into the woods at night to look for a great horned owl, is both warm and enthralling. When they return home after "owling", her wonder of nature and pride of having grown up stay with you. This book is a fine example for young writers of description and word choice in writing.The Audubon great horned owl toy below makes a hooting sound just like in Owl Moon.

The Snowy Day
By Ezra Jack Keats
Children who have experienced snow will be able to make a strong connection to Ezra Jack Keats' Caldecott winner "The Snowy Day". It is written from a young boy's perspective as he wakes up to a snowy world and proceeds to enjoy it as children everywhere do. The story simply relates the boy's experiences as he discovers the joys of snow when he makes footprints and snow angels, knocks it off tree branches and slides downhill on it. You can feel the comfort of a hot bath after a day in the snow and share in his thrill when he wakes up the next day to find that the snow is still there. No real snow? You can actually buy faux snow, shown below, that is water activated and can be reused!

Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy (Nature)
By Carl R. Sams and Jean Stoick
 Two children build a snowman in the woods, and curious animals come, one after another, to check out the stranger. Edible features make him attractive to the wildlife, and each encounter is captured on film. This book has won many awards, and would be a wonderful inspiration for children to write about how it would feel to be either one of the animals or the snowman "stranger".




Story Props for "Owl Moon", "The Snowy Day" and "Stranger in the Woods"

Best Spirit of Christmas Books

 Although I love the Grinch story as much as the next person, I really appreciate Christmas books that express genuine human feelings and frailties and lack the glitz of the commercialized holiday season. I look also for gratitude over greed, family and friends over worldly expectations. Both of the following Christmas stories are set in the past and take place in Appalachia. Teachers may use these books to teach the reading comprehension strategies of making text-to-text connections or visualization.

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: An Appalachian Story
by Gloria Houston
Pictures by Barbara Cooney
Ruthie waits for her father to come home from war in time for Christmas as promised. It is their family's turn to provide the church its Christmas tree that she and her father picked out months before.  In the meantime, the school prepares to put on the Christmas play, and since her family is providing the tree, the little girl gets the part of the heavenly angel. Her mother also waits and worries because there is no money for cloth for the angel dress until her husband returns. The night before Christmas eve finds them still alone, so in the night they take their old horse and bring back the tree. Ruthie's mother then cuts apart her wedding dress to make an angel costume and an angel doll for a special gift for Ruthie. The family honor is preserved, and the play goes off beautifully without Ruthie's father. Just as everyone leaves the church, Ruthie's father arrives and envelopes her in his arms, his love and protection the finest gift of all. An angel doll who looks just like Ruthie is placed at the top of the church Christmas tree from that year forward. Barbara Cooney's illustrations are at the same time understated and warmly evocative, and the prose enables the reader to smell the balsam, feel the angel's satin dress, and hear the singing in the cold night air. An angel doll makes a perfect story prop for this moving tale.

Silver Packages
by Cynthia Rylant
Paintings by Chris K. Soentpiet
There was once a "Santa train" that brought gifts to poor children in remote parts of West Virginia every year at Christmas time. Cynthia Rylant wrote this book based on stories of that train. In return for his own good fortune, every Christmas a rich man brings silver wrapped packages and tosses them out to the children waiting along the railroad. A young boy is always there to catch his silver package, and every year he wishes for a doctor's kit so he can pretend to be a doctor. Each year, the package contains warm boots, woolen mittens, or a winter hat, but no doctor's kit, leaving him disappointed. As he grows up, he learns to appreciate the value of those gifts and credits them for helping him to make it and become what he always wanted to be, a doctor.A black doctor's bag is shown in the last pages of the book, indicating his success.

Story Props for "The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree" and "Silver Packages"