The Chalk Box Kid ~ Chapter Book & KID KANDY

The Chalk Box Kid
By Clyde Robert Bulla
Illustrated by Thomas B. Allen
(Scholastic, Inc., 1987)

The Chalk Box Kid is the perfect beginning chapter book for the readers you know. This book tackles many situations that face our children in modern society - moving to a new home, going to a new school, making friends, having no privacy, finding a personal space, and being oneself.

Yes, that's a big list. But I was delighted to read this book that encourages readers to be themselves and to keep on going when dealing with difficult issues.

Gregory is forced to move to a new home and school when his father gets a new job. He almost gets his own bedroom but immediately has to allow his uncle to share his room. Gregory has a difficult time making friends at school. When a guest speaker at school talks about gardening and brings plants so students can choose one to take home, Gregory is inspired to make his own garden.

Except Gregory's garden is not the sort you would imagine. Behind his home, he discovers a burned down building. But the surprise is what type of business it used to house and what supplies he uncovers in the dirt.

The magic of this story is how Gregory uses his imagination to create a space for himself. Gregory's garden opens the door to new friends and acceptance at his school and within his own family.

Read The Chalk Box Kid to inspire young artists and children in transition.

KID KANDY:

Chalk Art

Any kind of chalk will do, but for finer detailing, use the thin, old school chalk. Fat sidewalk chalk works great for filling in large spaces.

Get permission before you do any chalk art on sidewalks or patios.

Can you make your own chalk garden?

What kind of plants so you want? Flowers? Trees? Vegetables? Herbs? Rocks and birds? Insects?

Include garden beds and pathways. Remember how Gregory wanted a fountain in his garden? Add a water fountain to your garden.

Don't forget to make a hangout spot for visiting friends.

Pacific Northwest Writers Association Conference

Hello, friends!

This week I will be away from home (though I leave hubby in charge of garden, cats, grands, house, and the watering - yikes).

The agenda? First I will spend 2 glorious days creating rubber stamped cards with my college roomie. Oh, we may sneak in a summer concert at the U Village and ice cream. But the main event will be creating works of art. Or at least cards that use up a variety of scraps and utilize our 'feeding off of each other' ideas.

Next I will travel to the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Conference that will be held just south of Seattle. I am so excited to meet with other (crazy) writers like myself, learn more about the writing craft, and have the opportunity to mingle with and pitch book ideas to literary agents and editors. Yes, while this time is exhilarating in reference to hanging out with fellow pen pushers, it will also be fraught with nerves, blunders, and stuttering conversations during pitches and chats.

But worth it? Definitely.

I will be offline as far as blogging, so I leave you with a photo of one of my favorite chapter book series - The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. These books are near and dear to my readers' heart. I was introduced to C.S. Lewis and Narnia in grade school when the librarian, who was probably at her wits' end after I had read every-single-horse-book she had, suggested that I check out The Horse and His Boy.

And that was all it took. From horses to Narnia to wardrobes to Aslan to centaurs and many other fabulous imaginative characters.

Happy Reading! I will see you next week.

The ARK, the REED, & the FIRE CLOUD ~ Wacky Wednesday Chapter Book & KID KANDY

The ARK, the REED, & the FIRE CLOUD
By Jenny L. Cote
(Living Ink Books, 2008)

Maybe not wacky, but more wonderful.

Have you ever wondered how God did it?

All of those animals, the few people, and the sheer number of days. How did they all fit in the ark? How did they get enough to eat? What about the polar bears needing ice and the lions needing heat? How did all of those climate, food, and space requirements work in the ark?

The ARK, the REED, & the FIRE CLOUD is an interesting story that considers the possibilities of the hows that perplex this modern day mind. Not that Jenny L. Cote is saying this is how it all happened, not at all. But she does pen some scintillating ideas of how it could have taken place.

Now, I don't want to ruin the surprise, because I had no idea what would happen once all were in place on the ark. THE ark (the one with Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives, THAT ark)and THE flood.

So let me just say, from the imagination of a writer and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, some potential ideas are given voice in The ARK, the REED, & the FIRE CLOUD. This book - the 2009 Readers Favorite Award Winner - is the beginning of a series of books from The Amazing Tales of Max & Liz.

Upper elementary and middle school readers will enjoy this chapter book. Younger elementary children will love to hear about Max and Liz as the book is read aloud to them.

KID KANDY:

Make Your Own Ark

Yes, let's pretend! Any age will enjoy the challenge of creating a boat that floats.

Materials: milk cartons or shoe boxes, foil and assorted decorative paper, masking tape (or duct tape), scissors, cardboard scraps, paper towel tubes, stapler, plastic toy animals, markers

1. Cover the sides of your ark with foil. Tape the edges closed.

2. Use the rest of your supplies to customize your ark. Build a ramp, make a roof, decorate the inside, tape on walls for animal stalls, and so on.

3. Load up the animals and get ready to test the "floatability" of your ark.

4. Fill the bathtub or a plastic tub with water. Put that ark in and get it floating!

The story of the flood and the ark is found in the Bible. Read the original version in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis (the very first book in the Bible), chapters 6-9.

The Black Stallion - Chapter Books

The Black Stallion
By Walter Farley
(Random House, 1969 - original in 1941)

Meet a book that I absolutely adored when I was in elementary school. The Black Stallion was one of my favorite and most re-read books in my growing collection of all-things-horse.

Walter Farley created a world for me. That world consisted of danger, excitement, horses, adventure, challenge, horses, and more horses. I didn't care if the main character was a boy. He was doing things that I wanted to do - traveling, getting shipwrecked (ok, I may skip that one), and rescuing a beautiful, strong-willed black stallion to be his own horse. What could be better?

The Black Stallion is still one of my beloved favs. The horse world in Farley's books was my world of escape. In the pages of his writing, I could do and be anything.

Isn't that what good books are for? To let us get away, learn more about ourselves, dream, and give us the chance to live vicariously through the choices and actions of another. A perfect day back then would be reading for hours and then getting up to go ride my own horse, pretending that I was on a similar adventure. Never mind that I was in a desert, my horse was a scrawny nearly spotless Appaloosa and sometimes knot-head, and the extent of my adventure usually ended with me walking home on foot.

I recommend The Black Stallion for elementary and intermediate school students. And any girl who loves horses.


KID KANDY:

1. Watch the movie! For a book adaptation, they did a pretty good job.

2. Get outside and play horses. I remember doing this well into the intermediate years. We were the horses and the riders. Our legs were the horse legs, and the rest of our bodies became adventurers setting out looking for danger. Those 2-legged horses could gallop, trot, switch leads, back up, and do all sorts of great things. Just check out the way our horses could barrel race!

And you've never seen a younger child turn down the chance to ride the horsie (you or I) in their own version of playing horses.

Giddy-up!

Blaze and I in sunny Arizona (1978)

Angie Quantrell is a long-time horse lover. While she is unable to have a horse right now, she dreams of the day when perhaps a 4-legged beauty will allow her to ride away on an adventure, real or make-believe.

Two Renegade Realms - Book Two of the Realm Walkers Trilogy

Two Renegade Realms, Book Two of the Realm Walkers Trilogy
By Donita K. Paul
(Zondervan, 2015)

Oh, boy!

I have almost reached the end of the second book in the Realm Walkers Trilogy. I can't seem to stop myself from reading just one more chapter, just one more...search and rescue, search and rescue...

Donita K. Paul is again over-working her imagination and creativity (for our benefit) in this new world of realm walkers.

The first book of the trilogy, One Realm Beyond, introduced new world ideas such as stacking planets, portals, mor dragons, hampers (bigger on the inside pocket type storage containers - flat to the touch from the outside, but full of great things on the inside), and special crowns that enhance the wearer's ability to do a wide variety of things.

In Two Renegade Realms, Mrs. Paul continues to add new (delightful, odd, interesting, and scary) creations and characters like Neekoh, Old Trout, and orreries. The path of our heroes-on-quest travels through the air, underground, over water, and through mountains and valleys. Mrs. Paul builds the suspense, thickens the plot, and continues the story of the realm walkers with numerous problems, detours, hazards, and seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

A massive and destructive collision between two renegade realms following a special orbit and the planets inhabited and visited by our story characters is quickly approaching. Cantor, Bixby, Bridger, and Dukmee must find a way to prevent corrupt leaders from capitalizing on the soon to arrive catastrophic events. Add a shortage of mor dragons, lack of realm walkers, and the urgent and necessary search for Chomountain (the right hand of Primen and famed realm walker) - the action and troubles never end!

Will they stop the invasion? Do they find everyone? Can they stop the corrupt council members? Is that romance building between Cantor and Bixby?

I don't think I can wait for the third book in the Realm Walkers Trilogy. I hope Mrs. Paul is busy writing.

In the meantime, maybe I will work on figuring out my own hamper. And it can't hurt to look for a mor dragon.

Note: I received this ARC (Advance Reader Copy) copy of Two Renegade Realms free of charge. In return, I am giving you my honest opinion of this book.