Mother Goose on the loose and the Mother & Daughters Book Club

These are the two things I need to work on--well, actually, I picked my MG book yesterday. Today I have to pick the Mother Daughter book. I was thinking Mandy, by Julie Edwards (yes, actually Julie Andrews) but since this month's book was deemed by the fourth grade participants as too "old fashioned," (Understood Betsy) I think we'll go with Someday Angeline, my favorite Louis Sachar book. The next next month we'll do Wait Till Helen Comes, because the girls have told me they like scary books.

My Mother Goose book is about the beach, (Beach Day, by Karen Roosa) because although yesterday was 65 and sunny, we are in the typically winter months (it snowed this morning) and reading a book about the beach will make me happy. The MG program is for kids in the 6-24 mos age range, and we do 80% old material, 20% new material each week. The book gets read every week. Repetition is soothing, which helps young children learn to read and interact socially. If you're really into this stuff, here is a link to Betsy Diamant-Cohen's website. I pretty much follow her program.

Internet: What other factors swayed you to choose this book, SL?
SL: Internet, I'm so glad you asked. It has short rhymy text, it is full of action: building a sandcastle, etc, it features boys and girls, it features multiple colors of folk in the pictures. Internet: Louis Sachar wrote so many other great books, like the Wayside School series, and Holes, which won a Newbery. Why Someday Angeline?
SL: Well, it's pretty much his only book that has a female protagonist, and I'm trying to focus on female protagonists for this group, since it *is* for mothers and daughters. And, it's one of my all time favorite books (although I seem to have lost my own personal copy). That's the great thing about being the leader: you get to pick the books!

In other book news, I totally scored today at the library's book shop: an almost pristine copy (hardcover) of Dear Genius, the letters of Ursula Nordstrom. Ursula is the children's book editor that worked with such greats as Maurice Sendak, Mary Stolz, E.B. White, Shel Silverstein. I have been wanting to add this book to my collection for ages and just couldn't bring myself to spend the cash. I got a Coke, a CD of Handel's greatest hits, a copy of Mandy in paperback, and Dear Genius, all for 2.36!! Now, if someone would compile a book of Charlotte Zolotow's letters, I'd be in seventh heaven!!

This summer at the ALA (American Library Association) Conference in Chicago, I went to a talk where Leonard Marcus spoke. He edited Dear Genius and I had a chance to chat with him afterwards.