The Pennekamp library will be closed next week, from May 27 to 30. Sorry for any inconvenience. If you are trying to return books, please give them to the school office.

The themes this week for books on display are butterflies and baseball (it’s clearly springtime in the library). Also on display are picture books set in other countries to tie in with TK’s “armchair travel” readalouds.

This morning I was pleased to attend the meeting of the Manhattan Beach Rotary Club. We are so fortunate to have this inspiring group in our town. Alongside the library media specialists from all the other MBUSD elementary schools and representatives from schools outside our district, I was privileged to represent Pennekamp in thanking the Rotary members for reading to our students last February and also for a generous donation to the library for the purchase of new books. Each book purchased through the club’s gift will bear a commemorative bookplate.

Attention all parents and students! It is time to return your library books! All books are due no later than June 13.  Please note that a hold will be placed on a student's report card if he or she has any unreturned library books; likewise parents must also return all library materials by or before June 13 to avoid a hold being placed on their student's report card. Please contact me if there are any questions or concerns about library circulation.

This week in class readalouds we are looking at books about journeys. Some are light-hearted, some more serious, some historical, some involving animals...there are a lot of different variations on the topic. One noteworthy book, which I'm reading to a couple of classes in grade 4 and a couple in grade 5, is this year's winner of the Caldecott Medal: Locomotive, by Brian Floca. This long, incredibly detailed book about the Transcontinental Railroad is about as perfect a picture book as I've ever seen. Also very worthy of special mention is Flight of the Honeybee, by Raymond Huber. Although I have only taken a passing glance, what I've found so far on Mr. Huber's website is fascinating--information about bees, of course, but also some thoughtful musings on children's books and other topics. There's a link there to a very nice 6-minute film about bees.

We have an interesting literary event happening right here in Manhattan Beach: Our local independent bookstore--Pages--is hosting Stuart Gibbs, author of some very popular middle-grade novels. His Belly Up did very well with Pennekamp's 5th-grade book club a couple of years ago; and now there is a follow-up, Poached, another zoo-themed mystery (with an immediately appealing cover). Mr. Gibbs has two other successful storylines going: The Last Musketeer, followed by Traitor's Chase and Double Cross; and Spy School, followed by Spy Camp. I would recommend any of these super entertaining books to readers from grade 4 up through middle school. So, back to the event: At Pages; Wednesday, May 14; 7:00 p.m. Contact the store for more information (310-318-0900).

The public library has plenty of copies now of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, by Chris Grabenstein, for our 5th-grade book club. They are being held at the "express library," which is open Tuesday through Friday from 2 to 6, and Saturday from 11 to 3. Thanks to library manager Don Gould for obtaining these for us. The next and final book club meeting will be on June 2. By the way, our "express library" branch will be offering the usual summer reading program--be sure to sign up to keep track of your reading and earn prizes!

The annual announcement on May 1 of the winners of the California Young Reader Medal is always exciting! The statewide winner in the Primary category is Press Here, by Herve Tullet; the statewide winner in the Picture Book for Older Readers category is Queen of the Falls, by Chris Van Allsburg. Neither of these won at Pennekamp, though! We preferred instead Interrupting Chicken, by David Ezra Stein, for the Primary category; and The Worst of Friends: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the True Story of an American Feud, by Suzanne Tripp Jurmain, for the Picture Books for Older Readers category. 

In honor of the actual awarding on May 1 of the CYRM statewide prizes, I am revisiting previous CYRM winners this week in class readalouds. Classes in grade 4 are finishing When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead (which incidentally is a different kind of award-winner, as it won the Newbery Medal in 2010). Grade 5 is finishing Schooled, by Gordon Korman, or hearing The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore along with viewing the short film on which it is based, which won the Academy Award for short animation in 2011. So we have awards all around this week!

For the first time this year Pennekamp participated in the competition for the Cook Prize, awarded by the Bank Street College of Education in New York, based on votes cast by students around the world (not just in America!). The winner of this prize was recently announced, too: it is The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos, by Deborah Heiligman, which also won at Pennekamp's, with voting in just our grade 3 classes. I hope to expand Pennekamp's participation in this contest next year to grades 2, 3, and 4.

As I announced last week, the 2014 summer reading lists are now available! The lists for students entering grade 6 and above present reading requirements; the three lists for elementary students (entering grades 1 and 2; entering grade 3; entering grades 4 and 5) are nonrequired reading possibilities! If your child is casting around for something to read, the summer reading lists are full of a variety of fun and interesting suggestions, but elementary students do not have an assigned summer reading requirement. The five MBUSD elementary library media specialists collaborated to create all three lists.

Looking ahead, the library will be closed during the week of Memorial Day as I have an out-of-town family event to attend. Unfortunately this means that the library will not be open during Open House--I will miss seeing everyone's families! The last book club meeting will be Monday, June 2. The last week of class visits will be the week of June 9. The last day to check out books from the library will be Friday, June 6, which means all books will be due no later than June 13 (also the very last day of class visits). Please note that a hold will be placed on a student's report card if he or she has any unreturned library books; likewise parents must also return all library materials by or before June 13 to avoid a hold being placed on their student's report card. Please contact me if there are any questions or concerns about library circulation.