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.

Our focus shifts this week to books about nature, animals, and springtime. Specific titles can be found on the Weekly Readalouds page of this website, but a few books merit mention here. First grade is hearing a new, very beautiful nonfiction book: See What a Seal Can Do, by Chris Butterworth. We'll take a look at some specific aspects of nonfiction books, such as front matter and back matter, the use of captions and distinctive fonts, and of course illustrations, which in this book are spectacular. Third grade is hearing The Eagles Are Back, by Jean Craighead George, the celebrated writer of books about animals and nature, including Julie of the Wolves and My Side of the Mountain. George died in 2012; this eagle book (published in 2013) was one of her last. 

The fifth-grade book club met Monday, March 31. We discussed A Tale Dark and Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz. This book provides so much entertainment and meaning, I am impressed with it time and time again. There are two other related books by Gidwitz that follow the first one--In a Glass Grimmly and The Grimm Conclusion, both of which are on my  list of books I plan to read this summer. The book club’s next selection is Three Times Lucky, by Sheila Turnage. Copies are available at the Manhattan Beach Public Library “bookmobile.”

With grades 4 and 5, we are almost done with our novels! I am hoping to finish with all classes of both grades by the end of April.

I received an interesting link regarding the Cook Prize--the nonfiction book contest that third grade participated in this year. Turns out the contest involves schools and libraries around the world! Here is the link to the Cook Prize 2014 map. This is a contest we will certainly do again next year--the nominees this year were all very interesting.

Happy April break, everyone! I look forward to reading a lot, in search of the best books for the summer 2014 lists of recommended pleasure reading. You might want to take one last peek at last year's lists before they are replaced with the new ones.

The past week was the last week of regular class visits to the library. Books are no longer being checked out this year, and most are being returned right on schedule. There is never an overdue fine at the library, but any student with unresolved library issues on the last day of class will have a hold place on his or her report card pending resolution. Please contact the library if you have any questions about your student's, or your own, library account.

Yesterday I enjoyed having lunch with two 3rd-grade students, Lauren and Lindsey. Lauren won my "lunch in the library" event at the teacher raffle and invited her friend Lindsey to join us. The girls were delightful companions! I hope they had as good a time as I did!

Wednesday night I was honored at the board meeting of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District as classified employee of the year at Pennekamp. My sincere thanks go out to Pennekamp's students, families, teachers, staff, and to Principal Mabry for being so supportive of my efforts. 

Also this past week I had the pleasure of introducing the new digital collection at Manhattan Beach Middle School (MBMS) to current 5th graders. Did you know that e-books can be checked out just like "regular" books? Well, they can, and like all library materials, they are free of charge. MBMS has just introduced 96 e-book titles, and MBUSD students moving up to 6th grade at MBMS are encouraged to check out these titles during the summer. Browse it by clicking on MBMS Digital Library.

The Pennekamp library is closed during the summer, so please visit the public library. Our local Manhattan Beach branch has an exciting summer reading program lined up, with entertaining events as well as various forms of recognition for participating readers. It's going to be a lot of fun, so be sure to sign up soon!

Thanks to the many families who visited the library at Open House! It was wonderful to see familiar faces and to make new friends!

Class visits this week are focused on the summer reading list titles for students in grades K through 4. These lists consist of optional, nonrequired choices for pleasure reading. If your child wants to read something else, that's just fine! I am encouraging students to get public library cards, as the Pennekamp library is closed during the summer. For grade 5, only Mrs. Curry's class is visiting the library this week because the other two classes will be on a field trip on their library day. Mrs. Curry's class will hear a book about Harriet Tubman, to support the Harriet Tubman play that grade 5 attends next week. DK will hear books about travel and home. 

Book club for 5th grade meets this Friday, June 1, in the library at lunch recess. This is our last meeting of the year.

Here again are the end-of-year dates as announced last week:

Classes will visit the library as usual through the week that ends on June 8.

The last day to check out books will be June 1. Please return all books as soon as possible, but certainly by June 8. A student will not receive his or her report card if he or she has outstanding library issues, and that includes books owed by the student's parent.

If you need to pay for a lost book, please pay with a check made out to MBUSD. Cash is also acceptable, but please make payment in exact change.

The library will be closed all day on Thursday, June 14, for shelf-reading.

Pennekamp celebrates Earth Day this week, so all classes will be hearing books related to environmental awareness. Many of these are new in library: Planting the Wild Garden, by Kathryn Galbraith; Blackout, by John Rocco; A Place for Birds, by Melissa Sweet; Sparrow Girl, by Sara Pennypacker; and Can We Save the Tiger? by Martin Jenkins have all been recently added to the library's collection.

Scholastic flyers go home this week in the Tuesday envelope. This is the last opportunity to order from Scholastic until school resumes in the fall. Orders will be due by May 4, and you will receive your merchandise on or before May 21.

Both book clubs have chosen new books: the book club for 4th grade is reading Redwall, by Brian Jacques, a fantastic if somewhat long book, which we will discuss at the meeting on May 25. The book club for 5th grade is reading Wonder, by R. J. Palacio, a new book that I really admire, to be discussed at our meeting on June 1. The upcoming meetings will be the last book club meetings of this school year. 

The district summer reading lists for students entering grades 1 to 5 are revised every year by the district library media specialists. Lists for summer 2012 have just been posted. These lists are made up of books for pleasure reading--they are not required, nor do they represent an assignment or an expectation. If your sons or daughters want to read something else, please do not let the summer reading lists hamper their enthusiasm for books of their own choosing. If, on the other hand, you or your child is scouting around for something to read, please do consider the district summer reading lists. Students entering grade 6 and above ARE expected to read from their grade-specific summer reading list, so please consult those lists closely, as they do represent an assignment for students entering grade 6 or above.