Just One More Book!!

Thanks to a generous offer from blogger Bianca Schulze,  Andrea had the honour today of guest blogging at The Children’s Book Review.

A huge thanks to Bianca for the invitation!

It was a true pleasure to have the opportunity to write — rather than gab — about the payoffs for parents who read aloud.

We hope you will pop over and check it out at:
The Family that Reads Together–(aka What’s in it for ME?)

Related chats on JOMB:

• How old is too old for reading-aloud?
• The Family that Reads Together

We’d love to hear how reading has benefited your family. Leave us a comment below or, better yet, leave us a voice message on our JOMB listener hotline, +1-206-350-6487, so we can include your audio in our show.

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There’s a lot of talk about the benefits of reading aloud to children. But it’s usually focused on the benefits to the children!

Today, we pause to consider how reading aloud to our children benefits us as adults, our family and our relationships with each other.

Books mentioned (and pictured to right):

• The Greatest Power (The Gecko & Sticky)

We’d love to hear how reading has benefited your family. Leave us a comment below or, better yet, leave us a voice message on our JOMB listener hotline, +1-206-350-6487, so we can include your audio in our show.

Happy Reading!

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Today on Just One More Book!!, we break from our standard format to discuss connection with a book’s creator and how it impacts our enjoyment of a book.

Are you swayed by background of or connection with a book’s creator (geographically, culturally,..)? If so, does this in turn impact your young listeners’ enjoyment of a book?

Authors, illustrators and books mentioned

• Lee Edward Fodi
• Barry Root
• Kimberly Bulcken Root
• The Storytelling Princess
• Jeanne Birdsall
• The Penderwicks

Pictured, Love and Roast Chicken, which we enjoy with more bittersweet fondness knowing the spunky, adventurous spirit of author, Barbara Knutson, and that she passed away so young, so suddenly after this book was published.

Leave us a comment or a voice mail message to let us know. Leave us a voice message on our JOMB listener hotline, +1-206-350-6487.

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Why are author and illustrator photos so often so far out of date?

Listen to our discussion about author and illustrator photos then share your thoughts by either leaving a comment on our blog or leaving a voice message on our listener hotline, +1.206.350.6487.

Authors mentioned:

• Oliver Jeffers
• Laurie Keller
• Sheree Fitch

Thanks to Bob Staake for making us ageless in his great Just One More Book!! caricature.

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To celebrate the 500th episode of our JustOneMoreBook! Children’s Book Podcast, our daughters, Lucy (9) and Bayla (7), share their thoughts on a few of their favourite chapter books.

Books mentioned:

• Anne of Green Gables
• Before Green Gables (Budge Wilson on JOMB)
• Clarice Bean Spells Trouble
• Dial-a-Ghost (Eva Ibbotson on JOMB)
• Dodger and Me
• Horrid Henry and the Mega Mean Time Machine
• Horrid Henry Meets the Queen
• If I Die Before I Wake: The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor, 1918 (Jean Little on JOMB)
• Ivy and Bean: Bound to be Bad
• Journey to the River Sea (Eva Ibbotson on JOMB)
• Kendra Kandlestar and the Shard from Greeve (Lee Edward Fodi on JOMB)
• Little Wolf , Terror of the Shivery Sea (Ian Whybrow on JOMB)
  Monster Mission (Eva Ibbotson on JOMB)
• Mr Gumm and the Power Crystals
• No Safe Harbour, The Halifax Explosion Diary of Charlotte Blackburn, 1917
• Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger (Kevin Bolger on JOMB)
• The Dreadful Truth: The Northwest Passage
• The Great Ghost Rescue (Eva Ibbotson on JOMB)
• The Mysterious Benedict Society (Trenton Lee Stewart on JOMB)
• The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey (Trenton Lee Stewart on JOMB)
• The Penderwicks (Jeanne Birdsall on JOMB)
• The Penderwicks On Gardam Street (Jeanne Birdsall on JOMB)
• The Phantom Tollbooth
• The Secret of Platform 13 (Eva Ibbotson on JOMB)
• The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls
• The Star of Kazan (Eva Ibbotson on JOMB)
• Which Witch? (Eva Ibbotson on JOMB)
• You’re a Bad Man Mr. Gumm

We hope you’ll help us celebrate by sharing some of your favourite chapter book titles in our comments section.

Thank you for making our 500 episodes possible. Looking forward to show #1000.

Andrea & Mark

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In today’s busy and fast-paced world, there are perhaps as many reasons to not read a book as there are to read one.

On this edition, we consider word count as one of the key reasons why many adults, parents and teachers alike, pass on reading some books aloud.

Be sure to share your thoughts on word count: post a comment or leave a voice message on our hotline, +1.206.350.6487.

Some generously worded books on JOMB:

• The King’s Equal
• Lugalbanda: The Boy Who Got Caught Up In The War
• Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
• The Lamp, the Ice and the Boat Called Fish
  
• Mei Ming and the Dragon’s Daughter
• The White Stone in the Castle Wall
• 52 Days by Camel
• The Tortilla Cat
• The Clay Ladies
• Emily

We’d love to hear your thoughts on a favourite children’s book, or one of our many book and reading related discussions. Leave us a voice message on the JOMB listener hotline, +1.206.350.6487.

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Read-a-thons are a common tool used by schools and literacy organizations to motivate children to read. In fact, the school that our two daughters attend has an annual read-a-thon and their summer camp acknowledged reading achievements.

On this edition, we reflect on our own reading experiences as children and consider the impact of read-a-thons now that we’re parents. Listen in as we wonder aloud about the effectiveness of read-a-thons, ways in which we can motivate children to love reading and the importance of preschool emphasis on language, pre-literacy and a love of reading.

Links to resources mentioned:

• LD Podcast (listen to episode #99 with Elaine Weitzman of the Hanen Centre)
  
• Hanen Centre and their 2009 Preschool Language and Literacy Calendar

HOTLINE VOICES: Illustrator Holly Dewolf explains why The Stinky Cheese Man (by Jon Sciezka and Lane Smith) is her favourite book.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on a favourite children’s book. Leave us a voice message on the JOMB listener hotline, +1-206-350-6487.

Ok. The KidLit Comment Challenge is well underway and we’re just not getting enough attention, so we’ve decided to fish for comments. (is begging allowed??)

Leave us a comment to let us know:

• Do you include war & peace in your young children’s reading?
• If not, why not?
• If you do, why? Which books on war and peace do you recommend?

You can find some of our favourite books on war and peace themes here.

Come on! Talk to us!

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On this edition of Just One More Book!! we ask the question “Reading aloud: how old is too old?”

Be sure to share your thoughts on this topic by leaving a voice message on our listener hotline, +1.267.350.6487, or leave a comment on this post.

HOTLINE VOICES: Melissa of Stirrup Queens tells us about her favourite book, The Phantom Tollbooth, and the impact that its author Norton Juster has had on her.

Fabulous read-aloud pictured: Stella, Unleashed!

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Today we stray from our standard format to read a few listener comments about the importance of holding an actual book while reading aloud to a group of students. If you feel strongly one way or the other, we’d love to hear your view.

HOTLINE VOICES: An anonymous contributor shares her thoughts about Yoon and the Jade Bracelet (by Helen Recorvits and Gabi Swiatkowska)

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Today we stray from our standard format for an unplanned and extremely rambly chat about our observations of and unqualified opinions about self-publishing children’s books.

Books mentioned:

• Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers
• Spotty & Eddie Learn to Compromise
• The Call to Shakabaz

For self-publishing and small publishing featured on JustOneMoreBook!, click here.

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Mark was in Philadelphia last weekend to attend a conference called PodCamp Philly. The sessions focused on social media and podcasting.

After delivering a session, Mark was approached by Melissa Thiessen who told him about an exhibit of art and children’s books by Maurice Sendak.

So, on the Sunday, Mark and his three new friends piled into a car and hustled out to the Rosenbach Museum and Library where they raced through the exhibit in thirty-minutes during a break before rushing back in time to participate in a panel discussion.

This episode features a discussion among four people, connected by a love of children’s books, sharing what they learned and what they love most about Maurice Sendak and his books. Which just goes to show that, like pop culture discussions, children’s book discussions can take place anywhere; even in cars.

Conversation participants:

• Melissa Thiessen
• Gloria Bell
• Bill Rowland

Also on this edition, our listener hotline takes a call from Knoxville, Tennessee about the book Monster Mama (written by Liz Rosenberg and illustrated by Stephen Gammell). Thanks for calling!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on a favourite children’s book. Leave us a voice message on our JOMB listener hotline, +1-206-350-6487.