This week we are reading a laugh-out-loud book by Mike Boldt called Don't Eat Bees (Life Lessons from Chip the Dog). If you want to know how smart dogs are, just ask Chip, who can give you lots of rules for living your best life all while getting the best food and avoiding the worst catastrophes. Chip tells dogs to eat socks, homework and the Thanksgiving turkey. Eating grandpa's teeth will put a smile on everyone's face. And why not eat the ...
Week of 4/24
April is National Poetry Month and this week in the library we are reading some fun poetry from a few different books. You know when you combine beautiful photos of animals from National Geographic and famous poets, you're going to get a fantastic book, which is what we have with the Book of Animal Poetry. "There was a young lady of Niger who smiled as she rode on a tiger. They returned from the ride with the lady inside-and the smile on the ...
Week of 4/17
Kindness Changes the World! This week we are focusing on how kindness can change the world. There are so many books about kindness, but these are some of my favorites. A new book that I recently added to our collection on kindness is The Notebook Keeper, by Stephen Briseno and Magdalena Mora. It's the true story of a real-life notebook keeper at the San Ysidro Border checkpoint in Tijuana, Mexico. At this checkpoint, a refugee was chosen ...
Week of 4/10
This week during library time we are reading the 2023 Caldecott Award-winning book, Hot Dog by Doug Selati. When a NYC pup feels overheated and overwhelmed in the city, his owner figures out a way to bring him some relief. A day at the seaside is just what this dog needs to cool off, play in the sand, and even make a new friend. When they have to head back to the city, the pup and his owner take all their fun memories with them. With very few ...
Week of April 3
This week we are reading Jory John's latest book in the popular Food Group series, which includes The Bad Seed, The Good Egg, The Couch Potato, The Cool Bean and The Smart Cookie. These are always a big hit with kids and this one is a great addition! The Sour Grape tells the story of a little grape who wasn't always sour. He had a great life with a "bunch" of his family all together. But when he sends out an invitation to his birthday party, ...
Week of 3/20
It's crunch time! We are at the end of reading our Beehive Book nominees for 2022-2023. All votes are due the end of March and with that deadline looming, we have some serious deciding to do. We have 3 books that are within 5 votes of each other! So this week, I'm asking each class to select their favorite of the three. We have a great track record at Upland of picking the winning picture book for the state, so we'll see if we get it this year ...
Week of 3/13
This week we are reading a 2023 Newbery Honor-winning book by Christopher Denise called Knight Owl. Owl has wanted to become a knight since the day he hatched. And even though he's small and not sure if he can do it, owl is happily surprised when he gets accepted to Knight School. Turns out, he's well-suited to the life of a knight, especially when he's on night duty. But his biggest challenge comes when he's up against a dragon who is sure ...
Week of 3/6
We've made it to our last picture book Beehive nominee for this year and it's so cute! Can We Be Friends? by Erica Sirotich tells the story of unexpected animal friendships from around the world. These are all documented examples of animals befriending each other. Some of them are well-known, for example: Koko the gorilla, who learned sign language, told her human friends she wanted a cat, which is exactly what she got! In fact, Koko received ...
Week of 2/27
This week we are reading a fantastic picture book by Jory John called Something's Wrong! A Bear, a Hare and some Underwear. Jory John is the author of the wildly popular series The Food Group, which includes The Good Egg, The Bad Seed, The Cool Bean. Students love these books at Upland! They are also really loving this book as well. Jeff Bear has a sneaky suspicion that something is wrong, but what could it be? He's feeling oddly off, but ...
Week of 2/20
This week we are reading a delightful book by the wonderful author and illustrator team, the Fan Brothers. Lizzy and the Cloud is the story of a girl who loves clouds and buys one to keep in her room. It comes with a set of instructions to keep the cloud healthy and happy. But the longer Lizzy keeps her cloud, the more she realizes the cloud needs something she hasn't given it yet: freedom. Terry and Eric Fan have produced some of the most ...