Yippee! Another box from Amazon!

And just in time, too!  I joke about having my "man-cave" in the afternoons, my group of boys who test my choices of read-alouds and the contents of my classroom library (since I am of the female persuasion, and tend to pick books from that perspective).  Note the inclusion of I Stink in the list of books I've read more than twice....getting the picture?

So I was rummaging through my classroom books, trying to come up with a read-aloud choice to stretch the listening ears of my testosterone-heavy afternoon classes, and pretty much coming up empty-handed.  We settled on a mini-chapter-picture book, and I was able to elicit some responses on character identification and rhyming words before the bell rang.  After crosswalk duty, a team meeting, some desk clearing and prepping for tomorrow morning, I came home to:

and       

waiting on my table!  Well, that and another book that I can't divulge just yet as the gift recipients may be reading this blog....But I'm so excited about these books!  I have The Read-Aloud Handbook from my undergrad literacy class (read:  Dark Ages), so I thought it was time for a newer edition.  And Hey!  Listen to This is going to work so well in my classroom, with its background information on authors, short stories and chapters from classics, and related-reading suggestions following each entry.  I may even be able to entice my teens at home into a bit of read-aloud time before the lights go out tonight!

I also need to remember to visit this website more often:  Guys Read, at  http://guysread.com/ .  I just love the way they categorize their reading suggestions at the bottom of the home page:  "Outer space, but with aliens"; "At least one explosion"; "Outer space, but without aliens"; "How to build stuff".  With all these resources at my disposal, I should be able to come up with some good-fit books for my men-in-training.

P.S.  For you non-teacher/librarian types-with-children reading this post, The Read-Aloud Handbook is worth getting for the "Treasury" contents alone.  Jim Trelease provides an annotated bibliography of hundreds of books, as well as lists of hundreds more, by category, and includes their "listening levels" (which are often higher than children's reading levels).  The holidays are almost upon us, and what child doesn't like a new book being read to them by mom or dad?  (Insert Hallmark/ Kodak moment for family photo album here.)