Look What's Coming Out in the Publishing World - Part One

The Newest from favorite author Kevin Henkes:

     Kevin Henkes is a versatile author who works expand from simple books for preschoolers to chapter books for older elementary students. His newest book is entitled Junonia (Greenwillow, 2011) and it will be released on May 24th. The main character is a nine year old girl named Alice who is an only child and celebrates her birthday during the annual family vacation. Alice and her parents return to a beach cottage called the Scallop on Sanibel Island in Florida. She has a clear love and curiosity about the seashore habitat and can't wait to see who will get to see what sights first for that season. Apparently the junonia shell has been an elusive search for Alice, since she is hoping that this summer will be the summer she finds it. Changes occur in Alice's life, but she likes the predictable aspects of life better. You can preview the beginning portion of the book by clicking on the Harper Collins widget here. You can see how seaside sketches are incorporated into the beginning of the text, much like a sketch in a nature notebook. In this YouTube clip, Kevin Henkes is interviewed about Junonia in his writing studio. I always love to hear the perspectives of authors as well as when you get to have a sneak peek at their creative spaces. :)

    

New from the Skippyjon Jones series:
     Judith Schachner's popular Skippyjon Jones series will be coming out with a new installment on July 12th called Skippyjon Jones Class Action (Dutton, 2011.) It sounds like it might be a fun read aloud for the beginning of the new school year! It also comes with an audio CD recording of the text which can be great for a listening center in your classroom. You can download Judith Schachner's curriculum connections PDF file here. You can see how you could tie in some fun with literacy and learning towards the tail end of the school year with other favorites in the Skippyjon Series. Be sure to check out Skippyjon's website. It is so humorous and adorable! You can check out a webisode about Skippyjon in the new Class Action book here as well.