Sunday, December 20, 2009

Mystery Reader Update

A wonderful update from Talia, Xavier's mom, who was the Mystery Reader in the G&T K003 class at The Roosevelt Island School on Friday, December 19th. 

"Dear Parents,

On Friday, I was the "mystery reader" of the week. I brought Baby Bernardo with me. He is almost 7 months old. The children were very excited to have him in the class, and he seems to have loved being in the class too. A lot of the children present that day seem to have a younger sibling, and they wanted to tell me all about him/her!

Because Xavier (Palma) loves dinosaurs as well as eating, I read "Trouble at the Dinosaur Cafe" by Brian Moses, illustrated by Garry Parsons, and "How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?" by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mark Teague. Both are humorous and rhymed. The children were very attentive.

Here is a review of each book:
"Trouble at the Dinosaur Cafe": PreSchool-Grade 3–A bouncy, boisterous, colorfully illustrated story. Several prehistoric beasts are sitting down to enjoy their snacks at the Dinosaur Cafe when along comes Tyrannosaurus, who is not satisfied with gobbling and gulping up menus–he wants meat! Iguanadon sneaks away to phone Terry Triceratops for help. With cacophonous commotion, Terry and the other dinosaurs knock down, jump on, and tickle the bully until he leaves. Afterward, the victorious friends regale each other with battle tales. The picture-book crowd will delight in the tumult and turmoil included here. Pair this title with Bernard Mosts ABC T-Rex (Harcourt, 2000) and Tony Mittons Dinosaurumpus! (Scholastic, 2003) for an energetic, spirited storytime.–Andrea Tarr, Corona Public Library, CA
"How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?": PreSchool-Grade 2–Another addition to the humorous series that began with How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? (Scholastic, 2000). In the first part of the book, dinosaurs burp, belch, and display all kinds of other inappropriate behaviors during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Spinosaurus doesn't eat all his food...[he spits] out his broccoli partially chewed. Quetzalcoatlus fusses, fidgets, and squirms in his chair in a restaurant, while Amargasaurus flips his spaghetti high into the air. But, is this the way that dinosaurs should act? Of course not. So, a very genteel Cryolophosaurus says please and thank you while sitting very still, Lambeosaurus tries everything at least once, and Spinosaurus never drops anything onto the floor. In the last image, a very proper Cryolophosaurus–with pinky in the air–daintily eats his pancakes. The book is great fun, and sure to be popular with dinosaur lovers. Hidden in the illustration on each page is the proper name of the reptile portrayed therein. Teague's gouache-and-ink illustrations contain just the right amount of detail and whimsy, and they are large enough for storytime sharing. Children not yet old enough to read will still enjoy looking at the pictures by themselves.–Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA"

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