My first readings in 2011

The new year is here and with it all the expectations, hopes and goals for the new year! Regardless of what your resolutions are for this year, or your goals are, remember that CONSISTENCY....is your key ingredient to succeed. Whatever you do, do it consistently. And you will see RESULTS.

These are a couple of the first books that started the year 2011 with me:

Have you heard the true story of Biblioburro yet? It is a story of passion, of reading, of helping people, of dreaming and achieving! Luis Soriano is a teacher in Colombia whose biggest passion in life is reading. He found happiness in books, he found a world to discover and be entertained in books. But he wanted to expand the bliss and joy for reading. He wanted other children to have the opportunity to read even if they live in the country and too far away from anything. So Luis embarks on a journey with the help of two donkeys and starts delivering books to children located in rural areas in Colombia. Soon the word was spreading about this man who goes to the country, delivering books to children and reading them story. So what started to small, with only a couple of books to share, has now extended to tons of books coming from all over the world that want to help Luis Soriano's dream come true: for every child to read!

You can click here if you would like to read the special report CNN made about this amazing teacher and his passion for reading, books, literacy, stories! Jeanette Winter did a fantastic job writing this book. Thus sharing with the rest of the world the amazing initiative of a humble teacher willing to do the hard work every weekend to distribute books to children!
 If you remember and are familiar with the book A Visitor for Bear, then you will love A Bedtime for Bear. Bonny Becker and Kady MacDonald Denton joined forces again to create another brilliant, interesting and intriguing friendship between Bear and Mouse. Both characters couldn't be more opposite from each other. So, when Mouse comes over for a sleep over at Bear's house, then all kinds of "noise problems" start emerging. But Bear can't help it...with his supersensitive hearing, he can't just fall asleep so easily...until the noise doesn't come from Mouse anymore. But then...from whom? With a nice and unexpected switch, the story unfolds beautifully at Bear's house...all while trying to sleep! Not to miss! You'll love it and the children will too!


 The newest book from Mary Ann Hoberman is here! From the famous series, You Read to me, I'll Read to You comes the latest companion. This time the stories to be read together are very short fables including The Boy Who Cries Wolf, The Country Mouse and the City Mouse, among others. What I love about this series so much is the wonderful and authentic way for students and children to improve their fluency skills in reading. The stories are short, color coded and beautiful illustrated by Michael Emberley.  I have used the series in these books over and over with my students and I'm happy to say that  because the stories are either familiar or highly structural and easier to understand, then students feel more successful at reading and concentrating in other parts of reading as well like fluency!