This morning I read a wonderful interview with Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard over at The Brown Bookshelf, and it inspired me to dust off our copy of Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crabcakes Later) for the younger grades. All year they've been talking about how to recognize and write "small moments," and this story is a lovely example.

Aunt Flossie's Hats by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A sweet story about two girls visiting their elderly aunt, who has a story to go with each of her remarkable hats. A nice example of Calkins's "small moments."

This week we also spent some more time with poetry -- 811 in the Dewey Decimal System. Christopher Myers's Black Cat was a totally different style than the book we read last week, Meet Danitra Brown, but equally fun to listen to.

Black Cat by Christopher Myers


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The mixed-media illustrations and the assonance and alliteration in the poems makes this story of a cat's journey across town a crowd-pleasing read-aloud for fourth and fifth graders. Neat to compare and contrast with Fly -- two very different, cool offerings from the same talented author/illustrator.

View all my reviews >>