Author Visit: Curtis Jobling

We just finished a fantastic author visit with Curtis Jobling, author of several picture books, the YA series of Wereworld and Max Helsing and the creator of Bob the Builder!  Mr. Jobling worked with students PreK-Grade 12 in homeroom classes, art classes and Humanities/English classes.
A big takeaway...."Keep your hobby! You never know where it will lead you."  A valuable thing for students and parents to hear. Below are a few pics of his work with MS/HS students:

ES Librarian and me with Mr. Jobling

A fun-filled MS lesson on writing short stories.

Getting my caricature drawn in MS/HS art workshop

High School English writing workshop

Every Day by David Levithan

Image from: Amazon.com

I recently finished Every Day by David Levithan.  This book hooked me from the start.  "A" is a mind (soul, maybe?) that changes bodies every day.  Each day is a new life that A can only stay in for the day.  One day A meets Rhiannon and wants to continue to see her.  From then on,  the life of whatever body A ends up in is disrupted by A trying to be with Rhiannon.  This story was intriguing and I look forward to reading Someday, which is expected to publish later this year.  Book 2, Another Day is written from the point of view of Rhiannon.  I will likely not read this one just yet because I'm more excited to see how the story continues rather than reading the same story from another perspective.

Find Every Day in our library at: ROMANCE F LEV

Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald

(Amazon.com)

Both my son and I recently finished Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald.  It was actually read several times in our house.  Once by my son, once by me after great reviews from him, and once as a read-aloud together.  This book left us both laughing about life in middle school as Charlie Joe Jackson tries to figure out how not to read anything...ever.  My son, who loves to read, liked the funny ideas on how to trick your parents into thinking you are reading.  He was concerned over the price of the bribe for getting Charlie's friend to read the book for him being raised to two ice creams.  My son read this book in a day and is now on to the second in the series.  I liked that this book was funny, easy to read, and high interest.  I will be recommending this book to other boys (and girls too!) in Grades 4-7.

Find Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading in our library at: HUMOR F GRE