Borups in the house

I gave a book talk at an enrichment meeting on literacy last night so for those of you interested, here's the list of books that I shared (I'll spare you my schpeil on literacy). It was a diverse group so I tried to cover a little of everything and I tried to focus on fairly recent books so I wouldn't bore anyone who already knows the classics.

Picture Books:
Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type – Doreen Cronin (Dooby Dooby Moo due out in August)
Diary of a Spider – Doreen Cronin
Olivia – Ian Falconer (Newest Book Olivia Forms a Band)
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse – Kevin Henkes (Newest Book - Lilly’s Big Day)
Actual Size – Steve Jenkins
The Red Book – Barbara Lehman (Newest book - Museum Trip)
Hooway for Wodney Wat – Helen Lester
How I Became a Pirate – Melinda Long
My Friend Rabbit – Eric Rohmann
Duck on a Bike – David Shannon
John, Paul, George & Ben – Lane Smith
The Three Pigs – David Wiesner (Newest book - Flotsam)
Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus – Mo Willems (Newest book Don’t Let The Pigeon Stay Up late)
Leonardo the Terrible Monster – Mo Willems (New Book Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct coming out in September)
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? – Jane Yolen & Mark Teague (How do Dinosaurs Learn Their Colors? and How Do Dinosaurs Play with Friends? coming out in September)

Middle Readers:
Judy Moody – Megan McDonald
Stink The incredible Shrinking Kid – Megan McDonald
Time Warp Trio – Jon Scieszka

Chapter Books:
Chasing Vermeer – Blue Balliett
Sister’s Grimm series – Michael Buckley
The Tale of Despereaux – Kate DiCamillo (Newest book - The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane)
City of Ember – Jeanne DuPrau (Newest book - The Prophet on Yonwood)
Olive’s Ocean – Kevin Henkes
Babymouse Queen of the World – Jennifer L. Holm
Weedflower – Cynthia Kadohata
Gathering Blue – Louis Lowry (Newest book - Gossamer)
Heat – Mike Lupica
Charlie Bone Series – Jenny Nimmo
When My Name Was Keoko – Linda Sue Park
The Lightening Thief – Rick Riordan (Newest book - The Sea of Monsters)
Flipped - Wendelin Van Drannen
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

Columbus Authors:
Among the Hidden Series– Margaret Peterson Haddix
East – Edith Pattou

Mormon Authors:
Goose Chase – Shannon Hale (River Secrets due out in September)
Princess Academy – Shannon Hale
Twilight – Stephenie Meyer (New Moon due out in August or September)

When I share a list like this I always worry that maybe someone in the audience really doesn't know anything about children's books so I usually hand out a list of classic kids books that I think everyone should know or learn about. Here's the list I used last night.

Picture Books:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – Judi Barrett
Madeline – Ludwig Behelmans
Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown
The Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carl
Strega Nona – Tomie DePaola
Koala Lou – Mem Fox
George Shrink – William Joyce
Miss Spider’s Tea Party – David Kirk
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom – Bill Martin, Jr.
If you Give a Mouse a Cookie – Laura Numeroff
Officer Buckle and Gloria – Peggy Rathman
Goodnight Gorilla – Peggy Rathman
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs – Jon Scieszka
Where the Wild Things Are- Maurice Sendak
Imogene’s Antlers – David Small
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble – William Steig
Polar Express – Chris Van Allsburg
Alexander the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day – Judith Viorst
Owl Babies - Martin Waddell
Harry the Dirty Dog – Gene Zion

Chapter Books:
Ramona Quimby Age 8 – Beverly Cleary
Frindle - Andrew Clements
Walk Two Moons – Sharon Creech
The Watsons go to Birmingham – Christopher Paul Curtis
James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl
Because of Winn Dixie – Kate DiCamillo
Hoot – Carl Hiaasen
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Franweiler – E.L. Konigsburg
A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle
Ella Enchanted – Gail Carson Levine
The Giver – Louis Lowry
Number the Stars - Lois Lowry
Beauty – Robin McKinley
The Island of the Blue Dolphins – Scott O’Dell
A Single Shard – Linda Sue Park
Bridge to Terebithia – Katherine Paterson
A Year Down Yonder – Richard Peck
The Westing Game – Ellen Raskin
Holes – Louis Sachar
Maniac Magee – Jerry Spinelli
Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White

Feel free to disagree or add to the lists, it is all a matter of personal opinion afterall.

In other news, my paretns arrived from Utah last night (yay!) and they brought the cd with pictures of my grandparents wedding so I can finally print them and hang up the frames that I painted for my living room months ago (double yay!). They already headed out this morning to pick up my sister Candice and her kids and then drive to Virginia to see one of Mark's plays in the Virginia Shakespeare Festival. Do you think that I can keep my house clean while they are gone for a week so I don't have to go through frantic cleaning all over again?