Eric Van Raepenbusch's Blog – February 2011 Archive (7)

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss - March 2

I have been celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday with my daughter since 2007. We have made birthday cakes to eat while reading The Cat in Hat. We have traced our feet on construction paper, cutout the footprints, and placed them all over the basement while reading The Foot Book. This year we started off our celebration by attending the Dr. Seuss Story Time at Target, a…

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Added by Eric Van Raepenbusch on February 28, 2011 at 9:45am — No Comments

Happy Birthday Walter Wick - February 23

"I remember when we celebrated Walter Wick's birthday last year," my daughter said when I was pulling his Can You See What I See?books from the library shelf. Last year, we learned about the important photograph that Walter Wick took of odds and ends that lead to his collaboration with Jean Marzollo on theiSpy Series. The… Continue

Added by Eric Van Raepenbusch on February 22, 2011 at 9:17pm — No Comments

Happy Birthday Barbara Joosse - February 18

If you were to ask my children to list their favorite things to do it would probably go a little like this:

1. Go to Grandma's House.

2. Have Grandma come to our house.

3. Go to a restaurant with Grandma.

4. Play with Grandma.

5. Mario Kart for Wii! (I am a big fan too!)

My children are lucky to have two Grandmas (plus a Great-Grandma, can't forget her) that are active in their lives. One Grandma lives real close and the other two live somewhat close, so we… Continue

Added by Eric Van Raepenbusch on February 17, 2011 at 10:45pm — No Comments

Happy Birthday Jane Yolen - February 11

There are over 300 books by Jane Yolen to choose from to read with your family this week! I easily filled a whole bag on my trip to the library. There are picture books, easy readers , graphic… Continue

Added by Eric Van Raepenbusch on February 11, 2011 at 9:00am — No Comments

Happy Birthday Mo Willems - February 11

"It takes a long time for a character to become who they are," said Mo Willems, the creator the Pigeon, Trixie and Knuffle Bunny, and Leonardo the Terrible Monster. "While I am working on a book with one set of characters. I am thinking about and doodling another set." With these wonderful characters Mo Willems has been awarded three Caldecott Honors (Don't Let Pigeon Drive the Bus 2004, Knuffle Bunny 2005, Knuffle Bunny Too 2008). More recently, he has received three … Continue

Added by Eric Van Raepenbusch on February 10, 2011 at 8:43pm — No Comments

Happy Birthday David Wiesner - February 5

How do I read a "wordless" storybook to my children? Then, if I figure that out, will they even like a storybook without words? Historically, I have avoided these questions by quickly placing this type of book back on the library shelf. Even as a teacher, I wasn't willing to buy into the hype that wordless books are great for reluctant readers and writers. It was time to "experiment," as I told my children, with wordless books as we celebrated David Wiesner's birthday this… Continue

Added by Eric Van Raepenbusch on February 4, 2011 at 10:05pm — No Comments