Author Spotlight - Tim Green

This weekend I was so excited to go to a Children's Literature Breakfast hosted by Anderson's Bookshop.  Anderson's is an independent bookstore in Naperville, Illinois.  I met Suzanne Collins, who wrote The Hunger Games, there in the fall.

On Saturday, they had four keynote speakers who are authors or illustrators.  I was lucky enough to meet Trent Reedy who wrote Words In The Dust, Kathryn Lansky who wrote The Capture (Guardians of Ga'hoole, Book 1), Weird Al Yankovic who wrote When I Grow Up, and Tim Green who wrote Football Genius.  I get so excited to meet authors because I love the books they have written.  I love the characters and their stories and it's so interesting to me to learn about the author who wrote them.

Meeting Tim Green was probably the highlight of the day for me.  He sat at our table for breakfast so we were able to ask him questions about his book and about football.  He was so nice and ready to talk about books and sports.  He played for the Atlanta Falcons but is now a lawyer and is writing some great kids' books about sports.   I recently read Football Genius and absolutely loved it.  We love football in our house, so I loved reading about a boy who gets to meet and help one of his favorite football players win games.  I'm excited to read the rest of the series and also read his more recent baseball series.

Tim Green told me this about being an athlete in the NFL and now writing books for kids:

"I feel like I’m able to shine a light on a world that is incredibly interesting and violent and fightening and heart-warming.  I think it is such a rich, rich backdrop and I’m the only one who’s doing this...I think that’s the thing that I am most proud of about my own work, that I am able to shine a light on a place that no one else is so that it’s sports but it digs so much deeper than any sports books that are out there."  

I'm always curious about where readers like to read, so I asked him about his ideal reading spot and this is what he had to say:

"In the summertime down on my dock, at the end of the dock on a chair.  I love sitting in the sun and be out right on the water and just reading a book."

Here's a picture of me with Tim Green!

The next book in the Baseball Great series comes out on March 22, 2011.  I'm excited to be able to recommend these fun football and baseball books to any kiddo who loves sports - whether they play sports or not.  

If you can come to school and tell me the title of Tim Green's book that is coming out in March, then you will earn one sticker towards a reading reward.

What Are You Reading Good (11/06/08)

So...what are you reading good this week? REMEMBER..tell me the title, the author, what the book is about right now. Try to really be more specific than just saying it is interesting or it is fun. Make me want to read the book! Or...really support why I shouldn't read the book, if you don't like it.

I am currently reading Travel Team by Mike Lupica.  He is a well-known sports writer who has written many young adult novels about kids who play sports.  This book is about a boy who is really short but is really good at basketball.  He's really upset because for the first time ever, he doesn't make it onto the team.  It made me really sad now that I am a mom because it would make me so sad if my son didn't make the team.  That's all I know so far!

I am currently listening to Maximum Ride: The Final Warning by James Patterson.  This is the fourth and final book in the Maximum Ride series.  Once I start a series, I like to finish it, or at least keep up with, especially if I like it.  If you remember, this series is about the group of bird-kids who are trying to escape from mad scientists.  They pretty much escaped but I think now someone else is going to come after them.  It's kind of slow in the book right now, but still entertaining.  I love Max as a character, she cracks me up!

Pretty Tough

Most Recently Read Book:

Pretty Tough

Liz Tigelaar

I thought this was a great book!  Besides being a great book in general, it was a great book for girls, sisters, and athletes.  There were so many things going on in this book.  Charlie and Krista are sisters.  Charlie basically hates her sister because Krista didn't stand up for her when her best friends started a really mean rumor about her.  When Charlie is recruited for the soccer team,  she decides to try out because she knows it will make Krista mad since Krista is the start of the team.  At first Charlie just wants to make Krista mad but then she really starts to like soccer and they find out that they have to figure out how to get along if they want to succeed on the soccer field.  There's boys and friendship mixed in along the way...and lots of technical soccer stuff, too!   

What Are You Reading Good? (5/19/08)

Every Monday, I will be posting a new "What Are You Reading Good?" for the week.  This is your chance to share what you are reading good for the week.  As a student, you should be reading about one book a week, depending on how long the book is.  A Harry-Potter-sized book might count as three books because it is so long and so it may take you three weeks to finish.  Try and set a goal for yourself and see if you can meet it! 

Right now, I am reading Heat, by Mike Lupica.  I have never really read a sports fiction book but I really like it so far.  I found out one secret that Michael, the main character, is trying to keep.  I think there may be another one, but so far it has not been revealed, or told, to the reader.  Michael just met a girl named Ellie who he thinks is the most beautiful girl in the world...but she seems to have her own secrets!  I can't wait to read more!

I am also reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie.  I'm reading this book by listening to it on CD.  I love listening to books on CD.  It's fun to hear the different voices the reader uses and the emotion in the reader's voice.  I think listening to books on tape, CD, or on playaways is a great way to become a better reader.  You can check these out at your public library.  I just started this book and so far it is about a boy who lives on  native american reservation.  So far he is talking about his life, about being poor, about his friend who has a crazy-mad temper, and his dog who got sick.  I like the writing so far.  

What are you reading good?  Please share with me and other blog-readers.  I love to share what I am reading, to hear what others are reading, and to get ideas for books I want to read.  Let me know if you have questions about the books I am reading or about anything in this post. Don't forget, keep reading good!  

It's Baseball Season!

Spring is the beginning of baseball season! Yesterday I attended my first Cubs game! They won! I had a great time eating a hot dog, peanuts, and Cracker Jack. After the game I stopped at Borders to look for book about baseball. I found a whole non-fiction section about the Cubs.

I also found some books by a well-known author, Mike Lupica. He is a bestselling author. Mike Lupica writes great fiction stories about kids and sports. He also is a sports writer for newspapers and magazines. I think after writing so much non-fiction about sports he came up with some good fiction stories! Sometimes, you can see him on TV on ESPN talking about sports. Click the arrow below to hear me talk about Heat by Mike Lupica. Can you imagine being in a new country without your parents? How about being one of the best Little League baseball players and getting to play on ESPN?

Some of his other books are:

Miracle on 49th Street

Travel Team

Summer Ball