Sunday, November 24, 2013

Read Alouds

I love reading aloud to anyone, particularly children.  As a matter of fact, a colleague and I created an entire graduate level course focused around teaching children to read independently using reading aloud as the vehicle. The course was wonderfully successful and we taught it for almost 10 years.  Timeless.

Here are some online sites for your readers . . .
http://www.readtomelv.com/

http://www.mightybook.com/MightyBook_free/Free_Stories_and_Songs.html

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/online-storytime-books-toys/379003588/



Friday, November 15, 2013

The Theater Will Rock by Elizabeth L. Wollman


Front CoverThe tumultuous decade of the 1960s in America gave birth to many new ideas and forms of expression, among them the rock musical. An unlikely offspring of the performing arts, the rock musical appeared when two highly distinctive and American art forms joined onstage in New York City. The Theater Will Rock explores the history of the rock musical, which has since evolved to become one of the most important cultural influences on American musical theater and a major cultural export. Packed with candid commentary by members of New York's vibrant theater community, The Theater Will Rock traces the rock musical's evolution over nearly fifty years, in popular productions such as Hair, The Who's Tommy, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Little Shop of Horrors, Rent, and Mamma Mia!---and in notable flops such as The Capeman.   "A much-needed study of the impact of rock music on the musical theater and its resulting challenges, complexities, failures, and successes. Anyone interested in Broadway will learn a great deal from this book."
---William Everett, author of The Musical: A Research Guide to Musical Theatre   "This well-written account puts the highs and lows of producing staged rock musicals in New York City into perspective and is well worth reading for the depth of insight it provides."
---Studies in Musical Theatre
Elizabeth L. Wollman is Assistant Professor of Music at Baruch College, City University of New York.

Middle School play based on the book -

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff


Printz Award-winning author Meg Rosoff's latest novel is a gorgeous and unforgettable page-turner about the relationship between parents and children, love and loss.

Mila has an exceptional talent for reading a room—sensing hidden facts and unspoken emotions from clues that others overlook. So when her father’s best friend, Matthew, goes missing from his upstate New York home, Mila and her beloved father travel from London to find him. She collects information about Matthew from his belongings, from his wife and baby, from the dog he left behind and from the ghosts of his past—slowly piecing together the story everyone else has missed. But just when she’s closest to solving the mystery, a shocking betrayal calls into question her trust in the one person she thought she could read best. 
 

Friday, November 1, 2013

The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember by Fred Rogers

Front Cover
The World According to Mister Rogers Quotes (showing 1-24 of 24)
“Part of the problem with the word 'disabilities' is that it immediately suggests an inability to see or hear or walk or do other things that many of us take for granted. But what of people who can't feel? Or talk about their feelings? Or manage their feelings in constructive ways? What of people who aren't able to form close and strong relationships? And people who cannot find fulfillment in their lives, or those who have lost hope, who live in disappointment and bitterness and find in life no joy, no love? These, it seems to me, are the real disabilities.”
Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember