Our Great Big Backyard – by Laura Bush (Author), Jenna Bush Hager (Author), Jacqueline Rogers (Illustrator)

To help commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the National Park Service, #1 New York Times bestselling authors former First Lady Laura Bush and her daughter Jenna Bush Hager have  created an exuberant picture book tribute to our national parks and the importance and fun of connecting with nature.

Our Great Big Backyard follows Jane, whose plans of spending the summer playing video games with her friends are dashed when her parents announce that her family is going on a road trip to national parks around the country. Yet somewhere between the Everglades and Big Bend National Park, things begin to change. Jane starts paying attention to the magnificent sights and spends less time looking at her screen. The stunning views open up her imagination as she and her brother see everything that nature has to offer. And the more Jane discovers, the more she realizes how much there is to love about the outdoors—whether she’s in a national park across the country or right in her own backyard.

Interview with the authors - http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Our+Great+Big+Back+Yard&view=detail&mid=21AFCB8E23AE765C4E9321AFCB8E23AE765C4E93&FORM=VIRE

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear. By Lindsay Mattick. Illus. by Sophie Blackall

In 1914, Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian on his way to tend horses in World War I, followed his heart and rescued a baby bear. He named her Winnie, after his hometown of Winnipeg, and he took the bear to war.

Harry Colebourn's real-life great-granddaughter tells the true story of a remarkable friendship and an even more remarkable journey--from the fields of Canada to a convoy across the ocean to an army base in England...

And finally to the London Zoo, where Winnie made another new friend: a real boy named Christopher Robin.

Here is the remarkable true story of the bear who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5crtUwQl9Y

Teacher resources - http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=46415

Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg

A life lesson that all parents want their children to learn: It’s OK to make a mistake. In fact, hooray for mistakes! A mistake is an adventure in creativity, a portal of discovery. A spill doesn’t ruin a drawing—not when it becomes the shape of a goofy animal. And an accidental tear in your paper? Don’t be upset about it when you can turn it into the roaring mouth of an alligator.

An award winning, best-selling, one-of-a-kind interactive book, Beautiful Oops!shows young readers how every mistake is an opportunity to make something beautiful. A singular work of imagination, creativity, and paper engineering,Beautiful Oops! is filled with pop-ups, lift-the-flaps, tears, holes, overlays, bends, smudges, and even an accordion “telescope”—each demonstrating the magical transformation from blunder to wonder.

Video reading - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZjMYdQjGM

Guest Author - Josh Berk

Visiting our school this week - check out his books and
website http://www.joshberkbooks.com/about.html