It's a collaborative blogging project organized by Jodie over at Growing Book By Book:
Educational blogging representatives of the 50 states have come together to each showcase a picture book that represents their state. I am the Oklahoma representative!
When I was trying to think of a book that would represent Oklahoma, I immediately thought of Tammi Sauer. I met her in person last year when she did a Writer's Workshop for 1st-2nd graders in my district. Her presentation was funny and she related so well with the kids that I knew I had to check out her books! She lives in Edmond, OK and frequently does author visits around the state.
For this project, I am concentrating on Chicken Dance and Bawk & Roll since they are barnyard stories and Oklahoma has such a large agriculture base.
In the first book, Chicken Dance, Marge and Lola are chickens on a mission to win tickets to see their favorite performer, Elvis Poultry. Chicken Dance deservedly won the 2010 Oklahoma Book Award in the Children's category, and you'll see why as soon as you pick it up. The illustrations are great and go so well with the text, which is sprinkled with puns and references that make it as enjoyable for adults to read as it is for the children.
The second book, Bawk & Roll, continues the story of Marge and Lola, who are now back-up dancers for Elvis Poultry. Unfortunately, they faint every time they get on stage! Your children will be sure to laugh out loud when they see the ideas the chickens come up with to conquer their stage fright! There are plenty of teachable moments, especially all of the ways the chickens try to calm their nerves. I also loved that the books had fairly simplistic language - lots of opportunities to practice sight words!
I put together a small packet with pun activities, words with the /oo/ sound and a basic comprehension pack with a Venn Diagram and Story Elements chart to go with these books, which you can access here and here:
Head over to check out the blog representing your state at the Booking Across America homepage!