Dalton Middle School Library

Former and current Dalton administrators, teachers, parents, and students gathered to celebrate the art, poetry, music, and life of Ashley Bryan on February 3rd. This school wide event took place on a snowy and cold day, but inside the library, we had warmth and brilliance: from the genius of Ashley Bryan. Ashley taught art at First Program in the 60s and 70s. He has enjoyed a long and wonderful career a much celebrated children’s book artist.

At this special occasion, the Dalton High School singing group Alabanza brought us the joyous sounds of three spirituals from Ashley’s gorgeously illustrated volume of Let It Shine. Ms Edinger’s 4th grade class read aloud his Beautiful Blackbird in a podcast (later made into a short iMovie for the event). And everyone was marveling at the tome of Biography that 3rd graders made for Ashley in 1993.

Ashley shared with us details of his life, as a child, as an artist, and as a humanitarian. His newest book, an autobiography, Words to My Life’s Song, has just been published. We encourage everyone to enjoy the book!

The event photos and videos will be up shortly!

I’ve been reading… But that’s not news! I am always reading, but since I am on this Notable Books For Children Committee, I HAVE to read. Fortunately, there are so many great new books for kids published in 2008, I am having a BLAST reading them. Here are just some titles that I gave four or five stars to on my goodreads.com account. The numbers in the parentheses are the grades that I think most suited to enjoy each title.

100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson (4-6)
Airman by Eoin Colfer (5-8)
The Battle of the Labyrinthby Rick Riordan (4-6)
Chicken Feathers by Joy Cowley (3-5)
The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets: An Enola Holmes Mystery by Nancy Springer (4-6)
Diamond Willow by Helen Frost (4-6)
Forever Rose by Hilary McKay (4-7)
Horse Song: The Naadam of Mongolia by Ted and Betsy Lewin (3-5)
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (5-8)
Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park (5-7)
Keeping the Night Watch by Hope Anita Smith (5-8)
The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd (5-7)
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi (5-8)
The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy by Diane Stanley (4-6)
The Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes by Ellen Jackson (4-7)
Runemarks by Joanne Harris (5-8)
Six Innings by James Preller (4-6)
Sunrise over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers (6-8)
Surprises According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney (4-5)
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson (5-8)
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry (4-8)
The Year of the Rat by Grace Lin (4-5)