I know that summer vacation is here, or nearly here, but I suspect many teachers are planning their fall curriculum.  So here are a couple of useful gifts.

If you click on the section of my web site called TEACHERS you’ll be taken to a pair of curriculum guides for BIG GEORGE and WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT GASOLINE?  I’m very pleased with these guides.  They’re professional, useful, and even fun. (I particularly like the Revolutionary War uniform coloring pages for BIG GEORGE).  You can download and print as many copies as you need from the page.  I think you’ll find that they’ll help you to make good use of these two books I’m very proud of.

Speaking of proud:  When I returned from China I found a letter to me from the International Reading Association that BIG GEORGE was selected for the 2010 Teachers Choice booklist.  It's a short list and they're distributing a bookmark.  You can find more information on www.reading.org under "Resources" then "Booklists."  The list will also appear in the November issue of THE READING TEACHER.

Picture books for children take a long time to go from idea to object. When I wrote "Why Are the Ice Caps Melting? The Dangers of Global Warming" five or six years ago being “Green” was not the big subject it is today. But by the time the book came out former Vice-President Al Gore had written "An Inconvenient Truth," and won an Oscar for the documentary film of the subject. Leonardo di Caprio had (I believe) 6 Prius cars in his garage. Hollywood had spoken. Green was good.

I was surprised that this modest little book, published by HarperCollins as part of its LET’S READ AND FIND OUT science series, and cheerfully illustrated by Paul Meisel, gathered the attention it did, although I guess I shouldn’t have been. A reporter from The Washington Post interviewed me and asked if I didn’t feel concerned about how I was frightening children by writing a book about global warming. The Wall Street Journal (which rarely reviews children’s books) wrote a long and vitriolic review of the book, with a similar caveat.