Our Bernese Mountain Dog lives for snow days!
- Kasa loves the snow!
Brrrr….it’s cold outside here in the Seattle area. It’s our first snow day of the year and I am happily sitting on my couch, watching endless videos on the news of sliding cars, treacherous streets, and people trying to deal with the snow, ice and freezing cold weather. It’s a warm, balmy, 12 degrees F at my house outside. Now that’s cold! Last night I was standing on the deck and enjoying the absolute quiet. No cars, no traffic, no planes flying over head. Just blissful quiet and the whisper of lightly falling snow.
Today it’s a no school day for all the kids in the greater Seattle area as we deal with our first snow storm of the fall. The amount of snow isn’t so bad, but the problem here is all the steep hills, which are covered with a layer of ice and snow. That combo makes driving a nightmare around here.
Yesterday morning afternoon I was reading Turk and Runt,
a funny story about a family of turkeys, who are faced with the dilemma of Thanksgiving! Luckily, Runt understands that all the human visitors to the farm do not want to be friends with the turkeys and he saves the day.
If you like funny Thanksgiving stories, it’s a good choice! so is Dav Pilkey’s Thanksgiving book. 
So, now I am left with the question of what book to read today! Any suggestions for a sunny, snowy day? Keep Reading! Mrs. Hembree
Have you read the 13 and a half Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers? It is a wonderful adventure story that tells the tale of half of Bluebear’s total life (they have 27 in all).
Walter Moers has a wonderful imagination and his stories are all packed with funny ideas, phrases and expressions. He also illustrates his books superbly, giving the reader an insight into the cartoonishly-cute and slightly sinister world of Zamonia.
The author also uses the font and size of text to add drama and excitement.
‘Bluebear’ is a very long book but each page moves the story along in a lyrical way or adds interesting detail for the reader to savour.
I would recommend this book to any confident reader, old or young, as it has a magical quality that delights and chalms as it unfolds.
Mr. Sumner,
I have not heard of this book, so I will definitely have to find out if it’s available here. I can usually find anything I want at Amazon, which is lucky for us, in Seattle, WA and only a few miles from our school.
I do have to say that our older students love the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz! They are set in the UK and many of our readers love Alex’s high action and adventures.
Right now, the most popular books being check out of our library are the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series books. Our boys really love the humor.
From, Mrs. Hembree
There are a few other books by Walter Moers, my favourite being Rumo, but Bluebear is more commonly preferred because its chapters allow the reader to pause as each life is a mini-story in itself. Bluebear is one of those delightful books that would make an excellent Christmas gift for friends too.
Many of my children also love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series too.
Another recommendation would be the Beaver Towers books by Nigel Hinton. I pretty much always read the first of the series (there are four) as our class book. The action is quick and the author has a wonderful way of using language that helps the children to understand authorial intent, e.g. ‘The path seemed to get narrower and the skies began to cloud over’. The real star of the book is the character Baby B who the children just adore.
There have now been 3 separate occasions that I’ve read the first book to the class only to find that the children enjoyed it so much that someone has already ordered the next one to be read as our next book.