WILLOUGHBY AND THE LION

By Greg Foley
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN 978-0-06-154750-8

FROM THE FLAP: This is the story of Willoughby, whose new house feels too small and very lonely.
It’s also the story of an enchanted lion and spectacular wishes come true: of roller coasters, and fast, fast shoes, and enormous crowds of people.
But most of all, it’s the story of one important question: What is the most wonderful thing of all?

KATE’S TAKE: Stunning illustrations and a heart-warming read.

ANIMAL CHARADES: Kinesthetic and Interpersonal

At the end of the book, Willoughby becomes true friends with the lion. Gather students in a circle on the rug, and ask them if they could have any animal as a true friend, which one would they choose? Then, one-by-one ask students to move like their animal on the rug, and ask the spectators to guess which animal their classmate is imitating.

MAKE A WISH CLASS BOOK Intrapersonal, Visual/Spatial, and Verbal/Linguistic
Give each student an 8 x 11.5 sheet of paper with the following sentence starter: If I could wish for anything in the world, I would wish for ___________________________________________. Ask students to fill in the blank and illustrate their sentence. Put all of the work in a three ring binder and send the binder home with each individual student.

THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT Musical
Sing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by Robert John. http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/robert_john/the_lion_sleeps_tonight.html

WISH MATH Logical/Mathematical
Give each student ten manipulatives and a white board. Ask them how many wishes Willoughby had at the beginning of the book. Counting down from ten, subtract each wish. Ask students to model each problem with their manipulatives and write the number sentence for each problem.

WISH SCAPES Visual/Spatial
Give each student an 11x18 sheet of black construction paper. Ask students to illustrate their wishes using white chalk. Then give students white and gold paint to mimic the illustrations in Willoughby and the Lion.

BOOK BUDDIES:
-Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
-If I Were a Lion by Sarah Weeks
-Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen
-Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
-Willoughby and the Moon by Greg Foley

INTERVIEW WITH MY HEAR T IS LIKE A ZOO AUTHOR, MICHAEL HALL

KN: My Heart Is Like a Zoo is a great blend of creativity and emotional intelligence. How did the idea for this book develop?

MH: While in San Francisco for my brother’s wedding, I was inspired by a public art exhibit called “Hearts in Union Square.” On the plane ride home, I started to put together a story about the wedding that moved from one heart illustration to another. One of the pictures in the story was an elephant seal — a sight to see in the San Francisco Bay area. From there, I instinctively began making other animals out of hearts without any idea of what they might become. Four years later, I began to picture them in a book called “My Heart Is Like a Zoo.”

KN: Why did you choose to focus on hearts instead of another shape?

MH: I have little collections of pictures made from many different shapes. The heart is particularly effective because it has circular, straight and pointy parts within it.

KN: How did you decide which animals to include?

MH: I began with about 75 animals and grouped them according to the kinds of feelings they might represent. I wanted to represent a wide variety of feelings and characteristics. I chose animals that I liked visually and that seemed unique in some way. Toward the end, as I was tweaking the text, I had to change a number of animals because the rhythm just didn’t work. For example, one of my favorite animals was a sneaky raccoon. But “sneaky as a raccoon” didn’t flow well because the beat is on the wrong syllable in raccoon.

I wrote a blog post about the animals that didn’t make the cut for the Greenwillow blog:
http://greenwillowblog.com/?p=56

KN: The sparse text rhymes and is alliterative at times. Were those poetic elements always part of the text, or did you add them over time?

MH: Initially, I didn’t plan to use rhyming text, but as the book unfolded, I could see that I needed to break the long list of animals into sections. The rhymes help to emphasize this.

The alliteration occurred naturally. I like that it is there, but I didn’t change any words in order to create that effect.

KN: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

MH: A few weeks before I planned on showing the book, I noticed that about a third of the animals were overworked to the point that they seemed lifeless. I rebuilt them from scratch so that they were less animal and more heart.

Anyone interested in learning more can visit myheartislikeazoo.com.

KN: Thanks for the interview!

MH: Thank you.

MY HEART IS LIKE A ZOO

By Michael Hall
Publisher: Greenwillow Books An Imprint of Harper Collins
ISBN: 978-0-06-191511-6

FROM THE FLAP: Welcome to the zoo! Twenty animals are waiting for you—some are familiar, some may be brand new. What are they doing? How are they feeling? Are they friends of yours? Come on in and say hello!

KATE'S TAKE: A bright, emotional intelligent book that's sure to spark creativity.

ALPHABETIZED ANIMALS (Kinesthetic and Verbal/Linguistic)

Give each one of your students a different heart animal. Make sure the name of each animal is visible. Ask students what the first letter of the alphabet is and ask that student to come in front of the class. Continue until all of the students are in alphabetical order in front of the class.

ANIMAL YOGA (Kinesthetic and Interpersonal)

Gather the students on the rug and give each child a chance to physically emulate an animal. The other students will try and guess which animal the child is mimicking.

HEART COLLAGES (Visual/Spatial)

Place a variety of hearts of all shapes and colors at the art table. Give each student a large sheet of black paper and ask them to create a heart collage. They could choose an animal or they could choose to create a different object.

HEART GRAPHS (Logical/Mathematical)

Make a graph of how many hearts Hall used to create each animal or make a graph of the how many hearts there are of each color.

OUR HEARTS ARE LIKE A ZOO CLASS BOOK (Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Verbal/Linguistic, and Visual/Spatial)

Give each child a 8x11 piece of white paprer and ask him/her to complete the sentence ________ heart is as ____________ as a ____________ when ______________________________________________________. Have them illustrate
their sentegnce. Bind the work together to create a class book to send home with a different student every few days. If you’re working one-on-one with a child, he/she can easily make their own book which contains five or six pages that each talk about a different emotion and animal.

BOOK BUDDIES:

-Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen (November 22, and November 25, 2009 posts)
-Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert
-Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh
-Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood
-Wild About Books by Judy Sierra