By: Aly Marx Ms. McDermid is one of the many wonderful teachers here at GATE. She teaches 2nd and 3rd graders and loves books. Aside from teaching, Ms. McDermid also reviews books for her website StoryMamas. For this edition, I thought it would be wonderful to tell you a little bit about StoryMamas, as well as what Ms. McDermid looks for in a good book. Ms. McDermid started StoryMamas with her and two of her friends. They taught together in Chicago and would talk to each other about what they were reading to their kids. These teachers then started wondering if everyone knew about all of these great books that were out there. Ms. McDermid says that they, “Realized there was a need for an outlet for people to learn about literacy.” Their solution? StoryMamas: a blog where they would review books and promote them. They created the site for parents, kids, educators... pretty much anyone who could read. At first, they tried to do a blog a day, but that didn’t work out. Instead, they would review a book a day. Eventually, authors and publishers started reaching out to them and sending them books, and they’ve been reading and reviewing ever since. While I was talking to Ms. McDermid, I asked her what she looked for in a good book. She likes to ask herself: Does this book keep my interest? But most of all, she asks herself: Is there a kid I can picture who would like this book and why? She says that quality is a loose definition of a book because while she may not like it, other people or age groups might. She considers all angles of the story to decide on the best review for the book. Despite all this, she says that she, “definitely say[s] no to some books.” Ms. McDermid told me that as a kid, she did not enjoy reading, but now she loves to! I think that it is really inspiring to hear that you can make such a change just like that. If you don’t think you like reading, try again! It may just be your lucky day! Finally, I asked Ms. McDermid the hardest question you could ever ask someone. What is your favorite book? For picture books, she says it would be Thank You, Mr. Falker. This book was read to her in college and she says, “[It] gave me the chills when it ended. It was great.” For novels, she had so many examples, including Frindle, The One and Only Ivan, The Wild Robot, and Beatrice Zinker, all of which can be found in the book room. Being able to learn more about Ms. McDermid was so enjoyable for me, and I will certainly take her advice in my future book reviews. If you would like to check out the StoryMamas blog, you can go to their website: Storymamas.com, Twitter: @storymamas Instagram: @storymamas and Facebook: @story_mamas Comments are closed.
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Violet M What would you like to suggest? The Great Shelby Holmes 3 By Elizabeth Eulberg. Why? I have read other books in the series and I really like them. Varsha What would you like to suggest? I would suggest reading The Aru Shah series. I think it is really fun, and it gives you a taste of hinduism. It has humor, and heart. In short, it's plain amazing!!!! What book did you read? Song For A Whale What did you think? I loved the book! Iris's journey to find this whale is amazing, and I loved it with all my heart. Roz What would you like to suggest? Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson is great, there is adventure in every page! you will also learn some interesting facts about the Greek religion! It is the first of like 5 books, but don't let that discourage you! you can really feel what the people are going thru. it is a first person novel. anyway, I would seriously consider getting it. What book did you read? Harriet the Spy What did you think? I liked it. Safia What would you like to suggest? I would like to suggest NOT to read the second book of the Stories Thieves series. I would like to suggest to read A Pinch Of Magic, by Michelle Harrison. I would really recommend Harry Potter for people who have been reading- and love reading- fantasy, adventure, and who LOVE suspense! I know that almost EVERYBODY has heard of this book, but have you actually READ it? If you have watched the movie, then you don't know the full story, or the story correctly. I the movie, there have been A LOT of changes, due to many things. So, if you read the book, you can get the tiniest detail. You can also read the parts that have been SKIPPED in the movie because they were small. If you REALLY think you TOTALLY CANNOT read it, take me as an example. I didn't even DARE touch it, because I thought it was the WORST book on Earth, for NO reason (I guess I did have a reason, I thought it was TOO overrated). And guess what? I ended up reading the WHOLE series multiple times and even sending a letter to J.K Rowling ( with a reply!!!!!) ! So, overall, I REALLY recommend Harry Potter, especially fans of Fantasy and Adventure. Bye! What book did you read? The One and Only Ivan What did you think? Great! |