Whoosh!

source: chrisbarton.info

The annual Rhode Island Children’s Book Award (RICBA) goes to the book selected by students in grades 3-5 as their favorite from a list of 20 nominees.

Students who read 3 or more nominated books may vote in February, and students who read 5 or more qualify to participate in the Rooster Games (more info on that to come). To give everyone a head start, I'll be reading a few of the shorter nominees to each class. 

One of these shorter books is Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions. Most kids enjoyed the story; here are some reasons they gave: 

• It shows what kids can do.
• Lonnie followed his dreams.
• He always has new ideas in his mind.
• The sound effects ("whooooosh!") were cool.
• It has facts.
• It had good illustrations.
• It inspires kids to be imaginative and to invent new things.
• He worked with NASA.
• An accident can become the most popular toy in the U.S.
• He didn't mean to invent the Super Soaker.
• It explained the life of a genius, but also had a moral.
• I love reading about other people's lives.
• It's about an invention that I've used before.
• It told a story of hard work.
• I like Super Soakers.
• I like inventing stuff too.
• He had many problems and he solved them.
• I also like engineering.
• It was inspiring to never give up and believe in your dreams.

You can learn more on the author's blog.