The Final (New!) Harry Potter Cover

So, if you've been keeping track, the Harry Potter books are being re-released to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. You can read about the new covers on this blog by CLICKING HERE. If you just want to see the covers, here you go! :)

Well, it's now time to reveal the final cover for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

You might recognize Kazu Kibuishi's art style; he's the illustrator for the popular Amulet series. One thing that Kibuishi did when working on all 7 covers was think of how he could create another artwork piece. His idea? Create a picture when all books are side-by-side! Below is what you'll see when you line up the spines of all of the new paperbacks:

And if that wasn't cool already, he also added artwork to the boxed set--check it out!

Still haven't had enough of Harry Potter? Scholastic recently released a video trailer:

If you'd like to read more about the new covers and Scholastic's intent to release the images from the back covers from the books, you can read all of the details on Scholastic's official blog, On Our Minds. 

It's National Hot Dog Day--and July is National Hot Dog Month!

How can we possibly celebrate National Hot Dog day on July 23--and recognize National Hot Dog month in all of July--without The Pigeon?!

At the Children's Book-A-Day Almanac, blogger Anita Silvey writes about The Pigeon and his hot dog story, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog by Mo Willems. 

Here is Silvey's summary of the book: "A pigeon and a duckling spy a hot dog, but Pigeon picks it up first, ready to chomp into his discovery. 'Is that a hot dog?' whispers the duckling. And so the two battle each other for the treat--'Each morsel is a joy! A celebration in a bun!' shouts Pigeon. As Pigeon struggles with his conscience, he gets louder and louder, but the duck remains softly persistent. In the end, they both discover the joy of sharing."

Check out this page from the book:

Want to know more about the story of Mo Willems and the book? You can CLICK HERE to visit Silvey's website. 

Mo Willems has a great website himself! You can find him--and all of his popular characters like the Pigeon, Knuffle Bunny & Trixie, and Elephant & Piggie--at mowillems.com.

While you're there, be sure to click on Visit GoMo! to play games and see videos. You can also play games and see videos at Visit Pigeon Presents! Have fun--and don't let the Pigeon use your computer! :)

The Story Behind The Story of Ferdinand

In February for World Read Aloud Day, one of the blog posts was about books we loved as children. Mrs. Ellis's favorite book was The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf. (You can read about World Read Aloud Day post HERE.)

The Spanish Civil War was the historical backdrop for this story, and after the book was published, people tried to find meaning in the characters and plot as related to that war. In Spain and in Germany, the book was actually banned! It grew in popularity after the banning, and over 80,000 copies were ordered to be published.

Even Pete Wentz from the rock band Fall Out Boys says that Ferdinand is one of his childhood favorites, and he had this to say about the book's message: "The book provides an amazing metaphor for how people can be. There's something really honorable about following your own path and not doing what's expected of you."

Here's a page from the book:

If you want to read the full story behind the book, you can CLICK HERE to learn more. 

Celebrating the Fourth of July with Our Friends!

With the Fourth of July holiday right around the corner, we thought we'd take our friends out to celebrate! You'll probably recognize some of the locations--we played at the park near the Grimes Public Library and cooled off with a frozen treat at Heavenly Delights. 

Everybody had to hold on tight on the merry-go-round. D.W. and Buster were especially nervous!

 It was a test of weights as the friends tried to teeter-totter! Looks like the Curious George/T-Bone combination outweighs Clifford and Skippyjon Jones. Arthur, D.W., and Buster aren't enough to challenge Francine and Bad Kitty, either!

Arthur has them all beat in a race to the top of the jungle gym!

Finally, after a warm day at the park, everyone headed to Heavenly Delights for ice cream. Arthur and friends were especially hungry! Good times today!