Katrina, 8, Reviews Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story! Today, I'd like to introduce our guest blogger here at Katie & Kimble Kids' Corner. Her name is Katrina, she's from Virginia, and she's 8!
Katie
& Kimble is a very honest book with a lot of friendship and truth.
I thought it was a really great book, one of my top favorites. It was a
very sweet, loving book. There are some parts that I wasn’t expecting,
but I liked the whole thing. I think it would be cool to meet a ghost
like Kimble and to live in that type of house. Katie didn’t really have
any friends and I think Kimble made a smart choice of showing her
feelings so Katie would like her.
I wish that I had a friend like Katie or Kimble or even both. I think
Katie & Kimble is a book I would enjoy reading again and I look
forward to reading more about Katie and Kimble’s adventures. I also
liked the pictures in the book. I think Mrs. Russell made a smart
choice about trusting that Kimble was real and I was surprised that she
believed in the end.
[My birthday is] April 8. I am homeschooled. I like playing piano.
And I recently built a volcano for my first science fair and I received
a really good score for it. (See some pictures here!) I like to make people happy and to make new friends.
Thank you, Katrina! I appreciate your sending in your post! Well done!
Learn the Kimble, Kimble Chant! Do you like to play hand-clapping games with your best friend? Here's a new one you can learn from Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story!
You
can now learn the Kimble, Kimble chant. The Kimble, Kimble chant tells
the story of how Kimble, the ghost of a 10-year-old girl meets Katie
Russell, who is almost nine!
The words to the Kimble, Kimble chant
are below. And if you wish to hear the chant, click on our little
Katie & Kimble Blog host. Her name is Freddie and she's up in the
left sidebar of the blog. She will be happy to say the chant for you!
You can also hear the Kimble, Kimble chant by clicking on the Katie & Kimble video on the right sidebar.
The Kimble, Kimble Chant! Kimble, Kimble is a ghost. Katie, Katie loves her most. Twinkle, Twinkle great big dog Found a bow inside a log.
Kimble, Kimble put it there. Katie wore it in her hair. Friends they are and friends they'll be Throughout all eternity.
Make your own set of hand claps to go with the
Kimble, Kimble chant!
-- -- -- -- -- --
You have the permission of the author, Linda Thieman, to print this out
and make copies of it for your own personal use or any classroom use.
Fun Katie & Kimble Hint: On the sidebars, click on the yellow stripes for a little surprise or two!
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story(Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 7-10] Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look
normal. But the Russells don't know they are living with Kimble,
the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble
and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to
Kimble's mother.
Sneak Peak: Tweet for Literacy Prize Pack 8! In
honor of National Family Literacy Month, the Tweet for Literacy
campaign extends throughout the month of November. Our Motto:“The family that reads together has a lot of fun!” Today, at 6pm CT, we're going to award Prize Package 6, worth $116. Click here to see the gifts included in the Prize Packages.
Let's take a sneak peak at Prize Package 8.
Prize Package Eight Winner to be chosen Sunday, November 22, 2009, at 6pm CT. Total value of Prize Package Eight is $116.
1) A stuffed Dr. Suess’ Cat in the Hat doll, 24 inches high. A $25 value. Donated by Tweet for Literacy sponsor April Pohren.
2) Aurora of the Northern Lights by Holly Hardin (autographed -- an $18.95 value), the delightful Yuletide-themed picture book by one of our Tweet for Literacy sponsors. Donated by the author.
3) The Katie & Kimble chapter book series by Linda Thieman, for ages 6 to 10. Lexile® measures: 280L and 290L. This set includes Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish. These are stories of love and healing, and are not scary! Donated and autographed by the author, one of our Tweet for Literacy sponsors. (Value: $11.90 per set)
4) The Raucous Royals: Test your Royal Wits: Crack Codes, Solve Mysteries, and Deduce Which Royal Rumors are True by Carlyn Beccia, for ages 9-12. A $17 value. Donated by Tweet for Literacy sponsor April Pohren.
5) How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (Value $7.99). (Young Adult). Donated by Tweet for Literacy sponsor Linda Thieman.
6) The Shiniest Jewel: A Family Love Story by Marian Henley (A Memoir) $21.99 value. Great for the entire family. Donated by Tweet for Literacy sponsor April Pohren.
7) The Truth (I’m 10, I’m Smart and I Know Everything) by Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein. (Women’s Edition) Value: $12.95. Donated by Tweet for Literacy sponsor Cheryl Malandrinos.
Click here to read more about Tweet for Literacy and to enter the contest. We're giving away a set of prizes every two days for the month of November!
Enter as often as you like. Must be at least 18 to enter and a resident of the United States.
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story(Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 7-10] Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look
normal. But the Russells don't know they are living with Kimble,
the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble
and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to
Kimble's mother.
Why Twinkle is a Great, Big Dog! Our
Katie & Kimble readers know that Katie has a dog named Twinkle.
Katie named him Twinkle because he was silver, the color of the stars.
She thought that in the sunlight, he twinkled like a star.
Twinkle is a great, big dog. He is an Old English sheepdog. When I was
first writing Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story, I needed to decide
what kind of dog Twinkle was going to be. I really needed a dog that
would protect Katie. If you have read Katie & Kimble: A Ghost
Story, you'll know why! Katie has a lot of adventures and gets into a
lot of trouble! It's a good thing Twinkle is there to protect her!
For hundreds of years, sheepdogs have been trained to protect sheep.
That is why they are so good with children. They make sure the child is
safe, too.
Sheepdogs have long hair that needs to be brushed a lot. Several years
ago, I worked with a woman who had a sheepdog. When she brushed his
hair, she saved the hair. Then later, she made the hair into a sweater
and wore it to work! Yeah, that really grossed me out, I must say.
Fun Katie & Kimble Hint: On the sidebars, click on the yellow stripes to hear Twinkle barking!
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story(Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 7-10] Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look
normal. But the Russells don't know they are living with Kimble,
the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble
and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to
Kimble's mother.
The Katie & Kimble Series Uses Lexile® Measures to Level Books As any parent, teacher or homeschooler knows, you can't tell a book's level by its cover just like you can't determine a child's reading level by the grade that he or she is in.
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (Bk 1) = 280L;
Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Bk 2) = 290L
The official Lexile® measures for the Katie & Kimble books are now available.
Author Linda Thieman discusses providing Lexile® measures for parents and teachers at Reader Views Kids:
Tyler Tichelaar:Linda,
what made you decide to write the books to meet the educational
requirements for third graders? I’ve interviewed many children’s
authors, and you’re the first to mention this—I’m impressed and it
makes me think you were smart about identifying your target audience
and also working your books into school programs—many children’s
authors don’t have educational backgrounds and so perhaps they don’t
think to test the books this way. What advice would you give to
children’s authors in writing to their target audience of a specific
age group of children?
Linda Thieman:Well,
once the story evolved into something complex enough that I realized I
was going to have to use a chapter book format, I took some good advice
and went to a bookstore to look at the different levels of chapter
books. A loose system was being used in which a book would be called,
for instance, Reading Level 3 (RL3) or Reading Level 4 (RL4), and there
was quite a big difference between the two in terms of number of words,
number of chapters, chapter length, sentence length and structure,
vocabulary, and the complexity of the content. So, I decided that
Reading Level 3 would work for me, which roughly corresponds to third
grade. I purchased a couple of books, including “The Boxcar Children,”
and based the “Katie & Kimble” books on those examples. This system
was sort of hit and miss, but amazingly, the Lexile®
measures for the first two “Katie & Kimble” books are 280L and
290L, and “The Boxcar Children” measured at 300L. Now, however, once
you do all that research and decide which reading level you wish to
target, Lexile® provides writers with a free, pre-publication measure so that you know if you’re at the right level or not.
The
Lexile Framework® for Reading is a scientific approach to measuring
reading ability and the difficulty of reading materials. The Lexile
Framework includes a Lexile® measure and the Lexile scale. A Lexile
measure represents both the difficulty of a text, such as a book or
article, and an individual’s reading ability. Lexiles are expressed as
numeric measures followed by an “L” (e.g., 850L), and are placed on the
Lexile scale. The Lexile scale is a developmental scale for measuring
reader ability and text difficulty, ranging from below 200L for
beginning readers and beginning-reader materials to above 1700L for
advanced readers and materials.
Manage your students’ reading comprehension
Lexile
measures allow you to manage comprehension. Matching a reader’s Lexile
measure with a text with the same Lexile measure leads to an expected 75-percent comprehension rate—not
too difficult to be frustrating, but difficult enough to be challenging
and to encourage reading progress. You can further adjust anticipated
comprehension simply by choosing more or less difficult texts within a student’s Lexile range, which spans 50L above and 100L below his or her Lexile measure.
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 7-10] Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look
normal. But the Russells don't know they are living with Kimble,
the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble
and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to
Kimble's mother.
Ask the Author a Question! Wouldn't it be fun to read a book and then ask the author a question?
Well, you can do that right here on the Katie & Kimble blog! We've had quite a conversation going on already, thanks to our friend and
reader, Marissa! Just look at the great questions she's asked and
the wonderful comments she has shared.
You don't need to sign in to ask a question and you don't need to give us your email address.
You can ask questions, give your opinions or talk about anything you
want. Just two rules: 1) be polite, and 2) don't give your
last name! First names only, please! Please don't give your
address or phone number, either. Never give that kind of
information online. That's because we want this blog to be safe
for all kids!
Once you get to the comments page, click on Post a Comment.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you!
Linda Author of Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story(Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 7-10] Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look
normal. But the Russells don't know they are living with Kimble,
the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble
and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to
Kimble's mother.
Prize Package Seven
Winner to be chosen Friday, November 20, 2009, at 6pm CT. Total value of Prize Package Seven is $125.
1) The Yoga Zoo Adventure by Helen Purperhart, a $14.95 value. (Ages 3-7) Donated by Tweet for Literacy sponsor April Pohren.
2) Aurora of the Northern Lights by Holly Hardin (autographed -- an $18.95 value), the delightful Yuletide-themed picture book by one of our Tweet for Literacy sponsors. Donated by the author.
3) Ranger's Apprentice Book 1: The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan ($7.99; ages 9-12) Donated by Tweet for Literacy sponsor April Pohren.
4) The Crypto-Capers: The Case of Red Rock Canyon by Renee Hand ($12.95 value). Readers help the detectives solve the case by figuring out puzzles! For ages 9-12. Donated by the author.
5) Across the Pond by Storyheart (Barry Eva), autographed, for Young Adults. (Value $19.99) Donated by the author.
6) Light Up Your Child’s Mind: Finding a Unique Pathway to Happiness and Success by Joseph S. Renzulli, Sally M. Reis, Andrea Thompson ($25.99 value). Donated by Hachette Book Group.
7) Daughter of Kura by Debra Austin (a pre-publication advanced readers copy-ARC!) A $24.00 value for Mom or Dad. Donated by Tweet for Literacy sponsor April Pohren.
Today, I'd like to introduce our guest blogger here at Katie & Kimble Kids' Corner. Her name is Katrina, she's from Virginia, and she's 8!
2) Aurora of the Northern Lights
Our
Katie & Kimble readers know that Katie has a dog named Twinkle.
Katie named him Twinkle because he was silver, the color of the stars.
She thought that in the sunlight, he twinkled like a star.
