February 20, 2020

Dear Families,

It’s here! What is? It’s our 6th annual Family Reading Night for our children and their families at Es-sex Elementary School, thanks to the generosity of a grant from our PTO. This is a wonderful opportunity to read together, and then share your love of reading with other families in our school, and you get to keep a free book. Family Reading Night promotes shared reading, which involves a child reading with at least one adult in your home. Participants will read one of the books together at home, and then attend a book discussion during the evening of April 2nd. That night, families will gather in small groups to talk about the book with others who have read the same one. Books will be provided through the Learning Center to any family who sub-mits the contract attached to this letter, while supplies last. Participants will be able to keep their book after the discussion or swap it for another title. Family participants must be of at least high-school age and able to come with the child to the book discussion on Thursday, April 2nd from 6:30 – 7:30 pm.

The schedule for the evening is :

6:30-6:40 : arrival in cafeteria/ move to classrooms 6:45-7:15 : book discussion groups

7:20-7:30 : swap books in the cafeteria

Students will preview the books during their library time the third week of February. Books will be sent home once we receive your contract. Students should indicate their top two choices; we will honor their first choice while supplies last. See the back of this letter for information about the books. The sign-up form is attached separately. If you and your child would like to participate, please fill out the attached form and return it to the EES Learning Center as soon as possible, but no later than Friday, March 27th, 2020. The books will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions at 857-2140, or at cscrimgeour@ewsd.org. We look forward to your participation in this program!

Sincerely,

Carol Scrimgeour School Librarian

Essex Elementary School

Essex Elementary School Learning Center Family Reading Night 2020

Thursday, April 2nd from 6:30 – 7:30 pm.

Mercy Watson To the Rescue, by Kate DiCamillo

To Mr. and Mrs. Watson, Mercy is not just a pig – she's a porcine wonder. And to the portly and good-natured Mercy, the Watsons are an excellent source of buttered toast, not to mention that buttery-toasty feeling she gets when she snuggles into bed with them. This is not, however, so good for the Watsons' bed. BOOM! CRACK! As the bed and its occupants slowly sink through the floor, Mercy escapes in a flash – "to alert the fire department," her owners assure themselves. But could Mercy possibly have another emergency in mind – like a sudden craving for their neighbors' sugar cookies? Welcome to the wry and endearing world of Mercy Watson – an ebullient character for early chapter-book readers in a series that's destined to be a classic. — publisher’s annotation. 68 pages. Read-aloud ages 5-8

Zoey and Sassafras: Dragons and Marshmallows, by Asia Citro

In the first book of this series that includes science, mystery and adventure, Zoey discovers a glowing photo and learns an amazing secret. Injured magical animals come to their backyard barn for help! When a sick baby dragon appears, it’s up to Zoey and Sassafras to figure out what’s wrong. Will they be able to help little Marshmallow before it’s too late? — publisher’s annotation. 96 pages. Read-aloud ages 5-9

Press Start!: Game Over, Super Rabbit Boy!, by Thomas Flintham

Uh-oh, Animal Town is in trouble! Meanie King Viking has created a dreaded robot army to spread No Fun across the land. On top of that, he has stolen the happiest and most fun animal ever, Singing Dog. There is only one person who can save the day: Super Rabbit Boy! Super Rabbit Boy is super fast and super brave, but he's also a video game character liv-ing in a video game world. What will happen when Sunny, the boy playing the game, loses each level? Will it be game over for Super Rabbit Boy and all his friends? — publisher’s annotation. 72 pages. Read-aloud ages 5-9

Lulu and the Brontosaurus, by Judith Viorst

Lulu's the kind of girl who gets what she wants. And she's decided she wants a pet brontosaurus for her birthday. So when her parents tell her it's not possible, Lulu takes matters into her own hands and storms off into the forest to find her new pet. In the forest, she meets lots of woodland critters, but no snake, no tiger, no bear will do. Then she sees it...a beautiful brontosaurus! It turns out the brontosaurus thinks having a pet is a wonderful idea. Has Lulu's birthday wish has come true? No! The brontosaurus wants Lulu for a pet! Now Lulu (who is not used to controlling herself) must keep her cool long enough to get out of this sticky situation without upsetting the gigantic brontosaurus or smushing her pickle sandwich. Readers themselves get to decide how the story ends — again...and again...and again.

— publisher’s annotation. 113 pages. Read-aloud ages 5-9

The Binder of Doom: Brute-Cake, by Troy Cummings

Alexander Bopp is the leader of the Super Secret Monster Patrol, a club whose members are sworn to protect the town from monsters. But there haven't been monsters to fight for months... Alexander misses his best friends — and fellow club members — Rip and Nikki. Then he starts finding weird old-timey objects, cake crumbs, and creepy monster cards all over town! Could the monsters be back? The Super Secret Monster Patrol will have to get back together to find out! — publisher’s annotation. 90 pages. Read-aloud ages 5-9

Diary of a Pug: Pug Blasts Off, by Kyla May

Baron von Bubbles, a.k.a "Bub," is the self-proclaimed cutest pug on the planet! Things he loves: fashion, peanut butter, and his human, Bella. Things he does NOT love: Nutz the squirrel, baths, and the rain. When Bella enters the Inventor Challenge, Bub helps her craft the best project ever — a rocket. But what happens when Nutz gets on Bub's nerves and makes him ruin Bella's project? If Bub wants to make it up to Bella, he'll have to stand up to Nutz — and

the rain — once and for all. — publisher’s annotation. 72 pages. Read-aloud ages 5-9

Once Upon a Fairy Tale: The Magic Mirror, by Anna Staniszewski

The Enchanted Kingdom is in a heat wave until the Ice Princess uses her magic mirror to make winter come; no wonder Kara and Zed are too hot. But the magic mirror is broken! And no one else wants to help the princess. Can Kara and Zed find out how to fix the mirror and bring back winter? Or will it be summer forever? — publisher’s

annotation. 90 pages. Read-aloud ages 5-9

Essex Elementary Family Reading 2020

Sign-up Form

Please return to the Learning Center no later than Friday, March 27, 2020.

The books will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. The sooner the form is submitted, the sooner you can start reading!

Yes! We would like to participate in the 2020 Family Reading Night at Essex Elementary School.

Our first choice book is ____________________________________________________________

Our second choice book is __________________________________________________________

We will attend the book discussion on Thursday, April 2, 2020 from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm.

______________________________________________ __________________________

Child’s name Child’s teacher

______________________________________________ ___________________________

Family Participant’s name Signature

______________________________________________

Parent’s email