Who Would Win?

A polar bear and a grizzly bear meet up and have a battle.  Which of these fierce creatures would win?  Or maybe a whale and a giant squid have an epic ocean battle.  Could you predict the winner?  If you are familiar with author Jerry Pallotta, then you'll know exactly the books I'm referring to.  And if you are not familiar with this man, you should start reading!

My elementary school had the pleasure of hosting Jerry Pallotta this past week.  He reeled the kids in with stories of his childhood growing up in Massachusetts on the beach.  He talked of finding whales and tuna, of raking seaweed to sell to food producers, of hunting crabs and lobsters.  He shared childhood stories of his cousins and family and their time together.  He showed us books he's already written and new books yet to come. He involved the kids and made funny things happen with his projector.   And he never. stopped. talking.  And the kids never. stopped. listening.  For an entire hour!

See Jerry's biography by clicking here.

Jerry had so much energy, the kids were mesmerized.  And he did it 3 times!  Between every presentation he signed books.  And not just the sign-your-name-and-move-on kind of signing.  He used the name of every child and adult who purchased a book (and even for those who already had a book), and even drew some cute little pictures with little messages.  Amazing.  And because I knew this about Jerry Pallotta before he presented, I wanted to make sure I gave him a personal thank you.

Jerry was very kind to talk to me for a few minutes as I rudely interrupted his lunch (I promise I kept it short!).  I wanted to thank him for always writing back to my kids when we sent letters to him.  Each year I do a non-fiction author study, and he is one of the authors to whom kids can write.  He is beyond generous with his response.  He told me a story about how this came to be.  Many years ago when the baseball players went on strike, a sports writer published a scathing report about the players and teams and then waited to see how the teams would respond.  Most teams did nothing.  Some were angry and lashed out.  But a few teams loaded this fellow up with merchandise and serious team swag as a measure of good will.  Jerry said he wanted to be like those teams.  He said Scholastic has been very generous to him, so he can return the favor to kids.  And believe me, he certainly does.

Back in our classroom, we spent a few minutes discussing what we could learn from a working author.  Jerry presented so many great ideas during his talk, I wanted to make sure the kids had soaked it all in.

Here's the list we came up with.  We thought back to the slides he shared of his writing and editing process, and we sorted through his stories to come up some ideas of what it takes to be a quality writer.  I love this reading and writing connection!

And speaking of reading, my students absolutely LOVE reading the Who Would Win? series.  Our library teacher held a school-wide vote to see which Who Would Win? book was the most popular.  And the winner was...

Photo Credit:  Scholastic
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These books are great on so many levels.  First, they are high interest for nearly every 3rd grader I know.  There are so many different books in this series, it seems there's something for everyone.  In addition to the sheer volume of books, they work so well for teaching the compare and contrast text structure in non-fiction reading.  I have a very simple compare and contrast foldable booklet to use with this as well.  I'll make sure to post some examples later this year when we have some that are completed.  And finally, what I love the most is that kids are reading.  They get so excited about seeing who would win, the reading is just fun.  It's just FUN and they are LEARNING.

So who wins now?  Everyone!