Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills

Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills

Rating: 4.5 stars

I apologize for my loquaciousness in advance.  This is, officially, too long a blog post.

We're at the beach--in the Outer Banks.  We come here at least once a year, rent the same house a lucky smattering of yards from the beach, and do the same things every year.  We gobble down pizza at Duck Pizza, we buy a few Life is Good items for Christmas gifts, we take turns running for a few hours in the humid mornings, we say good morning and good night to the beach.  We also go to the Island Bookstore to choose a new book or two.  I love, love, love this place!

Part of the children's section...can you spot Rocket up top?

Any true booklover has a favorite bookstore.  And while Barnes and Noble has served us well over the years, there's no way that it could ever be as cool and unique and quirky as a good independent bookstore.  My favorite is, by far, Elliott Bay Books in Seattle.  My Dad introduced me to the place when he and I looked at Seattle University, where I ended up.  I spent many hours in the cafe in the basement drinking coffee and studying, taking study breaks along the familiar and barely organized aisles upstairs.  If I close my eyes and think really hard, I am confident I would be able to recall where the creaky floor boards are located.  Without any trouble at all, I can remember the smell of it--a mix of new books and coffee and old-musty-place.  I could easily spend an entire day in that bookstore.  Easily.

Anyway, Island Bookstore is a neat place.  There are shelves everywhere, and books are shoved in every which way.  I would love to see someone attempt to navigate a stroller through the nonexistent aisles.  There's a neat old staircase leading to the upstairs mecca, but we never make it past the children's section.  I have never even bought a book for myself here, but I dream of one year when my kids are able to sit and read for a while by themselves and I can get lost in the stacks.  I'd have to leave a trail of bookmarks so they can find me.

I should stop talking about bookstores right now.  Okay, okay...

"Magnificent!" chirped the little yellow bird.

In this bookstore on this warm afternoon, Lorelei and Ben and I ventured out to walk around the shops and choose a new book, and get some ice cream.  Lorelei was super excited to see the new Magic Treehouse book, and grabbed it on the display outside, before we even walked in.  She was sure of her purchase in half a second.  And then she sat and started it, completely unaware of anyone else around her.  That's my girl!

Ben, on the other hand, couldn't decide.  While he hemmed and hawed, I found the sequel to How Rocket Learned to Read, a book I really loved and gifted many times a few years ago.  I was excited to read this one, where he wonderfully builds on his reading ability and starts to write his own story.  I distracted Lorelei from her book and Ben from his search for a few minutes to read this to them.  Their parent's genuine excitement over a book always makes them curious.

(This was my favorite illustration in the book.
Rocket looking for inspiration)

Sweet Rocket trots around his woods gathering words, which he and his yellow bird teacher spell out and then pin onto a "word tree."  Once he has a bunch of words on it, he's to write a story.  As soon as the blank piece of paper is in front of him, he's stumped.  His wise little teacher tells him: "Write what you know.  Look for inspiration."  Since Rocket has a good sniffer, he walks around sniffing for inspiration.  He eventually finds it in a tree, where he finds and slowly befriends a little owl.

As he writes and rewrites and rewrites once more his story, the owl is more and more interested, and Rocket is more and more encouraged by this interest.  He finishes the story about finding a new friend, and both are happy.  And each has a new friend.

A great book, read in a great place (with great kids!).

How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills

How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills
Rating: 5 S-T-A-R-S

This is one of the sweetest books I've ever read.  And it's about one of my favorite subjects of all time: reading! 

Grammy visited this weekend, and she joined us on our fairly regular Girls Outing.  Instead of going to the library we went to the bookstore--she offered to buy us a few new books.  I had spotted this one a week prior while Ben and I were hanging out at the train table at a different book store, and I totally fell in love with it.  I knew both Lorelei and Ben would love it, and, even better, appreciate it more when they learned to read.  So I chose this for Lorelei, and she chose a Richard Scary book.  (Thanks, Grammy!)

Rocket the dog happens across a little bird, who declares Rocket her new student.  Rocket just wants to take a nap.  But the wise little bird starts reading a story...first Rocket is just annoyed by the unwanted sound, but then he becomes caught up in the story.  The wise and crafty bird stops reading at a really good part, but the bird is already gone when Rocket looks up to find out what happens next.  The next day Rocket is there, bright and early, to learn to read.  They begin with the ending, of the story.


Rocket spells out winter things.

 The little bird then teaches him all the letters "of the wondrous, mighty, gorgeous alphabet."  I love that Tad Hills wrote that!  I love thinking that Lorelei will look at awe at the alphabet, a little like some look at the Mona Lisa or Mount Everest.  It IS wondrous!  It IS mighty!  It IS gorgeous!  I try to contain myself when I read the book out loud to them.

When fall turns to winter, the bird flies south and leaves Rocket to study on his own.  Which he does.  He practices writing the letters by marching big "A" and "B" and "C" paths in the snow.  He practices spelling all the things around him: D-I-G (in the snow), W-I-N-D (in his face), C-O-L-D (during winter), M-E-L-T (as Spring finally comes). 

He waits, tail wagging, for the bird to arrive, and, thanks to a good teacher and his own doggedness, he learns to read.  It just makes me so hopeful that Lorelei and Ben will always have wise and crafty teachers who are able to uncover in our children their own Rocket curiosity and doggedness.

This is SUCH a great book.  I haven't read a single one of the Duck & Goose books that Tad Hills has written, but now I want to after reading this book.  I love that when he did his book tour for this book, he brought the real Rocket, his shaggy dog.  I'm definitely a new fan of his!  If you're not yet a fan, read what he wrote on his "about me" section on his website: 

"I especially enjoy the responses I get from children when I ask if they have any questions or comments. 'Where do you get your ideas?  What's the difference between a book and a story?  My birthday is June 12th.  How do you make the cover shiny?  My Dad has socks like yours.  Do you have an agent?  Do you write the story first or draw the pictures?  How do you make a book?'  But what I love most is when a lower school kid smiles and says proudly, 'I'm writing a book.' "

Ok, this post is long enough.  But really--go get this book.