little green army men on the move: win a signed copy of operation yes!

~ jama

          

Cornelius loves loves loves Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes!

He likes Bo and Gari and their way cool teacher Miss Loupe, but most of all, he loves all the little green army men! They came spilling out of the story and have invaded the alphabet soup kitchen.
 
Whether they are busy with breakfast maneuvers,

steadfastly guarding the marmalade,

checking out the Great Pumpkin,

securing giant egg cups,

or hurling raisins instead of grenades,

these guys know where the action is. 

Cornelius wants everyone to read this inspiring, important story and experience the joy of LGAM too, so we are sponsoring a little giveaway.

You may have heard that Sara will be signing books at Hooray For Books in Alexandria, Virginia, on Sunday, November 8th,
from 1-2 p.m. To share the love with those of you who won’t be able to attend, we’re giving away two signed, personalized copies. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment at this post, telling us who your favorite teacher was/is (real or fictional), and why. If you mention this giveaway on your blog, FB, Twitter, etc., you can earn extra entries (just tell us about it in the comments). *If you’re shy about commenting, just send me an email: readermail (at) jamakimrattigan (dot com).

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: Thursday, November 5, 2009 (midnight EST), U.S. residents only, please.

For more about Operation Yes, visit this special website. There’s a terrific Teacher’s Guide available now. Fabulous book for classroom use, great gift choice for your favorite middle grade readers!

For more details about Sara’s booksigning, click here. She’s donating a dollar for every book sold to Musicorps!! Yay!

So, who’s the coolest teacher on the planet?

Copyright © 2009 Jama Rattigan of jama rattigan’s alphabet soup. All rights reserved. 

28 thoughts on “little green army men on the move: win a signed copy of operation yes!”

  1. My favorite teacher was my high school English teacher Mr. Smythe, who never let me get away with lazy writing. (“Good satirical writing should cut with a very sharp knife,” he told me once. “This draft you’ve turned in…is a bit of a sledgehammer.”)

    I’ll pop over to Twitter & link to this now – my students and I are big OPERATION YES fans.

    Like

  3. Tanita Says 🙂

    This is adorable. I love how the Army Corps work together to lift cookies and other valuable objects.

    My favorite teacher was in the fifth grade. We shared a last name, and he was my first male teacher. I was so shy I couldn’t speak to him without hiding my face for the whole first half of the school year. He let us have our own company — we had car washes ’til we had enough to buy a bread maker and some flour and yeast, and then we sold bread until we could buy another breadmaker… and another. By the end of the year, we had four, and we saved enough to send ourselves to Florida our Sophomore year.

    Eventually he quit teaching and went back into business…

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  4. Can I name two? I don’t know about favorites, but one that made the biggest impression was my 10th grade English teacher, Mrs. Hirons who taught us to write RESEARCH PAPERS. She put me in the hall for talking too much (deserved) and taught us structure, structure, structure. She was also the most traditional teacher in the midst of many rather wild, anti-estabishment-types, and I’m pretty sure the restpect they all shared was very mutual.

    The other teacher is the writer/writing professor I had at UCI, Oakley Hall, to whom I’ve dedicated the critique book. He taught me about writing, yes, but he also gave me the gift of understanding that I could have and SHOULD have a community of writers to work with. All my life.

    I tweeted and facebook’d this; please enter me as many times as the little green men will allow!

    Like

  5. Fantastic Post!

    Love your clever pics, so funny…am linking via Twitter, FB, and on my livejournal blog. I love OPERATION YES…it rings so true.

    As an Air Force brat I had MANY teachers, but one…Mrs. Beckett was a favorite. When my dad was in Vietnam, she took me under her wing. Even though I was only in her class for six months before we had to move again, she made me feel so special. I’ve gone back to see her a few times (she lives where my grandmother lived) and she still has the most generous heart! She was so proud of me when I became a National Board Certified teacher…over thirty years after I was in her class. Here’s to all of the teachers who go beyond the subject and get to the heart! Thanks, Mrs. Beckett!

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  6. I have several favorites.

    Fifth grade: I’m not even sure I could specify WHY she was a favorite for so long; maybe it was just how warm and caring she was, as well as an efficient teacher. She gave me my first “C” so you’d think I wouldn’t think that fondly on her, but I did, for ages.

    Sixth grade: She wasn’t nearly so warm in personality, but she had travelled extensively, particularly in Central/South America, as well as some of Asia and the US. Every week we got a slide show of her travels. It really brought our world history studies to life. Also, she drove an old 60s-ish white Mustang – we could always tell if she was at school just by walking past the parking lot! (For the record, she only missed a half-day of school the entire year.)

    High school German: I think this is more related to the fact that I *loved* German and she responded to that. But we still send each other Christmas cards (20 years later), and I was once even invited to her home, when she moved near to where I was attending grad school.

    Anthropology professor in college. He was funny, lively, he brought the study to life, never the tiniest bit boring. He was known to be a tap dancer and sometimes performed for students. His classes were always full. He was also a lead researcher into mother-baby breathing patterns and how that related to SIDS. Fascinating stuff, totally changed my views on a lot of things.

    Oh, gosh, there are others, but those are some of the standouts.

    Like

  7. LOVE all these little green men. Makes me want to say YES!

    So, I already have and adore Sara’s book but I’ll put my name in the hat and on the off chance I win, it’ll go to my girls’ school library.

    My favorite teachers were Mrs. Pyke, 1st grade, because she lit the fire… and Mr. McGill, high school biology, for trying to re-light the fire (it had petered out a bit)…

    And also my eldest’s kindergarten teacher for being old school in the very best way (cooking and mud puddles and lots and lots of singing).

    And most recently, Miss Loupe. I mean, really…

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  10. Re: Tanita Says 🙂

    Wow, he does sound very enterprising! Glad he made such a great impression on you. I remember the “novelty” of having a male teacher. It did take some adjusting to. 🙂

    Like

  11. It’s so cool to hear about the teachers who influenced your writing. I liked my high school English teachers, too, as well as some of my writing professors. How fabulous that you’re dedicating the critique book to your professor!

    Thanks for linking! I’ve entered you three times :)!

    Like

  12. Re: Fantastic Post!

    Hi Marjorie! LOVE your story about Mrs. Beckett. I’m so with you on the “getting to the heart” thing. Good teachers give us so much more beyond classroom “lessons.”

    Wow, you’re a linking queen. That’s 4 entries! Good luck :).

    Like

  13. You’ve definitely been blessed with great teachers all through your school years. I would have loved an anthropology prof who tap danced, and a teacher who showed slides of exotic places every week. I’m sure the white mustang upped her “cool” factor, too :).

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  14. I love that you still cherish your first grade teacher 🙂 (I can barely remember mine). I do love “old school” teachers too. Kids just grow up way too fast these days. We’ve tossed you into the hat. Good luck!

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  15. I had a lot of great teachers over the years and I’m tempted to mention my current graduate school teachers. However, since we seem to be discussing elementary and high school teachers: Andrea Brownstein in high school was a great English teacher. We read lots of poetry in her class, and she sponsored the yearbook and the literary magazine, Write. I worked on both of them and loved it and her.
    Jenny Schwartzberg

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  17. Operation Yes! Giveaway

    My favorite teacher was Al Weg because he had content knowledge, patience, and love for his students. Please enter me for this one which looks great!

    Laura Baas
    lbaas2 at yahoo.com

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  19. Jama, loved your post and the crazy little green men. I didn’t comment earlier as I wanted to come back and read more about favorite teachers. I think I like Melodye’s Nana best just because she’s who I need whispering in my ear right now.

    Of course there are all kinds of favorites, but my first thoughts go to Mrs. Dunwoody who let me sit in the back row in second grade and cheerfully correct her papers when I finished my work. She also let me, Heather, and Naomi stay in at recess to write and illustrate little books on folded manillla arithmetic paper. None remain, but the process: ahhh..

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  20. Mrs. Dunwoody sounds like my kind of teacher. Thanks for reminding me about manila paper! Sounds like you need to dedicate a book to Mrs. D for igniting the book creating spark!

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  21. Wow, I love the army men pictures in the food! You are so creative!
    I enjoyed school at all levels so remember many of my teachers fondly. In 7th grade, a group of three teachers taught a group of us about the Revolutionary and Civil War. We did a thorough study and immersed ourselves in the subject. Our group was so excited about learning and we went to Virginia and DC area for two weeks with these teachers and chaperones. It was the most amazing educational experience of my life!

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  23. My Favorite Teacher

    Without a doubt, my favorite teacher is Mrs. Sandra Oney. Mrs. Oney was my junior and senior high school English teacher, who taught me not only to appreciate the intricacies of the books and plays we read, but to write about them in ways that I never thought I could. Mrs. Oney was the teacher who made sure I applied to an honors program for college; made sure I applied for every scholarship I was eligible for; wrote recommendation after recommendation for me, and then gave me the greatest compliment of all when SHE asked ME to write her recommendation when she applied to the MFA Writing Program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. What a lot of students didn’t realize about Mrs. Oney was that she was in pain all the time due to chronic health issues and she gave her all — mentally, emotionally, and physically — to teach high school English in a poverty-laden Appalachian Ohio County. Not only is Mrs. Oney my favorite teacher, she is one of my heroes.

    Jay Wise
    Youth Services Coordinator / Teen Librarian
    Chillicothe and Ross County (OH) Public Library

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  24. Re: My Favorite Teacher

    Thanks so much for sharing Mrs. Oney with us, Jay! She sounds like an extraordinary human being in every way. Seems like fate that your paths crossed in this life. 🙂

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  25. Oh my gosh, what a FUN post! How did I miss this!?

    I’m laughing because Kate had an awesome English teacher named Mr. Smythe and I had an awesome HS English teacher named Mrs. Smith!! She was just so encouraging and wasn’t afraid to use her red pen to help make me a better writer.

    Thanks for the contest – can’t wait to read this book!

    Like

  26. Oh my gosh, what a FUN post! How did I miss this!?
    I’m laughing because Kate had an awesome English teacher named Mr. Smythe and I had an awesome HS English teacher named Mrs. Smith!! She was just so encouraging and wasn’t afraid to use her red pen to help make me a better writer.
    Thanks for the contest – can’t wait to read this book!

    Like

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