The True Story of The 3 Little Pigs- Fantasy

The True Story of The 3 Little Pigs
by Jon Scieszka

My response to this book was recorded on Voicethread.

My Voicethread link:
http://cedncsu.ed.voicethread.com/share/419642/

This book tells the wolf's version of the three little pigs and why he was 'framed'. This is a very interesting story and could show students how everyone has their own unique point of view about situations and circumstances.

Neptune- Non-fiction

Neptune
by Seymour Simon

In the book, the author compiled photographs taken of Neptune by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. After finding that out, I did some research, googling really, to find out that the Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to visit and explore the planet Neptune. The author presents a short and precise summary of the mission to Neptune and the discoveries made during the course of the mission. The book contains several vivid photos of the planet, its rings, and its minor moons. The book also spotlights information on Triton, Neptune's largest moon. The would be a great book to use to not only build literacy skills, but also enlighten students with knowledge of the planet and intergreate science with literature.

The Diane Good Book- Folktale

The Diane Good Book of
American Folk Tales & Songs
collected by Ann Durell


This book is comprised of nine stories and seven songs. The book opens with the song, "Yankee Doodle," and displays the music and lyrics to the song. The book includes stories about popular folk tale characters, such as Davy Crockett. I enjoyed the novel, but more so on an adult level. I am not sure whether I would want to share this with students because if may be hard for the to relate. The book does not tell when, where or why the story or song came about, which may make it harder for students to draw comprehension from this book or to build connections with it.

March On!- Biography

March On!
The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World
by Christine King Farris

This book, first of all, has beautiful illustrations! The book is told from Christine King Farris's, Martin Luther King Jr.’s older sister, point-of-view. The book covers the story of the 1963 March on Washington. The author tells about how she and her brother were raised. The main spotlight in the book is placed upon the actual march and the author also tells details about Martin Luther King Jr. investing time on the speech he delivered. The author includes details about the many people who attended, the news coverage, and the activists. I think this is a great novel to share with students and could easily be incorporated during Black History month in Febuary to share the importance of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Midnight Unicorn- Fantasy

The Midnight Unicorn
by Neil Reed

This book is about a little girl who really likes unicorns. The little girl, Millie, admires a statue of a unicorn at the park. One day, a A unicorn statue that she admires comes to life. When she is around the statue it makes her feel happy, and when it comes to life, she gets to ride on the unicorn's back. The unicorn takes Millie on a journey through the sky and flies over a land where unicorn play together, as well as flying Millie through lightning and storming skies. My favorite part of this book would be the illustrations. There is one object per page that is slick and draws attention to itself. I found myself rubbing the pages as I read to feel the differences in the pages

The Bremen Town Musicians- Folktale

The Bremen Town Musicians
and Other Animal Tales from Grimm
retold by Doris Orgel

This a book comprised of the original Grimm tales, retold to be shared with children. The begins with the first story about the Bremen Town musicians and then tells other stories such as, "The Hare and the Hedgehog," "King of the Birds," "When the Birds and the Beasts Went to War," "The Fox and the Geese," "The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids." I like the way that at the end of each story, the author includes comments on the story and, in some cases, the author discusses some of the changes made. The illustrations are very vivid and life-like, which I think would make the book a great read aloud to a classroom. I think great discussions could be drawn from the book, by asking questions about why the author may have made the changes that they did and whether or not the students thought it was a good or bad change to make.

Face to Face With Lions- Non-fiction

Face to Face With Lions
by Beverly and Dereck Joubert

This book is fantastic and would serve as a great resource for a homework report, class assignment, or just to read to gain a better understanding of lions in general. I was so fascinated with this book that I did some research and discovered that the husband and wife authors have spent over 25 years in Africa photographing lions and other animals. The pictures are very vivid and up close to the lions. The photos show the lions napping, swimming, playing, caring their cubs, preying, and eating. The authors share information about lion diets, everyday life, and life expectancy. The book also includes a map that highlights where lions live and prowl in Africa. The end of the book has some beneficial sections, such as an index, glossary, notes from research and a bibliography.

Unicorn Wings- Fantasy

Unicorn Wings
by Mallory Loehr

This book is great for students who are beginning to read short sentences and have a limited vocabulary. The story is about a unicorn that doesn't have wings. The unicorn admires other creatures that do have wings, such as birds and insects, and dreams of being able to fly, too. One day, the unicorn helps another unicorn that does have wings and the unicorn with wings give the one without a pair. The unicorns go off flying together and end the story on a pleasant note. I would want books such as this in my classroom library to help students build upon their reading strategies and learn to read for fluency.

My Dad, John McCain- Biography

My Dad, John McCain
by Meghan McCain

This book tells about John McCain, through his daughter's point of view. It covers his life, from when he grew up to the wars he fought in. The author does a great job of breaking down McCain's life into vocabulary that a child would easily comprehend. I would share this novel with my students to tell them about ways in which presidential candidates try to campaign before an election, which is what the author was doing for her father. I would also have the students to compare and contrast presidents and use this book as a helpful resource.

Shiloh- Realistic Fiction; Chapter Book

Shiloh
by Joyce Naylor

My response to this novel was recorded on Voice Thread

My Voice thread link:
http://cedncsu.ed.voicethread.com/share/419639/

This novel is about a beagle, named Shiloh, and a boy, named Marty, and the bond that they form. The dog is abused and neglected by his owner and the boy tries to save him. He hides him for a while, but then gets caught. The boy has to work out a deal with the owner so he can keep the dog. This is a great book for students to read and relate to about their personal experieces and relationships with their own pets.

Stuart Little- Fantasy; Chapter Book

Stuart Little
by E.B. White

My Voicethread link:
http://cedncsu.ed.voicethread.com/share/419634/

My Wordle link:




Student's Voice Thread link:
http://cedncsu.ed.voicethread.com/share/416815/

Student's Wordle link:


This novel is a wonderful children’s fiction piece, by a distinguished author. This story demonstrates the power of love within a family, while maintaining the fun spirit of adventure. A family adopts a mouse, Stuart, and has to learn how to adjust their lives in order to make Stuart feel welcomed and loved. The story also shows that a hero can be any size, even if it is a mouse.

Juan Bobo- Folktale

Juan Bobo: Four Folktales from Puerto Rico
retold by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand

This book is about a boy named Juan Bobo and things that he encounters. The book is compiled of four short stories called: 'The Best Way to Carry Water,' 'A Pig in Sunday Clothes,' 'Do Not Sneeze, Do Not Scratch, Do Not Eat!,' and 'A Dime a Jug.' The last two pages of the book tell the entire four short stories in Spanish. I think that this book would be a great way to help ELL students to advance in thier reading skills.

In the first story, Juan Bobo's mother askes him to get water from the stream. He complains that he is not strong enough to carry the buckets back with water. His mother tells him to figure it out, and Juan Bobo goes to fetch the water. When he comes back he boasts about how strong he was to be able to carry the water back to his mother and that the load felt lighter as he got closer to home. His mom steps into a puddle on the porch and realized that Juan Bobo used baskets to carry the water and the water leaked through the baskets onto the porch!

In the second story Juan Bobo's mother gives him the option of going to church or staying home and taking care of the pig. Juan decides to dress the pig in his mother's belongings and take it to church. The pig acted like a typical pig, rolled in a mud puddle, lost an earring and tore the dress. Juan's mom found the pig on the way home from church and picks it up and carries it home, which of course gets mud on her dress. She is furious! When she sees Juan Bobo, he gets excited and says he didn't know they could play with mud in church and tells her he'd like to go to church next Sunday, as well!


In the third story, Juan Bobo and his mother are invited to eat at a lady's house. Before leaving, Juan Bobo's mother tells him things he can and cannot do while at the lady's house. As soon as Juan Bobo was served his food, he sniffed rice up his nose and had to sneeze, which was something his mother told him not to do. Then Juan Bobo is served steak, his mom tells him not to use his hands, so he uses a spoon and drops the steak. When he went to pick up the steak, he remembered he could not use his hands and left the steak on his lap. Then fried bananas were being passed around, just as he was about to get one a mosquito bit him on the neck and he yelled. His mom thought he didn't want a banana and did not give him one. Then the steak fell on his foot and he thought it was his mother's foot tapping his which was a signal that he was eating too much. Since Juan didn't actually eat anything, he got and ran home, deciding that good manners must mean no eating and he didn't want to practice his manners.

The finally story tells about Juan Bobo's mother asking him to sell sugarcane syrup to some widows. On the way there, Juan Bobo gets distracted by a handkerchief in a puddle that has dimes in it and takes the wrong path. He mistakes a barn for the church and thinks the shiny black flies are the small widows his mother told him about. He takes the corks off the jugs and lets the flies taste the syrup. He tells them that the jugs cost a dime each. The flies flew around him and into the bottles. He shook the flies out of the jugs and they flew away. He began to chase after them but fell. When he fell the dimes came out of his pocket and he thought it was the flies paying. He called after them to get the jugs, but they had flown off, so he ate the rest of the syrup and took the money home to his mother. She tells him he can have anything he wants for dinner, but he is full from all of the sugarcane syrup!

I think this book would also be entertaining to the students because of the comedy provided by Juan Bobo and his silly mistakes and misconceptions!

Meet Kristen- Historical Fiction; Chapter Book

Meet Kristen: An American Girl
by Janet Shaw

This novel is one from the American Girls series. The book is centered around Kirsten, who is a nine-year-old. She and her family go through obstacles while they journey from Sweden to the Minnesota frontier in 1854. When the difficult traveling is over, Kirsten and her family settle on a farm on the Minnesota frontier. The story tells about hardships Kirsten faces such as making friends with another little girl, named Marta, while on the ship then being seperated away from her upon thier arrival to New York. In New York, Kirsten struggles when she is seperated from her father around crowds and people who speak various, unrecognizable languages to Kirsten. Kirsten and her family have to travel by foot, steamboat and train to reach their new destination, and home, in Minnesota with Uncle Olav and his family.

Pollution- Nonfiction

Pollution
by Helen Orme

This book enlightens readers on the dangers presented to the earth due to pollution. The pictures are very vivid and allow the reader to see how many threats the earth faces. The author tell about pollution being in many different places, such as the air, water and land. The author explains how pollution ultimately affects every living creature on the planet. The author explains the different types of pollution and thier causes and affects on the planet. Several facts and suggestions for improvement are included throughout the book. From landfills to radio active pollution and noise pollution to the future, this book does a great job of educating about pollution.

Anansi the Spider- Folktale

Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti
adapted by Gerald McDermott

The author has written several other books similiar to this one that I thoroughly enjoy. The book is about Anansi. Anansi is a spider who is funny, mischievous, and clever. This folk hero originated in in traditional Ashanti tales from Ghana, in West Africa. This story is about the father spider, Anansi, and his six spider sons. One day, Anansi embarks on a challenging journey and finds himself in different types of trouble. Every time Anansi gets into trouble, each of Anansi's sons do something to help. When they all work together, they are able to save their father. While in his journey, Anansi finds a beautiful globe of light in the forest. Anansi decides that he will use the globe as a gift to show his appreciation, however he is unsure of which son he should give the globe to. Anansi turns to the gods to help and they end up taking the globe. This book was very cute and would be a great way to share folk tales with students.

Freedom on the Menu- Historical Fiction

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-ins
by Carole Boston Weatherford

This book was a great way to explain to younger students about what happened at the Greensboro Sit-ins on an elementary level. The text is simple, but does a great job of explaining what happened and why. The illustrations are also very vivid and give a great way of looking at the way African Americans lived and were treated during the Civil Rights Movement. I would share this with my class to let them know how racisim impacted our country in negative ways and to let them know it would not be tolerated in my classroom what-so-ever. I would also share with the students the location of the sit-ins and how they took place in our state, North Carolina. This book could also be read during Black History Month during Febuary.

Seven Spools of Thread- Multicultural

Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story
by Angela Shelf Medearis

This story is about a family that has hardships. The mother dies and leaves her sons to be cared for by thier father alone. The sons are very handsome. The father begins having trouble with his sons. The argue all the time and make living with them unbearable. When the father passes away, the sons go into town to talk with the village chief. He tells them that they have seven spools of thread to use to make gold by the end of the day. They have to learn to work together without arguing, but if they cannot accomplish doing so, they will lose all of thier inhertiance. If they cannot make gold together all of their inhertiance will be given to the poorest villagers. The sons make fabric out of the thread and go into the village and sell it. While selling the fabric, the man responsibile for making the chief's clothing sees the fabric and buys with gold all of the remaining cloth the sons have made. The sons rush to the chief and barely make it before sunset. The chief gives them thier inhertiance, but the sons realize that there all still poor villagers and decide to teach them how to make the fabric so they can make money.

This act of kindness explains how and where Kwanzaa was created. I thought this book was very interesting. It also contains a section that explains how Kwanzaa is the only holiday that doesn't have religious affiliations. I think reading this story to my class would be a great way to ensure my classroom is multicultural and diverse.

Grandmother's Dreamcatcher- Multicultural

Grandmother's Dreamcatcher
by Becky Ray McCain

This boom is about Kimmy, a little Chippewa girl who goes to live with her grandmother because Kimmy's parents have to find a new place to live. Kimmy has a hard time sleeping becuase she keeps having nightmares about possible dangers her parents may encounter. To help Kimmy sleep, her Grandmother tells her about dreamcatchers and the belief of how they are suppose to capture bad dreams and allow good ones to make their way back to the person dreaming. The stroy puts Kimmy at ease and she and her grandmother find scrap materials and work together to make a dreamcatcher for Kimmy. The illustrations are pretty and give the characters features and expressions of thier own. This book would be great to share with students to make them aware of various cultures and beliefs. Something that I thought was neat is the way the author included the directions for making a dreamcatcher in the book. Creating a dreamcatcher as individuals or a group would be a great follow-up acticvity after sharing this book with the class.

Brave Jack and the Unicorn- Fantasy

Brave Jack and the Unicorn
by Janet McNaughton

This book is a Newfoundland folk tale about a boy named Jack. Jack is the youngest of three brothers. His widowed mother is worried about him because Jack isn't smart or good-looking. Jack's family thinks that Jack is not very important or anything more than a fool, for that matter. One day Jack's brothers are sent off on a journey. They are going to seek their own fortunes. After his brothers do not return, Jack is sent off to try and find them. While traveling, Jack helps out creatures he encounters that are in need. To thank Jack for his help, these creatures give Jack help in magical ways. Jack finds out about a mean magician that controls the life of the princess. Jack decides to pose as a suitor. Jack has to complete three tests and find the unicorn in order to save the princess. After rescuing the princess, Jack tells her he wants to stop in the next town to find his brothers. The princess tells him not to and asks him to stay and help her rule. They married and started a family. This book would be a great addition to any classroom library and could be compared and contrasted with other fairy tales.

BabyMouse: Puppy Love- Graphic Novel

BabyMouse: Puppy Love

by Jennifer & Matt Holm

This is the first graphic novel that I have ever read. Although I opposed the idea of graphic novels at first, after completing this novel I became more open to the idea of graphic novels. I found myself hooked after reading the first page. I couldn't put it down. The novel is about a mouse that is struggling with being responsible for her pets. I like the way the author uses humor that readers of all ages can appreciate. I feel like graphic novels can be helpful for students who typically do not seem interested in reading, due to the similar nature that graphic novels have with comics.

Babymouse seems to have a bad past when it comes to her pets and caring properly for them. She has had several goldfish as pets- some died and one ran away. She starts off with several different pet fish and then slowly moves up to larger pets, but maintains having issues with being responsible. She tries to convince her mother that she will change. As I read, the author builds up interest by making the reader ponder if Babymouse will get the dog of her dreams. I was so intrigued by this particular book, that I researched the series and found out it was the eighth novel in the series. This was a wonderful book, that would be beneficial to readers that comprehend better with illustrations.

Missing May- Realistic Fiction; Chapter Book

Missing May

by Cynthia Rylant

The opening for, Missing May, “When May died,” absolutely grabs the attention of the reader and immediately sets the tone for the novel. The author, Cynthia Rylant, creates, in my opinion, brilliant character names, such as: Summer, Ob, May and Cletus, that do a great job of depicting the setting that the characters live in. The struggles that the characters face make them easy to relate to, and could greatly help a child who may be going through the loss of a loved one. Although the piece of literature is witty, and at times upbeat, it is overall a novel that tells the tragedy of loving a loved one.

The main character, Summer, was orphaned and living with distant relatives when she was six years old, until custody was given to her elderly aunt and uncle that lived in West Virginia, Ob and May, who visited the family she was staying with and decided to adopt her. Summer was twelve years old when her Aunt May died. Summer was amazed at the bond and love that her aunt and uncle had for her, and is frightened by Uncle Ob’s reaction and methods of mourning. When Uncle Ob sensed contact from May, Summer was willing to do whatever she thought may help him with his grief, despite her true feelings about the methods, such as religious ceremonies.

The way the novel fosters the grief that Summer was burdened with is amazing. Summer mother passing is described so beautifully by the twelve year old that I felt as it that if I could have her way of thinking, I could mourn less emotionally with losses of loved ones. I was stunned at the fact that a children’s book could invoke feelings that strongly in an adult. I loved the descriptions of the characters and could easily visualize the stringy, greasy hair in Cletus’s face. I was scared to think to strongly of Ob due to his frail appearance and his broken heart. I felt as if I personally entered the home of Cletus’s parents and I felt like I entered carefully, scared to accidentally bump into or touch anything because of the fragility of his aged parents.

The novel surprisingly made me feel such emotion. I was enticed from the first word to the last, and could not put the book down until I had finished it in its entirety. I had to continually remind myself that it was a children’s novel, rather than an adult’s.