Sunday, October 30, 2011

Milo and the Restart Button

Title: Milo and the Restart Button                                        
Author: Alan Silberberg
Illustrator: Alan Silberberg
Genre: Fiction
Subgenre: family solidarity
Theme: Everything happens for a reason
 Primary Characters: Milo
Secondary Characters: Milo’s family and friends
Awards: None
Date of Publication: 2010
Publishing Company: Simon and Schusters
Summary of the book: This book is about a thirteen year old boy, Milo, who is trying to overcome the loss of his mother. Milo’s story is told through text and cartoons. This book is moving, but has some funny parts at the same time.
How can the book be used with students in the classroom: This would just be a great book for some free time reading, or letting the kids read for fun.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Innocent Soldier

Title: An Innocent Soldier                                                                 
Author: Joseph Holub (translated by Michael Hoffman)
Illustrator: not mentioned
Genre: Fiction
Subgenre: Historical
Theme: Friendship
Primary Characters: Adam, Lieutenant Konrad Klara
Secondary Characters:
Awards: Mildred L. Batchelder
Date of Publication: 2005
Publishing Company: Levine Books
Summary of the book: Adam is a farmhand conscripted by Napoleon’s army, which is gathering strength for its campaign against Russia. Sergeant Krauter makes Adam the victim of his most aggressive urges. When an aristocratic young lieutenant spots Adam and requisitions him as his personal valet, Adam’s life seems to take a turn for the better. As Adam and Lieutenant Konrad Klara draws closer to Moscow, they encounter panoply of wartime horrors. This book explores the importance of friendship in persevering against overwhelming odds.
How can the book be used with students in the classroom: This would be a great book to read to the class about friendship and could be added to a History lesson.

Beautiful Blackbirds

Title: “Beautiful Blackbird”  
Author: Ashley Bryan
Illustrator: Ashley Bryan
Genre: picture book
Subgenre: multicultural
Theme: Fitting in with everyone
Primary Characters: Blackbirds
Secondary Characters: Birds
Awards: Coretta Scott King
Date of Publication: 2003
 Publishing Company: Athenuem Books for Young Readers 
Summary of the book:   This story is about a Blackbird who was voted the most beautiful bird in the forest.  All the other birds, which were colored red, yellow, blue, and green, were jealous that they wanted the Blackbird to paint their feathers with a touch of black. The Blackbird tries to tell the other birds that true beauty comes from within, but the birds still want the Blackbird to give them black on their feathers. So the Blackbird does and they have black on their feathers.

How can the book be used with students in the classroom:  This is a great multicultural story about fitting in with everyone.  It doesn’t matter whether you are white, black, tan, or pale. This is a great story to use in the classroom to show that we may be different colors, but we can all make the world a better place.  This is a great story to teach morals.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

I Lost My Tooth in Africa

Title: I lost my Tooth in Africa                                                         
Author: Penda Diakite
Illustrator: Baba Wague Diakite
Genre: fiction
Subgenre: Multicultural
Theme: family, comparison and merging of cultures
Primary Characters: Amina
Secondary Characters: Author’s Sister
Awards: None
Date of Publication: 2006
Publishing Company: Scholastic Press

Summary of the book:  I lost My Tooth in Africa, is a story of a young girl from Portland, Oregon who visits her family in Mali, Africa. The young girl loses her loose tooth and receives a present from the “African tooth fairy”.
How can the book be used with students in the classroom:  This is great book to introduce children to African culture.



Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Bud, not Buddy

Title: Bud, not Buddy                                   
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Illustrator: Not mentioned
Genre: Historical Fiction
Subgenre: Adventrous
Theme: When one door closes, another door opens
Primary Characters: Bud, Mr. Herman E. Calloway, Angela Janet Caldwell, Todd Amos, Deza Malone, Lefty Lewis, Miss Grace Thomas, the band members
Secondary Characters: Bugs, Lefty Lewis’ daughter and her children, Miss Hill, Jerry Clark
Awards: Newberry and Coretta Scott King
Date of Publication: 1999
Publishing Company: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Summary of the book: This book is about a young boy named Bud (not Buddy) Caldwell, who has been an orphan since he was six. He decides to runaway after being abused in a foster home. He sets out to find his father, a man named Herman E. Calloway. His father was a bandleader in Michigan during the Depression. He has many adventures along the way and learns many lessons he can take with him in his life.
How can the book be used with students in the classroom: This would be a great book to teach a lesson on diversity. Because it talks about how life was for an African American boy in the mid-1930’s. I could also use it in a History lesson.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Hey, Al

Title: Hey, Al                                                                         
Author: Arthur Yorinks
Illustrator: Richard Egilski
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Subgenre: Fiction; Realism
Theme: Never giving up no matter how bad things get
Primary Characters: Al, the Janitor, and his dog, Eddie
Secondary Characters: The large bird
Awards: Caldecott Medal (1987)
Date of Publication: 1986
Publishing Company: Farrar Press

Summary of the book: This is a story about a janitor named, Al and his dog, Eddie. Al and Eddie both dislike the way their life is going and they want to move on to bigger and better things. One day a large bird stops by Al’s house and offers to take them to a wonderful island in the sky. Al and Eddie agree to go but once they get to the island and stay for a few days, they realize it isn’t so wonderful after all. The two begin to turn into birds and they realize even though the island is considered paradise, they would rather return to their small, messy house.
How can the book be used with students in the classroomI would use this story to help children learn to discuss and count their blessings, including each other. I would relate the story to experiences about being glad to return home from a trip or a vacation, even though everyone had a wonderful time. This story can help children learn to be thankful and appreciate what they have. I would use the story, Hey Al to help reassure students that they are special in their own way no matter what kind of house they live in.

Officer Buckle and GLoria

Title: Officer Bucle and Gloria                                                                                 
Author: Peggy Rathmann
Illustrator: Peggy Rathmann
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Subgenre: Children and Animals
Theme: Safety
Primary Characters: Officer Buckle and Gloria
Secondary Characters: Mrs. Toppel, and Children
Awards: Caldecott Medal
Date of Publication: 1995
Publishing Company: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Summary of the book:  This is a great book for all ages. It is a story about a police officer that gets ignored by the children while he is reciting some important safety rules. But when he retrieves a dog named Gloria things change for Office Buckle.
How can the book be used with students in the classroom: I would use this book in my classroom to teach some very important safety rules. I could also talk about how the class needs to follow rules in the classroom.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

No Dogs Allowed

Title:   No Dogs Allowed                                          
Author: Sonia Manzano
Illustrator: Jon J. Muth
Genre: Fiction
Subgenre:  humorous story
Theme: Never give up
Primary Characters: Iris
Secondary Characters: Shorty, Mami, Papi and El Exigente
Awards: None
Date of Publication: 2004
Publishing Company: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Summary of the book: This story is about a girl name Shorty, her dog,  El Exigente, and her family. In this story, the family is getting ready to go on a vacation to the Enchanted Park. Getting places takes them longer than normal because they are  never all on the same page. Once they finally get the car loaded up and rolling, they break down. Once they finally get the car back up and running, they make it to the park. At the park there is a sign that says, “No Dogs Allowed!”  The family did not let this get them down. They decided to take turns sitting out in the parking lot with their dog, El Exigente.
How can the book be used with students in the classroom: I could tie this book into a lesson about “no matter how bad things may seem, never give up!” No matter how far off track things were going for this family, they never gave up and they always made things work the best they could.



Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The Snowy Day

Title: The Snowy Day
Author: Ezra Jack Keats
Illustrated: Ezra Jack Keats
Genre:  Children’s Picture Book
Subgenre: Fiction
Theme: Snow Falling
Primary Characters: Peter
Secondary Characters: Peter’s Friends
Date of Publication: 1962
Publishing Company: New York, The Viking Press
Awards: The Caldecott Medal

Summary of the book:  This book is about a little boy who wakes up to a blanket of snow.  He goes out to play in the beautiful falling snow. The little boy explores the snow by making, snow angels, tracks in the snow, and loves sledding down the hills.
How can this book be used in the classroom: I would use this book to start out the winter season and also ask the children what they would do if they woke up to snow fallen.  This is a great book for diversity, because the main character is an African-American boy.


Children of the Great Depression

See full size imageTitle: Children of the Great Depression                                            
Author: Russell Freedman
Illustrator: Not mentioned
Genre: Non-fiction
Subgenre: History
Theme: The Great Depression
Primary Characters: The Children
Date of Publication: 2006
Publishing Company: Clarion Books
Awards: Orbit Pictus

Summary of the book: This book shows photographs of children living during the Great Depression and tells about their lives in great detail.  The text touches on the relevant topics of watching their parents struggle to provide for their families, schools shutting down for loss funds, farm foreclosures, the living conditions of migrant workers, the economic disparity children saw at school, and also children working to help their families before child labor laws were in place. The book tells about the financial Depression, how long it lasted and several of the government programs that were begun in order to combat the problems and reduce the chances that history would repeat itself.
How can the book be used with students in the classroom: I would use this book to read to the class for a History lesson on the Great Depression.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The Little Red Hen

Title:   The Little Red Hen                                                    
Author: Margo Zemach
Illustrator: Margot Zemach
Genre: Picture Book
Subgenre: Traditional Literature
Theme: a value of a days work
Primary Characters: The Little Red Hen
Secondary: Pig, Goose, and Cat
Date of Publication: 1983
Publishing Company: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary of the book: This is a book about the Little Red Hen who finds some grains of wheat and wants her friends to help, plant, harvest, and thresh the wheat.  Little Red Hen’s friends are too busy to help Little Red Hen, until she finally does it all herself and bakes bread with the flour that she got from the wheat, and she ask who wants to eat the bread.  All the friends want to eat the bread, but Little Red Hen says No Way! She and her chicks sit down to eat the lovely bread that the Little Red Hen prepared and baked.
How can the book be used with students in the classroom: The Little Red Hen is a simple story with good rhythm and refrain. This is a great children’s book to teach a lesson on where food comes from and the value of a good days work.