Smile

Author/Illustrator: Raina Telgemeier 

Genre: Graphic Novel

Grade level: 3-6

A little girl name Raina wants to fit in like everyone else and be a normal 6th grader. One night after a girl scout meeting she trips and falls and injures her two front teeth. One problem leads to another and another. She keeps getting her braces taken on and off and on again. She gets surgery and a fake retainer with teeth attached. To top the icing on the cake she is forced to wear incredibly embarrassing headgear! She has to deal with many major problems on top of all these dental problems. She has to deal with boys, her friends that are being mean, and a major earthquake! At the end she grows up and stands up for herself and learns to love herself more than she ever could. 

This book is a great book for children. It teaches them about the pressures of school and friends and how to fit in. It can be used to teach children how their feelings of acceptance and some things they are feeling during school is normal and everyone feels it. There are some great vocabulary words that can be used for vocabulary tests and spelling, 

The illustrations are obviously in comic form. They are super fun and portray the characters in a very humorous way. You can tell exactly what each character is feeling. It is very lively and fluid. 

The Wide-Mouthed Frog

Author: Keith Faulkner 

Illustrator: Jonathan Lambert

Genre: Fantasy pop-up

Grade level: K-3

This story is about a frog that decides to go and visit his friends. We are introduced to all of his little friends. They open their mouth up wide and list what they like to eat and place inside their mouths. He eventually comes across an alligator and asks him what he likes to eat. He said that he likes to eat wide-mouthed frogs! Frog quickly jumps into the water and saves himself. 

This can be used in a lesson to talk about what each type of animal would eat. We can also learn about different types of animals and their habitats and eating habits. There could be a research project done on an animal.

The illustrations are obviously super cool! The popup is the animals opening up their mouth big and wide and all the things inside as well. It is brightly colored and really makes the story come to life. 

Feathers: Not Just for Flying

Author: Melissa Stewart

Illustrator: Sarah S. Brannen 

Genre: Non-fiction

Grade level: K-4

In this book we discover the beauty and multipurpose functions that bird feathers possess. There are 16 varieties of birds and their feathers that this book talks about and examines closely. A blue jay's feathers act as a warm blanket. A willow ptarmigan grow long feathers to cover their toes so they can run through the snow. Mute swans use their  feathers to stay afloat like a life jacket and much more. 

This book can be used in the classroom to inform students about birds. These are interesting facts that many people are unaware of. When learning about animals we can learn how they can have different functions. 

The illustrations are beautiful watercolored illustrations. They look as if they are in a scrapbooking fashion. There are sidebars that include interesting facts about each. There are pictures of the bird as well as a picture of the feather life sized. 

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus 

Author: Jennifer Fisher Bryant

Illustrator: Melissa Sweet 

Genre: Non-fiction

Grade level: K-4

Award: Caldecott Honor and Sibert Medal

There is a young boy named Peter Roget. He loved making lists. It starts out in Switzerland. He makes lists to help him remember his school lessons. It takes us through his life in England and Scotland as well. His mother never understood his love for list making.  He never let that get in the way of his passion. He writes his own books of list words that have the same meaning. This is what we know now as a synonym. He does exceptionally well in medical school and eventually earns a good job. Eventually all his collections get put into a thesaurus and he continues his list making because that is his passion. 

This book can be used to teach about thesaurus's. It is a good to know where it comes from and the history of a thesaurus in order to truly appreciate it and know how to use it. It is an interesting untold story that students can research about. 

The illustrations were amazing. There is a lot of precision and color in the illustrations. The illustrations are mixed-media illustrations and convey Roget's list making perfectly. The illustrations are not like the traditional illustrations they look more abstract than normal. 

Pop!: The Invention of Bubblegum

Author/Illustrator: Meghan McCarthy

Genre: Non-fiction

Grade level: K-4

The story begins with a factory owned by the Fleer family. They made large quantities of gum and candy in the 1920s. One of the factories employees was named Walter Diemer and he was a simple accountant that didn't know anything about gum. Time passed and the office next to Diemer's became a laboratory. It was occupied with many different technicians trying to come up with new kinds of gum. Gum wasn't very exciting but they decided that they should make gum be able to blow bubbles. The technicians didn't have any luck with it and they were about to give up when Walter was asked to watch a kettle holding a gum experiment. He became fascinated and he had no idea what he was doing but he eventually came up with the perfect mixture.

This book can be used in the classroom to encourage students to never give up on their dreams. It also can be used for a research project. I myself never knew the story about gum and this is a very interesting read to find out a little bit more about it. 

The illustrations are very cute and cartoonish. The big eyes look like they're about to pop just like the title and the idea of gum. The color scheme and style make it seem as if it is in the 1920s. They include fun-facts about bubble gum. 

Balloons Over Broadway

Author/Illustrator: Melissa Sweet

Genre: Non-fiction

Grade level: K-3

Award: Caldecott Honor

This book is about a boy named Tony who mastered the art of making marionettes at a young age. His talents eventually takes him the New York City. He started his career at Macy's. He would create and design a puppet parade for the holidays in the store window. Everyone loved his work and it was met with much success. He eventually took on a bigger project. He created a parade filled with dancing and music that was loved by his fellow immigrant workers. Many of those immigrant workers were missing home during the Christmas holiday and so Tony added those songs so they could celebrate and feel at home. Each year that passed his parade got better and better. The marionettes got bigger and the talent got better. 

This book can be used to encourage students to be creative. It can also be used for a research project on someone interesting that you don't normally hear about everyday. There could be a wax museum project where you research someone and this could be used as one of the tools to research with. 

The illustrations are so cute! They are very colorful and fun. They are very happy and modern and just give you a very happy vibe. The illustrations are in a variety of drawings and paper mache puppets, objects, and collages. Overall a very interesting collection of illustrations that go well with the story. A well deserved Caldecott Honor award book. 

A Little Book of Sloth

Author/photographer: Lucy Cooke

Genre: Non-fiction

Grade level: K-4

This book is a book about Sloths in Avarios Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica which is the world's only sloth orphanage. We meet the queen of the sanctuary named Buttercup who started the whole thing. She is the oldest sloth living in captivity. She is eventually joined by many others. There are very small sloths that are so small they need clothes made for them with socks to keep them warm. There are twin sloths and injured sloths and sloths that give very nice hugs. It describes the different sloths and how they live such awesome, laid back lives. It describes how they survive in the wild. 

This book can be used to learn about animals. It can also be used to learn about different animals that live in Costa Rica. It can also be used to expound on the different cultures in the world and how their are differences not only in culture but animals that roam around such as a squirrel and a rabbit roam around the U.S. 

The illustrations are photographs taken of the sloths and the sanctuary. The images show how they interact, live, and look like. It shows them growing up and how they go about their daily lives.