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. 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Author: J.K. Rowling

Genre: Fantasy

Grade level: 3-6

There is a boy named Harry who's parents were killed by a bad wizard named Voldemort. He tried to kill Harry but was unsuccessful. Harry lives with a family called the Dursley's and they spoil their own children while Harry has to sleep in the attic. Harry exhibits special powers at the zoo when the glass breaks and he is punished for the incident. Letters come for Harry but Mr. Dursley hides them. Eventually Hagrid comes to give him his acceptance letter to Hogwarts. A month later he boards the train to London to go to school. He meets Hermoine and Ron on the train and they become great friends. There is a troll roaming around the school and together they defeat the troll. For Christmas he receives his fathers invisibility cloak and he explores the school. They find out a three headed dog is guarding the sorcerer stone which is capable of providing eternal life and wealth. Harry finds out that Voldemort is trying the steal the stone. Harry decides that he should find the stone before Voldemort does. They make it past lots of different quarrels and eventually make it to be face to face with a guy named Quirrell and he puts him in front of the mirror that shows you what you always desire and he desires to have the stone and he feels it in his pocket. He tells Quirrell something else and a voice tells him that Harry is lying. He reveals a face on the back of his head and that face is Voldemort who tells Quirrell to kill Harry he is burned when he comes in contact with Harry. Harry faints and wakes up in the hospital with Dumbledore the headmaster by his side who tells him that he saved him just in time and they decided to destroy the stone. 

This book is a very good book to introduce to your students. There is a lot of very good vocabulary that can be used in weekly vocab and spelling tests. It is a very imaginative book that can be used for all sorts of activities and prompts for journal writings. 

The cover art is very cartoonish and there are a couple hints to what the book would be about with the unicorn in the background and the broomstick. On hardcover books the lettering of the Harry Potter is gold and in different material than the rest of the book. 

Holes 

Author: Louis Satcher 

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Grade level: 3-5

Award: John Newberry Medal

Stanley Yelnats has a curse on him and his family put on his great great grandfather. He is sent to Camp Green Lake for a crime that he did not commit. They are forced to dig giant holes everyday. He soon realizes that the warden is looking for something and that is why they dig holes. He meets other boys at camp and we learn about why his family has a curse because his great great grandfather did not take Madame Zeroni up the mountain and sing a song when she helped him fatten up a pig to hopefully win over a girl he loved. The thing that the warden was looking for was a treasure a big treasure that kissing kate barlow collected. The love of her life was killed and so she went seeking for revenge. She would kill people and kiss them after they were dead. She would rob people and eventually she runs into stanleys great grandfather. When the man she loved was killed rain stopped falling and the lake dried up. Stanley makes a friend named Zero and eventually Zero runs away from the camp after saving Stanley. Stanley eventually goes after Zero and the two make their way up the mountain. Zero gets hurt and Stanley has to carry him up the mountain. They reach the top and find onions and water where they eat and drink and stanley sings the song he learned from his ancestors. This breaks the curse and on the way back they find the treasure as well. Zero hires a private investigator and finds his mom. 

This book can be used in the classroom for a variety of reasons. There is lots of vocabulary that can be learned. Each week there could be a weekly spelling test on words from the story. This book also teaching about perseverance and friendship and would be a great prompt maker for journal entries. 

The cover art is pretty abstract. It looks as if it is a moon. The colors are pretty bold and bland. 

Mama Played Baseball

Author: David A. Adler

Illustrator: Chris O'Leary

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade level: K-3

Amy's dad is away at war. While he is away at war her mother has to be able to work to provide for their family. She takes a job on a professional baseball team. At first she doesn't understand why her mother would be playing baseball but as she watched how hard she worked and how good she was she would end up being the one who cheers the loudest in the entire stadium. Amy starts to work on a surprise for her father for when he returns from war. In the end Amy's mother tells her that she's gong to take her somewhere as a surprise. She thinks that they are going to a game since her mother has her uniform on but instead she takes her to the base where her dad is returning home from war. They both tell each other they like their uniforms when they see each other. 

This book can be used to talk about WWII. It can also be used to teach about women's rights and how they changed over the years. We could also learn about technology since there are technological things that are talked about in the book. 

The illustrations in the book are very lightly colored and perfectly drawn for the time period. It is detailed to where you can tell when this took place. 

Child of the Civil Rights Movement

Author: Paula Young Shelton

Illustrator: Raul Colon 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade level: K-3

A little girl named Paula who lives in New York grew up following Jim Crow Laws. One day they were watching tv a story appeared and it was about freedom riders. Paula's parents wanted to immediately do something to help protest the Jim Crow Laws. They moved to Georgia instantly. While living there they are denied access into things just based on the color of their skin and Paula never understood why. She would cry every time that they would be denied access. She soon would be surrounded by her uncle Martin Luther King Jr and many others protesting against Jim Crow Laws. She talks about different things that happened in order to eventually pass the Voting Rights Acts. 

This book can be used to teach about the civil rights movement. There is a lot of information in this book about the movement and is in the viewpoint of a child. This book can relate to students on a personal level since it is in the viewpoint of a young child. It can teach lessons about racism and segregation. 

The illustrations are very colorful depictions of what it was like to be black during that time period. It showcases emotions as well as detailed things to illustrate the time period this was taking place. The blurred edges of the illustrations give it the feel of a memory which it is a child's memory. 

Red Kits, Blue Kit

Author: Ji-li Jiang

Illustrator: Greg Ruth

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade level: K-3

Tai Chan likes to fly kites with his father. He flies a red kite. His father flies a blue kite. They fly their kites together all the time with a sense of freedom while he tells him stories. Then one day Japanese soldiers come to their town and ransack it. They take his father to a labor camp and Tai Chan is left in the care of his grandmother. The son and father still fly their kites so they can be free together despite being far away not not exactly free. In the end he returns to his son and they are free again together. 

This story can be used in the classroom to teach a child to be thankful for what they have. It also can be used to teach children about what it was like when China was invaded by Japanese soldiers and put them into labor camps and separated their families. 

The illustrations are beautiful and brightly colored. The kits are the only things that are brightly colored. Everything else is a kind of dull color of dim browns in order for the kites to pop out to the readers. They are layered showing lots of different views. You can see the different action going on in the background of the war. 

Back of the Bus

Author: Aaron Reynolds

Illustrator: Floyd Cooper

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade level: K-4

A small boy plays with his marbles on a long bus ride. He heard angry voices and kept asking his mom if they had done something wrong. The bus pulled up and their were police all over. He witnesses Rosa Parks refuse to get up from her seat. He witnesses her being taken away to jail. This was a story in the viewpoint of a child.

This story can be used to learn about the Civil rights movement. It can also be used to teach a lesson about racism and what it was like for children during that time period. Learning about segregation as well. 

The illustrations are beautiful and detailed realistic paintings. It is perfect for the view of a child and portrays emotions through the artwork. 

Baseball Saved Us

Author: Ken Mochizuki

Illustrator: Dom Lee

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade level: K-4

Award: Washington State Book Award

There is a boy who is nicknamed Shorty because of his size. Shorty and his family are taken to an interment camp. Shorty's dad decided that it was time to build a baseball field. The community is all for the sport in order to boost moral. Shorty is not very good but he practice a lot and eventually gets much better. He is motivated by one of the guards that sits and watches him. Shorty is faced with many racial slurs, negative comments, and bullying for his Japanese nature. In the end he is up to bat again in a game winning situation. He tunes out the heckling and he comes up big for his team in the end and wins. 

This book can be used to talk about how the Japanese were treated during WWI. This can be used to learn about how racism is bad and how they were treated during this time. 

The illustrations are very interesting. They are mostly dark colors to represent how depressing and how dark and dreary their time is. Each page is differently occupied with the illustrations. Some pages occupy the whole page and some have white borders. Some even cover a two page spread. The illustrator used beeswax on paper scratching out images and adding oil and paint for color. 

Separate is Never Equal

Author/Illustrator: Duncan Tonatiuh

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade level: K-3

Award: Pura Belpre Award

Sylvia was placed in a Mexican school rather than a white only school based on her ethnic background. They realized that she was being given a second class education compared to those in the white schools. They decide to appeal the schools placement and the racism is exposed because they told her they would teach her how to speak english even though she speaks perfect english. Her parent's took the battle all the way to court and encouraged other hispanic families facing similar situations to stand up and do something as well. 

This book can be used to talk about the civil rights movement. It also can be used to discuss racism. It also can be an introduction to learning about the Brown Vs. Board of education. 

The illustrations are folk art. The color scheme is more dark and the illustration fill the page. They don't do a good job of showing exactly what the characters are feeling. In a book about discrimination I believe the characters should be shown how they are feeling within the illustrations. 

Pete the Cat: The First Thanksgiving

Author/Illustrator: Kimberly and James Dean

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade level: K-3

Pete the cat is in a thanksgiving school play. He recounts the story of the first thanksgiving. He recounts about the pilgrims and their journey. He talks about how he befriended the Indians and how they came to have the first thanksgiving. At the end of the story Pete and his sibling and mom are all going around saying what they are each thankful for. 

This story can be used to recount the story of thanksgiving. It can be read during thanksgiving time and can be used to make fun thanksgiving themed activities. 

The illustrations are very fun and colorful. They look to be as if children drew them. This is a lift the flap book. Their is an array of different color schemes used in this book. 

The Wall

Author: Eve Bunting

Illustrator: Ronald Himler

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade level: K-3

A young boy and his father visit the Vietnamese Veterans Memorial building in Washington D.C. This is not an ordinary sight seeing visit. They are looking for the boys grandfather's name on the wall. The boy notices different types of people approaching the wall leaving different kinds of momentos. They finally find the name and they quietly stand in front of it to mourn the great loss. He tells the boy that he is very proud that his fathers name is on the wall. 

This book would be perfect to learn about the Vietnam war. It can be used as kind of an introduction to learning about the war. it can also be used to teach about what a solider is and what they do in war. 

The illustrations are beautiful. They are somber dark paintings that represent the grief and the reverence the book is supposed to convey.  

Players in Pigtails

Author: Shana Corey 

Illustrator: Rebecca Gibbons

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade level: K-4

Katie Casey doesn't like to do the normal things a woman would do like cooking, sewing, etc. She would rather play baseball. Many people make comments to her that baseball is not for girls and she should just stick to ballet. Baseball started to change because during WWII boys were drafted into the war and there was no time for baseball. Then the owner of the Chicago Cubs questions that if women can work in factories and the work force, then they should be able to play baseball as well. At first his ideas aren't received well but eventually he finds ways to convince the public that it is a good idea. 

This book is perfect to teach about women rights. This could also be used during a WWII lesson as well. There is a lot of good vocabulary throughout the book as well for a vocal or spelling lesson. 

The illustrations were very stiff. They are colorful and semi realistic. There isn't much movement in them. There are many different details that hint that the time period is during WWII. 

A Storm Called Katrina

Author: Myron Uhlberg

Illustrator: Colin Bootman

Genre: Historical Fiction 

Grade Level: K-3

This is a story of a 10 year old boy who lived in New Orleans when hurricane Katrina hit. When the storm hits nobody is worried about it at all until it starts to worsen. Since they were not prepared, there was no time to gather up any of their belongings except his horn. They find a piece of floating porch and Louis and his mother climb aboard while his dad pushes them safely along. On the way they saw a lot of disturbing images. They make it to the super dome and they lose his father. Louis has to prove he is a big boy and help find his father. 

This book can be used in the classroom to talk about natural disasters. It also can be used to talk about hurricane Katrina and it's affects on history. It can also be used during black history month. 

The illustrations are beautiful. They are extremely realistic and the coloring and details are amazing. They are oil paintings. There is a combination of light and dark in his images. 

Spike in the City

Author/Illustrator: Paulette Bogan

Genre: Fantasy- Audio Book

Grade level: K-3

Shannon took Spike to his first big trip to the city. He adventured through the city, got all muddy and gross, met some not very nice dogs, and other horrible things. He did not like his trip in the city. He liked the park where he could play but soon after he ran into trouble with other dogs and lost his owner. Eventually he finds Shannon and she is so happy to see him and he is so happy to see her. They ride off in a taxi together most likely back to where they came from.

This book is good to use in the classroom because it is an audio book. The author is the one who is reading it and she gives special behind the scenes details and guides the reading smoothly. She also provides activities and word games to go along with the book. This would be a good book to teach about the differences from a rural and an urban place.

The illustrations are very humorous and fun. They are colorful and don't quite take up the entire page.  There is a border around the pictures. The words are written on the bottom of the page in the white space. The characters are very fun and exhibit great expressions that really portray the mood theyre in.