Children's Lit books I read before class

Here are some books that I had read before my Children's Lit class that I just could miss talking about again!!!


Module 2 Classic Picture and Chapter Books (only chapter here)

• Little Women and Little Men by Louisa May Alcott-I read these growing up and I loved them!!
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis- The whole series is a classic! My third or fourth grade teacher read the Magician's Apprentice to us and I read LWW to my third grade classes.

Module 3 Caldecott Medal

There are so many I am only going to mention my favorites!

• Smoky Night by Eve Bunting- Good story that some kids may have background knowledge about and the pictures are great
• Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say- Love this author's work about Asian American characters
• Tuesday by David Wiesner- Awesome wordless picture book!
• Hey Al by Arthur Yorinks- Loved the twist in this book and the parrot!
• Why Mosquitos Buzz in Peoples Ear retold by Verna Aardema- While the pictures may seem a little out dated they match the African story good. I read this growing up and I read it to my students still!

Module 4 Newbury Award

Again only my favorites!

• Holes by Louis Sachar- Read this after the movie but it was still great! Good book for boys.
• The Giver by Lois Lowry-One of my all time favorite fantasy reads.
• The Hero and the Crown by Robin Mckinley-Loved this author growing up. There are more in this series and she wrote THE best Beauty and the Beast retelling!
• The Grey King by Susan Cooper-This whole series was awesome!
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle-Loved this whole series and did a play for school growing up using one of the first video recorders and I was Meg. Sure wish I could get my hands on the video today!
• Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O'dell- Another of my all time favorites!

Module 5 Other Awards

Texas Bluebonnet

• Ten Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break to Survive the School Bus by John Grandits- This was soooo funny! A great book for writing.
• The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywait-Good book on point of view and to use with writing.
• Help Me, Mr. Mutt by Janet Stevens- This and the other one are both hysterical due to the back and forth between the dog and cat as well as the letters from other dogs.
• Cook-A-Doodle-Do by Janet Stevens-I use this book for reading and multiple meaning words. Sooo funny and the kids think so too!!

Module 6 Picture Books

• Click, Clack, Moo, Cows that Type; Duck for President; Diary of a Spider/Worm/Fly by Doreen Cronin- All are sooo good and can be use for multiple things!
• Julius, Baby of the World; Lillie's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes-Any with his mice in it are great for character traits and feelings. Love them!
• Hooway for Wodney Wat; Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester- Both good for talking about being different and both are funny.
• Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin- I love only the first two then they aren't as good. School Shoes best!
• Scaredy Squirrel (any) by Melanie Watt-OMG one of my favorite all time book characters heehee I even dressed up as him for Book Character day.
• Pigeon (any) and Knufflebunny by Mo Willems- Really any by him they are simple but cute!
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka- Good story for point of view and fairy tales being retold.
• A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon- Love this story!
• Dear Mrs LaRue: Letters from Dog Obediance School (plus sequels) by Mark Teague- Funny story about an imprisoned pooch.
• Chester by Melanie Watt- Great book for writing and editing

Module 7 Realistic Fiction    I don't read a lot of this!

• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen- Thriller about being lost in wilderness. Even though he is by himself most of the book it was still not boring.

Module 8 Fantasy   I read a TON of this so lots of good ones!

• The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate De Camillo-Sooo love this book and almost cried when reading it.
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore (all in series)- This book is one of my favorites! I didn't care for the last one as much and the first I think is the best. So groundbreaking during a time when Twilight like books were everywhere! It was a breath of fresh air.
• Eragon by Chris  Paolini- I loved the first but I never got around to the rest. Could be due to the size of the book. And while I liked it I did feel it was too drawn out.
• Shiver; Linger by Maggie Steifvater- I liked them but similar to other books that were published at that time.
• Enclave by Ann Aguirre-This author publishes adult fantasy and her first for young adults I thought was better than her adult books. It is series.
• The House of Scorpion by Nancy Farmer- This book was awesome about cloning and the drug trade. I think there was sequel written not too long ago.
• Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix- This is a series and I read them when they first came out. I stopped about book 5 because they weren't as good. I liked the first one best.
• The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness-This book blew my mind about how the whole society worked. I never read the next ones because I think I read a blog and didn't like where it was going. But the first one is great.
• Maximum Ride the Angel Experiment by James Patterson- This author is primarily an adult author but wrote these for young adults. The first ones are the best and the later ones start focusing on environmental stuff. They just made a movie about the first one and for the most part it was good (the acting could have been better but it wasn't bad for a low budget movie).
• Life as We Knew It; The Dead and Gone by Susan Beth Pffeffer-Both really good apocalyptic/end of world books before the big trend. The books are set in same world but from different parts of country and timeline. I think there is at least one more in this series.
• Divergent by Veronica Roth-It was good but nothing groundbreaking.
• Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner- Really good with a different spin on the fairy tale. She just put out a sequel.

Module 3 Flotsam

Book Cover

APA Reference of Book:

Weisner, D. (2006). Flotsam. New York, NY: Clarion Books.

Book Summary:
Since this is a picture book the plot is determined by the readers. The front and end pages are beautifully illustrated to look like the beach or items found at a beach. A boy is at a beach and is exploring and finds a camera with film in it so he takes it to be developed. Strange things are in the pictures he found. At the end he takes a picture of himself and throws the camera back into the water.

Impressions:
The artwork is stunning and very realistic with bright colors to match the season and being at the beach. The story is wonderfully told through the pictures and including the wonder and surprise of of what the boys sees in the pictures. There are enough pictures to tell the story but there are enough gaps as well to develop your own spin on what exactly is going on and how the story ends. I will definitely have to keep this author on my to buy list!

Professional Review:
Two-time Caldecott winner Wiesner (Tuesday; The Three Pigs) crafts another wordless mystery, this one set on an ordinary beach and under an enchanted sea. A saucerlike fish's eye stares from the exact center of the dust jacket, and the fish's scarlet skin provides a knockout background color. First-timers might not notice what's reflected in its eye, but return visitors will: it's a boxy camera, drifting underwater with a school of slim green fish. In the opening panels, Wiesner pictures another close-up eye, this one belonging to a blond boy viewing a crab through a magnifying glass. Visual devices--binoculars and a microscope in a plastic bag--rest on a nearby beach towel, suggesting the boy's optical curiosity. After being tossed by a wave, the studious boy finds a barnacle-covered apparatus on the sand (evocatively labeled the "Melville Underwater Camera"). He removes its roll of film and, when he gets the results, readers see another close-up of his wide-open, astonished eye: the photos depict bizarre undersea scenes (nautilus shells with cutout windows, walking starfish-islands, octopi in their living room à la Tuesday's frogs). A lesser fantasist would end the story here, but Wiesner provides a further surprise that connects the curious boy with others like him. Masterfully altering the pace with panel sequences and full-bleed spreads, he fills every inch of the pages with intricate, imaginative watercolor details. New details swim into focus with every rereading of this immensely satisfying excursion. Ages 5-8. (Sept.)

Flotsam. (2006). Publishers Weekly, 253(29), 56-57

Library Uses: 
I would use this as a story telling example. I would give students a page and have them make up a story or even write it. You could also break up the pictures and have them decide what order they should go in for inference or sequencing.


My Rating: ****

Module 2 The Snowy Day

Book Cover:

Book Summary:

APA Reference of Book:
Keats, E. J. (1962). The snowy day. New York: Viking Press.

Impressions:

Professional Review:
In this mood book, never static but sparkling with atmosphere in lovely water-color pictures, a small boy experiences the joys of a snowy day. The brief, vividly expressed text points out his new awareness of the sight and texture of snow (the crunch, crunch of his feet making tracks), the sound (the plop of snow smacked off a tree with a stick), and the fun of playing with snow — then his thinking and thinking about the outdoor adventures later in warm bathtub and bed, while more snowflakes fall. Perfect for a snowy day’s preschool story hour.

Haviland, V. (1963, February). The Snowy Day. The Hornbook Magazine. Retrieved February 1, 2017, from http://www.hbook.com/1963/02/choosing-books/reviews/review-of-the-snowy-day/#_

Library Uses:


My Rating: