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 4 Newbery Award

Book Cover:

Book Summary:

A boy and his mom get on a bus to go to a soup kitchen on Sunday. As they ride the bus the boy listens to music that the people on the bus make.

APA Reference of Book:

Peña, M. D., & Robinson, C. (2015). Last stop on Market Street. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers.

Impressions:

The pictures are very simple and use primary colors to show the bus as it takes the boy and his mom to Market Street. I found the story cute with simple sentences and you don't know until the end why they are taking the bus. As you get to the soup kitchen you realize that the boy and his mom volunteer their time. I liked that this showed how ordinary people can help others in small ways.

Professional Review:

CJ and his nana depart church and make it to the bus stop just in time to avoid an oncoming rain shower. They board the bus, and while CJ is full of questions and complaints (why don't they have a car? why must they make this trip every week? and so forth), Nana's resolute responses articulate the glories of their rich, vibrant life in the city, as presented by the bus' passengers and passages. A tattooed man checks his cell phone. An older woman keeps butterflies in a jar. A musician tunes and plays his guitar. At last the pair arrive at the titular destination and proceed to the soup kitchen where, upon recognizing friendly faces, CJ is glad they came to help. Robinson's bright, simple, multicultural figures, with their rounded heads, boxy bodies, and friendly expressions, contrast nicely with de la Peñas lyrical language, establishing a unique tone that reflects both CJ's wonder and his nanas wisdom. The celebratory warmth is irresistible, offering a picture of community that resonates with harmony and diversity. -Thom Barthelmess

Barthelmess, T. (2015). Last stop on market street. The Booklist, 111(11), 46. Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1651244372?accountid=7113

Library Uses:
Like CJ does in the book have the students listen to music with their eyes closed. Then listen again and have them draw or color a picture while the music plays. Discuss how the music helped you draw.

My Rating: ***

Module 5 Coretta Scott King Award

Book Cover:




Book Summary:

Rashad a black teen goes into a store to get chips and a white lady trips on him when he bends over to get his phone. The store clerk and cop believe he is stealing and the cop beats up Rashad and sends him to the hospital for a weeks. A white boy Quinn sees what happens and knows the cop as a family friend. As Rashad heals in the hospital and his family deal with what happened, the community becomes divided about what really happened. Quinn also comes to deal with what he saw and how he should respond. The school becomes a hotbed of activity for what happened and a movement and protest to support Rashad forms as the book closes.

APA Reference of Book:
Reynolds, J., & Kiely, B. (2015). All American boys. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Impressions:

Wow. This was a very gritty book about something that is still happening today. I liked the intro and ending with the zooming in and out and showing the big picture.  I really thought that this was a very good telling from both view points, the black teen and the white teen. Reynolds really did go to the root of the problem with even if you stay neutral you are part of the problem. He showed how at first Quinn had no problem but as the story progressed how he started thinking about it and how his view of this person he knew changed based on what he saw that day and what had happened in previous memories of Quinn's.  It also showed how Rashad didnt want to get more involved but started to see that he didn't need to hide or be afraid to vlice his opinion about what happened.  I thought it was interesting that Reynolds didn't have a trail take place. It made the focus on the two boys and how everyone was impacted rather than what may have happened in a trial which I think was a smart move.


Professional Review:

Two teenage boys, one black (Rashad) and one white (Quinn), are inextricably linked when Quinn witnesses Rashad being savagely beaten with little or no provocation by a policeman who has served as Quinn’s de facto big brother since his father was killed in Afghanistan—and whose younger brother is one of Quinn’s best friends. Can Quinn simply walk away from this apparent atrocity and pretend he hasn’t seen what he has seen? And what of Rashad? Hospitalized with internal bleeding, all he wants is to be left alone so he can focus on his art. The challenge for both boys becomes more intense when the case becomes a cause célèbre dividing first their school and then the entire community. The basketball team becomes a microcosm of split loyalties and angry disputes that come to a head when a protest march powerfully demonstrates the importance of action in the face of injustice. With Reynolds writing Rashad’s first-person narrative and Kiely writing Quinn’s, this hard-edged, ripped-from-the-headlines book is more than a problem novel; it’s a carefully plotted, psychologically acute, character-driven work of fiction that dramatizes an all-too-frequent occurrence. Police brutality and race relations in America are issues that demand debate and discussion, which this superb book powerfully enables.  — Michael Cart

Cart, M. (2015, September 15). Review . Booklist.

Library Uses: 
I am not sure how I would use this in the library. Possibly to talk about what you would do if it was your friend, what side would you take? Would you speak up and go to the protest or would you just go along with what the coach or the mom was saying and only worry about you and the team?

My Rating: ****