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: ****

Books read in past 4 months for teen

Mistwood by Leah Cypess
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am a little torn about this book. There are parts I liked and parts that I think were not developed enough. I liked the premise of a creature tied to a king to protect them and the plot was pretty good too. It was the characters that I felt where not developed enough. I felt Isobel very cold and standoffish and considering what she is (or thinks she is) I think was ok but I still wanted a little more about her thinking. At the end she basically "loves" the king but I just didn't feel that. The king who comes and gets her I think is where I really wanted more. He seemed really cardboard and static and I really wanted to like him but I just didn't connect with him.

The twist at the end was great and we were given clues that this was the real story. Soooo overall an ok book that needed more characterization but had a good plot and world building.



13 to Life by Shannon Delany
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well I must say I have looked for this book EVERYWHERE and finally found it at Half Price books~ I must say with as much hype I have heard on the blogs about this book I was not let down. I really liked Jess and she came across as a real teenager to me as well as her friends. I liked Pietr (Peter) and his family as well although the beginning was straight from Twilight (ugh hate that book!). I must say though that this author writes much better than Meyer and although Twilightesque (sp?). I think this story is much better written and came across way more realistic. I liked how Jess didn't like Peter for most of the book and he eventually grew on her (he is the ultra silent type and growls at crush boy~what's there not to like about that?). I didn't like her crush boy either and felt that there was something off about him and this was really not resolved and hope is explored more in the next one! Also her friend/rival that she tries to reform is pretty creepy. While I get the idea not sure if I would do such a thing. Again I think there is more here and while be addressed in the next book. Peter's family sounds cute too and hope we learn more about them.

While definetly not ground breaking the writing was great and characters well developed. The story developed slowly (not drawn out but you are not just thrown in and expected to figure out what is going on), and I kept reading trying to figure out what is up with crush boy, the friend, and will she like Peter? I read this book in one sitting and it flew by quickly and I sooo didn't want it to end! This author will definitely be added to my buy list! Can't wait for the 2nd and I think I heard there is a 3rd.

Solid by Shelley Workinger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was recieved through Paperback Swap and is an ARC (at least says on back).
I must say it was a pretty quick read. I thought over all was good with some editor errors that kind of confused me a little. Not a lot but about enough to notice it!

The story starts off really quickly with Clio already at the special school and does a good job of catching you up on the situation. It was a little slow in couple of places but it did pick up. I felt the teens believable and they talked pretty realistically (at least to me as an adult no kids but a teacher). I liked Clio and the kids over all but there was some questions that I had about Jack like what was his power? He was there but nothing was said. Also most of book was talking about "getting" the powers to come out/work but not really "using" them persay until the end. So sort of a mystery/thriller style for most of the bbok.

I was left wanting to know about these teens and their powers so I think that the writer did a good job with the story even though it was a little predictable. The romance was sweet too with one kissing scene.

Firespell by Chloe Neill
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ok let me start out by saying I LOVE Chloe's Chicagoland Vampire series. So when I saw she was writing a teen series this was an automatic add to my tbr (to be read) shelf. The problem is that I don't buy teen books I only check them out from library. Soooo the public library didn't have it so I checked my district's high schools and middle schools and one school had it YES!!
Well I started it about March 1st but some big names in Adult Paranormal were releasing books so this was put down in favor of that. Well today I picked it back up and was wowed by the outstanding writing of this book. Loved the characters from the "mean" girls/brat pack to the geeks/weirdos that were the Enclave 3 adepts. Interesting outlook on magic and gaining/keeping it. Loved that there was a werewolf in the mix and hoping he becomes a love interest to Lily (love me some shifters!). Must say that Chloe continues to up her world building skills with this series. The teen characters were believable and the story line keep me guessing about her parents, what power she would have, how the other students/friends figured into the Dark Elite and how was Foley involved? This was all wrapped up really good and while it was a short book it was tightly written. There were still questions that were unanswered but this is a series so there will be more in the next book. For instance: are the brat pack involved in the Dark Elite (seems like a coinincedence that they would just leave her in the basement), why did Lesley become so friendly (again seems like maybe she knows something?), what exactly do Lily's parents do and how is Foley involved, who was the head guy of the Dark Elite, why did Sebastian help Lily, and the biggy why was Daniel put in charge of Enclave 3 and how will he effect the enclave?

For parents: This book was realitively clean with little to no sex, alcohol, drugs or violence. There was minor violence but no death.

The Space Between Trees by Katie Williams
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I so wanted to like this book but I just kept waiting for something to happen! It was so slow and then when I thought something would happen nothing did. I think there was a lot of missed opportunities. The Deadly Sister had a similar story but was sooo much better than this!

Hot Rod Hamster Review

Hot Rod Hamster! by Cynthia Lord
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I bought this at the book fair at the beginning of the year because of the cute and funny pictures as well as the language in particular the adjectives that the hamster uses. The kids loved it and I did too. They got to choose how the hot rod was built and we discussed as a class why they chose that one. A sure reread every year and to use in grammar lessons. This could also be used for writing about a hot rod that they drew or made at home.
 

Skid and the Too Tiny Tunnel

** I recieved this book through NetGalley review**

Title: Skid & the Too Tiny Tunnel
SubTitle: A story of courage based on Deuteronomy 31:6
Publisher: Warner Press
Imprint: Warner Press Kids
Pub Date: 01/01/2009
 ISBN: 9781593173555
Author: Jeffery Stoddard
Genre: Fantasy (talking machines)
Reading level: grades 3-5
Interest level: grades 1-5

I have never read anything by this author before so when I saw it I thought this would be a great book to read first on NetGalley. It seemed like a book I could use to teach character. I was a little wary about the reference to Deuteronomy and the Bible because I teach in a public school and usually religion references are frowned upon even though most of my students talk about going to church at some point in the year. But after reading it was not really discussed at all except on the cover. So I shouldn't have a problem having this in my  classroom. Things I liked:

• The  illustrations are nice and simple with color being done in crayon.
• Vocabulary is great, lots of unusual words that students need to be exposed to like massive, belching, careeening, and chuckled. 
• The moral of the story was great. The story talked about having fear of doing something and doing it anyway and not sit and complain it. Also about even the smallest person can make a big difference. Great for character lessons as I thought!

Things I didn't like or readers may have difficulty with:

• The vocabulary can be difficult to read for lower readers but this can be fixed by reading first in a read aloud or with a partner who has a higher reading level.
• At the end of the story with Pillar there was a section where Skid first comes upon Pillar that was a little awkward. I think more showing rather than telling would have worked better. Seeing as this was the only thing I didn't like it is really only a minor thing.

Overall I really liked this book and would purchase it for my classroom. The story had a great message and I think students will identify themselves in Skid. It reminded me a lot of the story of the Little Engine that Could.

Rating:****