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 7 Realistic Fiction

Book Cover:




Book Summary:
Melinda is ostracized at school when she calls the cops at a party. But we really don't know why the cops are called until later in the books. Melinda starts to not speak and we come to find out that Melinda was raped and her behavior was her way of trying to deal with it.

APA Reference of Book:

Anderson, L. H. (1999). Speak (1st ed.). New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Impressions:

I really identified with Melinda in this book. I pretty much loved school but sat in class and didn't participate or speak up and I just didn't get the whole hoopla about high school. I was bullied a lot in high school because I was quiet, always reading,  not good looking, wore funky clothes, and I wore glasses. Now as an adult I ask myself why didn't I ever say anything or do something about it. But I realize I was too scared and we didn't talk about things like that then.  So I totally got why Melinda was afraid even though I was not ever raped or even put into a situation close to this. The writing was authentic to me and I could see teens acting or speaking this way (or at least when I was a teen lol). One of the best realistic fiction books I have read (I don't tend to read a lot of this genre for teens I read more fantasy). I would recommend that all teens read this and discuss the issues in this book even though it is a tough topic and the tone in the book at times was dark or depressing.

Professional Review:

Gr. 8-12. Having broken up an end-of summer party by calling the police, high school freshman Melinda Sordino begins the school year as a social outcast. She's the only person who knows the real reason behind her call she was raped at the party by Andy Evans, a popular senior at her school. Slowly, with the help of an eccentric and understanding art teacher. she begins to recover from the trauma, only to find Andy threatening her again. Melinda's voice is distinct unusual, and very real as she recounts her past and present experiences in bitterly ironic, occasionally even amusing vignettes. In her YA fiction debut, Anderson perfectly captures the harsh conformity of high-school cliques and one teen's struggle to find acceptance from her peers. Melinda's sarcastic wit, honesty, and courage make her a memorable character whose ultimate triumph will inspire and empower readers.

Carton, D. (1999). Speak. The Booklist, 96(2), 247. Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/235408112?accountid=7113

Library Uses:
This would be after the class has read the book. Read poems “Alone,” “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” and “Still I Rise.” by Maya Angelou who Melinda refers to in the story. Discuss why would Anderson use Maya Angelou as someone who Melinda finds comfort or strength in. Find parts in the poems that may have spoken to Melinda or that Melinda may have liked and discuss why.

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: ****

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: