The Secret of Saying Thanks (Realistic Fiction)

By: Douglas Wood

The author writes about secrets found in the world along side a day with a young girl. From sunrise to sunset, Douglas Wood points out elements in nature that we may take for granted.

I would read this book before Thanksgiving and have the students write about things that they are thankful for. The illustrations in this book are delicately and softly drawn expressing genuine emotion and thankfulness. I would integrate arts in my classroom and have students express what they are thankful for through watercolors as well.

Nine Days to Christmas (Folk)

By: Marie Hall Ets and Aurora Labastida

Ceci is a little girl from Mexico who is looking forward to her posada-a special Christmas party. Over the nine days before Ceci’s party she waits anxiously as things are being prepared for her posada. Ceci has a favorite doll named Gabina that she takes around over the nine days. Ceci picks a star piñata that is filled with fruit and broken during her posada. At first, Ceci is sad that her piñata is broken but then finds a star in the sky that she has never seen before and believes that her piñata is now a real star in the sky.

I like this book because it shows some traditional Mexico preparations for Christmas. The illustrations are extremely detailed and I like how the illustrator uses the colors to focus on certain characters or elements. I would use this book before Christmas to discuss other cultures and the character Ceci, would be a good character to get the students to connect their personal emotions and make predictions about.

The 39 Clues-Book #2-One False Note (Modern Fantasy)

By: Gordon Korman

Amy and Dan Cahill are on a mission to find 39 clues that are connected to the power that their family has. A few weeks ago Amy and Dan were lonely orphans, living with Aunt Beatrice. After their grandmother, Grace, passed away they started on this race to find the 39 clues to their family’s power. They head to Vienna with a coded piece of music to find other clues on their chance. Other family members, cousins from Russia or Uncles from Asia are also trying to find all the clues so Amy and Dan must successfully avoid their adversaries.

First, I would try and find the first chapter book to the series because I would want to read that one to introduce the book to my students. Because it is a series, my students would have the opportunity to read more about the story and I think it would be interesting to see which students decided to read more books from this series. This book is also a great interactive book, there are cards and online games to play at <www.the39clues.com>. 

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters (Folk)

By: John Steptoe

Mufaro has two beautiful daughters; Nyasha and Manyara. Nyasha is gentle and kind and Manyara is harsh and selfish.  The king wants to choose a wife so both Nyasha and Manyara travel to see the king.  Along the way to the king, Nyasha shows her kind character. Manyara arrives first and is frightened by a snake, but Nyasha remembers the snake from her garden. The snake transforms in front of Nyasha and she is pronounced queen.

This book is similar to a Cinderella story. I would use this book as a read aloud to go along with the Sootface, the Ojibwa story. We would discuss the cultural differences, as well as the universal theme “good always prevails bad”. Also, I could use this picture book to start a lesson about Zimbabwe/Africa in social studies.

T is for Tar Heel (Informative)

By: Carol Crane

T is for Tar Heel is a North Carolina Alphabet book. For each letter, there is a short poem and column of information about that topic in North Carolina. For example, S is for sweet potato and North Carolina is the largest producer of sweet potatoes in the nation.

This book is great because it tells some of the rich history and culture of North Carolina. As residents of North Carolina, I believe that my students should know more about the state then what directly surrounds them. Also, North Carolina is part of the elementary education curriculum in 4^th grade and this picture book makes some of that information more engaging. I could have the students create an alphabet book about their favorite subject/topic at the end of the year to recap some of the interesting things that they learned. In the beginning of the year, I could also create an alphabet book about myself to let my students get to know me better.

One Million Men and Me (Historical Fiction)

By: Kelly Starling Lyons

A young girl goes with her father on a trip to Washington D.C. Surrounding her are thousands of African American men, every age, shade of color and career. They all joined in peace to covey to the world the diversity and create a different picture of the Black male. The main character sees the Washington Monument and her father says it was made for thinking and wishing. In the end of the book is the Author’s Note, which is Lyons’ personal story of when she witnessed the March.

I would use this book during when learning about Black history, in February. Everyone talks about Martin Luther King’s speech, which is extremely significant, but I think it is also important to inform my students about more recent and equally influential events. The feeling and purpose of the March was different than that of the gathering during MLK’s speech. It focuses more on the responsibility of citizenship. This picture book also paints the father-daughter relationship in a more positive light that little forms of literature have expressed.

Sootface (Multicultural)

By: Robert D. San Souci

Sootface is an Ojibwa Cinderella Story. Sootface is youngest of three sisters; her older sisters were lazy and bad-tempered. The youngest was given most of the work and her sister would sometimes beat her and smear ashes on her face, that is how she got her name Sootface. One day the famous invisible warrior sent out a message that he was looking for a wife. Anyone that could see him and truthfully tell his sister what his bow and bowstring were made of he would marry. The two sisters did not see the invisible warrior, but Sootface dressed in her birch dress did.

“Oh what is his box made?” *the sister*

“A rainbow!” *Sootface*

“And how is it strung?”

“With white fire, like the Milky Way, the Path of Souls.”


I love this Ojibwa Cinderella Story. The illustrations are beautiful and I think the story is accurate to the cultural version of Cinderella. I would use this book to look deeper into the Ojibwa culture and use another version of Cinderella, from Asia or Mexico and have the students create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast differences in the cultural parts. I would emphasize the uniqueness of every culture and how a story like Cinderella can tell so much about the group.  I hope to stress open-mindedness and acceptance of other cultures to my students.  

Hardy Boys #2 Identity Theft (Mystery)

By: Scott Lobdell, Based on the series by Franklin W. Dixon

In the second book of the series the Hardy boys are new agents for ATAC (American Teens Against Crime).  The Hardy family is moving and the boys find themselves having a hard time interacting with other teens because they are secret agents. The second case is one about identity theft.  A young lady underwent plastic surgery in a mysterious clinic and her family now does not recognize her.

This graphic novel is a type of text that is not traditionally found in the classroom. Hardy boys is a series that many children know and I think reading a book in the format of a graphic novel will help students broaden their literature skills. Graphic novels can be fun and sometimes a little confusing to read, so I think can learn to be flexible readers. Also, this novel had some unexpected twists and turns that would be fun to see what the students’ predictions would be.  As a class we could work on making predictions and making sure to use evidence from the text to support our ideas.

Rules (Realistic Fiction)

By: Cynthia Lord

Rules
^^animoto video

I would use this book as a read aloud with my class because my students can relate to some of the feelings that Catherine is going through. I would focus on comprehension and engage the class in discussions to predict and interpret how the characters feel.  Using the Animoto short clips, the students can create individual videos with significant and memorable parts from the book. Students could explain why they incorporated certain pictures or scenes and this could help open up more about their personalities to me and their peers.

Benjamin McFadden and the Robot Babysitter (Science Fiction)

By: Timothy Bush

Benjamin McFadden and his parents live in outer space with robots. This particular night his parents were going out to a dance and Benjamin’s babysitter was a robot. The robot told Benjamin it was 8pm and time for bed. Benjamin did not want to go to bed, in fact he wanted to play games and make music and eat cookies. Benjamin opened up the panel on the babysitter’s back and reprogrammed him for fun.

Benjamin McFadden is a fun book for students to writing and respond creatively. I would have the students write activities they would do if they “re-programmed” their babysitters and/or how their lives would be if they lived in outer space. This can also be connected to a science lesson about the solar system and outer space. 

Let's Talk About Needing Extra Help at School (Nonfiction)

By: Susan Kent

Kristy has trouble learning math, when everyone else in the classroom seems to understand the topic easily. Her teacher offers her extra help, but Kristy is afraid her peers will make fun of her. After working with her teacher is starts to understand her math lessons and begins to feel good about herself.

This book tells Kristy’s story and then divides the book into topics such as: Why you need extra help, When you need extra help, Learning Styles, etc. I would use this book as a read aloud with accountable talk to create a stronger classroom community. I want my students to all feel comfortable and understand that extra help is not something you have to be ashamed of.

Strega Nona (Folk Tales)

By: Tomie DePaola

Strega Nona “Grandma Witch” needed someone to take care of her house and garden. Big Anthony went to help Strega Nona and saw her use her magical pasta pot. Big Anthony wanted to tell the townspeople what he had discovered, unfortunately he did not see Strega Nona complete her magic spell with three kisses.  Big Anthony feeds the town with plates of pasta, but soon he is unable to stop the pot from making pasta and it only stops when Strega Nona returns from her trip and blows her three kisses.

Strega Nona is a good folk picture book to read to the students and help them detect the main lesson of the story. In addition to Strega Nona, I would use other books with lessons and have the class particpate in a book pass. Students will be introduced to different types of texts and various morals or characteristic traits.