*~*Final Reflection*~*

I have really enjoyed this course. I really enjoyed being able to pick different children's picture books and novels to read each week to help figure out what we think is a good book for children in the classroom or even at home. I really liked doing the paired reading. I thought it helped show different perspectives in a serious situation as well as showing a way we could teach reading in the classroom. I liked how we had to pick the controversial books as well as poetry picture books because it gave us another way to look at picture books with children and different things we can study with them. I really enjoyed reading the different chapter books that were required for the course as well as getting to pick a different chapter book per week. Getting to read and respond to children's literature has been very insightful and helped me think of how I am going to put reading into my classroom and different topics and things I will focus on. I really enjoyed the one night in class when the current teachers came to discuss how they've put reading in their classrooms and it really helped me think of how I want to read in my class.
This class has helped me remember books I read as a kid and think of why I enjoyed them. I got to go back and re-read books that I had read before and think of ways I could incorporate my experiences in teaching them in my future class. This class has helped me think deeper into reading children's books and showing my future students ways to look deeper into story books.
I am excited to complete the text set because it will give me an even deeper view into selecting children's books, different topics, and what makes a 'good' book.
I have enjoyed this class and gotten a lot out of it~ Thank you.*

Marvelous Math A Book of Poems

Marvelous Math a Book of Poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Karen Barbour. This book of selected poems is geared towards children ages 5 and up. I think this makes sense because I am unsure if kids really understand what math is before they are 5. But, at the same time parents could read this to younger children when learning about numbers and colors. I think they could use this with colors because each page has illustrations throughout the page that are filled with bright colors that catch the eye. I really enjoyed reading each of these poems. I love math and numbers so I thought that have a book full of math poems was great! This book would be great to use in a classroom when discussing that different places we see numbers and use numbers every day. I think that reading this book as a read aloud may help break the ice when discussing numbers. This would be a good idea because for a lot of kids, math is tricky, and saying 'its math time' may turn them away. But, if you start with a story it may help ease them in to wanting to learn more about numbers. Although I liked many of the poems in this book, I liked 'Time Passes' by Ilo Orleans a lot.

"Sixty seconds
Pass in a minute.
Sixty minutes
Pass in an hour.
Twenty-four hours
Pass in a day -
And that's how TIME
keeps passing away!"

I like this poem because it relates time, something we use and discuss daily, to math and numbers and may help begin a discussion. I enjoyed the color, illustrations, and poems used throughout this book and would recommend people read it in their classroom as well as extra stories read at home.

I Invited a Dragon to Dinner and Other Poems to Make You Laugh Out Loud

I Invited a Dragon to Dinner and Other Poems to Make You Laugh Out Loud illustrated by Chris L DeMarest is a great picture book of collected poems written by people who were contestants in a nationwide contest to find the best new writers of verse for children. These poems, I thought were funny, and I think that students would too. The collection of poems is geared towards children ages 3-7 but I think that older students could read them too and get something of meaning out of them. I think that these poems could be read in a classroom as a read aloud, when discussing poetry or different kinds of writing, or even when trying to show reading for meaning to students.
One poem I really enjoyed was entitled “Time Out” by Wendi Silvano.

The shoe I hit my sister with was rubbery and soft.
And the chewed-up crackers on the floor went spraying when I coughed.
I know t he couch is smelly, but that’s just the way with trout.
Could someone please explain to me… why am I in time out?
There’s good reason why the kitchen wall is splattered with red paint.
And why the blender’s broken…I cant always be a saint.
And if you’ll let me I’ll explain what this hole is all about.
But could someone please explain to me… why am I in time out?
I did put glue in Father’s show, but try to understand.
The project I was working on was something truly grand.
And midnight’s not so bad an hour to scream and yell and shout.
Could someone please explain to me…why am I in time out/
So I shared Mom’s hairbrush with the dog. Isn't sharing good?
And I cut Dads tie down to his size just as any good kid would.
I try to be the best I can, but it never does work out.
Could someone PLEASE explain to me…why am I in time out?

I think all of the poems throughout this book are well written and really good. I think that they could be read in a class to also help explain things to kids, for example maybe discuss why the things this kid did throughout this poem caused him to be in time out.
I enjoyed the pictures drawn throughout the book because they help explain the poems in more detail in a visual way and I think that helps kids learn and get more meaning out of their reading.

Through Our Eyes Poems and Pictures about Growing Up

Through Our Eyes Poems and Pictures about Growing Up is a book of selected poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and photographs taken by Jeffrey Dunn. I really enjoyed reading this poetry picture book because it shows a lot of insight into what children think and what happens with them growing up. The poems are about children's thoughts, hopes, observations, and dreams. They show different backgrounds children have while growing up. I really enjoyed reading the different poems because it made me think of things I thought or that I went through growing up that were either different or similar to things discussed in the poems. I also really enjoyed the illustrations because they were photographs of children that helped bring out meaning in each of the poems.

One poem I really enjoyed reading is "The New Kid on the Block" by Jack Prelutsky:

There's a new kid on the block,
and boy, that kid is tough,
that new kid punches hard,
that new kid plays real rough,
that new kid's big and strong,
with muscles everywhere,
that new kid tweaked my arm,
that new kid pulled my hair.
That new kid likes to fight,
and picks on all the guys,
that new kid scares me some,
(that new kid's twice my size),
that new kid stomped my toes,
that new kid swiped my ball,
that new kid's really bad,
I don't care for her at all.

I thought this poem was very descriptive and that student that wrote it did a great job. It made me think of when I was growing up and a new kid would come to school, or even when I had to be the new kid and how I felt towards the new kid or towards others when I was the new kid. I think this book would be great to share in a classroom when discussing different types of writing, a poetry unit, and even just as a read aloud!

Messing Around on the Monkey Bars

Messing Around on the Monkey Bars by Betsy Franco and illustrated by Jessie Hartland is a fun book of poems that can be read in any classroom and at home. The poems throughout the book are geared towards children ages 7 - 9. They are poems about school that have two voices being read. I think these poems are great because they show different ways to read poems, with two voices. This means that these poems are meant to be read aloud, which I think would make a good topic of discussion in a classroom. By reading these poems in class would bring up other topics, as well as different interpretations and perspectives that students get while the poems are being read aloud and they are listening or if they are the ones reading them. I thought that the illustrations and color used throughout the poems were wonderful. They are drawn in a way that look like a little kid may have drawn them. The pages also use conversation bubbles which I thought helped link the text to the pictures. I really liked this book of poems and I think that other people would too and that students would enjoy reading it in the classroom as well as at home with the family.

What A Day It Was At School

What A Day It Was At School! by Jack Prelutsky is a fun picture book with great illustrations by Doug Cushman. Each page of the book is a different poem about things that happen, may happen, or thoughts students may have throughout ones day at school. These poems are titled: My Backpack Weighs a Thousand Pounds, I tried to Do My Homework, We're Shaking Maracas, We Had a Field trip Yesterday, I Wish I'd Studied Harder, A Classmate Named Tim, I Made a Noise This Morning, It's Library Time, In the Cafeteria, I know How to Add, A Man Named Mister Hoobybatch, I'm off to the Infirmary, I'm Learning Our History, I Drew a Yellow Unicorn, Show-and-Tell, Teacher's Pet, and I have to Write a Poem for Class. I really enjoyed reading through each poem throughout the book. The poems reminded me of when I was in school and things that went through my day. I think that the pictures throughout the books helped explain the poems well. They were very detailed and showed a lot of bright color on each day. I thought they did a great job describing or showing an image of the poem. I think that students would like to read this and that teachers would like to read this in their classroom because it would show how they can relate to what they read.

Love That Dog

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech is a fun novel to read. It is written as a journal entry of a student named Jack. I thought it was a great book; you can tell that he is writing responses from comments from his teacher, Miss Stretchberry, throughout the story. Jack writes his entries so you can get a feel of what the teach writes. I think this is a good book to have students read because through his journal entries you can see that poems do not have to rhyme they can be just simple words written or typed on a page. This story shows Jack getting more and more confident in his writing throughout the story. I really enjoyed reading this quick read and feel that students would like to read it too. I think they could learn a lot from reading it about their writing, reading, or even observation of others writings.

Year of Impossible Goodbyes

Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi is a good novel to read. I thought it was a very moving book that helps us understand one perspective of the experiences that occurred during the end of WWII. I thought it was very good to read this book as a paired text with Far From the Bamboo Grove. Reading both books together helped us see that there are always different perspectives of things. On the one side we had Japanese hiding from Koreans and thinking they were bad, but somewhat good at the same time, while in the other was about a Korean family and how much they disliked the Japanese. These two books help us see that not everyone that is a certain ethnicity is like people who we see in the news, for example, of that same ethnicity. I think it would be great to do these in a paired text, or books like it in a classroom. I think these two books are very effective to showing different points of view of a serious topic like war. I think these books could be related to current events and would be a great learning experience for students when talking about such serious and sensitive topics.

How Do You Wokka-Wokka?

How Do You Wokka-Wokka? is by Elizabeth Bluemle and illustrated by Randy Cecil. This new picture book is geared towards children ages 3-5, but I think that older students would like this story too. This is a fun story that is about a certain movement called a 'wokka-wokka'. I really like this story book because it shows that there are multiple ways to do different things; in this case it is involving the wokka-wokka and showing how people do it differently. The cover of this story is very appealing because the title is written in what could be paint or chalk on a sidewalk with children playing outside. The inside cover helps you wonder what it is all about. It says,

"Some days you wake up and you just gotta wokka. Wokka what? Wokka-wokka! It's about dance. It's about movement. It's about shimmy-shakin' be-boppin' and more!
Its about gathering the neighbors and joining the party. Come on!"

The text in this story is all over the page, wrapped around the illustrations of children moving around, doing the wokka-wokka. This book would be great to read to early readers as well as any child really, when discussing different movements or just a fun read-aloud! I think this book could be read in the classroom or even at home to the children. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I know kids will love it too!

...By taking another look through the story, after my friend pointed it out, it seems as though all of the characters in this story are of the same skin color. I feel like maybe it is a suburb of New York or something because of the stairs in front of each building and them close together, no yards, and other things displayed throughout the story. I am unsure of what it means; I do not think that the skin color displayed in this story negative, I think it is positive, energetic and fun. This book shows kids laughing and playing like all kids do, no matter the skin color. This is just an observation I have noticed but I do not think it really means anything. I do not know what other readers think of this though.

Robot Zot! by Jon Scieszka and David Shannon

Robot Zot! by Jon Scieszka and David Shannon is geared towards children ages 3-7. This is a fun, new story about a robot named Zot. This robot thinks he can conquer all, but as seen throughout the illustrations in the story, the things he conquers are kitchen appliances. This story is fun and inventive. I ended up reading this to my pre-school art class that I teach at the Recreation Center and they loved it. I was surprised they sat still through the entire story because they are all about two years old, six of them, and they always run around crazy but every time I say 'story time' they sit down quietly. I was unsure if they would sit through this one because it can get kind of lengthy, but they did and they loved it. The color in this story is bright and bold. I love books that have bright colors and bold pictures that stand out. I feel like this helps tell the story. I really enjoyed this picture book and would recommend to read to a classroom as well as at home to any kid whether they like robots or not because they can learn and see about adventure, imagination, and many other fun things to discover while reading a new book!

Jon Scieszka's Trucktown Smach! Crash! by Jon Scieszka, David Shannon, Loren Long, David Gordon

Jon Scieszka's Trucktown Smash! Crash! is part of a series of stories about trucktown, written by David Shannon, Loren Long, David Gordon and Jon Scieszka. This series is geared towards new readers, or ages three to seven. The books are about characters that are all trucks, but all carry characteristics of preschoolers: crazy, wild, eager little kids that just want to have fun! This particular story is about the trucks Dan and Jack who love to smash and crash! The color used in this story is bright primary colors, mostly. They are all bold and the illustrations are great! The text is not too difficult and words that young readers can relate to and understand when they read. I think this story would be good to read in a younger classroom as well as when at home with children! Little kids love trucks and will probably relate to these characters because they are written with little kid characteristics in mind.

I have looked into this series a little more and I think it is great what these people do! They have a website that I have posted on a previous post that is for trucktown. The website has other activities involving the characteristics of Trucktown as well as a parents and teachers section that will help adults get acquainted with the series and what is about. The website also informs people of when more of the books will be coming out and what is already out. It is great.

Seen Art? by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

Seen Art? by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith is geared towards any aged person. We read this story in our methods art class and I really enjoyed it. It is about this boy and his friend named Art going to meet on a corner in New York one day, but he couldn't find him so he began to ask around, "Seen Art?" and people would think he's talking about art. This is a really engaging book that gives readers a look through New York's Museum of Modern Art. This book is very informational about different artwork. I really enjoy the use of color and illustrations throughout this story; they are colorful and look well together. I really enjoy this story and think it would be good to read in a classroom when discussing artwork. The text was all over the page and made the story fun to read. I would recommend reading this story to students, family members, anyone really.

Math Curse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

Math Curse, by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith is an intense story about a math curse, obviously. This student wakes up one morning and because of the math lesson the day before realizes that everything can be a math problem. He goes through the entire day thinking of everything as a math problem and starts to go crazy. This book is full of color and energy. I really enjoyed reading it! I really like math and I think that this story would be good to read to a classroom more at the beginning of the school year but could really be read anytime before a math lesson. I think this story is a fun way to show that many things we use and see everyday can be put into a math problem but it doesn't have to take over our minds!...because, as it says on the last page, "YOU KNOW, you can think of almost everything as a science experiment..." Inside the cover and the back cover are bright orange like the front cover with many different math problems written all over them in different ways. I really like this I think it brings out and shows how crazy the story is. =)

Baloney (Henry P.) by Jon Scieszka

Baloney (Henry P.) is by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. This story is geared towards anyone at all, and I agree. This picture book is about an alien telling his story of why he is late to school this particular morning. It uses different words that we are unfamiliar with. I think this helps focus on looking at the pictures for clues and using the surrounding sentence to think of what the word could mean. This is a fun way to learn different reading strategies. Another fun thing about the words we are unfamiliar with is that they are actually words from other languages so it gives us an opportunity to compare languages and learn about other languages. The colors in this picture book are bright and eye catchy. I think this book would be very helpful to read in a classroom when discussing different reading strategies as well as maybe when students are using their imagination to write a story, when talking about space, or a just for fun read!

So Far From the Bamboo Grove

So Far From the Bamboo Grove is by Yoko Kawashima Watkins. This novel is about her life experiences in traveling from Northern Korea to Japan at the end of WWII. There were so many intense things that occurred during this novel that I could not put it down! Yoko and her family, her mother, father, sister Ko, and brother were a Japanese family living in Korea. Yoko's father works for the government. The father was in another town at the time and so was the brother, so the mother, Ko, and Yoko had to flee in the middle of the night one night to hide from the Korean Communist Army. The novel was filled with a lot of different mental images that I found and still think would be so hard and difficult for an eleven year old (the age Yoko was). They saw so many devastating things: people getting killed, raped, hurt badly. They had to steal, hide, pretend they were Korean, for many months live in a train station living off not very much food. They would hope for the best, that they would make it to Japan and that their father and brother would meet them there. I found this novel gore but told the story the right way, I thought. I think books like this are important to read because it shows a point of view of a large piece of history that not many experienced or have any experience like it. It shows a personal point of view of what went on. I think it would be difficult to read this in a young teen classroom, but think it would be really good so, if a letter is sent home to parents about reading the book and telling the students the seriousness and honesty shown throughout the novel that it would be good. I really liked this novel. I somehow felt connected to the author, by the way she was telling the story I could picture what was going on. I felt so sad that they had to live off nothing, lie about who they were and steal food, live in a train station. I was so sad when the mother died. I thought that something bad would happen to the girls because they were young and alone with practically nothing. I was so glad they met nice people to give them a place to live. I was also so glad that the brother ended up finding them! I was confused that it ended so quick after that, but thought it was good. I really liked a lot of the book. My favorite quote is probably the last page when it says, "As I lay in mine I saw the stars shining like petals of white chrysanthemums. For the first time since I had left Nanam I felt their loveliness. And each star that sparkled was like great fireworks in the enormous sky for the gladness of our reunion." I liked it because of I was so glad she was happy again; it had taken a long time but the three were finally back together. I also saw that Yoko wrote a sequel to this book called "My Brother, My Sister, and I" which is about their life after this first book and I am going to look into it and read it because I am so interested to see what happened next!

Jon Scieszka

In doing this API study I learned a lot. The first half of the assignment, researching the author and getting materials they have written was great. I learned a lot about the author as well as saw similarities in his writings. I also thought the second half was great, presenting the material we found important to a small group. I liked this part a lot because it was helpful to learn about other authors and think of how you could teach about authors to students in your class. This semester I have heard a lot of books by Jon Scieszka, so I decided to study him for my API project.
Jon's website is http://www.jsworldwide.com/ . This website has a lot of cool information about Jon, books he has written, and other things he has done and is in the process of doing.
Jon was born in Flint, Michigan on September 8, 1954 to Shirley and Louis Scieszka. He was the 2nd oldest son of 6 boys. His mother registered nurse and his father was an elementary school principal. Jon Scieszka went to Culver Military Academy for high school and became Lieutenant Scieszka. Jon wanted to be a doctor so he studied both Science and English at Albion College in Albion, Michigan, graduating in 1976. Scieszka lived in Detroit then moved to Brooklyn, NY to write instead. He earned his MFA in Fiction from Columbia University in New York in 1980. Jon painted apartments and taught at The Day School in New York City as: 1st grade Assistant Teacher, graduated to teaching 2nd grade, taught 3rd and 4th grade Math, 5th grade History, and then some 6th, 7th and 8th grade. Jon decided to take a year off of teaching to write stories for kids. He realized that kids are smart and the best audience for weird and funny stories.
Scieszka sent stories around to many publishers, and got rejected by all of them. He kept painting apartments and writing stories.
Jon's wife, Jeri, worked in New York as a magazine art director and introduced him to Lane Smith. Lane Smith has since been an illustrator of many of Jon Scieszka's books. In 1989, Regina Hayes, editor at Viking Books, published The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. Jon's books have won many awards and sold over 11 million copies all around the world. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, and 2 kids: Casey (daughter), Jake (son).
Some interesting facts about Jon are:
-First book read was Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss; it’s the book that made The Stinky Cheese Man possible.
- He gets ideas for stories from many different things around him
- He reads many things, thinks about different stories all the time, scribbles things down, types them, changes them, thinks more, adds more, always editing until story feels and looks satisfactory
- Scieszka writes books because “loves to make kids laugh”
- Jon's motto in writing is: “never underestimate the intelligence of your audience”
A few of Jon’s stories are:
Math Curse, Science Verse, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, Robot Zot!, Baloney (Henry P.), Seen Art?, Da Wild, Da Crazy, Da Vinci, See You Later, Gladiator and The Stinky Cheese Man
Extra things Jon Does that I find inspirational:
-Trucktown, which is a giant pre-school publishing program that is a world where all of the characters are trucks. All of the trucks act like real preschoolers – loud, crazy, wild, and funny. The link to Trucktown's website is: http://www.simonandschuster.com/specials/kids/behindthepulse/trucktown/
I really liked this website because it has a section for parents and teachers and another for extra activities for kids. It helps people of all ages get to know the series.
Another things Scieszka does is 'Guys read' which is a literacy initiative for boys. The mission is to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers. I think this is a great idea because, as the website shows, research shows that test scores in reading are lower in boys than girls. The website to this initiative is: http://www.guysread.com/ I think this website is great because it shows different books that guys have read that they think other guys would like.
I thought all of these websites were great because they all had a lot of good history information about the program or what Scieszka has done, but also what is presently going on and what we can see in the future. I think this is a great idea because it will help us as readers look for the new material to come.

Reflection on Class So Far

So far I am loving this class. I really enjoy getting to branch out and read different types of picture books that I had no idea about before this class. This course is helping me understand the types of books I enjoy reading as well as the ones I do not care for. This is helping me build on authors I enjoy reading as well as illustrators. This class has also helped me focus more of the book than just the words; it has really helped me look more into the illustrations as well as meaning that may be behind the cover, back cover, inside flap, etc. This course is helping me really read a picture book and get as much out of it that will help me build on my class library when I have my own class as well as what books I will want to make sure I read to my students. This course is also helping me read more and more novels that students read. This is helping me get an idea of what students are reading as well as reacting to things that happen throughout the book. Reading the different novels is helping me think more about when I am teaching, to read for meaning and examining what I will want to make key points to talk to my students about through the reading. So far I have enjoyed this class and can't wait to see what all we do the rest of the semester!

Goldilicious

Goldilicious by Victoria Kann is geared towards children ages 5-8. This story is a sequel t the New York Times bestselling PINKALICIOUS and PURPLICIOUS books. In this book, a new magical character comes to life, Goldilicious, a unicorn owned by Pinkalicious. Goldilicious, also called Goldie, is Pinkalicious’ pet unicorn that can roller-sate, kite-fly, high jump and can protect Pinkalicious from the evil wizardry of her little brother. Together this duo can conquer anything. This is a wonderful story that helps show imagination and creativity of young kids. I liked reading this story as well as looking through the illustrations. I can picture a young girl and brother going through this in their imagination of play throughout the day. I thought the illustrator did a great job on the illustrations because they are eye catching in the match up of pink and yellow being bright colors and easy to catch ones eye. This book could be read at home with kids or also in a classroom. I think the best time this story could be read as a read-aloud would be when discussing creative pieces or having an assignment where students can write stories on whatever they would like.

What Would You Do If You Lived at the Zoo?

What Would You Do If You Lived at the Zoo? by Nancy White Carlstrom and illustrated by Lizi Boyd is a peekaboo book geared towards children ages 3 -6. I like this story. The illustrations are less realistic and with the different, bright colors throughout the page help bring out the different shapes. This book would be helpful to read to younger kids that would help them learn their shapes, colors, and animals at the zoo all at once in a fun way. This story would make most sense being read at pre-school or at home with younger aged children.

One Day at Wood Green Animal Shelter

One Day at Wood Green Animal Shelter by Patricia Casey is geared towards children ages 5 – 8. I really enjoyed this picture book. Patricia wrote it as a journal, in a way, as one of the days she went to the animal shelter. On the first page she writes a letter to the reader saying that one day she just decided to take her camera and pencil to the shelter so she could write this book. This book would be helpful to read to children who have never gone to an animal shelter before, or if they are studying animals, or just like going to the animal shelter and want to read about someone else’s experience. The one thing I really enjoyed about this book is the pictures and how the author set up or designed the pages. The illustrations are like collages. She had taken pictures of the real animals and collages them in there where they go in the cartoon-like pictures. The different colors she used, I liked. I also really liked how the text is in boxes next to the picture of the animal it is relating to. I think this story would be good to read to kids in a classroom setting or even at home.

Miss Fox's Class Goes Green

Miss Fox’s Class Goes Green by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Anne Kennedy is geared towards students ages 4-8. This story is about a classroom ‘going green’ and changing the way they were living to help the environment. I would recommend reading this book to a classroom at the beginning of the school year and work on recycling and ‘going green’ the entire school year. I saw this book at the curriculum lab when I wrote a lesson plan on a recycled project and I was so excited to read it because I could tie it in with that lesson! I really enjoyed this story and I think that Anne Kennedy did really well on the illustrations. She started the book on the inside cover of different ideas of going green written all over the page. The color throughout the story is bright and helps read the story, the pictures go well with the story and what is going on. I feel the illustrations really help tell the story and I would recommend reading this to a class or at home with kids!

What's the Big Secret?

What’s the Big Secret? By Laurie Krasny Brown, Ed.D., and Marc Brown is geared towards children ages 4-8. This book is an informational picture book that helps explain difficult questions kids ask about sex and other sexual oriented questions. It is informational and would be good for a parent to read to their kids so that their kids would be informed about differences between boys and girls and other things the book discusses when the kid brings up such a question. I do not think this book would be appropriate to read to a classroom as a read –aloud. It would not be appropriate for a lower elementary education classroom, but could be in an upper grade level classroom if students take it seriously. I feel the only way it would be read in a classroom is when teachers are discussing puberty with students. The illustrations throughout this book are good and mostly realistic and are good for informational purposes. The illustrations of the people are realistic but cartoon-like at the same time; I think this is good because it helps kids stay engaged in the information being discussed.

What a Truly Cool World

What a Truly Cool World by Julius Lester and Joe Cepeda is a picture book geared towards children ages 4-7. This story is about the creation of the Earth by a Native American looking God and angels. The story has a fun way of explaining the creation of the Earth as well as things on the Earth like animals, flowers, music, for a few examples. I really enjoyed this story because I thought it has a good message and I enjoyed the illustrations because they used bright color and happy things going on. I think this story would be good to read at home or in a Sunday school class but, because of the controversies on religion would not be a good idea to read as a read-aloud in a classroom. I think that it may be OK to have it on the classroom library shelf; you would probably have to discuss it with administration before putting in there, just to make sure it will not cause any future problems.

Why Heaven is Far Away by Julius Lester and Joe Cepeda

Why Heaven is Far Away by Julius Lester and Joe Cepeda is the sequel to the story What a Truly Cool World. This story is geared towards students ages 6-8. This sequel brings back the angel characters from the first story to help bring together community, cooperation, and kindness. It does this while explaining why heaven is now so far away from earth because it used to be that you could go back and forth between heaven and earth by a latter. This sequel did the same as the first, in my opinion, in telling reasons things have happened in a creative way. I think that this story is a good example of being creative and thinking outside the box of why things are the way they are. The illustrations in this book are as good as the first; they are bright colored and help explain the text more. This is a good story, but because of the controversial issues of religion it would not be a good idea to read this in a classroom, but would be good to read it to a kid at home or even in a Sunday school class.

All Kinds of Families by Mary Ann Hoberman

All Kinds of Families by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Marc Boutavant is geared towards ages 3 to 6. In just flipping open the cover it has a saying which I really like, "families, families, all kinds of families. Families are people and animals, too. but all sorts of other things fit into families. Look all around and you'll see that they do!" ...a little bit down the inside flap it has another saying that says, "play families, real families, all kinds of families. Think of the families, the ones that you're from. Someday you'll grow up and you'll have a new family and you'll be the family of families to come!" I like these sayings; these are lovely and show how families are. There is not one family that is the same, there are all sorts of families and that is ok. These two sayings help explain the story. The story is explaining that there are different kinds of families everywhere, not just in people but in other things like a fork and a spoon, for example. I really enjoyed this story as well as the different illustrations throughout the book. They were so bright and colorful. Each picture was different in its own way and helped explain the words in the text more clearly. This story was also fun to read because it was rhyming and I really enjoy rhyming. I also thought this story showed a good message that there is no family that is the same, whether it is different things as well as in people. Each family is unique in it's own way and it is ok. This story would be good to read to children whether at home or in the classroom. Either way, I find the story to portray a good message to students that every family is different, and it is ok that their friends have different living situations as them and that it does not matter.

The Misfits, by James Howe

The Misfits, by James Howe is a "timely, sensitive, laugh-out-loud must-read." says a voice of Youth Advocates. I agree. This novel is told in the voice of a twelve year old boy, Bobby Goodspeed, who works in the tie section of the men's section of a department store. Bobby and his friends: Addie, JoDan, and Skeezie are 'misfits'. They don't really fit in with other kids. They are all different. For example, Addie is always trying to stand up for herself and her freedom, even if its against the rules, JoDan also known as Joe is gay, Skeezie is against love and lazy, and Bobby is a fat kid. All have been friends for a long time because their differences with other people brought them together. One quote that I liked from the first half of the book is in chapter 12, Bobby has just figured this out, "This business of really knowing people, deep down, including your own self, it is not something you can learn in school or from a book. It takes your whole being to do it -your eyes and your ears, your brain and your heart. Maybe your heart most of all." I thought it was a good thought that he came up with. This book is geared towards10 -14 year olds. I think even older people can read it and get something out of it. This book shows a lot about different people, different thoughts, and accepting things that have gone on and will go on. I have enjoyed reading it so far, it is fun that it is written in the eyes of a twelve year old so you can see how a kid would write, in their thought process, and speak. I think this book would be good to be read in a junior high/middle school and high school class setting. It shows and discusses a lot of controversial issues and would be great to have classroom discussions with. I am looking forward to reading the remainder of the book.
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After reading the rest of the book I really enjoyed it. I feel like it has a lot of key points that a lot of young teens face. There were two quotes that I agreed with a lot and wanted to put on here. The first was on page 95, "when you're living through them, events are nothing more than stuff that happens. You're not thinking about significance. Significance only comes when you look back at your life. At the moment, what you're thinking is whether you've got enough money in your pocket for hot fudge or you should just order a single scoop." I really agree with this quote, its not something you think about in your day to day life but then when you look back after a year or so you think of whether something was significant or not. Another quote I really agree with is towards the end of the book, "the way I look at it, love does not necessarily make for a happy ending any more than winning does. What makes for a happy ending is what Addie said all along: freedom. The freedom to be who you are without anybody calling you names." I agree with this quote too because everyone should be able to be who they are without being made fun of.

The Giver

The Giver, by Lois Lowry is a good short novel to read. It is written from the point of view of Jonas, an eleven-year-old boy living in a futuristic society that has eliminated all pain, fear, war, and hatred. There is no prejudice, since everyone looks and acts basically the same, and there is very little competition. Everyone is unfailingly polite. The society has also eliminated choice: at age twelve every member of the community is assigned a job based on his or her abilities and interests. Jonas is selected to become the communities receiver of memory. The community is all happy and don't have any sad, emotions, in their life because of the receiver. The receiver takes in all the hurt and bad from before so that nobody else has the hurtful experience. This book is interesting because it shows a good sense of imagination but the people in the community lack individuality and love, among others. They have their life chosen for them, that wouldn't be ok with me if someone else chose everything for me and I had to be exactly like everyone else. I also would not like how I couldn't make up my own family or by in love. I do think this is a good book to read in classrooms though. In teenage years, I remember reading it in school, this book would be appropriate and have conversations about the differences in choices in our world and the lack of choices in theirs. There are other topics that could be discussed throughout this book but I feel like students, classrooms, and teachers would learn a lot from reading this book and carrying out conversations throughout it.

Princess Pig

Princess Pig is written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Tim Bowers. This story is geared for children preschool to second grade. Princess Pig is a story about an ordinary pig that wakes up to a sash next to her that says "princess" that had blown off of the pickle princess that was in a parade. She then thinks she is actually a princess and tells the different animals that she is a princess. One by one the animals say she is not a princess because she doesn't have other things that a princess has. So, the pig makes things or finds things to add to her outfit to make her look like a princess. The other animals begin to believe she really is a princess, all except the pony. Princess Pig ends up alone, and finds the other animals having a party. She doesn't know why she wasn't invited and they tell her because she is a princess and princesses do not go to ordinary parties. The pony makes her realize she can go to the party because she is an ordinary pig. I thought this book was a good book and would be good to read in a classroom in trying to teach kids that they do not need to act like anything other than themselves.

Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School

Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School by Herman Parish, pictures by Lynne Avril is a fun and creative book to read! The book is geared for children ages 4-8. This book is like the other Amelia Bedelia books except this time, instead of being an adult maid, she is a young girl on her first day of school. Although it is a different time setting, the idea is the same. When her teacher asks her to do things which may not be meant in a literal sense, Amelia takes seriously. An example from the story is when Amelia is out of her chair a number of times, the teacher says she needs to glue herself to her seat. Her teacher didn't mean to actually glue herself to her seat, she meant to stay seated...but Amelia didn't take it like that, so she actually glues herself to her seat. I think this book should be read in a younger grade classroom on the first day of school. I think it is funny and add humor to the first days with a new teacher and how the students aren't the only nervous ones, that teachers are nervous also.

Jeremy Draws a Monster

Jeremy Draws a Monster is by Peter McCarty. This book is geared towards children ages 3 to 6 years old. I think this book is creative, and shows things that may go through little boys minds, monsters. This book is about a boy named Jeremy. Jeremy never goes outside, so one day draws a monster. This monster is alive, and bored. The monster continuously asks Jeremy to draw more things because he is bored and hungry. Jeremy decides he's had enough so makes the monster leave, but by taking him outside to catch the bus, other kids see Jeremy and ask him to play, and he does. This book, in my opinion, shows how you won't get anything if you don't go try it. I think this because Jeremy didn't have any friends because he never went outside, but when he finally went outside, he finally got to play with the other kids. I think this book could be shared in the classroom when discussing drawing and art as well as when showing kids not to give up and go out and try new things.

Ready, Set, Skip!

Ready, Set, Skip! by Jane O'Connor, illustrated by Ann James is geared towards children ages four and up. I think this book is fun and creative for young kids to read. It is about a little girl showing that she can do many locomotor skills like running, twirling, skating, but she the one she cannot do is skip. Her mother helps teach her to skip. I think this book would be great for parents and teachers to read when discussing new skills as well as keeping courage and determination when learning and perfecting new skills and tasks.

Yes Day!

What do you call a day when very answer is yes? Yes Day! is by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld. This story is geared for ages 4 to 8. This is a great story to read to younger kids! It is about a little boy who waits all year for this one day to arrive, this day where he gets whatever he asks for. He gets to eat and do many things that he usually wouldn't be able to. This book is clever and fun to read. The illustrations help fit the story nicely. This day that he waits for makes me wonder if it could possibly be his birthday. I think this because people usually get to do a lot of things they want on their birthday that they don't usually do. I think this story would be a great and fun story to read to a classroom just for fun or when discussing specific days.

What REALLY Happened to Humpty?

What REALLY Happened to Humpty? by Jeanie Franz Ransom, illustrated by Stephen Axelsen is geared for children ages 6 to 9. This book is written in the perspective of Joe Dumpty, Humpty Dumpty's brother. Through the story Joe is trying to prove that Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall was no accident, that it was a crime. I though this book was really good in the text as well as the illustrations. They were very detailed and helped tell the story. The story does a great job putting other characters within the story for example, the three little pigs, Jack and Jill, Mother Goose, Chicken Little, Goldoe Lox, Miss Muffet, Little Red Ridinghood, just to name a few. I thought this story was very detailed and fun and enjoyable to read! I think that a teacher could read this in the classroom of any grade and the students would enjoy it greatly! This book would help in explaining detail to character, storyline, illustrations, and many other cases.

A Strange Day

A Strange Day by Iris van der Heide, illusrated by Marijke ten Cate, is a picture book geared for ages 2 and up. In this book, a boy named Jack has been waiting and waiting for a letter in the mail that states that he has won a drawing contest. When the day finally arrives and the letter does not, Jack walks around the town sad, not paying attention to anything else going on. He doesn't realize until later in the day, that so many things have been going on. He saves a runaway stroller, a dog, helps a soccer match, and more. People show up at his house with flowers and presents; Jack also realizes that there is a new letter in the mailbox, and he did win the drawing contest. It was a strange day to Jack, because he didn't realize what was going on when it was happening! I thought this was a good book, children or classrooms can read it and pay close attention to the illustrations and how the illustrations help tell the story so much. I think that this book would be good to show in a classroom when discussing art as well as even paying attention to detail.

Hot Air:The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-airl Balloon Ride

Hot Air: The (Mostly) True story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride by Marjorie Priceman was discussed in our class for in the historical fiction genre presentation. I thought it was a good book when being described so I decided to read it. The book is written to be geared towards children ages 4-8. The picture book is about the first hot-air balloon flight that could have happened but, probably not because the first flight in this book is taken by a duck, a sheep, and a rooster. After reading it myself, I still really enjoyed it. The pictures are enjoyable, and at some points it is the pictures that tell the story. The back page is very informative because it gives some brief history of Montgolfiers' Balloons. I think that anyone could incorporate this story into their classroom when discussing the first flights in history or maybe when they are trying to have students change history or write a story about something that happened in history to something in their imagination or something they would think could happen, like in this story.

Beetle McGrady Eats Bugs

Beetle McGrady Eats Bugs by Megan McDonald, pictures by Jane Manning, is a picture book geared towards children above the age of 4. I really enjoyed this book and looking forward to what was going to happen. I thought the illustrations were good and the text was also good. The title page in the book is cool because it gives Beetle's tips for eating bugs, which is a fun way to start the story. Beetle wants to be an explorer or a pioneer and she thinks that if she eats an ant she will be brave and daring enough to be one. But, when double dared to eat one at recess she doesn't do it...but, when a guest from the famous restaurant Chez Chenille visits the class with foods with different bugs in each, from different countries, Beetle does it, she eats a caterpillar and keeps going with different bugs. She ate the different bug foods and became "Beetle A-for-Anteater McGrady"..."Today ants. Tomorrow...ANTarctica!" as Beetle said. I think this book is good to read to students who need to let their imaginations soar. They need to see that there are different foods that can be eaten as well as to show there are different cultures. I also think this book can be just a fun book to read to a class.

Missing Math: A Number Mystery

Missing Math: A Number Mystery by Loreen Leedy is geared for children grades kindergarten-second grade. I agree with this, but I think it could be implemented into upper grades as well. This book can be read to any class that is discussing math and numbers. Missing Math: A Number Mystery is a fun book to read; at least I thought so. It is full of rhymes and a mystery about numbers disappearing and a detective trying to find them. This book shows where we see numbers in everyday life. I think the text and illustrations in this book are very good because the illustrations are detailed well and the text is different fonts and all over the page which draws a readers eyes in to the story. The different texts and illustrations help the reader know the excitement and wonder that is filled throughout the book in trying to figure out where the numbers have all gone. I think this book could be read to anyone and implemented into any classroom, maybe at the beginning or middle of the year, when discussing numbers, math, and other places we find numbers.

Wolverine: Worst Day Ever

Wolverine: Worst Day Ever written by Barry Lyga is a graphic novel geared towards students grades 6-9, but I can see younger grade students reading it too if they like Wolverine, X-Men, any superhero. This novel is about a kid named Eric Mattias who has recently discovered his super power. He does not think he has a great power because it is him becoming invisible only he is not becoming invisible, people just stop noticing he is there or do not notice he is there at all. Eric is the narrator and it is written as his blogs on the Internet. It is all about what he is experiencing and thinking in his first months at Xavier's School for Gifted Students (the mutant school). He is either getting into trouble by Professor X, being bored, or going into places he shouldn't or following Wolverine around. He thinks that nobody notices him, even when him and Professor X are having conversations, if he takes his eyes off of him he forgets he is there or thinks he's left. The blogs are leading up to a specific day, May 12th, which may or may not be Eric and Wolverine's worst day ever. I personally think that this day is Eric's first best day ever because he learns that Wolverine notices him all the time and that he doesn't need to use his power but needs to learn to live with it. Eric's second best day ever is when he blogs about making friends and figuring out how to use his power for people to notice him. I thought this novel was a really enjoyable book for anyone who likes reading about superheros. I think the author did such a great job getting in the mind of a kid because the language in the text sounded exactly the way a kid would say it or in a way for kids to understand it, in their language. The end of this novel has three extra comic stories involving Wolverine which, I thought had great story lines and pictures. This book could be used in the classroom when learning about comics, superheros, learning how to write using ones imagination. I think kids could read it just for fun, but I think it is a good novel for students to read who have interests in this area.

1, 2, 3 To The Zoo

1,2,3 To The Zoo by Eric Carle is a fun way to get kids to count from one to ten by using animals that live at the zoo! The pictures tell the story of different animals on a train on their way to the zoo. The book starts with 1 elephant then 2 hippopotamuses and so on up to 10 different birds. This book is good at helping younger children learn concepts of counting with numbers and relating them to things on a page, such as animals. The pictures in this book are very bright and I think this book would help younger children learn their animals, colors, on top of learning to count to ten.

One Red Rooster

One Red Rooster by Kathleen Sullivan Carroll, illustrated by Suzette Barbier is a good counting book for young children to read! It is a counting book full of colors, animals, and their sounds put together. It is a fun way for children to learn to count from one red rooster to ten pink pigs, as well as putting the number of animals with the sounds they make. An example of this is, "One red rooster went cock-a-doodle-doo and two black cows went moo moo moo!" I think young children and early grades would love to read this book. I think it helps with counting as well as beginner readers. Children could also see all the different animals that live on farms in this book because all the animals that are used and the illustrations are on farms.

Boom Chicka Rock

Boom Chicka Rock by Jon Archambault, illustrated by Suzanne Tanner Chitwood is a fun rhyming book to read that helps in the introduction of counting! The pictures in this book along with the different texts can catch an eye at the turn of the page. Boom Chicka Rock is about 12 mice all named Number 1-12, who are trying to dance around the kitchen to get to the cake but trying to make sure not to wake up the cat. They need to get back to their house before the last stroke of twelve, or midnight! This book is fun to read and kids of all ages enjoy the rhymes within it!

12 Ways to Get to 11

12 Ways to Get to 11 by Eve Merriam, illustrated by Bernie Karlin is a fun book that helps children think of different ways to get to eleven by using different amounts of objects. One example from the book of this is "Pick up nine pinecones from the forest floor and two acorns". This book helps count all together as well as adding. I think that children from 3 to in 3rd grade could read this book. The pictures help show animals that live near other animals as well as natural habitats. For example on one page there are frogs and turtles together at a pond. I think this book can be read just for fun as well as educational. The cover has a hen with 11 chicks and so does the last page of the book.

Ten Black Dots

Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews is a great book for younger children to read! It helps young children who are learning to count to learn to count from one to ten. The book is about counting from 1-10 and seeing the different ways you can use one dot then up to ten dots. An example is "one dot can make the sun", while "two dots can make the eyes of a fox". The book uses different things, objects, animals, etc, that young children have seen before to count to ten by using dots. This book is good for children to read when they are first starting to relate things and numbers in counting. I would recommend parents reading this to their children as well as preschools. This could also be a book that kids could read when they are first learning to read.

Piper Reed Gets a Job

Piper Reed Gets a Job by Kimberly Willis Holt, pictures by Christine Davenier is a fun novel for children ages 8-10. Piper Reed Gets a Job is a fun novel that I think all pre-teens could read. It is about an 11 year old girl, Piper, and all the different jobs she comes up with. Holt did a good job, in my opinion, getting in the head of a young girl because the language sounded like language that would come out of the mouth of a young girl as well as the thoughts she had. Piper and three of her friends want a clubhouse for their Gypsy club, but the club house they want is $1999. Her older sister has to get a job babysitting to help raise money for a trip to England; her younger sister becomes an author to make money for something she wants; Piper makes up a business that helps plan birthday parties. Piper gets her first job opportunity with the neighbors 3rd birthday. Everytime a new job opportunity comes up Piper makes a sign that says 'substitute babysitter' for example, so then she can have another job, or another way to make money. Throughout the novel Piper also has a research paper that she keeps putting off to do all the other stuff she is trying to be involved in. This book is a fun way to show pre-teens responsibility things they may learn when things do not go according to plan. I decided to read this book because the cover, title, and inside blurp entriged me to wonder what would happen in this book. The back of the book has Piper's to do list as well as her reflection list. I have heard from some kids I work with that they liked reading a Piper Reed book, so when I saw it, it made me want to read it to see how it was. I would recommend this book being read by pre-teens and could even be a read-aloud in a classroom.

Clue #4: Mystery at the Masked Ball

Clue #4: Mystery at the Masked Ball is the fourth and final book in this CLUE series by A.E. Parker. This book was so great to read!! It is geared at a fifth grade reading level and I think that I could see a fifth grader reading it! If you haven't heard of the board game, CLUE, the books are based off the idea of the game. There are five guests: Mr. Green, Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, the maid: Mrs. White, and the owner of a mansion: Mr. Boddy. The book is full of mystery and trying to take clues throughout each chapter to figure out a different mystery that occurs throughout each chapter. I loved reading this book and trying to figure out who did what, in what room, with what weapon! I think this would be a great book to even read aloud to a classroom when working on investigating, trying to figure out mysteries, or just during a random reading time!

Hey, Pancakes!

Hey, Pancakes! words by Tamson Weston and Pictures by Stephen Gammell is a great book for kids to read or get read to! The book is geared towards children ages 3-7 and I think that is a great fit. Hey Pancakes has great pictures throughout the book as well as words! The story is about three kids and their helpful dog waking up early one morning to make something kids look forward to for breakfast all the time, pancakes! This book is a helpful way for kids to know how to make pancakes as well as visually seeing what a big mess it can be! I thought this book was fun to read and would be good to read when talking about foods, locations of things in the house, counting, or names of things. I think it would a good book to read in many cases!

Timothy Goes to School

Timothy Goes to School by Rosemary Wells is a humorous first book to read to a new classroom! The pictures were good as well as the story! The story is about a boy named Timothy and him fitting in with other kids at school. The book is geared towards kids from ages 3-7. I think this book could be read to a classroom, in the beginning of the school year, so students could see that they do not need to feel left out or try and show off or be better than others. I thought this book also did a great job in showing that you shouldn't let other students bother you that there are so many other kids you can play with if there is a certain kid that is making you feel bad about yourself.

Not in Room 204

Not in Room 204, by Shannon Riggs and illustrated by Jaime Zollars is a great book filled with nice pictures to look at as well as good lessons for the classroom. The teacher, Mrs. Salvador goes through rules by saying things they may be able to do in other classrooms or at home but not in her classroom. She discusses stranger danger as well as dangerous situations that one can be in with people they know well in their life. I think this is a good book to read to a classroom when discussing rules or such issues. This book is geared for grades 1-3 and I agree because it shows issues that these ages deal with or may encounter. I would recommend this book to teachers to read to their classrooms when wanting to discuss classroom expectations as well as letting students know they can talk to them about anything they need!

Chicken Soup

Chicken Soup, by Jean Van Leeuwen and Illustrated by David Gavril is a great story for kids to enjoy. It is geared for children ages 4-8. I found this to be an entertaining book on how farm animals try to help out the chick. They're all worried that the chick is going to become chicken soup so they keep telling it to hide from the farmer. It turns out in the end that the farmer was making chicken soup because the chick was sick! It had a lot of good pictures and was a creative story. I would recommend this book to anyone to read whether in the classroom or just for fun. It helps show that friends help each other out but also that they should not always think the worst will happen.

Wilson And Miss Lovely

Wilson And Miss Lovely, by John Stadler is a back to school mystery for ages 4-8. It is about a boy named Wilson who is basically in love with his teacher. This book has great illustrations and also has fold out pages. I think this book is good to read to kids when they are just getting back into the school year as well as anytime during the school year really. This boy, Wilson, is so excited to go back to school even though some strange things are happening. I really enjoyed reading the mystery and eagerness throughout the book and really enjoyed the pictures!

Duck Soup

Duck Soup by Jackie Urbanovic is a New York Times Best Seller. It is geared towards children ages 4-7. I found this book to be fun and entertaining. It is about a duck named Max who is always trying to cook different kinds of soups but they always end up tasting not great. He is trying to invent his own soup but when he goes out to get more ingredients his friends come in and think he is fallen into the soup that is boiling! It is really good and I think that children will enjoy hearing it! It has a good moral about not getting upset if things get messed up to keep trying.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book?

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book? By Lauren Child is a fun children's book to read. It is geared for children ages 4-7. It is about this boy, Herb, that fell asleep reading a book about Fairytales. He ends up falling into the book and runs into Goldilocks and the 3 bears, Cinderella, The King and Queen, the Ugly stepsisters and stepmother. Each page he walks into he sees is messed up in some way and remembers how he drew on it or cut something out. Through the book Herb is trying to figure out how to get out of the fairytales book. It is a humerous book that helps kids understand that books are precious and not to draw or cut things out of them. I thought this book was good and helped show that message. The illustrations were great in showing how a kid may change things in the book. I would recommened reading this to a classroom at anytime.

A Frog in the Bog

A frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson and Joan Rankin is a fun children's story to read! It is geared towards ages 3-7, but I think anyone could read it and enjoy it. This frog is sitting on the middle of a bog on a log, and he's hungry. When different little insects that frogs like to eat like tick's, fleas, flies, etc. fly along he eats them. The book rhymes, as you can see "a frog sitting in the bog on a log" and the punctuation makes you want to read it quick. It is a fun book to read and helps with counting, word recognition, and learning a little about what frogs may do and their surroundings. I think this book would be great to read to a classroom when discussing nature or anytime really. The illustrations were fun too because they showed how the frog would get bigger the more he ate and other things. I really liked it. =)

My Parents are Divorced, My elbows Have Nicknames, and Other Facts about Me

My Parents are Divorced, My elbows have Nicknames, and Other Facts about Me by Bill Cochran is a new children's book. It is geared to children ages 4-8. I really enjoyed reading it. It had great illustrations and fun facts about Ted, a kid whose parents got divorced when he was a little younger. He doesn't want to be weird but finds out he could be a little strange but doesn't care because it's who he is. I think this book is really good at showing kids that it doesn't matter if your parents are divorced, you like to sleep with one sock on, or other silly things like that, that you can be who you are and that you are loved by both parents even though they are not together. I saw this book on the shelf and wanted to read it because my parents are divorced, I've always known that they both love me and haven't had a problem with it because they divorced before I can remember, but I know there are a lot of people who struggle with it. I think this book is a really good book to share in a classroom anytime or with kids at home whether they are struggling with it or not because they may have a friend with divorced parents or may be made fun of about things they like and they need to know that whatever it is that it is ok because that is who they are.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Mark Teague was a fun picture book to read! It is geared towards ages 3-7. This children's book was fun to read because it was a twist on how one would spend their summer vacations. Many kids go to camps, go on vacations, etc. but in this story Wallace Bleff is on his way to his aunts house for the summer but gets kidnapped by cowboys, no big deal, and gets taught how to be a cowboy. I found the book to be very interesting and the phrases rhymed which helps in reading to kids, I think. I thought that it was humerous and would be great to read to children in a classroom in the early fall or even just at home.

The World According to Humphrey

The World According to Humphrey by Betty G Birney is an Iowa Children's Choice Award Winner! This children's novel is geared towards students in grades 2-5. It is narrated in the point of view of Humphrey, Room 26 at Longfellow School's class pet, a hamster. I found the author did a fantastic job trying to think like a hamster, what a hamster may think, act, and say reguarding different situations it gets put in or sees. Humphrey was brought to the class at the beginning of the school year by the substitute who was in the class for the first 6 weeks of the school year, Ms. Mac. Then all of a sudden the actual teacher, Mrs. Brisbane, came back and it crushed Humphrey's heart. Ms. Mac bought Humphrey from the pet store because she thought that the student's would learn to be more responsible with the pet, learning to care for it, etc. How it was put in the novel, "You can learn a lot about yourself by taking care of another species." It is true. The students, janitor, principal, and even Humphrey learn a lot! Humphrey gets to go home each weekend with a different student in the class, he learns to read and write, he helps their families out in different ways. He also has a cage that the lock does not lock so he can get out and go in different adventures all the time. I found that Betty Birney did such a great job in the descriptions of this book! There are sequals to The World According to Humphrey like "Friendship According to Humphrey" and a few others that I would recommened reading in a classroom or just for fun!

A lil about ME!

Hey! My name is Rachel. I got my B.A. in May 2008 in Linguistics and wanted to persue getting my teaching certificate. My specializations are reading, language arts, and math. I love kids, working with them, just being around them. I love to be with my family and friends as much as possible. I like watching sports, running, and golfing. I am excited for this semester and seeing how much I can learn concerning children's literature. =)

I chose the title Gigglin' Giraffes because I love giraffes they are very beautiful animals and I love to laugh. =)