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!