Emma's Journal

Written and Illustrated by Marissa Moss

No Awards

Ten-year-old Emma is sent to live with her Aunt during a critical time during the American Revolution. Emma is desperate to help in any way that she can. She logs her days in this book as journal entries, expressing her desire to help, and her frustration with her inability to do so. Finally, her father trusts her with a secret code word and she is able to change the course of the revolution for the better!

This book is an excellent resource for nine and ten year old's to use when studying what life was like during the American Revolution. I would use this for a History unit where I allow my students to choose a point in history to do a project over. 

 

Rachel's Journal 

Written and Illustrated by Marissa Moss

Rachel's Journal is a book that is written as journal entries from the perspective of a young girl. Rachel, our author, is with her family, traveling along the Oregon Trail from Illinois to California. Rachel writes about her experiences with the terrain, hunger, sickness, and more in her entries. In the last entry, Rachel writes about her new life in California and how she enjoys it. 

The book has won no awards. The book is appropriate for middle school-age children, fifth and sixth grade, or advanced fourth-graders could also read and enjoy the book.  I would use this book in my classroom as a resource for my students during a unit over the Oregon Trail. This could be a good read for them to gain an understanding of the way that people lived during the time and how the conditions of their travel affected them. 

Little Mouse's Trail Tale

Written by JoAnn Vandine

Illustrated by John Burge & Laurie Sharpe

Little Mouse's Trail Tale, is a cute book about the journey a mouse makes each night to find his dinner. The mouse has a standard routine of taking the same path, leading him to the same place each night. This works wonderfully for him until one night the homeowner sets a mousetrap to catch him. The mouse returns back to his home hungry. After deciding on a different path, the mouse tries again and finds a note from the homeowner's son leading him to a cage with food and a blanket waiting for him.

This book is great for pre-k or kindergarten classroom. I would use this to help the class recognize patterns and repetition in the story (the path the mouse takes each night). It has won no awards. 

Chrysanthemum

Written and Illustrated by Kevin Henkes

Chrysanthemum is about a mouse who is given a name that at first, she loves. Once she starts school, she is mocked for her name because it is difficult to spell and pronounce. After a hard day at school, she returns home, hating her name. Her parents are confused because she was given a beautiful name and they explain to her why her name is so special. She tries again the next day, going to school loving her name, only to be mocked again and return back home hating her name. This is a cycle that continues for a few days until her teacher, Ms. Delphinium Twinkle, explains to the class that her name is also long. Of course, the students love their teacher and start to appreciate long names. Chrysanthemum feels welcome by the end of the book. 

Chrysanthemum has won no awards but I believe it is fully deserving of one because of the beautiful message that it sends.  This book is appropriate for Kindergarteners and first graders. 

I would use this in my classroom during the first month of school to introduce the concept of being kind to one another. I would also use this book if I noticed any bullying or unkindness in my classroom. 

A House for Hickory

Written by Kelly Mazzone

Illustrated by Pat Reynolds

A House For Hickory is a paper engineered book that includes flaps on every page that fold up, revealing something about a possible house for hickory. This book is perfect for four to six-year-olds as they learn about the homes and communities of various animals. Throughout the story, Hickory the mouse is searching for his perfect house but each prospect he finds has one problem..read to find out!

This book has won no awards. 

I would use this to introduce communities to my students. Each animal has a particular home that fits each of their needs and this book does a good job of introducing that topic in a fun way!

Duck in the Truck

Written and Illustrated by Jez Alborough

Duck in the Truck is a quick and fun read that is a bit lyrical. It is a story about a duck on his way home when all of a sudden his truck becomes stuck. He calls on the help of some animal friends to help him get his truck unstuck. This book made me giggle the whole way through and would be perfect for teaching rhythm in a pre-k or kindergarten classroom.

The book has won no awards. 

Miss Spiders Tea Party

Written and Illustrated by David Kirk

Miss Spider's Tea Party, is a story about Miss Spider, who is throwing a tea party for her friends. However, she has to wait a while for anyone to show up and this causes her to feel many varying emotions. This book is good to read to a kindergarten classroom because it deals with counting from one to 12 and also talks about the different ways that Miss Spider feels throughout the book, which could help students understand that any things they might be feeling are normal too. 

This book has won no awards. 

I would read this to my class and have them count with me while we read, asking them as we go, what numbers they think will come next. 

Poems for the Very Young

Selected by: Michael Rosen

Illustrated by: Bob Graham

Poems for the Very Young is a collection of poems from various poets like Shel Silverstein, Afua Cooper, Stevie Smith, and many more. The intended audience is young children and that's very apparent because each poem is written to target that audience. Each poem covers subjects of growing up, numbers, letters, foods, and animals, and they serve to aid in the teaching of children about these things. This book has not won any awards.

My evaluation of this book is that it's perfect when introducing students to new authors and the different styles that certain authors use. This book wouldn't be appropriate for students ages 6 or up because I believe it would be too easy for them but I think it would be okay in a pre-k through first grade classroom. 

The New Kid on the Block

Poems by Jack Prelutsky

Illustrations by James Stevenson

The New Kid on the Block is the perfect book to add a little humor to your life. Each poem is unique while also being a cohesive addition to the book and sticking to the theme of silliness.  It has poems addressing a "new kid" who is also a bully, count Dracula visiting a blood bank and not to donate,  what happens when we fight our shadow, and many more!

It has won no awards and is intended for children ages 5 and up.  

My evaluation of this book is that it serves well for introducing poetry to your class. You could discuss some of the patterns used in the book, some themes of the poems, and then you could challenge your students to create a poem of their own using a selected pattern or theme. 

Three Blind Mice 

by John W. Ivmey, Illustrated by Paul Galdone

Three Blind Mice was written to appeal to children ages three and up. It is not the recipient of any awards. The book follows the journey of three blind mice as they leave their home and face lots of hardships along the way like, no shelter, no food, and they even go blind at one point. The story uses rhythm and rhyme throughout to make it a fun read for adults and children!

My evaluation of Three Blind Mice is that it is perfect to use as a fun story, or when teaching students about the order of events. You could do this book as a read-aloud and when you're finished, you could do an activity on the board where students tell the story events in the appropriate order. You could also use this to help explain plot. 

Knock Knock

Knock Knock by Tad Hills

This book was the cutest book I read during this poetry section. It was a collection of knock, knock jokes intended for what I would believe are little ones, pre-k, and kindergarten students. This book is not a recipient of any awards but is still fun to read to your little ones!

My favorite knock-knock joke from the book goes:

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Liz.

Liz who?

Liz-en to me sing!

This one was my favorite because as silly as it is, I could see myself using this. I am always humming or singing around my house, and often times I'm told to hush, haha. But with this cute knock-knock joke maybe someone will liz-en to me!

My evaluation of this book is that it's perfect for little ones. Like ages 2-5. Each "knock-knock" joke is rhyming and not every word that's used is real.  I like this book because it's a good one to use when teaching word knowledge to your kindergarteners. You could show them a word like "book" and have them replace the first letter to create words that rhyme, "hook", "shook", "sook", "wook". It's important to explain that even words that aren't real can be played with when discovering rhyming words. 

Poem Stew

 Poem Stew Poems Selected by William Cole. Illustrations by Karen Weinhaus

Poem Stew is a collection of poems chosen by William Cole. The poems in the book are all by different poets and all of them have something to do with types of food, the kitchen, or the way that food can affect our diet. This book is not a recipient of any awards but is still a fun read when you want to lift your spirits. The appropriate age group would be upper elementary to middle school because some of the words in a few poems are a little advanced. 

One of my favorite poems in the book was "Arbuckle Jones" by Peter Wesley-Smith. It goes:

                                Arbuckle Jones

                                When Flustered 

                                Eats Custard

                                With Mustard   

                                I'm disgustard.

I chose this poem because it was one that made me giggle with the use of the word "disgustard"  

My evaluation of this poetry book is that this is a fun book to use when introducing poetry to children. Not every poem in this book has a perfect rhyme scheme and it highlights the importance of understanding that not every poem has to have rhyming words.

The Annotated Classic Fairytales

Translations by Maria Tatar

No Awards

This book is written for an older audience, highschool and above as it provides annotations to your favorite traditional literature stories, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel, and many many more. Each story within this book is given an introduction and full preamble before jumping into the story. As the story goes, parts of it are annotated so that the reader is able to learn about the history of the story.

My evaluation of this book is that when given to the proper audience, this book could be incredibly informational and could be a useful tool to understanding fairytales and their history.