chapter book #8 -- The Pity Party: 8th Grade in the Life of me, Cass

TITLE:   The Pity Party: 8th Grade in the Life of me, Cass
AUTHOR: Alison Pollet
GENRE: General Fiction, Comedy
THEME:   Middle school, friends, courage
 AWARDS: None
 CHARACTERS: Cass, Penelope, Tillie, Rod
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY:Orchard Books, 2005
SUMMARY: This book is another great book about the hardships that girls face when they are in middle school. The story deals with the problems of group work (when teachers assign the groups and kids don't get along) as well as a child who goes missing. When Rod goes missing Cass goes on a mission of sorts to try to find him. This is another great book about dealing with growing up, and issues that face many young adults today. This is a great book to have the girls in a fifth grade or sixth grade class read because they could start learning about being a better person when in middle school.

chapter book #7 -- Nobody Was Here : 7th grade in the life of me Penelope

TITLE:   Nobody Was Here: 7th Grade in the Life of me Penelope
AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR:   Alison Pollet
GENRE: General Fiction
THEME:   School, growing up
 AWARDS: None
 CHARACTERS: Penelope, Stacy, Penelope's parents, Cass
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Orchard Books, 2004
SUMMARY: This book is set in 1981. This book is all about a middle school girl who is going through changes in her life, and she is unsure how to cope with a lot of them. This book covers having to deal with bullies, loosing friends, and parents fighting (which I think can be the hardest). I think that this book could be a good one for middle school girls to read because of all the topics covered in here, even though it is set in the early 80's. This is a great book for girls who may wonder how to cope with some things, but not want to ask in fear of being bullied or rejected. By reading this book they could learn a thing or two before leaving middle school. This is a great book for all children to read, though it is 99% of the time best for girls.

chapter book #6 -- My Fabulous New Life

TITLE:   My Fabulous New Life
AUTHOR: Sheila Greenwald
GENRE: Realistic Fiction
THEME:   Moving away, new friends, growing up
 AWARDS:None
 CHARACTERS: Alison, KJ, Alison's parents
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993
SUMMARY: This story is all about growing up. When Alison has to move from the home she has known all her life, to New York City, she grows up tons. She goes from being a sheltered little girl, to an understanding young woman. She learns about what can cause homelessness, as well as many other things. By the end of the book, I feel that the title is no longer that of an attitude filled pre-teen, but that of a respectable young woman who really does think her new life is fabulous. 
When using this in a classroom I think I may use it more on a case by case basis, for example if I knew that one of my students was going to be moving away to some where completely foreign to them I would recommend this book to them and their parents. I feel that this would be a great book for a girl who is moving to read, so that she would see moving isn't all bad. 

chapter book #5 -- Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone

TITLE:   Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR:   JK Rowling, Mary GrandPre'
GENRE: Adventure, Fantasy
THEME:  Courage, Leadership, Responsibility
 AWARDS: None
 CHARACTERS: Harry, Hagrid, The Dursleys, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Neville, Draco
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Scholastic, 1998
SUMMARY: In this book, it starts out with when Harry was a baby, and how the wizarding world came to think of him as an icon. It is ironic because he is treated as a second class citizen in the home he grew up in, always second to his cousin Dudley. All of that changes on his 11th birthday when Hagrid comes and tells him "Yer a wizard Harry." After that his world is never the same, while with Hagrid he learns that he is not in fact poor as his Aunt and Uncle tell him, but that he has quite a bit of money saved up that his parents left him. When he firsts gets to the school, he learns that even though he doesn't know much about magic, everyone knows a lot about him. He seems to have some struggles with getting in trouble, but what 11 year old boy doesn't? Throughout this book (and the six others in the series) Harry, Hermione and Ron get into a lot of trouble, but also do alot of good, along with some of their other classmates. 
This is a good book to have in a free reading section of the classroom, because it gives the students the opportunity to read a book that is famous in its own right, but also due to the major movie franchise that follows it. I think that Harry Potter books are a good way to spark imagination in children, because they can think, well what if this could happen?

picture book #16 -- Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom -- Corretta Scott King Honor Book

TITLE:   Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR:   Carole Boston WeAtherford, Kadir Nelson
GENRE: Biography
THEME:   African American History, Slavery
 AWARDS:
 CHARACTERS: 
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Hyperion Books for Children, 2006
SUMMARY: This is a great story that shows how much pain and suffering that Harriet TUbman went through. When reading this book I felt as though I was crouching in the hole with her, hiding from the men searching for her. I think this would be a great book to read during Black History month, or even when learning about slavery. This book is a great eye opener onto how the slaves were treated, and just how hard it was for them to escape.

picture book #15 -- Don't Eat The Teacher

TITLE:   Don't Eat the Teacher
AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR:   Nick Ward
GENRE: Comedy and humor
THEME:  Manners, Back to School
 AWARDS:None
 CHARACTERS: Sammy the Shark, Students, Teacher, Mom
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Scholastic, 1998
SUMMARY: This book is a very simple one about Sammy the Shark's first day in school. When Sammy gets excited he ends up biting things. His mom tells him to be careful, but every activity that they do during the school day he ends up taking a bite out of it. 
This is a good book to read to a preschool class, because it will many times be the first time that a child has come into a classroom with a teacher. Though, most students aren't going to be biting the teacher, it still shows some rules about manners that are expected in a classroom, but in a fun way that will get kids listening 

picture book #14 -- Coat of Many Colors

TITLE:   Coat of Many Colors
AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR:   Dolly Parton, Judith Sutton
GENRE:General fiction
THEME:   Diversity, Values
 AWARDS: None
 CHARACTERS: Dolly, her fellow students, and her mom
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Byron Preiss Visual Publications, 1994
SUMMARY: This book is a simple one, and has one message, you need to make the most of life. I love this book, it really shows how some families struggle to even make sure that their children have the proper clothes for the winter. This book is based on Dolly Parton's life as a child, and how she was made fun of while in school because of her jacket. I think that I could use this book in many ways in the classroom, one of which is a tool to show kids that bullying isn't a good thing. I think that this book can show those who tease their fellow students that it is not okay, and sometimes the students cannot control what is going on in their home life. I also think this book could be used as a connection to music, and showing songs tell a story. This book is almost word for word Dolly Parton's song Coat of Many Colors, and I feel that using this book in conjunction with the song would have an even greater meaning.

picture book #13 -- The Dark at the Top of The Stairs

TITLE:   The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR:    Sam McBratney, Ivan Bates
GENRE: Horror, supernatural.
THEME:   Animals, Adventure
 AWARDS:None
 CHARACTERS: Old mouse, Cob, Hazel, Berry-Berry,
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Candlewick Press, 1996
SUMMARY: This is a story of curiosity, and it is very similar to how young children are. The book starts out with Old Mouse tucking the little mice into bed, asking them what they want to do the next day. He offers them to go see their cousins or to go swinging in the grass, however the little mice are determined to see the dark at the top of the stairs. They discuss their fears on the way up, and when they see what they are fearing they flee. 
I think that this would be a great book to read to a class around Halloween time, because it is kind of a scary story, but yet because it is just dealing with mice and a cat, it isn't too awful. I like how this story portrays the mice as curious as to what the 'monster' is, but its just the cat. Great book for Halloween!

picture book #12 -- Hotter than a Hot Dog

TITLE:   Hotter than a Hot Dog
AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR:   Stephanie Calmenson, Elivia
GENRE: Fiction
THEME:   Adventure
 AWARDS: None
 CHARACTERS: Granny and granddaughter
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Little Brown & Co 1994
SUMMARY: Hotter than a hot dog is a little girl telling a story about her and her grandmother going to the beach. I love this book because of all the imagery that is in it. The girl and her grandmother ride the train from the city to the beach, and then spend the day at the beach. I feel that this is a great book to read to a class when they are learning about imagery, because there are so many different great examples in this story. I also love how the little girl and her grandmother discuss things that are hot and towards the end, things that are cold. It makes for a great example of comparing. 

Picture Book #11 -- There's No Place Like Space

TITLE:   There's No Place Like Space
AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR:   Tish Rabe, Aristides Ruiz
GENRE:Science
THEME:   Adventure
 AWARDS:None
 CHARACTERS: Cat in the Hat, Dick, Sally, Thing 1 and Thing 2 
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Random House, 1999
SUMMARY: I really enjoyed this book because it is informational (the copy I read has nine planets, but there is a newer revised edition that takes out Pluto). This book is a great book because it is set up and written much like a Dr. Seuss book, and rhymes fantastically. This book gives a little bit of information for each planet, as well as the sun and the moon. I like that it is simple, and to the point, great for young readers, all the way up to I would say third grade (after that they may think it is a book for 'little kids'). I would use this book in a classroom that I was teaching about space as an introduction to the space unit, and it would also be a collaborative lesson because it would be reading as well.

Picture Book #10 -- Just Plain Fancy

TITLE: Just Plain Fancy
AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR:   Patricia Polacco
 GENRE: General /fiction
THEME:   Culture and DiversityAWARDS: None
CHARACTERS: Naomi, Ruth, Dad, Fancy, and Martha
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: A Bantam Little Rooster Book, October 1990
SUMMARY: This book is set in Pennsylvania where there is a high population of Amish and Mennonites. I like that this story can help children (in a fun and interesting way) learn about the Amish/Mennonite culture (while they are different cultures, they have some very similar basics). This book is about one little girl who doesn't understand why everything has to be so plain, she just wants one fancy thing. It is said in the book that it is almost time that she gets her white kapp (the little white bonnet that pre-teen and teen Amish wear), all she has to do is wait until the frolic and see if it happens. In the mean time she has to care of the chickens to prove that she is being a responsible citizen and helping out her family and community. Part of caring for the chickens is going out into the little field behind the chicken coop and collecting any eggs that may have been laid out side of the nests. This is when she finds an egg that is fancy, and doesn't look like a chicken egg. Naomi and Ruth decide to take it into the chicken house and put it in one of the nests. They look after the chickens, and after a while, the eggs start to hatch. They have the normal chickens and then there is the chicken that came from the funny looking egg, and they decide to call it Fancy, since it is different than all the other chickens. Towards the end of the book, Fancy shows her true colors and it makes the girls nervous that she is going to be shunned (not allowed to speak with the Amish any more). 

I think that this is a good book to read, especially in the south, because it sort of teaches about the Amish/Mennonites. While it doesn't get in depth it presents a good level of understanding of how the Amish/Mennonite community works.

Picture Book #9 -- The Junkyard Wonders

TITLE:  The Junkyard Wonders

 AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR:  Patricia Polacco

 GENRE:   Realistic Fiction

 THEME:  Self Esteem/ Self Pride

 AWARDS:None

 CHARACTERS: Trisha (she is never mentioned by name, but this book is a memoir of the author's childhood, at least part of it), Jody, Thom, Ravanne, Mrs. Peterson

 PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Philomel Books 2010

SUMMARY: This book is a snippet of part of Patricia Polacco's life as a child. The book is in first person from her point of view. I really like this book because it isn't just written in her point of view, but the recalling of details that she put in here is amazing. This book talks about how when she was a child many times the 'special' kids were placed in a separate classroom (much like they are now), however children in that time period were not as accepting of children who are different than them. When I first read the book and how the teacher also called the classroom 'The Junkyard' I was sort of offended. These children are not junk, they are amazing and many times are under estimated. Then I realized after I kept reading that while the teacher uses the term junkyard, she embraces it, and uses it as a teaching tool. I feel like she was way ahead of her time in the way that she was teaching her classroom, I love the techniques she used, as well as the attitude that she had. When it came time for the end of the book, it has a major turn, but I feel without it the book wouldn't be such a great read. This book can teach a lot to students, parents, and teachers.

I would not only love to use this book in my classroom, but at trainings for teachers as well. Not only does this book show the bullying that some special needs students face, but a way that teachers can deal with it. I love that Mrs. Peterson embraced the fact that the kids thought of them selves as junk, because while she never says it I think she used the mentality of 'one man's trash is another man's treasure'. This book is an amazing teaching tool for all ages. I recommend that any and everyone read The Junkyard Wonders.