Chapter Book #14

Chapter Book #13-- Bud, Not Buddy-- Newberry Award

TITLE: Bud, Not Buddy

AUHTOR: Christopher Paul Curtis

GENRE: Historical Fiction

THEMES: Music, Adoption, Foster Care, Runaways

AWARDS: This book won both a Newberry award and a Coretta Scott King award.

PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Yearling, 2002

SUMMARY: This book is based on the life of an orphan that the only thing he knew about his life was that he had a picture of his mom as a child, and a bag of rocks that she left him. This book deals with the trials that he has to go through as an orphan, and dealing with going to different foster homes. Eventually he meets up with a famous musician, who accuses him of stealing the rocks from his house. Then it is found out who his mother was, and why she had the rocks. 
This is a great book to inform children and parents about the life in the early 1900's. Though, it must be used carefully in class, as to not upset someone who may have been in foster care at some point.

Chapter Book #12 -- The Giver -- Newberry Award

TITLE: The Giver

AUHTOR: Lois Lowry

GENRE: Science Fiction

THEMES: Power, Authority, Government

AWARDS: Newberry Award winner.

PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Houghton Miller Books for Children

SUMMARY: The book the Giver is written from a young boy, Jonas' perception of the world. This book is about coming of age for Jonas, and how he is nervous to move on from childhood into adulthood. The society that Jonas and his family live in is one that is set in the future, there is no feelings (especially not of pain or anger) and very little color. Many of the people that live there look the same, they all have the same features. When children are born, they aren't born to their mothers, but to more of a surrogate, and then they spend the first year in a cross between an orphanage and a day care, until they are older. When it comes time for adults to move on to another life because they are too old to function, they 'release' them, which is another word for letting them go onto death. They also sometimes have to release babies that are born with disabilities, or when there are twin babies. 

This book is a classic, and is a good one to read for an English class, or even for a history class to see a semi-example of what the world would have been like if Hitler had won World War II. 

Chapter Book #11 -- Through My Eyes --Orbis Pictus

TITLE: Through My Eyes
AUTHOR: Ruby Bridges
GENRE: Auto-biography
THEMES: Civil Rights Movement, African American History
AWARDS: Orbis Pictus Award
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Scholastic Press, 1999
SUMMARY: This book is an auto-biography written by Ruby Bridges about the trials that she had to face when the schools became segregated. She writes about what it was like for a young girl to have to be escorted into and out of school every morning. What it was like to have people yelling hateful things at her, to not have any other students in class. 
This book like many that I have read for this class would be great to teach students what it was like to be segregated, and the troubles that many American's faced back in the 1950-1960 era.

Chapter Book #10-- Thanks to My Mother -- Mildred L. Batchelder

TITLE: Thanks to My Mother
AUTHOR:  Schoschana Rabinovici
 GENRE: Memior
 THEME: Social Studies, World History
AWARDS: Mildred L. Batchelder
 PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: 1994, Puffin
SUMMARY: This book recounts a young child's life during the time of Hitler. This story, meant for middle school aged children, is a very graphic and horrifying glimpse into the past. It is important to realize that humans are cruel and have the ability to treat others in the worst way possible. In this book it discusses topics such as the killing of orphans, and how when the concentration camps were moved many times they were sprayed with human fecal matter. It is a sad and scary truth, and the author, who is writing from memories, spares no detail. This is a good book to read not only in an English class, but could also be used in a Social Studies/History Class when learning about World War II.

Chapter Book #9 -- Elijah of Buxton -- Coretta Scott King Award

TITLE:  Elijah of Buxton
AUTHOR: Christopher Paul Curtis
GENRE: Historical Fiction
THEME: Slavery, Courage, and Honor
AWARDS: Coretta Scott King Award
PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY:Scholastic Press, 2007
SUMMARY: This book is about the first child born into a town in Canada, his name is Elijah. He was born into a town that was mostly run away slaves. When growing up Elijah had a friend who had money stolen from them, and Elijah wants to help him get his family back. He then makes a crazy trip down into the United States to follow the robber, and finds out what his life would have been like had his parents not ran away from slavery. He has to try to not only follow the robber into the United States, but he then has to try to make it back to his home in Canada.
This would be a great book to use in both English for reading, and in a History class when learning about slavery. 

Picture Book #26 -- Stellaluna

TITLE: Stellaluna

AUTHOR: Janell Cannon

GENRE: Adventure

THEMES: Nocturnal Animals, Individuality

AWARDS:

PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: 1993, Harcourt Children's Books

SUMMARY:This is a great book to teach individuality, as well as diversity. In this book, the main character Stellaluna, gets lost from her mom, and ends up with a bird family. They accept her, and even though she is a little different she lives with them for some time. Towards the end of the book she is found by another bat, who thinks it is funny that she is sitting up right, and not hanging upside down like the rest of the bats do. Does he help Stellaluna find her mom? Read to find out.

THis is a great book to use in a classroom that even when people are different we should still love them.

Picture Book #25-- Rainbow Fish

TITLE: Rainbow Fish

AUTHOR: Marcus Pfister

GENRE: Picture Book

THEMES: Sharing, Friendship

PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: North-South Books, 1992

SUMMARY: This is a book that teaches sharing. The rainbow fish is the prettiest fish in the ocean, and he is asked for one of his pretty rainbow scales. At first, Rainbow fish is upset about sharing, but then at the end he learns a very important lesson. This is a great book to read to children in kindergarten to second grade, because it shows them to share with those who are less fortunate or may not look the same as you. This shows children that they can feel good about sharing.

Picture Book #24-- Alice and Greta : A Tale of Two Witches

TITLE: Alice and Greta: A Tale of Two Witches

AUTHOR: Cyd Moore

GENRE: Fantasy

THEMES; Opposites, Wtiches

AWARDS: None

PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Scholastic, 1997

SUMMARY: This book is about two sisters, Alice and Greta, who are witches. They learned all the same tricks and spells while going to school, but this story is a classic good versus evil plot. Alice uses her magic for good (like saving sandcastles from the waves), and Greta uses her magic for bad (or evil, depending on your stance) and gives people warts. At the end of the story Greta sticks all the children with marshmallows, but Alice ends up saving the day! This would be a great book to read to a young class, because it has lots of bright pictures, and is perfect for Halloween when witches are the topic of a lot of discussion. This would be a great story to have the children write alternate endings, in which both characters end of being good, and what would have happened if Greta realized she was being bad.

Picture Book #23 -- Alphabet Under Construction

TITLE: Alphabet Under Construction

AUTHOR: Denise Fleming, he also illustrated the book with the help of David Powers

GENRE: General Fiction

THEMES: Alphabet recognition, animals

AWARDS: None

PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Henery Holt and Company, 2002

SUMMARY: This book tells of a mouse as be builds the alphabet, all the way from A to Z. Each time he makes a letter he uses it in the way he makes it, for example when making the letter A he airbrushes it. This is a very unique way to 'build' the alphabet. I think this is a great book for young children, or special needs students when they are learning the alphabet because it is not just black and white, but very colorful and shows the alphabet in a way you wouldn't imagine.

Picture Book #22 -- Llama Llama Red Pajama

TITLE: Llama Llama Red Pajama

AUTHOR: Anna Dewdney

GENRE: Bed time stories, Humor

THEMES:Bed time, sleep, dreams

AWARDS:None

PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Scholastic, 2005

SUMMARY: This book is about how when Mama llama is getting baby llama ready for bed, she leaves at one point. Baby llama then gets scared, and has many many emotions, especially when Mama llama doesn't come straight back from where she went. Eventually though, Mama llama comes back and when she does, Baby llama is very happy. This is a great book to read to young children, because many times they may get scared that when mom or dad drops them off at daycare, they aren't coming back. This can help them to learn that just because someone leaves the room and says goodbye doesn't mean they are never going to be seen again.

Picture Book #21 -- The Good Little Bad Little Pig

TITLE: The Good Little Bad Little Pig

AUTHOR: Margaret Wise Brown

ILLUSTRATED:  Dan Yaccarino

GENRE: Picture Book

THEMES: Animals, Picture Story Book

AWARDS: None

PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Hyperion, 2002

SUMMARY: This book is about a little boy named Peter, who wants a pet pig that is "a good little bad little pig". His parents at first are worried what this means, but they let him get the pig anyways. After he has the pig for some time, and it keeps messing up, Peter explains what he means. Not everyone can be good or bad all the time, and neither can his little piglet, so by calling her the good little bad little pig, it means she is both good and bad. This is a great book to teach children that while sometimes it is hard to be good all the time, they need to try their hardest, and no one would be upset if they were bad sometimes because accidents happen.

Picture #20 -- Bear Feels Sick

TITLE: Bear Feels Sick

AUTHOR: Karma Wilson


ILLUSTRATOR: Jane Chapman

GENRE:Comedy, Humor

THEMES: Compassion, Kindness, Friendship

AWARDS: None

PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Scholastic, 2007

SUMMARY: This book is a great book to teach children how to have compassion and love for each other. All of Bear's friends want to go out and play, but Bear is coughing and sneezing, because he has a cold. They realize that they need to be good friends and take care of him so that he can feel better. They bring him blankets and sing to him, hoping to make him feel better. When they finally succeed in doing that, they all end up with the same cold, so in the end, Bear ends up taking care of all his friends. He says he does it because they took care of him, so now it is his turn to take care of them. This is a great book to read to kids to help them learn compassion and understanding, just because they want one of their friends to come out and play, doesn't mean they can. But if they are helpful and then they get sick, their friends may just return the favor and help them feel better. 

Picture Book #19 -- Cat Heaven

TITLE: Cat Heaven

AUTHOR: Cynthia Rylant both wrote and illustrated this book.

GENRE: Rhymes

THEMES: Pets, Creativity, Death

AWARDS: None

PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Blue Sky Press, 1997

SUMMARY: This book helps to children to understand what happens when a cat passes away. While it is completely made up, I feel that it could really help a child that is grieving the loss of their pet. It discusses a cat treat filled heaven (my apartment must be heaven on earth, but that is a different story), and the cats are even aloud on the counter in cat heaven. I think that this would be a great book to use in a classroom after maybe a class pet passes away, because that can be traumatic. A great way to use it would be to read it to the kids, and then have them imagine what the class pet's heaven is like, even if it is a hamster! We can discuss where all the animals go to have fun after they pass on.

Picture Book #18 -- Comet's Nine Lives

TITLE: Comet's Nine Lives

AUTHOR: Jan Brett (She also illustrated)

GENRE: Adventure, Animal Stories

THEMES: Animals, Courage, and Honor

AWARDS: None

PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: 1996, Scholastic

CHARACTERS: Comet and Waffles

SUMMARY: This book is about a cat, Comet, who is loving life on the East Coast of the United States, when after taking a nap wakes up and finds out that he had lost his first of his nine lives due to his choice of sleep. When this happens, he realizes that he needs to find somewhere safe to live for the rest of his life, so that he doesn't waste any more of his nine lives. He faces many trials and tribulations, like falling off a boat and falling off of a bicycle, he ended up loosing seven more lives. After loosing that many more lives he found a light house, and a cat that lived there with an easy simple and safe life, and Comet decided that is where he wanted to spend the rest of his life. This is a good book to get students writing creative stories about what Comet would do if he was their cat, and where he would go. This is a great story because the pictures also show some foreshadowing that Jan put into her books. 

Picture book #17 -- The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain -- Robert F. Sibert

TITLE: The Wall : Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain

AUTHOR: Peter Sis( He also illustrated the book)

GENRE: Auto-biography, General Fiction

THEMES: International Relations, European History

AWARDS: Caldecott, Robert F. Sibert

PUBLISHING DATE AND COMPANY: Straus and Giroux 2007

SUMMARY: This book is an amazing auto-biography that Peter Sis wrote of his life growing up in the time of communism in Czechoslovakia. During each of the different 'time periods' of his life, there is a different artistic element that show through. When he was young and there was heavy communism in his life, the pictures were very dull, with black and white and some red mixed in. The red represented the communism in his life. At the very end, representing the freedom from communist Russia, there is the most colorful picture that represents the spring in Prauge, and shows that the people are no longer oppressed, but can fully express themselves. This is a great book for uper elementary scoool all the way into beginning of highschool, because it can show so much just through the art, and the higher the learning level, the more a student can get out of it.