Humphrey the Lost Whale, by Wendy Tokuda

Published November 3, 2015 by Dagmar

I love to take my first graders on journeys around the world on library planes, boats and rocket ships.

Each year, I teach them about whales, and we read the fabulous book, The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson. I promised them last week that we would get on our boat again and visit Humphrey, the humpback whale.

This is the true story of Humphrey the Lost Whale, a humpback whale that swam under the Golden Gate Bridge one day in 1985, right into San Francisco Bay. As wonderful a sight as it was, having a humpback whale as big as a city bus right there in the Bay, there was trouble ahead. Instead of swimming back to the ocean, Humphrey went the wrong way, through the Delta and up the Sacramento River. The Sacramento River is fresh water. Whales need salt water to live. Even more troubling, Humphrey squeezed himself under a very small bridge to a place in the river where the water was shallow and narrow.

Everyone banded together, scientists, the Coast guard and citizens. They made loud noises underwater to scare Humphrey back down the river to the Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Humphrey, tired, lonely and hungry headed back down the river, only to stop in front of the small bridge. He couldn’t get through it. So, once again, his rescuers worked to help him, digging a bigger space for him under the bridge. Humphrey saw the hole and started to swim through, only to get suck in the pilings under the bridge. With a twist of his body, he got through the bridge and moved back toward San Francisco Bay and finally the ocean.

Humphrey came back to the San Francisco Bay several times after his dramatic rescue, one time requiring another rescue. This book combines just the right amount of suspense for young students. My students were waiting with baited breath to see if Humphrey could be saved and all cheered when he made it to the ocean again.

Blackout, by John Rocco

Published September 20, 2015 by Dagmar

It’s summer. It’s hot. Everyone is busy – too busy to play a game with a little boy. Mom is working. Dad is cooking. Older sister is on the phone. So, the boy ends up playing video games by himself. Until…the lights go out.

Huddled together with flashlights and candles, the family plays games. When the apartment gets too hot, the family goes up to the roof and looks at the stars. The whole neighborhood ends up on the rooftops – and down in the streets. It may be a blackout, but it’s a party, too. When the lights come back on, the family turns the lights right back off. 🙂

This book makes you feel good. It has great colorful, playful illustrations and was a real hit with my students. Enjoy!

Going Places, by Peter and Paul Reynolds

Published September 17, 2015 by Dagmar

I’m a rule follower, excellent at following directions and getting things done on time, but I’ve always admired people that take a different path – who have minds so creative, ingenious and unafraid that they feel comfortable completely departing from the norm to create something new. I think the best projects take a combination of rule followers and dreamers to be successful.

In Going Places, Rafael is just like me. He is so excited when his class receives go-cart kits. All the students are to build the kit and then have a race. Rafael goes home and builds the kit, following the directions to the letter. His go-cart looks exactly like the picture. He decides to check on his friend and next door neighbor, Maya to see how she is progressing. He sees her sitting in her yard staring at a bird on a tree and then at a bird flying. When she builds her go cart, it doesn’t look at all like the picture on the kit. It looks more like an awkward flying machine. When Rafael asks Maya why she didn’t building a go-cart, she says that no one said she had to build a go-cart. Rafael sees where Maya is going with her project and asks if they can team up. Nothing in the rules says that they can’t team up.

The result? A plane! As they roll up to the start line, other kids laugh. It’s clear that everyone else in the class has followed the directions exactly, just as Rafael had. When the race starts, the go-carts take off. The plane doesn’t move; but, then it does move…past all those go-carts. Rafael and Maya fly to the finish line well ahead of their competitors. As they roll to a stop, Maya sees a frog jumping off a rock in the lake. She turns to Rafael and smiles. He smiles back. Guess what they build next? 🙂

This is a wonderful book that makes you cheer for all your dreamers and the rule followers can spot a great idea and help bring it to reality.

How to Hide a Lion, Helen Stephens

Published February 5, 2015 by Dagmar

I love it when I find a great book for my preschool and TK students. How to Hide a Lion is a sweet book with endearing illustrations.

Lion comes to town looking for a hat. Everyone is scared of him, so he runs away. He ends up in the backyard of a strong and very brave girl named Iris. Iris finds Lion in her playhouse. Lion is much too big to hide in her playhouse. So, Iris takes him inside her house. First, she grooms him and puts a bandage on his hurt paw. Then, she tries to hide him. Iris succeeds for a while, but while reading a story to Lion, he falls fast asleep. It happens that lions are very hard to wake up. Lions that are hard to wake up are unable to hide quickly. Needless to say, disaster strikes. Iris’ mom discovers Lion, screams, and Lion is on the run again. He decides to hide in plain site, sitting still, between two statues next to the Town Hall. Unfortunately for two crooks, and fortunately for Iris’ town, Lion’s hiding place is the perfect place to catch crooks leaving the Town Hall with the mayor’s candlesticks. The towns people, no longer scared of Lion, honor him and present him with a …hat. Of course.

I was charmed by this book as were my students. Please enjoy.

The Book with No Pictures, by B. J. Novak

Published January 3, 2015 by Dagmar

There have been a few books in my library that have made students laugh and roll on the floor. Not polite little “I’m using my library voice” laughing and rolling on the floor…happy, loud laughing and rolling on the floor. And, really, why not? If you can make your usually quiet librarian say things like, “My best friend is a hippo named Boo Boo Butt,” just by asking her to read this book, wouldn’t you do the same? Not since their favorite “Pigeon” books, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems have my students found a book that is SO funny. I wasn’t planning to read this book a second week in a row, but my students insisted. 🙂

Why is this book such a success? Like Mo Willems Pigeon books, this book puts kids in control. They get to tell you what to do, and they really love it.

I loved reading this book and seeing my students have a great time.

Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses, by Kimberly and James Dean

Published December 22, 2014 by Dagmar

Pete the Cat is one very cool dude. He is a blue cat, and in this book, he is a blue cat with some “cool, blue, magic sunglasses”. Wait and see what magic they can do.

Pete is blue, and not just in color. He’s a blue cat who is feeling blue. Pete has “the blue cat blues”. Walking down the street, he runs into Grumpy Toad, a toad that was never happy. Bummer…not the kind of guy you want to run into when you’re feeling blue, yourself. Today, though, Grumpy Toad has a smile on his face. Why? Grumpy Toad has a pair of “cool, blue, magic sunglasses,” that help him “see things in a whole new way.” He gives the glasses to Pete. When Pete puts on the glasses, all of a sudden he sees that, “The birds are singing. The sky is bright. The sun is shining. I’m feeling ALRIGHT!” Pete takes his trusty skateboard and continues on his way in a sunnier mood.

Pete runs into Squirrel, Turtle and Alligator. All of them are having terrible days until Pete shares his cool, blue, magic sunglasses with them. Once they put on the magic sunglasses, they see what Pete saw and are feeling ALRIGHT!” Pete keeps cruising on his skateboard when ACK! …he falls off his skateboard and the cool sunglasses crack. Luckily, a wise old owl is nearby and tells Pete that he actually doesn’t need those sunglasses. He just needs to remember to “look for the good in every day.”

What a cool way to talk about times when you’re feeling grumpy, angry, frustrated or just plain blue. I loved it; my kids loved it, and we’re feeling ALRIGHT! So, be cool, and read this great book, too.

Take Away the A, by Michael Escoffier

Published December 12, 2014 by Dagmar

Here’s my next entry in the “Clever Alphabet book” category. I’m kidding, I don’t have a Clever Alphabet category on my blog, but I think I might need one now. My first entry in this budding category, The Z was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg, is a fun, if dangerous, alphabet book.

Take Away the A takes each letter and removes it from a word to make a new word. “Without the C, the Chair has Hair.” “Without the L, the Plants wear Pants.” Clever, right? My second graders thought so and had a great time reading this book with me. The illustrations, by Kris Di Giacomo, are lots of fun, too. I highly recommend this book to early readers who will love figuring out what happens as each letter disappears.

Stay tuned for my next clever Alphabet book, Oliver Jeffers’ Once Upon an Alphabet.

Benjamin and Bumper to the Rescue, by Molly Coxe

Published October 21, 2014 by Dagmar

Many thanks to Amélie of Amélie’s Bookshelf for recommending this terrific book. It provided a great opportunity to talk to my kindergarten students about authors and illustrators and whether illustrators always had to draw or paint the pictures to a book. In this case, Olivier Toppin has taken photographs of stuffed animals with real props in order to illustrate the book.

As I read this to my kindergarteners, they were held in great suspense, some said they were even scared as we read it. Trust me, this is a very gentle book with a kindergarten-sized villain and two really good guys, named Benjamin and Bumper.

When Benjamin’s mom goes off to do errands and doesn’t return, Benjamin and Bumper set out to find her. Luckily, they are very practical animals, packing lots of tools that they might need for their search and rescue mission, including: their scooter, ropes, ladders, a sewing kit, a fishing pool and some tools. When they discover that Mrs. Middlemouse has been captured by the terrible Sir Pouncelot, they’ll need all these various things in order to save her from becoming an ingredient in one of his dinner casseroles.

Will Benjamin and Bumper be able to save Benjamin’s mom? Will Sir Pouncelot learn a lesson? Tune in to this, the first of the Benjamin and Bumper Adventure series, to find out!

Quest, by Aaron Becker

Published October 20, 2014 by Dagmar

Quest is the incredible sequel to Aaron Becker’s 2014 Caldecott Honor Book, Journey. It, like Journey, is a wordless book with breathtaking illustrations.

I particularly like to use wordless books with my fourth graders. They are a restless bunch, usually wanting to talk amongst themselves rather than listen to a read aloud. With a book like Quest, I stand in front of my students and page through the book for them as they “read” it to themselves.

Even those students who were reluctant to pay attention quieted quickly. Quest held their attention so well, you could only hear the whispers as they “read” this book and said soft “aahhs” at the beautiful illustrations. At the end, my intractable group smiled and clapped. They loved it!

Quest begins at the end of Journey. (To be sure my students understood this, I showed them Journey first and then Quest.) The two children, a boy holding a purple crayon and a girl holding a red crayon, meet a king who gives them a written message, with multiple colors on it. The king is abducted by soldiers and taken away. The boy and girl use their crayons to try to save the king using the clues in the message he gave them. To see if they succeed, read this wonderful book and enjoy.

Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow? by Susan Shea

Published October 20, 2014 by Dagmar

Here’s a great book that worked well with my pre-k through K students. They really enjoyed it. Susan Shea cleverly takes readers from things that are organic and grow and things that won’t grow with rhyming text and unfolding pages.

“If a duckling grows and becomes a duck, can a car grow and become (unfold the page) a truck?” “If an owlet grows and becomes an owl, can a washcloth grow and become (unfold) a towel?”

This is lots of fun to read to young students. When they see what (inorganic thing) the author thinks might grow, they laugh and yell (in their best library voices), “NO!”

Have fun with this one! Many thanks to my friend, Leona, a story teller at our school, for this wonderful recommendation!

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