2nd grade read aloud

All posts in the 2nd grade read aloud category

Velma Gratch & the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison

Published June 1, 2013 by Dagmar

the way cool butterflyVelma is in first grade.  Unfortunately, Velma is the third of the Gratch sisters.  Even more unfortunately, both of Velma’s older sisters were incredibly memorable.  They were perfect.  Velma is constantly reminded of how wonderful her sisters were while no one seems to remember her name.  Velma decides she wants to be remembered, too.

When Velma’s class goes on a field trip to the butterfly conservatory, Velma finds out that her sisters never went there.  Velma waits and waits for something memorable to happen to her at the conservatory.  Then, something does.  A beautiful monarch butterfly lands on her finger…and stays there.  The butterfly stays and stays on Velma’s finger long after they’ve left the conservatory.  Finally, Velma’s principal says, “no one will forget this.”  Velma realizes that monarch needs to start its “my-gray-sun”.  Velma knows just how to make the monarch leave her finger and takes her monarch to the park.

This book drew applause from my second graders.  It’s a great story about rooting for the underdog.  The illustrations by Kevin Hawkes are really nice.  This was chosen as a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year.

Of Thee I sing, by Barack Obama

Published May 30, 2013 by Dagmar

of theeI find this book incredibly inspiring.  Many thanks to Amelie’s Bookshelf for the recommendation.  I went out and bought it and used it for my final week of library classes.  I read it to students in grades 1-5.

President Obama’s book is a letter to his daughters about the people that made our country wonderful.  He starts, by saying, “Have I told you that you’re creative?” and then talks about Georgia O’Keefe.  Each page, he talks about a quality exemplified by the person he highlights, including Helen Keller, Cesar Chavez, Neil Armstrong, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, Jane Addams, Abraham Lincoln, Maya Lin, Sitting Bull and others.  Some people, like Georgia O’Keefe, Maya Lin, Jane Addams and Helen Keller were less familiar to my students.  It was nice to have the opportunity to talk about these amazing people and the importance of their work.  Most importantly, President Obama finishes the book by saying that America is full of people of all different races, religions and ideas.

This book is a beautiful, touching book.  It’s especially great to share.  The illustrations by Loren Long are wonderful.  My students quietly while I read the book to them (good quiet, not bored quiet).  Afterward, we went from student to student and talked about which person or people inspired them the most.  I loved hearing students talk about the people that inspired them, particularly when they mentioned people they’d first learned about in the book.

The Painter and the Bird, by Max Velthuijs

Published May 26, 2013 by Dagmar

painter and the birdHere’s an oldie but goodie that I found on the shelves of my library.  It can be easy to dismiss books, because they aren’t current.  In this case, you would miss a wonderful story.  The dedication, “To those of us who have ever been lost or lonely” is touching.  This book really moved my students and led to great discussions about the value of friendship.

The once was a painter who was very poor.  He had one favorite painting of a strange and wonderful bird.  Then, a wealthy man comes and wants to buy the painting.  The painter does not want to sell his favorite painting.  When the wealthy gentleman offers more and more money, the painter, who needs money desperately, accepts the money and sells his painting.  The wealthy man hangs the bird painting in his fancy house.  The bird, who is magical, misses the painter and flies out of the painting.  The bird begins a long search for the painter.  In the meanwhile, the wealthy man goes to the painter’s house demanding his money back, because the bird left his painting.  Now, the painter has no bird and no money.  At last, the bird finds its way back to the painter, and the painter promises never to sell the bird painting again.

This is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen

Published May 24, 2013 by Dagmar

This is not my hatHere is another fabulous picture book by Jon Klassen, the author of the very the very funny I Want My Hat Back.  I love the dark, dry humor in this and I Want My Hat Back.

A little fish has taken a very big fishes’ hat.  He swims confidently to the place where the plants grow big and tall and close together.  He is sure that the big fish will not know where he is and that the crab that saw him swim by will not tell the big fish where to find him.  Oops.  This book has great pacing and is perfect for my “too old for picture books” students.  They love it as do I.

Jon Klassen is also the illustrator of Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, one of my favorite picture books.  C

Mirette on the High Wire, by Emily Arnold McCully

Published May 20, 2013 by Dagmar

miretteMirette on the High Wire is a Caldecott Award winner and a big hit with my students.  I think my students particularly loved the fact that a young girl helps an adult through a difficult time.  This book is a real hit in my library.

Mirette’s mother operates a boarding house in Paris where many actors, jugglers and other performers like to stay.  A man comes and asks for a room.  Mirette discovers that the man is actually the Great Bellini, a famous high wire artist.  She watches, fascinated, as Bellini practices on a small wire in the back.  She begs Bellini to train her, but he warns her that once she begins walking on the wire, her “feet will never be happy again on the ground.”  Mirette can’t resist learning.  She practices and practices.  While she works with Bellini, she learns that Bellini has become afraid of working on the wire.  Together, Mirette and Bellini practice.   Their work together inspires Bellini to get back on the high wire, high in the sky in Paris.  Mirette, seeing him high in the air, quickly climbs up to the high wire and walks across to meet him in the middle.  It’s a wonderful moment in the book that my students love.

Too Tall Houses, by Gianna Marino

Published May 20, 2013 by Dagmar

Tall Tall HousesI was drawn to this book because of the really beautiful illustrations and was so happy that my 2nd graders loved this book. The animals’ expressions are incredibly well drawn. My students giggled when they saw Owl’s face as Rabbit poured water on his head. There is one page that made all my students say, “ooohh”.

Rabbit and Owl live next to each other. Rabbit grows vegetables, and Owl likes to look into the forest.  Everything is going well until Rabbit’s corn grows too tall. The friends begin to build their houses taller and taller until their houses are high above the earth.  Now Rabbit can’t carry water to his plants and Owl can’t see the forest.  When everything comes tumbling down, Rabbit and Owl figure out that they can build one small house together.

I loved it!  Enjoy!

The Lost Boy and the Monster, by Craig Kee Strete

Published May 19, 2013 by Dagmar

lost boyReminiscent of the Lion and the Mouse, this is the tale of a boy who helps others and is then helped by himself.  My students just loved this book and clapped as I finished it.  The monster is creepy and comical and the boy’s good deeds are laudable.

Old Foot Eater is an awful monster who lives in a tree and catches young children by coiling a very sticky rope at the bottom of a tree.  Old Foot Eater particularly likes eating the feet of small children.  A lost boy, who has wandered so long that he’s forgotten his own name, sees a rattlesnake sunning himself on a rock.  Rather than trying to strike at the snake and kill it, the boy acknowledges the snake’s place in the world and lets it be.  As the boy continues wandering, he runs into a scorpion.  He also lets the scorpion live.  Suddenly, the boy walks right into the Old Foot Eater’s trap and is hauled up into the tree by the monster.  Caught and placed into a cooking pot from which he can’t escape, the boy is saved by the rattlesnake who hangs down from the edge and helps the boy escape.  The monster sees the boy escape and chases him.  The scorpion gives him a medicine bag that allows the boy to spread prickly cactus on the ground around the monster, leading to the Monster’s own demise.

Duck, by Randy Cecil

Published May 18, 2013 by Dagmar

DuckI have to admit that I choke up whenever I read Duck by Randy Cecil.  This book tells the story of a carousel animal, a duck, that dreams of flying like other ducks.

One day, a small lost duckling walks up to Duck, thinking Duck is his mother.  Duck takes the duckling under her wing and raises her.  They laugh, plan and dream together.  Duckling is growing up, and soon, Duck realizes that she will have to teach Duckling to fly.  After trying everything she knows how to do, Duck finally straps Duckling to her back with her scarf.  When they see ducks flying by, they jump off a hill, and Duckling flaps his wings.  Duck realizes that she is weighing Duckling down.  She loosens her scarf and falls to the ground, watching Duckling fly away with the other ducks.

The winter passes sadly for Duck.  When spring comes, she no longer looks at the ducks flying, because flying took Duckling away from her.  Then, she spots Duckling out of the corner of her eye.  Duckling has returned.  They laugh and play until Duckling takes duck onto his back and helps her to fly.

This is honestly such a sweet and touching book.  Randy Cecil’s drawings are fantastic and my young audiences love it.

Secret Place, by Eve Bunting

Published May 14, 2013 by Dagmar

secret placeEve Bunting’s books tend toward social justice and environmental messages.  I find that her books treat subjects sensitively and give kids a real window into the subject at hand.  Secret Place is focused on the issue of increasing urbanization and the loss of habitat for water birds and was a big hit with my students.  After reading this book, we fell into a thoughtful discussion about the author’s message and how it connects to our city, Oakland, California.

Ted Rand’s beautiful water color illustrations take us through a city scape with traffic on freeways and a river running through a concrete bed.  Written in first person, a young boy talks of a secret place he and his neighbors have found in the concrete river.  It’s a place where all kinds of water birds like white egrets, teals, ducks, buffleheads and coots live.  This secret place, where the birds live, has its own noises.  Later, at night, a coyote and possum come to drink at the river side.

The child realizes that all the city was once wilderness and that it’s important to protect the last places where wildlife live in the city.  He knows that he needs to keep this place secret and special.

It was wonderful to talk to my students, many of whom do not regularly leave the city, about all the wildlife that lives here in Oakland.  I was able to talk to them about Oakland’s Lake Merritt, which became the nation’s first official wildlife refuge in 1870.  We talked not only about the many birds that roost in the refuge at Lake Merritt, but also the other wildlife in Oakland, including racoons, skunks, possums and on the outskirts of town, coyotes.  A great read for Earth Day.

The Voyage of Turtle Rex, by Kurt Cyrus

Published May 12, 2013 by Dagmar

turtle rexThis book creates a wonderful bridge between modern day sea turtles and their much larger prehistoric ancestors, archelon.  Like sea turtles today, Archelon apparently returned to the same beaches where they were born just as sea turtles do today.

The rhymes in this book are soothing and the illustrations are really beautiful.  Dinosaur fans will particularly delight in the illustrations.  My students are always quiet and attentive while I read this book.  I love it so much that I read it to my classes each year. I particularly like reading this book to first and second graders.