Children’s Book Recommendations

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Lesson ideas: The Lion and the Mouse, Africa and the savanna

Published October 8, 2013 by Dagmar

This year, I’m trying to tie my picture books into our non-fiction texts as often as possible.  Sometimes, it’s just tying to a book about the place where the story takes place, or facts about the animal involved, or maybe the climate or the season.

For those of you looking for ideas for your own library class times, I hope this new part of my blog on Lesson ideas is helpful to you.

Here’s my first lesson idea based on a favorite wordless book, Jerry Pinkney’s The Lion and the Mouse.  (click the link to see my previous blog article on this wonderful book.)

spotlight on africaLots of my students don’t have the ability to travel outside Oakland, and I’m a geography buff.  So I take every opportunity to introduce geography into my time with my students. The Lion and the Mouse is a great gateway book to talk about Africa, the African savanna and the animals that live there.

I started with asking my students to name the seven continents.  Then I focused them on Africa on our map.  It’s also great to incorporate a globe to show students how far away places are from their home.  Today, I used a wonderful book we just added to our library from the First Facts series on continents by Capstone Press.  The book I used is called Spotlight on Africa.  I took a few moments to shoafrican savannaw my students some pictures from the books and then turned to the page on Africa’s climates.  This page shows a picture of desert, rain forest and the savanna.  I then pulled out book on the African savanna called Here is the African Savanna.  This book has a lot of repetition and is really meant for younger children, but it nicely goes through many of the animals that live on the African savanna and even talks about the acacia trees.  I didn’t read everything on the page, because I wanted to focus the students on the different animals they might see on the savanna.  Altogether, we only spent about five or 10 minutes looking at a map, the book on Africa and the pages of the Savanna book.

We thlionen went on to, The Lion and the Mouse. I ask my students to “read” this book in silence.  It is so beautifully illustrated. The lion’s and the mouse’s facial expressions are wonderful.  I see my students telling themselves the story with their mouths moving.  After they’ve finished “reading” this wordless book, I ask them to tell me the story.

I’m Bored, by Michael Ian Black

Published October 2, 2013 by Dagmar

What a great way to start a school year.  We opened our library officially two weeks ago.  After moving through establishment of rules and learning where books are, we finally pulled out all the new pictures books that I’ve been dying to read to classes.  Here’s the first big winner of the year.Im bored

I’m Bored doesn’t have a lot to say, but what it says makes kids laugh.  Illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi’s drawings make the sparse book even funnier.  The book begins with a girl saying, “I’m bored.”  She is soooooo bored.  Then, she finds a potato.  Imagine her surprise when the potato tells her, “I’m bored.”  The girl invites potato to do something, but he only likes flamingos.  Soon, she is trying to convince the potato that kids are actually fun.  She tries just about everything under the sun to convince the potato that kids are fun.  Each time, the potato (and my whole class) says, “I’m bored.” She finally stomps away.  The potato turns, only to find a flamingo.  A flamingo?  Now the potato is ready for some fun – until the flamingo tells him, “I’m bored.”  This last dry line just kicks it.  It might feel like a long buildup to this final punch line, but my students didn’t think so.  They loved the book and immediately wanted to check it out.  Of course, here it sits in front of me as I write.  It will be on the shelf tomorrow!

Classes begin next week – or today?

Published September 18, 2013 by Dagmar

five little ducksI had the best surprise today.  As I was finishing up last minute administrative projects and preparing plans for my library classes, our transkinder (TK) class showed up, a week early, for their library class.  They were so well-behaved.  They sat down on the rug with their hands folded on their laps.  Wow.  Not bad for September!  One of my favorite things to do with pre-k/TK classes is to sing.  By a stroke of luck, I picked a “singing book” that I love called Five Little Ducks.  It’s a book by Raffi, the famous singer of children’s songs.  This happens to have been the book their teacher had been singing with them.  So, together, we sang and made the hand motions that go with the book.  It was a great start to their “trial run” library class.   For those of you who don’t know the tune to Five Little Ducks, the music is in the back of the book.  It’s simple and sweet.  A great addition to any home library or pre-k/TK classroom.

We moved on to one of my favorite preschool books, Ask Mr. Bear.  Ask Mr. Bear is an old book, but kept them absolutely riveted as little Danny looks for a present for his mother’s birthday. The repetition, opportunity to practice animal sounds (much to the delight of my students who loved the goat’s “meh, meh” sound the best) and just the right amount of suspense.  What a fun and satisfying read aloud.

I was sorry to see them line up to go, but got such a nice feeling that this will be a great school year of classes.

I haven’t written recently, because I’m waiting to make my recommendations to all my students based on my summer reading.  I want to see which of my picks they really like, so stay tuned! I’m also very lucky to have a huge stack of new picture books to share with my students – so more news awaits as I read them to my classes.  Hopefully we’ll find some books that I love, and they love too.

I hope the beginning of the school year started as nicely for all of you.

Review: Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave, by Deron R. Hicks

Published August 13, 2013 by Dagmar

Here’s a book I really enjoyed from my summer reading list: Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave, by Deron R. Hicks.  This is the first book in the Letterford mysteries.

Secrets of Shakespeare's graveBeginning in the year 1616 on Mont Saint Michel on the coast of France, the reader is immediately engaged as a man breaks into a church in order to remove an item that he has been asked to protect.  Flash forward to 1623 when a man is asked to built a mysterious device in a small room.  Flash forward again to the present day as newspaper articles tell of the misfortunes of one famous publishing house, Letterford Publishing.  Chapter 2 takes the reader to Manchester, Georgia where we meet Colophon Letterford, the 12 year old daughter of Mull Letterford, the beleaguered owner of Letterford Publishing.  As the family sits down to Thanksgiving dinner, a mysterious and unkempt Cousin Julian arrives.  Colophon learns that Cousin Julian is trying to find a treasure, supposedly hidden by Colophon’s ancester, Miles Letterford.  Together, Colophon, her older brother Case and Cousin Julian set off to solve the Letterford mystery and hopefully save Letterford Publishing.

This is a fast-paced, intelligent mystery perfect for upper elementary readers.  I can’t wait to recommend it to my students.

Dogs and Cats, by Steve Jenkins

Published August 4, 2013 by Dagmar

dogsandcatsDo you prefer dogs or cats? Many people have strong preference for one or the other.  Well, here’s the book for you.  Whether you prefer dogs or cats, here’s a great opportunity for you to learn more about both.  This book is a “flip book”.  Start reading about dogs, then flip the book over and read about cats – or visa versa.

This book provides loDogs and catsts of great information dogs and cats, including  the number of breeds, their origin, behavior, their expressions, how they grow and other interesting facts.  On each dog page in the corner, there is a fact about cats that relates to the information on the page and visa versa.  There is even a page on how dogs and cats interact in the wild and in a home.

The beauty of this book is the way it presents information in small, digestible amounts.  If you know a child that loves animals, this might be a great choice for them.

Amelia’s Notebook series, by Marissa Moss

Published July 29, 2013 by Dagmar

Amelia's NotebookIf you’re looking for a fun read for tweens and middle school girls, here’s a great choice.  Marissa Moss’ Amelia Notebooks are written like diaries that look like composition books full of Amelia’s writing and her many drawings.   Amelia is 10 and has an older sister named Cleo.  They act a lot like you’d imagine an annoying younger sister and a more annoying older sister might act.

In Oh Boy, Amelia, Amelia can’t believe how her sister Cleo changes when she’s around a boy she likes. Amelia tells it like it is. “I know why Cleo’s suddenly so polite.  She’s eating lunch at school with Oliver now, and she doesn’t want him to htink she’s a rude slob…If Oliver saw the real Cleo, there’s no way he’s ask her to go out with him.” and “Today when Oliver came over, Cleo actually fluttered her eyelashes at him – I thought that only happened in cartoons!  I thought I’d see big pink hearts pop up over her head.”

As Amelia tries to make sense of the way Cleo is acting, she has her own struggles in “Life Skills” class.  Amelia has to sew, something and that does not come naturally to her.  Amelia talks about “The Truth Behind Boy and Girl Things”  Her truth?  “All girls aren’t the same, and neither are all boys.  And even if most girls like something, I don’t have to like it, too.”

Amelia’s sewing project is a disaster, and she’s really nervous about her teacher’s suggestion that they have a fashion show with everyone modeling their projects.  Her big challenge though, is making a science project that will impress Oliver enough that he’ll invite her to go the state science fair.  Amelia loves science and is dying to go to science fair.

Will Amelia get through the fashion show and get to go to the science fair?  Will Cleo figure out that it’s better to be yourself than to try to change yourself to get someone to like you?

Read this fun book to find out and enjoy the entire series of Amelia’s notebooks!

As a note, our school was lucky enough to receive an author visit from Marissa Moss.  She did a great presentation and writing workshop for our sixth grade.  Yay, Marissa!

More summer reading reviews

Published July 25, 2013 by Dagmar

Moving through my summer reading list, I took on a a historical novel, Kira-Kira, by Cynthia Kadohata, a fairytale adventure, Robe of Skulls, by Vivian French, an environmental novel, One White Dolphin, by  Gill Lewis.

kira-kiraKira-Kira is a powerful, Newbery Medal-winning, story of the strong bond between two Japanese-American sisters living in Iowa and Georgia in the 1960s.  Katie’s sister Lynn best friend, her mentor and the person that taught her that kira-kira means glittering.  Kira-Kira takes many forms: stars in the sky, the sea, people’s eyes.  Katie’s family struggles.  Her family moves to Georgia where her parents find work in chicken hatcheries owned by a very rich man who does not treat his workers well. Katie’s parents work around the clock to make a living and are are devastated when Lynn is diagnosed with a terminal illness.

I was really touched by the beauty and the sadness of this book.  I loved the portrayal of Katie’s strong love for her sister, her quirky but sweet Uncle, her hard-working parents, her love for her little brother and how Katie manages her pain of her sister’s illness.  I will definitely recommend this to my tween and middle school students.

Robe of SkullsFor those of you in search of a fun, fairy tale fantasy, you may enjoy The Robe of Skulls.  I think this book would work best for third and fourth grade readers.  Robe of  Skulls is the first of a series of four books in the Tales of the Five Kingdom’s series.

Lady Lamorna has ordered a new fabulously creepy robe of skulls from the Ancient Crones.  Unfortunately, this wicked sorceress’s trunk of gold is empty.  She has no money to pay for her robe.  What will she do? Why, devise a nasty scheme to turn all the royal princes and princesses into frogs and ransom them, of course.  Little does Lady Lamorna know as she sets out on her evil mission with her troll, that she will meet a very evil stepsister who wants to steal the money Lady Lamorna earns and a young girl named Gracie Gillypot who might just foil her plans.

onewhitedolphinOne White Dolphin is an environmental story based in Cornwall, England.  Kara Woods is a girl who lives with her father at her aunt and uncle’s house.  Her mother, a marine biologist and environmentalist, disappeared while on a scientific mission.  Kara is bullied at school by the sons of powerful fishermen whose parents opposed her mother’s efforts to save the local reef from destruction and dolphins from being caught in fishing nets.  When an albino dolphin calf washes ashore, Kara and her new friend Felix team up to help the dolphin survive and to fight to save the reef that fishermen will destroy as they dredge it to find scallops.

I found myself rooting for Kara on her quest to save what her mother had fought so hard for.  There are several exciting and suspenseful scenes that I really enjoyed as well.  I’d recommend this book to tweens and middle school students.

Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age, by Cheryl Bardoe

Published July 16, 2013 by Dagmar

mammoths2Here’s a great non-fiction book for enthusiasts of the pre-historic era.  It begins with an important discovery by two boys just north of the Arctic Circle in 2007.  Two boys found a frozen baby mammoth.  The mammoth, later named Lyuba by scientists, died nearly 40,000 years before and was fully intact.

Mammoths and Mastodons does a great job of connecting the past with the present.  It includes information about the current scientific work of three paleontologists and how their work builds our understanding of these great creatures and how their work might be able to help us save elephants and other large mammals today.  I learned in the book that elemammothsphants and mammoths lived at the same time, 5 million years ago.  One of the questions scientists are trying to answer is “Why didn’t elephants go extinct when mammoths went extinct?”

In addition to the photographs throughout the book, there are interesting panels of information, like: Did dinosaurs and mammoths live at the same time? and Do these elephants and mammoths seem almost human?

This book is targeted toward upper elementary and middle school readers and would be a great book for students interested in prehistoric animals or modern day elephants.

Ask Mr. Bear, by Marjorie Flack

Published July 12, 2013 by Dagmar

askmrbearHere is an old fashioned but very sweet book that is always a hit with my preschoolers.  Although the illustrations are dated, there is good preschool-level suspense when Danny goes into the woods to talk to a bear.

Danny wants to buy a gift for his mother for her birthday.  He asks a hen, goose, goat, sheep, cow and then finally a bear what to give his mother.  The bear gives the best answer, a hug.

Baby Beluga, by Raffi

Published July 7, 2013 by Dagmar

babybeluga3This book was the book that made my kindergarten class sing last year.  Baby Beluga is a great song song by children’s musician, Raffi.  The book is part of the Raffi Songs to Read series.  I love to sing, and singing Baby Beluga with a crowd of kindergartners is absolutely the best.  We created hand movements and sang this book at every class time.  The kids brought tears to my eyes when they performed Baby Beluga with their teacher at an assembly.  I love “singing” this book to any young child.

This book follows the song exactly as it is sung.  Check out Raffi singing the song on YouTube to hear how the song goes. The illustrations by Ashley Wolff are sweet.  Best yet, this inspired an interest in whales in my library!  Off we were to discover more about Beluga whales, blue whales, gray whales and more!  If you like to sing, Baby Beluga may just be the book for you.