Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Written by the famous Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go! is a wonderful book that can be applied to anyone's life. I was first given this book after graduating high school, and as I read it I new that the journey ahead was going to be quite adventurous.

This book tells the reader how they will reach dark and troubling times, yet they will succeed as long as they put their mind to it. One of my favorite lines from this book, written in poetic form, states, "And will you succed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed)."

This is a motivated book for readers young and old, and I highly recommend it! As for the illustrations, they are marvelous and colorful. They depict low points in life with dark and gloomy illustrations, but always followed by happier and colorful pictures.

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss is a silly nonsense book of rhyming. Any person who has picked up this book will always remember it with its illustrations and made up creatures that has a simple flowing rhyming pattern.

Some of the illustrations in this book are actually taken from other Dr. Seuss books as well. I found that the fish are similar to the pet goldfish in The Cat in the Hat book.

This book would be great for teaching young readers about poetry and rhyme schemes, but serves little other purpose than that and pure entertainment.

The Lorax

Written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss, The Lorax is another unforgettable children's book. In this story the Once-ler comes to land filled with different sorts of trees and shrubbery. The Once-ler then decides to cut down one of these trees. Upon doing so, the Lorax comes out to warn the Once-ler to not cut down any more trees.

The Once-ler disregards the Lorax and continues cutting down the plants. After nearly no time at all, all the trees and plants are gone and the air is filled with pollution and smog.

This book is a great way to deliver the message of being "green" and to take care of our environment. At the end, a boy is told to plant his own "Truffula" seed so to grow it into a "Truffula" tree.

The illustrations are powerful and colorful as they depict the wonderful land and trees and how they are destroyed and the land polluted over time by the Once-ler.

The Hobbit

Having read J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, I was eager to pick up this prequel to the books. The Hobbit is the tales and adventures of a peculiar hobbit name Bilbo Baggins. This book is more aimed towards children than his later famous trilogy.

The story of Bilbo Baggins is an adventurous fantasy of hobbits, wizards, elves, dwarves, and so on. Bilbo, along with his wizard pal, Gandalf, sets our from his quiet life in the Shire to visit lots of magical creatures.

The version of the book I read included illustrations by Michael Hague. I was eager to see these visuals while reading, as his other books do not have these pictures. About every ten pages, there is a full-page illustration portraying the scene that is going on at the time of reading.

I would recommend this book to any reader of any age who is capable of reading a near 200 page story. Readers young and old will enjoy this book as Bilbo Baggins experiences adventures that only hinted at in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Hatchet

Hatchet, written by Gary Paulsen is an excellent book about a boy named Brian. Brian is on an airplane trip to visit his dad for the first time since his parents divorced. The pilot of his plane suffers from a heart attack and dies. Brian is left to land the plane on his own in the middle of the forests of Canada.

During his fourty-five days alone in the woods, he has to learn to survive in this wilderness. Brian confronts lots of challenges alone including hunger, attacks from wild animals, and even a tornado!

This is an excellent book to for any young reader to pick up and experience wilderness survival. I read this book in fifth grade and was very much excited about it. I recommend this book to anyone, but especially students in fourth through sixth grade.

Wingwalker

Written for older elementary students (third through sixth grade), Wingwalker by Rosemary Wells is the story of a young boy living in the times of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma.

Reuben, the main character, is traumatized by riding in an airplane during a fair when he was younger. He lives in Ambler, Oklahoma, and during tough times and trials, his family is forced to move to Minnesota to become part of a traveling circus. Reuben's father is hired as a Wingwalker on an airplane while his mother runs the food tent.

The boy is scared at first, but over time he befriends the "circus freaks" and learns to become brave. As the story comes to an end, Reuben joins his father as a wingwalker.

This book had separate mini chapters that I found to be a great way to portray the Great Depression and the Reuben's life in separate yet coherent chapters. This was a great historical read.

A Place Called Freedom

A Place Called Freedom by Scott Russell Sanders is a story about a small family of slaves that are freed and move to Indiana. The story is written from the point of view of the son, James Starman.

The family walks all Tennessee to Indiana and start a farm and life of their own. James' father, Joshua, continues to make trips back to Tennessee to bring others up to live in their newly started town.

After a train comes through the city, all the townsfolk decide to name their town Freedom. James learns to farm from his dad and read from his mother.

This book is simple and easy way for young readers to understand how slaves had to move to the northern states to become free and what they did to survive. I found this book to deviate a bit from what the lives of Starman's probably would have been like, but with it's colorful illustrations, a second or third grader would love this book.