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.

Gus and Grandpa and the Christmas Cookies

This was a cute book for beginning readers. Gus and Grandpa and the Christmas Cookies by Claudia Mills is a heartwarming tale of a boy and his grandpa who bake some cookies at Christmas time, then are gifted with more and more cookies from the neighbors.

Gus and his grandpa decide they will take all the extra cookies to the man ringing the bell outside the store to give to all the needy and hungry children.

This book is excellent for the holidays and is divided into very simple and short chapters to encourage young readers. The only difficulty a new reader would have is the way the sentences are broken up to make the lines look short. I too was stumbling through some of the lines as I read them out loud. This book goes great with baking Christmas cookies.

Science Discoveries: Galileo and the Universe

Steve Parker's biography of Galileo in the book Science Discoveries: Galileo and the Universe was a lot like a child's textbook. This book had tons of information about Galileo ranging from mathematics to his study of the planets. The book had lots of drawings, figures, pictures as well.

I did find this book to have perhaps too much information on each page. The text was a bit small for a child to read well, and the reader may also lose interest in the book, as I did about half-way through.

On a positive side, I would suggest this book if a child was looking up some quick information on Galileo. The book is well divided into different discoveries by this famous professor. If you are interested in a getting a quick glimpse at his inventions, you could do so easily with this book. I do not recommend this for a child to read directly from cover to cover.

Leonard Nimoy: A Star's Trek

Leonard Nimoy: A Star's Trek is a biography no one other than Leonard Nimoy. This book was written by John Micklos, Jr., and covered the acting life of this famous Star Trek actor.

I personally did not enjoy this book, but that is probably due to the fact that I do not care for biographies in general. This book did have several pictures to keep the interest of a young reader, but was a bit outdated.

The book described quite a bit about Leonard Nimoy's acting career, but talked mostly about Star Trek and his famous role of Spock. I wish this book would have taught me more about what I didn't already know about this man.

I wouldn't suggest this book to a child, yet if for some reason a young reader was interested in Leonard Nimoy, this book present the information in a basic enough reading level for children.

Sector 7

Sector 7 by David Wiesner is a book without words. Through pictures, Wiesner depicts the story of a boy who goes to the Empire State Building with his class and befriends a cloud. The cloud then takes him away into the sky where a cloud-creating station is called Sector 7. At Sector 7, the clouds are created using blueprints. The boy, who loves drawing, starts making cloud designs that look like fish and other sea creatures. The workers at Sector 7 frown at this and his cloud friend takes him back to the city. Once he returns and get on his back to back to school, all the clouds return to the sky in shapes of different fish.

This book was wonderfully illustrated, and I believe that words in this book would make it lose part of its ability to tell a story. The book shows different types of clouds and promotes art in many ways. I would recommend this book to be in every classroom library. I am not sure how it would be worked into any curriculum, but it is nonetheless enjoyable.

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons is a book about feelings and actions that can be related to cookies. This new sort of dictionary by Amy Krouse Rosenthal describes what words like fair, patient, polite, and courageous mean.

This is a cute book to help describe these words to younger children, but it may be a bit difficult to read. The text is written in cursive font, so it would best be read aloud to a class. The pictures are a little blurry, but they still well depict the emotions and words defined on each page.

I would suggest this book to be read aloud followed by handing out cookies to students. Perhaps children would better relate to the book since each feeling and action was in terms of cookies. For example, “Content means sitting on the steps – just you, me, and a couple of cookies.” I did enjoy this book.

Alec's Primer

An excellent multicultural book written by Mildred Pitts Walter is Alec’s Primer. It describes the life of a slave boy named Alec. He is poorly mistreated, yet his owner’s granddaughter befriends him and teaches him how to read. This girl, Zephie, gives Alec a book called a primer to assist his reading. Soon Alec hears about union soldiers coming to town to recruit slaves to fight for the north in the Civil War. Alec joins up and soon becomes a free man.

This book describes the life of Alec very well as a slave, and doesn’t try and sugar coat his life. It talks about how the boy is worked hard, physically abused, and threatened with death. However, I would highly recommend this book as it shows the compassion of Zephie and the power reading has. This book is great multicultural and historical fiction.

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins is a multicultural book by Carole Boston Weatherford. This book described the life of eight-year-old Connie who’s brother and sister join the NAACP and partake in sit-ins and picketing.

The book describes from a young child’s perspective, the sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Alabama. The book also tells how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. comes down to make a speech for the civil rights movement.

This book was well-written and be a great way to discuss the lives of African-Americans during the 1960s. The age range on this is probably second to third grade.

Tomorrow's Alphabet

Tomorrow’s Alphabet by George Shannon is wonderful alphabet book for children. This book gives the letter of something that will be tomorrow, and says what it is today. One example is, “T is for bread – tomorrow’s Toast”. This book is a great way to show how many things are made and/or what they are made from.

The only confusing part of this book is that it says the letter is for something, but that something is not necessarily a word beginning with that letter. As in the previous example, bread does not have the letter “T” in it. This could be misleading to a very young reader.

Other than the minor confusion, I would recommend this book to all kindergarten classrooms as a great ABC picture book.

Have You Seen My Cat?

Eric Carle, the famous author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar is back with this simple quick read, Have You Seen My Cat?. The inside cover of this book quickly pictured and labeled all the different cats that are located throughout the pages of the book.

As the book goes, a young boy asks different people from different cultures if they have seen his cat. Each time they point to the next page and reveal a new and different cat which is, of course, not his cat. At the end of the book, the boy finds his cats, which are the same cats as printed on the cover.

This book has a simple pattern of language to follow which allows beginning readers to follow with ease as they learn about different cats and cultures. If you like Eric Carle's other books, you are bound to find this book as a great read for young readers.

The Sun

The last informational non-fiction book I read was The Sun by Seymour Simon. The photos in this book were even greater than that of those in his other books I read. Each page had close ups and diagrams of the sun that any young reader would be intrigued by. The text is large and simple to read as well.

Simon describes various aspects of the sun including nuclear explosions, boiling gases, superheated gases, and the layers of the sun. He doesn't stop there as the book goes on to talk about sunspots, solar storms, and solar flares that are hundreds of times bigger than our planet.

I would encourage young readers to use this book to help satisfy any hunger for information on the solar system and our sun.

The Moon

Also written by Seymour Simon, The Moon is another non-fiction book, this time about nothing other than the Earth's moon. The pictures are no less than vivid and stunning and will capture the eye of any young reader. The text is clear and concise so not to put children to sleep.

This book describes how the moon was formed, the difference between the moon's craters and seas, the cycles of the moon, and it's importance to Earth.

Any book by Simon would be a great way to get young readers the knowledge they seek to gain.

Earth: Our Planet in Space

Earth: Our Planet in Space is a non-fiction book written by Seymour Simon. In this book he has astounding photos that capture childrens' eyes and information written in simple form for chilren to understand. I remember reading these book in my school library when I was in elementary school.

In this book he describes our days and night on Earth as well as our seasons. Simon also talks about the topography of this third planet in our solar system.

I would recommend this book for any young reader trying to gather knowledge on our planet or for looking up information of a basic essay. Seymour Simon is a great author for young non-fiction.

Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep

This book of poems, Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep written by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Anold Lobel is filled from cover to cover with poems that are rather scary and creepy for children. The has a collection of poems about every time of dark creature, ranging from witch to werewolf.

I was shocked to find out how descriptive the poems were, especially the ghoul. The picture of the ghoul was that of a demonic looking creature perched on top of some playground equipment at a school. One of the stanzas says, "He slices their stomachs and bites their hearts and tears their flesh to shreds, he swallows their toes like toasted tarts and gobbles down their heads."

This book would be aimed at third through fifth graders, but may be too scary for younger children. I would not necessarily include this book in a classroom during Halloween as it may be challenged by some parents.

Rumpelstiltskin

The original story, Rumpelstiltskin is retold and illustrated in this book by Paul O. Zelinsky. The story is that of a miller's daughter who is given to a king because her father said she can spin straw into gold. When she is locked into a room of straw, she weeps and Rumpelstiltskin appears.

Rumpelstiltskin does this for her three times, accepting a necklace, ring, and her first born child as payment respectively. When she is married to the king and has a baby boy, she is able to keep him after correctly naming Rumpelstiltskin within three days.

The story is a bit creepy, and the illustrations in the book could possibly be scary to young children. This book is classic traditional literature, and other than the mere creepiness, it is a great story for young readers to pick up.

Tikki Tikki Tembo

Tikki Tikki Tembo is a Chinese folk-tale retold by Arlene Mosel. In this book it talks about how the first born sons in China are well-revered and looked up upon. They are given long names, while second-born sons are given shorter, insignifcant names.

The older brother in this book is named Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo, which means "the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world." His young brother was named Chang which meant "little or nothing".

This story tells about how Chang can not get help for his brother who fell in the well since it takes so long to say his confusing name. Supposedly, this is the reason why Chinese names are now very short.

This is a simple book/fable that I would recommend to first or second grade readers. I really enjoyed this book and remember it from my childhood. Tikki Tikki Tembo has fun names and is book that is hard to forget.

Strudwick: A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

The last book written by Robert Kraus that I read was Strudwick: A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing. Like the other Robert Kraus books, this story had an animal theme, with all the characters being either a sheep or wolf.

I found this book to be a little confusing with awkward images and illustrations, yet still a good story showing readers how to trust others not to talk to strangers.

This book also had some larger words that may be difficult for younger readers, but would help encourage larger vocabulary. Some of the words in the book included: bleated, nearsighted, mutton, hightailed, and crooned.

This book may be better for second or third graders, and would be great coupled with the Three Little Pigs, as it portrays wolves as scary and evil animals.

Owliver

Also written by Robert Kraus, Owliver is rather cute story that describes about occupations to children. Owliver is a young owl who loves to act. His mother encourages the acting and helps him with tap lessons, but his father gives him doctor and lawyer toys to encourage these future careers.

The books does a wonderful job with its illustrations, showing different emotions, occupations, and animals. It is a great book in showing children how they can decide to be anything they want to be as long as they are determined.

In the end, Owliver chooses a job different than anything mentioned earlier. However, to find out what that job is, you'll have to read Owliver yourself.

Phil the Vetriloquist

Phil the Ventriloquist is one of the three books I read by author Robert Krauss. In this book, with all rabbit-like characters, Phil is a young boy who can throw his voice and make other objects appear to talk. This gets on his parents nerves and is embarrassing them. Phil's parents try different solutions to getting him to stop throwing his voice around, but nothing seems to work. In the end, Phil is able to scare aware a robber in his house by making him think the furniture in the house talks. In the end, everyone is proud of Phil's ventriloquist abilities.

This book has large text size and simple pictures, excellent for any young reader. I would suggest this book to first or second grader growing in his or her reading abilities.

Why So Sad, Brown Rabbit?

Written by Sheridan Cain, Why So Sad, Brown Rabbit?, is a story about Brown Rabbit who really wants a family of his own. He looks around for a family and happens upon three lost ducklings. The three ducklings think Brown Rabbit is their mama and nothing seems to change their minds. All the ducklings do everything Brown Rabbit does and after a while Brown Rabbit realizes he has found the family he has been looking for.

This modern fantasy book with its talking animals is geared towards a younger audience and is a simple, quick read with bright colorful illustrations. It is a cute book with a family tone.

You and Me, Little Bear

You and Me, Little Bear is written by Martin Waddel. This book is a simple book about how Little Bear wants to play but Big Bear has work to do. Little Bear patiently waits and plays games by himself. Once Big Bear is done with the work, he joins Little Bear in playing games such as hide and seek.

This is a cute book for any young child and helps to teach the principles of patience. I would recommend this as read aloud to a kindergarten or first grade class, but no older than that. This would also make an excellent bedtime story.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is a poem written by Robert Frost. This poem captures the story of a man and his horse stopping in snowy woods to enjoy the scenery as he has lots to do on the road ahead. I remember reading this story when I was in the first grade. It reminded me of Santa Claus, as the pictures drawn by Susan Jeffers are that of a white bearded old man.

This book is perfect for teaching about rhyming schemes or introducing poetry into the winter season. Each page but one simple line with a wonderfully drawn full page illustration. This poem is a classic in my personal collection.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The last book I read for my series study was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter’s third year at Hogwarts School of Magic is started with the escape of the dark criminal Sirius Black. The entire school is under the guard of mysterious magical creatures called Dementors as Harry is the target of Sirius Black. This book is loaded with twists and changes as friends become foes and enemies become allies.

A great book for anyone, I found this book to be more in depth than the first two books in this seven book series. The reading level I feel is a bit more advanced, yet I am sure any younger reader would still be enthralled by this series of books. I recommend that if you have not yet picked up this series of books, that you do. If you have read along this far, I urge you to keep reading these books, as the tale of Harry Potter gets wilder and more mysterious with each novel.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second book in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. In his second year at Hogwarts School of Magic, Harry is warned not to attend by an elf named Dobby. Supposedly there is dark forces at hand that threaten Harry’s life.

This book fails to be anything less exciting that the first book. This book delivers a mysterious guessing game of trying to figure out how the Chamber of Secrets was opened and what it is that has escaped it. Harry Potter, along with his friends Ron and Hermione, works to solve the dark mysteries that lay under the school.

I would again recommend this book to all readers young an old. It is a fascinating read.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

For my series study I chose to read the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. The first book in this series was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. This book was amazingly written, and I understand why so many readers, young and old, have been so intrigued with it. The story of young Harry Potter finding out he is a soon-to-be-famous wizard and his epic survival of Lord Valdamort is a fantasy novel that keeps you guessing till the end.

I do not want to give away much about this book, but I will say that the wizard game of Quidditch, a game played on broomsticks, was probably one of the most interesting aspects of the story. I found myself wishing I could play this game and looking up information on how “muggles” (non-magic folk) played a version of this game.

I recommend this book for everyone, and if school’s permit, a classroom read. I hope everyone enjoys this tale as Harry Potter struggles to get the Sorcerer’s Stone before the evil dark forces.

A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms

Paul B. Janeczko’s book about poems, A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms is a collection of poems by numerous authors. I found this book to by very entertaining yet very educational. In its pages the book describes lots of different types of poem styles, ranging from haikus and limericks to sonnets and quatrains. Each page included a few of each type of poem written by different authors. The bottom of each page also described the layout of each type of poem.

This book would make a great introductory book into a poetry unit for children or even as a resource when students are looking up different poems. I know there were several types of poems in it that I had never heard of before.

Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel written by The Brothers Grimm was a dark, slightly creepy, story about a young boy and girl that are left to fend for themselves as their parents are starving for food. Those familiar with this story know of how the boy and girl are lured into a candy-coated witch’s home. Hansel is fattened up by the old witch while Gretel is her servant. When the witch tries to cook Hansel, Gretel shoves her into the oven and locks the door. Then boy and the girl live happily ever after in an edible house of candy.

This book would not necessarily be good for any classroom, but a great bedtime story book for parents to read to their children at nighttime. I personally really enjoyed this book as I was told this story lots at night by my grandma.

Sleepless Beauty

Sleepless Beauty is a fairy tale that takes a modern day twist on The Sleeping Beauty. Frances Minters tells the story about a young girl who lives in the city with her family. During her birthday party the evil “witch-like” neighbor puts a spell on her that she will never wake up again after she goes to sleep. The next morning Sleepless Beauty awakes to find everything to be normal. When she is asked how she woke up, she simply stated that she set her alarm clock.
This book is written as a poem and is a very cute and funny way to compare traditional literature. I recommend this book to any young reader familiar with The Sleeping Beauty.

The Sleeping Beauty

The Sleeping Beauty is known as a Disney Classic. The retold story by Trina Scharthyman was a little different from the cartoon I remember, but it was the true original story. In this book, Briar Rose does not go and live with the three fairy women, but rather is blessed by all of them in the beginning. After that, they are no longer in the story. Also, the prince does not have to save the princess from any fire breathing dragon, but rather be able to simply find her in her kingdom and kiss her.

This book is an excellent fairy tale for any occasion, but the book itself had dark pictures with hard to read text.

Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair

Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair is a book about books. In this story, Aunt Chip is an old lady and has taken to bed since her entire town has forgotten about books and confides solely in television. Every sort of entertainment in the town comes from televisions and after closing the library, all the books in the town were used for propping open doors, holding stuff on them, and creating the Triple Creek Dam. When Eli, Aunt Chip’s nephew asked her to teach him to read, all the children in the town wanted to learn as well. Soon the children began taking books from everywhere to read.

Once Moby Dick was taken from the Triple Creek Dam, the dam broke free. Water rushed through the town, destroyed the television tower, and turned off all the TVs. This opened up the town’s eyes to books and that they needed to learn to read. Aunt Chip soon regained her once beloved occupation as town librarian and the city thrived with all sorts of entertainment.

This was a great book and a definite read aloud for a introducing a reading unit, or before going to the library.

Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia was written by Katherine Paterson and is a wonderful story about a young boy named Jess and a girl named Leslie. After quickly becoming friends, Jess and Leslie create their own magical kingdom in the woods nearby the houses. In their kingdom of Terabithia they are both able to conquer their fears, be it school bullies, obnoxious sisters, or mean teachers. In order for them to get into their kingdom where they are king and queen, Jess and Leslie need to swing on a rope across a river.

After developing a great friendship, a tragic accident occurs when Jess is away. Leslie suffers a fatal accident when visiting Terabithia alone. This tragedy in this story hits Jess harder than anyone, and he is determined to set things right. Jess spends several days building a bridge over the unforgiving river in order to cross over into Terabithia safely, bringing them a new queen.

This book/movie was great in my opinion. The book let me create my own opinions on the Terabithians and how their kingdom looked. I was struck at how sudden one of the characters was taken from the story. The movie made this scene even worse and brought tears to my eyes. This is great book for young readers, and would be a great way to help a child cope with a loss in his family or friends.

Daddy's Roommate

Daddy's Roommate was written and illustrated by Michael Willhoite. This is the book my group chose to do our banned/challenged book study on. This book tells the story of a young boy whose parents are divorced. His dad has a new "roommate." Throughout this book, the boy's mother is explaining things that his daddy and daddy's roommate like to do together. They do such things as cook together, watch TV together, and even fight together, but they always make up. At the end of the book, his mom explains that "Daddy and Frank are gay" and that "being gay is just one more kind of love." This book has large, colorful pictures along with one sentence on each page. It is clearly intended for young children around kindergarten or first grade.

I thought this book was the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. Young children in first or second grade don't need to be learning terms such as gay and lesbian. I believe that if it is necessary for a parent to explain these relationships to their children, the book may be a way to show it, but this is not the type a book a child should be picking up for a leisurely read. It is easy to see why this book is banned from most schools and libraries.

The Blizzard

This book is about a young boy who's birthday was on a snowy winter day. He had to go to school and his cousin's could not visit due to the weather. At school, the weather grew so bad that he had to take his entire class back to his house for warmth and shelter for the night. Here at his home he had a very much welcomed birthday party with all of his classmates, mother, father, sister, and teacher.

Betty Ren Wright's book, The Blizzard, is an excellent quick read aloud for children during the winter, especially during a snowy day or when the weather is bad outside. The illustration are great and shows how even the worst of days (or birthdays in this book's case) can become wonderful.

If You Made a Million

I used this book for my literature based lesson plan and it proved to be a great way to introduce money and math for upper elementary students. If You Made a Million is written by David M. Schwartz and illustrated by Steven Kellogg.

This book showed how many pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters made a dollar, and discussed how much a million dollars would be. It noted trivia such as how tall a million students would reach if they stood on top each others' shoulders.

The book also described simply how banks handle money and how loans work. This is a sister book to How Much is a Million, written and illustrated by the same people.

In a lesson I created using this book, I showed how students can correctly make change from given monetary amounts. This book is highly recommended for any late elementary classrooms.

Rosa

Rosa is a book telling the story of Rosa Parks and unwillingness to move from her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. This book received the Coretta Scott King Illustrator award, so as I read it I took the pictures into deep consideration. The pictures themselves could not fully tell the story, as the text included many detailed facts about Rosa Parks and the bus boycott that I was unaware of. However, the pictures showed the emotions of the characters well.

Rosa was described as a happy woman who was determined in her actions. The close up on her hands as she gripped her sewing bag showed her wedding ring and described the strength she had through her family. This book makes for an excellent retelling of her life and the movement it caused, leading up to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speech. I am not a big fan of history lessons, but I enjoyed this book.

Africa Dream

Africa Dream was written by Eloise Greenfield. This story was all about the dream of a young African American girl. She falls asleep and describes her dream about going to Africa. She travels back in time to when her grandfather was a young man and describes all the aspects of the culture during the time.

I had mixed feelings about this book. It was an excellent book terms of describing a different culture and African American heritage, but the wording was very awkward, especially for a picture book. The same meaning could have been reached with simpler language. There was no punctuation and the text was also black on a black and white background. The book would make for a great history lesson if nothing else.

This book was the winner of the Coretta Scott King Author award.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

This story, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by David M. Schwartz is a rather lengthy looking book that may intimidate a young reader. However, this book reads almost as smoothly as a good movie plays. The book is 526 pages long yet 300 of these pages are dedicated to vividly portrayed pictures of each scene.

I really enjoyed this book, and with all the pictures, it was easy to read through quickly. In the story, a boy named Hugo lives in the walls of a Paris train station in secret. He is working on a secret invention that is father started: an automaton. Hugo steals parts from a toy shop until he gets caught and gets caught up in a fiasco over the secret message that is hidden within the automaton.

I would recommend this book as a great way to get children to begin reading longer and more difficult books. It would allow students to feel proud of finishing a "long" book, but not be too taxing for them. This is a definite read!

The Lightning Thief

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is a 2008 Rebecca Caudill nominee. This book is actually the first in the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series.

Percy (short for Perseus) Jackson is a dyslexic and hot-tempered student that has been kicked out school more than once. Weird things begin happening to him, and he soon ends up at a place called Camp Half-Blood. Camp Half-Blood is a refuge and training center for children of the Greek mythological gods. Percy learns that his dyslexia is caused by his brain being set "Greek mode", and his temper is because he is to be a hero.

Percy then finds out that his father is Poseidon, and he is right in the middle of a potential World War III. Accompanied by a daughter of Athena and a young Satyr, Percy has to find Zeus' lightning bolt and take it back from Hades.

20th Century Fox plans to turn this book into a movie, and potentially the the entire series. This story was a great way to mix in pop culture with ancient Greek mythology. This would be a great way to teach Greek Mythology with literature in the classroom.

The Dark Frigate

The Dark Frigate by Charles B. Hawes is first Newberry Award winner. His book won this award in 1924.

This story is about a man named Phillip Marsham. He joined a frigate in his teens and then his ship is taken over by a bunch of deadly pirates. Luckily, the pirate captain realizes how loyal Phillip is. Phillip is trying to make his way back to England.

I didn't enjoy reading this book too much, as the language was that of old English. It fit with the context and setting of the story, but made for difficult and long reading. I believe this book to be a bit too difficult for elementary students. I personally did not connect with this book, which was a shame since I am highly intrigued with pirates and like-stories. I found myself reading this in short bursts and not fully grasping the potential quality of literature this book could be.

Walk Two Moons

This book is the winner of the Newberry Award for 1995. Walk Two Moons is a story about a girl named Sal and of her friend Phoebe. Both of the characters have have interesting relationships with their own families. Sal moves with her father from Bybanks, Kentucky to Euclid, Ohio to spend time with a woman named Margaret Cadaver whom Sal thinks her father is marrying. Sal's mother is said to have left for Lewiston, Idaho. Phoebe, Sals' friend in Euclid, meets a strange man whom which she later finds out is her mother's other child that she had given up for adoption.

Sal, with her grandparents, goes travels to Idaho to find her mother. Her grandmother has a stroke and can't continue the trip. When Sal arrives in Lewiston, she find out her mother was in a fatal bus accident and that Mrs. Cadaver is the only survivor. Sal's grandmother ends up dying in the hospital some time later as well.

The book has a lot of ups and downs as the characters show that they shouldn't make judgements about without knowing the big picture. This was a good book, and it would make a great book for students to read in literature circles in an upper elementary classroom.

Click Clack Moo Cows That Type

Written by Doreen Cronin, this book was an excellent read aloud. The pictures were very vivid and large, displaying the characters reactions very well. The cows in the story were tired of working for the farmer and were on strike. They used a typewriter to communicate with the farmer in order to get the electric blankets they wanted.

This book is a great way to talk about strikes, boycotts, and negotiations with younger children. Duck is considered a "neutral party" and was to handle the "ultimatum". Big terms, such as these are throughout the book and help to expand readers' vocabulary.

I really enjoyed this book, as it was a very humorous, yet educational. Click Clack Moo Cows That Type is also a Caldecott Honor book.

Black and White

Black and White by David Macaulay is the 1991 Caldecott Award winner. The book itself consists of four separate stories that all tie together by the last page of the book. After the second page, I was quite confused with the book. I wasn't sure if was supposed to read each mini story in turn, or read them all as I went.

The first story had to do with a boy riding a train, that had to make an emergency stop. The second story was about a boy who's parents were confusing and dressing him up with pages from the newspaper. The third story was simply guests waiting at a train station for their ride. Lastly, the fourth story was about a a man that was sneaking around with cows.

One aspect of the book that was interesting was that each of the four stories had a different illustration style. This book would make for a very poor read aloud, and possibly too confusing of a book for a young reader to follow and understand.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963

In his book, Christopher Paul Curtis describes the life of Kenny, at ten-year-old African American child growing up during the civil rights era.

Kenny lives at home in Flint, Michigan with his Momma, Dad, younger sister Joetta, and his "delinquent" brother of thirteen years, Byron.

Early in the book, each chapter tells a different story of Kenny's life, whether it be when his brother comes home with chemically straightened hair, or when his brother gets him involved in his feature film, Nazi Parachutes Attack America and Get Shot Down over the Flint River by Captain Byron Watson and His Flamethrower of Death. Eventually Kenny's dad comes home one day with the Ultra-Glide. Portable record player for their car is the beginning of a trip to Birmingham to visit his grandma.

When they get to Birmingham, the characters have their lives put at risk whether it be by the Wool Pooh or a bomb in a church that takes the lives of four young African American children.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 is fully of laughs as it turns into a medium of showing the dark days of civil rights as hate crimes are committed in the south.