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.

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.

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.

A Long Way from Chicago

A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck is a 2009 Newberry Honor book. In this book, two siblings, Joey and Mary Alice, visit their Grandma Dowdel. The children are from Chicago and for seven summers, they go and visit their grandma in downstate Illinois. Each trip is a new adventure as Grandma creates an uproar in the neighborhood, including having an in-home funeral, trespassing in private property to steal catfish, and even witnessing a phantom train brakeman. Every summer from 1929 through 1935 lets Joey and Mary Alice grow closer to their Grandma Dowdel as the times roll by.

I was able to relate to this book, not in the manner of having the adventures with my own grandma, but by it's location. I am from central Illinois near Piatt County where these summer stories take place. I really began to connect to the book about half-way through when they were paddling up Salt Creek. I myself have done this before and was excited to know that the story was so close to home. The book had a different story for each summer with ongoing and growing relationships between each. This is a great book and I would recommend it to others, especially those from central Illinois.