Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever

Title: Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever

Author & Illustrator: Richard Scarry

Genre/Theme: Traditional Literature (ABCs and words)

Characters: All of Scarry's famous characters, including Kathy bear, Kenny Bear, The Pig Family, and the Rabbit family

Summary of Book: This is a picture book with loads of illustrations on each page that are categorized by theme. It is a look-and-find book with each item labeled in print. Scarry's characters are illustrated doing many of the activities of everyday life and include hundreds of words that children will love to read over and over.

Comments: All of Richard Scarry's books were my family's favorites. This one is a great introduction to his work. Children and adults will love peering into the world of his animal characters, all while expanding a child's vocabulary. This book is especially wonderful because the illustrations are bright, detailed, and unbiased. Number concepts, the alphabet, and parts of the body are all introduced in a friendly manner that is not overly academic.

Age appropriateness: birth-3rd grade, many words can be read by early readers

Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore

Title: Freckleface Strawberry

Author: Julianne Moore

Illustrator: LeUyen Pham

Genre: realistic fiction

Theme: acceptance and self-worth

Characters: The main character is a little red-haired girl who has earned the nickname "Freckleface Strawberry. Other characters include her family members, schoolmates, and a baby and her mother who give advice to Freckleface Strawberry.

Summary of Book: Poor Freckleface Strawberry! She hates her little freckles and does all sorts of silly things to get rid of them. She thinks she's SO different and that people only notice her freckles. She soon realizes that her attempts to blend in aren't worth their misery. By the end of the story, she has learned that her having a million friends to play with is much more important than having a million freckles.

Comments: I am usually leery of celebrity-written books and their hype, but I really enjoyed Julianne Moore's story. As a child she was called Freckleface Strawberry and suffered with low self-esteem because of her freckles. This book does a great job of telling her story and relating a subtle message: even if you think you're SO different, your real friends will focus on your friendship, not your difference. The illustrations my LeUyen Pham are darling and almost cartoon-like. Many different cultures and faces are portrayed, adding to the theme of acceptance in this book.

Grade level: appropriate for preschool on up, reading level is about second grade

READ-ALOUD RHYMES FOR THE VERY YOUNG

author/ selected by: Jack Prelutsky

illustrated by: Marc Brown

genre: poetry

summary: This book is a collection of 200 poems by different authors. These poems describe every occasion, event and every experience a young child can have. A reader can find poems about every day house activities from brushing teeth, eating lunch to night bath time. There are also rhymes about nature, changing seasons, different animals, holidays and etc. All the poems are easy to read and their meanings can be easily captured. Rhymes do have patterns and majority of them show a new way of looking at the described topic.

grade level : This book is appropriate for preschool through second grade.

characters: various characters in poems, f.e. sometimes these are kids, sometimes animals, sometimes elements of changing seasons, f.e. wind during winter.

comments: All the poems are very well picked out and would definitely catch the attention of a young child. They all talk about topics that young readers or listeners can easily apply to and understand. All the poems have hidden educational messages f.e. why you should not squeeze out half a tube of toothpaste or why you should have nice table manners. These messages are given in a fun and interesting way. This is a type of book that would be often requested by young children and would be definitely enjoyed by them. Illustrations match exactly what the poems are about. There is an appropriate illustration for each of 200 poems in the book.

Martin's Big Words The life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

author: Doreen Rappaport

illustrator: Bryan Collier

genre: Biography

summary: This book is the winner of many awards and is a perfect introduction for small children to the complicated life of Dr. King. It begins by showing Martin as a boy and the positive influence both his parents had on him, as well as the unfair segregation laws he had to deal with growing up in the south. The author shows how Dr. King influenced people to stand up for their rights without using violence even when others used violence against him. It offers the facts about his life in a way children can understand and the pictures are very powerful.

grade level: This book is appropriate for children in preschool through third grade.

comments: Children are very interested in learning about real people and this book sparks many questions and important discussions. By introducing Martin as a boy, children can easily relate to him and gain a better understanding of what life was like during this part of history and why he wanted things to change. The book stresses using words instead of violence to solve conflicts which is a topic that is relevant in every classroom. I highly recommend this book but be prepared to answer some challenging questions from your students.

The Gingerbread Man

Title: Gingerbread Man


Pictures by: Karen Schmidt


Genre:Folktale


Reading Level: Preschool


Characters: Gingerbread Man, Little Old Lady, Pig, Cow, Horse and the Fox.





Summary:





This folktale is about a Gingerbread Man who escapes from the oven and outruns all those who try to catch him. The Gingerbread Man did not want the little old lady, pig, cow, horse and fox to eat him so he ran and kept yelling, "You cant catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man." The illustrations are beautiful, this classic folktale will capture children's interest and spark their imagination page after page. Children will enjoy looking at the pictures and repeating after every page, "You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man." This story has repetitive text which makes it easier for children to particpat. This story is perfect for preschool.

Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones

written and illustrated by Byron Barton

genre: realistic fiction

theme: palaeontology

summary: A simple text that describes the stages a palaeontologist takes to retrieve dinosaur bones; finding them, digging them up, packing them carefully, transporting them to a museum and putting them together to form a dinosaur. It is written in a repetitive format that allows young children to understand this complex process.

grade level: This book is appropriate for preschool through second grade.

characters: multiple palaeontologists

comments: Dinosaurs is a topic many young children are fascinated with, however the informational books can be too complicated or lengthy for them to sit through. This book shares information but in a style that keeps even the most active three year old engaged. The pictures are simple and big and bright while the words have a sing-song feel. It's a great book to introduce children to the scientific factual side of dinosaurs.

The Paper Bag Princess

written by Robert N. Munsch

illustrated by Michael Martchenko

genre: folktale/fairy tale

summary: This politically correct fairy tale tackles the gender bias that most fairy tales are examples of. In this story the princess is the heroine who rescues the prince by out smarting a dragon. The princess is not concerned about how she looks, however the prince does criticize her appearance and as a result they do not end up together in the end.

Characters: Princess Elizabeth, Prince Ronald and the Dragon

grade level: This book is appropriate for preschool to third grade students.

comments: This story is creative, funny and gives a clear message to young girls that the man doesn't have to be the one to do the rescuing! It also teaches little girls that they can and should walk away from someone who is not treating them correctly. This book opens up a great deal of discussion on why she doesn't marry the prince in the end and how you should treat people.

The Little Red Hen and The Ear of Wheat

Title: The Little Red Hen and The Ear of Corn
Author: Mary Finch
Illustrator: Elisabeth Bell
Genre: Folktale

This traditional story has beautiful illustrations with vibrant colors. The main character, the little red hen is very industrious but lives with a rooster and a mouse that are unwilling to help out around the house. Only when the roommates realize that there is nothing to gain from being unproductive do they change their ways.
This story was fun to read. Young children will enjoy listening to the story and viewing the illustrations. The story is written using repetitive text on every other page. And the children will quickly begin to anticipate and “read along”. This is the type of story that preschoolers and young children will often request that you read them over and over again.

Title: Vera's First Day of School

Author/Illustrator: Rosenberry, Vera

Genre: Fiction

Reading level: 2^nd grade

Recommended interest level: Kindergarten- 2^nd grade

Summary:

Vera is looking forward to her first day of school. When she arrives to school, she finds a playground filled with children she has never met. The bell rings and the school doors shut, Vera stays on the playground. She walks back home and tiptoes up to her room, invisible to her mother who is bathing the baby. Happily, Vera's first day ends successfully after mother discovers her under the bed and walks her back to the classroom.

Comments:

This story provides an excellent opportunity for teachers or parents to have a conversation with kids as they anticipate a special day. The illustrations are colorful and imaginative and help tell the story. The experience of Vera’s first day of school can be generalized to any other situations that children may face for the first time in their life.

Officer Buckle & Gloria

Title: Officer Buckle & Gloria

Author and Illustrator: Peggy Rathmann

Genre: Fiction

Themes: Working together, friendship

Characters: Officer Buckle, Gloria, students and principal at Napville School and other area schools

Summary: Officer Buckle travels around to schools giving speeches about safety tips, but the students never pay attention and accidents inevitably follow. But when a police dog, Gloria, joins the department's ranks and accompanies Officer Buckle on his school trips, the audience is engaged, and the schools have never been safer. Officer Buckle marvels at his newfound success, until he discovers that the audience's attention was due to Gloria's on-stage antics behind his back during the safety speeches. He becomes angry and refuses to work with Gloria again. In the end, though, Officer Buckle decides that it's best to stick with your buddy.

Comments: I love this story because of the humor. The illustrations are as important as the text in understanding the story: we watch Gloria performing tricks while we read that Officer Buckle has no idea what she's up to. Students love feeling like they're "in on the joke" while they wait for Officer Buckle to discover the truth. Plus, the story shows the value of genuine friendship and why working together is often much better than working alone.

Grade level: This story is included in my school's Second Grade reader, but it can also be appreciated as a read-aloud by students as young as Kindergarten.

Title: Cookie Countdown

Author: Sarah Albee

Illustrator: Tom Leigh

Genre/Theme: Traditional Literature

Summary of Book: Cookie Monster starts out with five cookies. Cookie Monster's friends stop in and one by one the cookies are quickly disappearing. Cookie Monster is sad when he is out of cookies, but quickly cheers up when his friends surprise him with more cookies to share!

Characters: Cookie Monster, Grover, Elmo, Zoe, and the 2-headed purple friend (not named).

Reader's Comments: I think this is a cute book to read to children. The vocabulary is too high for most young children to read word for word, but the children can quickly pick up on the predictable story (counting down from 5) to paraphrase and help read the book. This is a board book that has big, plastic, googly eyes that stick up through all of the pages. The front of the book is soft to touch (on Cookie Monster's fur). The pictures throughout the book are bright and colorful. The story shows children that sharing with your friends is a great thing to do.

Age Appropriateness: Preschool-Kindergarten

I Saw a Bullfrog

Story Title: I Saw a Bullfrog

Author: Ellen Stern

Illustrator: Ellen Stern

Genre: Poetry

Summary/Characters: This poem explores animals that have strange names, like a bullfrog or tiger shark. The poem's words reveal characteristics about each of the animals while the illustrations combine their bodies. For example, the bullfrog illustration has a bull's head with a frog's behind. At the end of the poem, the animals are realistically illustrated giving the children a chance to see what they really look like.

Comments: This is a fun poem to read to children. The pictures are silly, so the children get a laugh, but they also learn fun little facts about animals at the same time. It has good rhythm, and the rhyming words are appropriate, not farfetched. I especially like that the author/illustrator included real drawings of the animals at the end, so that the children do not walk away thinking that the silly illustrations during the poem are realistic.

Grade Level: Preschool/Kindergarten

Animal Alphabet

Title: Animal Alphabet

Author: Alex Lluch

Illustrator: David Defenbaugh

Genre: Alphabet book/Picture book

Summary: Animal Alphabet shows animals that begin with each letter of the alphabet. You see the letter and part of the animal on one page and then on the following page you see the animal and it's name.

Grade Level: Birth - First Grade

Comments: I enjoy this book because it is interactive. The children are offered clues to help figure out what comes next. The letter and a partial picture are the clues. The children can use their letter sounds and their previous knowledge to come up with the animal. Infants and toddlers will enjoy the illustrations. The Preschoolers and Kindergarteners will be able to read this book on their own which is important to help them become more independent readers.

Skippyjon Jones by: Judy Schachner

The book I chose is called Skippyjon Jones, and it was written and illustrated by Judy Schachner. This is a fictional story about a Siamese cat who gets himself into trouble and is sent to his room. While he is in there, he lets his imagination run wild. He pretends that he is a great sword fighter who goes on amazing adventures even though he is supposed to be thinking about what he did wrong. The really great thing about this book is that it includes many Spanish words that can easily be figured out based on the context clues around them. So even non Spanish speaking students can be entertained by them. At the end of each story, Skippyjon Jones and his mother make up, and she thinks that he has learned his lesson. The main character in this story is Skippyjon Jones. Other characters are: Mama Junebug Jones and Skippyjon Jones's sisters. I really like this story. I found it really easy to read, and my students are always very entertained by it. This story is best for grades K-3.

"The Knight Who Took All Day" by: James Mayhem

Title: "The Knight Who Took All Day"

Author: James Mayhem

Illustrator: none

Genre: fairy tale

Summary: (as shown on the cover) A foolish knight longs to impress a golden-haired princess. To display his marvelous skills with shield and sword, all he needs is a dragon. But when one finally appears on the horizon, breathing streams of fire, will he be ready in time to save the kingdom? Or is this knight more interested in appearances than action? Up the stairs, down the stairs goes his tireless squire, fetching fashionable armor. Meanwhile, bored with waiting, the quick-witted princess takes matters into her own hands!

Characters: the knight, the princess, the squire, and the dragon

Grade Level: This book is a very quick read. I believe preschool through first grade would enjoy this story.

Comments: This was a really cute book and very easy to read to the children. I work with Preschool children and they were captured by the drawings and the fact that there was a Prince a Princess and Dragon. The children were able to make guesses as to what would happen next, and it also gave a little lesson at the end. I recommend reading this story at any time during the year. I used this with a "Fairy tale" theme during the month of February.

"Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch

Anne Brady

Title: “Love You Forever”
Author: Robert Munsch
Illustrator: Sheila McGraw
Genre/Theme: Traditional/Fiction

Summary:
“Love You Forever” is a book about the circle of life and the love between a parent and a child. It begins with a woman rocking her newborn baby singing “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, As long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” The child grows and the mother continues to rock him and sing this lullaby each night as he sleeps until he is a grown man. Eventually, the mother is too old and sick to sing and the grown son cradles her and sings, “as long as I’m living my mommy you’ll be.” At the end of the story the man carries on the tradition with his newborn daughter.

Characters: The son, the mother, and the newborn daughter

Reader’s Comments:
I absolutely love this book and become very emotional each time I read it. It is a wonderful story for parents and children to share at all stages of life. I believe children find the sing-songy repetitive flow of the tale comforting and the colorful illustrations compliment each page beautifully and appropriately. I think Robert Munsch does a wonderful job conveying the beauty of the unconditional love a parent has for their child and how that love is passed through generations. I feel that the story leaves you satisfied with a sense of completeness at its end.

Grade Level Appropriateness: This story is written at a first grade reading level but I feel it can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

I Went Walking

written by Sue Williams
illustrated by Julie Vivas
genre: traditional / fiction



summary: This book has a very simple text that rhymes with a great rhythm that young children love. It contains big, brightly painted pictures of a young boy walking and meeting several different animals along the way. The predictable text makes it perfect for beginning readers and for practicing color words, along with animal names.

grade level: This book is appropriate for toddlers and up to first graders.

comments: I really love reading books aloud to young children that have an upbeat tempo and seem to flow naturally. This book reminds me of the Brown Bear Brown Bear series, which is a classic read aloud in early childhood. This is a book the majority of my kindergarten children will pick up and begin to read by themselves or at least "believe" they are reading - which is a great confidence builder!

Big Brother Little Brother

Story Title: Big Brother, Little Brother McGraw-Hill School Division, copyright 1997.

Author and Illustrator: Penny Dale

Genre: Realistic Fiction
The theme is that siblings generally understand each other and share a special relationship. This is a leveled book, appropriate for the developing first grade reader.

Summary: This simple to read story has surprising depth, due to the author’s intuitive understanding of relationships between siblings and the great sensitivity of the illustrations. The story explores the close relationship between two brothers and the special knowledge they have of each other’s personality. The message is that perhaps even more than the adults around them, the two young brothers know what brings joy and tears in each other.

Characters: Big Brother and Little Brother are the main and most important characters here, but the loving parents add to the charm and coziness of the book. The brothers exhibit all the typical emotions that siblings ordinarily feel for each other, including the negative but all too realistic ones, such as jealousy. The special bonding that the brothers have for each other is sweet and heart-warming and comes forth with them both ultimately attempting to make the other happy. The story relays simple and typical daily events, in which we can see the brother’s close rapport. The situations the young brothers encounter are realistic and accurate for this age group and the richness of the story comes from the illustrations succeeding in capturing real emotion.

Grade Level Appropriateness: This story can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. It truly taps into the complexity of the relationships between siblings in an uplifting and positive manner. The situations the brothers find themselves in will be enjoyed and understood by the vast majority of us, child and adult alike. The vocabulary is suitable for the emerging first grade reader and I think the book would be highly enjoyed as an oral story read to the entire class, as well. There is repetition in the text, which is easy to read alone and fun to join in on if read orally together. It is rare to find an easy to read story that seems really valuable, but I think this one is!

Kathleen Buky

A Family of Poems by Caroline Kennedy

Title: A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children
Editor: Caroline Kennedy
Paintings by: Jon J. Muth
Genre: Poetry

Summary of Book: This is a collection of poetry for children compiled by Caroline Kennedy including favorites of her childhood and current selections. Sections are separated by subject and include well-known traditional poetry as well as simple and silly poems. There is an introduction to each section written by Kennedy.

Grade level: This book is appropriate for and can be read to children of all ages. Many poems are suitable for early readers. More difficult poems by e.e. cummings and Shakespeare will require adult assistance.

Comments: This is an outstanding collection of poetry that will delight children and refresh adults. The juxtaposition of works by Frost, Rossetti, Shakespeare, Plath, and Neruda with poetry from Prelutsky, Nash, Milne, and Carroll is not disarming. The book is laid out well and includes many helpful references for sorting and translating poems. Great care was taken to represent many different cultures in the subject matter as well as the illustrations. Caroline Kennedy's introductions are sweet and insightful. The watercolors by Jon J. Muth are realistic, topical, and lovely. I highly recommend this book for your own collection or your classroom library.