Resources

The problem with being the last person to share my resources is that you guys took all the good ones! :-)

I know we do not all live in Bloomington, Indiana, but let me just tell you, we have a fantastic library here. Even if you don't live here, and don't have access to the physical library (although you're missing out, because Pat, the children's librarian, is rad. She gave me my first library card, in 1987, and she remembers my name to this day!), you can still access its awesome website. The website is easy to navigate, comprehensive, and full of great ideas for children's trade literature selections. Even when I lived in Portland, I still used this website when compiling book lists for freelance assignments. In their booklists section, they have titles organized by award winners (Caldecott, Newbery, ALA, etc.), as well as great lists developed by the library's children's librarians: Too Good to Miss, If you liked Harry Potter..., If you can't find Waldo..., Not Too Scary Stories, and All Kinds of Families are some of my faves.

http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/childrens/booklists/children_booklists.html

In my search for outstanding websites and other resources, I came across Rad Library - a collection of mostly vintage books with interest...maybe...driven by illustration, type, graphics, and lastly, content (http://radlibrary.blogspot.com). It's awesome and fun and you should check it out. It's an interesting reminder of the aesthetic aspects of trade literature!

Books I Love

A Blue So Blue by Jean-Francois Dumont

This is the story of a small, bright little boy who lives in a big, dull city. The boy is an artist. Every night he dreams of a certain shade of blue - a blue so blue it's both dark and bright - a blue so blue it's both common and rare - a blue so blue it's both tender and strong. The little boy sets out in search of the blue, traveling over the world, and disappointed time and time again. He finds many blues, but none of them are what he is searching for. When he finally does discover the blue of his dreams, it is not where he expected it to be.

Free to be You and Me by Marlo Thomas and Friends

This 1972 classic was revamped and republished in 2008, with all its original multi-genre pieces, including songs, stories, and poems, and with fabulous new illustrations. It also comes with a CD, which my daughter wanted to listen to every time we were in the car, and which I finally had to hide until she forgot about it. While some of the writing seems a little dated, the sentiments are still as relevant and powerful as ever - themes of compassion, empathy, celebrating diversity, and challenging stereotypes are found throughout.

Take my hand.
Come with me.
Where the children are free.
Come with me.
Take my hand.
And we'll run...

Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship
Told by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatcoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu

This true story, based on the lovely friendship between a baby hippo named Owen and a 130-year-old giant tortoise named Mzee who live in an animal sanctuary in Kenya, is an excellent example of an engaging, high-quality, non-fiction tradebook. The photographs are beautiful, the story is amazing, and the text is highly readable. I know some people don't like when animals are anthropomorphized in non-fiction, and their relationships are labeled friendships or romantic, but I adore this story!

Stephanie Bennett: Resource Share

Polka-Bats and Octopus Slacks; 14 Stories by Calef Brown
I recently found this amazing illustrator and author Calef Brown.  I have read this particular book and find it to be silly and fun for kids to read.  There are fourteen short poems filled with rhyming and a lot of nonsense.  This is definitely a book to pull out when you have time to be silly and hear laughter.  It would be great to use for inspiration of poetry and creative writing along with illustrating.

Astronomy: Out of This World! by Dan Green
I found this series of science books that include many more books including physics, the periodic table, biology etc.  These are colorful fact filled books.  I think the approach used with these books is to introduce complicated subject matter and scientific terminology in a fun way to young readers.  Early readers would benefit from going over maybe a chapter at a time, where as older readers could use these books as a means to exploring more subject matter and research on their own.  When I tried reading this book to children, they enjoyed the material and I felt subject matter was retained by not trying to read everything and going back to it every few days.

Alive:  The Living, Breathing, Human Body Book by DK Publishing
This book is an interactive science book.  Although I can't see being able to get a hold of this book for each and every child in a classroom, this would be a fun book for allowing a child to look over during a quiet reading period.  It has interactive sound and pop out pages.  There is so much information in this book that it is one of those books that you can work on one page at a time, possibly leading kids to explore other topics.  This would be great to pull out if you want to teach certain science concepts along with reading.




http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/
I found this resource, not only great for teachers but parents might like this link as well, just to keep up to date and current literature and ideas for reading to children.  The site offers ideas according to grade or age levels.  It also has a search option that seems pretty comprehensive.  It offers ideas on reading programs as well.  I found this to be an easily navigated resource, so it could be useful for finding ideas without having to spend a massive amount of time trying to figure out how the site is organized.


http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=4
I personally find searching for children's books and any books for that matter, very convenient and easy on Amazon.com.  I realize that this a resource for buying books, but it can be so much more.  Because Amazon.com uses Web2.0, we can all use the values of book reviews if we are on the fence about choosing a book.  Amazon.com also makes it easy to buy used book, out of print books, and books from several publishers.  I have found leaving reviews and reading reviews to be an essential part of this site.  I also have a dear friend who is librarian who uses this for her go to site for finding books, so when I asked her for ideas for my blog post, she said for easy online navigation...go to amazon.com

Rachel's Book Share and Resources

Unputdownable Books

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin

This book has long been a favorite of mine. Farmer Brown’s cows find his old typewriter and use it to start communicating with him. They make demands, and refuse to give milk until those demands are met. Duck, a supposed “neutral” party, tries to help the two sides work things out by being the go-between. This book is not only hilarious, it’s also highly interactive. My students always love chiming in on the clicks and clacks that happen repeatedly throughout the story. Cronin has also written an equally enjoyable sequel to the book called Giggle, Giggle, Quack.

The Black Lagoon Series by Mike Thaler

I always start my school year off by reading The Teacher From the Black Lagoon. This book chronicles the thoughts of a boy named Hubie on his first day of school. He finds out he has Mrs. Green for a teacher. He has heard all sorts of rumors about her and how horrible she is. He envisions a green dragon-like beast teaching him. When he finally walks in to his new classroom, he is surprised to meet a pretty, young teacher. The other books in this series follow suit, with Hubie wondering and fretting over meeting all sorts of people: the principal, a bully, the cafeteria staff, etc. My students always enjoy reading these books and then comparing them with our school staff. Some years I have invited other school workers to come in and read their respective Black Lagoon books (i.e. the principal came and read The Principal From the Black Lagoon to my class). This was a great way for the students to get to know some of the people they would be encountering throughout the upcoming year.

The Magic Tree House Series by Mary Pope Osborne

I wasn’t going to include these books because I think lots of teachers are already very familiar with them. However, I was talking with my students about this project and getting their input, and well over half of my class highly recommended this series. My second grade students are at the age where most of them are just beginning to explore chapter books on their own. Mary Pope Osborne has done an incredible job of writing some “unputdownable” books! From dinosaurs, to pilgrims, to astronauts, this series has it all. The two main characters, Jack and Annie, stumbled across a magical tree house in the woods not far from their house. The tree house takes them to places in books, where they always have some wild adventures. Along the way, Osborne has tucked in lots of factual information for kids to learn. My students always groan when I stop reading one of these books for the day, and they beg me to keep reading. Definitely an awesome series!

Teacher Resources

R.E.A.D for Nene – The Nene Award Website http://nene.k12.hi.us/booklist/booklist10.html

My school librarian found this website and sent it to all the teachers at our school. This website is the home of the Nene Award. These books are chosen from a list by the children of Hawaii. Students are encouraged to read the books, and then interact with their peers about the books. The students then vote for their favorite books which receive the awards. This website is great for teachers because it includes lesson plans and ideas for some of the newest chapter books for students in the upper elementary grades.

TumbleBooks http://www.tumblebooks.com/

TumbleBooks is an online collection of e-books for kids. While the site requires a membership, you can sign up for a free trial to check it out. My school has found this site worthwhile enough that we have a school-wide subscription. When you go here you will find a huge library of e-books that you can have read aloud to your students. You also have the option of putting the books in “manual” mode, and the students can read them on their own at their own pace. In addtition to being a great tool for modeling fluency, most of the books also have quizzes, games, and activites to go along with the stories. Many of the teachers at my school share these books with their students on the Promethean / Smart Board, and are able to use them in a wide range of ways. One other thing – when one teacher signs up for the free trial, any number of teachers can access the materials for 30 days. I’m sure you could work out a system with the teachers in your school to allow everyone full access without it costing a thing!

Erin Wilson Book Share and Resources

The Absolute True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

This book has been read and re-read by several students at the school I work at. In fact it is a very popular book among teachers too. This is a humorous story about a boy named Arnold Spirit, or Junior, who grows up on the reservation but attends a rich white school nearby. Although it is very funny, the humor lightens the reality of poverty, alcoholism, and death that occur in Arnold’s life too often on the reservation. There are cartoon illustrations throughout the book by Arnold to share how he sees his life and various situations that add to the humor and seriousness of issues that he faces. Arnold also deals with his identity of who he is as a native person in and out of his community continuously. Another aspect of the story is friendship and who he can call a friend and rely on.

Naruto Series by Masashi Ksihimoto

Naruto is a manga series that is very popular with the students at the school. Manga is Japanese cartoons and Naruto is just one of many titles within this genre. Students love this type of genre and many of them have finished the entire Naruto series and are reading them again.

Naruto is about a boy who wants to become a master ninja. The nine-tailed demon had once destroyed a village and a ninja sacrificed his life by sealing the nine-tailed demon in Naruto's body at birth. Since he carries the nine-tailed demon fox in him he is treated different from the other students. Sometimes he is feared and sometimes he is respected. Naruto proves himself by trying to learn the ways of the ninjas. Naruto's character is mischievous and gets in trouble, annoys his friends and is tested by his masters. The entire series follows Naruto and his friends growing up and have many ninja adventures.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

This beautiful story is not only written but illustrated to tell the story about a boy named Hugo who lives inside a railway station in Paris. He is an orphan and his mission is to fix his father's machine that will write an unknown message. The boy ends up stealing parts for his machine and meets a young girl who becomes his friend. He is caught stealing parts for the machine and it jeopardizes his secret life and the machine. The girl and the tinker help Hugo unravel the mystery of the message and create a family.

Resources:

School Library Journal
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/

This website is based from the School Library Journal magazine. The website has a number of resources for not just librarians but teachers too. There are articles, blogs, podcasts, and more related to not only books but school issues too. For finding book reviews there is a tab on the top labeled reviews. Reviews are updated monthly which keeps me up to date on the latest books. When you hover over it there will be a list of reviews by grade range and type of books like graphic novels, multimedia, reference, and more. There is even a search box for finding something more specific.

YALSA-BK listserv
http://lists.ala.org/wws/lists
This is a great listserv for being current in young adult materials. Award winning lists from ALA in any topic or genre can be posted. Since it is a forum, librarians discuss books, subject lists, find books, and much more. Reviews are posted as well and lately there is a push for video reviews which makes selecting books fun.

Emily Ponsler's Book and Resource Share

Recommended Children's Books

Flicker Flash by Joan Bransfield Graham

I stumbled upon this wonderful book at my local library. I was immediately drawn to it because of the title and was delighted when I saw what was inside. It is filled with shape poems, all of which explore light and the various ways it can illuminate the world around us. From the flicker of a candle, to the reflection of the moon, the poems in this book are a wonderful way to show children how much fun poetry can be and that things we see in everyday life can inspire us to do very creative things!


Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme by Marianne Berkes

I found this counting book online and can't wait to get my hands on it. I have heard nothing but good things about it and just by looking at the cover it is clear to see that the illustrations, made from polymer clay and then photographed, are wonderful. They look like they are three dimensional. Each page in this book features an animal of the rainforest and a number and the text follows the rhythm of "Over in the Meadow". At the end of the book there is information about each of the animals mentioned, a finding game, as well as recommendations from both the author and illustrator how to encourage child participation.


Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo

Mercy Watson to the Rescue is the first in a series of early chapter books by Kate DiCamillo, author of The Tales of Despereaux and Because of Winn Dixie. I recently read this book to my 4 year old daughter, who requested that I read it again and again. The series stars Mercy Watson, the beloved pet "porcine wonder" belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Watson. In this story, Mercy is tucked into bed by the Watson's and when the lights go out she becomes scared. She goes to find them, climbs into their bed, and dreams of hot buttered toast. Before long the heavy load of both Mercy and the Watson's becomes too much for the bed to handle and it begins to fall through the floor. All the while, Mercy can't stop thinking about hot buttered toast and jumps off the bed to go find some. Mr. and Mrs. Watson believe that Mercy is on her way to call the fire department, but Mercy finds herself at the house next door, still in search of that toast she has been thinking about. Ultimately, the irritable neighbor lady calls the fire department, the Watson's are rescued and Mercy is the Heroine, rewarded with some hot buttered toast. This book is very humorous and the cartoon like illustrations make the story come alive.


Resources


http://www.biguniverse.com/?SSAID=351675

Big Universe is a site dedicated to providing curriculum support for grades k-8, offering a large library of online books (1050 books). Other features include creating, publishing, organizing, and sharing books online. Many of the features of the site require you to sign-up, become a member, and yes, pay a fee, but there are other resources within the site that are free. The blog contains recommendations of books and discusses literacy related topics, and the weekly newsletter offers free featured books.


Math and Literature by Stephanie Sheffield

I obtained an earlier version of this book in a math class that I took as part of the Transition to Teaching program. Within the book are ideas and methods for connecting math to literature for grades 2 and 3. There are ten lessons in all as well as student samples. By incorporating literature into math instruction, students can experience math in a way that is very different from your typical textbook rendition of solving problems. The author, Stephanie Sheffield, has also written similar books for grades K-1 and 4-6, as well as one that addresses math and non-fiction for grades 3-5.

Kathleen's Book and Resource Share

“Unputdownable” Books for Kids

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown


One day last spring I was in a chain bookstore in a mid-sized, eastern Indiana town looking for a gift for a special young friend of mine. I went straight to the children’s section intent on finding a book that would inspire and empower my friend in her fifth year of life. This little girl already had all of my favorite classics, so it was time for something new. I must have read or glanced through 100 not-good-enough books that day before finding this gem. The back cover of The Curious Garden reads “One boy’s quest for a greener world…one garden at a time.” Liam lives in a dreary, gray city without any green spaces. One day, he discovers the remains of what he imagines was once a beautiful garden. Liam tries to revitalize the plot and, through many ups and downs, eventually manages to turn it into a beautiful garden. I love how empowering this book is for children, showing them the differences that they are capable of making. I especially appreciate that Liam faces many obstacles, but doesn’t let himself get discouraged. I find the environmental narrative refreshing and inspiring. An added bonus: the illustrations are breathtaking.

Love that Dog by Sharon Creech

Love that Dog (and its companion Hate that Cat) follow Jack as he begins to explore the world of poetry. Written entirely in verse, Jack is initially skeptical of the poetry that his teacher, Miss Strechberry, is sharing with him. In the first entry in his journal, Jack writes “I don’t want to/because boys/don’t write poetry./ Girls do.” Other sentiments Jack echos include “It’s not a poem./Is it?” (p. 17) and “I think Mr. Robert Frost/has a little/ too/ much/time/on his/hands” (p. 21). At his teacher’s prodding however, Jack begins to find his voice and appreciate poetry. I love this book because it feels so real to me. Poetry can be a really intimidating form for children to explore and Jack’s hesitations are ones that I can really relate to. Another thing I really appreciate about this book is that Jack responds to real poems, by poets including William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost, and William Blake. When a child (or an adult) sits down to read this book, they are exposed to these classics alongside a narrator who wrestles with them as well.

The Colors of Us by Karen Katz


While the term “Celebrate Diversity” gets thrown around frequently in educational settings, this book truly does. The narrator, Lena is seven years old and, with the help of her mother, is learning to see the subtleties and nuances in race. Lena is the color of cinnamon, her mom is the color of French toast. As they walk through town, Lena uses her own knowledge of different shades of brown, frequently foods, to describe the people she sees. Lena is so excited to realize the diversity around her, and runs home to paint pictures of everyone she has seen. I think that this book is a great way to help young children realize that race is much, much more than black and white. Not only does Lena explore and describe these differences, but she soaks them up, revels in them, enjoys them, and has fun with them.

Resources for Teachers

The Coretta Scott King Award

From the website: "The Coretta Scott King Awards are presented annually by the American Library Association to honor African-American authors and illustrators who create outstanding books for children and young adults." I have never read a book that has received this award that I didn't find wonderful. The list of recipients is a great resource for finding children's books written by, and frequently about, African American history and culture. Some of my favorite winners and honorable mentions include The Land by Mildred Taylor, Let It Shine! Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters by Andrea Davis Pinkney, and Monster by Walter Dean Myers. One component of this award that I really appreciate is that there are categories for both author and illustrator.

The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children: 3rd Edition Revised and Updated

While this guide is written for parents, I find it to be a great resource for choosing classroom books. The guide includes many classics, but also plenty of books I was unfamiliar with. The books are described warmly and lovingly in a way that makes the reader want to dive in. The book is filled with beautiful drawings and is sensibly categorized and indexed. Of all of the books about books out there, this is one of my favorites.

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

My favorite aspect of this website is the section entitled "Subjects in Children's Books." This section is broken down into two lists, Curriculum Areas and Themes and Other Subjects. The "Curriculum Areas" list provides links to descriptions of books and activities for different areas in Social Studies, Math, Science, Language Arts, and Art. The "Themes and Other Subjects" provides book and activity ideas thematically. I think this site is a great resource for when you are trying to find a book to go with a particular subject or lesson, but are unsure where to begin. The included ideas for activities are an added bonus.

Emily Locke's Favorite Tradebooks and Resources

Recommended Children's Books (with input from second graders)

Geronimo Stilton Series by Geronimo Stilton

The Geronimo Stilton books are colorful, visual chapter books perfect for 3rd through 5th graders. The main character, Geronimo Stilton, is a mouse, working as the publisher for the Rodent's Gazette on Mouse Island. In each book, Geronimo has different adventures, but the same characters appear. The book is full of mouse puns and onomatopoeia. The book is carefully illustrated with pictures and graphic words. For example, the word "freezing" would be hand drawn with blue letters that looked like they were shivering. This gives students another way to figure out new words on their own (besides decoding, looking at the pictures, using sentence context, etc.). It is a perfect book for pulling vocabulary words out of, because it is chock full of juicy ones. Still, it is silly enough that kids will laugh out loud, and exciting enough that they will moan when it's time to stop reading. I read this book in a small reading group in second grade last year, and my students loved it.

Frindle by Andrew Clements

It was hard to choose just one book by Andrew Clements, as he is such a wonderful and fun children's book author. I chose Frindle because I just read it this summer so it is fresh in my mind, but also because one of my students read it over the summer and talked about it all the time in our penpal letters. (Yes, I was penpals with my students if they wanted to be). This book is about a boy with a terribly strict teacher, but the boy is always coming up with ways to distract and fool the teacher. The boy decides to prove a point to the teacher and gets the whole class to stop using the word "pen" and instead calling it a "frindle." This annoys the teacher to no end, but the word "frindle" catches on and soon, the whole school is using it and it becomes a big news story. Frindle is a fun read, and appropriate for 2nd through 6th graders.

Listen to the Wind by Greg Mortenson

Greg Mortenson is the author of the adult non-fiction novel Three Cups of Tea, the story of his attempt to climb K2 and in a turn of events, his seven week stay in an impoverished village in Pakistan. He ended up building the first school in the village, and then went on to build over 50 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He then came out with two more books based on this story, one for young adults, and this picture book for kids. The illustrations are incredible, because they are photographs of collage puppets. I was first told about this book from my young 9 year old cousin, who had just bought it at the book store and had to show it off. It is a beautiful, moving story, with incredible lessons to teach about poverty, the right to an education, and giving.

Resources for Teachers

ReadingRockets.org/books

Reading Rockets is a fantastic website for teachers, librarians, and parents. The project also includes several programs on PBS. They've already organized their lists of recommended children's books into categories (by theme, video interviews with authors, award winners, poetry, multicultural books, summer reading, holiday buying guide) as well as articles and videos on teaching kids how to read. I know that this will be one website I recommend to parents as I head into parent-teacher conferences this week.

Readers Theater for Building Fluency by Jo Worthy

Readers Theater is a fun, motivating way to get students to become more fluent and confident readers. The students work in small groups to read a script over and over until they know the words well, and then they can present the skit/play to other classmates. Readers Theater is not meant to be a big production with costumes and props, or even memorization of the lines. Rather, the students can use their scripts to read from, and pantomime minimal actions. The main point is for them to read as if they were actually talking. This book by Jo Worthy further explains the idea of Readers Theater, and has scripts that go along with children's books, as well as step by step instructions for the teacher. If you haven't tried Readers Theater in your class, I definitely recommend it! The students LOVE to do this, and they honestly beg me to practice reading when we're working on a play

Khadija's Book and Resource Share

If There's A Book, There's A Way..

Animal Strike at the Zoo. It's True!

By Karma Wilson

Illustrated by Margaret Spengler

When I first encountered Animal Strike at the Zoo. It's True!, I was struck by the unusual title. This may not be the typical “fairy tale” or “animal story” book that would be selected for children, however it definitely grabs the attention of the audience, both children and adults alike. As a teacher, just the title invoked a strong inner curiosity that this book would be entertaining providing a strong foundation for further critical analysis and study. It automatically has the reader ask questions such as “how would animals strike?” “What had caused the uproar (no pun intended)?“ and “What would be the outcome?”. The story begins with an emotional commotion started by an elephant; the strike ends when a tearful young visitor is saddened by the strike causing the animals to realize the importance and value in keeping the zoo alive. Wilson symbolically delivers the message to her young readers regarding the significance in fulfilling other’s needs above one's own.

Wilson’s method of comical poetry and rhythmic storytelling accompanied by large colorful illustrations keeps the audience immersed in the narrative. Picking this book, I wanted to introduce an illustrative book that is both educational and amusing for young boys and girls. This author is known for her inspiring picture books through giving young readers an understanding that the impossible may be attained through hard work and dedication; most importantly to overcome one’s fears. You can see more of her books on her website http://karmawilson.com/.

What Can You Do With a Rebozo?

by Carmen Tafolla

Illustrated by Amy Cordova

A Rebozo? This is a shawl primarily worn by women from Mexico and used for many purposes. During my visits to Mexico I remember these shawls displayed throughout the open markets, but the name never rung a bell until I read this book. Each page in the book flows with poetic storytelling and colorful illustrations. It tells the story of a Mexian girl and her family and the many ways in which the rebozo ties the family together. In each page we are introduced to the practical and cultural significance of this beautiful shawl. The story ends with a page that describes what a rebozo is and questions that teachers can pose to the students on creative ways they may like to use the rebozo.

This book, written by a Mexican-American poet was awarded the Pura Belpre Honor Award, introduces young readers to explore diverse cultures and their traditional wear. More importantly due to the growing diversity in the classrooms, especially with many Spanish-speaking students, this book educationally allows young readers to bond through an understanding of different cultural lifestyles.

Isabella Abnormella and the Very, Very Finicky Queen of Trouble

By J. Patrick Lewis

Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker

Isabella Abnormella and the Very, Very Finicky Queen of Trouble is a fascinating and witty narrative by a young character, Isabella, and her astonishing feat at removing the Queen’s troubles. The story introduces the Queen’s dilemma (inability to find a proper bed to sleep), the town’s attempts and trials in providing imaginative suggestions (enormous wicker basket or Mister Tickle Dream Machine) and Isabella’s sensible innovation (water bed) in removing the Queens distress. This engaging story brings more than laughter and amusement to the audience, the children learn through collaboration and hard work that one may attain true success. After selecting this story, I have searched for more books by this author (he has many), since his story will capture the interest of young readers.

J. Patrick Lewis incorporates a strong vibe of poetry and humor, locking his audience attention with colorful pictures. The illustrations are alluring and attention grabbing, depicting the scenarios of the Queen’s encounters. This story will have young readers in want of having the story reread to them again and again.

Resources for Finding Tradebooks for Kids

Hedgehog Books, http://www.hedgehogbooks.com/index.html a site created by teachers, is an excellent resource for teachers or parents to explore a variety of books primarily for children from pre-K to middle school. When entering this site, visitors will be given a variety of options to fulfill their criteria. There are links to books suitable for read-aloud or read-alone for baby/toddlers, early readers, and fluent readers. Teachers will be drawn to the organizational layout of exclusive books selected and reviewed by other teachers for each grade level from pre K-8. Each book review describes the book, an excerpt, what the child will get out of the story, and the age level recommendation provided by Hedgie (the site). Furthermore, teacher and kids comments are invited for each book review, so that teachers may receive feedback about the novel from both audiences. A welcome resource for teachers and parents alike--this site is excellent!

The Reading Tub http://www.thereadingtub.com/index.asp is a wonderful website dedicated to promote literacy among young readers through a variety of channels (ex. blogs, learning to read articles and techniques, book reviews, etc). In this site teachers may utilize the various book links, categorized by age group, offering reviews that provide an invaluable amount of information for each story. Each review describes the plot of the story, the pros, cons, age appropriateness; a big kids/little kids response, the literary category, and other books with a similar narrative. There are links on this site on books that will appeal to reluctant as well as remedial readers, thereby enhancing the child’s literacy growth with interesting and educational novels. In this site, teachers can access books about adoption, alternatives to Harry Potter, and Mystery & Adventure books. In addition to a blog that invites visitors to share there own insights on promoting children literacy, this site a wonderful resource for teachers to generate literary awareness in their classrooms.

Jessica Lucas's Trade Book and Resource Recommendations

PAGE-TURNING READS

Matilda by Roald Dahl
While I find that just about any Roald Dahl book is difficult to put down, Matilda is one of the most engaging that I have come across. Maybe it's her early love of books, the terrifying Trunchbull or the uncaring family so totally unlike my own, but for whatever reason this book still speaks to me. Dahl achieves humor through unlikely situations while describing how Matilda overcomes her less than desirable living conditions. It doesn't hurt that Matilda has some telekinetic powers to help her through the hard times.

I remember having such clear images of all the events in this book that nothing surprised me about the movie when it came out during my childhood. Matilda raises the issue of parental neglect, and we all know of children who don't have special powers or super intelligence to help them triumph like Matilda. Perhaps those children could find some hope in this story, or at least encounter a character with whom they can connect. Roald Dahl books take children on magical journeys from which it's difficult to walk away.

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
While I'd heard of Shiloh in the past, I only encountered it in the past month. My mother, a fourth-grade elementary teacher, was reading the book aloud to her class in the afternoons. The children were so engrossed in the story that she had a difficult time stopping to move on to other afternoon activities. As an animal lover, I was intrigued by their response and decided to add the book to my own library of trade books.

The Newberry Award winner takes place in the West Virginia countryside where a boy named Marty finds a lost beagle. The dog belongs to his neighbor Judd Travers, known for shooting deer out of season and abusing his dogs. Marty is determined to protect Shiloh from ever suffering at the hand of Judd Travers again, but he must contend with the fact that Shiloh is really Judd Travers' dog.

Shiloh is a wonderful tale of country living woven with the issues of animal abuse, hunting out of season and learning to make the right choices. Children will identify with Marty's love of Shiloh and his compulsion to protect Shiloh from his abusive owner. This book is definitely a page-turner as readers continue to find out what Marty will do to save Shiloh from Judd Travers.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid
by Jeff Kinney
On a whim one day while walking through Borders, I picked up this book. I was drawn in by the informal, journaling style illustrated with cartoon stick figures. The next morning, I read the whole book in one sitting. Shortly thereafter, the book arrived at the Scholastic book fair in the elementary school where I worked. The students went crazy over this book, and the organizers of the book fair had to reorder it several times during the week. When the sequels came out later that year, they were also flying off the shelves faster than the book fair organizers could display them.

From the very beginning, readers are introduced to the life of a middle school boy whose mother bought him a diary. He emphasizes that he will be calling it a journal, not a diary because that's for girls. He continues to chronicle the school year through journal entries and his own cartoon renderings of certain events. I believe this book has become so popular because the main character is completely believable. His mother cares about his feelings, he doesn't have many friends at school, he is tormented by his older brother, he is plagued by the fear of acquiring the dreaded "cheese touch" and he's a teenager. Middle school is not kind to many, certainly not to me, so I can identify with his dilemmas and fears, though they may seem petty to an adult. The author brings out the humor in these situations, and our "wimpy kid" has his own ways with the challenges of adolescence. Kids ages 8-14 will absolutely love this series (and so will some adults!).


RESOURCES FOR INCORPORATING TRADE BOOKS IN THE CLASSROOM

Story S-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-r-s for the Primary Grades by Shirley Raines and Robert J. Canady
Both this book and the next book I've listed were recommend resources from my science education professor. I have since bought this book and am ordering the other. Story Stretchers was originally published in 1992, so there are many wonderful children's books that have been published in the last 17 years that not included. However, the books included in this resource are far from irrelevant or outdated, and I still think it is a worthwhile investment.

Personally, I do love to search the internet for resources, but I think there are many useful trade book resources in print that cannot be ignored. This such resource is divided into groups books that deal with such issues as feelings, friends, the environment, animals, adventures, etc. For each book, a picture of the cover and a brief description of the book can be found on the left hand side of the entry, and some read-aloud suggestions follow in the next column. Next are the story stretcher suggestions that provide step-by-step directions to incorporate this book's activities in mathematics, a writing center, art, music and movement, and many others. The organization of this book makes it very easy to find a book that relates to a topic one is covering in class and to find the appropriate activity related to the chosen book. There are several other books in the Story Stretchers series.

Picture-Perfect Science Lessons by Karen Rohrich Ansberry and Emily R. Morgan
I have not had the benefit of actually perusing this book yet, but my professor used one of the lessons to illustrate how it could be used in the classroom for a science lesson. The book is filled with trade books that connect to different aspects of science and provide blackline master resources to reproduce for students.

When my professor did an activity from the book with my class, she read aloud Earthlets as explained by Professor Xargle by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross. We then discussed what Professor Xargle had observed and what he had inferred from his observations. There was a handout with a Frayer model for helping students understand the meaning of the word inference. What I appreciated the most about this activity was they way it tied in to science standards. Often teachers think of trade books as just being utilized in reading, but there are endless applications in other subjects.

Shinyoung's Book & Resource Share

Books for Kids

Small Pig by Arnold Lobel

This book really let me know that such short stories can be funny and appealing for all readers, including adults like me!. I like this story so much more than my children's do. It may be because I was born in the year of pig (1971) or because I have similar characters with the small pig. The small pig likes to eat, run around the barnyard, to sleep, and most of all, he likes to sit down and sink down in good, soft mud. I like to eat, run around my neighbor, to sleep, and most of all, I like to sit down and sink down in good soft pile of comforters. :D The small pig's adventure began because of the farmer's wife who loved the small pig so much and wanted to make his surroundings shiny and neat, which removed his good, soft mud. After running away from his barn, the small pig had all sorts of troubles to find good soft mud. The place he could find the perfect mud poodle finally was, the home, sweet home he lived with the farmer and his wife. I read this story so many times even without children around me because this story makes me happy and satisfied. :)


Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park

When my first son was the second grade, I heard that there are several interesting children's books written by a Korean author. As soon as I found her name is Linda Sue Park, I started to look for her books and read all of them with my children. My first son learned from her books about who is the founder of Kokooryeo (The name "Korea" came from the name of this ancient country) from Archer's Quest, the first son's position and roles in Korean traditional families from The Kite Fighter, and the way to like Kimchi from Project Mulberry. I think the book taught my children about Korean culture much more than I could do.

For this blog, I chose this book among many her books although this book may not Park's best work, because of the following reasons: First, this book is about a science project. Maybe since I am still a fan of science, it was excited to read what happened to silk worms and how they changed over time. I heard that my mother used to raise silk worms at her house when she was young, but I never saw silk worms with my eyes. It was quite wonderful to know how silk worms make cocoons from this book! ; Second, this book describes the friendships between people who have different ethnic backgrounds. All the characters appeared in this book became friends beyond their biased prejudice about ethnicity. I wish my children do act like the main character, Julia, and make good friends...


Half Magic by Edward Eager

I listened to this book before I read it. It was when my second one was around kindergarten. I borrowed the audio book of "Half Magic" from a local library and listened to the story on the road with my children. Since my second son's English was not good, I wondered if he could understand the story... Soon it turned out this story became his favorite. Whenever he had to ride, he asked to turn on this book. ;) I had to buy the audio CD for sure.

This story about four children who couldn't go anywhere during the long summer vacation because their father died several years ago and their mother should go to work everyday to earn money for their living. The one day Jane, the oldest one, picked up a nickel from a crack in the sidewalk. It was not a just nickel, but a magic coin.

Originally I picked up this book from the library because I was attracted by the title. I questioned "what is half magic? why not 'whole magic'?" to myself... In the story four children could have magic power using the coin but there was a secret to use it. The title mentioned about the secret... Although the story has about "half" magic, this story is wholly fun and my children and I enjoyed to listen to and read again and again...


Resources for Finding Books

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/childrensnotable/notablechibooks/index.cfm

Here are the best of the best in children's books Among many books selected by a committee of the Association for Library Service for Children. Among books recommended by this site, I read only one, "Stinky" because my younger one picked it up from a library and loved to read again and again. I wonder if librarians have different book preferences from teachers';).. From this site, parents and teacher could get other useful information such as "Great Interactive for Kids", "Notable Children's Recordings", "Notable Children's Videos", etc.

http://www.reading.org/Publish.aspx?page=RT-63-2-CChoices.html&mode=retrieve&D=10.1598/RT.63.2.9&F=RT-63-2-CChoices.html&key=8A0AE037-402E-4E63-8229-EE0E48DE24A7

I came across the site of International Reading Association and found it has great resources for people like me who interested in reading instructions for children and reading in many languages. And I found it has the book list for children and the reading instruction for teachers, parents, and librarians. If you click the above link, you could find Children's choices 2009. I could notice that while other sites have book lists selected by adults, this book list seems to show children's own preferences. I already found so many attractive stories from this list!

stephanie obergfell's trade book favorites

Eight Animals on the Town
Written by: Susan Middleton Elya
Illustrated by: Lee Chapman
This story begins with eight animals on their way to town looking for something to eat. Each of the following pages illustrates a different animal at the market and the food that they are purchasing. The text identifies the animal in English as well as Spanish. It also identifies the food they are purchasing in English and Spanish. As they are presented, each animal is counted in Spanish. In the corners of each illustration, the number is shown as part of the illustration. The story continues as the animals dine together, dance, and drive home. Each activity is described with a Spanish and English vocabulary word as part of the text.
This is a great book because the vocabulary is introduced in context as part of the story and flows with ease. Rhyming text also adds to the flow of the reading. The illustrations in the story also serve as a reference tool. The number, food, and animal are clearly part of each illustration. Upon reading the story more than one time to children, they can refer to the picture to help recall vocabulary. It is simply a very well written story that cleverly utilizes rhyming and vocabulary to make a very educational story.

Zinnia’s Flower Garden
Written by: Monica Wellington
Designed by: Gloria Cheng
This is a fun fiction story that follows a little girl, Zinnia, and her adventures through the seasons as she grows a flower garden. Beginning in the spring and ending in winter, Zinnia nurtures and enjoys her project. Each time the page is turned in this book, the text is centered on one page with a full page illustration on the opposite page. However, the most exciting part of this book is found in additional illustrations that surround the text. On each text page, there are smaller pictures with labels that give factual information to the reader. For example, when it rains on Zinnia’s garden, the pictures surrounding the text show various types of clouds with a small label identifying each.
As a read aloud, the story in itself can carry a spring lesson plan unit for young children, however, the most intriguing part of the story is the additional information that surrounds the text. It sounds bulky to have additional pictures and labels surrounding the text, however, it is done in a way that doesn’t impede on the main illustrations or story. Several of the pictures are color copies of photographs or fabrics, which really appeal to the eye. By looking into the photos or pictures surrounding the text, one can see stages of germination, the process of a caterpillar to butterfly, parts of a flower, and types of flowers identified. Using this book may require multiple readings, perhaps initially to just enjoy the story, but second and third readings that take the time to discuss this information that surrounds the text as the story is read.

Raindrop, Plop!
Written by: Wendy Cheyette Lewison
Illustrated by: Pam Paparone
This is a fun counting book for young children. Beginning with one and counting to ten, the story follows a small child on a rainy day. After reaching ten, the story continues as the reader counts from ten back to one. For example: “THREE little raindrops, splat! splat! Splat! FOUR little raindrops, boots and hat.” In addition, as the count begins from ten to one, the illustrations provide objects for a child to count as the page is read.
The text of the story is brief and rhyming and after a few readings aloud, a young child can begin to recall the text easily and feel proud as they chime in with an adult reader or attempt to read the book solo. This book has been read multiple times in multiple ways in our house, and I would highly recommend it for reading aloud to young children because it lends itself to child participation.

These three stories have become favorites of mine and of my children, but they also share a common bond in how I was introduced to them. My daughter received each of these in hardcover form from the Imagination Library. This is a program initiated by Dolly Parton to put appropriate and educational reading material into the homes of young children. The website is http://www.dollysimaginationlibrary.com/. In order to participate, a community must have a local sponsor. In reading information from the website, there are currently 950 communities participating in several states and Canada. By going to the website and entering your address, you can find out if there is a sponsor in your community and be redirected to them or learn how to start a program in your area.
The local sponsor for Hendricks, Marion, Boone, Hancock, Hamilton, and Morgan counties in Indiana is the Central Indiana United Way. The program is called the Early Readers Club and children are eligible until the age of 6. Children can receive 12 high quality hardcover books a year delivered to their home. When we participated it was a free program, but they have recently tacked on a $20 fee for families, however, families can also apply for a scholarship if this is a difficulty. The website for these counties is http://www.uwci.org/.

Simply click on the Early Readers Club for more information. This can be a wonderful resource for teachers or service providers to offer families. A book list is provided on this website and is a reliable source for educational and diverse stories that are appropriate for young children. The books are chosen by a national panel that serves the Imagination Library comprised of representatives from the International Reading Association, Parents as Teachers, Rutgers University, and of course teachers themselves!