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!

Margaret's Book & Resource Share

Books for Kids (& adults who love kids' books)

Bruce Coville
One of the authors that I can really count on is Bruce Coville. Every year, I have students who don’t identify themselves as readers who make strong connections with Coville’s books. Last year I had a student who fought with me nearly every day about reading The Monster’s Ring, but he did eventually finish the book. This year, he is talking up that book and all the others in the series, telling other kids that they need to read them! I love how his perspective has changed over the course of the summer.

Coville has written a series called The Magic Shop Books which are about characters who wander into a magic shop and the adventures they have as a result. These books include Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher; The Skull of Truth; Jennifer Murdley’s Toad; and The Monster’s Ring. Coville is also well known for books about aliens on Earth, for example, My Teacher is an Alien and Aliens Ate My Homework. While Coville hasn’t had a lot of critical acclaim, I can count on his books to catch the interest of kids across the elementary school spectrum. You can read more about Coville at http://www.brucecoville.com/.

The Weird School Series by Dan Gutman
This is a fun series written at the 2nd/3rd-ish level. The titles all follow the same pattern: Ms. Hannah is Bananas, Mrs. Roopy is Loopy, Mr. Klutz is Nuts, etc. The main characters are two boys who seem to get into frequent scrapes and a ‘know-it-all’ girl, Andrea, who spends lots of time explaining things for everyone else. While the characters are somewhat stereotyped, I find that many students can connect with them and want to find another book in the series immediately after finishing one. Another advantage to the series is that the author can incorporate fairly sophisticated vocabulary because Andrea explains it for the boys (and for the reader). With the ‘reluctant readers’ that I teach, I have even found 5th graders willing to read books in this series because the antics of the characters are so humorous.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
In Graceling, Cashore has created a feudal world with an interesting infusion of magic. Some people in this world are born with a grace which is an extreme, magical talent. The main character’s grace is fighting and killing people. She was fostered to her uncle, the local overlord, who used her as a bully to keep the peasants and farmers in line. The crux of the story begins when she escapes her uncle’s influence and begins to establish her own identity, including how she will use her grace for good, rather than for bullying. I particularly enjoyed this YA novel because of the ways in which the main character works to disrupt the cultural gender stereotypes in her world. While I read this book for my own reading pleasure, not because I can use it in my elementary teaching context, I believe that middle and high school readers would relate to the teen characters in the book.

Resources for Finding Books for Students

http://planetesme.blogspot.com/
Here is a blog devoted to children’s literature by Esme Raji Codell. Esme was a classroom teacher who wrote Educating Esme, which shared her diary from her first year teaching and is more recently writing popular children’s books (check out Sahara Special). This blog is FILLED with suggestions of inviting texts for children of many genres. I also really enjoy the section on the bottom right corner entitled “Where I Lurk Lately” which lists many other really useful blogs also about children’s literature. (I’ve copied this from Anne who posted the very first entry on this blog in June. Thanks Anne!)

How to Get Your Child to Love Reading by Esme' Raji Codell
This book was my first introduction to Codell's work. One of the things that I admire is the way Codell moved from being a teacher, to a librarian, to an overall promoter of children's literature and MOST IMPORTANTLY, turning kids on to reading. This book is full of specific books that many children, at all ages, will love. The chapters are organized according to genre (sort of). Chapter titles include "The Math and Science of Reading;" "Inside the Gingerbread House: Fairy Tales, Wonder Tales, and Fantasy;" and "Now Playing in a Book Near You: Broadcast and Performance." Check it out for great books and fabulous ways to connect your kids with books.

http://www.oyate.org/
(I've pasted the following description from the Oyate home page.) Oyate is a Native organization working to see that our lives and histories are portrayed honestly, and so that all people will know our stories belong to us. For Indian children, it is as important as it has ever been for them to know who they are and what they come from. For all children, it is time to know and acknowledge the truths of history. Only then will they come to have the understanding and respect for each other that now, more than ever, will be necessary for life to continue.

Oyate is an important resource for finding authentic texts that value the native culture. They are actually a bookseller of culturally appropriate and relevant materials. In addition, they read and review each resource and book that they sell. Finally, they publish critical reviews of the 'worst of the worst' of the insensitive and inappropriate books that are available in the mass market.