Chapter Book 24: Clementine

Author: Sara Pennypacker
Title: Clementine
Illustrator: Marla Frazee
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Sub-genre: Humor
Theme: Being different, friendship, and family
Primary and secondary characters: Clementine, Margaret.
Award(s):
Date of publication: Feb. 15, 2008
Publishing company: Hyperion Books
Brief summary: Poor Clementine was named after a fruit and she always gets in trouble for not paying attention, when clearly she was the only one really paying attention! One day Clementine's best friend, Margaret cuts off a big chunk of her hair on accident. Clementine tries to help Margaret by cutting off the rest of Margaret's hair. Margaret's mom was not happy about that one! This happens quite frequently for Clementine when she tries to help someone, it most usually back fires. Clementine soon gets the idea that her younger brother is the "easy one/child" and fears that her parents are going to give her away. Clementine must try harder to act better! What is a girl to do?

How you would use the book with students.: I would use this story to talk to my class about students who have trouble concentrating or students that struggle with sibling rivalry. Clementine's family is a bit unconventional so this would be a great book to show students that every family is different in one way or another and that is not a bad thing.

Chapter Book 23: Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record

Author: Annie Barrows
Title: Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record
Illustrator: Sophie Blackall
Genre: Adventure
Sub-genre: Comedy and Humor
Theme: Friendship and School
Primary and secondary characters: Ivy and Bean
Award(s):
Date of publication: August 31, 2007
Publishing company: Chronicle Books
Brief summary: Bean is a second grader who doesn't much value silent reading time. That is, until the day her teacher gave her the book of world records! Bean is suddenly enthralled in this book of crazy things that have been preformed by people around the world. Soon the rest of the class is as interested in this book as Bean is. Each student sets off on their own quest to break their own world record. When Beans first, second, and third attempts to break world records fail, she and her best friend ,Ivy, get together and decide to become the youngest paleontologists. When the girls begin discovering bones in Bean's backyard their adventure really takes off! Are they really discovering dinosaur bones?

How you would use the book with students.: I would use this book to talk about paleontologists and world records. Bean and Ivy run into quite a few problems about people believing in them so I would also take the time to discuss being able to believe in one's self.

Chapter Book 21: January 1905

Author: Katharine Boling
Title: January 1905
Illustrator: None
Genre: Historical Fiction
Sub-genre: Sibling rivalry
Theme: Getting long, respecting each other
Primary and secondary characters: Arlene and Pauline
Award(s):
Date of publication: January 1, 2006
Publishing company: Sandpiper
Brief summary: This is a wonderful look into the lives of people in the early 20th century. There are two twin girls, Arlene and Pauline. They are only eleven and one is already working in a mill with the rest of their family to make ends meet. While a limb deficiency keeps Arlene at home Pauline must go work in terrible conditions. This was not uncommon among the families in this small town. The girls despise each other. They are jealous and feel that the other gets all of the attention. The story is told from both of girls perspectives. When an unforeseeable event occurs at the mill Arlene is forced to go to work. She loves the idea. The coming events force the girls to see each other in a new and flattering light while they help to keep their family going.

How you would use the book with students.: I would use this book to discuss the aspects of the early 1900's. I would use this to discuss diversity to students in the sense of physical disabilities. It would also be very useful to use this to teach students about child labor and to show them how terrible child labor is.

Chapter Book 22: Mercy Watson: Princess in Disguise

Author: Kate DiCamillo
Title: Mercy Watson: Princess in Disguise
Illustrator: Chris Van Dusen
Genre: Comedy and Humor
Sub-genre: playing dress up, getting along with others
Theme: Halloween
Primary and secondary characters: Mercy, Mr. and Mrs. Watson
Award(s):
Date of publication: 2007
Publishing company: Candlewick Press
Brief summary: What could a pig want more than lots and lots of treats? I can't think of anything more! That's why Mercy's owners decided to dress Mercy the pig up for Halloween and go trick or treating. Mercy didn't mind so much when she discovered that she would receive a lot of treats! Many people we mean to Mercy and thought it was strange to see a pig dressed up. When the Watson family visits one of their close neighbors, Mercy spots a cat! Mercy just couldn't help herself but to go chase the cat! Not to hurt the cat, of course, but just for fun! When the cat gets stuck in a tree the night turns out to be more eventful than ever! What other problems could Mercy possibly cause?!

How you would use the book with students.: I would use this book close to Halloween. This book is very funny and a fairly easy read. I could use this book to talk about neighbors and friendship as well.

Picture Book 20: Llama, Llama Red Pajama

Author: Anna Dewdney
Title: Llama, Llama Red Pajama
Illustrator: Anna Dewdney
Genre: Comedy
Sub-genre: Humor, fears,
Theme: Bedtime
Primary and secondary characters: Little Llama, Llama Mama
Award(s):
Date of publication: May 5, 2005
Publishing company: Viking Juvenile
Brief summary: It is time for Little Llama to go to bed. Llama Mama has tucked him in and gave him a kiss and everything is great. Mama goes downstairs to do the dishes. All of a sudden Little Llama is scared. It's so dark in his room. What will Little Llama do to make himself feel better?

How you would use the book with students.: I would use this book to address being afraid of the dark and learning to solve their own problems. There is a lot of repetition and rhyming in this book so I would use this book to address those topics as well.

Picture Book 19: Good Night Gorilla

Author: Peggy Rathman
Title: Good Night Gorilla
Illustrator: Peggy Rathman
Genre: Fiction
Sub-genre: Bedtime Stories
Theme: Going to bed
Primary secondary characters: Zoo Keeper, His wife, Gorilla
Award(s):
Date of publication: February 21, 1996
Publishing company: Putnam Juvenile
Brief summary: In this story, it is time for all of the animals at the zoo to go to bed. The zoo keeper walks through the zoo, making sure all of the animals cages are closed and saying good night. Little does he know, a silly gorilla steals the zoo keeper's keys and is letting all of the animals out of their cages! How will the zoo keeper ever fix this mishap?

How you would use the book with students.: This book only has about ten different words so I would use this as an introductory book for learning to read, perhaps in preschool. I would I use this to discuss different animals in a zoo as well.

Picture Book 18: 10 Little Rubber Ducks

Author: Eric Carle
Title: 10 Little Rubber Ducks
Illustrator: Eric Carle
Genre: Fiction
Sub-genre: Bedtime Stories
Theme: Traveling, getting lost, ocean, counting
Primary and secondary characters:
Award(s): Laura Ingalls Wilder Award 2003
Date of publication: January 18, 2005
Publishing company: HarperCollins
Brief summary: This a book written about an actual event that left many toys strewn about the ocean. In this story a box of 10 rubber ducks gets knocked off of the boat they are traveling on. All of the ducks go in different directions and run into different sea creatures!

How you would use the book with students.: I could use this book with preschool students in a variety of ways! We could use it to learn to count. I would use it to learn about different directions (North, East, up, down). I would also use it to talk about the ocean and different animals in the ocean.

Picture Book 17: Fletcher and the Falling Leaves

Author: Julia Rawlinson
Title: Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
Illustrator: Tiphanie Beeke
Genre: Fiction
Sub-genre: Changing seasons
Theme:
Primary and secondary characters: Fletcher
Award(s):
Date of publication: August 29, 2006
Publishing company: Greenwillow Books
Brief summary: Fletcher is a young fox who lives in the woods with his mother. One day he begins to notice that the leaves on his favorite tree have begun to change colors and are even falling off! He is terrified that the tree is sick and wants to help the tree get better. He soon sees that all of the trees are beginning to lose their leaves and he gets even more worried! Will Fletcher be able to help the trees feel better?

How you would use the book with students.: I would use this book with young students to address "changing seasons". I feel that this is a beautiful book that shows a great transition from summer to fall and the beginning of winter.

Picture Book 16: Tea With Milk

Author: Allen Say
Title: Tea With Milk
Illustrator: Allen Say
Genre: Diverse Literature
Sub-genre: Foreign Countries, Homesick
Theme: Discovering oneself and loving oneself
Primary and secondary characters: May
Award(s):
Date of publication: March 29, 1999
Publishing company: Houghton Mifflin Companny
Brief summary: May is a young girl who lives in San Francisco, CA. She is a young Japanese-American girl. Her parents are from Japan, speak Japanese, and eat a lot of fried rice. When she visits her American friends' houses she begins to notice big differences in her family and American families. When May is in high school her parents decide to move back to Japan. When May gets there she realizes that although she is Japanese, she does not fit in at all! Read her story to discover how she overcomes her differences.

How you would use the book with students.: I would use this with my students to teach diversity and to illustrate differences in American culture and Japanese culture. I would also use this book to address the topic of feeling left out.

Picture Book 15: Ox, House, Stick:

Author: Don Robb
Title: Ox, House, Stick:
Illustrator: Anne Smith
Genre: Informational Books
Sub-genre: History
Theme: Creating new language, keeping history
Primary and secondary characters:
Award(s):
Date of publication: June 1, 2007
Publishing company: Charlesbridge Company
Brief summary: This is a wonderful book that tells of the development of the alphabet and writing! It covers so much information that is broken down in such a way that it is easy to understand. The book touches on why it's important to write things down.

How you would use the book with students.: I would use this with students of all ages. I would use it to show the progression of the written letter from what used to be drawings! I could use this book to teach students the importance of writing things down to keep track of actual evens and when they occurred so future generations would know about the events.

Picture Book 14: The Creation

Author: James Weldon Johnson
Title: The Creation
Illustrator: Carla Golembe
Genre: Traditional Literature
Sub-genre: Religion
Theme: Different beliefs, the creation of the world
Primary and secondary characters: God
Award(s:
Date of publication: 1993
Publishing company: Little, Brown and Company
Brief summary: This book was originally written in 1927 but was completely redone in 1993 with new illustrations by Carla Golembe This is a children's story derived from the Biblical book of Genesis. This is one of the original tales of how the world was created, by whom, and why. The illustrations in this book are absolutely gorgeous and has truly added a new angle to the story.

How you would use the book with students.: I could not use this book in a public school setting because it is a religious book but I would could use it in a private school setting. I would use this to begin telling younger students about the first story in the bible, the creation of the world.

Picture Book 13: Sparrow Girl

Author: Sara Pennypacker
Title: Sparrow Girl
Illustrator: Yoko Tanaka
Genre: Historical Fiction
Sub-genre:
Theme: Love for animals, the importance of all animals in the world,
Primary and secondary characters: Ming-Li
Award(s):
Date of publication:February 17, 2009
Publishing company: Hyperion Books
Brief summary: Ming-Li is a young girl who wishes to be a farmer, like so many where she lives. The problem is that no one takes her seriously. Everyone sees Ming-Li as a little girl who could not possibly help plow the fields or with any other tasks that a farmer must completely. But soon she will prove herself, her worth, and her wisdom!
How you would use the book with students.: This book is geared toward younger readers close to kindergarten or second grade. I would use this book to show my students the aspect of another culture. I would also use this book to show students that no matter how little they are, there are still many ways that they can help during a big probables!