Title: The Snow Day
Author: Komako Sakai
Illustrator: Komako Sakai

Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Hardcover: 32 pages

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (January 1, 2009)
Language: English

ISBN-10: 0545013216

 What do you do when you find out school is canceled because of the snow? Well in the book  The Snow Day a little rabbit awakes to find snow is falling and it will not stop, the buses are stuck and it looks like no one is going anywhere, for little rabbit this means its time to play, giggle, and make snow monsters outside. This book shows you want it would be like if you were stuck inside all day, mom can not go to the store and your father is stuck in the airport. Its a great book to get your mind thinking of things to do when you do not have to go to school. It is a great book to get children to use their imaginations on what they would do if school closed because of the snow.  The illustration in this book go along great with the words. You can you the illustrations to tell your own story and create your own ideas of what the little rabbit is doing own his snow day. 


   There are many different literacy elements to be found in this story. The setting of this story takes place in a urban high rise and I feel that its a great way to show children that there are many different places that people live. The story is based in first person, where the sentences are consists and flow in rhythms and interesting details. The Characters in the story are little rabbit and his mother. Little rabbits father is stuck in the airport and you can feel a whole family connection and sadness that the father can not be home with his family. 
     
    This book is a great to do many different lessons on. As a teacher I would do a lesson on getting the children involved in the setting and the plot. I would want to read this story when it was winter our and brainstorm ideas with the children on what they could do if school is closed because of the snow.  I would also use this book as a way for children to write their own stories. I would use the pictures in the story and ask children to write what they think is going on in each picture. This story is a great story to read to a class and get them to use their imagination on what they would do if school was closed because of the snow.

Title: Tickle Monster

Author: Josie Bissett

Illustrator: Kevan J. Atteberry

Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Hardcover: 36 pages

Publisher: Compendium; 1ST edition (August 15, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1932319670

       The best sound in the world is the glorious sound of my children laughing. Children love playfulness. They love silliness and they LOVE being tickled! Laughing together creates a bond like no other. To me, there is no greater gift than the gift of shared laughter and memories. I thank each and every one of you for giving your child the magical gift of laughter and connection through this book." - Josie Bissett. 


     Tickle Monster is a great book to read as a read-aloud or as a one on one reading book. I found this book to be filled with multi-model text, words were written in BIG letters and little letters, bold letters, and even sentence were found in the middle of the page and not in the "normal" spot. Tickle Monster is about a lovable monster who has big hands that love to tickle anyone who crosses his path. He has just flow in the from the plant of Tickle, where he is on a mission to bring laughter to planted earth. Tickle Monster walks along a path and by using rhyming words tickles his friends in many different places on the body. "Get ready for laughter, cuz here I come to tickle and tackle your...little tum-tum!" (Bissett). This book is a great way to introduce rhyming words, and also it is full of words that would be great to add to any word wall. Some of the words that I would want to teach before reading this book to my class are; flee, zaniest, Venus, Mars, Texas, Pisa, tizzy, frizzy, dizzy, and many more. Its a great book to get children giggling with delight. After reading through the book the first time I wanted to see if there was any way I could get myself and my students to be asking questions while reading the book. One thing I found is great about a book that is using many different rhyming words is that you have questions set up for you. I found that you can ask questions about what part of the body do you think Tickle Monster is going to tickle next, and have the children use the words to try to find what part of the body rhymes with the words on the last page. 
      
      Using a book like Tickle Monster you can teach many different types of lessons. A few I thought of where to talk about the different parts of the body that Tickle Monster tickles. Use that as a way to talk and show the children what each of those body parts is used for and why we have them. I also thought it would be a great idea to use the song Head and Shoulders to reinforce the many different parts of our bodies. Another lesson I thought of would be to talk about all the animals Tickle Monster talks to. It would be a great week long lesson to focus on the different types of animals in the world and create a week long lesson talking about animals from all over the world. Using this book would be a great way to not only include one but many different elements of literacy. I found the illustrations in the book to be fun, playful and exciting. They are full of color and you can feel the movement of each picture when you look at it. Tickle Monster is a great book that I will be using in my own classroom to promote literacy and teach many different lessons from one great book! 



http://www.josiebissett.com/book_details.php

Don't Be Afraid Little Pip

Title: Don't Be Afraid Little Pip 

Author: Karma Wilson 

Illustrator: Jane Chapman 

Reading level: Ages 4-8 

Hardcover: 40 pages 

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (September 22, 2009) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0689859872 

      All little penguins must learn to swim, but for one Little penguin named Pip swimming is the last thing she wants to learn to do. The idea of swimming in the deep dark ocean does nothing but frighten Little Pip. So instead she thinks it would be better to fly. We all know that penguins are the only bird that can not fly, but to Little Pip she is determined. Pip meets many new bird friends who try to teach her to fly but she just can not seem to get herself off the ground and into the sky. Pips ends up finding that swimming is a type of flying for penguins. This book is a great story to read to children to teach them many important life lessons. I would use this book to teach lessons on many different topics from; Penguins, Antarctic, Overcoming Fears, Learning New Things, and Friendship. I believe "Don't Be Afraid, Little Pip" is full of social development and moral development. Every page has its own way of bring up new questions that a teacher could ask the students or the students could ask the teacher. I believe this book has a great way of teaching many important life lessons. This book is full of so many wonderful topics that a teacher could explore more than one with this book. 
      Three literacy elements I want to evaluated are the setting, characters, and the use of language. The setting takes place in Antarctica-this would be a great way to teach about what the Antarctica is and what animals live there. Just focusing on the setting could alone be a week long lesson. The characters in the book are all birds this again could take on its own lesson by focusing on the types of birds that live in Antarctica. The last element is the use of language, "Don't Be Afraid Little Pip" has a great way of using language that not only would allow you as a teacher to bring in new vocabulary words but it also has many words that most children are aware of and have spent time learning in and our of content. The illustrations in this book are beautiful, they flow along with the words and you can really picture yourself being in the Antarctica. Without the illustrations you would not be able to feel the emotions Little Pip is feeling. With a book like "Don't Be Afraid Little Pip" you as a teacher can take this book and create many lessons and help your students explore new information. I would recommend this book to any teacher who is wanted to explore more than one topic with a book.