Title: "Moses When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom"

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford

Illustrated by: Kadir Nelson

Reading level: Ages 7 and up

Grades: First-Sixths

Hardcover: 48 pages

Publisher: Hyperion Book CH; First Edition (August 8, 2006)

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 9780786851751

This story is about a courageous, compassionate, and deeply religious women, who with her bravery and passionate drive bring her and her people to freedom!

"I set the north star in the Heavens and I mean for you to be free.."

Born into slavery Harriet Tubman hears the voice of God, He tells her to leave her family behind and escape to free land.  Taking only her faith she waits until the Lord tells her to go and she runs to the woods through deep pounds, and hides herself in potato holes as if she is buried alive. With her faith slipping the Lord always reminds Harriet that He is with her and will never leave her. Harriet must trust people that could easily turn her in but with her faith and the strong desire to survive she makes it to free land. Harriet Tubman then went on to make nine-teen trips back to the south to help save her people. 
"Moses When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom" is a great book to use to teach children about the Underground Railroad, about slaves, and about Harriet Tubman. The story is about something that really happened back in 1619-1865. It brings you along with Harriet as she is running away from her master. The story makes you believe you are right there with her. Your heart aches for her and the story writing seems to natural as a children book. The author wants to share with the reader about the way in which Harriet was able to with the voice of God head north and find freedom. This story is one that will move you, it is portraying one of the most inspiring women of the Underground Railroad. 
There are many different elements through out the story. Three of these elements are allegory, foreshadowing, and assonance.This story is full of allegory its a story that helps us better understand something as powerful as the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman. The foreshadowing is also through out the book with the conversation Harriet has with God. They have a back and forth conversation about what she should do next and God always keeps her save and lets her know what will be coming next.  The last element is assonance which is the rhyming. The story is a written in a lyrical way so each words run smoothly with the next. 

The illustrations in the book are beautiful, they are full of passion, and you feel as if you are right in the story. Kadir Nelson did a great job in using the pictures to follow the text. The text and images go hand in hand. You can feel the stress and pain Harriet Tubman is while she travels to freedom. 

    

I would use this story to teach the importance of the Underground Railroad and who Harriet Tubman is. In the front of the book it gives some information on slavery so I would also want to use that in a lesson as well. The hard part about teaching this book would be that Harriet talks to God and in all public schools that is not allowed so using the story would not work which is sad to me because its such a wonderful and beautiful story.

The Shadow

Title: The Shadow

Author: Donna Diamond 

Illustrated by: Donna Diamond  

Reading level: Ages 4-8 

Library Binding: 32 pages 

Publisher: Candlewick (July 13, 2010) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0763648787

The Shadow is a wordless book.that is about a girl who comes home from school, she heads up stairs to her room and spread out on the floor to do some drawings. She notices another character in the story. Its her shadow who at first in unnoticed until it slowly creeps up on her. It scares the little girl at first. She runs for cover but then she tells the shadow who is boss! This story is one that has you guess on what the little girl will do next. Its about taking on your fears and standing up to them. 

The character in the story is on we all can relate too. Even though there are no words in the story you can feel for the little girl. She is in her own little world drawing with her dolls when out of no where she sees her shadow for the first time. She at first is afraid but takes on that fear and finally stands up to it. Everyone in life has a fear and this picture books shows how to deal with those fears and over come them. The author wants us to know that "This work is an exploration of the fundamentals emotions of fear,melancholy, and the search for safety(Diamond)." She wants us to understand that fear is alive in everyone we need to take hold of it and stand up to it. The literacy elements in the story are not through words but through the pictures you can feel the foreshadowing of the little girl. You do not know what is coming next but with the girls expression you can guess what she will do next. The allegory is shown through out the whole book. The author wrote this book in a way that we will better understand something which is fear. The whole story is wordless so I believe you could use any literacy element to create a wonderful story. Using a wordless book is a great way to express how you feel about fear. Any literacy element can be used in this book, that is way I believe wordless books are so important, they can impact you in so many different ways.  

The illustrations in the story are so important in this story, because it is a wordless book I believe the images have to make a picture story in themselves. Each page has its own way of creating words with out having words there. The images get you thinking of what words you would use to create your very own story. Some of the images can be scary but the story is about dealing with fear and those images are a great way to talk with your children or students about they ways to deal with fear. The images that Diamond paints she said are "a source of power, imagination, and deep personal identity." This wordless book is an amazing story that I will use in my classroom.

A mini-lesson I would use this book for is one where each child would write their own text to the images. I would ask that they go through the pictures and write about the little girls facial expression, talk about how she is feeling, how she deals with fear, and then write about how they deal with fear. This is a great book to talk about with children who have a lot of fear and ways to deal with it. Overall I love this book and feel it would be a great teaching tool.

A Father like That

 

Title: "A Father Like That"

Author: Pham Zolotow

Illustrated by: LeUyen Pham 

Reading level: Ages 4-12

Grade: Kindergarten-Sixth 

Hardcover: 40 pages

Publisher: Harper Collins (April 24, 2007)

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0060278641

This story is about a little boy whose father leaves before he is born. He has never met his father nor has he ever had someone else try to take that place.  He goes on imagine what it would be like if his father was here. He tells his mother that his father would walk with him down the street, play games with him, help washes the dishes after dinner, read him stories when he was sick, and many more father son ideas he can only dream of. He mother is listing to him tell her what is would be like to have his father here. His mother looks at him and responses "Ill tell you what, she says when I stop talking. I like that kind of father you're talking about. And in case he never comes, just remember when you grow up, you can be a father like that yourself (Zolotow)."
This story is a good story because it makes you feel for the character, it makes you think about what other ideas he could do with his dad. The main character had a problems because he was dealing with the fact that he has no father and what it would be like to have a father. His mother then tells him that if his father never comes back then he can be just like the father he never had. So he starts out with a problem and starts to over come it by knowing that when he becomes a father he can be the type of father he has always wanted. The author is using this story to express to everyone that not everyone has a mother and a father. Its showing others that some children struggle with the fact that their father or even mother is not apart of their live anymore. I know this is a great story to read to children in your classroom if you have a lot of single parent families. It could help children come to understand the meaning of single parent families and even all the different types of families there are out there. 
The three literacy elements found in this story are allegory, allusion, and hyperbole. The allegory is in the whole story. Its a story that will help everyone better understand what is it like for a child who has no father. The little boy in the story images what it will be like to have a father and I know a lot of children can relate to this story and its a great one to read for all children to again see all the different types of families there are out there. The allusion is seen in the pictures you can see the little boys mind just thinking of what it would be like to have a father in his life, he dreams of all the fun activity's they would do together, and at the end of the book the very last picture is the little boy outside walking down the street. In this picture you can see allusion by the way he is thinking that he will be like the father her never had when he grows up.The last hyperbole is also in the story and the way the little boy talks about what his dad and him would do if he was around. He is over the top with some of his ideas like when he talks about how is father would just say "Why, sure all boys do" when it comes to the fact that the little boy talks to much in class. He makes the dad out to be like a best friend, which is great because that is the way he images his father would be if he was around.
The illustrations build on the text. Each pages is full of color, expression, and detail. They make you feel as if the father is always with the boy, its as if they are best friends and as if the boy has had his father in his life all along. The pictures give you a sense of warmth and happiness which I believe is what makes a story a great one. 
A mini-lesson I would do with this book is talk about what is means to have a only a mother or a father. I would want to bring this story into my classroom when it comes to the topic of families. I also would use this story to let my children create their own idea of what they would want to be like as a parent when they grow up. Each child has said "When I grow up i'll let my children do that or this" so it would be fun to let the children dream up what they would be like as a parent.

A Beach Tail

Title: "A Beach Tail"

Author:  Karen Lynn Williams

Illustarted by: Floyd Cooper

Ages: 4-8

Grade: Pre-kindergarten-second

Published: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication Data

Language: English

This story is about a little boy named Gregory. Gregory goes to the beach with his father. When Greg fins a stick at the beach he starts to draw a lion in the sand, His fathers tells him don't go into the water and do not leave Sandy the lion. The little boy listens to his father and does not go into the water and does not leave Sandy. Greg still finds a way to make his way down the beach by making Sandy's tail longer and longer before he looks up and see that he can not see his father. Greg makes the trip back to where his father is by following the trail of Sandy's tail. When he gets back to where Sandy was Greg looks up and there his is father waiting for him. Greg tells his father he never went into the water and he never left Sandy. His father smiles at him and they head into the water for a father son swim. 

What a great book to bring out in a classroom at the end of the school year. Spending time at the beach is a way a lot of children spend time in the summer. Going to the beach is an memory that most children relate to summer time. 

From the Author on why she wrote the story:

http://www.karenlynnwilliams.com/beach.html

Behind the Story

I love the beach and had wanted to use this setting in a story for a long time. When I am near the ocean, life is always open to possibilities and the creatures there fascinate me. I had been playing around with a simple story of a child who gets lost and uses his sense of place and interest in nature to find his way back. I grew up in New England and beaches there are my favorite. But I had the opportunity, recently to go to the beach and write on St. Simons Island in Georgia. Finally it hit me that this story about finding your way should be a beach story.

I remembered when my son Peter once wandered down the beach as my husband and I watched from the blanket under the umbrella and we could see the moment he looked up and panicked when he realized he could not see us. Peter did not have a stick or Sandy’s tail so my husband ran after him and guided him back to our blanket but the memory came back to me as inspiration for this story.
As a child I spent many weekends and vacations on the beaches of Rhode Island and Cape Cod where my dad taught me about jellyfish and sandcastles and how to body surf. He was always nearby when a wave knocked me over.

  

This story is a great read-aloud that will get children excited about the summer time, spending time with family, and being out in the hot summer sun. The story grabs your attention because its about a little boy who goes on an adventure down the beach with out his father. The father is watching him the whole time but to Greg he felt lost until he followed his trail back to his father. The story is one that gives children the idea that as children they still have a chance to be interdependent. Greg makes his way down the beach with out anyone but himself and Sandy's tail, what a great way to show children that as we grow up we get to make out way down the beach. The author tells us that she loves the beach and wanted to write a story about it, so expressing how she feels about the beach through Greg and his father gives us a scene that she wants us to feel the wonderful world of the beach. The story is portraying an African-American father and son spending time together in the sun. Their race is never mentioned in the text but is illustrated through the pictures. In this story race is not the focus of the story which is a change from a lot of story children read which are mainly about slavery, racism, the civil right movement, etc. Those topic in children books are very important but its great to see a story that many children will look at and relate to in a positive way. This book does a great job of portraying a life for people of color in which their race is not the main plot of the story. What a great book to read in class where children can see themselves as the character.

The literacy elements in this story are onomatopoeia, pun, and alliteration. The onomatopoeia is heard though out the whole story. Whenever Greg draws Sandy's tail longer he makes the sound of "Swish-Swoosh." He also makes Sandy talk by saying "Roar" which is also another example of onomatopoeia in the story. The pun is said when every Greg sees something on the beach like the "Gooey purple jelly-fish". The last element is alliteration and again this can be found in the whole book "spray splashed," "deep, dark ghost," and many more. The illustartaions in the story are wonderful they make you feel ask if you are on the beach hearing the waves crash on the beach, the bird singing in the sky, and feeling the sand all over your body. Floyd Cooper makes the images build on the text, most of the time the images make you feel beyond the text. The face of the boy, his father, and the sand he is drawing on become so real that the words are not even needed but of course the word make the story just as wonderful as the images.

A mini-lesson I would do with this story is to read it aloud to the class and have them draw out an anmial that would have a tail as long as Sandy. I would also ask them to draw the animals or things that their animal will run into like Sandy's tail did. After reading this story you will feel as if summer can not come soon enough. Karen Lynn Williams and Floyd Cooper do an amazing job at grabbing your attention in so many ways its great!

You Can Do it!

Title: "You Can Do It!"

Author: Tony Dungy

Illustrated by: Amy June Bates 

Reading level: Ages 4-8 

Grade: K-3

Hardcover: 32 pages 

Publisher: Little Simon Inspirations; First Edition edition (July 8, 2008) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 9781416954613

This story is about a little boy named Tony He grew up in a home that was encouraged by his family and faith. Tony had big dreams for himself and never thought less of what his big dream was. His big dream was  that he wanted to be a football player and no one was going to stand in his way. Everyone is Tony's family new what they wanted to be and for him he was going to be a football player no matter what it took. One person in his family though could not figure out what he wanted to be, or what his big dream was. He just could not find a dream to follow, until one day when he stopped messing around in class and becomes that kid on a mission to find his  big dream. His brother Tony and all his family members are the to encourage him and help him get to where he needs to be to find that dream. Linden spends time praying to God and talking with his family before he finds his big dream, which was to become a dentist.

This story is a very good story. The theme of the story is to teach us that we all have a big dream and we will one day find it. Each one of us will become what we want to become and grow in ways we never new we could. Linden in the story was undecided on what he wanted to be until he spent time praying and explore all the ideas he found interesting.  The author Tony Dungy wrote this story to share with us how much his family meant to him and all this siblings. How important faith is and how we all have a purpose in life we just need to find it. The literacy elements in the story are allegory, foreshadowing, and hyperbole. Each elements is seen through out the whole story. Allegory is something that helps us better understand something, in this story the idea that we all have a big dream we just need to put our faith into it is what is helping us better understand how we can find our own big dream. The foreshadowing is through out the whole story as well. Each character gives us a hint for what they think Linden should be and hyperbole is in the beginning of the story when Linden said that he is going to be a duck because he can not think of anything else to be. The pictures in this story are amazing. They add so much texture and detail to the story. With out the pictures the story would be no where near what is really is now. Each picture is filled with color, detail, and heart. You can tell the illustrator was very passionate about the story and wanted each one of use to feel the pictures they way she did. A mini-lesson I would do with using this story would be to teach children the idea of a dream. How we all want to be something when we grow up and show them that Linden did not know what he wanted to be until he really spent time figuring it out. A lot of time we do not know what we want to be, so this story is a great one to show us that no matter what happens we all have a purpose on this world and we will find your own big dream some day!

When I feel Angry

Title: "When I feel Angry"

Author: Cornelia Maude Spelman

Illustrated by: Nancy Cote 

Reading level: 4-8

Paperback: 24 pages 

Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company (January 1, 2000) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 9780807588970

This story is about a little bunny that talks about what makes him feel angry. "When somebody makes fun of me, I feel angry." "If the teacher says I was talking and I wasn't, I get angry. It isn't fair." The story goes on to tell us all about the ways that make people angry. Then it goes on to tell us how the little bunny deals with his anger. He tells us that at time he wants to hit, yell, or be mean to others. He is learning to deal with his angry by taking a deep breath, walking away, or closing his eyes and count to ten. Then at the end of the story the little bunny tells us that when he feels angry he knows what he must do to change the way he is feeling. 

This story is a great one! Its teaching us how to deal with out angry feelings. A lot of children get angry and will hit their friends or be mean to them. This story takes us through the ideas of what makes us angry, how we can deal with out angry in a bad way, and then it talks about what we should really do when we feel angry. The author is trying to teach us that being angry is a feeling we all go through, but as children we need to learn how to deal with out angry in a way that wont hurt anyone or ourselves. The characters in the story are animals so its a easy book to talk to children about and get them thinking about how they feel when they are angry and what they do to solve the problem. The literacy elements in the story are allegory and personification. The allegory in the story is to teach us something and help us better understand something. In this story the allegory is about how to deal with our angry. What we should so and how we should act when we have those feelings. The personification is in the whole story because the characters in the story are animals that walk, talk, push babies in strollers, and play at the park. The images in the story are great. Full of color, expression, but are simple. Each pictures offers its own build to the story. With out the pictures the story would not come off the way the author wants it to. Using bunnies as the characters should us that we all deal with the feeling of angry no matter who you are. A mini-lesson I would do with this story is to do a picture walk through the story, make connections with the text and pictures, and then talk about what makes each of use angry and how we deal with that angry. I would want the children to draw and write out how they feel when they get angry and what makes them angry.

Im not Invited

Title: "I'm Not Invited"

Author: Diana Cain Bluethenthal

Illustrated by: Diana Cain Bluthenthal 

Reading level: Ages 9-12 

Paperback: 32 pages 

Publisher: Aladdin (January 28, 2008) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 1416971416

This story is about a little girl named Minnie. She has a best friend named Charles, but if there best friend why is Charles not inviting Minnie to his birthday party on Saturday? At first Minnie feels that he must of forgot to invite her or he thought he initiated her and really did not. Through out the week Minnie is a wreck. She can stop thinking about Charles birthday party and why she would not of been invited. She never got an invitation, no party, no cakes, no nothing. How could he forget to invite her? Her family tries to figure out what is wrong out with but they just can't seem to help her. Saturday Minnie gets a call from her friends and they ask her if she wants to meet at the park to play kickball, Minnie heads over to the park and as she heads to the field she sees Charles. Why is he here, shouldn't he be at his party? Charles runs up to Minnie and she asks him about the party. Charles laughs and tells Minnie that they party was for his little sister, and that is the last place he wants to be. This story is great because it deals with a feeling that everyone has had before. The feeling of being left out, hurt, and unhappy, we all have been through it and this book does a good job of dealing with it. The pictures help make the story a good one, they build on the text. You can really feel the emotion that Minnie is having. When she is sad you feel sad for her and when she is happy you feel happy for her. The author wrote this story because she wanted to show others what it feels like to be left out and how when someone is left out how we should comfort them. The while characters and the color characters are seen as the same, no one is placed higher or lower then anyone. That is another reason why this book is good, because it includes other ethnic groups. The literacy elements that I found in the story are allegory and foreshadowing. The allegory in the story is seen through out the story, we are learning that Minnie is unset that she was not invited to the party but at the end of the story we learn that the party was not for her friend Charles but for his sister. The story is helping us better understand that some times people feel left out and we need to learn the right way to deal with it. The foreshadowing is seen in the story as well. The pictures are what give us a hint for what is coming next. The images build on the text, which helps us better understand how the characters are feeling. The pictures in the story are simple they do not have much color and they do not hold much detail, but they make the story great. You can really feel the way Minnie is feeling and I believe that makes a picture book great. Having simple pictures that can really impact you. The mini-lesson I would want to use this book for would be to teach my class about the feeling of being left out. Everyone has a time when they felt left out so reminding the class what it feels like and way they can make sure it wont happen in our classroom. This book would help children learn to include all their friends.

Born To Read

Title: "Born to Read"

Author: Judy Sierra

Illustrated by: Marc Brown 

Reading level: Ages 4-8 

Hardcover: 40 pages 

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (August 12, 2008) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0375846875

This story is about a little boy who knew when he was born, that his purpose for being born was to read. He starts out reading words like star, his chore list and then it moves into chapter books and even the dictionary. Sam loves to read books that take him on a adventure. He reads for fun, excitement, and a chance to put himself into someone else live. The story goes on to take you the read on an adventure just like Sam. Through out the story Sam will say things like "YES, readers can do anything!" "YES, readers can go anywhere!" This story is a great one to read to students who think that reading is boring and not fun. Sam takes you on his adventures and he wants you to come along with him. The theme of the story is that reading is fun and I believe this is a great book to read to anyone who does not like reading. The purpose of the story is to teach others that reading was something we were all meant to do. We just need to push our self and find the books we enjoy just like Sam. Another reason I think its story is a good one is that the pictures build on the text and the text build on the pictures. The three literacy elements found in the story are assonance, allegory, and alliteration. All of these elements build the story up and help the reader learn and become familiar with more the idea that words have much more to them then what you see. The Allegory in the story is what helps us better understand something. The idea that Sam loves to read is a great way to show other children that they can love to read again. Assonance is also heard through out the whole story, the words have a lyrics feeling to them which would help children understand and be able to hear rhyming words. Alliteration is also found though out the whole story. The pictures in the story are warm, colorful, and uplifting. Each picture has its own story that would allow children to use the picture to create their own story. A mini lesson I would do with this story is to talk about reading with my children. I would want them to have a love for reading just like Sam does. I would want them to get the chance to go on adventures like Sam does when he reads. This story is a great one to have in the classroom to encourage children to read and let them learn all the endless possibility there are when you open a book.

Chores Chores Chores

Title: "Chores Chores Chores"

Author: Salina Yoon

Illustrated by: Salina Yoon 

Reading level: Ages 4-8 

Hardcover: 24 pages 

Publisher: Price Stern Sloan (June 12, 2008) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0843132027

This story is a short one, but it is about a little girl who HATES doing chores, she thinks they are a bore. She hates dusting but is a must. She hate vrooming but she must in every room. She hates wiping so she will gripe. She hates raking and she needs a break. She hates folding because it gets old. The book goes on to use cleaning words to rhyme with words that describe how she is feeling about those chores. At the end of the story she love being done with chores because then its all about FUN FUN FUN. This story is a good one to teach children about rhyming words and about chores. We all hate doing them but we all have to. So just like this little girl we all feel the same way about chores but we do them, and when we are done we can have FUN FUN FUN. 

The author is dealing with a point that a lot of parents deal with. Kids who hate doing their chores. Its a great story to read to children who complain about doing there chores. We all hate it but when we finish we can have fun. The characters are portaged as individuals until the end of the book when they all go out to ice cream because the chores are all done. The character starts out with a problem of having to do chores around the whole which she hates but at the end she figures out her problem and has fun once all of her chores are done, which is how we all feel. Once the house is cleaned or our homework is done we are able to have fun. So no matter what age you are this book does a great way to reminding us that after all the hard work is done fun will come!

The elements in the story are assonance, allegory, and onomatopoeia. The assonance is used through out the whole story. The chores she use rhyme with how she feels about them such as dust dust dust, must must must, or fluff fluff fluff, huff huff huff. The allegory is to help us understand that after the chores are done we can have fun, which I think its a great reminder for little children. The last element is onomatopoeia is words like fluff, huff, vrooom. The illustration are simple but wonderful. You can use the text to build up the images and the images to build up the text. The images are wonderful beacuse if you can not read yet you can tell what the images are and you can make up your own story. A mini-lesson I would use with this story is to teach rhyming words and the importance of doing chores. I think every child need to have responsibility and I think teaching them about chores that need to be done in the classroom and at home will help keep the classroom organized and well managed.

The Biggest Things in the World.

Title: "The Biggest Things in the World."

Author: Kenneth Steven

Illustrated by: Melanie Mitchell

 

Reading level: Ages 4-8 

Grade Level: Pre-kindergarten-Second

Hardcover: 32 pages 

Publisher: Lion UK; 1 edition (February 26, 2010) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0745962041

Little Snow bear has been asleep for 97 and half days. Its spring time and that means its time for all little bears to wake up and head outside the den. Spring is coming and little bear can not to explore the outside world. All he can see is this great BIG world. How can anything be bigger then this he thought. Well his mother and him went on a walk to discover the world around them. First little bear asks if the musk ox is the biggest thing in the world, nope its not said his mother. Then they come up to many elk and little bear know that is not the biggest thing in the world. They then come to a river, sea, and ice burg but still there is something bigger said mother. Final a whale comes and little bear knows this is the biggest thing in the world, but still mother tell him it is not. What must be the biggest thing in the world the mountains, the sky? what is it? Heading back to the den mother bear tells little bear she will show him the biggest thing in the world. They head back to the den mother snuggles with little bear and tells him that the biggest thing in the world is her love for him!

What a great story! After reading it, it makes you feel loved. I believe the author was trying to show us that we are all loved. The love from another person is so much bigger than anything in this world. Taking the little bear out of the den and showing him all the big things in the world and yet telling him there is something even bigger is such a great way to bring prospective to a child on how much you truly love them. The animals in the story are the main characters and at time it can be hard for a child to really connected with them but in this story its easy to put yourself as the little bear and have your caregiver be the mama bear. The story does not transcend stereotypes. I believe anyone could picture this story as themselves in it. A big loving mama showing her child the world and expressing her love for her child is a beautiful thing. This story is one that captures your heart and will make you want to read it to all those children who do not feel like they are loved! What a amazing thing a story can do!

The elements in this story are personification, allegory, and hyperbole. Each are in the story many times. The personification is shown in the ways that the animals are given human characteristics. The allegory is also shown though out the whole book in the scene that this book is helping us understand the love that a parent gives to a child. The last example is hyperbole which is showing in again in the whole story as each time the little bear asks if that is the biggest thing in the world when really they are super small compared to how big love can be between two people. The illustrations in this story are amazing. They are warm, cozy, and comforting. With out the images you couldn't capture what the illustrator wants you to capture. I loved this book and I will be using it when I teach. A mini-lesson I would teach using this book would be on that shows children the love I have for them and the love their parents have for them. I would want to use the story as a way to teach about what comes in spring and how animals are born or come out of hibernation in the spring. This book is filled with many great ideas I just thought of a few.

Farmer Dale's Red Pickup Truck

Title: "Farmer Dale's Red Pickup Truck"

Author: Lisa Wheeler

Illustrated by: Ivan Bates 

Reading level: Ages 4-8 

Grade Level: Pre-kindergarten-Second

Paperback: 40 pages

Publisher: Sandpiper (August 1, 2006) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0152059121

Hold on its going to be a bumpy ride. Farmer Dale and his red pickup truck are hauling a lot of hay from one place to the next. While a bunch of animals are on the side of the road farmer Dale is nice enough to stop and give them a ride. The animals he picks up are a bunch of bossy animals. After all the animals are picked up a problem a cures, there is TO much weight in the truck that it gets stuck!

How can they get out? Do they work together or do all the animals that Farmer Dale picks up walk away and not help?

What a great story to read to children and teach them about always lending a hand to anyone in need. Farmer Dale gives a ride to every animal that is on the road ( this however could also be a great story to teach children about not getting into a car with someone you do not know). The characters in the story are all animals so at times it can be hard for a child to connect with. The story could of been written out using human but it would not have been as funny and cute. The characters in the story  fit the setting great. On a farmer what else would you see other then animals from a cow to a dog. The animals in the story are one that we all can relate to each animal is given a different way that describes them such as bossy cow or woolly sheep. I believe the authr is trying to get the point accorss that no matter who you are you should always lend a hand to those in need. I can see she used animals to get her point across and she did a wonderful job.

 The elements used in the story are personification, onomatopoeia, and allegory. The allegory is shown though out the whole story. This story helps us better understand the meaning of helping someone and lending a hang to those in need. Farmer Dale lets the animals into his truck for a ride and then when his truck gets stuck they animals are there to help him get his truck out. The personification is also shown through out the whole because the animals are given human characteristics such as talking, driving a car, having the ability to walk on two legs, etc. The last example is onomatopoeia which is seen when the truck is moving or the animals are speaking. What a great story to read to children, not only one that teaches a lesson but one that is fun and exciting to read. 

The illustrations in the story are great, they are warm, fun, and colorful. Each pictures brings its own personality to the story, because each animal has its own way of being. An example of this is when bossy cow comes into the picture you can just see that he is going to be a bossy cow. I love with illustrates are able to capture a personality in a picture. A mini-lesson I would do with this book is talking about stepping out and doing something good for another person. I think it would be a great way to teach children of what helping other people out looks like and how we should always lend a hand. It also is a great story to teach children that it is not okay to get into a car with someone you do not know. What a great book teaching two lesson and offering such a fun and exciting story. This book is so fun and I will use it in my future classroom.

Hey Pancakes

Title: "Hey Pancakes"

Author: Tamson Weston

Illustrated by: Stephen Gammell 

Ages: 4-8

Grade level: Pre-kindergarten-second

Hardcover: 32 pages 

Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; 1 edition (August 1, 2003) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0152165029

"Hey, Pancakes!" is a wonderful fun story about everyone's favorite breakfast-PANCAKES! Its time to take over the children so three children and their dog wake up in the morning and move themselves right into the kitchen where they sift, stir, whisk, and whir the pancakes mix. This morning breakfast is fun and messy to make. Before they know it there is a huge stack of pancakes on their plates ready to be eaten. What a great way to start out our morning with a wonderful stack of homemade pancakes. 

 This story is a fun and exciting story to read. The plot, setting, characters, and theme everyone can relate too. We all can remember a time we got up super early to make our favorite breakfast. What a mess that was, but the final product was one that everyone in the family was proud of. The characters in this story fit so well. You can see by the images that they just woke up and are ready for that great breakfast. This story is filled with literacy elements from rhyming words to describing words. Assonance, onomatopoeia, and puns are used through out the whole story. An example of assonance is "A speck of this a few of those, a flick of the wrist, and up it goes". An example of onomatopoeia are; sift, stir, whir, whisk, hiss there are a lot of words that make sounds though out the whole book. What a great way to make the book more fun to read! The last example is a pun which can be seen when they talk about pancakes.  The illustrations are so fun. Looking at them just make you want to get up and make pancakes that way to. Although in the story the images are so much more fun then any time I had ever made pancakes. The images do a great job of capturing the text and the text does a great way of imaging of what the images should look like. The mini-lesson I would do with this story is talk about how important it is to eat a healthy and filling breakfast. I would also want to use the recipe in the back of the book to make with my class. We could talk about breakfast and on a Friday have a fun filled breakfast eating day! Books like this one are fun to read in class and get children excited about reading and make reading fun!!

Squashed in the Middle.

Title: "Squashed in the Middle"

Author: Elizabeth Winthrop

Illustrations by: Pat Cummings 

Reading level: Ages 4-8

Grade: Pre-kindergarten-third 

Hardcover: 17 pages

Publisher: Live Oak Media (August 2008) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 978143010443

"Her father was chopping carrots."

"Her mother was talking on the phone."

"Her big sister was chasing her little brother around and around the kitchen table."

Nobody every listings to me thought Daisy who is the middle child in a family of five. When she talks everyone acts like their listen but she can tell their not. How can she show her family that she wants to be heard? What can she do to get their attention? A friend of Daisy's comes over and asks if she wants to have a sleepover. Daisy tries to ask her parents but they never listen, so Daisy leaves with her friend. Not long after her family comes to her friends house looking for her, they start talking and talking and Daisy can not get a word in until she YELLS as loud as she can. Finally she gets through to her family and they finally start listening to her. Being the middle children isn't so bad after all. 

The literacy elements I can see in the story are allegory. I feel as if there are not any others. The allegory in the story is that Daisy is the middle child and is always feeling that she is not being heard when she has something to say. We learning in the story that everyone has a voice and we need to take time out to listen to what each and everyone of use has to say because every ones opinion matters.

"Squashed in the middle" is a great story it teaches us that we need to stop and listen to everyone. A lot of times we never see that others feel as if they are not being heard but we really need to work on putting our cell phones, computer, and i pods down to listen to our children. In life today we are always on the go and many time we do not realize that some people feel left out and not heard. So its a story that reminds us of that. Life is to short to not stop and listen to everyone. The story is one that could really happen. The middle child always feels left out but I know each and every child can feel left out weather its at home, school, a friends house, or any social setting. The characters problem did seem natural its something I believe everyone deals with. 

The illustrations in the book are colorful, fun, and playful. The text makes the picture for meaning full and you can see so much more of the story through the pictures. You see the different emotions the character Daisy feels from sad to happy, loud to quit. Its a great story to read in a class where a lot of times children feel left out or not heard. 

I would use this story in my classroom as a way to explain to each one of my students that what they have to say is very important to me even if I do not seem like it is. I would use this story as a way to build a talking box, where each child if they had something to share could write it down and place it in the box. At the end of the week we would read over all the children thoughts and have time to talk about them. This would give each child the opportunity to share how they feel and let them express themselves in class.

Sometimes its Grandmas and Grandpas.

Title: "Sometimes it's Grandmas and Grandpas not Mommies and Daddies"

Author: Gayle Byrne 

Illustrations by Mary Haverfield 

Reading level: Ages 4-8

 Grade: Pre-kindergarten-second

Hardcover: 32 pages 

Publisher: Abbeville Kids (October 27, 2009) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 9780789210289

This story is about a young girl who shares with us the loving, affectionate experience of living and being raised by her grandparents. Its takes you through the ups and downs of what its like for a child who read about mommies and daddies and realize she just has her grandparents and will never have her parents raise her. Her Nonnie and Poppy raise her and love her more then she knows. They read with her, play with her, and do everything mommies and daddies but better :) The story is a wonderful one that takes you through what its like to have  grandparents raise you and not your parents. The theme of the story is one that teaches us that no matter who you are raised by they will love you and it doesn't make you different. Families are always seen as one mother one father and siblings, but it takes you through what it looks like to have grandparents as your main caregiver. The text in the story is natural you can feel the words flow together and create a metal image in your head. The author is trying to get the point a crossed that it is not always mommies and daddies that raise children grandparents do it as well. The author had notes in the back of the book that express why she wanted to write a book about grandparents raising children because she felt that her grand daughter would be puzzled as of why all the books talk about mommies and daddies and not grandparents raising children. 

The elements in the story are allegory which is though out the whole story, its a story that helps us better understand that grandparents are just like mommies and daddies and at times will raise children just like mommies and daddies do. Assonance is found also through out the story the words are repeated and you can hear the rhyming feel. The last element would be allusion referring to something with out saying it. In the story the grandparents are reading a story about a mom and dad they do not say anything to the little girl until she asks but you can see they refer to her thoughts with out saying anything to her. 

The illustrations in the book are beautiful you can feel the text build on the images and the images build on the text. The little girl is loved by her grandparents and you feel that in the images. When the little girl is sad you can see that on her face and the grandparents are their to hug and hold her. With out the images the story would not be the same. The love the grandparents express to the girl is so vivid in the images and makes you feel as if you are loved by the grandparents as well. 

A-mini-lesson I would do using this book would be to express what it means to have a family that is not just a mom and a dad. Its a story that shows others that families are of all kinds. I would want my children to write or draw about a time they felt really loved by their parents or grandparents. Its a great book to use with children who are not aware that there are other kinds of families then just their own. 

Rosie Walks

 

 Title: Rosie Walk's

Author: Pat Hutchins 

Reading level: Ages 4-8 

Paperback: 32 pages 

Publisher: Aladdin (August 1, 1971) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0020437501

Rosie's walks is about a little hen who goes for a walk around the farm she lives on. The story is a very simple one. It is one long sentence through out the whole story. While reading the story you feel as if you are just learning about one character but that is not the case. Although the story never says anything about the other character through out the pictures you can see a fox trying to get the hen. The fox follows Rosie as she walks across the yard, around the pond, over the haystack, past the mill, through the fence, under the beehives, and finally back home for dinner. The story would be a great one to use in a classroom to show children that you not only need your ears to hear a story but also you eyes to look at the picture. The picture in this story tell another story which is another fact I would use if I taught this book. 

 The elements in the story are much harder to find due to the fact that on each page there is one or two words. So for me to read this to my class I would really work on the idea of using the picture to tell a story, and say how Rosie never notices the fox. I would also use the word in the story to put on our class word wall. A lot of the word in the story are short simple words that would make a child proud that they were able to read through a whole story on their own. I think this is a great picture book because again the pictures tell their own story.

Teeny Tiny

Title: Teeny Tiny

Author:Jill Bennett/Tomie Depaola 

Reading level: Ages 4-8 

Grade: Pre-kindergarten-Second

Paperback: 32 pages 

Publisher: Puffin (December 29, 1997) 

Language: English

 The "Teeny Tiny" story is an old English ghost story. It is about a teeny tiny women who found a teeny tine bone and took it home to make soup. While she was in her house she was tired so she went to bed. She fell asleep and she heard a noise. "Give me my bone." She hid under her covers and waited so hear if she could hear it again and sure enough she did. The voice gets louder and louder "GIVE ME MY BONE." So the teeny tiny women jumps out of bed and tells the voice to "TAKE IT."

The rhythmic words in the story make is a wonderful book to read aloud to your students. It may be an older book but it has been retold by Barbara Seuling, Paul Galdone and many others. The voice building in the story is always a great way to teach how to read text that change over a period of time. How when words are big you read louder when words are small you read in a quiet voice. The pictures are very simple and with out the word I believe it would be a great wordless book for children to make up their own story too. The elements in the story are alliteration "Teeny Tiny" and Personification given the ghost the ability to talk. I would use this story to help me teach the rhythmic use of words. This story was one I read in school. I really enjoyed it and I think it would be a great end of the week read aloud for a class!

Fancey Nancy See Stars

Title: Fancy Nancy Sees Stars

By: Jane O'Connor

Pictures based on the art of Robin Preiss Glasser

Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Grade: Pre-kindergarten-second

Paperback: 32 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins (September 30,2008)

Language: English

Fancy Nancy Sees Stars is about a little girl named who is very fascinated by the sky and how the stars sparkle in the sky. She has been learning a lot about stars in school and they class is going on a field trip to the planetarium. The rest of the day the whole class take time learning more about starts, playing games, and building their very own starts. When it is time to go home the teacher reminds the children that tonight they will be going to the planetarium. On the way home it starts to rain and Fancy Nancy is starting to get worried that she wont be able to go to the field trip. The rain caused a big traffic ram and Fancy Nancy can not make it to the planetarium, but her father makes it up to her by showing her that in the back yard she can see just ask many stars as she would at the planetarium, so in the end it all works out for Fancy Nancy.

This stories are great one for beginning readers. Its a I Can Read book Level One.The words in the story are at the right level and then ever once in awhile they will through a couple harder words in with the definition next to it. Its a great way to show level one readers that no matter what word you are are you can sound it out and keep reading. The story is one that can connect to a lot of children if they were looking forward to going some where and become of the weather or something else they could not make it. Fancy Nancy is a character a lot of children connect to. She has a problem and she over came it by being able to see the star in her own backyard. The language use in the story is wonderful you can see the author is bring in new and unfamiliar words to some and challenging them with it. The picture in the story are beautiful you get the feeling that Fancy Nancy is a girl with a lot of sassy, and you can tell she has a desire to learn. The literacy elements in the story are onomatopoeia and alliteration. The onomatopeis is writing when the rain is falling and you can hear "drip drip drip". The alliteration is when Fancy Nancy talks about the "show starting soon". 

A mini-lesson I would do with this story would be to talk about onomatopoeia because through out the whole story it is raining and the "drip drip drip" sentence happen a lot. So I would want to talk about how an onomatopoeia is a word that describes a sounds.

No David

Title: David Shannon

Illustrator: David Shannon

Reading level: Ages 4-8

Grade: Pre-kindergarten-second

Hardcover: 32 pages

Publisher: Blue Sky Press (September, 1 2002)

Language: English

"David Gets in Trouble" is a story about a little boy named David who always gets in trouble. David Shannon first learned to write the words "David" and "No" so he wanted to write a book that was based on his first writing words and experiences he went through as a child. Through out the story David is doing many different things and every time he does something he always has something quick to say back like "I didn't do it" "It was an accident" "My dog at my homework". Every way he could get out of trouble David thought of it. This book is one that I believe a lot of children can connect to. Its a great story to read to children who are always blaming things on other children. The Little boy David is a character I know a lot of children can connect too, and can see themselves as that child. Reading through the story you feel like you are right there with David every time he gets in trouble you just want to be there to tell David to tell the truth. David Shannon did a wonderful job making the short little sentence on each page match the cute pictures. This book is filled with may life lessons that each child should read about and can relate too. The literacy elements in the story are allusion and allegory. The allusion are in the pictures you can see what David is doing and not even have to read the words to know what he is going to say. The Allegory is found though out the whole book. This story is one that helps us better understand what it means to tell the truth, and at the end of the day no matter what you do your momma is still going to love you! 

A mini-lesson I would do with this story is to work on the letter I and how is it written and used in a sentence. The whole story goes along with David always saying "I didn't do it" "I was hungry" so I would use this story to help me each the use of the letter I.

Pinkalicious

Title: Pinkalicious 

Authors: Victoria Kann & Elizabeth Kann

Illustrator: Victoria Kann

Reading level: Ages 4-8

Grade: Pre-kindergarten-second

Hardcover: 40 Pages

Publisher: HarperCollins (May 23,2006)

Language: English and Spanish

ISBN-10: 97800060776398

Pinkalicious is a book about desserts, desire, and disipline.

Pinkalicious loves the color pink. She wears only pink, plays with only pink toys, and loves eating pink cupcakes. Once she starts eating those pink cupcakes she can not stop. Her mother and her father keep telling her that she will be sick if she eats too many but she does not care. Before she knows it Pinkalicious turns PINK! She goes to the doctor and he tells her that she has a sickness called Pinkititis. A dream come true, Pinkalicious is pink! To bring her back to her skin color the doctor tells her she can not longer eat anything pink, but of course Pinkalicious eats just one more cupcakes and she turns RED. How must she get out of this mess? What can she do to make it better? Find out by reading Pinkalicious. 

I love the story of Pinkalicious its a wonderful story that will teach children that eating to much of a good thing isn't so good. The main character in the story I believe a lot of little children can connect with shes fun, beautiful, and she loves to push her parents buttons, which I believe a lot of children do. She eats to much pink food and before you know it she is pink, how is she going to over come this problem does she figure out how to change back to her normal skin color? Its a story that a character gets into a problem and she does figure out how to get out out of it. The story is not one that could really happen in the sense that your skin will change color if you get to much of one food, but you can become sick if you eat to much of a food so the story line can be based on a true idea but not necessarily a whole truth.

The book as a few literacy elements one being simile in the book Pinkalicious "My hair was like the color of raspberry sorbet". Another element is hyperbole when Pinkalicious' brother tells her that he wishes he was pink like her "He was green with envy". The last element is alliteration "Next thing i knew, my arms tickle, my ears tingles, and my feet twitched."

The illustrations in the story are wonderful, they pull you into the story even more then the text does. When Pinkalicious turns pink you can see how happy she is and then when she turns read you can see how sad she is. The text and the picture go hand and hand. With out one of the the story would not be the way it was meant to be. Victoria Kann did a wonderful job connecting the text to the pictures. 

A mini-lesson I would do with this book is talk about about healthy eating, I would use the picture in the story to go through a picture walk and list off what are healthy and unhealthy food in the story that Pinkalicious eats. I would want the children to become aware with what are unhealthy and healthy foods, and how you can eat foods that are unhealthy but in small portions. I would also want to talk about how Pinkalicious turns pink and how that would never happen in real life instead we can just become very sick from eating to much of something. I loved this book and will be using it in my future classroom.