20. The Biggest Apple Ever

 

# 20 The Biggest Apple Ever

Author: Steven Kroll

Illustrator: Jeni Bassett

Publisher: Scholastic Inc, 2011

28 pages

Fantasy

            I chose this book because it is a book that I have in my classroom at the preschool I work at. All of the children love to eat apples during snack time and this is a book I brought and read to the class one day when I knew we would be having apples for snacks. The book is about two mice that fall in love with the same apple pie. The two mice meet because there is a contest at school to see who can bring the biggest apple to the teacher. The two mice spot the same big apple at the same time and bump heads trying to get the apple and decide to bring it in together. When they saw others had apples bigger than theirs they decided to take all of the apples they had picked and decided to make the biggest apple pie.

            The illustrations in this book are made up of bright colors. The medium used is watercolors and the lines in the book help to bring definition to the expressions on the faces of all of the mice. The illustrations use very little negative space and are full of life from page to page. Some of the illustrations contain thought bubbles that are incorporated smoothly into each page.

            This book would be appropriate for kindergarten through second grade. The story could be used in a social studies lesson to discuss the topic of producers and consumers. This would be a great book to use for a character development lesson in teaching students to work together and think outside of the box when making decisions for a project. This book has no awards or honors, but is a great gift idea for any teacher.

19. Medio Pollito

# 19 Medio Pollito

Author: Amanda StJohn

Illustrator: Sue Todd

Publisher: Peterson Publishing Company, 2012

24 pages

Fantasy

I chose this book because it was the book one of the EL students in my class was reading and always wanted to talk about the story with me when we had one on one time. The story is about a baby chick that was born with one eye, wing, and leg. His mother named him Medio Pollito, which means half chick. Medio had all the attention because he was the youngest and his siblings thought he could not do things on his own. Eventually Medio began tot hinkt he world revolved around him. Medio traveled one day to the governor to see if he could help in any way and on the way there the story tells of the different things he tried to help such as the river, the wind, and the campfire. Medio is mistaken for the governors dinner and calls on his friends he previously helped to help him.

The illustrations in this book are created with dark bold lines. The lines are curled and whispy. The colors come from the warm side of the spectrum with oranges, reds, and yellows. The story is a Mexican folk-tale and the use of colors and arrangements in the illustrations create the latin feel throughout the story. The text is on one side of the page while the illustrations are on the other side.

            This book is appropriate for all grade levels to be used in the classroom that introduces different cultures. Having this book in a classroom will not only incorporate another heritage, but include any ELL students in the classroom. This book could be used in a social studies lesson for students to research a different culture and the stories children their age in another culture grew up hearing. The book could introduce a character development lesson showing students that what goes around comes around and the seeds they sow they will one day reap. So if they sow generosity they will reap generosity in their time of need. The books could be used in a science lesson to study the growth of baby chickens before they hatch This book has no awards or honors.

18. The Red Book

#18 The Red Book

Barbara Lehman

Houghton Mifflin, 2004

28 Pages

Fantasy

            I chose this book because it was recommended to me while I was at the library. I asked for books with different types of mediums used and this book was one of the librarians favorites. The illustrations in the book reminded me a lot of my dads doodles he does on scrap pieces of paper at home. The story is about a young girl walking down the sidewalk in the winter and finds a small red book in the snow. While the girl is in class she opens the book and sees a boy on an island finding a red book and opening it up to see the city and the girl sitting in her classroom looking at him. The girl goes and buys helium balloons after school and lets the balloons carry her into the sky, while floating she drops her book, while the boy watches her float out of the picture. The boy watches as she floats out of the picture and becomes very sad. When the book lands the pages show the girl floating down onto the island next to the boy. The book ends with another little boy picking up the book to read.

            The illustrations in this book are done with gouache, watercolor, and ink. The minimal use of text on the illustrations keep the reader focused on the story and allows the reader to use their imagination. The bright colors increase the intensity and warm feeling of the little boys surroundings on the beach, while the use of grays and browns create the feeling of winter for the little girl. The characters are very simple, but the balloons and other parts of the book use bright colors that add to the fantasy feeling of the book.

            This book could be appropriate for any age level in elementary school. The books encourages students to think and be creative with their imaginations. A language arts lesson could be created using this book to have the students write the story about themselves. If they could choose to visit someone else how would they travel besides using helium balloons and where would they go. The text could be used in an art lesson to have the students develop the next phase of the story. The students could draw the illustrations for the boy who picked up the book at the end of the story. This book has not received any awards.

17. Paul Bunyan

# 17 Paul Bunyan

Author: Sandra Becker

Publisher: Weigl Publishers Inc, 2003

24 pages

Traditional Literature

Paul Bunyan was a story I had to reenact when I was in high school and we had to come up with a different ending to the story. I chose this book because it is a story that everyone is familiar with and has been told for ages. The story starts out with Paul who as a baby was put in a cradle and floated down the river. Paul was a huge man who could cut hundreds of trees at once. The story is about Paul and his life as a lumberjack.

The illustrations in this book are very realistic. The colors are soft greens, browns, and blues. The illustrations look as if they are hand drawn. The hair on Paul’s head is realistic looking as well as the details in the wood that makes up the forest.  The illustrations are full page with text boxes on the picture that tells the facts about Paul and his life as a lumberjack.

This book is appropriate for any grade level. The book could be used in a social studies lesson to introduce Paul as a folk tale hero. The book provides many facts about the legend and a time line of where the story originated.  The story of Paul Bunyan can introduce a language arts lesson to provide the students for the opportunity to change the story of Paul Bunyans life and where he came from. This book has no awards or honors, but is great to use as a resource in the classroom because of the facts, history, and details about Paul Bunyan it contains.

16. The Three Little Pigs

# 16 The Three Little Pigs

Retold by: Lisa Trumbauer

Illustrated by: Aaron Blecha

Publisher: Stone Arch Books, 2009

30 Pages

Traditional Literature

I wanted to use this book for my book blogs because this was one of the stories my mom would always read to me when we were getting ready for bed. When I saw the cover and that the story was retold I was curious to see how this author retold the story. The story starts out like the traditional story does with the three pigs building their houses of straw, sticks, and bricks. The wolf blows down the first two houses, but is unable to blow down the third pugs house. The third pig then tricks the wolf telling him to meet him at different places, but the pig shows up early and never meets the wolf. The wolf finally tries to come down the chimney and lands in a pot of water on the fire. The story ends with the three pigs building their own houses that are all strong and sturdy.

            The illustrations in this books are made up of darker colors like blue, purple, grey, and a dark pink. There is no negative space in the illustrations. The illustrations on each page are set up in a comic book form. The illustrations are very rigid and jagged pictures. The characters in each illustration are not your typical happy three little pigs. These pigs are wild and graphic not well kept pigs in the story.

            This book would be good to use for fourth through sixth grade. The new story is more graphic than the traditional story children grow up with reading. The story could be used in a character development lesson to teach students to keep their word and be on time. The book could introduce a writing lesson for the students to change the ending of the story or even add to the story. A math lesson could be introduced with this book as well. The three pigs had to buy their materials from the peddlers and these scenarios could be used in math word problems. This book does no have any awards or honors.

15.Little Red Riding Hood

#15 Little Red Riding Hood

Maggie Moore

Illustrated by Paula Knight

Picture Window Books, 2001

27 pages

I chose this book because the illustrations caught my attention. I always remember reading the story about “Little Red Riding Hood” growing up and when I saw this book I was curious to see how the story was told. Little Red Riding Hood is the main character in the story that is going to visit her grandmother in the forest. While she is on her way to her grandmother’s house she encounters a wolf that begins to question her. She tells the wolf she is going to her grandmothers to take her cake. The wolf takes a shortcut to the grandmothers house and acts like the grandmother. Little Red Riding Hood begins to remark about her grandmothers looks. The big bad wolf jumps up from the bed and chases her until the woodcutters come in to see what all the noise is. The woodcutters chase away the wolf and Little Red Riding Hoods grandmother comes out of the closet.

The illustrator in this book uses a variety of media. There are watercolors, pencils, crayons, cut paper, and collage used throughout the book. The illustrations look as if black ink was used to bring more definition to the details. The colors throughout the book are vibrant with a lot of attention to shading and outlining. The use of negative space throughout the illustrations keeps the readers attention on the story.

This book could be used in a first, second, or third grade classroom. The story of Little Red Riding Hood is a classic story that almost every child has heard at some point from their parents. The book could be used in the classroom for an art lesson, language arts lesson, or character development. The students could draw pictures about the story and create their own story line or change the ending. The book could be used in language arts to both change the viewpoint of the story and write it through the wolfs perspective, the woodcutters perspective, or the grandmothers perspective. Character development could be taught with this story by using the book to explain the dangers of talking to strangers in person and could even go as far as tying in internet safety with the story. The book has not received any awards.

14. I'm still here in the bathtub

#14 I’m still here in the bathtub

Author: Alan Katz

Illustrator: David Catrow

Publisher: Scholastic Inc, 2003

28 Pages

Poetry

This book caught my attention because when I was a child I always liked to play in the bathtub and there were times when I would stay in the bathtub so long that the water would turn cold. This book is filled with several different poems that are sung to common songs such as: B-I-N-G-O, Take me out to the ballgame, the wheels on the bus, and many more. The songs are all sung by a toddler and several different scenarios he found himself in like babysitting his brother, eating his vegetables, and his aunt who loves to squeeze and kiss him.

            The illustrations in this book are rendered in water colors, colored pencils, and ink. The lines in the pictures show that the illustrations were drawn with colored pencils and help bring attention to smaller details. Each of the illustrations takes up the entire space and there is no negative space used in the illustrations. The colors are very bright yellows, reds, oranges creating the mood for each of the poems to be sung. The illustrations have a lot of flow and freedom and are not constricted by lines.

            This book is appropriate for first through fourth grade. The tunes of the songs used for each poem is familiar to children of younger ages who have grown up singing the songs. The book could be used in a writing lesson to generate new ideas for the students to take a song they grew up singing and writing a poem to the tune of their favorite song from their childhood. Some of the poems can be used in a language arts lesson to have the students identify prefixes and suffixes added on to root words. This book has no awards or honors, but is very fun to sing the songs to tunes that are from early years in life.

13. Giant Children

# 13 Giant Children

Author: Brod Bagert

Illustrator: Tedd Arnold

Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2002

28 pages

“I hold my baby brother, all powered, sweet, and pink. But when he makes a funny face, his diaper starts to stink.”

Poetry

I chose this book based off of a recommendation a friend of mine gave me. I was not sure about this book, but then I read it and was really entertained by the poems in it. The book is filled with several different poem about giant children and the different situations they are in. The first poem is told from a class hamster perspective. The hamster describes the giant children. The poems that follow are all told by the children or about the children. The poems are creative and appeal to child because they are written about the things children do. One of the poems gives a warning to not ever read it to an adult because it is about loving a booger anywhere except for in his nose.

            The illustrations in this book are prepared with color pencils and water color washes. The colors are soft reds, yellows, oranges, greens, and blues. The thin lines are used to give the characters definition and create the look of movement in the pictures. Some of the pages contain a lot of negative space while other pictures take up the entire page with the text written into the pictures. The children are illustrated perfectly to fit the title of the book. All of the illustrations give the illusion that the children are giant.

            This book is appropriate for third through sixth grade. The children in the poems talk about things the ages of these grades would do. The imagination of the children told in the poems make this book an entertaining one for students of older ages. This book could be used in the classroom for a language arts lesson or writing lesson by having the students create their own poem using their imagination and thinking outside of the box. This book has no awards or honors, but is a book filled with laughs for not only students, but adults too.

12. Pig Giggles and Rabbit Rhymes

#12 Pig Giggles and Rabbit Rhymes

Author: Mike Downs

Illustrator: David Sheldon

Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2002

23 pages

“What do you call a sore spot on a rattler? Snake ache”

“What does kitty use to hit a baseball? Cat Bat”

Poetry Book

I chose this book because it was read in my classroom by my cooperating teacher and all of the students enjoyed listening to it and trying to figure out the rhymes and riddles. There is no story to the book. The book is filled with animal riddles that the answers to all of the riddles rhyme. Each page has two riddles to be solved involving the same characters.

The illustrations in this book are hand drawn and then digitally reworked using macromedia freehand and Adobe Photoshop software. The colors in the illustrations all use soft pastel colors. The illustrations bring the animal characters to life and give the characters a friendly personality. All of the illustrations have no negative space and are filled with color. The attention to detail help create and tell the riddle.

This book would be appropriate for first, second, or third grade. The riddles can introduce rhyming words and how to identify the words that rhyme by paying attention to the letters used in each word.  The book can be used as an introductory tool for writing. The students could create their own riddles and answer them with rhyming words. This book has no awards, but the colors and characters in the book could be used to decorate any child’s room to create a calm and friendly space.

11. Hey You! C'mere

#11 Hey You! C’mere (A poetry slam)

Author: Elizabeth Swados

Illustrator: Joe Cepeda

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic Press) 2002

47 Pages

“Mr. Befuddled- ah- well- yes- no, Ask him a question, oh dear, ah ho,

Mr. Befuddled can’t say yes or no, hm, gee, oh my gosh, I don’t know, gosh I don’t know”

Poetry Book

I chose this book because while I was in the library looking through the poetry books I saw the title on this book and it reminded me of my students and how their dialect is sometimes in the classroom. The book is filled with several different poems, but they all tell a story. The first poem is about a bully who is picking on the kids and then the kids all stand up to him. The poems then continue going through summer, visiting family, storms, the bully returning and playing a mean joke, and then wrapping up with the bully apologizing and the kids forgiving the bully. Each poem is tied together with the children speaking a line or two to introduce the next topic for the poem.

            The illustrations in this book are very lively. The medium used is oil paint, which helps brings the pictures to life. All throughout the book the illustration use bright and vibrant colors in all of the illustrations that are upbeat and lively and for the storm poem the colors get dark using a mixture of black, gray, purple, and orange. The shadowing done on all of the pictures helps to create an understanding for the emotions on the characters faces and brings them to life. There are no bold lines used, but very fine thin lines.

            This book is appropriate for grade first through sixth. The rhythm and rhyme in the poem can be used in a language arts lesson to introduce poetry and give the students an understanding of the many types of poems and the beat the words can create. Hey You! C’mere can be used for a character development lesson to teach students how to treat others and also to not hold grudges and forgive others. There are no awards given to this book, but the book is a fun book to read and to add personality when reading takes a little bit of effort.