Its Monday! What Are You Reading?!: Week 5

This week I read the Newbery Award winning book The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. This is the 2017 Newbery Award Winner so I thought it would be appropriate to read in the year 2017 😉.

This book is about a girl named Luna. Luna lives in a town that sacrafice babies in order to remain safe from the witch in the woods. When I found out there were baby sacrificing going on, I was a little confused on why this is just a popular middle grades book. Anyways, you find you the witch in the woods is not evil. Xan, the witch, takes the babies to families that are across the woods. An important thing to take note is that Xan feeds the babies starlight when taking them across the woods, this is when Luna becomes special. Instead of feeding Luna starlight, Xan accidentally feeds Luna moonlight and she gains magical powers. When Luna is older, she hears of a guy that wants to go kill the witch. At this point, Luna needs to protect Xan.

This book was very interesting to read. Like I said, I was not expecting any baby sacrificing to happen but I am glad it did not! Overall, I thought this book was awesome. It is unquie and fun to follow Luna and her powers! However, I think this book would be better as an individual read rather than using it as a class book for discussion.

Until next time,

-Rachel

Advertisement

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?!: Week 4

Hello everyone! Happy Monday! This past week was focused on The One and Only Ivan. This book was so awesome, it completely exceeded my expectations. I can see why this is a Newbery Award winner. After reading the criteria that the committee considers, The One and Only Ivan fits all of these. The One and Only Ivan had a perfectly detailed setting and well developed characters. It is very easy to picture these characters even without the illustrations. This was my favorite thing about The One and Only Ivan. The plot was very well written as well. There is some flashbacks from Ivan but nothing that makes the reader confused. Since this book is for younger readers, this is a very risky move because not a lot of writes can accomplished flashbacks correctly. They are either confusing or out of place of the story. With Ivan, the flashbacks help the plot. They show a lot of the reasoning for Ivan’s actions. While the plot was very well written, the characters were most effective for me. They were so well described in terms of their personality so you can really connect to them, even if they are a gorilla, elephant, or dog. This book was so emotional for me which I was not expecting. SPOILERS AHEAD… When Stella died I had to put down the book and take a break because I loved Stella because she was my favorite character and because she was so sweet to Ruby. I also had to power though the emotional end because it was so happy yet sad. When Bob got left behind is when it really got to me. Overall, this book is a 10/10 in my opinion. I would recommend this book over and over again because it was so great. I can definitely see myself using this book in my classroom.

Until next time,

-Rachel

*All images are from Amazon.com*

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?! Week 3

Hello everyone, hope you had a good weekend! This week, we focused on some award winning books. Without further ado, let’s get into the readings!!

Coretta Scott King Award

Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe

At first glance, this book is beautiful. I love the oil pastel type of art used in it! This books was a nice quick read, one thing I loved is when reading the book, some words have different font than others (beautiful, art, artist, mi amor). This important to note because these words are the more important thing to take away from the pages. This book is short but has a great storyline that goes up and down like a chapter book rather than a picture book.

Pura Belpre Award

Juana and Lucas by Juana Medina

I am a sucker for dogs so of course I love this book. I think it is a sweet story and the different language involved when reading can expand to multiple different students with English as a second language. Overall, this book is cute and has great illustrations. There is a video online about the author and she explains why she picked the final illustrations and it is very interesting to see her picks and why. This video takes you a little deeper than the actual story.

 

Sibert Medal

Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras by Duncan Tonatiuh

This book was interesting because of the different languages used, like in Juana and Lucas. The book begins with “And this is his story”, this is interesting to use in a picture book because this is usually only seen in chapter books. I think using this in picture books can make it easier for student to make that transition from picture books to chapter books. The illustrations were very well incorporated into the story. However, my favorite is the cover, I mean come on!

 

Schneider Family Award

Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille by Jennifer Bryant

I wish I would have read this books when I was little. It is SO informative! This book is about Louis Braille who created the six dot alphabet for people who are blind. I am 19 and I did not know what each dot pattern specifically met until reading this book. If this is learned at a younger age, the better off! It is different because it teaches a life lesson rather than science or math. I will definitely use this book in my classroom!

 
Golden Sower

Job Wanted by Teresa Bateman

Back to the dogs, I am a sucker! This book is so sweet because the dog is trying so hard for a job with this farmer. It is a fun story watching the dog play different characters for the farmer all for a job! The illustrations are simple but make the story that much better. The simple illustrations allow readers to focus more on the words than the pictures. I will definitely use this book in my classroom as well! This is my favorite book that I read this week.

Overall, all these books were great but I would recommend the Job Wanted the most!

Until next time,

-Rachel

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?: Week 2

This week was similar to last week because a majority of what I read is children’s picture books. In total, I probably read around 20-25 books but I am only going to talk about my top five picks of the week. As a guide for picking my books for this week, I looked up a list of the top 100 best children’s books of all time. I went through and found some that sounded the most interesting. With that said, let’s begin.

1. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

This book is super famous but surprisingly enough, this is the first time I’ve read it. Overall, I thought the story was cute and had great illustrations. The amount of imagination in this story is something that I think is essential for children. Being able to imagine like Max is something that never gets old.

2. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

This book has such a sweet story in it. This story talks about a bond between a boy and a tree and their time together. The boy eventually begins to grow up and leave the tree. This makes the tree sad and eventually the tree gives so much to the boy in order to make him happy, that the tree is no longer there. Eventually the boy comes back when the tree is nothing but a stump. The boy sits on the stump and the two are eventually together in the end. Being 19, this story still makes me upset! However, the emotional aspect of it makes it appealing to any ages.

 

3. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss

Like Where the Wild Things Are, I have never read Oh, the Places You’ll Go until now. Reading this made me feel awesome. It was very motivating and give the reader a sense of life. You will go through many things in your life but they are based on the decisions you make. The waiting place is a place that no one wants to be but some get stuck. They just wait for something to happen. Dr. Seuss is saying in order to get something, you have to go and do something. You cannot just wait for something to happen. This book now has a special place in my heart.

4. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

This book I remember reading way back in elementary school. Of course, this is for good reason. The Very Hungry Caterpillar follows a caterpillar who eats different things throughout the week. The caterpillar grew so much that it was time for him to build a cocoon and become a beautiful butterfly! This story is great for younger kids because the illustrations used make the story super appealing.

5. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff

This is a very sweet story that discusses the chain of events if you gave a mouse a cookie. Let alone being adorable, the story is an easy read and the animations make it appealing to a lot of young ages. They are realistic but also fun and different. Something cool about this book is it is in a series. There are multiple books about “If you give a…” They include If Give A Dog A Donut, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and many more. These books could also be interactive by having students guess what the next chain of the event will be. 

Overall, these books were fun and some of my top favorites of all time picture books. I am glad I read some that I’ve never read before because I really loved them!

Until next time,

-Rachel

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?: Week 1

This past week, we were asked to read a total of 30 books and write a post about our top 15… So that is this post!

1. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka

This was by far my favorite story I’ve read. Just listening to this story was hilarious and had it’s own unique storyline. The fact that it had a narrator that would go in and out of different stories allows readers to feel in control of the stories. This book has a major advantage because it is does not focus around one story.

 

2. Goldilocks and the Three Bears by James Marshall

My second choice is a classic. This story I can remember as far back as my memories can go. The story of Goldilocks going through the different bears items makes for a funny story. The best thing about this story is when I was reading it, I could still hear (in my head) my old librarian making the different characters have different voices.

 

 

3. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback 

Even though this is 3rd on my list, I consider it tied with #2. This book is funny but my favorite part of this book is the illustrations. The text being incorporated in the images makes the text look fun and matches the story perfectly. Another great thing is the little cut outs of the old lady so you can see the what the old lady swallowed. It gives the illustrations interactions with the pages before and that just adds to the unique design.

 

4. The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt

This book is perfect for the Halloween time. It has a scary vibe and the dark illustrations just add more and more to this vibe. The fact that this children’s book is based off of a poem just makes it more interesting to me. If you were working with older grades, this could be a great introduction to poetry. 

 

5. The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen

This story is a classic and it never gets old. The fact of bring cute little ducklings can make any reader of any age happy! Of course animals can not talk but the real life situations between animals give a sense to kids this could actually happen. The story is adorable and gives a sense of hope when reading it. 

 

6. Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett

This was one book I have never heard of before this course. This was still a great story that took an unexpected twist. Of course this twist was needed in order to make the story interesting. The fact of the little kid making a ton of sweaters for her animals warmed my heart! 

 

7. The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat

Beekle, the unimaginative friend is a very fun illustrated story! This story is something that does not take a long time to get into the plot. Once we get back the couple first pages, Beekle starts on his journey. This is great because it will keep children involved for a longer time.

 

 

8. Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens 

This children’s book seems to be more difficult of a read because it has much more words per page than some of past children’s books on this list. With that being said, the story goes more in depth than others but has a great story about learning to work together even through differences. 

 

9. A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka 

A Ball for Daisy is one of the unique books I’ve seen because the book itself does not give you a story but you have to imagine one. Since everyone’s imagination is different, I think this book can allow great classroom discussion and really let everyone speak their own opinion without worrying about being wrong!

 

 

10. Waiting by Kevin Henkes

This book is pretty heartwarming. It has a great story about waiting and never knowing what you could be waiting for or what is going to happen in the future but you enjoy your time with your friends and family. This book is a pretty simple read so you could be able to read with most classes.

 

11. First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

This book has similar illustrations to “There was an Old Lady who swallowed a Fly” because the illustrator cut out some parts of one page in order to make it incorporate with other pages. This gives the book a type of interaction that is more than just reading the story. This book is also a simple read so you could read it with almost all classes.

 

12. All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon

The illustrations in this book are a little different because they are realistic looking. The story also has a very nice rhythm to it when reading out loud. Overall, the tone is what made me like this book more than anything. 

13. Nana in the City by Lauren Castillo

Nana in the City is about a little kid going to see their very loved Nana but has to endure the troubles of the city. It is a sweet story because Nana is able to show the child why she loves the city and spend time with her grandchild. 

 

 

14. Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault

At this point in the list, I have probably said the illustrations look great in every book but this one especially! The art looks so precise, it is hard to believe it is for a children’s book! Puss is a fun character to follow and the adventure is intriguing!

 

15. Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Moss

The rhyme pattern in this makes the story flow really nicely. Rather than kids sitting down and listening, I would have them read along out loud because the way the words flow…they are just asking to be sung. The illustrations are also very fun and appealing.

 

 

These books were all awesome and had their own unique stories and illustrations. I would use all of these books in my own classroom for sure!

Until next time,

-Rachel

*All images are from Goodreads.com*