The Odd Egg

Bibliographic Information: Gravett, E. (2008). The Odd Egg. Illus. Emily Gravett. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Brief Annotation: Every bird had an egg, except Duck, until he finds the most beautiful egg. Duck's egg is the last to hatch and - watch out!

Genre: Animal Fantasy, Picture Storybook

Grade Level: PreK - 2

Readers who will like this book: Anyone who likes surprise endings! And anyone who has ever been laughed at for being different.

Rating/Response: 4 out of 4. A delightful story that relates the idea differences sometimes being a wonderful surprise! The back endpages continue the story, as many of books by this author also use the front and back endpages to help tell the story.

One question I would ask before a read aloud: Is it ok to laugh at someone for being different?

10/40: Guided Reading from 50 Literacy Strategies, by Gail E. Tompkins
I would use this book in small group guided reading instruction. The goal of guided reading is to boost students' fluency and comprehension. I would introduce the book; have the students take turns reading pages out loud; ask questions of the students as we read, encouraging them to respond; and place copies of the book in each student's book bag for independent reading. I believe that this book would work well for this strategy, especially in first grade, because the sentences are simple, the text and story are fun and entertaining, and I believe that students would enjoy rereading it on their own.

Hoot

Bibliographic Information: Hiaasen, C. (2002). Hoot. New York, NY: Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children's Books.

A 2002 Newbery Honor Book: Distinguished contribution to American literature in a book for children, the following criteria are considered for the award: interpretation of the theme or concept; presentation of information including accuracy, clarity, and organization; development of a plot; delineation of characters; delineation of setting; appropriateness of style; excellence of presentation for a child audience; the book must be a self-contained entity.

Brief Annotation: Roy Eberhardt is the new kid in town, battling bullies and trailing after a mysterious boy on a mission to save some owls.

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Mystery

Grade Level: 5 - 8

Readers who will like this book: Anyone who loves nature, zany characters and mysterious plots.

Rating/Response: 4 out of 4. A real hoot! Brings up some delightful discussion topics about preserving nature, bullying, and being a true believer.

One question I would ask before a read aloud: How far would you go to protect something you believe in?

10/40: Plot Profiles from 50 Literacy Strategies, by Gail E. Tompkins
This strategy is used to focus on the plot development of a story. The teacher creates a profile chart, introduces that chart after the class has read and discussed the first chapter, then charts the tension and excitement of the plot in that chapter. The class will continue to chart the plot development after each chapter. Once the book and profile chart are completed, the class will engage in a grand conversation about the overall plot development of the book. This book lends itself very well to the use of plot profiling, as it has many tense and exciting moments that all build up to the conclusion of the story.

The Game of Silence

Bibliographic Information: Erdrich, L. (2005). The Game of Silence. New York, NY: HarperCollins Children's Books.

Brief Annotation: In this sequel to The Birchbark House, Omakayas and her family receive visitors who have been forced from their land. Through the year, she will struggle with her own emotions, and learn that she must leave her beloved home, an island in Lake Superior.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade Level: 5 - 8

Readers who will like this book: Readers who have previously read The Birchbark House, and those who enjoy glimpses into other cultures.

Rating/Response: 4 out of 4. I have long been a reader of Louise Erdrich's novels. In this novel for young readers, she has not forfeited any of her ability to compose prose in a poetic and lyrical manner. It is a heart-wrenching story, with fictional characters, yet based on true information. I love her use of Objiwe words, and the inclusion of a dictionary of these words at the end of the book.

One question I would ask before a read aloud: What would it be like to have to leave your home and move somewhere unknown? Would you be able to live off the world around you, without supermarkets, television, or computers?

10/40: Quickwrites from 50 Literacy Strategies, by Gail E. Tompkins
As my class, or small group, moves through the chapters of this book, I would provide them with prompts related to the book. I would ask them to spend 5 - 10 minutes writing their ideas, then have them share these ideas. I believe this would allow my students to consider some to the big concepts contained in this book, such as westward expansion, white settlers invasion of tribal lands, and conflict between European settlers and native peoples.

A Sick Day for Amos McGee

Bibliographic Information: Stead, P.C. (2010). A Sick Day for Amos McGee. Illus. Erin E. Stead. New York, NY: Roaring Book Press.

Brief Annotation: Amos McGee is a wonderful zookeeper, who has many close friends at the zoo. When he gets sick and can't make it to work, his friends hop on a bus and visit him.

Genre: Animal Fantasy, Picturebook

Grade Level: PreK - 2

Readers who will like this book: Anyone who has ever had to stay home sick, and missed their friends.

Rating/Response: 4 out of 4. This is a wonderful little story about friendship. I love the illustrations.

One question I would ask before a read aloud: What does it feel like when you have to stay home sick?

10/40: Story Boards from 50 Literacy Strategies, by Gail E. Tompkins

This is a wonderful strategy for Kindergarten through second grade. In this strategy, I would create storyboards by cutting out the illustrations from two copies of the book, attaching these to tagboard, and laminating them. I would ask the students to use the storyboards to sequence the story after a read aloud. This strategy helps students to grasp the concept of story sequence. As there are several pages of pure illustration in this book, I believe it would be an ideal story for story boarding.

Earth Day Every Day

Bibliographic Information: Bullard, L. (2012). Illus. Xiao Xin. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press.

Brief Annotation: Follow a young girl as she sees how dirty her world is and plans some fun things for Earth Day. Provides information bubbles about Earth Day, and an activity at the end to help preserve the earth.

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction and NonFiction Picturebook

Grade Level: 1 - 3

Readers who will like this book: Anyone who is interested in ways to preserve nature and the world. Anyone who likes to do something good.

Rating/Response: 3 out of 4. The book gives some ideas to kids that want to get involved in Earth Day activities, but could present them in a better manner.

One question I would ask before a read aloud: In what ways can we help to preserve nature?

10/40: Clusters, from 50 Literacy Strategies by Gail E. Tompkins.
This strategy uses main topics and branches to demonstrate student learning. In connection to this book, the middle idea would be Preserving Nature. Students would then brainstorm ideas of how we can help to preserve nature, adding detail to each step. This strategy would not only help students to understand ways to preserve the earth, but could be translated into actual activities the students' could perform for Earth Day.

Sports A-Z

Diehl, D. (2007). Sports A-Z. Illus. David Diehl. New York, New York: Larks Books, Inc.

Annotation: This is an alphabet book that goes through the alphabet using different terms for sports for each letter. For example, for "Z" they have hockey illustration with the word zamboni.

Genre: Alphabet children's book

Grade Level: Pre-K- K

Readings who would like this: This would be a great book for parents to have, especially if they have a little boy. They can help them learn the alphabet and different words in the alphabet by reading this book.

Rating/Response: I give this book a 4. I think it is awesome to see a children's book more directed towards boys. I think the illustrations are awesome as well.

Question: Do you know your ABC's?

Reading Strategy:
a) Tompkins, #25 (literacy center)
b) I think the making words literacy center would be great. Children create certain words based on a particular spelling pattern that the teacher decides to have.
c) This would pair great to have students take different letters of the alphabet to create words. The teacher could work on A-F one day or whatever and have students create words using those letters.

The Red Book

Lehman, B. (2004). The Red Book. Illus. Barbara Lehman. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Annotation: This is a wordless picture book that takes a young girl on a journey and she spots it sticking out of the snow and picks it up and sees tropical paradise and then an island and then this dot on an island becomes a boy. She flies to the boys island after school with some balloons and drops the book in the air and the cycle continues...

Genre: Wordless picture book

Grade Level: K-2nd

Readers who would like this: This would be a great book for a teacher to keep in her classroom and would pair well with a reading strategy because the students are having to work on inferrencing.

Rating/Response: I give this book a 2. Although the iluustrations were neat, I am not the type to like wordless picture books.

Question: Has there been a time when you couldn't find words to what you wanted to say?

Reading Strategy:
a) Tompkins, #25 (literacy center)
b) I think the collaborative book literacy center would be a good pair with this book. The studenst write pages that are added to a class book. They contribute by following the set guidelines before they write their page to add to the class book.
c) I think this would be great, because the teacher could have a copy of each of the wordless pages in this book and have each student interpret what the wordless picture means to them. They then will have a class book that turned the wordless book into a cute picture book.

Pocketful of Poems

Grimes, N. (2001). Pocketful of Poems. Illus. Javaka Steptoe. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Annotation: This is a poetry book that uses a lot of one verse and Haiku in it. The illustrator uses a lot of cut outs and objects we would find as "junk" so to speak to create the illustrations. The illustrations almost seem 3D to me.

Genre: Children's poetry

Grade Level: K-5

Readers who would like this: This would be a nice book for a teacher to keep for a poetry unit. It gives the student a different view of what poetry can look like besides typed plain text in a book.

Ratings/Response: I give this book a 3. I think the illustrations are unique and I like that the author uses real-life things to create poetry out of.

Question: Have you ever written a poem before?

Reading Strategy:
a) Tompkins #21 (interactive writing)
b) This is a classroom activity where students and take turns writing text onto large paper that the teacher has at the front of the class. They add punctuation and correct errors as each student takes turns adding what they know about punctuation and word choice.
c) This would match very well with this book, because the students can create a classroom poem of their own. Each student gets the opportunity to add their creativity to the poem and help students out with grammatical and punctuation errors. The class can decide as a group what the topic of the poem is going to be and the teacher can start the poem off for the class.

The Princess and the Pea

Isadora, R. (2009). The Princess and the Pea. Illus. Rachel Isadora. New York, New York: Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

Annotation: This is an African version of the original Princess and the Pea. An African prince tries to find a bride, but he has a hard time finding a bride that is a true princess and claim to be who they are. On a stormy night a princess shows up at the palace and claims she is a princess. The prince's mother tests this by putting a pea under her bed and says a true princess should be sensitive enough to feel it. She does and they get married.

Genre: Culturally diverse children's book

Grade Level: PreK-2nd

Readers who would like this: This is would be a cute book for a teacher to have in their classroom library. It is a fun little fairy tale for little girls alike.

Rating/Response: I give this book a 4. I think the illustrations are amazing and I also like how this is a spin on the original princess and the pea. It is a staple book that many should have.

Question: Have you ever dreamed of marrying a prince or a princess?

Reading Strategy:
a) Tompkins #4 (author's chair)
b) This strategy is when students get the opportunity to sit in writing chair to share what they have wrote for their writing assignment. They can get feedback from students and they have the privilege to sit in the infamous chair!
c) This would be a good reading strategy for this book, because the students could make their own version of princess and the pea and write a little story about it and then share it with the class once they have begun writing it. This gives the students the opportunity to be creative and put their own spin on the story.

Pink and Say

Polacco, P. (1994). Pink and Say. Illus. Patricia Polacco. New York, New York: Penguin Group Inc.

Annotation: This is based on a true story of Patricia's great, great grandfather. He befriends a black union soldier during the Civil War when they are captured by the confederates and taken to prison.

Genre: Culturally diverse children's book

Grade Level: 3rd-6th

Readers who would like this: This is a good book for teachers to use in a lit. unit based on books and true stories.

Rating/Response: I give this book a 3, I love books that are based on true events. I find them most captivating, so knowing this was based on true events made it captivating to me.

Reading Strategy:
a) Thompkins #45 (tea party)
b) This is when students participate in a tea party and read excerpts from a book. They move around the room and talk about them with other students.
c) This is helpful with this book, because it is a way to familiarize the students with new text and also gives students time to reflect with other students about what they just read. It opens the floor for discussion amongst the students and they can build on their comprehension when they review vocabulary and main ideas throughout the book.

What a Family!

Isadora, R. (2006). What a Family! Illus. Rachel Isadora. Portland, Oregon: Putnam Juvenile.

Annotation: This is a children's picture book that goes through a young boy's family tree and he can see how people were alike and different and where he got some of his traits.

Genre: Culturally diverse picture book

Grade Level: K-3rd

Readers who would like this: This would be a cute book to do a project in school or even for a little kid to read with their parents.

Response/Rating: I give this book a 4. I think the illustrations were cute and the idea of the book was really neat. A lot of grown-ups like to do family trees and now there is a book that is simple for little kids to understand what a family tree is.

Question: Do you know why your hair is the color it is?

Reading Strategy:
a) Thompkins #40
b) This strategy is a visual activity where students think more deeply about the elements of the story and moves beyond literal comprehension.
c) This matches well with this book, because students can construct their own family tree and they can see where they came from or they can guess what their family tree would look like based on Ollie's family tree in the book.

The Birthday Room

Henkes, K. (2000). The Birthday Room. Illus. Kevin Henkes. New York, New York: Random House, Inc.

Annotation: This is a book about a young man named Ben. His parents give him a new room in the attic of their house for his birthday, but he also receives a letter from an uncle he hardly knows that wants him to come visit. He doesn't understand why his mother does not talk to this uncle and ends up visiting his uncle in Oregon.

Genre: Audio book

Grade Level: 2nd grade

Readers who would like this: I think this would be a good book for a second grader to read on their leisure. It is a book that a child and grown-up could read together. I think this is more suitable outside of the classroom.

Response/Rating: I give this book a 4 for content and a 2 for the fact that it is an audio book. I personally like to read at my own pace and depict the emotion of a book myself. That was the hard part. Otherwise, the story itself is very heartfelt and well written.

Question: What is one thing you've always wanted for your birthday?

Reading Strategy:

a) Tompkins #36 (reading logs).
b) This is where students write their reactions and opinions about a book they are reading or listening to. They can write after reading a chapter or two. This is a good strategy to use given the background of the book. It allows the students to reflect on what they would do in this situation and how they would handle it.
c) This is a good match for this book, because there is a lot of reflecting and thought processes that happen in relation to this book. I found myself asking what would I do in this situation and re-evaluated what family meant to me.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Bibliographic Information: Hennessy, B.G. (2006). The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Illus. Boris Kulikov. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Brief Annotation: A young shepherd tricks the townspeople several times, out of boredom, so that they do not believe him when he is truly in danger.

Genre: Fable, Picturebook

Grade Level: K - 4

Readers who will like this book: Anyone who has ever created games to fight off boredom.

Rating/Response: 4 out of 4. A truly wonderful telling of the classic fable. The last two-page spread adds a comical ending to the story.

One question I would ask before a read aloud: Is it a good idea to tell a lie? Does lying get you into trouble?

10/40: Interactive Read-Aloud from 50 Literacy Strategies, by Gail E. Tompkins.
Introduce the book to the students, read it aloud, modeling fluent and expressive reading. Before, during, and after reading, ask the students questions that focus on specific points from the story.
After reading, with the guiding questions, direct a discussion about the book and the main idea of the story.
This strategy works well for this book, because the moral of the fable lends itself to some wonderful conversations, especially with young children.

The Girl Who Spun Gold

Bibliographic Information: Hamilton, V. (2000). The Girl Who Spun Gold. Illus. Leo and Diane Dillon. New York, NY. The Blue Sky Press.

Brief Annotation: Quashiba must guess a little man's name, before he turns her into a tiny little woman.

Genre: Folktale

Grade Level: 2 - 6

Readers who will like this book: Anyone who loves folktales, and especially the folktale Rumpelstiltskin.

Rating/Response: 4 out of 4. This is an excellent version of the familiar folktale. The language is dynamic and interesting, and the illustrations are wonderful.

One question I would ask before a read aloud: Do the folktales we already know have different versions from other cultures?

10/40: An adaptation of Hot Seat, from 50 Literacy Strategies, by Gail E. Tompkins.

Choose one student to
take on a persona of one of the characters from this story, and another student
to take on the persona of the equivalent character from the more familiar
version.
Provide each student
some time to review premade cards, listing the basic information given about
the characters from the tales.
Have the two students
sit on “hot seats” in front of the class. Allow the other students to ask
questions of the characters, or make comments about the characters.
Finish by having the
students summarize the differences and similarities of the two characters.

The Lion & The Mouse

Bibliographic Information: Pinkney, J. (2009). The Lion & The Mouse. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.

Brief Annotation: A story of two unlikely friends, who help each other get out of sticky situations. Presented in illustrations, with only a few sound words to intensify the story.

Genre: Wordless Picturebook, Storybook

Grade Level: K - 5

Readers who will like this book: Anyone who enjoys beautiful illustrations and loves to create their own words for a story.

Rating/Response: 4 out of 4. The illustrations are gorgeous and express the emotion of the story clearly. The few words that are used (only sound words, such as "roar") serve to heighten the emotion.

One question I would ask before a read aloud: Do you have any friends that are very different from you?

10/40: Author's Chair, from 50 Literacy Strategies, by Gail E. Tompkins.

In this strategy, students sit in a special "Author's Chair" and read their own writing aloud to the class. After the student has finished reading, the other students are invited to make comments and ask questions. After sharing Jerry Pinkney's The Lion & The Mouse with the class, I would have the students write their versions of the story to go along with the illustrations in the book. By having the students share their work with the class, we would be able to discuss the differences in everyone's versions, and the different options available in the writing of a story. It would also serve to help the students view themselves as authors.

Fallen Angels

Myers, W. (2008). Fallen Angels. Walter Dean Myers. New York, New York: Scholastic, Inc.

Annotation: This is a riveting story about a young, black boy from Harlem that is not able to go to college, so he enlists in the army and goes off to Vietnam War. He is faced with warfare and wonders why black men in the army are given the most dangerous tasks. It is truly a book to reflect on.

Genre: Coming-of-age

Grade Level: 9-12

Readers who would like this: This would be a great book for someone to read, because it is based on the realities of what our world was like and still like today. It is a heartfelt and thought-provoking book.

Ratings/Response: I give this book a 4, this is an outstanding and well written book. I read it in one sitting. I suggest anyone to read this book.

Reading Strategy: I think the reading logs would be a good way to gauge the students' thoughts and interpretation of the book. I think this along with silent reading strategy would be best for this book. The reading log, students write down what they read and a summary of what they read. The teacher is able to gauge a students true understanding of the book. Silent reading is important as well, because the students that the book is aimed at are more than capable of silently reading to themselves. These two strategies hand-in-hand will keep the teacher aware of how well they are able to comprehend the book as well as gauge their progress in how much they are reading. For grades 9-12, I feel that these are the most appropriate strategies. I think having discussion circles throughout reading the book would be good discussion for the students as well.

My Friend Is Sad

Willems, M. (2007). My Friend Is Sad. Mo Willems. New York, New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Annotation: This is a book about a little elephant named Gerald and he is very sad. His little piggy friend tries to cheer him up, but in the end the only thing that Gerald needed was his friend to cheer him up.

Genre: Humor

Grade Level: Pre-K thru 2nd

Readers who would like this: This is a cute book for a teacher to have in their classroom library and also a book for teachers to create a project from.

Response/Rating: I give this book a 3, I felt like the idea and moral of the story was cute, but I love a lot of graphics and color, so the illustrations were a little plain for me.

Reading strategy: I would choose the storyboard reading strategy. The way that the author uses vocab bubbles for the script is really neat and fun. This strategy allows students to find the main ideas within a story. The students draw a picture and give a caption below explaining what is happening in the picture. I think this strategy would be appropriate, because students can re-create what they saw and heard and make it their own. They can use the same format as the author and create a story about their friend and how they would have made their friend happy if they were sad by correlating it with the main ideas of the story. The students can also share theirs among their classmates to see how they differ.

Oh, Brother!

Bibliographic Information: Grimes, N. (2008). Oh, Brother! Illus. Mike Benny. New York, NY: HarperCollins Children's Books.

Breif Annotation: This collection of poems tells the story of one little boy's changing family, and his final acceptance of these changes.

Genre: Narrative Poetry

Grade Level: 1 - 4

Readers who will like this book: Poetry lovers. Anyone who has had to learn to accept a change in their family.

Rating/Response: 4 out of 4. The poems hit the center of the emotions that many children must face today. The poems are short, allowing for plenty of discussion between, and keep the story moving forward.

One question I would ask before a read aloud: What makes a family? Who belongs in a family?

10/40: "All About . . ." Books from 50 Literacy Strategies by Gail E. Tompkins
Writing "All About" books is a strategy that helps students focus in on a single topic in their writing, and to begin to understand the writing process. Using this strategy tied to Oh, Brother!, the students will write an "All About My Family" book. As it is a personalized topic, each student will have plenty of information to draw from. Working through the writing process, children will create a book containing one or two sentences per page with a corresponding illustration. After revisions, the students will be able to share their books with the class. This strategy is an appropriate instructional match for Oh, Brother!, as it would be about students' individual families. Both the book and the strategy would work wonderfully in a unit on family.

Smokey Night

Bunting, Eve. (1994). Smoky Night. Illus. David Diaz. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt, Inc.

Annotation: This book is about a riot that happens in Los Angeles. With all of the chaos happening outside of a young boy's and mother's apartment, in the end everyone comes together to find solace where they stand.

Genre: Children's picture book

Readers who like this: This would be a great book for a teacher and their students to introduce topics like violence and differences amongst people.

Rating: I give this book a 4. I loved the collage illustration as well as the message behind it. This would be a great book for discussion in the classroom.

Question: Have you ever experienced violence and in what way?

Reading Strategy: The reading strategy I would use would be quilts and K-W-L charts. Quilts are a way for children to illustrate the main ideas of the story. The K-W-L charts are what the student knows about the subject, wants to know, and what they learned. The K-W-L charts would be a good idea to use with the main idea of the story of conflict/hate and resolution. It is something that many of us experience and live everyday in our life. It would be an easy correlation and transition into the book and how students feel about the subject. The students can then use quilts to not only re-create the book, but to display their thoughts and ideas and maybe their experiences with conflict/hate and resolution. These are easy ice-breakers to a subject that can be very controversial and hard to discuss.

Iggy Peck, Architect

Bibliographic Information: Beaty, Andrea. (2007). Iggy Peck, Architect. Illus. David Roberts. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers.

Brief Annotation: Young Iggy Peck is a born architect, but his second grade teacher dashes his dreams until he helps rescue the class by building a bridge.

Genre: Concept

Grade Level: K - 5

Readers who will like this book: Anyone with a dream that makes them a little different from their peers.

Rating/Response: 4 out of 4. In addition to the wonderful rhyming, the illustrations add to the story and provide some details of the tools that architects use.

One question I would ask before a read aloud: Is there anything that you are good at and like to do that is different? What does an architect do?

10/40: Open-Mind Portraits from 50 Literacy Strategies, by Gail E. Tompkins
In this strategy, students are encouraged to consider story characters' thoughts and feelings, pushing them to make inferences, as these ideas may not be directly related in the text. Students first make a portrait of the character's head and neck (for this book, I would suggest either Iggy, or his teacher). Then they cut out the portrait and secure it to several other sheets of blank paper. These last pages will become the "thinking" pages, where students will draw and write about what the character thinks and feels at critical points in the story. After the open-mind portraits are completed, the students share with the class.