Jean Fritz, Homesick: My Own Story

How cute is this little girtl?! I mean, I can picture her walking down the street skipping school, sitting in her boat, tricking her Lin Nai Nai. But, I think that each character has something to offer the reader. The friend who knows too much, the mom who makes Jean abide by the rules, her dad who bends the rules, and even the bully with his square knees. I think that this book is good for young readers looking to relate to a character far away in space and time, but so close in behaviors and imagination. I think the books that I like the most are the ones that remind me so vividly of being kid myself. Sometimes we forget how important simple things can be, and how children view the world.

For this reason, I believe that the best age group for this book would be those on the verge of shedding their egocentric view of the world, 5th, maybe even 6th grade. I think that there are several excellent opportunities in this book for students to evaluate Jeans actions, which are so authentic I wouldn't be surprised if students had themselves been in the same situations. They could read, and then discuss in small or large groups Jeans actions, and then perhaps debate why or why not they felt Jean was validated in her behaviors. For many of these issues, I believe I would be on the fence, such as singing to King George, and could see both sides of the argument. When students are asked not only to read, but to evaluate what they read, and then apply it to their own lives, and consider other students points of view, they are gaining more that rote memorization of facts. They are learning life skills, and are learning how to think for themselves, not what to think. I believe this is the core of education, and any tool I can use (such as a novel like Homesick), to make that education realized is a must in my classroom.  

You Wouldn't Want to Be an Egyptian Mummy! Disgusting Things you'd Rather Not Know

Funny, gross, intriguing, everything a little boy (and some girls) would love! This "how to" guide shows you how to be mummified if you were a rich Egyptians 3,000 years ago. It shows you how to hire mourners, recycle linen, even protect yourself from grave robbers.Pointing out religious practices, architectural features, and several Pharaohs, this book teaches about Ancient Egypt while entertaining the reader.

 This book is a part of a group of books known as the You Wouldn't Want To Be series which explores historic eras and the grisly facts that surrounded them. It is a great way to engage students to want to learn more!

The illustrations are cartoon like, and funny, and sometimes a little too accurate! Like when they show the contents of the Canopic Jars, Yuck!!! My favorite part about the illustrations is their focus on detail. The pictures offer artwork, furniture, food, architecture, tools, and hieroglyphics that made up the Egyptian world. You are drawn into this book thought the imagery and its raw honesty. Many times teachers and parents wish to sugar coat difficult topics, but this book is refreshing in its brunt presentation of the topic while approaches it in a light and funny manner. I think that kids appreciate being told "the truth" and would really enjoy the layout and presentation of this book. These books would be fun to keep in the classroom to use as a read aloud to introduce new topics in social studies, or just to allow students to expand their knowledge on certain content in their free time. I would like to check out the rest of the series, especially You wouldn't want to be married to King Henry VIII!

The Reason for the Seasons

This book, by Gail Gibbons helps to rid many alternative conceptions people have about what causes the changes in the Earths seasons. It offers an excellent description of the tilt of the Earths axis, and how the hemisphere you live on effects what weather a season has. This book also describes the what the sun looks like at particular times of the year, and how the equinox and the solstice differ. This picture book is an excellent book for younger grades to learn about the seasons, but it is also good for anyone else looking to brush up on their understanding of the topic. I know I learned a great deal reading this book, and feel like it is a good guide for a teacher looking to be able to explain complex information in "kid language".

The Author of this book has developed a website to accompany the book available at http://users.manchester.edu/Student/SNAlva/WebsiteSeasons/index.htm. This resource is aimed at 3rd graders, and offers several activities for use before, during and after reading the book. In addition, the site offers assessment worksheets and a grading rubric for teachers to use.  

Don't Know Much About the Presidents

Did you know that James Buchanan was the only president to never get married? Or that Rutherford B. Hayes had the first telephone installed in the White House? Did you know his phone number was 1?! Well I didn't until I read this book. It is a densely packed picture book full of all the things you could ever want to know (and some stuff no one needs to know) about all forty-four of the U.S. Presidents. This book is definitely not a read aloud to read cover to cover, but would be fun to pull out in class when you have a couple of minutes to kill. Each entry has the presidents cartoon picture, his number in line, the years he served, a quote, and several little know facts. Each president also has a timeline which covers a few of the significant events during their term. I really like this book, and although I would not recommend students to use this as a resource for a biography project, it might help them make an interesting opening sentence to one!

We're Sailing Down the Nile

This is book is a sing song, rhyming invitation to enter the historic and the present day world of the Egyptians. As you travel in a boat down the Nile, you encounter familiar historic landmarks, but also meet new contemporary features of society today. For example, you get to visit a Marketplace called Sharia as-Souq, and a park called Kitchener's Island are enjoyed by modern Egyptians. In addition, the modern city of Cairo resembles New York City with its huge population and its high reaching sky scrapers.

I feel like meeting these modern aspects of Egypt is extremely important, as our students typically only learn about ancient Egypt. Even as an adult, I still feel disconnected from many Middle Eastern countries because I feel like their is a gap between our worlds not only in space, but in time.

After the story, many supplementary materials are offered on Egyptian culture. The Map of the country, in proximity to the Mediterranean, Israel, and Jordan is shown, with many of the destinations from the story displayed with over sized pictures and symbols. A list of facts of each landmark is offered, describing recent events as well as modern uses of each. Then, the book offers a historical look at each period of Egypt, starting with the Early Dynastic (3000-2575 BC) to the Late period (664-332 BC). An outline of the social hierarchy of Egypt followed by job descriptions of Ancient Egyptians. Several other informational pieces are included, which makes this book an excellent picture book for a read aloud and then left in the classroom for extended research for students who were interested. As second grade is when students will be studying the ancient civilizations, I believe this book would be beneficial to teachers in this grade, as well as any other who thinks their students would be interested in the subject.   

W is for Wind: A Weather Alphabet

This series is a classroom must! Sleeping Bear Press has compiled a series of books which take specific subjects and arrange information into alphabet form. Each book is written by experts in that specific field. This particular book was written by a fifteen year meteorologist and storm chaser Pat Michaels. 

Each page introduces the new topic such as "L is for lightning". Then, a four lined rhyming description of that topics significance. Then, in the margin, an in depth  description of that topic is included, which is typically several paragraphs long. Beautiful illustrations complement each topic. These features lend this book to be a great picture book, whether to younger students learning the alphabet, to older students learning about a specific subject, or how to write poetry, or even as a reference book for detailed information. 

This series has won the Teachers Choice Award in 2007 for Children's Books, and it is no surprise why. The series covers many, many topics, from all fifty states (an entire alphabet book per state including Washington DC), sports such as ice hockey, soccer and baseball, different countries (Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Japan, Canada), and science topics such as the weather, plants, and how-to-be-green. These are just a few of the extensive subjects this series explores, a full list can be found at   http://www.sleepingbearpress.com/educators/. But the best part is that each book has an extensive online pdf built in for each book that can be found on this website. These pdfs include word games, writing prompts, scavenger hunts for book content, and other exciting activities for students.  Each pdf is available for reproduction "...for use in the classroom with this express written consent of Sleeping Bear Press".

What a great resource for teachers! and when the books can be bought for seven dollars each in paperback, its hard to pass up. When I found this book I had to buy it, and now that I've had a chance to explore the website and find out all they have to offer, I am definitely adding this series to my Christmas list!

Martin's Big Words

This book is amazing. It is simple, yet takes your breath away. The pages hold no names, no dates, no data to obscure the main point of the book. Martin Luther King Jr. passes from child to man in course of two pages. The text is light enough for younger students to read, or be read to, but the content is so deep that even fifth and sixth graders would be intrigued by it. You can see the simplicity by the cover, which offers no title, nor the name of the author or illustrator. His character is so renowned, his face is so unforgettable, that there is no need. 

The author Doreen Rappaport intertwines her narrative with the words of Martin Luther Kings Jr's so that his words pervade the pages. She even sacrifices her text to be smaller and black, while his are larger, bolded, and in a new color on every page. She describes his words in simplistic terms, she writes: "Martin said "Love" when others said "Hate." Then reinforces this statement with a quote " Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that." 

The illustrator Brian Collier used collage to illustrate the pages of this book. Rich colors fill the pages in a full bleed, while the character are strong and lifelike. The first page offers a paragraph describing the reasoning behind the illustrators motives. Many of the pictures have text that appears randomly placed, but can be analyzed for deeper meaning. For example, the windows on the bus on one page say only... life.... and ...rules. Although not a complete sentence in their isolation, the meaning leads to the fact that although white ministers, mayors, governors, police chiefs and judges told African Americans to end their peaceful protests, that all those officials really had no authority over the protesters actions. Many of the other words could be analyzed by older students as part of an activity after reading this book. 

Although the story itself lacks significant detail for fluidity, it does offer a timeline of the major events in  MLK Jr's life. It begins with his birth and marks laws that were passed and eradicated, as well as extending after his death to mark accomplishments that occurred in the wake of his influence on the civil rights movement. This book is wonderful, but I suggest you read it several times before presenting it to a class, I had to have a good cry after my first read!

This book won the Caldecott Honor, as well as the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Best illustrated Children's Book Award from the NY Times Book Review in 2001.