Chapter book 12

Title: When you reach me
Illustrator: Rebecca Stead
Genre: Chapter book
Sub Genre: Realistic/ biographical fiction
Theme: Friendships are important
Primary and Secondary Characters: Miranda and Sal
Award(s) date of publication: 2010 Newbery Honor Award
Brief Summary: Miranda and Sal are best friends. They both live in New York. They grew up together. The area they live in is a little shady, so they are always sticking with one another. If someone that looks strange or out of place, they avoid that area, but still they go with each other. One day Sal stops spending time with Miranda and even avoids her. Miranda isn't sure why Sal is doing this and she finds comfort in a book she is reading called a wrinkle in time. She finds a new friend in the main character of the book.
Used in the Classroom: This was a sad book. It is well-written, but heavy for students. If any students were to read this, I would say secondary. It's a good book, and I think that a discussion would be great for a book like this. I think if all of the students were to spend so much time reading it each day, the following day could be devoted to discussion.

Chapter book 11

Title: One Crazy Summer
Illustrator: Rita Williams-Garcia
Genre: Historical Fiction
Sub Genre: Biographical and Realistic Fiction
Theme: Life and self-discovery are journeys
Primary and Secondary Characters: Delphine and her two sisters
Award(s) date of publication: 2011 Newbery, Coretta Scott Award
Brief Summary:This book is about Delphine and her two sisters and their summer. The story is mostly about Delphine and her journey. The story takes place in a few different areas, but in some places they count to see how many people are like them. They look out windows and really just observe their surroundings. They notice that there aren't too many people that look like them. Throughout the book, Delphine decides to learn and grow. She wants to understand more about herself, her mom, and the world they live in.
Used in the Classroom: This is a good book that I think older students would really enjoy reading. I don't know if all students would enjoy this book. It is not the lightest of books, but I think that it is something that should be introduced because similar situations did happen.

Chapter book 10

Title: Heart of a Samurai
Illustrator: Margi Preus
Genre: Chapter book
Sub Genre: Historical/ Realistic Fiction
Theme: Dreams can come true
Primary and Secondary Characters: Manjiro
Award(s) date of publication: 2011 Newbery
Brief Summary: Manjiro is a 14 year old boy from Japan. One day when his ship wrecks, he and the others are forced to live in New England. This story takes place in 1841. Everyone is going to California to look for gold. Manjiro decides to go there, too. He ends up in San Francisco trying to make a fortune. Things don't go as he planned and he ends up going back to Japan. There, he is sent to prison. They don't consider him as one of them. Although this is very bad situation for Manjiro, he is only able to see the positive. He has always wanted to be a Samurai. That was his dream. Because of his gained knowledge of the west, his dream just might come true.
Used in the Classroom: This would be a great book for older students to read. This is something that could be presented and introduced in the class, but I think that students should read this on their own time. I think that it should be available within the classroom library maybe. Students could frist write how they think things will turn out for Manjiro. They could learn more about that specific culture and other related topics.

Chapter book 9

Title: Breaking Stalin's Nose
Illustrator: Eugene Yelchin
Genre: Chapter book
Sub Genre: Historical/ Realistic Fiction
Theme: Perceptions of heroes and leaders differ
Primary and Secondary Characters: Sasha Zaichi
Award(s) date of publication: 2012 Newbery Award Winner
Brief Summary: This is a historical and realistic fiction. Sasha is a fictional character. He is a young boy living in Russia. His father works, so they live a decent life due to benefits that his dad receives. This story covers one day and one night with a lot taking place. During the story, Sasha expresses how he feels about Stalin. He really looks up to him. Stalin is a leader and most people view him as an enemy, but in this story, Sasha views him as a hero.
Used in the Classroom: The things that take place in the book are mostly true. This would be a great book to introduce to older students. They would be able to learn about that point and time in history. They could do other projects following the book. They could read books that have a very different opinion about Stalin and then compare the two. This was a very interesting book and I really like the fact that it stayed so true to the events of that era.

Picture book 24

Title: Barnyard Banter
Illustrator:Denise Fleming
Genre:Picture Book
Sub Genre: animal/realistic fiction
Theme: learning about animals can be fun
Primary and Secondary Characters: none
Award(s) date of publication: 1994
Brief Summary: This book is about animals also. There is an objective though. The goal is to find the goose. Throughout the story, the author asks where is the goose? Not all of the words rhyme. The sounds that animals make are introduced and presented throughout the book.
Used in the Classroom: This is a good book to introduce science or something related to the book. Students could read this book and then write their own story similar to it. They could write about butterflies or puppies or anything. The pictures are great. Students could be encouraged or inspired to create their own pieces of art to help tell a story.

Picture book 23

Title: In the tall, tall grass
Illustrator: Denise Fleming
Genre: Picture book
Sub Genre: poetry
Theme: There is a lot to learn about nature and it can be very interesting.
Primary and Secondary Characters: none
Award(s) date of publication: 1991
Brief Summary: This is a book telling about nature from the perspective of a young child. The book include caterpillars and humming birds. It tells a little information about each thing mentioned in the book. Everything rhymes and the pictures are beautiful.
Used in the Classroom: This book would be great for lower levels. The pictures will really capture the students' attention. The words rhyme, so the book is a lot of fun to read. The words are huge and everything is kind of exaggerated. This would be great to introduce a larger concept related to science in some way. This would be a great book to read and then to ask students to create some form of representation or presentation to explain what they have learned.

Picture book 22

Title: Bootsie Barker Bites
Illustrator: Peggy Rathmann
Genre: Picture book
Sub Genre: Realistic Fiction
Theme: People can be challenging. There are ways to deal with it though.
Primary and Secondary Characters: Charlene and Bootsie
Award(s) date of publication: 1992
Brief Summary: Charlene has to play with Bootsie, her mother's friend's daughter. Bootsie has a bad temper and is very hard to deal with. Charlene tries to be nice to her and play with her, but it's just so difficult. Bootsie continues to pretend that she is a dinosaur. One day, Charlene finds out that Bootsie is coming over to spend the night. Charlene is terrified and decides to talk to her mom. Her mom tells her to think it through. Charlene handles the situation very well. It's a great ending.
Used in the Classroom: This is a very short book. Students will really enjoy reading this. This would best be introduced and read alone. This would be a great Book Talk book. There are a lot of opinions and thoughts that this book generates. I think that students will be able to relate to this and there should be a lot of discussion from it. It's such a great book to read. It's so cute and I loved it! I think students will enjoy it too if nothing else.
Primary and Secondary Characters: Bootsie Barker
Award(s) date of publication:1992
Brief Summary:
Used in the Classroom:

Picture book 21

Title: Momma, Where are you from?
Illustrator: Chris K. Soentpiet
Genre: Picture book
Sub Genre: Realistic/ historical/ biographical fiction
Theme: we all have a past. the past is full of good memories that makes us who we are.
Primary and Secondary Characters: The young girl and momma
Award(s) date of publication: 2000
Brief Summary:One day, a young girl asks her mom where she is from. The young girl is full of questions. Her mother replies with artifacts and moments in her past. She tells her daughter all about herself with past events. She tells her what she use to do, what she use to cook, but all of what she tells her is introduced by the sentence, "I'm from." For example, she says, "I'm from beans - green, lima, and pea - picked, strung, snapped, and shelled into pans, then put on the stove to simmer for an hour."
Used in the Classroom: I think this would be a good book to read to students. It may be different from what they are use to. I really enjoyed the response the mother gave. It showed creativity of expression. This might inspire students to do the same. This could introduce another topic or a creative project could follow this book.

Picture book 20

Title: Mammalabilia
Illustrator:Douglas Florian
Genre:Picture book
Sub Genre: Poetry
Theme: Animals have fun facts!
Primary and Secondary Characters:None
Award(s) date of publication: 2000
Brief Summary: Each animal has it's own poem. They are very short. For example, there is one about a coyote, and it says, " I prowl. I growl. My howl is throaty. I love a vowel, for I am a coyooooote. There is no order in which these animals or poems are presented, but there are a variety of them. Some of them take the shape of the subject being read. For example, when talking about a camel, the poem is in the shape of the camel's back.
Used in the Classroom: This is a great way to share with students. They can learn about the different animals. It also shows the ways in which poems can be written. I think that it would show students that poems don't always have to be long and serious. They can be fun and full of facts. They don't always have to be factual, but they can be. I think that this book is very interesting and that students would enjoy reading this. Younger students could benefit from this and this book is something that could be read to them during the class time. If there was a similar subject or topic related to animals, reading this book would be a great way of introducing that topic.

Picture Book 19

Title: Word Play ABC
Illustrator: Heather Cahoon
Genre:Picture book
Sub Genre: poetry
Theme: every letter stands for something
Primary and Secondary Characters: none
Award(s) date of publication:1999
Brief Summary: This is a very short book. Each letter that is presented has a different object attached to it. For example, the book starts out with a and end with z. For the letter d, dragonfly is used. It continues on like this. There is one word for each picture/ page.
Used in the Classroom: I think that this is a good book for introducing and increasing the students' vocabulary. I think that it is also a great way of teaching the alphabet. I think that after this book is read in the class, students can be encouraged to find things that go with certain letters and they can create their own book. I think it is very fun and great for younger students just learning the alphabet, vocabulary, or how to read books.

Picture Book 18

Title: The Reverend Thomas's False Teeth
Illustrator: Dena Schutzer
Genre: Picture book
Sub Genre: Realistic Fiction
Theme: When people work together, nothing is impossible
Primary and Secondary Characters: Gracie, Reverend Thomas
Award(s) date of publication: 1995
Brief Summary: One day, Gracie learns that Reverend Thomas is going to come over to eat fried chicken with her and her family. Everyone is extremely excited and anxious to see Reverend Thomas. Once he arrives, however, everyone starts to notice that something is different about the Reverend... he has lost is teeth! Where have they gone? How did you lose them? Everyone starts to asks questions. He tells them that he lost them when getting off of the boat. They all work together to look for his teeth in the water. They try everything they can think of. Will, Gracie's brother, picks up and gathers every object that is in the water except for the Reverend's teeth. Gracie decides to sink a string down in the water to see if she can catch Reverend Thomas's teeth. Someone she is able to. Gracie saves the day, and the Reverend is able to eat the delicious fried chicken after all.
Used in the Classroom: This would just be a fun book to show everyone. There's some mystery to it. I think that students would really start to wonder what happened... how he lost his teeth and how Gracie was able to get them back just using a piece of string. This would be so great to read to the class. I think they will enjoy it and learn a little something about teamwork! Excellent book!

Picture Book 17

Title: A Couple of Boys have the Best Week Ever
Illustrator: Marla Frazee
Genre: Picture book
Sub Genre: Realistic Fiction
Theme:Memories are made with family and friends. Small things can turn into very important and special moments in a young child's life
Primary and Secondary Characters: James and Eamon
Award(s) date of publication: 2008
Brief Summary: This book is about two young boys who are best friends. They are preparing to go on a trip to the beach. On the way there and during their stay once there, they do so many fun things together. They have knew experiences and learn a lot about the ocean. This was such a cute book. My favorite part was when they were looking at the clams on the dock. The two little best friends do everything together for one week, and it turns out to be the best week of they have had yet.
Used in the Classroom: I think students will be able to relate to this. It's a feel-good book, and I think both boys and girls would really enjoy reading it. I think that it would inspire students to go on their own adventures. This would be a great book to read to the class during a break or something. There are not very many pages, and I think it would keep all of the students' attention. I loved it...they will too.