All in a Day - By Cynthia Ryland and Nikki McClure

All in a Day, by Chynthia Rylant and illustrated by Nikki McClure is a picture book about enjoying the gifts that a day can bring.

The book starts out, “A day is a perfect piece of time to live a life, to plant a seed.” It shows a boy gardening, a plant sprouting, and the boy being kind by sweetly feeding a chicken. One of the pages shows another boy throwing eggs, which appears to be hurtful to the boy and the chicken. But, the boy moves on and the writing says, “You can make a wish and start again. You can find your way back home.” The boy then takes a rest with his mother in a hammock. The book goes on to talk about the promise of a new day and the love it can bring, even when it rains. At the end, it states that today is the only today and it won’t come back again.

I enjoyed this book. I like that it is all about the things we can do and appreciate in the day that we have. The illustrations were simple and good. The drawings were created with black paper an exacto knife, so the outlines are in hard and black. The entire book is black and white, with blue and yellow back grounds. This book was written for K-4 and the readability is ages 4-8. I think it is nice to remind children and adults the importance of enjoying the day: planting seeds, making wishes, watching the sun go across the sky, and finding their way home.

Mini-lesson:

The students can think about the memory of a great day that they had. What types of things happened in that day? What makes that day so special? What makes any day special? They could free write about a special day in their lives.

Math Curse - By Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

Math Curse, written and illustrated by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (Viking, Penguin Books. New York 1995) is a fun, fictional story about how math is everywhere we look.

In the beginning of the book, the teacher (Mrs. Fibonacci) tells the class that they could think of almost everything as a math problem. The next day, the child starts seeing everything as math problems. She sees the time it takes to do things in the morning and the time she has to leave as a problem. The number of shirts in the closet is a problem. The quarts in a gallon of milk are a problem. The number of children already picked up compared with the ones that haven't yet, is a problem. Everything is a math problem! The child is sure the Mrs. Fibonacci put a curse on her and she can't stop seeing things in math terms.

It is an exciting, energetic book with many math problems. It is entertaining and it proves the point that math really is everywhere. The illustrations add a lot to the story. At one point, the character turns into a "raving math lunatic." The words start to go around the page and the child is writing all kinds of equations on the board until she finally escapes and the curse is over.

Sometimes math seems so abstract and far away from day to day life. This book makes math exciting and crazy and all over the place. It is a good book to read and has a good message. The book says that it is for ages 6-99. It's a longer book to read and there are actually quite a few equations in the book.

It is unclear whether the child in the story is male or female. I first assumed it was a boy, but after looking through the story again, I realized that it is ambiguous. I think that it is good that it is ambiguous because it can help the children put themselves into the story.

Literary Elements:

Hyperbole - You can think of everything as a math problem.

Foreshadowing - It says, "then the problems really begin," indicating that the math problems are going to get worse.

Mini-lesson:
We can explore the math concepts around us. Where is math in our everyday lives? We could create our own math problems from our own lives and share with small groups.

Floatsam - By David Wiesner

Flotsam is another wonderful book created by David Wiesner (Clarion Books New York. 2006). It does not have any words and the pictures tell the wonderful story.

A boy finds an old camera on the beach. He brings it around to see if the camera belongs to anyone, but no one knows where it came from. He brings the film from the camera in to be developed. After waiting a long time, he gets the most amazing photographs. They were taken underwater and show the different worlds in the ocean. A mechanical fish swims by. An octopus reads a story to young octopi. Shells are like condos with mini people living in them. The pictures are so creative and interesting. The last picture is of a girl holding a photograph of another child holding a photograph of another child holding a photograph, and so on. He uses his microscope to see all the children holding photographs of the other children until he can see the original image. It is a boy on the beach a very long time ago. After scratching his head wondering what to do, he takes a picture of himself holding the photograph and tosses the underwater camera into the ocean. The camera travels through the different worlds of the ocean and is carried by sea life until it reaches the shore and the hands of a girl on a beach far away. This story is full of imagination. The camera shows what we cannot see in the ocean. The photographs of the children are like a conversation they are having through time and passing it on to the next child.

The reading level was set at ages 4-8. I think that this book has a great way of sharing a story with children.

Mini-lesson:
We could do some investigating on what is at the bottom of the ocean. We could start a research project, watch a video of a deep sea scuba diver, and write our own story of life out in the sea where there aren't any people. We could discover new worlds and share them with small groups.

Sector 7 - By David Wiesner

Sector 7 was created and illustrated by David Wiesner (Clarion Books New York. 1999). This book has no words, but tells a wonderful story. A class field trip brings a group of students to the Empire State building. They go to the viewing deck, but the sky is full of clouds and that is all they can see. A boy with a red hat starts to interact with one of the clouds. The clouds clear away and the sky becomes blue. The cloud takes the boy with him to sector 7, where clouds are made. The blueprints for the clouds are always the same, puffy shape. The boy draws some new clouds that look like interesting fish and an octopus. The clouds love it, but the the people that work there are not so happy. The boy is forced to leave and go back to the Empire State Building. The teacher calls the students because it is time to go. When they get to street level, people are pointing at the amazing clouds that the boy created.

This is what they see:
Amazon.com says the reading level is ages 4-8. There are no words, but the children need to be able to understand the concepts of what is happening in the story. It is a beautiful story. Somehow words would just take away from it. It is peaceful and full of imagination. I enjoyed it very much.

A mini-lesson after looking at this book would be to discuss clouds, the types of clouds, and how clouds are created. We could go outside and see if we can use our imaginations to see a cool shape in the clouds. We could do an art project where we create our own clouds.

Madam President - By Lane Smith

Madam President, written and illustrated by Lane Smith (Hyperion Books for Children New York. 2008) is a fictional day in the life of a young girl pretending to be the President of the United States. It is fun and humorous book. Katy spends the day kissing babies, vetoing, giving a press conference, and spreading peace and diplomacy everywhere she goes. She leaves people holding mini American flags after she solves their problem. During her press conference, she says, "That's top secret. No comment. I'll get back to you on that. I won't dignify that with an answer." She goes on and on. It is funny because sometimes it seems like our leaders do say those types of things over and over. Katy goes home and has to deal with a disaster: her room. She cleans her room because she must lead by example.

The illustrations add a lot to the book. The fact that everyone has a tiny flag after she leaves is super funny. After she kisses the baby, the surprised and possibly a little confused baby looks out from the stroller with a flag.

One of the pages has large words about how the President is, "the most important person in the whole world!" Then in small writing at the bottom, it states, "And the most humble."

Children grades K to 3 would enjoy this book. The readability lexile is ages 4 to 8. In the book, Katy names some of her cabinet members. She names her piggy bank the Secretary of the Treasury and her potato head the Secretary of Agriculture. A logical mini-lesson to follow this book would be to discuss our political system. The concept of a veto could be introduced. We could discuss the branches of government and then create some of our own cabinet members like Katy does.

This book is fun and clever. I like that the character is a young girl and that she is so bright and full of energy.

No, David! - By David Shannon

No, David! was written and illustrated by David Shannon (The Blue Sky Press New York. 1998). It was inspired by a book that David had wrote when he was five years old. The only words he knew how to write were 'no' and 'David.' He used this concept to write this book and as inspiration for the character of David.

The pages of this book are full of David doing something he shouldn't be doing. He tracks mud into the house, causes the bath to overflow, plays with his food, and so on. His mother is telling him to stop doing what he is doing. He plays ball in the house after his told not to and breaks a vase. He is sent to the corner and is sad about it. At the end of the story, David's mom shows him that she loves him. She gives him a big hug and says, "Yes, David...I love you!"

The illustrations are great in this book. The feeling of the little boy are very apparent on his face. Young children would recognize that he is being naughty and that he feels bad about it later. He is looking for forgiveness and love from his mom with his big eyes and he gets it. Some of the illustrations are humorous. David runs down the street naked and when he has food in his mouth, there are entire chicken legs and carrots in there. When he picks his nose, the picture is extremely close and it is pretty funny.

The reading level is from baby to pre-school. It is a book with a nice message: You will still be unconditionally loved. A good mini-lesson would be to make a book of "Yes, (child's name)!" The children could create a book full of the good things they do that they should be proud of.

India ABCs - By Marcie Aboff

India ABC's, written by Marcie Aboff and illustrated by Frances Moore (Picture Window Books, Minneapolis, MN 2006) is a concept book introducing the culture of India. The reading lexile is ages 4-8.

Each page is beautifully illustrated and shows the children something about the culture of India. It starts out, "A is for Art, B is for British India, C is for Cricket, D is for Diwali..." Each topic is explained in detail. I think that children would be interested in this book because the pictures tell a story about a far away place. It introduces clothing, food, spirituality, and leaders of India. I enjoyed reading this book.

I feel that it is important to honor the diversity in the classroom and that this would be a good book to have on the shelf.

Mini-lesson:
The students could do a group or individual project in which they chose one page of the book to do some further research on. We could find ways to bring it to life by eating parantha (flat bread) and learning about about a Diwali celebration.