From Tadpole to Frog - By Wendy Pfeffer

This is a great book written by Wendy Pfeffer and illustrated by Holy Keller (HarperCollins Publishers 1994). It is a concept picture book made for children grades k-2 with a readability lexile of ages 4-8.

The books tells the story of frog pond and the life cycle of a bullfrog. The first page introduces frog pond in the winter. It asks, "where are the frogs?" The children can see that the frogs are hiding under the bottom of the pond. They are hibernating. As the seasons change, the frogs come up, hug each other and lay eggs. We then follow along as the eggs change into tadpoles and grow. At one point, the tadpoles look a lot like leaves that have fallen and lay on top of the water. The children can try to figure out which ones are leaves and which are tadpoles. The tadpoles spend a winter in hibernation and then turn into frogs the following spring.

This book has great pictures that bring to life the story. Most children are interested in nature and animals that change and grow. This book exposes children to the life cycle of a frog and shows them how it takes place in their environment through the seasons.

Literary Elements:
Onomatopoeia - The frogs "ba ra rooom."
The story uses repetition for effect: "They do not eat. They do not move. They do not sleep."
The author asks the reader a question to involve the child, "Where are the frogs now?"

Mini-lesson:
This story teaches a great science lesson. After reading and discussing, we could do some research on frogs and maybe create an interactive way to share it. We could do something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7l1itPMWc4. We could split into groups and work on finding some interesting information about frogs. Here is a blog about frogs: http://allaboutfrogsdotorg.blogspot.com/. Each group could share an interesting fact or information about a particular type of frog with the class.

How much is a Million? - By David M. Schwartz

This concept book was written by David M. Schwartz and illustrated by Steven Kellogg (HarperCollins 1985). The idea behind the book is to give students a concept of how large the quantity of one million, one billion, and one trillion are.

The book begins by stating, "If one million kids climbed onto one another's shoulders, they would be taller than the tallest buildings, taller than than the highest mountains, and farther up than airplanes can fly." The illustrates show children standing on each others shoulders stacked up higher than an airplane. It tells us how long it would take to count to one million (23 days). It goes on to say how big a fish bowl would need to be to fit one million goldfish and how many pages of tiny stars it would take to fit one million stars in the book. It then uses these same concepts with one billion and one trillion.

The readability lexile is ages 4-8. I think it is a good way to show the abstract ideas of these extremely large numbers.

Mini-lesson:
We could practice writing these numbers and use flashcards with partners.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - By Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett (Athenem Books for Young Readers, New York 1978). It is a fictional picture book story with a readability lexile of ages 9-12. It would be an enjoyable book for grades K-5.

It is a story within a story. One morning, a grandpa accidentally flips a pancake onto his grandson's head. This reminds him of the town, Chewandswallow. He tells his grandson and granddaughter the story as they go to sleep. In Chewandswallow, instead of rain and snow falling from the sky, they had food falling from the sky. There weren't any supermarkets because there wasn't a need. The people would eat whatever fell from the sky that day. It worked out pretty well, until the weather got out of control. The town was being taken over by all the food that was falling from the sky. They had no other choice than to flee the town. They rode on stale bread over the ocean until they came to a new town where the weather was normal. The children fell asleep and when they awoke, the ground was covered with snow. They hurried through breakfast so they could go sledding. They saw a hill covered with snow and the yellow sun peeking up behind it and imagined that they saw mashed potatoes with a pad of butter.

This is a good story that sparks imagination. The illustrations are a bit like a graphic novel. The story is in black and white until it goes into the town of Chewandswallow. When grandpa starts telling the story, a little bit of yellow shades the children from the town as they go into the new world. At the end of the story, it is black and white again except for the yellow of the sun rising over the snow hill (or mashed potatoes).

Literary Elements:
Foreshadowing - When the sun shines on the children, we know they are going to be taken to an imaginary place.

Mini-lesson:
This book could tie in with a weather project or a creative writing project where we create our own story where something falls from the sky.

Home of the Brave - By Katherine Applegate

Home of the Brave is a realistic fictional story written by Katherine Applegate. It is for ages 9 to 12 and is 256 pages written as a poem. It is a beautiful story about a boy who arrives in Minnesota from Sudan. His life in Sudan was in a village with his parents and brother. They took care of and herded cattle. Wealth was determined by how many cattle the family owned. There was violence and his dad and brother were killed. Kek and his mother ran and survived but lost each other. Kek goes to Minnesota to live with his aunt and cousin while they hope to hear news of his mother.

The reader is shown the world through Kek's eyes. He arrived in the winter and had to adjust to all the snow and cold. It is a different world here. Kek befriends an older woman and gets a job taking care of her cow. It makes him feel close to home and like he is doing something good. He is very excited to learn at school and meets people from many different places. Kek finds out that the woman will sell the farm and that he won't be able to take care of the cow once it is sold. This devastates Kek and he tries to run away. He doesn't get far. He stops to see the cow and his cousin comes to talk with him. They both have the pain of watching family die and it is hard. Kek feels guilty for surviving and wonders why he was able to survive. At the end of the story, his mother arrives in Minnesota and it is their new home.

This story is heart-felt and touching. It really puts the reader in the place of being so new to a place that is so far away. Kek is a kind boy and has to adjust to the changes. I can only imagine how hard that would be. I believe this book helps us imagine. I think that children would enjoy reading it and that it would help them understand what some people have been through in order to be here. It is good for immigrants to read because they will be able to relate to it so well.

Kek grew through the story. He had to accept that he should not feel guilty for running away and for surviving. It was a gift that he survived. He learned to make Minnesota his new home. It is a very different place, but it can be home too.

Mini-lesson:
I think this would be a great book to discuss in small groups. The students could have a literacy circle in which they are given roles that facilitate discussion. They could learn a lot by thinking deeply about this book and from the thoughts of their fellow students.

Fairy Trails - By Susan Middleton Elya

Fairy Trails was written by Susan Middleton Elya and illustrated by Mercedes McDonald. It is a fictional story about two young people that travel through a few different fairy tales on their way to their aunt's house. The story is told mostly in English and also has a few Spanish words. The words rhyme and it is pretty apparent what the meaning of the Spanish words are by the context of the story.

For example, the first page states,

"Miguel and Maria, on one summer dia,
left home to go visit their auntie - their tia."

Miguel and Maria find a gingerbread house and escape the brujita (witch) only to find a big, bad wolf. Each page contains a different fairy tale character that they run into, but promptly leave because they need to go see their aunt. They see Cinderella and the 3 bears before arriving at their aunts house. They have a nice meal, comment on their auntie's neighbor, Humpty Dumpty. They get a magic carpet ride home from Aladdin and are tucked into bed.

This book was created for children grades K to 2 and the readability is for ages 4-8. The illustrations are bright and nicely done. I think that children would enjoy the fact that they might recognize the fairy tales that the characters are walking through and decoding some of the Spanish words.

Literary Elements:
Allusion - The book refers to different fairy tales that the reader picks up on.
Personification - A wolf and an egg walk and talk in the story.
Foreshadowing - Maria and Miguel walk down a trail towards what looks like a gingerbread house.

Mini-lesson:
I think a good mini-lesson to go with this book is to show how we can find the meaning of words by the words around them. We use the context of the story to figure out the meaning of words we don't know. In this case, they are Spanish words, but we can use this skill in the same way for English words. We could also discuss the Spanish words in the book and possibly learn some new words.

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.