The Sweetest Fig

Title: The Sweetest Fig

Author and Illustrator: Chris Van Allsburg

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company (http://www.hmhco.com/)

Publication Date: 1993

Genre: Picture Book

Audience: Grades PreK-2

Awards: Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award Winner [Grades 3-8], Rhode Island Children's Book Award

Overview: The Sweetest Fig tells the story of a unkindly dentist named Bibot who takes out the painful tooth of an elderly woman, only to find that she does not have the money to pay for the procedure. Instead, she pays Bibot with two figs that she claims will make his dreams come true. The dentist also has a dog who he does not treat very well. He is very strict and unloving towards him. Well, after eating the first fig Bibot's dream about going out it public in his underwear comes true. So, he decides to concentrate very hard on being the richest man on earth before eating the next fig, hoping to dream of just that. Finally after days of dreaming the right dream, he decides to eat the fig. While his back is turned his dog hops up on the table and gobbles the fig up. The story ends when Bibot wakes up the next morning to find that the magical fig works on dogs too...

Activity: An activity to go with The Sweetest Fig would be to have the students imagine what they would try to dream about, like Bibot tries to dream about being the richest man on earth. This would make a great art activity. You could also bring in figs for students to try, since this is not a very common fruit and many may not have seen or tried one before.

Reviewer's Name: Allison Parsons

Title: Jumanji

Author and Illustrator: Chris Van Allsburg

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company (http://www.hmhco.com/)

Publication Date: 1981

Genre: Adventure

Audience: Grades PreK-2

Awards: The New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book, The New York Times Outstanding Books, American Book Award for illustration from the Association of American Publishers, Children's Choice from the International Reading Association, Boston Globe Horn Book Award for illustration, Caldecott Medal, Kentucky Bluegrass Award from Ohio State Library, Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award from the Washington Library Media Association, West Virginia Children's Book Award, Golden Archer Primary Award Winner from the Wisconsin Educational Media Association

Overview: Jumanji tells the story of a brother and sister who are left home alone one evening by their parents. When they are playing in the park, they find a board game and take it home. They read the instructions carefully, and begin the game. At first, they believe it to be an ordinary board game. However, they soon realize that the squares that their pieces land on become real life. For example, when Judy loses a turn because "monkeys steal their food" they hear noises from the kitchen and run to see monkeys everywhere. They are forced to continue playing the game, despite the appearance of something new and awful with each turn, until one of them reaches Jumanji. Finally, Judy reaches the

Activity: The fourth rule for the game of Jumanji states: Once a game of Jumanji is started it will not be over until one player reaches the golden city. Use this rule as a writing prompt for students. Have them write about a time that they started something and didn't finish it right away. Did it make a mess? Did the mess go away once they finished what they had started? A picture can be drawn of their experiences as well.

Reviewer's Name: Allison Parsons

The Stranger

Title: The Stranger

Author and Illustrator: Chris Van Allsburg

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company (http://www.hmhco.com/)

Publication Date: 1986

Genre: Picture book

Audience: Grades PreK-2

Awards: The New York Times best illustrated children's book, Parent's Choice Award for Illustration from the Parents' Choice Foundation

Overview: This book is about a man who loses his memory when he is hit by a truck. The farmer who accidentally hit him takes him into his home until he can remember who he is. While the stranger is staying there, the family notices small signs that this man is no ordinary human. For example, he is able to play and talk with wild rabbits, and seems to have a fascination with migrating geese. They also notice that the season is not changing to fall like it should be. One day, the stranger stands on a hill and looks all around realizing that the leaves are beautiful colors of red and orange everywhere except for the few miles surrounding the farm where he has been staying. All of a sudden he remembers who he is. We know this because the next day he is dressed back in his own clothes and says goodbye to the family. The story ends as a mystery as to who the stranger is, but every year when the frost comes and fall begins to settle in, the farmer sees a message written in frost on the windows, "See you next fall."

Activity: I think this book would make a great book for a discussion/debate. This is the first activity that came into my head after reading, because I immediately wanted someone else to read it so that we could talk about it together. The story really makes you think and consider very small details. I think a class discussion about who the stranger is, or even a debate if there are just a couple of ideas about who he is, would really work well with the story.

Reviewer's Name: Allison Parsons

The Wreck of the Zephyr

Title: The Wreck of the Zephyr

Author and Illustrator: Chris Van Allsburg

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company (http://www.hmhco.com/)

Publication Date: 1983

Genre: Picture book

Audience: Grades PreK-2

Awards: The New York Times best illustrated children's book, the New York Times outstanding books

Overview: This book tells a story within a story. In the beginning of a book, a man finds a shipwrecked boat at the top of a hill with a man sitting inside and wonders how the boat ever could have gotten so high up on land. The man who is sitting in the boat tells him the story of the boat's owner, who wanted to be the greatest sailor in the world. He finds a way to fly his boat above the water, but is told that he must not go over land, for he will lose the wind. In his effort to be known as the greatest sailor in the world, he decided to fly directly over his town. Of course, the boat loses it's wind and lands on top of the hill. The book ends with a twist (which is very typical for Van Allsburg) as the man who told the story tells what became of the "greatest sailor in the world".

Activity: This book would make a great read aloud, and lesson on inferencing. After reading the book, ask students a question that is not technically answered in the book, such as, "Why do you think the old man needs a cane to walk?" or "Where is the old man going to sail to at the end of the story?" Have students support their answers with direct quotes from the book.

Reviewer's Name: Allison Parsons

¡Quiero Ayudar! Let Me help!

Title: ¡Quiero Ayudar! Let Me help!

Author: Alma Flor Ada

Illustrator: Angela Dominguez

Publisher: Children's Book Press http://www.childrensbookpress.org/

Publication Date: 2010

Genre: Multicultural, Animals, Picture Book

Audience: Gr. PreK-2

Overview: This is a book about a parrot who just wants to help! His family is getting ready for the Cinco de Mayo celebration. The family has a barge and they planned to have a picnic on the San Antonio River. He goes all around the house asking for help, but everyone shoos him away! Finally when they are on the river, there barge goes under a bridge and their topmost decoration got knocked off. This was Percio the parrot's chance to help. You will have to read the book to see what happened!

Activity: This book has he words written in bot English and Spanish. What you could do with the is book is to incorporate both languages into a lesson about Cinco De Mayo. By using both languages students of all backgrounds can learn something new.

Reviewer’s Name: Paige Martin

One Morning in Maine

Title: One Morning in Maine

Author: Robert McCloskey

Publisher: The Viking Press - New York

Publication Date: 1952

Genre: Picture Book

Audience: All

Awards: Caldecott Honor

Overview: This is the story of a little girl named Sal who lives in Maine with her family and her little sister Jane. She wakes up one morning to find that her tooth is very loose. This is an exciting day for her because she gets to go on a trip to Buck's Harbor with her father and Jane. This story explains their exciting day in the Harbor and how Sal goes about loosing her very first tooth.

Activity: This book could be used for all ages. If it is used with younger students in PreK-1st grade, a teacher could use this to talk about loosing teeth while introducing to them some new vocabulary that they may not have seen before. For older grades it could be used as a supplement to a science or geography lesson. The book has a lot of references to the ecosystem in Maine and Buck's Harbor. The teacher could talk about the different types of animals can be found

Reviewer's Name: Kalli Parrish

Title: Young Pele: Soccer's First Star

Author: Lesa Cline-Ransome

Illustrator: James Ransome

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade

www.randomhouse.com

Publication Date: September 2007

Genre: Multicultural

Audience: Grades 3-5

Overview: This is the story of a young boy from Brazil who grows up to be the name and face of soccer around the world. It is his story of how he struggled through school and spent his time kicking rocks, dribbling with balls made of rags and constantly thinking of soccer. This book follows him up until he was discovered for his amazing talents and begins playing soccer in front of millions of people This story shows how if you set your mind to something that you want to be good at, if you put in the dedication and hard work you can one day be great at it.

Activity: In the classroom, this book could be used at a writing prompt. After a read a loud the teacher could ask the students to write a paragraph or two describing something that they are very passionate about and that they would want to master by the time they were Pele's age or even in their lifetime. Also, if you have a student who is really interested in sports and does not enjoy reading, you could have them read this book. This might help them get excited about a book because they might strive to be a pro athlete themselves. If we choose books that kids would enjoy reading it could make reading in the classroom more fun for them.

Reviewer's Name: Kalli Parrish