Casey At The Bat

Title: Casey At The Bat A Ballad of The Republic Sung In The Year 1888

Author: Ernest Lawrence Thayer

Illustrator: Christopher Bing

Publisher: Handprint Books http://www.handprintbooks.com/

Publication Date: First Edition: 1888 New Edition: 2000

Genre: Poetry and Sports

Audience: Gr. 3-5

Awards: Caldecott Honor

Overview: Casey At the Bat is a baseball poem originally written for the San Francisco Examiner but it still remains a sports classic. It takes place in 1888 at a baseball game. The home team from Mudville is losing by 2 runs. It is their last at bat. The loyal fans are holding their breaths and hoping that the "Mighty Casey" gets the chance to hit because he is their last chance. There are two outs and two batters before Casey gets to swing. Unbelievably, the two batters gets hit. The crowd goes wild. There are runners on second and third and the beloved Casey is up. With overconfidence, Casey struts up to the plate and allows the first two pitches to go by. Strikes! Here comes the next pitch...and you'll have to read the book to find out if Casey saves the game.

Activity: I thought of a couple different ideas for this book. For third graders, I would read majority of the book to them and stop right as Casey is getting up to bat. I'd let them write their ending to the story in poem form, as a prediction. We would read a few out loud and then I would finish the end of the story. Another activity could be to act it out. When I was in third grade we reenacted the poem on the baseball field behind our school. It was a lot of fun and it made us listen to the book. For fifth graders, I was thinking of incorporating more writing. Since Casey At The Bat was originally a newspaper article, we could do a class newspaper. They'll learn how to write in article form and then we could compile it into one big newspaper.

Reviewer's Name: Gina DeBartolome

Bink & Gollie

Title: Blink & Gollie

Authors: Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee

Illustrator: Tony Fucile

Publisher: Candlewick Press

www.candlewick.com

Genre: Young Adult

Audience: Grade 1- Grade 3

Awards: Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Winner 2011

Overview: Bink and Gollie are two best friends who share adventures together doing a variety of activities. They spend time in their treehouse, make pancakes, buy socks, take a trip to the Andes Mountain, love to roller skate and love to ice skate together.

Activity: The teacher can have the students write a story about an adventure they would have with their best friend or write about an activity that their friend and them like to do.

Reviewer's Name: Jennifer Senkevich

Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC

Title: Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC

Author: June Sobel

Illustrator: Henry Cole

Publisher: Harcourt, INC.

www.HarcourtBooks.com

Publication Date: 2006

Genre: Alphabet

Audience: PreK-Grade 2

Overview: The captain of a group of pirates on a ship threatens to make the crew walk the plank if they do not find every letter of the entire alphabet while on their journey on the ship. The pirates search high and low looking for the letters and finding them in interesting places. It is a fun alphabet adventure.

Activity: The teacher can have the class make their own Alphabet Book by assigning each student a letter and have them create a page for the letter that goes along with the class story. The teacher can stay with the Pirates theme or create a theme of their own.

Reviewer's Name: Jennifer Senkevich

Goggles by Ezra Jack Keats

Title: Goggles
Author: Ezra Jack Keats
Publisher: The Penguin Group http://www.penguin.com/
Publication Date: 1969
Genre: Picture Book
Audience: Pre-K -2nd Grade
Overview: This is the story of two young boys that find a pair of motorcycle goggles that they quickly become fascinated with. However, these boys aren't the only ones who want to play with the goggles. The older boys in the neighborhood try to steal the magical goggles, until they are outsmarted by the young boys.
Activity: A good activity for this book would be to address the issue of bullying in the classroom, because it is good to incorporate appropriate behavior at this age and to talk about hurting others' feelings. The children could role play different scenarios about bullying and sticking up for themselves and talk about times they feel like they may have been bullied and how to stop it.
Reviewer's Name: Moira Schafle

Planting a Rainbow

Title: Planting a Rainbow
Author: Lois Ehlert
Illustrator: Lois Ehlert
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
www.scholastic.com
Publication Date: 1988
Genre: Science & Nature
Audience: Gr. PreK-2
Overview: This is a story of a young child and their mother planting a rainbow of flowers. They start by buying the seeds and bulbs and then wait for spring for their flowers to sprout. Finally in summer they have a beautiful rainbow of flowers.
Activity: An activity for this book is to have children learn the colors of the rainbow. This book can also be used for a science activity when learning about flowers and how they grow.
Reviewer: Katy Ulrich

CLICK, CLACK, Quackity-Quack

Title: CLICK, CLACK, Quackity-Quack
Author: Doreen Cronin
Illustrator: Betsy Lewin
Publisher: Atheneum
www.SimonSaysKids.com
Publication Date: 2005
Genre: Alphabet
Audience: Gr. PreK-2
Overview: This cute book is about a duck who cannot wait to show all of the other animals the latest note from the cows on Farmer Browns Farm. By following the storyline, from the use of the Alphabet and alliteration, the reader finds out what the letter says.
Activity: An activity for this book is to have students practice the alphabet by picking a letter and write an animal that they know that starts with that letter and draw a picture. Another activity for this book would be for students to practice alliteration by thinking words with the same first letter.
Reviewer: Katy Ulrich

Angel Coming

Title: Angel Coming

Author: Heather Henson

Illustrator: Susan Gaber

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

http://kids.simonandschuster.com/

Publication Date: 2005

Genre: Historical Fiction/Picture Book

Audience: Gr. PreK-2

Overview: Angel Coming is a story about a young girl living in Kentucky who anxiously awaits the arrival of what she has been told is an "angel." She is told that the angel is a special visitor who will eventually come to her home on horseback and bring in a saddlebag a baby brother or sister. The special visitor arrives when the young girl least expects it. When she arrives, she is not exactly who the young girl thought she would be, nor is she carrying with her exactly what the young narrator thought she would be carrying. Instead of a baby sister, the young girl is introduced to her new baby brother. What is interesting about this story is that it introduces a piece of American history known as the Frontier Nursing Service also known as the "Angels on Horseback."

Activity: The first activity that came to mind after reading this book was an activity where students could primarily learn about who the "Angels on Horseback" were and what these women did. After reading aloud this story to a class the teacher could briefly introduce the history behind this story. Next, as a class the students could draw a picture and/or write a sentence about what they have just learned depending on the age group. For an older age group, they could draw a picture that represents what they have just learned, and they could write a few sentences that describe their picture and relate it back to what they have learned from the picture book and brief history lesson.

Reviewer's Name: Amanda Scocco

Title: Despicable Me: The Junior Novel

Author: (adapted by:) Annie Auerbach

Publisher: Hachette Book Group, Inc. (http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/)

Publication Date: 2010

Genre: Fantasy

Audience: Grades 3-5

Overview: Despicable Me tells the story of the worlds worst villain. This book was adapted from the movie, and has pretty much the exact same plot. The main character, Gru, attempts to pull off the greatest act a villain has ever done, steal the moon. In order to complete this task, he will need the help of three orphaned girls. As part of his evil plot, he will adopt the three girls, use them, and then ditch them. The plan changes, however, when Gru becomes attached to the girls. The story ends happily with Gru as a great villain, and a great dad!

Activity: A good activity for this book would be to assign it to a small group of students with about the same reading level. After completing the book individually, the students could come together to create their own version, or summary, of the book with pictures and sentences. The pages could be labeled and put in the class library for other students to read.

Reviewer's Name: Allison Parsons

Tour America: A Journey Through Poems and Art

Title: Tour America: A Journey Through Poems and Art
Author: Diance Siebert
Illustrator: Stephen T. Johnson
Publisher: Chronicle Books

http://www.chroniclebooks.com/

Publication Date: 2006
Genre: Poetry
Audience: Gr. 3-5
Overview: This work starts off with the author telling readers that she sold everything she owned and decided to tour the country with her husband via motorcycle. It is a pretty interesting and scary concept to most, but throughout we see how she used the different places she saw to inspire poems describing famous places across the country.
Activity: Because this work includes quite a bit of variety of poems, it might be a nice activity to have students write their own poem about a place they live or a place they have visited before. They could use a wide variety of expression and draw/color/paint a picture to match their drawing. By having the children share as a group, they could learn about a variety of different places.
Reviewer's Name: Meghan O'Leary

I Remember Miss Perry

Title: I Remember Miss Perry
Author: Pat Brisson
Illustrator: Stephane Jorisch
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/yr/dial.html

Publication Date: 2006
Genre: Realistic Fiction/Picture Book
Audience: Gr. PreK-2
Overview: This sad book tells the story of a teacher working at a local skill who is killed in a car

accident on her way to school one morning. It goes through the process of students in her class seeing the principal upset and later being told the news while their parents stand close by. The children reminisce about the enjoyable times they had with teachers, accepting the fact she will never lead their class again.

Activity: This book could definitely be used specifically as an activity for a school after some kind of traumatic event, such as a death, occurs. It would help students to talk about what has happened and perhaps find the stronger message of 'remembering' those they have lost rather than dwelling on

their absence. I don't think it would necessarily be a good idea to use as an activity of having students then talk about a sad time in their lives, because that might bring an overflow of emotion from some students while others have no way of relating to that pain.
Reviewer's Name: Meghan O'Leary

Erandi's Braids

Title: Erandi's Braids

Author: Antonio Hernandez Madrigal

Illustrator: Tomie dePaola

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin Group

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/adult/putnam.html

Publication Date: 1999

Genre: Historical Fiction

Audience: PreK-2

Overview: This is a short story about a mother and daughter who live in a small town in Mexico. The girl and her mother are very poor and do their best to make ends meet. Each day the mother braids her daughter's long beautiful hair. They eat, shop, and fish together. One day there is an announcement in the town about money being offered for long hair. Erandi does not want to give her hair but knows that it would bring good money and could buy a new fishing net. On her birthday, Erandi is taken to the shop to pick out a present. She chooses a dress but wishes that she could have the doll that matches. When the mother goes to get her hair cut, her hair is not long enough. Erandi, very frightened, climbs up into the chair surprising her mother. She gets her hair cut and they receive the money for the new net. They young girl thought she had angered her mother but learns that her mother is so grateful for her brave actions. She takes her to the store and buys her daughter the doll she wants. Erandi tells her mother that her hair will grow out again and not to be afraid.

Activity: The book presents a specific Mexican lifestyle in which long hair is treasured. The class could discuss what we treasure in our society and how different cultures work and think. The book could be read to young children during a social studies lesson about different cultures and ethnicities. Students can come to understand that cultures live their lives differently.

Another activity could be to put yourself in Erandi's shoes. Would you give up your hair to support your family? Have you ever made any sacrifices for your family? What kind of cultures do you know about? The students could make drawings to represent their thoughts.

Reviewer's Name: Emily Trees

Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World

Title: Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World

Author: Cynthia Chin-Lee

Illustrator: Megan Halsey and Sean Addy

Publisher: Charlesbridge

www.charlesbridge.com

Publication Date: 2005

Genre: Biography

Audience: Grades 3-5

Overview: This book is a collection of mini biographies about twenty-six women, one for each letter of the alphabet, who changed the world starting with Amelia Earheart and finishing with Zora Neale Hurston.

Activity: The teacher could have each student select one woman from the biography who they found interesting and choose to research the woman more. Then the teacher can have either student choose to present the woman to the class as either an interview where they dress up as the woman, an oral history, or an oral report.

Reviewer's Name: Jennifer Senkevich

All You Need for a Beach

Title: All You Need for a Beach

Author: Alice Schertle

Illustrator: Barbara Lavallee

Publisher: Harcourt, INC.

www.HarcourtBooks.com

Publication Date: 2004

Genre: Picture Book

Audience: PreK-Grade 2

Overview: This book is written using rhyming words to describe all the items that are necessary for a fun day at the beach and what to expect when at the beach.

Activity: This book could be used for a lesson on rhyming. The teacher could have the students find the rhymes throughout the book and then create a mini word wall with all the rhyming words.

Reviewer's Name: Jennifer Senkevich

Miss Fox's Class Goes Green

Title: Miss Fox's Class Goes Green

Author: Eileen Spinelli

Illustrator: Anne Kennedy

Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company

www.albertwhitman.com

Publication Date: 2009

Genre: Picture Book

Audience: PreK-Grade 2

Awards: 2010 Green Earth Book Award; 2010 Green Prize for Sustainable Literature Youth Picture Book

Overview: Miss Fox decides to go green and ride her bicycle to school one day. Her students ask her what she is doing and she replies that she is, “going green”. This response sparks an interest in her students and together they brainstorm and act upon other ways that they too can go green. Eventually this catches on and the entire school starts to go green.

Activity: One activity that could be done is to have the students create a poster that advertises recycling and other ways of going green. Another activity would be to have your class participate in a school recycling program by collecting plastic bottles in the cafeteria during lunch or having a bin for recycling paper or anything else that would be helping the environment like what the students in Miss Fox’s class did.

Reviewer's Name: Jennifer Senkevich

The Giving Tree

Title: The Giving Tree

Author: Shel Silverstein

Illustrator: Shel Silverstein

Publisher: Harper & Row

http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Giving-Tree-Shel-Silverstein/?isbn13=9780060256654&tctid=100

Publication Date: 1964

Genre: Picture Book

Audience: All (Children and Young Adult)

Overview: The old book is a story with only two characters; a female tree and a male. The story begins with the young tree and young boy, who grow together as the story is told. The tree is always giving things to the boy as he asks for them. She cuts her branches, gives her apples, and provides for the boys until she has nothing left to offer except a stump for him to sit upon. The boy constantly relies on the tree and the tree expects nothing in return and hopes for the boy to come back again and again. I enjoy the story but it sends a clear message that friends are constantly there but deserve thanks for what they do for you.

Activity: I think that the children could take time to think about someone that they appreciate and don't always recognize them. By drawing a "thank you" picture depicting what he/or she does that the child is thankful for. Who gives to you that you don't always acknowledge?

Reviewer's Name: Emily Trees

Quiet Bunny

Title: Quiet Bunny

Author: Lisa McCue

Illustrator: Lisa McCue

Publisher: Sterling

http://www.sterlingpublishing.com/

Publication Date: 2009

Genre: Picture Book/Animals

Audience: Gr. PreK-2

Overview: This picture book is about a bunny who lives in the forest and loves the sounds of the forest. Quiet Bunny enjoys the sounds during each moment of the day whether it is morning birds singing, or the croaking of the bull frogs at night. Quiet Bunny begins to wish he too could become a part of the sounds of the forest. He goes to many creatures in the forest and asks them how to make their sounds, however, each time he attempts to make a sound or mimic theirs he is unable to. Bunny then learns that if he stays true to himself he will find his own sound. At the end Bunny becomes overjoyed when he finally finds his own sound and joins in to the delightful sounds of the forest.

Activity: For this particular book I think it would be fun to create an activity where younger students focus on the sounds of different animals and creatures. As a class, the students and the teacher could make a miniature book that incorporates all of the animals/creatures from the story and the sounds they make. As a class they could go through the story and pick them out one by one. The teacher could have a clip art image of the animal to put on a page in the book, and students could take turns writing the sounds on each page. During this activity, the teacher could facilitate the students in sounding out the all of the sounds together as a class.

Reviewer's Name: Amanda Scocco

Pingo

Title: Pingo
Author: Brandon Mull
Illustrator: Brandon Dorman
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
http://www.shadowmountain.com/
Publication Date: 2009
Genre: Picture Book
Audience: Gr. PreK-2
Overview: This picture book is about a boy named Chad who has an imaginary friend named Pingo. Chad and Pingo go on many magical adventures together. As Chad gets older, other kids start to pick on him for having an imaginary friend. As a result, he decides he wants to grow up and stop pretending Pingo is real. Pingo quickly becomes Chad's imaginary enemy by playing pranks on him. As the years go by, Pingo plays pranks on him less and less. When Chad becomes an old man he is revisited by Pingo. It is at this moment where Chad realizes how much he has missed Pingo and the fun they used to have. Chad and Pingo rekindle their friendship and embark on more magical adventures.
Activity: An activity that could be incorporated with this book could be one where students create their own imaginary characters. During this activity students could be given a large piece of poster board to draw their imaginary characters on. On this paper they could also give their characters a name and a short, simple written description. Their descriptions could include simply how they look, and/or character traits of their character. Lastly, the students could add to their drawing one adventure they would go on with their character, similar to the adventures Chad went on with Pingo.
Reviewer's Name: Amanda Scocco

A Picture Book of Lewis and Clark

Title: A Picture Book of Lewis and Clark
Author: David A. Adler
Illustrator: Ronald Himler
Publisher: Holiday House

http://www.holidayhouse.com/

Publication Date: 2003
Genre: Biography/History
Audience: Gr. PreK-2
Overview: This picture book tells the American history story of Lewis and Clark. Short paragraphs on each page give a little more detail into the who, what, when, where, and why of the adventures of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. A lot of dates and specifics are weaved in throughout the book while the general outline of the story is presented in an entertaining fashion. The book ends with a wrap-up of their lives upon their return. Finally, a small author's note is included along with and important dates timeline. Watercolor images throughout help enhance the pages by adding a splash of color and giving some image context to the accompanying text.
Activity: To go along with this short picture book, students could draw their own images to go along with what they learned from the story. This could be done with watercolors as those in the book are, or be a more simple activity with colored pencils, etc. To expand beyond the reading, students could use the internet to look more into the history of Lewis and Clark and the formation of the United States over its history.
Reviewer's Name: Meghan O'Leary

Hush! A Thai Lullaby

Title: Hush! A Thai Lullaby

Author: Minfong Ho

Illustrator: Holly Meade

Publisher: Orchard Books, New York, An Imprint of Scholastic Inc. 

http://www.orchardbooks.co.uk/

Publication Date: 1996

Genre: Poetry, Rhyming Story, Bedtime Story

Audience: PreK-2

Awards: Caldecott Medal Book 1997

Overview: A mother tells a Lullaby to her sleeping child, and asks several noisy animals (mosquito, lizard, cat, mouse, frog, pig, duck, monkey, buffalo, elephant) around her to be quiet so her child can sleep peacefully. A rhyming story with beautiful illustrations. 

Activity: I think it would be fun/creative to give each student a small line from the story that they can illustrate on a piece of paper. Then the illustrations can be combined to create their own version of the book. For example, one of the lines in the story is "Lizard, Lizard don't come peeping, Can't you see that Baby's Sleeping?". A student could use inspiration from the book's illustrations and draw their own picture. Another activity could be a rhyming activity. When reading aloud the story, ask the students to pick out the rhyming words. 

Reviewer's Name: Rachel Bartee

Officer Buckle and Gloria

Title: Officer Buckle and Gloria
Author: Peggy Rathmann
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons

http://us.penguingroup.com

Publication Date: 1995
Genre: Picture Book
Audience: PreK-Grade 2
Awards: Caldacott Medal Book
Overview: It is Officer Buckle's job to teach safety tips to the students at Napville Elementary School, but the students always ignore him. A police dog name Gloria starts accompanying Officer Buckle when he gives his safety speeches and suddenly the students start paying attention and listening to him. Officer Buckle and Gloria become popular and people want the pair to come to their school for safety speeches.
Activity: This book could be read during the first week of school and then the teacher could have the students come up with safety tips and rules for the class. The teacher can post these tips and rules in the classroom maybe on star shaped paper, like what is seen throughout the book.

Reviewer's Name: Jennifer Senkevich

Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying

Title: Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying

Author: Barbara Park

Illustrator: Denise Brunkus

Publisher: Random House Children's Books http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/index.pperl

Publication Date: 1994

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Audience: Gr. 3-5

Overview: As can be expected with all Junie B. Jones books, Sneaky Peeky Spying was an adorable read that had me laughing out loud and missing kindergarten! In this particular book, Junie catches her teacher, Mrs., eating a grape in the grocery store before she buys them. She knows that this is considered stealing because she got in trouble one time for eating something in the store without paying for it. She is then faced with the challenge of holding this horrible secret inside!

Activity: A fun activity to go along with this book would be a simple writing activity. After reading the book to the class, if you are having the class keep journals, or even on a piece of loose leaf, have the students write an entry about who they would like to spy on in this world and why. Students can share their answers with the class, or simply hand them in.

Reviewer's Name: Allison Parsons

The Landry News

Title: The Landry News
Author: Andrew Clements
Illustrator: Salvatore Murdocca
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

http://www.simonandschuster.com/

Publication Date: 1999
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Gr. 3-5
Awards: William Allen White Children's Book Award
Overview: This short novel focuses around a young student named Cara who has just transferred to a new school. She is very interested in writing her own newspaper, with the editorial portion being her favorite part. After writing a piece attacking one of her lazy teachers he reacts by starting a full-class project in the production of Cara's newspaper. When a questionably inappropriate article is printed, the displeased principal of the school decides it is time to shut down the paper and hold someone responsible. A lesson and battle surrounding the First Amendment.
Activity: An obvious activity to do with this book would be to start a classroom newspaper including all different aspects of the paper and having students distribute different parts of the work up between each other. In today's progressing internet-focused society, it is possible some students do not receive a newspaper to their home, so it could be almost like a foreign concept to them. By having different groups work on compiling a class or school newspaper students will get familiar with different kinds of news stories and gain some social practice in collaborating on projects. On a more complex level, this story can definitely be crossed over to a social studies class when young students are first being introduced to the Constitution and ideas about freedom of speech/freedom of the press.
Reviewer's Name: Meghan O'Leary