"Terrific" - Free Choice/ Fiction

"Terrific", written by Jon Agee, is a very funny fiction book. A man named Eugene wins an all-expenses-paid cruise to Bermuda. Eugene is very negative, and says that he will probably get a sunburn. He had no idea that something worse would happen. His ship sinks and he ends up stranded on a tiny island. That's were he meets a parrot who happens to know about building boats. The two castaways team up and make their escape. I really enjoyed this book. I think that it would an appropriate read for any students third through fifth grade. It shows students the importance of thinking positively and working with others to be successful.

"Cinderella's Rat" - Free Choice/ Fiction

"Cinderella's Rat", written by Susan Meddaugh, is a very cute fiction book. This book tells the Cinderella folktale from the rat's perspective. The rat was very happy when Cinderella's fairy godmother changed him into a coachman. But the coachman was not satisfied he wanted his sister to be changed from a rat to a girl. So they went to a wizard and asked for help. Instead of turning his sister into a girl the wizard turned her into a cat that barked like a dog, and then he turned her into a girl. The only problem is she still barked like a dog. The hours pasted and then it turned midnight and the coachman turned by into a rat, but his sister was still a girl that barked. I think that this would be a great book for a third grader to read. A teacher could also have the studens read the book and compare it to the original Cinderella folktale.

"Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep" - Free Choice/ Fiction

The following is a wordle that was created for the fiction book, "Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep", written by Jane Yolen.

    title="Wordle: Sleep Black Bear Sleep - fiction">    src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/699803/Sleep_Black_Bear_Sleep_-_fiction"
    alt="Wordle: Sleep Black Bear Sleep - fiction"
    style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

"Angry Dragon" - Free Choice/ Fiction

"Angry Dragon", written by Thierry Robberecht, is a very interesting fiction book. This boy describes a situation of a little boy who's mother told him no. Like many kids, he did not like to be told no and got very upset. He got so upset that he turned into a dragon. He would not listen to his parents, he destroyed anything in site and acted very bad. At the end of the story the little boy realizes that how he has acted is very inappropriate and feels very ashamed. He goes to his parents and apologizes. This book would be great for students in third grade to read. It shows a wonderful job of illustrating how the power of our emotions can sometimes tend to overwhelm us and transform us. It reminds us that we all have dragon in us, it is up to us if we let the dragon get angry.

"Queen of the Class" - Free Choice/ Fiction

"Queen of the Class", written by Mary Engelbreit, is a cute book that describes a little girl named Ann Estelle and a school play. Ann wants to play the Queen in the play, but is chosen by the teacher to be the stage manager because she is responsible. But Ann did not like her job, she wanted to be Queen. Little did Ann know that she would have to step in at the last minute and fill a role. At the end of the play she felt like a queen. I really enjoyed this book and think that it would be a great read for any third grader. It is very important to teach students that just because they are given something different to do than what they might have wanted to do, it does not mean that they are any less important.

"Chobits" - Fantasy

"Chobits", written by Clamp, is a very exciting fantasy chapter book. The following is a link to a wordle created for this book.

    title="Wordle: Chobits - Fantasy">    src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/699753/Chobits_-_Fantasy"
    alt="Wordle: Chobits - Fantasy"
    style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

"Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist" - Fantasy

"Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist", written by Liz Kessler, is a very exciting fantasy chapter book. In the beginning of the book Emily, a half human half mermaid girl, believes that everything is going to be all right, but then her parents start fighting. Later in the story Emily finds a ring and puts it on. Emily son learns that there is something very special about the ring. For one think it will not come off of her finger and if anyone tries to remove it something unfortunate happens to them And for another, the ring seems to be able to sommunicate with her in some strange way. Emily faces many tough times in this book from her parents fighting to her feeling like she does not belong to either the human world or the ocean world. I really liked this book and think that any youngers will also. The story has a great message to the reader, that no matter what tough times you are going through, love and forgiveness will undo all the damage that has been done.

"Pink and Say" - Historical Fiction

The following link contains a video of five students acting out the story of Pink and Say, which is historical fiction.

http://cedvideo.ncsu.edu/view_video.php?viewkey=43755a79ee5f6a73050a

"Flood!" - Non-Fiction

"Flood!"is one of the six non-fiction books in the Nature's Disasters series. John Waters, the author, did an amazing job of breaking this natural disaster into eleven chapters. Chapter one focuses on how floods have been viewed by society over time. It speaks of the biblical example of Noah and the ark, all the way to the Missouri River flooding in St. Louis during 1986. The second chapter focuses on what a flood is. The display of vocabulary words begins in this chapter, and can be identified by the bold font for the words. The third chapters explains how floods can be created by tropical storms. Real life examples are told in this chapter. Chapter four continues to explain floods by describing seasonal flooding. The author continues the book by describing to the reader that flash floods can result from tropical storms, dam failures, or from the combination of rain and melting snow in chapter five. There is great vocabulary found in the sixth chapter, Earth Dams and Levees. The Vaiont and the Aswan dams are described in the next chapter. Not only are there great pictures shown in chapter eight which covers coastal flooding, but there are also very detailed diagrams that explain the information given. The next chapter explains the different types of warning systems. I found the tenth chapter to be very important, because it helps to clearly explain not only flood prevention but also flood control. The last chapter listed past famous floods, and told when they occured and brief information about each. I found this book to be very informational. It could be used at any level in elementary school as a resource or as an informative read. Prior to reading this book I only had a low level of knowledge about floods, but after reading and reviewing the information that the author provided, I feel that I have a much better understanding of floods.

"The Wright Brothers: The Birth of Modern Aviation" - Biography

"The Wright Brothers: The Birth of Modern Aviation", written by Anna Sproule, is an amazing biography that explains the lives of Wilbur and Orville Wright. This book takes the reader through the journey of the two brothers' lives and their flight accomplishments. The book begins with the two brothers as children. They were fascinated by the toys they called Chinese flying tops. These flying tops were powered through the air by a rubberband. The boys grew older and continued playing with bicycle parts and using them to design flying machines. This book paints a beautiful picture of the hard work and dedication the two put into the development of the aircraft. Not only does the author do an wonderful good of explaining Wilbur and Orville's journey, but there are also many pictures and sketches included in the book. This book would be appropriate for anyone to read that wanted to learn more about the Wright brrothers' lives, or the development of the aircraft. I would defanielty reccomend this to any of my students if they were working on a Wright brother project or paper.

"Mercury" - Non-Fiction

"Mercury", written by Seymour Simon is an excellent non-fiction book. Although, the book is not very long, it does contain quite a bit of information about the planet Mercury. The book first begins by discussing Mercury and how its relation to Earth. The reader learns that Mercury is hard to see from Earth, even though it sometimes looks brighter than any of the stars in the sky. The book continues by explaining when the planet is visible to us. When studying planets it is important to know the background, and origin of its naming. We learn that the Romans named Mercury after the messenger of their gods because it appeared to move more quickly through the sky than any of the other planets did. Many facts very given to explain the orbit of the planet. Not only were there many facts but there were also very detailed diagrams to help explain the information provided. The book concludes by explaining that all of the information that we know about Mercury comes from one probe Mariner 10. We only know about one side of the planet, and will not know about the other half until we send a space probe to photograph the other half. The author did a excellent job of covering the basic facts about the planet Mercury. Because this book only focused on the main points I would recommend it primarily to students in the younger elementary grades.

"Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express" - Folktale

Debbie Dadey's "Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express" brings to life the folktale of the legendary character, Buffalo Bill. The reader is first introduced to the story with a sketch of a map depicting the route of the pony express from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. This is important for the reader because they are able to have a clear image of the route that Billy Cody, Buffalo Bill, rode for his job with the Pony Express. They book explains that the only problem with Billy working for the Pony Express is that he is only fourteen years old. Throughout the book the reader is able to take the journey with Billy and learn more about the struggles and differnt situations that he encoutered over his two-thousand-mile route acrosss the country. While riding across the country Billy encounters three Paiutes and has to out run them inorder to stay alive. The author does an amazing job with describing each situation throughout his journey. By being so discriptive, the reader is able to visualize the story more and feel more apart of it. Billy's captain, Captain Slade, gives him a hard time for the majority of the story. Captain Slade complains about everything that Billy does, saying that he is unexperienced and does not know how to do anyting. I think that the younger readers can associate with this and gain a better understanding of how to deal with others when they look down on you because of your age. I would reccomend this chapter book to students that were on a third grade reading level and any levels above that.

"Skippyjon Jones" - Multi-Cultural

Judy Schachner's "Skippyjon Jones", is an extremely fun and entertaining multi-cultural book. This story tells the reader about a Siamese cat with an overactive imagination. Skippyjon Jones would rather be El Skippito, who is a great sword fighter, than anything else. There are many Spanish words used in the text along with many Spanish references. As the story builds so does the chaos in the drawings. The drawings get more complex and out of control. We, as the reader, learn that even thought Skippyjon Jones is young and small he is still able to help others. I think that this is a key topic that should be discussed with students in elementary education. I would recommend this text to any of the students that I teach. This book would provide a great opportunity to discuss character analysis.

"The Legend of the Poinsettia" - Multi-Cultural

The multi-cultural book "The Legend of the Poinsettia" is a beautiful story about the Mexican legend of the poinsettia, written by Tomie de Paola. I would recommend this book to any student that wanted to learn about a culture other than their own. Throughout the text the reader can find my words written in spanish. This is a good for the students to be exposed to the culture but not even know it. This book was a similprier read and therfore could be a great resource for students that are either on a low reading level or have some type of reading disasvantage.

"The Wolves in the Walls" - Modern Fantasy

The graphic novel, "The Wolves in the the Walls" written by Neil Gaiman is an example of a modern fantasy that I have never been exposed to. In this book, Lucy, the main character thinks that she hears wolves moving around in the walls of her house. She tries to tell people, but no one believes her. Later in the story the wolves come out of the walls, and it is very scary. Lucy and her family have to retreat to their garden where the discuss ideas of where they will live. Towards the end of the book Lucy turns into the hero and convinces her family to take their home back. The story ends with Lucy hearing elephants sneezing in the walls, and deciding that there is no need to tell anyone because they will find out soon enough. This book could be scary to some students in elementary school. Therefore, I would only suggest it to students that are in third grade or older. Overall, the book was very interesting. All of the graphics in the book kept my attention and moved me through the story.

"Tikki Tikki Tembo" - Multi-Cultural

"Tikki Tikki Tembo" written by Arlene Mosel is a tongue twisting, funny multi-cultural book. This book is centered around a little boy with a very long name. Tikki Tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo, which meant the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world, was the name of a woman's first-born son. The second son's name was very short, and meant little or nothing. One day the second born fell into the well. His brother ran to their mother for help. An old man with a ladder helps Chang out. Later in the story Tikki Tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo falls into the well. His brother runs for help, but since his name is so long it takes a long while before he is recovered from the well. From them on the Chinese people have to decided to give their children short names instead of great long names. I really enjoyed this book and so did some of the students in my class. I believe that this book could be used at any grade level. The book is funny, but also has a main purpose to it, which is to explain why Chinese names are so short.

"Cinder-Elly" - Folktale

"Cinder-Elly" written by Frances Minters is a take off of the folktale Cinderella. This book is very funny and has great images to keep the reader's attention. There are many little images on all of the pages. They are pictures of friends of Cinder-Elly making comments about the different situations at hand. This version would be a more modern version of Cinderella. Cinder-Elly, in this book, lives in New York City with her family, and like the original folktale has to do all of the chores around the house and does not get treated as fairly as her step-sisters. The Prince in this story is also the star of the basketball team. Like in the original story, Cinder-Elly loses her shoe and the prince searches all over the city and finally finds her. The story ends with the two living happily every after. I really liked this version of Cinderella. I think that the students would be able to apply this story and the decisions that Cinder-Elly made to kept trying to their own lives. Any grade level could use this from third grade and higher.

"The Gift of the Crocodile" - Folktale

"The Gift of the Crocodile", written by Judy Sierra, is a folktale that is from the island of Halmahera in the Spice Islands, in Indonesia. This is twist off of the original Cinderella. Cinderella in this story is Damura. This story concentrates a lot on respecting the land we live on an d the animals we live with. Like in the original Cinderella, Damura is mistreated by her step-mother and step-sisters. She has to do all of the chores and work that there is to be done. One day when she was at the river she called out to the creatures of the wild for help. An anient crocodile rose from the water and answered her calls. The crocordile dressed Damura in very nice clothing and sent her to the palace for the dance with the prince. The prince falls in love with her. Her step-mother and step-sisters did not like this so they pushed her into the water where she was swalloed by a crocodile. The ancient crocodile later brings Damura back and her and the prince live happily every after. I really enjoyed this version of Cinderella. It was quite ineresting to see a different culture's perspective of a very old folktale. I would recommend this for any third through fifth grader to read.

"Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook" - Realistic Fiction

"Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook", written by Barbara Park, is a very funny realistic fiction chapter book that almost every elementary school aged child can relate to. This story begins with Junie B. Jones losing her pair of mittens. She goes to the lost and found and looks everywhere, but she cannot find them. She later finds a wonderful pen. She believes that it is only fair that she gets to keep it. The book discusses the process of June B. Jones determining what is right and what is wrong. She has to learn that "finders keepers" is not always the best strategy for going through life. This book was quite funny. I believe that any students third through fifth grade would enjoy reading this text. The only thing that I would like to see changed would be the grammar used in the book. I understand that the author was trying to relate the text more to the reader by having the dialog read like a student at that age would talk, but I think the author's story relates to the students enough that the grammar does not have to be incorrect or silly to make an impact.

"In 1776" - Historical Fiction

"In 1776" is a wonderful historical fiction picture book that is written by Jean Marzollo and illustrated by Steve Bjorkman. This is an excellent book that describes how the colonists declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776. The text throughout the entire book is rhyming and helps with the read of the book. The story not only discusses the leaders between the two countries and their different accomplishments, but it also discrbes the soliders and civilians that were invovled in the battle. I believe that this book would be a great resource to students from third to fifth grade. I believe that the author did a great job of sparking an interest for more exploration of this battle.