It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey as a way to share what you have read and/or reviewed in the past week. It's also a terrific way to find out what other people are reading.

Jen Vincent, of Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye of Unleashing Readers have given this meme a children's literature focus: picture books, middle grade novels, etc. They encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting the other bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Starting the new school year had me so busy last week! I did manage to read some picture books that I plan to use in my classroom.

Tea Party Rules by Ame Dyckman, K.G. Campbell (Illustrator) This book is adorable! The bossy little girl and the hungry bear cub are such heartwarming characters. The illustrations are awesome!

 

 

Chocolate Milk, Por Favor! Celebrating Diversity with Empathy by Maria Dismondy, Donna Farrell (Illustrator) This is a nice picture book to help start a discussion about kindness and helping others. Gabe is the new kid at school. Johnny isn't very nice to him and refuses to be friends. But what will happen when everyone else starts hanging around with Gabe?

First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg, Judy Love (Illustrator) I read this book every year to my students on the first day of school, even if they've heard it before. The illustrations are fantastic, and the children are always surprise by the ending.

The Adventures of Isabel by Ogden Nash, Bridget Starr Taylor (Illustrator) This is a cute poetry picture book about a brave little girl, named Isabel. Nothing fazes Isabel: she meets up with a bear that wants to eat her, a witch, a one-eyed monster, and a creepy doctor. The book has fun rhymes to it, with somewhat complex vocabulary words. The illustrations are very colorful watercolors that are fun to look at. It's kind of old-fashioned, and I'm not sure I care for the part about the creepy doctor.

Weird! by Erin Frankel, Paula Heaphy (Illustrator), Dare! by Erin Frankel, Paula Heaphy (Illustrator), Tough! by Erin Frankel, Paula Heaphy (Illustrator) The books in this series deal with bullying and tall the stories from each character's point of view.

 

 

Red by Jan De Kinder This book has a good message about kindness and bullying.

 

 

Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis I love this book! The text and the illustrations are so simple, but I think it would be really exciting to see what my students could do with a stick - making drawings & writing about them.

 

 

The Promise by Nicola Davies This book gives the reader a lot to consider: at first we see a depressing urban scene with a young lady that is a thief. But stealing a bag of acorns changes her life as she decides to live up to her promise to plant them. I think it's a great story about giving back and doing something to bring beauty and nature into the world. I'd like to share this story with my fifth grade students and see what they think of it.

 

Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry, Tom Lichtenfeld (Illustrator) It's a cute story about friendship: stick and stone become best friends and help each other out. Great for primary read aloud.

 

 

 

 

If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson This gorgeous picture book has an awesome message about kindness.

 

 

 

 

Yeti and the Bird by Nadia Shireen This is a cute picture book about two unlikely friends!

 

 

There by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick A picture book of questions from the point of view of a child wondering about growing up.

 

 

Stuart Goes to School by Sara Pennypacker, Martin Matje (Illustrator) This is a cute little chapter book about a boy who has made himself a magic cape out of a bunch of ties. The cape allows him to have one magical surprise a day. The cape is a big help as he experiences all the worries of starting third grade at a new school.

 

My Secret Bully by Trudy Ludwig, Abigail Marble (Illustrator) This is an informative picture book that looks at relational aggression or emotional bullying.

 

 

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown This is a great picture book with a wonderful message about making the world a more beautiful place and ways to enjoy nature, even in unlikely places. I plan to share this book with students, but I think I want to point out that Liam (and other children like him) really shouldn't be exploring abandoned places without a grownup with them. I don't want to encourage kids to do something that is unsafe.

 

 

Fenway and Hattie by Victoria J. Coe Fenway and Hattie is such a fun book to read. This heartwarming story is told from the point of view of Fenway, an energetic Jack Russell terrier. I wrote a complete review on a previous post: http://www.janatheteacher.blogspot.com/2015/08/book-review-fenway-and-hattie-by_30.html

 

Hope everyone has a great week and lots of fun READING!