Our Stars

This book gives a lot of facts about stars in an interesting manner. Illustrations show the constellations: Leo, Orion, and the Big Dipper. The books explains the North Star and that it is called Polaris. We find out that we can see Venus sometimes before the stars come out. It also covers the planets orbiting around the sun, comets, and meteors. Kids will be interested because of the cartoon-like illustrations and easy to read text.
Rockwell, A. (1999) Our Stars. Voyager: New York.

Counting in the Garden

Counting in the Garden is a lovely counting book incorporating the beauty of nature into mathematics. The watercolor illustrations are fanciful stemming from the author's/illustrator's background as a textile designer. Children will benefit from the higher level vocabulary included in the short sentences for example, "three dogs frolicking in the posies."
Parker, K. (2005) Counting in the Garden. Orchard Books: New York.

Matthew and Tilly

Matthew and Tilly could be from many of the neighborhoods where my students live in Brooklyn. My students relate to these two friends because they look like them, live in a city, and have similar problems. Matthew and Tilly are best friends most of the time. Sometimes they get in fights though. One day Matthew and Tilly get in a fight because he took her drawing. They are determined not to be friends anymore and go all day without talking. However, they are lost with no one to play with. They give up on their anger and return to their friendship. This book reminds me of the way children play all day. One minute they love each other and the next they are not talking. In a situation like that, this book could help students realize they still want to be friends.

Jones, R. and Pecks, B. (1991) Matthew and Tilly. Penguin Books:New York.

Quick as a Cricket

This book of similes shows animals that represent feelings like “nice as a bunny” and “shy as a shrimp.” Some of the similes used are old sayings like ‘strong as an ox”. The illustrations work with your imagination to show what the simile might look like. The cover shows a little boy riding a cricket because the simile is “quick as a cricket.” A website with curriculum connections: http://library.uncc.edu/files/5/cimc/pdfs/units/quickcricket.pdf

Wood, A. and Wood, D. (1982) Quick as a Cricket. Child’s Play: London

Caps for Sale

The peddler in caps for sell teaches our students how to read color words because the caps are gray, brown, blue, and red. He carries the caps on his head, so everyone can see them. One day he walks out of town and decides to take a nap. When he is sleeping, the monkeys in the tree take his caps. He tells the monkeys to give the caps back, but they mimic him by raising their fists or shaking their hands. He has to trick the monkeys into giving them back by throwing his hat unto the ground. Then, the peddler went back to his normal lifestyle of selling caps.

Slobodkina, E. (1968) Caps for Sale. HarperCollins: New York.

In the Tall, Tall Grass

A little boy is watching nature from behind the grass. The rhythm of the insects makes a great read-aloud. This book provides a great way to get younger children excited (not that they aren’t already) about insects. The rhyming in the book captures your attention as it progresses from day to night with the different kinds of insects that follow their normal pattern.

Fleming, D. (2001) In the Tall, Tall Grass. Holt: New York

The Secret Seder

The story of a young Jewish boy, this book is set in a time when being a Jew meant death or imprisonment. This is a story of hope. Jacques and his father travel to take part in the Seder, a Passover meal. When recitiing the four questions, the older men begin to add answers to the questions that deal with the present trials they were facing. The story explains what the Seder is well enough that a non-Jewish person can begin to understand its importance in the Jewish culture. This is an important book for Brooklyn because of the different cultures that merge here. We need to be cognizant of each culture.
http://www.doreenrappaport.com/b_seder.html Rappaport, D. and McCully, E. (2005) The Secret Seder. Hyperion Books: New York

Possum Magic

Two possums that lived in the Austrailian Bush were having a great time. The grandmother could do magic. One day she turned Hush invisible. For a while Hush loved sliding down kangaroo's tales and snekaing through the bush, but she began to long not to be invisible. When Grandma Poss tried to find the right spell, she couldn't. She thought it had something to do with people food, so they began eating. Eventually, they had a vegemite sandwhich and Hush began to turn visible again. They went to more places to find food to continue becoming completely visible.
Fox, M. and Vivas, J. (1983)Possum Magic. Voyager Books: London .

Throw You Tooth on the Roof

Throw You Tooth on the Roof is a great book to interest students in other cultures' traditions. What do 6-8 year olds care more about than losing teeth?! This book gives information from each end of the world. Who knew that so many countries had mice that take away the teeth? Most countries children are rewarded for losing teeth. In some Asian countries, children throw their teeth over the roof, so they will come back in straight! At the end of the book, there is information about individual teeth and what they are used for inside your mouth.
Beeler, S. (1998) Throw You Tooth on the Roof. Houghton Mifflin: Boston.

The Subway Mouse

Nib is the young subway mouse who dreams to find the Tunnel’s End that he hears about during his favorite time of the day, story tiem. When he decides to leave home and find it, the other mice say he is crazy because it only exists in the stories; however, Nib leaves to find it anyways and finds a lady friend to go along with him. After being chased by other mice, they eventually find the end of the tunnel and stay forever with their children telling stories about the inside of the tunnel.

Reid, B. (2005) The Subway Mouse. Scholastic: New York.

We Gather Together...Now Please Get Lost!

This book is part of a series featuring Gilbert, a little opossum, and his adventures. This book is set around Thanksgiving. The students go on a field trip to Pilgrim town and Gilbert gets stuck being partners with Phillip, whom Gilbert thinks is a tattle-tale. So, of course, when Gilbert gets locked in the bathroom Phillip rescues him and everyone becomes friends again. This is more of a friendship story than a Thanksgiving story although it gives a few facts about Pilgrims.
de Groat, D. (2002). We Gather Together...Now Please Get Lost! Sea-Star Books: New York.

The Thanksgiving Story

The Thanksgiving Story tells about the journey of the Hopkins family from England to America on the Mayflower. It tells of days of waiting on the boat. The mother has a son during the long journey. When they make it to America, it talks about making a community and settling. It portrays the relationship between the Native Americans and settlers as unblemished. It would be interesting for a class to compare this story to more recent accounts of the events that took place.
Dalgliesh, A. and Sewell, H. (1954). The Thanksgiving Story. Aladdin Books: New York

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving is a parody of a familiar Christmas story that most of us remember very well. This new holiday book portrays a bus of children on a field trip to a farm sometime near Thanksgiving. The children enjoy playing with the turkeys, but then find out the turkeys are to be chopped up with an ax. The children decide to hide the turkeys in their clothing and sneak them off the farm. Instead of eating the turkeys, they have them as their guests at Thanksgiving dinner. The rhyme and rhythm of this book create a pleasurable reading experience. This could be a way to talk about the treatment of animals in your classroom.

Pilkey, D. (1990) Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving. Orchard Books: New York.

Let's Celebrate Thanksgiving

Through a question-and-answer format, this book gives a ton of information on Thanksgiving. Topics include: the first Thanksgiving, Pilgrims, Mayflower, Indians that helped the pilgrims, and who celebrates this holiday. My students really enjoy the jokes at the end of every chapter.
Roop, P and Roop, C. (1999) Let's Celebrate Thanksgiving. Millbrook Press: New York.

Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation

Composed of many facts about Pilgrim life, this book gives a new perspective to a child about Thanksgiving. The books is more realistic about the food the Pilgrims ate, where they lived, and the culture of their community. The density of the facts is broken up by speech bubbles of the family members conversing.
Stanley, D and Berry, H. (2004) Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation. HarperCollins: New York.

Thanks for Thanksgiving

Using simple words, Thanks for Thanksgiving portrays aspects of life that we should be thankful for but often forget to acknowledge. The book begins every page saying, "Thank you." It would be easy to include this book in a discussion about being thankful during the holidays or any other time although it is specifically written as a Thanksgiving book.
Markes, J. and Barrette, D. (2004) Thanks for Thanksgiving. HarperCollins: New York.

A Plump and Perky Turkey

In this story, all the turkeys have left the town before Thanksgiving and the people don't know what to do. They need a turkey or they will end up eating shredded wheat for Thanksgiving. Ebenezer Beezer, one of two characters dressed in a suit, has an idea. The town has an arts and crafts fair with turkey art and asks turkeys to be models for the art. The turkey realizes that they want to eat him so he escapes before they finish judging the contest. I enjoy the caricatures of townspeople that are on each page of this book; however, it is interesting to point out that the main character with all the ideas is one of the richest townspeople. This is a fun story to read with children who enjoy the trickery of the turkey. Teachers could use it to think about art and what different pieces of art are made from. Bateman, T. and Shelly, J. (2001.) A Plump and Perky Turkey. Scholastic: New York.

Little Smudge

When I met Little Smudge, my thoughts drifted to Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni. They, too, were just small blobs of ink or paint on the page. As I read the small note of thanks to Leo Lionni, Miro, and Matisse, I knew I would enjoy reading this book. What a great way to introduce modern art to the children! Art can be shapes, lines, dots, or anything they want it to be.
This story also teaches an important lesson on friendship. Little Smudge is lonely. His mother tells him to go find some friends, as though it were that easy, but he goes out to find friends. He looks all over and doesn't find anything. Then, he hears noise, which he follows to find a bunch of colorful shapes playing together. They won't be his friend because he is just a smudge. Little smudge goes home and gets a pep talk from his family and then goes back to show the shapes that he is special enough to be their friend. The message seems to be that everyone has talents or special traits.

Two of Everything

This Chinese folktale is about a couple that is very poor. They depend on their land for food. They use any leftover crops to trade for other needs. The old man is working in the garden one day and finds a brass pot. He doesn't know what to do with it, so he takes it home. His wife's hairpin falls in the pot and two hairpins come back out. Everything they put in the pot doubles! They are able to have anything they want now. One day the old lady falls into the pot. Her double followed her back out! The real Ms. Haktak is angry because she can be Mr. Haktak's only wife! She pushes her husband into the pot. With a copy of each person, they can make a new couple! They decide to be best friends and use the pot to provide enough for everyone. The neighbors thought that the Haktaks were so rich they could have two of everything!
It would be fun to take some kind of bowl to school and pretend to duplicate everything. The children could guess how many of each item would come out next.
Hong, L. (1993) Two of Everything. Albert Whitman & Company: Morton Grove, Illinois

This First Thanksgiving Day

An interesting counting book to show children around Thanksgiving. Definitely interesting to contrast between the lifestyles of the Native Americans and the Pilgrims. If you are not interested in kid friendliness, this book does not portray all events that transpired between the Native Americans and Pilgrims. Their relationship is described as very amicable in this book.
Melmed,L. and Buehner, M.(2001). This First Thanksgiving Day.

Bear Snores On

The bear's cave becomes a safe haven for the other animals. They come in with their snacks and being to share as the bear hibernates. When the bear awakens because of some pepper, the other animals are frightened. Will the bear eat them? Really, he is sad because they have had a party without him. So, they keep partying until everyone is asleep except the bear. Here is a website, by the author, that gives some actvities to use in class: ttp://www.bearsnoreson.com/bearbooks.html This book can be used to talk about hibernation. Do bears hibernate in caves? How long do they sleep? Would another animal get near the sleeping bear? While reading the book, I noticed the refrain that would be great for the children to become involved in the book to say, " and the bear snores on."
Wilson, K. and Chapman, J.(2002). Bear Snores On. Simon and Schuster: New York.

Pocket Poems

This poetry anthology is great for children. The poems are all relatively short and readable. A variety of topics are available throughout the book. Some of the poems rhyme while others don't. It is great to share with a class at any time during the day or the school year. It has many poems children could perform with instruments or act out. It also has the Keep a Poem in your Pocket poem!


Katz, B. and Hafner, M. (2004) Pocket Poems. New York: Dutton's Children's Group