Love that Dog by Sharon Creech

Love That Dog, a great title for a wonderful book. I really enjoyed this book because it was such an easy read and it introduced a somewhat hard topic for most, poetry. There were so many good parts of this book. I loved how at the beginning the little boy said that he didn't want to write poetry because it was a "girl's" thing but by the end he wasn't afraid to put his name on his poems.

I enjoyed reading all of his poems that he read and all of the ones that he made up, some that I thought were very interesting and ones that I would never have even been able to come up with. I especially enjoyed the "Sky" poem about his dog and how he was concerned that it may make some people sad. He kept thinking that he wasn't writing poems because they didn't rhyme and they didn't look like poems. His uncle even justifies this later when telling him that he wasn't really writing poems because they weren't long enough and the fact that they didn't rhyme. I loved this part because then the little boy began to write full page texts which both him and I felt were really hard to comprehend. I loved how he talked about punctuation because I think a lot of kids feel hesitant about that. I know I did when I was younger and still do at times now.

I also thought that it was so cute that he wanted Mr. Walter Dean Myers to come to the class so badly and was really crushed when he thought that it might take a long time for him to get back to them. The letters that he wrote them were so funny to read but so real at the same time.

I just thought there were so many good stories in this short book and I liked how it had all of the poems that he read in class at the end. It really helped everything be brought together. And when reading the excerpt from her new book Hate That Cat, I cannot wait to read that one also. I will definately have these stories in my classroom if I teach third grade and above and bring them out when talking about poetry.

Dear Mr. Blueberry by Simon James

This book sat out on one of the tables in the Curriculum Lab and when I saw it and looked inside I knew that I had to read it because was a little girl, Emily, writing back and forth to someone named Mr. Blueberry. Later I found out that Mr. Blueberry was her teacher.

Her first letter starts out with her telling her teacher that she loves whales and that she thinks she saw one in her pond that night. He writes back telling her that that cannot be true because whales are too big to live in a pond and they have to have salt water. Emily does not want to listen to him about the fact the a whale may be too big to fit so she just takes his advice and puts salt in the pond each night. She thinks that the whale looks very happy because of this. They continue to write back and forth and Mr. Blueberry continues to try to burst Emily's bubble in telling her that there is no way that a whale could be living in her pond. She is not having any of this and continues to tell him about seeing him every night until one night after she receives a letter from Mr. Blueberry saying that whales are migratory, the whale leaves. He tells Emily that she can go to the ocean to see whales. Emily goes to the beach and sees her whale, who she named Arthur and they finally get to say good bye to each other.

I don't really know the exact reason why I enjoyed this book so much. I don't know if it's because of the great imagination of Emily or if it is because in the end it all ended up to be true (at least to her.) I didn't necessarily like that Mr. Blueberry kept telling her that what she was seeing was not impossible but I thought it also added a little something the story.

I think that this would be a good story though to show kids that even if someone tells them that they are not able to do something, have something, or see something that they really can. I think for some kids that is really important for them to know. I think this would be a good book for a younger age group, probably Preschool to First grade.

The Topsy-Turvies by Francesca Simon

Just seeing four people on the front cover standing outside their house in pajamas made me wonder what this book could possibly be about. And besides that having half of the title being upside down too. This book was exactly what the front cover makes you expect. It is about a family that does everything COMPLETELY SDRAWKCAB (backwards).

This family wakes up at midnight, eats with their feet in their bedroom, takes baths outside of the bathtub, and the kids teach the parents in "school". All parts of their life continue to be the same until their neighbor comes over to ask them to watch little Lucy for the day.They find her dress and her house to be very odd and try to help out by rearranging it in a way that they thought was best (so totally backwards). As they were eating with their feet, this time in the kitchen, a burglar came in through the window. They thought it was just someone visiting, so to welcome him they began to throw food at him. The burglar ran straight out of the house and their neighbor saw this and thanked them for scaring off the man from robbing her.

I thought that this book was okay but that it didn't have a good enough plot to hold me in. It was cute to show people that people may have different lifestyles but I thought that it was so out there that it was just totally unbelievable (obviously, I guess). Kids may see it differently as I did but it would probably not be one that I would hand out to my students. I thought it was cute at parts and the pictures were good but I just was not hooked. It would probably be best for Preschool to First grade though.

For Sale: One Brother by P. Stren

This book by Patti Stren is amazing and I only wish that I could find a picture (to see a picture) of it to put on here so that you could all know what I am talking about. Every page is filled with a collage of different posters and ideas that Molly, a little girl has. Her first poster is an attempt to show us who she is not. She does not enjoy ballet or the things that she has to wear for it because it is "not her". Next, she makes a poster to sell her little brother because she thinks that only childs smile much more. She hangs it up in the laundry room of her apartment building because she had once seen a sign there for someone who was selling two lamps and a chest of drawers. She thought that this would be a great way to get rid of David and his pet worm, Spike.

When Molly's mom sees what she has done she is furious and makes Molly spend every free minute that she has with David for the next week. Obviously, David gets on her nerves during the whole next week and by the last day she finally cracks, telling him that she doesn't want him as a brother. She doesn't realize until the next morning when he is not there bugging her that something may be wrong. So she makes a "Lost Brother" sign and was just about to go put it up when she found David, who had slept in the closet. He was crying because he didn't think that Molly wanted him as a brother anymore. The last page is of Molly tucking David in to bed with all of his favorite toys and saying, "Night , little buddy. You still drive me bonkers. But you're definitely NOT for sale anymore!"

This was one of the best books that I have ever read. Not only was the plot fantastic and really had good meaning to them that every kid with a sibling can relate to and many other topics that can bring up text to self connections. The pictures were amazing also. Having a whole other story just in the pictures was tremendous. You could choose to read as much or as little on the posters as you wanted but it was all very interesting! This is one book that I definitely want to have in my classroom when I teach. It is a great story about relationships and how to build them and it also shows kids how you can write stories in different ways (even with pictures). I think that this book would be excellent for First to Third graders and maybe even older.

The Day Leo Said I HATE YOU! by Robie H. Harris

The title alone made me pull this book from the shelf. Such a crazy topic and the two different faces of the little boy, Leo, on the front cover. I first wondered what made him get so angry to say those three words. After reading the first few pages I knew exactly what would make this kid explode, his mom saying no to EVERYTHING!! "No rolling tomotoes across the floor!" and "No dropping string beans in the fishbowl!" she said. These were definately good reasons to be saying NO but to a little kid they may not be.

After Leo continued to be told no over and over again, he told his mom he was going to his room because he did not think he could be told no in his own room. When he got up there he began drawing a mean picture of his mom with crayon on his WALL. His mom came in and did not like what she saw. After telling him no one more time, those three horrible words came out of his mouth. Right after the fact little Leo wanted to shove them right back in. His mom got very sad and they talked about how those words hurt his mom. He said that she had said that she hated broccoli the night before and thought that was the same. They talked a lot about it at the end and he realized that even though she did say no to him every now and then that she was his mom and he loved her very much.

This book reminded me a lot of me when I was a kid. I can remember a very distinct time when I let out those three awful words and could not forgive myself for saying them after. I thought that I was a horrible person. But after I talked about it with my mom we both realized that I did not mean what I said at all. I was just very mad at the time and said something that I shouldn't have.

I thought this book was great to talk about this subject because I think that it is good for little kids to know about. It also has amazing illustrations with a lot of bright colors and it really captures all of the emotion of both Leo and his mother. I would definately put this in my classroom if I was teaching Preschool to First grade. It's a great book that portrays those "other" three words in a light that little kids may not realize.

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

Who could forget the twelve little girls in two straight lines? Definately not me. Madeline has been a favorite of mine since I was a very little girl and when I found a series of these books in the Curriculum Lab it brightened up my day. Right from the very beginning of the book, "In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines. In two straight lines they broke their bread and brushed their teeth and went to bed," I knew that I would enjoy this book because it reminded me so much of the TV series that I once watched.

There is many different books in the series by Ludwig Bemelmans. But in this one Madeline has to get her appendix out. And all of the other little girls and Miss Clavel, their care taker, went to visit her in the hospital. The girls were surprised to see many different flowers and plants and big toys. After going back home that night Miss Clavel woke up to something else that was not right in the house but this time it was not just one little girl crying but all eleven. When Miss Clavel asked what the matter was, they replied, "Boohoo, we want to have our appendix out, too!"

This is a very cute story. The pictures are very simple. The words are very simple. But they both seem to have a lot to them. With a lot of pages in the book there are different Paris scenes drawn out in the book. In the back, it tells you what each of them are. That could be very useful to little kids so that they can learn a little something about a different country while reading a great little story.

This book could work good for many different grades because I think that some kids may remember the TV show. And if they do not I think that it would be fun to show an episode that they can relate it to what they are reading. I think that the book would be best for Kindergarten to Third graders. It's a great story and if you loved the television show like I did then you will LOVE these books!

"I'm not scared!" by Jonathan Allen

The title of this story is the reason why I had to pick it off of the shelf. That and I couldn't exactly tell what kind of bird was on the front cover and I wanted to find out. It didn't take me long to confirm my thought that it was an owl on the front, his name being Baby Owl. His little friend that he is holding is Owly and they decide to go for a stroll through the woods one night.

After walking for a little bit he meets up with many different animals. But even though he may jump a little, Baby Owl continues to say, "I'm not scared!" He doesn't think that he should be able to be scared because he is an owl and owls stay up all night long. Baby Owl gets mad when all of the animals that he meets up with tell him that he should be at home and in bed. He says that it isn't him that is afraid to be out in the woods but that it is Owly. Finally, Baby Owl's dad comes along and tells him that it's okay that Owly is scared and then takes him to bed.

I think that even though the illustrations are very simple in this book, that they show a lot to what is going on in the story which is good. The dark colors for the night time feeling are beautiful and the different expressions on Baby Owls face really brings him to life.

This book would be a really good book for really young kids going to Kindergarten or so. It's a great story to show that it is okay to be scared every now and again and that everyone is. Baby Owl blames his fears on Owly and that is okay too because it is a way that he is calming himself.

Mind Your Manners, B.B. Wolf by Judy Sierra

Everyone remembers the story of the Big Bad Wolf with Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf that blows those poor little pigs' houses down. But this time B.B. Wolf is trying to learn some manners so that he can go to a Storybook Tea that he is invited to. His friend the crocodile does whatever he can to try to teach B.B. Wolf good manners.

Croc and B.B. Wolf make up little songs to remember all of the things that he learns. One of them is, "Sip your tea and never slurp, say excuse me if you burp. Smale and have a lot of fun, but don't go biting anyone!" B.B. Wolf finally gets to his party where many other story book characters are at. After drinking a lot of tea, B.B. realizes that he has to burp but he forgets the phrase that he has to use. So after hurrying to find it in an etiquitte book, he is able to say it before he burps. He is seen as a very polite person. He even refuses to eat the gingerbread cookies because he could never eat a Gingerbread Boy.

As he is leaving he mentions that sometime he will come back and tell the librarian what really happened in the other books that he is in. But on his way home, as he pops a gingerbread cookie into his mouth, you realize he isn't as nice as he says.

I thought that this book was really clever and that the pictures were also very good. If you look in the background of the illustrations you see that there are things from other fairy tale stories as well. I think that kids will appreciate to see the "Big Bad Wolf" in a different light for once. It would be great for Kindergarten to Second grades and I think that it could get children into wanting to learn about etiquette.

Planet Was by Amy Boesky

If you love books that rhyme and a boy's imagination and courage that would blow your mind then you will love Planet Was. Planet Was talks about a town where the rules are: "Never change!" and "Never new!"

In a town that never changes things probably get boring and that is exactly what the King's son felt like. When going to his dad about maybe changing a few things, he received a strong "NO". Everything was the same here. The houses all looked the same and were the same color, Eds had boys named Eds and Frans had girls named Fran. Nothing ever changed until one day during nap time. The king's son decided that he needed something different in his life so he marched up to his room and designed it how he wanted it, DIFFERENT! When everyone woke up, the king noticed that his son was no where to be found and ran up to his room finding this incredible sight. And that is exactly what he thought of it, that it was incredible.

This is a good story because I know when I was younger I didn't like a lot of change and I think that a lot of people are like that. But if you show kids that change can be good then they might be more accepting of it. This is a good book to have for Kindergarten to Second grades.

Don't Let the Peas Touch! by Deborah Blumenthal

This hilarious little story with great use of color and imagery really hit the spot for me. It reminded me of so many kids that I know and it kind of teaches you how to deal with problems.

Sophie and Annie are sisters, Sophie being younger, and when it is Annie's week to cook in the house, Sophie can not see anything right with what she is doing. She doesn't like that her milk is together with her cereal or that her peas are touching her other food on the plate. The whole family gets very irritated with Sophie and they do not know what to do. Annie, instead of getting annoyed and giving up, really thinks and comes up with a great solution to Sophie's problem which helps them both out.

This is a cute story because even after Sophie criticizes everything that Annie tries to do for her, Annie ends up finding a solution and making everything better in the end. I think this book could really teach kids about learning to try new things and to never quit trying even if something stands in your way. I also think that it is a great book for adults because it tries to give suggestions in situations where you may think that nothing can be accomplished. I think that this book is great for First to Third grade. The book also has two different stories dealing with the same two sisters that are also very good.

D.W., Go To Your Room by Marc Brown

As I have stated before, I absolutely love Marc Brown's work. Arthur and D.W. books have been my favorite since I was a little girl. I chose this book off of the shelf in the Curriculum Lab because D.W. has quite an attitude to her, much like myself when I was little, and I thought that this book showcased this well.

I loved the pictures in the story. They brought all the emotion that the characters were feeling right out of the pages. And the words that D.W. expressed made you think that you were actually listening to a 6 year old talk.

The story is about D.W. getting in trouble for not sharing her toys with her little sister, Kate. And when she continues to disobey her mom with this she is sent to her room. After trying to wrap her head around why she is in trouble and after trying to get out of it a couple of times, she just gets mad. A little later D.W.'s mom brings Kate up for D.W. to watch, which she is not happy about. But after a while she realizes that she isn't so bad.

I think that this is a great book for Preschool to Second graders because it can show that don't always judge a book by its cover and things may be more fun than you perceive. I also remembered this episode from the Arthur series and many other kids may also.

How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

Just the title of this book hooks you into wondering why anyone would fry a worm, let alone want to eat the worm. I was first introduced to this book in elementary school and thought that it was the greatest book ever written. While looking for different books in the Curriculum Lab, I came acrossed it and knew that I had to read it.

The book, How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell, is about four boys who make a bet of $50 that one of them has to eat 15 worms, one each day for 15 days. And when eating them he can cook them or put anything on them that he wants. When the signs come across that he may actually accomplish this task, the other boys do anything that they can to make him think that these worms might be killing him.

It's a great book and a very fast and easy read. I don't know if it's because I was so hooked reading it again because of the first time but I just couldn't put it down. It would be a great book for the classroom for fourth to sixth graders and could really help children with dealing with conflict.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

What could this funny little creature be on the front cover of this book? That was the thing that captured my attention right away. And as I flipped through the pictures I found many other wild beings throughout.

The beginning of the story was very simple. You see a man packing his bags and having to leave his wife and little girl to go off to somewhere new. After this I started to get confused. All kinds of big creatures started showing up and other things that I have never even imagined before. After going through the whole book I couldn't put together what the story was actually tryiing to tell me. I had to go and look up a summary of it online and after doing that I went back to the book and it made a little more sense.

The book is about a man who leaves his family and is an immigrant in a new land. The creatures represent the dark things that he goes through while being so far away from his family. He also meets a new friend along the way though.

I don't know if I needed to step outside the box a little more to figure out what this book was telling me or if I just needed more background knowledge. But because this was a wordless book it made it very difficult for me to read. I would say this book would be good for junior high children and older as long as they are able to really use their imaginations. So if you want a book with terrific pictures that pretty much just come out of the page then pick up The Arrival by Shaun Tan.

Hogwash by Arthur Geisert

I picked up this book because of the crazy drawing on the front cover. What could this water contraption be used for and would those pigs up in the building be using it. My first guess was right. By the name of the book, Hogwash, I could tell that this thing on the front cover would be used to clean a bunch of pigs.

The simple but essential illustrations made the story really come to life. And since there are no words in this book it is up to you to fill in the blanks of the story with your imagination.

The story begins when a bunch of piglets go out and get all muddy and full of pain. The piglets' mom had to figure out some way to get all of them clean so she came up with a machine that resembled a big car wash. In no time at all, all of the piglets were soaped up, cleaned and hung to dry.

This book would be great for Kindergarten to second grade. It can show them that even if they have a big task at hand, like washing tons of piglets, they can get it done if they put their mind to it.

Where Is the Cake? by T.T. Khing

While first looking at the cover of this book, I thought to myself, what are those two little animals behind the tree going to do. It didn't take long to find out that they are going to cause a lot of trouble around the neighborhood.

In, Where Is the Cake? by T.T. Khing you find that two sneaky little animals steal a cake from a couple of dogs. The dogs chase them throughout the forest finding that many other people along the way are having problems of their own. By the end of the story something is wrong with every situation.

This is a cute story and good for children in primary grades because you really have to look at the pictures and pay attention to what is going on. There is many different little scenes going on but all in the same picture and since this is a wordless book you only have the pictures to go off of. Does the pig end up falling off the cliff? And do the two dogs ever get that cake back? I guess you will just have to look to find out.

Rainstorm by Barbara Lehman

A book that is filled with different worlds and many new friends all without saying a single word is how I would describe Rainstorm by Barbara Lehman. This is a great book that tells about a little boy who is all alone on a rainy night and ends up finding a whole new world because of it.

The story begins with a little boy who is playing with his ball and when chases it and ends up finding a secret key underneath the chair. He tries to open anything that he possibly could in the house but finds that a chest is the special thing. Inside the chest is a ladder and the little boy follows it. He finds a new world that has many new people. He makes sure that he gets home by supper time but he doesn't ever hesitate to go back whenever he can.

This is a good book for preschool to second graders to look at. While looking at it they can take their imaginations away to any place that they wish. There is a great story to it even though there is no reading to go along with it and the pictures are great too.

Four Hungry Kittens by Emily Arnold McCully

After finding some wordless books for our genre assignment, I had come across this one and remembered it from somewhere. I had

remembered back to reading it when I was a lot younger. While flipping through the pictures and seeing the amazing water color, I thought of how excited I was that I got to make up what these four little kittens were going through. The pictures are wonderful and its no wonder why this book won the Caldecott Medal.

The story begins with four kittens waiting for there mom to come back and feed them. When the mother kitty gets shut in another room away from them they don't know what to do. They are hungry! The kittens go wondering around but a loyal dog comes along and saves them from many of the mischievous things that they get into and they gain a new friend.

This is a great story that kids can read to help them look at friendship and how you don't have to be exactly alike to be good friends. I would say that it would be best for a younger age range but that anyone would love to just look through the amazing illustrations.

You Can't Take a Balloon Into the Museum of Fine Arts by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman and Robin Preiss Glasser

From the first time that I saw the cover of You Can't Take a Balloon Into the Museum of Fine Arts by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman and Robin Preis Glasser I wanted to find out what adventure this balloon would go on. But not only did I get adventure I also found out a lot of historical facts about the city that the story is based in, Boston.

While two grandparents take their two grandchild to a museum they realize that the little girls balloon is not allowed inside. Because they have been waiting forever to go the grandma offers to sit outside with the balloon. While fumbling with her map she accidently looses the balloon and then has to go running after it. Along the way you see all of the art that the grandpa and the two grandchildren are looking at getting depicted in what the grandma is going through. Also, if you look close you see many famous Bostonians throughout the whole book.

This book is great for Kindergarten children and above because it has amazing pictures with a lot of detail. You can either check out all of the cool stuff in the back or just focus on the main part of the story which is in color. And if you flip to the back of the book you can find all of the paintings and famous people that are shown throughout the book and what pages they are on.