Under the Persimmon Tree

By: Suzanne Fisher Staples (2005)
                                    

I really enjoyed this book and I can see myself using this book if I am a fifth grade teacher.  I think that the way the story is told is very important for students to see how things are in Afghanistan.  I think many people may be close minded about people from the Middle East since 9/11, but after reading this book their eyes will be opened to see that it isn't great over their either.  I think one of the main things that really caught my attention was that the characters from Afghanistan didn't want to leave there to come to America.  I thought this book was very emotional especially when her whole family died, but it is a reality and it is good to show students what happens in the real world.  

I think the author did an excellent job with this novel.  I think it was very important that she went over to Afghanistan and interviewed people so that her story was very close to the truth and told the story of these people from their perspective.  I am very glad that I had read the Breadwinner before reading this.  It gave me a little bit of background knowledge about the Middle East and how women are treated.  This book opened my eyes and I am very glad we read it in this class.

Be Good to Eddie Lee

By: Virginia Fleming (1993)

I loved this story!  This book was about Eddie Lee, a young boy with down syndrome.  The story took place during the summer and involved his neighbors Christy and JimBud.  Christy's mother told her she had to be good to Eddie Lee, but JimBud didn't want Eddie Lee tagging along with them down to the lake.  Eddie followed them and ended up showing Christy water lilies and found some frog eggs for her.  JimBud had promised to show her some frog eggs, but he couldn't find any.  As Christy looks at her reflection in the water she sees how odd she looks and Eddie Lee tells her that it doesn't matter what you look like, what matters is what's in your heart.

I thought that this was a very touching story and as I read it I thought back to high school.  In high school I was a lunch buddy for a student at our school with down syndrome.  A group of my friends would sit with her at lunch everyday and help her get her tray and open her milk and stuff for her.  We made sure that no one picked on her and helped her during the day as well when we would see her in the hallways.  I think that this would be an excellent book to read to students to show them that we may be different, but we do need to be kind and helpful to all of our peers.  I really enjoyed this book and can see myself reading this to my students one day.

Mommies Say Shhh!

By Patricia Polacco (2005)

This book was ok, but it was not my favorite book by Patricia Polacco.  I think that this book would be a great read aloud book for kindergarten or first grade, but it wasn't what I expected from her after reading some of her other books.  The book told what sounds different animals make, but it kept repeating "bunnies say nothing at all."  I guess I am just used to her other works such as Pink and Say that I was just expecting something different.  I do think that younger children would really enjoy this as a morning or afternoon read aloud, but I don't think I could use it in any other way in my classroom.

I really did enjoy the illustrations in this book though.  As in all her books the illustrations are just gorgeous.  You can see details and they reflect really well on the story that the author is telling.  I did find the bunnies with the red eyes a little creepy, but that is what they really look like.  Overall, the book was ok.  I'm not sure if I would read it again, but I may.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Laura Numeroff (1985)
This is one of my all time favorite books!  I used this book in my lesson about unlimited wants and needs.  The students in my class really enjoyed this book and learned a lot about wants and needs.  I think it was a great way to demonstrate how the mouse had unlimited wants in this story.  It showed them that no matter what you gave him, he always wanted something else.  This story is a classic and the majority of students really enjoy reading it and the other books in the series that are very similar to it.  I am also using this book as a model for my e-book.  We created a classroom book titled, If You Give a Teacher a Dog, as part of my lesson as well.  I decided to use that as my e-book and present it to the class.

I think the author does a great job in this story in showing how wanting one thing leads to wanting another.  It is a great lesson for kids and it demonstrates it in such a fun way.  They story and illustrations in this book are great and as I said before students and adults alike enjoy reading this book!

Love That Dog

Sharon Creech (2001)











I really enjoyed this book.  I loved the way that the story was told from a young boys point of view.  This book would be great to use in the classroom because it is a very quick read and it would be able to hold the students attention.  The book would also be great for a class discussion based on how the students feel about each part of the poem that is in the book.  It would be very interesting to split the class into small groups so that the students could really share their feelings about the book in a small group setting.

I loved how the author really captured me from the very beginning.  I really started to wonder what a dog had to do with it, but then when it finally came out, I found myself in tears.  I have lost a pet before and knowing the pain and heartache I went through, I couldn't imagine seeing it get hit by a car.  I thought it was very interesting how the author tied the blue car into the story.  It really caught my attention when they were discussing the Robert Frost poem and the kid couldn't figure out why the man didn't just rest if he was so tired.  It cam back around to the car, I am sure he wondered why the car didn't stop to help after it had hit his dog.

This book really made me think in a couple of places and I loved the way that he was not a very confident writer at the beginning, but when the teacher kept pushing hi and praising him, he became very confident in his work.  This truly was a great book and I look forward to using it in my classroom one day.

Jack and the Beanstalk

By: Steven Kellogg

I absolutely loved this book!  I used this book in my economics lesson for bartering.  I showed the students how Jack bartered his cow for the magic beans.  As I read the book to my students, you could of heard a pin drop in the classroom.  The students were hanging on every word of the book as well as the illustrations.  I thought that this book went along very well with bartering and it allowed the students to make a connection with the topic of bartering.  This is the book that turned me on to Steven Kellogg and I have checked out many books by him to finish my blog.

I think that as an author and illustrator Steven Kellogg is very talented and has the ability to capture the audience from the very beginning.  To be able to have 23 second grade students sit and hang on every word of a book is amazing.  The illustrations caught my attention as well.  I was trying to figure out which version of Jack and the Beanstalk to buy, when I came to this version I was totally captivated by the pictures.  Steven Kellogg has the special gift of being an author/illustrator that can captivate the audience from the very beginning of the story by just the illustrations.

Johnny Appleseed

By: Steven Kellogg (1988)

I decided to read more Steven Kellogg books after reading Jack and the Beanstalk in one of my lesson plans.  He is an amazing author and illustrator.  This book followed the life of John Chapman also known as Johnny Appleseed.  I thought that the way the story flowed was great.  It didn't drag our at all and it gave facts, while also giving details that you could tell were a little exaggerated.  One of the tale tales that were in the story was that he got attacked by a ratlesnake, but his feet were like elephants and the fangs didn't penetrate the skin.  I can hear some of the boys in y class now saying there is no way that that is true.  As I read this book I remembered when I was in elementary school and we did a PTO program on Johnny Appleseed. I can still remember that I was the Golden Delicious Apple.  I love finding books like this that I can relate to as a reader.  Bringing back fond memories like that is great and it helps the reader connect with the story and hold their attention to the very end.

This book would be a great way to introduce tall tales to the class.  While Johnny Appleseed did exist, some stories of him have become highly exaggerated.  This would be a great introduction to the unit and then have the students write some tall tales of their own.  Like the other book that I have read by him I thought that the story and the illustrations were amazing.  Steven Kellogg is very talented and can hook the reader from the very beginning of his story.