Favorite Picture Book Readings: July

Here are my stats for July
Picture Book Read: 47
Children's Chapter Books Read: 0
Other Books (novels/YA books/adult non-fiction): 3

I read some REALLY FABULOUS books this month! If I made a million dollars or was granted one wish, I would want to be able to buy any picture books I wanted, at any time. So many good ones to read and share with kids and friends.

The REALLY great news from this month is that I am beginning a new position as a special education teacher with kindergarten and first graders. I'm super pumped! I'm gonna flood them with books. Only good books. What's the point in sharing bad books? I'll be posting a lot about my reading plans.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy these great titles!



The author describes the things he can do with his pen.  This is a great book for encouraging kids to be creative and to let their ideas be known.


This book SCREAMS to be read aloud. Mouse is trying to write a story. Frog wants to help but he's a little over-the-top. Be prepared to ham it up when you read Frog's part. He's great.



I liked another one of the author's wordless books, Flashlight, so I wanted to check this one out too. This story shows a boy doing various activities inside and outside, throughout the seasons. The die-cuts allow readers to predict what season will be next.



The tiny king lives in a world where everything around him is big-his house, his horse, his spread of food. And none of it makes him happy. A big princess comes along and things change. This was a sweet story with cool digital collage illustrations.



Pomelo doesn't just see green as green. She sees the dismal green of doubt and the muddy green that comes after the rain. She also sees the hypnotizing red of love and the surprising red of ripe tomatoes. This book could be used to help kids get more descriptive with their writing or just to appreciate all the colors around us.



The director is trying to shoot a movie about a moose but someone keeps interrupting. This would be great for readers theater. I laughed a lot.



I loved this book. I loved the author's sense of humor. It's one where you definitely need the illustrations along with the text to appreciate the story. Funny and sweet.



Each experiment includes the following information: Question, Hypothesis, What You Need, What to Do, and What Happened. Questions explored include things like "Do dogs like to be covered in glitter?" and "What is the best way to speed up a boring car ride" I found the book funny and entertaining. I could see it leading to students designing some fun experiments to write about.



They can't read books. A snail in the driveway causes too much commotion. Vanilla ice cream is too flavorful. Read this one to find out even more things that upset Mr. and Mrs. Dullard and see if the kids can survive.


This is an older book and for some reason I had never read it. Several people have talked about it but I just never picked it up. I'm so glad I finally did. I loved the story of Mr. Plumbean resisting the urge to fit in. There's a good message in here for kids and adults.



The illustrations caught my attention in this book-hand built and shot with a camera. Kids might be able to relate to the boy in the story wanting to run away and will find his advice and adventure fun.



I like finding books about books. This one includes three simple, little books written by a boy, his sister, and his little brother. They decide to put their books together into a bigger book because, "books are better when they are shared". Good message.



Bird poop saves the day.



This book was needing to be re-shelved at the library and I decided to take a peek through it while I was at the reference desk. As I read I was imagining doing something with my class with a long string...following it to some fun surprise. The source of Hugo's string cracked me up when I read it!



This was another one I accidentally found at the library. I paged through it and my finger stopped on the poem called "Farts or Burps". I'm a sucker for funny, stupid poems and this book is filled with several. There are also some about "Haters" and "Super Mom".

Happy Reading!

Books and the Kids Who Loved Them

When I think about my favorite books, many of them are tied to a certain person. Sometimes it's the person who recommended the book to me and sometimes it's a person who read the book and discussed it with me. When I think about some of my favorite picture books I think about certain kids who loved the book with me.

This book will forever remind me of one of my first graders. He was a super smart, cute kid who sometimes had some very negative behavior. When I read Enemy Pie to the class, the book quickly became this boy's favorite. He would often be reading it in the reading area during literacy stations. The book actually went missing from my classroom that year. I have no idea what happened to the book, but I remember thinking this student took it. I kind of like the idea of him liking the book so much he wanted to take it. I never found the book.

One of my first graders who had autism loved this book and all the funny sounds it contained.  He would carry the book around and ask me or my classroom assistant to read certain pages. His favorite sound to repeat was, "dibble dibble dop dop".

This one was a favorite of another kiddo with autism. He pretty much had this book memorized and liked to act it out. The cool thing about this kiddo was that he was open to reading other Elephant and Piggie books with his therapists. Today I Will Fly was another one of his favorites. He liked these books so much that he would often try to draw pictures from them and make props to carry around so he could act out the story.

My 15 month old nephew has been favoring this book for probably six months now. It has been cute to watch him learn to lift the flaps and see how he reacts to us reading the book with him. He smiles every time a flap gets opened.

We bought this book for one of my cousins for Christmas a bunch of years ago. It's a funny book about a farty dog who saves his family from robbers. I don't know that her parents appreciated how many times the word FART was in the book (the girls used to say they "gassed" not farted) but I like to think my cousins got some fun out of the book.

                                                     

We gave this book to a cousin and a few weeks later we got the cute video below from her mom. I love it. She totally got the "pop...oh no!" part of the book.

There are a few other books that are tied to people for me. Strega Nona reminds me of the school librarian who first read that book to my class. The Happy Man and His Dump Truck reminds me of my dad. The Boxcar Children reminds me of my second grade teacher who shared that with our class. The Night Before Christmas reminds me of my mom reading to us and pretending to "throw up" when she read "threw up the sash". All these memories put a smile on my face. I hope there are a few kids out there who can remember a time I read a good book to them in class and put a smile on their faces.

Summer Reading Recommendations, Part 2

We aren't even halfway through summer but I'm almost done with my original summer reading list! There are just two books left for me to read...Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis and Mindset. I really underestimated how much reading I would do! Thank goodness I've got a nice stack of upcoming titles ready to go.



My new book club is reading this for the July meeting (which I will miss).



My old book club read this for their June meeting. I was the one who put this title into the hat since my mom recommended it to me so I better read it!



I want to read this because I've listened to several stories on NPR about Snowden and the book. Reviews online said it was easy to read.


     
A tutor I supervised liked this author and I recently ran into his name on two different occasions so I think it's a sign I have to try one (or two) of his books. The first one won the Pulitzer, the second title was his debut.



A book-loving former supervisor recommended this to me a while ago. I recently found it on the "pay what you can" cart at our local used bookstore and snatched it up.

I will try this book for probably the 5th time. If I don't get through it, I will really disappoint my husband.



I know this book has been around a while. I think I've thought about reading it but get distracted with other titles. I watched the movie but now I will read the book.



I love Amy Poehler from SNL and Parks and Recreation and I love memoirs. Hopefully this will be entertaining.



I don't remember how I heard about this book. I read one of the author's other titles (Speak) for a graduate class and loved it so I'm hoping this is good too.



Again, don't remember where I got the recommendation from but supposedly if you liked Eleanor and Park and The Fault in Our Stars you will love this book. Seems like a good one.


So there's my list for the next couple months. What are you planning to read? What have you read this summer and loved?

Happy Reading!

Seven Reasons to Read Wordless Picture Books

I've come to really enjoy wordless picture books. I like to use them when I read with groups of children, no matter the age. I find they are a great way to get attention and engage a group. With just a little encouragement children really pay attention to the illustrations and help tell the story. If you haven't shared a wordless picture book with a child, check out the list of titles at the end of this post and give one a try. Here are seven reasons wordless books are cool.


1. Wordless books help build comprehension. Children have to make inferences, understand sequencing, and make predictions when reading a wordless book.

2. Wordless books allow children who can't yet read, share a story. There is no text to stumble over. Children can look at the pictures and use their growing vocabulary to tell the story.

3. Wordless books encourage participation. When sharing these books with groups I have children raise their hand when they have an idea for each page. A different student continues the story on each page. This builds listening comprehension and cooperation as the group works together to tell the story.

4. Wordless books expose children to a different way of telling a story. When I have shared wordless books with children I've found that many have never read a wordless book.

5. Wordless books encourage creativity. One child might tell the story one way, while another child will use different words or set a different tone for the book.

6. Wordless books allow for savoring. There is no text to read to signal when to turn the page. The illustrations carry the story. Children can linger on a spread for several minutes, taking in all the details.

7. Wordless books allow for differentiation. The stories can be told simply, or with advanced vocabulary.


For younger children:

                  

                                     

For older children:

                     

              

Happy Reading!

Favorite Picture Book Readings: June 2015

Here are my stats for June:
Picture Book Read: 37
Children's Chapter Books Read: 7
Other Books (novels/YA books/adult non-fiction): 3

My 16 favorites are below. They are all picture books with the exception of one easy chapter book. I'll have to do another post on some of my favorite chapter books and young adult novels.


This book was recommended to me. I laughed and cringed at a couple of the pictures of Simon and his snotty, sick face. In the end, the germs (who are not afraid to introduce themselves) talk to Simon and he learns better habits.



This alphabet book included some different occupations such as skateboarder, explorer, aviator, and oceanographer. Both the jobs included and the illustrations were interesting.



A teacher friend mentioned this book several times, so when I stumbled across it at the library I had to grab it. Rapunzel misunderstands everything the prince says and it leads to some funny outcomes. The rhyming text and silly pictures would make this a fun read aloud.



Cute beginner chapter book. I liked Dory. She annoys her siblings and she's spunky and imaginative.



When I saw this new Elephant and Piggie title I grabbed it right away. Yet another good one from Mo Willems.



A little bird is tired of saying the same thing day after day. He makes up funny sounds to say but Crow does not approve. This will make for a fun read aloud with all the silly sounds.



This is a lift-the-flap board book good for toddlers. The illustrations were bright, the text rhymes, and it includes animals sounds.


A nice book for kids dealing with a move. It includes two word phrases and pictures that clearly show how the kids are feeling as things are getting packed away. The ending shows that a tough move doesn't have to be bad forever.



This was a sweet book for a parent to read to a child. The text was simple and the illustrations included some shimmery shine to make it eye-catching for little ones.



I've read this book before but wanted to reread it. I like that Little Pea has trouble when it comes to eating candy. He would rather be eating his vegetables.



Will their plan to catch a bird work? This was a funny book with great illustrations.


An entertaining take on the telephone game. The birds keep messing up the message Peter's mother sends until a wise one sets them straight.



Any time you have an excuse to say the word "butt" with kids, you'll have an engaged audience. In this title, you get to talk about all kinds of animal butts. Share with caution!


I like finding new wordless books. The illustrations in this one are simple pencil and watercolor drawings. The boy loses his airplane and spends a lifetime trying to get it back.


A creative story inspired by a real lion statue in Paris. Cool illustrations in an over-sized, horizontal format made this book stand out.




Another book someone recommended I read. A boy discovers a whale in his pool. His mom doesn't help him get it out. He attempts to bargain with the whale. Read it to find out what happens. This would be a fun read aloud because the boy has such a strong voice in this story.

Happy Reading!