The Day the Crayons Quit

Author: Drew Daywalt
Illustrator:   Oliver Jeffers
Publisher:  Philomel
Publication Year:   2013
Location: Barnes & Noble

Awards:   Publisher's Weekly starred review,

Summary:  One day Duncan finds a packet of letters from his crayons. They're mad and they're letting him know about it. Red is overworked- he even has to work holidays coloring all those Santas! Blue has been worn down to a nub and can't see out of the box. Orange and yellow are in a fight over who gets to color the sun. Each two page spread has a letter written by the crayon in question and an illustration of how Duncan uses them. Duncan ends up using all the crayons in a masterpiece and saves the day. The fun drawings along with the epistolary style really bring the story to life.

Classroom Ideas: Great example of personification and character. It would be an interesting writing exercise to write from the point of view of one of their supplies. What would their pencil say?

Unicorn Think He's Really Great

Author & Illustrator:   Bob Shea
Publisher:  Hyperion
Publication Year:   2013
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   starred review Kirkus

Summary:  Now that Unicorn has moved into the neighborhood, Goat can't catch a break. No matter what Goat does, Unicorn does it better. Goat bakes marshmallow squares, but Unicorn can make it rain cupcakes. But right in the middle of Goat's jealous fit, a slice of goat cheese pizza changes everything. Goat finds out that Unicorn is just as envious of him. The two think about teaming up to fight crime but decide to just be friends instead. Shea's hilarious illustrations where Unicorn is surrounded by glitter and rainbows and Goat is just blue perfectly capture the mood of the story and sent me into giggle after giggle.

Classroom Ideas: The theme in the book is a perfect one for kids- the grass is always greener on the other side; everyone is jealous; nobody's life is as perfect as it looks from the outside. It would be great for a counselor as well.

A Sick Day for Amos McGee

Author: Philip C. Stead
Illustrator:   Erin E. Stead
Publisher:  Roaring Brook Press
Publication Year:   2010
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Caldecott medal, Publisher's Weekly & Kirkus starred reviews, A Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book, Charlotte Zolotow Award/Honor Book

Summary:  Amos McGee is a zookeeper with a scheduled life until one day when he gets a cold and has to stay in bed. His animal friends all wait for Amos to show up and wonder where he is so they head to the bus stop. Elephant, rhinoceros, turtle, owl, and penguin go to visit Amos and cheer him up. At the end of the story, owl reads them a bedtime story before everyone settles down to spend the night. Erin Stead's woodblock and pencil drawings are subtle and the personalities of the characters are captured perfectly.

Classroom Ideas:The theme here is about caring and friendship. You could also use this book to talk about genre: fantasy.

Baby Bear Sees Blue

Author & Illustrator:   Ashley Wolff
Publisher:  Beach Lane Books
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   featured on "Calling Caldecott" blog, Publisher's Weekly starred review,

Summary:  In his day, Baby Bear discovers many different colors as he and his Mama walk through their environment. The illustrations are gorgeously rendered in linoleum block colored with rich watercolors. After reading Ashley Wolff's comments on the Calling Caldecott blog, I love feeling like I know a little secret that the vibrant endpapers are meant to perfectly match the color of the Checkermallow flower on the front cover!

Classroom Ideas: There is plenty of personification here- the leaves dance and wave and the thunder growls. For preschoolers, it's a perfect color book as they'll discover the different colors in nature right along with Baby Bear- after reading it, the class could take a nature walk and find colors in their own environment.

Each Kindness

Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Illustrator:   E.B. Lewis
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Publication Year:  2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   featured on the "Calling Caldecott" blog, Coretta Scott King honor book, Jane Addams Peace Award, Charlotte Zolotow Award, School Library Journal Best Book

Summary:  A new girl named Maya comes to school and Chloe and her friends are unkind to her because she is different. Even though Maya keeps trying, the other girls continue to make fun of her and leave her out. Finally, Chloe's teacher shows her the consequences of her choices, but it is too late because Maya and her family have moved away.

Classroom Ideas: This book could be used by a teacher or guidance counselor to discuss kindness and the consequences for actions. The theme is well articulated and includes a metaphor for kindness in a stone.

John, Paul, George, and Ben

Author & Illustrator:   Lane Smith
Publisher:  Hyperion
Publication Year:   2006
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Horn Book Fanfare Award, School Library Journal Best Books,  NYT Best Illustrated Book of the Year,  Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year,  Parenting Magazine Best Book of the Year, NYT Notable Book, 

Summary:  Despite sounding like a Beatles book, this book is about four (or five) of the founding fathers. Smith chooses adjectives for each one of them: John Hancock was bold; Paul Revere was noisy; George Washington was honest; Ben Franklin was clever; Thomas Jefferson was independent. These traits lead to the accomplishments of the founding fathers, ending with a hilarious "ye olde True or False" section. As always, Smith's illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to the text.

Classroom Ideas: This would be a great book for fourth grade to link Writing, Grammar, and Social Studies. It could be used to talk about adjectives, character traits, and US history.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Author: Judith Viorst
Illustrator:   Ray Cruz
Publisher:  Atheneum
Publication Year:   1972
Location: Personal collection

Awards:   ALA Notable, Reading Rainbow selection

Summary:  Alexander is having a bad day. Everything is going wrong- from waking up with gum in his hair to to messing up in school to fighting with his friends. He wants to move to Australia. His day gets worse and worse, until the lima beans for dinner and the hated railroad-train pajamas. At the end of it all, Alexander's mom reassures him that everybody has bad days, even in Australia. Cruz's realistic drawings showing Alexander's typical life in detail; and Viorst finds a way to make his compaints sympathetic rather than whiny. One of my childhood favorites!

Classroom Ideas: This book would work well as a mentor text as kids write about their worst day. It also has great mood, and Alexander's character would be an interesting one to discuss (Does he perhaps bring some of this bad day onto himself? Is he a reliable narrator?)  The refrain of moving to Australia could be an example of repetition.

Chloe and the Lion

Author: Mac Barnett
Illustrator: Adam Rex
Publisher:  Disney Hyperion Books
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   featured on "Calling Caldecott" blog, Children's Choice Award, starred review School Library Journal

Summary:  Meta-picture book. A story about Chloe and a lion turns into an argument between the author and the illustrator. When the Adam the illustrator goes rogue and draws a dinosaur rather than a lion, he gets replaced with a new illustrator who can't draw the story that way Adam can. Mac tries to draw it himself and then realizes that he can't do it. He has to apologize and then save Adam so that they can finish the book.

Classroom Ideas: This book can start a discussion about the parts of a successful children's book and how the author & illustrator are a team.

Mousterpiece

Author & Illustrator:   Jane Breskin Zalben
Publisher:  Roaring Book Press
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Kirkus & Booklist starred reviews, featured on Calling Caldecott blog, Kirkus Best Books

Summary:  Janson the mouse creates homages to many famous modern artists. When the modern art wing is under renovation, Janson paints canvases and hangs them in the museum. When the curator realizes she did them, he gives her an exhibition of her own. Janson's favorite painting is the one she does in her very own style.

Classroom Ideas: An art teacher could use this, along with other resources, to introduce different artistic techniques and artists.

Neville

Author: Norton Juster
Illustrator:   G. Brian Karas
Publisher:  schwartz & wade book
Publication Year:   2011
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   featured on "Calling Caldecott" blog, SLJ & Booklist starred reviews

Summary:  When a boy moves into a new neighborhood, he is worried about trying to make new friends. Then he stops and (strangely) calls out "Neville." Soon all the kids in the neighborhood come to join in. The illustrations start grey and uniform and soon turn to varied colors and fonts. All the kids want to know about Neville and are excited to learn more about him from the boy. The kids soon wander off and when the boy returns home the reader discovers that he himself is Neville.

Classroom Ideas: This book is a great one for problem and solution. The mood is very obvious in the illustrations as Neville becomes more hopeful about his new life. And, everyone will want to know what happens next, so a story about Neville's next day would be a perfect writing assignment.

Chloe

Author & Illustrator:   Peter McCarty
Publisher:  Balzer + Bray
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:  featured on Caldecott Calling blog,  Publisher's Weekly Booklist & Kirkus starred reviews, Kirkus Best Books

Summary:  Chloe the bunny is the middle child- she has 10 older siblings and 10 younger siblings. When Chloe's dad bring home a television, she doesn't like how it takes her family away. Chloe finds some bubble wrap and pretty soon all the other kids came to play and pretend with Chloe, except Mom & Dad. After bed, even Dad runs to play with the bubble wrap.

Classroom Ideas: This story could start a discussion about TV and imagination.

Z is for Moose

Author: Kelly Bingham
Illustrator:   Paul O. Zelinsky
Publisher:  Greenwillow Books
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Featured on "Calling Caldecott" blog, Publisher's Weekly Kirkus and Horn Book starred reviews,

Summary:  Hilarious version of an alphabet book! Everything starts out well until Moose jumps onto the 'D' page. Zebra, acting as a director, is not impressed with Moose and sends him off to wait for his turn. He continues trying to get into all the pages in creative ways- under the ice cream, on the jam label, in kangaroo's pouch, until the M page comes. But wait! M is for Mouse? Moose is mad and starts destroying the book until Zebra comes up with a compromise. This adorable book made me laugh out loud several times!

Classroom Ideas: Smaller readers would love correctly identifying the pages that Moose has ruined. With older kids, this could serve as a mentor text or start a discussion about problem solving and compromise.

Extra Yarn

Author: Mac Barnett
Illustrator:   Jon Klassen
Publisher:  Balzer + Bray
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Kirkus Best of 2012, Caldecott Honor, Horn Book Award, EB White Picture Book Award, Booklist's Best Picture Book, School Library Journal Best

Summary:  Annabelle discovers a box full of unending yarn and knits for everyone she knows. She even makes a hat for Mr. Crabtree who would never wear even pants in the snow. An archduke comes and offered Annabelle millions of dollars for the box of yarn, but she refuses and he has it stolen. But the box is empty until he throws it away and tries to curse Annabelle. However, it makes its way back to Annabelle who is happy once more. Klassen's charming mixed media illustrations use muted color so effectively in this book, especially when depicting the dark shades of the archduke.

Classroom Ideas: This book's theme touches on the idea of greed and community and would be a wonderful conversation starter for a class discussion.There is also some repetition and a smaller theme of bullying.

there are no scary wolves

Author & Illustrator:  Hyewon Yum
Publisher:  Frances Foster Books
Publication Year:   2010
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Society of Illustrators Founder's Award, Starred Kirkus Review,

Summary:  A little boy thinks about going outside into the scary world without his mom, but he worries that there are wolves everywhere. His mother is distracted and he gets bored waiting for her. So, he decides to go off and find his favorite restaurant alone, but here are wolves working there and in the toy store and on the street! In the end, he tell his fears to his mom and she finally engages him completely as they head out inside the city together to find no scary wolves.

Classroom Ideas: This is a great book for introducing the idea of fantasy (which part of it only happens in his imagination?) and for discussing safety with kids.

Mom, It's My First Day of Kindergarten

Author & Illustrator:   Hyewon Yum
Publisher:  Frances Foster Books
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:     Kirkus Review & Horn Books starred reviews, featured on "Calling Caldecott' blog, Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Award

Summary:  A young boy is large and colorful as he gets ready for his first day of kindergarten while his mom stands small and blue (sad, yes, but in this case actually blue in color). While the text tells of her worries and his enthusiasm, the amazing illustrations show mom gradually regaining her confidence, her color, and her size. Until he mentions riding the bus...

Classroom Ideas: This would be a perfect book to read on the first day of kindergarten, but it would also work as a great character study.

Press Here

Author & Illustrator:   Herve Tullet
Publisher:  Bayard Editions (in France)
Publication Year:   2010
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Building Block Picture Books Award, Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year, SLJ Top 100 Picture Books, Starred Kirkus review

Summary:  The specific interactive directions in this book defy anyone to just passively "read" this story. Of course, little ones love this, but my 9 year old read it over and over again, following the directions each time. Such fun to see simple interaction without any electronic devices involved!

Classroom Ideas: This is one is just plain story time fun!

The Happy Hocky Family

Author & Illustrator: Lane Smith  
Publisher:  Viking
Publication Year:   1993
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Parent's Choice Award

Summary:  This satire of a traditional Dick & Jane primer is full of dry humor and sarcasm. It is most appropriate for older children who can understand the joke. The artwork is perfect in its simplicity. The book made me and my 9 year old laugh out loud several times! I think the ant farm story was my favorite.

Classroom Ideas: I would use this book to introduce the idea of sarcasm and parody to upper elementary students.

I Have a Dream

Author: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Illustrator:   Kadir Nelson
Publisher:  schwartz & wade books
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, Starred review Kirkus

Summary:  The familiar timeless words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "dream" speech are beautifully illustrated with Nelson's oil paintings. The paintings are stately and striking. It's hard to choose a favorite, but I gasped at the two page spread of a sunrise in the mountains and loved the panels of the seasons across the country.

Classroom Ideas: Obviously, this would work for a classroom study of civil rights or to celebrate MLKJr. Day. There is also an LA objective about understanding the audience of a speech.

Just a Dream

Author & Illustrator:   Chris Van Allsburg
Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin
Publication Year:   1990
Location: Personal Collection

Awards:   National Science Teachers Outstanding Science Books

Summary:  A modern day fable with a plea for environmental action.Walter dreams of a high-tech future but doesn't really care about recycling and the environment.  Then one night in a dream his bed travels to the future. There he find trash on the street where he lives, stumps where the forests used to be, rows of smokestacks, and other environmental nightmares. In each case, Van Allsburg has drawn eerie two-page spreads to show the nightmarish future, and Walter and his bed land right in the middle of the action When Walter wakes up, he rushes to recycle the trash and plant a new tree.

Classroom Ideas: This book is obviously one that would enter into any class discussion of the environment, recycling, or conservation. It would work well as an Earth Day or Arbor Day read aloud.