The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Author & Illustrator:   William Joyce
Publisher:  Antheneum
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Kirkus starred review, inspired the Academy Award winning short film

Summary:  Morris Lessmore loves books and then a storm comes and destroys his house and the book that he was writing. (And the illustrations go from color to sepia) He looks up and sees a lovely lady being pulled by flying books (Back to full color now) and she sends him his own flying book. The book takes him to an amazing library where the books are all alive. Morris starts to take care of the library and share the books with everyone. He starts to write his own book again. The years pass until Morris has written the last page of his book. He flies away and a little girl comes and begins to read his finished book.

Classroom Ideas: The book opens with a beautiful metaphor: "His life was a book of his own writing..."  There's also a great deal of alliteration: "happy bit of happenstance" "lovely lady" "festive squadron of flying book"  The whole story is based on personification as the books in the library are alive.

Extras: there is an ipad app as well as a short film based on this book

Switch on the Night

Author: Ray Bradbury
Illustrator:   Leo and Diane Dillon
Publisher:  Alfred A. Knopf
Publication Year:   1993
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   featured on NYT Book page

Summary:  A lonely little boy hides in his bed because he does not like the night. One night he's alone in his house with all the lights on, when there's a knock at the window. A little girl named Dark shows up and tell him that when he switches off the light, he's switching ON the night. You switch on the crickets, the frogs, the stars, and the "white ice-cream moon." The imagery is lovely. Leo and Diane Dillon illustrated this book with gorgeous mysterious, surrealistic paintings that more than nod to the work of M.C. Escher.

Classroom Ideas: There is lovely descriptive language here along with alliterative elements ("parlors and pantries and cellars and cupboards and attics and alcoves and hollering in the halls"). The illustrations are just amazing.

Song and Danceman

Author: Karen Ackerman
Illustrator:   Stephen Gammell
Publisher:  Dragonfly Books
Publication Year:   1988
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Caldecott Medal, Horn Book Fanfare, Booklist Choice,

Summary:  Grandpa danced on the vaudeville stage and he shows the kids his memorabilia from the ear. He puts on his old costume and performs for the kids in the attic. His show is "better than any show on TV." The enjoy the show, but Grandpa knows he wouldn't trade anything for the time he gets to spend with his grandkids. The illustrations are beautiful with lovely rainbow backgrounds that glow with the good feelings that Grandpa has with his memories and with his life.

Classroom Ideas: The word choices here are wonderful (lots of similes like "shoes make soft, slippery sounds like rain on a tin roof") Although Grandpa doesn't talk too much, he's a strong character.

The Man from the Land of Fandango

Author: Margaret Mahy
Illustrator:   Polly Dunbar
Publisher:  Clarion
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Kirkus Best Book

Summary:  The man from Fandango is a round-face, red-cheeked character who only comes to town every 500 years (so you'd better be home when he calls). This silly rhyming book tells the story of what he does when he comes to visit-- dancing, flying, and cavorting with lots of animals, including dinosaurs. The text is written in a curled form and the illustrations are child-like watercolor and collage.

Classroom Ideas: There is rhyme (break and a drink and a cake) and lots of alliteration (friendly fandandical way, tingle and tongle and tangle) here; but mostly this book is just exuberant fun.

Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11

Author & Illustrator:   Brian Floca
Publisher:  Atheneum
Publication Year:   2009
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Sibert Honor, NYT Best, Society of Illustrators Silver medal, ALA Notable, Kirkus Best Books, School Library Journal Best Books, Horn Book Fanfare, Smithsonian Notable, Cybil Award Finalist

Summary:  The story tells the story of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon in very kid friendly language. It has a mood of excitement shown through lots of run-on sentences and fragments. The drawings are beautiful- on the full page liftoff spread you can practically feel the heat of the explosion. The font size is chosen carefully to match the words.

Classroom Ideas: Obviously this book could be used in a classroom study of space exploration. The word choice is perfect in this book with lots of onomatopoeia (flapping, crackling flame) and alliteration (the moon growing and glowing).

Extras: The endpapers include a cutaway diagram of the shuttle along with a timeline. there is also a sources list and an author's note on the back endpage telling more about the story.

http://www.brianfloca.com/Moonshot.html
Link to Floca's website with more resources.

Book! Book! Book!

Author: Deborah Bruss
Illustrator:   Tiphanie Beeke
Publisher:  Levine/ Scholastic
Publication Year:   2001
Location: Personal Collection

Awards:   IRA Best Books,

Summary:  When the kids go back to school, the animals get bored and want to get some books from the library. Unfortunately, the human librarian can't understand what the animals want until they send the hen in ("Book! Book! Book!" clucked the hen.) Everyone was happy enjoying their books except the bullfrog because he had already "read it..." Clever word play and charming watercolors.

Classroom Ideas: This book is brimming with alliteration ("the horse hung his head", "the pig pouted") and onomatopeia. There are also GREAT verbs in this book (ambled, grumbled, trotted, plodded, flapped)

Ginger and Petunia

Author & Illustrator:   Patricia Polacco
Publisher: Philomel
Publication Year:  2007
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee Branch

Awards:  Author/illustrator study Patricia Polacco

Summary: The elegant, flamboyant piano player Virginia Vincent Folsum, Ginger, has a pet pig named Petunia. Petunia lives under the staircase in Ginger's house. When Ginger has to travel to London, she calls a Housesitter to come take care of Petunia. But when the housesitter doesn't show, Petunia pretends to be Ginger. She cooks dinner, listens to opera, dresses in Ginger's clothes, teaches Ginger's piano students, and even takes Ginger's convertible to the grocery store! Then she heads to an art museum opening and heads off to dance with the governor. Petunia is tired of being in charge and wants someone to take care of her, but luckily when she returns home, Ginger is there to greet her! The illustrations are vibrant and gorgeous and all I can think is Auntie Mame.

Classroom Ideas: There is a great deal of alliteration here with Petunia the Pig. It would be interesting to discuss fantasy versus reality with kids and ask if a pig could really do the things that Petunia did.