My Great Aunt Arizona

Author: Gloria Houston
Illustrator:   Susan Condie Lamb
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Publication Year:   1992
Location: Personal Collection

Awards:   ALA Notable, IRA/CBC Childrens' & Teachers' Choice, NCSS notable, NCTE notable

Summary:  My favorite book to introduce text connections to my students, this is the autobiographical story of Houston's great aunt. Arizona grew up in the mountains and overcome odds to become a teacher in a one room school house. Although she dreamed of traveling, she never did but instead visiting those places in her mind and through the students whose lives she touched. The watercolors are perfect illustrations of a time unfamiliar to most modern students and invite them to pour over the details.

Classroom Ideas: A wonderful mentor text for describing someone in a student's life that inspired them and for making text connections. A good historical connection as well.

Extras:

All the Places to Love

 

Author: Patricia MacLachlan
Illustrator:   Mike Wimmer
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Publication Year:   1994
Location: Personal Collection

Awards:   IRA/CBC Teachers' Choice, NCTE Notable, NCSS Notable Social Studies

Summary:  Beginning when his grandmother wraps him``in a blanket made from the wool of her sheep,'' Eli describes his grandparents' and parents' joy in him and his in their farm, where all their names are carved on a barn rafter. As he grows up, he tells about the farm and all the places that he grows to love. The book ends as he plans to share favorite places with a new baby sister.

Classroom Ideas: A mentor book that would encourage kids to think about the places in their lives and to include descriptive details.

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

 Author: Mem Fox
Illustrator: Julie Vivas
Publisher:  Kane/Miller
Publication Year:   1985
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Children's Book of the Year by the Child Study Association of America, ALA Notable, NYT 100 Best Children's Books 

Summary:  A boy named Wilfrid hears his parents talking about the memory loss of a ninety-six year old neighbor who lives next door in the old people's home. He tries to discover the meaning of "memory" by asking the other residents who tell him, respectively, it's something warm, something sad, something that makes you laugh, something precious as gold.He gathers his own "memories" to bring to Miss Nancy, his favorite neighbor because she, too, has four names. Each of his treasures, a freshly laid egg for warmth, a toy puppet for laughter, his grandfather's war medal for sorrow, and his precious football brings back memories for Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper and smiles for the two of them. Sweet watercolors illustrate the poignant story.

Classroom Ideas: This is a semi-autobiographical story which could lead children to their own stories of things that are precious to them and bring back memories. It could also be linked to Alzheimers and aging and used by a school counselor.

Extras: The story behind the story on Fox's web page:
http://www.memfox.com/wilfrid-gordon-mcdonald-partridge.html

Super Hair-O and the Barber of Doom

Author & Illustrator:   John Rocco
Publisher:  Hyperion
Publication Year:   2013
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   featured at the CCYAL Best Books of 2013 Workshop

Summary:  Rocco has an afro of brown curls and the "more [his] hair grew, the more awesome [his] superpowers became...." He was unstoppable until he was captured (by his mother) and taken to the villain's lair (barber shop)! When his hair is cut, his superpowers are gone and he worries what his superfriends will think. When he gets back to headquarters (the playground), he discovers that the same fate has befallen all of his friends. They try everything to get their powers back until they discover that a small hero (doll) is in trouble and they save her from a horrible fall. Then they realize that they are still super and their powers didn't come from their hair after all. Illustrated in classic comic book style with some spreads of black and white, this book is a tribute to the power of imagination.

Classroom Ideas: This book would be a great mentor book for kids to write their own stories with themselves as superheros. They would have such fun imagining what their very own super power would be.

The Secret Plan

Author & Illustrator:   Julia Sarcone-Roach
Publisher:  Knopf
Publication Year: 2009 
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   UBIE award, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Book

Summary: Milo the elephant loves playing with his neighbor kittens Henry, Hildy, & Harriet; but Bedtime! always ruins their fun. So Milo come up with plans to thwart bedtime (my favorite is the one where he paints himself with green stripes to match the walls...no one will notice a green painted elephant, will they?) but they still got caught. Finally, Hildy got the idea to sneak into the attic and it worked! But when they get sleepy, they come up with a super secret, silly plan! The gorgeous acrylic paintings pulled me into the world of these sweet friends. The endpapers include blueprints and Morse code, while each spread includes a hidden mouse-- what kid can resist that?

Classroom Ideas: The characters here are sweet-- it's a story of friendship, but also one of a little naughtiness that any kid can relate to. The plans are silly and perhaps kids could come up with their own ideas of how to put off bedtime.

Strega Nona

Author & Illustrator:   Tomie de Paola
Publisher:  Prentice-Hall
Publication Year:   1975
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:     Caldecott Honor Award, ALA Notable Children's Book, Kirkus Choice, Horn Book Honor List, Nakamori Prize, Brooklyn Museum & Public Library Art Books for Children Citation

Summary:  This is a story about Strega Nona, or "Grandma Witch." Big Anthony goes to work for her and she warns him not to touch the pasta pot. When Strega Nona uses the magical pot, Anthony sees part of the spell but not all of it. So, when Anthony tries to use the pot himself to prove to the villagers that it exists, the pot starts to overflow. Pasta begins flowing out of the pot and taking over the village. Finally, Strega Nona returns and ends the spell correctly. For Anthony's punishment, he must eat up all of the pasta and clean up the village! He learns to pay attention to details and that perhaps there's a reason when you're asked not to do something.

Classroom Ideas: Students could tell stories about times that they disobeyed or didn't listen to details and got in trouble. Big Anthony is a rich character-- what kind of person is he and how would you describe him?

All the World

Author: Liz Garton Scanlon
Illustrator:   Marla Frazee
Publisher:  Beach Lane Books
Publication Year:   2009
Location: Knox County Public Library- Halls

Awards:   Cadecott Honor,NYT Best Book, Publisher's Weekly Best Book, Kirkus Best Book, School Library Journal Best Book, Parents' Choice Gold Award, Indies Choice Award

Summary:  This book, told in rhyme, starts from the smallest things ("Rock, stone, pebble, sand") and moving to all encompassing words ("All the world is wide and deep"). The illustrations mirror this idea with a great deal of white space on the first page moving to two-page spreads that fill the space with detail, color and movement.  I am hard pressed to choose my favorite spread- they all invite me to relax and be at peace with the world. What a beautiful book!

Classroom Ideas: This book is full of beautiful images of the world which could be easily mimicked by young writers and artists.

bow wow meow meow: it's rhyming cats and dogs

Author & Illustrator:   Douglas Florian
Publisher:  harcourt, inc.
Publication Year:  
Location: Knox County Public Library- Halls

Awards:   Gryphon Award, Parent Magazine Best Book of the Year, Kirkus starred review

Summary:  This is a collection of twenty-one poems about dogs and cats, illustrated with the author's charming and highly accessible watercolors. My daughter loved the concrete poem "The Poodles" where the words are written in curls on the page ("The curls may have whirls, while the whirls may have swirls...")

Classroom Ideas: There are a lot of easily mimicked poetry forms here (like list poetry). The vocabulary is good without being intimidating for younger readers (stride, prey, jowls). There a few really good puns here to ("Few dogs can whippet in a race")

Extras: table of contents

A Stick Is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play

Author: Marilyn Singer
Illustrator:   LeUyen Pham
Publisher:  Clarion Books
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Kirkus Best Books

Summary:  These poems are all written to encourage and celebrate playing outside. (A bit ironic to write a book encouraging outside, but ....) The things that are lauded here will appeal to any kid, from playing with your dog to jumping rope to hide-and-seek to stargazing. My favorite is called "Making Soup" because I can totally remember doing just that with friends in my neighborhood ("Soup, soup, we're making soup with grass and stones and mud (one scoop), a hunk of cheese, a celery stalk, an old cigar, a piece of chalk.") The pictures are rich and detailed, with children of all nationalities playing together.

Classroom Ideas: This book could be a great mentor text for kids to write poetry about whatever it is that they like to do.

This Is Just to Say

Author:Joyce Sidman
Illustrator:   Pamela Zagarenski
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Year:  2007
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Claudia Lewis Poetry Award, Cybils Poetry, Lee Bennett Hopkins Award Honor, School Library Journal Best Book, IRA Teacher's Choice

Summary:  This story told in verse was inspired by W.C. William's famous poem of the same title. In poems, Mrs. Merz' sixth grade class write poems of apology that they bind into a book. They also include poems written by the people to whom they apologized. The poems are in all sorts of forms and cover many topics, but the pairs show a fascinating glance into the relationship between the authors. The illustrations are perfect- combining computer graphic backgrounds with adorable sketches.

Classroom Ideas: The poems could be used to teach poetry forms and types of figurative language. "The River of Forgiveness" - what a wonderful metaphor! But, of course, they are mostly perfect for kids to try and write their own apology poems and maybe even imagine what the reply would be.

Extras: table of contents

A Curious Collection of Cats

Author: Betsy Franco
Illustrator:   Michael Wetz
Publisher:  Tricycle Press
Publication Year:   2009
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Lee Bennett Hopkins Award Honor book, ABC Best Book for Children, Horn Book starred review

Summary:  Thirty concrete poems about cats perfectly illustrated. While the poems are beautiful, the subjects are not romanticized, but described in a way that would be recognized by anyone who's lucky enough to be owned by a cat. ("A big, brown empty grocery bag is Sweetie's favorite thing. When he lunges out to grab our toes, Our Sweetie's menacing!") A must have for any animal lover!

Classroom Ideas: The poems contain rhyme, rhythm, and figurative language. They would be highly motivating for kids to write their own cat poetry (or any other animal for that matter). It would also be a fun cross-curricular activity for an art teacher & a writing teacher.

Free Fall

Author & Illustrator:   David Wiesner
Publisher:  Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
Publication Year:   1988
Location: Knox County Public Library- Halls

Awards:   Caldecott Honor, ALA Notable

Summary:  A wordless book where a boy falls asleep with a book in his hands. We follow him through a surreal landscape suggested by the objects in his bedroom. There's a life-sized chess board, a castle with an elaborate maze, dark woods with a dragon, and a tiny world where the boy is a giant. Still following the map from his book, the boy travels through the dreamscape on the back of a pig, and flies over a beach where he lands on the ocean in a leaf and then floats back to his bed where he awakes the next morning (surrounded by many of the items from his dream world.) Wiesner's characteristic drawings use a muted palette to bring the boy's dreams to life.

Classroom Ideas: A writing teacher could use any of these pages to spark creative writing- or split the book apart and give each child a different page. The attention to detail is perfect and students will never get tired of staring at it.

The Hueys in The New Sweater

Author & Illustrator:   Oliver Jeffers
Publisher:  Philomel
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Halls

Awards:   NYT Best Illustrated

Summary:  This was published in the UK as The New Jumper.  The Hueys are little pill shaped creatures with stick arms and legs and they were all the same. Until the day when one of them, Rupert, knitted himself an orange sweater. The other Hueys were shocked because he stood out but his friend Gillespie thought it was interesting so he knitted himself a matching sweater. Soon all the Hueys were knitting sweaters. Then Rupert decides to wear a hat...."And that changed everything."

Classroom Ideas: The theme here is one of nonconformity and individuality. This text could be used as a mentor text for younger children to then write and illustrate their own Huey story (while Jeffers' art is beguiling, the Hueys would be very nonthreatening for children to sketch.) An art teacher could use them to talk about shape and line.

Roller Coaster

Author & Illustrator:   Marla Frazee
Publisher:Harcourt
Publication Year:  2003
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Bulletin, Booklist, and Kirkus, Parent's Choice Award, Parenting Magazine Best Books

Summary: A line of people waiting to ride the roller coaster is introduced with each character distinctly drawn. Finally they get to the front of the line and the coaster takes off slowly (shown by short words with periods after them). Woosh...the coaster goes downhill quickly (shown by long sentences and large red text and many many quick page turns). When the ride is over, the text returns to normal...until someone decides to ride again.  

Classroom Ideas: There are many examples of onomatopoeia and the pacing of this book is absolutely perfect. 

The Hat

Author & Illustrator:   Jan Brett
Publisher:  Putnam
Publication Year:   1997
Location: Personal Collection

Awards:   Abby Award, Publisher's Weekly Best Book,

Summary: This book is a companion book to The Mitten. In it, Lisa decides to hang up her woolen clothes to get ready for the upcoming winter when one of her stockings (socks) blows off the line. Hedgie the hedgehog gets it stuck on his head, but rather than admit that he's stuck he tells all the other animals that it's his new hat. When they make fun of him, he assures them of that his hat will keep him dry, warm, and cozy in the snow. Finally, the girl chases him down and takes back her sock. But wait- all of the other animals are now wearing her other woolens as hats. Brett's amazingly framed illustrations are full of Scandinavian details. 

Amazing author's note on her website tells about the trip she took to Denmark to research for this book: http://janbrett.com/newsnotes/the_hat_newsnotes_page_1.htm

Classroom Ideas: A great example of a circular story- kids could easily write about what happens next as Lisa tries to chase down all of the other animals. Brett's books are set in wintery climates that would be fun to research, starting with the story in the illustrated author's note.

Mrs. Katz and Tush

Author & Illustrator:   Patricia Polacco
Publisher:  Philomel
Publication Year:   1992
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Jane Adams Peace Assoc. and Women's Intl. League for Peace and Freedom Honor,

Summary:  Larnel and his mother go to visit the recently widowed Mrs. Katz. The next day he brings her a kitten (Tush) and agrees to come back and help her with him. A friendship grows between the two of them, and many parallels are drawn between the Jewish people and African-Americans. Larnel shares Passover with Mrs. Katz and celebrates the birth of Tush's kittens. "at last I am a bubee" At the end, Mrs. Katz stays a member of Larnel's family and becomes bubee to his children.

Classroom Ideas: The theme of friendship between generations, races, and love between different people is so very lovely here.

The Junkyard Wonders

Author & Illustrator:   Patricia Polacco
Publisher:  Philomel
Publication Year:   2010
Location: Personal Collection

Awards: Publisher's Weekley starred review, Volunteer State Book Award
 Summary:  In another autobiographical story, Trisha begs to stay at her dad's house in Michigan and start a new school where no one knows she was in special ed. But she gets put in a special ed class called the "junkyard" at her new school and the other kids make fun of her and her classmates. When  Miss Peterson hears that, she takes them on a junkyard field trip where they realize that the "junk" there can be used in exciting ways. Trisha and her group find a plane and the class raises money to buy a motor for it. Tragedy strikes when a member of the class passes away but the whole group comes together to launch the plane in Jody's memory. There's a wonderful update on the grown-up classmates at the conclusion of the book.

Classroom Ideas: This is a great example of personal narrative and a story with the theme of realizing that everyone has their own unique talents and nobody is "junk".

The Lemonade Club

Author & Illustrator:   Patricia Polacco
Publisher: Philomel
Publication Year:  2007
Location: Personal Collection

Awards:  Publisher's Weekly starred review, Volunteer State Book Award

Summary:In this true story, Patricia Polacco tells about her daughter's friend and her fifth-grade teacher. Traci's friend Marilyn has leukemia and has to have chemotherapy. Everyone is supportive and even shave their heads in solidarity with their friend. However, Miss Wichelman ends up getting her own bad news and has to battle cancer too. Through it all, the three support each other and remember to make lemonade out of life's sour lemons. This is a hopful, heart-warming story, made all the better by the positive updates on each character in the endnotes.

Classroom Ideas: This is another personal narrative from Polacco's life which could be used as a mentor text. The themes of friendship and the topical subject are important ones, and this book could easily be used by a guidance counselor.

My Rotten Red-Headed Older Brother

Author & Illustrator:   Patricia Polacco
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster
Publication Year:   1994
Location: Personal Collection

Awards:   ALA Notable, School Library Journal Best Book, American Bookseller Pick, Publisher's Weekly & School Library Journal starred reviews

Summary:  Tired of always losing to her brother, Patricia makes a wish upon a star that she can be better than him at something. The next day the carnival comes to town and Tricia rides the merry-go-round longer than her brother. But when she goes to get off, she falls, hurts herself, and he has to carry her home! From then on, her relationship with her brother gets a bit easier as she realizes what he will do for her.

Classroom Ideas: Another memoir from Patricia Polacco's life that kids could use as a mentor text and write a story about their own siblings. Polacco also draws strong characters. There's a stated theme: "Be very careful what you wish for....It just may come true!" but there are also strong themes of love, family, and competition.

Chicken Sunday

Author & Illustrator:   Patricia Polacco
Publisher:  Philomel
Publication Year:   1992
Location: Personal Collection

Awards:   Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Booklist starred reviews; Golden Kite Award for Illustration; ALA Notable, Booklist Editor's Choice, IRA Children's Choice Book

Summary:  After her beloved babushka's death, Patricia adopts her neighbors as new brothers and takes on their gramma as her own. The kids want to buy a special Easter hat for Gramma but they don't have enough money. The owner of the store where the hat is thinks that they vandalize his shop by throwing eggs at it, so to pay him back (even though they didn't do it) they make him Russian psysanky (painted) eggs. He offers to sell some in his shop to make money for the hat. In the end, he gives the hat to the children who are so proud to give it to Gramma.

Classroom Ideas:This is another book based on Patricia Polacco's life and an example of personal narrative. There are strong characters of different ethnicities. There's also some strong figurative language here- "a voice like slow thunder and sweet rain" "You'll be as flat as a hen's tongue")