I, Galileo

Author & Illustrator:   Bonnie Christensen
Publisher:  Knopf
Publication Year: 2012 
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Publisher's Weekly starred review, Parents Choice Award, Smithsonian's Best

Summary:  Written in a very straightforward first person, this is the story of Galileo Galilei told from the perspective of him as an old man looking back on his life. It talks of the influence Galileo's father had on him and his habit of refusing to follow popular tradition. After building a telescope, he observed the moon and made his famous claim that the Earth was not the center of the solar system. He wrote a book about his findings and was tried and sentences to imprisonment within the walls of his house for heresy. The text is accompanied by beautiful paintings and reproductions of Galileo's actual drawings.

Classroom Ideas:classroom study of the solar system, biography, telescope
It would be really interesting to compare this rendition of Galileo's life with Starry Messenger, Peter Sis's third-person accounting.

Extras: endnotes have a map of Italy, foreward & afterward that describe the historical actions, extensive chronology, listing of Galileo's experiments, inventions, improvements, & discoveries; glossary, bibliography, and list of websites

Nobody Asked the Pea

Author & Illustrator:   John Warren Stewig
Publisher:  Holiday House
Publication Year:   2013
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Common Core Writing connection

Summary:  This is the traditional story of the princess and the pea told from different perspectives: the pea, the queen, the prince, a mouse in the castle, a maid, the head housekeeper, the king, the doorman, a page, and the princess.  The characters are incredibly well-described through their individual voices.

Classroom Ideas: This book is perfect for the 5th grade common core standard of perspective where students are expected to be able to retell the story in a different point of view.

Fly Away Home

Author: Eve Bunting
Illustrator:   Ronald Himler
Publisher:  Clarion
Publication Year:   1991
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   ALA Notable, Kirkus  & School Library Journal Starred reviews

Summary:  This beautiful story of homelessness is told in the voice of a preschooler. He and his dad live in an airport and try not to get caught there by carefully fitting in. His dad works as a janitor but doesn't make enough money for them to have a place to their own apartment. The boy is sometimes jealous of the families in the airport that get to go home but it ends with him hopeful that one day he'll get to go too. This is a wonderfully done story of a sensitive topic.

Classroom Ideas: Obviously this book is about homelessness. But it's also a great example of first person point of view. The narrator's name is unknown and I believe that's purposefully to make the point that the boy could be any child. It's also a more sophisticated plot structure where the problem is not solved.

OH NO! (or how my science project destroyed the world)

Author: Mac Barnett
Illustrator:   Dan Santat
Publisher:  Hyperion
Publication Year:   2010
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Kirkus & Publisher's Weekly starred reviews,
Summary:  This almost wordless book tells the story of a science project. The detailed diagram of the "Robot Unit Series-01" on the front endpaper tells the reader that this is going to be a series project indeed. The narrator is a  glasses-wearing girl who's walking through a ruined city being attacked by a giant robot. She addresses the reader directly with, "I never should have built a robot for the science fair." In a flashback, she wins a blue ribbon at the fair , but then in the future its still destroying the city. She bemoans all of the weapons she gave it while she didn't give it ears. Then she gets an idea and sends a giant toad after the robot. The toad pushes the robot into the ocean, but then the toad starts to attack the city.

Classroom Ideas: Since the narrator directly addresses the reader, this is 2nd person point of view. It's a good example of problem and solution. It would also be a great writing exercise for kids to write about what happens next. How will the narrator stop the giant toad?

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

Author: A.Wolf as told to Jon Scieszka
Illustrator:   Lane Smith
Publisher:Viking 
Publication Year: 1989  
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   ALA Notable, NEA "Teacher's Top 100 Books", School Library Journal "Top 100 Picture Books of All Time"

Summary:  Another Scieszka story that turns a traditional tale upside down. In this one. the story of the three little pigs is told by the wolf instead of the pigs. In it, the narrator talks directly to the reader and his tells his story where he was just looking to borrow a cup of sugar from his pig neighbors. Once again, Lane Smith's creative illustrations and the amazing use of typography make this book into something special.

Classroom Ideas: Obviously, this book is perfect for perspective and point of view. In the 2013 Tennessee Writing Assessment, 5th graders were asked to take a given story and then rewrite it from a different perspective. This would be a very accessible example of that idea to start kids in thinking about the process.

Tuesday

Author & Illustrator:   David Wiesner
Publisher:  Clarion Books
Publication Year:   1991
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Caldecott Medal, ALA Notable, American Bookseller Pick, Library of Congress Best Books for Children, Parenting Magazine Top Ten, Publisher's Weekly Best books, School Library Journal Best Books

Summary:  In this nearly wordless picture books, frogs fly through the air on their lily pads. As the reader sees a countdown of the evening, they zoom through the town. It ends with the frogs returning to their normal environment, but hints that next Tuesday the pigs might be up to something!

Classroom Ideas: This book has a circular plot pattern that would led itself to a writing exercise where students write what would happen next Tuesday. You could also have them take the point of view of one of the characters in the story (maybe in the man in his kitchen) and have him tell about his Tuesday.

Grandfather's Journey

 

Author & Illustrator:  Allen Say
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Year:  1993
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:  Bulletin Blue Ribbon, Caldecott Medal, ALA Notable, Booklist Editors' Choice, Horn Book Award, School Library Journal Best Book, NYT Best Illustrated  

Summary: Through the story of his Grandfather's life in both America and Japan, Say tells the story of immigrants and immigration. His poignant words and beautiful watercolors explain the feelings of love for two different countries.

Classroom Ideas:This book could be used to teach mood through a discussion of both Grandfather and the narrator's feelings. It would also be a good example of point of view. I used it in my 5th grade classroom in our study of immigration as well as referring back to it when we talked about World War II.

Black and White

Author & Illustrator:  David Macaulay
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Year:  1990
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards: Caldecott 

Summary:  What first seems to be four separate stories soon becomes one story of cows or a delayed train told from four different perspectives. Macauley plays with point of view, type-face, mood, and style. At times the illustrations match the text, but at other times they are contradictory. I have to admit that I found this book baffling at first; but my 9 year old absolutely loved "figuring it out."

Classroom Ideas:   This book could be used to teach mood or point of view. There are many puns in the story which could fit in with a figurative language unit.