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.

Crow Call

Author: Lois Lowry
Illustrator:   Bagram Ibatoulline
Publisher:  Scholastic
Publication Year:   2009
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Booklist starred review

Summary: (An autobiographical story)  Liz's father has just returned from war and he is a stranger to her. The two set off on a morning together, sharing breakfast of cherry pie at the diner and then heading out into the woods to hunt. They talk about the war and then Liz calls dozens of crows into the trees. Liz's joy in the crows is evident and her father decides not to hunt them that morning after all as the two head back down the hill hand in hand. A sweet book of the relationship between father and daughter.

Classroom Ideas: The description in this book is amazing: "Grass, frozen after its summer softness, crunches under our feet: the air is sharp and supremely clear, free from the floating pollens of summer; and our words seem etched and breakable on the brittle stillness." The setting is shown through the details in the illustrations- the signs in the diner, haircuts, and the car they drive; but the book would be relevant for any child whose parent has served in the military.





Extras: Author's note with a photograph of Lois Lowry from that time period.

My Father's Arms are a Boat

Author: Stein Erik Lunde
Illustrator:   Oyvind Torseter
Publisher:  Enchanted Lion Books
Publication Year:   2013
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Norwegian Ministry’s Culture Prize for the Best Book and “Most Beautiful Book Award” for best picture book, Kirkus starred review

Summary:  A boy can't sleep and goes to sit on his father's lap. The two discussion the trees and birds in the forest and then that the boy's mommy will never wake up. The two go outside into the night for a while and then return inside where the man reassures the boy that "everything will be all right." "Are you sure?" "I'm sure." The subject is addressed in a straight forward way with no melodrama and shows the loneliness of both characters. The mixed-media illustrations are strange, but realistic. Kirkus describes them better than I can: "They seem grounded in reality, yet they are dreamlike, giving the impression one has been privileged to see someone else’s memory. A breathtaking masterpiece."

Classroom Ideas: Wow, the language in this book- "crackling of he fire" "tongues of fire like his face"  "the moon that looks like a boat" "eyes, black as night, are dark and deep in his face"
Although this is a picture book, both the words and the theme make it appropriate for older children.

Samantha on a Roll

Author: Linda Ashman
 Illustrator:   Christine Davenier
Publisher:  Margaret Ferguson Books
Publication Year:   2011
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Charlotte Zolotow Award, Kirkus starred review

Summary:  In rhyming text, this is the story of the brash Samantha who wants to learn to skate. Even though her mother doesn't have time to teach her, she takes off to teach herself (without her mother's knowledge.) Despite not knowing how to brake, she heads up Hawthorne Hill and heads down, destroying everything in her path. When she sees a kite, she rides it home where her mother is now ready to teach her to skate! The colored pencil and watercolor illustrations perfectly capture Samantha's facial expressions and her body language.

Classroom Ideas: There is some great vocabulary (flustered, swerving, snags) and some onomatopoeia. Samantha is a captivating character as well.

Rocket Writes a Story

Author & Illustrator:   Tad Hills
Publisher:  Schwartz & Wade
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   School Library Journal best book; Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, & School Library Journal starred reviews

Summary:  For Rocket, a book is "a place he'd never been, like a friend he'd never met." He loves books and words and decides he will write his own story. Unfortunately, a blank page is scary! His teacher and the bird try to help him with ideas, and he decides to write a story about an owl he sees living in a pine tree. As he visits Owl and learns more about her, he finishes her story and shares it with his new friend Owl.

Classroom Ideas: Obviously, this book is perfect for beginning writers- the intimidation of the empty page, the coming up with inspiration, the choosing good words, the writing of an ending. There is also lovely language here and some figurative language as well. (I love how Rocket goes to sniff out new words! What fun that would be to create a bulletin board around...)

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.

Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku

Author: Lee Wardlaw
Illustrator:   Eugene Yelchin
Publisher:  Henry Holt
Publication Year:   2011
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   NCTE Notable, Myra Cohn Livingston Poetry Award, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, CCBC Best Book, ALSC Notable, School Library Journal Best Book,

Summary:  This is the story of a cat rescued from a shelter, told entirely in haiku. The people name him Won Ton and then he gradually becomes part of the family. He claims the house and explores the yard and ultimately claims the boy as his own. At the end, he announces that his real name is Haiku. The illustrations perfectly capture the realities of being a cat.

Classroom Ideas: Great example of senryu (like haiku only not about nature) that never panders. The story is perfectly told.

All the water in the world

Author: George Ella Lyon
Illustrator:   Katherine Tillotson
Publisher:  Atheneum
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   School Library Journal & Booklist starred reviews, CBCC Choices, ALA Notable

Summary:  The text is a poem all about water, where it comes from and why it is important. The words are very kid friendly and the water cycle is explained in a friendly way (along with a great vertical spread!) The illustrations are based on collages made from gorgeous hand-made papers. The colors are vivid and the spreads are beautiful.

Classroom Ideas: There are wonderful words here, including onomatopoeia (wobble), personification (Thirsty air licks...sips...guzzles)  and alliteration (cascaded from clouds, meandered down mountains, wavered over waterfalls).  This can also be included in a Science study of water and the water cycle.

follow follow

Author: Marilyn Singer
Illustrator:   Josee Masse
Publisher:  Dial Books for Young Readers
Publication Year:   2013
Location: Knox County Public Library- Halls

Awards:   Publisher's Weekly starred review

Summary:  This unique poetry form (first introduced in mirror mirror) is called a "reverso" poem (per Singer.) The poems are presented in pairs, with the second being the exact opposite of the first with the exception of punctuation and capitalization. The clever word play changes the meanings completely. Each pair is based on a famous fairy tale or fable. An example from the pair entitled "Birthday Suit" (based on the story The Emperor's New Clothes):
Who dares to say he drained the treasury
on
nothing?
Ha!
This emperor has

AND

This emperor has--
ha!--
nothing
on!
Who dares to say her drained the treasury?





Classroom Ideas: Kids will love reading and identifying the stories here which would fit perfectly with a unit on fairy tales or fables. The word choice is excellent and copying these poems would be extremely difficult!

Extras: Author's note explaining the reverso form and how she came up with them. A list of the tales that each poem is based on.

Red Sings from Treetops: a year in colors

Author: Joyce Sidman
Illustrator:   Pamela Zagarenski
Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin
Publication Year:   2009
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Caldecott Honor, Claudia Lewis Poetry Award, Cybils Poetry Award, Horn Book Fanfare, Booklist Editor's Choice, CCBC Choices, Junior Library Guild

Summary:  A collection of poems that describes the seasons of the year using colors. The colors sing, dance, squirm, and create pictures in the readers' minds. Each color has its own personality as they go through the year. (I love that Yellow and Purple are friends. :))  The watercolors are gorgeous, each one having the perfect palette for the season it portrays.

Classroom Ideas: Besides being based on personification of the colors, these poems use many examples of figurative language. There is onomatopoeia (cheer-cheer-cheer) and simile (each note dropping like a cherry). Like most well-written poetry, the words are perfectly chosen and incredibly descriptive.

Extras:

Along a Long Road

Author & Illustrator:   Frank Viva
Publisher:  Little Brown
Publication Year:   2011
Location: Knox County Public Library- Halls

Awards:   NYT Best, School Library Journal Best Books, American Institute of Graphic Arts Best, Seven Impossible Books Best Books

Summary:  The graphic style and five color palette (blue, white, black, red, and the yellow of the road) of this book brings to mind the 1960s. The shiny yellow road folows through the entire book, sometimes widening, but never ends. (I love the tunnel!) In fact, the book was created as "a single, continuous thirty-five-foot-long piece of art using Adobe Illustrator." It's a meditative book that invites the reader to stare at the journey. 

Classroom Ideas: The idea of transportation could be examined through this book. It has great verbs and prepositions and could be used to teach grammar. There is a map on the endpages with symbols on it that could be a great introduction for younger readers.
An educator's guide is available at the Hachette web site:
http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/none/along-a-long-road/9780316129251/

Mrs. Biddlebox

Author: Linda Smith
Illustrator:  Marla Frazee
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Year:  2002
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards: Starred review in Publishers Weekly, Parents' Choice Award Winner, Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration

Summary: Mrs. Biddlebox wakes up the wrong side of her bed (bunk...) and trudges out into the world. She decides to cook the morning into a cake and gathers her ingredients: lawn, shadow, fog, sun, sky, and puts the whole day into her dough. She ate the whole cake with tea and "welcomed in the night." The swirled illustrations bring Mrs. Biddlebox and her environment to life. The reader can feel the motion in the drawings and the final spread with its multi-colored swirls in the night sky is just awesome. 

Classroom Ideas: There are so many great words in this book (knotty, dreary, dank, deary, mussied) and end rhyme in the text.

Bone Dog

Author & Illustrator:   Eric Rohmann
Publisher:  Roaring brook Press
Publication Year:   2011
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   starred Kirkus review, Capitol Choices Noteworthy titles, School Library Journal Best Books, Horn Books Best Books

Summary:  When Gus's dog Ella dies, Gus is very sad and doesn't want to do anything. On Halloween, he trudges out through the graveyard and is surrounded by skeletons. The skeletons try to eat him ("You've got guts kid...but not for long!" LOVE this line) The Ella the dog skeleton shows up to save him and they howl and scare off the skeletons. The dark relief print illustrations famed with black are perfect for story and the whimsical skeletons are dark but never scary.

Classroom Ideas: This book has great verbs (trudged, lunged, whirled) and figurative language (personification: the wind moaned. The clouds swallowed the moon; onomatopoeia: shriek, growl, screech, swoon, hiss, howl; idioms: You've got guts, Well tickle my ribs) The theme here is one of friendship, promise, and faithfulness. This book could also be shared during Halloween time.

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)

Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Dam Creek Affair

Author & Illustrator:   Patricia Polacco
Publisher:  Philomel
Publication Year:   1996
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   School Library Journal starred review

Summary:  In Triple Creek they love TV so much that they've forgotten what books are for. They use them to hold up roofs, mend fences, stuff potholes, and even fix the dam. Aunt Chip is appalled by these changes and tells her nephew Eli about books and the library.  She teaches him to read and he starts reading to the other kids. The kids start grabbing up all the books and then moving them makes the dam explode. When books rain from the sky, kids start teaching their parents to read again and the town rebuilds the school and library.

Classroom Ideas: This would be a good book to teach problem and solution. There is also good vocabulary (vowed, consequences, eiderdown) and dialect ("Now Eli took to reading like a beaver takes to gnawing wood, or a flea takes to a dirty little yella dog.")

Saint George and the Dragon

Author: Margaret Hodges
Illustrator:   Trina Schart Hyman
Publisher:  Little, Brown, and Company
Publication Year:   1984
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Caldecott, Booklist starred review

Summary:  This is a retelling of the class story from Spencer's The Faerie Queen. In this story, George, the Red Cross Dragon, kills the dragon that has been attacking the countryside for years and bring peace to the land. But the real star here is the amazing illustrations by Hyman. She frames all of her drawings and the text so that the book looks like beautiful stained glass windows.

Classroom Ideas: This book is full of excellent vocabulary (foe, veiled, hermit, hideous) and beautiful imagery  ("her shoulder were covered with a black cloak as if she had a hidden sorrow in her heart.") There is plenty of figurative language as well.

Mouse & Lion

Author: Rand Burkert
Illustrator:   Nancy Eklhom Burkert
Publisher:  Scholastic
Publication Year:   2011
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   featured on the "Calling Caldecott" blog; Kirkus, School Library Journal, & Publisher's Weekly starred reviews, Booklist Editor's Choice & Notable Books

Summary:  A retelling of the classic Aesop fable set in the African grasslands. This book is printed on such luscious paper with gorgeous brush, ink, and pencil illustrations. The story is the traditional tale, although in the author's note he says that he wanted Mouse to take top billing here since it's usually the lion. It's written with a very sophisticated tone and would be an interesting compare & contrast Pinkney's Caldecott-winning take on the same tale.

Classroom Ideas: This book has amazing vocabulary (hurrying, scampered, tawny, runt, "in a bad humor", Sire, whiskery, hurled.....) It would be great to talk about scarcity of words and choosing them carefully with young writers. The setting also takes center stage here and a discussion of the grasslands (striped African grass mouse & baobab tree) would be appropriate. Fables are always great sources for discussing theme as well.

Blue Chicken

Author & Illustrator:   Deborah Freedman
Publisher:  Viking
Publication Year:  2011
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   featured on "Calling Caldecott" blog; Kirkus, Booklist, & School Library Journal starred reviews, Kirkus Best Book

Summary:  On the front endpaper, its a grey rainy day in a framed picture of a barn (Is it a window or a frame?) The narrator is an unseen artist who is almost finished with her painting- everything except the barn. But, one of the chicken leaves the painting and heads for the pot of blue ink. It spills and blue ink goes everywhere! It floods and colors everything blue! The (now blue) animals are mad, and the chicken heads for the water cup to try and "undo the blue." She washes it off and everything is back to the same, except the sky which stays blue. At the end, the artist is seen outside the window painting her real barn white. The hilarious final endpaper shows a fire-engine red barn and animals.

Classroom Ideas: Great vocabulary here (peevish, sincerely). An art teacher could use this to talk about ink and watercolors. The plot would be easy to map out, and Blue Chicken's problem solving could be discussed as well.

Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs

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

Awards:   Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Books; SLJ Best Children’s Books; 2013 Irma Black Award Finalist; Los Angeles Public Library Best of 2012 Children’s Books; ALSC 2013 Notable Children’s Books, Younger Readers; 2013 Sid Fleischman Humor Award Winner; IRA Children’s Choices, Beginning Readers, 2013

Summary:  My daughter loved the end papers in this book, and of course finding the pigeon and Knuffle Bunny! Three hungry dinosaurs set the stage for a trap for a succulent little girl. Soon Goldilocks comes along and misses all the clues that perhaps it was a trap all along.

Classroom Ideas: Great vocabulary in this book (particular, positioned, varying, succulent, supervised, traipsing....) and a lot of drawing conclusions about what is really going on in the story. Mo Willems has written his own goofy themes, but there are several more that kids could come up with as well.

big wolf & little wolf

Author: Nadine Brun-Cosme
Illustrator: Olivier Tallec
Publisher:  Enchanted Lion Books
Publication Year:   2009 in USA (2005 in France)
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Bachelder Honor Book, ALA Notable, Prix de l'album Cherbourg, Prix France Television, Prix des Enfants du Salon Chretien de Troyes, Prix litteraire jeunesse de Chambray-les-tours

Summary:  Little Wolf appears one day at Big Wolf's tree and, without a word, joins into Big Wolf's life. When Little Wolf disappears, Big Wolf is sad and hopes that his small friend will return. When Little Wolf comes back the friends decide that they were lonely without each other, and they would never be apart again. The surrealistic illustrations are gorgeous and drew me completely into the wolves' world!

Classroom Ideas: There is some excellent vocabulary in this book (approached, reassured, suspicious, curious, etc.) There is also good character development as the reader gets to know Little Wolf even though he doesn't say anything until the very end. It has a great theme of sharing and love as well.