Chapter Book #14

Title:  The Dollhouse Magic

Author:  Yona Zeldis McDonough

Illustrator: Diane Palmisciano

Genre:  Juvenile Fiction 

Subgenre:  Realistic Fiction

Themes:  dollhouses, neighbors, sisters, using imaginations, handling the loss of someone, family and meeting new people

Primary and Secondary Characters: Lila, Jane, their mom and dad, Henry, William, Annabelle, Miss Whitcomb, Margaret Whitcomb and all the dolls that lived in the dollhouse

Awards:  Cooperative Children's Book Choices 2001

Date of Publication:  2000

Publishing Company:  Henry Holt and Company

Summary:
Set during the 1930's and the Depression, Lila and Jane are always excited to run down Cheshire Street to Miss Whitcomb's house to look in the windows at something special that she always had on display.  The something special that she had was a dollhouse.  Lila and Jane would always pretend to have characters that lived in the dollhouse and they would both use their imagination and play with the dollhouse through the window.  On their daily routine playing with the dollhouse, Miss Whitcomb noticed the girls.  She invited them inside to play with the dollhouse upfront.  The girls obviously grew close to Miss Whitcomb and she even gave them treats when they came over.  On Christmas Eve, they took Miss Whitcomb her gift and she had ordered the girls to come and get their gift tomorrow, on Christmas.  The next morning, Lila, Jane and their brothers and Annabelle (the baby) woke up to a beautiful Christmas tree in their house and they were all happy to see their gifts from their parents.  Hearing a knock on the door, it was Miss Whitcomb's neice, Margaret.  She brought bad news saying that Miss Whitcomb had died overnight.  The girls were devastated.  A few days later, Margaret had told them that Miss Whitcomb had left them something special, the dollhouse.  The girls were excited to have the dollhouse, but were still sad about not being able to bring the house to magic with Miss Whitcomb.  But, they had everything that reminded them of her, their magical dollhouse.

How it will be used in the classroom:
This chapter book is a great book that offers students a sense of magic to read.  Getting carried away into the story, students could make the dollhouse their own sense of imagination.  This would be a great book for students to read in either the third or fourth grade.  Although geared towards girls, this book has a great story to offer to anyone with a great imagination! 

Chapter Book #13

Title:  Stinky Stern Forever

Author:  Michelle Edwards

Illustrator: Michelle Edawards

Genre:  Juvenile Fiction 

Subgenre:  Realistic Fiction 

Themes:  bullies, death, schools, handling grief, friendships and past memories

Primary and Secondary Characters: Matthew Stern, Pa Lia, Mrs. Fennessey, Howie, Calliope, Oliver

Awards:  2006 Gryphon Award

Date of Publication:  2005

Publishing Company:  Harcourt, Inc.

Summary:
Matthew Velvel "Stinky" Stern has been considered one the biggest bullies in not only his class, but in the whole second grade.  As the class was making snowflakes, he messes with Pa Lia's snowflake.  At the end of the day, Pa Lia sees Stinky Stern walk home and he darts across the street and gets hit by a white van.  Seeing all this take place, Pa Lia is terrified.  The next morning, Mrs. Fennessey's class finds out that Stinky Stern has died.  Everyone in the class is startled by this news and is speechless.  Mrs. Fennessey has students talk about a memory they had with Matthew and Pa Lia hesitates until the end.  Once it's finally her turn, she uses the snowflake story from the day before.  She then took down the snowflake she made and places it on his desk.  The rest of the class follows her sincerity and place their snowflakes on Matthew's desk too.  Remembering Stinky Stern, they all say together that no matter what, they will always remember Stinky Stern forever.

How it will be used in the classroom:
This book has a big issue that may be hard for students to handle and that is dealing with the loss of a classmate.  But, this book might also help students to appreciate all their classmates and it might even encourage them to not bully or pick on someone else.  They wouldn't want to be remembered as someone that picked on people or bullied.  This book will definitely be emotional but it's still a book students need to be aware of.

Picture Book #26

Title:  I Love Saturdays y Domingos

Author:  Alma Flor Ada

Illustrator: Elivia Savadier

Genre:  Youth Fiction

Subgenre:   Early Reader Realistic Fiction

Themes: Mexican culture, American culture, activities with grandparents and birthdays

Primary and Secondary Characters: little girl, grandpa, grandma, abuelita and abuelito

Awards:  2006 Golden Sower Award Nominee 

Date of Publication:  2002

Publishing Company:  Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Summary:

Being in half Spanish and English, this book discusses what life is like for a little girl who has a set of American and Mexican grandparents.  Spending the day with her American grandparents is similar to the day she spends with her Mexican grandparents, except for the language.  She spends Saturday's with her American grandparents and "Domingos" with her Mexican grandparents.  This book incorporates both English and Spanish in counting, animals, expressions and foods.  The little girl learns about the background of each grandparent and where they came from.  She is proud or "orgullo" of her grandparents for all the hard work they did when they were a little kid like her.  When the little girl's birthday rolls around, both grandparents arrive at her house and they give her gifts that combine both cultures together, giving her the best of both worlds.  To top off her birthday party, the little girl breaks her "pinata" and gets a variety of candies, treats and trinkets.  Everyone sings her "Happy Birthday" or "Feliz Cumpleanos."  Another special song in Spanish is sung to her.  She had a wonderful birthday, thanks to all 4 of her grandparents, her parents and friends!

How it will be used in the classroom:
Since diversity is big to teach within the classrooms, this books is a great example to show students a variety of cultures coming together.  This book is very true to me since I am Mexican-American.  I can very much relate to this book and I would love to be able to share this culture with my students.  Just as it is important for me to share my culture with my students, it's also important that I know theirs as well.  I hope this book could be a reason for my students to share their culture with me too!

Chapter Book #12

Title:  Pinky and Rex and the Just-Right Pet

Author:  James Howe

Illustrator: Melissa Sweet

Genre:  Juvenile Fiction 

Subgenre:  Realistic Fiction 

Themes:  pets, cats, caring for a new pet and family relationships

Primary and Secondary Characters: Pinky, Rex, Amanda, Pinky and Amanda's Mother and Father and Patches

Awards:  Young Hoosier Book Award

Date of Publication:  2001

Publishing Company:  Aladdin Paperbacks

Summary:
Pinky and Rex are best friends and Pinky is excited that his family is about to decide on which family pet to get!  Pinky so badly wants a dog, but his sister Amanda wants a cat.  Their parents both decide on a cat and Pinky is hoping to sway his parents into getting dog.  But, his plans on getting a dog are changed when Pinky and Amanda's dad take them to the supermarket and see that there is a girl giving away free kittens.  Pinky can't believe his luck.  He really isn't going to get a dog now.  Amanda falls in love with a particular kitten and Pinky deep down thinks she's cute too.  Their dad lets them take her home, but Pinky swears that he won't be too involved with the addition of their new kitten, Patches.  Even though Patches seems like Amanda's cat, Patches is really more interested in Pinky.  Pinky soon gets close to Patches and begins to take care of her daily needs.  Patches even sleeps with Pinky every night!  One day, Patches goes missing and everyone tries to look for her.  Giving up after a whole day of searching, Pinky tries to fall asleep.  As he lies in bed, he feels a warm fur ball at the end of his bed.  Low and behold, Patches had been hiding there all day!  After shouting, "Patches," his family comes in to see.  Everyone is excited that Patches was found and Amanda is glad to see that Pinky really does care for Patches.  As Pinky comes to realize his own love for Patches, he decides that he doesn't need a dog after all!

How it will be used in the classroom:
This is a great story to read to inform students the importance of caring for a pet.  The book also teaches the importance of sharing, family companionship and responsibility.  The reading level of this book would be great for students in either second or third grade.  There are lots of great lessons to tie in with this book such as a book project, vocabulary and creative writing.   This would be a great addition to any classroom library!

Picture Book #25

Title:  Too Many Kangaroo Things To Do!

Author:  Stuart J. Murphy

Illustrator: Kevin O'Malley

Genre:  Youth Fiction / Informational Book

Subgenre:   Early Reader Informational Book with Animal Fantasy

Themes:  Australian animals, multiplication, addition, a birthday party and friends

Primary and Secondary Characters: kangaroo, emu, the 2 platypuses, the 3 koalas and the 4 dingos.

Awards:  Best Children's Science Books 1997

Date of Publication:  1996

Publishing Company:  Harper Collins Publishers

Summary:

This MathStart book is geared towards third graders learning multiplication.  This book is a lot of fun to read, but it also makes learning multiplication fun and easy.  In this book, Kangaroo is excited to find someone to play with him on his birthday.  He finds Emu first but Emu tells him that he has too many things to do get done (they all include birthday themed things to give a little hint).  So, Kangaroo hops over to see some other friends and the rest of them all tell him the same thing.  Kangaroo is sad that no one wants to play with him on his birthday.  But, they soon call Kangaroo over to tell him they have a surprise and then they all say...."Happy Birthday!"  Kangaroo had had no idea that they were all busy getting things done for HIS birthday!  At the birthday party, Kangaroo comes to find out that there were a total of 100 things to do at his party!

How it will be used in the classroom:
I really liked this informational book because not only does it consist of a great story line, but it's also teaching students simple multiplication and addition.  Each MathStart book embeds some type of math in their books and this one was no different!  Also, each book gives the ideal grade level that is intended to read this book.  All books have different levels.  I would absolutely love to have this book in my classroom because it would make a great introduction to learning a unit on multiplication or even an ice breaker for a lesson.

Picture Book #24

Title:  I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!

Author:  Karen Beaumont

Illustrator: David Catrow

Genre:  Youth Fiction 

Subgenre:   Early Reader Modern Fantasy

Themes:  painting, getting in trouble, creativity, stories in rhyme

Primary and Secondary Characters: little boy, his mother and his dog

Awards:  Grand Canyon Reader Award for a Picture Book 2006

Date of Publication:  2005

Publishing Company:  Harcourt Books

Summary:

After getting in trouble for painting the walls, doors, floor, ceiling and curtains, he was told that "ya ain't a-gonna paint no more!"  After his mother put up the paint he had used to commit the crime, he sat on the steps of the stairs swearing that he was "never going to paint no more."  But, as soon as his mother was out of sight, he climbed into the closet where the paint was hiding and he snuck it out.  He took out the red to paint his head, the green to paint his neck, the purple to paint his chest, orange to paint his arms, lime green to paint his hands, black to color his back, blue to paint his legs, and then a whole bunch of different colors to paint his toes like easter eggs.  After that was all said and done he said, "I ain't gonna paint no more, no more."  However, there was still one white part left to paint on his body as he walked away (showing a white pale bottom).  But, his dog stopped him before he could paint the rest!  

How it will be used in the classroom:
For either pre-k or kindergarten, this would be a great story to read right before a painting activity.  Since children love to paint, this would be a great example of "what not to do" while painting.  However, this is a fun book to show kids what being painted head to toe might look like.  Since I had fun reading this book, I would expect my students to enjoy it just the same!

Picture Book #23

Title:  Buster goes to Cowboy Camp

Author:  Denise Fleming

Illustrator: Denise Fleming

Genre:  Youth Fiction 

Subgenre:   Animal Fantasy

Themes:  dog's training camp, building relationships with other dogs, feeling homesick, learning new tricks

Primary and Secondary Characters: Buster, Betty, Brown Shoes, Red Boots, Mrs. Pink Slippers and Snarkle

Awards:  American Library Association Notable Children's Books

Date of Publication:  2008

Publishing Company:  Henry Holt and Company

Summary:

Buster is not excited to see Betty leave to the next door neighbor, Mrs. Pink Slippers.  That was always a sign to him that he would be going somewhere else soon.  As his luck would have it, Brown Shoes put him in the car and dropped him off at a strange place in the country.  Buster couldn't help but realize that this was far from home.  Someone came up to him, Red Boots, and welcomed him to "Cowboy Camp."  As Red Boots gave him the tour of the camp, Buster was sent to his bunkhouse and noticed other dogs that were also there.  The dog sleeping next to him was drooling and Buster just couldn't seem to get comfortable and was feeling homesick.  The next morning Red Boots took Buster to meet the rest of the dogs that were attending Cowboy Camp.  They played with paint, and a favorite of the veteran cowboy campers, buckaroo ball.  Buster was hesitant to play at first, but he realized he was really good at that game!  After a nice campfire meal, the dogs head back to their bunkhouses and settle in to get some rest for the next day.  Needless to say, it didn't take long for Buster to fall asleep and start snoring and drooling!

How it will be used in the classroom:
This book would be great to read to kindergartners and first graders.  At that age, they are still enjoying animal fantasy with picture books and this is a fun book that they can engage in.  I think it would be a fun lesson to tie this book with some sort of "cowboy camp" within the classroom.