Marsupials

Author: Nic Bishop
Publication Date: 2009
Type of Book: Informational Picture Book

This informational book educates readers about the different marsupials that live in Australia. Readers will learn about bettongs, bailies, potoroos, pademelons, kangaroos, koalas and others. The book is set up with a picture on one side and text on the other. There are usually four pages per marsupial.

I learned so much about marsupials from reading this book. Many of the words were new to me so I wasn't sure on their pronunciation. I loved how this story incorporated images captured by the author who is also a photographer. It was interesting how a sentence on each page was highlighted in an another color and was written in larger bold font. I think that the author chose what he thought was the most important piece of information from each page to highlight. This could be helpful if readers don't have time to read the whole story, but just want some quick information. I also found it interesting how the author included his story about his time spent in Australia learning about the marsupials.

I would recommend this book to older elementary school students. The book contains a lot of information and is longer than most picture books, so students have to have the stamina to read it. The words are also very challenging because they're scientific names. Students could make a list of words that they don't know while reading and look them up later if their definition isn't in the book already. Even though this is a challenging read it is full of great information for students.


Image References:
http://www.amazon.com/Nic-Bishop-Marsupials/dp/043987758X

Desert Elephants

Author: Helen Cowcher
Publication Date: 2011
Type of Book: Informational Picture Book

This picture books shares information about the last remaining herd of desert elephants living in West Africa. You learn about the elephants migration that begins when the dry season starts and ends when the rain returns in June. The people indigenous to the Mali area respect and care about the elephants. You see this respect through the Tuareg nomads saying: "We live with the elephants, and the elephants live with us."

I enjoyed reading this story. The illustrations are fantastic and include a lot of detail. I also loved the colors used in the story. Before reading the story I didn't know anything about the desert elephants. I learned a lot about the migration these elephants take and what their homeland is like. I found it so interesting that you have these groups of people who just live among the elephants. It has been that way for years and they have a mutual understanding of this. It also brought up the concern of tourists coming in and wanting to see the elephants, which causes them to be aggressive. I know people want to observe these animals in the wild but they have to be considerate of the animals and understand how they must feel when people invade their home. At then end of the story in the authors note she included different questions based on the book such as, "Why is finding water a problem for the elephants?" She then provides a small summary explaining the answer. This could be used as an activity for older students. The students could be assigned a question and have to attempt to answer it  using the story. They could then check their answer to the one written in the story.

I would recommend this story as a read aloud for students in first grade and up. I think that students in kindergarten would not understand the concept of the story and the vocabulary words would be too challenging for them. This story contains some difficult vocabulary words so that is why reading the book as a class could be helpful. The students and teacher could discuss what is happening in the story together and help clarify challenging parts. Together the class could also map the migration of the elephants.

Image References:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10675253-desert-elephants

Wonder

Author: R.J. Palacio
Publication Date: 2012
Type of Book: Realistic Fiction Novel

This novel tells the story of a boy named August. August was born with a facial deformity that has caused many problems for him throughout his life. He has had countless plastic surgeries to try to correct his facial features but people are still in shock when they see him. August has been homeschooled by his mother his whole life, but decided after convincing from his parents to start school for the first time this year. August had a rough start due to the comments, games, and lack of understanding from his peers and the parents of the children at the school. Throughout the story you see August's journey through fifth grade and all the bumps he faces along the way. This is a very inspiring and uplifting story that shows readers that it is not what's on the outside that matters, it's what's on the inside.

I really enjoyed reading this novel. I personally liked how the chapters were short. The short chapters motivated me to read more of the book at one time. I never got to the point of reading a chapter where I became disinterested and wanted to stop reading. I liked how I could easily stop reading after a full chapter instead of stopping in the middle. Another aspect of this book that I really liked was that the story was told from the perspective of the various characters. This made the reading very interesting because it showed the same events but from different points of view. While reading the story I tried to picture in my head what August's face looked like based on the various descriptions from the characters in the book. I also thought that the title of the book was wonder because the reader is supposed to wonder what August's face looks like. It was only until I got to the end of the story that I realized the title of the story is wonder because August's mother said that August truly is a wonder. Another part of the book that I really liked was Mr.Browne's Precepts. I enjoyed reading all of the precepts at the end of the story in the appendix.

I would recommend this story for children in upper elementary school and any adult. This story has a wonderful message that anyone could benefit from. It is pretty lengthy so students have to have the stamina required to read longer books. Children in fourth grade could benefit from hearing the story, but depending on their reading levels the teacher could choose to read the story aloud to the class and then have students participate in whole or small group discussions.

Image References:
http://www.amazon.com/Wonder-R-J-Palacio/dp/0375869026

Bad Bye, Good Bye

Author: Deborah Underwood
Publication Date: 2014
Type of Book: Realistic Fiction Picture Book

This picture book tells the story of a family that is moving from one place to another. They have two children, a boy and a girl. The children are sad and don't want to move. They had to say goodbye to their house and their neighbors. You see their journey to their new home and what they see along the way. When they get to their new home you see everything that is now new to the the family. In the end you see that the little boy made friends with the neighbor next door and he realizes that moving maybe wasn't so bad after all.

I personally was not a fan of this story. I didn't like how it was written using incomplete sentences that contained two or three words. These words were all very easy and must be geared towards beginning readers. I have always been told that the best way to teach students to read is in context. This book to me doesn't use the text to create a story. Instead the text provides fragments of information that the reader has to piece together to create the story. I would have liked it better if the text was an actual story instead of just words describing what is on each page.

I would recommend this story to children who are in kindergarten or first grade and just learning how to read. This story uses very basic and simple words that describe the illustrations. This book would be too simple for students any older than first grade. The author also doesn't include proper punctuation such as periods, so students shouldn't use this text to help them learn about proper sentence structure.

Image References:
http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Bye-Good-Deborah-Underwood/dp/0547928521/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443583823&sr=1-1&keywords=bad+bye%2C+good+bye

Even Aliens Need Snacks

Author: Matthew McElligott
Publication Date: 2012
Type of Book: Science Fiction Picture Book

This picture book tells the story of a little boy who loves to cook. The only problem is that his creations are a little unique. His sister always tells him that no one would ever eat the things he cooks. So he sets up a snack stand and waits for people to come try his treats. When no one comes he decides to head inside and go to bed. Later that night he sees something outside of his window. Aliens have decided to make a stop at his snack stand before continuing their journey. The aliens all enjoy the different treats the boy makes for them. In the end the boy creates Galactic Pudding using ingredients from all the other recipes he made. None of the aliens like the pudding and the only one who eats it is his sister.

This science fiction picture book is a cute read. I thought that the drawings of the aliens were very creative. I also liked how the treats the boy made for them corresponded to how they were drawn. The illustrations of the aliens capture the readers eye because their colors stand out against the plain colored background.

I would recommend this story as a read aloud for students in any grade level. Some of the words may be too hard for younger students to read independently, but if it is used for a read aloud the whole class could enjoy the story. The teacher could use this book to introduce the genre of science fiction to the class. Students could get ideas from the book to help them create their own science fiction story.

Image References:
http://www.amazon.com/Even-Aliens-Snacks-Matthew-McElligott/dp/0802736521/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443582833&sr=1-1&keywords=even+aliens+need+snacks

Baloney (Henry P.)

Author: Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
Publication Date: 2005
Type of Book: Science Fiction Picture Book

This picture book tells the story of an alien named Henry P. Baloney. Henry loves to tell wise tales especially to his teacher. When he is late to school again his teacher says that he better have a very good excuse this time. Henry then goes off on a tangent about this crazy story that happened to him causing him to be late. In the end the teacher said that his story wasn't very believable, but he lucked out since the assignment for the day is to create a tall tale.

The coolest part of this book is that is uses words from different languages around the world. When reading the story you can guess what the different words mean but sometimes you just don't know. To help readers the author provided a word decoder in the back of the book. This story did a good job in incorporating science fiction and teaching students about the literary genre tall tales. The story was also written in a way that is fun for readers. Words and pictures move all around the pages and the font is in different sizes. Some of the words that aren't english are in a different color. I thought that overall this was a very cute story that students would find very entertaining to read.

I would recommend this book to upper elementary school students because the author incorporated words from different languages. Students in lower elementary school would have difficulty comprehending the story and would struggle with decoding some of the words. Teachers could use this book to have students practice using context clues to help with their reading. On the pages that contain words from the different languages students can try to see if they can decode the words using clues from the text. At the end they can use the decoder in the back of the book to check how well they did. Teachers can also use this as an instructional tool for teaching about tall tales and students can create their own tall tale after reading the book.

Image References:
http://www.amazon.com/Baloney-Henry-P-Jon-Scieszka/dp/0142404306

Rules

Author: Cynthia Lord
Publication Date: 2008
Type of Book: Award Winning Novel

Rules tells the story about a girl named Catherine who deals with the difficulty of not really knowing where she fits in. Catherine feels torn between two different worlds that in her mind don’t mix. She has a brother with Autism so she has that world, where she takes care of him and has to handle his quirks that she often times finds annoying. Her other world is where she wishes to be a normal girl who goes to school, has friends and doesn’t have to worry about what things her brother is going to do next that will embarrass her. Through this story you see Catherine befriend a boy from the same occupational therapy office that David goes too. Her new friend has a handicap and is bound to a wheelchair and only communicates through picture cards. Catherine deals with the pressure of wanting to fit in and not caring what other people think. In the end you finally see Catherine realize that "normal" is just a word and what other people think isn’t always true. Sometimes have to forget the rules and just dance.

I really enjoyed reading this story. It was one of those stories where I couldn’t believe how quickly I got through it. The chapters flowed very well together and I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen next in the life of Catherine. The author did a good job in making the characters personable and interesting to read about. The story line felt very real and was easy to connect to. I think that everyone during their life deals with the issue of being afraid to do or say something because of what others might think. In the end you have to decide what’s really important to you and just go for it.

I would recommend this story to upper elementary age students and up. This story had a great message and does a wonderful job with educating readers about living with disabilities in a way that everyone can understand.  I think that this book would help those students who may not understand a lot about living with disabilities. This book would be especially helpful for students to read if they’re in an inclusion classroom.

Image References 

http://disabilityinkidlit.com/2015/04/12/review-rules-by-cynthia-lord/