OFF THE SHELF -- An Egg is Quiet

An Egg is Quiet

by Dianna Hutts Aston , Sylvia Long (Illustrator) 

Chronicle Books Llc, 2006

 The teacher had procured an egg and space heater so the kindergartners could watch the egg hatch a baby chick.  I suggested this book to her to help the children understand what was happening inside the egg.  Beautifully illustrated by Sylvia Long, a variety of eggs are described from birds to salmon. Children learn that eggs come in all colors and sizes. An X-ray perspective shows what is happening in the stages inside the eggs of several animals.  It's sister book, A Seed is Sleepy, likewise shows the many type of seeds and how they grow into plants and trees. 

level:  K - 5th

Air Show!

Air Show! 

by Treat Williams , Robert Neubecker (Illustrator)
Hyperion, 2010

Summary:  Children ride with their dad to an airshow, enjoying the feeling of flying in the small airplane.  Story is written by avid flier and flight instructor Treat Williams.  They then enjoy watching the stunt planes in the show.

Lesson:  During storytime, I read the book. The big pictures show flight from multiple perspectives.  Then I gave each student a sheet of paper.  By following my directions, they folded the paper into a paper airplane.  They then flew their planes.  On display, I had non-fiction books about flight and planes.

Level:  preK-2nd

OFF THE SHELF -- Number the Stars

Number the Stars 

by Lois Lowry

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1989 Newbery Medal

Last year I had a fifth grader who was a ferocious reader.  She liked books that were realistic and gritty, but still was a Harry Potter fangirl.  I suggested Number the Stars, which is my favorite Lois Lowry novel.   This is not Anne Frank or The Book Thief: this is the story of a young girl growing up as she realizes that life is not a fairy tale.  Set against the Danish Resistance's drive to save the Jews from Hitler's machine, two 10-year old best friends see the world as a child where the Danish King lives well in his castle with his white horse and the Nazi soldiers are the big, bad wolves chasing small girls in red riding hoods.  As Annemarie's Danish family struggles to smuggle Ellen's Jewish family out of the country, the girls come to see the gritty underlying truth of war.  An excellent read for teens and adults.

Level:  4th and up

You wouldn't want to be a ..... (Series)

 

You wouldn't want to be a ......(series)

various authors, Created by David Salariya

Children's Press

Summary: A fun look at a variety of jobs, lifes, and situations that humans have found themselves in throughout history:  16th Century whaling ships and germs, Egpytian mummies and American pioneers.  There's a book for just about everything, even Apollo 13 astronauts.  The books provide fascinating facts in an entertaining format.  There is a glossary of terms in the back.

Lesson:  One of my reading challenges asked the students to explore their world. To create a book display for this, I used several books that explored places, cultures and science.  I placed these books throughout the sections.  They were popular and often checked out.  The "Viking" book quickly became a classic, even after the challenge.

Level:  3rd - 6th

OFF THE SHELF -- Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key

by Jack Gantos

Harpercollins Childrens Books, 1999

Joey is a good-hearted, well-meaning child with ADHD and a single mom.  He explains life at school, home, and in between in this 1st person narrative.  He is just as perplexed by how things always seem to go wrong for him, and confused at how to control himself, as the adults are.  I feel reading this book made me a better and more understanding teacher/librarian.  As such, I often recommend it to other teachers.  The intended audience is adolescents, though.  Those with ADHD/ADD will find a kindred soul; those without will gain a better understanding of some of their peers.  A Finalist of the National Book Award, this is a must read book for anyone that works or spends time with children. 

Level:  4th and up

Online Book: Edward and the Pirates

Edward and the Pirates

David McPhail
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 1997

Kids.AOL.com

Summary:  Edward loves to read; and when he reads, his imagination runs wild.  But when he reads a book about treasure maps, real pirates come to claim their booty.  Will Edward give up the book?

Lesson:  This online book is found on AOL Kids, along with several other stories.  As the narrator reads the story, the words are highlighted for the student reading along.  I chose this of all the stories because it showed the power of reading.  Afterwards, we made a list of the types of adventures it would be fun to read about.  Then the students used the online catalog to search for books about the subject they chose.  [I did this the week after teaching how to use the online catalog.]  This story is found at AOL Kids

Level:  PreK-3rd

OFF THE SHELF--Caddie Woodlawn

Caddie Woodlawn 

by Carol Ryrie Brink

1935, Newbery Medal Winner

I would be remiss if I did not give recognition to one of my favorite books of all time, Caddie Woodlawn. It is a work of historical fiction written based upon stories told by the author's grandmother of her childhood.  Raised in the Midwest plains, with Indians for neighbors, young Caddie is brave, smart, and loyal, each of her adventures as harrowing as the next.  To this day, 30 years later, I can still hear the rattlesnakes rattling in this book.  When the 4th grade teacher said she wanted her kids to pick a work of historical fiction, it was the first book I grabbed off the shelf.  

Latino Legends: Hispanics in Major League Baseball

Latino Legends: Hispanics in Major League Baseball 

by Michael Silverstone , Timothy Rasinski , Doran Duke Goldman

Coughlin Publishing, 2003

Summary:  Short, Sports focused biographies of famous Hispanics in Major League Baseball.

Lesson:  I used this book twice.  First, when a grade level was doing biographical research, I showed them this as an example of how to find biographies based upon the topic's profile:  Female scientists, Presidents, Civil Rights Leaders, baseball players, etc.  Then later, when talking about searching for information, I was showing the students how to use the table of contents and the index pages. 

Level: 3rd - 6th

OFF THE SHELF -- The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games 

by Suzanne Collins

Scholastic, 2008

The Hunger Games is the first book of the dystopian trilogy, The Hunger Games, followed by Catching Fire and Mockingjay. The series combines the political statement of 1984 with the dangerous societal games of The Running Man, using teenagers as main characters.  While the YA target audience is middle and high school, I did suggest this first book to a few 5th graders already reading middle school books.  Before long, most of the 5th and 4th grade faculty had read the trilogy.  

Level:  6th - adult

OFF THE SHELF-- The Fairy Tale Detectives

The Fairy Tale Detectives (Sisters Grimm Series #1)

by Michael Buckley , Peter Ferguson (Illustrator) 

Harry N. Abrams, 2005

A mother was looking for a book to read as a bedtime story to her 8 year old boy and 5 year old girl.  I  suggested The Sisters Gimm series, as it has action and fairy tales.  In this fractured fairytale, two young sisters (surnamed Grimm) learn that fairy tale creatures are real.  Living with their grandmother, they learn their family's legacy in a world where Prince Charming is the town mayor and the three little pigs are the town police force.  But when Grandmother Grimm turns up missing, the sisters turn into detectives to find her.  There are 9 books in the series.

Level:  3rd-6th

Look at the Size of That Long-Legged Ploot!

Look at the Size of That Long-Legged Ploot! 
by Scott E. Sutton
Action Publishing, 2010

Summary:  When a Beebee accidentally breaks something and blames someone else, Jeeter and his friends set out to find the culprit.  A rhyming picture book that is also a chapter book.  Part of the Family of Rhee series. 

Lesson:  I only read the first 3 chapters to the students and then asked them to predict how the story would unfold.  Students had to provide prove from the text for their predictions.  Once it was established the Beebee had lied and blamed someone else, we discussed the consequences and morality of his actions. Then Scott E Sutton visited the campus.  He talked about drawing.  The he talked about narrative story building.  Afterwards, the kindergartners wrote their own stories and hosted their author visit, when the parents came to see them. 

Level: 1st-3rd

OFF THE SHELF--Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

by JK Rowling

Scholastic, 1997

A student teacher asked me for a book written on a 5th grade reading level.  Most 5th graders are about 11 years old.  I recommended the first book of the Harry Potter series.  It is the book that Harry turns 11 years old, and it is written on that level.  Each of the books becomes more complex, as Harry ages, and so as the reader ages, the reading level becomes more complex, too.  The book speaks to many of the concerns of a 5th grader, also.  The fear of leaving what you've always known as you go off to a new school (in the US, that would be middle school).  Making friends and creating enemies as cliques start to form on the playground.  Starting that adolescent trek of learning who you are as an individual.  It hits the 11 year old reader on all levels.

Level:  4th-8th

OFF THE SHELF -- Where the Red Fern Grows

Where the Red Fern Grows

by Wilson Rawls

Curtis Publishing, 1961

Throughout the year, several boys came to me looking for dog books.  They were aware of Sounder and Old Yeller, but not Where the Red Fern Grows.  I remember crying harder at this book than any I have ever cried through (but of course, I didn't tell the guys that).  I then noticed it was being checked out by word of mouth. It is the story of the bond that form between a boy and his two hunting dogs. So consider reading it, or re-reading it. 

Level:  4th - 12th

OFF THE SHELF -- Game Day

Game Day
by Tiki Barber , Ronde Barber , Barry Root (Illustrator)

Simon & Schuster, 2005

My recommendation today was to a mother of two boys (a year apart) who were athletically-minded.  I suggested the books written by Tiki and Ronde Barber, which reminisce their childhood playing football together as twins. The dynamics of good sportsmanship and family unity are stressed. There are multiple stories, which are available in picture book and chapter book format.