Title: Fathers, Mother Sisters, Brothers—A collection of Family Poems

Author: Mary Ann Hoberman

Illustrator: Marylin Hafner

Genre: Poems

Summary: This is a great book for everyone or all ages because its celebration of families. The poems are about families of all sizes, about brothers and sisters, adoptees and stepsiblings, parents and grandparents, even a few poems about the only child. The poems express the sense of what makes family life at once so wonderful and so unpredictable. The poems are told from the child’s point of view, and are perfect for reading alone or in the classroom and as a family as well.

Review: This is a very age appropriate book for young students and their families, I thoroughly enjoyed this poem book. All the poems are different and unique to a family aspect/dynamic/relationship. I feel that students would be able to find at least one poem which they could relate to, which makes the poems more relatable. Overall, it is a book that I would definitely recommend to both teachers and parents alike, it will teach their students/children about diversity and different family life through poem.

Content Area Connection:

• Social Studies: Both poems and the illustrations so a great job at teaching young students about how to act, be, and what to do within the family community. The poems are both fun to reenact for the students, why teaching them some important lessons–like diversity.

Title: What is a Noun?

Author: Sheri Doyle

Genre: Informational

Summary: the book opens up with exactly a noun is: person, place, or thing. It discusses: proper nouns and common nouns; plural versus singular; and irregular and regular. Lastly, it briefly talks about the idea of a possessive noun.

Review: This is, although a very simple informational text, it will teach young students in a simple way what a noun is. It will also teach them the different parts of a noun too. Lastly, I liked how the back of the book had a glossary, in case the students need some clarification of a word, and it also had internet sites that students could to go to and practice with nouns.

Content Area Connection:

• English: This is a great book to use when teaching students about nouns and what a noun is. This is a book that is meant for younger student who are beginning to learn more in-depth of the English language.

Title: A Storm Called Katrina

Author: Myron Uhlberg

Illustrator: Colin Bootman

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary: This is an amazing and heartfelt story of before, during, and after effects of Hurricane Katrina and the people of New Orleans. The story is narrated by a ten-year-old boy, Louis Daniel, who hates it when his Mama treats him like a baby. When Hurricane Katrina blows through the Gulf Coast on a fateful August night, Louis feels like a little kid again. The family has no time to gather their belongings, except Louis’s beloved horn, his Dad leads the family from their home and into an unfamiliar, watery world of floating debris, lurking critters, and desperate neighbors heading for dry ground. They eventually take shelter in the already-crowded Superdome. Conditions in the Dome continue to worsen and their water supply is running out. When Daddy fails to return from a scouting mission within the Dome, Louis knows he’s no longer a baby. It’s up to him to find his father with the help of his prized cornet.

Review: This is a beautifully written story about Hurricane Katrina and the ordeal of one family. It would be an excellent book to read to younger children because they would be able to relate to the main character, Daniel. It turns a tragic and horrific event into a story that elementary students will be able to enjoy, while still understanding the severity of the storm.

Content Area Connection:

• Science: This book would be an excellent book to use to teach students about natural disasters, as well as, Hurricane Katrina itself.
• History: This book is also a great book to use to teach about the history of Hurricane Katrina, the effects it had on New Orleans, and the economic toll it took on the country.

Title: Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs

Author: Judi Barrett and drawn by Ron Barrett

Genre: Fantasy

Summary: A sweet and tasty story told by a grandfather to his two grandchildren, becomes quite the savory bedtime story. He talks about a town called “Chewandswallow”, where the weather wasn’t normal, it came three times a day at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The story continues to talk about how the town is run and how the people live. Unfortunately, it takes a turn for the smorgasbord. The food was very inconsistent and was getting larger and larger. It got so bad for that the citizens had to leave Chewandswallow forever. They made boats out of all the extra, dry, large food and sailed away and never looked back.

Review: this is one of the best and most iconic children’s book, in my opinion. Children love stories with food, especially messy food, so this book is a perfect snack time or night time story. There was even a hit movie series, with the same name, based off this book. Although it is not exactly the same as the book (what movie is nowadays?) it still provides children for a basis of how crazy they can allow their imagination to get. There doesn’t seem to be a real moral to the story being that it is fantasy; but when the weather gets tough, the tough get going.

Content Area Connection:

• Science: This is a fun way to teach students about the different types of weather anomalies: rain, fog, hurricanes, and so on. Although the weather events that happen in the book are not real, they are based on real weather conditions that happen in our world.
• Health: This would also be a great book to segway into what foods are good for growing children and which ones are fine to eat in moderation. Teaching the students healthy eating habits will be better for their overall health as they get older.

Title: Rain Forest Colors

Author: Janet Lawler and Photographs by Tim Laman

Genre: Informational

Summary: This book opens with the sentence: “learn the colors while exploring tropical rain forests”. There are ten animals; each animal is a color of the rainbow or a neutral color. Thus, it both teaches the students about the animals that can be found in the rain forest and it also teaches them about the different colors that can be found as well. There is a brief description about the animals on their page, and in the back of the book there is a fact page that gives more information on the animals.

Review: This book would be good resource for kindergarten through second grade students. I would recommend using this book a whole class read to teach the students about the animals in the rain forest and what colors can be found as well. It is developmentally appropriate for students in the younger years of elementary school. This would be an excellent book for a second grader who is working on their first research task. Overall, it is a very informative fun book.

Content Area Connection:

• Art: This is a great book to use when teaching younger students about the many different colors found in the animal kingdom.
• Science: This book is also great for teaching students about the rain forest biome and all the different types of animals that can be found in it. This book is a great segway into the types of animals in our world: mammals, insects, reptiles, and many more.

Title: Beautiful Birds

Author: Alvin and Virginia Silverstein and Laura Silverstein Nunn

Genre: Informational

Summary: This book is an informational book on ten different types of birds. In addition to the types of birds, it also gives a brief explanation of: what a bird is, how to select a pet, and what not to have as a pet. Each bird has a series of fast facts that consist of: scientific name, cost, food, housing, training, and any other special notes. Furthermore, it briefly talks about the individual birds in the wild, their life, and the bird as a pet. It is a very informative book for elementary students.

Review: This would be a great book for a student doing research on birds. It has a variety of information on the birds included and it is in a language that the students would understand. I would recommend this not only for research, but for a student or even an adult thinking about getting a bird as a pet. It gives a good explanation as to why a particular bird would make a good pet, but also what to expect and how to take care of it. Overall, it is a great book for upper elementary students.

Content Area Connection:

• English: This is another great book to teach students how to search for the key facts and information of a book. If the students were given questions, they would easily be able to go through this book and search for the answer using the different text features.
• Science: This would be a great book to use to teach students about the different bird breeds that exist. This could be incorporated into a biology genus and species lesson.

Title: Explore the Tropical Rain Forest

Author: Linda Tagliaferro

Genre: Informational

Summary: This is an informational book on what a tropical rain forest is, what you can find there, who you can find there, and the different layers a rain forest has. In addition to the passages in each chapter, there are smaller notes and field notes; these provide the students with additional information.

Review: This is a good book for students who are doing research on the tropical rain forests. The five different chapters are packed with information, in addition, the back of the book has a list of different books and sites that a student could visit to find more information. This is a book that I recommend to a student who needs it for the information or one who simply want to learn about tropical rain forests.

Content Area Connection:

• English: This is a great book to teach students how to identify the key facts of a story. Teaching how to use the different text features that are prominent throughout this text will help the students increase their comprehension skills.

Title: Ruby and the Booker Boys: Brand-new School, Brave New Ruby

Author: Derrick Barnes

Genre: Literary Non-fiction

Summary: Ruby is an eight year old third grade student who will be starting at a new school. The school that she will be attending is the school that all three of her older brothers go to; they are all popular and known for something. Ruby is hoping to shine past the shadows of her three big brothers; she wants to make a name for herself. Throughout her first day of school, all her opportunities to shine are extinguished by her brothers. That is until the end of the day when she is picked to go to the principal’s office and say the afternoon announcements. Being brave, Ruby decides to sing her favorite song over the PA system and not say the announcements; she finally took her chance to shine and became the “Cool Ruby girl”.

Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I feel that this book would be a great read for someone who is in third grade because they could easily relate, even more so, if the reader was a female students with older brothers. This book is an excellent way to teach both perseverance and determination. I would use this in a third or fourth grade classroom with as a book club book.

Content Area Connection:

• Ruby is a very expressive and dramatic child, and she likes to keep a journal to keep track of her everyday life. This is a good model to use to teach the students how to write in a journal and how to symbolically express their feelings. Journaling is good for the students to write anything and everything that they want, especially things that they cannot tell someone out loud—journals is a book of their secrets and innermost thinking.

Title: Town Mouse Country Mouse

Author: Jan Brett

Genre: Traditional-Fable

Summary: This story is about two mouse couples switching houses-one to live in the country and one to live in the town. Both couples run into challenging obstacles while away from home, too challenging in fact that they want to go live back home. They learn from living in the others house that they really do love where they live and to not take anything for granted.

Review: This is a great children’s fable that teaches children to appreciate the things that they have and to not take anything for granted. Having both sets of protagonists have the same ideas to start off end with—leave home then go home—allows the students to stay focused on the theme without all the extra details. The antagonists are also very fitting for both environments—a cat and an owl. However, they are both predators so I wonder how they would do in the opposite environment. Overall, it was a great story and very age appropriate.

Content Area Connection:

• Science: We can use this book to teach about the food chain, and how predators from two different environments could go after the same prey. We could also use it to teach the students about the different types of environments and ecosystems.
• Social Studies: As we learn from past issues throughout the world, when people take things for granted things never end well. From this story we learn that both mouse couples take their homes for granted, thankfully nothing too serious happens to them. Thus, teaching the students to be thankful for what they have is very important.

Title: Peter’s Chair

Author: Ezra Jack Keats

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Summary: In this book Peter realizes his little baby sister is going to get all of his things. His parents are painting his chair and other possessions pink, and he’s upset. He actually runs away with his dog! And after a while, he comes home and realizes his little sister is here to stay. He decides to stay too, and helps his parents to get things ready for his new sister Susie.

Review: I feel that this a great story for an only child who is becoming a big sister/brother. It teaches young children that as they grow, they outgrow their old toys/possessions. Therefore, it is ok to let their younger sibling to have their old stuff.

Content Area Connection:

• Science: We could use this book to teach the students that we all age and grow-up big. As well as, when the students have younger siblings, that they may get their old toys because the student outgrew them. *Will try and avoid the “where do babies com from question”*
• Art: The illustrator does a good job of illustration every scene
• Social Studies: This book teaches about the family community and how everyone is a big part of helping out the group. It teaches the students that they must share their things with their siblings and that, for the older siblings, their parents need their help with their baby sibling(s).