Favorite Books 26-50

Here is the second 25 of my favorite picture books for reading aloud. Are you starting to see who some of my favorite, go-to authors are?  Did you have any of the same? What would you add?  Leave your comments below.

26) Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport
My absolute favorite picture book about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  The illustrations are stunning and Rappaport weaves Dr. King's words throughout the text to make it a very pleasant and informative read.

27) Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems

Somebody Love You Mr. Hatch

This sweet book shows that not all monsters are scary and sometimes being a friend is better than anything else you can be.

28) Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli
Mr. Hatch is lonely and feels as though no one loves him.  Until one day he gets a note that says, "Somebody loves you." Mr. Hatch is so excited to find out that he has not been forgotten he begins treating others with love.  It's amazing how far a little good cheer can go.

29) Napping House by Audrey Wood
All is quiet and sleepy in the napping house, everyone is in the bed with Granny until the wakeful flea bites the mouse, who wakes the cat and so on and so on until everyone in the house is awake!

It Couldn't Be Worse

30) It Couldn't Be Worse by Vlasta van Kampen
This classic folktale is about a fish monger who gives advice to a poor farmer's wife on how to make her life with 6 children and their grandparents better.  Each time she visits him his advice shocks her, but in the end life does get better.

Click, Clack, Peep!

31) Click, Clack Peep! by Doreen Cronin
A little duckling is born on Farmer Brown's farm.  At first everyone is so excited, until baby duck won't sleep and just peep, peep, peeps all night.  The    
                                               animals try everything from blankets, to  
                                               singing but nothing can get this baby

Earrings!

asleep!

32) Earrings! by Judith Viorst
This book is the epitome of begging for something you want and in this case a young girl wants, "beautiful, glorious earnings for pierced ears," and all her parents ever say is no.

33) The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
School-aged children have no idea what 9/11 is or what the Twin Towers were.  Gerstein approaches the delicate topic by telling the story Philippe Petit the tightrope walker who walked between the towers.  The story of his determination is a beautiful tribute to the towers, the
                                               lives lost that day and the brave first responders who rescued so many.

The Other Side

34) The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson
Two girls, from two different sides of town become friends, despite what their parents think.  Clover lives on the African-American side of the fence and Anna lives on the white side of the fence but together they sit on top of the fence and become best friends.

35) My Momma Had a Dancing Heart by Libba Moore Gray
A beautiful tribute to a mother from a daughter.  In a rhythmic "song-singing" way a daughter tells of what her mother shared with her and taught her through out all the seasons.

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

36) Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge lives near an old person's home.  He always goes to visit the residents.  One day he asks them what a memory is and learns that a memory is in fact, many different things.

37) The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
A family loads into their car for a road trip to visit family. When they get there every moment if filled with family fun, even night time where everyone sleeps in a pile.  When it is time to go everyone is sad, until they remember that next year they get to do it all again!

38) Somewhere Today by Shelley Moore Thomas
This book is very appropriate for today's world where we cannot turn on the television without seeing yet another act of violence and hatred.    This book uses photographs and easy to understand text to teach children what peace is and how they can lead a peaceful life.

Ira Sleeps Over

39) Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber
The classic story of a boy's first sleepover and his fretting over whether or not to take his teddy bear.  A story many children will relate to.

40) Mr. George Baker by Amy Hest
Harry and George Baker are two unlikely friends.  George Baker is 92 and Harry is just a child but, they have something in common.  They both go to school to learn to read.  A sweet story about how, not matter how young or how old, we always have something to learn.

41) The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfizer
Rainbow Fish was one of the most beautiful fish in the see with his shiny, shimmery scales.  All of the other fish envied them and would ask him for one.  Rainbow Fish would never share with them, until he learned a valuable lesson about friendship and sharing what you have.

Baloney (Henry P.)

42) Baloney (Henry P.) by Job Scieszka and Lane Smith
Henry P. Baloney is always late for school and his teacher has had enough of it, until Henry P. tells her why he is late.  She is so impressed with his tall tale she forgives him and tells him to get writing.

43) Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
When a little girl looks out her window and sees nothing but despair she goes on a quest to find something beautiful.  She asks all of her neighbors what is beautiful to them.  Then she learns that it's not the outside, but the inside that makes something beautiful.  The Author's Note is worth a read as well.

44) Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth
Three monks go on a journey to find out what makes one happy. They come to a village that had seen very hard times and therefore the villagers were selfish. The monks realized these people did not know happiness and decided to make stone soup. Slowly villagers emerged to contribute to the stone soup and a banquet is had with all the villagers where it is learned that happiness "is as simple as making stone soup."

Kitten's First Full Moon

45) Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
A sweet baby kitten sees his first full moon and thinks it is a giant bowl of milk.  He tries licking the milk, jumping into the bowl of milk and climbing up to get the bowl of milk, but nothing works.  A tired hungry kitten heads home to find... a bowl of milk waiting for him.

46) Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss
Horton is possibly the most famous elephant of all time (beside Dumbo).  Horton sticks to his beliefs that, "a person's a person no matter how small," and does everything he can to save Whoville and all of the who's.

47) Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Day by Judith Viorst
Everyone can relate to Alexander and all the bad things going on.  Sometimes we all have a bad day and the only way to make it better is by moving to Australia.

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

48) The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Sciezska
Every story has two versions and in this  book you hear the wolf's side of the story.  I'll just say it has to do with a cup of sugar and a very bad cold.

49) Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
Little Blue is the most likable pick-up truck in stories today.  He is always beeping along, helping out his friends.  In this first book about Little Blue he gets stuck in the muck and his farm animal friends come and help him out.  Blue's story is told in rhyming verse.

50) 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore
There are so many different illustrated versions of this classic poem about Santa's visit on Christmas Eve.  Find one that you like to add to your collection.

Happy Reading!
Laura

The Dandelion's Tale

Death and grief are such hard topics for children. Children struggle to find words that convey the emotions they are feeling and often they are confused and wonder where their loved one is and what they are doing.  Books are always a great way to help children cope and begin to understand, especially books that tell stories.

In The Dandelion's Tale, Kevin Sheehan and Rob Dunlevey tell a beautiful story that will help children to understand that comfort can be found in memories.  

In The Dandelion's Tale Sparrow notices a dandelion crying, alone in the grass.  When asked why she is so sad she explains to Sparrow that she was once strong but now, even the slightest breeze will cause her to lose the rest of her seedpods and no one will know she was there.  Sparrow wanted to help the poor dandelion.  When the dandelion suggests that Sparrow fly her to the other dandelions so she can share her story he was willing to help but saw no other dandelions in sight.  The dandelion was disappointed because her one wish was to be remembered.  Sparrow was determined to help so he offered to write the dandelions story in a patch of dirt.  The dandelion happily told Sparrow everything she wanted to say.  Sparrow wrote how the dandelion loved looking at the white clouds against the blue sky and how she enjoyed hearing children laugh.  She went on and one about all she loved.  When she was finished the dandelion felt very happy and the Sparrow went home.  That night there was a terrible storm and when Sparrow went to check on the dandelion she was gone.  Sparrow was sad but then remembered the dandelion's story.  Sparrow flew over to the patch of dirt only to realize that the storm had washed the dandelion's story away.  Sparrow cried and promised to not forget the dandelion.  A few weeks later, as Sparrow was flying, he noticed a cluster of bright, yellow, baby dandelions.  He settled down in the grass and told them the dandelion's story, and he knew then that the dandelion would never be forgotten.  

I think that Sparrow and the dandelion can teach children that even though someone might be gone, we can remember them through their passions, their loves and especially through their stories.  Children can see hat when we talk about what hurts us or makes us sad, we might just feel better like Sparrow felt better when he sang a song about the dandelion.  From this one simple, yet beautiful story, we can all learn that it is our stories that impact others and keep us living on even after we have gone.  

Happy Reading, 

In Memory of Cheyenne.  Peace and Love Baby!

Laura

A New Favorite

My kiddo has a new favorite book.  First the obsession was trains, then alligators, now we have moved onto excavators and other construction machines.  Lucky for me, there is a super cute book out there all about excavators, dump trucks, bulldozers and more.

Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker is the perfect book to indulge in this latest obsession.  The lyrical and rhyming text slowly puts each of the "rough and tough" construction trucks to bed.  The text describes the jobs of crane trucks, cement mixers, dump trucks, bulldozers and my son's favorite, excavators.

Even more than the rhyming text, my son loves the pictures.  Tom Lichtenheld, author and/or illustrator of many other New York Times best selling books like, Duck! Rabbit! and Shark VS Train, does a wonderful job incorporating the artwork with the text.  One of my favorite pages is when the dump truck is falling asleep.  In the picture the sleeping zzzzz's are floating above the truck and continue into the framework of the building.  It is cleverly subtle, I love it!

 My son loves pointing out the different machines that are found in the pictures and telling each of the trucks good night, even though we are currently reading this five or more times a day!  So for now this is our favorite book.  What is your kiddo's favorite book to read over and over these days?

Happy Reading!
Laura

Throwback Thursday

Don't you just love when you find a great book, the text is easy to read, the pictures are beautiful, everything just seems to go together so perfectly, and then on top of that it teaches a reading or writing skill?  That is how I feel about one of my favorite childhood books, Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood. 

When I was a child I loved this book for its simplicity.  I loved looking at the pictures and pretending that I was the child in the book.  I loved listening to my mom read the words and imagining being "as wild as a chimp." It was a book that I always cherished. 

Then I became a 4th and 5th grade teacher and it was time to teach figurative language.  I thought what better book than Quick as a Cricket.  There are similes on every page and an illustration to go with it so that my students could actually see what figurative language was. But the learning with the book did not stop there.  It was used with primary children to find rhymes and it was used with even younger children for opposites.  You will be hard pressed to find a better book that works across ages to teach a range of skills. However, I would recommend just reading the book for pure enjoyment.  After all that is the purpose of a great book!

What book was your favorite when you were a child?  I would love to share in on Throwback Thursday!

Happy Reading!

Laura

Leonardo and the Terrible Monster

It's October first which officially makes it the month of witches, ghost, monsters and all things Halloween.  While I will be sharing some of my absolute favorite Halloween stories to read aloud this month I first want to share with you a story about a not so scary monster named Leonardo.

Leonardo the Terrible Monster is by my all time favorite children's author Mo Willems.  It is the sweet story of a monster, who at first you think is going to be terribly mean and nasty but, soon find out he is just not very good at being a monster. 

Leonardo just wishes for the chance to "scare the tuna salad" out of someone, so he finds the most scaredy cat boy in the whole world- Sam.  When Leonard sneaks up on Sam and scares him Sam starts to cry.  Leonardo is so proud of himself but then he realizes that Sam is crying because of the terrible day that he has had.  At that moment Leonardo discovers that "instead of being a terrible monster, he could be a wonderful friend."

Not only does this book have a sweet message but kids think it is funny.  They like how Mo Willems write Sam's entire bad day on one page with not punctuation so it has be to read all in one breath and how he uses dialogue to move the story along.  When you read this book out loud make it even more fun by coming up with a voice for Sam and Leonardo.

Start out October by reading Leonardo the Terrible Monster to show kids that monsters are not always mean and scary!

Happy Reading!

Laura 

Enemies

I can't say that I have enemies, but I know that kids always have someone who they just can't seem to get a long with.  As caretakers (whether we are parents, aunts, teacher or babysitters) are always looking for ways to encourage our children to be kind and respectful to anyone.  Well my friends- look no more!  I have the perfect book for teaching (or perhaps tricking) kids into liking even their most hated enemy.  The book is Enemy Pie by Derek Munson.

It was the perfect summer until Jeremy Ross moved into the neighborhood.  Jeremy was on the enemy list for all the reasons that kids have enemies (strike you out at baseball, don't invite you to jump on the trampoline).  

Then dad suggests to his son a way to get rid of his enemy, by making enemy pie.  While dad makes enemy pie the speaker goes outside to collect works, rocks and leaves to put into the pie but dad just shakes his head and sends him away.  When the pie is finished dad tells his son that to make sure enemy pie works you have to spend an entire day with your enemy.  

The two boys spend the entire day together playing and having a great time.  They jump on the trampoline, eat lunch together, throw boomerangs and have so much fun!  He even lets Jeremy Ross into his tree house.  

Then it is time for dinner. The boys eat together and then dad brings out enemy pie.  The boy doesn't want Jeremy Ross to eat the pie anymore because he isn't an enemy anymore and he didn't want anything to happen to him.  What a great lesson to teach to kids.  Sometimes we just have to get to know someone to see how much fun they can be!  

This book does not just offer a great story line but awesome pictures and the speaker has great voice.  This is a book that was often read several times in my classroom. 

If you don't have a copy of the book check out Storyline Online here they have a celebrity reading aloud the book.  

What book do your kids always want you to read over and over?

Happy Reading!

Laura

A Book for Everything

If there is one book that I have used over and over again, across all grade levels and content areas it has been The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown.

Just like other great read alouds this book has a great rhythm and repeated lines.  Each page of the book is a picture of a different everyday object (spoons, shoes, apples).  For each object Margaret Wise Brown provides the main idea and detail in a very rhythmic fashion.  For example when describing the spoon she uses the main idea that you eat with it.  A few of her details are that it is like a shovel and you put it in your mouth.  She ends the page with repeating the main idea, or in her words "the important thing." Kids, no matter what age, are always so attentive through this book.  I think they like guessing what some of the details of the objects would be.  The best is the end where students can feel special because "the important thing about you is that you are you!"  

Like I said in my opening I have used this across all grade levels.  In first grade we worked together to create a book for future first graders.  It was titled, "The Important Thing About First Grade."  When I worked in a self-containted classroom for kids with autism we made. "The Important Thing About Animals." Lastly, when I taught 5th grade social studies each student made their own book about their favorite Native American tribe we had studied.  They had to include all the elements of culture in their book.  If I can find my old examples I will be sure to post some pictures of these books.  

If you are a teacher buy this book NOW!  Not only does it teach an author's craft but it also helps students to understand main idea and details in a very concrete format, 

What is your favorite book to use across grades and content areas?

Happy Reading!

Laura

Reading Makes You Feel Good

Does reading make you feel good?  Do you want to convince children that reading will make them feel good?  Then you need to share Todd Parr's book Reading Makes You Feel Good with a child in your life.

If you continue to read and follow this blog you are going to see many more posts about Todd Parr because, in my opinion, his books are WONDERFUL!! Todd's books are always very simple with great pictures and include some repetition.  In this particular book the repeated line is "Reading makes you feel good because..." This line is then followed by a reason reading is so great like you can make a pizza or you can do it anywhere.

This book is so fun to share with young children because they begin to see that reading is more than just sitting and reading a book but it is reading maps, recipes, road signs and so much more.  I always liked taking some time after reading this book to have kids make their own book about how reading makes them feel good.  Keep the book in their independent reading box, I am sure it will be a favorite!

Todd always ends his books with a message.  In Reading Makes You Feel Good, he encourages everyone to "curl up with someone special and read a good book."

Can you fill in the blank?  "Reading makes you feel good because...."  I would love to hear what you have to say!

Happy Reading!
Laura

PS Here is a link to Todd Parr reading his book Reading Makes You Feel Good.  It is always fun to show kids the face behind the book!