( Required Authors List)

Garza, C. (2015). Family Pictures. New York: Children’s Book Press.

This is an excellent book about Mexican heritage and culture.  This very picturesque book walks through the childhood of the author Mrs. Garza. It is filled with scenes that were important to Carmen growing up.  This is book is for a bilingual reader because story is told in both languages. This book teaches the importance of family , and community, whether they were picking oranges with the grandparents , or making tamales as a family, our sitting on the rooftop confiding in your sister about your future dreams of being artist, everyone always came together. I was  really surprised at how Carmen choose not to have a  quinceanera, even though her parents offered  because they are expensive and she did not want them to go into debt. In the end of the story she gives credit to her mother for inspiring her to be a artist and helping her form her future. For Mexican Americans, Carmen Lomas Garza offers a book that reflects their lives and traditions. For others, this work offers insights into a beautifully rich community.

 

( Required Author List)

Sweet, M. (2008). Tupelo rides the rails. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

This book is about a little black and white dog named Tupelo and her beloved sock toy, Mr. Bones. This story starts with Tupelo been dumped on the side of the road with his sock toy.  Tupelo starting wondering and exploring and and drifting and no one wanted her to be apart of their group. Tupelo finally roamed until she ran into a  toad, who again did not not have room for her. The toad gave her words of wisdom, and told her follow  your nose to where ever it may lead you. She stumbled upon a group of dogs  who called themselves the boneheads. The group of dogs wee just about to start the ritual where the call upon the stars, and make a wish, and then lastly bury their bones. Tupelo did not have a bone and was reluctant to part with Mr. Bones as a sacrifice. As the story goes on Garbage Pail Tex fed them fried wieners  and they all caught a passing train.  As they reached their destination, Tex and the other hobos helped the dogs each fulfill their wishes, everyone except for Tupelo. She finally gets separated from Tex and  decides to make her sacrifice with Mr. Bones. She follows the sound of the train, and rides alone into the night. The story ends with Tex and Tupelo finding each other, and she gets Mr. Bones back and they never leave each others side.    This book could allow older  children to learn about the stars and give them something to think about that is greater and bigger than they are. This book would be very good to read when talking about an astronomy lesson.

(Required Author List)

Chin, J. (2015). Gravity. New York: Scholastic.

This is a very simplistic children’s book about gravity. The book takes a very complex concept  and breaks it down so that anyone can understand. A boy playing at the beach is startled when a book which happen to be a copy of this book, falls from the sky and lands in front of him. The author makes a statement that without gravity across the page. The next page shows the whole lot drifting upward like a tide of debris into space. This book is a for an early elementary student because of the author use of big words across each page. At the close of the book an illustrated afterword provides additional explanations of mass, matter, and force.

 

(Required Author List)

Willems, M. (2017). Sam, the most scaredy-cat kid in the whole world. New York: Disney-Hyperion.

This book is the sequel to Leonardo the terrible monster by Mo Willems. In this book  there  are two characters  Sam and Kerry, who are both deathly afraid of everything and everyone except their two friend monsters, Leonardo and Frankenthaler. Soon they run into each other and they both scream their heads off. The monsters try to explain to the kids that the other monster is not scary. The monsters both get irritated with all the screaming , and they leave the kids to figure it out. They kids soon discover that there are several things that are alike with them , such as ice cream yet there are some differences like Kerry likes cats, and Sam is allergic to them. The story ends with the kids pranking both of the monsters and scaring them and then they all ran off playing. This story is a great book for preschoolers to teach them to overcome their fears.

Keating, J., & DeGrand, D. (2017). What makes a monster?: Discovering the worlds scariest creatures. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

(Required Author List)

This is a non fiction children’s book about animals of all species and how they protect themselves and the process of  how they get food. Some animals look scary but are harmless and are good for our ecosystem. Some of the animals in the book such as the the horror frog are threatened by habitat loss , and are hunted by humans for food. Another interesting animal the cordyceps fungus is good for biodiversity. “Ecosystems need balance, and parasites like cordyceps ensure tat no population of no single species grows to large.” (Keating, 2017) This book  is for all age readers  to be tied into any science lesson concerning animals and amphibians, and bugs.

 

(Required Author List)

Santat, D. (2016). Are we there yet?. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

This book is a about a little boy’s car trip with his parents to his grandmother’s house for her birthday. Like all kids after some time has passed the infamous question starts being asked are we there yet? He is so bored with the time moving so slowly that to him the time starts going backward. As they are driving forward suddenly a locomotive appears along side of the vehicle.  He passes through a time with pirates and  medieval horses, and even ancient Egypt. Then as the story ends when he gets close to his grandmothers house it has turned a space building in the year 2059. Just as he reached the point of complete weariness, his parents announce they have arrived.  He runs and great his grandmother and after they get involved, like most kids the anticipation of getting to he destination has wore , he is ready to go. This book is for a early preschool child to elementary child and it teaches patience. The author adds some excitement to the book by requiring  the reader to turn the book upside to read parts of the story.

 

(Required Author Reading List)

Grimes, N. (2016). Garveys choice. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong, an imprint of Highlights.

This book invoked a lot of emotions when I read it. This story is all about a child named Garvey who is having a hard time coming in to his own , and wanting his father’s acceptance.  Each chapter is written in Tanka which switches back and forth with the syllables count but the number of lines stays the same. Garvey thinks he is a failure and has low self-esteem so he finds comfort in food. The kids pick on him and tease and first he does not fight back.  He eventually finds his voice and starts standing for himself and he even corrects his sister Angie, who thought she was only being playful.  The story goes on and he befriends Manny and he encourages him to join the chorus. Garvey does and lands himself a solo, and that how he finally connects with his father. Garvey also encourages Manny to audition for a kids cooking show so that  he can show his farther real men can be great cooks.  This a great book for a middle school child that could very well carry into adulthood improving their self confidence and teaching them to be all that they can be, despite negative experiences that challenge them along the way.

(Required Author List)

Scieszka, J., & Smith, L. (2006). The good, the bad, and the goofy. New York.: Puffin Books.

This book is about three boys Fred, Joe, and Sam , that call themselves the time warp trio. They are always having some kind of mishap when traveling back in time. Joe’s uncle is a magician and Joe thinks he is a magician as well. He has a magic book called “The Book” that they use spells to travel in time.  Joe says he has discovered a new spelled called the industrial strength time freezer spell, but  the other two boys quickly try to dissuade him from trying. Joe comes up with a rhyming spell anyway and the green mist rises and the are soon transported to the year 1868 to the old Wild West. As the story goes on the encounter real life cowboys, a thousand herd cattle stampede, and being swept away in a major thunderstorm , only to be caught by the Indians.  The three boys have to use some modern day tricks to save their lives and get back home. In the end the Indians turn out to be the good guys, because before they were ready to scalp the boys. The ended using the time freeze spell to save the  Indians from the Calvary and they were able to ride off in the wind.  The story ends with the boys watching the ending they created on the cowboy Bob show. This book is suitable for an 8 to 12 year old reader, and can be incorporated into a lesson about space and time travel.  The shows its OK to use your creativity and imagine things.

 

 

Gaiman,N.(2008). The graveyard book. NY: Harper Collins

(Required Reading Book)

This book is about a young man named  Nobody Owens who is orphaned as a toddler when a man kills his entire family. Nobody is adopted by ghosts from the local graveyard who raise him in a world of vampires, werewolves, mummies, and ghouls, and teach him to use a variety of supernatural abilities. The ghosts raises Nobody but their is an internal conflict because he wants to stay loyal to the ghosts , but he also wants to  connect with the physical world and the living. He almost gets killed by Jack.  At the end of the story Bod is pretty young to be leaving home, by today’s standards. He’s only about fifteen years old and he’s going off into a world he knows very little about. Of course, he’s no ordinary guy, but a hero who helped make the world a safer place by helping to get rid of the Jacks of All Trades. He leaves with a passport, and some money, and big dreams. In a sequel if it is ever written it would nice to see what places does Bod travel  to , what does he learn , and who does he encounter. The graphic novel version is written for an older student who is in to ghost , and scary things.

 

Selznick,B. (2007). The invention of Hugo Cabret. NY: Scholastic

(Required Reading List)

This book is about a boy named Hugo who is an orphan who lives with his uncle in the train station. In order for the authorities not to mess with him he keeps the clocks running just like he learned from his Uncle. He is caught stealing a toy out of the toy shop because he needs the piece to complete his automaton. He soon befriends the toy makers niece and she try to help him get his notebook back.His uncle is a drunkard and he has been missing for sometime and at the end of the story Hugo finds out he is dead and had been for some time.  Beforehand Isabelle has a key around her neck and Hugo steals it and runs and sticks it in the back of his invention. The machine come to life and it starts writing a story a “Trip to the moon” one of his fathers favorite films.  They later find out Georges Milies is a famous film maker and  the world thinks he is dead. His teacher is instrumental in making this happen for Georges. The story ends with all of them going to a awards  show and Georges is honored, then they all go celebrate at a small restaurant. Hugo ends up moving in with Georges Milies and his family. This a good book for a older reader with several themes. Hugo makes a transformation when he moves in with the family. Hugo learns the value of friendship.