Book Reports

January 14

Author: Ellen Jackson

Illustrator: Kevin O’Malley

Date of Pulication: 1994

Title: CinderEdna

ISBN: 0-688-12322-8

Level: Pre School- Third Grade

Summary: This book was about two neighbors; CinderEdna & Cinderella.  Cinderella lived by the basic fairy tale story while Cinderedna was a more easygoing Cinderella.  Whenever Cinderella would look at things in a negative way, CinderEdna would be next door looking at it in a positive light.  When they both go to the ball CinderEdna falls in love with the princes best friend and they live happily ever after.  It shows that you can look at things in a positive light and live happily.

Can be used for: This book is a great lesson to be taught to children to not be so high matinence and try to be more easy going.  This book also teaches that its not always the “pretty” girls that end up happy, but the “smart” girls.  This book would be great to read to girls if an issue occurs in the classroom.

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January 24

Author: Susan Lowell

Illustrator: Jane Manning

Date of Pub: 2000

Title: Cindy Ellen- A Wild Western Cinderella

ISBN: 0-439-27006-5

Level: Pre-School – Third Grade

Summary: This book was a very unique version of Cinderella which talked about a  young girl who lived in a dessert and was treated badly by her stepmother and stepsisters.  A rich cowboy was coming to town for a rodeo and square dance and Cindy Ellen really wanted to go but her sisters wouldn’t let her.  Her Cowgirl Godmother granted her wish and Cindy Ellen rode off into the sunset with her new man!

Can be used for: This book can be used when talking about different cultures or when studying desserts.  This is an interesting and fun way to bring that side of the country to life.  It would also be great when reading different versions of Cinderella, this was a very fun one!

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January 31

Book: Candy Corn

Author: James Stevenson

Summary: This poetry book is very unique because it goes through every day life, and things that interest children during that time.  It goes through all the seasons, times of day, then random items like dumpsters, hats, and railroads.  This book is good to simplify life for children and very interesting.

ISBN:  0-688-15837-4

Level: Grade 2-6

Can be used for: This book could be used when teaching the different seasons in science class.  It also could be used in English when learning about poetry, or different holidays.

Date of Pub: 1999

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February 2

Book: Listen to a Shape

Author: Marcia Brown

ISBN: 0-531-02930-1

Summary: This book is about shapes and how predominant they are in nature.  It explains all the different shapes and how they relate to flowers, bugs, trees etc.  It is a very interesting way to teach shapes to children. The pictures are very colorful and very appealing to children which makes them want to learn the content!

Level: Preschool – Third Grade.

Could be used for: This book would work best in math when learning the shapes.  You could show them this book so they could see that it is important to learn about them because they are everywhere.

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February 9th

Author: Frances Schoonmaker Bolin

Illustrator: Steven Arcella

Date of Pulication: 2002

Title: Poetry for Young People- Carl Sandsburg

ISBN: 0-439-37534-7

Level: Read Aloud

Summary: This book is a collection of poems about everyday things.  Poet Carl Sandburg writes about them in a way that makes them seem very interesting by making them funny, crazy, quiet, and sincere.  He describes these things in a very unique way that you would probably never see before you read the poem.  This would be a great resource for the classroom because you can use it on so many occasions!

Can be used for: This book could be used when teaching about nature, animals, manners, math, and many more topics.  There is a lot of imagination in this book for children to play with!

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February 19th

Title: Wemberly Worried

Author: Keven Henkes

ISBN: 0-439-28827-4

Published: 2000

Level: Read Aloud

Used for: Use the first day of class when children are nervous or when children are worried at all.

Summary: This bok is about a little mouse that worried about everything.  She was ecspecially worried about staring school but when she arrived she met another mouse very similar to her.  They became friends and she soon forgot all their worries.

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February 25th

Author: Dr. Suess

Title: Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

ISBN: 0-679-80527-3

Published: 1990

Level: Read aloud

Summary: This book is a graduation speech from Dr. Suess.  It has humerorous versus and pictures that adreses balencing lifes struggles and wonders.  This book encourages you to find success within and is very encouraging to do your best.  It tells wonderful places that you can go if you put your mind to it and in the end it says “Today is your day, your mountain is waiting. So get on your way!”.  This is my favorite quote and I use it a lot when dealing with children or encouraging my friends.

Used For: This book would be best used for graduation or an end of year closing.  It may be used at an assembly or in the classroom on the last day.

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Book: Hosni the Dreamer

Author: Ehud Ben-Ezer

Illustrator: Uri Shulevitz

ISBN: 0374333408

Published: 1997

Level: Read Aloud

Summary: This is a story about a group of shepherds sent into the big city to sell camels.  The Sheikh gives them all a gold coin to spend as they wish and most of the shepherds spent it on meaningless items. The main character decides to buy wisdom with his piece of gold but is laughed at by the others the whole way home. In the end his purchase was the most valuable and became more valuable any object money can buy!

Used For: This book can be used when discussing different cultures, multiculturism in particular.  This also shows that you should think about what you purchase and realize that money can’t buy everything.

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April 8th

Book: Love You Forever

Author: Robert Munsch

Illustrator: Sheila McGraw

ISBN: 0920668372

Publisher: Firefly Books Ltd

Level: Read Aloud

Summary: This is a very heartfelt book about a mother and her son.  She sings to him “ I’ll love you forever, I’ll love you for always, as long as your living, my baby you’ll be” every night before he goes to sleep.  This book takes place from the time he is a baby until he is a grown man and the mother is still there for him and still sings to him.  The end of the book is when the mother is old, sickly, and is unable to hold her son; and now he holds her and takes care of his mother. This shows a special bond between a mother and her son that would be a special book for a woman and her son to share.

Used For: This book could be used in a family when the mother is going away on a trip to keep the child calm or in school when learning about families.  This book would also be a great present for a newborn baby or for a boy’s graduation.

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Book: Rainbow Fish

Author: Marcus Pfister

ISBN: 0439234638

Publisher: Scholastic Inc

Level: Read Aloud

Summary: This book is about a unique fish with beautiful scales and all the other fish in the ocean are jealous.  The other fish always ask him for one of his beautiful scales but he never will share them therefore he does not have any friends. One day he runs into an octopus that tells him to share his beautiful scales and he will have friends and will still be considered beautiful.  He does what the octopus tells him and soon is friends with all of the other fish and is happy that he decided to share his beauty.

Used For: This can be used in a classroom when you are learning about sharing or there has been an issue with sharing.  In this book good things come from the rainbow fish sharing his beautiful scales and that is just what children should do as well.  The students can then create their own rainbow fish with art supplies and “share” it with a friend by exchanging their fish.