Welcome!

You have accessed the blog site for Choosing and Using Books for Children. Throughout the term we'll use our blog to record the books we read and the ideas we have for using them when we're teachers. By the end of March, our class will have read at least 280 books. Happy reading!

Two important protocol actions for EVERY post:
1. Underline or italicize all book titles (choose one formatting style and stick with it--underline OR italicize for all book titles)
2. Add your name in the "label" box before you post each documentation.

One important recommendation:
Create your documentations in a separate Word document, then cut and paste in a blog post.

Basic Documentation

Book Title:

Author(s):

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist:

Publisher:

Copyright Date:

Genre:

Brief Annotation:

Your Rating (1-5) and why:

Readers who will like this book:

Teaching Strategy from Tompkins or Yopp & Yopp (you'll link a strategy to at least 10 of your 40 books) :

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud:

Optional, but noted as extra effort:

1. Interest Level (age):

2. Grade Level Equivalent (grade):
Use book wizard to help with the previous 2 areas


3. List awards

4. Does this book have a book trailer? If so, cut and paste the web address here.

Friday, March 2, 2012

True Friends: A Tale from Tanzania

Book Title: True Friends: A Tale From Tanzania

Author(s): John Kilaka

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: John Kilaka

Publisher: Groundwood Books

Copyright Date: 2006

Genre: Folklore/fable

Brief Annotation: In this fable, a hard-working rat and a lazy elephant find their friendship strained when Elephant tricks Rat into giving him the food Rat has gathered to store in case of drought. Rat is the only animal that knows how to make fire, and he shares his talent generously with the others. But when Elephant betrays him, Rat flees from the village. The other animals scold Elephant for what he has done and make him worry that Rat will come back and set his house on fire. When Elephant and Rat meet again, both learn an important lesson about friendship.

Your Rating (1-5) and why: 3—Although I liked the story I did not particularly care for the illustrations. Some of the animals were hard to decipher due to their strange features and hunchback statures, and I found the bright clothes they all wore distracting. The fable relays a key message about friendship and forgiveness, but it would have been enhanced with a different style of illustration depicting more realistic-looking animals.

Readers who will like this book: Children who enjoy fables and stories with a moral; readers who like stories about animals; adults wanting to pass along a message of treating others how you would want to be treated

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Have you ever had a disagreement or argument with a friend? What did you do to make up with your friend and make things better?

Optional, but noted as extra effort:

1. Interest Level: K—3 (School Library Journal)

2. Grade Level Equivalent (grade): 3.3 (Perma-Bound Books)

3. List awards: 2005 Bologna Ragazzi New Horizons Award

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