Pete the Cat

Title: Pete the Cat: I Love my White Shoes

Author(s): Eric Litwin

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: James Dean

Publisher: HarperCollins

Copyright Date: 2008

Genre: Animal Fantasy

Brief Annotation: Pete the Cat is walking along, singing his song, wearing his favorite white shoes, when lo and behold, he steps in a pile of strawberries that turns his white shoes red! Does Pete freak out? No way, he just keeps walking along and singing his song, until . . . he steps in blueberries! The story continues in a predictable pattern with Pete running into color trouble, but keeping a cool head. The addition of the song Pete sings throughout the story is sure to keep readers and listeners interested.

Your Rating (1-5) and why: 5! This is a perfect book for engaging kids in multiple ways--through listening, singing, choral reading, and acting.

Readers who will like this book: Kids who like playful books, and kids who need a reminder that if you can "make lemonade from lemons" when life throws you an unexpected curveball, you'll be happier.

Teaching Strategy from Tompkins or Yopp & Yopp (you'll link a strategy to at least 10 of your 40 books) : Readers’ Theater (Tompkins, p. 84). Readers theater invites readers to re-create a story through drama. Students create a script based on the reading (or find published scripts) and perform for a group. This book lends itself to readers’ theater because the text is lively, dramatizing the action would not require props or much space, and the “performers” could engage the audience in answering the question, “Did Pete cry?” [answer: “Goodness, no!”]

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: What does it mean to be resilient?

Optional, but noted as extra effort:

1. Interest Level (age): 3-8

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


3. List awards: none

4. Does this book have a book trailer? If so, cut and paste the website here.
http://mbc.sandi.net/library/items/pete-the-cat-book-trailer---978656?vbe2f2d50-fdd3-012e-f742-36b46cdbb0f2

Edward and the Pirates

Book Title: Edward and the Pirates
Author(s): David McPhail
Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: David McPhail
Publisher: Trumpet
Copyright Date: 1997
Genre: Fantasy
Brief Annotation (2-3 sentence summary): Young Edward refuses to give over his library book about pirate treasure when a band of pirates demands it. He discovers they can’t read anyway, so he agrees to read it to them.
Your Rating, 1(poor)-5 (outstanding): 4.5
Readers who will like this book: Kids with an active imagination, kids who like pirates, and librarians and teachers.
Teaching Idea from 50 Literacy Strategies, Step-by-Step (Tompkins): Word Sorts
"A strategy for examining and categorizing words according to their meaning, sound-symbol correspondence, or spelling patterns" (p. 113). Make three sorting activities. a) words that begin with vowels and words that begin with consonants; b) 1, 2 and 3-syllable words; c) root words with and without suffixes
Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Have you ever been reading a book when suddenly you lost track of the real world around you and became part of the book?

Optional, but noted as extra effort:
1. Interest Level (age): K-2

2. Grade Level Equivalent (grade): 4.8

3. List awards: None

4. Book trailer? None