A Good Day

Book Title: A Good Day

Author & Illustrator: Kevin Henkes

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Copyright Date: 2007

Genre: Picturebook: Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Brief Annotation: What can turn a bad day into a good day? Four colorful creatures take us on their journey as we see what turns their bad day into a good day. Young and old gain valuable insight from a bird, dog, fox and squirrel.

Your Rating (1-5) and why: 4 – This is a cute book with sweet illustrations – perfectly matched to the story. The author has created a simple story, with big meaning, that is accessible to young readers. In addition to the lesson of the story, children can learn about colors and talk about what emotions the animals may be feeling at the different stages.

Readers who will like this book: Little kids who are learning to follow stories, and have recently learned how to identify different animals, colors and emotions will enjoy exploring this story. It could help build confidence in young readers, as they are able to explore these different aspects of the book.

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Can you think of a time when your day wasn’t going so well and then something changed to make it better?

Interest Level (age): 1-4

Seven Blind Mice

Book Title: Seven Blind Mice

Author & Illustrator: Ed Young

Publisher: Philomel Books

Copyright Date: 1992

Genre: Fable

Brief Annotation: Seven blind mice discover “Something” – but what is it? Young uses bright colors, collage style illustrations, contrasted against black to tell this fable. As each mouse takes its turn investigating the “Something,” children are able to discover counting, colors and the days of the week. And the biggest discovery comes in the wisdom gained and shared by the mice.

Your Rating (1-5) and why: 4.5 – Visually, this book is unique and interesting and will capture the attention of very young children. It integrates numbers, colors and days of the week seamlessly – giving you a lot of different things to discuss with children. And the story is a new twist on the tale of the blind mice and the elephant that is both humorous and deep in wisdom.

Readers who will like this book: Children learning to recognize colors and shapes will enjoy this book. Slightly older children will appreciate the moral part of the story, but this book is rich with different layers to explore, giving it appeal to a range of young children. The moral of the story is also a good reminder for adults.

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Have the children close their eyes, make their finger straight, and feel their finger {demonstrate first}. Ask: What if you couldn’t see and you didn’t know you were touching a finger– what might you think you were feeling? {If they are too young and have difficultly making that leap, you could prompt them by saying… what about a carrot? Or a coloring marker? Or a worm?

Interest Level (age): 3-9

Grade Level Equivalent (grade): 3.3

List awards: Caldecott Honor Book

Purple, Green and Yellow

Book Title: Purple, Green and Yellow

Author(s): Robert Munsch

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Helene Desputeaux

Publisher: Annick Press Ltd.

Copyright Date: 1992

Genre: Fictional picture book

Brief Annotation: Purple, Green and Yellow is about a young girl, Brigid, who wants more than anything for her mother to buy her some new coloring markers. She builds up the trust with her mother that she won’t color on the walls or on herself until her mother agrees to buy her the newest, forever-permanent markers. All goes well until Brigid gets bored with coloring on paper and begins to color on people in her family--including herself! Thanks to an ‘invisible’ pill from the doctor, she’s able to wash everything off her body and color herself back to normal!

Your Rating (1-5) and why: (4.5) This is a cute story with lots of lessons in it about taking care of our art tools and being careful where we use them! The illustrations are brilliantly vibrant and very fun to look at throughout the story.

Readers who will like this book: Students who will be excited about this book are the artists in class! Not only will they enjoy taking in all the detail of the pictures and how Brigid uses her magic markers, but they’ll be excited afterwards to draw their own pictures with ‘magic markers’ that can be brought out by the teacher.

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Before reading this book we would look at the cover and ask ourselves what Brigid might be drawing with her markers. When do we use markers? What do we like to draw with markers? What are some of our favorite colors?

Mortimer

Book Title: Mortimer

Author(s): Robert Munsch

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Michael Martchenko

Publisher: Annick Press Ltd.

Copyright Date: 1985

Genre: Fictional picture book

Brief Annotation: Mortimer is a little guy who appears to have trouble being quiet as he falls asleep. A parade of people come through his room trying to get him to be quiet as he sings his song about how he’s going to ‘make his noise all day’--including some police officers! Everyone else is so frustrated with Mortimer that they starting fighting loudly downstairs and don’t even notice that Mortimer has finally fallen asleep!

Your Rating (1-5) and why: (2) While I can see how this book would be fun to read to kids because it has Mortimer’s great song that he sings on every other page (which kids could enjoy actively participating with and singing along to), I don’t think it would be one of my favorite to read repeatedly. The scene is the same in every picture and the only dialogue consists of a different person saying “MORTIMER! BE QUIET!”

Readers who will like this book: Children that might be able to appreciate this book are those with younger siblings who just won’t be quiet! They can identify with Mortimer’s family as they try to quiet him down so that everybody can just go to bed!

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Before I would read this book to my class I would ask what helps them get ready for bed. Looking at the cover, does it look like Mortimer likes to or is ready to go to bed? Why or why not? What do they do when they can’t fall asleep?

Pigs

Book Title: Pigs

Author(s): Robert Munsch

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Michael Martchenko

Publisher: Annick Press

Copyright Date: 1989

Genre: Fictional picture book

Brief Annotation: When Megan’s father asks her to feed the pigs on her way to school one she laughs as he reminds her not to open the gate, as the pigs are smarter than she thinks and may escape. Megan scoffs at the idea of the “dumb pigs” making a grand escape. Oh boy is she wrong. After she lets the pigs out of their pen they chase her around town all day. Every time she thinks she finally has them all locked up Megan finds another group waiting to surprise her. At the end of an exhausting day she pledges to never underestimate the pigs again--they’re smarter than we think!

Your Rating (1-5) and why: (3) This is a cute, very predictable easy read. Most kids enjoy silly stories about silly animals, and it provides a good pathway for discussion about animals at home and what they do while we’re away all day. What if they came with us?

Readers who will like this book: Readers who may enjoy this book are those who have pets at home or are especially interested in caring for animals. Students who live in the city could enjoy imagining what would happen if a bunch of pigs one day showed up at our school, just like Megan’s.

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Before reading this book I would ask readers what kind of animal they would choose to switch places with. We could talk about the pigs wanting to ‘walk in Megan’s shoes’ for the day, and what they would do if they lived on a farm and got to escape for a day.

Tikki Tikki Tembo

Book Title: Tikki Tikki Tembo

Author(s): Arlene Mossel

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Blair Lent

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Copyright Date: 1968

Genre: Fictional picture book

Brief Annotation: The book opens with a mother and her two sons a long, long time ago in China. Keeping with tradition, the eldest son was given a great long name that carried honor and prestige, while the second son was simply called Chang. One day Chang falls into the well and the eldest son runs throughout the village to get someone to save his brother. A few months later it’s the eldest brother’s turn to fall into the well and, due to his brother’s lengthy name, the younger brother can barely tell what has happened in time for the villagers in time to save him. They both survive and the moral of the story is that the Chinese have always believed in keeping names short and simple since this near-disaster.

Your Rating (1-5) and why: (1) This book had a very minimal storyline and was not engaging to read at all. I can’t imagine trying to read this in class, as the lesson at the end seems very un-relatable for most children.

Readers who will like this book: Readers who may enjoy this book are those interested in stories similar to ‘how the zebra got his stripes,’ or ‘why the rooster always crows in the morning.’ This text has hand-sketched illustrations, which young illustrators may like to see.

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Before reading this book I would ask them what they knew about families and customs in China. I would show them the picture on the front of the book where the boys play by the well and ask what they think might happen.

Duck for President

Book Title: Duck for President

Author(s): Doreen Cronin

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Betsy Lewin

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Copyright Date: 2004

Genre: Fictional picturebook

Brief Annotation: This book follows Duck who is fed up with doing chores on a farm! He decides to rally the other farm animals and hold an election to boot Farmer Brown from power so that Duck can be in charge. Shortly after he wins the farm’s election he decides that running a farm is more work than he realized. Similar patterns emerge when he decides to run for governor, president, etc. At the end of the book Duck realizes that all jobs are more difficult than they seem, and sometimes being in charge can be a lot of work. He decides to leave behind his new responsibilities and answer a ‘help wanted’ ad for a duck to do chores on a nice farm somewhere.

Your Rating (1-5) and why: (4) I enjoyed this book for some of the adult humor that was hidden in the illustrations or alluded to during a snippet of the storyline. One of Duck’s campaign posters said ‘I like Ike Duck,’ and there were several mentions of losing candidates requesting recalls post-unfavorable victories. Several of the politicians were women too, which I thought was a nice, subtle touch.

Readers who will like this book: Students who will appreciate this book are those who are beginning to learn about the American government system and the election cycle. They may be studying the state capitol or national election and are curious about how somebody gets elected or what an elected official does.

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Before reading this book to a class I would ask them if they know who our president (or mayor, governor, principal, etc) is and what they do. Do the kids think it is an easy or a hard job? What would they do if they were president--before and then again after reading the book.