Mr. Popper's Penguins

Book Title: Mr. Popper's Penguins

Author(s): Richard and Florence Atwater

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Robert Lawson

Publisher: Little Brown and Company

Copyright Date: 1938

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction (animal) novel

Brief Annotation: A fan of polar exploration by night and a house painter by day, Mr. Popper writes to his hero, Admiral Drake, who sends him an antarctic penguin in return! After turning their refrigerator into an ice box, the penguin starts to drop in spirits! Before they know it, the Poppers have a whole house full of penguins. To earn their keep, Mr. Popper attains his dream of working with penguins, even if it is as unconventional as as a performing vaudeville act of penguins!

Your Rating (1-5) and why: 5--This book was just as enjoyable to read as I remember it. What a fun topic--penguins in the house! It's a great reminder that kids can grow up to work with anything they're passionate about.

Readers who will like this book: Readers who will like this book are those who love working with animals! Elementary students are at a very fun age where they can get passionate about a particular species or breed, so indulging in a grown-up with the same passions can be fun!

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: If you got to live with one animal, which would it be? Would you live in their home or your home? How?

Over on the Farm

Book Title: Over on the Farm

Author(s): Christopher Gunson

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Christopher Gunson

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Copyright Date: 1995

Genre: Poetry, counting, contemporary realistic fiction

Brief Annotation: Over in the (field, wood, pond, etc) lay a happy mother animal who is looking for her babies. Readers can count the baby animals over in the particular area of the farm and enjoy listening to the rhythmic cadance of the sentences.

Your Rating (1-5) and why: 5--This adorable book is targeted towards pre-k students, which is perhaps why I liked it so much, but the illustrations are soft and bright, and all the animals are detailed so nicely. The book uses concepts of rhyming and counting, and always begins with a variation of the phrase 'over on the farm.' Over on the hill, over in the wood, etc.

Readers who will like this book: Readers who will like this book are young animal lovers who are excited about counting all the babies!

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Have you been to a farm? Who lives on a farm? What could we do if we visited a farm?

Piggins

Book Title: Piggins

Author(s): Jane Yolen

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Jane Dyer

Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers

Copyright Date: 1987

Genre: Contemporary realistic fiction, mystery

Brief Annotation: Piggins is a beloved butler who is serving a dinner party. When his hostess' brilliant diamond necklace goes missing, it's up to Piggins to find the clues, illuminate the perpetrator, and recover the goods!

Your Rating (1-5) and why: 3.5--I haven't read many juvenille mysteries, but this one seemed like it had a little too much superfluous detail mixed in with the essential elements of solving the mystery. If young readers were trying to solve the mystery along with Piggins, they would certainly need some direction.

Readers who will like this book: Readers who will want to re-read this book are those who appreciate gorgeously illustrated pages full of fancy ladies in gowns and jewels. If an adult is directing the reading, kids who enjoy being involved in the story can help Piggins sort out who-done-it.

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Have you ever been a detective before? What were you looking for? How did you find it?

The Mitten

Book Title: The Mitten

Author(s): Jim Aylesworth

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Barbara McClintock

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Copyright Date: 2009

Genre: Contemporary realistic fiction

Brief Annotation: Grandmother knits her grandson a pair of great big warm woolen mittens every year before winter. When he loses one of them in the snow, several forest animals use it as their home for the night to keep warm! It's so toasty that, one by one, a bear, a fox, a rabbit, a squirrel, and a mouse all squeeze in until......POP! When the boy finds the shredded mitten the next day he sets out to get some more to share.

Your Rating (1-5) and why: 4--This was a cute book, and had a lot of great opportunity for interactive read-alouds. The characters that squeeze into the mitten have the same dialogue whenever a new character appears and asks to share the warmth, so kids could enjoy the predictability of the text and the eventual sharing and hospitality.

Readers who will like this book: Kids that will enjoy this book are animal lovers! There are great illustrations and doing the voices/noises of each animal would be a fun way to read this book together.

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: What do we wear when it's cold outside? Have you ever thought about what animals wear? What can they do to stay warm?

King & King

Book Title: King & King

Author(s): Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Betsy Stromberg

Publisher: Tricycle Press

Copyright Date: 2000

Genre: Folktale

Brief Annotation: Tired of ruling for a long time, the Queen decides it is time for her son, the Prince, to marry. After flying in many princesses and not finding any of them suitable, the Prince finally feels a stir in his heart. It is for one of the princess' brothers! Relieved that her son has found happiness, the Queen blesses the marriage and the two princes rule the kingdom together as King and King.

Your Rating (1-5) and why: 4--This book is short, simple, and to the point. The illustrations are a little unorganized and hodge-podge (collage and watercolor) for my taste, but the short tale of forced-courtship turned-happy ending is good in my opinion. The Queen doesn't even blink twice when Prince selects a Prince instead of a Princess.

Readers who will like this book: Children who have read one fairy tale after another will probably enjoy this book. It has many of the classic elements with a fun twist!

Teaching Strategy: Story Retelling (Tompkins, p. 119): I picked story retelling because it allows for 1:1 time between the student and the teacher. While the main concepts are assessed (characters, setting, events), additional comprehension is formally omitted from the evaluation. I would be interested to hear if the child had more to say about the story or other things they noticed. There's also a nice avenue to discuss how it is the same or different from other fairy tales. I wonder if the student would comment on that on their own....

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: What do we know about princes and princesses? Have you ever thought about what would happen if a prince didn't want to marry a princess, but someone else instead?

Number the Stars

Book Title: Number the Stars

Author(s): Lois Lowry

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: ---

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Copyright Date: 1989

Genre: Historical fiction

Brief Annotation: Young Annemarie Johansen and her friend Ellen Rosen are adolescent girls living under Nazi rule in Denmark in 1943. When Ellen's family is forced to flee to avoid relocation, the Johansen family takes Ellen into their home to pose as one of their own daughters. The friendship between the two girls is strengthened as the Johansens work with the Danish Resistance to escort the Rosens across the sea to safety until the end of Nazi occupation.

Your Rating (1-5) and why: 5--I love, love, love this book! I remember reading it in elementary school and re-reading it for this project was such a joy. You don't have to be a WWII history fan to enjoy the tale of friendship and heroism that is displayed between these two young girls and their courageous families. It tells the tale of wartime occupation from a child's perspective, yet does not take any responsibility away from her due to her age.

Readers who will like this book: Readers who will like this book are those who enjoy reading about adventure! The girls are as active a part of the Resistance as any adult, and their success rate ends the book on a happy note.

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Do you have a best friend? Are they the same as you in every way? Maybe their family is different, or their religion, or their culture. Who would you be willing to stand up to fight for your friend?

The Girl's Like Spaghetti

Book Title: The Girl’s Like Spaghetti

Author(s): Lynne Truss

Illustrator/Photographer/ Artist: Bonnie Timmons

Publisher: The Penguin Group

Copyright Date: 2007

Genre: Non-Fiction

Brief Annotation: This is another very funny book in the punctuation series. This time the focus is on the importance of apostrophes and their many jobs. Each time you turn the page the book has the same sentence on each page with the apostrophe moved and a very funny and very different picture. The picture illustrates the difference the apostrophe makes to whole sentence, and how it completly changes the function of some of the words in the sentence.

Your Rating (1-5) and Why: I rate this book a five because it is cute, funny and educational.

Readers who will like this book: I think readers as young as three all the way to adult will like this book.

Question to ask about this book before you read aloud: Do you think punctuation can change the meaning of words?