Uncle Willy's Tickles

Uncle Willy's Tickles, by Marcie Aboff

When I was searching for a picture of the cover to include in my blog, I couldn't seem to find the same cover that is on the copy of this book that I read. I chose to include this version because although the picture and title are the same, something that I noticed which was different is the big, blackened all caps letters that say "A CHILD'S RIGHT TO SAY NO." I think this was something that really enhanced the cover page and the purpose of the book more.

This story is about a little boy who LOVES his Uncle Willy, but sometimes he tickles too hard. After the little boy confronts his sister about what is going on and she says it's normal, he starts to devise ideas about how to avoid Uncle Willy the next time he comes over to the house. Eventually, he tells his mother and his mother models the solution to her son for the next time that Uncle Willy comes over.

The point of this book is to show children that there are right and wrong ways to touch and be touched. There is an introductory page all about touching and what a child should do if he/she is being touched inappropriately, and then it is actually modeled at the end of the story so that children and parents alike can understand the proper way to handle a frustrating situation like that. I think it is important for parents to read this book to their children when discussing a similar occurrence, so children will understand that they can speak up about something like this.

Stargazers

Stargazers, by Gail Gibbons

This week I chose to mainly focus on informational books. I found this book in my attic when I was browsing around for informational books that interested me when I was a little girl, but I didn't remember reading it or not so I decided to read it for my blog this week. The author starts out by explaining what stars are and what makes them shine. Throughout the book, the facts become increasingly more in depth, and there are captions in the pictures which define vocabulary words as well. Readers will find out much more than they thought they knew about stars, constellations, seasons, telescopes, and stargazing in general at a very basic level.

This would be a great book to use during an astronomy unit, especially connected with a KWL chart. Students could have conversations as a whole group or in small science groups about what they know already about stars, and what they want to know. Using this book and other resources, they could put together some sort of basic presentation for the teacher to assess what they have learned about not only the topic of stars and astronomy, but how students process information from factual books differently than other books. Students could also use stars as one aspect of astronomy as a focus for a presentation to the class while other classmates research others, and at the end the KWL chart could be completed and students could write down 2 facts during each presentation. Finally reading this book well after I got it as a little girl, I think I will include it in my class library and it has given me a starting point of ideas of how I might organize the books in my class library.

The Misfits

The Misfits by James Howe

I have heard a lot about this story in other classes and have wanted to read it ever since. Five students are picked on and singled out by their classmates for five different reasons but one thing that they all have in common is that they are different from the rest of their peers. One occasion that got me at the beginning of the story was when Addie, the girl of the group, refused to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance and actually gave decent reasoning for not doing so. Thus begins the adventure of The Misfits; these students do things a little differently than everyone else.

Addie is sent to the Principal's office due to her little outrage in class with the Pledge, and she decides that the rest of her group of outsiders should form another group to run in the student government so that everyone gets a voice. The same woman who is in charge of student government is the same teacher that Addie spoke out to during class, and she turns down the request. With the help of other students outside of the group of 5, they begin to plot their campaign anyways. They come up with a great slogan: "sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will break our spirit," however since they didn't get permission from Mrs. Wyman, they are forced to be removed from consideration at all.

Bobby decides to come up with the "No-Name Party," where they hope to end name calling at their school. He writes a powerful speech and although he is afraid to give it, he does so anyways, and even though they lose the election which is an unexpected ending, they have touched the entire school and the rest of their peers. Some of the parts of the ending were a little too perfect; for example, with Joe and Colin going to the dance together; it just seems as though that wouldn't have just fit together just like that in the real world, and that it wouldn't just turn out that Colin is gay as well, but I think that the characters deserved a "fairy-tale ending," and even though they didn't win the election, they definitely changed the little world that they lived in in their school.

This is a pretty powerful book, it's such a shame that many parents disagree with it being put into classroom shelves. Children/students should know that they can do anything they put their minds too and maybe even change the world a little bit along the way.

The Frog Prince...Continued

The Frog Prince...Continued by Jon Scieszka

This story takes a twist on a classic fairy tale. The story opens showing readers that the Frog Prince and his wife the Princess didn't quite live as happily ever after as the story goes... and were actually stuck in a rut. One day, the Princess comes in and tells her husband that she thinks that they would both be better off if he was still a frog... and that's when he gets the idea to run away.

He runs deep into the forest and finds many different witches, asking them to change him back into a frog. The witches are from different fairy tales with different princesses, and they try to cast nasty spells on him so he doesn't disturb any Snow Whites or Sleeping Beauties. One witch even tries to "fit him in for lunch..." and that's when he runs into the Fairy Godmother. She has never transformed anyone into a frog, but he decides she is all he has got and gives it a go. Sadly, he gets transformed into a carriage. When the clock struck midnight, the carriage formally known as the Frog Prince turned back into his human self and he runs into his Princess's arms, who was actually extremely worried about him! The rut was over, they kissed and.... turned back into frogs! A cool book with such great illustrations and a neat twist on a classic fairy tale.

Christina Katerina and the Time She Quit the Family

Christina Katerina and the Time She Quit the Family by Patricia Lee Gauch

This is a classic book in my household that my mom bought for me when I said that I wish I wasn't a part of the family anymore... I'm pretty sure that this book changed that thought immediately.

Christina loves her mother, father, and brother, but something happens that makes her not want to be a part of the family anymore. She changes her name to Agnes, and her mother tells her to call her Mildred from now on. They divide up sections of the house for Agnes and for the rest of the family. At first, Agnes loves the idea of being able to do whatever she wants, whenever she wants, until she starts to realize how lonely she is, how scared she can get, and how cut off she is from the rest of her family. At the end of the story, Mildred (mom) tells Agnes that her brother wants a blood-curdling story that only she can tell, that no one else wants to eat cake with as much frosting on it, and that her father misses her loudness throughout the house. This story shows that every family member has certain traits and characteristics that make a house a home. It is a good one to remind children to be thankful for their family members and that in a family every person fits together like pieces to a puzzle =)

Pirate Pete's Giant Adventure

Pirate Pete's Giant Adventure by Kim Kennedy

This book has a little hint on the cover and in the title of what the story is going to be about. Pirate Pete is a little pirate who floats along in a float-boat with his parrot, dreaming of being a real swashbuckler. He wakes up one day and says that he would do ANYTHING for a real pirate ship, when out of nowhere a sea-fairy appears from the bottom of the ocean and tells him that if he finds the stolen Sea-Fairy Sapphire and brings it back to the Sea-Fairy Kingdom, she would give him a beautiful pirate ship. She tells him to follow the thunder to get to the island where the sapphire is, but warns him that not everything that booms will be thunder...

When he comes upon the sapphire, he wishes for a map that will lead him to the world's greatest treasures, and the world's mightiest sword. His parrot friend tells him to throw it right into the ocean IMMEDIATELY so they can return and get a ship! All of a sudden, a large booming sound shakes the island, and Pirate Pete looks up to see a GIANT hovering over him. He tricks the giant to throw him into the ocean, and when he does, his ship appears almost immediately. This book is perfect for predicting events in a story, teaching and introducing plots in a story, and reading with expression. Teachers could have students predict why he wished for the sword and the map, and what he would do to escape from the giant's strong clutch. Also, students could predict why the sea-fairy warned him about the thunder. To read with expression, teachers could change their voices for each character; the sea-fairy, the pirate, the parrot, and the giant, to show students that every character is different in a story, and in this story that concept is more prominent than in other stories but important nonetheless. Fun adventure!

Cars

Cars by Patricia Hubbell

This book would have been PERFECT a few weeks ago in my practicum classroom! I am so upset that I didn't find it until now =( My students were working on a car/automobile/transportation unit and this book would have been so fun to read. The illustrations were so different than anything I have seen before, since they looked like the characters on each page were glued into the paintings. Some of the pages were typical and read horizontally, while some of the other pages were flipped and read vertically. Not only did the words rhyme, but sometimes the font changed to match what words were used to really exaggerate the story. The font was either changed in size, boldness, type, and sometimes the words were twisted and contorted to match the road that the cars were driving on. Sometimes, things in the illustrations were labeled as well, for example, as a car drove down a road, the author labeled the different places that could be traveled to, such as mountains, forests, deserts, and farmlands. In a page similar to this, the author pointed out the basic parts of a car. This is just a flat out awesome book to teach to kids, and to demonstrate rhyming and show how cool and different writers can make the words and illustrations in a story look. I LOVE this book!