A Sick Day for Amos McGee

By: Philip C. Stead (2010)

This book is about a man named Amos Mcgee that goes to visit animals in the zoo every day before work. He plays games with some of them and others he just chats with. He then wakes up sick one day and all of his animal friends miss him so they decide to go and visit Amos. The arrive at his house and they make him feel better by playing games with him and keeping him company, like good friends do.

I really liked this book because of the funny things that Amos did with the animals. I also liked how each animal had something that they did with Amos that fit with how I imagined their personality.

I think kids would really like this story because of how silly it is and also because it teaches them a good lesson about friendship. This would be a great book to read to show students a fun example of how friends can come in all shapes and sizes, and they are always there to make you feel better.

My Friend Rabbit

By: Eric Rohmann (2002)

This book is about a rabbit that always seems to get into trouble, yet he has elaborate plans to get himself out of the trouble that he causes. Rabbit throws a toy plane up into a tree, and in order to get it out he rounds up a bunch of animals to stack on top of each other. The animals end up falling down and getting upset with rabbit, yet his friends still like him.

I liked the simple clean illustrations in this book and I thought that the animals that he collected to help him reach the plane were pretty funny. I thought the overall message of the story was cute, although I didn't think was anything earth shattering.

I think that kids would really like this book because of the silly plan that is hatched by rabbit to retrieve his plan. As a teacher I may have students try to predict the next animal that he is going to use to help him get the rabbit down.

The Babe and I

By: David Adler (2004)

This book is set during the Great Depression and it is about a young boy that decides to start selling newspapers to support his family after his dad lost his job. The boy sells these newspapers outside Yankee Stadium and he starts making decent money as Babe Ruth and the Yankees start playing well. One day the Babe Ruth buys a paper from the boy and gives him tickets to watch him play.

When I first read the title for this book I thought it was going to be more about Babe Ruth, but he turned out to be more of a side character in this story. I liked the story but I thought that message of cooperation was a little forced, in that the author just seemed to try to tie everything together on the last page by comparing the family dynamic to the way a team works.

This may be a good historical fiction piece to show students because it really shows students how difficult it was for many families and how many sacrifices people had to make, even young children. As a teacher I may want to do an activity where I have students discuss the different ways that they help out at home.

Winners Never Quit!

By: Mia Hamm (2004)

This book is about a young girl named Mia that loves soccer but hates losing. Whenever she misses a shot or loses she quits and goes home. Not liking this behavior, her friends decide to not let her play anymore because she has a bad attitude. Mia then decides that she would rather play sports than sit out and have a bad attitude so her friends decide to let her play and she starts having fun.

I liked this book because it talked about a topic that I have trouble with some times so I could really relate to Mia in this book.

As a teacher this would be a book that I would recommend to really competitive students that seemed to be having a hard time with losing. I think that the book would be really well received by students because of the positive message and the fact that it is written by a respected athlete like Mia Hamm.

The Crayon Box that Talked

By: Shane DeRolf (1997)

This book was about a box full of crayons that did not get along with each other because of their differences. Their differences got in the way of them interacting with each other, and as a result of this they only worked alone when they were coloring. Then one day a young girl bought the box of crayons and colored a beautiful picture using the box of crayons. After this the crayons realized that when they worked together they could create masterpieces.

I liked this book because it took a good message and made it simple to understand. The differences of the crayons seemed liked a small thing, but often times we often refuse to interact with people because of differences just as trivial. The illustrations were all nicely done and showed the different personalities of the crayons. 


I think that this book could be very helpful in a classroom for many reasons. Students could be taught about teamwork and cooperation where they could discuss times when they have been like the crayons, not interacting with others. Younger students may also enjoy this book and they may be able to work on many art activities linked to this book and the use to certain colors to make new colors.

Corn

By: Gail Gibbons (2008)

This informational book is all about corn as you could probably gather from the title. The book goes over where corn originated from, the different uses of corn, and the different types of corn.

I thought that this book was really interesting because I learned a lot of different facts about corn. The book did a really good job giving facts, while also providing pictures to show what they were talking about. There were many good illustrations of the different parts of the corn plant and the different types of corn as well. I did not know that corn was used in so many different things and this book was really helpful in pointing that out.

I think that this book would be really useful in a classroom that was learning about plants, Native Americans, Thanksgiving, or farming. This book covered all of these different topics and linked them all to corn. This book answers many questions about corn, but there are also some things that I think students would want to find out because of the new knowledge that they gain from the book. This book could lead to research projects on what was really eaten at the first Thanksgiving and about the different types of corn. I think that this book would also be really well received by students because of the friendly format with which the information was arranged.

Beastly Rhymes to Read After Dark

By: Judy Sierra (2008)

This book contains lots of different poems about scary and creepy things that kids would enjoy. There are poems about giant anacondas, werewolves, and other scary things. The poems are all pretty short, and many have familiar rhyming schemes. I liked this book because the poems were all entertaining and funny.

I think that this would be a good book to read during Halloween time in your class as a teacher of younger elementary age students. The title and the cover were two things that initially drew me to the book, and I think that those same things would make this book appealing for those students as well. As a teacher, I may read a poem during the last few minutes of a class to get students to calm down during the occasionally difficult transition times. This may also be a good book to have students perform coral readings out of because the poems are funny and fun to read, with the rhyming that students enjoy.