Reading for fun, not just to be done

Holes By Louis sachar winner of the 1999 Newbery Medal,  The award is given to the author of "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. Stanley Yelnats is sent to camp green lake in order to serve a sentence of hard labor for a crime he didn't commit. A pair of stolen shoes were thrown on him and he was charged with the crime. At camp green lake, the boys there have to dig a hole five feet deep and five feet wide before they can head in for the day. Stanley's family blames their bad luck on a family curse put on the great great grandfather for not carrying a gypsy up a mountain in return for a pig.  Kate Barlow a school teacher at camp green lake over a hundred years before Stanley got there went on a revenge spree of killing after some people burned her school down and killed her lover. One of he heists was taking the treasure of Stanley's great great grandfather and bring it. During his time at camp green lake, Stanley meets another bo

A Letter to Amy by Ezra Jack Keats A young boy named Peter has decided to write A letter to a girl in his class named amy in order to invite her to his party. By writing her a letter instead of just asking her, Peter sees it as special. After writing the letter he heads outside int he rain to mil it to Amy. A strong wind blows the letter from Peters hand and he begins to chase it all over the place. After the heavy rain set in Amy turns the corner and runs to grab the letter. Peter wants the letter to be a surprise to Amy so he den's want her to get it now. Peter accidentally knocks down amy rushing to get the letter before she did, Amy hurt from falling down runs home crying. He was saddened that Amy would most likely not be at the party now. Saturday during the party everybody showed up, even Amy walked in with her parrot much to Peter's surprise. I love this cute story of a boy being friends with a girl which can be uncommon in young ages. Although Peter wanted a surprise t

Theres A Boy In The Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar won the 1990 bluebonnet award. This novel is about a boy named Bradley Chalkers and what he does in school. This is the students who sits int he back of the class and acts up all class. He finds a strange sense of pride when he fails everything without having to give any effort. He meets and becomes friends with he new kid in the classroom, in fact he is Bradley's only friend. Carla is the school counselor and she goes against every teacher's rules the boys have ever had before, she has no rules. Bradley has a problem lying and has the habit of saying "call so and so if you don't believe me" in order to gain credibility. Bradley is a lonely child and has little figures in which he plays with and creates scenes and conversations with to act out at home. Carla has faith in Bradley that he can change but Bradley feels as if Carla betrays him and begins to ruin the only positive relationship he has with a non fam

Clink By Kelly Dipucchio, illustrated by Mathew Myers An old robot named Clink couldn't go a day without parts falling off of him, he figured he would never find a new owner because everyone wanted a new robot not some old worn out one. Clink could play music and make toast but that was nothing compared to what the new robots could do. Clink would try and compete with he new robots but that always ended in disaster, he wasn't programmed to ry when he was the last robot in the store so the water shorted one of his speakers. Then one day a young frequent customer searched for a new robot, non e of them fit his wants and needs except Clink, who decided to play a nice classic song in which the boy was interested in. This seemed to end in disaster when one of Clinks rusty springs shot out and hit the young boy square in the forehead. As the shopkeeper was taking Clink tot he trash, the boy saved Clink by saying he was just what he has been looking for. The story ends when Milton,

Doug Unplugged by Dan Yaccarino This book is about a young robot named Doug who is trained or filled with information programs every morning. One morning he decides to "unplug" and go outside and explore the natural world. He knows he can learn from his morning routine but is curious about what is out in the world that he hasn't learned yet. By using his senses,  Doug experiences an adventurous day filled with discovery. he learns a ton of information including firetrucks, manholes, fountains, subways, skyscrapers, garbage cans, and he even learned how to play hide and seek. This book serves as a way to teach people that sometimes drilling textbooks or a routine isn't always the best method of learning. Hands on experiences are a great way for people to learn and it can make learning fun and exciting as Doug the robot learns. I would highly recommend this book as it takes the reader on a journey through the senses and gives some everyday facts that we may not know. Y

Boy+Bot by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino A young boy was collecting pinecones in a forest when he is met with a robot. They proceed to have fun and play for a while until the robot fall down the hill and his power switch gets turned off. The boy doesn't know what to do except take the robot home and give him applesauce, read him stories, and tuck him in for bed. The boy falls asleep and then the robot wakes up to find the young boys' "power switch turned off". The robot takes the boy to his house where he proceeds to do everything he knows that will fix things. This includes giving the boy oil, read an instruction manual, and even  a spare battery. The robots invented walks in and the boy wakes up to find robot safe and fixed. The inventor then takes the young boy home where robot and the boy decide to play again the next day. This was just the start to a great friendship. This story tells the reader that sometimes it isn't the obvious friendship tha

Wonder by RJ Palacio Auggie Pulman a fifth grade boy who has many surgeries to fix a facial deformation from birth. He is homeschooled until the fifth grade when his parents decide it's time for hi to go to a real school. Ague hates the idea at first since he knows he will be made fun of for his face being different. Although Auggie doesn't try to draw attention to himself it is inevitable. Other students stare at him and call him names just because he is different. He quickly makes two friends named Jack and Summer. During halloween Auggie's friend Jack is heard insulting Auggie, and later Jack punches Julian in Auggie's defense. Auggie is given hearing aids to help him hear even though he can't stand them at first. Aggies sister Olivia also struggles with Auggie's deformation. She has started at a new school and for once she is known for being Olivia and not Auggies big sister. This all changes at the school play when she reluctantly invites Auggie and the r

Poetrees by Douglas Florian This poetry book focuses on the different types of trees in the world. Each poem has a colorful and detailed painting of the tree discussed. The illustrations have small details that aren't noticed until the reader looks closer at them. For example, in the poem "Giant Sequoias"there are hands placed throughout the illustration,  there is a camouflaged rabbit at the base of the tree, as well as plants that can be expected to be seen in the are the sequoias live in. In this poem, the reader learns that these trees can be up to three thousand years old, have spongy bark, their roots anchor them to the ground, they are the tallest trees, and especially in all bolds don't destroy the giant sequoias. For such short poems, the reader is given many useful facts in which are presented to them with a smooth rhythm and fun rhyming words. These fun poems make reading nonfiction fun by rhyming, I would highly recommend this book to those researching t

Dinothesaurus by Douglas Florian This book of poems goes through several of the most popularly known dinosaurs and provides a creative poem giving details about each one. In the poem "Stegosaurus" the reader learns that this dinosaur is a herbivore who had bony plates on it's back to protect it from predators, and that this dinosaur had a brain that was smaller than a plum. The illustrations in this poem book are quite strange. each poem has a painting of the dinosaur, followed by letters, words, collage, and some hints to some of the characteristics of the dinosaur. The paintings are nice and detailed. I believe this poem book would be great for young readers interested in dinosaurs in grades 2-4 based on the vocabulary used.  I love the fact that there are many different species of dinosaurs discussed in the poems. the poems make facts about the dinosaurs very entertaining and enjoyable to read about.

echo echo by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Josee Masse Another book of reverse poems which focuses the poems within on greek myths. Perseus declares he must have medusa's head and rid the world of the nasty creature. The words are then switched around for Medusa's point of view who says Perseus can't look away and it is their curse to rid the world of you nasty creatures.There is no man that wouldn't be scared of me. This rendition of the classic Greek myth is twisted and placed into form with this poem very elegantly and strategically. The reverse poem style is exciting to red because it uses the same words in two different perspectives to achieve different things. It's like watching a debate, one side says something and the other side says the exact opposite. Overall I enjoy the poems in this book and would recommend them to anyone seeking to read poetry. This s the first tome I have heard or seen reverse problems andI have become quite the fan of them, althoug

follow follow by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Josee Masse This poem book is full of what are called reverse poems. Poems in which have the words on one side and then have the same words in the reverse order on the other side and some how it still manages to make sense. The first time I read the poems in this book I was shocked and quite honestly did not recognize that the poems were the same words just reversed. The poem in this book I wanted to highlight was Ready, Steady, Go!  This poem is a spin off of the classic tale of the tortoise and the hare. The first half is the hare bargain about not being a loser and how he can't be beat. The other half is from the tortoise's perspective and using the same words just in reverse order, the poem tells a story of how the tortoise has rabbit feet to beat, he can't be the smallest bit distracted, and even though he is a slow poke he is not a ridiculous loser. I have never seen these reverse poems and they are simply amazing to r

Who Was Sojourner Truth? By Yona Zeldis McDonough This historical book takes the reader along Sojourner Truth or Isabelle which was her name before she named herself Sojourner in 1843. The book starts with Belle being born to two slave parents. At the age of nine she was sent to another slave farm after the slave owner passed away, her parents were turned out (allowed to be free because of their lack of ability to complete tasks from old age and sickness). In 1826 a year before her guaranteed freedom, she escaped slavery with her infant daughter Sophie. Early into her freedom, her son Peter was sold illegally to a farm in Alabama. Sojourner became one of the first African Americans to successfully challenge a white man in court and her son was returned. The book brings to light the roles of quakers, slave catchers, as well as the hardships slaves faced. During the 1840's Sojourner became an advocate for women's rights and was asked to speak about her experiences in Seneca Fall

Love you forever by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Sheila McGraw, paper engineering by Bruce Foster This Lovely story of a baby growing up is brought to a whole new level with pop ups. The story starts with a mom rocking her baby in a rocking chair followed by a crazy baby making a mess everywhere and even flushing a watch down the toilet. The next seen is of the mom peeking into the baby's crib to check on him sleeping during the night saying that she will love the baby forever and always.  The boy grew to when he was nine years old and had a foul mouth, and din't want to listen, take a bath, and his mother wanting to send him to the zoo. No matter how rotten the boy was , his mother would sneak into his room while he was asleep and pick hm up to rock him back and fourth saying she will love him forever and always. Even when the boy grew into a man, the mom now old would drive across town enter the boys house and rock him while he was asleep. This is kind of creepy when you r

In Plain Sight by Richard Jackson, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney is book about a young girl named Sophie and her relationship with her aging grandpa. Everyday when Sophie arrives home they play a cute game where grandpa pretends to lose something very simple. The grandpa hides the things in plain sight where Sophie doesn't have to struggle too much to find them. The illustrations by Jerry Pinkney are fun to look at because it reminds me of a game of where's Waldo. The reader finds themselves trying to find the item within the illustrations. His illustrations are great! This book won the Coretta Scott King honor award in 2017, which recognizes  outstanding  A frican American  authors and illustrators, and is awarded for books about the African-American experience that are written for a youth audience (high school or elementary). Jerry Pinkney does a great job in this book to capture the pure joy Sophie and her grandpa share throughout the book. i would highly suggest this book fo

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award was first given to its namesake in 1954. The award, a bronze medal, honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. Eric Carle won this award in 2003. He has a number of books but today i'm going to talk about The Greedy Python.  Like all of Eric Carle's illustrations he uses the art of collage to capture the figures in his books. I like this book because I like snakes and it rhymes. It flows very well from page to page and take sis on a journey with a greedy snake who eats everything in sight from a mouse to an elephant. He eats so much food that he throws them all up and feels hungry once again. The snake who didn't learn anything from his previous meal sees his own which is long and curved and eats it all until he disappears. This silly book teaches young students the importance of not being greedy. The  illustr

The Legend Of The Bluebonnet retold and illustrated by Tomie DePaola This Comanche Indian story starts with dancers begging the gods for rain as their people are starving and dying. They danced for three days and begged for healing rain after a harsh winter. A young girl named She Who Is Alone spoke to her cherished doll and asked it what they could do to help this drought. The girl received her name when all of her family had died from the drought, she called upon her family's spirits to help her end the drought. The tribe leader then hears from the spirits and tell the people that they have become selfish and must sacrifice their most cherished valuables in order to end the drought. The people didn't do as the spirits asked, except one girl She Who Is Alone. She gave up her doll, the only possession she had left reminding her of her lost family. The next morning every field was covered in BlueBonnets. This is significant because her father gave her a bluejay feather for her

Turquoise Boy A Navajo Legend By Terri Cohlene, Illustrated by Charles Reasoner This Navajo legend stars a boy who is named Turquoise boy. He sees his people struggling to accomplish the things they set out toad o and wonders to himself if there is anything he can do to help them. His mother advises him to visit the mountains and seek the answers. The mountains lead him on a journey Physically and spiritually. He is met with the Mirage Man who leads him east to a door that opens up to a world of magnificent magical creatures. He is given the mane of a horse which contains pollen to plant the best plants in the land. He asks what he has to do in order to keep the horses to help his people and the Mirage Man answers that he must keep the horses sacred, and teach his people a sacred song for the horses. After teaching his people about the sacred chant, he is granted the horses who then make life easier for his struggling people. This book offers readers with tale from the Navajo people a

The Magic Horse of Han Gan by Chen Jiang Hong translator by Claudia Zoe Bedrick, illustrated by Chen Jiang This wonderful book is about a young poor boy named Han Gan who loved to paint. His family was poor and to help his family out, Han delivered meals for a local innkeeper. One day while delivering a meal he goes tot he house of the famous painter Wang Wei. When the boy saw Wang's horses he decided to draw them in the sand, Wang impressed by the Han's drawing invited him back to draw as much as he wanted to. Han was eventually sent to the emperor's palace to attend the academy for official painters where he wasn't free to paint his lovely horses. rather than copy the works of previous painters, he wanted to paint horses as he always has. His paintings were so realistic they could jump of the page, in fact they did one day. A Chinese warrior asked Han to paint him a mighty horse, Han disapproved of his rating and through it in the fire. The mighty horse then jumped o

Ka-ha-si and the Loon an Eskimo Legend by Terri Cohlene, illustrated by Charles Reasoner This book is based off an old Eskimo legend. A young boy Named Kahasi is met every night by a loon. The loon becomes his mentor and makes him aware of his won strength and when he is needed by his people. The boy sleeps all day and is seen as lazy and useless by the entire tribe. Until one day when the hunters couldn't find any food and were faced with starvation. The loon tells Kahasi that he can lead them tot he walruses. So the young boy has the hunters throw him up in the air until he sees the walruses. He leads them to the walruses and kills them single handedly and stacks them into the vessels. Kahasi is seen as a hero and is called upon once again by the loon. The loon tells the young boy that the mountains are attacking his people and need to be pushed back. So Kahasi gets to the mountains and pushes them back to where they belong. Every time the earth trembled his people knew that it

Al Capone Does My Homework by Gennifer Choldenko Thirteen year old Moose Flanagan Lives on Alcatraz island where his dad has been promoted to a new warden position at Alcatraz prison. Wardens are at the top of the hit list amongst the prisoners and Moose feels the responsibility to keep his family safe. He has a sixteen year old big sister who is autistic who he also wishes to protect. One night while Moose's parents are out, the house catches on fire and he blames himself since he was supposed to be watching his big sister. he doesn't believe she was the culprit of the fire and he is determined to find out who did it to prevent he and his sister from getting the bad wrap. Prisoners are sent to clean up the apartment and one of them is the infamous Al Capone, who leaves Moose a clue to who did it on one of his school essay found on the floor.all while this is happening there is some sketchy business going down, people who were poor before ca now afford special things, where is

You Wouldn't Want to Be a Secret Agent During World War II by John Malam Illustrated by Mark Bergin This book is rich with history! One complaint is that is has too many things going on in a single page, it becomes distracting while reading. The book sets you as a character who is interviewed by the British special operations to become a spy in Germany. The book explains the steps included in becoming a spy such as the shake, the twist, and the kill, parachuting, and how to use some basic tools given to you. The book also explains what would happen if you got caught behind enemy lines such as torture. Your mission is to blend in, blow up the target, escape and get picked up all tout getting caught. The historical value of this book is great, I feel as if this book should be read in third or fourth grade through seventh. It is rich with facts and portrays an important and elusive role people played during world war two. I love this book and feel as if students will as well especial

Pumpkin Countdown by Joan Holub, illustrated by Jan Smith I really liked this counting book. The book counts down from the number twenty while it describes different things that the students of a class are seeing or doing on a field trip to a pumpkin patch with a petting zoo.The books makes the reader guess what is coming next and motivates the reader to keep reading. the colorful images are great and provide much detail. The way the illustrations are in the book create a sense that the reader is actually there with the class seeing what the are seeing. I love this creative counting book as it is more a book for children in grades Kindergarten and first grade. This book can teach numbers, sequencing, as well as encourage creativity in guessing what will happen next, I highly suggest this book for young children.

The Night Before Summer Vacation by Natasha Wing, illustrated by Julie Durrell This book can relate to almost every person reading it which makes it special. It is about a family getting ready for a summer trip and everything they did to prepare including a checklist, packing the car, Going through the photo albums of previous trips, going to bed early, waking up early, and finally leaving. The illustrations show how much stuff the family brought along, it was overflowing the vehicle which adds to the comic relief. This can be used to ask students what they think will be packed up next, or asking them about their favorite trips they've taken. The book ends with them leaving the house and forgetting the dog which I found funny because no matter how much we prepare for a trip, there is always something we forget even if it's something as obvious as a pet.

Halloween Parade by Abby Klein, illustrated by John McKinley This cute Halloween book is about a boy and his classmates who dress up in their costumes and go to school. The main character dresses up as a hammerhead shark and there are princesses, Dracula, witches,and monster costumes. Chloe the princess's costume gets broken by the classroom bully but the day is saved when they glue her crown back together. The main character wins the most original costume award and receives a trophy. The book shows that creativity and nice manners can win you things. The illustrations are engaging and enjoyable to look at. I believe this book should be used to teach young students about manners how they should behave on halloween.

Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel This book is separated into five different short stories. The first is "A List" in which the main character Toad woke up and decided to make a list of things to complete during the day. During the day he lost his list and could not retrieve it as the wind blew it away. then his friend Frog reminded him that it was time for bed which happened to be the last thing on the list. The next story is "The Garden" in which Toad visits Frog's garden and wants to grow his own. After planting the seeds, he becomes impatient and sings, reads, and talks to the seeds in order for them to grow faster. He finally falls asleep and when His friend wakes him up the seeds have started to grow, teaching Toad that it was in fact hard work and that patience was key. The third story "Cookies" teaches the reader about will power when Toad bakes the best cookies he and Frog have ever and almost devoured all of them. After finally decidin

Peppa Pig Class trip by Scholastic, series created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker This book takes us on a journey with Peppa Pig and her friends on a class trip to the top of the mountain. On the  trip the class eats snacks, enjoys the scenery, plays with the sounds of echoes from the top of the mountain, eats lunch, and feed the ducks followed by an ending of singing  a goodbye song. This book is interesting for young readers because it includes things that young children love to do. Every kids loves to eat snacks, listen to their echo, and sing songs after feeding the ducks at a picnic. his book is good for young readers because it relates to what they have experienced. I would recommend this book for pre-k and kindergarten and maybe first grade. I love the simple and soft illustrations in this books, they are so inviting and make anyone feel as if they were on the journey with Peppa Pig and her friends.

Splat the Cat and the Pumpkin-Picking Plan by Catherine Hapka illustrated by Loryn Brantz based on the bestselling books by Rob Scotton Splat the cat and his friend Seymour the mouse begin the book by raking leaves for Splat's mother. The season is autumn and Splat decides to jump into the huge pile of freshly raked leaves creating quite the mess. His mother then asks Seymour and Splat to go pick out a pumpkin to decorate on the porch. Seymour had the perfect pumpkin in mid. and the search was on after Splat the cat completed the multiple activities held at the farmers pumpkin patch. After finding the biggest pumpkin in the entire patch, they have to roll the thing home which turns into a bad idea when it rolls down the hill uncontrollably over the bridge, between cars, and right through his front gate. the pumpkin comes to a complete stop just in front of Splats mother where she finds the pumpkin to be perfect! He replies to her that it "was no trouble, No trouble at all&quo

Battle with Ultron By Chris Wyatt, illustrated by Andrea Di Vito and Rachelle Rosenburg This book based on the marvel comic book series is about Iron Man who returns from fixing a space satellite to find his friends captured by the evil robot Ultron. His first call is to another superhero secret agent called Black Widow. Then Iron man calls Hawkeye the arrow shooting superhero followed byFalcon, Quicksilver, The Scarlet Witch, and Vision. The band of superheroes then proceed to battle Ultron to get their team back from being captured. Although iron man had to persuade some of the heroes into believing they are actual heroes, he gains support form all those he called upon to form a new team of Avengers. Each of the team members uses their unique abilities to track and conquer Ultron. The original Avengers decide to add the new Avengers to their team to complete mission in the future. This book is great for the action seeking reader. It is different from he shall graphic novel or comic

Inside a House That Is Haunted by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, Illustrated by Tedd Arnold This book is very entertaining, it is a hollowed book and can be read out loud to a class of kindergarteners to second graders. This book can be used to teach sequencing as well as spark the creative imgaination of students. The book starts off with a knock at the door, from the image it seems as if its a monster because of the green hand. The knock on the door creates a chain of events. first a spider gets startled and drops to the floor, that woke up a ghost which surprised the cat then the bats were startled which jolted the owl which then spoke a mummy and rattled a skeleton in which finally woke up a big green monster. The knock on the door was from a trick or treater dressed up as the big green monster who lived in the house. When the boy takes of the green mask all the monsters inside become scared and run away ironically. This short but entertaining book was a good read and is highly suggested

Wonder Women of Sports by S. A. Kramer illustrated by Jim Campbell This book goes into he lives of four famous women athletes including Amy Van Dyke, Gail Devers, Dominique Moceanu, And Rebecca Lobo. First is Olympic swimmer Amy Van Dyke and her life long struggle with asthma. As a child she had trouble breathing after very limited exercise and doctors told her that swimming could help with her asthma. She began to swim but could only complete about half of a race before having to stop and catch her breath. High school was rough for amy as she faced criticism for being six feet tall and coughing all the time due to her asthma, teammates would try to get her to quit by spitting at her an throwing he clothes in the pool. But Amy was stubborn and fought her way all the way to the 1990 junior nationals. She barely missed the 1992 olympic team and became depressed and even quit swimming for a few months. She fought back and trained harder than ever and received a bronze medal in the 1994 w

Spiders by Nic Bishop is a scholastic reader in which won the Robert F. Sibert Honor. The book is filled with close up detailed images of spiders in their natural habitat that are freaky but certainly amazing. The book teaches the reader about not only the different types of spiders but the different characteristics they have in common or are unique by. Each page has a different fact and characteristic on it to be discussed and is displayed with a different species of spider on each page. Did you know there are more than 38,000 types of spiders? By the end of the book, the reader is exposed to more than twenty different spiders and made knowledgeable of more than twenty five facts about spiders. With almost all non fiction selections, this book can be used for children to do research papers and projects on. The quality of the images are stunning as they trap in the characteristic discussed while showing the true beauty (scariness) of the spider species. The book goes over the different

What Is A Cat? by Bobbie Kalman, illustrated by Barbara Bedell, Tammy Everts, Margaret Reiach, and Bonna Rouse. This engaging book delivers readers with knowledge about the different types of cats, the behaviors of cats, lifestyles of both domestic indwelled cats, as well as introduce cats that are in danger of extinction. The photographs and illustrations give this book a very engaging feeling, the reader becomes encapsulated within the book and wants to keep turning the pages. The book starts off by teaching about mamma;s, breeds, domestic cats, and what pitmans to be warm blooded. The book then sails into big cats where it teaches how big cats stalk and hunt their prey with extravagant photographs of wild cheetahs, leopards, and lions hunting their prey while comparing and contrasting their methods and techniques.next up are the small cats which include the clouded leopard and the Temminck's cat. Although these cats look like small versions of their bigger relatives, they are d