Pam Muñoz Ryan and artist Rafael Lopez created an amazing and colorful book about the beautiful state of California simply titled "Our California". The author takes us on a journey starting way down south in San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, Los Angeles, Monterey, and all the way to the top through Eureka and back down to Palm Springs. Through poems, Pam takes us through an amazing tour filled with historical facts, and descriptive paintings of each place. Each place is describe in a four line poem, but if you wish to have more information surfing in San Diego or visiting the mountains of Yosemite, then you can go all the way to end of the book where is filled with more detailed information and interesting facts. It is a wonderful resource book that makes informational reading fun and captivating because of the colorful paintings that go along with each poem.This book provides such a wonderful idea instead of the traditional "All About the State of ________" reports. Our California can serve as a mentor text, a springboard of ideas from which students can find inspiration to create their own original book!
What can I say? Pam Muñoz Ryan did it again, and it is a hit!
and illustrated by Edward Miller was one of the books in my pile after my visit to our amazing Columbus Metropolitan Library. This book is filled with fun facts and even some history on how Time Zones came about. This book answer questions like What is Daylight Savings Time? why do we reset our watch when we travel from one city to the other? Has it always been this way? Why do we have several time zones? Questions like these and much more are explored in this book but in a fun, concise manner. Even though it contains many facts, the book keeps a light approach to this topic by balancing it with some fun illustrations created by Edward Miller.
Oh how I wished I've seen this book earlier in the school year! But it will still be a fun read aloud no matter what. The very young author, Alec Greven, gives his audience all the experience he has earned in his 7 years of life about how to survive school, especially the first day of school. Written in a straight forward, and with some spice of humor here and there, Alec Greven knows how to entertain his audience starting with rule # 1 that states that "You have to let go of summer." I could've have used that advice as well. :-) He simply states that "it is a good idea to switch to "school time" three days before the first day of school. Smart kid. And of course one of his last rules: Appreciate your teacher is one of my favorite. A fun read aloud for our young children in Elementary School!
And on a much more serious note, the book Eight Days, A Story of Haiti by Edwidge Danticat is one that will steal your heart for sure. This book is a tribute to the brave children of Haiti for their courage to live and survive. Edwidge Danticat brings us the real story of Junior, a seven year-old boy trapped beneath his house after the terrible earthquake that forever changed this country. Junior's amazing willingness to live and his incredibly smart way of using his imagination, helps him wait for the rescuers and for his time to finally be saved and healed after 7 days of being trapped under his own roof.
Another great finding, another great companion for your Writing Workshop unit on Writing Small Moments. Orlando on a Thursday by Emma Magenta is about a a boy who loves spending time with his mom. They do so many things together like having snacks, going for a walk. The exception is Thursdays because on Thursdays Orlando's mom is super busy running errands all day long. Even though Orlando does not like to spend time away from mom, Dad reminds Orlando about all the great, super super things that can happen on a Thursday like....eating pancakes for lunch, taking super fun baths, reading stories together. They way the author Emma Magenta weaves the story is so beautifully done because she zooms in the life on Orlando on one particular day and balances beautiful the feelings of missing mom but enjoying dad at the same time.
Lola Loves Stories by Anna McQuinn and illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw is also another great addition to any library. Lola loves stories so much, so much that with each story she reads, she immerses herself in the story line, in the characters, in the setting. By playing pretending games, and dressing up, Lola gets to live the stories from the books she reads. A great celebration of what book offer the readers, an opportunity to escape and explore!!
What's the Big Idea, Molly? Written by Valeri Gorbachev. In this story, you get to meet Molly who loves to write and puts all her thoughts on papers. But Turtle's b-day is coming soon and she can't think of an original story or poem to write. Molly and her friends all think very hard to come up with an original gift but what would they do when all of them show up with the same idea? Read to find out how a group of friends search for inspiration and come up with clever solutions to a common problem.
