Pink Me Up...

Title: Pink Me Up    

Author: Charise Mericle Harper

Illustrator: Charise Mericle Harper

Date of publication: 2010

Publishing Company: Random House Children’s Books

Awards: n/a

Genre: Fiction

Subgenre: Animal Fantasy

Theme: Anyone can wear Pink…even your own dad!

Primary Characters: Little girl bunny named Violet

Secondary characters: Her Mom & Dad

Classroom Use: Cute book about the color pink. I would totally read this to my classroom kiddos as we are learning the color pink. The illustrations and storyline of the book are very cute!

Summary: Little bunny girl, named Violet who has a Pink Girls Pink play date with her mother and other friends. However, her mother wakes up with pink spots all over her!!! It turns out that her mother has a cold and cannot make it to the play date with her, so instead she tells her that her dad will be attending. Much too her surprise, he isn’t wearing enough pink!!! In order to come to the Pink Girls Pink play date…one has to be dressed in lots of pink. Violet decides to dress her dad and converts his clothes to be pink. They go to the play date and he is the only dad there. Everyone at the pink-nic loves his outfit!!! Violet and her daddy have a great time at the play date. It turns out that anyone can wear pink and have fun wearing it too. Now all of Violet’s friends want to dress their dads in pink.

Anne Frank-- Beyond the Diary

Title: Anne Frank- Beyond the Diary… A Photographic Remembrance   

Author: Ruud van der Rol & Rian Verhoeven (for the Anne Frank House)

Illustrator: Various pictures that were taken of Anne Frank & her Family

Date of publication: 1993

Publishing Company: Viking by the Penguin Group

Awards: Mildred L. Batchelder Award winner, Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book, ALA Notable Book, Deutscher Jugenliteraturpreis, Christopher award, & Publishers Weekly NF Book of the Year

Genre: Non-Fiction

Subgenre: Biography (Informational)

Theme: Photographical biography of Anne Frank & her family.

Primary Characters: Anne Frank

Secondary characters: Otto, Margot, and Edith Frank

Classroom Use: Good Biographical book to read about Anne Frank and her family

Summary: A book that goes into more details through photos, maps and all kinds of informational facts. It’s like an added feature than just simply reading out of her diary book. 

Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus

Title: Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus    

Author: Barbara Park

Illustrator: Denise Brunkus

Date of publication: 1992

Publishing Company: Random House Books for Young Readers

Awards: n/a

Genre: Fiction

Subgenre: Realistic Fiction

Theme: Getting over your fears.

Primary Characters: Junie B. Jones

Secondary characters:

Classroom Use: Another funny book from the Junie B. Jones collection and a great chapter book to read as a whole class.

Summary: Junie B. Jones is starting kindergarten and her mother is making her ride the school bus. Junie doesn’t like the school bus. She thinks the bus is stupid and smelly. On the first day of school she decides that she is not going to ride the bus home!!! So, instead she hides in her classroom closet. The teachers try to find her but couldn’t. When she finally comes out from hiding, there is no one at the school—except the janitor!! She runs all over the school having fun till she realizes that she needs to use the bathroom. All the doors are locked; she tries to find a bathroom, call 911 for the emergency, and causes a whole big mess! Eventually the janitor finds her and opens the bathroom for her. In the end, her mom picks her up and she didn’t have to ride the school bus!! But, once they get home, her mother tells her that she needs to overcome her fear of the bus and helps her find a friend so the bus ride won’t be too bad.

The Rough-Face Girl

Title: The Rough-Face Girl    

Author: Rafe Martin

Illustrator: David Shannon

Date of publication: 1992

Publishing Company: The Putnam Berkley Group, Inc.

Awards: Teacher's Choice Book,

IRA Children's Booksellers' Choice, 

Georgia Children's Picture Storybook Award Winner

Nebraska's Golden Sower Award

Genre: Fiction

Subgenre: Folktales

Theme: An Algonquin Indian Cinderella tale

Primary Characters: Rough-Face Girl

Secondary characters: her 2 mean sisters

Classroom Use: A great Indian folktale that gives a version of the traditional and widely known Cinderella tale. Good book to read about other cultures versions of folktales. It can incorporate other cultures into the classroom.

Summary: An Algonquin Indian folktale version of Cinderella. It’s a story about a girl that is named, Rough-Face girl. She lives with her poor father and her 2 mean sisters that make her sit and feed the flames of the fire. Her sitting and feeding the flames causes her hair to burn and many burn scars all over her face and body. Her and her sisters compete to marry the Invisible being, who in this case portrays the prince as in Cinderella. In the end, it is the Rough-Face Girl that sees the true beauty of the world—no matter what and is the one that marries the Invisible Being. She turns out to become very beautiful in the end. The Indian tale has the same storyline as Cinderella. 

Once a mouse...

Title: Once a Mouse…    

       A Fable cut in wood.

Author: Marcia Brown

Illustrator: Marcia Brown

Date of publication: 1961

Publishing Company: Charles Scribner’s Sons-- Macmillan Publishing Company

Awards: Caldecott Honor Book (1962)

Genre: Fiction

Subgenre: Fables

Theme: Being grateful and appreciating what another person does for you.

Primary Characters: The mouse

Secondary characters: The Hermit

Classroom Use: Good fable about appreciation and being grateful. Best to read to older students that will comprehend the fable a bit more than the little children.  Could use to lead a discussion about the fable and etc.

Summary: The fable is about a hermit (man) who is thinking about big and small when he sees a little mouse in trouble. He turns the mouse into a cat to save him from being eaten/killed. He changes him into bigger animals each time to protect the little mouse from being attacked. But, the mouse, as a mighty tiger, becomes full of pride. He sees himself as the biggest and strongest beast in the jungle and strides around making sure that all the animals know. So, the hermit tells the tiger that he is ungrateful and that if it weren’t for him he would still be a mouse and perhaps even dead. The tiger gets angry and plots to kill him. However, the Hermit could read his thoughts, turns him back into a tiny mouse and sends him away into the jungle. The mouse didn’t appreciate the Hermit’s help in the correct manner and was ungrateful to him.   

The Red Book

Title: The Red Book               

Author: Barbara Lehman

Illustrator: Barbara Lehman

Date of publication: 2004      

Publishing Company: Houghton Mifflin Books

Awards: Caldecott Honor Book

Genre: Fantasy

Subgenre: Picture Book

Theme: Using your imagination in creating a story to go with the illustrations and finding friends in a book.

Primary Characters: a little girl

Secondary characters: a little boy

Classroom Use: Good picture book to use and lead discussion in creating different stories from the illustrations in the book.

Summary: A picture book with no words about a little girl that finds a red book in the snow. The book allows her to use her imagination in creating a story about the illustrations she sees and makes friends along the way by doing so.

Red sings from Treetops.... A year in Colors

Title: Red sings from Treetops… A year in colors     

Author: Joyce Sidman

Illustrator: Pamela Zagarenski

Date of publication: 2009

Publishing Company: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Awards: A Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor Book, 2007 Cybils Award, A School Library Journal Best Book, & Bank Street Claudia Lewis Award

Genre: Poetry

Subgenre: Lyric Poetry

Theme: Colors & Seasons

Primary Characters: n/a

Secondary characters: n/a

Classroom Use: Great poetry book to read about the seasons of the years and the different colors.  

Summary: A poetry book that invigorates and captures the colors throughout each of the seasons!! The book goes through each season (Spring, Summer, Fall & Winter) giving lyrical details of occurring seasonal visions through the colors that can be seen all around. 

Junie B. Jones is (almost) a Flower Girl

Title: Junie B. Jones is (almost) a flower girl       

Author: Barbara Park

Illustrator: Denise Brunkus

Date of publication: 1999

Publishing Company: Scholastic Inc.

Awards: n/a

Genre: Fiction

Subgenre: Realistic Fiction

Theme: Don’t rush into growing up – Enjoy being a child.

Primary Characters: Junie B. Jones

Secondary characters: Bo (the flower girl)

Classroom Use: Funny, short chapter books that I could use to introduce and read aloud with the classroom. The Junie B. Series are fun and easy to read!!

Summary: Junie B. Jones decides that she is going to prove to her mother that she is a grown-up lady. Amazingly enough she finds out that her Aunt Flo is getting married!! It’ll be her first wedding and is very excited about it. Automatically, she declares herself as the flower girl and a part of the wedding party without even asking anyone. The only thing Junie B. can think of is that this is the perfect opportunity to prove her mature nature. However, she is taken by surprise when her Aunt Flo tells her that they already picked out a flower girl, Bo. She is sad & disappointed. Aunt Flo decides to make Junie B. the “alternate” flower girl, which makes Junie B., excited again. She ultimately schemes and wishes for Bo to get sick or something so that she will not be in attendance for the wedding and then she can be the flower girl. The wedding day comes around and to her surprise Bo is walking down the isle as the flower girl. She still tries to prove that she is a grown-up lady, but its Bo that teaches her that sometimes being a child is way more fun than being a grown up!! Junie B. and Bo end up having childish fun at the wedding and become friends in the end. 

Ramona Quimby, Age 8

Title: Ramona Quimby, Age 8    

Author: Beverly Cleary

Illustrator: Alan Tiegreen

Date of publication: 1981

Publishing Company: Scholastic Inc.

Awards: Newberry Honor Award winner (1982)

Genre: Fiction

Subgenre: Realistic Fiction

Theme: The theme of the book is family and school life.

Primary Characters: Ramona Quimby

Secondary characters: The Quimby family (Mr. & Mrs. Quimby & Beezus)

Classroom Use: I had heard of the Ramona Quimby books throughout school but never really read them. I learned that Beverly Cleary wrote a series of Ramona Quimby books. Ramona Quimby is quite hilarious. The stories are based on the adventures & mischief that Ramona seems to get into and also include her funny family. The book could be used to read as a whole group and use with discussions of some sort. One can choose to read one book or even the whole series of stories.

Summary: The story is based on Ramona Quimby and her beginning the third grade. It all surrounds the adventures, mischief and the changes that occur during her new school year. For example, she learns in the beginning that her dad is also going to school (college) to become an art teacher, then she has a mishap with an egg that she gets all over her hair, she throws up in front of everybody due to her stomach flu, and she has to learn to be nice to Willa Jean. She grows through the story into being a young adult, as she seems to think, but at the same time all kinds of funny things/mishaps that she seems to get into. 

I like Myself

Title: I like myself      

Author: Karen Beaumont

Illustrator: David Catrow

Date of publication: 2004

Publishing Company: Scholastic Inc.

Awards: n/a

Genre: Fiction

Subgenre: Realistic

Theme: Having a good self-esteem.

Primary Characters: little girl

Secondary characters: n/a

Classroom Use: Cute book to read and lead discussion about having a good self esteem and liking yourself, just the way you are!!

Summary: A little girl is happy and likes who she is. No matter how she looks or acts- she keeps up a great self esteem about herself. She is content with who she is and everything about herself!