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Title: Tom's Rabbit
Author: Hooper, Meredith
Illustrator: Kitchen, Bert
Publisher & Date: National Geographic Society, 1998
Genre: Historical Fiction
Age Range: Grades 1-5
Summary: This book describes a ship voyage to Antarctica. The sailor, Tom, is trying to find a nice, warm place for his bunny to stay on the ship. He visits all the other animals homes, until he finds the perfect place for the bunny to stay.
Response: This would be a great book to help children understand the environment and climate on this ship voyage to Antarctica. It would also familiarize children with the different parts of the ship. It may also send the message that every person has a place in this world, you just have to look for it. It also shows that even people who are away from their families can still have fun and enjoy the holidays with the people and animals around them.
Title: Crow Boy
Author: Yashima, Taro
Publisher & Date: Viking Penguin, 1983
Genre: multicultural picture book
Age Range: K-3
Summary: This is a book about a boy who is misunderstood. Everyone calls him Chibi which means "tiny boy" in Japanese. He was left alone during all the activities during the day. He decides to cross his eyes so that he can't see the other children making fun of him. In the middle of the book, he is portrayed as a weird outcast that nobody wants to be around. In the sixth grade, he had a teacher that took the time to talk with him. Chibi performed at the class talent show and his classmates were so impressed by his act. He imitated different crow voices. His teacher then explained that Chibi lived far away and had to walk very far to get to school. After hearing this, his classmates felt bad for wrongly judging him. From that day on, everyone called him "Crow Boy".
Response: This book won a Caldecott Medal, so the illustrations are very unique. This story was somewhat weird to read. There are moments in the book where the classmates refer to Chibi as stupid. I wasn't really sure about the part where he wanted to go cross-eyed. The author portrayed Chibi, in some parts, as sounding almost retarded. So, I could see where parts of the book might be a bit unusual, therefore, causing it to become controversial and challenged. But, this is a great book to use to encourage children not to judge other people. Like Chibi, a lot of people are in difficult situations and most of them do not know how to handle it and express themselves.
Title: The Magic Fan
Author: Baker, Keith
Publisher & Date: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989
Genre: cultural picture book
Age Range: 1st - 4th gradeSummary: Yoshi is a builder in his village. After building everything his village needed, he has to brainstorm what he will build next. While he is thinking, he sees a fan floating in the water. It shows him to build a boat that chases the moon, so he does. The fan shows him several other things to build. The last item is a bridge. The villagers are upset when he builds this because it blocks the sun. But, soon a tsunami comes and it saves the people of his village. During the tsunami, he loses the fan and is lost as to what he should build next. He discovers that he doesn't need the fan to tell him what to build next, and he builds new houses for all his villagers.
Response: This was a cool take on this book. Each page has an illustration of a fan and each page has a seperate fan you can turn to show what the fan tells Yoshi to build. It is a very unique and creative style which I think would inspire children. This book also introduces the culture of the fan and it's importance in the Japanese and Chinese culture. With this book, I would have children design and decorate a fan with an illustration of what the fan would tell them to build. This would allow them to use art as well as explore a different culture while using their imaginations.
Title: The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery
Author: Base, Graeme
Publisher & Date: Harry N. Abrams Inc, 1989
Genre: fantasy, picture book
Age Range: 2nd - 5th grade
Summary: This book used rhyming in a more sophisticated way. Hocare, the elephant, is throwing a birthday party for his 11th birthday. He invites 11 friends and makes all kinds of delicious food and plans all kinds of entertaining games. When all his friends arrive, they see the feast Horace has prepared, but they are not allowed to feast until the 11th hour. So, they play all their games and go to the Banquet Hall and discover that the food is gone. They all denied eating it. Horace makes sandwiches for them all, but at the end of the story, the reader doesn't know who is the culprit. On the last page, the author gives a hint as how to decode the story to discover who ate all the food.
Response: This is a great mystery book for younger children. It still has a story line and is still encouraging children to developing their reading skills by using rhyme. This book makes the students really pay attention to the story line and all the details, especially the illustrations, to discover the mystery. This would be a great book to encourage children to want to read, by having an element of suspense and fun.
Title: My Friend Rabbit
Author: Rohmann, Eric
Publisher & Date: Roaring Book Press, 2002
Genre: picture book
Age Group: K-3
Summary: Rabbit and Mouse are friends. Rabbit throws Mouse's toy plane, but it gets stuck in a tree. So, Rabbit gets the idea to get all the animals he can, stack them up, and use them as a ladder. Just as Mouse reached the plane, all the animals fell, and they were not very happy. But, Mouse was happy because he got his plane. It seems that whatever Rabbit does, trouble follows.
Response: This book is similar to David Wiesner's, Flotsam in that it does not always use words to tell the story. It lets the illustrations act as words. I think this book would be inspiration to those that are artistic, showing them there are outlets where they can express themselves, even in English class.
Title: Flotsom
Author: Wiesner, David
Publisher & Date: Clarion Books, 2006
Genre: picture book
Age Range: K-3
Summary: This book had no words, yet it was easy to understand the story line. A little boy is at the beach digging in the sand when a wave crashes, knocking him down and washing ashore a camera. So, he finds film inside the camera and takes it to get developed. The pictures he sees are unbelievable. They are fantastical underwater pictures of octopus' reading, seashell castles, and star fish with islands on their backs. Then he discovers a unique picture. The picture is a little girl who is holding a picture. With a microscope the boy can see the many layers of a picture of a picture. At the end of the book, the boy takes a picture of himself holding the picture, and then throws the camera back out into the ocean for it's next discoverer.
Response: This was a really neat book, and I can understand why it won the Caldecott Award. The pictures are extraordinary, and it is very easy to make up the story in your head, as if there were words. This is a very creative story and writing style. I think it would encourage children who are poor writers that there are other ways of telling stories. I think this would be a good book to help children explore this concept of illustrating a story without using words. I think it would encourage them to use their imagination and break down the barriers for many students.
Title: Puppy Mudge Finds a Friend
Author: Rylant, Cynthia
Illustrator: Stevenson, Sucie
Publisher & Date: Simon & Schuster Book For Young Readers 2004
Genre: picture book
Age Range: 3-5 yr. olds
Summary: This is a book about a puppy named Mudge. It describes what Mudge likes to do. Mudge has a friend named Fluffy who is a cat. They like to play together.
Response: With this book, I would ask the children if they have any pets. I would ask them to draw a picture and describe what their pets do all day. This activity would allow the students to use art as well as build a classroom community by participating in show and tell. The students would learn more about their classmates.
Title: If You Give a Pig a Pancake
Author: Numeroff, Laura
Illustrator: Bond, Felicia
Publisher & Date: Harper Collins 1998
Genre: picture book
Age Range: 3-7 yrs. old
Summary: This is a very cute story about what will happen if you give a pig a pancake. One thing the pig does reminds her of something else she must do. It continues like this until something reminds her of pancakes again making the reader think the process will start all over again.
Response: This is a very entertaining book, and I think kids would feel the same. If I read this book to my class, I would give them a topic and see how creative they could be using this same technique as this author.
Title: I Knew Two Who Said Moo
Author: Barrett, Judi
Illustrator: Moreton, Daniel
Publisher & Date: Atheneum Books For Young Readers 2000
Genre: picture book
Age Range: 3-6 yrs old
Summary: This book talked about the numbers 1-10 in a very creative way. Each number had a story about a different animal and a different number. The last word of every sentence rhymed.
Response: This would be a great book to learn about rhyming. It also has a similar idea to the I Spy books where there are sentences giving you clues as to where certain objects are located. It has that similar element, except in a much easier way for younger readers to understand. I think children will gravitate towards this book for that reason. It could also help teach children about different animals.
Title: Alphabet Under Construction
Author: Fleming, Denise
Publisher & Date: Henry Holt & Company 2002
Genre: picture book
Age Range: K-3
Summary: This books goes through the alphabet using a phrase for each letter. Each phrase begins with the letter and has something to do with construction. For example, the letter Q is quilting the Q.
Response: This would be a great book to use when teaching children the letters of the alphabet. This would also be a great book to introduce several different art techniques and styles. For example, measuring the M, children could learn about how to measure objects in the classroom. The illustrator of this book, which happens to be the author, used lots of colors and was very creative.
Title: Tom's Rabbit
