Informational/Biographical Books

Capital Choice
Delano, Marfé Ferguson
Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein
National Geographic
2005
3rd-6th

Summary: The story offers a photobiography of Albert Einstein including a foreword from Evelyn Einstein, Einstein's granddaughter.

Strengths: The book has many vibrant pictures along with information about Albert Einstein. Another strength of the book I believe is the explanations of his theory of relativity.

Concerns: If a child is using the book for a project in school, I think it is adequate. It may be too detailed, however, for a young child to maintain interest in it for a long period of time if it is only for enjoyment.

Classroom Use: When a teacher assigns a book report or a project, the book can be used as an example of an appropriate source to use.





Murphey, Jim
An Amercian Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic
Clarion Books
2003
5th-6th

Summary: The book tells the story of the yellow fever epidemic in the late 1790s by giving context and true cases of people sick or dying of the disease.

Strengths: The book provides a strong account of the epidemic. with the interesting text and pictures to complement. I think this book can entertain any young child until the end.

Concerns: A good deal of the story contains information and historical context. Unless a child or student needs information on this topic, boys and girls may become bored or overwhelmed with the text.

Classroom Use: A student can use the book for information if they are doing an assignment/project on this topic. It can be a good source for students.





Murphey, Jim
The Great Fire
Scholastic Inc.
1995
5th-6th

Summary: The Great Fire combines historical facts about the Chicago fire of 1871 and survivor accounts of the event.

Strengths: The personal accounts in the book keep the reader's attention throughout. When a young person wants to know information about an even, reading through boring books/articles would be unhelpful. This book would do a good job at providing information in an appropriate way.

Concerns: The book can seem to act like a textbook at times. There are pictures from the time period and numerous facts throughout that sometimes take away from the "story" with the personal accounts.

Classroom Use: As with An American Plague, this book could be very useful for a child who is doing an assignment or project to utilize this text to obtain information and facts.



MULITCULTURAL
Fisher, Leonard Everett
Gandhi
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
1995
3rd-6th

Summary: The story provides background history of the problems Indians went through and how Gandhi helped with Indian's rights.

Strengths: The illustrations are beautiful and the black and white color make them more effective. The chronology timeline and map are very helpful to a reader who is not familiar with Gandhi or who wants to know the geography of the places mentioned.

Concerns: I think the book provides a lot of good historical background, but if the story is titled Gandhi, I think there should be more about his life included.

Classroom: If a student is doing a project on Gandhi and his contributions for Indian's rights, this would be a helpful tool.

Warren, Andrea
Surviving Hitler: A boy in the Nazi Death Camps
HarperCollinsPublishers
2001
4th-6th

Summary: One boy's story before, during, and after the war.

Strengths: I like the way there might be words in the story that are difficult to pronounce and the pronunciation is right beside it. Even though the story has facts, it is a true story that an upper elementary school student might be interested in.

Concerns: Throughout the book are real images. Some are of Jack and his family and some are Hitler and prisoners at concentration camps. I think some of them are misplaced such as some pictures that don't have to do with Jack's story and some that don't correspond to what's written on the page.

Classroom Use: This story might be an interesting one to read to students while teaching about World War Two so the boys and girls can maybe get an insight to what that war might have been like.

Graphic Novels

Feiffer, Jules
Meanwhile
HarperCollins Publisher
1997
3rd-5th

Summary: A boy creates MEANWHILES to travel through various stories in order to get out of messy situations.

Strengths: Children would enjoy this story. It is silly and interesting and children can relate to the boy who wishes to create MEANWHILE so he doesn't have to answer his mom.

Concerns:It might be good if the story was a bit longer to elaborate on events. It doesn't teach children a good lesson of creating a way to get out of doing what they are told. There is mild violence for example when the boy takes his toenail to write on the inside of mountain lion's tummy after he is eaten.

Classroom Use: Can be used as an example of an interesting way a story can be told in comic book form.

Hartman, Rachel
Amy Unbounded: Belondweg Blossoming
Pug House Press
2002
4th-6th

Summary: The story of one of Amy's adventures with her family and a few friends when she encounters Mr. Olpheist.

Strengths: The storyline is a bit confusing to follow at first but once it takes hold of the reader it keeps the audience entertained.

Concerns: Like I said, the storyline can be a little hard to keep up with and sometimes recognizing the characters can be difficult since they tend to look alike. I think adding color would have added an extra positive element, at present the book looks incomplete.

Classroom Use: For an older class, students might enjoy reading this creative story in comic strip form.


Multicultural

Williams, Marcia
Sinbad the Sailor
Candlewick Press
1994
3rd-4th

Summary: Uses a comic strip format to present the seven voyages of Sinbad, in which he encounters a colossal giant, a sea monster, and other dangers.

Strengths: Some of Sinbad's voyages were interesting. The size of the book leaves plenty of room for lots of text and pictures. The dialogue is very humorous at times.

Concerns: Sometimes the voyages droan on and on. I think there should have been more dialogue involved to make the children more interested in it.

Classroom Use: Reading the entire story would be too much for students to take in but reading one of the voyages to the class might be a good start to an activity where students create their own comic strip story.

Capital Choice
Tan, Shaun
The Arrival
Arthur A. Levine Books
2006
4th-6th

Summary: In this wordless graphic novel, a man leaves his homeland and sets off for a new life for himself and his family.

Strengths: The book contains many beautiful interesting pictures throughout. Tan does a nice job of conveying emotion in the people's faces and illustrating certain scenes such as the man in the window of the ship getting further and further away.

Concerns: I think the book kind of leaves the reader standing. The beginning of the book is understandable but the part where the creatures come in is confusing and is not really made clear. Young boys and girls might have a hard time understanding the storyline.

Classroom Use: For an upper elementary classroom, a teacher could explain that this is a certain way one could look at immigration and emigration with pieces that are made figuratively.



Torres, J.Days Like This
Oni Press
2003
3rd-4th

Summary: The graphic novel showcases several young people's determination to make it in showbiz during the 1950s/60s.

Strengths: The story is entertaing and pulls the reader along to finish the book quickly. It is also not very common to read a graphic novel on the 1950s or 1960s.

Concerns: sometimes I felt as if the time periosd was not really set during the mid 20th Century especially witht the character Anna Solamon.

Classroom Use: This graphic novel might inspire students to create their own comic strip book about a time period in the past.

Poetry

Capital Choice
Yolen, Jane
Here's a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry
Candlewick Press
2007
Krdn-3rd

Summary: A compilation of many poems for young children about family, nighttime, and playing outside.

Strengths: There are a variety of poems that small children can relate to including getting ready for bed and additions into the family.

Concerns: This book is simple enough for young children to understand if read to, but it might be too complicated for a child to pick up and read on their own.

Classroom Use: The book can be a tool for introducing poetry to young children. Children might be able to use poems to create illustrations of the topic.


Guthrie, Woodie
This Land is Your Land
Little Brown and Company
1998
2nd-5th

Summary: The well known folk song is accompanied by a tribute from folksinger Pete Seeger, the musical notation, and biographical scrapbook with photographs.

Strengths: The book is very elaborate with detailed pictures. There is so much to look at on every page.

Concerns: I think it would be hard to read this book to children. There would be too much to look at and it's not a book to read but to sing.

Classroom Use: Sing-song, use for individual children who have time to study illustrations.


Creech, Sharon
Love that Dog
Joanna Cotler Books
2001
5th-6th

Summary: A young student who comes to love poetry through a personal understanding of what different famous poems mean to him, surprises himself by writing his own inspired poem.

Strengths: The story keeps the reader interested. I did not know most of the poems the author referred to so I am glad they were in the back of the book.

Concerns: The reader might be confused in the beginning with the style of writing. The reader also doesn't know much of what is going on, only that the author goes over poems in his class every day.

Classroom Use: The book can be used as an example of a student that did not care for poems but grew to love them. It is a good book to read our loud to an upper elementary class.

Nye, Naomi Shihab
Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets
Greenwillow Books
2000
4th-6th

Summary: A collection of poetry.

Strengths: The book provides a variety of poetry- short, long, personal, humorous, philosophical. It is a good collection of poetry.

Concerns: This book must be for an older child. There are no pictures except for on the page that starts each chapter. The long collection of poetry may not keep a young child engaged for a long period of time.

Classroom Use: The story can be used to give examples of fresh, interesting poetry.

Multicultural

Johnson, Angela; Moore, Lenard D.; Hru, Dakart; Abiade, Folami; Adedjouma, Davida; Anderson, David A.; Burgess, Micheal; Johnson, Dinah; Miller, E. Ethelbert; Sanchez, Sonia; Steptoe, Javaka; Weatherford, Carole Boston

In Daddy's Arms I am Tall

Lee and Low Books Inc.

1997

2nd-4th

Summary: A collection of poems celebrating African American fathers by a variety of authors.

Strengths: The various poems about African American fathers were very interesting. I think they were all well chosen.

Concerns: The illustrations were unique but I think it was sometimes hard to tell what the picture was of or what it represented.

Classroom Use: I think this is a good example of multicultural poems to use in a classroom.

Traditional Literature

Byrd, Robert
Finn MacCoul and his Fearless Wife: A Giant of a Tale from Ireland
Dutton Children's Books
1999
3rd-5th

Summary: With the help of his brave and clever wife, Finn MacCoul beats the fearsome giant Cucullin.

Strengths: It depicts a story of a strong, intelligent woman who outsmarts the men. I think it is important for girls to read books with such a strong heroine character.

Concerns: There is mild violence. Finn, a man and giant, could be considered very weak and not a typical male hero: he lets his wife save him and sucks his thumb.



Grahame, Kenneth
The Wind in the Willows
St. Martin's Griffin
1994
6th

Summary: The escapades of four animal friends who live along a river in the English Countryside- Toad, Mole, Rat, and Badger.

Strengths: The main characters in the story are animals and I think they would appeal to children. Some of the adventures such as Toad's adventure that included being locked in a dungeon would entertain young people.

Concerns: The language and vocabulary throughout the book is at a very high level. I think most young boys and girls would struggle with the book and it may be suited for teenagers and even adults.

Classroom Use: The book can provide an example of animals as main characters. I think this would be an enjoyable book to read as a class so the children may be able to understand it better.


MULTICULTURAL
Jaffe, Nina
The Way Meat Loves Salt
Henry Holt and Company
1998
2nd-4th

Summary: In this Eastern European Jewish variant of the Cinderella story, the youngest daughter of a rabbi is sent away from home in disgrace, but thanks to the help of the prophet Elijah, marries the son of a renowned scholar and is reunited with her family.

Strengths: I think the story has many elements that would interest a young reader-suspense, love, and magic.

Concerns: This tale was supposed to be an adaptation of Cinderella, although it had elements such as the shoe that was left behind, I think this story should have had more similarities in order to be called an adaptation.

Classroom Use: This story could be read to the class to use as a comparison to an original.

Capital Choice
Pinkney, Jerry
Little Red Riding Hood
Little, Brown, and Company
2007
2nd-6th

Summary: A sweet little firl meets a hungry wolf in the forest while on her way to visit her grandmother.

Strengths: The pictures have a lot of detail and really emphasize the text.

Concerns: Some of the scenes with the wolf might frighten a young child.

Classroom Use: If this story is read to the class the children might enjoy this version of Little Red Riding Hood because it is a familiar story and they would enjoy the pictures.


Holland, Kevin Crossley
The Seeing Stone
Arthur A. Levine Books
2000
6th<>

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Historical Fiction

Hesse, Karen
Witness
Scholastic Press
2001
5th-6th grade

Summary: A series of poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying to infiltrate the town.

Strengths: It was an interesting way to write a book with various points of views using poems. It gave a good bit of information regarding the historical time period. I am glad that Karen Hesse included a character page in the front of the book for reference.

Concerns: I did not fully understand why there were acts in the book. I do not think there was really a need for them. Sometimes it was a little confusing when the characters were talking. They wouldn't explain things all the way sometimes and I had to keep referring to the character page in the beginning because there were so many characters to keep track of.

Classroom Use: This book could be a good example to show examples of free verse poems, point of views, or a historical fiction around the time of the 1920s.



Peck, Richard
The River Between Us
Dial Books
2003
6th

Summary: During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young girls who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.

Strengths: The reader can tell there was a lot of research that went into the book. There are names of places/objects that were relevant during the Civil War and I think this technique adds to the life of the story.

Concerns: The story can get slow at parts and may make a reader become uninterested especially in the first paragraph. It may also confuse readers to jump from a time in the past and then to a time even further in the past.

Classroom Use: This book may be mentioned during/ after a unit on the Civil War as an example of a historical fiction account of living through the Civil War.

Speare, Elizabeth George
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Houghton Mifflin Company Boston
1958
5th-6th

Summary: The story of a girl from Barbados who travels to New England after the death of her grandfather. There are many exciting events throughout the story including accusations of being a witch and love.

Strengths: The story has a lot of interesting events and happenings to keep a reader entertained. The book is especially for young girls, whom I think would enjoy the love-relationship between Kit and Nat.

Concerns: The idea of a witch can make parents feel uncomfortable or angry when they appear in children's books because of religious or personal beliefs.

Classroom use: This book would be a good choice story to keep in the classroom library as long as the parents have ok'd it.

Multicultural
Capital Choice
Henderson, Kathy
LugalBanda: The Boy who got Caught up in a War
Candlewick Press
2006
3rd-4th

Summary: The story of Lugalbanda who helps his brothers and King Enmerkar to escape war and instead find peace through some help.

Strengths: the beginning of the book was a little slow but it really picked up when Lugalbanda met the Anzu bird. There were also many pictures that children would enjoy.

Concerns: The story is on the fairly long side so it is a more appropriate book for an older reader. I did not think splitting the book up into chapters was necessary either.

Classroom Use: This would be a fun read-aloud book to do with a second or third grade class to involve some multicultural aspect into reading.


Choi, Sook Nyul
Year of Impossible Goodbyes
Houghton Mifflin Company
1991
5th-6th

Summary:A young Korean firl survives the oppressive Japanese and Russian occupation of North Korea during the 1940s, to later escape to freedom in South Korea.

Strengths: The book provides a good account into a young girl's experience during the Vietnam War. It provides real emotion and details into what it must have been like to live in North Korea during Vietnam.

Concerns: The book is very slow. It would take a very determined reader to continue and finish the work.

Classroom Use: The book could provide students an example of what a child might feel like during a war.

Realistic Fiction

Peck, Robert Newton
Soup in Love
Delacorte
1992
4th-6th grade

Summary: As Valentine's Day approaches their Vermont town of Learning, Soup and Rob experience several forms of love.

Strengths: There was humor in the book at the various silly things Soup and Rob got themselves into. I also looked forward to the start of a chapter because there would be a drawing of one of the big events to come.

Concerns: At times in the story I did not know what was going on. The boy, Soup, at one point was unraveling string across a football field and I am still unsure of why. Sometimes the language used seemed like it was from the fifties and made it a little incomprehensible at times. I had not checked the date of the book until I was finished and was a little shocked to realize it was written in the nineties.

Classroom use: This book could be read around Valentine's Day for fun. Maybe after the students could create lots of valentines and decorations.


Paterson, Katherine
Bridge to Terabithia
HarperCollins
1977
3rd and up

Summary: A boy, Jess, feels alone at school and in his family full of girls. An unlikely friend, Leslie, helps him to understand a little more about life and death.

Strengths: This is a great story to teach children about death and friendship. The imaginations of the two children will grab children's attention and provide entertainment throughout the story.

Concerns: I was unsure about the time period. I don't know if it was supposed to be set in the seventies when it was written or in the eighties. The death of Leslie was a little abrupt; it kind of just happened and then the story was over. Also the relationship between the art teacher and Jess was not portrayed as well in this story as it was in the movie, so the ending was a little "off."

Classroom Use: This would be a good book for a classroom library that provides a subject on imagination, friendship, and death.

Fitzhugh, Louise
Harriet the Spy
Delacorte
1964
3rd-6th grade

Summary: Harriet writes in her notebook all the time, she loves her nurse, Ole Golly, and her friends. When her notebook is taken and read by classmates, she must learn to apologize in order to win her friends back.

Strengths: I think the story is very entertaining and can teach children how to handle certain situations.

Concerns: Sometimes the story was confusing when it incorporated all the different characters, the main ones and also the ones that Harriet wrote about in her notebook.

Classroom Use: I think this story might inspire young students to write and express their creativity in healthy ways.


Fleming, Denise
In the Small, Small Pond
Henry Holt and Company
1993
Kngrdn-2nd

Summary: Illustrations and rhyming text describe the activities of animals living in and near a small pond as spring progresses to autumn.

Strengths: There are a few words on each page that can help describe the pictures. The pictures are big and bright and can make one feel as if they are actually in a pond.

Concerns: Some very young children may not know how to pronounce some of the words or be able to identify what the animals are, for example the muskrats and whirlings.

Classrom Use: The book can be used as an example of how to use words to describe illustrations and also for sequence-from spring to autumn.


Multicultural
Capital Choice
Cunnane, Kelly
For You are a Kenyan Child
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
2006
1-3rd

Summary: From rooster crow to bedtime, a Kenyan boy plays and visits neighbors all through his village, even though he is supposed to be watching his grandfather's cows.

Strengths: I thought all the events that went on during the day while the boy was avoiding taking care of the cow were entertaining.

Concerns: Sometimes it was irritating the way the story was written. The text makes the reader the the main character. At first it did not make sense to me until I reread it.

Classroom Use: This book could be a source that depicts a multicultural setting through the eyes of a young child that students could relate to.

Picture Books

Capital Choice
Shulevitz, Uri
So Sleepy Story
Farrar Straus Giroux
2006
PreK-2

Summary: A little boy dreams that his house comes alive with dishes that sway, chairs that rock, and clocks that call "cuckoo," but when he awakes, all is quiet.

Strengths: I like that there are sleepy colors such as gray, blue, and black to emphasize sleepiness. Every object and piece of furniture has a face that looks sleepy. It is also interesting when the objects such as the dishes and chairs "wake up," the colors get more vibrant.

Concerns: I was a little puzzled at where the music came from when it just "drifts in."

Classroom Use: It could be used before nap time in a PreK or Kindergarten classroom.

G ág, Wanda
Millions of Cats
G.P Putnam's Sons
1928, 1956
1-3 grades

Summary: A very old woman wants a cat because she is lonely so her husband sets out for one and stumbles upon trillions of cats. After they all follow him home, the cats fight over who should stay and only the homeliest cat is still around.

Strengths: It is an interesting book about cats for cat lovers. The black and white coloring makes it simple but sweet.

Concerns: Cats eating each other may not be suitable for children or it may upset them. The cats talking is unrealistic.

Classroom Use: It is a book for pleasure, it could be read to the class.

Lobel, Arnold
Frog and Toad are Friends
HarperCollins Publishers
1970
2nd-4th

Summary: The book contains five different stories on events experienced by two friends, Frog and Toad.

Strengths: Good length and level for beginning readers. Interesting stories and characters.

Concerns: People may find Toad to be an annoying character. He is either always depressed or has comething going wrong in his life and Frog has to come "save" him.

Classroom Use: It is a good book to read out loud to kids, teaches about friendship or how to use characters other than humans as the main characters.


MULTICULTURAL
Diakité, Baba Wagué
The Hatseller and the Monkeys
Scholastic Press
1999
2nd-4th

Summary: An African version of the familiar story of a man who sets off to sell his hats, only to have them stolen by a treeful of mischievous monkeys.

Strengths: The book is rich with African culture- pictures and text. It would be an easy story to remember and tell aloud to a class.

Concerns: There are many African words that are hard to pronounce. The book should be previewed and read before it is told in front of children.

Classroom Use: Tale told aloud to children. Children can get involved by saying short phrases. It can be used when talking about traditional tales and morals around the world.


Wiesner, David
Tuesday
Clarion Books
1991
K-3rd

Summary: Frogs rise on their lily pads, float through the air, and explore the nearby houses while their inhabitants sleep.

Strengths: Tuesday is a good version of a picture book/wordless book. It is an interesting and mysterious book to make up a storyline for.

Concerns: Very young children might have a hard time understanding some of the events of the story or what is going to happen the following Tuesday.

Classroom Use: Provides an example of a picture book that can help jumpstart the kids to create their own pictures.

Fantasy/Science Fiction

Capital Choice
MULTICULTURAL
Hale, Shannon
Book of a Thousand Days
Bloomsbury
2007
Upper (5-6)

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn to obey her sixteen-year-old mistress the Lady Saren, shares Saren's years of punishment locked in a tower, then brings her safely to the lands of her true love, where both must hide who they are as they work as kitchen maids.

Strengths: I liked the various pictures placed throughout the book; it was fresh and something different for a chapter book. I liked the developement of Dashti's character and the language used.

Concerns: It could be slightly difficult for 5th and 6th graders. There is also a little violence.

Classroom use: This could be used in the classroom library for students to check out for enjoyment. The book could be mentioned when doing a unit on fantasy or Mideaval times.


Dahl, Roald
The Witches
Farrar, Straus, Giroux
1983
3rd-6th grades

Summary: The story of a boy and his Grandmamma who know all about witches and during a stay at a hotel stumble upon all the witches in England including the Grand High Witch.

Strengths: The story is entertaining and it has a lot of action and suspense. The pictures in the story do help amplify the imagination as one pictures what the witches look like.

Concerns: This book could be frightening for younger children. They could really believe that there are witches in the world.

Classroom Use: This book could be used as an example of fantasy. It might be used along with the movie adaptation.


Levine, Gail Carson
Ella Enchanted
HarperCollinsPublishers
1997
3rd-5th

Summary: In this novel based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to her.

Strengths: The was filled with many fantasy elements and humor. I liked that on almost every ending to the chapters some event would happen to make reader want to keep on reading onto the next page.

Concerns: The book is almost entirely different than the story of Cinderella except for the fact that her father marries and woman with two daughters and she makes her work in the house. A child might have expectations of what the story is about and be disappointed when he or she discovers it is very unlike the traditional story.

Classroom use: This book can be used when talking about fantasy stories or when comparing traditional stories to ones that are similar to them or that have the same elements.

Sleator, William
The Boy who Reversed HImself
E.P. Dutton
1986
4th-6th

Summary: When Laura discovers that the unpopular boy living next door to her has the ability to go into the fourth dimension, she makes the dangerous decision to accompany him on his journeys there.

Strengths: The high amount of imagination in the book is amazing. To take on subjects such as the fourth dimension and reversing oneself is brave and makes for a very entertaining worth-while read.

Concerns: The idea of a fourth dimension or scientific happenings such as these might upset some parents. Some of the events might be inappropriate also, such as when something reaches inside Laura's nose.

Classroom Use: If a student is interested in subjects of science or science fiction, this book may be a good recommendation or for any student to enjoy from the classroom library.



Anderson, M.T.
Feed
Candlewick Press
2002
6th<>

Summary: In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.

Strengths: The storyline is creative and well throughout. the book will keep the audience in suspense. Since the text has a way at times of losing the reader, it was good idea to have short chapters.

Concerns: There is a high amount of obscenity in the book that parents would find inappropriate.

Classroom Use: This book might interest children who find science fiction interesting.