A Beasty Story

This week I read "A Beasty Story" by Bill Martin Jr and Steven Kellogg
This book is about four mice, that are on the front cover, named and numbered on the shirts. These four mice decide to go into the dark forest and find a dark house, that they sneak into and in the house they find a monster. This monster is huge with yellow eyes and they run after it.

This story is for short, with minimal words, but the main point of this story is to learn colors, and numbers.

It is much easier to show through the pictures of how the book works. It is comic book like, and most of the saying have colored details. So when you are reading to a child you can easily say well what color is the house...It says its DARK BROWN. Stuff like that is what is beneficial to the children, and being that this is such an easy read, you can read it to children as young as 2 years old. 

This book is really cute and I think that the idea behind it is funny because the four mice are brave entering a big scary house and running after a monster that their are frightened of, but its an old fashioned children's book that will get the children to start recognizing colors.

Paddington Bear by Michael Bond is a wonderful book that brings a lot of curiosity and joy to the readers.

Michael Bond is a well known author that wrote series of children's books. For example, he wrote a series about the Paddington Bear, being in a tower, or going to town, things like that. He wrote multiple different types of children book series that are well known and appreciated.

This book is about a bear that a family found while picking up their daughter from Paddington Station. They see the scared bear hiding in the bicycles, and they approach him asking if he is alright. The bear says that he had to leave Peru because of how dangerous it was and that he has been sneaking in here to be safe. On his jacket he had a tag that said "Please look after this bear. Thank you". The family lands out taking the bear home to keep it safe, and give it some food,and let the bear take a bath. They decide to name the bear paddington because that is where they found him. They take him home and give him a bath with which he has so much fun and doesnt know what to do, he lands out making a mess and yelling for help because he did not know to unplug the drain.

This book is absolutely amazing, I love it and believe it is perfect to read to children. I think this book can really keep children interested and give an inspiring idea about helping people out. They may not find a friendly bear to help out but there are plenty of people that can use some help. Its truly a great book.

I Like Me! by Nancy Carlson is a wonderful carefree book that is simple to read and brings a smile to any ones face.

Nancy writes a lot of books that inspires children, books against anti-bullying, or books to help the self esteem. She is a great writer that writes books to keep the spirit and courage of all her readers high.

This book is about a little pig and how she likes to accomplish things that are hard. She likes to brush or teeth and pick out her own clothes. " I like my curly tail, my round tummy and my tiny little feet. " This book is inspirational because it is about a little pig that loves everything about herself. She even talks about how she messes up making a cake and decorating it that she will keep on trying and trying until she is able to do so.

I love this book for all the students especially since I am going to teach kindergarten, and I believe this is perfect especially for little girls. This book will show that even will a different type of body you are able to enjoy your life and your body. I love this book!!

Dinosaurumpus!

This week I read Dinosaurumpus! by Tony Mitton, this picture book is a care free fantasy book. 

Tony Mitton is a very popular author that wrote many books about objects such as, Roaring Rockerts, or Amazing Airplanes, etc.  His book sare focused more on the fantasy side of writting, for example the current book Dinosaurumpus is a fantasy book about different types of dinosaures dancing and wiggling and having fun. 

This picture book is about all the different types of dinosaures wiggling and thumping and being loud and joyous. The best part about this book is that they show many dinosaures that really do exist years ago, it gives young children a new interest or view into the past but in a fun and exciting way. This book is very imaginative and different because it does not show how real dinosaures act but it lets the little children get comfortable and interested in the idea of Dinos. 

The setting of the book is taken in the jungle where all the animals live, and near the water that a couple of the dinos were drinking and dancing in. 

This book really did not have a plot it was a book to have fun, dance, and see different types of dinos. 

I love this book for very young children like kindergardeners because although the pictures of the dinos are not realistic colors it still gives the idea of dinos and that they were big and their tails would move and thump and do crazy things. Its a fun story for children, I decided when reading this book to a class I would have the children imitate the sound. This activity not only gets the children to get up and be active but also learning the sounds and what these words mean. 

Mr.Peabody's Apples

Mr. Peabody's Apples by Madonna, is a great realistic fiction story.

Madonna had actually written multiple stories that are usually lessons she has learned within her life. This particular book she wrote because of the interaction she had with her Kabbala teacher. Madonna has written other books such as The english roses, and The adventures of Abdi. A lot of her children's books have gone on they New York best sellers book list.

This story is about Mr. Peabody that coaches baseball and every sunday after the game he passes by the local market, and takes an apple and walks away. On of the children Tommy sees this and believes that Mr. peabody is stealing for the market, so he tells all his friends and they tell their parents, and by the end of the day everyone in town thinks that Mr. Peabody steals apples from the market. The story goes on when one of the baseball players goes to the game alone sunday and tells Mr. Peabody what happens and why everyone is mad. Mr.peabody tells the player that he pays for his apples in the beginning of the week and when he decides to take an apple when he want. When they realize that the whole town is shocked and feels so bad for judging but Mr. Peabody teaches Tommy a lesson which comes the Kabbala part of the lesson, which I do not want to give away.

The setting of the book is in a little town where everyone knows everyone, and all the people in the town is like one big family.

Mr. Peabody is a well known teacher and coach for the baseball team.

The conflict is the lie that Tommy started telling the whole town, and the town believing that Mr. Peabody would steal from the market.

The mood of the book is really light hearted
I really like the book but think it is for older children. The lesson you learn from this story is very important and very well written, the images are absolutely amazing I love the art because it really adds to the story

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

This reality/comedy children's picture book written by Judith Viorst is a great book to read. It is called Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very Bad Day.

Judith is a well known author that writes books for adults, but is more known for her writing of children books, especially her series about Alexander. She also writes poems, writes for news papers and is very talented when it comes to writing.

The setting of the book takes place with Alexander and going through his entire day and why it was the worst day ever, it starts at home for breakfast, moves to school, then back home, and ending in his bed drowning his misery about having the absolute worst day ever.

The main character is Alexander, a child who is mood, and going through stages as a child that is making him realize that bad days happen, and that he just keeps having awful stuff happen to him. Alexander is a spunky child that gets mad at stuff easily such as accidentally going to sleep with gum in his mouth and now it is in his hair, or on the way to school he had to sit in the middle of everyone, not near a window and got clasterphobic.

The conflict with Alexander is that throughout the day he is not getting what he wants, he wants a seat by the window, his best friend does not want to be friends with him anymore, and the dentist found a cavity in his mouth. Throughout the entire day all he says is he wants to move to Australia, and he believes that there none of this negative horrible stuff would happen to him.

The mood of the book was very negative but in a funny way, it was not a sad book, it was an eye opening book even for adults because you realize when you do have a bad day you want to go out of town, you want to leave on a vacation. Then you realize these horrible, no good, very bad days could happen anywhere in the world not just at home.

I loved this book because when I have a bad day I also think about moving away, or going to another town, and I think all of this is only happening to me and nobody cares. When really that is not the truth at all, bad days happen to everyone, everywhere. I really like the fact that throughout the whole book it goes very common mistakes that people not just children make, that make it a bad day.

I would recommend this book to children of all ages because I think at one point or another every child or person can relate to this story line.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

This Picture/fantasy story called Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was written by Judi Barrett and Drawn by Ron Barrett

Judi Barrett is known as a creative writer that has won many awards for her children's books. She likes to write a lot of fantasy stories including a lot of animals such as Old McDonald and his Apartment house. She is very creative and has a lot of ideas for children's books.

The setting takes place in a town called chewandswallow, in this town there are no stores to buy food, all the food falls out of the sky for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is a really silly town, because people just carry plates and cups around town with them everywhere.

The characters in the book are Henry, his sister, and Grandpa. The sister is the one telling the story of how Grandpa came up with the idea of the story Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It was because Grandpa was making pancakes, and happen to flip a pancake on Henry's head. It was a silly moment, that when night time came Grandpa had the perfect bed time story.

The conflict/plot of the story is that in the town of chewandswallow the food started to become unable to be eaten. The food got bigger and bigger, or they were gross foods that people would not like eating, and all the food starts destroying the town, and all the people have to move away and go to a different town, before anyone gets hurt.

The mood of this book is silly, happy, and then worried. The idea of the plot is so silly and unconventional, but when the town begins to get into danger because of the food you get worried and curious into what will happen to the town. The idea of the story makes it a happy book.

I really loved this book, it is an idea that I have never read about, and I really liked the images that really showed the town what it was like. This is also a cute story for me because this is also a crazy silly type of story my grandfather would tell me at bedtime. My grandpa is silly and imaginative just like the grandpa in the book, so it was a cute resemblance that I enjoyed reading about. I really enjoyed this book, and hope to read more books from this author.

I would recommend this book to children about the ages 5+ because at this level these children can really understand what is going on in the story without the teacher telling them what is going on.

The Ugly Duckling written and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney is read as a fantasy/ fiction children's book.

Jerry Pinkney is mostly known as an illustrator for children's books but is very interested in diversity and african-american themed books. He opened up his own art studio, and although he is mostly an artist that likes to focus on diversity, multicultural, and african-american themed books, he also wrote very few books that were very good and diverse as well.

I chose this book because I thought it would be perfect for people to read to children, because everyone at one point or another has felt like an outcast. This book is inspirational in a way to show and prove that in the end, you always find happiness in you life. I connect to this book really well because I too have had problems fitting in around the time of middle school, and was not happy, eventually everyone find their group that they fit in with and love.

The setting was outside in the wilderness, mostly near water for the duckling to swim in when need. There were also scenes that took place in two different homes by humans that stole the little duckling.

The main character in my book is the little duckling that went through his troubling time being different in color and size until he grew up finally realizing that he is a beautiful swan just like everyone, and maybe even a little better.

The struggle that the main character had to over come was the he was so different in comparison to the other ducklings. He was gray and was hatched in a bigger egg then the other ducks, and a family actually got mad because he would not hatch any eggs and did not like him for it.

The mood was sad through the book because you read about the hard times the little duckling had to go through. Then you got to the end when he realized he was a beautiful swan and he was so happy and pleased with his life which made the mood happy.

I absolutely love this book, it is a classic and it brings a warm feeling to your heart knowing that an unhappy duck, gets very happy and pleased with their life in the end. "The swan knew that it was worth having undergone all the suffering and loneliness that he had" (Pinkney, 29).

I would recommend this book to maybe 3 or 4th graders because that when children are starting to realize that they either fit in with some groups or not. It would be encouraging to hear a story that encourages the idea of being different and that everything will be okay in the end.

"How are you Peeling? Foods with Moods" is written by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers, and would be considered fantasy.

These authors have written other books, involving other fruit and vegetable. Most of the titles have moods in the title, such as "Happy Pees", and "Silly Kiwi". Most of their books are about the emotions humans may have throughout their life, in a little picture book displayed through food.

I chose this book because it displays so many emotions about being happy or sad, timid or out going, and even angry. This book connects to me because while watching my nephew and godson grow up I am learning about their emotions. Ethan (my nephew) is so emotions, and shy, only outgoing with his family members that he feels comfortable around but not in public. This book is good to read to children to identify emotions, what they are, and reactions that happen through emotions. The pictures help identify emotions through the funny faces in the food.

Setting: The story is just different situations, being happy or sad, social or timid. It is not taken in a particular place, but different situation in unknown places.

There is no main character, it is different situations throughout the book, with different vegetables and fruit. "Happy?Sad?", and then they will show a food with a face showing that emotion.

There is no conflict or plot, it is more of a casual book that does not have a story line, but definitions of emotions and pictures showing them.

I like this book because it really shows through the pictures the meaning of each emotion, what reactions most people have on their face with each emotion.

I would recommend this book between the grades Kindergarten thru 2nd grade. I choose these grades because I think that during this time children are learning about emotions and realizing what each emotions means. This book helps explain and show the motions with easy read and pictures that are obvious and funny.