Froggy Gets Dressed. By: Jonathan London (2002)

I wish that there were Froggy books when I was a child. They are so funny! We have five or six of the Froggy books by Jonathan London, and they really are all very funny. My favorite is Froggy Gets Dressed. I don't know if this is my favorite because this is the cutest one, or if it's because I LOVE my son's reaction every time I read this. I do the voices of Froggy and his mother, and it leaves Jonathan laughing hysterically every time.

Froggy wants to go out and play in the snow, he will start to get dressed and then head outside, and then his mother will yell "Froggggggggggggggggggggyyyyyyyyy" and he'll yell, "Whhhhhaaaaatttttttttt?" and then his mother will tell him what he forgot to put on. Jonathan's favorite part is when Froggy's mother tells him he forgot to put on his underwear! But what first grader doesn't love the word underwear? Its just the funniest word to them! When my husband was the mystery reader for Jonathan's class (they give out clues about the reader to the kids every day, and then on Friday the mystery reader comes into the class) he asked me what I thought he should read to the class. I gave him Froggy Gets Dressed. When my husband got home, I asked him how it went, and he said that it was a huge hit, everyone laughed a lot, especially when Froggy forgot his underwear. He also said that Jonathan's teacher had never read that one before, and asked to borrow the book to bring him to read to her children. Definitely a cute book! I recommend to anyone looking for a fun book to read to children.

Genre: Fiction, humor

Theme/Skill: Students will work on putting things in sequential order.

Grade Level: PreK-2

Pre-reading activity: Students will write in their journals about what they like most about playing in the snow, and what they like to do the most while they are playing in the snow.

Post-reading Activity:  Students will have a doll, and they should first dress them in their shirt and pants, and then their jackets, and then their hat and gloves and scarf. Students will race with a partner to see who can get the doll dressed correctly the fastest, without leaving anything out!

Night Boat to Freedom. By: Margot Theis Raven. Illustrated by: E.B. Lewis (2008)

I read  Night Boat to Freedom by Margot Theis Raven for the first time in my children's literature class. I asked the professor if I could borrow the book, because I just had to add this to my blog! What a great book! Christmas John is the main character. He was born into slavery and raised by his Granny Judith. Granny Judith had been taken from Africa and brought into slavery in the United States. She had been tricked by a red cloth, and for her the pretty color of red, now had turned the sad color of slavery. Granny has Christmas John help people escape out of slavery. When he returns she asks him what color freedom was tonight. She is asking what color they were wearing when they became free. She adds that color to a quilt. She tells Christmas John that when there are only two spots left on the quilt, that's when they are going to escape to freedom. Eventually, Christmas John helps more and more people become free until there are only two spots left on the quilt. Now it is time for Granny Judith and Christmas John to become free. Finally they escape and become free. Its a beautiful story. I loved it. It was so inspirational.

Genre:  historical non fiction

Theme/Skills: Students will learn about freeing the slaves and the underground railroad. Understanding characters.

Grade Level: 3-6

Pre-reading activity:  Teacher should show the map of the free states and the slave states. Students should have a map of  the United States at this time period, and color in the slave states red and the free states blue.

Post-reading activity: Small group discussion: How did you feel about Christmas John? About Granny Judith? Teacher should direct conversation and see where students take it. How do you think Christmas John felt when he was finally free? How do you think Granny Judith felt when she was finally free? What else do you think about the book?

Coraline, By: Neil Gaiman (2009)

Coraline,  by Neil Gaiman,
Adapted and Illustrated by Craig Russell.

Text copyright: 2002 
Graphic Novel copyright: 2008

Written for grades three and up.

I read this graphic novel and then I watched the movie. I enjoyed the graphic novel more than the movie. I actually became annoyed when things in the movie did not follow the book close enough because I didn’t think the book really needed to be changed. I did like that the movie had a friend for Coraline and that the characters seemed more magical in the movie, but other than that I felt the book was superior.

I like how Coraline came to appreciate her real parents and her not-too-exciting life throughout the book. The new world that the other mother had created could have been a perfect place. The food was better, the toys were better, her other parents paid more attention to her; but all this didn’t matter to Coraline after awhile, because she knew this was not real. Behind the façade, there was nothing good about the new home with her other parents. Everything was fake, and everything was forced to be a little more perfect.

I think that kids that read this can appreciate what they have a little more. In life everyone is always trying to one up one another, everyone always thinks that the grass is greener on the other side. Coraline learns that while you could wish that everything was bigger and better, and just to your liking, but that is just not real life. Home is where your heart is, Coraline could never of really felt at home at the new house with the other parents because her heart would always be with her real parents, in her real home.                

Coraline Awards:

• Publishers Weekly Best Book (WINNER)
• Book Sense 76 Pick (WINNER)
• Child Magazine Best Book of the Year (WINNER)
• New York Public Library's "One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing" (WINNER)
• Amazon.com Editors’ Choice (WINNER)
• ALA Notable Children’s Book (WINNER)
• ALA Best Book for Young Adults (WINNER)
• New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age (WINNER)
• IRA/CBC Children's Choice (WINNER)
• Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Masterlist (Vermont) (WINNER)
• Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers (WINNER)
• Hugo Award for Best Novella (WINNER)
• School Library Journal Best Book (WINNER)

Neil Gaiman was born in England in 1960. He started writing in 1987. He is most famous for his Sandman graphic novel series that he wrote between 1991-1996.

< http://www.answers.com/topic/neil-gaiman>

Craig Russell was born in 1951 in Ohio. He got into comic books in 1971. He did Coraline in 2008.

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._Craig_Russell>


Genre: Graphic Novel, Character Education
Theme: Appreciating what you have in life.
Grade Level: 3rd and up
Pre-Reading Activity: Students should discuss something they like about their lives. Then they should discuss something they would like to change. This should be done in a small group setting, so that students don't feel embarrassed are are more willing to share.
Post Reading Activity: Students should work with a partner to create their own graphic novel. They Should come up with a short script and use illustrations to tell the story.

Let It Shine. By: Ashley Bryan (2007)

The illustrations in Let it Shine  bring the spirituals to live. It is easy to get lost in the illustrations, they are absolutely beautiful. The three spirituals are "This Little Light of Mine", "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In", and "He's got the Whole World in his Hands". I sang along while I read this to my 20 month old daughter. She loves it. She wanted to go through the pictures and listen to the songs again and again. These songs are great for young children, and by adding the outstanding illustrations it really helped this book come alive. I loved it!

Ashley Bryan was born in Harlem. He has three Coretta Scott King Award winners for outstanding illustrations, including Let it Shine.  He also was awarded six Coretta Scott King Award honor books for outstanding illustrations. And in 2009 he was awarded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for substantial and lasting contributions to children literature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Bryan

Genre: Poetry

Theme/Skills: learning and understanding poetry and song. Students will be able to sing along as they listen, and feel the poems and how these make them feel.

Grade Level:PreK-1

Pre-reading activity: Class discussion- What makes you feel happy? What kind of songs make you happy? Why do you like this kind of music?

Post-reading activity: Students will practice the songs over a period of time and eventually perform them in front of their teachers.

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball. By: Kadir Nelson (2008)

I am not a huge baseball fan, but my husband is, my father is and my brother is. Therefore I have grown up around baseball. I have been to the Hall of Fame many times, and I have been to and watched on TV countless numbers of baseball games. I have learned quite a bit along the way. I really enjoyed reading this book. I learned so much about history. It was fascinating to me, and I kept wanting to keep reading and keep reading even though it is much longer than you would expect a children's book to be. I think you don't even notice its long; it's like a really good movie. When its over and see what time it is, you cannot believe the movie was so long, because it just seemed to fly by while you were watching it.

I found some great information on the book on Kadir Nelson's website and at the website for We Are the Ship and I have added it below:

It took Kadir Nelson almost eight years to prepare and get this book together! He spent seven years researching, writing an oral narrative and creating handsome paintings with the intention of including them in the brilliantly illustrated tribute, “WE ARE THE SHIP: The Story of Negro League Baseball,” which is dedicated to the preservation of the history of the Negro Baseball Leagues. With a helping hand from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas city, Nelson was able track down former Negro League players, interview them and piece together original stories to help color some of Negro League baseball's forgotten past. Nelson traveled to museums, and found old photographs to prepare. Using an "Everyman" player as his narrator, Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through its decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947.

**Traveling exhibit of the original paintings of We Are the Ship.  Thirty-three paintings, thirteen sketches and educational materials from the book, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, by Kadir Nelson. June 01, 2009 - January 27, 2013

http://www.kadirnelson.com/

http://wearetheship.com/

 Genre: Historical non fiction
Theme/Skills: Students will learn about the history of Negro Baseball Leagues.
Grade Level: 2-6


Pre-reading Activity: Small group discussion: How many of you like baseball? Play baseball? Have seen a baseball game? Know something about baseball? Have you ever heard of the Negro League Baseball? What do you think this is?

Post-reading Activity:  Students should write in their journal about what they got from the book. How did it make them feel? What did they learn?

The Blacker the Berry. By: Joyce Carol Thomas (2008)

The Blacker the Berry , by Joyce Carol Thomas is a beautiful collection of poems by an African American author. The pictures were of African American people and it was no wonder that this won a Coretta Scott King Medal for its illustrations and was also a Coretta Scott King Author Honor book. What a great book! My favorite poem in the collection was The Blacker the Berry. 

 Joyce Carol Thomas has written more than 30 books and several plays.

<http://www.joycecarolthomas.com>

Genre: Poetry, Multiculturalism

Theme/Skill: Students will learn and read about poetry from a multicultural perspective.

Grade Level: 2-6

Pre-reading Activity: Students will read read the poems of their choice from a collection of multicultural poetry books. They will discuss with a partner how they felt about these poems.

Post-reading Activity:  Students will pick out a poem they liked best from The Blacker the Berry. They will write about what the poem meant to them and why they chose this poem in their writing journals.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers. By: Langston Hughes (2009)

The Negro Speaks of Rivers  is a poem by Langston Hughes written in 1920. It was made into a book and illustrated by E.B. Lewis in 2009. It was a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor book in 2010.

  The beautiful words of Langston Hughes create an image in your mind, but E.B Lewis’s really bring this to life. The books cover says, “Artist E.B.Lewis acts as an interpreter and visionary, using water color to pay tribute to Hughes's timeless poem, a poem that every child deserves to know”. The book is recommended for children from ages 4-8. I sat down and read it with my toddler, and while she wasn’t paying attention to the words, she was mesmerized by the pictures, and she wanted to read through it again and again. Although children of a young age can read it, I think it would be more appropriate for older readers. I would like to use it in 5-7th grades.

  Langston Hughes was born in 1902 in Joplin Missouri. He died in 1967 in New York City. He wrote the poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers, when he was 18 years old in 1920. He is one of the most famous poets/ authors of the Harlem Renaissance. He wanted to tell the stories of his (African) people in ways that reflected their actual culture including both suffering and love of music, laughter, and language. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83

  Earl Bradley Lewis (E.B. Lewis) was born in 1956 in Philadelphia. He illustrated more than 50 books including the 2003 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner, Talkin About Bessie, and also the 2005 Caldecott Honor for Coming On Home Soon. His amazing use of watercolor was mesmerizing in The Negro Speaks of Rivers. http://www.eblewis.com/illustration/biography.html

  I chose to highlight this book, even though it was an Honor book, not a winner, because I feel it really shows what an illustration winner would look like. The story is told though the beautiful illustrations.


Genre: Poetry, Harlem Renaissance.
Theme: Finding Symbolism. Understanding Harlem Renaissance.
Pre-Reading Activity: Have students discuss in small groups about finding symbolism and what are similes and metaphors. Have students use a simple poem to find examples of these.


Students should go through the book by  themselves, then they should listen along a few times while they read through and study the illustrations.


Post Reading Activity: Students should discuss in small groups, while teachers go from group to group: What are the rivers symbolic of? What do you think the poet, Langston Hughes was trying to say? How did you feel the first time you read this poem? Did you get more out of it after we listened to it a few times? Disscussion is important with poetry, because sharing ideas can help with understanding.


http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/vtl07.la.ws.process.rivers/