Nonfiction: Intermediate

Title: Along the Luangwa 
Author: Schuyler Bull
Illustrator: Alan Male
Genre: Nonfiction: Intermediate
Publisher: Soundprints 1999
Age: 2nd to 5th grade
Summary: The story describes the animals in the African floodplain.  Particularly the crocodiles and their babies.  It talks about what life is like and how the animals view their surroundings.  It tells how the drought is very difficult to live through.  Many of the animals suffer and have to search hard for food.

Response: The illustrations in this book are very realistic.  They are beautiful drawings that really show details about the animals.  The story is one that grabs the reader attention.  It describes just what life would be like to be a crocodile in Africa.  

Nonfiction: Intermediate/Multicultural

Title: Escaping to America
Author: Rosalyn Schanzer
Illustrator: n/a
Genre: Nonfiction: Intermediate/Multicultural
Publisher: HarperCollins 2000
Age: 3rd-6th grade
Summary: A family in Poland does not enjoy it there because of the war in the early 1900s.  The family got attacked by soldiers often because they were Jewish.  They felt their best plan for a good life was to move to America.  The entire family packed two outfits and headed on their journey.  They traveled by wagon and train until they reached the boat to America.  Everyone on the boat began to get sick after four weeks of traveling.  

Response: "Escaping to America" tells the story about what the Jews in Poland went through.  I definitely feel that it is meant for older kids because they have quotes such as, "you Jews are all going to be killed anyway."  I do think that they way the story is told is good.  But, it is only appropriate for children if you know that they will respond to it correctly.  

Nonfiction: Primary

Title: Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea
Author: Chris Butterworth
Illustrator: John Lawrence
Genre: Nonfiction: Primary
Publisher: Candlewick Press 2004
Age: Pre K- 3rd grade
Summary: Talks about how seahorses are known as the shyest fish in the sea.  They swim upright and have small fins on their head.  Seahorses change color when they feel like they are in danger.  The book also talks about how seahorses are loyal to their mates.  Also, their babies are so tiny that they float away with the currents.  

Response:  This book was very cool to read.  It had a lot of interesting and fun facts.  I have always loved seahorses and I never realized that the men were the ones who had the pouches.  This would be a great book for children to read if they are really interested in the ocean.  The pictures were not as exciting as I hoped they would be, but the facts made up for that. 

Nonfiction: Primary

Title: Why I Sneeze, Shiver, Hiccup, and Yawn
Author: Melvin Berger
Illustrator: Paul Meisel
Genre: Nonfiction: Primary
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers 1983
Age: Pre K - 2nd
Summary: This book explains why people sneeze, hiccup, and yawn.  It tells children about reflexes and what they are. No matter what, we cannot control when our reflexes happen.  It talks about what our nervous system is made up of. Also, how we react to things without realizing. 

Response: The illustrations in this book really showed facial expressions and emotions.  I actually have always wondered why exactly we hiccup.  I learned a few things from this book.  This would be really fun for a young child to read.  It explains why our body does many things and it does it in an interesting way.

Poetry: Multicultural

Title: The Blacker the Berry
Author: Joyce Carol Thomas
Illustrator: Floyd Cooper
Genre: Poetry: Multicultural
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Age: 2nd-5th grade
Summary: This book is filled with poems about African Americans.  Each poem is about a certain shade of skin.  The names of the poems and the colors of the skin go from "Blacker the Berry" to "toast".  The poems are explaining why skin can be a certain shade and how skin got to be that way.  

Response: The poems and images in this book are very cute and they all relate to each other.  This book is a good way to boost a child's self-esteem, if they are ever wondering about the way they look.  This book is saying that no matter what color a person's skin is, they are beautiful no matter what.  

Graphic Novel: Multicultural

Title: Prince of Persia
Author: Jordan Mechner & A.B. Sina
Illustrator: LeUyen Pham & Alex Puvilland
Genre: Graphic Novel: Multicultural
Publisher: New York & London 2008
Age: 9 & up
Summary: Prince of Persia is a video game that has been turned into books. It is about two princes that were born hundreds of years apart. The prince meets Elika and hears about her life. They become close and she tells him about how she died. The prince used the life from a tree to make Elika come back to life and he saves her.
Response: Graphic novels do not really interest me as much as they might many other people. But, I thought this one was a very fun read and I think students, especially young boys would really enjoy it. The pictures were very appealing to the eye and I feel that images are what make or break a graphic novel. Overall, the book was enjoyable to read even though it is made based off of a video game.

Realistic Contemporary Fiction: Newbery

Title: The Higher Power of Lucky
Author: Susan Patron
Illustrator: Matt Phelan
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division 2006
Age: 4th-6th grade
Summary: Lucky is a ten year old girl who may be put in a foster home because her mother passed away and her father does not care to be a father. Her dad had his ex-wife Brigitte, from France, stay with Lucky until a good foster family comes around. Lucky worries she will be going to a foster home soon and she wants something to make all of her problems go away. She listens in on "Anonymous" meetings and hopes that they will help her to find her 'higher power.' She wants her higher power to help her to have a better life. So she works hard to find her higher power and communicates with the people who live in her small town.

Response: The people in the story are very real. Many children should be able to relate to the characters and their lifestyles or know people that the characters remind them of. This story is a good one about the love of a family and community. It was a very interesting book to read and it seemed different than many of the books that I read when I was in elementary school. Although the references to smoking and alcohol in the story made me question whether or not this would really be a good story for young children to read. I think I would have it in my classroom and if I knew the child really well I would allow them to read it.

Utopia: Newbery

Title: Holes
Author: Louis Sachar
Illustrator: none
Genre: Utopia
Publisher:Douglas & McIntyre Ltd. 1998
Age: 4th- 9th grade
Summary: The main character, Stanley gets sent to a correctional camp. At the camp the people who run the camp are searching for treasure. So, for their punishment at the camp they have to dig holes. They are only told that they are digging in order to "build character". Stanley makes friends while he digs the holes and comes to realize that they are searching for something when they are told to dig. The digging continues and so does the sneakiness of Stanley. His family curse is broken in the end.


Response: Holes has always been one of my favorite books to read. The story sucks you in at the beginning and you want to know more and more about what is going to happen. It is a humorous story and because of that it has always seemed realistic. I enjoy the movie as well and I think the movie brings out a lot of the good that is in the book.

Fantasy: Multicultural

Title: The Legend of Food Mountain
Adapted by: Rohmer, Harriet
Illustrator: Carrillo, Graciela
Genre: Multicultural Fantasy
Publisher: Children's Book Press 1982
Age: Pre-K- 6th
Summary: The Gods did not know what to feed the people. One of the Gods turned into an ant and went to Food Mountain. He brought back corn and gave it to the people. He then tried to carry the entire Food Mountain to the people.


Response: The images are very colorful. The pages have spanish and english versions of the story right on them. That is a very interesting and different way to tell a story. This book was not my favorite but it does portray the culture well. It definitely is an exaggerated tale and a fantasy type for some.

Science Fiction

Title: Man on the Moon

Author: Bartman, Simon

Illustrator: n/a

Publisher: Templar Publishing 2002

Genre: Science Fiction

Age Range: K-3

Summary: Bob works on the moon and gets to the moon each day by 9 in the morning. His job is to keep the moon clean. His two best friends work on Mars and Saturn. Bob gives tours of the moon to people who stop by in their spaceships. Each night when Bob goes home, aliens get in the spaceship with him, but he never notices.

Response: The illustrations are a lot different than other children's books. They are very large and vibrant. The story is very funny and the images are meant for children. It is attention grabbing and would be a very fun book to learn how to read with.

Fractured Fairytale

Title: The Wolf who Cried Boy

Author: Hartman, Bob

Illustrator: Raglin, Tim

Publisher: GP Putnam's Sons 2002

Genre: Fractured Fairytale

Age: K-3

Summary: The little wolf complains about dinner and asks why they don't eat boy anymore.  He tells his parents he found a boy and they search all over.  While they are gone, Little Wolf ruins dinner so they would just have to eat snacks.  His parents caught on to what he was doing and decided to ignore him.  Then a boy came into their cave and the parents did not notice because they thought the wolf was lying still.

Response: This fairytale was different than all the other ones that I've read.  Everything seemed reversed.  These were not very popular when I was younger.  It was very funny and I think kids would definitely enjoy reading this book.  It is very unusual but grabs attention.

Traditional Literature: Multicultural/Caldecott

Title: The Village of Round and Square Houses

Author: Grifalconi, Ann

Illustrator: Grifalconi

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company 1986

Genre: Multicultural Traditional Literature

Age range: K-4

Summary: The book explains what the village is like and how it came about. The grandmother tells a tale about the "mother Naka" who came. All of the homes were covered in ashes. Only one square home and one round home was left. That was the reason that the men and women lived in two different homes.

Response: This book had really awesome illustrations! It made me get a feel for African villages. I thought this was an interesting tale. I think I would have really enjoyed reading it when I was younger, too. This book would be thought provoking for young kids who are learning or who want to learn about Africa.

Traditional Literature:Multicultural/Caldecott

Title: Anansi the Spider

Author: McDermott, Gerald

Illustrator: McDermott

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart 1972

Genre: Multicultural traditional literature

Age:K-3

Summary: This picture book is folklore from Ghana in Africa. It is about a spider named Anansi who gets eaten by a fish. He has six sons. One of them senses trouble and they all head out to save their father.

Response: I think this is a good old story. It has been passed down in Ghana for a very long period of time. I have heard this story before and always enjoy it. The pictures are not up to date, but I do think that the pictures stay true to the story and to the idea of the story being around for a long time.

Historical Fiction: Multicultural

Title: The Firekeeper's Son

Author: Park, Linda Sue

Illustrator: Downing, Julie

Publisher: Clarion Books, New York 2004

Genre: Historical Fiction

Age Range: grades 2-5

Summary: Sang-hee grew up in Korea in the early 1800s. His father was in charge of lighting a fire on top of the mountain to let the king know that everything was okay. One day his father broke his ankle when he was climbing and his son was in charge of lighting the fire until it healed.

Response: I thought it was interesting that the firekeeper would light a fire on one mountain and then other firekeepers would light their fires so that the king knew everything was okay on the land. I enjoyed reading this book and liked one of the quotes that was in it. "It is good to live in a time of peace." I also felt this book offered good family values. The little boy was worried about his father and ran to help him. In this book the boy and his family were fictional but the actual fires really happened. I would read this book to my class.

Challenged Book

Title: The Giving Tree

Author: Silverstein, Shel

Illustrator: Silverstein

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers

Genre: Challenged Picture Book

Age Range: grades 2-5

Summary: This book is about a tree who loved a little boy.  The boy would go to the tree to eat her apples and play on the branches.  It always made the tree happy.  The boy got older and the tree went through changes, but it still gave to the boy.  

Response: I'm sure that I have read this book in the past.  I chose to read it because I remembered Shel Silverstein but I did not remember his stories.  I feel as though, you would have to be a very extreme feminist to challenge this book for sexist views.  I did not find anything wrong with the book while I was reading it and did not understand why exactly it is a challenged book.  It seemed to me like it was just about two unusual friends (the boy and the tree) and how the tree kept helping the boy by giving him apples.  The tree always was happy in return, when the boy would play on her branches.  I actually had to look up the reason this book is challenged.  Until I looked up the reason, I didn't understand why anyone would challenge it.  I think it is a good but silly book for children.