#10 The Bracelet by Yoshiko Uchida

The Bracelet by Yoshiko Uchida took place in 1942 and a 7-year-old girl, Emi, was being taken from her home in California to a camp with her mother and sister. When she arrived at the camp she realized that the bracelet her best friend had given her was gone. As time went on she came to the conclusion that she did not need that token, she would simply carry her friend in her heart and mind at all times.

I was drawn to this book because of its descriptive and imaginative illustrations. This book is very powerful because of the dramatic message behind it. This would definitely be a good book to share with students during a unit in Social Studies. It is about a real life situation and how those type of disruptions make stronger families.

This book is very suitable to second and third grade students. Other books by Yoshiko Uchida are: The Best Bad Thing, Journey Home, Picture Bride, Jar of Dreams, Journey to Topaz, The Wise Old Woman, and many more.

#9 Mia by Laurence Yep

Mia by Laurence Yep is an American Girl book about figure skating and it was published in 2008. Mia is a 10-year-old girl who has 3 older brothers that play ice hockey. She often plays along with them and she is very good at hockey; however, she wants to give figure skating a shot. Mia starts training to become a figure skater and along the journey she learns many lessons about life. She learns how to be a good sport, the commitment of things, and the amount of hard work it takes to be a good skater.

I really wanted to read this book because I hear my students talking about the American Girl dolls and I thought it would be good to know a little about them. When I was little American Girl dolls and their books were very expensive, so I never did get the opportunity to read any of them. Stuff like this still interests me even as an adult.

This book is certainly an easy read and it would be suitable for all ages 9 and up. The following is a list of other books by Laurence Yep: When the Circus Came to Town, The Magic Paintbrush, Dragon's Gate, The Imp That Ate My Homework, and many more.

#8 Goin' Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

Goin' Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack is illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. In this story a young African-American woman is going someplace special and she will need confidence to overcome the indignities of the Jim Crow laws of the 1950's. There is one place she can go and it holds the message that she loves to read. The message is chiseled in the stone across the front of the building...Public Library: All Are Welcome.

The author's simple text is very well complimented by the eye-catching illustrations by Jerry Pinkney. His beautifully expressive watercolor artwork helps to take readers back to the hurtful and unfair world of the 1950's segregated south.

Jerry Pinkney is a very honored and talented individual. He has been awarded 5 Caldecott Honor Awards, 5 Coretta Scott King Awards, and in 2006 he was given the New York Times Best Illustrated Award for Little Red Hen. Other books that have illustrated by Jerry Pinkney include: The Little Match Girl by Hans-Christian Andersen, Back Home By Gloria Pinkney, The Old African by Julius Lester, The Song of the Trees by Mildred Tayler, and many more.

#7 Sam and the Tigers by Julius Lester

Sam and the Tigers by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney is a picture/story book that has wonderful illustrations. The reader could only look at the pictures and be able to tell the story exactly like it happened.

All of the characters (two people and the animals) in the story were named Sam because they lived in a city named Sam-sam-sa-mara. Sam, the little boy is getting ready to start school and he goes to different animals, who run clothing stands, to purchase his new outfit for school. Much to his mother's dislike, he chooses pink pants, a yellow shirt, a red jacket, and a green umbrella. His mother sends him to school dressed in the outfit that he picked out. On his way he was stopped by four different tigers who he gave his whole outfit to. Each tiger thought they were the finest which caused them to get into a fight. While the tigers were fighting Sam reclaimed his clothes.

I liked this book because of the expressive illustrations on the front of the book. They were so good I felt like they really spoke to me! My male students love books about animals, so I am naturally drawn to books that involve any type of animal.

Other books by Julius Lester:
Basketball Game
Let's Talk About Race
Shining
The Knee High Man & other tales
The Tales of Uncle Remus

#6 The Cat in the Hat & The Lorax by Dr. Suess

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Suess has been read by the majority of children in today's world. The author of this book certainly has a way with word usage that draws children and adults into wanting to read more of his books.

A. A series of books that come to mind are The Magic School Bus series of books because they seem to draw student's attention much like the Dr. Suess book, The Cat in the Hat.

B. The Magic School Bus series are books based on the animated television series that is produced by Scholastic Productions, Inc. The movies are watched by all elementary students and help teach them about science. The books are also based on the movies and those are aligned to also help the students learn about science. The Magic School Bus series is filled with virtual field trips that Ms. Frizzle takes her class and the readers on. This series of books appeals to children because of the interesting material and display of content. Children know that it is not possible for a school bus to fly all over the place that Ms. Frizzle and her students travel to.


The Lorax by Dr. Suess was published in 1971. This is one of my new found favorite books by Dr. Suess because it has a moral to the story. The book does have some statements that are often considered controversial because of the environmental issues.

A. The Lorax is very educational because it teaches children the lesson that if people do not take notice and they keep cutting down trees then it will hurt our environment. It also shows that the environment and people depend on each other to survive. The Lorax does a good job of attempting to explain the effects of cutting down the trees to the characters in the book.

B. Yes, there are didactic children's books still published today. Most of them are published to teach the reader a lesson. The following are examples of didactic children's books: All By Myself by Aliki, Mama Always Comes Home by Karma Wilson and illustrated by Brooke Dyer, Fall Leaves Fall by Zoe Hall and illustrated by Shari Halpern. All of those books are wonderful books to have to help convey an important message that the author is conveying.

#5 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Book and Movie Review

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett has some great illustrations and the storyline was very unusual, but interesting to readers. The text of the book followed the unusual illustrations by being place at different locations on the page. Sometimes it was at the very top of the page and other times it was placed in columns much like a newspaper. The story was told from a little girl's point of view and the majority of the book was a tale-tell the grandfather told her and her brother, Henry, as a bedtime story. I thought the author did a great job taking the story from real life, to make believe, and then back again. When I read this book to my students I had them shut their eyes and listen as I read the book. This was to help them imagine the illustrations that were on the page and the events happening in the story.

After watching the movie I can honestly say that I was highly disappointed. I always considered Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to be a children's book and the movie is rated PG. There were some curse words in the movie and the only real resemblance between the book and the movie is the title and that food falls from the sky in both. Flint Lockwood is the main character in the movie and he builds a machine that makes the food rain from the sky. The movie turned into a 'love' story between Flint and Sam (the weather girl) that I felt was unnecessary.

I would recommend the book for elementary students; however, I would not recommend the movie.

#5 Where the Wild Things Are Book and Movie Review

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak was The Caldecott Medal book in 1964. The movie was just recently released on DVD on March , 2010. The book is very suitable for younger children, ages 5 and up; however, the movie is certainly not designed for that age group. I was greatly disappointed in the movie compared to the book. It was surprising to me that the author of the book would give permission for her work to be turned into a movie of this caliber. The movie was too graphic for small children and I thought it should have been more animated than so real life. The movie is rated PG and that prevents it from being shown at my school without parent permission.

The movie is approximately 100 minutes and when my nieces and I watched the movie it was very difficult to hold their attention. My oldest niece (6 years old) fell asleep, my youngest niece (3 years old) directed her attention to other things, and I certainly had a hard time watching the movie without getting bored.

The movie and the book are similar in the sense that Max does sail away to have a wild adventure with the monsters. He enjoys it for awhile, but then he leaves and does return home. Overall, I would highly recommend the book, but I would not do the same for the movie.