Monday, April 4, 2016

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 4.04.16

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This weekly post comes from Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers.  It's a great source to find new books to use with your students.

Last Week's Adventures

There seems to be quite a few books coming out that have young characters that have some big questions, big thoughts, big problems.  Here are some books that are coming soon that you may want to get for readers.

Meghan McCarthy has a wonderful new nfpb that will entice readers.  Check out this post to read more about The Wildest Race Ever.

Click here for my review on Kate DiCamillo's upcoming Raymie Nightingale.

We have a copy of Lauren Castillo's newest illustrated picture books out on a book journey right now.  Would you and your students like to be part of that?  Read more here about the Twenty Yawns book journey.


Picture Books


A Hungry Lion, or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals
A Hungry Lion or a Dwindling Assortment of Animals by Lucy Ruth Cummins
4/5 stars
Tongue in cheek, laugh out loud funny.
Read this book, then read...

You Must Be This Tall
You Must Be This Tall by Steven Weinberg
4/5 stars
Got this at the library, but I have to own it!
I may add this book to my Mock Geisel 2017 list.
I will add it to read this to everyone because it is hilarious list.  Tongue in cheek.  Snarky.  I love it.
If you need a reason to purchase this book, add it as a mentor text to show problem solving.

We're in the Wrong Book!
We're in the Wrong Book! by Richard Byrne
3/5 stars
Cute story and I liked seeing the different book formats as they travel from book to book.

Mighty Truck
Mighty Truck by Chris Barton
4/5 stars
I covered this one at the end of last year, but now that it's been released, I wanted to make sure it was on your radar too!  Love this fun and sweet book about a super hero truck.  Barton has some great play on words that even the youngest reader is sure to get.

The Typewriter
The Typewriter by Bill Thomson
4/5 stars
What happens when 3 kids get their hands on a special typewriter?
Loved the meticulous illustrations.  
And the memory of typewriters... there was something about pressing the return wheel.

Product Details
Leaps and Bounce by Susan Hood
4/5 stars
Susan Hood and Matthew Cordell are back again in another wonderful book to use in the spring time.  This time concentrating on the lifecycle of a frog, I love the reoccurring line that ties the lifecycle into other growing things - "changes come to all who grow".

Listen to Our World
Listen to Our World by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson
3/5 stars
Melissa Sweet's illustrations don't disappoint.
Great for young readers.  If you teach animal habitats, this would be a fun book to include.

Treat
Treat by Mary Sullivan
4/5 stars
Use:  to teach the importance of using voice when reading, use to show how to infer information from the illustrations to tell the story.

Informational Texts

Elizabeth Started All the Trouble
Elizabeth Started All the Trouble by Doreen Rappaport
4/5 stars
You know a book written by Rappaport and illustrated by Matt Faulkner is going to be good!  I appreciate some of the illustrations by Faulkner that you have to do a little interpreting on.  For example, the illustration of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott looking so small when being berated by men in charge.
Good book giving history of the women suffrage movement and the right for women to vote.

Every Day Birds
Every Day Birds by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
5/5 stars
Love this poetic informational text!  Mostly because our kindergarteners have a bird unit and this book is PERFECT!

Otters Love to Play
Otters Love to Play by Jonathan London
4/5 stars
I love the way London writes nonfiction.  He makes it fun with interesting information told in larger font and follows it up with additional information in smaller print.  This information, while not always as jaw-dropping as the other info (a bit of a stretch there), it does give more details.

Poetry

Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths
Echo Echo by Marilyn Singer
5/5 stars
Marilyn Singer is pretty brilliant.
This will be a great addition to your mythology unit.

Middle Grade

Once Was a Time
Once Was a Time by Laila Sales
5/5 stars
Absolutely loved this one.  So hard to put down!  Want to know more?  Come back tomorrow and check out the book birthday post!

Currently Reading

The Wild Robot
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
Looking forward to this middle grade debut of such a popular picture book author!  I've been hearing good things.

Happy Reading Week!

16 comments:

  1. I've been eyeing The Wild Robot. I would love to hear what you think. We're in the Wrong Book caught my eye the other day at the book store. I didn't purchase it, but enjoyed This Book Just Ate My Dog. Thanks!

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  2. Wow, lots of good books, Michele. I went back to your earlier post, and there are 'must-reads' on that post, too, like Summer Lost. I will find You Must Be This Tall, looks great. I just took the girls to our airplane museum, & the younger one couldn't do some of the simulations because she was too short. Looks as if she will love this book. Thanks!

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  3. I can't wait to read The Wild Robot! I hope it won't disappoint.

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  4. A Hungry Lion is one of my favourite new picture books, such a tongue-in-cheek, wry sense of humour. It's really fun to share this book with kids and watch them start to catch on to what's going on. ;)

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  5. A few people wrote about A Hungry Lion today - It is definitely one we are going to have to check out. Thanks for telling us about Every Day Birds - We love Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's work

    Best,
    Tammy and Clare

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  6. Thank you very much for including EVERY DAY BIRDS on your list - I am grateful and happy that you like it! Your students might like seeing how Dylan does the artwork (I sure did!) and they can do so here, right in the gold bar on the left:
    http://www.amyludwigvanderwater.com/EVERY_DAY_BIRDS.html
    Happy National Poetry Month! (I'm doing a crazy project at The Poem Farm based on Wonderopolis posts throughout April!)

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  7. Wow! So much reading! I just picked up Treat today and read it. The use of one word and pictures to tell a story is creative. The Wild Robot is a book I'm waiting to hear some more reviews about...there are things about it that sound interesting.

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  8. You've got a great pile of suggestions here! I've requested a bunch of them from my library and I can't wait to get my hands on them. Thanks for sharing all these titles.

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  9. I, too, am looking forward to Brown's MG novel--let me know how it is! :)
    Mighty Truck looks like a book I need to get Trent :)

    Happy reading this week!

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  10. I didn't realize The Wild Robot was a middle grade! How exciting! Can't wait to hear more. I just ordered Every Day Birds this morning. I'm learning so much from Amy's wonderful Poem Farm blog about writing poetry this month and loving the poems she's sharing--her blog is new to me, so I'm late to the party on that one. Felt like ordering her books is one way to say thank you! I am going to have to get Hungry Lion--sounds like just my type of book.

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  11. I loved Treat so much -- especially when paired with Ball.

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  12. I love Marilyn Singer's poetry. I have this one, but haven't read it yet. There are so many here that I am interested in reading. Too many. ;)

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  13. I can't wait to get a copy of Everyday Birds! A Hungry Lion is so, so great. I keep thinking about how I need my own copy so I can share it with kids. I heard Brown talk about Wild Robot. He is so excited about this title.

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  14. I was just loaned DiCamillo's latest, and I can't wait to read it. The reviews have been amazing.
    I loved Every Bird Sings - Amy L-V is so talented, and I am also using Echo Echo in several classrooms. Thanks for the other suggestions as well.

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  15. Is Echo Echo another collection of mirror poems? I love those!

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