Tara

Tara's Book Selections

1. //Loose Tooth//, By Steven Kroll Loose tooth is about two twin bats named Fangs and Flapper. Fangs and Flapper were inseparable and did everything together. When one would fly the other would fly too. When one would read, the other would as well. But when Fangs discovered he had a loose tooth and Flapper did not, Fangs got all the attention. This bothered Flapper, and eventually led to Flapper acting out in jealousy and stealing Fangs tooth after it had fallen out. I found that this story would be a great one to tell to 1st or 2nd graders as it not only talks about having a loose tooth and how exciting that can be, but it also talks about the dangers of jealousy.

2. //One Fine Day//, by Nonny Hogrogian One Fine day is about a fox who steals milk from an old woman while she isn't looking. Because he does this, she retaliates by cutting off his tale. The fox cries and begs for the old woman to give him his tale back, in fear that his friends will laugh at him. The old woman says she will sew it back in place if he can get her some more milk. As the story continues the fox seeks to get more milk from a cow, but the cow wants grass, and the field wants water so that it can provide grass. This cause and effect continues and grows. The fox has to complete several tasks before he can successfully get the milk back to the old woman. And when he does, his tale is sewn back in place. I think this story would be good to teach cause and effect to students.

3. //Why The Sun & The Moon Live In The Sky//, By Elphinstone Dayrell This story is an African folktale. It tells about the relationship between the sun and the moon and how the built a house big enough for the friend, the water, to come and visit. But the water began to overflow and so the sun and the moon gradually moved higher and higher until they were in the sky. I found this story to be very interesting. It can give the children an imagination of how things came to be and can also aid in helping them be creative and write their own folktales. I love the idea of using this folktale alongside some American ones.

4.//Mr. McMouse//, by Leo Lionni Mr. McMouse is a story about a mouse named Timothy, who one day no longer recognizes himself so he runs away from the city and comes upon some field mice. The field mice invite him to stay with them if he can pass a series of tests. The first is to eat berries, but Timothy finds that he does not like berries. The second test was for Timothy to run a far distance and back, but he gets to tired and does not finish. The third test was to climb a tree. However, this test was interrupted by a cat chasing the mice. Timothy saves the day by lulling the cat to sleep. By saving the day Timothy is granted a field mouse license and is permitted to stay.

5. //Jumanji,// by Chris Van Allsburg //Jumanji// is about a board game that two bored children find while home alone. Peter and Judy come upon a board game titled Jumanji while they are playing outside. They decide to play it and quickly come to find out that this board game comes to life. With each role and new adventure comes. First, a lion is chasing Peter through the halls. Next there are monkeys, rhinos, snakes, and even natural disasters that they embark upon. The only way to make everything go away is to complete the game and reach the golden city of Jumanji. When Judy finally reaches the end of the game, they are more than relieved and everything returns back to normal. I really enjoy Chris Van Allsburgs illustrations and stories. I find his books not only enjoyable to read, but to even more enjoyable to look at.

6. //On The Day You Were Born,// By Debra Fraiser //On The Day You Were Born// is a book that goes through everything that is happening in the world for a person to live successfully. Each pages talks about the Earth spinning, the sun shinning, the oceans, the rain, and implies very simply why everything happens on Earth. It makes each event in the world sound as though it must happen and is happening for each individual. With beautiful and creative illustrations Debra Fraiser depicts why things are happening. The very last pages of the book give more scientific and biological descriptions for the Earth spinning and the moon shinning and the different people that are on the Earth.

7. //Oscar Wilde The Selfish Giant// by Lisbeth Zwerger This was a very interesting story that ended up somewhere I did not think it would go. A selfish old giant had a beautiful garden that he had banned anyone from enjoying. Until one day he realized that his garden was much more beautiful when it was being enjoyed by children, so he allowed children to come into the garden and spend time playing in it. He had particularly enjoyed the company of one little boy who was crying because he could not climb up onto one of his trees. So the giant helped the boy and had grown very fond of him. But as the years passed and the giant got older he never saw that boy again, though there were many other children to enjoy his beautiful garden. Until one day, the giant had grown very old and he had spotted the little boy in his garden. But this time the boy had wounds in his hands and feet. The giant grew angry for he could not understand why anyone would hurt this boy, but the boy replied that because the giant had welcomed the boy into his garden that seemed a paradise the boy was going to take that giant to paradise. And so the giant had passed away and gone to heaven.

8.//Hildilid's Night//, by Cheli Duran Ryan Hildilid did not like the night. Throughout the story she attempts to get rid of the night. She tried to sweep it away, scrub it away, boil it, trap it, lullaby it, spank it, but nothing worked. The night remained. She eventually decides that she is going to turn her back on the night, but when she does that it is too late. The sun rises but Hidilid is much to tired to enjoy the sunshine and she falls asleep to get her rest to turn her back on the night again. I think that this book will teach children a great lesson on dealing with the things we don't like. If we spend all of our time fighting off things we don't like we are going to miss the things we do like.

9. //Ape In A Cape// by Fritz Eichenberg //Ape In A Cape// is an alphabet book that is very different from an usual alphabet book. It not only shows animals in unusual situations, but it is accompanied by unusual and artistic illustrations and a terrific rhyming scheme. I think this book would be great when teaching not only the Alphabet but rhyming. I think it would be great to use this book as an example and have students create their own page to the book accompianed with illustrations of their own and rhymes of their own.

10. //Doctor De Soto// by William Steig Doctor De Soto was a mouse (or some other small rodent) that was a dentist. He would only work on animals his own size or animals that were large but were not dangerous. Until one day, a fox came to his office in desperation. He had a terrible tooth ache and the tooth needed to be removed. The Doctor and his wife decided it would be okay to to work on this poor fox as they felt very sorry for him. They worked on him and as they did they overheard the fox say something about how delicious they would be to eat with just a pinch of salt. But the fox did not eat them. The fox had to return the next day for a replacement tooth, and the the Doctor and his wife were worried. So after they replaced his tooth they "outfoxed the fox" and put some glue on his teeth which would seal his mouth for several days so he would not be able to eat them.

11. //Three Jovial Huntsmen// by Susan Jeffers //Three Jovial Huntsmen// is about three men who are hunting on St. David's day. They embark on many sounds and sights. They miss each creature that they could hunt and find because they disagree on what the sound or creature is and so they never catch anything. Accompanied by beautiful artwork, this story is full of rhyming that is very enjoyable and easy to read. It also presents the reader with an opportunity to learn some new vocabulary.

12. //Journey Cake, Ho!// by Ruth Sawyer //Journey Cake, Ho!// is the story of an old man and an old woman and a young boy named Johnny. They lived on a farm and each did their share of work. When one day all of their livestock had disappeared and the food supply was low they sent Johnny away and told him to find another place to live and help for they no longer had any work for him. They sent away with a fresh baked "Journey Cake". When Johnny took the journey cake with him it came loose from his bad and started to roll away. As he ran after it, he was accompanied by a cow, a duck, a pig, a donkey, a sheep, and some hens and they all found themselves right back where Johnny had left. The old man and old woman were happy to find that Johnny had returned and not empty handed.

13.//All I Am// by Eileen Roe //All I Am// tells quite simply of a little boy and the different things that he does and is. Some of them consist of being an artist, helper, thinker, neighbor, and friend. I believe this book would be a great tool in teaching students their different roles as a person in the world. It can help with character education and showing them how to operate well in society.

14. //Elmer// by David McKee I really enjoyed this book. It is about an elephant named Elmer. Elmer was not like the other elephants in his herd. They were all gray in color. Elmer was patchwork colored. He was purple, and yellow, and red, and blue, and green. Elmer made the other elephants laugh and enjoy life. But Elmer got tired of being laughed at, so he decided to color himself gray. But the other elephants missed Elmer and the laughter he brought and Elmer soon came to find out that being different was fun and the other elephants enjoyed the laughter he brought. They celebrated Elmers differences. I can see this being used in a classroom setting to teach diversity and embracing differences.

15. //The Teacher From The Black Lagoon// by Mike Thaler //The Teacher From The Black Lagoon// tells the story of a young boy meeting his teacher on the first day of school. He finds out he has Mrs. Green and is terrified. She makes students dissappear, shrinks their hands, eats them up, breaths fire and her skin is literally green. The little boy just hopes to make it through the day. After waking up from a sleep on his desk he actually meets Mrs. Green and finds out that she is actually a very pretty young teacher who is kind.

16. //A Chair for My Mother// by Vera B. Williams In //A Chair for My Mother// a young girl tells the story of how her and mother and grandmother has lost all of their furniture to a fire. When the found a home in an apartment many people had given them their used furniture which was very helpful; however, they did not have big nice comfy chairs or couches. So the little girl and her mother and grandmother would save up their coins and money to buy a nice big comfy chair. Finally, they had saved up enough money and they purchased the perfect chair for them to enjoy.

17. //The Brave Little Tailor// by Freya Littledale In this story, a young tailor fools a giant into thinking that he is really quite brave a strong. After killing seven flies in one blow, he puts a belt on his waist that reads "SEVEN IN ONE BLOW", leading people to believe that he had successfully killed seven men at one time. So a giant gives him several challenges to defeat, and the little tailor tricks the giant again and again. He even tricks the King into thinking he can kill seven men in one blow and the king thinks him to be very brave. The king says he can have half the kingdom and his daughter for his wife if he can catch a wild boar, and a unicorn and kill two giants. By using his trickery and deception the little tailor manages to accomplish all the tasks the king has set before him and he wins his prize of the king's daughter and half the kingdom.

18. //The Ox-Cart Man// by Donald Hall In this story it tells of all the hard work that pays off. A family does their part to make their farm successful. And from all the work they do for the year, the ox-cart man packs up their goods and sells it at the market. From the money he makes he buys newer and better supplies for his family so that they can continue to work more productively in the home. They continue to do their part in the family so they every year they can sell new things in the market and be a productive and helpful family.

19. //The Monster At The End of This Book// This book was one of my favorites growing up. Grover is telling the story and he is urging the reader to not get to the end of the book because their is a monster there. With each page that is turned Grover attempts to stop the reader from turning the page, but as the young reader continues to turn the page Grover finds that he cannot stop the reader. It is an interactive story with the reader and when the reader reaches the end of the book the only monster there is Grover himself.

20. //Comets Nine Lives// by Jan Brett //Comets Nine Lives// is the tale of a cat who finds himself getting into all kinds of trouble. And as it is believed by cat lovers all around the world cats have 9 lives. Throughout this story Comet finds himself in trials and troubles that slowly dwindle away his lives. He had first eaten cloves, then fallen under a pile of books, almost drowned out to sea, followed by several other disasterous situations. Finally Comet finds himself a home with another cat and lives peacefully for the rest of his life.

21. //Town Mouse, Country Mouse// by Jan Brett This book is a "the grass is greener on the other side" tale. The town mouse wants something different and to get away from town. The country mouse also desires to get away from the country and experience town life. So they agree to switch homes for a while. Soon the mice found out that the grass is always greener on the other side no matter where you are. Each place, the town and the country, have their own set of trials and dangers and soon the mice find that they had liked their original home much better.

22. //Hank The Cowdog// by John R. Erickson I remember loving this books as a young girl, and after one of them again I easily remembered why. The author personifies Hank and his not so trusty side-kick Drover as they embark and "sheriff" type duties. They find that someone has been eating the neighbors chickens and Hank's owner is getting frustrated with Hank as he has not caught the culprit yet. So Hank and Drover go through several obstacles to finally find the culprit. It is a pack of coyotes that have been eating the chickens, but on the way to prosecute these violators Hank falls in love with one of the coyotes. I love this book and found it to have a great sense of humor. It played off of the normal dog actions and made them meaningful. This is really a great and easy book for young children to read and parents will even enjoy reading along to this one.

23. //Stargirl// by Jerry Spinelli Feeling nastolgic, I picked up this book. I remember relating so much to the man character and loving how weird and awkward she was. After re-reading this book, I really came ot love it more. The underlying message of this book was to be yourself and embrace who you are as a person, as the main character "Stargirl" does just that. She embraces acts of kindness, though the other students find this to be weird and awkward. She sings songs of "Happy Birthday" to other students and her joy really radiates in her actions, even though the other students find this to be odd. What stuck out to me most was the impact Stargirl made on the Leo. Leo really finds her interesting and she begins to make an impression on his life. I saw in Stargirl a free young and joyful girl. Her personality is contagious.

24. //Coraline// By Neil Gaiman I loved loved loved this movie! So naturally I had to pick up the book. I am just one of those people that has to do both. And what a delightlfully scary book it was to read. I believe it was even a more scary read than the movie. We follow a young girl named "Coraline" on her move to a place that isn't quite like home. When she finds a secret doors that leads her into another world. When nothing is going quite right in her world, she finds that things seem so perfect in the other world. And her Other Mother is just perfect, except for the fact that she has buttons for eyes. Coraline spends her time in a horrific adventure trying to save her self and her family and others from the Other Mother when she finds out that she is not so perfect. It is a dark and erry world that Coraline must battle. Overall this book is pretty dark for young readers. It is important to let them know ahead of time what to expect.

25. //Frindle// By Andrew Clements A wild and rebelious young boy mets a frighteningly strict Mrs. Granger in the book //Frindle.// I absolutely loved this book when I was little so I thought I would read it again, and it was a great easy read. Young boys will probably love this book as well as they can most likely relate to a teacher they didn't quite get along with. However, Mrs. Granger is exactly what a teacher should be. Though strict in character, she desires that children learn to love language and respect her classroom. When Nick challenges her authority, Mrs. Granger is there to back fire with a response. Nick, however, begins to gain in interest in words though it first starts out to just be disruptive banter. Eventually, he makes up the word "frindle" for pen, and it begins to spread quickly through his soon and soon all over the world. As he goes on to college and make millions, he recieves a dictionary in the mail from that teacher of his, Mrs. Granger, with a note enclosed.

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28. //The Virgin Suicides// By Jeffrey Eugenides It doesn't read as bad as it sounds. What brought me to read this book was the fact that Sophia Coppolla directed the movie "The Virgin Suicides" which I loved. However, I generally always have the tendency to like books more than the movies so I looked at this as a challenge. Sure enough, it was fantastic. The point of view from which one reads the book is so interesting that I found it difficult to put down. We follow young boys on their journey to understand the mysterious lives of Cecilla, Bonnie, Lux, Marry, and Theresa. These girls are not just a mystery to the young boys, but the world around them too. With overprotective and smothering parents the young girls slowly begin there decline to their own suicides. They are deprived of a normal childhood and a normal life. What I percieve to be the cause of the death is smoothering parents and an untouchable world around them. Again, what was so interesting about this book is the point of view from which it is told. While I really enjoyed this book, and the movie, it is difficult to say whether or not I would recommend it to a young audience. It is very dark, and depressing and I would say that a reader should be cautious upon embarking to read it.

29. //Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close// By Jonathan Safran Foer This book has to be my favorite book yet. The author not only embodies the main character with great detail and personality, but he adds humor and tears to the mix. We follow three people to create one story that is both tear jerking and delightful. A young boy, Oskar is going through the pains of his father's death in the 9/11 attacks. As he is missing his father he finds in his closet a mysterious key. Throughout the book we follow him trying to make sense and unravel the mystery of this key, as a reader you get the idea that Oskar believes if he can just make sense of this key he can feel closer to his dad. In the end, tears of sorrow were really streaming down my face. You cannot help but feel what Oskar feels. I would highly recommend this book, and I would most especially recommend it to a male audience. It is easier for men to relate to the character I think, and the relationship Oskar had with his father.

30. //Speak// By Laurie Halse Anderson Speak is about a young girl named Melinda. As a result of calling the police on a party that she was at because of being sexually assalted, her friends unfriend her and start to act really negative to her. Throughout the book she loses the life she once had, the friends she wants had, and her grades and everything around her falls apart because she is full of guilt and self-blame. Her behavior is really self-depricating and until she is assigned to create a piece of art from a tree, she has little hope to climb out of the hole she has been placed in. Eventually, with the help of her teacher, she finds a way to speak. And finally after the boy who had assalted her at the party tries to assalt her again, she finds the strength to say no, and to share the truth about what happened. In the end she regains her friendships and her strength to speak. I have a hard time recommending books like this to high schoolers, if anything I feel like it encourages this kind of "catty" behavior. I however, understand the need to reach out to young women who have been raped and have gone through this situation. I did not find it too graphic, but it is definitely for a teenager or older.