Junkyard Wonders

by Patricia Polacco

Trisha finds out that her special education class is known as "the junkyard" by the rest of the school.  Their quirky, unpredictable
teacher takes them on a trip to the junkyard to show them that's where real treasure is found.

Audience: 2nd grade to be read to, 5th grade to read independently

What I Love:
1. An excellent teacher
2. Positive portrayal of disabilities
3. Positive role models
4. Based on a true story

Cautions:
I'd recommend some discussion with this one on what it means to be disabled

Thank You Mr. Falker

by Patricia Pollaco

This story warms my teacher's heart.  It's about a girl who excitedly begins school, anxious for the learning and wonder she's been told books will bring her.  At first she struggles with reading, and eventually she falls behind completely.  By 5th grade she thinks of herself as stupid for not knowing what the others grasp so easily.  She doesn't want her new teacher to know she can't read, but Mr. Falker figures it out anyway.  He proves to her that she is smart, and with the proper help she can read just as well as anyone else.

Audience:
Can be read to someone as young as 3rd grade, written at 5th grade reading level.

What I Love:
1. The illustrations are beautiful
2. It's heartwarming
3. Positive view of disabilities
4. Based on a true story

Cautions:
I would hesitate to read this to struggling readers for fear they would think they have dyslexia too.  If the student does have dyslexia, this is one of the first stories I would share.

Hailstones and Halibut Bones

by Mary O'Neil and John Walner

This book has twelve poems describing color-white is hailstones and halibut bones.  It lists how colors look, feel, smell, and sound.  It even gives a time of day for each one.

Audience
I used this to teach personification to third graders.  I think all children (people) will be hipnotized by the rhythm of the poems.

What I Love:
1) Each poem appeals to every sense, including a sense of emotion.
2) There are a lot of philosophical points about anger, despair, hope, joy, and the journey of life in here.

Cautions:
If you read this to children, you will have to explain some of the words to them-they aren't big, just very specific

Where the Sidewalk Ends

by Shel Silverstien

This isn't a story, it's a collection of poems.  I grew up reading his books and I love them to this day.  The longest poems cover two pages, but that's including the illustrations, but many are only 10 lines long.

Audience
As soon as children know what poetry is.

What I Love:
1) The pencil illustrations are so funny and charming
2) Most of the poems are funny and relateable to children (ie Sister for Sale)
3) There are quite a few serious poems, like the one posted at the bottom.

Cautions:
1) All the poems are stand-alone, they don't relate to anything else in the book
2) There is implied nudity in one or two of the drawings (always from the back, not showing anything)
3) Silverstien has an irreverent sense of humor about teachers and parents.  Sometimes (not often) the joke is at their expense.

Series
Where the Sidewalk Ends
A Light in the Attic
Falling Up
Everything On It
Don't be a Bump in the Glump

Magic School Bus

by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degan

This series is both fiction and nonfiction.  With the help of a remarkable teacher and a shape/size shifting bus, the students find themselves inside science concepts.  Their adventures take them anywhere science is to be had.

Audience
I started in first.  I think up through third grade would be excited about them.  After that, the students would pretend they were too cool for them, but still secretly love every minute of it.

Why I Love This Book
1)The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System is the book that got me hooked on reading.  I was in 1st grade and I spent the entire book holding my breath, because I knew there was no air in space.  Seriously, I was so lost in the book, I forgot to breathe
2) The illustrations are so fun.  Sometimes looking at them will give you parts of the story that aren't in the writing.
3) I like the thought bubles.  The kids are really smart aleck-y.  

Cautions
1) The words are sometimes hard to read against the backdrop of the illustrations.
2) In the original series there's lots of information on every page, with lots of sidebars.  Some kids find that a distracting challenge to read

The Original Series

1. The Magic School Bus At the Waterworks
2. The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth
3. The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body
4. The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System
5. The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor
6. The Magic School Bus In the Time of the Dinosaurs
7. The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane
8. The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive
9. The Magic School Bus And the Electric Field Trip
10. The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses
11. The Magic School Bus And the Science Fair Expedition
12. The Magic School Bus And the Climate Challenge

[edit]Chapter Books

1. The Truth About Bats
2. The Search for the Missing Bones
3. The Wild Whale Watch
4. Space Explorers
5. Twister Trouble
6. The Giant Germ
7. The Great Shark Escape
8. Penguin Puzzle
9. Dinosaur Detectives
10. Expedition Down Under
11. Insect Invaders
12. Amazing Magnetism
13. Polar Bear Patrol
14. Electric Storm
15. Voyage to the Volcano
16. Butterfly Battle
17. Food Chain Frenzy
18. The Fishy Field Trip
19. Color Day Relay
20. Rocky Road Trip

[edit]Scholastic Reader Level 2

1. The Magic School Bus Has A Heart
2. The Magic School Bus Gets Caught In a Web
3. The Magic School Bus Gets Recycled
4. The Magic School Bus And the Missing Tooth
5. The Magic School Bus Fights Germs
6. The Magic School Bus Gets Crabby
7. The Magic School Bus Explores the World of Bugs
8. The Magic School Bus Weathers the Storm
9. The Magic School Bus At the First Thanksgiving
10. The Magic School Bus Arctic Adventure
11. The Magic School Bus Lost in Snow
12. The Magic School Bus and the Shark Adventure
13. The Magic School Bus Builds the Statue of Liberty
14. The Magic School Bus in a Bat Cave
15. The Magic School Bus Comes to Its Senses
16. The Magic School Bus and the Wild Leaf Ride
17. The Magic School Bus and the Butterfly Bunch
18. The Magic School Bus Rides Into Space
19. The Magic School Bus Rides the Wind
20. The Magic School Bus in the Rain Forest
21. The Magic School Bus Sleeps for the Winter
22. The Magic School Bus Explores the World of Animals
23. The Magic School Bus to the Rescue: Blizzard
24. The Magic School Bus to the Rescue: Forest Fire
25. The Magic School Bus to the Rescue: Earthquake
26. The Magic School Bus to the Rescue: Flash Flood
27. The Magic School Bus Inside Your Mouth
28. The Magic School Bus Explores the Ocean
29. The Magic School Bus Flies with Dinosaurs
30. The Magic School Bus Takes a Moonwalk
31. The Magic School Bus Flies From the Nest
32. The Magic School Bus Blasts Into Space
33. The Magic School Bus Gets Cleaned Up

[edit]Science Readers

1. The Magic School Bus Gets Ants in its Pants
2. The Magic School Bus Going Batty
3. The Magic School Bus in the Haunted Museum
4. The Magic School Bus Gets all Dried Up
5. The Magic School Bus In the Arctic
6. The Magic School Bus Meets the Rot Squad
7. The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top
8. The Magic School Bus Answers Questions
9. The Magic School Bus Inside Ralphie
10. The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed
11. The Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm
12. The Magic School Bus Plays Ball
13. The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds
14. The Magic School Bus Ups and Downs
15. The Magic School Bus Gets a Bright Idea
16. The Magic School Bus Butterfly and the Bog Beast
17. The Magic School Bus Makes a Rainbow
18. The Magic School Bus Gets Baked in a Cake
19. The Magic School Bus Out of this World
20. The Magic School Bus Taking Flight
21. The Magic School Bus Takes a Dive
22. The Magic School Bus Gets Cold Feet
23. The Magic School Bus Shows and Tells
24. The Magic School Bus Spins a Web
25. The Magic School Bus Gets Planted
26. The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten
27. The Magic School Bus Wet All Over
28. The Magic School Bus Goes Upstream
29. The Magic School Bus In A Pickle
30. The Magic School Bus Hops Home
31. The Magic School Bus Sees Stars
32. The Magic School Bus Looking for Liz (sticker book)

The Tale of the Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale

by Angela Elwell Hunt

Three trees grow side by side, each with different dreams what they want to be when  they grow up.  The first wants to be a treasure chest and hold the riches of men.  The second wants to be a mighty sailing ship to carry mighty kings to far away places.  The final tree wants to stand ant point people heavenward all his life.

The first is cut down and made into a simple manger.  The second crafted into a meagre fishing boat.  The third tree is made into lumbar.  The years pass, until the night the manger has the privilege of holding, if not the riches of the earth, the Treasure of Heaven.  One stormy night on the Sea of Galilee our second tree witnesses the calming of a storm and understands he is bearing the King of Heaven.   The third tree has lived a miserable existence until now as a cross.  The day the Son of God is nailed into him may be the most difficult of his life, but this tree always invokes God to those who see him.

What I Love About This Book

I love the calm assurance that the desires of our hearts are answered in ways we never dreamed possible.  I love how everything points to Christ, and how He is the center of everything that happens, just as I feel He is for us in our lives.

Cautions

1) This book is very religious

2) The cross as defined as being the symbol of Christianity

The Legend of the Poinsetia

by Tommy DePaola

Tommy DePaola is one of my favorite authors, and this is no exception.  It's a heartwarming tale about a girl who needs a gift for the Christ child, and finds a flower on the side of the road.  Living in the Sonoran Desert as I do, this Mexican folktale is near and dear to my heart

Audience
I think anyone from third grade up.  In Phoenix it was a tradition to read it with the kids every year.

What I Love:
The illustrations are very Mexican, and the story is beautiful

Cautions:
It is culture specific and religious.

The Colors of Us

by Karen Katz

A young girl has a grandmother for an artist, and the grandmother helps this girl understand color.  This book is a young girl describing the skin color of her friends.  She does so in beautiful poetic language that celebrates each ethnicity

Audience
I used it in a kindergarten class, and I loved it when I did

What I Love About this Book

It never once uses the colors "white" or "black."  Some are almond, some are butter and cream, some are cinnamon.  The author does not use PC cop-outs, rather brings out the beauty in each individual.

Cautions

If the premise makes you uncomfortable, preview it before using it.

Tear Soup

I decided to start in on picture books.  This is one of my all-time favorites.  It's the story of an "old and somewhat wise woman whom everyone called Grandy" and how she mourns the loss of a grandchild.  It's insightful and non-threatening as it probes the grieving process and all involved, with emphasis on the fact that everyone grieves differently.

Audience

Anyone, child or adult, who has grieved, is grieving, or knows someone who is grieving

What I Love About This Book
The illustrations are beautiful.  They also contain added insight if examined closely.  The dog is adorable and fun.  I just feel this is a very child safe and simple way to understand the complexities of grief.  Each page talks about being okay with feeling whatever you are feeling.  I like that it shows grief as having an end, of sorts.  Anyone who's experienced it will know that those feelings of loss will flare up every now and then, but it is a triumphant day when you no longer need your grief and can let it go for the most part.  There's even several pages of appendix talking about different kinds of loss and how women/men/children will experience loss differently and how others can help them.

Caution
While it is applicable to all grief and loss, it is slanted toward bereavement