Emma And The Silk Train: Historial Literature Written By:Julie Lawson Illustration by: Paul Mombourquette

Emma

Who is brave, determined.

Who is sister of Charlie.

Who loves silk.

Who feels happy.

Who needs silk.

Who fears being alone.

Who would like to see silk trains.

Who is a resident of New York.

By: PJ- student at Aversboro Elem. 5th grade

Anansi a tale from the Ashanti The Spider- Multicultural By: Gerald McDermott

Anansi a tale from the Ashanti The Spider
By: Gerald McDermott- Multicultural Literature

This book was a really great book on how families work together and also one could relate this book to team work. Anansi was a spider who had six sons and all of his sons had special powers. Anansi left home one day and he went really, really far away. Anansi got lost and his son See Trouble seen his father was in trouble so he told his others brothers. All of Anansi sons went out looking for him. The spiders found Anansi because Anansi son Road Builder built a road to reach their father and when they found Anansi a fish had eaten him, so his son River Drinker drank all of the water out of the river. Anansi son Game Skinner split the fish in half and once he did a Falcon came through and took Anansi into the sky. So Anansi son Stone Thrower threw a stone and hit the Falcon and Anansi fell through the sky. Anansi son Cushion seen him falling and ran to help his father. Anansi came down on Cushion, and the spider family was very happy. Anansi felt like his sons deserved a gift, so he asked Nyame to help him decide on which son to give a gift. Nyame and Anansi could not decide which son to give the gift to, so Nyame put the moon in the sky for everyone to use. I think this would be a good book to talk about family roles with students. Everyone has a role in their family however; some student’s roles are different from others. You could also teach the students how to work as a team, all of the spiders in the book worked together to accomplish one goal and that was to save their father. I really enjoyed reading this book.

Jack, Skinny Bones, and the Golden Pancakes: Folk Literature Written by: M.C. Helldorfer Illstrations by: Elise Primavera

Jack, Skinny Bones, and the Golden Pancakes: Folk Literature
Written by: M.C. Helldorfer Illustrations by: Elise Primavera

This book was about a child that was left in the desert and a dog found him and carried him home. The dog was owned by an old lady named Granny Trick who was mean, and when the dog found the little boy he was really trying to run away; however, he found the boy so he decided to go back home. Granny Trick was mean to the dog and the boy but the dog would not leave the little boy and once the little boy got older the dog was too old to run away, so the little boy would not leave the dog. Although Granny Trick was mean to them she would not let them leave. The devil came one day and tried to offer her a deal, the deal was she would have to give the devil the little boy and the dog. Granny Trick said no, however the little boy had a plan of his own. The next day the devil came the little boy gave the devil pancakes that were made with hot mustard and when the devil said “WATER, WATER” a flood came and swept Granny Trick and the devil out of the house. So in the end the little boy and the dog never saw Granny Trick or the devil again.
When I first read this book, I had no clue what was going on; so I had to read the book again. After reading the book again I noticed that it was not as bad as I thought it was in the beginning. The book was actually funny. So a way I would use this book in my class is as a read aloud. In my opinion this book really did not have a strong message, and if any thing I would say the message was treat others how you want to be treated. I would spark a conversation with the students about how they would feel if the things that happened in the book to the little boy happened to them. I would just talk to the students about treating everyone nicely so people will like you as a person.

Martin Bridge In High Gear- Science Fiction Written by: Jessica Scott Kerrin Illustrated by: Joseph Kelly (Chapter Book)

Martin Bridge In High Gear- Science Fiction Written by: Jessica Scott Kerrin Illustrated by: Joseph Kelly (Chapter Book)

When I read this book I thought it would be a good book to incorporate into the classroom. This was a chapter book but the two chapters that were in the book were topics that pertained to students in elementary school.
The first chapter was about a yearly science fair that is held at Martin’s (main character) school. The teacher put the students into groups and the students had to decide on a theme for their project. All of the students in the group except one was helping out with the project and doing their fair share. The student that did not help the other student’s name was Gibson, he would come late to every meeting and he didn’t help the students clean the beach; which was what their whole project was about. So the other students were really mad, and they decided they would let the teacher know what was going on in the group. The teachers told the students they should talk to Gibson about the situation and see if he starts to carry his own weight. So the students did but that did not seem to help. At the end of the project the students had 20 tickets to share among all of the group members. The students decided on who they thought did the most work and that student got the most tickets. The students put their names on the tickets and the teacher gathered the tickets and placed them in a hat. The group gave Gibson one ticket because he did not work as hard as the other students. When the teacher pulled the name for the prize for the most hard work Gibson received the prize. Gibson’s group was really upset because they knew he did not deserve to win the prize, however they gave him a ticket so he had just as much of a chance at winning as the other students did. This chapter could be used to teach students responsibility. I never liked working in groups because I always felt like I did all the work.
The second chapter was about how Martin got a new bike and he rode it once and someone stole it from him. After his bike was stolen he was upset, however, he found a place where they take old recycle bicycles and rebuild them. So Martin decided he would help out in the shop every Saturday so he could rebuild his own bicycle. He helped make his own bike so it was more special to him. While working in the shop Martin learned some new things about bikes and he felt his bike was important to him because he helped make it. So a lesson that could be learned from this is sometimes it is good to work for things you want instead of your parents buying you things all the time; you never know the things you can learn from working to buy something you want really bad.

Thanksgiving Day by Gail Gibbons: Non- Fiction

Thanksgiving Day by Gail Gibbons: Non- Fiction

This book was a little wordy. It was not a bad book but it was not my favorite. The book was about Thanksgiving and where it all comes from. I think this book is important because every student do not celebrate Thanksgiving so for the students who do not celebrate it they can learn from this book. They can learn were the whole concepts of Thanksgiving comes from and what many families do on Thanksgiving. Students that do not celebrate Thanksgiving they can tell the class the things they do celebrate and students who does celebrate Thanksgiving can tell the other students the things they eat or do for this special day. The book talks about the pilgrims and how they came to America and why they were so thankful. The author tells the readers how the pilgrims learned how to hunt, plant corn, beans, and pumpkins and who taught them. Also, the author talks about a little girl that celebrate Thanksgiving and the things her and her family eat and do on that day. The book was very informative; however I believe students should read this book on their own because it is too long to read aloud. Maybe this book could be in a reading center; so if students do want to learn more about Thanksgiving it is there for them.

Last Summer with Maizon by Jacqueline Woodson: Fiction (Chapter Book)

Last Summer with Maizon by Jacqueline Woodson: Fiction (Chapter Book)

I really loved reading this book. The book reminded me of my best friend and I relationship, because when my best friend and I was in the 9th grade she had to move away and we both were really upset about the situation. We prayed and prayed that her mom would change her mind about moving, but her mom did not change her mind. So we both felt like Margaret did in the book, we felt like God did not answer our prayers.

In this book Margaret and Maizon are best friends and they live a couple houses down from each other. They attend the same elementary school and they have been friends for about 6 years. The two may not be family, but they feel like sisters. The two are not so much alike but they get along well and they do everything together. One summer Maizon takes a test that will allow her to go to school in Connecticut. Maizon grandmother tells her that this is a really good school and her grandmother wanted Maizon to get the best education. All summer long Margaret was praying that Maizon did not get into the school because she did not want her best friend to move away. Margaret felt like everything was being taken away from her because during that summer her father died from cancer, so she did not want Maizon to be taken from her too. Towards the end of the summer Maizon gets her acceptance letter because she passes the test and instead of Margaret being happy she was upset and sad. Maizon goes to this school in Connecticut and Margaret does not hear anything from her for a few months; then Margaret gets a call from Maizon. Maizon was really upset and she told Margaret she wanted to come home, and she did not like the school. Maizon comes back home and Margaret was happy to have her best friend back. Maizon tells Margaret all about her experience in Connecticut and their friendship goes back the way it was before Maizon left.

I like this book because you can use this book in the classroom in many ways. You can teach students about friendship, what to do after losing someone in their family, and how to make other friends. In the book Margaret lost her father to cancer, her best friend moved away, and none of the other students really liked her in school because she was friends with Maizon. Students can learn about the importance of friendship from this book because the two girls told each other everything. The two girls did everything together and when Margaret lost her father Maizon was there to comfort her. Students can learn how to be a true friend from Maizon and Margaret’s relationship.

Cinderella Rap

The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale Retold by: Angela Elwell Hunt Illustrations by: Tim Jonke

The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale

Retold by Angela Elwell Hunt Illustrations by: Tim Jonke

I really enjoyed reading this book. The book was about three little trees that sat on top of a hill and they told the readers what they wanted to be when they grew up. One tree wanted to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. The second tree wanted to be a strong sailing ship. And the third tree wanted to stay and live on the mountaintop and grow so tall that when people stop to look at it they would raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. However, year’s later three woodcutters climbed the mountain and cut down the three growing trees. The first tree was turned into a feed box for animals; the second tree was made into a small ship; and the third was confused when the woodcutter cut it into strong beams and left it in a lumberyard. However in the end all of the trees where made into something for God. The first tree was made into a manger; the second into a boat that many travelers traveled in; and the third was made into the cross that Jesus carried through the town and was nailed to. So all of the trees where made into something that God wanted them to be made into, and they all thought it was better than what they wanted to be when they grew up.

I think it would be a little hard to use this book in the classroom because every student does not believe in God. I do not think it would be a good idea to incorporate this into a lesson because some parents may get very angry that you are teaching their child about God, if that is not what they believe in. Maybe you can talk about a creator in general instead of God, because most religion believes in some higher being; and incorporate having dreams and aspirations to be something when you grow up.

The illustrations were also great. Tim Jonke painted all of the pictures and the painting brings a sense of depth and wonder to this classic tale. Each painting looks like it was painted by the famous guy who use to come on television.