Courtney Dressler's Favorite Children's Book

I was so lucky to have parents and teachers that encouraged my reading and writing developments as a young girl. While my parents were always willing to sit down and share a bedtime story my teachers were always introducing me to countless award winning books and illustrations that immensely enhanced my experiences as a young reader. But although I have read immeasurable amounts of literature throughout my childhood into my college years, one children’s novel in particular continues to be revisited year after year. Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth is a story of a Milo, a boy who does not find much interest in, well, anything at all. Returning from another pointless, countless day at school Milo finds in his room a kid-sized tollbooth and car with simply one instruction: enter one token. After much debate, Milo inserts one token, drives through the tollbooth, and continues into the world of Lands Beyond. Reaching his first destination, the land of Expectations, Milo learns that two princesses, Rhyme and Reason, have banished. Suddenly feeling a passion for learning and adventure, Milo takes on the task of finding the princesses and returning them to their kingdom. With a watchdog named Tock and a Humbug at his side, Milo ventures through lands such as Dictionopolis, Digitopilis and Infinity meeting news friends (and enemies) such as the Whether man, Officer Shrift, Spelling Bee, and Dodecahedrons. Throughout his adventure Milo learns to learn, and enjoys learning. Completing his adventure, Milo returns home a new person: happy, interested, busy, and ready to learn.

Introducing this book into my classroom would have many benefits to both my curriculum and students. The Phantom Tollbooth does a wonderful job of using both comedy and word play to introduce grammatical, mathematical, and literate information. With an entertaining and exploratory plot, the reader is engaged in comedic and fantasy-filled exploration of learning. To use this book as an introduction to a new mathematic curriculum or literacy lesson would help ease my students’ fears or previous notions about undesirable subject matters such as dreaded division or pointless paragraph formation.

To this day, I still find myself laughing out loud and learning new things while reading The Phantom Tollbooth. Although the children’s novel is comprised of hidden adult humor and puns that children may not quite understand, the book does a wonderful job of portraying learning as fun and adventurous. I highly recommend it to anyone of any age. Below is a link that brings you to Amazon’s website for The Phantom Tollbooth. Use it, I promise you will thoroughly enjoy the novel.

http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Tollbooth-Norton-Juster/dp/0394820371

Alyson Cotter Children's Literature Lesson

Although I had not read this book until recently I thought it would be a great book to read in a classroom. Last semester I was taking a multicultural education class and we needed to find a book that taught a lesson about racism. My sister is a teacher in a third grade classroom in Indianapolis Public Schools and she suggested “The Other Side” by Jacqueline Woodson. I believe this picture book would be great to incorporate into a classroom lesson. It is about two young girls that become friends in a segregated town. They do not care what their parents have said about the other side. It is about doing what you believe in and the power that children contain. I enjoyed this book because it reminded me of a friendship that I had when I was in third and fourth grade. My best friend Tiara was African-American. Although this was not a time of segregation, my school was predominantly white at the time. This friendship was viewed the same as any other by me and my family, but some children at school made racist remarks about Tiara.

I think this book would be a great conversation starter in a classroom. Some children make judgments before knowing, which is why it is important to integrate multicultural education into the classroom. The discussion would depend on the atmosphere in the classroom. I could promote student learning and appreciation of diversity by addressing issues and asking questions. I do feel this book is great for young children to read and the lesson will only be understood if a discussion occurs after the children read the book.

My Favorite Book

My favorite book as a child was The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman. The book is about Mr. and Mrs. Bird and their journey to find the best nest. Mr. Bird thought his old nest was perfectly fine but Mrs. Bird was determined to find the BEST nest. They flew from an old shoe, to a mailbox, to a church tower before finally realizing that their old nest was actually the best. In fact, at the end of the book Mr. and Mrs. Bird become parents! This book was the first one that I can remember absolutely loving as a little kid. I made my parents read it too me so often I actually had it memorized by the time I was four or five years old! I tricked my mom into thinking that I could read, when really, I was just reciting the book from memory. My mom realized that I wasn't really reading when she noticed that I wasn't turning any of the pages. :)

This book would be good to read to younger kids; I would say first grade would be the oldest group of kids I would use this book for. It has a good message for young kids: Be happy with what you have. Since kids usually want anything and everything to play with, this would be a useful book to share with a young class.

Favorite Book

One of my all time favorite children books is Big Al. It’s a picture book about a big fish that is considered ugly and scary (since he is so large), and he does not have a lot of friends. The other fish judge him based on his appearance. However, one day a bunch of fish get caught in a net, and Big Al comes to their rescue. The other fish finally realize how kind Big Al is and they become friends. My dad read the book to me all the time when I was a child. I have always enjoyed it because I really liked the story. I thought it was captivating, and teaches an important lesson. Children need to understand from a very young age that it is not acceptable to judge someone based on appearances. The book also goes into detail about how Big Al attempts to change how he looks so others will like him. This concept upsets me because that type of thing really happens. Kids and even adults try to change how they look so they can be more “acceptable.” Kids may have to buy the “right” clothes or have the “cool” hair cut. Some adults are so wrapped up in plastic surgery and unhealthy diets just so they can look “good”. Both of these ideas-changing yourself just to appeal to others is disgusting. Everyone should be happy with whom they are, and people shouldn’t judge people without even knowing them. Unfortunately there are standards in society that most people feel they must reach. So, I would utilize the book Big Al in a first grade class, for example, to teach a moral lesson. Often morality is not a part of lessons in school but I think it should be. Students need to understand right from wrong, and learn values and morals. I would read this book to my class and then have them discuss it. We would talk about how Big Al was treated and why he felt like he had to be someone he was not. Also, I would ask my students if they have ever felt like they don’t “fit in”, or need to act a certain way or wear something just so they could be considered “cool”. We will further the discussion by bringing up certain ideas on how we can stop making quick judgments, and how exciting it is for everyone to be unique.

to buy on Amazon: Amazon.com

The Giver

My favorite children’s book is The Giver. This book is set in a fictional world where everything is “perfect”. In this community there is no choice, everything is given too you at a certain point in your life. When you turn 7 you get a bike and at another age you are given a child, first a boy then a later a girl. You are given a job when you turn 10 and you do that same job until you “die”, which is really when they euthanize you. At certain stages of life you receive specific items on your birthday, which everyone in the community shares if they are your age. The book is centered on one boy who is chosen to be the Giver. The man who is the current giver has all the memories that were taken away from the community. This give must transmit the memories to Jonas, the new Giver. In the end the little boy escapes to a place much like ours where he and everyone else can live freely. I like this book because it’s about a place that is very similar to ours but also very different. The author does a good job at hiding the fact that things a very different and it makes the book very interesting. I think in the classroom as we read this book I would set up some kind of “perfect” world so my students could get more of a sense of what it is like the young boy and why once he begins to receive the memories he wants to share them and not live like that any longer. I would also like to have the students to come up with a play to act out so they can become one of the characters.

Christine Balcarcel

It seems that no one is able to forget their favorite childhood book. When I was younger, my favorite book was The Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister. At the time it may have only been my favorite because of the bright and colorful illustrations. Today, however, I see that this story has a great lesson for young students.

The story is about a young fish that has scales more bright and beautiful than all the other fish. When asked to share his scales he refuses, because he does not want to lose his beauty. By the end of the book, Rainbow fish realizes that sharing his fins not only makes the other fish happy, but he finds joy in sharing as well. This story teaches students that it is more important to share, and to be a good friend than it is to have material posessions.

This is a great book to share with a kindergarten or first grade classroom because many students at that age will have trouble learning to share, especially when they are first starting out at school and having to share classroom objects with their new classmates.

Favorite Children's Book

As a child, I loved reading and being read to. I can't imagine that's very different from many people in this class. I grew up seeing my parents and older brother with a book in hand throughout vacations, evenings, and weekends. I saw reading as a great form of entertainment and I sought to discover how to participate in this past-time. One particular book that I loved (and still do) is C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Although I love all seven books in the Narnia series, this particular story is one that I read the most. In fact, I still love reading the series and keep all the stories on a bookshelf with my textbooks and dictionaries so that I can read through them every once in a while.

I think I've enjoyed Lewis' stories so much because of the simple dialogue, use of children as main characters, and the vast amount of creativity used in his stories. The dialogue seems to be kept short and almost choppy, but this creates a very realistic and believable interaction between characters. The use of children as main characters always kept my attention as a child myself. Although I couldn't relate to the exact experiences in the book, I could relate to the fears and struggles that the Pevensie children had. I love the amount of creativity it took Lewis to depict such a bizarre world with talking animals and power struggles among them. Such a world is what many children can only dream of and his stories can take them there.

I would love to use this story and/or other Narnia stories in the classroom as a way to encourage creative writing. I want children to see that, as a writer, you don't need to stay within the reality in which we live. There are endless possibilities that may seem peculiar or unusual, but amazing stories can come through if we are confident in them. Lewis' example in his stories shows teachers and students (readers in general) that there is no set of rules as to how to write a believable and creative story.

-Barns and Noble website for purchase-

Kate Neal's Favorite Childrens Book

Since I was a little girl I have loved picture books, and still do to this day. Picture books have a way of explaining things in detail in a completely different way than a book that consists of only words. I have a ton of favorite children's books, but when I was given this assignment I knew right away what book I wanted to use for this blog. If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff, is the greatest book ever. The plot is about a boy who gives a mouse a cookie, who in turn asks for many other favors. In the end, after the boy does all of the favors for the mouse, the mouse asks for another cookie. This book hooks the reader right away and makes the reader want to read more to figure out what the mouse wants next. The mouse is never satisfied and thats what keeps the reader interested.
Another book by Laura Numeroff that is quite similar to this one is If you Give a Mouse a Muffin. It has the same layout and plot as the other one, but a few differences. Again, the reader wants to read more to see what the mouse wants next.
I plan to use If you Give a Mouse a Cookie in my classroom, as well as the other books similar to it. I will probably start off reading If you Give a Mouse a Cookie to get the children interested. The rest of the similar books, such as If you Take a Mouse to the Movies, If you Take a Mouse to School, and The Best Mouse Cookie will be in the classroom library for them to read on their own during reading time. I may also place in my library If you Give a Pig a Pancake, If you Give a Moose a Muffin, and If you Give a Cat a Cupcake. Chances are if the children like one of the books they will like them all.

Here is the link to purchase If you Give a Mouse a Cookie:

http://www.amazon.com/You-Give-Mouse-Cookie-Give/dp/0060245867

Favorite Children's book

One of my favorite children’s books is somewhat off the beaten path. It is called The Spider and the Fly, and is about a very manipulative spider that plays on the vanity of a fly to lure her onto his dinner plate. The text itself was written by an 18th century female poet and has recently been illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi. The drawings in the book are all black and white and are in the style of a 1920s silent film. It is a little bit of a dark tale, and maybe should be reserved for 3rd/4th grade and older, but I don’t feel that all children’s books need to have a happy ending.

The story is sort of a warning about the real world, and to be wary of those whom you think may not have good intentions. Learning to differentiate between those with good intentions and those with bad is a very important lesson. Though children deserve to be protected from many of the evils in the world, they also need some perspective on the kind of world we actually live in. This book is actually very beautifully written, and the pictures in it are incredibly intricate and detailed. I really enjoy the book because it is so creatively written and the pictures have been drawn to encompass and add even more details to the story that is written. In the classroom, I could use this book for many things. For one it could just serve as a simple personification of the food chain in a science lesson. Also, it could open a discussion on social interactions, and how to “be nice” without putting yourself in danger of being manipulated or taken advantage of.

I also feel like the book could be great inspiration for multiple writing exercises (or writer’s workshop). Students could describe a time when they felt manipulated or “had the wool pulled over their eyes,” and/or could describe how they could avoid being deceitful with the people around them. Since the book has such detailed drawings, it could lead to whole assignments on how the rest of the ghost bugs were tricked by the spider.

The book even serves as a good example for an art/drawing lesson because of the way things are drawn. Also there are online activities that go along with the book where children can assemble and color their own Spider and Fly characters. The poem and the illustrations allow for a great deal of imagination, and any student could sit looking studying the pictures for a long time as I did when I first found the book.

Link to buy!

Lauren Flaspohler's Favorite Children's Book

My favorite children’s book would have to be The Napping House by Audrey Wood. This book is about an old lady, her grandchild, a dog, a cat, a mouse, and a flea. They are all napping until the flea comes and bites the mouse. Then everyone jumps up, and they break the bed. It is repetitive with a comical ending.
The Napping House was my favorite book when I was little. I absolutely loved the pictures. Also I liked the repetitiveness of the book. This was one of the first books that I read all by myself. My parents would read it to me. There was also a tape that I would listen to over and over. The Napping House, along with The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss, was read to me over and over that I memorized them and was able to go back and read them myself because I remembered what each page said. They were also very repetitive and I started to put the two and two together to figure out words.
There are a couple reasons why it would be good in the classroom. First of all, it is very repetitive. For a lot of students, including myself, repetition is a good tool to get kids to learn how to read. Most of my first books were books that had been read to me over and over and over again. By doing this, kids begin to memorize words, and then they follow along and put the words together with the sounds. Another reason that it is a great book is that it has a ton of adjectives. Although there are not many words, there is an amazing amount of vocabulary because of the adjectives that are used.
In the classroom, I would read The Napping House aloud to my students. I would have everyone who wants to join me in the reading that they remember. Next, I would explain or review adjectives. Then I would have them write down all of the adjectives that they can find. Finally, I would have them write a story with repetition and a lot of adjectives. It would be really interesting to see where kids go with those instructions.
I strongly recommend this book to teachers who have young students. The Napping House is one of the best books to show students adjectives and repetition.

Click HERE to buy this book.

Alex Lew

Growing up I loved books, so much so that I did not want to read them because I did not want to bend the binding. When I did read them I made sure that I did not bend the cover back, because I was sure that if you hurt the cover of the book the whole story was ruined. I am not very different today, I still love books and hate bending the covers, but I realize now that what is contained in the book is not dictated by the condition of the cover. One of the books I remember being especially particular about, because it was one of my favorites, was “Matilda” by Roald Dahl. I loved anything by Roald Dahl but “Matilda” stuck out as one of my favorites.
This book is about a little girl who is incredibly intelligent and who loves to read. It has been several years since I have read this book so the details are a little fuzzy; however, one thing I do remember is that Matilda had special powers. She suffered many difficulties, like her parents not allowing her to grow academically, but she had her powers and her amazing teacher to help her through it all. Miss. Honey is a character that has always stuck with me, she was kind and sweet, just as her name suggests. As a child I loved this book because of Matilda’s super powers, Miss. Honey’s kindness, and because my dad and I read it together. As an adult I see that this book is more powerful than I had originally thought as a child. Matilda is a child who loves to learn and does not let anything get in her way of learning, and I think that is a very important message for children.
“Matilda” can be used in the classroom as a book that is read collaboratively between the teacher and the students. Throughout the process of reading the book, students can keep a journal as if they were Matilda. After every reading (whether with partners, aloud, silent, etc.) the children will add an entry as if their journal was actually Matilda’s journal, writing about feelings, hopes, daily events etc. “Matilda” is a classic book that I hope I can incorporate into my classroom but even if I cannot I will definitely share it with my own children.

Here is a link where you can purchase this book: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Matilda/Roald-Dahl/e/9780142402535/?itm=1&usri=1

One Of My Favorite Children's Books (Emilea Bade)

One of my favorite books when I was growing up was King Bidgood's in the Bathtub. In this story, King Bidgood is in the bathtub and no one can seem to talk him into getting out. Throughout the book the entire court, including characters such as the knight, duke, and queen, try out their own ways to attempt to draw King Bidgood from his bath. In the end the page is the one to solve the problem and get King Bidgood out of the bathtub, I encourage you to read this story to discover what his solution was!
When I was growing up this was one of my favorite books that my mother read to me, and she will tell you that she had to read it quite often. I really enjoyed the storyline of the book, because hearing all of the character's solutions to the problem was entertaining. Beyond the storyline, however, I was also intrigued by the illustrations. The pictures in the book are from the Renaissance time period and they are extremely detailed with an interesting color scheme. The illustrations even have a dark Renaissance feel to them making you feel like you are there in that particular time period. The pictures were a large part of what made this book interesting to me and I never got tired of looking at them while my mom read me the story.
The story line of this book would be great to use in the lower grades because it promotes problem solving through a story. The students can see how all of the different members of the court had different ways of approaching the same problem. They can also see how when one solution doesn't work instead of giving up the court members came up with new ideas to try. Another skill this story portrays is working together because all of the court member's ideas were needed to solve the problem. The book can also be beneficial in the higher grades if students are learning about the Renaissance time period because the illustrations are very telling of the time period. Not only could this be helpful in history it could also be helpful if you are talking about the Renaissance time period in art. Because of all of these connections, this book would be beneficial for teachers to have because it can serve many purposes in the classroom.

This book can be purchased at: http://www.amazon.com/King-Bidgoods-Bathtub-Musical-Caldecott/dp/0152055789/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252973261&sr=8-1

Children's Literature Lesson: Hannah's Favorite Book!

As a child I loved to read; now I find that frustrating because I seem to never have time for anymore “free reading.” An absolute favorite book has always been “Love You Forever” by Robert N Munsch. The book tells of a young mother singing to her child every night after she made sure he was asleep. As “he grew and he grew” her words remained "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be.” Even after he moved out into an apartment she would sometimes visit and sing to him. At the end of the book it shows the once young child as a grown man picking up his elderly mother and singing to her but replacing the last line with “my mommy you’ll be”; he then returned home to his house and sang the original version to his new baby.
My mom has read this book to me countless times and created her own melody of the song the mother sings to her child. After my parents divorced when I was five I had a hard time coping but this was a book that as a child really showed me my mom’s unconditional love! It has always been something special the two of us have shared. (My three-year-old niece is also now an avid fan!)
While looking for a link for this book I learned of Munsch’s motivation to write it. He told of how his wife had two stillbirths and he continuously had this song in his head until he finally wrote the lyrics down and developed another story out of it.
While it can be viewed as an emotional book I think it may still be used sufficiently in the classroom. It repeats the song continuously throughout the book so it could be a great way to introduce repetition in poetry to the class. Young children frequently write stories about their family, pets and other sorts so after reading this book you could have them write a short story or poem about someone or something they are close to while using their own repetitious chorus as Munsch does in “Love You Forever”.

To purchase visit:
http://www.amazon.com/Love-You-Forever-Robert-Munsch/dp/0920668364

Jada's Favorite Book E342 Wednesday

Throughout my years of schooling I have read a countless number of books both for enjoyment and out of requirement. Most of them were decent, a few choice ones I would read again and there were those that one time was more than enough. The one book that has stuck with me as being my absolute favorite book is “I’m Glad I’m Your Mother” by Bill and Kathy Horlacher. My mother had been reading this book to me for so long that I do not even remember the first time I heard it. It has always just been there. The story focuses on reasons why a mother is proud of and thankful for her child. It uses several different combinations of mothers and children, of all different ethnicities. The reasons why the mother’s are proud are not over the top achievements, but the little everyday good they notice in their kids. Some of the reasons are, opening the door for a mother who has her arms full of groceries, helping a lost cat find its home or saying sorry when you have done something wrong. I enjoy this book because it shows kids that there are so many little things they can do, and that ultimately just being themselves, as the book ends along the lines of, “I’m glad I’m your mother simply because you are you” is enough. This book is a level 1 reader so it would be a simple book for students of a younger age, but also valuable for students in the older grade levels. It is a good book for getting students moving towards reading on their own as it repeats the phrase “I’m glad I’m your mother” followed by a new reason. It also rhymes, so perhaps, I, as the teacher could read one page and then the student, knowing the first phrase and that the second phrase has to rhyme, could more readily figure it out on their own. A reason I especially appreciate this book is that, as I said before, it represents families of all different ethnicities, hitting home that all people and children especially are valued just for being themselves. I like that it is a positive and uplifting book that shows that people sometimes do bad things, but that wrongs can be made right with a little effort. This book would be a great introduction to any mother’s day activities as well as an opening for conversation about what students do individually to help their families and friends. It would also be a nice book for around thanksgiving time as students think of reasons why they are thankful for their parents.

E342 Wednesday Kelly Reeder

This past summer I worked at an early childhood development center and found myself reading books to children all day long. Depending on the activities that we were doing each day, the teachers would choose a book that somewhat fit that event. One day our soccer lessons got canceled due to a storm, so we had to stay inside. That was the day that I found my favorite children's book of all time. The book is called Thunder Cake. Not only am I in love with the book, the author, Patricia Polacco, is also a favorite of mine. She writes many creative children’s books, but this particular one I found very interesting. It is about a young girl who goes to visit her grandmother during a very large storm. The young girl has always been afraid of thunder but knows that every time a storm comes her grandmother makes her famous cake, Thunder Cake. Even though the young girl is very frightened by the storm, her grandmother insists that she helps her run around their farm to help gather different ingredients for the cake. Since the girl loves Thunder Cake she is determined to help her grandmother gather everything she needs to make the cake. In doing this she has to go out into the storm to collect eggs and milk from the noisy barn. In the end the girl completes her task and they bake her favorite cake. Her grandmother helps her realize that she was very brave for facing her fears. Never again was the girl afraid of thunderstorms, but looked forward to them so that she can have her grandmother’s famous Thunder Cake.
The reason I loved this book was because it taught a very valuable lesson to children. It showed them that facing your fears is very important and that some of the fears that they have can be eliminated by simply facing them. I also thought that reading a story like this on a rainy day could help to calm some of the students who are afraid of storms.
At the end of this book the author gives a recipe for the thunder cake. I made copies of this recipe to send home with families. One little girl in my class liked this book so much that she actually made the thunder cake and brought it in for our class to eat as a special snack. Each time we had another rainy day the children would bring this book out and ask if I would read it to them.
This books can be purchased from this website--> http://www.amazon.com/Thunder-Cake-Patricia-Polacco/dp/0698115813

e342wednesday

One of my favorite books as a child was The Giver, written by Lois Lowry. The book is about a perfect world, also known as utopia. Everything their lives are exactly the same and their lives are controlled by the community. There is no color, no hills, or no season changes. There are strict rules such as their spouse will be chosen for them, each family is assigned two children one boy and one girl, their careers are chosen for them, and when you become elderly you live in the house of the old. There is a speaker system that everyone in the community must obey.
As a child in this community all children born throughout one year becomes the exact same age of just plain one. They must follow silly rules that each year group (ex. sevens, eights, or nines) must obey. The children are given their bikes in a specific year, are allowed to wear their hair a certain way depending on their year, or wear certain clothes. The main character in the book is Jonas a boy who is assigned the most important career in the community. He becomes the Receiver of Memories and The Giver, the previous receiver will give Jonas all of the memories of the community. The Giver is the one who hold all of the previous memories such as color, sunshine, snow, sledding, war, and pain. He must give Jonas all of these sensations but throughout his training he must endure all of the physical pain of each memory. Once Jonas begins to understand how everything works and experience all the happy memories he decides he wants to share them with everyone. He comes up with a brilliant plan which is to leave the community and the memories will all be released to the community. Although they will initially be in a sense of panic and experience pain, their eyes will be opened to their own choices and new lives. Jonas's journey is hard and he deals with starvation and different outrageous climate issues. He knows in the end once he escapes his plan will work and be the best decision for his community.


http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?r=1&ean=9780440237686&popup=0

Stacy's favorite book

It was Mothers day and I was in first grade when this book was first read to me. Our moms were invited to our classroom that day and the teacher read the book. Even though I was only in first grade, I distinctly remember all of the moms crying by the end of the book. It starts out with the birth of a baby boy and the mom would always rock him to sleep each night saying “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” the son grows up and goes through the different stages, toddler, teens, etc. until he is a grown man and has a child of his own. But the mom still drives across town to rock her son and sing that song. It ends with the son rocking his “very old and sick” mother singing "I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my Mommy you’ll be". and he goes on to do the same ritual with his baby girl. I think I like this book so much because at the time when I first heard it, I don’t think it meant too much to me. But now reading it again I see that the message it was trying to get across was that we are told all the time that parents love their kids but the kids may not fully understand a parent’s unconditional love for their child until they have a child of their own. If I have a younger class, or really even any class, I will most likely do the same thing that my first grade teacher did. Have the mothers come in and read the story. I think this is one of those books that families want to pass down through the generations. I know my mom went out and bought that book right after she left the school and has read it to me multiple times and I plan on doing the same when I have kids. http://www.amazon.com/Love-You-Forever-Robert-Munsch/dp/0920668372

Christie's Favorite Book- Berenstain Bears!

Berenstain, J., Berenstain S. (1974). He Bear, She Bear. New York: Random House. (K-3).

http://product.half.ebay.com/The-Berenstain-Bears-He-Bear-She-Bear_W0QQprZ233126QQtgZinfo

I have always had a passion for every type of story plot revolving around the Berenstain Bears. I had games such as "The Messy Room," tape recordings, video's, action figures, posters, and computer games. Most importantly, I had a whole bookshelf of the Berenstain Bears book collection. Growing up with three brothers, it was rather easy to complete this book collection, however, this book shelf had an unwritten name on it telling all my brothers that this collection of books were mine; every day I would read and reread these books and they never got old. I believe, though, that mostly, these books had shaped my character and values in life into who I am today. As Nick stated in class, "You become what you read." The Berenstain Bears family was in many ways very relatable to myself. Though their family was a bit smaller than my own, there were brother and sister moments of loving, fighting, playing, and discovering the idea they are best friends. The book "He Bear, She Bear," helped form my gender views into a healthy, happy, positive ways. It attacts young kids because the characters imagine themselves participating every kind of fun activity such as flying a jet, or 'taming twelve tigers.' Gender issues are just one positive attribute this book teaches.


He bear and She bear are told by their parents specific activities that they will do because of their gender. But, after playing together, the bears learn that no matter if you are a boy or a girl, you can become anything you want to when you grow up and participate in the same activities regardless of gender, ending the book with the statement, "We'll jump and dig and build and fly There's nothing that we cannot try. We can do all these things, you see, Whether we are he or she!"
I would use this book at any grade level specifically, grades kindergarten-fourth grade because those ages seem to really need additional views and instruction regarding gender differences. Later, I would have a disscussion with the class asking about what they want to be when they grow up and have them draw a picture of themselves later in life.

The Giving Tree

One of my favorite books growing up was The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. This was one of my favorite books when I was little for many reasons. One was that it was simple enough for me to read. There were only a couple of pages that had a lot of reading on it and I always felt proud when I felt that I could read an entire book. Another reason that I love the book is that I always appreciate it no matter what age I am. Even looking back on it, I have always gained something every time I read it and the relate ability no matter what the age.

When I was little, I understood the friendship between the tree and the little boy because I had a favorite tree that my brother and I would climb every time we could. Then as the book progresses I can relate to the writing of the initials of his first love on the tree, the fact that he becomes too busy to relax around the tree, and then at the end where all he wants to do is relax and have a seat.

I think that this would be brilliant in a classroom because there are many lessons that one could teach with this book. One is time passing. How things change. The tree still longed for the old days when the little boy would swing from his branches and eat his apples; however, the little boy was growing up. So therefore, I think change with time passing could be a good lesson.

Another lesson is to think of others before you. The tree would always help the boy whenever he came and he never thought of himself first. When the boy needed money, the tree gave him his apples. When the boy needed wood, the tree gave him his branches. Even though the tree was unhappy, he believe in giving to others first. Then at the end of the story, the tree realized that he was happy, even though he in fact had lost almost everything, becoming just a stump. I think the children could benefit learning to think of others and sharing. That there is more to life than just yourself.

I also believe that this would be a great book for children who are learning to read. It is simple enough that one could sit down and read it repeatedly. There is a mix of challenging and easy words and the lessons that come from the content of the book never gets old. Like I said before I honestly get something new from reading it every time, and I am twenty-one years old and have read it a countless number of times.

http://www.amazon.com/Giving-Tree-Shel-Silverstein/dp/0060256656

Jayne's Favorite Book

I remembering when I entered the third grade that the big thing was that in Language Arts class were going to read chapter books, and only chapter books. Being a student that struggled quite often with reading, it was an understatement to say that I was nervous about this. On the first day of class my teacher pulled out a book with a wildly beautiful colors swirling around the cover. The book was My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannet. The book was basically about a young boy named Elmer Elevator who goes on a fun adventure to a wild island to save a baby dragon. On the first day I went home and was assigned to read the first chapter. When I sat down I was so enthralled with the story that I did not really notice that I might have tripped over some words or struggled with pronunciation.

I really enjoyed the book because it was such a great story. It was every child’s dream to go on some expansive adventure. It’s a fun story and a pretty great read for starting readers. There really is something in the book for everyone.

I think I would definitely use this book in my class if I taught the young elementary grades (1^st,, 2^nd, 3^rd grade). I think the text allows for a lot of places for you to pose questions to the class. If I were to teach it, I would maybe assign a chapter or two at night. The chapters are very short so this would not be a lot to ask. The next day, maybe first thing in the morning so that the story is somewhat fresh in their minds, I would have a little mini quiz. This way I could assess 1) which students are struggling with the comprehension of the text and 2) which students are even doing the assigned reading. I also think that the text is a fun one, a text in which students will be very excited to read. I feel that by the second and third grade there are a lot of students that are somewhat disheartened by the whole reading process. Hopefully by giving them a book that is fun and having a lesson plan that is somewhat interactive I can hopefully change their minds about reading.