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

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

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

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

Kristen's Favorite book (series)

The most memorable series of books that I recall listening to and learning from in elementary school were The Magic School Bus books by Joana Cole and Bruce Degen. I also remember getting really excited to watch the movies of The Magic School Bus. Most recently for a class I read The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane. I realized through reading it now, after I have grown up quite a bit, that there is an array of information in these books. Not only does the story itself give information, but there are little blurbs all over the pages that give information as well that are exciting to look at and, incidentally, give the student a bunch of facts. This one in particular is about Ms. Frizzle and her class going on a school field trip inside a hurricane. They learn about the parts of a hurricane as they go in each section of the hurricane. They also learn about the good and bad affects of hurricanes. The class (and the reader) learn how hurricanes are similar to and different from tornadoes as well. Not only does the class go to the hurricane they also go to their “real field trip destination” which is to the weather station. The kids end up repeating all they learned in the hurricane to the people who work there, which reviews and reinforces the facts that the reader learned previously. Throughout the book there are actual demonstrations to symbolize hurricanes, what cause them, what goes on in storm clouds, and several more activities the kids can do in the classroom or at home. This book has great pictures and facts all over the page to catch your eye. The crazy adventures in all the books keep students’ attention and teach them a ton of facts.

I want to use these books as a teaching material to read to the class during certain subjects we are working on that a specific Magic School Bus book pertains to. I also want to take some of the fun activities from it and experiment with them as a class. I also want to put several of these books in my classroom library to give the students a chance to learn about something they are interested in during free time or to borrow and take home. I think The Magic School Bus book series is a fun way to enforce reading skills for students, get them interested in literature, and to integrate subjects in the curriculum for any grade level.

http://www.amazon.com/Magic-School-Bus-Inside-Hurricane/dp/0613128591/ref=ed_oe_h

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.

Rachel's Favorite Book

One of my recent favorite books is called Hoot. This summer I was introduced to this book by the group of 3^rd-5^th graders at the daycare I worked at. Everyday we would read a chapter from this book and talk about what new things were happening and so forth. After finishing we watched the movie Hoot that was based on the book. When I first started reading this book to them I thought it was weird and that I probably wouldn’t end up liking it. After the first few chapters I got really into it and couldn’t wait to find out what went on next. I liked the book because the author really brings the characters to life in the story. He makes them very relatable to children that one would find in any middle school today. The kids in my group really liked the book as well because the writing was silly and kept them engaged.

This book is about a boy named Roy Eberhardt who moves to a new town and starts at a new middle school. In the beginning it talks about his encounters with the school bully and him trying to find a place to fit in. Also in the story you follow a cop who is investigating a series of vandalism's that are happening at the construction site for the new pancake house. Later on it is found out that the “mystery boy” Roy keeps seeing around his bus stop has been vandalizing the property so that the endangered owls living there are not killed by the construction. Throughout the rest of the book it follows Roy and his quest to stop construction on the pancake house so that he can protect the endangered owls.

I would definitely use this book in my classroom once I start teaching. I would recommend it being used for older elementary (3^rd-5^th) because of some of the older elements in it. I think I could incorporate it into a science/animals unit by bringing in the saving the endangered owls from the story. I could also incorporate the whole issue on bullying from the story and get the kids to talk about how they can go about dealing with someone bothering them.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0375821813/ref=rdr_ext_sb_ti_hist_2

Jennifer Shearer

This was a book that my third grade teacher read to us. This book is very entertaining and inventive. I think it shows children that writing and reading can be inventive and crazy! This book is about a Big Friendly Giant (The BFG) and he gives children dreams at night. This young girl can't sleep one night and sees him and follows him. They become friends and she gets to experience his world which is full of funny says and words. I definitely see myself using this in my classroom. I think it can be used from first to third grades. The teacher that I did my field experience with used it in his first grade class. The students seemed to really love the book. It is a chapter book but it does have pictures in it so it does help when you are reading it to younger children. The book is full of imagination and it is that very reason that I love the book. I share this book with everyone any chance I get and I can't wait to share it in my classroom with my students. There are several fun projects or assignments you could do with this book. One thing that I think would be fun and entertaining is trying to get students to expand their vocabulary and teach them to use a dictionary by finding the definitions to long and "silly" sounding words like the ones similar to this book. I think it would also be fun to have them write their own story about a dream they had that the BFG blew into their room one night. There are many fun and inventive things you can do with this book. I would enjoy reading it again now as a college student because I enjoy it so much! It is a good read and most children that I have ever read it to and from what I can remember this was one of the most loved books by everyone who read it.


http://www.amazon.com/My-Roald-Dahl-BFG/dp/0141322624/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252864268&sr=8-1

Alex Nabolotny's Favorite Children's Book

When I was in third grade I read the book Mr. Popper's Penguins and it instantly became my favorite book. I remember it so vividly because I just really enjoyed the creativity of the author's imagination. It is a really fun story to have children read.

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater is a story about an extremely poor family who live in a small town. Mr. Popper paints houses for a living and is always dreaming of great adventures. He lives vicariously through a man known as Admiral Drake who is a great explorer. Mr. Popper constantly writes letters to Admiral Drake and one day one of his letters was recognized and Admiral Drake announces on his radio show that he is going to send Mr. Popper a surprise. That surprise turns out to be a penguin named "Captain Cook" and the Popper family is ecstatic. However, due to the new climate and lack of other penguins Captain Cook becomes lonely and sad. In order to save their penguin the Popper's ask the local aquarium if they can send over one of their penguins, and they do. This new penguin is a female named Greta, and together Greta and Captain Cook create their own penguin family. However, due to the fact that the Popper's had to customize their entire house to accommodate the penguins, they become severely in debt. In order to save their family's finances Mr. Popper puts the new penguin family into a circus act and they travel all over the United States performing. Ultimately Mr. Popper realizes the penguins are not happy in show business and has to let them go back to their natural habitat in the Arctic.

I really enjoyed this book as a kid, and still do today because it is such a fun read. It is perfect for third graders because it is a chapter book, but still has some pictures, so it is not a terribly hard read. I think the way that I would incorporate this book into my classroom would be to have the book coincide with a science unit on the arctic wildlife. It would be a good way to connect the two subjects. I might have the students make a report on the different types of penguins in the world and connect it to the story of Mr. Popper's Penguins by making a diorama of their favorite scene in the story. I think that students are able to learn more about a topic when they are interested and if they are able to make their own connections with the topic.

This book can be purchased at:

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Poppers-Penguins-Richard-Atwater/dp/0316058424

This book is about the first day that Franklin attends school. Franklin is very excited to attend school, he is looking forward to seeing all of his friends, but a little bit nervous about meeting his teacher for the first time. Franklin becomes less nervous when he gets on the bus and sees all of his friends and how excited they are to go to school. He is confused about what activities and problems he is going to have to do in school. I really enjoy this book, because it is the way a lot of children feel on their first day. I also like this book, because I love animals and all the characters in this book are animals. I also like this book because of the pictures that are on the pages which are very detailed. I also like this book, because when I first attended school this was one of the first books my teachers read to me; and now my mom is a teacher and this is one of the first books she reads to her students. I would use this book in my classroom to show how important friendships with your other classmates are. I would do a lesson on friendship and have the students each pick a friend in the class and have them write two sentences about that person. The students would then get to trace their partner and then we could hang the drawings on the wall with the two sentences inside the tracing. Another way I would incorporate this book into my classroom would be to discuss the different types of animals. This book has a lot of different animals in it; by discussing the different animals you could have your students divide the animals up into different groups. Overall I think this is a very good book for children, because it has animals in it which children love and also discusses the feelings of the first day of school; and how all the characters feel which relates to how children feel on their first day. http://www.borders.com/online/store/SearchResults?keyword=Franklin+Goes+To+School&type=1&simple=1