The Araboollies of Liberty Street

The Araboolies of Liberty Street

By: Sam Swope 

Illustrated by: Barry Root
Grades: 2-5

Liberty Street is a suburban neighborhood with all white houses.  There is a general and his wife who live on the street and despise happiness.  The two of them are constantly treating to call the army when they see fun.  One day, the Araboolies came into town.  The Araboolies are a very large family who is all about having fun.  The general tries to stop them from having fun but they do not stop because they do not understand the language. 

Theme: Through colorful pages, students will learn that they do not need to conform to be like others; they need to be proud of who they are.

About the Author:  
Sam Swope started off by working as a props man before he started to write for both children and adults.  He won the 2006 James Thurber Fellowship for children's writers.  He helped find the website chapbooks.com which make it easy for teachers to inexpensively publish their students work into books but the website ended up failing and is no long around. 

Pre-Reading Activities:

What do you think this book is about?  Who do you think the Araboolies are and what do you notice about them from the cover?

Post Reading Activities:
Students will pair up with another student in the class and interview them.  After the interview, each student will present on their partner.  Students will point out what is special about their partner and what is something about them that is not like anybody else.

A Day's Work

A Day's Work

By: Eve Bunting

Illustrated by: Ronald Himler

A Day's Work is about a young boy, Francisco, and his grandfather.  His grandfather recently came over from Mexico to California to live with Francisco and his mother.  On a Saturday, Francisco decided to help his grandfather get a job for the day, since he grand father new no English.  A man came looking for a gardener and although Francisco's grandfather knew nothing about gardening, Francisco said he did.  The two of them got the job and worked all day in the sun.  At the end, they found out that they pulled the plants instead of the weeds and were caught in a lie.  This is a great book to learn about a new culture.

Theme:  Through Francisco's lie to better himself, students will learn that even though sometimes lying can help them, it will end up having consequences later.

About the Author:  

Eve Bunting was born in Ireland and came over to America in 1958.  Since Bunting was interesting in a variety of things and wanted to share this information, she decided to do this by writing children's books.  She has since written more than a 100 books for children. 

Pre-Reading Activities:
Discuss different types of jobs and explore a variety of Spanish words.  Also, it is important to talk about immigration and what it is.  

Post Reading Activities:
Students will discuss and compile a piece about a time that they lied to help themselves or someone else.  They will talk about the problems it may have caused and why they decided to lie in the first place. 

Here Are My Hands

Here Are My Hands

By: Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault

Illustrated By: Ted Rand

Ages: 2-6

Here Are My Hands is a rhyming book about body parts and what they are used for.  This is a fun and colorful book that is great for young students who are learning about their bodies.

Theme: Students learn about different things to do with a variety of body parts.

About the Author:  
Bill Martin Jr.  wrote children's books for over 60 years.  He was a well known writer who wrote books such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  Martin was noted as one of America's best known authors. 
John Archambault writes in the form or poetry of song.  One of his best known books is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  Since the third grade he knew he wanted to be a writer and through the inspiration of one of his teachers and the book Charlotte's Web, he lived out his dream.

Pre-Reading Activities:

Students should brainstorm all the things that they use their hands for. 

Post Reading Activities:
Students can work together to think of a variety of things they do with each body part and act it out.  Older students can create their own book. 

Mostly Monty

Mostly Monty

By: Johanna Hurwitz

Illustrated by: Anik McGrory
Ages: 6-9 

Monty is a first grade boy who struggles with asthma.  While reading this book, children will realize that even though children may have asthma (or other problems) and not be able to do certain things, there is a lot that they can do.  Monty tells his story and while doing so, the reader forgets that Monty has asthma which ultimately shows the reader that while it is something that must be monitored, it is something that does not stop you from living your life and being you.

Theme:  Through Monty learning to be proud of himself, readers will learn to be proud of themselves, flaws and all.

About the Author:  
Johanna Hurwitz has been interested in books since as long as she remembers.  She was always writing books.   She went to Queens College and got a Master’s Degree in Library Science from Columbia University.  She worked as a librarian and finally wrote her first book about her children.  Hurwitz is now a grandmother who gets inspiration and ideas from her family members.

Pre-Reading Activities:
What is asthma?
The teacher should also show students an inhaler and discuss difficult language that is used throughout the book.
 

Post Reading Activities:
Students can write a piece about something that they worry about.  This is a great activity for the beginning of the year so that teachers can possible learn new information about their students which they may not have wanted to share in a different way.

Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia

Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia
By: Sy Montgomery
Photographs by: Nic Bishop 
Grades: 5-8
 

Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia is a non-fiction piece revolving around snow leopards and their life in Mongolia.  This book is not only about snow leopards but also about the team that went on a search for these wonderful creatures.  Snow leopards are hard to find because they blend in with their surrounds which ultimately makes this search that much more challenging. Sy Montomery and Nic Bishop take you on the journey with the team through word and amazing pictures while sharing interesting facts about the snow leopards throughout the book.

Theme:Students will learn about snow leopards and the science behind how scientists look for these animals.

About the Author:

Sy Montgomery is extremely interested in nature who writes for both children and adults.  Many of which have won awards.  Most of what she writes about is based on her experiences and travels around the world.

Pre-Reading Activities:

The teacher will discuss what non-fiction books are so that students understand that what they are reading is true information.

Post Reading Activities:  
This book should be read in parts and discussed after stopping.  Students should take notes on what they learn from the book.  
This book can be done in literature cycles so that different groups have different books.  When each group is done, they will put together a presentation and share the information that the learned with the rest of the class.

Twimericks: The Book of Tongue-Twisting Limericks

Twimericks: The Book of Tongue-Twisting Limericks

By: Lou Brooks
Ages: 9-12

"A twimerick is a limerick and a tongue twister all rolled into one (xii)."  This book is filled with challenging twimericks for students to read and try to read as fast as they can.  Lou Brooks provides the reader with clear definitions of limericks, tongue twisters, and twimericks so that there is no confusion.  This collection of poems will get students thinking about poetry in a positive way as well as get them thinking about their own poetry.

Theme:  Students will learn about poetry (limericks) through challenging themselves with tongue twisters.

About the Author:  
Lou Brooks has been illustrating for a long time.  When he came up with the idea to write twimericks, he was simple writing.  Lou Brooks had not come up with the title and did not know that it would end up being a book.  By publishing this book, Brooks wanted to show the world that poetry is fun.

Pre-Reading Activities:
Ask students: What do you think a twimerick is?  What is a tongue twister?  What is a limerick? 
After these discussions, the teacher should introduce limericks and their individual qualities.

Post Reading Activities:
Have students create their own limerick and challenge them to by having them make it a twimerick.  These can all be compiled to make a class book.  

Let it Snow

Let it Snow

By: Maryann Cocca-Leffler

Ages: 3-6

Siblings see the first snow and then experience the joys of winter.  Students will learn all that they can do in the cold snowing weather before it turns to spring.  The pictures are interesting and the text is written in an interesting format instead of simply across the page.

Theme: Students start learning about the seasons when they hear these students experiences through winter. 

About the Author:
Maryann Cocca-Leffer grew up in Everett, Massachusetts with four other siblings.  She was very interested in art which ultimately got her into the Massachusetts College of Art.  Cocca-Leffer ended up using part of her parents basement as her first studio as she dreamed about illustrating children's books.  Her dream finally came drew in 1981 and she has been illustrating and writing ever since. 

Pre-Reading Activities:
Students should be introduced to the seasons and discuss what each season looks like.
The teacher can also read Let it Fall by Maryann Cocca-Leffer which discusses fall leading into winter.

Post Reading Activities:

Students will discuss the many activities that they like to do in winter.  After they do this, they can complete a writing piece about their favorite winter activity.