Book Talk #10

 

A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women

Written by: Lynne Cheney

Illustrated by: Robin Preiss Glasser

            This book was written by Dick Cheney's Wife, Lynne Cheney in 2003. It is an alphabet book that discusses a prominent female historical figure with each letter. Each page is covered with pictures and little known facts about each historical figure. The book discusses well-known women such as, Emily Dickinson, Harriet Tubman, Sandra Day O'Connor and of course, Abigail Adams.

            Some letters are not used for people, but for movements in American history. The letter "P" stands for performers. The page opens up like a folder with pictures of classic famous female singers and actresses that led the way for many women in the entertainment business today. The letter "T" stand for trailblazers; women who changed "the role of a women" in American history. In the back of the book there is a glossary that covers each female figure that was discussed in the book and provides more information.

            A is for Abigail is full of information that can be used in an elementary or middle school lesson about women's history. I, myself, learned a lot by reading this book. It gives young girls an idea of truly how far women have come in American history. It can also introduce young girls to professions that might interest them when they get older. This is my favorite book talk story I have chosen and is definitely a book I will have in my future classroom.

Book Talk #9

Corduroy

 

Written and Illustrated by Don Freeman

A teddy bear named Corduroy, lives in a department store and is waiting to find a home. One day, a little girl comes into the store and tells her mother she wants to buy Corduroy, but her mother says no because Corduroy looks worn and is missing a button on his overalls. After they leave, Corduroy decides he wants to better "sell himself" and searches the store to find his missing button. He travels to the bedding department and find a button on a mattress that would fit perfectly onto his overalls. A security guard in the store finds Corduroy and takes him back to the children's section. The next day, the little girl comes back to the department store with her own money and buys Corduroy. Corduroy is so happy he finally has a home.

This is a classic story of a stuffed animal coming to life in the middle of the night. Instead of Corduroy sulking around that he does not have a home, he makes the most of it by making himself look new. The little girl who buys Corduroy, does not care either way, she likes Corduroy just as he is, old or new. She sews his button back on anyway, just so Corduroy will feel comfortable. I think this is a great book for a read aloud in a Kindergarten classroom.

Book Talk #8

 

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Written by B. G. Hennessy

Illustrated by Boris Kulikov

The Boy Who Cried Wolf is a story about a young shepherd boy who told one too many lies. The story begins with the shepherd boy feeling very bored. All he did all day was sit in his pasture and watch his sheep. They would eat and "Baaaa!" and the boy who just sit around hoping his friends would come by. One day, he decides to run into town and tell everyone that a wolf is after his sheep. The townspeople run to the pasture to find the wolf and keep it away. The boy thinks this is funny and spends the rest of his day with one of his friends in the pasture.

The next day, the boy is bored and alone again, so he runs into town saying there are two wolves after his sheep. The townspeople are hesitant, yet, they go looking for the wolves again, but the wolves are no where to be found. The shepherd boy's friend hangs out in the pasture again, wondering if the shepherd boy was telling the truth or not. The third day, the shepherd boy goes to the pasture and there are actually three wolves after his sheep. He runs to tell the townspeople but no one believes him. So, the boy has to chase away the wolves himself and try to find his sheep all alone.

Since the shepherd boy lied too many times about wolves in the pasture, no one believed him when he was telling the truth. The is a great lesson for students of all ages. It teaches students that "honesty is the best policy". This book could easily be used in a lesson in younger grades to get students thinking about what they lie about and the consequences that come from lying. The language of the book is very theatrical with  large, vivid illustrations. It is a great read aloud story.

Book Talk #7

The Hat by Jan Brett

 

 



The story begins with girl named Lisa who lives on a farm. One day cool, winter day, Lisa takes her woolen clothes out to dry. While hanging clothes on the line, the wind picks up and blows one of her stockings away. In the woods behind her house, a hedgehog named Hedgie finds Lisa's stocking and it gets stuck on his needles, so he decides to wear it as a hat. The whole day Hedgie walks around with his new hat while running into all  the animals on the farm, such as, the chicken, the cat, the dogs, the pigs and the pony. Each animal asks Hedgie a different question about his hat. "What is that on your head, Hedgie?" "Don't you know it makes you look silly?", said the animals. Hedgie, would reply by saying he had the hat to keep himself warm, dry and cozy.

By the end of the day, Hedgie had been tired of everyone asking about his hat and making fun of him that he decides to go back to his den. Lisa catches up to him and says, "Silly hedgehog, don't you know animals don't wear clothes?". She takes her stocking and heads back to her house. When she gets there, she finds that all of the animals had taken a piece of her woolen clothing to wear a hat. She begins to chase after them to get all her clothes back. Hedgie notices all the ruckus going on and says, "How silly they look, don't they know that animals should never wear clothes?".

 

I found The Hat to be a cute, fun easy read. I think it would be great for a read aloud because the illustrations look classic and the story is silly and light-hearted. Each page has a border that hints to what the next page is going to discuss, which I find to be useful. It's also a good story to read to children in a classroom around winter time because it does not discuss Christmas or any religion.

 



Book Talk #6

Written by Jorge Argueta

Illustrated by Margarita Sada

 

 



Guacamole is a story about a little girl who is making guacamole for her family. The story is in English and Spanish, every page has both languages which is great for bilingual students or students trying to learn either Spanish or English. The book gives instructions on how to make guacamole. The ingredients are: four avocados, two limes, salt and cilantro. The little girl gives detail of how to go through each step and have fun with it.

              She first puts on her apron, grabs her favorite bowl, then begins to cook. She cuts the avocados in half and saves the skin and pit inside each of them to plant in the yard. The pit will eventually grow into an avocado tree. She then smashes the avocados together until they are smooth and adds the salt, cilantro and lime. The little girl uses rich vocabulary to describe her experience while cooking. She pretends the cilantro is a tree and says, "tear the leaves off your tree one by one, and then add them to your avocado". She uses imagery to draw the reader in. She makes cooking a fun activity instead of a chore. When the guacamole is done, she has a picnic outside with her family with tortillas and beans and of course, guacamole.

              The illustrator used a lot of green to show the healthiness of the recipe. She also used a lot imagination. The little girl and her family live in an avocado shaped house with bright bold colors all around. While cooking, the little girl and her siblings are shrunk down; sliding down the avocados as if they are at a playground  and sitting in the sink and getting wet while cleaning the cilantro. The illustrator made the experience of following a recipe as fun as possible.

              This story would be great for children of any ethnicity to learn how to follow a recipe. I would use this in a lesson by reading the story to the class then asking them to write their own detailed recipe of something they enjoy cooking. I would ask them to use enriched  vocabulary just like the little girl did. Afterwards, the students could share their recipe to the class, so the students would get to learn about food from different cultures and families.

Book Talk #5

Written by Mike Thaler

Illustrated by David Wiesner

 

             This is a story about a young owl named Owly and his mother. Owly is very curious and asks his mother many questions every nigh under the stars. He asks questions such as, How many stars are in the sky?, How high is the sky?, How many waves are in the ocean? and How deep is the ocean?. After Owly asks these questions, his mother replies, "There are many stars in the sky, the sky is very high, there are many waves in the ocean and the ocean is very deep". Owly would ask his mother, "No, how many? how high? or, how deep?". His mother would tell Owly to give find out for himself.

            Owly spent many nights sitting up and counting hundreds of waves and stars. He even spent a night flying as high as he could. Every morning he would return and his mother would ask if his question was answered. He would reply, "there are too many stars in the sky to count, too many waves to count, the ocean was too deep to swim and the sky was so high he couldn't reach the top".

            Owly spent the next night thinking about the stars, the waves, the ocean and the sky and all that he had learned from his mother. The next morning, Owly tells his mother he loves her. She asks, "how much?" He says, "I love you as much as the sky is high and the ocean is deep". The mother hugs Owly, and he asks, "How many more hugs are you going to give me?" She replies, "As many as there are waves in the ocean and stars in the sky".

            In the end, Owly thought that his mother had taught him about the sky and the ocean; but in truth, he learned all on his own. The moral of the story was to not just ask questions, but find your own answers, don't just believe what you hear. This story is great for younger grades who are constantly curious and asking questions. There is no better way to find answers than to find them on your own. I found this story to be heartwarming and a sweet portrayal of a mother/son relationship.

 



Book Talk #4

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

 

 

The book I chose this week is a story about a little girl whose parents named her Chrysanthemum. She absolutely loved her name, she would write it everywhere she went and loved when people called her name. However, when kindergarten started, she no longer liked her name as much. Every student in class had short names and Chrysanthemum's was too large to fit on her name tag. The kids at school, especially the mean girl Victoria, would make fun of Chrysanthemum for having such a "strange" name. When she came home and told her parents what happened, they told Chrysanthemum she had a beautiful name and the kids at school were wrong. She was happy until the next day when she was teased again. Victoria and some girls acted as if she was a flower and suggested to "pick her" or "smell her".
 

 

When Chrysanthemum went to bed that night she had a dream she was a flower and Victoria was picking out her pedals. Chrysanthemum was getting tired of being picked on every day; she wished her name was something simple, like Jane.
 

The next day at school they had music class with Mrs. Twinkle. Everyone loved this teacher, she was nice, pregnant and had a pretty singing voice. In class, Mrs. Twinkle assigned roles for each student for the school musical. Chrysanthemum was given the part as a daisy. Victoria and the other girls laughed at her for playing a flower in the play, just like her name. Mrs. Twinkle told the girls she thought Chrysanthemum was a beautiful name and that she might even give that name to her unborn baby (which she later did). Mrs. Twinkle had a flower first name as well, Delphinium. Victoria and the girls decided to assign flower names to themselves also, to be interesting like Mrs. Twinkle.  Chrysanthemum  was so happy to know Mrs. Twinkle also had a flower name and she no longer felt embarrassed of her name. At the end of the book it states, " Chrysanthemum did not think her name was absolutely perfect. She knew it!".
 

Chrysanthemum overcomes obstacles in this story. She is faced with bullying/teasing by classmates and they shake her confidence and change her opinion of herself. It wasn't until someone,  someone other than her parents, told her that her name was great, that she realized it was great, no matter what anyone said. She loved her name and that is all that mattered. I was able to relate to this book because it is easy to let someones opinion hinder your own, but it is important to stick to what you believe in, regardless of what anyone thinks.
 

The story gives a great example of handling issues at a young age and could be beneficial in a younger grade classroom where students are easily influenced by  other opinions and are expanding their identity and beliefs.

Book Talk #3

Written by Chris Van Allsburg

 

 

The Polar Express is story about a young boy's journey the night of Christmas Eve. The boy wakes up in the middle of the night to the sound of a train outside his house. He goes on the train with several other children and finds that it leads to the North Pole. When the train gets there, the boy is chosen by Santa to receive the first gift of Christmas. The boy sits on Santa's lap and asks for a silver bell from the sleigh, Santa gives it to him; then flies off to give presents to other children all over the world. When the boy gets back on the train he realizes there is a hole in his robe pocket and that his silver bell has been lost. He's very sad the whole ride home.
 

Christmas morning, the boy and his sister, Sarah, open presents and he finds a little red box with a note and his silver bell inside. The note reads, "Found this on the seat of my sleigh. Fix that whole in your pocket. - Mr. C". The boy then shook the silver bell but neither of his parents could hear the bell ring; only him and his sister could hear it.
 

"At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear is sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe". This story is a great example of the magic of Christmas. It shows the importance of having faith in not just Christmas, but in anything. The illustrations are dark and mysterious, yet classic looking at the same time. This is a great book for young children who believe in Santa Claus or even older children who do not.
 

The Polar Express could not be read in many classrooms because not all students celebrate Christmas, however, it could always be recommended to students who do. I personally love this story and think it is wonderfully put together.

Book Talk #2

A Sick Day for Amos McGee

Written by Philip C. Stead

Illustrated by Erin E. Stead
 

              This children's book is a 2011 Caldecott award winner and also earned "Best Book Review" in the New York Times. It is a story about an old man named Amos McGee. Amos is a zookeeper; every day he wakes up, gets dressed and takes the city bus to the zoo to spend time with the animals who he considers his friends. He plays chess with the elephant, races the tortoise, sits with the penguin, offers a handkerchief to the rhinoceros and reads stories to the owl.
 

              Amos wakes up one day with a cold and realizes he cannot come into work. The animals are all confused and sad that Amos isn't at the zoo so they decide to take the city bus and visit him at home. Amos is thrilled his friends came to visit. He proceeds to do all his daily activities with each of his friends while they all take care of him. They drank tea, read a bedtime story and all fell asleep in Amos's bedroom.
 

              The illustrations  in the book are beautiful. The writer and illustrator of the book are husband and wife and worked well together in the making of A Sick Day for Amos McGee. The illustrator used pencil to keep a black and white theme but throws in hints of color on each page. The drawings are very detailed, yet simple. The author uses adult language such as referring to the turtle as a tortoise and using words such as "pawns" and "amble". It is a wonderful book to encourage the broadening of a child's vocabulary. It is written with the intention of an adult reading to a child. It is not a story a child would read on their own, especially if they were just learning how to read.
 

              This book is a  great example of compassion, consideration and friendship for children. It portrays  friendship working "both ways" and shows that friendship is never one-sided. It expresses the importance of appreciating one another's help and company. It is a lovely, heartwarming story and I would highly recommend it.

Book Talk #1

The Nancy Drew Notebooks - The Lost Locket by Carolyn Keene is a story about an argument between Nancy Drew's two best friends. Nancy's friend Bess trusted her other friend George (Georgia) to keep her locket safe during recess while she jumped rope. George put the locket in her backpack. After recess, Bess asked for her locket back but George couldn't find it anywhere, the locket in her backpack was replaced with a peanut butter, mustard, ketchup and relish sandwich. Bess was upset because her aunt gave her this special locket. She was convinced someone stole it.


Bess then ripped up a newspaper article of George's soccer team to get back at her. Bess told Nancy Drew what happened and Nancy decides to help solve the mystery of Bess' lost locket not only to help, but to also reunite her friends. Nancy begins to make a list of suspects and goes through each person trying to find out where they were at recess and what they ate for lunch, in case they just so happen to eat peanut butter, mustard, ketchup and relish sandwiches.


Days go by and Nancy still can't find out who stole the locket. The girls go on a field trip the next Monday and at lunch a student from a table across yells out "Nancy, I think you have my lunch". Nancy trades lunches with her and then realizes maybe the same thing happened with George's backpack. They go back to the school bus and find out that George's backpack was mixed up with another students. When they trade back their backpacks, George find the locket right where she left it.The mystery was solved.


'Today I solved another mystery- the Case of the Lost Locket. And I helped Bess get her locket back. But the best thing about being a detective is that you can help people find things they lose- even if the thing they lose is a friend." says Nancy Drew. The meaning behind this story was meant to first, teach children that you can't assume the worst. Sometimes the answer is right in front of you. Second, that you can't look for someone else to blame, think of what mistake you might have made first before accusing others. Third, that friendship is more important than an object, at the end of the day, you have to remember what matters most.


I relate to this story even at twenty years old, by remembering that a conflict with a friend isn't worth the loss of a friendship. This book is great for children who are beginning to read chapter books. It is short, to the point and has a great message.