Blake

. Beginner: 1. Title: Giant John Author and Illustrations: Arnold Lobel a. This book pulls in a reader from a mile away as well as Giant John. We meet him in the woods which reach only a hair past his hip and he is great friends with fairies who play music for him. One night he comes home to his Giant Mother sobbing because they are out of food. John decides to go out and find some money to pay for food. The illustrations are wonderful and simple and he lives in a world where everyone is glad…until the fairies come and play him music he cannot resist dancing too. He steps on a dogs tail and destroys their castle. This would make an amazing children’s movie. I really showed how we should put effort towards restoration when things get messy rather than blame and argue. He finishes it by feeding his Mother. I would recommend this book to younger children growing up. 2. Title: Puddle Duck Author: Ruth Van Ness Blair a. “I will not go home until I find a puddle that is big enough to swim in everyday,” remarked Puddle Duck with fowl intentions in his mind. This wonderful tale by Ruth Van Ness Blair is fun and beautifully illustrated by Elizabeth Rice. This little duck loves Puddles but he wants more and he sets out for a huge pound for himself. The problems he encounters are funny, they include babies and horses. We find his friends missed him and they were worried, and in the end Puddle Duck decided not to leave his friends anymore. This book seemed like it discouraged chasing after dreams, or at least at a young age. I would recommend this book for Kindergarten or first grade. 3. Title: Just Open a Book Author: P.K. Hallinan a. “Just open a book and start to read through the world of adventure that’s waiting for you.” This book does a wonderful job of showing what all you can experience while reading. There are cameos to King Kong, Robin Hood, cavemen, Indians, dinosaurs, Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed and even Tarzan. This would be an excellent book to introduce writing about books and encourage the kids to read, even though many of these books are beyond their level. The writing in it is awesome, it seems hand drawn and so it adds a bit of creative juices to the reading of it. I would recommend ever children’s library has a copy of this book. 4. Title: Come to the Farm Author: Ruth Marjorie Tensen a. This book was written for students to learn how to read and what better way than with farm animals. The first two pages have twenty four animals on them and corresponding numbers that are a huge table of contents without any words. This was really confusing to me at first but now I think it could be really helpful to students when learning parts of a book. The story is filled with animals narrating their pictures and wonderful black and white photos. The only critique I would make sure to mention is on the 34th page when the book ends it spells good bye “Good-by, children. It was fun to have you ride on me. You saw all the animals. We are happy you came to the farm. Good-by.” Lastly it ends with a index where it ask what each animal was. It was the most interestingly put together book I have ever read. This was defiantly wrote for beginners. 5. Title: Little Toot Author and Illustrator: Hardie Gramatky a. “You’d think that Little Toot, belonging to such an important family, would have his mind on work. But no. Little Toot hated work.” This is a great a story about a child who isn’t your regular child, he is a tug boat. In his youthfulness he doesn’t want to do his job, and so he plays around and makes figure eights all over the river. Soon enough he is seen for what he is, useless to the other boats and they make fun of him. He goes off and stews and finally after seeing Big Toot and his harding working spirit he decides to be like his Dad and help. But like the boy who cried wolf no one believes him and he is turned down by every passing ship. You must read to see if things get better for him, but this story can teach some powerful lessons on being responsible and what to do in emergency situations. I would recommend it for younger students. 6. Title: My Apron Author and Illustrator: Eric Carle a. This is a true life story of the famous artist Eric Carle when he was a child and got a job working with his uncle. We now live in a time where children are often neglected and seen often as a burden, this story shows a loving uncle and his willingness to have his nephew work. His uncle is not a warm cozy man who often hugs but a hard working construction man who is polite. It shows the joys of working together and getting different tools to do the job. “At lunchtime my Uncle Adam and I sit down and eat and talk,” quoted a boy after a hard mornings work. Students will love the art and Carle’s visuals showing how to make the pictures. This a great medium to encourage students to help out family members. 7. Title: Who am I? Author and Illustrator: Normand Chartier a. Who am I? I go to Grace University. I live on a floor with only guys. I like to paint pictures. I bet you can’t guess who I am. ….Blake! This little golden book is just right for those who are learning greeting and tone of voice. It is filled with Sesame Street Characters and they all bring their very own personas into the book. We meet: Ernie, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, the Count, Grover, Big Bird and Snuffle-upagus. With smaller children when reading through it again it could be great for them to yell out the name of the person. The characters are really vibrant and it has great illustrations, everyone is unique in the story. 8. Title: The Littlest Rabbit Author: Robert Kraus a. The book was a great read for smaller children. Our main character is the littlest rabbit and he is so small compared to everyone and everything and he even gets bullied by the other bunnies. Everyone can associate with the poor little guy because we have all grown up at some point and experienced the feeling where we just are not enough. He deeply desires to grow up and he prays every night and as the book progresses we see him grow into a bigger bunny and he is so happy. The mean rabbits from before don’t realize how big he is and he punches and kicks the other bunnies, woo! The book was written a long time ago but it really is a “growing up book”. It also had great illustrations that were very basic, let this book bounce onto your bookshelf. 9. Title: Clifford: Four Favorite Stories Author: Norman Bridwell a. Everyone knows Clifford…..but does everyone know where he came from? Well these four favorite stories of Clifford present him as a small red puppy, a big red dog, a happy birthday pouch and a famous Hollywood actor. I found the first story to be my favorite because it showed how Clifford was actually the runt of his litter and was expected to die. Lil Emily Elizabeth makes a wish that he can be a big dog and survive and guess what? Clifford begins to grow and grow and then uncontrollably grow. The neighbors cannot live with a monstrous dog in their midst and he is moved to the farm. Where Emily and him later reunite and it’s a happy story. The next story presents the pros and cons of a huge dog. The birthday story is also hilarious in the fact that out of all Clifford’s presents it’s just the company of his friends that he really wants. The last story is of him becoming famous and going to Hollywood, where he receives all the attention he could ever want, but he would rather be home with Emily. All the stories presented lessons that were awesome and the artwork was wonderful. The thing I found funny was the changes I saw in reader ability, the first story would be the hardest I imagine and the rest fairly simple.

10. Title: No Dogs Allowed, Jonathan! Author: Mary Blount Christian Illustrator: Don Madden a. Every kids hears that dreaded two letter word and part of them just doesn’t want to follow, that word is “NO.” Jonathan meets an unexpected new friend……a big…..burly….shaggy….Mongrel that is super lovable. He is found with a note on him, “HIS NAME IS WOODROW. PLEASE TAKE GOOD CARE OF HIM (SIGNED) EX-OWNER.” Jonathan decides to take him in as his pet with the only problem being he lives in an apartment, there are no dogs allowed in the building. It is a funny the different ways in which the two try and sneak and finally succeed. However, we soon learn why dogs are not allowed. The story has an ending that reminds children that we need to follow the rules and to do so we need to be creative sometimes. Great discussion opener and rule reinforcer.

11. Title: Spooky Tricks Author: Rose Wyler and Gerald Ames Illustrator: Talivaldis Stubis a. “You have an extra finger floating around in the air. How do you know? Hold your two fingers a little in front of your eyes. Look past them toward the wall. What do you see?” This book has no story yet it continues to entertain the reader with its practical applications. Try the trick above it works, and there are dozens of others that will inspire kids to try and be “spooky”. I feel as though this is an amazing book to check comprehension, because the reader will be able to perform the tricks if they read it in detail. The pictures are really helpful to with following out the different tricks. Great read for hands on kinesthetic learners.

12. Title: Journey Cake, Ho! Author: Ruth Sawyer Illustrator: Robert McCloskey a. This book is from 1953 and it looks like it was dug up from the past, a much simpler time. This book was nice because it has few characters and each of the is characterized by one characteristic. There is an old woman named Merry and she is nice and rather old. There is an old man named Grumble who works the fields and he has a look of exhaustion. Then you have Johnny our main character who is a //bound-out boy// key character in our book. All is well and all ends up going wrong, the animals are eaten or run off. Food is a major problem and the Man and Woman must let Johnny leave and so they put all his possessions into a bag and send him off with tears and a journey cake. He hits the road. The story is exciting though because he drops the cake and it rolls away and he chases it. Then about every animal in the nearby area follows after to eat this tasty rolling morsel. The story is witting in how a crow sits atop the mountain and you are filled with joy when you realize the ending. Old but Good read, kids may not take to it easily.

13. Title: A Fox Got my Socks Author: Hilda Offen a. It’s a blustery day and the laundry has gotten away! If you want a marvelous book to read with your very young child, I would say toddlers to preschooler, then this one is great with the rhymes it has. You watch as the laundry is brought in by all types of animals and their names rhyme with the clothing they are wearing. I personally enjoyed the Goat has my coat and how funny the animals looked in the clothing made for humans. This book could be applied to bigger situation but I would find that rare. Good colorful book and fun to read.

14. Title: Oh, How I wish I could read! Author: John Gile Illustrator: Frank Fiorello a. Not being able to read can land you in some ruff situations, our character in the book finds this out quickly. He is having a dream where he can’t read any signs….any signs! This book is primarily for younger listeners and readers, but for that rowdy class that just doesn’t want to listen it could be the cure. We see this boy step in wet cement, sit on fresh paint, stumble through poison ivy and walk into traffic. This story is a good reminder that signs are for our safety and betterment, which can often be looked over. Ignoring rules can land us some painful consequences that we really don’t want and they book really brings it back by having it all be a dream and guess what? The boys loves reading now, he is overjoyed. 15. Title: Mister Magoo Author: Crosby Newell Illustrator: Ed Nofziger a. Let me preface this review by saying that I would never, I repeat never let old blind Mister Magoo watch my child. It is a fairly older book and in its antiquity you can tell that it was meant for a different audience. The book starts with Magoo going to a friend’s house to babysit their child. He tries to read the daily “cat” paper, watch television in a mirror and rock a bag of flour like a cold child. It comes to the point where Magoo believes he has lost the child if not worse and ironically the parents show up at this point oblivious to Magoo’s seeing problem. The baby was fine the whole time so magoo says, “I’ll say nothing to his parents, now that everything has turned out so well.” So the book contains some good humor in his bumbling but if taken literally it could be a scary story. Magoo!!!

16. Title: The Velveteen Rabbit Author: Margery Williams Illustrator: Florence Graham a. Its title is actually The Velveteen Rabbit //or How Toys Become Real// and I would say that it is a great allusion to the work that God can do in any individual. Our Character, Rabbit we will call him, is lovable and we connect and feel pain and joy as he becomes a favorite heirloom. At first he is tossed aside and he feels loneliness because all the other toys don’t like him except for one who is an old horse. We watch the rabbit grow ragged when he becomes the boy’s choice toy and they have a mutual love for each other. A historical aspect of the story shines through when the boy gets the fever and so all his possessions have to be burnt…which includes our beloved rabbit. Read and find out what happens to him, it is a story the kids will love if they listen to it. Very well put together and plain good story.

17. Title: Chicken Little Author and Illustrator: Barry Zaid a. This book has a bad ending…..or at least a surprising ending. Many people have heard mention of the story chicken little, “The sky is falling”, but do we remember how the story goes? Onslaughts of characters are pulled in by its story: //Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Daddles, Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey.// The book is constructed in an ingenious manner; there a little parts of the page that grow with every new character, very cool. The last character we meet is a smart enough to see the characters gullibly heading to the castle and directs them down his little hole, //Foxy Loxy.// I really do like this story because it doesn’t have a happy ending which means it was a story written to warn children of disobedience or being unwise. This story wouldn’t appeal to older students but has a good lesson and the final lines bring it too light, “And they never came out again.

18. Title: The Monstrous Glisson Glop Author: Diane Redfield Massie a. “If I eat you, I’ll be sorry. And I’ve known myself to cry, since I’m rather sentimental, though I really don’t know why.” Swimming below the imaginations of little boys Glisson Glop brings a character who has feelings and isn’t just a scary mean monster. He eats lantern fish and blue electric eels and you can just imagine him slurping down those pretty glowing fish. However, we see there are consequences to his actions that he couldn’t have wished. He is left alone in the dark, which most young children and himself dislike and so he just wishes for more lantern fish that he wouldn’t eat. It really shows how one can be held to a conviction or understanding which breaks their heart when they cannot keep it. This book could be used to talk about natural resources, being conscious of what we eat and even an adult group possibly (opening up a discussion about struggles). Great read.

19. Title: The Grouchy Ladybug Author: Eric Carle a. Its stinks to be grouchy, but worse to be a grouchy ladybug who doesn’t get along. Our story starts with a leaf with aphids and two lady bugs. The one nice, the other grouchy and because one wouldn’t share he in an angry flare flew away from there. He started to take on creatures asking them if they would fight, even though he was small he was full of might, yet a ladybug and a lobster are no match. A ladybug and a Hyena is no match and a Ladybug and a Whale is defiantly not a match. The story loves to tie in different creatures and is highly repetitive making it a good read for young listeners. He also had a clock that follows the time of the day; my favorite part was when it took the Lady bug a long time to get to the end of the whale. In the end he met back up with what he would now find his friend, being grouchy only made him act foolish and it also took up his whole day. It’s a great story to talk about attitude with the students. 20. Title: The Teachers from the Black Lagoon Author: Mike Thaler Illustrator: Jared Lee a. “This is a whole boy…This is a half a boy. Now you’ve had fractions.” Every child is petrified of that unknown teacher everyone seems to be scared of and Mike Thaler captures this excellently in his series of funny and comical books. The copy that I picked up was one containing four of his writings: //The teacher, Principle, Gym teacher and Librarian from the Black Lagoon.// He writes in a way that is easy to understand and that can easily be read by 3rd grade and up. He makes so many plays on words it’s a hoot, the gym teacher is a said to be from the State Penn but in the end his sweater says Penn State. Lastly, Jared Lee’s illustrations are captivating as every child says, “wait I didn’t see it (because they want to look at it longer.) Great read, very funny. 21. Title: White Rabbit’s Color Book Author: Alan Baker a. White Rabbit likes to play in the paint and become a not so white rabbit. This is a wonderful children’s book where they discover the mixing of colors. The rabbit is just precious as we see him jumping from each paint bucket and landing himself a new color. He explains how he feels about the colors and then washes himself off. My favorite was when he turned green, which would have made a wonderful camouflage in the summer. I would recommend this story to any beginning reader, because of its simple language and wonder art concepts. 22. Title: There’s An Alligator Under My Bed Author: Mercer Mayer a. Have you ever been scared that something is under your bed? Well this little boy is sure there is an alligator down there and he aims to solve his problem tonight. Mom and Dad won’t believe him till he eaten and so he decides to lure the gator with food throughout the house and to the garage. The brave little boy locks him in the garage and leaves a not for Dad warning him of the danger inside. This was a childhood favorite of mine and I would recommend it to growing boys everywhere. Intermediate: 23. Title: The Fish Creek Mystery Author: Beatrice S. Smith Illustrator: G. Overlie a. In a day and age where students want to be scared, reality can do the trick. As a child have you ever been at a house where something doesn’t seem right? In our story our characters are going to a friend’s house to fish, but he isn’t there to give them permission. They assume it is okay for them to go and it ends up being a lucky yet frightening experience. I really enjoyed this book in how it had pictures to go alongside the text which was a good length for post-emergent readers. It also had tension as you try to think through what you would do in the situation. Finding a robber can be a scary thing especially for children so this is a good read for the kids who wouldn’t normally enjoy children’s stories. 24. Title: Bunnicula Author: Deborah and James Howe Illustrator: Alan Daniel a. “’Okay,’ he said, ‘this is it. I’m sorry I had to go this far, but if they’d listened, this wouldn’t have been necessary.’ He dragged the steak across the floor and laid it across the inert bunny. Then with his paws, he began to hit the steak.” What would you do if your family adopted a rabbit that was a vampire? This book is written from the perspective of Harold the lovable dog and you will find yourself laughing throughout the book, something he just doesn’t get. Then you have Chester who is a brilliant cat that believes bunnicula is a vampire and he aims to save everyone before it’s too late. It’s a charming tale with dozens of puns related to dogs and vampires. I love it. 25. Title: Alice in Wonderland Author: Lewis Carrol a. This book was crazy, even crazier than any edition portrayed in media I have seen before. The story was rather queer and a collaboration of intense non-sense. I was splendidly surprised by Carrol’s intriguing story that really served as a medium for far deeper meaning. The story began with our character Alice and she follows a time stricken rabbit down a hole. The hole ends up being a vast deep well that takes her to a nice room where she can not get out. We watch as she interacts with a bottle that shrinks her, a cake that grows her and a mouse that is frightened by her. The book at times transistions as if the world around her changed and all the sudden she is in a entirely different place. There was no talking door handle that I noticed. The concept of the book that I noticed the most was her changing in size constantly, every turn she either needed to be bigger or smaller and in the end her normal size proved to save her. I found myself very angry with Alice near the end where she is talking with the mock turtle, it is a very strange character that resembles a turtle with a cow head and tail. The turtle is going to tell its tale of who things came to be and that dog gone Alice asks questions that throw him off subject and we never learn. I was rather disappointed but it rang true to her character who was consistently asking questions and standing up against those who angrily would order to do things. Overall this was a great read and I would suggest reading for upper elementary and through high school because of its historical ties. p.s. The new Alice in wonderland movie doesn’t follow any of this except a few characters. 26. Title: Peter Pan (Intermediate Readers) Author: J.M. Barrie Illustrator: R.A. Torrey // a. // This story was absolutely amazing and also surprising; Peter Pan took me to a land I had never contemplated. In this original story by J.M. Barrie he doesn’t have the conventional world we live in now days to restrict his content. We meet a family with a real father and mother. The Mr. Darling grabs their nanny who is a dog by the leash and showing his authority in the family drags that dog outside to its new home. He isn’t portrayed as an evil or sinister man, like we meet later, but rather as an ignorant character. Peter Pan sneaks and in his attempt to leave has his //shadow// caught in the window, which is very humorous and delightfully intriguing. We watch as later Wendy and Peter develop a childish love, she sews his shadow back on and he gives her a //thimble,// and they begin their journey to the //second to the right and then straight on till morning// aka Neverland. I gasped when I read of Peter inquiring of John if he would like to **kill** a pirate who was innocently sleeping below. Tinkerbell also fails at murdering Wendy, she convinces the lost boys to shoot her down and they do. It brings us to a world of strife and imagination and what seems inconceivable. Read this book for a accurate depiction of the true story and read about the //little bird that has broken out of the egg.// // 27. // Title: Stuart Little Author E. B. White // a. // From the author of //Charlottes Web// comes a crazy mouse and his dynamic friends. The Littles are a family in New York City and their newest born boy is a 2 inch mouse and their lives are changed drastically. They take it as a great thing however, though he be a little furry creature he is family. We see Stuart go from helping the family to placing himself before the jaws of death, not just snowball the family cat. Stuart is a person of remarkable character, which sometimes works against him. He has a wonderful feathered friend named Margeleo who saves his tail and ultimately leads him to run away from home when she is chased off by the warning of cats. This would be a tuff book for younger students because Stuart doesn’t always handle things well and he is very selfish at times. The story ends abruptly as Stuart ends a conversation with an electrician and explains his plans to head north. I felt disappointed that it didn’t go the way I wanted, but maybe that was his point with the ending like that. // 28. // Title: Rip Van Winkle Author: Washington Irving // a. // How would you like to wake up with a huge grey beard? Rip Van Winkle is one of those guys who is just plain lazy and it drives everyone around him absolutely crazy. One day while on a journey to the mountains where he met some odd men playing bowling and drinking some delicious beer. Rip let his lips take a dip and before he knew it he was on the ground asleep. When he awoke he found a rusty gun and dog had apparently run. Many things had changed over his nap, his home now looked old and decrepit and the bar now had a new picture on the side, George Washington, by golly what had happened to King George? Rip finds himself being chased as others think he is a spy for England we find he had slept for around 20 years up in the mountains. He finds a woman and discovers his crazy happening and helps the town to remember who he is. He ends up staying with his daughter and continuing to live in the present. This is a great short story for 5th and up, it is a fun and historical tale. Advanced: 29. Title: Maus: My father bleeds History (young adult) Author: Art Spiegelman a. For a graphic novel, it is defiantly graphic. The story begins with a son visiting his father and inquiring him to hear his experience with the Nazi. The twist on this tale is that most of the characters if not all have tales, the Jewish people are mice and the Nazi’s Cats and the Polish are pigs. The father is not in the prime of his life and we watch in the story as he complains about virtually everything in his life. He begins his story with his love life and it gets extremely suggestive as the father talks about the first woman he slept with for several years before meeting his wife. I felt like was watching a movie my parents wouldn’t let me watch, it was just very adult in content. If the author removed the first section of the book it would have been much better. It goes into his experience in the war and how he was drafted and treated like dirt in the prisoner of war camps. It was a very explicit detailing of the Nazi’s rise to power, it seemed like a true biography of the war. I would not suggest this to anyone under High school, yet it could serve very well in a high school classroom teaching about World War II. The black and white cartoons seemed a bit harsh on the eyes as well, it serves to make it seem old but it also makes you thirsty for color after awhile. Overall a good work for what it is. 30. Title: Behemoth Author: Scott Westerfield a. This was the second book in the Leviathan Trilogy and it was defiantly another step in the right direction. Westerfield captures the readers as we see our heroes face trouble off the start of the book. He continues to keep the reader on the edge of their seat with interchanging point of views and the humor that comes out of it actually bring the reader to audible laughs in public. We see Alek and Deryn grow in maturity as they face new situations and meet new friends. There are several parts that were a little hard, the sacrifice of a father and so the book deals with death. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in World War 1 and a book with both a male and female heroine. It will defiantly be a long wait for the third, what could its name be? 31. Title: Full Pardon (Young Adolescents) Author: Robert C. Larson (spoken by Harry L. Greene) a. Let me preface this by saying that it was a story that makes one so grateful for their relationship with God. Our book starts with our main character Harry being thrown into county jail cell and his life taking a 180. He had the money, girls and just about anything he wanted to do, but he gained it by writing bad checks. At first you think this guy is a real chump, but when he describes his childhood I felt like I could associate with almost everything. He won awards for church attendance and even asked the prayer to Jesus, which he knew he was doing for his Grandma, yet his life remained unchanged. He grew popular and even went to war. It brought historical events into the story as we hear about his recounts of the Berlin wall and its gut wrenching images. It came to a point where he decided to go AWOL and that’s where his law breaking began. The book servers to glorify the Lord and the work his chaplains do every day. Harry became a believer after one chaplain persistently was there every day and the rest of the story showed how even though one is a Christian they still have to take responsibility for their actions. I would suggest this for a high school read at the youngest because of horrific accounts of what happens in prison. When reading it really helped me to realize the strength of the gospel and the urgency of the gospel, if Hell is worse than prison then Christians need to share. Harry makes a strong point in the book that prison is not a place people are sent to improve morally but to make them more proficient in their sin. It was moving and encouraging, great read.