Deanna

=Picture Books =

Author: Eric Carle
This is one of my personal favorites! This is an easy read picture book. This book has good illustrations and easy words in assisting beginner level readers. This book follows the caterpillar while it eats through many different foods. Eventually the very hungry caterpillar grows up, and blossoms into a beautiful butterfly. This story is also helpful in teaching the names of the days of the week, how to count to five, and the process of how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. This is a great books to read aloud to a class, or to have students individually read to themselves to practices reading. This book has won many awards throughout the years. It is a book that has been around for quite sometime, and I believe will remain in libraries and classrooms for a while longer.

Author: Jan Brett
The Mitten is a classic children's story, that has been around for many years. In this story by Jan Brett, Jan writes about the story of a boy named Nicki who begs his grandmother to knit him a pair of white mittens. Grandma Baba warns Nicki that if she makes him white mittens, if he looses them it will be hard to find in all the white snow outside. One day, without Nicki aware, he drops one of his mittens in the snow outside. The first to come upon this mitten is a mole. The mole crawls into the mitten along with a rabbit, owl, badger, fox, bear, and a mouse. With all these animals trying to stay inside the mitten, the mitten begins to stretch and stretch into a large mitten. Nicki is out one day looking for his mitten, when the bear sneezes inside the mitten and causes the mitten and all the animals inside to disperse. Nicki sees his airborne mitten, and catches it. This book is written and illustrated unlike a lot of books. It gives reader a split point of view, to keep readers guessing for both sides of the story. This is a great book, that could be used for many future reading lessons and discussions in the classroom.

Author: Robert Munsch
The Paper Bag Princess is a story that I recently stumbled across. This book celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005, so it has been around for many years. In the story of the Paper Bag Princess there are three main characters. These characters include: Princess Elizabeth, Prince Ronald, and a Dragon. Princess Elizabeth has every intention to marry the perfect Prince Ronald. The story takes a twist when the dragon enters the story. A dragon comes into Princess Elizabeth's kingdom and destroys it along with kidnapping Prince Ronald, and burning all of Princess Elizabeth's clothes so all she will have to wear left is a paper bag. Desperate to rescue her finace', Princess Elizabeth follows the dragon and Prince Ronald. Princess Elizabeth forms a plan to persuade the dragon to burn all the forest and fly around the world. The dragon finds this a good idea and does just that. On the dragon's second time flying around the world, he grows tired and falls asleep. While the dragon is asleep, Princess Elizabeth rescues Prince Ronald. Much to Princess Elizabeth's suprise, Prince Ronald is unthankful and ungrateful for Princess Elizabeth's hard work, and tell her to return to him when she looks more like a princess. Princess Elizabeth will have nothing to do with him any longer, and begins a life of her own. I find this a great story full of things to keep your attention in reading the story. I believe it is a good story for girls to hear, and the story has a good moral overall.

Author: Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
This book's purpose was to primarly help toddlers in differentiating and associating colors and meanings to objects. The book does not have a plot, but instead the author uses various animals and objects to ask what they see. What the animal sees, is then the object of what the next animal is. The question is then answered and asked by the next animal. This is a repetive book, that gets students using sight words and assists with fluency in reading. This is a book that is also a great tool to use on students that are at beginner level reading now matter what grade. It is a good book to have students, when read aloud, read along with you and repeat the question back to get students reading aloud as a whole. I personally read this book a lot as a child, and had it used a lot in different classroom settings and lesson when in elementary school. Even though it does lack a plot, it is still a favorite.

Author: Nancy Tillman
This is one of my all time favorite children's books! This describes the night "you" were born. It is a very magical book. It discusses the sounds, weather, night, the places the sound of your name travled through and over, and the greatness and how special that night truly is. I think this is a great book for new mothers and for future mothers. It gives the reader a sense of peacefulness. This book ends describing what heaven itself was doing on the night you were born. I believe this is a great book for Christian reader's or for non Christian readers. The illustrations are nothing short of magical and very different than most illustrations. They are to some extent part photographed and part illustrated. This is a must read book for anyone that likes the feeling of being loved or special.

Author: Margaret Wise Brown
This book is a perfect bedtime story. This is an older story, but a for sure classic. This book describes a rabbits nightly "nightime" ritual. Every night the bunny will say goodnight to various objects in its bedroom. A special aspect of this book is its illustrations. This book is also written in a poetry rhyme theme. This making the story flow easier, and for student's reading it, it helps to build fluency. There are very definite details in this story, even though the story takes place in one bedroom the entire time. This book is good for young readers to learn different objects, and again is a great story to read as a bedtime ritual yourself.

Author: Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
The True Story of the Three LIttle Pigs is a twist to the orginial folk tail we all know as the story of the Three Little Pigs. In the book of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, the "Big" and "Bad" wolf, is made to look as though that is not true. This story is told from the Wolf's perspective and what actually occured in the incident of the three little pigs. In this story, the wolf states that each time he went to one of the pig's houses it was because he was asking for sugar he needed to bake a cake for his "Granny's" birthday. He really had a cold at this time, causing him to "huff" and to "puff". The wolf also explains that he needed to eat the pigs, due to the fact that he could not let meat go to waste. For the conclusion of the story, the reader finds out that the wolf is writing all of this from prison, claiming he has "been fraimed." This is a great story, in teaching or reading about the Three LIttle Pigs. This gives students reason to "choose" a side, and can create great lessons in a classroom with the help of this story.

Author: Ed Young
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">The story of Lon Po Po is again, another folktale that has been taken and changed into a different setting and theme. The story of Lon Po Po is the story of Little Red Riding Hood in China. In the story of Lon Po Po three children's mother, heads off to see their grandmother. The story continues on with the similiarties of Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf then comes to the door, pretending to be their grandmother, and is allowed in by the children, but is questioned by the oldest child named, Shang. Shang is curious as to why their grandmother's voice is so low and why she is there so late. The wolf then comes in, and proceeds to blow all of the candles out in the house. Shang later on in the story lights a candle, but is immediatly blown out again by the wolf. Before the candle is blown out, Shang catches a glimpse of the wolf's face. Shang then decides that her brother, sister, and her must leave the house. They leave the house telling there "Po Po" that they are going to pick gingko nuts for their Po Po, so she can live forever. After escaping the house the children climb up a tall tree. Shang tells her brother and sister that Po Pop is a wolf, and that they must find a way kill it before their mother gets home. This story is a fun and exciting twist to a classic story. It is great to incorporate multicultural learning and stories into ones curriculum, and this is a great book to do so.

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: Anne Isaacs
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is a story for every girl. This story begins with the main character named, Angelica Longrider from Tennessee. Angelica is very different compared to most girls. Angelica at birth, was taller than her mother. By age two she was already building houses. Angelica is becomes known for her challenge to take on and kill the big black bear that has been terrorizing the people in the hills. This bears names is, Thundering Tarnation. She recieves much taunting and criticism on this challenge, but know that she can face it. The fights begin, and to not much suprise the men are embarresed by their lack of performance and skill in the Man vs. Bear challenge. Angelica then takes her place, and heroically wins her place as champion over the bear. This book is obviously suitable for boys and girls, but I believe it is personally directed for girls. This book has, what I believe, and undertone message that girls can do everything guys can, and sometimes can do it better.

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: Laura Amy Schlitz
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">It is first important to note that The Night Fairy is not your typical "fairytale" story. This is a fantasy genre of a story. This story is about a fairy named Flory. In the beginning of this story, Flory is caught in an event that is traumatic. A bat tries to eat Flory, but only breaks off her wings. This then causes Flory to go into hiding during the night and become a day fairy. Flory begins to use her magic and spells in any way she can, so animals will act upon her demands. Flory uses one of these spells specifically on a squirrel by the name of Skuggle, who would also like to try and eat Flory. She in the end, ends up forming a friendship with the squirrel helping him find food. She later runs into other animals creating relationships with them, in order to learn how to function. Some animals are helpful, some are not. Through Flory meeting new animals and making new friendships, she discovers exactly what the world is like. This was not my favorite book, but was a good book in a fantasy genre. It was a different type of story, but was good to add into the mix of all other styles of children's books.

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: The Brother's Grimm
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hansel and Gretel is a classic fairytale, and has been read for many of years. The story of Hansel and Grete starts with sharing that they are children of a poor wood cutter. A famine has come up over the land, and their evil stepmother believes that Hansel and Gretel need to fend for themselves. So she creates a plan, for their father to take them into the woods and to leave them there to then fend for their lives. While talking of this plan, Hansel and Gretel overhear this horrible scheme that will shortly take place. Before leaving to go into the woods, Hansel had collected several pebbles to leave as a trail so they could find their way back home. They all then set out into the woods, and sure enough their father leaves them. With the trail of pebbles behind them, Hansel and Gretel return home safely. This then plan is set to occur again, but instead of pebbles this time Hansel uses bread. Well while walking into the woods, animals had come along and eaten all the bread crumbs, so Hansel and Gretel were lost in the woods. They finally stumble upon a house made of candies and cakes. Inside this house, is an old lady. The old lady lures the children inside, and pursuades them saying she has "Delecious food," while she is really luring them in to cook them and eat them for herself. Gretel ends up saving Hansel, for he has been put in a cage to be baked in the oven. Hansel and Gretel escape from the old lady, taking with them some of her fine gold. When returning home, their father is joyful of their returning. They then take all their new riches and live happily ever after. This story is somewhat strange, but is a great story to act out or do a reader's theater to if ever using it for or in a lesson.

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: Denise Brennan-Nelson and Rosemarie Brennan
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Who doesn't love art? Willow loves art. Willow however, does not care to much for her art teacher, Mrs. Hawthorn. Mrs. Hawthorn is not a very pleasent lady and is described best as cold and strict. Willow does not always obey the commands of Mrs. Hawthorn. When Mrs. Hawthorn asks her class to draw a tree, Willow will draw a tree, but not your typical tree. Willow likes to think somewhat "out of the box." Mrs. Hawthorn does not like the different style of art that Willow creates such as her pink tree or her blue apple. Willow finds it important to prove to Mrs. Hawthorn that these objects do exist. As the book continues, Willow still refuses to sit, draw, or act the way Mrs. Hawthorn wants her to. It is then that Willow decides to do something that causes everything to change. When Winter Break comes, Willow decides to give Mrs. Hawthorn an art book as a present. With this present, Mrs. Hawthorn becomes inspired and decides to change her entire classroom. Mrs. Hawthorn's classroom is now a place of free art and interpretation. I found this book to be inspiring. This book would not be completely inspiring to students, but more teachers. This book sends the message not to judge a student by their way of doing things, but instead observe and maybe even try to get on their level of interpretation and way of doing things.

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: Bruce
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is a great spin off of the traditional story of Sleeping Beauty. The twist of this story is that this princess is put under a spell by a furious fairy and is turned into a purple dragon. The worse part is that she is turned into a dragon that snores. The dragon is first known as Princess Marge. Princess Marge is the daughter of King Gluteus and Queen Esophagus. Princess Marge, is put under a spell by a half-deaf fairy Tintinnitus. The new snoring princess dragon will in turn be awaken one day by a "quince." The rest of the story then falls into the typical ending of the original Sleeping Beauty story. This book is unique in the fact it is narrarated by a semi-sarcastic and kid-friendly frog that makes this story all the more interesting. This story is a great twist to the original fairytale of Sleeping Beauty. It is very humorous, and is extremely kid-joking friendly. An added bonus to this book, is its awesome illustrations. The illustrations could for sure hold the attention of any audience.

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: Doreen Cronin
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is not the Diary of a Wimpy Kid, this is a Diary of a Fly. This is a story then about a fly. This fly goes by the name of Little Fly. Little Fly is nervous for her first day of school. She is not sure how the other flies and "students" are going to act towards her. Will they like her? Will they find her odd? At school she discovers that this is not true. She finds out they flies are skilled in flying and that they can beat their wings at two hundred times per second. Little Fly has a lot of competition for she has 327 brothers and sisters. She is blessed two have two best friends by the name of Worm and Spider that guide and help Little Fly on her journey. LIttle fly dreams of one day being a super-hero, but does not quite know what type of super-hero she would want to be or if she would even qualify. She does know she is pretty talented at flying and crawling up and on things, but still isn't sure. This book is part of a series. This series I believe is great for beginning readers, and is entertaining as well. This series proves to be funny and really easy reads.

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: Jon Scieszka
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">I origninally saw this book for the first time when I was taking my Math Methods course. A girl that was presenting her lesson used this book for anticipatory set. I find this book to be extremely fascinating and entertaining to read or listen to. Math Curse is a book about a kid that has "math" problems in every situation in everyday life. Math Curse covers every type of "math problem" including: algebra, probibility, charts, statistics, fractions, and money. This all begins when the teacher states " you know, almost everything in life could be considered a math problem." It is from this statement that this poor student is constantly figuring out all these "math problems" in her head until she breaks a piece of chalk in half. Two halfs make a whole. She escapes through the "whole" and can finally solve any math problem. She is thrilled that this math course is over until the next day when her science teacher suggest that everything in life can be viewed as a science experiement. This book is so fun for all students. I enjoyed it as a college student, and I know elementary students would love this book jus as much. The illustrations are interesting and diverse. Between the illustrations and the story you are sure to have felt you were under the Math Curse as well!

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: Robert N. Munsch
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some find this story sweet and some find this story to be creepy. I was read this story a lot when I was younger, and have just recently re-read this story as an adult. This story I believe has motives of sweetness and tenderness, but at times may come across strange or awkward for an adult reader. The book Love You Forever is a classic read among many households. In the story of Love You Forever, the story follows the relationship between a boy and his mother. The book followers their relationship throughout ages of the boy. Every night while the boy is asleep the mother sneaks into the boy's room to whisper, "I love you forever, I like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." This continues until the boy is a grown man. The mother drives across town, sneaks into her grown son's room and whispers to him this saying. It is at the end of the story that the mother has grown to old and weak to do this anymore, so the roles reverse. The son goes into the mother's room cradles her, and whispers the sweet phrase. This is a great book to represent the obedience and love that we as children should show our parents. I believe this is a sweet intended story, and should be read to all children for them to hear this love.

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: Sara Varon
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Robot Dreams is not your typical story telling book. Robot Dreams, in fact, is almost a nearly wordless book. Robot Dreams is about a dog that longs for a friend/companion. To have this friend, Dog gets himself a robot. Dog and the Robot go everywhere together. They go to the library and to the movies. One day Dog decides he wants Robot to go with him to the beach. Dog also decides he wants Robot to play in the water with him. The water does not, however, agree with Robot. The water causes Robot to rust and become immobile. Dog does not know what to do with Robot, so Dog leave Robot on the sand. Robot is unable to move, so Robot stays there throughout the seasons. Robot dreams of being reunited with Dog,but nothing ever happens. All the while, Dog is trying to find new friends, but nothing compare to Robot. Robot is eventually used over by scavengers, and is eventually turned into scrap metal. Dog is pained over the thought of losing his friend. Dog continues then to find a friend to fill that void that Robot has left. At times this book is very comical and at other times the reader almost feels sad and bad for Robot and Dog. I do think this book is very creative and is a great way for readers to make their own interpretations and guesses as to what the story is saying.

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: Mo Willems
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">This book I believe is the new generation face of Children's Literature. This series is funny and very entertaining to read. The illustrations are nothing of amazing or creative art, but are simple and can connect to young readers. In the story of Pigeon Want a Puppy, it is exactly how the title reads, "Pigeon Wants a Puppy." In this book's style, it is written in a very interactive format. The Pigeon "talks" and tells the reader, that there is something that the Pigeon has wanted forever, and that is a puppy. The Pigeon explains to the reader that he will take care of the puppy all the time. Finally, by the end of the story Pigeon has recieved what he has always wanted, a puppy! However, Pigeon is terrified for he did not know that a puppy would be so slobery and larger than a pigeon. Pigeon then decides that it may be best to set his sights on another pet...The series of these books are great! They are great for interactive reading with an audience and are easy to create lessons from. I had first heard about this Pigeon series in my practicum last year, and fell in love with them. They are funny and easy to read for all ages.

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: Margaret Mahy
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Have you ever had a blowing bubble contest before? Have you ever seen who can get the biggest bubble? Well for Mabel that is what she just did. Mabel blows such a large bubble that it enfolds over her baby brother and takes him up and away. Baby brother spends time up in the bubble, floating over his mom, neighbors, and all the town. People decide the best way to get the baby down is to form a human ladder. So all the towns-people form a human ladder and do just that. Abel, the local rebel finds it a good idea to use his slingshot to get the baby down. All works out in the end and baby is returned safely to its family. This is a fun and exciting book for readers. The book is written with some bubble text making fun to read as well. Good and fun illustrations to capture reader's attention as well.

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: Kevin Henkes
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">My Garden is a great book showing the magic of imagination. My Garden is then about a girl who helps her mother water and weed their garden. While doing these garden chores, she imagines her own garden; she imagines flowers that can change colors, chocolate rabbits, giant jelly-bean bushes, and seashells that grow new seashells. Unfortunately this young girl is brought back into reality, and realizes this garden is not real. She plants a seashell, because she still has hope that one day her imaginary world will meet reality. Even though you may not feel a sense of Wow, this story is great for one imagination.

<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Author: Dr. Seuss
<span style="background-color: #abff00; color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Everyone has hear of the Cat in The Hat. The Cat in the Hat is a tall cat with a tall read and white hat and a red bow tie. The Cat brings a joyous new form to two children that have been left at home alone. The Cat performs many tricks to impress the children. The Cat is able to balance a teacup, milk, cake, three books, a fish, a rake, a toy boat, a toy man, a red fan, and his umbrella while he balances on a ball. Eventually some friends arrive by the name of Thing One and Thing Two. They begin flying kites in the house. The children caputure Thing One and Thing Two, and bring the Cat back under control. Before mother arrives back home, the Cat quickly cleans up the house and escapes leaving no sign he was ever there. The Cat in the Hat is one of the best books, and has been one of the most popular books for quite sometime. It brings entertainment and easy reads to any audience.

= Intermediate﻿ Books =

Author: Roald Dahl
The story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a story that has been passed down through many generations. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has even been turned into a movie to show this descriptive and creative story in plain sight. The story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factor is somewhat magical. The story begins with introducing the main character Charlie Bucket.Charlie comes from a poverty level home, and has not been blessed with many riches. All these circumstances grow worse when Mr. Bucket loses his job. Charlie lives in a tiny house with his mother and father and all four grandparents. Charlie hears the news one day that Mr. Willy Wonka will be opening his doors to his chocolate factory that have been closed for many years. Only five lucky people will get to go through Mr. Wonka's factory for there are only five golden tickets. The golden tickets are randomly placed in random Wonka Chocolate bars all over the world. Every year for Charlie's birthday, his family buys him a Wonka Chocolate Bar. This year, Charlie finds a rugged dollar in the snow and decides he will buy a Wonka Chocolate Bar with it. He buys it, opens it, no golden ticket. So Charlie eats this candy bar, and with his remaining money, decides he will buy another. When Charlie opens the second bar, he then finds the fifth golden ticket! Charlie is allowed to bring one guest with him to the factory. Niether Mr. nor Mrs. Bucket can attend, so Charlie's grandpa Joe steps up and decides he is fit to take Charlie and be his guest. Four other children from all over the world including: Augustus, Veruca, Violet, and Mike attend with their guest to Wonka's chocolate factory. When entering into the factory Charlie and his grandpa marvel at the majestic sights before them. Before them is a river of chocolate and entire room where all things are edible. Mr. Wonka instructs the children that they must obey all the rules, or they will be "punished." By the end of the day all the other children excepts for Charlie have disobeyed the rules in some form, leaving Charlie and his grandpa the only ones left. Mr. Wonka congratulates Charlie and his grandpa, and gives them the award of the entire Chocolate Factory as theirs. They all proceed to ride in a glass elevator to travel to the Bucket house to gather and bring all the Buckets to the factory. This is an all time classic story for readers. I have personally only watched the movies up until this point, but found the book to be so much more enjoyable. The description of the factory and Mr. Wonka are distinct and creative. It is great to compare the movie to the book. In my opinion the book is more intriguing and magical!

Author: S.E. Hinton
Have you ever had to make a choice between something that was either right or wrong? For Ponyboy Curtis, this is always an issue. Ponyboy is a fourteen year old boy that believes at times he is an outsider. Ponyboy has two brothers whose names are Darrel and Sodapop. All three of these boys have recently lost their parents in a car accident. These boys are considered to be "poor" or "greasy" kids and are referred to as the "Greasers." The Greaser's rivals are known as the snotty rich kids that go by the name of the Socs. As Ponyboy is walking home one night, he comes in contact with the Socs. The Socs proceed to beat Ponyboy up, but the fight is interveened when some of the Greaser's step in and take care of the situation. From then, there is another run in when some of the Greaser boys: Two-Bit Matthews, Pony, and Johnny decide to walk two girls home by the name of Cherry and Marcia. Both of these girls have boyfriends that are members of the Socs. On the way home the boyfriends reappear and a fight is on the brink of breaking out. Cherry stops the fight from happening. It's at a park, that the story grown intense. At the park Cherry and Marcia's boyfriends appear. Pony and Johnny are alone, with the Socs ready to fight. One of the Socs grabs Pony and begins to drown him. Johnny sees this and with acting on impulse, pulls out his knife and kills a Soc by the name of Bob. Johnny and Pony seek out Dally for help in running away, so Johnny won't get arrested. That night Johnny and Pony hop on a train and get off to hide in an abandon church until Dally can come get them. After a week, Dally shows up for the boys. Dally fills the boys in with the news of all that is going on with the cops and the murder. After hearing about this, Johnny decides he wants to turn himself in. When heading back to the church to get ready to go back, they find the church on fire. Inside are small groups of children, and the boys know they all need to be rescued. The boys run in, but at the last minute the roof collapses. A piece of lumber falls on Johnny causing him to be burned and severely injured with a broken back. Pony escapes, but finds Johnny barely alive. Not too much later, Johnny dies from his injuries. Dally and Pony head back into town, but Dally becomes so crippled by the grief of losing Johnny that he acts out by robbing a grocery store. As Dally is in a phone boothe the police find him and chase him into the lot. It is here that Dally is shot. Pony reflects on all of these events, and begins to write his own book about all the other "Greasers" or Dallys in the world. Through the writing of events healing is brought to Pony, and his life continues on.

Author: Jerry Spinelli
No one wants to be called a "loser." For Donald Zinkoff, this is a name he is familiar to hearing in regards to himself. Donald is not an athlete, and is very "strange" to his peers. Donald wants to be like his dad. Donald wants to be a mailman. Donald can not go with "Bring Your Kid to Work Day," so Donald creates his own "Bring Your Kid to Work Day," and Donald makes one hundred letters to "pass" out to people in the community like his dad. In this story that follows the struggles and differences of Donald Zinkoff, an inspring story is brought about showing the different stages in his life. Donald is an extremely smart boy, but has some social problems and inabilities that creates his classmates to label him a "Loser." In this story Zinkoff forms a friendship with an eldery woman by the name of Claudia and has a boy that bullys him by the name of Gary. In on situation Donald learns that Claudia has gone missing. Donald goes on a search to find Claudia, but passes out from the cold. He is found hours later by a snow plow, and Claudia is found shortly after. In regards to the bully, Gary is the person who gives Donald his official title of "Loser" when Donald loses a running race for his team that Gary was a part of. Donald is used to being the boy never picked or wanted on a team. At the end of the story a boy by the name of "Bounce" picks Donald to be on his football team, and his title of Loser is no more. This is a story that I am sure many students can relate to whether they have ever been bullied or been called an unkind name. This story has an inspiration ending, giving reader's the sense that even though you may be called names all throughout life, they will one day not matter and you will "make the team."

Author: Norton Juster
How far will you allow your imagination take you? For Milo, his imagination takes him pretty far. Milo was a bored little boy. In one day, his boredom was about to disapper. One day Milo recieves an unexpected package awaiting him in his bedroom of a magic tollbooth. Milo has nothing better to do, so he decides to drive his car toy through the tollbooth. In now driving in a foreign place, Milo finds himself driving on a road to Expectations. While driving Milo becomes lost in the Doldrums. There is no laughing aloud in the Doldrums. Milo does not like this place, but is soon found by Tock. Tock is a watchdog who has the body of an alarm clock. Tock and Milo continue on the rest of this expedition. Milo and Tock soon find themselves stopped in a place called Dictionopolis. This is a capital city of the Kingdom of Wisdom. Milo and Tock get themselves into trouble, and even get arrested after getting into a fight with the Spelling Bee and a Humbug. While in jail, Milo and Tock learn of the history of this new place they are visiting. Due to the banishing of the two princesses that kept discord out, the community of this new place has been struck with a plague of discord and disharmony. For Milo and Tock, a quest has captured their full attention. Milo and Tock are going to rescue the princesses of the kingdom. The princesses had been banished to the Castle in the Air for causing disagreement with their belief that letters and numbers are of equal importance. Along their journey to rescue Princess Rhyme and Princess Reason, Milo and Tock meet many new friends and have many adventures. Milo and Tock complete their quest with rescuing the princesses and returning them home. With returning the princessess home, a three day celebration is held. When driving off, Milo notices a tollbooth again in the distance. Milo drives thorugh the tollbooth and finds himself back in his bedroom. Milo has every intention of returning to this foreign place, but comes home the next day to find the tollbooth was gone. Milo is sad, for he want to go back to Wisdom, but begins to realize how interesting and great his "real" life is. This book is defnitly a more modern "fairtytale" type of a story. It has the characteristics of a fairytale, but with some different twist. This book allows readers to be interested in the different activities and interactions between Milo and the Wisdom folk. For future teachers, I believe this book would be a great book for many fun and creative lessons.

Author: Jerry Spinelli
What kind of legend will you leave behind. For Jeffery Lionel Magee, being a legend is what he is known as. In the book Manica McGee, a story is written about the life of a boy by the name of Jeffery Lionel Magee. Jeffery at age three was an orphan, due to the fact that his parents were killed when their trolley was hit by a drunk driver and sunk into the Schuylkill River. For eight years, Jeffery lived with his aunt and uncle. Jeffery could see and hear the hatred of his aunt and uncle and thought it best to runaway. During a school musical performance Jeffery does just that. Jeffery ends up in a town by the name of Two Mills. Two Mills is a town that is divided into East and West sections based on race. While Jeffery's attempt to runaway he meets a girl by the name of Amanda. Amanda carries around a lot of library books, and allows Jeffery to borrow one. While making a dash through town Jeffery performs some crazy stunts. He intercepts a football at a game, hits a fastball and makes a homerun at a game, and saves a child from a local's backyard. With this crazy performances by Jeffery he earns the nickname as "Maniac" and officially becomes a local legend. Jeffery is faced many times with run-ins between East End people vs. West End people. Throughout the story, Maniac Magee floats from household to a pen at the zoo to back to homelessness and back to a buffalo pen. Magee forms a friendship with Amanda, and her house is a place of residence for a while, until one night with an incident occurs that causes the Beale's to become upset and hurt. Magee is conviced to stay, and to untie the huge Cobble's Knot. Magee is successful at this, and is thrown a celebration. It is at the celebration that one of Amanda's favorite books is destroyed to be used as confetti. Magee can not bare hurting the Beale's anymore and decides to runaway, again. In the rest of the story Jeffery struggles to find a home and food to survive. Jeffery resides in a zoo pen for sometime. A boy by the name of Mars Bar (who Magee raced against in the East End) tries to convince Jeffery to stay with him, but Magee runs away, again. It isn't until the end when Mars Bar brings Amanda to convice Magee to come live with her and her family, does Magee finally find a home. This story deals with issues of homelessness and racism which is not seen in most Intermediate Reads. This is a great story, and keeps the reader intrigued until the end. With the presentation of these dynamic issues, readers are opened and experienced to new things such as Magee himself was.

Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
Family is the most important aspect in some people's life. For Laura Ingalls, this is true. In the book Little House in the Big Woods, a story is told throught the eyes of a four-year old little girl named Laura. This story begins in the year of 1871, and is continued out in other books that are part of the Laura Ingalls series. Laura is a young girl living deep in the woods of Wisconsin. Laura has a family that consists of Pa, Ma, Laura, and her baby sister Carrie. The Ingall's are a close knit family, and survive at times on their strong family centered love. Laura understands the different hardships of living where they do, and the stress of finding food and warmth to live. Each family member has their role in the Ingall's household. Pa is the hunter and provider, Ma is the caretaker and the homemaker, and Laura has her own responsibilities and chores to keep the household functioning as well. In this first story, the Ingall family is faced with a severe winter storm. The question leads the reader to wonder, Will the Ingalls survive? The reader is put at ease, in knowing the the Ingalls are safe from the storm, in a nice warm house falling asleep to the peaceful sound of Pa's fiddle. I really enjoyed this book. This book did not have a suspensful climax, but was entertaining enough to keep the reader reading. This is a a great story, to show the importance of family and sticking together as a family.

=<span style="background-color: #0b5656; color: #eaea34; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Young Adult Books﻿ = = =

Author: Nicholas Sparks
Any movie or book by Nicholas Sparks I am usually a huge fan of. His book The Guardian has not yet been made into a movie, but I believe that whenever that time comes it will make for a great box office hit. When reading The Guardian I was actually shocked because this story line is not your typical Nicholas Sparks love story. Granted, there is a large love story that is the main gist of this book, but it also comes a long with some mystery, thrill, suspense, and sadness. This story literally kept me reading and wanting to know more of the story all the way until the end. This book was one of Nicholas Spark's first books, but was definitly one of the best I have ever read. I believe this would be a great story for any teenager or "young adult." It did not have any graphic writings or language, and was mostly just a great story! In the story of The Guardian it is good to know the main characters. The characters include Julie, Jim, Singer, Richard, and Mike. In the beginning of the story the reader find out that Julie is a new widow. Julie is only 25 and has become a widow to her new husband Jim who passes away of cancer. After Jim passes away a puppy, who named Singer, is delivered to Julie. Julie and Singer begin their new life together. As years pass Singer grows into a full grown Great Dane. Julie also decide to begin dating. She dates a man by the name of Richard. It is also during these years that Jim's best friend Mike discovers his brewing love for Julie. Mike decides to sit out and watch as she continues to date Richard. Mike slowly works up the courage to tell Julie his feelings, but also notices the obsessive attitudes and behaviors of Richard. It isn't until the end of this story when Mike and Julie try to escape for a while from the crazy and bizarre behavior that the suspense is taken up a notch. One night while on the beach everything takes a dramatic twist. Richard decides to show up for some trouble. It is here that the present that Jim gave to Julie come in as "The Guardian." While Richard is seeking to kill, Singer steps up and saves both Mike and Julies lives. Singer however, does not make it and passess away. Leaving the reader with a since of sadness for Singer, Julie, and Mike but also the understanding of knowing what it means by the saying, "Dog is a man's best friend." So much that they would die to save you. Hopefully, in real life that would be any best friend you claim to have.

Author: Lois Lowery
The Giver is a book that has been read by many readers. It has been read in many High School classrooms as part of a lesson or an assignment. This is my second time reading this book, and I still read this book and leave with a since of amazement. I find The Giver to be one of the best stories ever written. Granted, The Giver is different from a lot of other young adult stories, but I do believe it is a story that keeps the reader wanting to read all the way to the end. I first read this book when I was a Junior in High School, and just recently read this book for a college course. I remember loving this book in High school, and loving it just as much from this recent read. In The Giver, the story is told from the character Jonas' point of view. Jonas is an eleven year old boy. Jonas lives in a society that no reader would be able to relate to today. In the society that Jonas lives in there is complete elimination of any pain, fear, war, or hatred. Everyone looks and acts similiar to one another therefore eliminating prejudice and minimizing competition. In this society their is no choice for any of its memebers. With no choice every child at the age of twelve is given a job based on their talents or skills. Each person can apply for a spouse, and if given one are only allowed to have two children. This is a very strict ran society, and can not have any of these conditions broken. If these rules are broken, the member is asked to leave the community causing great shame to that person. Jonas knows that his Twelve year old ceremony is quickly approaching. At this ceremony Jonas will recieve his job. At the ceremony Jonas recieves the job of Reciever of Memory. This job mean he is the sole collector of the community's memory. Jonas is now in charge of maintaining all the memories of hatred, pain, war, and ect that the memory left behind when converting to Sameness. They "forgot" these memories, but have one person keep rememberance of them so they will not fall back into the same old mistakes again. To transport these memories to Jonas the "Giver" places his hand on Jonas' bare back to transferr the memories. With recieving these memories Jonas realizes that no one in his community knows the real meaning of life or of love. They have never experienced pain or making choices and therefore do not know the transforming feeling and emotion of healing. Later in the story, there is growing tension as Jonas tries to sooth a young child that is having trouble sleeping at night. Jonah releases some soothing memories into the child to allow them to sleep. The Giver warns Jonas that this is equivalent to death. Jonas becomes frustrated and decides he wants to leave the commnity. Jonas learns the story of the girl that had previously been selected as the Reciever, but that the memories were to much for her to bare. When she left, the memories were released back into the community causing the community to be upset, for they did not recognize the new emotion that was overtaking them. The Giver and Jonas finalize a plan for his escape, and it happens. It then falls into the Giver's hand to deal with the dispersing of the emotions that will soon take over the community once again. This then, will change and shape the society forever.

Author: Mike Yankoski
For my third Young Adult book, I decided to read a different genre. I do believe that this book is still considered young adult, but there is a twist. It is a Christian-based book. It is not on the New York Best Sellers list, but reading this book has dramatically changed my life and my perspective on the issue of poverty. I have heard about this book, and in fact I have read this book in the past once before, but I decided to read something that I personally pray a young adult will read, and will be transformed by it message as I was. This book is a short and easy read, but it has words that speak life and truth into your soul. This book was written at the time by a college age student, so it is definitly from the perspective of a "young adult's" point of view. The experiences and trials that Mike personally went through to write this book, leaves the reader with a sense of shamefulness and of thankfulness. Mike Yankoski was a typical college kid. Attending Westmont College, Mike was living in a comfortable upper-middle class plush life. Mike had everything he could want. It was all in one day at a Sunday morning church service that Mike decided, by his own choice, that this would soon change. In one night Mike went from American Dream to "scum-of-the-earth." Mike decided for safety reasons, to bring a friend along in case of any serious emergency or assistance. Mike chose to bring his friend Sam. Starting out in San Diego, CA, Mike and Sam begin their journey into a world most of us never dare to attend. Mike and Sam discussed their plans with their family and advisors, and then began. They then spent five months on the streets in the cities of Denver, Phoenix, Washington D.C, and others. There main source of income then came from charity of their panhandling and guitar playing on the streets. While living on the streets, Mike and Sam experienced everything that the homeless population experiences including; hunger, pain, danger, and harshness. It was during this time on the streets that Mike and Sam's faith was inriched. Mike and Sam were able to form friendships and relationships with people that live in this lifestyle constantly. Mike journaled his experiences in detail and eventually created this book. This book and its stories will touch your heart, and make you reflect on the goodness and blessing you have.