What do you get when a crazy guy like Jon Scieszka edits a collection of ten suspenseful, frightening, and occasional off-the wall short stories written by accomplished authors such as M. T. Anderson, Bruce Hale, Walter Dean Myers, and James Patterson? You get Guys Read: Thriller – guaranteed to “…thrill, chill, and have you so far on the edge of your seat that you’re actually on someone else’s.”
Gripping tales of ghosts, ghouls, and the odd pirate will most certainly enthrall the most reluctant reader. Who could resist reading about ghost vision glasses, monster hunters, or a wish machine that conjures up the desires of the dead? Not this ReaderKid, I tell you. This book scared the be-jeebers out of me…in a deliciously devious way.
Recent studies suggest that a vast number of boys today are poor readers. Scieszka feels one reason for this troubling trend is that the subject matter being presented in schools is simply not interesting to the regular guy. In efforts to help boys become life-long readers, Jon has created a web-based literacy program called Guys Read. Access the Guys Read website and discover an incredible selection of books brimming with topics that guys like to read about starting with the knee-knocking, palm-sweating, big-time-scary Guys Read: Thriller…only if you dare.
Vampires have been all the rage since Twilight hit the scene and, over the last few years, there have been a number of picture books that have tried to ride that wave. None have quite hit the spot for me until GIBBUS MOONY came along.
Gibb’s baby fangs have fallen out and he’s feeling like a BIG vampire – ready to bite something! Mom says, “We only bite one thing in this family, young man.” Grandpa adds, “We’re fruit suckers, my boy… and proud of it.” But Gibb’s bite has no bite and it takes meeting his new neighbor and regular boy, Moe, for him to figure out that biting’s for babies and “Upside-down apples are totally toothsome.”
A few humorous nods to Twilight and other vampire lore make this a fun Halloween read for both parents and kids.
These books speak to the powerful friendships that can happen between amazing animals and amazing people.
SOLDIER BEAR written by Bibi Dumon Tak was translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson this year. Simple but fanciful illustrations were created by Philip Hopman.
What an incredible and (mostly) true bear story! During WW II when Germany invaded Poland, two soldiers escaped, heading toward Iran. They then joined the British army to fight against the Nazis as spies. On the way, the soldiers met a boy carrying a bear cub in a bag. A trade was made: a sack of food for a bag of bear. The new owner, Peter, nourished the starving cub back to health. Soldier Bear and Peter become inseparable friends. Together, they saved lives and uncovered secret military information.
The book includes photographs of Soldier Bear and Peter and other soldiers from the troop. A page-turning, heart-warming story.
Another look at a special friendship is presented in HALF BROTHER by Kenneth Oppel. This book won two top Canadian Library Association awards in 2011: Book of the Year for Children and for Young Adults. The story, for older readers, shows how strong, and sometimes confusing, a friendship can develop between a boy and a chimp. The ethics of animal testing is a second theme and will inspire much thought and discussion.
ME…JANE by Patrick McDonnell, presents to the youngest of readers the power of one child’s curiosity. Jane Goodall loved her “pet” stuffed monkey, was fascinated by animals, and wanted to learn and do more, including discovering how eggs came out of chickens. She traveled to Africa, set up camp with the gorillas, and began many years of careful study, forming deep friendships. This picture book in a simple format shows the very beginnings of Goodall’s passion and persistence.
A ZEAL OF ZEBRAS: An Alphabet of Collective Nouns by Woop Studios (Chronicle Books 2011) is not your typical ABC offering. Each illustration, beautifully rendered in Adobe Photoshop, is paired with a collective animal noun and two descriptive paragraphs of background. Some of the collective nouns were familiar, others sent me looking to see if they’d been invented for the book.
Mina, one of the graphic designers involved in the project says in an article HERE, “Everyone asks that! They are real – we did quite a lot of research and found that the oldest ones go back to hunting terms, so they are hundreds of years old, although there are more recent ones that people have invented.”
Interested in more of the collective nouns Woop Studios uncovered? Check out their website HERE.
There are already a number of books for children and even a movie about Balto, the famous Siberian husky who led his sled team over dangerous Alaskan terrain in the middle of a blizzard in order to successfully deliver serum to combat the spread of deadly diphtheria. What made Meghan McCarthy decide to take on this story? Because no other children’s book tells Balto’s story after his famous life-saving sled run – the story of how he and the team were eventually sold and very nearly abandoned and forever forgotten. Despite Balto’s unfortunate stink as a sideshow act, his story eventually ends on a happy note.
Wild boars hardly seem like a topic for a picture book, and yet Meg Rosoff and Sophie Blackall have managed to make naughty, dirty, smelly, and bad-tempered boars hilariously funny! “Poor wild boars. Nobody loves them.”
I’m a big fan of Douglas Florian’s work and what’s wonderful about the OMINIBEASTS collection is that it includes a selection of poems from each of his creature-poetry books including mammalabilia, beast feast(one of my class’s favorites), insectlopedia, lizards, frog, and polliwogs, and more. Be sure to check out the entire collection!
At the entrance to Shibuya Station in Tokyo there stands a statue of Hachiko the loyal dog who waited for his master to return each evening after a hard day’s work. When Dr. Ueno passed away after the two had been together for just over a year, Hachiko continued his vigil at the station for another nine years. Eventually he, too, passed away, but not before his loyalty was recognized with a bronze statue prominently displayed near the entrance to Shibuya Station.
Read more on Author-In-Residence, Pamela S. Turner HERE.
Being an only-child doesn’t bother Mason Dixon in the least. He prefers to enjoy a simplistic, uneventful way of life – right down to his “quiet, ordinary, calm, and predictable” choice of wearing only brown socks. No white. No black. Only brown. To Mason, brown socks don’t call attention to themselves, which is the course he’d prefer to follow throughout all of his predictable days. His parents, concerned for his emotional well-being, see things differently and incessantly bring pets home for Mason to care for…including one that meets a tragic, over-fed demise.
It is not until he and his best-friend Brody rescue a three-legged pound dog, who is named Dog, that Mason begins to actively participate in the complicated emotional richness of life. Though Mason is initially resistant to adopt another pet, Dog changes him. Instead of an ordinary, predictable, brown-sock-life way of living, Mason risks a little artistic expression, confronts a bully, and experiences the near loss of his best friend and, even, Dog himself. Mason learns that there is a hole in his quiet, calm heart that only the lop-sided love of a three-legged dog can fill.
Claudia Mills’ wonderful Mason Dixon: Pet Disasters is a hilariously terrific read, perfect for any middle-grade child whatever his or her sock-color or pet preferences may be.
Groucho Marx said, “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”
Animals can enrich children’s lives. Books about animals do, too.
While so many children’s books personify animals—and I loved Stuart Little fiercely at a tender age—not to mention that imperialist Babar, and Sneetches, above all—they don’t count; that’s the subject of another essay. We’re talking realistic fiction about real animals.
I have fond, very early memories of Make Way for Ducklings. I loved Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, and devoured sequels. I found The Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London, mind-altering and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, and Sounder by William Armstrong crushed me with man’s inhumanity. Later I read The Come Back Dog, by Jane Resh Thomas, and most recently my favorites include Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, and Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.
Animals teach us and constantly remind us of some fundamental moral precepts: unconditional love for starters. “Lord, make me half the person my dog thinks I am,” sums it up nicely. They accept us without judgment. They remind us of read more…
If you haven’t seen this book yet, beware. The tiger looks as if it could walk right off the cover. This book provides a marvelous overview of a variety of endangered species with engaging illustrations by Vicky White.
Young readers can pick and choose which animal they want to read about, although most will want to read about them all. By looking at extinction from several perspectives, readers will appreciate the complexity, as well as the finality, of extinction. A passionate story about why we should care that amazing animals are disappearing from the earth every year.
BIRD, BUTTERFLY, EEL (Simon & Schuster 2009) written and illustrated by James Prosek, presents a look at the life cycles, changing of seasons, and something else that these three animals have in common – migration. The author uses a subtle “compare and contrast” of the “why” as he shows three very different, but equally amazing, migration stories.
This collection of poems about forest animals is just plain fun – and funny. Even the simplest forest animals (slugs, toads, and skunks) become amazing (or a little stinky). This poetry collection is an accessible compliment to an early-grade science curriculum studying animals, plants, or an ecosystem community such as a forest. The poems are also a great entry to invite students to write their own creature poems.
Mission Statement
To provide teachers, librarians, and parents with the resources and inspiration to foster a love of reading in kids, K-5.
