14 Cows For America

14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy and Wilson Kimeli Nalyomah, illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez, shares the story of a great sacrifice that a village in Africa makes as a gesture to an American diplomat less than a year after the attacks of September 11. The start of the book shows Kemili, a Standford college student, returning home on his summer break and interacting with those in the village. As he recounts the events of September 11th, people of his village are deeply affected - enough to offer their 14 cows for America. The earlier sections of the book provide insights into just how huge of a sacrifice this was.

Told in third person verse with vivid, full page illustrations, this book conveys a lot of emotions. While Carmen Agra Deedy and Wilson Kimeli Nalyomah could have decided to recount the events through first person, telling it through third person helped to illuminate the event as a collective story, rather than his story, highlighting the decisions of people from his village.

The school library journal recommends this book for 2nd-5th grade. It could also appeal to older readers as well. The illustrations can capture the interest and inspire awe in a wide-range of grade levels, but depending on the grade level, the discussions and depth of understanding would be different. For example, in the younger grades, students will be able to understand that it was a great sacrifice and a kind gesture, while older students (or younger students with more background) will be able to understand a little bit more about economics.

Aside from the main focus of the book, there is also the underlying background of Kimeli as a college student returning home. We see him in his Standford jacket, "American clothes", and backpack, in contrast to the dress of the people of his village on the first pages. With a foot in two worlds, the book can prompt discussions about interacting with different cultures and having different experiences than most people in the community in which you grew up in and navigating similarities and differences. This book could be used with middle school to college students as an introduction to discuss identity, before pairing it up with other books appropriate for the target age group, such as Gloria Anzaldúa's Borderlands, Dancing Home, The Whole Story of Half a Girl, and Mexican Whiteboy.

You can see more background about the book, including a book trailer that shares more of the illustrations, on the site for the book.

We Are America: A Tribute From The Heart

As a teacher always wanting to familiarize myself with a range of YA/middle grades literature, I have read various Walter Dean Myers books, but We Are America: A Tribute From the Heart was the first picture book that I read by him. It is one of those awe-inspiring books that make you want to revisit it again and again both because of the text and the vivid paintings by none other than the author's son, Christopher Myers.

The initial pages of the book include a quote by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella accompanied by a painting followed by two-page spread, powerful author's and artist's notes printed on top of a mosaic of images, providing background and context for the book.

Then starts the heart of the book - two page spreads combining poetry and at times historical quotes, snapshots into U.S. history and cultures. Initially, the poems are told in the first person, representing various perspectives. Then the singular "I" poems shift to "we", a collective history merging from different backgrounds.

I especially like that the history and current depiction represents dichotomies, rather than solely portraying the good or the bad. Instead, it comes off as a balanced, thought-provoking experience. While younger kids would enjoy the book, the illustrations and depth of text, such as avenues for analysis to attempt to make sense of history, make it ideal for older readers as well.

With each flip of the page, I liked the book more and more. While reading, I was curious about those depicted in illustrations. There were some that I automatically recognized, but there were others that made me want to know more about who they were and/or the rationale behind the intentionality of including them. When I turned to some of the last pages and saw that the quotes were reprinted with additional background and explanations of where the quotes came from, I thought about how it was a perfect addition to an already strong text. The final page provides art notes to explain by page about the people depicted in the pictures. Just as the book sparked my curiosity, I can imagine students wanting to do additional research or inquiry as a result of reading this book.

Last night I posted about Dancing Home, by another parent-child team, and pairing the two texts together is an excellent example of complementary picture book/novel combinations. However, We Are America is versatile and aside from ideas already mentioned, it would be a good fit for many other curricular connections, including a mentor text for multi-genre writing and a background in U.S. History. It would be a perfect start of the year read aloud for a year in which the focus was on U.S. History. Then students could revisit the book multiple times throughout the year. Such a rich text!

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Even though The Twelve Dancing Princesses is Marianna Mayer's retelling of a traditional story, I was not familiar with it prior to reading this book other than the Barbie movie version.

 Accompanied by K. Y. Craft's paintings, Mayer introduces the story with a young farmer Peter who has a vision that he should go to the castle in the hopes that he will "succeed where others have failed," leading to him being able to marry a princess. Then it shifts to set the stage for a mystery at the castle that has the king perplexed and worried.There are many twists and turns  before reaching the happily ever after style conclusion.

While the book jacket lets the readers know that it is a traditional story, I was sad to see that there was not an author's note to provide more background about the history of it or to provide insights into the author's thought process while retelling. I was further dismayed when I went to get the link to the book on Amazon and saw the review by The School Library Journal stating, "In this lavishly illustrated but poorly structured retelling of the classic Grimm tale, Mayer retains little of the original, making major and inexplicable changes in the story [...]" I love to read updates to traditional stories, but I like to understand the background and notice the similarities and differences between versions. I guess that if I want to familiarize myself with the original or at least historically earlier versions of the tale, I will need to keep looking! Soon I will be reading Diane Zather's The Thirteenth Princess.

Many Nations: An Alphabet of Native America

Many Nationas: An Alphabet of Native America by Joseph Bruchac and illustrated by Robert F. Goetzl has a single sentence for each letter of the alphabet accompanied by the style of illustration and background shown on the front cover. Some illustrations, such as the one for B, "Blackfeet riders following buffalo herds", span a two-page spread. However, the majority have a letter on each single page. Many of the letters selected are for the names of tribes, which provides readers with a glimpse into the rich, diverse history. However, a small portion of the alphabet does not feature tribes, but rather other important aspects, such as animals. The V is "Visions of the future held in each child's eye," and the X is "X marking the four directions from which we all come." 

The final page in the book contains an author's note in which he describes his purpose was indeed to "help children recognize the diversity of Native Americans." He discussed the difference between the number of tribes prior to Columbus compared to the number of tribes that most readers are familiar with. He also wanted to demonstrate common threads, such as the "respect for the natural world." The author continues to provide a little bit of background for some of the illustrations; however, he concludes that the book was only able to portray "a handful of the hundreds of surviving nations of Native America." He then expresses that he hopes the book will prompt readers to "respect and learn more about the many original nations of our land." 

As a reader, I did notice that it has captivating pictures along with short text that provides glimpses into the range of information that readers can consider and discover about Native American tribes. This alphabet book could be used in various grade levels. While many might often consider it for the lower grades because of the limited text, I can also see it as being effective as a read aloud at the start of a unit for older grades, allowing them to consider how they can expand what they already know about Native Americans. The illustrations aid in being able to capture a wide audience. 

Bruchac has written many books related to Native Americans, so teachers would be able to create text sets or an author study considering the age range. For example, for older readers, the text set could include some of his picture books, such as this one that would still have illustrations appealing to older readers along with some of his novels, while a text set for younger readers could feature his picture books. I have wanted to read his, Code Talkers: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two for a long time. 

Snakes Live in Grass

Snakes Live in Grass by Melving and Gilda Berger is an informational text that is a part of the Scholastic Readers: Time-to-Discover series. Each page has a similar layout of a rectangular photograph framed by a thinned colored border and one sentence of text. The first page is the same as the title, "Snakes live in grass." After that there is a pattern for each two-page spread. The left hand side says, "Snakes live in ____________", listing areas such as forests, deserts, near water, and under rocks. Then the right hand side is a sentence relevant to the specific place. Each two page spread also has an oval fun fact on top of one of the photographs. The last page is a stand alone page, similar to the right hand pages in the rest of the text, providing one more bit of information about snakes.

There is a lot that I like about the format of this book for emergent readers. The photographs are interesting and could prompt a lot of discussion about what readers notice and wonder. All of the text is in a large font and each page is limited to one sentence, with the exception of the fun facts pages that have one additional sentence. The left hand pages provide a pattern for kids to gain familiarity, but the left hand pages and fun facts add a layer of authenticity, rather than strictly following the pattern throughout the whole book. It seems like this series offers an engaging, comfortable way to start engaging in informational texts. You can read more about the other science related books in the series here.

Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success

I first heard about Coach John Wooden's Pyramid of Success from the director at my school. Because I loved the message of each of the blocks, I was interested to see that aside from books targeted for adults, he also had books for children, including Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success.

The book starts out with what Inch and Miles view as an easy question, "What is success?" However, they quickly realize that it is about more than winning medals, being popular, or having the best toys. Success is defined in a way that aligns with the way my parents instilled in me throughout my life - doing my best (and with integrity), rather than being the best was what was important. When Inch and Miles express concern about how they will know that they are doing their best, Mr. Wooden sends them on an adventure to explore the Pyramid of Success. Various animals give them clues throughout the book, each with a poetic description of one of the characteristics off of the pyramid.

I am still thinking through how I would recommend the use in class. In some ways the longer text on each page might not hold some students' attention to read straight through. It seems it would be more effective to read in parts, which would be easy to do by breaking down into different blocks (or groups of blocks) after reading the introduction. It would be a perfect supplement to health and/or character education themed units, as well as at the start of the year when establishing classroom expectations and setting goals.

I also love the possibilities for writing teaching points for older students. For example, sharing the book, as well as his site can be juxtaposed to discuss adjusting for audience and purpose. Students will notice that some of the language is different (such as industriousness vs. hard work); however, the message is the same. They can also consider the presentation for varied audiences.

Alaska's Three Pigs

I have always loved re-writes of classics or traditional stories, so I was thrilled when my mom brought the girls Alaska's Three Pigs, written by Arlene Lavernde and illustrated by Mindy Dwyer, as a gift.

I enjoyed reading a "comfortable" tale and seeing how the author would add her own creativity. In the story, three brother pigs have travelled to Alaska. When the seasons shift, they realize that they need to switch from they camping and playing to establishing homes.

As to be expected with the typical tale, each brother dedicates a different amount of time to the task, ranging from the first settling for a pre-existing cabin that he encounters to the third pig taking the time to build a sturdy igloo. Then of course, the pigs encounter danger; however, this time it is with a bear whose hibernating they disturbed and the author has some special twists in store to explain how the pigs escaped their bleak fate.

Each of the pages with text have a border similar to the style on the front cover, although featuring different designs, such as fish and trees. In addition, certain words are in a larger, different, and colorful font in order to attract the readers' attentions. On one of our favorite pages the pigs are each participating in different winter sports, and the words "YEE HAW!", "BARK BARK!", and "WHEEEE!" swirl around tem.

Just as with different versions of Cinderella this book made me think about what the Oregon twist on the three little pigs would be!

What Can You Do With a Rebozo?

During my second exchange to Mexico one of the language teachers did a presentation for our class about the many uses of rebozos, including historical background. Not long after I returned to the US, I heard about a new book, What Can You Do With a Rebozo? It automatically caught my attention because of that personal connection. Almost four years later I finally bought a copy.

The book portrays traditional cultural uses that I heard about in the presentation or that I know from being in Mexico. However, there are also fun, creative ways to use a rebozo mixed in. For example, the first page illustrates the mother wearing a rebozo as a shawl and then to hold her baby on her back. Later in the book the main character (the girl shown on the front cover) uses it as a super hero cape for Halloween.

Initially, I was a little disappointed that it was a mixture, rather than solely showing the many uses that I have seen firsthand or that are well-known historically. However, then at the end of the book there is couple of paragraphs under the heading "About Rebozos". The next page has a heading identical to the title of the book, followed by four questions: "What is the silliest thing you can do with a rebozo? What is the most practical? The most beautiful? The most creative?" Once I read these pages, I realized that the mixture in the book was perfect - featuring "real" traditional uses and some background, while also sparking the imagination of many other personalities, a perfect lead into the questions.

I absolutely love the illustrations, which span the full two-pages spreads. I appreciate the way the family is portrayed and the way the images capture the culture represented in bright colors.

I am excited to see that the book is now available as a bilingual paperback as well.

My daughter snug in her abuelita's rebozo. Even though her head is sticking out this time, other times she was completely covered.

From Tadpole to Frog

As a new mom, I rarely bought informational texts for my oldest daughter. However, as I became a teacher and learned more about the value of balance with reading genres, I started to buy a wider range of texts. As a kindergartener and first grader I noticed that my oldest selected a lot of books about animals from her classroom library. As such, I frequently buy books about animals when Scholastic book orders arrive. From Tadpole to Frog, a level 1 Scholastic Reader was one of them. As a family we continue to enjoy informational texts, especially those related to science and social studies topics. 

The front cover provides glimpses into different stages of the life-cycle of a frog. When reading through the book, the photographs of the process dominate the pages, complemented by short sentences of text. The back cover outlines that level 1 of the Scholastic Reader set as including 50-250 words composed of "sight words, words to sound out & simple sentences." The words are in a larger sized font to further support emergent readers. 

When my daughter was first starting to read, books like this were perfect. She could feel successful reading the text, and then the photos provoked a lot of discussion, weaving in other prior knowledge that she had about whichever topic was featured. It is always ideal to consider a range of books for classroom libraries. This would be a good addition to a text set. While other books could be for teacher read alouds or small group settings, this would be an appropriate book for emergent readers, both those who read the words and those who read the pictures. 

The text also provides an introduction to informational text features, albeit in a limited way. There is one label to accompany a photograph, the word gills and lines to indicate where they are on the frog on page 11. In addition six key words/phrases are in bold in the text and there is an accompanying glossary in the back of the text. However, the words within the text are white, and for young readers who are not familiar with bold fonts, I wonder if they would notice the subtle difference. Nonetheless, that is where others can draw their attention to the text features that support their understanding. The simplicity of the text features complements the overall purpose of the book well.

Plant a Kiss

Recently I saw a post over at A Year of Reading about a new book, Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. I shared the You Tube trailer, included in the post, with my daughters. We were enjoying it so much that I decided to order it. Arriving a day before Valentine's Day, it made a perfect present for my girls.

The You Tube trailer includes the first pages of the book, with the exception that the still photos from the book are animated. As such, we enjoyed pulling the book out of the box and reading it for the first time, wondering what was going to happen after the part that we had already seen on-line. 

We already knew from the title and the video that Little Miss planted a kiss, and although it did not seem too hopeful at the start, it did eventually sprout. Her shouts caught the attention of her friends. Continuing on we were able to see what happened after the video ended, trying to see what Little Miss would decide to do with her sprout. In the book we enjoyed an aspect that the video didn't capture - the use of glitter.

The language in the book was simple, yet powerful. It reminded me of novels in verse that say so much with so few words. The girls loved the way the words flowed and enjoyed taking turns reading the book.

On another note, this book is going to be perfect to share in my college course focusing on linguistics as there are plenty of minimal pairs and one line that has the same words, but different intended meanings, aspects of language that we have been talking about. 

Double Trouble in Walla Walla

I love word play and have read so much about its benefits for supporting a love of language, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to read Andrew Clements' Double Trouble in Walla Walla. (As an added bonus, I always love books set in locations nearby my hometown. In this case it has the added connection of featuring the town where one of my sisters lives.)

Early on in the book, some central characters learn that they have a problem with their speech. Everything is coming out extra silly, and they cannot control it. Toward the end of the book they think they have solved everything, but have they really?

This is definitely a book that can model word play and inspire creativity. The art throughout the book is similar to that on the front cover, and aspects such as hair are often exaggerated. There are frequent thought bubbles throughout that had me laughing. A couple of pages have interesting formatting with the lay-out of the words, such as a page that has a lot of words swirling around the page.

You can read about another book that incorporates word play, Peas on Earth on a post from Ruth at Two Writing Teachers. It was just released this month.

Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator!

Just as with his Knuffle Bunny books, Mo Willems' creativity shines through in Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator! The table of contents announces that the book contains, "6 1/2 Surprising Stories About 2 Surprising Friends."

With the first story we meet Amanda's alligator, and I was smiling from the first page because of his personality. I continued to do so throughout the book. For example, on one page the alligator is dismayed to find out that he was only worth seven cents. Before Amanda reveals that he was in the sale bucket, the text states, "(When friends ask you to tell the truth, you tell the truth.)" (p. 41).

At 68 pages, the book is long compared to many picture books; however, there is not a lot of text on each page, so it is a great transitional book to build stamina for readers who are gaining more confidence. They can get familiar with the "chapter book" concept from the comfort of a picture book by a well-loved author.

Diary of a Spider

My daughter has brought home and really enjoyed Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm from her classroom library. I wanted to revisit this author by reading Diary of a Spider.

As with Diary of a Worm, in Diary of a Spider, real facts about spiders are mixed in with fictional elements, such as the spider going to school and other behaviors that reflect human life, rather than that of spiders. In addition, Harry Bliss is the illustrator for both books, so the book will feel familiar for those who have previously read the first book.

Throughout the book there is a lot of humor, which is sure to be one of the aspects that draw many kids to the books. Among the humor are subtle lessons. As much of the events in the book relate to humans, kids can learn from the emotions and actions in the book.

Because the book as set up as a diary, there are many random events, rather than one cohesive plot. As such, readers never know for sure what will be waiting for them as they flip the page, a fun element of surprise.

I noticed that Cronin has many other Diary of... books. They will be fun to explore.

Fishing in the Air

When I was student teaching I read my first Sharon Creech novel, and she quickly became one of my favorite authors. However, I am still unfamiliar with her picture books, other than Who's that Baby? When I saw her first picture book Fishing in the Air at the library, I didn't have to think twice before adding it to my stack.

The book recounts the story of a boy going fishing with his father, but it is not just about the actual fishing, it is about the whole experience. Leaving bright and early in the morning and including the conversations along the way. The dad has quite an imagination and inspires his son to see the world in a different way.

The composition of the pages was different, rather than being the same on every page - at times the watercolors swirled all over the pages, only leaving a small rectangle of text, while other pages had a lot of white space with a small image accompanying the text. However, the text always appeared in the same location on the pages, making the book form an overall cohesive feel.

I have to admit, when I read that the book was about a father-son fishing trip, I was not sure that I would like it all that much, since that experience is so far removed from my own. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I loved catching glimpses into this father-son relationship, as well as this specific bonding moment. This would be an excellent book to include in a genre study related to narrative writing, sharing the aspect of personal experiences with family.

D is for Drinking Gourd

D is for Drinking Gourd: An African American Alphabet by Nancy I. Sanders and illustrated by E. B. Lewis caught my attention because I had recently read Gathering the Sun, another cultural alphabet book. I also absolutely loved the cover image.

The inside of the book has art consistent with the style that caught my attention on the cover. Aside from the art, another aspect that I loved right away was that each page told part of history and/or contributions that African Americans have made in the US. Letters featured a range of aspects such as: Harlem Renaissance, inventors, jazz, the Little Rock Nine, athletes, organizations, and holidays. Some pages had celebratory tones, while others were more somber, sharing difficult aspects of history.

With the letter A, the left hand side of the two-page spread had four lines of poetry, "'Let our people go!' they cried / in speeches or with a pen in hand. / A is for abolitionists / who were willing to take a stand." The featured letter, A, was in a larger font to catch the reader's attention. The water color image spanned the two page spread, but about 1/3 of the right hand page was set off by a solid background color. It had the featured letter in upper and lower case in large text, followed by more historical information in smaller font than the rest of the page. Many of the pages followed this same set up, while others featured two letters, each with the same components on a single page, rather than the double-page spread. As such the lay-out of the book was crisp, consistent.


When I got to letter E, I realized that at least 2 of the four lines of each of the poetry rhymed. As such, there is another added layer to the text, including both poetry and expository writing, making it a perfect mentor text for multi-genre writing.


I always love books like this when I find them because they can be read and enjoyed in multiple ways for multiple age groups and reading levels. For example, it is perfectly fine for some readers to simply read the left hand statements, while others will read all of the text, and some might elect to read the right hand text for the information that especially piques their interest.

While this book is appropriate for older primary readers, it would also provide a lot of background information for older students. For example, I can picture it being valuable for middle schoolers interested in any of the various aspects of history mentioned in the book. When reading the information correlated with the letter F, discussing African American's role in wars in the US, I thought about how it would complement books such as Laurie Halse Anderson's Chains. Other pages made me think of Christopher Paul Curtis' books. This is a book that I will want to buy a copy of for my 6th-8th grade classroom library!

Eating the Alphabet

Lois Ehlert is one of the authors that I frequently notice when I am reading resources about emergent literacy, so I wanted to look for her books at our public library. One of them was Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z.

The end papers have small images of various fruits and vegetables in neatly arranged rows, while the title page has a silly face made out of fruits and vegetables, a sure hook for young kids.

After the following introduction on the first page, "Apple to Zucchini, come take a look. Start eating your way through this alphabet book," the rest of the book features fruits and vegetable words letter by letter, along with colorful watercolor illustrations. Each fruit and vegetable name is written twice, once in all capitals and again in all lower case letters.

Though there are many everyday fruits and vegetables, there are others that are less common, such as: gooseberry, kumquat, quince, and radicchio. Of course, what seems everyday or rare for me could be the opposite for others. Some that are common to me now, such as jicama and mango, were an everyday aspect of my husband's childhood and unknown to me until I was an adult. I love that a book like this can open up conversations with the girls about differences in their parents' childhoods. In a school context, kids could talk about which foods they are familiar with. In addition, I love that the end of the book has a glossary of the fruits and vegetables in the book, providing details about those that had me wondering.

This book has a lot to offer. The use of capitals and lower case can help students become aware of letter counterparts, noticing the connections of different ways to write the same letter. In addition, the book would be a perfect fit for a food themed unit. I especially like that the focus was narrowed to fruits and vegetables, so it could also fit in with a health related unit, rather than just food in general. When my oldest was first born I received Ehlert's Growing Vegetable Soup, which would be a great book to pair up with Eating the Alphabet for food-related units.

Chalk

Chalk by Bill Thomson was the only one of the four wordless books that I read with my daughters, and they absolutely loved it. At first I started by talking about the pictures, but slowly it shifted into telling a story. When I was finished my five-year-old asked me to read it again. The second time I read it more like a story and with more expression for individual characters since I had a better understanding of the big picture. Then, my eight-year-old wanted a turn reading it, followed by my five-year-old, who especially loves to play with different voices.

In the book three kids are walking in the rain. They spot a gift bag hanging from a t-rex at the park (as shown on the cover) and discover that the bag contains chalk. It does not take them long to realize that it is not just ordinary chalk as they discover that whatever they draw on the concrete becomes reality. Their wonder quickly turns to horror as one of the drawings leads to a dangerous scenario, making readers want to flip the page to see just what will happen.

As we sat on the couch after school, flipping through the pages and delighting in the illustrations four different times, I thought more about the value of wordless books. My youngest is still emerging as a reader. Though she knows some sight words and is able to "read" familiar books or books with a lot of patterns, at times I can tell that she doesn't quite feel a part of the reading club yet. She absolutely loves books and enjoys "reading the pictures" but at times I can tell that she can't wait to be able to read the words by herself just like her sister. With a wordless book, the three of us were on equal terms. My youngest was not worrying about not being able to read the words yet, as she was able to focus on the value of creating a story based on the pictures.

An additional benefit is the value in oral rehearsing for writing development. By allowing for multiple variations of the story and developing details about different characters and events, wordless books can support creativity with storytelling. For primary students in a writer's workshop setting, having wordless books in the classroom can help them to foster a higher value for telling a story solely through pictures, especially when that is their stage of development. I am also thinking about the possibilities for collaborations between older students and primary students. For example students from older grades who are able to write stories, could study wordless books as a genre study, create their own books with the younger students as their target audience and then share them with kindergarten or first graders.So many possibilities for wordless books...

Looking Down

I don't remember ever buying a wordless book (or checking out any from the library). I decided to order four from Amazon in order to explore a new genre. This week I will be posting a series of posts on the wordless books I bought.

Using cut-paper illustrations, Steve Jenkins' book Looking Down starts out in outer space and then zooms in increasingly more with each flip of the page. I always think that it is fascinating to watch scenes below from airplane windows, and this book reminded me of that sensation. 

In addition, I enjoyed analyzing the type of paper and textures that Jenkins selected for each aspect of the illustrations. It made me think of the ideal paper to create other scenes around the globe.

I was always guessing which aspect of the current picture would be featured as an enlarged version on the following pages. Once I reached the end, I loved the detail that ended up being the focal point. Inspiring wonder and awe with both the zooming in details and the artwork, this wordless book has a lot to offer in order to prompt discussions. 

Hibernar / Hibernation

Many kids, including my girls, love to read informational texts about animals. Hibernar / Hibernation is part of a set of bilingual books from Capstone Press (Pebble Plus: Patrones en la naturaleza / Patterns in Nature books). The book walks readers through the process of hibernation, with the following headings: Why Hibernate?, Getting Ready, A Place to Rest, and It's a Pattern. It also introduces young readers to text features of non-fiction texts, with aspects such as a Table of Contents, Glossary, Internet Sites for further research, and Glossary. One common text feature that is not present, however, are captions and diagrams, with the exception of one cyclical chart with captions to describe the pattern.

On each two page spread about two thirds or the left hand page has a light colored background and text, while a photograph spans the full right side extending onto the remaining third of the left side. All off the text is large, with a lot of space in between, making it a user friendly read for emerging readers (or for parents and teachers to model tracking for those who are not quite reading this level of text independently).

My daughters were fascinated to read about the various animals that hibernate, as well as differences in their processes. As always, they loved the photographs, and the ideas presented naturally spark additional questions to inspire an early love of curiosity toward the natural world. This book is a great addition to the classroom library for independent reading and would also support units specific to animals.

Good Boy, Fergus!

I love reading David Shannon's David books with my girls because they always inspire so much laughter. On our latest trip to the library, I saw his Good Boy, Fergus! and decided to see if the girls would love it just as much, and they were not disappointed.

Though the focus of this book is a dog, rather than a boy, the illustrations have a familiar feel, and the text has a similar voice. One of my girls' favorite pages was when the owner took Fergus for a ride in the car right after his bath and Fergus ends up with his hair sticking out. Then there's the page where Fergus has peed on a car tire, a pole, and a fire hydrant, and the text says, "Good boy, Fergie!" They loved that page about as much as some of those famous pages from the David books.

One thing is for sure, David Shannon books definitely bring a lot of laughter. My girls frequently ask to read them over and over again, positively adding to a sense of early love of reading. The information about the author shares that Fergus appears in the illustrations of ten of David Shannon's books. I can already imagine the fun my girls would have going on a search for their favorite dog!