LOVE THAT BOOK!

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech is worth 30-60 minutes of your time. I promise that you won't be disappointed! Not only was this book funny, sincere and extremely touching, it could be a great teaching tool. It opened my eyes to bringing poetry into the classroom and have it be pleasant and inspiring, rather than hated. I think it is a pretty common phenomenon that poetry is not favorable to children. My own experience with poetry in school was far from pleasant. All I remember was sitting in class as my teacher stared at 25 blank faces, expecting us to interpret a poem without any prior knowledge or experience in doing so.

Miss Stretchberry found a way to reach out to Jack by presenting her class with motivating poetry that was not way over their heads, yet required the students to analyze the poems. Jack, the head-strong main character, tried with all his might to not give poetry a chance. In his attempts at resisting it, however, he was actually making meaningful responses which eventually led to him identifying with some of the poems. Jack's love for his dog and genuine admiration for the poet Walter Dean Myers, makes the book hard to put down.

While reading Love That Dog, I laughed and I cried. NEVER has a book made me cry! I found myself wishing I was Jack's teacher. Getting children to realize that THEY too are poets seems like such a daunting task, but in reality, it just has to be gone about in the right way.

One Scary Night by Antoine Guilloppe

I was utterly taken back by this book! The suspense is unbelievable and the black and white illustrations are breath-taking. One Scary Night is about a young boy who finds himself alone in the dark woods on a cold winter night. A thick, heavy snow begins to fall but the boy keeps pressing on as he realizes that something is following him. The boy starts sprinting when a fierce wolf is after him, but it is too late. The wolf leaps after the boy, grabs hold of him and tackles him to the ground. At the same time that the wolf lunges after the boy, a giant tree collapses and come to find out, the wolf actually rescues the boy. The wolf prevented the tree from coming down on the boy, therefore saving his life.

The book ends with the boy hugging the wolf and then getting escorted out of the woods into safety by his new friend. This is a lovely story about friendship and looking out for others. Something that appeared to be so scary, ended up saving a little boy's life. Don't judge a book by its cover (or by its title in this case) definitely applies here.

I used this book as a read-aloud with two second-graders that I work with. I was interested to see how they would react to reading a wordless book. They were just as intrigued as I was the first time reading it; their little eyes were glued to the pages wondering what was going to happen next and commenting with every turn of the page. After this experience, they have a much greater appreciation for illustrations and truly understand how powerful illustrations can be.

I was not expecting to be taken on such a wonderful journey. Of all the books I've blogged about thus far, this is by far my favorite! I cannot wait to buy this book for my classroom. Yah!

Invisible by Katja Kamm

In this book, items and people appear and disappear as they blend in with the color of the background. The bright, flashy colors reappear as you turn to the next page. Something that really surprised me was that there is no plot development or main character. I have NEVER come across a book with no plot or main character! The sole purpose of this book is to teach children what invisible means, and the illustrations do accomplish this task. It was entertaining flipping from page to page watching to see what would be invisible next. If a 21 year old can be entertained by this visually pleasing book, I'm sure a little kid could be too! However, you have picked up the wrong book if your intention is to dive in and find a story within the pictures. I will admit to flipping through the pages a few times thinking to myself, "What am I missing here?"

Mouse Colors, a very first book by Jim Arnosky

This book is whimsical and wonderful! This little, tiny book is not just about colors, there is a much bigger message here. The small mouse, who is able to manipulate an extra-large paintbrush and paint cans which are bigger than he is, is determined and ready to show what he has the potential to do.

The mouse artist playfully explores and experiments with the three primary colors - blue, yellow and red. Mouse starts off with only a table, paintbrush and can of blue, yellow and red paint, and his imagination takes off from there! Mouse creates a blue sky and sea of blue water; a bright yellow sun drawn up in the sky, with the help of the extra long paintbrush and table to stand on; a big red boat painted onto the water. Just when it seems like there is nothing left to paint, Mouse goes on yet another adventure. With the blink of an eye, the colors orange, green and purple are discovered allowing Mouse to put the finishing touches on his boat, add fish and shades of green to the water and create a green island far off in the distance.

This book shows what a little mouse with a lot of determination and imagination is capable of doing. The small size of the book and beautiful colors painted all throughout the pages makes this a great book to have in classroom libraries for young children. It is non-threatening (and wordless!) and will surely capture a child's attention!

Blood Song by Eric Drooker

After quickly skimming through the pages of this novel with no words, I didn't think this was a book for me. I had experienced a couple short wordless picture books before, but a novel without words?! It was hard to grasp; the fact that there wasn't much color didn't help. Little by little, my opinion changed...

I decided to take an open-minded approach and give the book a chance. A great decision on my part, I urge all other readers who take on this book to do the same! First off, it is important to read the three page introduction written by Joe Sacco (he's a famous cartoonist & journalist, I had to google him to find this out). He gives some necessary background info on Drooker and offers insight about the book; it's well constructed, grabs your attention and really does help. It's impossible not to take a second look at the book after reading the introduction.

Blood Song by Eric Drooker is intense and powerful. The book is about a young female protagonist's journey through a harsh life with themes of resistance, brutality and the struggle against oppression. The setting starts out somewhere in southeast Asia where the female protagonist and her family are introduced. They are living a simplistic lifestyle, the old-fashioned way - fetching pales of water, catching fish for dinner. Everything is happy and content until things rapidly turn dark and ugly. The girl and her dog are in the woods getting a bucket of water when army helicopters and armed soldiers land in their village, shoot down civilians and take it over. The girl and her dog flea deep into the woods and escape, everything is striped from her. They end up finding their way to a big city but come across the same problems.

This is a story about the real world and what life is really like in the big city. Drooker does not lie to us, he has no intention of painting a pretty picture of the world. He sends a tough message that destruction is everywhere. The images in this book are amazing, weaving us through a story of desperation and when we least expect it, surprising us with an image painted in bright colors rather than the black and blue color scheme that fills the pages, giving hope that better times are to come. It took a few times reading Blood Song to really appreciate it, but by about the 3rd or 4th time I found myself exceptionally engaged and entertained by each page. I found something new each time reading it and have come to respect Drooker for his honest perspective of the world.

The Class Artist by G. Brian Karas

The Class Artist by G. Brian Karas is a fun and inspiring book. The main character, Fred, goes home after the first day of school upset about his drawing abilities. Other kids in the class were picking on him and the little confidence he might have had with drawing is now gone. His teacher assigns an art project to the class, giving them an entire week to make whatever they want. Fred is excited and decides to go all out making an extravagant tipi that is sure to impress his teacher and classmates. Come Friday, the day the project is due and the students will be presenting to the class, Fred has nothing to show; his big plan majorly fell through and Fred was upset. At the last second he was able to throw something together, and as it turns out, Fred's art project was the best.

While the book was quite predictable, I still enjoyed it and feel that many children can relate to Fred. It is so rare for kids to feel confident about their artistic abilities, and this is something that develops early on in elementary school. Either you can draw, or you can't, period. This is the message that most young kids receive and it's really sad. I was one of those kids that knew I couldn't draw and therefore HATED art. This stigma followed me into my adult age and and is something I struggle with to this day. Fred's teacher assigned an art project that had absolutely no requirements, it was completely up to the students to choose what they wanted to do. So many times teachers assign art projects that must be done a certain way, which ultimately doesn't allow any creativity or choice on the students' end. When teachers have a particular vision of what the end product should look like and identify this to their students, the students are being set up for failure. My art projects never looked the way they "should" have, and as a result, I was extremely turned off by art.

While this book would be more than appropriate for children of all ages, I would use it specifically with 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders; this is usually when the "my art doesn't look like theirs" stage starts to happen. I think that children in this age group will appreciate this book and be inspired by Fred's confidence to move forward with art and just enjoy it, not hold back in fear of what others' reactions may be.

"Woolvs In The Sitee" by Margaret Wild

Reading Woolvs In The Sitee by Margaret Wild, was definitely an interesting experience. The book was eerie, yet intriguing. I was spooked instantaneously after turning to the first page and before reading a single word of the text, due to the large, black, spider-like object that clung to a crooked black tree in Spudvilas' opening illustration. Woolvs In The Sitee is about a young boy named Ben, who is left alone and confined to his basement after wolves take over the city in which he lives. He has one friend to turn to, his neighbor Missus Radinski, but she doesn't believe him about the wolves.

The first thing to be noticed when reading this book is the use of misspelled and made-up words, along with the intense illustrations. For the most part I found myself curious and confused, however, there was one thing in which I was certain, the theme; the theme that "no one is spared" is introduced immediately and remains throughout the book. The pictures are deep and dark, with scary depictions of the sky, wolf eyes peering through the backgrounds, possessed-looking human faces staring out the windows and shadows of blurry unspared faces.

As the reader, there is an instant feeling of desperation and helplessness for the worried and lonely main character, Ben. There is a sense of hope when Missus Radinski gets introduced, becoming aware that Ben is not alone. It leads one to wonder if there is something seriously wrong with the young boy, if he is disturbed in some way, or if he is truly experiencing something tragic.

After finishing the book, I am left a bit dismayed and certainly not without questions. How long was Ben cooped up in the basement? In the end Ben makes it out into the world and escapes the Wolves. Does this mean that Ben is brave? I am suspicious of the ending and feel like the whole thing is twisted. Is it possible that Ben is the wolf...

"The Trouble with Twins" by Martha Freeman

The Trouble with Twins by Martha Freeman, is a book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading and would absolutely recommend for teachers to read to their students. Coming across this book in the curriculum lab instantly excited me, considering the fact that I am an identical twin. Freeman's depiction of a set of energetic two-year-old twin boys and their older sister was spot on! With the twins, Jeremy and Dylan, being at the terrible age of 2, their older sister, Holly, offers to throw them a birthday party so that her exausted mom and stepdad can have a break. This was no easy task, and Holly had to overcome many challenges along the way.

Freeman's writing was extremely humerous, as the book went from one funny thing to the next. I found myself laughing out loud as the twins constantly requested to watch their potty videos, got into the toilet paper resulting in a toilet paper confetti war, and dumped cake batter on Boo Cat's head. The cats were always attentive and prepared for escape mode, in order to avoid the brutality of the twins.

I formed a connection with this book and could closely relate to it. Just as my twin sister and I have opposite personalities and characteristics even though we are identical, so did Dylan and Jeremy; one twin is the instigator, and the other twin, while naughty, can be cuddly and sweet. I have an older sister whom I'm sure would relate to Holly. When there are two twin toddlers running around the house, it is easy for parents to overlook the needs of the older sibling. I felt stressed and sad for poor Holly at times, especially when she referred to herself as the "invisible big sister," and when attention from her parents was scarce. The trip to the grocery store with the boys particulary sticks out in my head. When they got out to the car, Holly and her mom celebrated "surviving another trip to the grocery store". My Mom said that the grocery store was her worst nightmare when my twin sister and I were little.

The book ended nicely with the birthday party turning out to be a success and Holly's parents surprising her with her favorite dinner to celebrate what a great big sister she is. I hope that others will appreciate this book and be as entertained as I was when reading it!