The Tale of Peter Rabbit

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Title: The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Genre: Traditional Literature

Authors: Catherine Lukas and Pamela Pia

Illustrator: Maggie Swanson

Awards: None

Age group: 5-7 year olds

I did know of this story before reading this book but, I believe this is a great retelling of the classic peter rabbit story. This is a much simpler, easy to read version of the story, which makes it great for beginners.

Summary:

In the beginning mother rabbit tells her 4 children that they were allowed to go outside and play today when she was going to get grocery’s, as long as they do not go into Mr. McGregor’s garden because it is dangerous. But Peter rabbit, being the naughty rabbit he was, disobeyed his mother and went into the garden. Then Mr. McGregor saw him and started chasing him. During the chase he lost both his shoes and his jacket. He even got wet at one point because he tried to hide in a watering can. Then he got very scared when he could not figure out how to get out of the garden, but after a while he finally found a way out. He then ran all the way home, but because he gotten all wet he didn’t feel good so his mom gave him some tea and sent him to bed. While his sisters got to eat the bread and milk and berries for supper.

I do believe I can use this book in my classroom. It is easy to read and has great illustrations. I also think it provides a great lesson to children about following the rules.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book is 1st grade through 3rd because it is a great book for beginning readers and has a great story line .This book also has big fonts and a sentence or two per page, Making the story very easy to read.

I believe I would use this book as a personal shared reading one on one with a student to help with reading practice because it is so simple to read.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy 

Puss and Boots

Puss and Boots

Title: Puss and Boots

Genre: Traditional Literature

Author: Charles Perrault

Illustrator: Fred Marcellino

Awards: Randolph Caldecott Medal 1991

Age group: 6 years old and up

Before reading this book I only knew of the cartoon version of puss and boots. I found that the book version is very different, so you must read it before you judge it. It was also quite fascinating to find out the real backstory of puss and boots. I believe this version did a very good job of telling the story with great illustrations.

Summary:

In the beginning the father of the three sons dies and leaves his three sons only his mill, a donkey, and a cat. The first son gets a mill; the second son gets the donkey the third son gets the cat. The third son is not happy about getting the cat he does not believe he can live off of it. But then the cat says give me boots and a sack and I will make you rich. Then the cat starts to kills animals and then takes them to the king and says it is from his master and he repeats this for a couple times. Then he tells his master to go swimming in the lake, this lake happens to be where the king would be at. Then the cat yells that his master is drowning and the king’s men pull him out of the water. The cat also says he lost his clothes from Robbers. So the king clothes him in fine clothes .The kings princess notices how handsome he is in the clothes. Then as they ride in the carriage together the cat goes ahead and tells all the people of the estates they pass that they will say this is his masters owns the fields or else. The king admired the master’s fields. Then finally the cat comes to a castle which is owned by an ogre and tricks him into turning himself into a mouse and then eats the ogre .Then when the king reaches this castle the cat says it belongs to his master .Then after seeing this impressive castle the king offers his daughter to be his wife and they then live in a castle and live happily ever after. In the end the cat no longer must catch mice unless for fun.

I’m not quite sure I’d use this book in my classroom just because the fact it doesn’t teach a very good life lesson such as lying will give you wealth. But it is a fun story.

I feel the appropriate grade level for this book is 1^st -8^th grade. This story does contain some somewhat gruesome things such as the killing of animals( but does not show blood).But I still believe it is OK for at least a first grade reader and up because it is fairly easy to read. This story can be good for all age’s even adults because it is a classic story. The book does have a somewhat short paragraph per page layout but the font is big so it is easy to read.

I believe I could use this book as either one in many read alouds of classic tales or as books about heroism.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy 

The Gingerbread Man

The Gingerbread Man

Title: The Gingerbread Man

Genre: Traditional Literature

Author: Jim Aylesworth

Illustrator: Barbra McClintock

Awards: 2017 Publishers Weekly

Age group: 3-6 year olds

This book is a really cute version of a classic story. The illustrations are quite good and I believe this is a simpler version of the story, so it is great for younger kids.

Summary:

An old lady and old man made a gingerbread man but when they opened the oven the gingerbread ran out and said “Run Run as fast you can you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man. “ In the story he meets a butcher, a cow, and a pig that all cannot catch him. But then he meets a fox, the fox tricks the ginger bread man into coming closer by pretending he could not hear what he said and then he gobbles the gingerbread man up and that’s the end.

I do believe I could use this in my classroom because it is a great story that is probably familiar with most kids. This exact book also has great illustrations to go with the story. It also is a little relatable to the kids, with the gingerbread being so silly.

I think the appropriate grade level for this book is Pre-K through 2nd because it is simple to read and is a classic story.

I would use this book as an attention grabber book around Christmas time because of the theme, to get them excited about the Christmas spirt. I would also have an activity with the book where they would make their own gingerbread men and woman, after reading the story.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy

The Lion and The Mouse

The Lion and the Mouse

Title: The Lion and the Mouse

Genre: Traditional Literature

Author and Illustrator: Jerry Pinkney

Awards: Randolph Caldecott Medal 1938-2019, Indies Choice Book Awards 2010

Age group: 3-6 year olds

I choose this book because the illustrations are so beautiful and I believe this is a great version of this classic tale.

Summary:

 A mouse accidentally disturbed lions nap on day. The lion catches the mouse but makes the decision to not to eat the mouse and sets it free. Then one day the lion gets caught in a poachers net. The mouse hears the lion and runs to him. The mouse who remembers the lion, decides to help free the lion.

I would use this in my classroom because it has beautiful illustrations, and a beautiful lesson/moral, that moral being if you are kind to someone they will be kind back to you.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book is Pre-K through fifth grade, because it is a lesson all children should know regardless of their age. It is also a wordless book only with pictures to convey the story so is easy to read.

The unit that could go with this book would be about the subject of giving back to others. At the end of reading this book the students will write down something they have done to help someone else and then will share with the class. After that they will write down something they plan to do to help something or someone else in the future.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy

The Three Little Pigs

The Three Little Pigs

Title: The Three Little Pigs

Genre: Traditional Literature

Author: James Marshall

Awards: None

Age group: 4-8 years old

Before reading this book I was already familiar with this popular story of the three little pigs, though this version is a little different from the version I knew. In this version he does actually eat the pigs, which was a little different from the version I knew from school. But this interpretation was still a great book.

Summary:

Once upon a time a Mama pig sent her 3 little pigs into the world to seek their fortune. One pig bought straw he saw from a man and he made a house out straw because it was easy to make. Then the Big Bad Wolf comes and asks to come in, but the pig says no and so he blows his house down and gobbles the pig up. Then the next pig buys some sticks and he builds a house out of sticks, he thinks it is very pretty. But then the Big Bad Wolf came and asked the same thing and when the pig said no, he blew the house down and gobbled up the second pig. The last pig decided to build a house out of brick because it was sturdy. Then the Big Bad Wolf comes to the last pig’s house and asks to come in but the pig says no and the wolf tries blowing down his house but it is too strong. So instead he tries to trick the pig into meeting him alone at the farmers turnips patch the next day and the pig replies I’ll meet you there at six. But the pig then goes at five so the wolf misses him. The wolf then tries again to meet alone but the pig is too smart and keeps making up excuses .Then finally the Big Bad Wolf is so frustrated he jumps down the chimney of the pigs house to get in. But the pig was smart and placed a pot of boiling water under the chimney. He then ate the wolf for dinner.

I could use this book in my classroom because it is a classic and funny story that every child should know. I believe this version in particular has a great lesson about really thinking about things before you do it and that your choices matter.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book is 2nd-4th grade. This book is fairly easy to read and has great pictures. Though, this particular book does have the version of the story where the wolf eats the first 2 pigs, which is why I believe that it is more appropriate for the upper elementary grades.

I believe a way I would use this book is in a fun activity. So after the book is read for the first time, then some of the students will act out the book by being the characters. This will help the students with confidence and really connecting with the characters for any later research on the book.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy

Wonder

Wonder

Title: Wonder

Author: R.J. Palacio

Genre: Bluebonnet

Awards: New York Times Best Seller and Texas Bluebonnet award master list

Age group: 3rd-12th grade

I just finished reading Wonder by R.J Palacio. I saw the movie before reading the book, so I did know some aspects of the plot, but I believe this book goes into much greater detail and has way more emotional depth. I believe this book could be great for more upper-level elementary classes and a great story even for adults. It is easy to read and a real heart-jerker and by the end you feel like you have a real connection with the characters. This book really makes you think about what we might take for granted in our everyday life.

This book tells the story of a fifth grader named August Pullman who has a medical condition that has caused a disfiguration with his face. The story is told from many perspectives, including himself, his sister Via, his new friends and others. By seeing through multiple characters’ point of view, it helps to show the full picture of the story and fits each piece into the puzzle of the plot. Through different perspectives, the plot reveals August facing his first time in a real school and how he slowly finds himself while growing up and facing new challenges. Through the hardships he faces in middle school for being different, although August knows he will never be “normal,” he learns to accept who he is. Throughout the book, others learn to accept him for who he is and not for how he looks. Despite the many ups and downs August faces, with the support of his family and some good friends (like Summer and Jack) in the end he learns that school isn’t so bad and becomes excited for the next year. He even wins the special Henry Ward Beecher metal at his school and gets a standing ovation from his classmates, parents, and teachers. This moment is a great and heartwarming ending to a great book.

I believe I could use this book in the classroom because it talks about many great lessons and it deals with issues in many areas that are important for kids to learn, such as kindness to all, acceptance, and friendship. Wonder also gives examples of difficult school situations and how to learn from them, which can be beneficial to their own lives. Although I have noticed that this book might seem a little outdated to current students because of the older references mentioned, it still has valuable lessons that are timeless.

There are many intense subjects presented in this book, such as bullying, death, bravery, and acceptance. Even with these subjects presented, I would recommend this book for a 3^rd to 6^th grade level. It is easy to read because it is laid out as multiple short stories that are only two to three pages long within each section. With these age groups in mind, the story will be more meaningful to them later on as they face some of the same challenges themselves.

I would use this book as part of my curriculum as a read out loud that would happen over the course of a week. After completing the book, I would have a discussion about what was something important they learned from the story. Then they would do an assignment like the one given from the English teacher in the book. They will be assigned to write a precept that they thought was important to them.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy 

A Little Intro about me and what this blog is about...

Hi my name is Lacy and this blog is a way to keep up with and do reviews for some good children’s books for my EDRE 4320.I am planning to be a Early Education major and i hope to become a teacher after I graduate and would like to teach either kinder, 4th grade or a higher level math.Some of my hobbies I enjoy is doing theater, singing, dancing, doing crafts, baking and cheerleading. I hope if you are reading my blog that you enjoy everything I put into it and that it will help you with your children book selection.Thank you and Enjoy , Lacy