Reading Review with Christal

Title: Thunder Boy Jr. Author/Illustrator: Sherman Alexie/Yuyi Morales Genre: Fiction Awards: Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Award Age: 4-8 This book is about a little boy who's named after his father, but wants a name of his own. He mentioned how 'Big Thunder', which is is father's nickname sounds like a name that fills up the sky. His nickname, 'Little Thunder' sounds like a burp to him. He tells how his mother and sister's names are fancy names and normal, while his is nowhere near normal. he tells the reader a secret and that is that he hates his name, and that he wants his own. He wanted a name that sounded like him, and celebrates something amazing that he's done. He comes up with these different names he thinks would be great, and they're all based on things he's done, such as 'Not Afraid of Ten Thousand Teeth' because he touched a wild orca, another was 'Gravity's Best Friend' because he learned to ride a bike whe...

Title: Henny Penny Author/Illustrator: H. Werner Zimmermann Genre: Fiction; Fantasy Age: 4-8 This book is about a hen who gets hit on the head by an acorn and thinks that the sky is falling. Once the acorn falls onto her head, her journey to the King she meets some of her friends who wanted to go with her such as Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, Turkey Lurkey, while they're on their journey to the King, they were protective helmets in case anything else falls on them. They then met Foxy Loxy who said he would show them a shortcut, but took them right to his cave instead, and they went in and never came out. Since they were now gone no one could tell the King that the sky was falling. it ends with and image of Foxy Loxy plucking his teeth, and we see a few helmets, which is what each character was wearing, implying that the fox most likely ate them. I would love to read my students this book, because they could get involved. After the first time of reading it, some ma...

Title: Princess Penelope: Handprints, Snowflakes, and Play-dates Author/Illustrator: Christine Bronstein/Karen L. Young Genre: Fiction Age: 4-8 This book talks about a young girl who adjust how her and her brothers normally behave for a play-date with her friend from school who has Autism Spectrum Disorder.  Her teacher was telling her class, that no two minds are alike and that everyone is different n their own unique way. She wanted to students to play with someone different, and Penelope played with Eric and he was invited over for a play-date. The mom had her and her brothers practice using their inside voices, because loud noises would affect Eric and make him upset. She also had them work on being flexible, in case Eric didn't want to do something, and that they wouldn't get upset. At one point Penelope, her brothers and Eric were playing on the trampoline, when he just left because the noises were too loud. Penelope remembered what her mother and father told her and...

Title: Looking Like Me Author/Illustrator: Walter Dean Myers/Christopher Myers Genre: Fiction Awards: School Library Journal Best of Books 2009; Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book 2009 Age: 4-8 This book is about a boy who describes the kind of person he is. It all starts with him looking at himself in the mirror and he first sees himself and he says I'm Jeremy. Then when he sees different people they remind him of different things he is, like a brother to his sister, a son to his father, a writer to his teacher, he was a city child to the mailman, an artist to his grandma, a dancer to a sweet girl he met on the street. He said he was a runner when he ran into his friend Karen, and added that to his growing list to who he is. His mother called him a dreamer, because he was constantly spreading fantasies across the sky, he dreamed of secret places, hidden faces, and black maids and knights who swooned and sighed. In the end the author challenges the reader to start a...

Title: Little Robot Author/Illustrator: Ben Hatke Genre: Fiction Awards: Eisner Award Winner & Nominee; Illinois Gryphon Award; Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year; Age: 6-9 This little adventurous girl, sneaks out of her house and goes on a journey, while on this journey she discovers a box, and in this box was this little robot. She activated him without knowing it and the robot became "alive", he struggled to walk, so I assume it was his first time being turned on. At first the little girl was scared of the robot, but she helped him stand up, and then taught him how to walk. In the next scene they show us the boxes being unloaded into a warehouse, and each was scanned, and the computer noticed that the little robot the girl found was the one that was missing. Next there was a system that went out to catch this little robot who was missing. The next chapter we see the girl and the robot walking down the street and the robot encounters a cat and gets scared of th...

Title: Baby Monkey, private eye Author/Illustrator: Brian Selznick & David Serlin Genre: Humor, Fiction Age: 4-8 This cute graphic novel is about a baby monkey who solves different cases. The first case was of missing jewels. He said he could help, first he looked for clues, then he would write his notes then he would eat a snack, and finally put on his pants. When he would put in his pants it was a struggle, but in the end he solved the case. The zebra had stolen the jewels, and baby monkey caught him red-handed. The second case was about a missing pizza. A baker comes into his office and says that someone has stolen his pizza. So as with the last case he could help, he looked for clues, wrote his notes, ate a snack, and put on his pants, with the same struggle, and he knew who did it. It was the lion who stole the pizza. The third case was about a stolen clown nose. Baby monkey could help, he looked for clues, wrote down his notes, ate a snack, put on his pants, and solved t...

Title: If You Give A Moose A Muffin Author/Illustrator: Laura Joffe Numeroff/Felicia Bond Genre: Fiction Age: 4-8 This book is about a child who gave a moose a muffin, that let to other events unfolding. It all started when the little boy gave the moose a muffin, the moose wanted some jam to go with it and the child gave him some of his mother's homemade blackberry jam. He finished eating that muffin and wanted another and another and ate them all, so he asked the little boy to make more. He was going to head to the store to get more muffin mix, and the moose wanted to go with. Once he opened the door he realized how chilly it was and asked to borrow a sweater. The boy gave him a sweater to borrow, but the moose noticed a button was loose. He asked for needle and thread and as he was sewing he remembered how his grandmother would make puppets. So he asked for some old socks, to make sock puppets with. When he finished he wanted to put on a show, so hey gathered cardboard and p...