Picture Book 20 --- Momma, Will You?

Title: Momma, Will You?
Author: Dori Chaconas
Illustrator: Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
Genre: Nursery Rhyme
Subgenre: Picture Book
Characters: Momma, little boy , and sister
Themes: Family, Directions, Siblings
Awards: N/A
Publishing Date: 2004
Publishing Company: Viking Juvenile
Summary: The book is about a little boy and his little sister. He wants to show his little sister all of the great new things out in the world, but before he does any of these things he always asks his momma. She always answers him with yes, no, or maybe. The brother mainly wants to show his little sister about all the farm animals they have around their house and the things that the animals will do. I would use this book in class during class reading circle time and it would help to explain to students that they must always ask permission to do things and how to follow directions. The book would also be one to read at the beginning of the school year to establish to younger students the importance in asking first then doing.

Picture Book 19 --- Little Monkey Lost

Title: Little Monkey Lost
Author: Keith DuQuette
Illustrator: Keith DuQuette
Genre: Fantasy
Subgenre: Picture book
Characters: Little Monkey, Various other monkeys
Themes: Family, Friends, Adventure
Awards: N/A
Publishing Date: 2007
Publishing Company: Putnam
Summary: The book is about a little monkey that gets bored by doing the same old things with his troop. So one day little monkey decides to hop on a lily pad and go down the river. He meets all these different troops of monkeys who do different things than his own troop. He has fun doing these things but eventually he gets tired of them and some of them begin to hurt him to do them any longer. So he eventually decides to go back to his troop because he misses them. He does find his way back to them and he is so happy because that is home to him. I would use this book during circle reading time in younger grades because the book is meant for younger students. I would also let them read the book individually in the reading corner for free read time.

Chapter Book 11 --- Out of the Dust

Title: Out of the Dust
Author: Karen Hesse
Illustrator:N/A
Genre: Historical Fiction
Subgenre: Chapter Book
Characters: Billie Jo, Averly Wanderdale, Bayard, Polly, Louise
Themes: Depression, Dust Bowl, Family, Resentment, Forgiveness
Awards: Newberry Winner, Scott O'Dell Winner
Publishing Date: 1997
Publishing Company: Scholastic Press
Summary: The book is about a little girl that is growing up during the great Depression in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl. The family is that of a wheat crop farmer and the crops are not producing like they should and so times are stressful for the family. The family consists of Billie Jo, Ma and Pa. Ma is pregnant though with a little boy that pa had been wishing  for. There is a terrible accident in the book that changes everything in the families dynamic. Everything just seems to go wrong for all family members from that point on. Then there comes a time in the book where everything starts to become resolved since Ma has passed and so did baby brother. In the end of the book there is a happy ending for Billie Jo and Pa. I would use this book in my classroom for older grades like middle school history classes when they are learning about the great depression or the dust bowl to help the students to really relate to what was going on back then and how it affected children of that time. The students will discover a sense of empathy and they will learn facts of the dust bowl and depression.

Chapter Book 10 --- A Time of Miracles

Title: A Time of Miracles
Author: Anne- Laure Bondoux
Illustrator: N/A
Genre:Historical Fiction
Subgenre: Chapter Book
Theme: exile, bravery, politics, adventure
Characters: Blaise and Gloria
Awards: 2011 Mildred Batchelder
Publishing Date: 2010
Publishing Company: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Summary: Blaise is a young boy who is unaware of his identity completely. He understand only what he hears from the lady who has raised and taken care of him and her name is Gloria. he understand that he came to be with Gloria after a train wreck where his mother gave him to Gloria. Then as Blasie and Gloria struggle with all of the political turmoil in Georgia they decide to escape from Georgia and head toward France. The two of them go on this journey with other refugees and take on this journey on foot. The journey takes five years for them to complete over Europe and they experience unwelcome issues and problems. This journey turns Blaise into a man and he tries to untangle the mystery of his past. What all will Blaise uncover of his past and how he came to be where he is and with Gloria? I would use this book in my classroom as a independent novel for the students to pick and write a book report on for extra credit in history. I would choose history to be the subject because it is historical fiction and it deals the So0viet union Collapsing and other events in history.

Picture Book 18 --- Raindrop Plop

Title: Raindrop Plop
Author: Wendy Cheyette Lewison
Illustrator: Pam Paparone
Genre:Informational Literature
Subgenre: Picture Book
Theme: Counting, Rainy Days, Play
Characters: Little Girl
Awards: N/A
Publishing Date: 2004
Publishing Company: Viking Books
Summary: The book is about a little girl that was playing outside and it rains. The book is counting with every step she takes and it gives a little rhyme after every count in the book. It follows her from playing out in the rain to when she comes in and takes a bath and has snack. I would use this book in lower grades since it is on their reading level and interest level. I would mainly use this book in kindergarten when learning and reviewing counting and it would also transition well into discussion of weather. Then it would be being used across the curriculum with science and math.

Chapter Book 9 --- Bud Not Buddy

Title: Bud, Not Buddy
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Illustrator: N/A
Genre: Historical Fiction,
Sub Genre: Chapter Book
Theme: African American, Bravery, Sadness, Family, Orphans
Characters: Bud Caldwell, Lefty Lewis, Herman C. Calloway, The Amoses
Awards: 2000 Newbery Medal Winner, Coretta Scott King Award
Publishing Date: 1999
Publishing Company: Delacorte Book for Young Readers
Summary: The story is about a young boy named Bud Caldwell and he is an orphan because he doesn't know who his father is but has an idea because of a flyer his mother left behind when she passed away. He also has an old bag of rocks that she left him when she passed. He has been passed around to several foster homes and the last one he goes to is the one that sets the whole story in motion. He is treated badly and decides to runaway to find his father. He them gets picked by a railroad worker named Lefty Lewis who decides to help him out. He takes him to his house and feeds him and cares for him and then takes him to a restaurant where the man on the flyer he has performs named, Herman C. Calloway. Herman denies being the boys father and then when Bud spots Herman doing the same thing to current rocks as is done to the ones bud has he confronts Herman. Herman then believes that Bud stole them from his house. After much talking and debate it is come to be known exactly who Herman is to Bud. It works out for the both of them in the end and they are family but what relation. I would use this book in my classroom as independent reading material for my students. It could also be read if we were studying a unit on African American literature. The book would help them to understand the bravery of the boy to go in search of his father, and especially when he had nobody.

Picture Book 17 --- The Moon over Star

Title: The Moon over Star
Author: Dianna Hutts Aston
Illustrator: Jerry Pinkney
Genre: Diverse literature, Informational Literature
Sub genre: Picture Book
Theme: African Americans, Dreams, Space, Culture
Characters: Mae,Grandpa, Cousins, Astronauts
Awards: Coretta Scott King
Publishing Date: 2008
Publishing Company: Dial Books for Young Readers
Summary: The book is about a young girl who has always dreamed of growing up and going into space. She has been told that space is a joke and waste of money and that she should keep her dreams more realistic. Then one day she gets to watch the very first astronauts land on the moon but her grandpa is not interested and has had to work hard all his life and that is what he is use to, but Mae changes his mind and he learns to dream and then begins to encourage Mae to dream and dream big. I would use this book in my classroom to start a chapter on space exploration or to give information on Neil Armstrong because he is the main astronaut talked about in the book. it will hook the students in by displaying all the pictures of men on the moon and by the suspense of what happened that day.