Story Path: Choose a Path, Tell a Story Author/Illustrator: Madalena Matoso
Published March, 2017 by Kane Miller EDC Publishing
Summary: Where you go, whom you meet, what you do next — it’s all up to you…
Travel along the story path and discover an enchanted world where princess battle with hairy monsters and vampire cats zoom through the galaxy on silver unicorns!
This innovative picture book allows you to choose your own characters, settings, and plots at every turn. With quirky illustrations by the award-winning Madalena Matoso, this is an imaginative storytelling experience for children of all ages.
Review: I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was younger because it made you part of the story to an extent that other books didn’t because you get to be the actual creator of the plot. Story Path does just this but for a younger audience! The author set up the book in a very friendly way that gives lots of options but also is easy to follow. On each page, the story continues with a beginning of a sentence like “One day, they were riding along on their…” and the reader then gets to pick from a set of illustrations. This spread includes options like a two-headed dragon, rocket ship, horse, boat, or an elephant. Then after the choice is made, the author included guiding questions to ask the reader like “What did you choose? What noise did it make? How fast was it? Where were they going?” This helps add even more to the story that the reader is creating.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This book could take narrative writing to a new level in the early elementary classroom! As students are first learning how to write stories, Story Path can help guide the writers through characters, setting, and plot yet each writer would have a different story.
Discussion Questions: What story did you create? Why did you pick what you did? What can you add to your story?
Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and was started to help promote the reading of nonfiction texts. Most Wednesdays, we will be participating and will review a nonfiction text (though it may not always be a picture book).
Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other nonfiction books are shared this week!
Can an Aardvark Bark? Author: Melissa Stewart
Illustrator: Steve Jenkins
Published June 13th, 2017 by Beach Lane Books
Summary: From award-winning author Melissa Stewart and Caldecott honoree Steve Jenkins comes a noisy nonfiction exploration of the many sounds animals make.
Can an aardvark bark? No, but it can grunt. Lots of other animals grunt too…
Barks, grunts, squeals—animals make all kinds of sounds to communicate and express themselves. With a growling salamander and a whining porcupine, bellowing giraffes and laughing gorillas, this boisterous book is chock-full of fun and interesting facts and is sure to be a favorite of even the youngest animal enthusiasts.
Review: This book came at a perfect time for my family! Trent had a doctor appointment last week and he was in the jungle room. While in the room, he started saying the noises for each animal and asking me what the ones he didn’t know make. I promptly found an app for that, and we’ve been exploring the app ever since listening to the sounds of all sorts of animals from chimpanzees to ibex to anteaters that live in the jungle to the farm to the mountains. And then we received Can an Aardvark Bark? in the mail, and it was such a happy coincidence! The book is a perfect addition to my new animal sound obsessed kid.
But in addition to my personal story of why we’re excited about this book the text is also filled with animal facts, fun to read, and illustrated by one of my favorite illustrators, Steve Jenkins.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: In an elementary classroom, Melissa Stewart’s work is such a wonderful way to bring science into reading time and reading into science time. This one is no exception. The book includes a wide variety of animals and interesting information about each one. It also has a fun rhythmic and rhyming text that lends itself to read alouds. The book could also be a jumping off point for an animal inquiry project focused around either an animal in the book or a new animal.
Discussion Questions: What are different ways animals communicate?; What animal makes a sound that surprised you?; How did the author structure the book?; What are some animals not in the book? What sound do they make? Where would they fit in in the text structure? Or would they be in their own category?; What can animal sounds tell you about the animal?
Book Trailer:
Read This If You Love: Nonfiction picture books about animals, Melissa Stewart’s work or Steve Jenkins’s work
Meet the Bobs and Tweets
Published June 28th, 2016 by Scholastic, Inc.
Bobs and Tweets: Perfecto Pet Show
Published June 27th, 2017 by Scholastic, Inc.
Author: Pepper Springfield
Illustrator: Kristy Caldwell
Summary: This series is a full-color, illustrated high-interest rhyming stories that’s just right for reluctant readers. It’s Dr. Seuss meets Captain Underpants wrapped into one zany adventure. Get ready to read…and laugh!
Meet the Bobs and Tweets Summary: …the Bobs, who are messy, and the Tweets, who are neat. How can these two strange families get along in the same neighborhood? And are all the Tweets really neat and all the Bobs slobs?
Perfecto Pet Show Summary: Get ready for one perfecto school pet show with the Bobs and Tweets! Dean Bob and Lou Tweet can’t wait to perform in the first-ever Bonefish Street Elementary School Pet Show. They’ve practiced their performances over and over again, and together with their pets, they’re ready to shine!
But it looks like their families, the Tweets, who are neat, and the Bobs, who are slobs, aren’t going to make getting to the show easy. What will happen when the Tweets and Bobs have a showdown before the show? And what if all that fighting makes Dean Bob too nervous for his performance? Find out in another wacky family saga full of pets, school antics, and two very silly families!
Review: The Bobs and Tweets are such different characters. They each are extreme representations of different types of people you’ll meet in your life time which lends directly to the theme of the book: just because you are different from someone doesn’t mean you can’t be friends or live cordially with them. Dean and Lou are the perfect example of that. Both kid is the opposite of their family and then they are the opposite of each other, yet they have such a strong friendship and just work together so well!
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: These books are screaming to be read out loud! The rhyming and rhythm are so catchy and fun to read, kids will be enthralled by the words and the story. Also, because of the humor throughout, it allows for deeper conversations, like the theme I mentioned above, to be discussed without it seeming so serious.
The first book sets up the characters and setting then the second book really gets into how the two families interact together. This would make both books a perfect beginning of the year read aloud to get the tough discussions of differences out of the way while reading about the fun Bobs and Tweets.
Discussion Questions: Compare and contrast the Bobs and the Tweets.; How did the realtor trick both families?; Which family do you relate to the move?
Flagged Passages:
Perfect Pet Show Chapter 1: (Almost) Late for School
Lou Tweet is dancing outside with her cat
While she waits for Dean Bob, that boy with the hat.
They need to leave soon. School starts at eight.
But today, Lou’s friend Dean is running quite late.
“Are you done yet?” asks Lou. “Almost ready!” cries Dean.
“Chopper needs one more rinse to make sure he is clean.
My Bobs had a food fight with cold mac and cheese.
Does my dog still smell cheesy? Can you sniff his fur, please?”
There are two types of people I like to spend time listening to and talking with. First are teachers, particularly elementary school teachers, who have consistently been the most important influencers in my life. This started with my mother who was a public school teacher in Dedham, Massachusetts.
My mother, showing a snake to third graders while she was pregnant with me. Not shown here was a future-famous student of my mom’s, mega-bestselling author, Anita Shreve!
Teachers were the real heroes and celebrities when I was growing up. Every spring when I was a kid my mother would invite our teachers over for lunch and it was a real thrill to be able to socialize outside of the classroom with my teachers and hear their stories. It sounds old-fashioned and corny now but back then, it was one of the most significant days of the year and just one of the many ways I grew up with total respect and appreciation for teachers.
Decades later, as President of Scholastic Book Clubs, my job is to listen to teachers and partner with them in any way possible to help them get wonderful books into the hands of all students. I trace my career path directly back to those elementary school lunches.
The second category of people I like to spend time talking with are kids who aren’t great readers. I enjoy most young people, but I particularly like to hear from kids who don’t like to read; those who say “I am just not a reader,” who can’t find a book they like, and thus become practically allergic to books and reading. These kids don’t have the skills or the vocabulary or the confidence to keep up with complicated chapter books and they don’t want to be caught reading “baby books”. So they often get left behind or opt out. I spend lots of time talking with many such kids when I visit classrooms around the country. My interpretation of what I hear is that they need to connect with books that are funny, interesting, sometimes edgy, relatable, and easy enough for them to read and feel successful.
For years I thought about writing such a book myself but I had neither the self-confidence nor a specific idea. One day, one phrase popped into my head: “Bob the Slob.” It took me months to get over being self-conscious about actually sitting down to write (I would literally fall asleep from stress when I first sat down at my desk) but bit by bit, weekend by weekend, I pushed my self-doubt aside and kept at it.
Eventually, I developed that one phrase “Bob the Slob” into a rhyming chapter book about a family of slobs named Bob and a family of neat-niks named Tweet. These two families unwittingly move to the same place—Bonefish Street– and their not-so-friendly-neighborly adventures begin.
But the youngest in each family, Dean Bob and Lou Tweet, are not like the rest of their clans. Dean Bob is fastidious and orderly; and Lou Tweet loves rock ‘n’ roll and never cleans her room. They each struggle with their families’ extreme lifestyles and so it is lucky and wonderful when they meet each other and become best friends.
I found Kristy Caldwell, an illustrator on the SCBWI website and together we have been working on developing these characters and the world they live in and creating a series of funny, rhyming, fully illustrated chapter books geared for those kids who aren’t such great readers and have trouble finding something they want to read. Needless to say, we were thrilled when Meet the Bobs and Tweets was chosen by kids for the ILA Children’s Choices 2017 Reading List.
There are several themes that are important to me that run through these books: that kids can find creative and successful ways to navigate the nutty worlds of their families; that you can be best friends—like Dean and Lou—with someone who is very different from you; and that wonderful, creative teachers like Lou and Dean’s teacher, Ms. Pat, can make all the difference in a child’s life.
In Perfecto Pet Show, the second book in the series (pub date: June 27) readers meet Ms. Pat, Lou and Dean’s pet—and children’s literature—loving teacher. Ms. Pat brings her pets to school, (her cat, Donald Crews; Mandy, her hamster; her Piglet named Pippi along with a few others) to announce her idea for a Kid-Pet Talent Show. Like many great teachers I know, Ms. Pat is excited to find new ways to help her students express their creativity. Lou and Dean are dubious, and they dread the embarrassment of having their families come to school. But Ms. Pat prevails and the Kid-Pet Talent Show is, as the Bobs would say very loudly and in unison: PERFECTO!
Ms. Pat, the kids and their pets after a very successful Kid-Pet Talent Show! (Illustration by Kristy Caldwell)
Ms. Pat is the latest in a long line of wonderful teachers in my life. I am scheduled to go back to my elementary school alma mater, the John Ward School in Newton, MA and meet with students and share the Bobs and Tweets books with them. I will explain to them that my much of my inspiration for Ms. Pat came eons ago from teachers I had when I was sitting in the very classrooms they are in now.
I will also ask the students to fill out a very short survey letting me know whether they are a Bob or a Tweet—and why. We have been sending out surveys about these books to kids from the beginning and the answers we get are wonderful and inspiring, and are helping to shape future books in the series.
I recently surveyed a classroom of kids and received heartwarming responses like this one:
And even ideas for my next book!
And some that make me smile and keep me humble.
Thank you to all the wonderful teachers who are part of my family, my education, my career, and my own children’s books! And to all the kids I have met and hope to meet in the future. You all inspire me. I hope you will enjoy the Bobs and Tweets as much as I do!
“Short chapters and funny, rhyming text will help engage young readers…The flat, colorful illustrations are full of humorous details that add to the story.” —Children’s Literature
“Caldwell’s energetic, full-color, Sunday-comics illustrations are satisfyingly chaotic.” —Kirkus
“Colorful and appealing!” —School Library Journal
About Pepper Springfield
Pepper Springfield was born and raised in Massachusetts. She loves rock ‘n’ roll, chocolate, reading, and crossword puzzles. Illustrator Kristy Caldwell received an MFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts and lives in New York City.
Thank you Pepper for the guest post and Larissa at Claire McKinney PR for setting us up together!
The Case of the Stinky Stench Author: Josh Funk
Illustrator: Brendan Kearney
Published May 2nd, 2017 by Sterling Kids
Summary: “Uncle,” Crossaint said, “the fridge is in trouble! A mystery stench turned a whole shelf to rubble! I’m the last hope or the fridge will be lost! Help me or else we’ll be cooked, served, and sauced.”
There’s a stinky stench in the fridge—and our favorite foodie friends must solve a smelly mystery! Sir French Toast’s nephew, Inspector Croissant, begs him and Lady Pancake for help in finding the source of the foul odor. Could it be the devious Baron Von Waffle? A fetid fish lurking in the bottom of Corn Chowder Lake? Featuring the same delectable wordplay and delicious art that won critical raves for Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast—there’s even an actual red herring—his fun follow-up is an absolutely tasty treat for kids!
About the Author: Josh Funk is from MA where he spends his days writing computer language and his free time writing picture book rhymes. His first published picture book was Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast (Sterling) and he is the author of Pirasaurs (Scholastic), Dear Dragon (Viking), and the upcoming Albie Newton (Sterling, 2018).
About the Illustrator: Brendan Kearney is an illustrator from the UK. While studying architecture at university, he realized he didn’t like rulers. He then discovered that it wasn’t essential to use a ruler when illustrating children’s books. Now he specializes in illustrating children’s books, bringing his own chaotic style and ideas to any project. He is also the illustrator of the first Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast and Bertie Wings It (both Sterling).
Kellee’s Review: I love that Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast are friends again and working together with Inspector Croissant to solve the mystery of the stinky stench. Their story promotes prediction, friendship, and problem solving in a fun refrigerator adventure! In a way that only Josh Funk can, he rhymes his way through the story without even one rhythm hiccup. The story, filled with humor, throwbacks to the first book, and a sweet ending, is just as funny as the first one with jokes for kids and adults alike (watch for the Red Herring and Spuddy Holly).
Ricki’s Review: If you follow this blog, you know that we absolutely love Josh Funk’s work. His books are smart, cleverly crafted, and engaging. They have a special quality to them in that they appeal to both adults and kids. My son is allowed to pick his bedtime books, and my inner voice squeals whenever he picks one of Josh’s books because I know that the story will be fun to read aloud. We got this book a week ago, and we’ve read it over a dozen times (by my son’s choice!). Who doesn’t love a book about a stinky stench?! There is so much to talk about, and so many great foods and vocabulary words to discuss. The words dance across the pages—and this makes for a beautiful read-aloud. I am always wary of sequels and companion books, but Josh nailed it. This is a great adventure that can work well with the first book and also stand alone. Teachers, if you don’t have this book or Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast, I recommend them highly for your classrooms. Parents, this one is a no-brainer. I will cross my fingers that a third Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast book is in the works!
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Because of Josh Funk’s amazing ability to have perfect rhyming throughout the book, The Case of the Stinky Stench and the first Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast book are perfect at looking at rhyming and rhythm. Students can find all the rhyming words and discuss how they know the words rhyme and think of other words that rhyme with the words they found. Also, while reading, to discuss rhythm, students can clap along with the words to hear the rhythm that Josh Funk has created. Alternatively, students might design their own Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast pages to display around the classroom.
Read This If You Loved: Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast by Josh Funk,The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat, Max the Brave by Ed Vere, Giraffes Ruin Everything by Heidi Schulz
Recommended For:
and
**Thank you to Sterling Kids for providing a copy for review!!**
Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and was started to help promote the reading of nonfiction texts. Most Wednesdays, we will be participating and will review a nonfiction text (though it may not always be a picture book).
Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other nonfiction books are shared this week!
Hazardous Tales: Alamo All-Stars Author and Illustrator: Nathan Hale
Published March 29th, 2016 by Abrams Books
Summary: “Remember the Alamo!” That rallying cry has been a part of Texas lore for generations. But who were the ragtag group of adventurers behind the famous slogan, and how did they end up barricaded in a fort against a Mexican army? Who survived, who died, and how? This sixth book in the bestselling Hazardous Tales series tracks the Lone Star State’s bloody fight for independence from the Mexican government. It features the exploits of the notorious Jim Bowie, as well as Stephen Austin, Davy Crockett, and other settlers and soldiers who made the wild frontier of Texas their home—all told with the inimitable style and humor for which Nathan Hale is known.
Teaching Guide with Discussion Questions and Activities from Abrams by ME!, Kellee Moye:
How to use this guide
For Alamo All-Stars, opportunities to have discussions and complete activities across different content areas are shared. In the “Fun Across the Curriculum” section, these activities and discussion questions are split into subject areas and are written as if they are being asked of a student.
At the end of the guide, Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards are listed that can be met when the books are extended using the activities and discussion questions.
Fun Across the Curriculum
Language Arts
The title page and the cover show two different illustrations of the Alamo. Compare and contrast the illustrations. Using information from the text, when is the cover illustration from, and when is the title page illustration from?
Why would Alamo All-Star need two narrators, Nathan Hale and Vincente Guerrero, while all of the other Hazardous Tales books only needed Hale? How would the story have differed if only Hale had narrated the book? What about only Guerrero?
On page 10-11, Guerrero uses the metaphor of a set table to describe Texas in the 1820s. Why does he use this metaphor to describe the state of Texas at this time?
On page 18, Hale uses another metaphor of an explosive barrel to illustrate the situation Austin and his settlers were in. How does an explosive barrel and Austin’s situation relate to each other?
After researching cholera (science section), look at Hale’s personification of the disease on page 37. Why did he choose this creature to embody cholera?
Many different events and problems caused Santa Anna’s army to be able to easily defeat the Texans at the Battle of the Alamo. Create a cause/effect graphic organizer showing the correlation between different events leading up to the Battle of the Alamo and the fall of the Alamo.
For example:
Much of what happened at the Alamo during the infamous battle as well as stories about Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie have become an American legend. What is a legend? Why has some parts of the story of the Alamo become a legend and not a complete factual part of history?
Throughout the book, Hale includes direct quotes from primary sources. How do these quotes enhance the story? How are primary sources more reliable when sharing historical events than secondary sources?
History/Social Studies
The page of Texas on the end sheets shares the different battles during the Texas revolution. Using Alamo All-Stars, convert the map into a timeline by graphing each battle on the date/year they were fought.
Using the text feature on pages 10-11 that shared the 1820s Texas settlers, answer the following: how did each settler threaten each other? Why was Texas such a treacherous place at this time? Who was the rightful settler of Texas?
Then, split the class up into 8 groups and assign a group of settlers to each group of students. They then should research the group, and determine how they ended up in Texas, why they felt they deserved to stay in Texas, etc.
Page 12 defines a filibuster and gives an example of one. What other famous filibusters have happened in history? Use the Wikipedia article “Filibuster (military)” and its resources to learn about other filibuster expeditions. Unlike the James Long Expedition, were any successful?
Throughout the book, Mexico goes through different types of governments: a monarch (inferred from p. 16), a republic (mentioned on p. 17), and a despotic (mentioned on p. 40). Compare and contrast the similarities and differences of the different types of governments.
Page 88 shows one of the many flags that have flown over Texas. Using the Texas State Historical Information article “Flags of Texas” and the Flags of the World website, learn about all of the different flags that Texas has flown. Why have so many flown over Texas? Where does the phrase “six flags of Texas” come from?
On page 104, Santa Anna compares himself to Napoleon. How are the two men similar? How do they differ?
On page 113, Hale jokes, “Don’t feel bad. Everyone forgets about Goliad.” Why do you think the Battle of the Alamo is remembered by so many while the massacre at Goliad is not?
Why are Travis, Seguin, Bowie, and Crockett pictured on the front of Alamo All-Stars? Is this who you would consider the all-stars of the Alamo? If not, why not? If so, what did they do to deserve that title? Is there anyone else you would consider an Alamo all-star?
Science
Cholera killed tens of thousands in the summer of 1833 including Bowie’s wife and her family. What is cholera? How does it spread? Why did Bowie’s family try to travel north to escape it?
On page 47, Noah Smithwick was quotes sharing that one member of the Gonzales army had a nose bleed; however, he used scientific terms such as nasal appendage and sanguinary fluid. What do these terms mean?
Math
On page 31, Rezin Bowie mentions that they were outnumbered 14 to 1 during the battle. Using the illustrations and clues in the “Jim Bowie and the Lost Mine” section to determine how many men were on Bowie’s side and how many men they fought and defeated.
Santa Anna’s army outnumbered the Texans by a large amount. Using the information shared about the number of men in each side of the battle, determine an approximate ratio of the battle.
After you estimate using Alamo All-Stars, research the actual number of men at the battle and determine the ratio. How close was your estimate?
Foreign Language (Spanish and French)
Throughout the text, different Spanish words are used, many of which can be defined using context clues or connecting to the English language because they are cognates with a word you already know. Look through the book, and try to define all foreign language vocabulary. Some words throughout the book:
El Gran Libro Enorme de la Historia Mexicana (p. 6)
ejercito de las tres garantias (p. 9)
empresario (p. 12)
mucho (p. 16)
viva la revolución (p. 21)
fantástico (p. 31)
Dios y libertad (p. 36)
alcalde (p. 45)
fandangos (p. 72-84)
voy a firmarlo (p. 98)
mes amis (p. 103 | French)
Which words were easier to define? Why were they easier?
Music
At the Battle of the Alamo, both Santa Anna’s army and the Texas army played music (p. 91). Research to determine what music was played at the battle. Why would they play music while preparing for a battle?
Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and was started to help promote the reading of nonfiction texts. Most Wednesdays, we will be participating and will review a nonfiction text (though it may not always be a picture book).
Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other nonfiction books are shared this week!
Care For Our World Author: Karen Robbins
Illustrator: Alexandra Ball
Originally Published: July 15th, 2012 by Compendium Publishing and Communications
App Release: March 1st, 2017 by Sunbreak Games, LLC
Book Summary: Get ready to meet some truly wonderful wild animals from every continent on Earth. As children turn the pages of this book, they’ll encounter dozens of playful creatures in their natural habitats and will learn about the importance of caring for all the plants, animals, and people that call planet Earth their home. A timely reminder of the responsibility every generation shares: to nurture and respect life in all its many forms.
App Information: Take an interactive journey around the world, discovering diverse environments and the animals that call them home, in this animated adaptation of the award-winning children’s book, Care for Our World. Additional creative activities are included, like Coloring Book pages, Creating custom habitats, and even Learning facts, sounds, and photo galleries in the Animal Encyclopedia.
“Care for our world, for you and for me, for all living things from mountain to sea.”
Author Karen Robbins’ delightful words and illustrator Alexandra Ball’s captivating images combine to inspire children to care for the earth they call home: a timely reminder of the responsibility every generation shares to nurture and respect life in all its many forms.
Features:
• Listen to the animated story, with narration, music, and sounds.
• Touch characters to see and hear them react, and practice their words.
• Color select pages from the book
• Create custom habitats with select animals and backgrounds.
• Save images of your creations to the Gallery.
• Learn more with facts, sounds, and photos in the Animal Encyclopedia.
Recommended for ages 3-8
Review and Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: I’m so impressed with so many of the book apps that are becoming available! As a 21st century mom and teacher, technology is just inevitable in our lives, so I want to make sure that whatever my son and my students interact with is the best out there and isn’t just a tech babysitter. Care For Our World fits this definition and is definitely an app that I am going to recommend to my mom friends and my elementary teacher friends.
The story by itself is a wonderful read aloud and discussion starter. It takes the two main characters around the world to visit different habitats and the animals that live there. The author’s theme is quite clear throughout: this is OUR world and we need to take care of it because we share it with some amazing animals. This theme makes it a perfect read aloud for Earth Day and many animal and Earth-centered activities and inquiry projects could stem from the story.
The app takes the book to a whole new level. Everything wonderful about the book is still there, but now the story is interactive! First, it reads to you. On each page, you can also click on the plants and animals and the narrator will tell you what they are. You can also click on each word, and it’ll read it to you. This is perfect for kids learning to read! The viewer, when finished with the book, can now go explore more about some of the animals in the story by going to the Animal Encyclopedia where you can hear the sounds the animals make, learn about their behaviors, and see photos of them. Lastly, kids will have a blast coloring different scenes from the book or creating their own habitat (all artwork can be saved in a gallery to view later). The app is fun and informative–a perfect mix for the type of app I’m always trying to find for my son.
