Picture Book – Page 58 – Unleashing Readers

Kellee’s Favorite Reads in 2016

January 28, 2017January 3, 2017 by Kellee

In 2016, I am so proud of myself that I read 291 books! My goal was 250, so I surpassed it–YAY! Last year I finished 288, but I was able to keep track of first reads of so many picture books that I have now read over and over again and wasn’t able to put as 2016 books because I wanted to keep their original date on Goodreads, so I am considering this year a much better reading year.

Today, I want to share with you 60 favorites (broken up into 5 categories) from the 291 that I read in 2016. If you haven’t read any of these, put them on your TBR now!!!!!
*These are books I read in 2016, not books that were published (only) in 2016
**In no particular order
***I included links to Unleashing Readers reviews if I wrote one

My 15 Favorite Fiction Picture Books I Read in 2016

Reviews:
Shy by Deborah Freedman
A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston
Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty
Pirasaurs! by Josh Funk
A Piece of Home by Jeri Watts
Return by Aaron Becker
We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen
Dear Dragon by Josh Funk
Nibbles: The Book Monster by Emma Yarlett

My 10 Favorite Non-Fiction Books I Read in 2016

Reviews:
Antsy Ansel by Cindy Jenson-Elliott
Dorothea’s Eyes by Barb Rosenstock
Hillary Rodham Clinton by Michelle Markel

My 5 Favorite Graphic Novels I Read in 2016

My 20 Favorite Middle Grade Novels I Read in 2016

Reviews:
Still a Work in Progress by Jo Knowles
Ms. Bixby’s Last Day by John David Anderson
Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard by Jonathan Auxier
The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart
Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo

My 10 Favorite Young Adult Novels I Read in 2016

Reviews:
Rescued by Eliot Schrefer
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

This year was a phenomenal reading year; I hope yours was too! Here’s to another year full of books and stories!

Natumi Takes the Lead: The True Story of an Orphan Elephant Who Finds a Family by Gerry Ellis with Amy Novesky

December 28, 2016 by Kellee

Nonfiction Wednesday

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!

Natumi Takes the Lead: The True Story of an Orphan Elephant Who Finds Family
Author: Gerry Ellis with Amy Novesky
Published November 8th, 2016 by National Geographic Children’s Books

Goodreads Summary: After losing her mother, shy Natumi is rescued by a team from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an orphanage for baby elephants. At the shelter, Natumi hides behind keepers’ legs to watch the other elephants at the shelter. But soon, she meets several other orphans, and the eight of them play together in the surrounding bush.

As the babies become closer and more like a real family, they need a leader, someone they can trust. Can Natumi grow into this role?

Join the herd to find out what happens when they travel back into the wild. This sweet story, with its heartwarming photographs, explores the challenges and joys of family, love, and growing up, and is a perfect bedtime tale.

Review: In addition to being a story that teaches about elephants, Natumi’s story is one that will warm readers’ hearts. Her story is sad yet inspiring, heart breaking yet beautiful, and the reader gets to be there every step of the way. Gery Ellis’s photographs allow the reader to be right in the story and helps move this book past just a normal informational nonfiction text to literary nonfiction thus allowing it to cross boundaries in the classroom.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Since the text crosses the informational/literary boundaries, there are immense possibilities to how this text could be used in the classroom. When I finished, the two things that struck me right away were the theme of the story and the inquiry that this story could be a basis for. Natumi’s story definitely has a pretty solid theme that can tie into many other texts or even science discussions about animal behaviors. Also, the text talks about one animal in peril in the wild, and it could be a jumping off point for a science/language arts crossover project where students state find a problem in the wild and create information, much like the author’s note, that shows ways to help and learn more about the issue. In addition, there are opportunities for vocabulary development, mapping skills, prediction, cause/effect, and much more.

Discussion Questions: How did poachers change Natumi’s life forever? Why are there poachers in Africa?; Why are elephant orphanages needed? How could we help this problem?; How did Natumi become the leader of her family?

Flagged Passages:

Read This If You Love: Elephants, Learning about endangered animals, Africa

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Karen at Media Masters for providing a copy for review!**

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books We Wouldn’t Mind Santa Leaving for Our Boys

December 20, 2016 by Kellee

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish are particularly fond of lists (as are we!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.

Today’s Topic: Ten Books We Wouldn’t Mind Santa Leaving for Our Boys

Ricki

1. The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet

The premise of this book makes me so happy. I’d love to read it with my boys.

2. Open This Book by Jesse Klausmeier

I’ve heard that this book is interactive and good fun.

3. I Spy a Funny Frog by Jean Marzollo

My older son loves this series.

4. Nerdy Birdy by Aaron Reynolds

Honestly, how adorable is this book?

5. Mix It Up! by Hervé Tullet

Every book that this author writes is incredible.

Kellee

Santa may just be bringing these books for Trent 😉

1. Super Jumbo by Fred Koehler

We loved Little Jumbo in How to Cheer Up Dad, and I read Super Jumbo at an independent bookstore in DC, but now Trent will have his own copy.

2. Mama Built a Little Nest by Jennifer Ward

I’ve only heard great things about this book, and after meeting Jennifer at NCTE, I knew I had to get it for Trent.

3. Also An Octopus by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

I read this while standing at Candlewick’s booth in the exhibit hall at NCTE, and I knew I, I mean Trent, had to have it!

4. Nanette’s Baguette by Mo Willems

A new Mo Willems book? Yes please!

5. Books 1-3 in the Elephant and Piggie Like Reading! series: The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat, We Are Growing by Laurie Keller, and The Good For Nothing Button by Charise Mericle Harper

I cannot believe we didn’t own the first two yet, but we didn’t; however, after receiving an ARC of the third, I went online and remedied that very quickly.

Which books do you hope to get for Christmas?

and

Noodles’ and Albie’s Birthday Surprise by Eric Bennett

December 16, 2016 by Kellee

Noodles’ and Albie’s Birthday Surprise
Author: Eric Bennett
Illustrator: Milanka Reardon
Published December 9th, 2016

Summary: Noodles’ & Albie’s Birthday Surprise is the continuing adventures of Noodles (a penguin) and Albie (his fish friend). The story takes place on the day of Noodles birthday, which happens to be December 24th. While waiting for his party to start, Noodles and his friends play on the ice while a group of red jacket wearing tourists from a nearby cruise ship take the penguins pictures. Meanwhile, his friend Albie is under the sea searching for the perfect birthday gift for Noodles. She eventually comes across an old compass from a sunken treasure chest, which is perfect for Noodles as in the first Noodles & Albie story (2014), he had some major sense of direction issues. After giving Noodles his compass, the two friends head off for a day at Polar Kingdom, the world’s greatest undersea amusement park. After a fun day, the pair begin their journey home, but soon notice a red glow up ahead on the oceans surface. The glow it turns out is coming from the nose of one of the strange animals they come across stranded on an ice floe, along with a mysterious red jacket wearing “tourist” with a white beard, and a sled full of boxes. It turns out the mysterious tourist is lost because his assistants insisted he try a GPS devise to help guide him. Now the chubby, old man is hopelessly lost. Not only is he lost, but he’s on a deadline, and he’s in Antarctica. He can’t find his way back on track because it’s always daylight in Antarctica in December, and the poor tourist can’t even see the North Star to navigate. He needs to get North and fast. Will Noodles help the lost tourist by giving him his compass?

Review: Noodles’ and Albie’s Birthday Surprise takes readers on a second adventure of two best friends that is just as wonderful as the first and with a delightful cameo the reader doesn’t see coming. Teachers and students will find much to discuss as they read this humorous, clever tale. After reading the first of Noodles’ and Albie’s stories, we were happy to hear that Eric had written a second to allow us to go on even more adventures with these great friends.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: While reading aloud Noodles’ and Albie’s Birthday Surprise, there are many opportunities for think alouds and discussions such as predicting what Noodles will do, discussing the end of the book as well as the characters’ traits, and discussing birthday and holiday celebrations.

Discussion Questions: What character traits does Noodles and Albie show throughout the story? Include evidence for each trait.; What is the best birthday you have ever had?; How did the lost traveler know where Noodles lived?

Flagged Passages:

Read This If You Loved: Noodles and Albie by Eric Bennett, Penguin series by Salina Yoon, If You Were a Penguin by Florence Minor, Your Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton, Penguins by Seymour Simon, Tacky series by Helen Lester, A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis, Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

Recommended For:

and

**Thank you to the author for providing copies for review!**

On the Construction Site: A Shine-A-Light Book by Carron Brown

December 14, 2016 by Kellee

Nonfiction Wednesday

On the Construction Site: A Shine-A-Light Book
Author: Carron Brown
Illustrator: Bee Johnson
Published July 6th, 2016 by Ivy Press

Goodreads Summary: Watch a skyscraper spring up with this beautifully illustrated interactive book! By simply holding the book up to the light, or shining a light behind each page, young readers will be able to discover how large buildings are constructed, who builds them, and all about the amazing machines they use in the process. The innovative see-through feature fulfils a similar function to lift-the-flaps books, but has the added interactive dimension of the child being able to see both the surface and the hidden picture at the same time.

Kellee’s Review: Trent is enthralled with this book! Not only does it have a question and answer set up, you have to use a flashlight on the back of the pages to reveal the answer, and the answers all include construction vehicles–this is a win-win-win for Trent! After going through an obsessive time with this book, Trent was even sleeping with his flashlight. Trent also is fascinated and a bit fearful of shadows, so we used the book as a way to discuss how shadows work.

Ricki’s Review: What a clever, clever concept! My son had a blast reading this book. He clapped as I held each page up to the light to reveal the neat construction site images behind each page. Because he is young, I don’t think he quite understood how they worked, so I attributed it to magic. There is a lot of great information in this book, and we had fun learning all about how construction sites work. I will definitely be purchasing more books from the Shine-A-Light series in the future.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: On the Construction Site is a wonderful text to start conversations about shadows; construction of a skyscraper; and construction vehicles, planning, and careers. Also with its Q&A text structure, it will start conversations as you read the text and see the construction of the building. It’ll be a perfect read aloud and think aloud for early ed classrooms.

Discussion Questions: What steps must the workers take to build a skyscraper?; What safety items did you see on the construction site?; How does the Shine-a-Light books work?; What construction vehicles take part in the building of the skyscraper?; What different jobs are there on the construction site?

Flagged Passages: This is a little bit different. Instead of a flagged passage, we are sharing a You Tube video from the publisher that shows how Shine-A-Light books work and shows the other titles in the series.

Read This If You Love: Anything construction!

Recommended For:

and

**Thank you to Lynn at Kane Miller for providing copies for review!**

Supercars (Mean Machines Series) by Kane Miller Books

December 7, 2016 by Ricki

Nonfiction Wednesday

Supercars
Published: March 2016 by Kane Miller Books

Kane Miller Summary of the Mean Machine Series: Sure to get your young car enthusiast revved up, the Mean Machines series is pedal-to-themetal, fast and furious fun … from the comfort and safety of your living room! Which customized car has a top speed of 252 mph? Which engine has a nitrous oxide injector? Which car’s nickname is the Black Bat? Which car has a plasma TV inside the truck?! Find out!

Ricki’s Review: My favorite aspect of this book (and the series) is that readers of all levels will enjoy it. My toddler absolutely loves the pictures and can’t get enough of them. This book has not left our house since we received it a few weeks ago. He says, “What’s this, Mama?” to every picture on every page. My husband has also enjoyed this book, and I love to watch the two of them engrossed in the pictures and text. This is a book that reminds me that there is so much that I don’t know about cars. I may not be able to pronounce some of the terms in the book, but I most certainly have fun trying! I suspect this book will remain on our couch for several more weeks (if not months), and I am quite all right with that.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This would be a great book to spark research projects. Teachers might give students a copy of one of the books in this series and ask them to research cars that would fit into the other texts of the series. They might also investigate why certain cars are included while others aren’t.

Discussion Questions: Which car is the fastest? Which is the largest? Which has the most power?; What differences do you see between the cars? What similarities do you see?; What makes these cars “super”?; Which car would you most want to own and why?

We Flagged a spread from the Performance Cars book, which looks similar to Supercars (but with different cars):

Read This If You Love: Cars!

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Lynn for providing a review copy!**

Just Imagine by Nick Sharratt (Pictures) and Pippa Goodhart (Words)

November 17, 2016 by Ricki

Just Imagine
Illustrator: Nick Sharratt; Author: Pippa Goodhart
Published: August 30, 2012 by Kane Miller Books

Goodreads Summary: Just imagine what it would be like to be as small as a mouse; or as big as a house. Imagine exploring the depths of the ocean, traveling into the past or the future – or something even stranger…This wonderfully inventive and interactive book allows a child to tell their own story, combining new elements each time. And with intricately detailed illustrations for parent and child to pore over together, this really is a book to share time and time again.

My Review: This book is everything the title promises. It will spark children’s imaginations as they consider what it would be like to be really, really big or what it would be like to travel through time or live underground. The illustrations are absolutely stunning. It is a book that is made for both a child and the parent/teacher reading it. I loved spending a long time on each page, exploring all of the different drawings to better imagine each scenario. After reading the book, I couldn’t help but want to meet the illustrator and give him a nod of approval. This is a book that will inspire a lot of creativity in homes and classrooms.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This would be a fantastic way to jump start a creative writing unit. I could see the different pages as writing inspirations for students to use words to imagine a scenario of their choice from their favorite spread in the book. I also think it would be fun to ask students to add a page to this book—to imagine another scenario and illustrate what it would look like.

Discussion Questions: Choose one scenario and imagine other things that could have gone on the pages. Why might the illustrator have made the choices that he did?; How does the illustrator creatively imagine each scenario? How does he use color and art to make the book engaging?

We Flagged:

Read This If You Loved: Where’s Will? by Tilly; I Want to Be… books by Ruby Brown

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Lynn for providing a copy for review!**