It’s Your First Day of School, Busy Bus!
Author: Jody Jensen Shaffer; Illustrator: Claire Messer
Published: July 3, 2018 by Beach Lane Books
Goodreads Summary: It’s the first day of school! But is Busy Bus ready? Find out in this darling picture book that showcases the excitement and worries little ones experience as they prepare for their first day.
Today is the very first day of school! Busy Bus is excited, but he also has some first-day jitters. Will the children like him? Will he be homesick? What if he gets lost?! Luckily, bus driver Ben knows just what to do to make sure that the school year gets off to a great start.
My Review:We have had so much fun with this book in our household. I read the book aloud, and my two sons act out the pages. Parents can substitute their children’s names for the bus driver to add a layer of fun! Almost all of the bus books that exist feature busses with children already on them. I loved the concept of this book—the bus is preparing for the first day of school and is very nervous the children won’t like him. This book is a must-have for bus-loving children, and it would make for a great first day of kindergarten read-aloud.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Children would have great fun re-envisioning this book with other vehicles and inanimate objects. For example, what might the classroom be feeling before the first day of school? Children could create their own books of their imaginations.
Discussion Questions:
How does the bus prepare for the children?
What is he worried about?
How does the bus driver help him with his jitters?
What other things might be nervous for the first day of school?
Flagged Passage:
Read This If You Loved: Dump Truck Duckby Megan E. Bryant, Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker, Demolition by Sally Sutton, Little Blue Truck by Alice Shertle, Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night? by Brianna Caplan Sayres
Recommended For:
Don’t miss out on other stops on the tour!
**Thank you to Jody for providing a copy for review!**
It’s Show and Tell, Dexter!
Author: Lindsay Ward
Published July 17th, 2018 by Two Lions
Summary: Dexter T. Rexter is going to school. But will anyone like him?
Tomorrow is the biggest event ever in Dexter’s life: his best friend, Jack, is taking him to school for Show and Tell Day! Dexter has been getting ready for weeks. But now he’s a little nervous. What if the other kids don’t like him? So Dexter decides to come up with a plan. He’ll wear a costume. Dinosaurs in bunny ears look good, right? He’ll recite state capitals starting with…uh…ah…er. Then he realizes something. He can’t dance. He can’t recite things. He doesn’t have ANY skills. What’s a dino to do?
This comical, interactive tale of belonging, friendship, anticipation, and first-day-at-school jitters lets readers experience the excitement and nervousness along with Dexter—and even offer him a little advice along the way.
About the Author:
Lindsay Ward is the author of the Dexter T. Rexter book Don’t Forget Dexter! Though she never got to bring an orange dinosaur to Show and Tell Day, she did once take all four albums of her sticker collection. She is also the author and illustrator of Brobarians, Henry Finds His Word, and When Blue Met Egg. Her book Please Bring Balloons was also made into a play.
Most days you can find Lindsay with her family, writing and sketching at her home in Peninsula, Ohio. Learn more about her at www.LindsayMWard.com.
Praise: “Ward’s gentle art features cut-paper forms with residual pencil outlines, providing an ad hoc quality to the spreads. Readers prone to anxiety over big events should be tickled by the idea that a toy has concerns too.” —Publishers Weekly
“Ward’s illustrations, made with printmaking ink, colored pencil, and cut paper, wonderfully capture Dexter’s every emotion and over-the-top ideas.” —Kirkus Reviews
Review:Dexter is going to school, and he is feeling many things that so many kids feel about themselves when they are going to school, either for show and tell or on the first day of school. How is he going to make everyone at school like him? What he needs to realize is that he should be proud of who he is and not question himself.
What I love about Dexter’s books is that he really does deal with some tough issues that many kids deal with throughout their childhood, but it is done in a super hilarious way with Dexter’s voice which is one of a kind. This makes for really fun read alouds with some great follow up discussions.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: What a fun book to read when you are introducing show and tell in elementary school! It will help kids realize that it doesn’t matter what they bring as long as it has a story and means something to you. Students will also love rereading this, so it definitely needs to be in libraries, both public, school, and classroom, also.
What lesson does Dexter’s story teach us about impressions and/or show and tell?
What tune do you think Dexter’s song is set to?
Why would Dexter feel like he needs to wear a costume? Or look different?
How does it end up in the end?
What toy would you bring to show and tell?
Flagged Passages:
Book Trailer:
Read This If You Love: Don’t Forget Dexter by Lindsay Ward, Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes, A Squiggly Story by Andrew Larsen, Not Norman by Kelly Bennett, Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
Recommended For:
Giveaway!
One lucky winner will receive a copy of both Dexter T. Rexter books–Don’t Forget Dexter! and It’s Show and Tell, Dexter!, courtesy of Two Lions (U.S. addresses).
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!
It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journeys and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It’s also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…you just might discover the next “must-read” book!
Kellee and Jen, of Teach Mentor Texts, decided to give It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit – join us! We love this meme and think you will, too.
We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.
Whoa! Last week was our planning week before students start today, and it was REAL! Which means, that other than over the weekend, not a lot of reading was done. Back to the school year!
I checked out every Vet Volunteers e-book that my library has, and I really love them. They’re like that healthy food that is your comfort food–they are great books that make me so happy when I read them.
The Duck, Duck, Porcupine! books by Salina Yoon are HILARIOUS! I’m so glad that these are Trent’s book of choice this week!
Ricki
My son and I are running out of Sara Varon books that we haven’t read! This one is called Bake Sale and is from 2011. It was delightful. We love reading Varon’s books. They are funny, and the characters make us smile.
The sixteen hours of this audiobook were purely magical. Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone is worth the hype. It is a stunning story on its own, but it also connects to the stories of our contemporary world. This one offers much to discuss in the classroom.
My toddler loved Who Eats Orange? by Dianne White. The illustrations pop off of the page, and it integrates the learning of colors and animals beautifully. I particularly like how the author didn’t use the typical animals that we see in picture books. This made the reading very exciting.
Kellee
I’m so sad! I have 2 of 8 parts left in my Dumplin’ audiobook, but it is going to return tomorrow, and I don’t think I’ll be done. I’ve requested it again, but I am #3 on 2 copies… I guess I’ll listen to a short audiobook while I wait to get it back. I am also continuing the two series I’ve been reading: Heroes of Olympus and Vet Volunteers.
Ricki
My older son and I are still reading The Super Life of Ben Braver. We are having so much fun reading it. We read three chapters per night, and occasionally, we check out a chapter in the morning.
I am reading The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani. So far, it is excellent.
Tuesday: Teaching Tuesday: Small Things to Build Community and Rapport in Your Classrooms
Wednesday: Book Tour with Review and Giveaway!: It’s Show and Tell, Dexter! by Lindsay Ward
Thursday: It’s Your First Day of School, Busy Bus! by Jody Jensen Shaffer
Friday: Blog Tour with Reviews and Teaching Tools: Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse by Marcy Campbell & Corinna Luyken
Sunday: Author Guest Post!: “How a love of language and travel influenced The Magic of Melwick Orchard” by Rebecca Caprara
Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!
On August 10th each year, the 10 for 10 community celebrates picture books! Check out #pb10for10 on Twitter to see other posts.
Our 4-Year-Olds Share Their Current Ten Favorite Books
These are the five books each that our sons chose when we asked them for their favorite books. We also asked them to say why they love the book.
Trent
Peter & Ernesto: A Tale of Two Sloths by Graham Annable
Peter didn’t want to go because he was scared. He was scared because he would have to go to the ocean to get Ernesto. Peter wanted to go on an adventure and see the whole sky, but that would take a long time.
Baby Monkey, Private Eye by Brian Selznick and David Serlin
Baby Monkey saves the day and finds stuff for everyone. And he eats snacks, and I like snacks, too, like Baby Monkey Private Eye. He tries to put his pants on but he does it upside down on his head and that is funny!
Pete the Cat and the Bad Banana by James Dean
Pete the Cat is so silly, and he wins the race. The banana race. There are bad, bad, bad, yucky, mushy, black bananas, but not all bananas are bad. All bananas are not bad, but some are. He ate a bad banana, so he tried other food. Like hot dogs that he had for dinner. For breakfast he couldn’t have a hot dog since he just had one, so he wanted a banana.
Kellee’s note: Trent actually wanted to put multiple Pete the Cat books on the list, and I had him pick his favorite. He loves Pete!
The Very Hungry Caterpillarby Eric Carle
I love that he turns into a cool butterfly. I like rainbow butterflies. And I like caterpillars, and very hungry caterpillar is a caterpillar.
Race Car Count by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
We count race cars. I like to count just like race car count does. It also says GO and STOP. I like how the cars look. I like the green one because green means GO!
Henry
The Super Life of Ben Braver by Marcus Emerson
I love it so, so much because he has the powers! He is super with his powers. I like it also because Ben Braver has the same name as my brother.
The 78-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths
I love the tree. I really like how there is a cow on every page. The book is so funny.
You Choose by Nick Sharratt and Pippa Goodhart
I like to choose all the things that I like. I really like to choose really good things. I like reading it with my mom and dad and Benny because I like choosing with them.
New Shoes by Sara Varon
All of the books by Sara Varon are really cool. The characters are so, so fun.
Harbor Freight Catalogs
I really like them because I like doing some picking. A lot of good things in these. And how did you get that picture? Can I read that one, too?
Who Eats Orange? Author: Dianne White; Illustrator: Robin Page
Published August 14, 2018 by Beach Lane Books
Goodreads Summary: Who eats orange—a chicken? A bunny? A bear? Find out in this unique exploration of colors and animals’ favorite foods.
Animals eat a rainbow of different foods. Gorillas in the mountains eat green, octopi in the ocean eat red, and toucans in the canopy eat purple. Young animal enthusiasts will love digging into this lively journey around the world to explore the colorful diets of many animals, from the familiar to the exotic.
Review and Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: These is a clever book! It teaches about animals, colors, and foods simultaneously. Each page offers a lead into the next page which makes it a great read-aloud. When I read this with my son, I loved pausing on each page and asking him to make predictions. There are also great opportunities for teaching complex vocabulary through this text. The animals the author selected aren’t the typical animals we see in picture books and board books, which caused my son to ask a lot of questions. It made reading the book all the more interesting. We spent some time, for example, looking up quetzals on the internet and exploring the food and habitats of this interesting bird. I found this book to be very inspiring. It made me want to write, write, write! It would be a great resource for teachers to have in their classrooms.
On a more personal note, this book is a great resource for me as a mom. It offered space for my kids and me to discuss the different colors of the foods that he enjoys and how he might try to eat more colors. Who Eats Orange? offers so much for caregivers seeking to diversify their children’s diets.
Also, isn’t the cover amazing? My toddler giggled when I pulled it out of my bag.
Discussion Questions: Which color foods are your favorite to eat? How might you incorporate more colors into your diet?; Which animals were missing from the book? Can you think of one more animal for each color?; How do the illustrations add to your appreciation of the text? What did you learn from the backmatter?
Check Out a Few Spreads from the book!:
Read This If You Loved:Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin; Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Dianne White has written several picture books, including the celebrated Blue on Blue, illustrated by Beth Krommes. This summer she also released Goodbye Brings Hello: A Book of Firsts, illustrated by Daniel Wiseman. She lives in Gilbert, Arizona, with her family. For more information, and to download a free activity kit, visit diannewrites.com.
Twitter @diannewrites
Robin Page has written and illustrated several picture books, including the 2003 Caldecott Honor recipient What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?, which she created with her husband Steve Jenkins, and A Chicken Followed Me Home! and Seeds Move!, which she both wrote and illustrated. Robin and Steve live in Boulder, Colorado.
*Thank you for Barbara from Blue Slip Media for sending along this wonderful book!*
Hazardous Tales: Raid of No Return
Author and Illustrator: Nathan Hale
Published November 7th, 2017 by Abrams Books
Summary: A top secret mission needs volunteers.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States joined World War II. And soon after that, young pilots were recruited fro a very secret – and very dangerous – raid on Japan. No one in the armed forced had done anything like this raid before, and none of the volunteers expected to escape with their lives. But this was a war unlike any other before, which called for creative thinking as well as bravery.
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales are graphic novels that tell the thrilling, shocking, gruesome, and TRUE stories of American history. Read them all – if you dare!
About the Author: Nathan Hale is the #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales. He also wrote and illustrated the graphic novel One Trick Pony. Hale lives in Provo, Utah. Learn more at hazardoustales.com.
Praise: “Harrowing and no detail is left out . . . Hale’s tendency to incorporate character commentary, infographics, and fun facts will draw readers. Give this title to readers interested in action-packed graphic novels.” — School Library Journal
Review:The Hazardous Tales series is the series I use when kids say that nonfiction is boring AND when teachers say that graphic novels aren’t complex because this series, and this book, is complex, interesting, well crafted, funny, and just everything you’d want from any book, much less a nonfiction graphic novel.
And I am so happy to have a World War II Tale because so many students ask for it, and this is a new story for me, so I know it’ll be new for my students as well. Also, I think this specific mission will lead to many discussions because the idea of volunteering for a deadly mission is something that so many of my students struggle to understand because it isn’t something that they need to even consider, so to look at these men’s decision-making and willingness to fight for their country.
Hazardous Tales tip: I recommend starting with the first book, One Dead Spy, then you can read any of the others in any order.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: I’ve written in the past how I would incorporate this series as well as written a teaching guide for the first six books, but I wanted to allow another voice to share the brilliance of Hazardous Tales, so today my colleague, Kaleigh Gill who teaches 8th grade U.S. history, who started reading the series this summer and has read almost the whole series! I wanted to let her share why she loves the series and how she pictures it being part of her classroom:
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales opens up a world of American stories that are often overlooked. With multiple books focusing on big topics, like the Revolution, Civil War, Alamo and Westward Expansion, Hale is able to give students (and teachers!) an engaging and realistic depiction of the experiences of American heroes and villains. With his humorous and relatable characters, he is able to connect with young readers on an unprecedented level in regards to nonfiction novels.
One of my favorite attributes of Hale’s series is the way he inserts side stories filled with background information and informative detail on corresponding events and individuals. He has the ability to make these often dull stories, come alive with his animated and entertaining illustrations. His stories are sure to captivate readers of all ages and interests.
Every history teacher in the United States should read this series! Even if you feel you wouldn’t have enough time to teach the entire book, it would be a great visual to provide students when discussing certain topics or figures. Some excerpts in this series would only take about 5-10 minutes to read aloud and discuss with your students, but would definitely leave a lasting impact! This series has even inspired me to design lessons based around historical texts for young readers and has also ignited my love of history again. Leaving these books to simply sit in my classroom library, would be a huge waste for my curriculum and more importantly, my students. Not only will it give insight into little known stories of America’s major events to enhance instruction, but it will intrigue students to dive deeper into historical texts that they would typically overlook.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!
It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journeys and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It’s also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…you just might discover the next “must-read” book!
Kellee and Jen, of Teach Mentor Texts, decided to give It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit – join us! We love this meme and think you will, too.
We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.
We are back to a pretty regular schedule here at the Moye house which means that there is more consistent reading time at bedtime.
We finished Lucy by Randy Cecil as a family. It is such a wonderful introduction to multiple story lines, prediction, and inferring.
We then moved on to a couple of new Pete the Cat early readers (Trent loves them!). Pete is a star in my house right now!
Trent also pulled out a couple of books we love but haven’t read in a while: Super Jumbo by Fred Koehler and I Want to be a Lion Tamer (or a Vet… or a Zookeeper… or a Safari Guide…) by Ruby Brown.
Lastly, Trent is pretty in love with space (his room has a moon and glow in the dark stars, and he has an astronaut outfit), so when I received A Place for Pluto by Stef Wade, I knew I had to sit down and read it with him, and he loved it as much as I thought he would! It is so good!
Finished The Son of Neptune, and I can see why my students love this series! I am very looking forward to reading the next book.
Something Rotten by Heather Montgomery is a book like no other that I’ve ever heard of or seen! It is a nonfiction text, told in really engaging narratives, about roadkill and what it can teach us about animals. It is so fascinating!
Sadie by Courtney Summers was a book that Haley, of Teachers Who Read, told me to start as soon as possible, so I found it on Netgalley, and I got reading. WOW! I read this YA novel in less than 48 hours while working–that means something. It is told in podcast transcript and first person narrative, alternating. The story focuses on Sadie, a young teen who has run away to find the murderer of her sister, and the podcast that is trying to find her and solve the mystery.
Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley was FASCINATING! My teacher friend recommended it to me, and I am so glad she did. I devoured the book while also reading information on Monitcello.org and other websites. I learned so much! It really gives history a voice.
Ricki
Hi, all. I am so sorry I have to bow out this Monday. I hope you have a great week.
Kellee
Still chugging along with Dumplin’ and the Vet Volunteers series. We’ll see if I get to anything else with preplanning next week.
Tuesday: Student Voices: Visual Reflections on School Shootings by Two of Kellee’s 2017-18 Middle School Students
Wednesday: Hazardous Tales: Raid of No Return by Nathan Hale with an Educator Guest Post
Thursday: Who Eats Orange? by Dianne White
Friday: Picture Book 10 for 10: Our 4-Year-Olds Share Their Current Ten Favorite Books
Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!
