Unleashing Readers

Review and Giveaway: Cowboy Car by Jeanie Franz Ransom

April 20, 2017 by Ricki

Cowboy Car
Author: Jeanie Franz Ransom
Illustrator: Ovi Nedelcu
Anticipated Published: April 11, 2017 by Two Lions

Goodreads Summary: A little car with a big dream…

Ever since Little Car was knee-high to his daddy’s hubcaps, he’s wanted to be a cowboy. Cowboys get to drive the range, wear big hats, and sleep under the stars. Everyone tells Little Car that cars can’t be cowboys, but he can’t stop dreaming of rounding up lil’ dogies by day and talking around the campfire at night. So Little Car packs his trunk and heads Out West. Vroom! Can he prove he has what it takes to be a true cowboy? Join Little Car as he zooms into the hearts of kids everywhere.

Ricki’s Review: A car that dreams of being a cowboy! This was a fun story to read with my boys. The illustrations are quite charming, and Little Car made me smile. He refuses to give up, despite the obstacles he faces. My three-year-old asked a lot of great questions while we were reading the book, and we were able to talk about the car’s perseverance. I particularly liked all of the puns in the book. While the puns were completely over my sons’ heads, it made the reading even more enjoyable for me. This book has a theme that we constantly try to relay to our students—not to give up despite what the world throws at you. It would be a great addition to any classroom.

Kellee’s Review: What a cute story about following your dreams even when everyone doubts you! This is a message that is so important to share with kids because throughout their life there are going to be those who doubt them; however, I want Trent to know that as long as he works hard, wants something enough, has a good plan, is realistic about speed bumps ahead, and goes for it, he can live his dream. This is a theme that is found in picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, and young adult novels because kids need to be reminded of this. Life shouldn’t be about what others expect of you but what YOU expect for you. Little Car embodies this message by doing something that everyone doubted he could do and he did it his own way. I know this story will be one that teachers and parents will want to share with their kids (and their kids will love it because who doesn’t love cars and cowboys!).

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Teachers might ask students to connect the theme of this story to real-life individuals today or in history. They might consider other people who have faced struggles and who have persevered. It would be neat to have each student learn about a different person of their choosing. This would add variety and remind students that they should not give up in the face of adversity.

Discussion Questions: What challenges does Little Car face? How does he overcome them?; What do Little Car’s parents think? How does he respond?; What other people (current or historical) have faced struggles? How did they overcome these struggles?

Flagged Passage: “‘Cars can’t be cowboys,’ everyone told Little Car.”

Read This If You Love: Race Car Dreams by Sharon Chriscoe; Race Car Count by Rebecca Kai Dotlich; Busy Trucks on the Go by Eric Ode and Kent Culotta; Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by by Sherri Duskey Rinker; The Racecar Alphabet by Brian Floca; Alphabeep: A Zipping, Zooming ABC by Debora Pearson; The Three Little Rigs by David Gordon; Ten Little School Cars by School Specialty Publishing

Recommended For:

Giveaway!

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and

**Thank you to Al at Amazon for providing copies for review!**

An Interactive Children’s Book App: Care For Our World by Karen Robbins from Sunbreak Games

April 19, 2017 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!

Happy (almost) Earth Day!

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.

Trailer:

Recommended For:

Top Ten Tuesday: Unique Books I Recommend

April 18, 2017 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: Unique Books I Recommend

Check out our 2014 post on the same topic: https://www.unleashingreaders.com/?p=2639

Kellee

Some of these books are unique in story, others are unique in format, but they are all great reads.

1. Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The combination of unique science fiction setting and story and the character’s ability to hear thoughts that cloud their mind makes this one of the most unique and brilliant books I’ve read.

2. Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz

Adam Gidwitz’s story is not only unique (with magical god dogs and farting dragons) but he set it up as a story that is being told to a character. Each chapter gives a different point of view.

3. Brad Meltzer’s Ordinary People Who Change the World Biographies

I love nonfiction that switches it up and helps students find interest in our history. Meltzer’s series mixes graphic novel and narrative nonfiction to give kids a wonderful introduction to such a diverse group of people.

Review of I Am Lucille Ball

Review of I am Jackie Robinson

4. Meatloaf is Worth than Middle School by Jennifer Holm

Jenni Holm tells the story of middle school with so much truth in this book yet it isn’t told in prose–it is told in stuff. All the stuff that a middle schooler accumulates. But that stuff shows one of the most truthful depictions of middle school of any book.

5. Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

The book begins with the end- Min and Ed have broken up and Min delivers (threw actually) a box onto Ed’s door with all of the “treasures” from their whirlwind relationship. Each section begins with an illustration of the object painted beautifully by Maira Kalman and then the story of the object within their relationship unfolds.

6. History News books

These nonfiction texts are set up as newspapers making history news again!

7. Color Monster by Anna Llenas

This pop-up book is one of our favorite picture books here at UR because of its message and its beautiful artwork. The personification (monsterfication?) of the emotions were so well done. Llenas did a beautiful job making entire scenes and monsters that embodied the emotions. I also liked the uniqueness of the pop ups. They were multimedia with collage and rope.

Review of The Color Monster

8. The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak

There are a couple of books out there that make the narrator say funny things (We’re in a Book by Mo Willems for example), but this one is unique in that the whole premise revolves around that idea. It is hilarious!

9. Hervé Tullet books

Hervé Tullet is the original when it comes to interactive (using your imagination) books!

Review of Press Here

Review of Mix it Up

10. Oliver Jeffers books

Um, if you have not read any Oliver Jeffers books, do so now. His picture books are some of my favorites because they are not stereotypical in any way. He just has these amazing ideas that are brilliant and smart and well executed. I also love his illustration style–just a bit funky 🙂

Review of A Child of Books

Review of Once Upon an Alphabet

Which unique books do you love?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 4/17/17

April 17, 2017 by Kellee

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.

Last Week’s Posts

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

Tuesday: MANY Reading Without Walls Recommendations

Wednesday: Animal Ark by Joel Sartore and Kwame Alexander

Thursday: Guest Review: Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty

Friday: Picture Books That Celebrate Books!: Chicken Story Time by Sandy Asher & Mark Fearing; How This Book was Made by Mac Barnett & Adam Rex; and Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar by Emily MacKenzie

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee

Trent and I read some fantastic picture books this week!
I’ve had Penguin Problems since NCTE, but Trent picked it up for the first time this week, and now he loves it and so do I! What a funny, cute book! We love penguins and this book is a wonderful penguin book.
This week, Trent got his first BOOX (Books in a Box) from Powell’s (a gift from Meemaw and G’dad), and it included Not Quite Narwhal and a stuffed Narwhal named Spike. Trent is obsessed with his Narwhal now and loves not only Spike but Kelp, the Narwhal in Not Quite Narwhal. It is a great story about fitting in and a good discussion starter about families.

Someone (I CAN’T REMEMBER WHO! Was it you?) recommend McToad Mows Tiny Island by Tom Angelberger to us since Trent loves vehicles, and we read it this weekend. How wonderful is this book?!? Funny and informative combined with John Hendrix’s amazing illustrations = a new favorite!
Finally, we received One Lonely Fish by Thomas Flintham from Bloomsbury, and Trent and I have read it so many times! He still laughs when we get to #10. I love when we found books that make counting fun, and books that Trent feels confident to read himself.

Wow! I loved both of these middle grade novels, and I cannot wait to share the with you and with my students. Both deal with how differences shouldn’t cause bullying and discrimination.

Funny story! I thought I read this book, but when I went to go read the 3rd book and went to go read the notes I put for the 2nd book, and I realized I hadn’t reviewed the 2nd book on Goodreads which got me thinking, “Did I read the 2nd book?!?” But when I started thinking about it, I couldn’t remember much of the story. I talked to a student at school who had just read it, and he asked me some non-spoiler questions, and I realized I hadn’t! Everywhere I put that I was so excited for book 3, but I hadn’t read 2! But then I started listening to 2, and I knew everything that was going to happen. Now I was completely confused… But then, about 1/3 of the way into the book, I didn’t know what was going to happen, and I realized that I had only listened to a third of it! WHY?! I still don’t know why. But I finished it now! And loved it!

Ricki

My dissertation defense is this week, so I have been preparing my presentation. I did take my boys to the bookstore and was able to read these two books to them. We also read several Batman books, that I am not including on this post (eye roll). Can you tell what my son is into these days?

I adored The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin. This is the perfect baby shower gift. It reminds me of Mem Fox’s Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes a bit–between the illustrations and the mama love.

The Lost House by B. B. Cronin is a bizarre book. Each page is one color, and readers have to look for things on the pages. I enjoyed it, and it is very artsy.

My sons and I enjoyed Cowboy Car by Jeanie Franz Ransom. They are hooked on vehicles, so this was a fun read for them.

My sons and I also enjoyed Splatypus by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen. This is a great book about belonging.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee

I cannot wait to read the next book in Sam’s story as I loved the first one so much. I also have Framed! by James Ponti to read for a review next month. I found out not long ago that Ponti is a local author which is so exciting!

These books looks so interesting, and I know my students will enjoy reading about these legends.

I HOPE that this becomes available at my library soon. I am hold 1 on 1 copy, so it can’t be any longer than 3 weeks, but that is a LONG time to wait for the finale! I’m so excited!

Ricki

Because of my dissertation (and putting my house on the market), I don’t have time to read with my eyes. But I’ve been reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas with my ears as I drive. It’s incredible.

Upcoming Week’s Posts

top ten tuesday

Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Unique Books

Wednesday: An Interactive Children’s Book App: Care For Our World by Karen Robbins from Sunbreak Games

Thursday: Review and Giveaway!: Cowboy Car by Jeanie Franz Random

Friday: Blog Tour with Review and Giveaway!: Posted by John David Anderson

Sunday: Author Guest Post

So, what are you reading?

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!

and

Picture Books That Celebrate Books!: Chicken Story Time by Sandy Asher & Mark Fearing; How This Book was Made by Mac Barnett & Adam Rex; and Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar by Emily MacKenzie

April 14, 2017 by Kellee

Chicken Story Time
Author: Sandy Asher
Illustrator: Mark Fearing
Published December 13th, 2016 by Dial Books

About the Book: A wonderfully silly take on library story time that’s perfect for children, chickens, and everyone in between!

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to story time at the library, of course! The children like the chicken, the chicken likes the children, and everyone loves story time. So it’s no surprise that more children (and more chickens!) get in on the fun until there are more kids and critters than the librarian knows what to do with. Luckily, she comes up with a creative solution and manages to find little R & R for herself.

Fans of Bats in the Library and Library Lion will fall in love and story time will never be the same!

My Thoughts: Even chickens love books in this story! The draw of a good story can make anyone want to spend time at the library, and in this story, those anyone are chickens. Lots of chickens. And when there are too many people (& chickens) at the story time, it is up to the librarian, who is obviously always on her toes, to change things up and make everyone happy by the end of the story.

How This Book Was Made
Author: Mac Barnett
Illustrator: Adam Rex
Published September 6th, 2016 by Disney-Hyperion

About the Book: You may think you know how this book was made, but you don’t. Sure, the author wrote many drafts, and the illustrator took a long time creating the art, but then what? How’d it get into your hands? Well, open the cover and read through these pages to find out. Just beware of the pirates and angry tiger.

New York Times best-selling creators Mac Barnett and Adam Rex reveal the nitty gritty process of making a book . . . with a few unexpected twists along the way! Budding writers and artists will laugh at the mix of reality and the absurd as the story makes its way to a shelf, and a reader.

My Thoughts: This hilarious book shows the reader how an idea gets turned into a picture book in easy step-by-step instructions. Oh, and there is a tiger. Oh, and there is Malaysia. And a boat which gets attacked by pirates. But overall, it is just an easy step-by-step instruction manual on how to make a book. Well, if you are Mac Barnett and Adam Rex. If your’re not, there are more steps. In a perfect mix of seriousness and silliness this book will be a great read aloud!

Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar
Author and Illustrator: Emily MacKenzie
Published March 17th, 2015 by Bloomsbury

About the Book: Some rabbits dream about lettuces and carrots, others dream of flowering meadows and juicy dandelions, but Ralfy dreams only of books. In fact, he doesn’t just dream about them, he wants to read them ALL THE TIME. Soon his obsession sends him spiralling into a life of crime!

A wonderfully funny story from a talented new author/illustrator.

My Thoughts: Ralfy loves book and will do anything to read more. I love one of the very first spreads in the book where it shows Ralphy’s book read list, and his TBR list, and his recommendation lists. This spread first has parodies of book titles and makes a little bit of fun of us Goodreads obsessed readers 🙂 What he doesn’t realize is that you don’t have to do crazy things to find books to read, you just have to find a library and all book wishes can come true.
(His story is not only about the love of books but also about how obsessions can get out of control if not rational.) Also, if you loved The Snatchabook, you’ll love Ralfy!

All Recommended For:

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty

July 20, 2018April 13, 2017 by Ricki

Rosie Revere, Engineer
Author: Andrea Beaty; Illustrated by: David Roberts
Published: September 3, 2013 by Abrams

A Guest Review by Jennifer Zafetti

Summary: Rosie is an ambitious young girl who aspires to be an engineer. She creates an invention for her uncle, but becomes embarrassed when he laughs at her. She does not feel supported , until she meets her Great-Great-Aunt Rose who is both an adventurer and an explorer. Her great-great-aunt yearns to fly so Rosie builds her a contraption made out of cheese. When her great-great-aunt laughs at her failure, Rosie becomes disheartened and swears to never invent again. Rose provides her with comfort and explains that, “Your brilliant first flop was a raging success.” This provides Rosie with the encouragement she needs to try again!

Review: I really enjoyed reading this book! I think that it is so important for kids to embrace failures! If Rosie had admitted defeat after her first failure, she would have never been able to be successful. Rosie’s perserverance allowed her to create a flying contraption for her aunt. Furthermore, the rhyming sentences created an engaging tone that kept me wondering what would happen next. This is a great story to read-aloud to a classroom! Additionally, the illustrations on each page really add to the story and provide detailed visuals to accompany Rosie’s different inventions. Overall, I think that this book can be inspirational for all ages—the simple message: never give up!

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Rosie Revere, Engineer is an uplifting story in which failure turns into success. Teachers should use this children’s book to teach students about the importance of perseverance. When faced with challenges, students should use them as an opportunity to grow. If you believe in yourself, you can achieve anything!

Also, the teacher can pause the reading to ask for predictions.

Discussion Questions: How did Rosie’s mood change throughout the story?; When is a time that you persevered when facing a challenge?; When is a time that you have learned from a failure? How do Rosie’s family members impact her actions?

Flagged Passage:

Read This If You Loved: Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty, and The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

Recommended For:

Thank you, Jennifer!

Animal Ark by Joel Sartore and Kwame Alexander

April 12, 2017 by Kellee

Nonfiction Wednesday

HAPPY NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

And don’t forget to celebrate EARTH DAY on the 22nd!

Animal Ark
Created by and Photographer: Joel Sartore
Poet: Kwame Alexander
Published February 14th, 2017 by National Geographic Society

About the Book: National Geographic Kids proudly announces the release of Animal Ark: Celebrating Our Wild World in Poetry and Pictures, a picture book for children ages 4-8 written by Newbery Medal-winning author Kwame Alexander and featuring photographs by acclaimed National Geographic Fellow and photographer Joel Sartore. Animal Ark pairs Alexander’s uplifting poetry and prose with more than 100 of Sartore’s most compelling images of the world’s species to create a book for children that highlights the importance of conservation and the beauty of the animal kingdom.

Animal Ark is inspired by the National Geographic Photo Ark, a multiyear effort with Sartore and the National Geographic Society to document every species in captivity—inspiring people not just to care, but also to help protect these animals for future generations. To date, Sartore has completed portraits of more than 6,000 species, photographed on either a plain black or white background. No matter its size, each animal is treated with the same amount of affection and respect. The results are portraits that are not just stunningly beautiful, but also intimate and moving.

The companion adult book, National Geographic The Photo Ark: One Man’s Quest to Document the World’s Animals (National Geographic Books)—with a foreword by Harrison Ford—also showcases Sartore’s animal portraits: from tiny to mammoth, from the Florida grasshopper sparrow to the greater one-horned rhinoceros. In 2017, National Geographic Photo Ark exhibitions are opening at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, the Dallas Zoo, and the Cincinnati Zoo. Learn more at NatGeoPhotoArk.org and join the conversation on social media with #SaveTogether.

About Joel Sartore: Joel Sartore is a photographer, speaker, author, teacher, conservationist, National Geographic fellow, regular contributor to National Geographic magazine and founder of the National Geographic Photo Ark. In addition to the work he has done for National Geographic, Sartore has contributed to Audubon magazine, Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, the Smithsonian magazine and numerous book projects. His next book for adults, National Geographic The Photo Ark: One Man’s Quest to Document the World’s Animals will be released in March 2017.

About Kwame Alexander: Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, and New York Times bestselling author of 21 books, including The Crossover, which received the 2015 John Newbery Medal for the Most Distinguished Contribution to American Literature for Children. His other recent works include Booked, Surf’s Up, and He Said, She Said. He is the founder of Book-in-a-Day, a student-run publishing program that has created more than 3,000 student authors in 75 schools; and LEAP for Ghana, an international literacy project that builds libraries, trains teachers, and empowers children through literature. In 2015, Kwame served as Bank Street College of Education’s first writer-in-residence.

Book Trailer:

My Review: I am in love with all of these animals! Do you see how cute they are?!?! And I love the message that Joel Sartore, National Geographic Kids, and Kwame Alexander are spreading with this text: “At its heart, the Photo Ark was born out of necessity… I started to see that people weren’t paying much attention to the fate of all the others species we share this planet with. Without action, and soon, I worried that many animals could go extinct. The Photo Ark is my answer to this. By introducing the entire world to thoughts of photographs of [animals], I hope we can get everyone following, liking, tweeting, and even talking about this wondrous world of ours.” -Joel Sartore. I care deeply for all living things, and I have the same fear that Sartore has–that too many people are so caught up in their own little worlds that they aren’t focusing on the big world around us. The continual denial of climate change, the recent possible elimination of many of the EPA’s environmental protections, and so many other things makes the possibilities of us ruining our Earth even closer to reality 🙁

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Animal Ark has writing and science opportunities for the classroom. First, the theme of the book works beautifully within a science unit about endangered animals. Mix the text with the website What is Missing? by Maya Lin, and there are so many opportunities to discuss conservation and sustainability. Kwame Alexander’s poetry also gives an opportunity for poetry writing. In the Author’s Note, National Geographic shares information about haiku. Although all of Kwame’s poetry does not fit the traditional haiku format and we wouldn’t recommend it for a haiku mentor text, it shows how poets can take a traditional format and embrace yet manipulate it for their purpose.

Discussion Questions: Which animal would you like to learn more about?; What can humans do to help save these animals?; What is the theme of Animal Ark? What is the author/photographer trying to teach us?

Flagged Passages:

Photography Outtakes!

Read This If You Love: National Geographic texts about animals, Poetry anthologies about nature including Water is Water by Miranda Paul, Books about making a difference like Dare to Dream…Change the World by Jill Corcoran & Be a Changemaker by Laurie Ann Thomson

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Karen at Media Masters Publicity for providing copes for review!**