Oh The Places You'll Go! - Illustrator Study

Oh, the Places You'll Go!, is one of the very classic books by Dr.Seuss. While it is often used at high school graduations, it makes me think more of my sorority. Often, when new members are brought into my sorority, they are given this book by their big sister. In either place, this book is used to inspire. The pictures in this book were generally very vibrant and colorful. Overall, the pictures did a great job of agreeing with the mood of the story. I would have this book in my classroom library. I believe that this is a great book to use to motivate students who may not think they can accomplish a task. It is upbeat and I loved the rhyme schemes.

Make Way for Ducklings - Caldecott Winner

I wasn't sure if I would like Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey because it is so old, but I was wrong. This book was very cute! It was about a mother duck and a father duck deciding where would be the best place to raise their family of ducklings. The first place they find is not safe at all! After that, they find a nice little island. The mother duck teaches the ducklings to swim and fend for themselves a little, then she takes them into Boston to go meet the daddy duck. The crossing guard helps them cross the street and everyone keeps them safe. I liked the idea of the city working together to keep the mommy duck and her ducklings safe. I like making sure ducks are safe! While I'm not sure how I would use this as a lesson in my classroom, I would like to keep it as part of my classroom library.

Joan of Arc - Nonfiction: Biography

I originally chose Joan of Arc, by Diane Stanley, because I enjoy hearing about Joan of Arc. I enjoy the French history associated with her and I believe that learning about women in history is important for students. However, I failed to look at the inside before I chose this book. The large amounts of text about so many different people and places in France made me realize that this book was for older students than I had first thought. Nonetheless, I believe Joan of Arc is an interesting and important character in history and I would use this book, or at least one like it, in my classroom. I especially enjoyed reading about when she was in Chinon and other places where I have visited. I feel that I could add life to this story if I was teaching it to my students. I even have modern pictures of some of the places where Joan of Arc spent her time!

Don't Forget Your Etiquette - Specialized Poetry Collection

Don't Forget Your Etiquette: The Essential Guide to Misbehavior, by David Greenberg, was an extremely funny poetry collection on manners (or a lack of manners...). This book contained a variety of poems about burping, sitting, speaking to adults, school, and life in general. My favorite was the one saying you should agree with anything adults say, no matter what. This included adults saying that the earth was flat. At the end, the poems were shown to be impolite, but they were funny along the way. If I used this in the classroom, it would be in a very young primary classroom to talk about manners and the lack of manners in these poems. However, I thought the poems were cute and funny and I picked up this book and read all the way through it the moment I read the title.

Dear Papa - Historical Fiction

I remembered loving Dear Papa, by Anne Ylvisaker as a child, but I had not read it in a very long time. However, when I picked up this book and re-read it, I instantly remembered. This book is written in letter-format (which I love!). It is about a young girl, Isabelle, whose father has died. When her class learns to write letters, she decides to write to her father, her Papa. She soon starts writing him every day. It is like her way of journaling her life, but occasionally she even mails the letters to her father's sister. When Isabelle is sent to live with her uncle and aunt, she is especially thankful that she can write to her Papa. She hates being away and can't wait for her Mama to come take her back.

This book was everything I remembered it to be and I'm glad I got the chance to read it again. It is written as though a nine-year-old were writing it. I would use this book in my classroom. Though the letter-writing format is not always the best, it is written from the heart from a young girl to her papa.

Uptown - Coretta Scott King Award

It is easy to see why Uptown, by Bryan Collier won the Coretta Scott King illustrator award. The pictures in this book told the story as well as, or maybe even better than, the words. In this story, a young boy told about his uptown home. It was a great way to describe inner city life in a way that younger students could understand. I was already hooked on the first page where he compared the Metro-North train to a caterpillar. I thought that was a cute and inventive way to describe the world as he sees it.

This book could be a good way to start students talking about where they live and how they see the world around them. How would they describe it to someone who had never been there? I would love to use this book in my primary classroom or maybe even in an older elementary classroom. The pictures and the words worked together extremely well to tell this boy's story about his uptown home.

Fallen Angels - Coretta Scott King Author Award

Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers was a rather long book about a young American boy, Perry, in the Vietnam war. He doesn't really know what he's getting himself into when he volunteers to join the service, but he learns a lot through his hardships along the way. He learns that the black troops, such as his own, are given tasks far more dangerous than the other troops. Though parts of this book were interesting, I was not overall a big fan of it. I felt as shaken as one of the characters, Richie, when he shot an enemy soldier at point blank. I could not imagine being at war! This book made me think a lot about those who do choose to enlist and fight in wars. They don't all know what they're getting in to and it would be an experience that would change a person's life as it did to the characters in this book.