Someone For Mr. Sussman-By: Patricia Polacco

This was a pretty entertaining book. I think Patricia Polacco is a pretty good author. I like her books. They are kind of long and some are pretty serious but they are written well. This wasn't a very serious book however. It was about a matchmaker who is trying to find a match for Mr. Sussman and secretly she is the one who wants to be his match. She goes to great lengths to try to please him, and he doesn't see what she is trying to do. She always goes a little too far in all that she is trying to impress him with. And finally when she gives up, he sees her true self and they end up getting married. So it's pretty much a happily-ever-after book. The story is told through the matchmakers grandson, so it tells the whole story from an observer point of view, and I thought that was pretty interesting. The narrator doesn't ever really say anything but he is in every picture and it's apparent when he narrates "My Bubbie" or "She asked me" etc. The book was pretty long but yet it was such a quick read and in the classroom you could definitely incorporate predictions as to what was coming next and using evidence to make claims. It's wasn't a tradition book in that the matchmaker and Mr. Sussman were both fairly old (probably in their mid 60s based on the illustrations) which I thought made the book cute. Twenty years ago getting married at an old age was unheard of, but today I think it is a lot more acceptable because of the high divorce rate and people just wanting companionship. The story definitely had a clear beginning, middle and end and had a nice flow. The book put a smile on my face through the whole story.

Thump, Quack, Moo-By: Doreen Cronin & Betsy Lewin

I read a book created by the same authors called "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type" for Drama in the classroom and we did a story drama activity with it. I thought it was pretty funny so I tried this one. This one was alright. It wasn't as good at "Click, Clack" but the part I think is so funny is that the animals have such attitudes. They are so funny to read. The mice were also pretty comical. They foreshadowed the next couple of pages by a poster with the weather on it on the bottom corner of the pages. Nothing turned out right for the farmer, as hard as he tried to threaten the animals on his farm. There wasn't a lot of educational value in the book, it would be more of just an enjoyment read and it was a pretty easy read for younger kids to tackle by themselves. The illustrations were nothing too exciting, they were very simple, and pretty much told the story by looking at them. I don't really have a lot to say about this book because of it's simplicity and mainly being written for humor.

Garmann's Summer-By:Stian Hole

I really liked this book. The only problem I had with it is that it didn't really flow together very well, each page was like a different paragraph about Garmann's summer. But yet they weren't really story. I can't even really describe it. I just haven't ever read anything like it. Garmann learns a lot about himself and others over the summer about fear, life and death and beginning and endings. It was hard for me to really hear the voice of Garmann in my head while I was reading, I think it was because all the illustrations made him look so shy and timid. He was a curious little boy and was really quiet and calm. He was an only child and his 3 crazy old aunts were visiting for the week. They taught him a lot, that its OK to be scared, you just have to face your fears sometimes. The story had a beginning and an end but the middle was a little foggy. It was hard for me to pick out the climax since the book was more of a compilation of different events. It surprised me that his mom and dad didn't have a bigger role in the story, especially since he is so young (only going into first grade). His aunts, that he sees once a year, seemed more important to him. I don't know if that was just for that week or if his parents took a backseat role and let him explore on his own, hence why he had so many questions for his aunts. I thought the illustrations were awesome! I was really interested in them and spent a long time looking at each one. Hole took each character and just repeated him/her through out the rest of the book. The aunts were the same individual person seen on the first page to the end of the book, so it was pretty easy to keep them all in line. Garmann never has a shirt on and always the same shorts, just a different facial expression. But the illustrations were so life like. They looked like each individual detail was clipped out of a magazine and glued precisely on the page. I think this would be a great book to read at the beginning of the year to students to allow the butterflies in every one's stomach to ease, because Garmann was very nervous for the first day of school.

Thea's Tree-By:Alison Jackson; Illustrated By: Janet Pedersen

I picked a lot of good books out the week. They were are very different from each other and had very different formats but they all told a good story. Thea's Tree was written all by a compilation of written letters. Thea is supposed to do a science project and she plants a seed in her front yard and is going to watch it grow. Her teacher tells her through an email that she should ask other experts about what she is seeing as the plant grows. Through the story she writes to a Botanist, Arboreal Acquisitions, Curator, and many other people but meanwhile her plant is getting huge and ruining her house. She finds 3 gold coins, a golden egg, golden harp and then sees a giant. It's a story based off of Jack and the Bean Stock. It story took me by surprise because at the beginning I didn't know where it was going, the book summary didn't say anything about a fairytale, but after the plant kept growing I caught on quickly. I thought it was clever how it was written through a bunch of letters to tell a story. The illustrations were very detailed and done in water color so they looked a little sloppy but you could definitely see what was going on. There wasn't a lot of ethnically diverse characters. They are all white. It would be a great spin off to fairytales, like after you read Jack and the Bean stock and introduce different ways the story can be told or how authors write it differently sometimes by adding more detail or extra twists.

Queen of Halloween-By: Mary Engelbreit

The library had all their Halloween books out, so I decided that it was the appropriate time of the year to check one out. I don't know what the rules are on Halloween anymore, as far as if you can bring it to school or not. I feel that there are so many rules anymore about celebrating or participating in those special days. I feel that a lot of the fun aspect is taken out of a lot of the simple things in life. I respect every one's opinions and don't want to offend anyone so if someone in my class had a problem with a certain occasion then we wouldn't participate, especially when it comes to religious beliefs, however, I understand that not all problems can be solved like this by just getting rid of them. This book really isn't offensive, besides maybe being about a Halloween night. It's about a girl and her brother going trick or treating and wanting to go by themselves and finally their dad says they can, as he waits on the sidewalk keeping a watchful eye on them, and the kids face their fears by trick or treating independently. It was a very cute, simple story. There weren't a lot of characters and the plot was very simple. The illustrations were my favorite part. Mary Engelbreit does such cute illustration. I didn't know she was an author until I found this book. I have seen a lot of her stuff in gift shops, on greeting cards, and notepads and stuff. Her art is always so happy and peaceful. All the characters have smiles on their faces and it is all takes place in "safe places and situations". It was a quick, easy read. Everything was very upfront and didn't create a lot of thinking for the reader. I think it would have been a little better if the author would have made the book a little bit more suspenseful and allowed for some prediction.

The Giver- By: Lois Lowry

First of all I can't believe that I read this book in like 4th grade. I don't remember much of it but it is such a complex book and has a lot of heavy issues. I don't think I really got the complexity of it back then. There are so many abstract concepts and ideas. The author had to have such an imagination to create a totally different society that made some sort of sense and have some sort of rhyme or reason behind it. When I went to the library, all of them were out of the copies, however, there was a copy of it on CD, so I listened to it. It probably took longer to listen to then it would have to read but it was a different way to hear it and absorb it. I think in your classroom sometimes it is good to read books in different ways, have different people read in different ways and it also is good listening and comprehension practice. I enjoyed doing it differently for a nice change of pace. I think a very complicated issue to understand in the book is visualizing a different society. Many people have only lived or seen one society in his/her life, so visualizing a whole new, different way of life is had to imagine, especially for younger readers. But how awesome would it be to live in a perfect society. You are born and then you go through stages, get a job and then work until your an elder and then die. It sounds like a peaceful life, and if you don't know any different, you could never get bored. The book didn't have any diversity like any usual culture, which is another issue. Why would the author not incorporate diversity, especially in a science fiction book? The world is only getting more ethnically diverse as we look into the future. It's just a thought that I had, he is saying that diversity isn't perfect?

To Dance:A Ballerina's Graphic Novel-By: Siena Cherson Siegel; Illustrated By:Mark Siegel

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It was really girly (about a girl and her life as a dancer) but it was also created with a lot of complex issues like moving, education, dancing, and family. I thought it was very well written. I have never read a graphic novel before and I was impressed with how easy it was. I always thought they would be harder to read because of how complex they are but after reading one it flowed together very well. I would totally recommend this book to anyone. The book starts off introducing her at the age of six, when she starts dancing and then it ends when she goes to college. I thought the author did a good job of covering important events in her life but yet keeping them connected and related to one another. The book was broken down into different chapters. The book was really personally. Not only could you hear her personal thoughts but you could also she them. I noticed that in graphic novels, it's like three perspectives rolled into one. The reader reads what the character is actually saying, what the character is thinking to themselves and the narration. Whereas in a book it isn't as clear. The pictures help roll the story into one also. Without the pictures I don't think the story would have made any sense. When I went to the library I thought I was only going to be able to find the action graphic novels because that's all I have ever seen (probably why I have never read a graphic novel before now), but I realized that not all graphic novels are like that and I thought this was really fun to read. It's always nice to read something in a different format.

Freight Trains-By: Darlene R. Stille

This book was a nonfiction story about freight trains and things they carry and their purpose. It was all about trains, more then I have ever known. I know this author writes a lot of nonfiction books about transportation and many of them are easy readers. They are put together like chapter books with a table of contents, index, glossary, and finding more information. All the pictures are real illustrations and there are vocabulary words that are highlighted throughout the book that can be looked up in the glossary. I thought it was very interesting. It didn't really have a story line since it was all true and informational and filled with all kinds of facts, so it's hard to write about the content and purpose. I didn't love the book but I didn't hate it because I actually learned some things in it. My child study really liked it because he is really into trains and the pictures really got his attention since they were real and he has actually seen trains like that before, so he could relate it to something he knows.

The House In The Night-By: Susan Marie Swanson; Illustrated By:Beth Krommes

I thought this book was alright. It was really detailed. It was about a little girls night time routine about nighttime things that are both comforting and intriguing, such as keys, light, sun, moon, books, birds, song, etc. It was very poetic and all the sentence were connected or related to one another like, "Here is a key to the house. In the house burns a light." It was a very short and easy book to read. It kind of let your imagination wonder because the pictures were very detailed but they didn't give all the answers. The little girl, the main character was riding on a bird, but you didn't know where they were going, so it still left a lot of mystery and room for you to think what you wanted. The illustrations used three colors: black, white and yellow. Yellow was used to highlight certain items in the picture such as the important or comforting things that helped the girl go to bed. I looked the illustrations because they were so simply but yet they were so good and detailed. They made your eyes just wonder all over the page. You could notice something new each time you read the book. I don't think the story was very strong but the illustrations definitely improved the book greatly. It reminded me a lot of the book "Good Night Moon" how it was so quiet, soothing and relaxing to read. My mom would read that book to me every night before I went to bed. I think this book relates to a lot of middle class kids because the character had a lot of nice things in her room like a violin, a lot of books, pictures, globe, furniture, and a house with a mom and a dad. It reminded me of something very middle class. I think poor or lower class students might have a little trouble relating to some of the parts of the story, especially the illustrations since they were so detailed and there were so many things that made up the little girls room that wouldn't be in a low income house. The story in the book said nothing about any characters but it was easy to read the illustrations and pick up on the girls life.

Pete & Pickles-By: Berkeley Breathed

Another AWESOME book! Two good book in one week...wonderful! This book was about a pig whose wife Paprika died and he lived a pretty uncomplicated life as the author puts it. Then one night a storm came and he woke up and there happened to be an elephant that escaped from the circus in his house. He ends up rescuing him from the zoo and in the long run they end up saving each others life. It was a book around friendship and imagination. The illustrations were awesome and very entertaining. one side of the page was sketched and the other side was a painted illustration. It almost looked like it was done by a computer, it looked so real and 3D. The colors that the illustrator used were very bright and eye appealing. The story was very heart warming also. There was a lot of predicting and foreshadowing that could be done in the book. A great sentence to predict to would be at the beginning, "Being all those perfect things, Pete might have run for the hills if he had known what was coming that night." The book had a pretty simple setting and there were only two characters so it was pretty easy to follow and understand. It was a very abstract story and it was very light, airy and happy. It was fun to read and you could read it multiple times because you could pick up a new detail in the illustrations every time. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone and I am going to check out other books by the author. As I was reading about the author in the back of the book, it said that the book started with his daughters sketch at a restaurant. She told him the story that she had been thinking up and later he wrote a book based on her idea, so it was a father-daughter created story which also touches my heart. People have great imaginations and creativity.

Salt In His Shoes-By: Deloris Jordan & Roslyn M. Jordan; Ilustrated By: Kadir Nelson

I read this book with my child study last week because he said that he was really into basketball. I would totally recommend it to not only basketball lovers but anyone and everyone. It was a very good book. It was very motivational and inspirational. My child study loved it! He was predicting and using evidence like it was his job. It was the true story of Michael Jordan's life and pursuing his basketball dream when he was a young boy. His mom and his sister wrote it. I hadn't heard anything about it until last week when one of my teachers recommended it to me to read. I would definitely recommend it, so far it's been one of my favorite books that I have read this semester. I don't know much about Michael Jordan's life but the illustrations in the book look like he lived in a very nice house and had a very good family life. There are illustrations of him eating dinner with all his brothers and sisters and parents, which doesn't seem like it happens very much anymore. It just seemed kind of unreal to me, especially with all the people in his family. There was also no white people or anything other race in the book besides, African American, which I thought was kind of strange too, considering there were many kids playing on the basketball court. None the less, I loved the book. It was full of emotion and it was cool to learn how Michael Jordan became Michael Jordan and to think that he wasn't always an awesome basketball player. I enjoy reading true stories written for kids because from my experience, they have a lot to say and relate to.

Potato Joe-By: Keith Baker

This book could definitely be considered to be an alphabet/counting genre book. After our presentation last week and reading this book for this week, I found a lot of similarities. It was about counting to ten. The potatoes are introduced by pairs "one potato, two potato, etc." on each page and it was very rhythmic for instance, "three potato, four potato, tic-tac-toe!" I didn't really like the book. It didn't really have a story line and it was hard to understand. It didn't have a clear purpose to me, besides counting, so it was definitely for a younger audience. I thought it was cool how the potatoes were all different shapes and colors and you could tell the author was going for some diversity because even potatoes can be diverse I guess. The illustrations used the whole pages, some were even drawn so the reader had to turn the book vertically to see the pictures. In each picture there was also a little ant that was hidden and a different insect somewhere in the picture also. All the words were in dialogue bubbles coming out of the potatoes mouths but the dialogue wasn't between the potatoes, it was more directed to an audience, which I thought was kind of weird. I don't think I would recommend this book for reading to a class but it would be a good book for individual reading because there are a lot of little details that the reader can look for and the words are very simple. I didn't get a lot of educational value out of it and there wouldn't be much to discuss to a class.

Pirates-By: C. Drew Lamm; Illustrated By: Stacey Schuett

This book was a little scary but involved another sibling pair. The big sister wanted to read a scary story and the little brother was forced into it because of course, she is the big sister and what she says goes. The illustrations were drawn at different angles, not just straight on like many of the other picture books. The pictures just drew the reader in. The pictures filled the whole page but weren't too detailed but the detail that was there was there for a reason. The characters are drawn into the picture wrapped into their blankets and observing from a distance through a window, the pirate story I liked how it was a story inside of a story. The sister started reading the book and Max (the little brother) would interrupt at times to ask questions or to ask to switch books. The book kind of reminded me of Jamanji because the two characters are pulled into the story and have to fight their way out of it. The siblings facial expressions really told how they were feeling without even having to read the words. I especially liked the ending because it turned out to scare the big sister and Max got her to close the book after all and he turned out to be the brave one in the end. I can see a lot of little boys loving this book who like a little scare, however, I wouldn't read it to them before bed time or there might be some bad dreams.

I'm Gonna Like Me-By: Jamie Lee Curtis & Louis Cornell

This book had fun pictures, they were colorful and the little details in each of the drawings were entertaining. It's a great book to develop self-esteem and encourage the children to like who they are and what they see in the mirror. It shows kids that nothing is weird. All the kids in the book are different. There are boys and girls and kids of different ethnicity's. and their stories are all connected and the statements go throughout the school day. The girls writing is in cursive and the boys writing is in standard print. Most of the "I'm Gonna Likes.." are positive and some are negative that are made into something positive that the individual will still "like". The book sends messages like: it's okay to be wrong if you try and it's okay not to be a winner all the time, which I think are important messages to send to students, especially at a young age. The two things that bother me is the grammar and the phrase "I'm gonna like me when..." because in school, they students are always doing Daily Oral Language and learning proper grammar but yet this book is promoting students to use those words. I know that's how most little kids talk but that doesn't teach them to use proper language. The other thing that bothers me about the book is that half the writing is in cursive and is hard to read, especially for the younger kids that this book is aimed toward. Cursive isn't taught until around third grade, so it's going to be kind of hard for a second grader to read this book. I think this book had good intentions but there are still some little things to fix to make it easier and more grammatically correct for young children to read.

Tyler's New Boots-By: Irene Morck; Illustrated By: Georgia Graham

I really really liked this book. I looked for a book for my child study since him name is Tyler. I found this book and I figured it was the perfect book. Not only did he really like it, I really enjoyed it too. The illustrations were awesome! I think the illustrations were both of our favorite parts. We both were reading the book at the beginning but by the middle the illustrations were too captivating for him to continue reading. All his attention went to the pictures. They were so life like and accurate and the detail within the pictures were amazing. The characters weren't developed in much detail but the setting and plot were very detailed. It made the reader actually feel like they were there doing the work. It wasn't a very predictable book, it want in chronological order and it had a beginning, middle and an end. I thought it was a very cute story and there was even a little romance in it. It was a little long, but it kept the readers attention. Although Tyler was the main character in the book, his new boots were the main object. They had the focus for the first part of the book until the importance of the cattle driving he was doing took his attention and he found a new focus and love for what he was doing. As I read the book for a second time, I wished that Tyler wouldn't have been such a passive character. He didn't stand up for himself. Working on a ranch, you have to be semi-aggressive or you will get walked all over not only by the animals but the cattle drivers also. He was a pretty young character but I would have liked to hear more of his aggression and frustrations.

Mr. Baseball-By: William H.Hooks; Illustrated By: Paul Meisel

This book was another "easy reader" meant for grade two and three. It was set up like a chapter book but but there were illustrations on each page and there were only like a paragraph worth of text on each page. It would be a very good book for readers that still need the illustration clues as a little boost. The illustrations were cartoons and not fantastic but they definitely told the story as they were meant to. I think it was very relatable for children that age with a younger brother or sister wanting to be just like them and do everything that he/she does. I know back when I was that young my sister was always following me around and trying to do what I did. The language used in the book was also very appropriate. The main character was the big brother and you could read the text like he was telling you, the reader, the story. Another main theme in the book was baseball and kids at that the second grade level are just starting to get into the game and real develop a strong love for it. I used this book with my second grade child study and he related to a lot of aspects of the book. The characters in the book were diverse. There were female loving baseball as much as the males and there were many different ethnicities. That was encouraging to see because girls can be just as "in to" baseball as boys are, especially at that age and any one at any age can play the game.

The Cow In The House-By: Harriet Ziefert; Illustrated By: Emily Bolam

This book was about a man whose house was so noisy he couldn’t sleep, so he asked a wise man for advice. The wise man told him to get all these animals and the house ended up being even noisier, so he gets rid of them all and doesn’t notice any noises any more. This book was an “easy reader” book. It was made up of the same words repeatedly and a lot of the phrases were repeated though out the book and had a lot of visual clues. I read a book almost identical to this book this summer to the kids at the child care center I was working at. It was really interactive because they picked up the pattern of the book very fast. The illustrations weren’t very fancy and didn’t have much detail but they were recognizable for the children who use visual clues to help them read. I didn’t like the wise man in the book though. This is like the third book I have read this semester that has had a wise man or some powerful person and they are supposed to be so smart but they are actually really dumb. If they are labeled as “wise”, then the writer should make them actually smart. If they aren’t than they shouldn’t be labeled as such. I think it is misguiding and to top it off, the wise person never gets corrected at the end either. The man in the book was made out to be so stupid through the whole book and then the wise man was the one to be wrong the whole time.

Dexter The Tough-By:Margret Peterson Haddix; Illustrated By: Mark Elliot

I really liked this novel. It was about an elementary boy experiencing a lot in his life. He is attending a school, living with his grandma and the reader finds out later that his dad is very sick. By looking at the cover I thought it was going to be about a boy causing all kinds of trouble for no apart reason, because the book starts out with him writing a short story about how he beat up a kid in the bathroom and all the trouble that he caused on the first day of school. But later the reader coming to find out why he is causing all this trouble. He is dealing with a lot in his life. I liked it because the author solved a lot of the problems in the book but some of the things like his fathers sickness weren't completely solved because the time period that the book covered would have been unrealistic for a father with cancer to magically become all better. That's one thing that really bothers me in children's novels, when authors try to solve all the problems in the book when the book takes place in such a short time period. The author covered a lot of sophisticated issues like friendship, sickness, apologizing, learning right from wrong and finding yourself. It was also something different from what I have read previously because the main character was a boy. I enjoyed reading something from a different point of view. I thought it would be harder for me to relate to the character but I really felt for the boy and at one part I even teared up a little bit. The main character wasn't so dramatic and full of gossip like some of the novels I've read with a female point of view. The writing was more of the facts and what really happened. I think it's interesting to see the difference in genders of the main character of children's novels, because the characters sound so different even for characters at young ages. I also liked how the book was written within a fairly short time period and it didn't drag throughout the whole year. It told the story of a boy transitioning in his life and it ended when he started to figure out himself and I think that was perfect for this particular story.

Pigs In The Mud In The Middle Of The Rud-By: Lynn Plourde and John Schoenherr

This book was very silly and would be a great interactive book to do with kids because it is very repetitive and has the same pattern. A teacher could also use it to talk about different dialects and speech across the United States because the book doesn't use the normal spelling for (rud=road). The words aren't spelled the same but that's how it sounds to different people. There are even some made up words in the book to make it a rhyming book. The main character is the grandma. She is the one that tries to clear the animals off the road. The illustrator doesn't draw her face so the reader has to use his/her imagination until nearly the end when she yells to clear the road. The book definitely takes place in the early time because there is a Model T Ford and everyone is dressed in old clothes (overalls, dresses and skirts). The illustrations are very funny. All the characters body positions and facial expressions really make the pictures tell the story. This book kind of reminded me of my grandpa and grandma and mom and dad because sometimes the animals get out of the fence at my grandpas farm and it's a family affair to get the animals back in the fenced in area.It is not as easy as it looks, the animals are very stubborn, but like the book shows. You have to know what to do and something it takes many tries. It's definitely a relate-able story to many farmers in Iowa!

Say Hello-By: Jack and Michael Foreman

This book was based on a poem the author wrote wen he was 10 years old. It was about his experience being bullied. The book was really simple. The words were really easy to read and would be a great beginner book, but could definitely be used for all ages because it had such a powerful message about bullying and sometimes all it takes is saying "Hello!" It started out with a dog feeling left out and then moves to a little boy who feels left out. The illustrations were good but they were a little bland. The only colors used were black for the sketches, blue for the shadows and red for a ball. The background was always white and there wasn't much going on in each picture. There were always a group of kids playing a sport with the red ball, a dog, and the little boy that was always observing from the corner. I was a little disappointed with the art because in the back (the about the authors section) it said that the illustrator is one of the world's leading illustrator and I wasn't impressed by the work. The pictures went along well with the story but they were very, very simple. I thought it was a pretty good poem for being written by a 10 year old. It had a rhyme scheme and really expressed some deep feeling! I think the author must have been struggling with bullying for quite sometime in school if he expressed it in such a deep, sensitive poem.

The Circle of Days-By: Reeve Lindbergh; Illustrated By: Cathie Felstead

This book was based on the Canticle of the Sun by St. Francis of Assisi, who was very devoted to nature. This was another very poetic book. It had a very definite rhyme scheme AA, BB, CC, DD, etc The book talked about all areas of nature (food, water, sun, air, etc.) and it was very simple and direct. It was written very cause and effect. It brought everything together to show how we live and survive and what mother nature creates, that people take for granted. I thought the book was kind of boring. It was too slow and it really didn't have a plot of story line in the text. There was no dialogue, but the story line and setting were rather in the illustrations. The illustrations told the story more than the text did, which was something that I haven't come across a lot. The book is more of a Sunday school read rather then something I would read to my whole class because it mentions God (it doesn't talk about Him a lot, but it seems to be a touchy subject in the schools these days). But I would have it on my book shelf for the children to look at and read if they wanted.

Gerald McBoing Boing-By: Dr. Suess

This book I had never heard of before. I was broozing the Dr. Suess section at the library and skimmed the titles and ran across this one. Supposedly it had been created in the 1950's as a cartoon story and then the book was created. It was about a boy who couldn't say words but rather only make sounds. Everyone was ashamed and embarrassed of him but than Gerald got discoved by a radio voice and became rich and famous. The illustrations definitely showed the age of the book. The characters were drawn like cartoons were back in the '50's. The characters had the unporportionally small bodies and the big heads and they all had exaggerated facial expressions and huge eyes. The pictures were very colorful and slightly abstract like chandelers were flotting from the ceiling and minor othere details. As Gerald gets more socially rejected from the characters in the book, the illustrations get darker and bolder, which showed the reader and observer, that bad things were happening. I really love Dr. Suess books. They are so poetic and rhyme so nicely but they also have an important lesson in each one. The writing is so abstract and silly but the reader really can understand and relate. I love how Dr. Suess always emphasizes the text and really exaggerates emotions. It's a great kids book. It definitely has a clear beginning, middle, and the happily ever after, which Dr. Suess can always pull off.

Walter Was Worried-By: Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Walter Was Worried introduced eight different characters and expressed each characters feeling about an upcoming storm (thunder, rain, snow, sun, wind, etc.) There really wasn't a plot or setting and the reader was unable to tell if the characters were related in someway, such as friends or family. There was no dialogue between the characters to get any hints. The book opened with "Walter was worried when..." The word "worried" was emphasized by different colors and fonts of text. On the opposite page there was a face of Walter and the facial parts like the eyes, nose, mouth and eyebrows, were made up of the letters "worried" to create the facial expression. I thought it was very clever. From far away you can't tell the face is created with the letters, it just looks like a face, but looking closely, the reader can see the letters. The "D" was the lips, the "O" and "E" were the eyes, the "R"'s were the eye brows, the "I" was the nose, and the "W" was a wrinkle on the face. Each characters face was created like that, but by using a different feeling. Another creative idea was that each characters name began with the same letter as the feeling, like Priscilla was Puzzled. The illustrations were very simple but filled the whole page and were very colorful. It would be a very good book to read to young children because it is very interactive. The kids can talk about their feelings, play a little "I Spy" on each page to find the letters, and also talk about weather/season.

The Baby-sitters Club-By: Ann M. Martin

For the series book, I decided to read The Baby-sitters Club book again because it had been a very long time since the last time I had read it and I had no memories of it. I don't think there was a particular reason why I didn't remember it, such as not liking it but I think it was just so long ago (like 3rd grade) that it's just floated out of my memory. I also don't remember reading a lot of other books in the series which also surprises me because they were all the hype back in the day, when there was no Twilight or Harry Potter. I thought the book was very predicable and it was a very easy read. After finishing the book, it was easy to tell that there was more books coming and sure enough there are a few series about the girls. As I was reading the book I related a lot of it to being in Girl Scouts. All the meetings and volunteering with friends and creating organizations to help out the community. The writing was very girly. I feel like in the young reader chapter books, the voice in the book is very feminine or masculine based on the main character and what the intended audience is going through at the current time in their life, such as crushes or hanging out in the neighborhood or even little fights between friends. I find this especially true in books where a girl is the main character. I think at a young age girls are much more dramatic then boys and create a lot more drama for themselves. The book had a very strong story line. It had background information and creating the characters, and than the beginning, middle, climax, end (conclusion) and the parts were very clear cut. Each chapter had an aim. Each character was also very different from one another so it was easy to relate to at least one of them. I think that was another reason the books were so popular, because it drew in a lot of different audiences because each girl character had different interests.

Humpty Dumpty Climbs Again-By:Dave Horowitz

This book was a version of the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme and a couple character from other nursery rhymes were also included such as: The Dish and the Spoon, the Spider (from Little Miss Muppet), the little dog, and all the Kings Horses. It was definitely a mockery of Humpty Dumpty. But it was pretty humorous none the less. It was about the aftermath of Humpty falling off the wall and how he was depressed he couldn't climb anymore. The illustrations were comical, like the expressions on the characters faces and some of the dialogue coming out of their mouths. I don't know how appropriate it is to read in a classroom. I think some parents might think it's kind of inappropriate, especially for younger children. I really like sequels to books, mockeries and books from other characters point of view, because I am always wondering what happens next or what the other character was thinking. Everyone knows nursery rhymes so I think it is clever when authors continue the story since nursery rhymes are such short, simple morals.

Jibberwillies At Night-By:Rachel Vail; Illustrated by: Yumi Heo

Jibberwillies=nightmares and big scary things that Katie (the main character) can't seem to fight off when she is trying to go to sleep. The book is about bedtime routine and nightmares and how Katie's mom helps her get rid of the jibberwillies by comforting her by getting a bucket and throwing them out. The author made this coping strategy up to use with her own kids because they were having nightmares frequently. I thought this book was really random. I didn't think it was put together very well. The first page was about how happy she is in the morning and then it jumps to her at school with her friends and then the next page is Katie talking about how it makes her mad when her little brother squeezes in the couch with her parents, and then finally the book gets into bedtime routine. It just didn't flow together like I would have liked. I did like how the author did the text with a lot of different colors and emphasis on different words.