Best Reads of T1 2021-2022

 Here are my favorite books that I've read so far this school year. I'm using five of them for K/Grade 1 Mock Caldecott and at least three of them for Grade 2 Mock Sibert. All images and summaries from Goodreads.

Picture Books 

When a young girl feels that the world is too big and loud and busy and distracting, she pretends that she’s in a museum. It’s quiet there, and she can wonder about everything: Is a rock in a puddle an island? Is a dry spot on the ground on a rainy day the shadow of a car that’s just driven off? There’s a museum for everything—for islands and shadows and clouds and trees, and so much more.

Neela loves cooking with her amma and writing down the recipes in her notebook. It makes her feel closer to her paati who lives far away in India. On Saturdays, Neela and Amma go to the green market and today they are buying tomatoes to make Paati's famous sauce. But first, Neela needs to learn about all the different kinds of tomatoes they can pick from. And as Neela and Amma cook together, they find a way for Paati to share in both the love and the flavors of the day. 

Dad's office is off-limits--which only makes it more intriguing to his curious young daughter. As soon as she sees an opening, she sneaks in to have a look around. After all, there's no harm in just looking, right? What she discovers is a magical wonderland of sticky tape, paper clips that make glorious strands, and a kaleidoscopic array of sticky notes. Who could possibly resist playing with those? 

Monsters are loud. And rude. They like to smash things and they always need to be right. But not Yeti. Yeti bakes banana bread and sings to whales and always has a nice word to say. But sometimes you find yourself alone when you're different. And Yeti doesn't know there's a special surprise in store for him.

New York Times bestselling author Kelly DiPucchio and celebrated illustrator Claire Keane have created a lovable new character who always chooses kindness, no matter what the other monsters say.

Emma is excited for her worm family to have their portrait taken. But when she sees her other friends' portraits, she gets discouraged. We had the most beautiful smiles, Ellie the Chipmunk squeals. Abigail the Cat meows, I looked gorgeous with my big poufy hair. The worm family doesn't have teeth...how will they show their beautiful smiles? They don't have hair either...how can it look big and poufy?! So Emma gathers wigs, giant fake teeth, and colorful clothing for her parents and sisters.

What do African dance, samosas, and Japanese gardens have in common? They are all gifts the United States received from immigrants: the vibrant, multifaceted people who share their heritage and traditions to enrich the fabric of our daily lives. From Jewish delis to bagpipes, bodegas and Zen Buddhism, this joyful ABC journey is a celebration of immigrants: our neighbors, our friends.

Everyone in Mr. Tiffin's class couldn't be more excited that the new school library has finally opened. Everyone except Jake. Jake is a slow and careful reader. Sometimes he reads the same page more than once to figure everything out. And he often feels left behind on class Library Day. All that changes when Librarian Beck notices Jake running his fingers across the grooves of a brand-new bookshelf and offers him an old, worn book: Woodworking for Young Hands.

Where is the door to the house? Do you see any clouds? What does the house look like when it is sunny outside? When it is raining? And what will the house turn into when its family returns? A home.

Kevin Henkes employs interactive questions, declarative sentences, basic shapes, and a limited color palette in this brilliant and classic picture book. A House introduces young readers to shapes, numbers, the weather, and the parts of a house with a rhythmic, repetitive text and remarkable illustrations. 

Survivor Tree is a picture book by Marcie Colleen and illustrated by Aaron Becker. It tells the true story of the Callery pear tree that stood at the base of the World Trade Center for 30 years and was almost destroyed, only to be pulled from the rubble, coaxed back to life, and eventually replanted as part of the 9/11 memorial.

Middle Grade Novels 

Marisol Rainey’s mother was born in the Philippines. Marisol’s father works and lives part-time on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. And Marisol, who has a big imagination and likes to name inanimate objects, has a tree in her backyard she calls Peppina . . . but she’s way too scared to climb it. This all makes Marisol the only girl in her small Louisiana town with a mother who was born elsewhere and a father who lives elsewhere (most of the time)—the only girl who’s fearful of adventure and fun.

Will Marisol be able to salvage her summer and have fun with Jada, her best friend? Maybe. Will Marisol figure out how to get annoying Evie Smythe to leave her alone? Maybe. Will Marisol ever get to spend enough real time with her father? Maybe. Will Marisol find the courage to climb Peppina? Maybe.

Told in short chapters with illustrations by the author on nearly every page

Libby comes from a long line of bullies. She wants to be different, but sometimes that doesn’t work out. Now she's suspended again.

On the opposite side of the country lives Vincent, a kid who loves the mathematician Katherine Johnson and being a non-conformist, who’s trying hard not to get stuffed into lockers at his new school. But that’s not working out too well either.  

Nearby is T, who couldn’t take living at home anymore and is determined to survive on a rainy sidewalk.

And then there’s Jack, a big-hearted kid so engaged in the fight to keep his small rural school open that he’s lost focus on the ones who need him most.

Four kids. Four different lives. And then… one card with a message of hope takes flight and starts a chain reaction, helping each kid summon the thing they need, whether it’s bravery, empathy, or understanding. But best of all, it makes each one realize they matter -- and that they're not flying solo anymore.

In a time of war, a mysterious child appears at the monastery of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing. Gentle Brother Edik finds the girl, Beatryce, curled in a stall, wracked with fever, coated in dirt and blood, and holding fast to the ear of Answelica the goat. As the monk nurses Beatryce to health, he uncovers her dangerous secret, one that imperils them all--for the king of the land seeks just such a girl, and Brother Edik, who penned the prophecy himself, knows why.

And so it is that a girl with a head full of stories--powerful tales-within-the-tale of queens and kings, mermaids and wolves--ventures into a dark wood in search of the castle of one who wishes her dead. But Beatryce knows that, should she lose her way, those who love her--a wild-eyed monk, a man who had once been king, a boy with a terrible sword, and a goat with a head as hard as stone--will never give up searching for her, and to know this is to know everything.

Graphic Novel

Marcus is a worm. Laurence is a bird that looks like a chicken. Laurence wants to gobble up Marcus for breakfast, but the worm surprises him with "Good morning!" Marcus tries to keep the conversation going, and it goes in a very unexpected direction: Laurence seems to think he's a flamingo (he's definitely NOT), and Marcus soon finds himself on a journey to Africa, where Laurence believes he can finally be happy. 

Early Readers 

In just one hundred days, Harry will learn how to overcome first-day jitters, what a "family circle" is, why guinea pigs aren't scary after all, what a silent "e" is about, how to count to 100 in tons of different ways, and much more. He'll make great friends, celebrate lots of holidays, and learn how to use his words. In other words, he will become an expert first grader.

Nonfiction

Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in small town North Carolina, Nina Simone was a musical child. She sang before she talked and learned to play piano at a very young age. With the support of her family and community, she received music lessons that introduced her to classical composers like Bach who remained with her and influenced her music throughout her life. During her first performances under the name of Nina Simone her voice was rich and sweet but as the Civil Rights Movement gained steam, Nina's voice soon became a thunderous roar. 

Hi! I am Great White Shark, and if you get this book, you'll read all about ME--the greatest shark in the sea! / Not so fast! Greenland Shark here, and as the oldest shark in this book, that makes me the greatest. / Did someone say fast? I'm Mako Shark, and I'm the fastest shark in this book! Eat my bubbles! / Wow, I'm Hammerhead Shark. You don't need my special eyes to see that there are lots of great sharks in this book. Sink your teeth into it now!

With The Last Straw: Kids vs. Plastics, readers will be fascinated as they learn about the growing plastic problem and meet just a few of the young activists who are standing up and speaking out for change. You’ll hear about the “Be Straw Free” campaign, started by nine-year-old Milo Cress. You’ll discover how scientists are using jellyfish snot and munching, crunching caterpillars to break down plastic pollution faster. You’ll meet Xóchitl Guadalupe Cruz López, the eight-year-old girl turning old plastic bottles into solar heaters. And there are many more incredible kids here!

In the late 19th century, there wasn't much hope for premature babies―until Dr. Couney developed the incubator. The device was so new and strange, hospitals rejected it. So Dr. Couney set up a sideshow at Coney Island, taking care of the tiniest newborns as part of a display to convince the public that incubators worked. Thousands of babies grew into healthy children as Boardwalk Babies, including Dr. Couney's own premature daughter. Science meets magic show in this fascinating true story. 

The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London's Poop Pollution Problem tells the story of when London's Thames River became over-polluted with human waste and how engineer Joseph Bazalgette cleaned it up, and saved lives, by building one of the world's first modern sewer systems.

From an early age, Noah Webster was an odd fellow who liked to talk big and loved learning. He thought America needed its own national language and knew he was just the man to create it. He started with a speller, including everyday words like "scab," "grub," and "mop," and moved on to create a small dictionary. He rode around on a horse, selling his books by hand. Then Noah decided to compile a complete and comprehensive dictionary of American English. He thought the book would take him five years to finish. It took twenty, but his dictionary today is the second-most printed book in the English language.

The nonfiction photo book explores weird and wonderful sea creatures, from the chocolate chip sea star to the pineapplefish.

Underneath the New Mexico sky, a Navajo boy named Cody finds that his family's barrels of water are empty. He checks the chicken coop-- nothing. He walks down the road to the horses' watering hole. Dry. Meanwhile, a few miles away, Darlene Arviso drives a school bus and picks up students for school. After dropping them off, she heads to another job: she drives her big yellow tanker truck to the water tower, fills it with three thousand gallons of water, and returns to the reservation, bringing water to Cody's family, and many, many others. Here is the incredible and inspiring true story of a Native American woman who continuously gives back to her community and celebrates her people.

With almost 7.8 billion people sharing the earth, it can be a little hard to picture what the human race looks like all together. But if we could shrink the world down to just 100 people, what could we learn about the human race? What would we look like? Where and how would we all be living? This book answers all these questions and more!

This is the story of Edwin Hubble, a boy fascinated by the stars who surmounted many hurdles to follow his dreams of becoming an astronomer. Using the insights of great mathematicians and endlessly observing the sky, he succeeded in confirming two things that altered human life forever: that there are more galaxies than our own, and that the universe is always expanding. Hubble’s message to us is to find peace in the vastness of the mystery surrounding us, and to be curious. “We do now know why we are born into the world,” he said, “but we can try to find out what sort of world it is.” 

Cinderella as Retold / Summarized by Rm 9

In 4th grade, we are learning about the difference between retelling and summarizing a story. Retelling has lots more details and may contain dialogue, like the students' retelling of "Cinderella" below.

Ms. Moore's favorite retelling is "Ever After," starring Drew Barrymore.
Photo from thewonderfulworldofcinema.wordpress.com.

Retelling

Once upon a time, Cinderella (C.) was cleaning her house and getting her stepsisters ready for a party. She slipped on the wet wood and broke her foot. She couldn’t go to the party / ball, because she had to do chores. And now she has a broken foot, so she definitely can’t. 

Her stepmother made C. work all night with no sleep. The next day, she got her stepsisters ready for the ball, and they went. C. was crying because she wanted to go. Then her fairy godmother (FG) came and gave her a wagon and stuff out of pumpkins and rats made into horses. 

Then her FG gave her a very pretty dress and breakable glass shoes (one was a boot for her broken foot). More rats got made into people to whack the horses to move (aka coachmen). Then one of the horses slipped in the mud, and the whole wagon toppled over. 

The FG tells C she has to come back before 12 o’clock, when everything will disappear. 

She was going to the ball and when she was there, she was picked to dance with the prince. She forgot about time and had to rush to the carriage and go home at midnight. She accidentally threw her slipper when she thought she was getting rid of trash. 

On the way home, chickens blocked the road, but they ran over the chickens. C got out of the wagon and she went to her house, looked back at the wagon, which had tipped over again, and said, “Welp, there goes my wagon.” But then it rolled towards her and ran over her other foot. 

She looked behind the carriage and saw the prince chasing after it. But then all he saw was a giant pumpkin, because the carriage lost its magic. Then cows ate the wagon. Which was a pumpkin again.

The prince thought he saw her horse, but it was really C., and he tackled over her. Then the prince came inside the house and saw a rat and went screaming away. 

The prince finds the glass slipper when he is running back scared from the rat. He recognized it from C. (even though he hadn’t recognized her when he thought she was a horse). 

C. at home hears a ding dong from the door. But she can’t open it because her stepsisters locked her up. The prince has come with the slipper. C. finds a key and when she comes out, the stepsisters push her out of the way and try on the slipper, but it doesn’t fit them. C. tries it, and it fits her perfectly. The prince brings her to the castle and they get married.

Summary

After we retold Cinderella in 444 words, it was time to summarize it in a couple of sentences. The method I taught the 4th graders is Somebody Wanted But So Then. Here are some of the summaries they came up with:

The stepsisters 

Wanted C. to be their slave while they went to the ball

But C. got to the ball.

So the prince asked her to dance.

Then she had to leave at midnight.

The Fairy Godmother

Wanted C. to go to the ball looking nice,

But C. lost her slipper.

So the prince found it.

Then he gave it back to C.

Three of These Things with Grade 1

A big part of information literacy is being able to recognize patterns and to categorize facts, sources, etc. We're starting to work on these skills in first grade. 

Our latest lesson is one of my favorites; it involves the original Three of These Things from Sesame Street. Original as in from the 1970s. I showed several sample videos to the kids, and they raised their hands as soon as they figured out what didn't belong. Here's one that we didn't get to:

Then it was the students' turn to pretend they were segment producers and come up with their own "Three of These Things" example. Can you tell what doesn't belong?

Cinderella as Retold / Summarized by Room 11

In 4th grade, we are learning about the difference between retelling and summarizing a story. Retelling has lots more details and may contain dialogue, like the students' retelling of "Cinderella" below.

Ms. Moore's favorite retelling is "Ever After," starring Drew Barrymore.
Photo from thewonderfulworldofcinema.wordpress.com.

Retelling

Once upon a time, there was a girl name Cinderella. Her sisters were mean to her. Her stepmother made her do all the chores around the house while her kids were getting to slack off all day. Her sisters and her stepmother want to go to the ball, and C. wasn’t allowed to, even though she really wanted to. 

She cried and cried, and suddenly her fairy godmother appeared. The FG makes a pumpkin turn into a carriage and gives her a beautiful dress and glass slippers. The FG tells her, “You have to leave before midnight, or else everything will disappear.” Then she gets to go to the ball. 

The prince sees her and asks her to dance. Then she has so much fun getting to dance, she lost track of time and had to rush out at 12, losing her glass slipper. Then the prince tries to find her and return the glass slipper. 

When he gets to her house, the sisters try on the slipper, but they don’t fit. Then C. tried it on and it fit! They lived happily ever after. 

Summary

After we retold Cinderella in 185 words, it was time to summarize it in a couple of sentences. The method I taught the 4th graders is Somebody Wanted But So Then. Here are some of the summaries they came up with:

Cinderella 

Wanted to go to the ball, 

But the stepmother and stepsisters didn’t let her. 

So she stays home playing a board game. 

Then her fairy godmother comes. 

The prince 

Wanted to marry Cinderella, 

But it struck midnight, and she ran away because the magic would run out.

So her shoe fell off.

Then the prince goes door to door trying to find her. 

The stepsisters 

Wanted the prince to marry them, 

But he had eyes for C. only. 

So the next morning, the prince comes around and asks them to try on the glass slipper. 

Then they try to fit by cutting off their toes and heels. 

The stepmother

Wanted C to stay home and not go to the ball, 

But the FG came and got everything ready for her so she could go to the ball. 

Then the clock struck midnight and she ran away. 

The FG 

Wanted for C. to go to the ball, 

But her magic would run out at midnight. 

So C went to the ball.

Then the clock struck 12.

Grade 2 Covers Inspired by The Z Was Zapped

Second graders are learning about how call numbers help us find books in the library. 

 We read The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg, which features the letters of the alphabet meeting sad fates. The students had to guess the action happening to them, which started with the same letter; for example, the F was flattened by a foot and the Q was quartered. 

 Then the kids created their own version of the book, as well as their personal call number. I've added their work into a binder that can be checked out and brought home as a library book. Here is a preview: