Cam Jansen and the Tennis Trophy Mystery

TITLE: Cam Jansen and the Tennis Trophy Mystery

AUTHOR: David A. Adler                            ILLUSTRATOR: Susanna Natti

PUBLISHER: Puffin             PUBLICATION DATE: Reprint Edition, February 17, 2005

GENRE: Transitional                                     READING LEVEL: 3^rd grade

BRIEF OVERVIEW: Cam loves reading mysteries, and she loves solving them even more. When Mr. Day’s trophy goes missing, Cam goes looking for clues. But will she be able to find it?

INTEGRATED ACTIVITY: Have a classroom scavenger hunt. Divide the class up into different groups. Hide a trophy somewhere and make up different clues that the groups have to decipher in order to be able to find the trophy.

REVIEWER’S NAME & AFFILIATION: Faith Summers, Valdosta State University ECSE

                                                      LABELS: transitions, SCHOOL, curiosity

Don't Take Your Snake for a Stroll

Author:Karin Ireland

Illustrator:David Catrow  Copyright: 2003  Genre: Fiction

Book Description: Reading Level: ages 5-8
This is a silly story of a boy who takes his animals to different places and advises the reader why it might be a bad idea. Everything from the snake to a rhino and the pig are mentioned in this silly story.

Reviewed by Emily Brannon

Brown Paper Teddy Bear

TITLE:  Brown Paper Teddy Bear

AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: Catherine Allison/ Neil Reed

PUBLISHER: Fernleigh Books        PUBLICATION DATE: 2004 GENRE: speculative fiction   READING LEVEL:  3^rd

BRIEF OVERVIEW: A magical box comes into a little girls’ room in the middle of the night with a talking teddy bear. The teddy bear takes her to a place where toys talk then brings her back to her grandfather.  

INTEGRATED ACTIVITY: Write stories about their stuffed animals if they could talk what would they say.

REVIEWER’S NAME & AFFILIATION: Jacob Bishoff Valdosta State University

Castles in the Sand

Author: Crockett Johnson
Illustrator: Betty Fraser
Publisher: Holt Rinehart & Winston
Publication Date: 1965
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Reading Level: Ages 7-8 years old
Brief Overview: Ben and Ann stumble upon a beach, where if you wrote words in the sand, that object would magically appear. Ben and Ann created a powerful story, but the ocean always has a high tide that reaches shore. This story emphasizes the power of imagination and that all good things must come to an end.

Integrated Activity: Take the kids outside. Place in groups of 3 or 4. Find the nearest sand spot and begin writing words on the sand. Make sure one student wrote their words onto a sheet of regular paper too. Then, ask the kids to share their “sand stories”. Then, come inside and write down sand stories onto a sandy paper to display with a beach theme.

Reviewer's Name and Affiliation: Kristen "Taylor" Sims - Valdosta State University

Ballywhinney Girl

Title: Ballywhinney Girl 
Author: Eve Bunting
Illustrator: Emily Arnold McCully 
Publisher: Clarion Books
Publication Date: 2012
Genre: Juvenile Contemporary Fiction
Reading Level: Ages 7-9
Brief Overview: Maeve and her grandfather stumble upon a dead body in the bog of Ballywhinney, Ireland. Police and archaeologists come and discover the body is older than 1,000 years and seemed to be a girl similar to Maeve’s complexion. This makes Maeve sad and nervous. 
Integrated Activity: This book would be an introduction to archaeology  Ask students if they have ever dug anything out of the ground before.  Then, take the class outside to be archaeologists for the class time, asking them to put whatever they find into a Ziploc bag. Then, come inside and describe what they found.
Reviewer's Name and Affiliation: Kristen "Taylor" Sims - Valdosta State University 

The Grumpalump

Title: The Grumpalump            Author: Sarah Hayes       Illustrator: Barbra Firth 
Publisher: Clarion Books         Publication Date: 1990 
Genre: Picture Fiction     Reading Level: Ages 7-8 years old
Brief Overview: Different animals are trying to get a reaction out of the “grumpalump”. The different animals try different ways of getting a reaction, but none seem to work until the gnu comes and blows on the “grumpalump”, which then it becomes alive!

Integrated Activity: Take a pile of balloons and other pieces of cloth/material and set them on each table. The kids would come in wondering what exactly was happening, and then the teacher would pick through their pile and blow up my balloon! It would integrate the idea of curiosity and what happens when a person simply takes one small action. 
Reviewer's Name and Affiliation: Kristen "Taylor" Sims - Valdosta State University