Grandma's Hurrying Child

AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: Jane Yolen/Kay Chorao

PUBLISHER: HMH Books for Young Readers  

PUBLICATION DATE: 04/ 01/2005 

GENRE: Fiction Picture Book      READING LEVEL:  First Grade

BRIEF OVERVIEW: A grandmother tells her granddaughter about the day she was born and how she hurried to meet her.

INTEGRATED ACTIVITY: Children will go home and interview a guardian about the day they were born and tell about it the next day.

REVIEWER’S NAME & AFFILIATION: Kasey Casey,  Valdosta State University ECSE

LABELS: family, emotions, life

A Ball For Daisy by Chris Raschka

A Ball For Daisy author and illustrator: Chris Raschka
Copyright: 2011 Reading Level: Ages 3-7 
Book Description: Daisy is a playful puppy who loves her ball. She and her owner make a trip to the park to play where she finds another dog to play with her and her ball. The ball pops and Daisy is sad. The good news is that the other dog brought a new ball for them to play with and Daisy gets to take it home.

Integrated Ideas: Students will revise the book and the story line and then explain the main idea and plot to the teacher through sign. The students will gather their reasoning for the feelings of the book’s character, Daisy the dog, based off of their visual interpretations from the author’s illustrations. After the students describe the story, they will then play an outside game with a red balloon. If the students pop the red balloon, then another student must be willing to share their blue balloon with the class. 

Reviewer's name and affiliation: Bethany A. Loggins, Valdosta State University

The Pout-Pout Fish

AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: Deborah Diesen/Daniel X. Hanna

PUBLISHER:  Farrar, Straus, and Giroux                     PUBLICATION DATE:  March 18, 2008

GENRE:   Board book                             READING LEVEL:  PreK-2BRIEF OVERVIEW: This book is filled with exaggerated expressions and rhyme about an unhappy fish.

 INTEGRATED ACTIVITY:

Students will write a rhyme about their pet or a pet they hope to have.

REVIEWER’S NAME & AFFILIATION:  Lashundra Coad, VSU

The Wednesday Wars

AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: Gary Schmidt

PUBLISHER: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt   PUBLICATION DATE: 2007

AWARDS:  Newbery Honor, 2008

GENRE: Realistic fiction         READING LEVEL: 9+ years

BRIEF OVERVIEW: This book is about a teenage boys in 7^th grade and his many mishaps and problems over the course of a school year. Set in Long Island, New York in 1967-1968. This book is relatable to other teenage boys since it is about real life problems

INTEGRATED ACTIVITY: I would have my class read one of the Shakespearean plays that Holling reads during the course of the novel. Write a brief journal about what they learned and compare their own thoughts on it to what Holling had to say. They would then, choose a few lines that mean the most to them and commit them to memory. Then, they’d discuss why you chose these lines and the process of memorizing them in your journal as well.

REVIEWER’S NAME & AFFILIATION: Chelsea Brown, Valdosta State University