Phineas L. MacGuire Gets Cooking

AUTHOR: Frances O’Roark Dowell

ILLUSTRATOR: Preston McDaniels

PUBLISHER: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

PUBLICATION DATE: 2014

GENRE: Transitional

READING LEVEL: Ages 8-12

BRIEF OVERVIEW: Phineas enters a bake-off that the school bully is also participating in. Phineas must teach himself to cook and has help from his friends.

INTEGRATED ACTIVITY: Assign a one page journal entry for students to write about their favorite meal served at home.

REVIEWER’S NAME & AFFILIATION: Courtney Taylor, Valdosta State University ECSE

Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae

Copyright: 2012        Reading Level: PreK-3rd grade
Book Description: Giraffes Can't Dance is a touching tale of Gerald the giraffe, who wants nothing more than to dance. With crooked knees and thin legs, it's harder for a giraffe than you would think. Gerald is finally able to dance to his own tune when he gets some encouraging words from an unlikely friend.

Integrated Ideas: Students will describe the story’s character, Gerald, and the other jungle animals through sign based on the text and illustrations within the story. The students will explain the struggle Gerald faced when trying to dance and the effect the other animals had on his self confidence to dance on his own. As a class, the students will learn and attempt the dance styles listed within the story from each jungle animal. Each student will then create their own dance to share and teach to their fellow classmates that expresses their individuality and emotions. 

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

Back to Front and Upside Down

AUTHOR: Claire Alexander

PUBLISHER: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers                 

PUBLICATION DATE: 2012   

GENRE: Realistic Fiction                       

READING LEVEL: Pre-k - 1st grade

BRIEF OVERVIEW:It's the principal Mr. Slipper's birthday, and the class decides to write birthday cards. Stan is having trouble but is afraid to ask for help. After help from his teacher and a lot of practice, Stan's letters come out perfectly.

INTEGRATED ACTIVITY:Learning how to write is important for this age group to learn, so students must also write a birthday card to Mr. Slipper. They must make sure the letters are the write way and nice and neat like Stan’s came out to be after a lot of practice.

REVIEWER’S NAME & AFFILIATION: Jerre' Robinson - VSU Student

How Rocket Learned to Read

AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: Tad Hills
PUBLISHER: Schwartz & Wade              
PUBLICATION DATE:  July 27, 2010
AWARDS:  2010 Parent’s Choice Silver Award, 2011National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) Honors Award
GENRE: Fiction Picture Book          
READING LEVEL: Kindergarten- 2^nd grade
BRIEF OVERVIEW: When Rocket falls asleep under a sign on a tree he finds himself as the only student of a little yellow bird. The bird teaches Rocket his alphabet and how to read. While the bird flies south for the winter Rocket continues to learn.
INTEGRATED ACTIVITY: There is now an app for iPads based on this book where kids can learn and improve their reading. They can practice letter recognition, and even tap on the words in the story to hear pronunciation.
REVIEWER’S NAME & AFFILIATION: Kayla Rozier, VSU

The Shivers in the Fridge

AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: Fran Manushkin/ Paul O. Zelinsky

PUBLISHER: Dutton Juvenile    PUBLICATION DATE: 2006

GENRE: Fictional Humor            READING LEVEL: PK-3

BRIEF OVERVIEW: This story is about a family living in a cold dark place. They believe they are being attacked by the giant monster.  They decide to fight back and end up all getting separated. The Shiver family ends up finding themselves all together again happy and warm in the end on the fridge as magnets where they live.

INTEGRATED ACTIVITY: I would introduce the idea of magnetism to the class based on The Shivers in the Fridge and use examples from what the text says about magnets

REVIEWER’S NAME & AFFILIATION: Chelsea Brown, teacher candidate