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Grade Level: PreK-3
Summary: This book portrays the real-life situation of being deported, a common occurrence in today's society. It represents the culture of Latinos and what they are currently being put through.
Text complexity: The theme present is the importance of family, and this text tackles the notion of undocumented immigrants in a way that children can begin to understand and feel empathy towards. There are many words that are unfamiliar and contain content specific words (poncho, tortillas) to Latino culture. Since it goes over deportation and undocumented immigrants, there are some . complex themes and allusions to other cultural elements. Overall, this book is a complex read aloud but a great way to introduce children to real problems in our society.
K.RI.CS.4 With prompting and support, determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a Kindergarten topic or subject area.
Social Studies K.02 Compare and contrast family traditions and customs, including: food, clothing, homes, and games.

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Grade Level: PreK-2
Summary: This book is about a mouse that is given a cookie and then only wants more and more. The demands never end even after the book has ended.
Text complexity:  There are not any words that are too difficult to understand. There is only one occurring storyline present. The theme is very obvious, since the mouse is requesting over and over. One theme present has a lot to do with the friendship between the mouse and the boy. Children could relate this to their own friendships and have a discussion about what makes a friendship. Also, another theme that ties to social studies is the notion of wants and needs. This book could be paired with a whole unit on the concept of what we actually need versus what we might want and how we distinguish between the two.
K.W.TTP.3 With prompting and support, use a combination of drawing, dictating, and/or writing to narrate a single event.
Social Studies K.03 Distinguish between wants and needs.

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Grade Level: K-2
Summary: This book is an informational text about owls. It contains a plethora of facts about the physical characteristics of owls as well as how they hunt for food and raise their young. This video by National Geographic Kids goes along with the text.
Text Complexity: The text is not too complex but contains literacy demands, such as speech bubbles and graphic texts, that children will need to be taught background knowledge on. This book would be beneficial alone as well as paired with others for a science unit on owls.
1.RI.CS.5 Know and use various text features to locate key facts or information in a text.
Science K.LS1. 1 Use information from observations to identify differences between plants and animals (locomotion, obtainment of food, and take in air/gasses).

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Grade Level: K-3
Summary: This book is about a fish who was too selfish to give away his silver scales. As a result, he lost friends and went through a lesson that taught him the real meaning of being a kind friend.
Text Complexity: This text is fairly easy. It is made up entirely of simple sentences and the theme, friendship, is fairly simple as well. The words are fairly familiar and easy to read. Although, this book is easy to read, the theme of friendship can be applied for many . grades. With this text, children could explore the notion of what being a good friend is all about. This text could also be used to further explore emotions. For older grades, children could identify the theme, main idea and plot of the story as well as write about the character. This writing could also include an opinionated piece about the rainbow fish and his attitude.
2.RL.IKI.7 Use information gained from illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
3.W.TTP.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

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Grade Level: PreK- 3
Summary: This book is about a tiny seed that travels a long way to plant itself and grow into a beautiful flower, but first, it must endure some toil and hardships in order to get there.
Text Complexity: The text is fairly easy to read. The sentence structure is simple and the theme is straight forward. Overall, this text is easy understand and contains some content specific vocabulary (seed, plant, bud, etc.) This book can be used in conjunction to a science unit on plants as well as a writing activity to predict what happens next or the sequence of events in the story.
K.W.TTP.3 With prompting and support, use a combination of drawing, dictating, and/or writing
to narrate a single event.
1.LS1.3 Analyze and interpret data from observations to describe how changes in the environment cause
plants to respond in different ways.

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Grade Level: PreK-1
Summary: This book is the classic fairytale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Text Complexity: The text is fairly simple and easy to read. The story has one storyline and does not elude to any cultural experiences. The vocabulary used should be familiar to most readers. A lesson children could do with this book would be on the adjectives "hard, soft, cold, just right" etc. from the book. Children could be asked to write a story using three or more adjectives from the story.
1.FL.SC.6e Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage
when speaking and conventions of standard English grammar and usage, including capitalization and punctuation, when writing: Use frequently occurring adjectives.

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Grade Level: PreK-2
Summary: This book is a funny tale about dragons and tacos. Dragons love tacos, every different kind you can think of! Although, they cannot eat spicy tacos or else. Read about how the dragons and spicy tacos do not mix in this hilarious book!
Text Complexity: The text has one storyline and a simple theme. Connections are explicit and organization of the text is chronological. The vocabulary is mostly familiar. There are a couple of words that are specific to certain cultures, such as beef and salsa. The story is straightforward and easy to understand. With this book children could do an activity on adjectives and their meanings.
2.FL.VA.7c Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and
responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe.

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Grade Level: K-5
Summary: This book is a story about Miss Maple who goes looking for seeds and takes care of them until they are ready go out and be planted. This story touches on the concept of goodbyes, taking care of the environment, and care-taking in general.
Text Complexity: This text is slightly complex. There are some vocabulary words children will need to go over (bustling; orphan). The sentence structure is fairly simple and there is only one storyline. This book would be best paired with a twin text on plants and how they grow. Children could also discuss care-taking and write about how they take care of the seeds they will plant. An overarching theme the book carries is how humans should take care of the Earth and our environment and be caretakers of the planet.
1.RL.IKI.7 Either orally or in writing when appropriate, use illustrations and words in a text to describe its characters, setting, or events.
Science 1.LS2.1 Conduct an experiment to show how plants depend on air, water, minerals from soil, and light to grow and thrive.

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Grade Level: K-5
Summary: This book is about a girl who, going through all of her life up til the 5th grade in school not knowing how to read, finally has a teacher who cares enough to teach her how to read. This book could relate to children who either do not like to read because they have a difficult time with it or who are just beginning to read.
Text Complexity: Overall, this text is very complex. It has some abstract concepts and themes in it as well as multiple storylines. There is some vocabulary that children would have to have contextual background on and the sentences are rather lengthy with clauses. This would be a great book to use to teach children about idioms and figurative language as well as multiple perspectives.
3.RL.CS.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

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Grade Level: PreK-K
Summary: This book is a story poem told by Dr. Seuss about many of his different characters he has written about.
Text Complexity: The text is not too difficult. The book is all rhyming and in one storyline. The illustrations definitely extend the meaning of the text; otherwise, the . reader would never know what a Wump or a Gox is. This book can be used to discuss rhyming with children as well as teach math standards such as counting or sorting by characteristics. Also, children could choose a character in the story to write about during writer's workshop or any other creative writing time.
K.FFL.PA.2a Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes): Recognize and begin to produce rhyming words.
Math K.MD.C.4 Sort a collection of objects into a given category, with 10 or less in each category. Compare the categories by group size.

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Grade Level: PreK-5
Summary: This book is a beautiful story about a brother's love. Throughout the story, he tells the reader about all the amazing fun things him and his sister do. It isn't until the end that the reader realizes his sister has special needs.
Text Complexity: This text is very complex in that it keeps the main topic ambiguous until revealed by the author. The pictures greatly help extend meaning in the story, and it is never explicitly stated that his sister has a disability. This book has a sensitive and appreciative approach towards people who have disabilities. Using this book, discussion could be opened up for children and their thoughts. Writing their own thoughts about the sister in the story would help them to make connections to the reality of disabilities and how it does not define people. A whole study could be done on what disabilities are and children could research them, with teacher scaffolding.
1.W.RBPK.8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or
gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

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Grade Level: K-3
Summary: This book is a humorous Cajun rendition of the famous night before Christmas story. Having this sort of book in your classroom library could represent children from Cajun backgrounds as well as offer contrasting perspectives of a familiar story.
Text complexity: The words are very complex, especially for a beginner reader since they are not in "proper English". This book also introduces a different type of dialect of the English language to expose children to. There is one main storyline. In order to understand this text, children should preferably know or have previously been read to the original 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to make contextual references. A book comparison of similarities and differences would be great with these two texts. For me, this is an interesting way to share my own culture with my children around Christmas time!  Also, this book could be used to begin a discussion on humor with older children.
3.RL.KID.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures;
determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

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Grade Level: PreK-3
Summary: This book is about a boy who was sent to bed without his dinner. Then, he embarks on a wild journey in his imagination to an island where he meets many creatures called wild things. On this island, he explores with the wild things and becomes one himself. After awhile, he becomes homesick and returns home where his hot dinner waits for him.
Text Complexity: This text is one storyline with simple themes, such as no place like home. The sentence structure is moderately complex with compound sentences. The text also eludes to some complicated, abstract ideas, like using his imagination to create another world entirely. With this book, children could perform a play of the story to conceptualize the abstract ideas better. Also, older grades could be asked comprehension questions and write opinion-based journals about the character's decisions.
3.W.TTP.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
K.RL.KID.2 With prompting and support, orally retell familiar stories, including key details.

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Grade Level: K-5
Summary: This book is a retelling of the classic Three Little Pigs and is told from the "Big Bad Wolf's" perspective. The wolf tells his side of the story as just needing sugar to bake something for his grandma. As he tells the story, he describes how he had a really bad sneeze and did not mean to blow down the pigs' houses.
Text Complexity: The text is one storyline told by the Wolf. The vocabulary used is moderately complex and the sentence structure is made up of compound sentences. the illustrations moderately extend the meaning of the text because it conveys the severity of his sneezes. Overall, this book can be used to teach children about different perspectives as well as the points of view of each character. The reader must have contextual background of the original fairytale. A great writing activity with this book is to ask children to choose a character in the story and write from their point of view.
3.RL.CS.6 Distinguish reader perspective from that of the narrator or the perspectives of the
characters and identify the point of view of a text.

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Grade Level: PreK-2
Summary: This book is the classic fairytale of the Three Little Pigs.
Text Complexity: The text and vocabulary is pretty simple and there is only one storyline. Children could read this text alongside the retelling by the Big Bad Wolf and compare/contrast the stories and different points of view. The theme of this story is that hard work pays off. Using only this book, children could list and describe the sequence of events in the story.
1.W.TTP.3 With prompting and support, write narratives recounting an event, including some details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings; use time order words to signal event order
and provide some sense of closure.

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Grade Level: PreK-3
Summary: This book series is about the many adventures and happenings of Pete the Cat. Each book has a song-like story and can be used to introduce different life topics to children. In the story about his white shoes, Pete steps in all kinds of messes and his shoes become the . color fo the mess. Over and over again, the book repeats how he does not fret about it and still loves his shoes no matter what. This book teaches children about not being upset over things they cannot control but to find the good in every situation.
Text Complexity: The books are made of simple song-like stories children can sing-along to. There are simple themes throughout each book told in one storyline. Children could focus on sequential order for an activity or compare/contrast the experiences of the character, Pete the Cat.
K.RL.IKI.9 With prompting and support, orally compare and contrast the adventures and
experiences of characters in familiar stories.

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Grade Level: PreK-5
This book is about a baby bat who is separated from their mother and adopted by a mama bird. She tries to act like a baby bird but knows there is something amiss.
Text complexity: The theme present here is loud and clear:  be true to who you are. The vocabulary is moderately complex but not too difficult to decipher and go over as a class. A great way to integrate two subjects would be to read this alongside a science lesson on either nocturnal animals or just bats in general. Children could learn about echolocation and how bats use this to navigate.
1.RL.KID.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
Science K.LS1.2 Recognize differences between living organisms and non-living materials and sort them into groups by observable physical attributes.

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Grade Level: PreK-2
Summary: This book is about a boy and his grandmother who ride the bus every Sunday after church. One day, the boy notices how his life is different from other people and his grandma explains to him the diverse beauty of their culture and way of life.
Text Complexity: The text is overall a cultural experience through the eyes of the grandma. There are many life experiences and cultural knowledge children would need to know first to grasp an understanding of the story, such as why people ride buses. The visuals also aid in the understanding of the story as well as extend meaning.
The theme is pretty simple being about appreciating your own life and being content with what you have. A literacy activity children could do with this book is write about details of the city. To culminate their learning, children could work on a project that can be done by paying close attention to the pictures in order to create a physical representation of the city from the story. Also, this would be a great book to pair with a social studies unit on cultures.
K.SL.PKI.5 Add drawings or other visual displays of descriptions as
desired to provide additional detail.
K.G.B.5 Model shapes in the world by building and drawing shapes.
Social Studies C.1.01 Describe the cultural aspects of a place, including a student’s community and state.

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Grade Level: K-3
Summary: This book is about a father and his daughter going "owling" together. It tells a story of this enjoyable activity they experience together and conveys how important spending time with family can be.
Text Complexity: This text is slightly complex. It has some figurative language in it as well as words and the entire plot that would only be known through cultural context or background knowledge of "owling". Also, this text only has one story line all the way through. This book could be paired with an informational text on owls to explore different types of text features. It could also be used to explore figurative language and used as a springboard to write about family activities.
1.RL.CS.5 Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide range of text types.

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Grade Level: PreK-2
Summary: This book tells the story of a little boy who experiences snow for the first time in a big city.
Text Complexity: This text is primarily moderately complex. It contains visuals that extend the meaning of the text, life experiences in a city and a cold climate, and the vocabulary is specific to the climate using words like snowsuit and snow angels. This vocabulary would be a great lesson for children as well as pairing it with teaching about the different seasons.
K.RL.CS.4 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in text.
Science K.ESS2.2 Develop and use models to predict weather and identify patterns in spring, summer, autumn, and
winter.