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If You Come to Earth is a charming story told through the voice of a little boy, Quinn. He is writing a letter to aliens to let them know what life is like on earth. From the vast sea and all its creatures to the smallest piece of lint and every human interaction in between, Quinn's wonderful imagination paints the most beuatiful picture of our planet, giving readers pride in our accomplishments as well as the desire to love and care for our planet. This book would be perfect for first and second graders for its simple sentence structure and slightly complex text, which could be ideal for improving fluency and comprehension. It also alludes to cultural complexities and serious themes such as sickness and war. A good activity for this book would be to have students right their own letter to an alien (before reading this book) and comparing their details to those in the text, which will strenghten comprehension skills.

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Finding Winnie is the amazingly true story of the inspiration behind the beloved Winnie the Pooh. It tells the tail of a veternarian, Harry Colebourn, who enlists in WWI and along the way, buys a bear cub from a trapper. He and all of the men in his troop fall in love with the bear and she becomes a sort of mascot for their regiment. Eventually, Winnie gets too big and the war too dangerous, so he takes her to the London Zoo, where she meets Christopher Robin, her new best friend. Christophers father took inspiration from his son's new playmate and created the story known and loved by many. This book would be a good addition to a third grade classroom for its complex text structure and multiple levels of meaning that might be difficult for younger students to identify. A good activity for this book would be to put students in groups that will work to identify the plot structure of the story, since it contains two overlapping plots. Students can also make a family tree, similar to the one given at the end of this book to show how the author, Lindsay Mattick, is related to Harry Colebourn, the story's protagonist.

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Dreamers, Written by Yuyi Morales, is the incredibly inspiring true story about a mother and her daughter and the hope they find in the library. Coming to America as immigrants who did not speak English, Yuyi and her daughter faced many challenges in this new world. However, with the help of the public library, she is able to learn, grow, and most importantly, live her dreams. This story would be excellent for a third or fourth grad classroom for its complex vocabulary and cultural significance. A good activity to do with this fourth grade class would be to create a padlet with all of the complex vocabulary seen in the text. Students can work in groups to research these words and enter their definition (in their own words) to the padlet as well as sentence examples. As a class, the Spanish vocabulary found in the text can also be discussed for meaning and significance to the theme of the book.

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Gulliver Snip is a quirky story about a boy who has a wild imagination. Every night when he takes a bath, he goes on a journey in his clipper ship across the sea. This wild adventure causes a lot of trouble in the real world, where Gulliver overflows the tub, breaks a lamp, and dampens the rugs. Eventually he is dried off by his mother and sent to bed, where he dreams of traveling in his ship again. This story would be ideal for kindergarten and first grade to practice phonics and phonemic awareness. It has a set rhythm and rhyme that create a humorous and adventurous mood for the story, which can strenthen fluency skills in young readers. For this book, I would do an activity focused on phonics where students are given a list of words from the text. In groups or as a class, we can catergorize these words by how they are alike and how they are different. In order to strenthen fluency, I may do a read aloud with this book and have students repeat after me so that they can hear the fluency of the sentences and how the last letter of each line rhymes.

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Tigers and Tea With Toppy- Barbara Kerley, with Rhoda Knight Kalt 

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Tigers and Tea With Toppy- Barbara Kerley, with Rhoda Knight Kalt 

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Tigers and Tea with Toppy is the true story of famous wildlife artist Charles R. Knight whose paintings of prehistoric animals hang in the American Museum of Natural History. The story follows Knight and his grandaughter as they explore the city, museums, and zoo, all while 'Toppy' tells Rhoda all about his paintings and how he studies the animals. The story ends with Rhoda's heart filled with encouragement and dreams from Toppy, giving her the inspiration to lead an inspired life of her own. This sweet stort is ideal for second grade, as it includs many scientific references to prehistoric animals as well as important figures in art history. With this book I would do an activity with students where they are given a coloring page with the bones of a prehistoric animal or dinosaur and they can draw on top of the skeleton, deciding what that animal may have looked like. We can share the drawings as a class and compare it to other scientific artist's rendition of the same animal. For these reasons, this text could be used to supplement a science lesson on prehistoric animals and help students to understand the significance of scientific art. It will also teach students that the way we see dinosaurs may not be what they really looked like, as it is just an artist's best educated guess at the animal!

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Grace for President is the inspiring nad quirky tale of a girl who has a dream to be president due to the lack of representation of women. She runs for class president at her school againts one boy, Thomas Cobb. Although Thomas doesn't do much work to get his votes, Grace finds that campaigning and fighting for the title of president is a battle she doesn't know if she can win. However, she sticks to her guns and follows through on all of her promises to the student body and wins the the close election by a hair. This story is a great way to introduce a lesson on the electoral college or past presidents. It is as informative as it is entertaining and offers a wide variety of information about how voting works and the importance of choosing the best man for the job. I would read this book to my class before hosting out own election for class president, allowing students to apply what they learned to the classroom in a practical and memorable way. I would use this book in a fifth grade classroom for its complex themes and information given in the text. An activity I would do with this book is have students write a campaign speech as if they are running for class president. In it they would include ways they would try to improve the school as well as lessons they learned from the book, further strenghening their comprehension of the text.

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Gorillas in Our Midst- Richard Fairgray 

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Gorillas in Our Midst- Richard Fairgray 

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Gorillas in Our Midst is the hilarious story of a world where gorillas try to blen in in normal society, and you never know who may secretly be a gorilla! From the man on the train to the sweet old librarian, anyone could be a gorilla, so always keep a banana with you! This story relies on humor and big plot twists to drive the plot, and it would be perfect for first grade. I would use this book in a first grade classroom to teach about different genres of literature (fiction, nonfiction, historical fiction, etc.). I would also use it as an opportunity to teach about narrative techniques, such as a plot twist, that enhances a story and makes it more exciting for the audience. An activity I would do with this book is to give every student a paddle and as I read the story, students can raise their paddle every time there is a plot twist. (Alternatively, students can shout "plot twist!" every time. I did this activity when I observed a third grade classroom and they loved having the opportunity to should in class.).

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The Numberlys- William Joyce & Christina Ellis 

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The Numberlys- William Joyce & Christina Ellis 

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The Numberlys is the creative story of a world without letters! Everything is orderly and everything has its place, but there's no pizza! There's no jellybeans! The world has no color. One day, five friends decide to do something about it, and they create numbers. Suddently, the world is a beautiful place full of individuality and creativity. The numberlys is a wonderful tale of the beauty of words and how they enrich our world. This book would be a great introduction to school for a kindergarden class. It would also be a great resource for first and second grade. Althoug the vocabulary is at a lower level. the story is rich with plot and themes, which would be good practice for older grades. I would like to do an activity on plot with this book with a second grade class where students work independently to identify plot points in the story and add them to a plot diagram. They can identify features such as rising action, climax, resolution, etc. to improve their literacy skills and understanding of plot structure.

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Sam: The Most Scaredy-Cat Kid in the Whole World- Mo Willems 

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Sam: The Most Scaredy-Cat Kid in the Whole World- Mo Willems 

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Sam The Most Scaredy-Cat Kid in the Whole World is the hilarious tale of a boy named Sam who is afraid of everything and what he does when he encounters Kerry, the second-most scaredy-cat kid in the whole world. Both children are afraid of each other, but with the help of their monster friends, learn that they have a lot in common and no reason to be afraid. The story is filled with simple vocabulary and a simple plot structure, making it ideal for younger grades, such as first or kindergarden. This text also has plenty of onomatopoeia, making it an ideal introduction to sound words, which will enrich phonemic awareness and phonics. AN activity I would choose for this book would be to give each student an example of onomatopoeia from the text and let them draw it out. They can exaplain their picture to me. For example, if the word is "eeek!" they could draw Sam or Kerry screaming. If it is "plink" they can draw water droplets from the clouds or a sink.

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Sam the Most Scaredy-Cat Kid in the Whole World

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The Fabulous Feud of Gilbert and Sullivan- Jonah Winter & Richard Egielski 

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The Fabulous Feud of Gilbert and Sullivan- Jonah Winter & Richard Egielski 

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The Fabulous Feud of Gilbert and Sullivan is a humorous story about fighting and friendships. Gilbert and Sullivan, longtime friends, are partners who write plays together. Gilbert writes the plays and Sullivan writes the music. However, Sullivan quickly grows tired fo Gilbert writing the same old story and demands new plot. This prompts a long argument between the two and they part ways until Gilbert finally writes a new story fit for Sullivan, and the two team up once again for their greatest play yet. The story has a theme of friendships and shares that message that sometimes friends fight, but it can bring them closer together in the end. I would share this story with a third grade class and also introduce them to some age-appropriate plays written at the same time when this story takes place. This book would be great to pair with a Social Studies lesson, as it is a true story and takes place in a rather rich time in English history. In terms of vocabulary, this story has many great Tier 2 words for students to learn. As an activity to sharpen their understanding of those words, I would give the students a list of words from the book to choose from. They can then research the word and draw a picture that represents that word in action or an example of the word. As a class, we will discuss the drawings.

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The Flight of the Honey Bee- Raymond Huber 

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The Flight of the Honey Bee- Raymond Huber 

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The Flight of the Honey Bee is an informational story about how bees collect nectar and make honey. It follows one young bee, Scout, whose job is to collect pollen and nectar for the hive. On her jouney to and from the perfect meadow, she faces many challenges, and readers learn more and more about the life of a bee. Finally, she makes it back safely in time to tell the other bees where they can find the lush meadow. This is a great supplemental text to a third grade science class. There is a lot of Tier 3 vocabulary for students to learn more about, and it creates a perfectly illustrated picture of what the life of a bee is like. This would pair with a science lesson about bees, flowers, insects, or any other topic discussed in the book. For my class, I would split students up in six groups, one for each role of the bee (cleaner, babysitter, builder, guard, scout, and harvester). I would then ask students to research the role of that particular bee and form an argument as to why it is an important role in the hive. We would then discuss as a class so all students have a chance to learn more about each individual role. This activity will enhance students understanding of the text as well as engage them in meaningful debate in the classroom.

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Ellie's Long Walk is the inspiring trues story of Pam Flowers and her dog, Ellie who hiked the entiere Appalachian Trail all the way from Maine to Georgia. Along the way, they face many hard days and nights on the trail, but the finally make it to Gerogia in one piece and happy to have accomplished something. This story would be especially appropriate for schools in Tennessee because the trail passes just east of Knoxville! For this book, I would use it in a second grade classroom and focus on the research standard for that grade. I would formulate a research question for students, regarding the Appalachian Trail and Mountains, and I would have students work independently to find this information. Then, as a group, we would discuss their findings and put it all together in a brainstorming session. I would then use the information that the students found in research to make a kahoot! that students can participate in the next day. This will stengthen research skills as well as reading comprehension.

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June and August is a touching tale about two unlikely friends. June, a snake, and August, an elephant, meet one night in the dark and assume they are the same. The next day, they realize their mistake, but still persue a friendship with one another, which turns out to be enriching for both of them. This story is a good introduction to theme for young readers as well as good practice in fluency and comprehension, so I would recommend it for a second grade classroom. The vocabulary is not very complex, and the storyline is incredibly simple, so the main focus can remain on the message of the story and teaching students about the intentions of the author. I would break students up in groups and ask them to brianstorm together and decide on a theme and author's purpose for this book. Together, we could either write on the board or on an online tool such as Padlet to display our themes, compare, and contrast. Once we decide as a class which theme we like best or which combination of themes, we will discuss why the author chose the characters he did for the story and how it supported his theme for the picture book.

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Wish is the heartwarming story of Rabbit, who has never caught a wish but one day finds himself with three. With no idea what to wish for, he turns to his friends who all give him grand ideas of andventure and inspirtation. Unable to think of a wish for himself, Rabbit wishes for his friends wishes to come true. Coincidentally, his do too when their gratefulness leads to a deeper friendship and bond between the four friends. Wish is a beautiful story about selflessness and friendship that is ideal for kinergarten and first grade. Its simple story structure can keep students engaged as they predict what could happen to Rabbit and his friends, and the rhyming makes it an ideal read aloud. I would use this text to practice sight words with first graders, possibly with a game of bingo. After reading the story aloud, I will read it again, and this time students can mark the sight word on their bingo card when they hear it, improving word recognition.

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Too Many Toys is the bubbly tail of a young boy named Spencer whose house is overflowing with toys! Everyone gives him toys for every holiday and occasion, and he couldn't bear to part with even a single one (even those that he hasn't played with in years). Finally, his mom has had enough and tells him he has to donate some of his toys. After plenty of arguing and negotiating, Spencer finally fills a box with toys, only to realize that the box itself is the best toy ever!  This book is full of rich descriptions, and althoug the vocabulary is, for the most part, simple, the text relies on a lot of adjectives and adverbs to create tone. For this reason, I would use this book in a third or fourth grade classroom, as it aligns with the standards of those grades to recognize and be able to use adjectives and adverbs. As an activity to recognize the difference between adjectives and adverbs, I would create a worksheet with descriptions from the book and give an adverb and adjective for each sentence for the students to choose between (ex: correct/correctly). Students can work individually and answers can be discussed as a group.

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Down Down Down is an informative picturebook that takes readers on a tour through the depths of the ocean, all of its zones, and the creatures that live there. It begins at the surface, where light and life are abundant, and travels slowly down, stopping at every zone to inform readers all about the creatures that life there, what they eat, and how they hunt. This book would be an ideal supplemental text to a sience lesson about the ocean or ocean life due to its comples knowledge demands. The text strucutre itself is not complex, but it is rich in vocabulary and scientific information, making it an ideal text for fouth and fifth grade. An interesting activity for students would be to pick any animal mentioned in the book and do more research on it. This can be done individually or in small groups. Each group can then present their animal to the class using pictures, drawings, maps, and whatever else they need to explain where their animal lives, what it eats, and any other interesting or unique facts they discovered in their research.

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This picture book is the thought provoking "Spring Catalogue and Instruction Manual" that raises the question: What would happen if birds went extinct? Aviary Wonders Inc. is a corporation, in the future, that makes bird parts, which customers can mix and match to assemble their very own bird. The book comes with all of the spring collections of beaks, wings, legs, and feathers as wells as accessories and an instruction manual for assembling your bird. This clever book is full of rich vocabulary and strong themes, making it an idea choice for a fifth grade classroom. It is unlike any average story structure, since it is in the form of a catalogue/maual, so students can have fun with this complex text and all of the unique illustrations of birds unlike any they have ever seen before. Any activity involving vocabulary would be perfect for this book, as it is abundant in rich vocabulary; most very unique (Tier 3) and some challenging, but still common in text (Tier 2). I would play the fly swatter game with these words: put all vocabulary words on the chalkboard and split the class into two teams. I would then call out the definition, synonym, or an example of one of the vocab words and the first student to swat the correct word wins a point for their team.

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Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem- Mac Barnett 

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Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem- Mac Barnett 

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Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem is the charming and quirky story of a young boy, Billie Twitters, whose mom always threatens that if he doesn't do his chores, she is going to get him a blue whale. Of course, Billy never imagined that she would really do it. Billy has to take his whale everywhere he goes, care for it, and listen while his classmates laugh at him for having such a ridiculous pet. Finally, Billy has had enough and realizes that his new pet isn't so bad when he discovers that its mouth is just big enough for Billy to move in. Surrealism is the star of this picture book, and students anywhere from kindergarten to fourth grade might enjoy its wild illustrations and storyline. The basic vocabulary that moves the plot is not too complex for young readers, but the subtle informational tidbits and Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary interspersed within make it work for older classrooms as well. Overall, this story could improve fluency in young readers, so I would read this book aloud with my students once and then allow students to take turns reading a page aloud on their own.

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Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem

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Grandpa and the Library: How Charles White Learned to Paint- C. Ian White 

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Grandpa and the Library: How Charles White Learned to Paint- C. Ian White 

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Gradpa and the Library is the incredibly true story of Charles White, told by his son. The story is told by C. Ian White to his son in order to teach him about the great art that his grandfather created. White began his love for drawing when his mother dropped him off at the library when she went to work and he was too young to go to school. The story is rich with African American history, triumph, dignity, and fine art. Although not rich in vocabulary, there are several Tier 2 words that could be used for a second grade classroom, where I would teach this book with more of a Social Studies agenda. After reading this book, I would show students one of Charles White's most famous paintings: Five Great American Negroes. We would discuss the painting as a class to find out who these people are and why they are important. I believe it is important to expose children to diverse literature as early as possible to enrich their learning experience and remind them of the history of our country. After reading the book and discussing the painting, students will be able to identify Charles White and his accomplishments as well at least one person from his famous painting.

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Gobble Gobble Crash! A Barnyard Counting Bash- Julie Stiegemeyer 

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Gobble Gobble Crash! A Barnyard Counting Bash- Julie Stiegemeyer 

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Gobble Gobble Crash is the funny story of a group of turkeys that bump and smash their way through Mr. Farmer's barnyard. A counting book, this story gets bigger and bigger as the turkeys bounce through the pig pen, the chicken coup, and even around a robin's nest. One great detail in this book is its rhyming structure, which will be great for teaching phonix and phonemic awareness in kindergarten and first grade. For an activity, students can create speech baloons for each of the animals mentioned in the story with their corresponding sound, emphasizing double letter words like "moo" and "gobble." Double letter words (and rhymind words) would be the focus of any activity I did with this book, as ther are used and emphasized on every page. Practicing these words aloud may also be a useful activity with kindergarden in order to strengthen their phonemic awareness.