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1. The Bicycle Spy by Yona Zeldis McDonough

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1. The Bicycle Spy by Yona Zeldis McDonough

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Book recommendation for the 2018-2019 Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee
Chapter Book #1

The Bicycle Spy is a great story about a boy named Marcel that discovers a secret and decides to help his parents, even though it is dangerous. Marcel is a young boy whose parents are part of the Resistance. He discovers that his parents are hiding secret messages in loaves of bread that he has unknowingly  been delivering to other members of the Resistance by bicycle. He is afraid that the Gestapo police will figure out his secret at various checkpoints along his daily bicycle routes. This book describes the daily struggles of Marcel and his parents during this time in history as his parents are part of the Resistance Movement. Food is scarce and it is a struggle to make ends meet. Marcel's family does everything that they can to help his friend, Delphine, who is a Jew hiding in plain sight. Marcel faces many obstacles as he rides his bicycle to deliver his secret messages to save his friend and her family. This story is great for teaching students about the adversities faced by Jews and how the Resistance Movement helped them. This young boy faces hard decisions and overcomes his fears to save his friend. This book allows one to understand how people lived in fear in this time of history and reflect on how times have changed.

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2. Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel

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2. Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel

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Newberry Book Review

Frog and Toad Together is a children's book that includes five short stories and is also a winner of the Newberry Honor award. These two best friends work together to solve problems and prove that teamwork is better than doing it on your own. This classic children's book describes problems and solutions that two best friends agree upon. They are there for one another and always willing to help the other. This book is a great read for young children who are beginning readers as the words are quite easy to read and the pictures keep the reader entertained. The colors may not be very vibrant, but they match the personalities of frog and toad. This book shows the value of friendship and how having a great friend to problem-solve with is beneficial.

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Letter to your professor on a banned book.
Chapter Book #2.

Dear Dr. Solomon,
this particular book is about a young boy named Antonio who finds himself discovering magical secrets of his ancestor's past. He meets a curandera named Ultima. She teaches him to believe in himself and find the powers that were passed on to him through his ancestors. He learns about what nature gives us and how to talk to the Earth. When he accompanies Ultima to save a young man who is very ill, he discovers his power for healing and must choose his fate of being a priest as his mother wishes or a farmer as his father wishes. What will he become and what will fate have in store for him? This book teaches us to look within and decide what we want to become rather than to please others. I would definitely recommend this book and hope to use it in my own classroom as well in te near future.

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4. The Last Kids on Earth by Max Braillier and Illustrated by Douglas Holgate

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4. The Last Kids on Earth by Max Braillier and Illustrated by Douglas Holgate

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Graphic Novel
Book Review
Chapter Book #3

Jack and a small group of students are the only survivors of the monster apocalypse in their small town. He has to find his best friend, Quint and convince him to come live with him in his fortified treehouse. They also track down two other school mates and build a team to defeat the monsters and zombies that have taken over the town. Jack has to overcome his fears and go out into the town for supplies and to search for his school crush, June Del Toro. They all work together to defeat Blarg who is on the hunt for Jack. Blarg tracks them down and gets outsmarted by the team. This book is a great read for students who may feel as if they are alone and without a real family.

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5. Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

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5. Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

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Historical Fiction
1 Min Book Talk
Chapter Book # 4

Inside Out & Back Again tells the story of a young girl named Ha who experiences the hardships of the Vietnam War. Her father left on a navy mission and has yet to return to them. Ha describes how her family must go on and leave their town of Saigon to escape the war. They flee and travel by ship to America. Here Ha and her family must adjust to the many differences in culture and face many prejudice and bullying. With the help of a neighbor, named Mrs. Washington, Ha learns to read. She helps their family adjust to this new culture. This story shows how Ha overcomes the struggles of moving to a new country and we can see the world through her eyes. It shows the importance of not judging others and showing compassion for others. We may not always know the story behind others, but we can learn to adjust to others and be accepting.

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9. Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel and Illustrated by Trinta Schart Hyman

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9. Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel and Illustrated by Trinta Schart Hyman

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Caldecott Winner
Character Map

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8. The One And Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

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8. The One And Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

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Fantasy Book
This is a Defining Quote:

"I move toward the young upstart, and he retreats. Almost as if he believes I'm the silverback I'm pretending to be."

This quote reminds me that sometimes we have to portray ourselves to be stronger than what we really are at times. We want others to see a different side of us; the better side. This leads us to become the best we can and prove to ourselves that we can be that strong, better person if we allow ourselves to think positive and strive for greatness. This story portrays Ivan's inner thoughts and his problem-solving skills. He feels that his promise must be kept and that he must rise to the occasion. He must find a way to help Ruby live a fulfilling life as Stella would have wanted for them all. This book reminds us that we can better ourselves if we set goals and work hard to achieve them.

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10. Me And Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King

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10. Me And Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King

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Realistic Fiction
Story Map
Chapter Book # 5

This story is a great read and can be used to start discussions about many different topics, including change, protecting our Earth, friendship, and much more. Here is just one way we can view the story through a story map.

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7. This book just ate my dog! by Richard Byrne

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7. This book just ate my dog! by Richard Byrne

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Post Modern Picture Book Infographic

This book allows the reader to interact and help out the character. The following website also tells about the story and gives a short review of the book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G66R0kS0c_c

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6. Rosa Parks: A Life of Courage by Tonya Leslie

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6. Rosa Parks: A Life of Courage by Tonya Leslie

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Biography Book Blog Post

This book about Rosa Parks tells about her life of segregation and how she had the courage to stand up for equal rights. This is a great read for young students who should be educated on the difficulties and prejudices that blacks suffered during the Civil Rights Movement. This book can lead to some lessons on the Civil War and slavery.
Check out this site for a great lesson on Rosa Parks and Civil Rights.
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/rosa-parks-how-i-fought-civil-rights-teachers-guide/
This website below also provides some great activities to merge  Black History Month into your reading activities for a reasonable price.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rosa-Parks-Activity-Pack-1770433
By using these activities along with the book, students are exposed to information about American History and can have fun while learning about how women have changed the course of history.

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11. Little Dog Poems by Kristine O'Connell George and illustrated by June Otani

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11. Little Dog Poems by Kristine O'Connell George and illustrated by June Otani

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Poetry
Book Recommendation

This small book of poems is great for 1st and 2nd graders who can read or are just learning to read. The cute dog, named Little Dog, is pictured throughout the book with his owner, a young girl, and describes the daily life of a dog in short, easy-to-read poems. My favorite part is the poem in which the dog is watching the little girl make him some cookies with liver powder just because it is his birthday. The young girl in the poems describes a full day with Little Dog and all of the mischief he gets into. The illustrations bring the poems to life and it is easy to see what Little Dog sees, eats, and experiences. For dog-lovers, this short poetry book describes what the little girl loves about her dog and how much she loves him, no matter what he does. This love between a young girl and her dog is contagious and relatable if you love dogs, too!

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12. Little Red Riding Hood by Lisa Campbell Ernst 

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12. Little Red Riding Hood by Lisa Campbell Ernst 

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Traditional Tales
Book Review

In this classic children's tale, Little Red Riding Hood needs to deliver muffins and lemonade to her grandma. Her mother reminds her to not talk to strangers. Little Red Riding Hood encounters the wolf on her way and he wants to steal her muffins. The wolf persuades her to stop and pick some flowers for her grandma so he can arrive at grandma's house before she does. The wolf plans to steal grandma's recipe and the muffins from Little Red Riding Hood when she arrives. The wolf finds grandma working on the tractor and to his surprise is caught by grandma. This is a bit different from the traditional tales in which the wolf eats grandma. Grandma is not scared of the wolf and uses her wits to use the wolf to help her, instead of harm her. Grandma decides to use he wolf to help her bake because he just loves muffins so much and they all live happily ever after. This book has excellent illustrations and has a different ending, but one that is quite humorous. It can teach children to not steal, but to work hard instead. For older students, the value of hard work is a great lesson and can remind us all to be thankful for what we do have and to be aware of others that might want to take it away. This book is appealing to young students along with even junior high students who might have to dig a bit deeper to get to the underlying meaning.

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13. Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech

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13. Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech

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Realistic Fiction
My Choice-
Character Analysis Map

Mary Lou Finney is on summer break and finds out that her cousin, Carl Ray, will be staying with them the whole summer. She grows so much in this book as she writes in her journal daily and gives a first-hand account of her life. Throughout the book, Mary Lou deals with death, her first boyfriend, drama with her best friend, a visitor in her house, and so much more. She realizes that she is not really seeing others and the good in them as she faces the news that her cousin Carl may never gain consciousness after his horrific accident. This is a great read and you can really see how the main character changes and grows throughout the book.

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Caldecott Honor Book
This is a book review.

Trixie is so excited to go to school as she has something special to contribute to show and tell. Her special bunny, Knuffle Bunny, is a one-of-a-kind stuffed animal. Once Trixie gets to school, something horrible happens. Someone else has the exact same bunny as she does. The teacher removes the bunny from both girls and gives them back before recess. Trixie is happy again until she makes a horrifying discovery in the middle of the night. This is not her bunny! This unexpected turn of events leads to a new friendship as both girls realize they have a love for their bunnies in common. The illustrations in this book are real and merge with the cartoon characters which is quite interesting. This book teaches children that we can work out problems and realize that others might think as we do and even gain a friend after it all. This is a great read for children in Kindergarten and 1st grade who usually have a special toy or stuffed animal that means a lot to them and they can relate to Trixie.

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16. Cat Poems by Dave Crawley Illustrated by Tamara Petrosino

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16. Cat Poems by Dave Crawley Illustrated by Tamara Petrosino

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Poetry Read Aloud Video

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14. Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

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14. Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

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Newberry Award Winner (1986)
Chapter Book # 6

Defining Quote: "Tell them I sing."

This quote caught my attention as I feel as if it is an important part of the story. Sarah is willing to change her life and try out the life of being a mother and a wife to some complete strangers. It shows that she is willing to accept these children as her own. The letters that they send back and forth tell so much, yet so little. The children are so afraid that she will leave them to go back to live by the sea. They try everything to make her happy and forget about missing back home. Anna and Caleb lost their mother, long for her songs, and do not want to lose anything or anyone else in their lives. Their sadness is evident as is Sarah's. In the end, Sarah sings to them and becomes a part of their permanent lives.

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18. There's an Owl in the Shower by Craighead George and Illustrated by Christine Herman Merrill

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18. There's an Owl in the Shower by Craighead George and Illustrated by Christine Herman Merrill

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Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee (1998)

My Choice-Sticky Note Metacognition

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17. The Faithful Friend by Robert D. San Souci and Illustrated by Brian Pinkney

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17. The Faithful Friend by Robert D. San Souci and Illustrated by Brian Pinkney

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Coretta Scott-King Honor Book

My Choice- Story Map

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Non-fiction
Book Review (My Choice)

This book gives a detailed  view of the lives of owls. The real images of the beautiful owls give the reader a clear visual of what owls look like as well as how they hunt, hatch eggs, and how they train their young to fly. Students that are learning about birds would find this book valuable. This is suitable for grades 4-6 and has some vocabulary words that will surely be useful for understanding all types of animals, not just owls. Books like this one allow students to get an up-close view of animals that they may never get to see in real life. Understanding the animals in nature is important in saving the animals that are extinct or on the verge of extinction. Educating young students about this particular animal is a great view of how owls hunt at night and use their eyes to see from high above. Their fine hearing allow it to hunt as well and feed their young. This book is great for educating students of all ages and allows us to appreciate the beauty of nature and its animals

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23. Beauty and the Beast retold by Max Eilenberg and Illustrated by Angela Barrett

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23. Beauty and the Beast retold by Max Eilenberg and Illustrated by Angela Barrett

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Traditional Tales Book

(my choice) Defining Quote: "He was ugly, but he was beautiful-the most beautiful thing she had ever known-and now she couldn't tell him how she loved his eyes and his mouth and his crooked nose, his shy kindness and the way he walked and his huge hands..."

This quote really describes what this story is about. It reminds us to not judge others by their looks and instead see the beauty within. Beauty falls in love with the Beast even though he is not easy on the eyes, speaks in an ugly manner, and asks her to marry him constantly. Beauty dreamed of finding a prince that would sweep her off her feet and never imagined that she would find it in the Beast. As we are often quick to judge, it is important to remember that no one knows the inner struggles of others and must think about the words we use to hurt each other. Students need to be reminded of this often and this book is suitable for students that are in the 5th or 6th grade. This book is a great reminder of finding beauty in the darkest places.

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21. The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

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21. The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

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Historical Fiction book
Book Review

This book takes us back to the era in which racism is rampant and violence occurs as a result of this. This book would appeal to students discussing the era of slavery as well as the abolishment of slavery. It is labeled as a 5th grade level book. This book gives . the point of view of a child that is going through adolescence named Kenny. His family has decided to take his older brother to grandma's house for the Summer or until he gets his act together. This trip is a eye-opener for this young boy and really shows him that the people in this world can be evil and violent. He witnesses a horrible event as well as a near-death experience himself. This changes Kenny and makes him see the world in a new light. His brother, mom, and dad all help him recover from this ordeal and he realizes that life is not fair and can change in a instant. This book reminds us to be grateful for what we have and to open our eyes to the evil and hate in this world. We can change how we feel about another race by simply trying to understand them as Kenny tried to do.

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20. Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull and Illustrated by Yuyi Morales

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20. Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull and Illustrated by Yuyi Morales

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Biography

Defining Quote (My Choice)
"You cannot close your eyes and your ears to us any longer. You cannot pretend that we do not exist."

This story is of Cesar Chavez and how he formed the National Farm Workers Association and led a large group to fight for their right to be treated as humans. He fought for the farm workers to have basic rights and not be worked like animals in horrible living conditions with no clean drinking water or bathrooms. This quote reminds us that we must treat others with respect and no matter who you are, you must not look down on others because of the job that they have. We all have the right to live a life in which we have food and water and a roof over our heads, especially if we have worked hard to get those basic necessities. This story teaches us that if we know it is wrong, we must fight and spread the word of the wrong-doing. Standing up to those who want to benefit from unjust labor is the first step in making a positive change just as Cesar Chavez did in his lifetime. We must remember the sacrifices of our past and continue the fight for equality until it is fully reached. We can harvest hope and build a world of unity.

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19. The Pot That Juan Built by Nancy Andrews-Goebel

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19. The Pot That Juan Built by Nancy Andrews-Goebel

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Pura-Belpre Award Winner
Book Recommendation (My choice)

This book portrays how Juan Quezada led his village of Mata Ortiz to become free of poverty. He makes pots by recreating the primitive process of his ancestors, The Casas Grandes People. This story takes us on the adventure of how Juan creates his beautiful art. It is written in the form of a poem and rhymes to add a stanza to each page. It starts with the pot being made and goes backwards to how it is made making the story interesting and fun to read. This is a great read for children in 4th-6th grade and can be used to teach about different cultures and their history. This book ends with a few pages about how Juan became a world-famous after  Spencer MacCallum found one of his beautiful hand-painted pots and went on to find him. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys poetry and who wants to learn about the culture around us. As a future teacher, I would use this book to learn about poetry as well as Social Studies to understand the ways of life of the people of this culture. Exposing children to a multicultural education is important and we should incorporate it into lessons that students will remember far into the future.

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Non-fiction/Informational
Book Recommendation

Grand Canyon by Jason Chin is an informational picture book that tells the story of how the Grand Canyon was formed. The illustrations give our imagination a picture to form when thinking of what the land of long ago looked like as well as the fossils that are embedded in the various layers of rock and sediment that is the Grand Canyon. The impact of this informational book is the aspect of understanding nature and how the land has changed over time to create this unique canyon. This book can promote its readers to visit the Grand Canyon and challenge them to find the images from the book while there. Overall, this book provides facts and real images of the Grand Canyon and describes how erosion and weathering have molded the Earth to reveal this natural beauty to us. This would be great for children ages 7-12 and can be used for a variety of class projects including writing assignments, drawings, and learning vocabulary of the various layers of Earth.

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25. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

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25. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

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Fantasy Book

Defining Quote: "How many feelings can one heart hold?...And she knew: there is no limit to what the heart can carry."

Luna and her family are torn apart as the Elders come and take her away to give as an offering to the Witch of the forest that does not exist. A good witch finds her and raises her as her own and give her more powers. This quote describes the book as it shows how her heart loves all who have become her new family as well as the mother she was taken from as a baby. Love is a special kind of magic and its abundance helps Luna, Grandmama, and Adara save the town from the volcano's eruption. This story of Luna and her magic tells how sorrow, hope, and love are each intertwined in us all. Those who love deeply will sacrifice everything to keep their loved ones safe as Antaine fights to save his newborn child from the witch who is actually the Sorrow Eater. This story reminds us to love with all of your heart and fight for what you love. With love comes loss and with loss comes sorrow but we must focus on what have now.