Author & Illustrator - Yumi Heo 

Publisher - Schwartz & Wade

Date - May 12, 2009

# of pages - 40

Grade level - Prek - 3rd

Genre - Children's literature, Fiction

Visual elements - Korean-American family, planes, crib, adoption agency, friends, crib, baby, colorful, simple, hardcover

Summary - This book is about a little girl waiting to get a new little sister. She is counting down the days and nights. They do something to prepare every day. Her mom goes to Korea to adopt their new daughter. She brings her back home and the whole family is excited to have her

Response - I think this is a great book and puts a different perspective on adoption. Sometimes people view it as a bad thing when really it is amazing. This is a great book to teach young kids about adoption and action from other countries. It has great qualities and I would say it passes on authenticity. 

Book - Construction Site Mission: Demolition!

Illustrator - A.G. Ford

publisher - Chronicle Book

publish date - September 29, 2020
# of pages - 40
Grade level - preschool+
genre - children's literature 
theme - construction, teamwork, accomplishing goals 
topic - construction trucks
summary - This book is about construction trucks working together to demolish an old building. They all work together to get the job done and clean it up. It is all about teamwork. The book has lots of truck noises throughout the words you read, which makes the book come alive. 

Authors' background - The author's background has a lot to do with this book and why she wrote it. She has two sons who love to read and one of them loves trucks. They started a bedtime routine and read their books so they would get sleepy. Her youngest kid (who loved trucks_ would always want to read stories about trucks to bed. Instead of getting tired he would get excited and not want to sleep. So he and his mom came up with a goodnight story about trucks that would make him sleepy and that was the first book she wrote. She went on to write many more books about trucks. Which led to the one I just read. I wouldn't say any of the characters relate to her life, but the story behind why she write books about trucks is pretty special. All of her truck books have the same cover picture just a little bit different depending on the title and this is one-way students could see that the same author wrote multiple of these books. 

The Tree in Me - 2022 Notable Books in Poetry
Award - excellence in poetry for children 
Author & Illurstrator - Corinna Luyken
Publisher -Penguin Young Readers Group
Date - March 16, 2021
# of pages - 56
Visual elements - children, trees, parents 
Grade level - 1st-4th
genre - children's litaure, fiction
Theme - strong, creative, connected  
Summary - This short poetry book is about how all humans are like trees. Strong, beautiful, and all connected. It is cute and perfect for teaching young kids about family. The story starts with a little girl saying there is a tree in me it goes on to talk about the sun, dirt, wind, and more. She talks about how the tree in me is like the tree in you. It ends with her looking up at what seems to be her mother. It is a perfect ending to a great short poetry book. 

My response - I thought this poem was so cute. It's great for little kids and would be a great way to talk about family. You could even do a family tree project after reading the book. I think this would be a book for school agers and you could teach them a lot about the true meaning of this book.

author & illustrator -  Trina Schart Hyman

Publisher - Little, Brown & Co

Date - October 30, 1977

typr of traditional litautre - Folktales

Grade level - Preschool - 4th

# of pages - 48

Summary - This story is much like the movie, but a little different. It starts with a queen and king who have not been able to have children, but one day their wish is granted and they have a daughter almost a year later. They decided to through her a party and everyone comes. One fair was not invited and she got very mad about this and decided to put a curse on the baby that could kill her. One of the other fairies made it better and told the king that his daughter would not die, but fall into a deep sleep for 100 years. For the next several years the king tried to protect his daughter, but one evening of his daughter's 15th birthday they had to leave and the prices stayed behind. SH ended up going into a room where there was an old woman, who pricked the princess's finger and the whole castle fell into a deep sleep. For years people tried to find the sleeping beauty, but never could. One day a prince finally found her and was so in love he diced to kiss her which broke the spell! The whole castle came out of deep sleep and slowly went back to normal. 

Personal response - I really Enjoy this book and think it is a great chapter book for middle schoolers to read. There is also a whole series and movies for each book which also is super cool. I really enjoyed reading this book and it keeps you on your toes the whole time. The story line is great. 

Illustrator: Bruce Degen

Publisher: Scholastic

Date: March 1, 2010

# of Pages: 50

Visual Elements: This is an animated picture book that uses bright colors and text boxes for when the students talk

Grade Level: 2nd - 5th grade

Genre: Informational picture book
Summary - Ms. Frizzel and her class go on an adventure to learn about climates. They travel to the Arctic to see the ice melt, view the effects of climate change, and take rides on the sunbeams. The kids have so much fun and learn a lot because of the way Ms.Frizzel teaches her lessons

Publisher - Random House Children’s Books
Date - May 23, 2006

# of Pages - 24

Grade Level - K-2nd

Genre - kids fiction

Theme - Problem posing and solving

Topic - friends, dogs

Summary - Fred and Ted were friends. Fred was tall and Ted was short. They both had similarities and differences. They have many adventures together, noticing their differences. They have a problem at the end with their beds being the wrong size, so they switch beds and it solves the problem.

Publisher- Random House Children’s Books
Date - January 8, 2019

# of Pages -40

Grade Level - K-3rd

Genre - Juvenile fiction

Theme - Problem posing and solving 

Topic - Pets, family, choices

Summary - This book is about two kids going to find a pet. They look at all the different options. It is so hard to chose ad their dad said they can only chose one

Publisher - HarperCollins

Date - April 9, 1963

# of Pages - 48

Age Range - 1-5 

Genre - Fiction 

Summary - This story is about a young boy named Max, who feels misunderstood and out of place in his home. He escapes to where the Wild Things are, an island where he meets mysterious creatures with big emotions and wild adventures.

Publisher: WaterBrook 

Date: June 29, 2021 

# of Pages: 40 

Age Range: 3-7 

Genre: Fiction 

Themes: Friendship, disabilities

Summary: This is a story about a young girl who embraces her differences and learns to love and appreciate them for what they are.

Illustrator: Fritz Weaver 

Publisher: Puffin Books

Date: June 1, 1996

# of Pages: 32

Grade Level: Preschool - 2nd Grade

Genre: Fiction, Children’s 

Summary: this is the story of three pigs and their houses. Each pig builds a house made out of different materials. The Big Bad Wolf blows down the two pigs' houses made of straw and sticks. However, the last pig made a house of bricks. The pig was unable to blow it down and that pig ate the wolf up when he went down the chimney.

Illustrator: Lane Smith

Publisher: Puffin Books

Date: March 1, 1996.

# of Pages:  32

Grade Level: K-3rd

Summary: The wolf goes to his neighbor, a pig with a house built out of straw, for a cup of sugar. Because the wolf is sick he sneezes and blows the house down. He then sees a pig after he blows the house down and eats it up. He goes to his other neighbor, the pig with the stick house, and sneezes again. He blows down that house and eats up that pig. When he finally makes his way to the third pig’s brick house he gets upset that the pig was talking mean about granny.

Illustrator: Shel Silverstein

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Date: October 7, 1964

# of Pages: 64

Grade Level: Kindergarten - 4th grade

Genre: Fiction

Summary:The book is about an apple tree and a little boy. They become friends and the tree is very giving. The boy grows up with the tree throughout his life. As the boy gets older so does the tree. The tree keeps giving to the little boy without getting anything in return.

Illustrator: Dr. Seuss

Publisher: Random House Books For Young Readers

Date: October 12th, 1957

# of pages: 64  

Visual Elements: cartoon like pictures, bright colors, hardover book

Grade Level: K-4th

Genre: Fiction 

 

Summary: This is a story about how the grinch lives alone in his mountain cave and hates Christmas. He comes up with a plan to ruin Christmas. He dresses up as Santa and goes to every house in Who Ville and steals their presents and decorations. He realizes that Christmas isn't about the presents but it is about spending time together. He gives everyone their presents back and joins them for Christmas. 

Illustrator: Eric Carle

Publisher: World of Eric Carle

Date: October 5, 2006

# of Pages: 24

Grade Level: Pre-1st grade

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy

Summary: The spider was spinning her threat. The horse, cow, sheep, and other animals asked if she wanted to do something but she was so busy spinning her web. She was so busy she didn’t reply to them. She fell asleep from the busy day.

Illustrator: Marcus Pfister

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Date: 1992

# of Pages: 12

Grade Level: K - 2nd

Genre: picture book, fiction

Theme: Friendship and Happiness

Summary: This book is about a fish with shiny scales. All the fish in the sea admire him and want him to share his scales. The rainbow fish is very upset and doesn’t want to share his beautiful scares. He eventually finds joy in sharing his scales and making new friends. 

Author: Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain

Publisher: Random House
Date - 1988

# of Pages: 32

Grade Level: 2nd-4th

Genre: childrens fiction

Summary: Papa bear and the two kids participate in the Bear Olympics. They have many events and sometimes the daughter wins and sometimes the son wins, but the father bear never wins. After competing in many events they are all tired and take a nap. The father sleeps and sleeps and everyone agrees that he wins at sleeping.

Author: Reese Witherspoon

Illustrator: Xindi Yan

Publisher - Penguin Young Readers Group
Date - October 4, 2022

# of Pages: 40

Grade Level: 2nd-4th

Genre: children's fiction

Summary: Betty is a busy girl who jumps from one activity to the next. She notices that her dog is dirty and her friend Mae is coming over soon. She tries to wash her dog and she keeps getting distracted along the way. She ends up making a bigger mess than she started and thought Mae would be upset. Instead Mae realized the great idea that Betty had for a dog washing business. They had a great time setting that up. 

Illustrator: Eric Carle

Medium: Collage

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Date - May 2, 2017

# of Pages: 28

Grade Level: Pre-K

Genre: childrens Fiction

Summary: A collection of animals are asked what do they see and they respond with another animal and their color. The book ends with the students seeing the teacher.

Illustrator: Eric Wilkerson

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Publication Date: April 5, 2022

# of Pages: 40

Grade Level: Preschool-3

Genre: Nonfiction

Summary: This story is about how former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick had to explain to his classmates how he was the only black person in his family after drawing a family portrait. He was adopted by a white family, and many of his classmates were confused and had questions about his drawing. He accepted that his drawing was different from everyone else's and embraced it. Colin loved his adopted family and gave the rest of his class a better understanding of his family.

Publisher: Versify 

Publication Date: Oct 12, 2021

# of pages: 48 

Grade Level: Kindergarten- 2nd

Genre: Fiction

Setting: "Puente Libre", bridge between two countries.

Summary: The characters Little Lobo and Bernabe load up their new truck and are trying to cross the bridge to celebrate in another country, but get stuck in traffic on the bridge all day. They take in the sights and sounds of the bridge all day, and eventually celebrating how they were planning on the bridge so that everyone on both sides of the bridge could see the celebration.