The author is: Matt de la peña

Illustrator is: Christian Robinson

Publication Date: 2015

Publisher: Penguin Books

Genre: Children's literature, Fiction

Page #: 32 pages

Summary: This plotline is about a child walking in the rain with his Grandma towards the bus stop. He observed things that people had and he didn't have. He was upset he didn't have a car, C.J.s grandma was very kind in stating that they didn't need one. The book has beautiful visuals and shares diversity and different lifestyles.

The book reviews were very positive in favor of the message of the book. The message was about appreciating differences, inequity, and happiness.

 

Illustrator: David Ouro

Publisher: Rourke Educational Media
Publication date: August 1, 2015

# of pages:63

Grade level: 7-9

Genre: Chapter book, Fiction, Mystery

Theme: Embrace creativity, there is normally an explanation for things.

Artistic Media: Black and white pictures throughout the chapter book.

Literary Elements: The main character rocket is in 3rd grade and struggles with dyslexia. Plot: 3rd-grade students solving a mystery. Setting: 3rd-grade school

Personal response: I loved this book. It was an adorable book that honestly grabbed my attention and made me want to finish in one sitting. This book can truly help students enjoy reading with the humor and light-hearted perspective of a 3rd grader.

Summary: This book was very creative and entertaining. The main character rocket has a liking for detective work and brings his friends into it. They go through trials and errors in deciphering messages and determining who the spies are. Only to find out that there are no spies and that two fellow classmates were just having fun planning a nice deed. 

Curricular connections: Social studies, the students had to connect with other teachers and decipher words using historical decoding books.

Author: Lea Taddonio 

Illustrator: Hatem Aly 

Publisher: Spellbound

Publication date: September 1, 2017 
# of pages: 48 pages
Grade level: Ages 7-13, grade 3-4 

Genre: Chapter book, don't let hate infect you

Theme: You shouldn't let hate get to you, focus on the good things

Artistic Media: Drawing

Literary Elements: Maisey the main character is a newly discovered singer and she has some very loyal and kind friends. The plot includes her dealing with a difficult situation and how to handle it. The setting is very glamorous as she is a newly famous singer.

Personal response: This book is a very positive book to influence students. With the way the world is now with social media children are having negative influences like haters on social media at younger and younger ages so this book can truly make an impact on how they should deal with hate, with love.

Summary: This book had Maisey, a newly famous singer, with her friends on tour. A rude man that she rejected earlier in the week was publishing bad things about her and she was being terribly affected by it. She was thinking about impactful ways she could react but her friends convinced her that it was a bad idea and that she should just focus on her success and the good things around her. They told her the best way she could react is to do an amazing performance and put so much love out there. 

Curricular connections: This could be an encouraging book for students to get involved with music class due to the main character and the setting of a famous singer and the glamorous setting.

Publisher: Holiday House

Publication date: December 1, 2020

# of pages:  48 Pages
Grade level: 7-10 years grade level 2-5

Genre: Childrens grade book

Theme: There are many animals that need cold climates.

Artistic Media: Pictures
Type of Poem: Rhymin Poem

Literary Elements: The characters include lots of different animals that live and thrive in cold climates. 

Personal response: I think that the author was very clever, there is a lot of entertainment in each page, meanwhile there is also a huge educational aspect to each page. I love the clever rhyming that the author uses.

Summary: This book is a very good read for educational purposes. The students get to learn about different animals that are affected by climate change and need a specific climate. Then it ends the book by actually discussing climate change and stating that these animals are affected and it is up to me and you to find a solution to it.

Curricular Connection: Science is a perfect connection to this book because these animals can be categorized into biology and life science is clearly seen in the climate change aspect of the book.

Author:Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

Illustrator: Brian T. Jones

Publisher:Abrams Books
Publication Date: October 11, 2010

# of Pages: 32 Pages

Grade: 1st - 2nd

Genre: Narrative Poems

Theme: Overcoming Challenges and Difficulties

Topic: Getting a family, Read-a-loud

Artistic Media: Digital Recreation of the illustrations

Literary Elements: A main character, a duck. Goes through sadness and makes and effort and in the end is happy. 

Personal Response: This book is so adorable. I really enjoyed the fact that Kristen Bell read it to me. The book had a main character that ended up putting an effort into changing how his life is and that made him happy by the end. I think this book could be very inspiring to students and how they view their educational.

Summary: This book showed a lonely duck feeling sad because he didn't have a family. The duck saw an ad for lonely eggs that don't have a family, so the duck decided he would get the egg and then he would raise it. The duck ended up being happy in the end because he wasn't lonely anymore and had a family. 

Author: Ken Mochizuki

Illustrator: Dom Lee

Publisher: Lee & Low

Publication Date: 1993

# of pages: 33

Grade level: 5-9 years old

Genre: Fiction

Theme: That if you love something keep doing it

Artistic Media: Illustrations

Literary Elements: There is a storyline with a main character who struggles at playing baseball. There is also pearl harbor as the setting that is going on during the duration of the book, it makes the setting change.

Personal response: I enjoyed reading this book i thought it was motivational but I didn't think it was very thrilling in any way. I genuinely think that students might find this book a bit boring.

Summary: A kid played baseball and was not very good at it and was made fun of. His family rushed out of their home and were housed in uncomfortable horse staples. This time frame was during Pearl Harbor. The boy continued to play baseball in the camps they were stationed at and still was not good in that setting.Through that time he practiced so much that by the time he was playing baseball again with the old team he played with he ended up improving so much that the team accepted him and he felt like he was good at baseball.

Curriculum Connection: This book could connect to social studies due to the reference to pearl harbor.

Title: How I became a Ghost

Author: Tim Tingle

Illustrator: Steven Walker

Publisher: Roadrunner Press

Publication Date: 09/28/2015

# of pages: 141

Grade level: 5-8

Genre: Historical Fiction

Theme: Family and ancestors stick together even through hard times

Artistic Media: Drawings in Black and White

Literary Elements: There was a plot line with the main characters and their family. It was during the time of the trail of tears. There was also a big fary tail emphasis in the book where a human can become a panther and where the dead can speak to the living.

Personal response: I absolutely LOVED this book. It was such a creative read. The supernatural elements of the book added so much value to the story in my eyes. The book was very personable where you felt as though that you knew and cared for all of the characters. The book made me angry, rageful, and sad.

Summary: This book has some very good historical value taking you through what the tribes went through during the trail of tears. So many lives were lost, and families were never the same. The main character was a 10 year old Choctaw boy that had seen ghosts that helped him live for a while. He knew he was going to die and as a ghost he continued to do good and assist his people.

Curriculum Connection: This book has a historic curriculum connection referring to the trail of tears.

Author: Jessica Rinker

Illustrator: Bethany Stancliffe

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Publication Date: 05/19/2020

# of pages: 43

Grade level: ages 6-12

Genre: Science Fiction, and audio book format

Theme: That helping your family is important and the unimaginable is possible.

Artistic Media: Drawings with color.

Literary Elements: A plotline with main characters you fall in love with. A mysterious character and a charming baby dog.

Personal response: This book is very adorable. It was so entertaining I felt like I was watching tv. I would definitely bring this book into the classroom for my students.I definitely want to finish this series and find out what is going on in this book.

Summary: This was the first book in a series, the book has an incredible mysterious woman with  a mysterious glowing ball. The dog eats it and on the way to the vet they encounter a strange bad man trying to grab the dog. The dog spins in a circle 5 times and as the kids launch at him they all go back into time and land on the titanic.

Curriculum Connection: This book relates to science fiction and history in my eyes. The history refers back to the Titanic and can be used in an introduction to a lesson on the titanic. This book has science fiction with the references to time travel and the mystery entangling this group of best friends and their dog.

Title: The Breadwinner

Author: Deborah Ellis

Illustrator: Deborah Ellis

Publisher: Groundwood Books

Publication Date: 2000

# of pages: 176

Grade level: Grades 2-4

Genre: Novel, Children’s literature, fiction

Theme: Courage

Artistic Media: Comic style

Literary Elements:  A family living in war. A main character with supporting characters and a major plotline. There was no resolution for the problems in this book.

Personal response: This book was very very sad. It reminds me of what is happening right now in Ukraine and what the people are going through. It is so sad to read about how women are treated in other countries. There are no happy endings in war, there is death, destruction, and loss.

Summary: The book is about a young girl and her family living in Afghanistan. The women have no rights in the little country and are treated terribly. The father gets taken away from the family so the young girl cuts her hair and pretends to be a boy so that she can run errands, as women were not allowed to leave the house without a man. The young girl tries to get her father out of jail but there is a war beginning just as she is there, her father is shot. And her and her mother and sister are seperated. It is such a sad ending as their is no resolution. 

Curriculum Connection:  Social studies, learning about another country and tough time during war.

Author: Mamie Goodson

Illustrator: Christopher Cyr

Publisher: Great Minds in association with Wilson Language Training, publisher of foundations

Publication Date: 2018

# of pages: 14

Grade level: grade 1

Genre: Fiction, encouraging

Theme: Everybody learns in different ways

Artistic Media: Drawing

Literary Elements: This book has a mini plotline with the main character named jerry.

Personal response: This book is very encouraging for students to encourage them to work hard and to find a way to enjoy school. This is very beneficial for students to gain knowledge and to be able to apply themselves in a way they would feel smart and confident in their abilities.

Summary: Jerry loves to draw but dislikes school. With dedication and hardwork Jerry accomplishes a way to get school work done and drawing helps him get through school. When he is old by the end of the book, Jerry has accomplished the schooling he needed to and draws in books for kids.

Curriculum Connection: This book could be encouraging to students in literature classes. To apply themselves and to draw in order to comprehend.

Author: Annie Cobb

Illustrator: Liza Woodruff

Publisher: Astra Publishing House

Publication Date: 2021

# of pages: 34 Pages

Grade level: 6-8 years old

Genre: Fiction

Theme: Sometimes life takes you on a path where all you can do is wait patiently

Artistic Media: Illustrations

Literary Elements: There are two friends as the main character and they are very impatient. The setting is a theme park.

Personal response: I think that this book shares a very good message about how sometimes you need to take a deep breath and just wait for things to happen, because everything happens for a reason.

Summary: The two characters are waiting in a long long line. One is impatient and not wanting to wait while the other is excited for the ride. They continuously do math problems trying to calculate how long the ride will take. In the end, the impatient friend Josh got to see Roboman and he wouldn't have got to see him if he didnt wait. 

Curriculum Connection: The math problems they were doing could be used as a mentor text for math.

Author: Jenni Desmond

Illustrator: Jenni Desmond

Publisher: Blue Apple Books

Publication Date: 2012

# of pages: 40 pages

Grade level: preschool-3rd grade

Genre: Fiction

Theme: Admiring someone else can get out of hand sometimes it is important that you love yourself.

Artistic Media: Pretty and colorful drawings.

Literary Elements: The main characters red cat and blue cat go through an entire plotline together.

Personal response: I thought this book was adorable and totally admired the writer. It was clever, witty, and funny. I will totally read this book in my future class as a mentor text.

Summary: This book shared two cats that were totally jealous of each other. One red and one blue, they tried to change each of their colors to be like one another. Instead they ended up being friends and grew to like their own selves.

Curriculum Connection: This book can be an awesome book to share on self love as a mentor text.

Author: Jo Hoestlandt

Illustrator: Jason Chapman

Publisher: Bayard Presse provided by Groupe Bayard

Publication Date: 2021

# of pages: 21

Grade level: age 3-7

Genre: Fiction, Audio Book

Theme: Being yourself is so important

Artistic Media: Drawings

Literary Elements: Rory- the main character. A little piglet with a lot of energy.

Personal response: This May have been the cutest story I have ever read. The cute little British audio and adorable illustrations were amazing. And the plotline is so cute and kind.

Summary: This book is about a main character named Rory who is a little big going to his first day of school. He arrived at school with his family and he was all dirty and smelly from the mud he rolled around in. He was judged very harshly but in the end the other animals rolled themselves in chocolate so he wasnt the only dirty one.

Curriculum Connection: This could be used in a classroom to encourage students to be themselves. 

Author: Laura Numeroff

Illustrator: Felicia Bond

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: October 6th,2015

# of pages: 40 pages

Grade level: preschool-3rd

Genre: children's literature

Theme: If you give a mouse a cookie, you have a Pal.

Artistic Media: Lots of drawings.

Literary Elements: The main character and the Mouse do a lot of things together.

Personal response: I loved this book, absolutely adorable. The mouse is so darling and it has such a cute friendly plotline.

Summary: This book is absolutely adorable. The mouse gets a cookie and goes through a lot of different things with the narrator, he sweeps, he draws, and he even drinks milk. Afterwards wanting another cookie.

Author: Alan Gratz

Illustrator: Alan Gratz

Publisher: Starscape

Publication Date: August 29,2017

# of pages: 256 Pages

Grade level: middle grade levels

Genre: Novel, Fiction

Theme: Mystery, Speaking up for what you believe

Artistic Media: cover image

Literary Elements: A plotline with main characters and suspense. 

Personal response: This book is absolutely adorable, the characters are fighting for what they believe in. This book made me feel passionate about reading and would truly encourage students to read more and think for themselves.

Summary: The main characters create a book group where they read banned books.They go through a lot to create a functional process to share these now desired books to the students because they are banned.

Author: Natasha Biebow

Illustrator: Steven Salerno

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: 03/19/2019

# of pages: 48

Grade level: 6-9 years

Genre: biography/autobiography 

Theme: that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

Artistic Media: Illustrations

Literary Elements: Main character Eddwan and his family.

Personal response: 

Summary: This book is about the making of crayons. The things children used prior were toxic, and they were too expensive as they had to ship them from england. Eddwan created crayons, they were amazing and excepted by all people. 

Curriculum Connection: Historic connection to the making of crayons.

Author: Andi diehn

Illustrator: Shululu

Publisher: Nomad Press

Publication Date: March 1, 2018

# of pages: 32 pages

Grade level: 3-7 years old

Genre: informational picture book 

Theme: Matter is a word that has many different meanings.

Artistic Media: illustration

Literary Elements: Different scenarios with matter.

Personal response: This book would be a very cute book to share students when introducing scientific names.

Summary: This book focuses on the term matter. It uses different scenarios to share the different meanings of the word matter. It discussed the scientific meaning of matter, and provides examples of it.

Author:  Annette Bay Pimentel

Illustrator:  Magaly Morales

Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: September 7, 2021

# of pages: 40 pages

Grade level: k-3

Genre: Children's literature, Creative nonfiction

Theme: Change is good

Artistic Media: Illustrations

Literary Elements: 

Personal response: I really enjoyed the visuals. It had a very good heart to the story.

Summary: This book was about changing things from what they are used to. Learning to tell a different story and break away from specific traditions. This also had very big creative ties and 

Author: Lisa Bullard

Illustrator: Wes Thomas

Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group

Publication Date: August 1,2011

# of pages: 24 pages

Grade level: Kinder-grade 2

Genre: Informational fiction

Theme: Pirates hate trash and litter!

Artistic Media: Illustrations, bubble captions

Literary Elements: A main character, a pirate. Setting: on the beach.

Personal response: This book was absolutely adorable, the main character was a pirate that hates litter. The book has an amazing message that would be great to share in the classroom. This would promote earth loving students.

Summary: This book is about a pirate that sees litter and trash everywhere. There are many educational terms seen throughout this book and described in a fun learning manner. The book is environment based and with every definition there are pictures to go along with it.

Curriculum Connection: Science, this includes science concepts. And science terms.

Author: Gordon Korman 

Illustrator: N.a

Publisher: Balzer+Bray

Publication Date: February 3, 2015 

# of pages: 352 Pages

Grade level: 9-11 years old

Genre: Mystery, Adventure, Chapter book

Theme: Things might not always be what they seem

Artistic Media: Main characters, setting, plotline

Literary Elements: Quotes, characters develop

Personal response: I LOVED THIS BOOK! Hands down favorite book I have read. It has such an amazing storyline and is very memorable. I would read this book again.

Summary: This book is about a town that seems very perfect, a little bit too perfect. As the children in this town begin to get a bit older, certain things are just not adding up. The parents have been hiding that they aren’t their real parents. They are just test subjects to them. The kids, what few of them are left realize that they need to escape. The journey was difficult and not all of them made it alive, but at last they escaped.

Author: Norton Juster 

Illustrator: Jules Feiffer

Publisher: Bullseye Books

Publication Date: October 12, 1988

# of pages: 272 pages

Grade level: 3-7 years

Genre: Children’s literature, chapter book

Theme: Learning isnt always boring

Artistic Media: Some drawings incorporated into the chapters

Literary Elements: The main character Milo goes on a crazy magical adventure in a phantom Tollbooth.

Personal response: This book is super fun and creative. I have never read a book like it, this type of book would be super interesting to share with students. In fact, I read this book with my student in my tutoring class.

Summary: This book is about a child name Milo, that doesnt enjoy his life very much. Milo goes through a ton of crazy adventures after a mysterious and magical phantom tollbooth came out of nowhere. He meets a ton of new fun characters like Tock, and they adventure together.

Curriculum Connection: English, Milo learns a lot about spelling. Through the adventures, Milo also learns how much fun it can be to learn.

Author: Eric Walters

Illustrator: Sue Todd

Publisher: Orca Book Publisher

Publication Date: September 25, 2018

# of pages: 32

Grade level: preschool-kindergarden

Genre: children’s literature, fiction

Theme: Take only what you need, and use what you have.

Artistic Media: Bright and vivid illustrations

Literary Elements: Animals as main character, and setting

Personal response: This book was a very cute read. It had beautiful visuals and I think that students would really enjoy reading it. 

Summary: This book was a mythical tale on how all animals were created. It was very visual, therefore perfect for younger grades. 

Author: Jan Fields

Illustrator: Oriol Vidal 

Publisher: Calico Chapter Books

Publication Date: September 1,2017

# of pages: 80 pages

Grade level: 3-4 grade

Genre: Action and adventure fiction

Theme: Choose your own action story

Artistic Media: Artistic images

Literary Elements: Main character,suspense, and mystery

Personal response: This book was extremely interesting to me, the plotline was really neat. The main character got a robot from his dad, and at first he was annoyed by it. By the end the robot became his best friend. 

Summary: The main character in this book felt a bit lonely and isolated throughout the story we saw that change. We also saw him find his mom through a crazy sort of adventure. This was a really fun book.

Author: Adam Gidwitz

Illustrator: Hugh D’Andrade

Publisher: Dutton Books for Young readers

Publication Date: August 18, 2011

# of pages: 288

Grade level: 5-6 grade

Genre: Fairy Tale, Fiction Chapter book

Theme: Dont trust strangers

Artistic Media: Pretty cover image

Literary Elements: Main character a sister and brother names Hansel and Gretel

Personal response: I loved this book. I read this book when I was much younger. I read it so many times growing up, it was so entertaining to me. It has a very dark and grim vibe throughout the story but I think it is very enjoyable as a kid to read. 

Summary: This book is about a brother and sister names Hansel and Gretel.  It is a take on the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, it is a very violent and gory book. But it is very interesting and descriptive.

Curriculum Connection: Mythology of Hansel and Gretel.

Author: Valerie Booden 

Illustrator: NA

Publisher: Creative Paperbacks

Publication Date: August 18, 2015

# of pages: 24 pages

Grade level: 1-3 grade

Genre: Health and wellness, non-fiction

Theme: Healthy eating is important

Artistic Media: Photos throughout the text

Literary Elements: none, mostly factual texte

Personal response: I loved this book, eating healthy is so important. I don't think it is stressed enough in early education how important treating your body right is.

Summary: This book was not only visually stimulating, but it was very factual.It discusses all the different food groups and what they do for your body. 

Curriculum Connection: Important health terms are described in this text. It is a great read for any health sciences class.

Author: Vincent Alexander

Illustrator: NA

Publisher: Jump! inc.

Publication Date: August 1, 2018

# of pages: 24 pages

Grade level: 2-3 grade

Genre: non-fiction, chapter book

Theme: Knowing how the legislative branch works is very important

Artistic Media: Visuals throughout the book

Literary Elements: 

Personal response: This book would be very  impactful in the classroom setting. It was very easy to follow along to for a classroom and has some very important information in it.

Summary: This book discusses the senate and house of representatives, and how together that makes congress. The house has 435 members in congress, depending on the population of a state, they get more votes. California is the most populated therefore gets the most people in congress. 

Curriculum Connection: This book is very information on government and therefore fits into the social studies curriculum.

Author: David A. Adler

Illustrator: John & Alexandra Wallner

Publisher: Holiday House

Publication Date: April 1,1990

# of pages: 32 pages

Grade level: 6-9 ages

Genre: Biography

Theme: Abraham Lincoln was an influential man in history

Artistic Media: Really aesthetic drawings and illustrations on each page.

Literary Elements: A main character, Abraham Lincoln

Personal response:  This honestly made me so emotional, Abraham Lincoln was such an amazing human being and we are so lucky that he served as president of the United States.

Summary: Abraham Lincoln was born in a cabin in Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln and his dad chopped down trees. He loved to read, Abraham Lincoln traveled a lot. Seeing black people treated like slaves in New orleans made abraham lincoln very upset. Abraham Lincoln became a lawyer, he was a likable guy. Abraham Lincoln was elected president, the south withdrew from the states forming the confederate states of America. The civil war began, the emancipation proclamation was signed by lincoln, freeing slaves.

Curriculum Connection: This book relates to the important man that made a difference in American history, Abraham Lincoln. Therefore refers to history curriculum,

Author: Alice B. McGinty

Illustrator: Tomoko Suzuki

Publisher: little bee books

Publication Date: February 5, 2019

# of pages: 40 pages

Grade level: 4-8 years old

Genre: Children's literature 

Theme: Everybody eats breakfast 

Artistic Media: Illustrations

Literary Elements: Food around the world, not telling a story.

Personal response: I loved this reading. It was very cute, and bringing people together all over the world by comparing their breakfast is an excellent idea. It made me very hungry though, and also made me want to travel very badly.

Summary: This book was about what a typical breakfast looks like around the world. It varies in many ways, but one thing that everyone  has in common is that we all need to eat food.

Curriculum Connection: The curriculum connection is definitely geography, it shows a map and many different countries and how they vary for breakfast. 

Author: Daniel Haack

Illustrator: Stevie Lewis

Publisher: Little bee books

Publication Date: May 1, 2018

# of pages: 40 pages

Grade level: ages 4-8

Genre: childrens book

Theme: Love is love

Artistic Media: Illustrations

Literary Elements: A main character, a prince

Personal response: I didnt enjoy this book, I thought at first it would be a cute classy love story, but it was something else. The authors are very talented though, and the illustrator.

Summary: This book is about a prince that needed to rule with a partner by his side. The parents were looking for a princess for him, but he sang a different tune.

Author: Antoinette Portis

Illustrator:  Antoinette Portis

Publisher: Neal Porter books

Publication Date: April 14,2020

# of pages: 40 pages

Grade level: preschool-2nd grade

Genre: Non-fiction

Theme: The rotation of things

Artistic Media: Pretty visuals for every page

Literary Elements: The book does not have characters or a plotline. It is a picture book.

Personal response: This book was very satisfying to me, I enjoyed the way it went through processes we have in the earth. Like lightening and thunder and what they do.

Summary: The book had quotes of things that do things and what they do. Kids could guess what they think it is, and then on the next page it tells them.

Curriculum Connection: Science, earth science, and biology

Author: Brenda Ponnay

Illustrator: Brenda Ponnay

Publisher: Xist Pub

Publication Date: September 2022

# of pages: 28 pages

Grade level: 6-12 years

Genre: Picture book

Theme: 

Artistic Media: 

Literary Elements: 

Personal response: This book was absolutely adorable. I got many giggles out of this book. It would be an amazing book to share with students and get their creative mind turning. 

Summary: This book is filled with jokes about school. Classic things that go on in schooling but with a comedy twist on it. 

Author: Christy Webster 

Illustrator: Holly Hatam

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Publication Date: November 12, 2019

# of pages: 32 pages

Grade level: ages 2-4

Genre: Fairytale 

Theme: Keep on dancing

Artistic Media: Beautiful illustrations

Literary Elements: A  main character cinderella Rox, evil stepsister, fairy triceratops, and setting of a castle.

Personal response: This book was adorable, I loved the quick brief overview of Cinderella's story. This would be fun to read to a younger audience. Students could have a lot of fun with it. 

Summary: This book is a spinoff of the traditional cinderella tale, it is about dinosaurs instead of humans. The moral of the story is to be kind and keep dancing on.

Author: Vanessa Westgate

Illustrator: Vanessa westgate

Publisher: Clavis

Publication Date: June 25, 2019

# of pages: 32 pages

Grade level: preschool-3

Genre: Picture Book 

Theme: Animals are happier in the wild.

Artistic Media: The visuals are very calming and pretty.

Literary Elements: This book has a total plotline and a lesson learned by the end of the story.

Personal response: I loved this book, it honestly got me feeling a little bit emotional by the end of it. It was such a touching book, I think it would get students very wrapped up into it and a bit teary eyed by the end of the book.

Summary: This book is about a kid that traps an elephant, and ships it back home with him to be his pet. It disturbs the neighbors and by the end the kid realizes the elephant is unhappy. Then they send the elephant back to his home with his elephant family, it is a happy ending but sad to see the kid say goodbye to the elephant.

Curriculum Connection: This book contains some terms that could be useful to share to students. Therefore the curriculum connection would be language arts. 

Author: David Bruins

Illustrator: Hilary Leung

Publisher: Kids Can Press

Publication Date: September 1,2011

# of pages: 32 pages

Grade level: preschool-2nd 

Genre: Picture book

Theme: Sometimes people need their space

Artistic Media: Bright visual drawings

Literary Elements: Main characters, and a plotline.

Personal response: This book was honestly disturbing to me. I used the audio version of the book, and there were just some very interesting noises. Pretty disturbing noises, like lots of burps and gurgles and such.

Summary: This book is about a cowboy that is disrespecting the friend bear and friend ninja. By the end the cowboy got a great idea to have his friends accompany him playing the song 

Author: Brayden Kowalczuk

Illustrator:  Brayden Kowalczuk

Publisher: Frances Lincoln children’s books

Publication Date: May 25, 2021

# of pages: 32 pages

Grade level: preschool-kindergarten 

Genre: Children's picture book

Theme: Moles just want to be free to live their life

Artistic Media: Lively illustrations

Literary Elements: Main character: Mole setting: the whole the mole lives in 

Personal response: I loved this book! It was too adorable for my goodness. The mole was so precious, the entire book was so cute. I would love to read this to my class.

Summary: There was a mole, it was trapped underground by rocks. It wanted so badly to get out, day after day it tried but the rocks wouldn't budge. But one day they were busy looking at something bright and the mole ran for it. Then it got to live its best life free out in the wilderness.